Spicy Coconut Chicken Soup

200g Vermicelli noodles
2 teaspoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons red curry paste
500g chicken thigh fillets, sliced
2 1/2 cups water
400 ml light coconut milk
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 sliced red chilli
lime wedges to serve

1. Place noodles in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water. Soak for 5 minutes until tender. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan on medium. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute until fragrant. Add chicken and cook for 4-5minutes.
3. Blend in water and coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add broccoli and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Divide noodles among serving bowls. Ladle soup over. op with bean sprouts, coriander leaves and chilli. Serve with lime wedges.

Serves 4     6/10

Crepe Suzette

Ingedients
2 cups flours
2 1/2 cups whole milk
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter (melted)
pinch salt
Few drops on vanilla

Rind from 1 orange
3/4 cup caster sugar
145g butter
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
1/4 cup Cognac

1. Sift flour and mix with salt in a bowl
2. Make a well and pour in eggs. Stir well.
3. Slowly pour in milk while stirring. Keep stirring batter until small bubbles form on the surface.
Stir in butter.
Voila!!

NB The batter does not need to stand before using it. However, if you do let it stand, you will mostly likely want to add 1 tablespoon of water before cooking with it. Generally : if it seems thicker than cream, add a little more water, and/or little more milk.

Mix orange ring and butter. In a saucepan, mely about 1 tablespoon butter/rind mixture over a medium flame. Place one crepe on top, cook for about 30 seconds, flip, cook for about 30 more seconds, then sprinkle with a little sugar. Fold in quarters, take out of panand put on a plate on top ia a simmering (not boiling) pot of water. This will keep the crepes warm as you are prepaing. Proceed like this with each crepe. Mix liqueurs together and arm up. Put each crepe on an individual plate. Pour liqueur over each one, then sprinkle with sugar and flambe!! serve right away

Voila!!

9/10  very delicious!!

French Onion Soup

Ingredients
80g Butter
9 white onions sliced into thin rings
1 litre dry white wine
freshly ground black peper
2 tablespoons Cognac
6x3cm thick slices sourdough bread
1 cup freshly grated firmly packed gruyere cheese
1.5 litres well flavoured chicken stock
salt

Preheat oven to 180. Select an ovenproof gratin dish (approx 6cm deep) in which the onion will form a well packed layer. Grease dish with half the butter and add onion. Dot onion with remaining butter. Pour over wine and grind over pepper. Bake, uncovered, for at least 2 hours stirring once or twice, until onion is very soft.
Increase heat to 220 and cook for 1 hour until top layer has started to caramelise. Sprinkle surface with cognac.
Select ovenproof soup bowls. Break each bread in half. Place a spoonful of onion in each bowl, then cover with a piece of bread and top with cheese. Repeat with another layer of onion, bread and cheese. Ladle over stock and tast for seasoning.
Bake in oven until soup is bubbling hot and top crust is golden. Submerge crust in each bowl just before serving to soften it.

Serves 6-8

*cook onion in a LARGE pan and make sure it is well and truly soft and cooked.  We only gave it 6/10

Pumpkin Arancini

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups aboirio rice
1 1/2 cups grated pumpkin
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup plain flour
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup dried packaged breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for frying
sweet chilli sauced and mixed leaves to serve

1. Bring stock to the boil in a small saucepan on high. Reduce heat to very low and keep warm.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan on high. Saute onion for 3-4 minutes until tender. Add rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, until well coated in oil.
3. Add 1/2 cup hot stock and cook, stirring, until absorbed. Continue adding stock, a ladleful full at a time, stirring, constantly between each addition until absorbed. This will take about 25 minutes. Add pumpkin about halfway through cooking.
4. Stir in parmesan and season to taste. Chill for serveral hours until firm enough to handle.
5. Measure quartercup fulls of mixture and,using damp hands, roll into balls.
6. Place flour, eggs and breadcrumbs in seperate dishes. Dust balls in flour, followed by eggs and crumbs. Chill for 20 minutes.
7. Half fill a large saucepan with oil and heat until a few breadcrumbs sizzle as soon as they are added. Cook the balls in batches for about 1-2 minutes, turning until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towel.

Served warm or cold on a picnic. Serve with sweet chilli sauce and mixed leaves.
Makes 24  Prep time 40 mins Cooking 50 mins
10/10

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Ingredients
60g Butter
250g Mushrooms, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon French mustard
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon chopped chives

Combine butter and mushrooms in a large bowl, cover, cook in microwave on HIGH 4 minutes. Mix in stock, wine, mustard and cream. Cover, cook in microwave on HIGH 10 minutes. Pure in blender or processor, stir in chives and reheat.

Delicious!! 9/10 for this one, only problem is it doesn'take enough!!

The Julie & Julia Project

Where do i start? Winter = cold weather + hibernation!!
I needed a challenge and i love food!! Eating it, cooking it, serving it!! LOVE it!!
I had also been reading the book Julie & Julia - My year of cooking dangerously in a small apartment kitchen. I thought "maybe i can do my own project 'Mel's Julie & Julia Project - My winter of cooking dangerously in a small apartment kitchen'" and that is what i have been doing!!
I have loved most recipes i have tested out, and I have decided to share them for everyone to try and let me know what they think.
I started out with thinking it could be a winter of soups, but figured I could easily get bored with that, so decided that I should cook all totally new recipes, ones that i have never done before!!
So off I cooked!