SUMMER LUNCH

Recently I caught up with two long time friends to celebrate a birthday. We chose a simple Sunday lunch and relaxed in the outdoors whilst we chatted about recent events. Fish pastries, orange and date salad were accompanied with a fresh green salad and a good white wine.

We finished with the Apple Cake Dessert ( see October entries in this blog).

Just right.

I am continuing to look for interesting recipes and found Tess Mallos' book "The Food of Morocco a journey for food lovers" is a great source. It is full of interesting ways to cook seafood and vegetables and other dishes that you might want to try for your meat eating friends.

ORANGE AND DATE SALAD

SERVES 4 -6

6 sweet oranges

2 teaspoons orange flower water

8 dates , pitted and thinly sliced lengthwise

90gm( 3/4 cup) slivered almolds lightly toasted

Small mint leaves ( optional ) to serve

• Cut of the tops and bases of the oranges with a sharp knife
• Peel away the pith cutting through the outer membrane to expose the flesh,
• Holding the orange over a bowl to catch any of the juice segment the orange by cutting between the visible membrane and place the segments in the bowl
• Squeeze the remains of the oranges over the bowl to extract all the juice
• Add the orange flower water and stir gently.
• Cover and refrigerate until chilled
• Place orange segments and the juice on a large flat dish and scatter the dates and almond slivers.
• Sprinkle mint leaves over the top
• Serve chilled

From Tess Mallo " The Food of Morrocco. A journey for food lovers" Murdoch Books 2008

FRIED PASTRIES WITH SEAFOOD

Makes 24

FISH OR PRAWN FILLING

250 gm boneless white fish fillets or 200gm cook prawn (shrimp) peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley

1 tablespoon finely chopped spring onion

1 garlic clove , crushed

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of olive oil

6 sheet of filo pastry (Antonio brand)

1 egg white lightly beaten

Canola oil for deep frying ( alternatively you can glaze the pastries with egg white and bake)

3 tablespoons of castor sugar

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Filling

• Poach the fish gently in water until the fish flakes ( about 4-5 minutes)
• Remove from poaching liquid and cover so the the fish does not dry out as it cools
• When cool , flake the fish into a bowl
• If using prawns cut them into small pieces
• Add parsley, spring onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, lemon juice,and olive oil and toss well to mix

Pasty

• Stack 6 sheets of filo pastry on a cutting board and cut across into three evenly sized pieces.
• Keep filo in the fold of a dry tea towel to prevent it from drying out while you work

Assemble

• Take a filo strip
• Place a generous teaspoon on the base of the strip and fold the pastry over, Glaze the edges with egg white and fold the sides inward to begin your roll and then roll the pastry ensuring that the last edge is glazed so it will stick together
• If you are going to bake place on a baking tray covered in baking paper and cover with a towel
• Repeat this until all your pastry strips are used

Baking:

• Glaze and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes or until browning.

Deep Frying

• Heat oil until a cube of bread dropped in browns within 15 seconds.
• Add pastries so that they are not touching each other and fry until golden.
• Remove and drain on paper towel.

Serve hot with sugar mixed with cayenne and cinnamon sprinkled.

Adapted from Tess Mallo " The Food of Morrocco. A journey for food lovers" Murdoch Books 2008