Easy Paella

So once again, I am turning to the blog of Vicious Ange for my dinner selection tonight....the last one this week, I promise!! (I am living vicariously through her cookbooks...hahaha). She posted this recipe from Bill Granger and I just had to try it as I love love love Paella. Rich is not such a big fan, so when we go to restaurants, I can rarely order it, as you usually have to get it for 2. Having said that however, he liked this recipe....albeit after he picked out the prawns. I thought it was very tasty and easy to make. The only changes I made to the original were that I needed to add more stock, as the rice was still a bit crunchy after the original 2 cups was absorbed. I think I added another cup and that made it much better. I also didn't have enough chicken, so I used another chorizo sausage and that also worked out nicely. I highly recommend this recipe....delish!!




Easy Paella
(serves 4-6)

1 tbs olive oil
1 chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
2 chorizo sausage, chopped
1 cup basmati rice
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 425g can of chopped tomatoes
1 red capsicum, chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
3 cups chicken stock
250g prawns, peeled
1 425g cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
100g baby green beans, topped and chopped
2 tbs chopped cilantro

1. Heat oil in large, deep fry pan over medium heat. Cook the chicken pieces for 3-4 minutes, turning until golden brown and cooked through. Remove and set aside to drain on a paper towel.

2. Add the onion and the chorizo to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally for 1-2 minutes until the chorizo begins to get crisp. Add the rice and turmeric, cook stirring for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes, capsicum, chilli and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

3. Return the chicken to the pan with the prawns, cannelini beans and green beans. Toss and heat through for 1 minute. Stir in the cilantro and serve immediately.

Hay Hay its Donna Day #11 - Mousse

Having only started this blog a week or so ago, I am a little nervous to be entering my first blog "competition". I have been looking at past episodes and the entries are truly amazing. There are a lot of talented cooks out there!! So the Hay Hay its Donna Day event was started, and is run by Barbara over at the winos and foodies blog. This month it is hosted by Helen of Tartelette and the theme is "mousse"....whatever kind you like. Helen's inspiration recipe of white chocolate and blueberry mousse looked delicious, but I wanted to stay away from the chocolate mousses, as I thought there would be a lot of variations on that theme....not that there's anything wrong with that, who doesn't love a good chocolate mousse!!! I thought about doing a savory mousse, as I have very fond memories of my mothers Salmon mousse, from my childhood. But when I stumbled across this Key Lime mousse, it just seemed perfect.



This is my first time making a mousse, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out to be pretty easy and straight forward and the tartness of the mousse was fantastic!! The texture was incredibly light and airy. I decided to substitute the coconut in the original recipe with graham cracker crumbs to make it more like a key-lime pie and I think that worked out great.



Key-Lime Mousse
(serves 4)

3/4 Cup fresh lime juice (preferably from key limes)
1 envelope unflavoured gelatin
4 large eggs, separated, at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
extra whipped cream for topping
graham cracker crumbs for topping

1. Place 2 tbs of lime juice in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over and set aside to soften. Whisk yolks in heavy small saucepan to blend. Whisk in remaining lime juice, then 1/2 cup of sugar. Cook over low heat until mixture thickens slightly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Pour into a large bowl and cool.

2. Beat 1 cup of cream in a medium bowl to form soft peaks. Gradually add remaining sugar and beat until stiff. Using clean beaters, beat egg whites in another bowl until soft peaks form. Fold whites into cream. Gently fold cream mixture into lime mixture. Divide among 4 glasses.

3. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

4. Top each mouse with a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle with graham crackers.

Source: adapted from http://fooddownunder.com

Mahi-Mahi with Blood Orange Salsa

I found this great low fat, low calorie recipe last week on epicurious.com whilst looking for a recipe that uses blood oranges. I had picked some up at Wholefoods, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. Rich is not really a fan of fish, but I am trying to ease him into it and he actually thought this was ok....at least, he ate it and didn't spit it out!! I thought the blood orange with Mahi-mahi was a great combination, very tangy. I tossed together a quick salad to serve with it, made from mixed greens, tomatoes, spanish onion, gorgonzola, chopped walnuts and fat free raspberry vinaigrette. This would have been nice to eat sitting outside, in the warm sunshine, overlooking our budding garden, however unfortunately we had to huddle inside with heater on, listening to the gale force winds outside....oh well, at least the company and the food were good :)

