Recipe: Seared Curried Scallops and Creamy Leeks

Did you know that Leeks are one of my favourite vegetables?! #lovemyleeks

Leeks are best during the colder months and are in season - I picked up these beauts from my local farm shop #shoplocal 

I love how simple, nutritious and delicious they are. I tend to use them in stews, casseroles or bolognaise but today I thought I'd try out a new recipe idea!

Creamy leeks with seared curried scallops.

This dish is quick, simple and would be ideal as a starter or a main dish - win win!

Let's get on with the show....

Firstly I heated the butter on a medium/high heat and then added leeks, water and salt and pepper to the saucepan and cooked until soft and tender.

Meanwhile I patted dry the scallops and sprinkled with curry powder.

Then I added cream and a pinch of nutmeg (perfect for Christmas!) t the leeks and cooked until the sauce thickened.

Using my griddle pan I heated the oil and seared the scallops for 5 minutes, turning once, until golden brown.

To serve - add the scallops on top of the leek mixture and voila! Simple dinner or starter.

Ingredients:

2tbsp butter
1/3 cup water
2 leeks chopped (I like to keep them in circles and fairly chunky)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of cream (I used double)
A pinch of nutmeg
Scallops
1/2 tbsp curry powder
1tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Melt butter on a medium to high heat in a saucepan, add 1/3 cup of water, leeks, salt and pepper to taste and stir occasionally until soft and tender.
2. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream and nutmeg. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
3. Meanwhile pat scallops dry and sprinkle with the curry powder (both sides) and a pinch of salt.
4. Heat oil on a medium to high heat (I used my griddle pan here). Cook scallops until golden brown brown on the outside, turn once. The centres should be opaque. No more than 5 minutes.
5. Serve on top of the leeks.

Sunday Lunch #1

 

 

What's this?! A brand new series for you to enjoy! ... Sunday Lunch is where I will post my fave recipe of the week whether it be a dinner I’ve made, a tasty snack or a yummy dessert.

 

Recently we’ve gone on a bit of a health kick and tried to kerb the takeaways and meals out and switch to healthy homemade delights. Since doing this I’ve ignited a passion for cooking, finding recipes and trying new things.

 

Today I’m showing you a tasty fish dish inspired by this Slimming World recipe.

 

I wrapped the salmon in tin foil parcels with 2 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of honey, 2 teaspoons of lazy chilli and a spoonful of lazy garlic.

 

I then stir-fried a selection of veggies. Mange tout, spinach, button mushrooms, red and white onion and half a chilli chopped up finely. I chose these vegetables for no other reason other than they needed to be used up! Ha.

 

As a yummy accompaniment I made Sweet Potato Jackets – I’m not a massive potato fan but these were a delicious alternative to an old classic. To make simply prick the sweet potato several times and cook in the oven for 40 minutes.

 

And voila! A healthy homemade dish oozing with flavour!

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Centre's

The other week I fancied a little naughty treat and decided to make these light and fluffy chocolate chip cupcakes with gooey peanut butter centre's!

 

They turned out perfectly! Super light and moist (ok, they are a little burnt around the tops but they didn't taste it!) with a hidden surprise in the middle!

 

To make these you will need:

 

100g sugar

115g butter

150g self raising flour

1 egg

Chocolate chips or chunks

Peanut butter (I used crunchy)

 

~ Preheat oven to 190°C and grease a muffin tin

 

~ Cream butter (I softened mine first in the microwave a little) and sugar for 1 minute (I used my electric hand mixer)

 

~ Add the egg and beat on low until combined

 

~ Sift in the flour and add chocolate chips or chunks and mix together with a wooden spoon (or spatula or any other tool you have handy!)

 

~ Scoop a small teaspoon of mixture into the muffin tin, then add a small spoonful of peanut butter and then top with another spoonful of cake mixture.

 

~ Repeat until muffin tin is full (my mixture made 6 generous sized muffins!)

 

~ Cook for 15mins or until golden brown.

 

~ Devour while still warm!!

 

 

I'm so excited - I've finally took the plunge and ordered myself a beautiful, shiny stand mixer! Just waiting for it to arrive - cue lots of baking, treats and recipes very soon!

