Blog Archives

Prawn Salad Roll

23/12/2016

I love a classic prawn roll, the one with mayonnaise, it is delicious and it is one of my favourite things to eat.

This one is my leftover prawn roll recipe. I should have actually called it Boxing Day Prawn Rolls.

Why, because after serving up prawns for Christmas lunch I usually have some left overs. This recipe is something I always do if I have any leftover prawns. It is delicious, and a great way to enjoy prawns the next day. It is lighter than the mayonnaise version and is great if you have a lactose intolerance, as it is dairy free.

So I got my uncle and husband to peel the left over prawns for me once we had finished Christmas lunch. My dad sliced up the onion, so I can turn the left over prawns in to a salad for the next day. Make the salad on the day they become leftovers, so when you go to eat them later in the day or the next day, the onions have time to mellow and soften.

The dressing I will add the ingredients only, not quantities, as I never measure it, but I will describe how I do it in the method.

I just had it for Boxing Day brunch and it was delicious. So if you are like me and you have left over prawns, try this, it is delicious.

Recipe

8 cooked prawns
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and white pepper, to taste

Peel and devein the prawns and place in a medium sized bowl. Add the sliced onion, if you like more onions add more if you like. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, then add the balsamic vinegar, to taste, season with salt and pepper. Taste it. If it is dry, add some more oil, if you like more vinegar add some, this recipe is to taste.

Serve as a salad with some bread, or place it in a roll with some salad leaves of your choice and make Prawn Rolls.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/prawn-salad-roll.html
Pin it: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/399413060688110731/

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

0 Comments

Piri Piri Chicken

17/12/2016

0 Comments

My family love the Portuguese Chicken from our local take away chicken shop. But as per usual I always like to try and make things I eat out at home.

When I told my husband I was making piri piri chicken he just said 'why, we can just go to The Char'. But when he tasted this chicken, he could not believe how moist the breast was. Now we don't usually like the breast, we find it dry and tasteless, but the kids get the legs and thighs, me and my husband get what they leave us.

This breast was amazing, it was so moist and just delicious. The whole chicken was delicious, and very little effort I must say. And far cheaper than take out. Now I will get take out again, on busy days, but this is something I will make again and again.

Also this is the first time I butterflied a chicken, once I figured out which side had the backbone, it was super easy, and cooked far quicker than cooking the chicken whole.

Also, I like to leave the seeds from one or two of the chillies in for a bit of extra heat, so if you like a bit of spice, leave a few chilli seeds in.

If you don't have a baking dish with racks in it. Just line a baking tray with baking paper (makes clean up so much easier) and place the chicken and some of the marinade over the chicken. It will still bake nicely. The great part of butterflying a chicken is all the skin is on top, so it crisps up nicely even with out racks.

This is a simple mid week meal idea, you can prep it the day before, then just put it to bake the next day.

Try this soon.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook 'Great Cooking Classics'

Serves 4-5

1.5kg whole chicken
4 fresh red Thai chillies, seeded, chopped finely
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
100ml lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Wash chicken under cold water, pat dry with paper towels.

Using kitchen scissors, cut along both sides of the backbone of chicken, discard backbone.

Place chicken skin side up, using the heel of your hand, press down firmly on breastbone to flatten the chicken.

Put the chillies, paprika, oregano, salt, pepper, brown sugar, lemon juice and oil in a large snap lock bag. Mix it up a bit to combine. Add the chicken to the bag, seal the bag, and toss the marinade around, all over the chicken. Place the bag on a large bowl, and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Every now and then turn the bag over so all sides marinate evenly.

Preheat the oven to a hot 220C/200C fan forced.

Remove chicken from the bag, reserve the marinade. Place the chicken on an oiled wire rack over a baking dish. Pour over the reserved marinade.

Now in the base of your pan, pour in enough water to just cover the base of the pan. (I do this as the marinade burns in the base of your pan, the water makes it easier to clean off later and kind of acts like a steamer from underneath, just don't let the water touch the chicken).

Bake uncovered, about 1-1¼ hours, or until the chicken is browned and cooked through. Halfway through cooking you may need to lay a sheet of aluminium foil on top, loosely, as the chicken can start to burn. Just keep an eye on it, as soon as it is brown enough for you, place on the aluminium foil.

Serve with a crisp garden salad, lemon wedges and garlic bread.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/blog/piri-piri-chicken
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060688029277/

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

0 Comments

Mussel Buzara

16/12/2016

0 Comments

This is one of those dinners where you get to eat with your hands, my 9 year old loves them so much because they taste great, but also because he can eat with his hands.

It is a quick and easy recipe that tastes so good with very little effort.

You actually don't get full on the mussels, it is the crusty Italian Bread that is the filler, it is used to soak up all that gorgeous sauce.

This is especially amazing when the mussels are in season and full and plump. Not an attractive dish, but extremely delicious.

