Quick Tofu Mayonnaise....Dairy/Lactose Free

This recipe is soooo easy to make......I love the creaminess of the tofu but the tang from the lemon juice....Of course if u like u can add chilli for a bit of a kick...this recipie is lactose and dairy free
Makes about 1 cup

Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
...Ingredients:

1/2 firm silken tofu, drained

3 T. olive oil

1 whole fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 T. honey

1 t. salt, plus more to taste
Paprikia to garnish

1. In a blender, process all of the ingredients until creamy. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate until ready to use.

Shepherd's Pie

I used a small baking dish for this serves 2

2 large potatoes
1/4  cup  milk
2  tablespoons  unsalted butter
2  tablespoons  olive oil
1/2 kilo beef mince
1  large carrot, chopped (1 cup)
1  celery stalk, sliced (1 cup)
2  tablespoons  flour
2  cups  chicken broth
1/2  cup  frozen peas

Heat oven to 200 degrees. In a saucepan, gently heat mashed potatoes and milk, stirring occasionally, until well combined. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef mince and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add carrot and celery, and cook 5 minutes. Sprinkle in flour, stir, then add chicken broth. Simmer 3 minutes and remove from heat. Add peas . Spoon into an ovenproof casserole and top with the mashed potatoes. Bake until the top is golden, about 40 minutes.

Potato Gratin

5 large baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
3 to 5 garlic cloves, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, or chives, for garnish
Serves 4 to 6

1. Place the sliced potatoes in a bowl with cold water to cover. Leave for at least 30 minutes, or up to an hour. Remove from the cloudy water, and dry with a clean towel.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
3. Butter the bottom and sides of an earthenware baking casserole, about 3 1/2 inches deep, and large enough to fit all the potatoes (very large). If you have no round ceramic pan, use an ordinary baking pan. Sprinkle about half the garlic along the edges of the buttered sides of the pan.
4. Make a layer of potatoes, dot with butter pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with a few spoonfuls of cream, scatter a little garlic on top, then repeat in this fashion until all the potatoes have been used. End the top with a dabbing of butter, the last slosh of cream, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
5. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half, or until the potatoes are very tender and have absorbed all the cream; the top of the potatoes should be golden brown with darker brown splotches here and there. This is a very rustic dish and by its very nature is very forgiving timewise; if you need more time, lower the oven's heat, and to speed the cookingup and give it a nice dark topping, raise the heat to 230 degrees for the last 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Serve in its own casserole, or dish up individual portions, sprinkling each with a little chopped fresh parsley

Basic Mayonnaise

4 egg yolks, at room temperature
2 tablespoons lemon juice
200ml light olive oil
200ml olive oil
white pepper

1. Place egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Process until mixture just starts to thicken.
2. Combine oils in a jug. With the processor motor running, add oil mixture in a thin, steady stream, scraping bowl with a spatula occasionally, until mixture is thick and creamy. Add remaining lemon juice (see note). Season with pepper. Process to combine.
3. Transfer mayonnaise to a small, airtight container. Place plastic wrap on the mayonnaise surface to prevent a skin forming. Cover and keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Variations

For garlic mayonnaise, add 1 to 2 crushed garlic cloves with egg yolks in step 1 of basic mayonnaise. Serve with beef, lamb, chicken and seafood.

For basil and sun-dried tomato mayonnaise, soak 40g (1/4 cup) non-marinated sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain and finely chop. Stir into 1/2 cup of the basic or garlic mayonnaise, with 2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil. Serve as a spread in sandwiches.

For tartare sauce, stir 1 tablespoon finely-chopped capers, 1 finely chopped sweet pickled gherkin, 3 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves into 1/2 cup of basic mayonnaise. Serve with seafood.

ENJOY!

Smoked Salmon Pizza

I found this recepie on a website and made this a few weeks ago and we loved it ......i had to share it


Pizza dough (either store bought or homemade)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Pepper
1 tub cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
1/4 cup drained capers
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Juice of 1/2 lemon
200 g sliced smoked salmon
1/3 red onion, finely sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 450°. Drizzle the crust with olive oil, season with pepper and bake for 10 minutes. Let the crust cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, shallots, 2 tablespoons capers, 1 tablespoon dill and the lemon juice.
3. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the crusts. Top with the smoked salmon, red onion, remaining 2 tablespoons capers and 1 tablespoon dill.  Cut the pizza into wedges and enjoy!

Italian Fish and Veggie Pockets

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentis and i love it so much i have to share it with you i have made it about 10 times already!

