Salmon tartare

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Salmon tartare
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Ingredients
  1. 250g fresh salmon fillet (sushi grade, without skin)
  2. Fruity, high-quality olive oil
  3. 1 Finely diced shallot or 2 spring onions
  4. 1 lime or lemon
  5. 1 Ripe avocado
  6. Coarse sea salt
  7. Freshly ground black pepper
  8. Serve on thin, toasted slices of baguette, bread
  9. 1 kind or chopped fresh herbs (cilantro, chives, dill)
  10. 1 Cucumber
  11. Salmon eggs to decorate
Instructions
  1. For easier slicing, put the salmon in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Cut the salmon into three evenly thick pieces (horizontally), then into thin stripes and lastly into small cubes.
  3. The more attention you pay to this step, the nicer the tartare will look in the end.
  4. Put into a larger bowl. Drizzle generously with very good olive oil and stir until the fish is evenly covered and looks smooth and shiny, then add the diced shallot, the sea salt and the black pepper.
  5. Wash the lime under hot water and pat dry before grating its zest over the tartare. Mix well, season to taste, cover with foil and return to the fridge.
  6. Keep the lime for later (you’ll be needing some juice).
  7. Cut the baguette into thin slices. Heat the grill then distribute the slices evenly and drizzle with a little olive oil. Toast shortly from both sides until golden brown and crisp.
  8. At the last minute, cut your avocado mix into your salmon very gently so it does not smosh up!
  9. Top the little bread slices with the marinated salmon cubes and drizzle with some juice from the reserved lime (if you add it earlier the fish will lose its shiny color and turn opaque).
  10. Decorate with some fresh herbs, if at hand.
  11. If you are serving these on a plate as a starter you can slice your cucumber very finely and place on the bottom for your plate for extra colour.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Indonesian sweet corn fritters

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Indonesian sweet corn fritters
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Ingredients
  1. 1-2 cloves garlic
  2. 1 small chilli deseeded
  3. 2 spring onions roughly chopped
  4. small bunch Italian parsley roughly chopped
  5. 1 packet frozen sweet corn
  6. 1 tsp coriander powder
  7. 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
  8. 3 eggs
  9. 2 heaped tablespoons flour
  10. Salt and pepper
  11. Oil for frying
Instructions
  1. In a blender put your 1/2 your sweetcorn, all the garlic, chilli and ginger blend till chopped but not smooth then add remaining ingredients except the flour and leftover corn and blend again, put this mixture into a bowl and stir in remaining sweetcorn and the flour.
  2. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and spoon in the mixture 1 tablespoon at a time.
  3. When the mixture begins to set on the top turn and fry the other side.
  4. Serve with a wedge of lime and sweet chilli sauce.
  5. You could also top with a prawn or some salmon.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Cheese and onion squares

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Cheese and onion squares
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Ingredients
  1. Frozen ready rolled puff pastry
  2. 2 onions sliced
  3. 1 tablespoon sugar
  4. Salt and pepper
  5. Cheese of your choice(It’s great with blue cheese but whatever is left over in the fridge will do nicely!)
  6. Fresh thyme or rosemary - chopped
Instructions
  1. Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and while still very cold cut it into squares and lay them on a greased baking tray about 2-3 cm apart.
  2. In a pan fry your onions slowly so they caramelize but do not get burnt.
  3. When they have been cooking 10-15 mins add your sugar and salt and pepper continue about another 15 mins on a low heat till they are golden, set aside.
  4. Turn on your oven to 200c.
  5. Grate your cheese or crumble depending on what type of cheese it is.
  6. Now you're ready to assemble, to each square add a little onion and top with cheese, place in hot oven till pastry is cooked and puffed up nicely.
  7. Sprinkle with your fresh herd and serve while warm.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Vietnamese rice paper rolls

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Vietnamese rice paper rolls
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Total Time
30 min
Total Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 60g rice vermicelli or rice noodles
  2. 8 rice paper wrappers
  3. 8 large cooked prawns, peeled, deveined and cut in half
  4. 1 1/3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thai basil
  5. 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
  6. 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
  7. 2 lettuce leaves, chopped
Sauce
  1. 2 tablespoon fish sauce
  2. 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  3. 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  4. 1 fresh chili padi chopped(deseeded if you like)
  5. 2 tablespoons caster sugar
Other sauce
  1. 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  2. 1 teaspoon finely chopped roasted peanuts
Instructions
  1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil. Boil rice noodles for 3 to 5 minutes, or until al dente, and drain.
  2. Rinse thoroughly with cold water so they don't stick together.
  3. Fill a large shallow bowl with warm water.
  4. Dip one wrapper into the water for 1 second to soften.
  5. Lay wrapper on the bench and place 2 prawn halves, a handful of noodles, basil, mint, coriander and lettuce in a row across the centre, leaving about 5cm of the wrapper uncovered on each side.
  6. Fold in uncovered sides of wrapper, then tightly roll to enclose the filling.
  7. Repeat with remaining rolls.
  8. In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chilli.
  9. In another small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and peanuts.
  10. Serve the rice paper rolls with the fish sauce and hoisin-peanut dipping sauces.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Lemon curd tarts