If there is any leftover sauce I pour over cooked pasta for lunch the next day, or add it to a risotto, no waste.

So if you are looking for a quick and easy way to impress your family and friends this is a great recipe for that.

Recipe

Serves 4

1kg mussels
2 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3/4 cup tomato passata
1/2 cup white wine
1 handful packaged breadcrumbs, optional
Parsley, chopped, extra for serving
Crusty bread, to serve

Take the mussels out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you start cooking.

Heat a large saucepan until very hot, now add the mussels for about 30-60 seconds until they open very slightly so they release the salt water from them. If you don't do this step your sauce can be too salty to eat. Pour the mussels into a bowl and leave until needed.

Add the oil to your saucepan, now over a medium-high heat, add garlic and chilli, fry for 15-30 seconds, just until you start smelling the garlic, don't allow the garlic to burn.

Add the tomato passata and parsley, stir, when this comes to the boil, add the mussels and pour over the wine. Cover the saucepan, increase the heat to high. Shake the mussels around in the saucepan so the sauce coats them. Shake the pan every now and then so that as the mussels open the sauce goes into the mussels. This only takes 30-60 seconds.

Now if you want a thicker sauce, add the breadcrumbs, cover the pan, shake the mussels about until the breadcrumbs are mixed in well.

Pour into a serving bowl, sprinkle over some extra chopped up parsley and serve immediately with Crusty Bread.

Enjoy!

Recipe can be found at www.whatscookingella.com/mussel-buzara.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060716452505

I'd love to know what you think about this recipe, and please let me know if you have made it, I do like to get feedback. Name and comment only required.

0 Comments

Basil and Watermelon Mojito

9/12/2016

0 Comments

This is what happens when I have time to spare, I browse through cookbooks until I find something I can make from the ingredients I have in my house.

This was fabulous, I love it, very much. It is so fresh and screams of summer.

This needs to be cold, really cold, so make sure you have ice in the house. It is best made in a jug as you can mix the ingredients better. Then just pour the desired amount in your ice filled glass and top with soda water.

If you like a little more vodka, add some, make it to your liking. You can even use flavoured vodka if you like, like lemon or lime vodka.

You can also just blitz up the watermelon, sugar, lime juice and vodka in a blender or food processor, then tear in the basil leaves, works great to.

This is something you and your guests will love.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from Helena and Vikki Moursellas' cookbook 'Taking you home'

Serves 4

4 thick slices watermelon, rind removed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
120ml vodka
6 basil leaves, torn
Soda water

Put the watermelon, sugar, lime juice vodka in a jug. Tear in the basil leaves. Muddle and stir.

Place crushed ice into 4 glasses, add the watermelon mixture, top with soda water.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go http://www.whatscookingella.com/basil-and-watermelon-mojito.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060708294228

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

0 Comments

Sweet Chilli Octopus (or Prawns)

8/12/2016

0 Comments

This recipe is a great example of how I cook. We love this dish, we love it a lot, but I hadn't made it in ages. Why, because I keep making new things, I keep trying new things on my family. So long before I started posting my family meals on What's Cooking Ella this is how I cooked. I just don't repeat recipes often, there is usually a large gap between the repeating of my meals.

So this octopus is delicious. It was funny when we had it again this weekend after not making it for so long. We actually questioned why we hadn't made it, but it simply came back to we had other things.

It can be barbecued or grilled in an oven, both ways work beautifully. It is super easy to make and super quick to cook, so it is great when entertaining, but it is also great as a light Sunday lunch.

You can use this marinade on raw prawns also, you will need approximately 20 prawns. Now there are two ways you can prepare the prawns. Firstly you can clean and devein them completely (but keep the tails on) or secondly, you can just remove their heads, devein them (once you cut off the head the vein can be pulled out easily), but leave the skins on, as pictured. I would do the first method if I'm having a party and I was serving finger food, but the second method I prefer when I'm just making this just for us and I don't mind getting my fingers dirty. Cooking time is only 2-3 minutes, or until the flesh has changed colour to orange. You can also try it on squid, sliced into rings, cooking time should be the same as the octopus, depending on thickness of the rings.

The marinade needs to go on for at least 10 minutes, but over the weekend we marinated it for an hour, and it was perfect also, just don't marinate for too long, as there is lemon juice in it.

Next time you are entertaining, give this a go, it is really good.

Recipe

1kg baby octopus, cleaned
3 long red chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Olive oil for cooking
Lemon wedges, to serve
Freshly ground black pepper

Clean the octopus.

I forgot to photograph my husband cleaning the octopus, so I have temporarily borrowed these photos from The Essential Seafood Cookbook until I make this again, so you can all see how to clean it.

In a large bowl add the octopus, chilli, sweet chilli sauce, ginger and lemon juice. Mix well to combine, marinate for 10 minutes.

Preheat grill or barbecue to hot. Lightly brush grill with oil. Cook octopus for 4-5 minutes on each side (basting with the marinade) or until the flesh is no longer opaque.

