Panfried salmon with crunchy Asian-style salad

It's been a while, sorry! We moved apartments, so I've been a little busy getting everything in order at the new place.

If you've read any of my recipes, you will know I have a thing for lots of texture in my food, crunch in particular is my thing. This recipe with salmon and lots of crunchy vegetables ticks the crunch box for me. The freshness of the vegetables, herbs and nuts provides a good contrast to the richness of the salmon.

Ricotta and banana pancakes

Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, the first day of Lent for Christians around the world.

I remember as a child eating lots of pancakes at school on this day and wondering what it was all about. 'Why would Jesus eat pancakes,' I thought.

Now I'm celebrating Pancake Day with my own children, which is lovely, but makes me feel a little old too.

This recipe using ricotta and banana is excellent for fluffy and very tasty pancakes. I like to eat them hot out of the pan with some golden syrup drizzled over the top. Just delicious. Maybe these will be my sacrifice for Lent (or maybe not)!

Tuna, salmon and sweet corn burgers

This was a real 'what is in the cupboard that I can cook quickly for lunch' recipe.

I had hungry children due home in an hour and no time to run to a grocery shop. A search through the pantry cupboard revealed a tin of tuna in brine, one tin of pink salmon and a tin of sweet corn. Put all that together and you get the above - tuna, salmon and sweet corn burgers. The children had theirs as burgers on a bread roll with some lettuce and tomato. I had mine with an avocado and orange salad. Just delightful, and the leftovers went well for lunch the next day.

Pork and prawn salad with green curry dressing

I would eat some kind of casserole or stew everything day during colder weather if I could. I blame my Dad for this, because he makes an excellent casserole, and I enjoyed many of them in my younger days. The other people in my house tend to get a bit sick of this kind of comfort' food, especially the man of the house. He has been know to refer to this type of food as 'sloppy.' 'Wash his mouth out,' I say!

Clearly the above dish is not a casserole or stew. It is my attempt at keeping the peace at the dinner table.
It was destined to be a pork and prawn green curry with spinach - read 'sloppy' - that I turned into a salad instead. Clever, aren't I! It wasn't too hard, tasted great and got me some smiles around the table.

Baked black forest cheesecake

Serious dessert time again. My man has a thing for black forest anything. For him, the combination of the sweet sour cherries, chocolate and cream takes him to his 'special happy place.' He likes black forest cakes, trifle, tarts, and now he likes black forest cheesecake slice. This was his birthday dessert this year.

I wanted to create something special, of course. I thought about making just a plain black forest cake, but that seems a bit boring. We all like cheesecake so I thought it might be interesting to incorporate the black forest flavours into a chocolate cheesecake. I made the cheesecake in a loaf tin as I thought it would look pretty.

And the words, 'best dessert ever!' may have been mentioned once or twice by my man. Mission accomplished I think.

Orange and carrot cake

I was asked to make this cake by someone I know. It was her boyfriend's birthday, and she wanted to surprise him with a cake. He doesn't like chocolate or cakes with creamy fillings, which limits the field somewhat. I was told that he likes cakes with fruit such as apples or carrots. So, here is the cake that I created. It is a light and zesty-flavoured cake, thanks to the two whole oranges, but the carrot and almond meal keeps it moist. I made the icing with orange juice and zest to give it a real orange flavour punch. 

The feedback was that it was 'excellent'. Just what I like to hear.