Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Shrimp Salad Finger Sandwiches

Shrimp salad finger sandwiches with tiny shrimp, green onions and slightly spicy pink sauce are perfect for a tea party, brunch or shower. 


I’ve made shrimp salad before but always with normal sized shrimp, chopped up. In fact, this curried version is one of my favorite dishes of all time. Until I happened to notice them in the freezer section of my local grocery store, I didn’t even know that salad shrimp were a thing. 

Apparently the only thing that makes them “salad shrimp” is their diminutive size. To be labeled salad shrimp there must be more than 60 per pound. Who knew? I can say they make a lovely shrimp salad! They were great in these little finger sandwiches or you could heap this shrimp salad in avocado halves as a starter for your next dinner party, whenever THAT is possible again.  

Shrimp Salad Finger Sandwiches

If you can’t find salad shrimp, by all means use bigger ones and just chop them up with a sharp knife. All shrimp are good shrimp. For those of you around the world who call them prawns, those work as well. 

Ingredients
12 oz or 340g salad shrimp, thawed and drained, if frozen
2 green onions
1/2 cup or 120ml mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 teaspoon English mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce – optional but highly recommended
10 slices sandwich bread (the square kind)

Method
Pop the shrimp on a couple of paper towels to get rid of any excess water then discard the paper towels. 


Slice the green onions lengthwise, then chop them finely. Put them in a mixing bowl with the mayonnaise, ketchup, English mustard powder, black pepper and hot sauce, if using.  Mix thoroughly. 


Add in the shrimp and stir to combine. 


Refrigerate the shrimp salad until you are ready to assemble the sandwiches. 

When you are ready to assemble the sandwiches, use a serrated knife to cut the crusts off of your slices of sandwich bread, then cut each slice in half. 


Pile the shrimp salad on one half and then cover it with the other. 


Press down gently so the shrimp salad will stick to both sides of the sandwich. 

Continue until all the sandwiches are made and transfer them to a serving plate. If you aren’t serving the sandwiches immediately, slightly dampen a paper towel by flicking it with cold water. Cover the sandwiches with the paper towel then cover the paper towel and plate with cling film. The damp paper towel will keep the bread from drying out. 

Refrigerate until ready to serve. I also sprinkled on a little chopped green onion to pretty them up. 


Enjoy! 

January is Hot Tea Month so my Foodie Extravaganza friends are sharing recipes for tea drinks, something you would serve at a tea party, or anything that uses hot tea for cooking. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Check out all the links below. 


Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board

Pin these Shrimp Salad Finger Sandwiches!


 .

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant

Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is a showstopper of a main course, guaranteed to be loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. After all, who can resist ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil pesto and melty mozzarella roasted in a hasselback-cut eggplant?

Food Lust People Love: Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is a showstopper of a main course, guaranteed to be loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. After all, who can resist ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil pesto and melty mozzarella roasted in a hasselback-cut eggplant?

When our elder daughter went off to university, she fell in with a crowd of vegetarians. All really nice kids, I couldn’t help but like them. But that girl had grown up in a home that was definitely meat-centric. How could she live a baconless life! (Was a baconless life even worth living? Turns out, yes.) 

Fortunately she came home that first Christmas with a flexible attitude and a few lovely recipes to teach me. She was happy to eat whatever side dishes I made with dinner and just skip the meat portion. But that began my search for tasty vegetarian recipes we would all enjoy.

On many Sunday dinner tables around the world, including ours, the centerpiece of every meal is something roasted, perhaps beef, chicken, pork or leg of lamb. The vegetables, gravy and bread rolls that accompany the meat are supporting actors, but that big oven-roasted turkey or ham at Christmas time? Those are the superstars.

In vegetarian households some replace the meat with a nut roast or faux meat of some kind, perhaps made out of tofu or seitan. I am not a fan of those though and would rather make a lovely roasted vegetable ratatouille or eggplant Parmigiana. Or skip the showstopper all together and just make several vegetable and pasta dishes with a side salad. Hey, if you really need a centerpiece, how about some flowers?

Or you can try my wonderful Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant. It’s more impressive with one big eggplant. In fact, I almost turned the words around and called it a Caprese Stuffed Eggplant Roast, but you can also use several smaller eggplants if that’s what you have available.

Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant

If you do have one large eggplant, the trick is to roast it in a pan or dish that is just the right size so you can press it down to fit securely. That way, it won’t tip sideways as it bakes. My eggplant is one big guy, almost 10 inches or 25cm long. It weighed 1 lb 9 oz or 710g, before being stuffed. This will serve 3-4 people as a main course, with side dishes.