Mahi-Mahi with Blood Orange, Avocado and Red Onion Salsa
(serves 2)

1 blood orange
1/2 cup of avocado cubes
1/3 chopped red onion
2 tsp minced red jalapeno
2tsp fr sh lime juice
2 tsp olive oil
2 6oz mahi-mahi fillets

1. Using a small sharp knife, cut and peel the white pith from the orange. Working over a small bowl, cut between the membranes to release the segments. Add avocado, onion, jalapeno and lime juice to oranges in a bowl. Stir gently to blend. Season salsa to taste with slat.

2. heat oil in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with slat and pepper. Add fish to skillet and saute until brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

3. Place 1 fillet on each of 2 plates. Spoon salsa atop fish and serve.

Steak and Guinness Pies

I saw this recipe on Vicious Ange's blog and thought it sounded fantastic. Today was the perfect day to make this dish also, because it was totally miserable outside...cold, wet, rainy....blah. It is a lot more time consuming than I would usually do, but I had lots of time today and it was not really involved, just long periods of simmering and baking. I decided to do individual pies, instead of one big one, simply because its easier to serve that way. I also served this with a side salad. I could have done some roast veggies, but the pie already had quite a few veggies in it and Rich loves his salad :) I just threw together whatever I had in the fridge to make a basic side salad.

Jamie Oliver's Good Old Steak and Guinness Pie
(Serves 6)

1.5lbs Stewing beef, diced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 heaped tbs flour
Olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 sticks celery, washed and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 handful of mixed fresh herbs (ie rosemary, thyme, bay)
1 pint Guinness
2 x 15oz tins of chopped tomatoes
1 pack of puff pastry
1 egg beaten

1. Season beef generously with salt and pepper, sprinkle in flour and toss until coated. Heat 2-3 glugs of olive oil in a large pan and fry meat until golden brown.

2. Add the onion and fry another minute, then add carrot, parsnips, celery and herbs. Fry for a further 4 minutes and then add Guinness and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 2 hours or until meat is tender. Season to taste.

3. At this point, you can move the stew to the fridge until ready to serve. This will also intensify the flavor.

4. To make pies, preheat the oven to 375F. Put meat filling into individual dishes (or one large dish, if making one pie). Cut pastry to circles about 1 inch bigger than the top of the dishes. Brush the rims with beaten egg, place the pastry on top and squash the excess down the sides to secure. Lightly score the top in a criss cross pattern and brush with remaining beaten egg. Bake for 45min until golden brown and bubbling.

Salad

handful or arugula and baby spinach
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
half a red onion, sliced
1/4 cup gorgonzola
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
edible mixed flowers

dressing
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
5tbs olive oil
2tbs chopped basil
salt and pepper
chopped sunflower seeds

1. Place everything in a bowl and toss.

Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Frittata

I found the recipe for this frittata a couple of weeks ago on the self.com website and it is seriously some of the best eggs I have ever had. So tasty! I decided to make it for Sunday breakfast this morning and the best part is, it is only 289 calories for the entire serving (although I put a little cranberry and orange marmalade of my toast, for an extra 50 cals). The only thing I have found with this recipe is that the original baking time suggested is 12-14 minutes, however I think it needs a few more minutes in order to fully cook in the center. So I am going to suggest cooking it for 16-18 minutes.

Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Frittata
(serves 4)

Cooking spray
2 tsp olive oil
1 small shallot, chopped
1 cup packed fresh spinach, chopped
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup asiago cheese, grated
2 tbs chopped fresh basil
1/4tsp salt
1/8tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 slices whole wheat toast
2 cups fresh berries

1. Heat oven to 425F. Coat small ramekins with cooking spray and set aside.

2. heat oil in a pan over medium heat, then cook shallots until soft, but not brown, 2-3 minutes. Add spinach and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Lightly whisk eggs and egg whites in a bowl. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, cheese, basil, spinach mixture, salt and pepper. Spoon into ramekins and bake for 16-18 minutes.