Remove from heat and place on a serving platter. Season with ground black pepper.

Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/sweet-chilli-octopus.html
Pin it: www.pinterest.com.au/pin/399413060716117317/

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

0 Comments

Fresh Fruit Salad with a Vanilla Lime Syrup

7/12/2016

0 Comments

It is nearing the end of the year and that means we are all getting tired in my house. Everyone is looking forward to the holidays when school, work, after school activities, everything stops.

So this recipe today is a reflection of that. This is what I have been making lately, instead of desserts. This fruit salad is delicious, after dinner a cold bowl of this fruit salad is all you need really. If there are any leftovers, it gets packed for recess at school the following day. Quite often I make it so big that I ensure there is enough for school tomorrow.

Now you may ask why does a fruit salad need a sugar syrup, well in truth it probably doesn't, but if you decide to add it, it really does add an extra bit of flavour that is just perfect. The vanilla is subtle, but you can taste it, the lime adds a little zing to the fruit salad. I have also more than doubled the amount of fruit than what was added in the original recipe, but kept the syrup the same, so you can decrease the amount of fruit you add, if you like.

Now the fruits I add is what I have in the house, my families favourites are watermelon, pineapple, any berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries etc, peaches, nectarines, grapes (any colour), mango, kiwi fruit, banana, cherries... This truly is a summer recipe where the fruit is ripe and you have so much choice. Probably the most important thing is that the fruit needs to be cold.

I will admit when I am particularly lazy I sometimes even just sprinkle on the sugar directly over the fruit, pour over the lime juice and use vanilla extract, instead of the paste, stir it all together and refrigerate a few hours for it to macerate. If doing this you don't need to add the water. It tastes great, not quite as good as doing it properly, but great non the less.

Also the original recipe adds mint to the syrup, but as not all of my family love mint, I tend to add a few sprigs on top, for flavour and colour. Those that don't love mint can avoid it this way.

Now I will also mention this is perfect for Christmas in Australia. As we have a hot summer Christmas this would be a perfect way to end Christmas lunch. It is refreshing and light. It is also great as you can prepare it in the morning and just leave it in the refrigerator until needed. Or if you have family like mine, big, you can make the syrup the day before, then after lunch get a few helpers to chop up the fruit for you, then you just pour over the syrup and serve immediately. It goes beautifully over some vanilla ice cream also, dessert done and so easy to make.

So whether you just need a simple sweet treat after dinner or if you want to impress guests with an amazing fruit salad for Christmas, give this a try, it won't disappoint.

Recipe

Recipe adapted from www.taste.com.au

This makes one really big fruit salad.

Serves 10-12

1/4 of a medium watermelon
1 small pineapple
2 punnets strawberries
1 punnet blueberries
2 mangoes
2 cups grapes, any type
1 banana
2 cups cherries
1 peach
1 nectarine
A few mint sprigs, to decorate

Lime and mint syrup:
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice
1/4 cup (60ml) water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Firstly make the vanilla lime syrup: Place the sugar, lime juice, water and vanilla in a small saucepan. Place over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Once it has dissolved, increase the heat to high, bring to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes or until the syrup thickens slightly. Place the syrup in the refrigerator whilst you prepare the fruit.

Remove the rind from the watermelon, chop up the flesh into bite sized pieces and add to your serving bowl.

Cut off the top and bottom of your pineapple, now carefully cut off the prickly skin. Once you have done that, the centre of the pineapple needs to be removed, so cut around it and discard the fibrous centre. Now chop up the pineapple flesh into bite sized pieces, add to the watermelon.

Remove the skin and seed from the mango, chop up the flesh into bit sized pieces also, add to your bowl.

Wash the strawberries, remove the stalks, slice them as you like, add to the bowl.

Wash the blueberries and the grapes. Remove the stalks from the grapes and add to the bowl.

Remove stalks from the cherries, you can pit them also if you like, I don't for us at night, but for a Christmas fruit salad I would. Add to the bowl.

Wash the peaches and nectarines, then i just cut wedges around the seed, discard the seed, add the wedges to the bowl.

Peel and slice your banana, add to the bowl.

Pour over the syrup and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

If using immediately add on your mint sprigs and serve. If you have refrigerated it for a few hours, give it a quick stir before adding on the mint leaves, then serve.

Enjoy!

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/fresh-fruit-salad-with-a-vanilla-lime-syrup.html
Pin it: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/399413060687890638/

I'd love to know what you think about this recipe, and please let me know if you have made it, I do like to get feedback. Name and comment only required.

0 Comments

Prawn Salad Roll

Recipe

Piri Piri Chicken

Recipe

Mussel Buzara

Recipe

Basil and Watermelon Mojito

Recipe

Sweet Chilli Octopus (or Prawns)

Recipe

Fresh Fruit Salad with a Vanilla Lime Syrup

Recipe

Author

Archives

Categories