 

 

Have you tried making these? Let me know what you think :)

 

Cooking with Kirsti #2

Why hello there!!

Another installment of Cooking With Kirsti ... today (well Sunday!) i made my first ever trifle. Decided to give myself a head start and do a practice run for Christmas Day. Very easy to do, so i'm pleased with that :) Here's what i did ...

Ingredients:
 

Jelly (strawberry)

Sponge fingers

Custard

Dream Topping

Flaked Almonds

Dark chocolate
 

Firstly i took my trifle bowl (i say trifle bowl, i don’t actually own one yet! I had to buy this Pyrex bowl when buying the ingredients as that’s all they had, lol) and laid sponge fingers over the bottom of the bowl as a base ... i think when i make this again i may use different sponge instead of the fingers but that’s purely for aesthetic reasons.

 

I then made up the jelly and poured over the sponge base. The sponge fingers then rose and mixed in with the jelly. At this point you could add some fruit pieces to the mix but i forgot to buy fruit when shopping! I left this overnight to set in the fridge.

 

The next day i poured a carton of custard over the jelly and sponge. As mentioned in my first cooking post I’m a lazy cook so i bought pre-made custard, you can make your own if you wish (and have the time!)

 

I then mixed up the Dream Topping. I have never even heard of Dream Topping before, my mum always uses whipping cream with icing sugar for the topping of a trifle but the boyfriend insisted i made it the ‘proper’ way so i hunted it down and gave it a whirl. O.M.G !! Why have i never tried this before, it was absolutely amazing ... i even licked the bowl!

 

To finish I quickly crushed up some flaked almonds and made some dark chocolate shavings and sprinkled over the top. I then left to set for a couple of hours in the fridge and viola! A simple, pimple trifle!

 
 

What trifle tips do you have?

 

xoxo

 

 

Cooking with Kirsti #1

Lets rewind the clock 12 months shall we!

I was a very undomesticated chicka spending my time between living at home with my parents and living out of a bag at the bf's. Now i have my own place, do all of the cleaning (yep that's right Samuel i have named and shamed you :p ) and have some cooking skillz which have appeared from nowhere!

I'm hoping to share some of my cooking accomplishments here on the blog - the majority of them will be simple and quick #winfortheworkinggirl

Today we have Sausage Casserole:

Ingredients:

Sausages
Onions (I used 1 large white and 1 small red)
Peppers (Green, yellow, red)
Mixed Mediterranean veg medley (not pictured)
Herbs (Mixed herbs and basil)
Stock pot (not pictured)
Gravy granules (not pictured)
Casserole mix

I decided to use the slow cooker to cook the casserole as i put this on at about half 10 in the morning after breakfast one Sunday and did the housework while it was cooking, by the time i had finished a top to bottom clean it was lunchtime and ready to eat, yum!

Firstly i cooked through the sausages in the oven for 20 mins.

I get very confused with slow-cooker cooking. I have a cookbook dedicated to cooking all things slow and it always says to cook the meat and veggies first - surely this defeats the purpose of the slow-cooker!?

Anyways, while the sausages were cooking i chopped up the onions and peppers and fried them off on the hob until soft and then added them to the slow cooker.

I then added a handful of frozen Mediterranean vegetables, herbs (i used a shake of mixed herbs and a pinch of basil), a Knorr stock pot, a tablespoon of gravy granules (Bisto Best), 300ml of water and the contents of a Casserole mix packet (this was in fact a lamb version that you are meant to shove in a bag and cook in the oven but I'm a maverick and don't follow the rules :p )

I then added the sausages and stuck the slow-cooker on medium. It then cooked for around 3 hours; stirring occasionally.

I served this with Yorkshire pudding boats but #bloggerfail i didn't take any final pictures!

You may notice that some of the ingredients aren't pictured - I'm one of those cooks that scours the cupboards as they go seeing what else they can throw in or needs using up :) anyone else do this!?

It was a rather scrumptious dinner, albeit a little bit cheating with the packet mix but hey-ho ... I'm a busy gal ;)

Hope you enjoyed my first cookery lesson - let me know if you'd like to see more :)

xoxo