Nectarine and King prawn salad

Maggie Beer has some wonderful recipes. She appears on Australian Master chef from time to time and has her own brand of sauces/pickles/jams etc.
Her recipe is with Yabbies, but we prefer it with cooked king prawns. This can be served as a starter or as a main depending how big you want to make the portions ☺
The ratios below are for a starter for 6. It takes very little time and it is literally thrown together quickly.

Foodstuff you will need:  
Ready cooked King prawns (as many as you would like per person)
3 large ripe nectarines (stones removed) thinly sliced
Zest of 1 lemon (no white pith)
Mixed lettuce leaves (cos, witlof, spinach, soft salad leaves)
Mint (finely chopped)

Vinaigrette
1/3 cup (80ml) Verjuice
1/3 cup(80ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Equipment:
Medium sized Jar with lid to mix vinaigrette
Large bowl and salad spoons
Zester
Plates

How to throw it together
Place verjuice, olive oil and mustard and salt and pepper to taste in a small jar. Put on lid and shake until fully mixed. Set aside.
Peel prawns and place in large bowl. Add nectarines, salad leaves, lemon zest, and vinaigrette and gently mix to combine.
Scatter mint and serve.

Eton Mess

This is a fabulous recipe from Marcus Wareing’s book “Gilbert Scot” We have not made it look like a master chef dish, and prefer as a messy mess (this is why it is called Eton Mess!) but it certainly tastes delicious.  We have adapted it to what we can find in an Australian supermarket (no liquer and no frozen dried raspberries to scatter on top)

Foodstuff you will need:
350g raspberries
150g frozen mixed berries (leave to defrost for a few minutes until soft)
200ml double cream
2 tbsp raspberry jam

Meringues
3 free range egg whites (80g)
80g caster sugar
80g icing sugar

Equipment:

Oven
Electric whisk (for egg whites)
Large mixing bowl
Piping bag and 1cm nozzle
Big spatula
Baking tray
Baking paper
Blender (to puree the fruit)
Sieve
Jug for puree
Large bowl for whipping cream


How to throw it together
Pre heat the oven to 100C. Make the meringues
Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Gradually whisk in the caster sugar, then add the icing sugar and whisk until combined. Spoon into a piping bag with 1cm nozzle and pipe 6 domes onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Place these in the oven for 1 hour -90 minutes or until outer shell is firm.
Remove from oven. While the meringues are still warm scoop out the inner part and discard this bit, leaving a firm shell only. Leave to cool.

For the berry sauce, put the un frozen mixed berries into a blender and bled to a puree.  Pass this mixture through a sieve into a jug. Put aside.












Lightly whip the cream in a bowl. Break the raspberries in half and gently fold into the cream, together with the raspberry jam. Use this to fill the meringue shells.

If the meringue shells are a bit broken up and you are unable to fill them with anything, do not worry. Break the meringues into bits and gently fold through the cream mixture.








Serve onto plates and pour raspberry sauce on the side.

Chocolate treat with leftovers!

Is there any such thing as unwanted chocolate? We think not however,

this is a fantastic way to eat chocolate, if you are bored of bars and the usual choices. It is also great for any leftover or unwanted chocolate from Christmas or Easter or any other party event. Originally from the UK Telegraph on line but pointed out to us by Bev Brady (all the cudos goes to her for discovering it!) We have adapted it with almost any sort of chocolates and used a tin of caramel instead of condensed milk (this was an error but it worked a treat). Just don’t count the calories before trying it!

Foodstuff you will need:
200g plain or milk chocolate bar broken into square
100g butter
400g can condensed milk or can of caramel
200g digestive biscuits
300g assorted chocolates – Roses, Quality Street, Mars, Snickers, Milk Tray etc (wrappers removed)

Equipment:
Medium saucepan

Hob – gas or electric
Large mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Cake tin – 20cm square works ok
Non stick baking paper
Glad Wrap/Cling Film
Freezer
Chopping board
Sealed plastic containers

How to throw it together
Put the chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan and melt over a very low heat stirring until smooth.

Remove from hob and stir in the caramel or the condensed milk until well combined. Pour into a large mixing bowl and leave to cool for at least 20 minutes.

Break the biscuits into small chunks and drop into the chocolate mixture. Mix with large spoon.

Pour or spoon into a 20cm square cake tin lined with non stick baking paper.
Cover with cling film and put into the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Turn out onto a chopping board , remove the baking  paper and cut into small squares. Serve what you need and put the rest into sealed plastic containers (dividing the chocolate with non stick baking paper) Return to freezer. Eat within 3 months.