Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Whip up lovers’ feast in a jiffy
CREATING a special Valentine’s Day meal for your loved one does not have to take hours in the kitchen – wouldn’t you rather spend more time having fun with your loved one instead?
To help you create a gourmet-style menu that will take literally minutes, Shaun Munro, executive chef at Tsogo Sun’s Elangeni and Maharani hotel, designed these recipes to share with readers.
“These recipes will not take a long time to prepare, and in fact in some of the recipes you can make, for example the batter, in advance, to save you time.
“Valentine’s Day for me is about spending time together, and the meals must be food that can be shared, lovers feeding each other, not just the normal sitting at a table and eating with a fork and knife,” said Munro.
He said the recipes are similar to meze platter in style, or tapas, which is a very popular food trend at present.
“These are small meals you can prepare easily with items found in your kitchen, and share and eat together,” he said. Zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp paprika ½ tsp crushed dried red chilli Salt 50g butter, melted
To prepare the crust, mix together the coconut, bread crumbs, lemon, paprika, chilli and season.
Dip the flesh side of the prawn into the melted butter and then firmly into the crust, refrigerate for one hour.
Pre-heat the grill to 200ºC, place the prawns crust facing up on a roasting tray and then place under the grill to cook.
Serve with your choice of sauces – lemon butter, garlic butter and peri-peri. 1 box chilli bite mix ¼ tsp crushed garlic ¼ tsp crushed ginger 1 tsp finely chopped fresh coriander 20 half- shell mussels, meat removed from shell, reserve the shells 500ml frying oil Lemon wedges
Prepare the batter as per the box instructions, adding a little more water to loosen the mixture.
Add the crushed garlic, ginger and corriander.
It should still coat the back of a spoon.
Heat the oil in a shallow pan that has fairly high sides.
Pull the mussel through the batter and carefully drop into the hot oil, and fry for around one minute until batter is crispy and mussel is cooked.
Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper towel.
Heat the empty shells slightly in a hot oven and place the hot mussel meat back into their shells and serve as desired, with a tomato salsa or aioli and lemon wedges. 2 litres good quality vanilla ice-cream 1 cup lemon curd 6 large meringues, roughly broken up Wafer biscuits Curd: 200g butter 10 egg yolks Juice of eight lemons 200g caster sugar
To make the lemon curd, mix the lemon juice, eggs and caster sugar. In a large saucepan carefully bring the butter to boil and pour in the egg mix.
Stir continuously until the mixture thickens but do not allow it to re-boil. Allow to cool and set.
Allow the ice- cream to soften slightly then fold in the cooled curd and five of the meringue pieces and refreeze.
Serve with wafer biscuits and sprinkle with the remaining meringue. Garnish with fresh mint and strawberries.