Samphire and prawns with garlic butter

Boxing day supper.....

You will need:

A handful of raw shelled prawns (shrimp)
A handful of samphire
1-2 garlic butter discs (see below)
A thick slice of good white bread drizzled with olive oil

Method:

Toast the bread slice in a hot oven until golden brown.

Melt the garlic butter in a frying pan and when it starts to sizzle add the prawns.  Toss around for a couple of minutes then add the samphire.  Cook everything for another two minutes then decant onto the toasted bread.

Simples!

For the garlic butter

You will need:

Around 120g of soft salted butter
2 garlic cloves very finely chopped
A small handful of parsley very finely chopped
A pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together and put onto a sheet of clingfilm (plastic wrap).  Roll up the parcel until you have something that looks like a Christmas Cracker.

Chill (you and the butter).

Now cut discs of garlic butter from the roll.  You will need 1-2 discs for this recipe.  The rest can be put in a plastic bag and frozen.

Ideas for garlic butter discs:

Melt onto a griddled rib-eye steak.  Have a tomato salad on the side.

Put into a large field mushroom.  Bake for 10 minutes in a hot oven and use ciabatta bread to mop up the juices.

Mix into linguine pasta along with a handful of shredded basil and a few peas.

Pork and shiitake meatballs

To have in front of the tele-box with some fizzy pop.

You will have leftovers.  This is deliberate.

You will need:

1 packet of pork mince (around 500g but less is fine - do not alter the other ingredients)
4-6 spring onions (depending on length and girth) finely sliced into little rings
2 garlic cloves crushed
8-10 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water, drained and finely chopped
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of thai sweet chilli sauce
1 large handful of coriander (stalks and all) chopped
1 beaten egg

To serve:

1 butter-head, or other soft lettuce
Thai sweet chilli sauce

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together, form into ping pong sized balls and put in the fridge to chill.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Bake the balls on the sheet for around 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

Wrap each meatball in a soft butter-head lettuce leaf and dunk into a pot of thai sweet chilli 'sawse'.

These are even better cold......

Linguine with roasted onion and anchovy (or black olives)

I took the dog for a walk this morning and I found myself thinking about pissaladiere..... as you do.


And no I am not talking about how one feels after two glasses of wine on an empty tummy but rather that lovely thin bread smothered in caramelised onions and anchovies that is sold at room temperature in French bakeries.


And I came up with this;  'Pissaladiere Pasta'.      


You will need


1 small roasted onion (see below) squeezed from its skin and finely chopped
2-3 anchovy fillets in oil finely chopped (or a few chopped black olives if you prefer)
1/4 red chilli very finely diced
A glug of good olive oil
A handful of dried linguine (as much you think you can, or should eat)
Freshly grated parmesan


Method


Heat up the onion, anchovy (or olives) and chilli with a glug of good olive oil in a non-stick pan.


Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.  However, instead of draining the linguine when it is cooked, simply fish it out of the water using kitchen tongs and add it to the onion and anchovy mixture.  Do not shake the pasta as you transfer it.  We want the water that is clinging.  Stir to mix and tip into a bowl. Top with parmesan.


Very simple.  And very good.


To roast the onion:


Lightly grease a baking dish and add a scant centimetre of water and the onions (brown, whole, skins left on).  


I suggest you cook more than one onion at a time.  They are a most obliging ingredient and will keep quite happily for up to three days in the fridge.  It goes without saying  (but I am going to anyway) that the best thing to do here is to cook the onions at the same time the oven is on for something else.


Bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours at 160C.  Allow to cool before attempting to remove the flesh from the skins; the soft onion achieves the temperature of molten lava.


Other uses for roasted onion


In an omelette for breakfast, perhaps with a bit of crumbled feta
Spread on bread and roasted for a little nibble to have with a drink
To make onion gravy to have with sausages
To make onion soup (just add beef stock and top with toasted french bread and grated cheddar)
To make pissaladiere .....?

The Solitary Suppers Christmas Cake......

A little bit of fun was had this Sunday morning...... 

A couple of weeks ago I quartered Delia's Christmas cake recipe and added a few chopped glace cherries because I like them.  I baked the mixture in a small pork pie tin at 140C for 2 1/2 hours.  I then fed the cake with brandy for a few days.  When I had run out of brandy I covered the cake with marzipan and allowed it to dry for 3 days.

And this morning I had a play.

HOW old am I?  Don't answer that.....