'Tapas Dinner' - a belated Birthday Dinner

My wife and I invited Priya and Raymond over for a belated Birthday Dinner for Priya. Her birthday was in March but we just couldnt get together earlier. We had actually planned to take food over to their house but since Michael was down with Conjunctivitis, they came over instead.

We decided to go with lots of appetisers or finger food rather than the traditional large main meal so it turned out to sort of a Tapas Style dinner! Angelina made Bruschetta, a lovely Greek Salad and her famous Cheesy Spinach Dip. I made Devilled Eggs, Garlic Mushrooms and Spaghetti with Garlic and Chilli

For Dessert, we had Angelina's very own homemade Apple Pie.

Bruschetta
Bread rubbed with Garlic and Olive Oil and lightly toasted before being topped with Chopped Tomatoes, Oregano, Basil and grated Cheddar Cheese

Greek Salad
a mixed Salad with Feta Cheese topped with Angelina's special dressing of Lemon, Olive Oil, Sherry Vinegar and Garlic.

Cheesy Spinach Dip
Cream, Spinach, Parmesan and Cheddar Cheese make up this lovely dip and served with corn chips.

Devilled Eggs
Hard Boiled Eggs with the yolk scooped out and 'devilled' with Mayonaisse, Tomato Sauce, Worcetershirse Sauce, Tabasco Sauce and Mustard. Chopped Gerkhins were sprinkled on top while a caper 'surprise' was placed in each egg.

Garlic Mushrooms
White Button and Swiss Brown Mushrooms fried in olive oil with lots and lots of garlic.
>Eat them on its own or with the pasta. Either way they taste great!

Garlic and Chilli Pasta
Lots of Garlic and Chilli Flakes fried together in Olive Oil with oregano, basil and black pepper and then seasoned with salt. Makes a nice side dish and a simple yet tasty meal on its own

Apple Pie
Great with Ice Cream... Yumm!!

Chocolate Cookies or Homemade Oreos without the cream

Both Michael and Sarah love Oreos and so I thought I'd see if I could make them homemade Oreo cookies - minus the cream of course. I surfed the web for recipes and found this one. I made a few alterations and the cookie turned out rather well. Depending on how thin you make the cookies and the length of time in the oven, gives you a slightly chewy or crispy 'Oreo'. I prefer them slightly thicker and thus a little chewy.

Since Michael likes to take cookies to kindergarten, we bought a nice set of cookie cutters that make lovely big cookies. As they often say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating - and these cookies passed the test. Mike and Sarah absolutely love them!!

The cookies also taste delicious with vanilla ice cream!

The recipe

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons castor sugar
6 ounces butter (salted)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder


Method
Cream sugar and butter.
Add the salt, egg, water, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Beat in sifted flour and cocoa until well combined (the dough will be stiff)
Roll the dough into small balls. Place the balls on baking paper/greasproff paper/lightly greased cookie sheets and flatten each ball until nice and round. To get a nice round, use the bottom of a glass dipped in cocoa powder. (Note that too much cocoa left over on the biscuit gives a moist, bitter cookie as the cocoa tends to melt a bit in the oven)
You may also use a cookie stamp and cut out shapes.
To get a nice crisp cookie, it’s important to press them thin. For a chewier cookie, let them be a little thicker. Too thin and the cookies will burn. Too thick and they will be chewy. Try out a few first to see what you like.
Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the baking pans and cool them completely on a wire rack.

E N J O Y

Mermaid Cake, Garlic Prawns, Seafood Pasta, Spicy Crab - Sarah's Birthday

As promised, here are some pictures of the cake as well as some of the food I made for Sarah's birthday. First up the Mermaid Cake. I think it turned out rather nice...! The 'rock' is cake covered in chocolate and the fish are actually candles. I textured the icing to make it look like waves. Sarah absolutely loved the cake - and that made all the effort worthwhile!

Mermaid Cake

Garlic Prawns

I sauteed lots of garlic and nions and then lightly cooked the prawns. I added in some mushrooms and chilli flakes before serving it on a bed of boiled leek.

Seafood Pasta

Some Dory fish mixed with a pack of seafood mix - clams, squid, prawns - and cooked them all in a Marinara sauce. I combined shell pasta and half circular macaroni together with the seafood sauce to make this tasty dish.

Spicy Crab

Stir Fried some Crab Claw and Crab Meat with onions, garlic, lots of curry leaves, some curry powder and pepper. Added in some Chilli Padi at the end as well to make this tasty and spicy dish.

I also made 'Octopus Sausages' - an idea I got from another website. Sausages are cut in half and then eight slits made lengthwise into them. When the sausages are boiled, the eight slits turn outward to form 'tentacles'! Easy and simple and all the kids loved it. My wife also made a chicken pie which turned out great.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Preparing for Sarah's Birthday

Took the day off work today. Its just past lunch and I've finished baking the Chocolate Brownies and the Butter Cake for my daughter Sarah's birthday party tomorrow. Next up I'll have to start icing the birthday cake. Yesterday I made some Gummy shells using a mix of water, Jello and gelatine. Turned out okay but I think I may have overboiled the mixture as it was a tad rubbery and also the taste was rather strong.

Tomorrow is going to be a tough day as I'm planning to make the following;

Pasta Marinara; Garlic Prawns; 'Octopus' Sausages; and a Spicy Crab dish. I'll post pics of everything once its done!

Pear Tarte Tartin

My kids requested for my Caramelised Pears, which they love a lot, this weekend. I thought I'd try using pears instead of apples for a Tarte Tartin. I've made the classic Tarte Tartin with apples before and I used the same measurements for the pears. The pears I used were canned pears and I forgot that this meant the pears were already sweetened - so I should have reduced the caramel.

It turned out a little too sweet but the kids still enjoyed it nonetheless. I thin I'll just stick to apples the next time I make this dessert!

Chocolate Truffle Cake

It's my mom's birthday today and I wanted to make her something she hadn't had before. She likes anything to do with chocolate so I decided to try this Chocolate Truffle Cake - a recipe I got off the web.

The cake turned out well and tasted good too. It uses lots of melted chocolate and is a rather dense cake and doesnt rise too much as their is no baking powder used. The topping is basically a chocolate ganache with a little butter to help it set.

I decorated the cake with strawberries and champagne grapes and I must say that the cake was quite a delight! Mum enjoyed it and I suppose that's what really matters...!




Some preferred the cake by itself, while others enjoyed it with a dollop of ice cream.