1 lemon, zested

salt

freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

20 snap peas, stemmed (5 per person)

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 orange pepper, sliced

125ml white wine

65ml lemon juice

4 tsps olive oil

4 salmon fillets, skinned

8 thin slices lemon

65ml fresh chopped mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 175°C

In a small bowl mix together the lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Lay out the 4 sheets of aluminum foil. Place ¼ of the sugar snap peas, ¼ of the yellow bell peppers, and ¼ of the orange bell peppers on each sheet of foil. Over each pile of vegetables drizzle 2 tbsps of white wine, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, and 1 tsp of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and gently toss.
Top each pile of seasoned vegetables with a piece of fish. Sprinkle the fish with some of the reserved lemon zest mixture. Top each fish with 2 slices of lemon.
Fold up the foil into an air-tight packet. Place the foil packets in the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. Sprinkle the fish with mint just before serving.

Classic Margherita Pizza

1. One can peeled whole tomatoes drained
2. 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
3. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4. Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper
5. 4 balls buffalo mozzarella, or can use baby Boccaccini thinly sliced
6. 10 large basil leaves, torn into pieces

Dough

1. 1 envelope active dry yeast
2. 2 cups warm water
3. 1/2 teaspoon sugar
4. 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
5. 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
6. Extra-virgin olive oil

MAKE THE DOUGH: In a large bowl, mix the yeast with 1/2 cup of the warm water and the sugar and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of warm water, the 4 cups of flour and the kosher salt and stir until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and knead, adding flour as necessary until a silky, but soft dough forms. Use a pastry scraper to help knead the dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and brush all over with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 3 days.

1. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface; punch down and divide into 4 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Rub each ball with oil and transfer to a baking sheet. Cover the balls loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place for 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile, set a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 500°, allowing at least 45 minutes for the stone to heat. Pass the tomatoes through a food mill set over a medium bowl or pulse them in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Stir in the oregano and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
3. On a lightly floured surface, stretch one ball of dough into a 13-inch round; transfer to a floured pizza peel, adding flour where the dough sticks. Spread 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce over the dough to within 1 inch of the edge. Spread one-fourth of the cheese over the pizza and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil. Season with sea salt and pepper and slide the pizza onto the stone. Bake until the bottom is charred and the cheese is melted, about 8 minutes. Scatter one-fourth of the basil on top and let stand for 3 minutes before serving. Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings. MAKES 4 13" PIZZAS

serve immediatley

Prawn & Garlic Pasta

This is a pretty simple pasta, with subtle flavors of garlic, cream and pesto. Prawns are first sauteed with garlic and then combined with a creamy pesto sauce before being tossed with hot linguine.
Serves: 6

• 1/2 kilo dried linguine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
• 25 prawns peeled and deveined
• 1 cup of cream
• 2 tablespoons prepared pesto (you can find this in the deli section of your local grocery store)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Strain and set aside. While, your pasta is cooking you can cook your prawns and start your sauce.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the prawns, with half of the garlic, until the prawns turn pink. About 3 minutes.  Set aside.
3. In the same skillet, add remaining garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove pan from heat, add half and half, return to low heat, bring to a boil. Reduce until the sauce thickens slightly, it should coat the back of a spoon.
4. Return prawns to the pan, add pesto. Stir to combine.
5. Add linguine, stir to combine and coat the pasta with the sauce.

For a spicer variation add 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red peppers to the pan at the begining of step 3. Enjoy

!

Fettuccini Alfredo

A great little recepie for when you dont have a lot of time.This can be whipped up in 5 minuets!

200 ml Double Cream
80 g of grated pamersan cheese
350 g fresh fettuccini (latina brand is perfect)
50g unsalted butter
Salt and pepper

Melt butter in a large pan and add the cream, simmer for 5 mins, stirring constantly add the parmasen cheese and salt and pepper
In a seperate saucepan boil the pasta for around 3 mins (dried pasta will take longer)

Toss the pasta in the cream until it is fully coated with the sauce and serve immediatley with extra pamasen

serves 4

Stuffed Tomatoes

I made this recepie today and let me tell you it turned out to be so yummy and tasty that i would make it again definatley!

8 fresh ripe tomatoes
200grams of zuchinni flowers
2 strips of bacon
2 green shallots
a handfull of fresh basil
a handfull of fresh parsley
1 onion
1 1/2 cups of basmati rice
salt & pepper

Saute' onion and bacon in pan till slightly brown, then add remaining ingridients (not rice) cook till soft .
Add rice and saute for 2 mins then add 3 cups water cook for 12 mins till water is absorbed.Turn heat off and let cool

Cut top of tomatoes and de seed, fill with filling and place in an oiled baking dish...Cook in 200 degree oven for 35mins
(if u have large tomatoes please add a bit more rice)

Serve with yoghurt

Serves 4