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by purplecalabash

Thirsty Thursday #5

July 6, 2011 in Beverages, Colours, Drinks, Food Photography, Photography, Purple, Recipes, Summer, Thirsty Thursday

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If it’s freezing where you live – DON’T look any further! For all the continents enjoying glorious summer heat…READ ON!
Granita is a refreshingly healthy alternative to ice cream and is rather economical too.
Water, sugar and loads of flavour are all you need to get started.

Granita is frozen ice that has been scraped to form granular crystals or flakes of ice. If you are familiar with a “slush puppy” – that is it. The kids love it (without alcohol of course) and the possibilities are endless.

Granita requires that you use syrup as a base for your recipe, combined with purees or juices.

Recipe for Granita Syrup:

1. Dissolve and bring to the boil, 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar.
2. Cool to room temperature.
3. Mix this syrup with the rest of the ingredients for your granita.

This mixture then gets placed in a shallow container and into the freezer. If the consistency is too thin, the mixture might not freeze well.
During the freezing process stir the mixture with a fork every 20 minutes or so, until all liquid has been frozen. Start raking the frozen ice from the edges to the middle, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan. It takes about 3 hours for the granita to be completely frozen. It seems like a bit of work, but not really. This is quite therapeutic… All you have to do is remember to rake and scrape the ice every 20 minutes. If you find that the granita has become too solid, just remove the container from the freezer and allow to melt slightly at room temperature and rake it with a fork again.
Ready to scoop into your favourite glass and topped off with whatever tickles your fancy.

Tips:

Chill the glasses that you are going to be using to pour the granita into later.
For a light granita use juices.
For a chunkier granita use thicker purees.



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by purplecalabash

Tastes like home

March 13, 2011 in Family, Home-made, Recipes, Restaurants

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Home is …. familiar sounds, smells, tastes, feelings and whatever makes you feel at ease and content.
Mealtimes and food is what draws families around the table in many parts of the world. Food lovers around the world will agree that friends and food go hand in hand too. Portuguese people love to chat and eat – for hours. Meals often run into each other…
If you have been to Portugal and walked the streets at a typical ‘feira’, you can smell the inviting aroma of sardines grilling.
My home always smells of food and there is always something cooking.
Today, I cooked up a typical Portuguese dish. Grilled sardines and potatoes. I added some mackerel to it as well. The Portuguese love their fish. I don’t cook sardines very often purely because the smell is so pungent that my house smells of fish for the next couple of days. But sometimes I just crave that taste and I give in!

A typical Sardine Braai.

 

Grilled Mackerel, potatoes and olive oil, parsley sauce.

Some extra pictures of the preparation of this meal can be viewed under the My Recipe Shelf link.

Recipe: Open Fire Grilled Sardines and Mackerel

Ingredients

  • 6-12 sardines
  • 6-12 mackerel
  • coarse salt
  • olive oil
  • garlic
  • parsley
  • green peppers
  • 12 medium potatoes

Instructions

  1. Before you start, place the fish into a shallow dish and sprinkle liberally with coarse salt and parsley. Let it stand for at least an hour in the fridge. You might want to cover it or your fridge will smell…
  2. Prepare your grill. Make sure the coals are hot enough.
  3. Boil the potatoes, sprinkle or roll them in coarse salt and wrap them individually in foil.
  4. Place the potatoes directly onto the coals. Some parts will turn black. We want it to look like that, it adds to the flavour.
  5. When the foil starts to turn brownish, remove the potatoes and place them on the sides of the fire so that they can still keep warm and cook slowly.
  6. Now for the fish. Place the fish onto the grill – the sardines have a very oily skin, so it might smoke quite a bit. Have some water handy for the flames. I like a little flame on mine! Fish cooks very quickly, so give it 10 minutes or so. Do not over cook the fish or it will be dry.
  7. Also grill some peppers if you would like, it’s a great combination.
  8. While this is cooking, prepare the olive oil mix.
  9. Into a small dish, add olive oil, garlic and fresh parsley. I don’t like to give exact measurements because everyone likes it differently. But remember that the garlic and parsley are just for adding flavour, you don’t want it to over power the taste of the fish.
  10. The fish should be ready now! Serve the fish, potatoes and peppers on a plate and drizzle lots of olive oil over the top.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s) once the fire is ready

Number of servings (yield): 6

Any excuse for a photoshoot!

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by purplecalabash

Oscar winning performance

March 11, 2011 in Photography, Recipes, Restaurants

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And the Oscar goes to….
I took this photo of a Quiche I made quickly on a Sunday afternoon. It was one of my first food photos and it has been my bestseller since. I have now sold it six times online. So here is the recipe for it. It was an experiment, but as it turns out – the combination tastes great. That is if you are a strong cheese lover.

Recipe: Roquefort Cheese and Spinach Quiche

Ingredients

  • Pre-baked pastry for 9-inch crust pie
  • 2 cups crisp raw spinach
  • 1 cup grated Roquefort cheese
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 2 tablespoons powdered parmesan
  • cheese
  • Sprinkle of oregano
  • To make your own pastry:
  • 175g plain flour
  • 75g butter or margarine (cut into cubes)
  • 2 tbsp cold water
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. To make the pastry sift all the flour and salt into a bowl and add butter (or margarine) and rub until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  2. Add iced water and mix together making firm dough.
  3. Wrap in a cling film and fill in a fridge for 30mins.
  4. Heat oven to 425 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  5. In bottom of the crust pastry shell lay the spinach.
  6. Add Roquefort cheese, onion and dry ingredients.
  7. Beat eggs slightly; beat in remaining ingredients.
  8. Pour into quiche dish over spinach, cheese and onion.
  9. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the top.
  10. Sprinkle oregano for effect.
  11. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and bake for about 30 minutes longer or until knife in centre comes out clean.
  12. Let it stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Bon Appetite!

Here is my Quiche Lorraine recipe for the meat lovers.
Quiche Lorraine

Recipe: Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

  • Pre-baked pastry for 9-inch crust pie
  • 1 cup diced, crisply cooked bacon
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup finely chopped onion
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 2 tablespoons powdered parmesan cheese
  • Sprinkle of oregano

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. In bottom of the crust pastry shell sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion.
  3. Beat eggs slightly; beat in remaining ingredients.
  4. Pour into quiche dish over bacon, cheese and onion.
  5. Sprinkle some parmesan, cheddar cheese.
  6. Sprinkle oregano.
  7. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes longer or until knife in centre comes out clean.
  8. Let it stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

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