Ingredients
1 very large eggplant or 2 normal sized ones
2 large beef tomatoes, halved and sliced
4 3⁄4 oz or 135g mozzarella cheese, not soft burrata but the pizza
kind, sliced
3⁄4 cup or 190g pesto 
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Optional for serving:
Toasted pine nuts, little basil leaves and fresh grated Parmesan

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Slice the eggplant almost all the way through, leaving the slices connected at the bottom. (The easiest way to do this is to place a chopstick or wooden spoon handle on either side of the eggplant. Cut through just until the knife hits the chopstick or spoon. The slices should be around 1/3 in or 7-­8mm thick.


You’ll have to hold the eggplant to support the uncut side, allowing the cuts to open a bit. Put a healthy teaspoon of pesto into each cut then stuff a tomato and mozzarella slice in after, which should push the pesto down into the cut and spread it around. This was awkward to photograph but here’s my best try.


Place the stuffed eggplant in a snug ovenproof baking dish greased with a little olive oil. Push it down so it almost lays flat. It will slump completely flat as it roasts.

Food Lust People Love: Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is a showstopper of a main course, guaranteed to be loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. After all, who can resist ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil pesto and melty mozzarella roasted in a hasselback-cut eggplant?

Drizzle on a little olive oil and roast in your preheated oven for about an hour or until the eggplant is cooked through and nicely browned. If you are feeling really insecure about its stability, feel free to prop it up on both sides with some foil or even a halved tomato. 

Food Lust People Love: Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is a showstopper of a main course, guaranteed to be loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. After all, who can resist ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil pesto and melty mozzarella roasted in a hasselback-cut eggplant?

To serve, cut through the bottom of the slices, making sure that each slice has some cheese and tomato on top as you lay them on the dinner plates.

Sprinkle with pine nuts, basil and Parmesan, if desired.

Food Lust People Love: Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is a showstopper of a main course, guaranteed to be loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. After all, who can resist ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil pesto and melty mozzarella roasted in a hasselback-cut eggplant?

Enjoy!

For many people, eating healthier means eating meat for fewer meals and more vegetables so I figured this dish was perfect for today’s Sunday FunDay theme Welcoming 2021 – Let’s Celebrate and Stay Healthy! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out all the other lovely dishes we are sharing. 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin this Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant! 

Food Lust People Love: Caprese Stuffed Roasted Eggplant is a showstopper of a main course, guaranteed to be loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. After all, who can resist ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil pesto and melty mozzarella roasted in a hasselback-cut eggplant?

 .

Monday, December 28, 2020

Banana Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweet fluffy bites, perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot tea, your family will eat these banana mini muffins in a flash.

Food Lust People Love: Sweet fluffy bites, perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot tea, your family will eat these banana mini muffins in a flash. These little guys are a great recipe for using up that last banana that always languishes at the end of a bunch, brown and speckled but oh so sweet.

I am a fan of baking mini muffins because they tend disappear more quickly than the full-size ones. I put these on the table after dinner last night and even though everyone had eaten well, they each took a mini muffin for dessert. Yay! I tell you, that would never have happened with normal muffins.

Banana Mini Muffins

These little guys are a great recipe for using up that last banana that always languishes at the end of a bunch, brown and speckled but oh so sweet. 

Ingredients 
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour
1/4 cup, firmly packed, or 50g light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ripe banana (about 1/2 cup or 125g)
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 egg

Method
Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C. Prepare your 12-cup mini muffin pan by greasing it or line it with paper liners. 

Mash your banana with a fork in a mixing bowl.


Add in the oil, yogurt and egg and whisk them together with the banana.


Lightly whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in another mixing bowl to combine.


Fold the wet ingredients into flour mixture until just moistened.


Divide batter among the muffin cups. I love my little scoop for this job but if you don’t have one, a spoon will do.


Bake the muffins in your preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12-15 minutes. Cool in the pan for a few minutes then remove the muffins from the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack.

Food Lust People Love: Sweet fluffy bites, perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot tea, your family will eat these banana mini muffins in a flash. These little guys are a great recipe for using up that last banana that always languishes at the end of a bunch, brown and speckled but oh so sweet.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Sweet fluffy bites, perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot tea, your family will eat these banana mini muffins in a flash. These little guys are a great recipe for using up that last banana that always languishes at the end of a bunch, brown and speckled but oh so sweet.

It's the last Monday of the month so that means it's Muffin Monday! Check out all of the great muffins my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today!


Muffin Monday 
 #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Banana Mini Muffins!

Food Lust People Love: Sweet fluffy bites, perfect with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot tea, your family will eat these banana mini muffins in a flash. These little guys are a great recipe for using up that last banana that always languishes at the end of a bunch, brown and speckled but oh so sweet.
.