Corn Fritters with Tomato Salsa

To make this light and fluffy I whisked the egg whites until stiff and folded it into the mixture. I did this by hand (c'mon it was only two egg whites) till I got all vein-ey and my arm nearly fell off. I would recommend using fresh corn off the cob but a large corn of corn will suffice. Remember to keep the cob and use it for stock or something else later, you don't want to waste it.

Ingredients
2 large ears of corn or 4 small ones

1/2 red onion, finely diced (reserve a tsp for the salsa)

2 eggs, separated

1-2 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp paprika

oil for shallow frying

salt and pepper

Method

1. Cut the kernels off the cob. Put into a bowl, add the egg yolks, onion, 1 tbsp flour, baking powder, paprika and season.

2. Whisk egg whites until stiff peak. Gently fold in corn mixture. If the mixture is too runny add second tsp of flour.

3. Heat oil and using a tablespoon, dropped the batter into the oil. Fry until golden and drain on some paper towels.

4. Serve with the tomato salsa.

Tomato Salsa

Cherry tomatoes

1 tsp finely diced red onion

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsp verjuice or white wine vinegar

1. Quarter some cherry tomatoes, put into a bowl and sprinkle with some salt. Refrigerate while you make the corn fritters.

2. When ready to serve, mix in the rest of the ingredients and spoon over fritters.

I added salt to the tomatoes then refrigerated them in order to get the juices out. I wanted to serve the fritters with a bit of a 'sauce'.

Pan fried Kingfish and Israeli Couscous with Celery & Spinach

This is very quick and easy to cook. The total cooking time is approx. 15mins.

Put some plain flour on a plate and season. Put the skin side of the Kingfish (you can use any fish) into the flour until the skin is covered in flour. Pat off any excess flour. Heat oil in a pan, when the oil is very hot carefully put the fish on the pan skin side down (careful as it might spit). Season the other side of the fish and fry until the skin is crispy. Then turn over to fry the other side until cooked, more oil or some butter might be needed. Rest the fish.

Meanwhile make the couscous. For the couscous, you will need: Israeli couscous, 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped, 1/4 of an onion - finely diced, several stalks of celery - finely diced, baby spinach and chicken/fish stock. In a saucepan, add a knob of butter. Once melted, add in garlic and onions. Cook until transparent. Then add celery and cook for 3mins. Add the couscous and season, stir to distribute all the ingredients. Add in chicken stock until it has covered the couscous. Cook until tender - approx. 10mins. When cooked, stir in spinach and season again if necessary.

Chocolate & Cranberry Cake

Ingredients
100g Butter
100g Dark Cooking Chocolate
3 Eggs, light beaten
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Self-raising Flour
1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 cup Almond Meal
3/4 cup Caster Sugar
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180c or 160c fan. Line and grease a cake tin.

2. Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan on low. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.

3. Mix the eggs and sour cream until combined. Then pour into the butter and chocolate mixture. Mix well.

4. Put flour, cocoa, baking powder, almond meal, sugar and cranberries into a large mixing bowl. Mix until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix until combined.

5. Bake for approx. 30-45mins.

Salmon 'Wellington' and Cook Cucumbers

Finally, after a week and a half I’m germ free!

I got tired of baking salmon, so inspired by Beef Wellington I made Salmon Wellington ... well it’s just salmon wrapped in puff pastry and baked in the oven. The salmon was seasoned and sprinkled with my home dried dill. Then wrapped in puff pastry and baked until the pastry was golden. I was nervous putting the little fillet of salmon in a 30mins oven. I expected it to turn out really dry and it wasn’t! It was a little over but not dry at all.

To accompany the salmon, I made cooked cucumber and fennel in butter sauce. Yes, that’s right – cooked cucumber. I’m not sure where I got the idea from .... I must have seen this done on tv, maybe the Cook and the Chef?

I heated 2tbsp of butter in a small pot on medium heat – don’t use oil because the temperature will get too hot and will fry. Once melted, I added capers, then the fennel and cook for around 1 min. Add the cucumbers and cook for another 2mins, stirring to coat the cucumbers in butter. Add some pepper and dill and you’re done. To my surprise (two discoveries in one day!) it was really nice. It’s a great accompaniment to fish dishes.

Drying your own herbs

Sick of buying a bunch of herbs only to use two springs then a week later you have to chuck the whole thing out? Now you can buy fresh herbs and keep them! How? Dry your own!

Pick your herb and place them on a paper towel, several bunches at a time.

Zap them in the microwave on high for 15secs. Check then zap again for 15secs. Keep on zapping and checking in 15secs slots until it is dried through. You must make sure every piece is dried or else the non-dried ones will go mouldy and ruin all your work.

Get an old spice jar and store them! Home made dried herbs is tastier and smells fresher than the store bought variety.

Diary of a Domestic Goddess

5.30pm – Arrive home. Managed to avoid eye contact with the giant stick insect on the way in.
5.35pm – Wash face (requirement of a domestic goddess: good skin) and realised the apple tea cake recipe has been left at work.
5.45pm – Unmake bed, remake bed with fresh sheets and pillow cases. Wash sheets. (Domestic goddess loves clean sheets)
5.50pm – Make apple tea cake with only vague memory of the recipe.
6.10pm – Wash dishes.
6.20pm – Prep dinner for Swiss brown mushroom risotto.
6.50pm – Start cooking dinner while checking cake.
7.00pm – Unload sheets and hang. Cake done.


Apple tea cake

7.01pm – No room on the dining table or kitchen. Cake will have to cool on the coffee table.
7.30pm – Still cooking dinner.
7.40pm – Dinner done. Cake cooled.


Swiss brown mushroom risotto

7.45pm – Taste test a piece of cake (quality control is important to a domestic goddess).
7.50pm – Pack dried dishes and wash more dishes.


...all in a day's work ...

94wines

It’s been that long since my last post?! November is proving to be a busy month indeed.

Summer is coming and as the temperature sores, there’s less baking to be done. Christmas decorations are making their appearance in the shops in October. That only means one thing ...nothing like a bottle of wine to start the festivities. If you’re a wine non-drinker/novice like myself and always find the selection of wines in the bottle shop mind boggling, then the team from 94wines might be able to help. By answering a series of questions on the website, they can determine what your WineID is. Every wine (number) has been carefully selected and processed by the company. All the wines come from France, and each number contains its own region and grape variety. My WineID was #2 Smooth, #23 Bold and #51 Luscious.

Aren't these colours festive?

I think I’m more attracted to their contemporary packaging than anything else. You can also personalised the bottle with a text message, photo or even video. Each bottle can be given an unique QR code which can be read by using the camera of a mobile phone.