Garlic Prawn Salad with Feta and Parsley

No blog silence apologies from me, suffice to say I finished my degree. Enough said. 

As Summer supposedly draws closer (I missed the mini heatwave due to aforementioned finished degree) thoughts inevitably turn to lighter dishes, fish, salads and picnics, that sort of thing. This dish ticks all the boxes, being light (but bready too to keep Ben full) and reminiscent of the smells and flavours you might expect to encounter outside a Spanish cafe. It’s really simple to make too, so would be a good option for feeding a crowd. 

My best cooking buddy Rose and I originally made a variation of this after trawling through my ever growing collection of cook books for something ‘light and prawny’. We were very pleased with the results, but felt it could do with some tweaking, namely the addition of  the wine, which I think adds a depth of flavour, and slightly less feta, which was a little overpowering to the delicate flavours of the rest of the dish first time round, although the more you add, the more deliciously creamy the sauce will be..

Serves 2

Pack of cooked and peeled King Prawns

Good wedge of butter

half a red chili, deseeded and finely chopped

2/3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

large handful fresh parsley, chopped

75g Feta, crumbled

juice of a lemon

a small glass of white wine

Salad leaves

some crusty bread

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the prawns, chili, garlic and parsley, before sprinkling over a little salt. Stir to coat the prawns.
2. Add the lemon juice, wine and about half the feta, and leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Just before serving crumble in the remaining feta. 
4. Serve on the salad leaves, pouring over all the delicious sauce, which can then be mopped up by the crusty bread.

Potted Crab

Bearing testament to what I’ve learnt in the kitchen over the last year since I started Culinary Conquests, this year I made the Christmas Lunch starter for the first time. I opted for a Potted Crab dish served with toast and crab claws, as crab is always a treat and I thought it would provide a light prelude to the Beef Wellington we have at Christmas. Now being a keen reader of BBC Good Food magazine I had a flick through their December issue and stumbled across this simple recipe by Gregg Wallace of Masterchef fame. We are a small family of only three, and this year we chose to have just us on Christmas day, and this recipe meant for two was easily sized up to serve three.

The cayenne pepper gives this dish a little kick without overpowering the delicious flavour of the crab, and although I made this for Christmas Lunch it would make an appropriate starter for any special meal.  

Adapted from BBC Good Food (December 2011)

150g butter

zest of ¾ lemon

1 tsp lemon juice

a generous dash of Tabasco sauce

a pinch of freshly ground mace and freshly grated nutmeg

¾ tsp cayenne pepper

150g dark crabmeat

150g white crabmeat

toast, to serve

1. Melt the butter over a low heat, add the lemon juice and zest, Tabasco sauce, spices and salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes, then stir in the crab meat and cook over a gentle heat for 1 minute.
2. Spoon the mixture into 3 small ramekins, leave to cool, then cover with cling film and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
3. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before you wish to serve.

Calamari with Garlic Mayonnaise

Bens been begging for us to cook some homemade calamari for well over a month now, but after keeping an eye out for some fresh squid we were only able to find some very sorry looking baby squids which wouldn’t really suffice. That was until we went to the Brighton Farmers Market on Saturday and found some lovely big fat squid, much better. Now, my relationship with the Brighton Farmers Market is a bit love hate. I always get over excited about trying out fresh organic produce, but the food we have got from there has been a bit hit and miss. Luckily this time around we were a lot more successful. The very nice fishman offered to prepare the squid for us, ie. Get rid of all the nasty bits you definitely don’t want to eat, and I’m glad we accepted the offer, goodness knows what we would have done with the thing otherwise. Once we got the squid home it was simple enough to chop it up into rings, then mix with flour and paprika before frying with groundnut oil.

The results really did take me back to long lazy days spent at vine smothered tavernas in Greece. Anyone who has read my Tzatziki post will know I have a bit of a soft spot for, in my opinion, one of the friendliest most beautiful places in the world. Calamari is a true staple of any Greek menu, sometimes served with just a squeeze of lemon, providing one of the simplest, yet tastiest dishes there is. Thankfully I don’t have to wait too long for my next Greece dose as I’m off to Corfu with my mum in just over two months time, Yay!!