4. Serve with 1 slice of toast and 1/2 cup of berries.

Dinner at Severn Inn

I left it up to Rich to pick the restaurant tonight and he chose to go to the Severn Inn in Annapolis. It was a great choice and I was very surprised. We had seen this place last summer, but I had totally forgotten it was even there. Its very out of the way, located almost underneath the Severn River Bridge just outside of Annapolis. Unfortunately it was a little cold and rainy, so we couldn't take full advantage of the river views and the lovely deck seating they have on the waters edge.

It was a pretty fancy place.....you can park your boat at their private jetty, need I say more!! And a little on the pricey side, but the food was good and the service great. We started with some crab dip, although Rich doesn't really like seafood, so he didn't eat that much. Then for our main, he had veal tenderloin and I had Maryland's famous crab cakes. These were the strangest looking crab cakes I have seen, but they were very good. Mostly meat and not a lot of filler, just the way I like them. Then we also opted for dessert, where Rich had a blueberry key lime pie and I had a mango crisp. Rich loved his choice and said it was fabulous. I find it hard to turn down a crisp if its on the menu, as they are probably one of my favourite desserts and I did like this one....however, I have to say the flavor of the mango was a little strange. I think it was a bit too tropical. I would rather have apple, pear, peach or something like that. It was still very good though.

This is definitely a special occasion restaurant because of the prices, but we had a great night and it was a lovely way to celebrate our first 6 months of marriage.

Individual Pavlova's

This is a bit of a red letter day in our household, as I have made dessert 2 nights in a row! I very rarely make a dessert as we always end up eating way too much. However in my quest to empty out the fridge this week, we just had some store bought minestrone soup for dinner (about 160 calories per serve) with some ciabatta crostini's. Therefore I thought it would be ok to have a little dessert and all of the other food bloggers have inspired me to do a little "baking".

So, in an effort to be somewhat healthy, I decided to make individual Pavlova's as they are predominantly made of egg whites, with just a little sugar. And by doing it this way, instead of making one big one, I can control the portion size.

For those who are wondering what a Pavlova is, it is a dessert that originated in Australia in the 1920's (although some say it originated in New Zealand) and is named after the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. It is basically a meringue base, with fresh cream and fruit on top. In order to reduce the calories, I used fat free cool whip instead of cream and then topped with strawberries, kiwi fruit, peaches and raspberry puree. The quintessential Pavlova is topped with passionfruit and I feel like it isn't really one without it, but passionfruit is almost impossible to get in the States. I did see some at wholefoods last week and tried to get some this afternoon, but alas, they were gone :( Therefore, I decided to puree some raspberries in the food processor to make the sauce.

The only major source of calories in this dessert is the sugar, but there is not a lot, so it is quite healthy, as far as desserts go.

Rich had never had this before, when I first met him, but it is now one of his favourite desserts, so he was also very pleased to be getting a second helping of dessert this week!!!

I have no idea where I got this recipe from, as it is jotted down in a note book and I have had it for years. But it is fairly fool proof and always yields quite good results. You can double to make a single Pavlova, whatever takes your fancy :)

Individual Pavlova's
(makes 4)

2 egg whites at room temperature
1/3 cup of granulated (castor) sugar
2 tbs cornstarch
1/4 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup fat free cool whip (or fresh whipped cream if you're not counting calories)
fresh fruit of your choice

1. Preheat oven to 250F.

2. Beat egg whites and vinegar with a mixer (a stand mixer is preferable, but you can do it with a hand mixer...it just takes longer) until fluffy. Slowly beat in sugar until the meringue is stiff and forming peaks.

3. Add in cornstarch and vanilla and whisk a little more, being careful not to over mix.

4. Place meringue into piping bag and pipe circles onto wax paper on a baking sheet (you could just spoon it on also).

5. Place in the oven for 35-40min and then turn the heat off. Leave the meringue shells in the oven for another hour, or until completely cool.

6. Spoon cool whip onto the top of the meringue, add sliced fruit of your choice and serve promptly so the meringue doesn't become soggy from the cool whip/cream.