Always game for salad and soup

Chef Mikhail Shahani

Here are two easy ways to make recipes for home chefs.

Grilled Prawns

Ingredients

• 5 pieces per portion tiger prawns
• 3 gm cumin
• 1 gm cinnamon
• 40 ml olive oil
• 2 gm red chilli powder
• 1 tsp tahina paste
• 20 ml hung curd
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 10 gm mint
• 5 gm parsley

Taboulleh salad

• 20 gm parsley
• 2 ml lemon juice
• 10 ml olive oil
• 5 gm broken wheat (soaked in warm water)
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• 2 onions finely chopped
• Salt to taste

Method

• Mix all the ingredients together, except the curd and marinate for about two hours.
• For the second marination add the curd and leave to set for another two hours. You can either grill the prawns or pan sear them, depending on what equipments you have, but the cooking time is the same.

For the taboulleh

• Fine chop the parsley, tomatoes and onions and keep them in separate bowls.
• When ready to serve, mix the above ingredients, add lemon juice, olive oil and the broken wheat. Season with salt and pepper and use as a base for the prawns.

Cappucino of wild mushrooms and black summer truffles.

Ingredients

• 1 kg sliced button mushroom
• 50 gm Porcini mushroom
• 100 gm soaked onion
• 50 gm finely chopped garlic
• 10 gm finely chopped thyme
• 25 gm potatoes
• 75 gm butter

Finishing:

• 200 gm mushroom base
• 250 ml chicken stock
• 40 gm butter
• 3 tbsp cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 drops truffle oil

Method

• Take a pan, add extra virgin olive oil and heat.
• Make sure the pan is really hot and on high flame sauté the mushroom and potatoes together. Saute for 5-6 minutes till water is reduced Add onion.
• Add the diced butter and then add garlic and porcini mushrooms. Add the seasonings and chopped thyme. Add 2 litre of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce flame to low heat and cook for an hour. Cool the entire mixture before blitzing.

Finishing

• Heat the base with the stock and season.
• Finish with butter and truffle oil. Pour over the soup.

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A raspberry cake treat

Maggie Beer

Fresh raspberry cake with sangiovese verjuice syrup

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 ¾ cup sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 cup fresh raspberries

Syrup

• 1 cup Sangiovese Verjuice
• ¼ cup sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a 20cm cake pans with vegetable-oil cooking spray and parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside.
• Put the butter and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Incorporate the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, alternating between each in two additions. Fold in the raspberries and pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes.
• To make the syrup, combine the Sangiovese Verjuice and sugar and heat to boiling point in a small saucepan. Continue to simmer until the syrup is reduced to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon. Take off the heat and cool slightly before spooning over the top of the whole cake or drizzle over individual pieces of cake once they have been cut. Serve with thick cream.