All posts tagged: garlic

Dumpling Wrapper Prawn Ravioli

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I have an open relationship with dumplings. I adore them, but sometimes I get busy and we see less of each other but when we’re together it’s phenomenal. My maternal grandmother made dumplings for us and my parents also made them us. For most of my life, my dad owned various eateries and wontons or dumplings were always on the menu. Dumplings travel well too. No, I don’t mean fill your pockets and go for a run, but that dumplings in one form or another appear in many cuisines. The concept travels well and has wide appeal. Naturally, as an adult, I’m more curious and experimental when it comes to my dumplings. If it tastes good, authenticity is nothing. Because I never ate ravioli until much later, ravioli will always be just an Italian dumpling to me and I make ravioli using dumpling wrappers. Sure, you can make pasta from scratch, but taking this shortcut will save some time and it’s not like you’re going full lazy. There’s still at least half an hour to …

Roasted Garlic

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Garlic is always unreasonably cheap and I use a lot of garlic in my cooking. Sometimes though, I do buy too many bags of garlic to use before it starts sprouting, so roast garlic is a great way to eat up garlic quickly. Roast garlic is some kind of voodoo magic where the flavour vastly differs to the raw stuff. Roast garlic is really mellow, smooth and sweet. The cloves shrink inside their pods making them easy to remove from the paper. They are squishy, so you can either dig each clove out with a butter knife or use your fingers to squeeze them from of their papers. Or as I do, squeeze them out and pop them into my mouth. To use, mash with a fork, or crush with a knife to make a roasted garlic paste. If you are smearing into toast, you can just spread a whole roasted clove as you would a pat of butter. This recipe makes 4 bulbs of roast garlic but you can easily do more or less, just …

Tale of two prawns: Steamed Garlic Prawns & Super Tasty Grilled Prawns

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A thing or two about prawns Prawns in New Zealand are imported raw as we have no prawn fishery. They are snap frozen at sea and can be easily thawed at home, so never buy thawed prawns because you don’t know how long they have been thawed for. Maybe it’s only been a couple of hours, but maybe it’s longer. Why risk it? If they’re snap frozen at sea and you thaw them just prior to cooking, they will be as fresh as possible. Prawn size and weight If you have bought prawns before, you may have noticed a special numbering system in place. It seems counter-intuitive, but the smaller the number, the larger the prawn. Less is more! Well, less is big. U10 or U20 means under 10 or 20 prawns per kilo. These are the biggest prawns and also the most expensive. Handy guide to prawn sizes (per kilo) Extra large 10/20 also displayed as U10 or U20 Under 10 and Under 20 prawns per kilo Large 21/30 Under 30 prawns per kilo Medium …

Herb Chicken with Garlic Potatoes, Beetroot Chutney and salad.

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I can’t be bothered thinking up a post heading today. It is what it is. Herb Chicken with Garlic Potatoes, Beetroot Chutney and salad. Herb Chicken Serves two Ingredients 2 chicken breasts, sliced into 1 inch strips 2 tablespoons of dried herbs – I used oregano 1 tablespoon oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce Generous twist of sea salt Generous crack of pepper 1 tablespoon flour 1 clove garlic, finely chopped Preparation Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Chill for 30 minutes. Add a little oil to a hot pan, pan fry chicken until golden. Garlic potatoes Serves two Ingredients 3 medium potatoes, peeled and into cubed Salt Pepper 3 cloves garlic, chopped roughly half an onion, diced Oil for shallow frying A knob of butter for flavour Preparation Boil potatoes for about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Add a generous amount of oil to a hot pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened. Add butter and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown. Serve with a salad.