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RECIPES - STARTER / MAIN / DESSERT


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[quote user="Geordie girl"]Thanks gaurdian, any starter would do as long as i can get it ready beforehand. Will try yours during the week cos i've never cooked artichokes before. Then if i cope ok it will be the starter for the weekend. Thanks again[/quote]

Did it work, or was it **** ?  Just interested.

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[quote user="Gardian"]

[quote user="Geordie girl"]Thanks gaurdian, any starter would do as long as i can get it ready beforehand. Will try yours during the week cos i've never cooked artichokes before. Then if i cope ok it will be the starter for the weekend. Thanks again[/quote]

Did it work, or was it **** ?  Just interested.

[/quote]

And was the Main and Dessert to your liking?[:)]

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[8-|]      Dessert or just plain old Indulgence............. 

 

I first had these in north western Australia when visiting a banana plantation in Carnarvon.   The guide looked exactly like Basil Fawlty, hence why they were called  "Basil's Bananas" on the menu

Ingredients.

One banana per person.  

Cooking chocolate of your choice (dark, milk, white).

Crushed nuts or 100s & 1000s - your choice!.

 Lollipop sticks or half a wooden skewer each.  These are purely to keep your hands clean.

How to:-

1. Melt chocolate in a bain marie.

2. Peel bananas and insert a stick into each one lengthways.

3. Dip bananas into melted chocolate then sprinkle with your choice of topping.

4. Lay coated bananas onto greaseproof paper on a tray then place in freezer.

These need to freeze solid so possibly leave overnight.

                                                                               Then enjoy!  

Basil's Bananas  really are absolutely delicious and my children always clamoured for more ,so I invariably ended up with a drawer-full in the freezer because you can buy a job-lot of fruit when its on special offer and know they stay perfectly preserved for months..    Also they make a lovely treat thats a bit different to the usual ice creams or lollies on offer - nor are they full of E numbers or preservatives.

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 STARTER - easy

A good starter for this time of year!    THAI PUMPKIN SOUP

750g pumpkin (you can also include sweet potato if you wish)   -   2 chopped onions   -   1 tablespoon red curry paste   -   2 cups coconut milk   -    2 cups chicken stock  

1.  Saute onions in 1 tablespn of oil and the curry paste in a large saucepan for about 4 minutes. 

2.  Now add chopped pumpkin, coconut milk and chicken stock, bring it to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes. 

Blend soup to smooth it down and serve it with a touch of sour cream.

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Sorry gaurdian have been back to uk visiting the grandchildren. All went well on the night.[:D] One girl said she didn't like artichokes but when put down to her she ate the lot. So just because you haven't tried a certain food it doesn't mean you won't like it. And 47 yours went down well too.[:D] So a great night was had by all. Only thing is they want me to do it again, so i'll have to suss some more recipes.
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OK, you have shamed me into posting something.  I didn't want to post anybody else's recipe and anyway half the time I can't be bothered with recipes.  I only use them for baking or something really new and unusual to me.

So, here goes.  This is a winter salad starter, dead easy and I serve it with charcuterie or homemade fishcakes for non meat eaters.

Take 1/4 to 1/2 of a red cabbage (full of flavonoids or whatever that are now dubbed "superfoods") and shred finely

Take some spring onions or a nice mild white onion and dice finely

Then a couple of fistfuls of plump raisins

Throw all into a big mixing bowl and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper

For a special occasion make some garlic mayonnaise or, if you are in a hurry or can't be a***d, good bought mayonnaise will do and use a generous helping of about 2 tablespoonsfuls

Mix well.  Then chuck in a HUGE fistful of chopped parsely or the green bits of the spring onions or both.

For extra crunch, I use broken up walnuts (because I have 2 very prolific walnut trees in my garden) and scatter those on top.  You can also use lightly toasted almonds, pine kernels or a mixture of crunchy seeds such as sesame, sunflower, hemp, etc.

The taste should be quite sweet and so you can use some chopped up dates if not sweet enough.  The taste of the onion, whilst mild, should come through.  My OH who hates raw onions will nonetheless eat this.

 Best of all, you can make this a couple of hours in advance and it doesn't go all limp and horrible like most dressed salads. It looks very interesting with the rich purple of the cabbage, the white of the onion, and the green of the parsely.  I like to serve it in a pretty glass dish or in a big earthenware shallow dish.  As though it needs any more recommendation, it is both seasonal and quite filling!

