Pickled Yellow Pepper Rings

We went on a cruise across the south Pacific, and my husband had these in salads.  He loves them so I have been looking for a recipe, and found one at the National Centre for Home Food Preservation.  Its easy to do and works a treat.  You do need to preserve these, so you will need the right equipment.

Here is how they turned out:

Vietnamese fish cakes

I have several recipes for these fishcakes, and they all involve fish and red curry paste.  Then the fish cakes turn out too strong for me, with no taste of the fish.  When I saw a Bill's recipe with no curry paste, I tried it out, found it a little too simple and modified it as below.  These cakes taste more of fish than curry and so they do not assault the senses!

 

If you cannot get snake beans, just use normal beans. If you like the fish cakes a lot more spicy, add a chopped chilli to the fish mix.  Serve with a simple Vietnamese salad of lettuce, mint, coriander, sliced mango, bean sprouts and a dressing of lime, olive oil seasoned with a dash of soy, fish sauce and sugar.  As for the fish - I use the cheapest white fish fillets at the market, the only thing to avoid is very oily fish.  You can make really little fish cakes and serve them as starters for a party with the dipping sauce.

 

I made a batch of these and froze them, then vacuum  sealed them and froze them - turned out great, just defrost and fry.

 

The recipe makes enough for 4, with a few left over for lunch the next day.

 

Zeppole or mini ricotta donuts

This is an old italian recipe and a great way to use up left over ricotta. You will find lots of recipes on the web, but this one works every time.   Be warned!  they are addictive, and they attract hoards of people, particularly children.

Two ways to serve these, firstly dusted in lots of icing sugar, or secondly make a honey drizzle of 1/4 cup honey, fresh thyme (about a teaspoon) and finely grated zest of a small lemon.  Simmer the honey etc until it is fragrant and you have a thin sauce to pour over the Zeppole.

When making these, do not over mix them.  Easy does it. You can add lemon or orange zest to the recipe if you so desire, or cinnamon to the icing sugar, see how the mood takes you.

Coconut and Chocolate Bread.

Last time we went to Hawaii I was determined to go to Bills in Waikiki, unfortunately I got bronchitis and was sick and coughing for most of our time there.  Even a short walk to Bills was too exhausting.  Oh well, I will just have to go back! 

Oh Yum!  this is Bills recipe, with a little tweaking from me.  All the family wanted it warm, and it is a little crumbly then, but after it has cooled down and for a few days later, its slices perfectly and can be toasted and eaten with butter.  What an afternoon treat it is!  And so simple, just put everything into a mixer and mix.

One change you could make with this is to top it with some grated coconut, it should look good and taste good too.

 

For Muffins:

Use the same mixture, but add 1 cup of coconut, and some chopped pecans or choc chips if you have any.  Put into muffin cases and bake at the same temp as for the bread.