Serves 2

2 medium sized fresh squid, prepared by the fishmonger and cut into 1cm thick squid rings, and the tentacles cut into bitesized pieces

a few good glugs of groundnut oil

2 tbsp cornflour

4 tbsp plain flour

1tsp salt

1tsp paprika

-For the Garlic Mayonnaise-

½ clove garlic, peeled and crushed

pinch paprika

100g mayonnaise

1. Put the cornflour, plain flour, paprika and salt into a plastic freezer bag, add the squid and toss to coat.
2. Heat the oil in a smallish frying pan, until it sizzles fiercely if you put a crumb in to the pan. Fry the squid in batches, 3 to 4 minutes per batch, until golden and crunchy.
3. Mix the garlic and paprika into the mayonnaise and serve with fried squid and a wedge of lemon.

Culinary Know How: SECOND YEAR

Budget: WE PAID £6 FOR THE SQUID, AROUND £2 FOR THE OTHER INGREDIENTS

Kitchen Requirements: FREEZER BAG, SMALL FRYING PAN. 

Pad Thai

Unfortunately, I’ve never sampled Thai food in Thailand, but living in Brighton am lucky enough to have tried some pretty good Pad Thai in the past. It’s the sweet nutty earthy zesty flavours all in one that make it so good, and now I know how easy it is to make its even better. I scouted around at a number of different recipes, in the hope that one would fit to what I had in my cupboard, and in the end decided to amalgamate a few different recipes to create my own hybrid. I think it tastes pretty good, and I hope you agree too!!

Serves 2

400g fresh egg noodles

3 spring onions, finely sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

juice of one lime (plus one to serve)

225g peeled tiger prawns (raw and frozen)

3 tbsp light brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

pinch of salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

large handful of bean sprouts

2 eggs

handful of peanuts, finely chopped

coriander leaves

1. Heat the oil over a medium heat, add the spring onions and cook for 2 minutes. Crack the eggs into the pan and stir everything together.
2. Add the prawns and cook until they turn pink.
3. Add the sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper, bean sprouts and half the peanuts, stir everything together and cook for a minute.
4. Add the noodles and cook for a further 3 minutes, until the noodles have heated through.
5. Serve with the remaining peanuts and coriander on top, and the lime cut into wedges on the side.

Culinary Know How: FRESHER

Budget: UNDER £3.50

Kitchen Requirements: DEEP FRYING PAN

Mouclade

Here follows the first of two posts on the theme of French cooking and Paris. I adore Paris, the wide boulevards, the imposing apartment buildings, the impeccable shop fronts and of course the food. I love French bread, French cheese, French patisserie and French desserts. Having said this I find the richness of many of the savoury dishes, laden with fat and very meat heavy, all a bit too much. Moules Mariniere is an exception to the rule however, the creamy, garlicy sauce being the perfect accompaniment to the mussels, and all mopped up with some fresh French bread, the epitome of bistro dining.

On this occasion I decided to stray from the traditional moules mariniere and opted for Nigellas Mouclade, a lightly curried alternative that still encompasses all of the best bits of the Mariniere, the wine and garlic!! Now you may be thinking that sea food does not really fit with my endeavour to eat adventurously and remain on a student budget, but I was able to find a kilogram of mussels for £3, working out at £1.50 per person, and with all the other ingredients the whole dish remained under £3 per person which really isn’t too bad, considering what a treat mussels are, and how good they are for you. I used salad onions and regular medium curry powder, but apart from that followed Nigella to the letter. The recipe can be found here.

Having never cooked mussels before I was a little apprehensive, having heard the horror stories of what a bad mussel can do. I found the BBC Good Food website had a really useful video and checklist for preparing mussels that I suggest you have a look at if you haven’t cooked mussels before, nobody wants food poisoning!!

Below are a few shots of the beautiful shop fronts that can be found around Paris. I stayed in the Canal Saint Martin area of the city, which was crammed full of bustling restaurants and cafes, but the majority of these photos are taken in the Saint Germain area on the Left Bank. Paris is a delight for all the senses!!

Culinary Know How: 2ND YEAR
Budget: UNDER £3
Kitchen Requirements: LARGE SAUCEPAN WITH LID, COLANDER.