Desserts | July 6, 2016 | By

Lemon curd tarts
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Ingredients
  1. Ready made mini sweet pastry cases
  2. 1 jar ready made lemon or orange curd
  3. 1 pot whipping cream
Instructions
  1. Half the cream in a bowl and whip it up then fold in your lemon/ orange curd.
  2. Fill a piping bag or ziploc with the filling and pipe into pastry cases.
  3. You can top these with fresh berries or whip up.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Mini banoffee pies

Desserts | July 6, 2016 | By

Mini banoffee pies
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Ingredients
  1. Ready made mini sweet pastry cases
  2. 1 Can condensed milk
  3. 2 Bananas
  4. 1 pot whipping cream
Instructions
  1. Boil the tin of condensed milk unopened in a pot making sure that it stays covered with water for 2 hours!
  2. Once cooled down open and put contents into a piping bag.
  3. If you don’t have a piping bag put in a ziplock bag and cut off the corner.
  4. Pipe in enough filling to half fill each case then top with a few slices of banana.
  5. Whip up your cream and top each one then shave on a bit of dark chocolate on each one to make it look nice!
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Prawn & pancetta spears

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Prawn & pancetta spears
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
25 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
25 min
Ingredients
  1. 10 slices pancetta or prosciutto
  2. 20 whole raw prawns, peeled but tails left on
  3. 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Dip
  1. 1 tbsp finely chopped preserved lemons or grated zest of 1 lemon
  2. 1 tbsp lemon juice
  3. 1 tbsp finely snipped chives
  4. 4 tbsp mayonnaise
Instructions
  1. Soak 20 short bamboo skewers in water to prevent them burning under the grill.
  2. To make the dip, combine the preserved lemon or lemon zest, lemon juice, chives and mayonnaise and refrigerate.
  3. Heat the grill to high.
  4. Cut the pancetta or prosciutto - probably in half, although sizes of slices differ - so that it wraps around the middle of the prawn, still showing some of the prawn at either end.
  5. Thread each prawn onto a skewer and lay on a baking sheet with a rim.
  6. Mix the olive oil with sea salt and freshly ground pepper in a bowl and brush the prawns with the seasoned oil.
  7. Grill for 3-4 minutes on one side until the pancetta is crisp, then turn and grill for a minute or two more until cooked through.
  8. Serve hot or warm with the lemon mayonnaise for dipping.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Prosciutto, pear & rocket rolls

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Prosciutto, pear & rocket rolls
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Ingredients
  1. 2 ripe but firm pear, cored and
  2. halved
  3. 1 tsp lemon juice
  4. 2 large handfuls of rocket
  5. 12 slices prosciutto or parma ham
  6. 30g parmesan or Grana Padano, shaved with a potato peeler
  7. 24 cocktail sticks (toothpicks)
Instructions
  1. Cut each pear half into 4 long pieces, to make 16. You'll need 12, so eat the rest.
  2. Combine the pears and lemon juice and season.
  3. Put a pear slice and a few leaves of rocket on each prosciutto slice.
  4. Add a shaving of parmesan, roll tightly and secure with 2 toothpicks.
  5. Roll all the others, then cut each in half in between the toothpicks.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Goats cheese croutons

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Goats cheese croutons
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Ingredients
  1. 1 french baguette
  2. 1 jar of pesto or fresh pesto
  3. 2 small goats cheese log with skin on
  4. Olive oil
  5. Salt and pepper
  6. Jar of red peppers to top
Instructions
  1. Slice baguette into small slices about 1cm thick then brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, put in the oven at 180c to toast turning as you go to make them evenly golden.
  2. Then slice the cheese and place one piece per slice and put under the grill to melt.
  3. When cheese is bubbling nicely top with a teaspoon of pesto and garnish with red pepper and serve while hot
Tina's tips
  1. These could also be topped with roasted tomato, eggplant, artichoke or beetroot instead of pesto, have a little fun with them!
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/

Buckwheat blini with sour cream and salmon

Starters | July 6, 2016 | By

Buckwheat blini with sour cream and salmon
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Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup plain flour
  2. 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
  3. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  4. 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
  5. 1 tbsp caster sugar
  6. 1 egg beaten
  7. 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  8. 30 g butter melted
  9. Oil for frying
Topping
  1. 3/4 cup sour cream
  2. 1 tsp horseradish
  3. Smoked salmon
  4. Fresh dill
Instructions
  1. Measure out all the dry ingredients into a bowl then mix the egg and melted butter with you buttermilk.
  2. Add this to your dry ingredients and mix to combine.
  3. Let this sit for 30 minutes to rest.
  4. Heat a nonstick frying pan spray or wipe with oil then spoon in the mixture to the size you want, cook till bubbles appear on surface then flip to do the other side.
  5. Mix sour cream with horseradish and chopped dill.
  6. To make up your blini top with salmon and cream and serve.
Tina's Cooks https://tinascooks.com/