Fried Prawn Patties

I had a lovely lunch with Maureen today; well, when I say lovely, it was grand to see her but the Burnbrae has been bought over by some cost cutting, penny pinching morons who provided us with half the portion of food we were used to and decided on a 'half hot half cold' theme when providing grub. When asking for a latte, they informed us that it was instant coffee for now. Bill please. We headed to Costa for a proper cup of the black stuff.

So, hunger set in rather quickly on my return and on searching the freezer for some sustenance I uncovered frozen, raw prawns (shrimps) hidden at the back. What to do, what to do? I could stir fry, breadcrumb, curry or chop. Saute, flambe, souffle or plop. Hmmm. Skewered? Fried? Fried! I had a brainwave.

Fried Prawn blobs Patties! Just the thing.

First job was to defrost the prawns. Obviously, fresh prawns would be better but hey, when hungry and frugal, frozen will do.

I shelled the prawns, shoved them in a blender alongside a finely chopped clove of garlic and 2 finely chopped spring onions. I added half a teaspoon salt, a good grinding black pepper, a little cayenne and 60g plain flour. If using Nigella's recipe, you'd add 4 teaspoons of sherry as well but I prefer wine to the mix. I then added water and mixed to make a thick batter, covered with clingfilm and waited 1 hour.

During this hour, I continued painting; I have been decorating. I have one room half completed, five more to go. Why do I start these things? Kelly is moving into the big room so she was first; after some deliberation, she decided on lilac for one wall, magnolia for the rest. She then decided she wanted painted onto the wall, a girl holding a baby dove, looking over at a mummy dove on a branch........yes, this is what she decided. HUH?? Was my first response. What the freakin'......?? my second. "Ooooookay, Kelly" I said "I shall do my best". Well, it's finished, for better or worse....

So, the hour has passed and I heat some olive oil in a pan. I take teaspoons of the mix and fry in the oil, turning after a minute and cooking on the other side. When brown on both sides, place onto plate covered with paper towels.

I like to make homemade mayo for this but Hellmans will do the job just as well! Add some lime and fresh coriander though. If not partial to mayo, squeeze some lime juice over the tasty little blobs and eat immediately. Bleedin' luverly.

Tomorrow is the big silver wedding anniversary party. My friend Sam did the cake:

Isn't it wonderful? I know you can't see the whole thing, I was not averse to pulling it out and setting it up for your perusal but you just know what would happen, don't you? Especially with three wee acrobats around. I shall take some more pics at the event and report back on the deliciousness of this tasty baked lovely.

Have a freakin AWESOME weekend!

Low Fat Fish n' Chips

Gosh, it's hot. The fish needed to be cooked tonight so the 'suitable for a sunny day salad' was put aside and the haddock was brought out. I didn't dip the fish in egg wash as I'd normally do, instead, I placed the fillets on the baking tray (on foil) and pressed the breadcrumbs onto the fish. The breadcrumbs were simply a slice of bread, blended with a sprinkling of salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper. Two large fish fillets were coated with some breadcrumbs left over.

The sweet potato (I used half for Brian and I) was peeled and sliced into chip size; normally I'd do these chunky but tonight they were cut small so that they would cook quicker. I've spent the entire day at school courtesy of sports day and hardly had time for lunch; hunger was getting the better of me and the fridge was calling my name.

I poured over the potato chips a little drizzle of walnut oil, some freshly ground black pepper, salt, a little cayenne and a sprinkling of piri piri. I mixed it all together, placed it in an oven proof dish and roasted at 220 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Just keep your eye on them. Test if ready by sticking a fork in; it should be soft.

I then moved the dish from the top shelf to the one underneath and place the fish fillets on the top shelf. I turned the oven down to 200. After a further 10-12 minutes, it was ready. I served with some quickly made tartare (capers, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper mixed into some light mayonnaise and stirred), some salad and bread and butter. Delicious. It made no difference that it wasn't deep fried or coated in egg first, this was simply tasty. Brian found the chips a bit too spicy...they were...so a bit easy with the piri piri and cayenne next time.

The kids are being fed at The Broons as they have a swimming pool and we don't...so bye bye, mum!