 

 

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So 47 is pumpkin soup the same as your thai pumpkin soup, but without the curry paste? Or is it completely different? I was given a pumpkin 2 weeks ago and haven't done anything with it yet. It keeps staring at me when i walk into the room. I think it feels neglected. I know you can roast it but that would be too much for the two of us. Its massive. I'm frightened to start on it cos we'll be eating it for a fortnight. Any ideas please?

ps sueyh im gonna try your apple nut thingy. sounds lovely

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[quote user="Geordie girl"]

So 47 is pumpkin soup the same as your thai pumpkin soup, but without the curry paste? Or is it completely different? I was given a pumpkin 2 weeks ago and haven't done anything with it yet. It keeps staring at me when i walk into the room. I think it feels neglected. I know you can roast it but that would be too much for the two of us. Its massive. I'm frightened to start on it cos we'll be eating it for a fortnight. Any ideas please?

ps sueyh im gonna try your apple nut thingy. sounds lovely

[/quote]

Hi Geordie Girl !   My ordinary pumpkin soup I omit the curry paste but do add a tablespoon of red chilli pepper sauce just to give it a bit of oomph (the same as I do when I'm making tomato soup).      Don't you feel sorry for that pumpkin, can you imagine what Tom Hanks could have done with that pumpkin on his desert island film Castaway, he could have had all kinds of delicious meals from the inside of it then spoken to it for the rest of his stay on the island !   Get it cut into chunks and blanch it for a few minutes, cool it, and freeze it, then you've got it anytime to make the soup again to impress those guests!   Happy cooking! [:D]

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Never mind tom hanks , i think we'll be eating it for ever cos its huge. I'm gonna try the soup tomorrow and roast some on sunday and freeze the rest. Keep up with the recipes everyone, i am trying to get through them. My new kitchen should be finished next weekend and then i'll be cooking like a good un. It'll be great to have work surfaces instead of a sheet of mdf balanced over two workhorses. Thats what i've had for 7 months.Not funny.
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The cabbage salad recipe is wonderful and being able to make it in advance an added bonus.  Thanks Sweet dix sept.  Whenever I make pumpkin soup (or any sort of squash soup come to that), I flavour it with cardomom pods and enrich it with cream.  Cardomom goes well with carrot soup, too. I freeze soup in empty orange juice cartons - takes up less space in the freezer.  Happy soup making everyone!

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Hello GG - normally I'll add the cream at the end but I've never noticed a great difference if it is frozen with it already in.  A quick whisk with a hand held blender usually takes care of any problems.  Soup is one of the few advantages of winter and apparently if you have a bowl of soup before every meal (well, not breakfast!) you won't gain weight.

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Big pumpkins are always a problem which is why I grow buternut squash or potiron (petit maron). I was invited once where the whole meal consisted of a big potiron hollowed out and filled with saussages, ventreche (pork belly), cream and cheese.  The whole thing was baked in the oven and was delicious.  I've never dared try it as in know that with my luck the whole thing would disintegrate in the oven.  Aaaargh! 

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Made the soup and it was wonderful with crusty bread. Friends turned up and had some too, they loved it. They took some home with them as well so it must have been good.

Keep up with the recipes, today its sueys apple and nut pudding. That should help keep the cold out, its freezing here.

 

 

 

[:D]

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Yes it's certainly the weather to start making hot puddings with custard etc Here's one for a chocolate pudding with its own sauce:

3oz sr flour sifted

2tbsp cocoa sifted

4 oz marg

4 oz sugar

vanilla

2 eggs beaten with a little water.

Make a sponge mixture with above ingredients and put into a greased ovendish.Then make the "sauce" with

2tbsp cocoa

4 oz soft brown sugar

half pint boiling water

Carefully pour the sauce over the sponge mixture and bake in a medium oven about 30 minutes. The sponge rises to the top and the sauce beneath is quite thick. Serve with cream or ice cream or custard.

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MAIN - EASY

ROSEMARY DUCK WITH APRICOTS

3 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary   -   2 Tbsp brown sugar   -   1 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper   -   2 teaspoons salt   -   2 duck breasts, skinned and halved   -   1 Tbsp olive oil   -   1/2 cup granulated sugar   -   1/2 cup champagne or white wine vinegar   -   5 apricots, quartered.

1.  Combine the rosemary, brown sugar, black pepper, and salt. Rub the mixture over the duck breasts. Cover and chill 2 hours. Rinse duck with cold water, pat dry.

2.  Heat olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add duck and cook until done (should'nt take long!).  Remove from pan.   Let stand for 10 minutes.

3.  Combine the granulated sugar and champagne OR white wine vinegar in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook until thick and amber-colored (about 5 minutes). Add apricots; reduce heat, and cook for 1 minute or until the apricots begin to soften. Cut duck diagonally across the grain into slices. Serve with caramelized apricots.  Nice served with rice.

 

 

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