Ywrites Weblog

I was watching Bills Food the other day, and he was making Pound Cake, differently to how I made it. I tried his way, and it tasted fantastic! I was looking on the website today, for some other recipes he’s made. And I found this one…

Ricotta Hotcakes

Ingredients

• For the honeycomb butter
  250g/8¾oz unsalted butter, softened
  100g/3½oz sugar honeycomb, crushed with a rolling pin (you can use a Crunchie bar for this)
  2 tbsp honey

• For the hotcakes
  225g/8oz ricotta
  170ml/6fl oz milk
  4 eggs, separated
  140g/5oz plain flour
  1 tsp baking powder
  a pinch salt
  50g/1½oz butter

• To serve
  banana or strawberries
  icing sugar for dusting

Method

1.   Make the honeycomb butter first. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Shape into a log on cling film, roll, seal and chill in a refrigerator for two hours.
2.  Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
3.  Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.
4.  Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop two tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don’t cook more than three per batch). 
5. Cook over low to medium heat for two minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through. 
6.  Transfer to a plate and quickly assemble with other ingredients.
7.  Slice one banana lengthways onto a plate, stack three hotcakes on top with a slice of honeycomb butter. Dust with icing sugar. You can use strawberries in place of the banana. Note - hotcake batter can be stored for up to 24 hours, covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. You can store leftover honeycomb butter in the freezer and slice as required - it’s great on toast!

Well, last week I made two lots of Flapjacks, and they were very nice!

Flapjacks

Ingredients

• 75g butter/margarine
• 75g caster sugar
• 125g rolled oats( not instant)
• 2 x 20ml spoon of Syrup
• pinch of cinnamon

Method

1. Add the margarine, sugar and syrup into a saucepan, heat until butter/fat has melted completely, so it’s nice and creamy
2. Stir the oats into the melted ingredients, mix well.
3. Press the mixture into a greased tin and flatten with a knife. Mixture should be roughly between 3-5 cm ( centimetres) thick.
4. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes.

Optional: To give it that extra bit of flavour, just add a pinch of Cinnamon into the mixture. You can also add fruit, such as apple, banana, and orange. If you’re thinking of adding fruit add 60-70g, grated.

Well, these past few weeks I’ve been pretty busy, so I haven’t had much time for blogging.

Still quite busy, but I’ll try and post a few recipes etc.

Korean food is another of my favourite types of food. I got this from, you’ll never guess….

Allrecipes.com!

My great aunt made noodles similar to these for New Year, and it was great!

Chap Chee Noodles

Ingredients

•    1 tablespoon soy sauce 
•     1 tablespoon sesame oil 
•       2 green onions, finely chopped 
•       1 clove garlic, minced 
•       1 teaspoon sesame seeds 
•       1 teaspoon sugar 
•       1/4 teaspoon black pepper 
•            1/3 pound beef top sirloin, thinly sliced 
•       2 tablespoons vegetable oil  
•    1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots 
•     1/2 cup sliced bamboo shoots, drained 
•       1/4 pound napa cabbage, sliced 
•    2 cups chopped fresh spinach 
•    3 ounces cellophane noodles, soaked in warm water 
•       2 tablespoons soy sauce 
•       1 tablespoon sugar 
•       1/2 teaspoon salt 
•       1/4 teaspoon black pepper  

Method

1.     In a large bowl, combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, garlic, sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in sliced beef, and marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.
2.  Heat wok or large skillet over medium-high heat, then drizzle with oil. Cook beef until evenly brown. Stir in carrots, bamboo shoots, napa cabbage, and spinach. Add cellophane noodles, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until heated through.

 Always remember to Enjoy It!

Seeing as I love prawns, especially with lemon, I thought that I’d have a look on Allrecipes.com to see what I could find. This is what I found…

Broiled Lemon and Garlic Tiger Prawns

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds tiger prawns, peeled and divined
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1.     Preheat oven on broiler setting. With a sharp knife, remove tails from prawns, and butterfly them from the underside. Arrange prawns on broiler pan.
2.  In a small saucepan, melt butter with garlic and lemon juice. Pour 1/4 cup butter mixture in a small bowl, and brush onto prawns. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over shrimp.
3.  Place broiler pan on top rack, and broil prawns for 4 to 5 minutes, or until done. Serve with remaining butter mixture for dipping.

Always remember to Enjoy It!

I haven’t submitted many recipes this week because I’ve been quite busy.

On Monday I’ll be making Flapjacks for sure! So I’ll upload the recipe and hopefully a photo, if I haven’t eaten all of them…

 Rice pudding is another one of my favourite desserts. I got it from Allrecipes.com

 Creamiest Rice Pudding

Ingredients

•     1/2 gallon milk 
•   1 cup white sugar
•      1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice 
•     3 eggs, lightly beaten 
•     1/4 cup milk
•      1/4 teaspoon salt 
•     2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
•     ground cinnamon to taste

Method

1.     In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine 1/2 gallon milk, sugar and rice. Simmer, covered, 1 hour, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and let rest 10 minutes. 
2.  In a small bowl, combine eggs, 1/4 cup milk, salt and vanilla. Stir into rice mixture and return pot to low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Pour into a 9×13 inch dish and cover with plastic wrap, folding back the corners to allow the steam to escape. 
3.   When pudding has cooled to room temperature, remove plastic wrap and sprinkle surface of pudding with cinnamon. Cover tightly (with fresh wrap) and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight before serving.

 Always remember to Enjoy It!

I found out today, that we’ll be making flapjacks next Monday and the week after as well. We actually had a choice between Flapjacks and Oat Biscuits. It was a tough choice, but I decided to go with Flapjacks!

So next week you’ll hopefully be able to see them and I’ll try and upload a recipe!

Plantain is a popular recipe in my family, and is one of my favourite recipes. It’s best to eat Plantain when it’s light yellow because it’s sweetest, but if it’s black it’s also OK to eat.

Fried Plantain

Ingredients

• 1 quart of oil for frying
• 2 plantains

Method

1. Preheat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat
2. Peel plantain and then cut in half, slice halves lenthways into thin peices. You can also cut plantain into circle shapes.
3. Fry the plantain till light brown and soft.
4. Drain excess oil onto paper towel.

Serve on it’s own or with a fry up and enjoy! ( eggs, bacon, toast, baked beans)

Here’s a nice recipe I found on Alrecipes.com

Three Bean Slow Burn Chili

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 habanero peppers, seeded and minced
• 2 (15 ounce) cans chili beans in spicy sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 4 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
• 1 (16 ounce) jar hot salsa
• 1/8 cup chili powder
• 1/8 cup coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/8 cup red pepper flakes
• 1/8 cup ground cumin
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 2 pounds ground beef

Method

1.   In a large pot over medium heat, combine garlic, onion, habanero peppers, chili beans, kidney beans, black beans, diced tomatoes with green chiles, salsa, chili powder, black pepper, red pepper flakes, cumin and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer.

2.  While soup is heating, cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat until brown. Drain excess fat, then stir beef into soup pot. Simmer, covered, until flavors are well blended, about 1 hour.

 Enjoy!