A Week in Pictures...Food

Appletini Popsicles,  More details here.

Best Ever Nachos...

Egg Fritters

Biryani

Burgers

A Palestinian Feast...

Coffee and almond Cake Recipe can be found here.

Recipe Books...

A Turkish Breakfast...

Fried Plantains...

Chicken Parmigiana...

Smoked Trout and Melon Salad...

Raspberry and Yuzu Semifreddo...

Kunafa Cones...

A Tea Party

Sesame-Honey Prawns...Recipe here.

Custard apple Popsicles

The Best Eggs Ever...Recipe can be found here...

A Week in Pictures...

Pretty Pompoms...
Sandals: zara.com, Full Outfit details here.

Proteas: woolworths.co.za, Bag; zara.com, Shoes:Yves Saint Laurent.

Shoes: robertocavalli.com

Shoes: zara.com, Sunglasses: houseofharlow1960.com, Bangles: accessorize.co.za.

Cup; Nespresso

Coffee Glasses: Nespresso

Eye shadow Palette: nyxcosmetics.com, Wedges: dunelondon.com

Slides: countryroad.com from woolworths.co.za,
lenovo.com
myistore.co.za

Proteas: woolworths.co.za

Lipstick: stilacosmetics.com, iPad:.myistore.co.za, Sunglasses: ray-ban.com, 

Espresso Cup; nespresso.com

Recipes and full details here.

Recipe and full details here.

Bangle; zara.com, Eyeliner: sephora.com

More details on these pictures can be found on instagram.com/the_gilded_lifestyle.

Sesame-Honey Prawns...

I know that this recipe has been long overdue. My apologies! But I am confident that once you make these prawns and taste them , all will be forgiven! Although I have given quantities to serve these as an entrée, they can easily be adapted to a main course. Simply increase the quantity of the ingredients. I have made these successfully with chicken breast strips as well.

Sesame-Honey Prawns

Serves 2 as an Entrée

12 large headless prawns, shelled and deveined
3/4 cup cornflour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
About 1 cup cold water to make a batter
Enough oil to deep fry
1/2 cup fragrant honey (I like orange blossom for this)
A handful of sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Spring onions for garnish
Baby tomatoes to serve

Dry the prawns thoroughly. Dust with a 1/4 cup of the cornflour. Refrigerate while you make the batter. Combine the remaining cornflour, cake flour, baking powder,salt and chilli powder in a bowl.
Combine the egg and water in a jug. Gradually add the water/egg mixture to the flour mixture, whisking to make a smooth batter. The batter should be the consistency of  double cream. You may need to add some more water. Heat the oil in a pan. Dip the prawns in the batter and fry, a few at a time, until golden and cooked through.keep the prawns warm while you fry the remaining prawns.
Heat the honey in a pan until just starting to bubble. Quickly add the sesame seeds and prawns and stir to coat. Remove from heat and place into two serving bowls. Garnish with the spring onions and some baby tomatoes and serve. Bon Appetit!

Custard Apple Ice Cream Pops...

Custard Apple is not a fruit that we see regularly at the markets, so when I saw some a few weeks ago, I was delighted! Also known as Cherimoya, it is pale green in colour, with a creamy flesh, and several large seeds. The fruit is best eaten when really ripe and soft. The flesh has a somewhat tropical in taste, faintly reminiscent of a mixture of pineapple, mango and something else that I cannot quite place. Banana perhaps?
Note that the custard Apple in this recipe can easily be replaced with the puréed flesh of a large mango.
 I placed the churned ice cream into Popsicle moulds, but you could easily place it into a container and serve it by the scoop.

Creamy custard apple and lime ice cream

2 large ripe custard apples
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
250ml full fat milk
200ml cream
50g sugar
2 egg yolks
50 g good quality white chocolate
Zest of 1 lime, extra

Cut the custard apples in half. Remove the pulp and place in a sieve. Press down with a spoon, reserving the juice. Discard the seeds. Add the lime zest to the custard apple and refrigerate until needed. Place the milk and cream in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat. Meanwhile, whisk the sugar and egg yolks until pale and thickened. Slowly add the milk and cream mixture, and whisk until combined. Pour the mixture back into the pan, and place over low heat until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl. Leave to cool. Refrigerate until well chilled, then stir in the custard apple purée. Churn in an ice cream machine. Place in Popsicle moulds and freeze until solid. Decorate with melted white chocolate and the extra lime zest.

If You Make One Thing This Week...The Best Eggs Ever!

There are some days that you wake-up listless and simply don't want to do any thing. Do you know the feeling? Well, today was that day for me. As much as I wanted to crawl into a cupboard and hide, I knew that I had a family to feed! So, rather halfheartedly, I opened the fridge and took out some eggs. I then grabbed the last two pita that I had, and somehow I recalled seeing a picture of some fried tortilla chips. 'Yep, that's what I'll do' I thought. Slowly I started searching for other bits and pieces in the fridge and this recipe came together. As breakfast started to take shape my mood started to lighten, and I started to think that today is not such a bad day after all! After tasting the first morsel, I decided that today was a good day! A really good day. Not only did this meal fill me up, but it lifted my spirits totally! This was one of THE best egg meals that I have had in a while! Judging by the look on my family's faces, they thoroughly enjoyed it too! I was smitten with this, and I knew that I had so share this with you all, so I hurried to my laptop to type the recipe out, lest I forget!  

You will need:

2 pita breads, torn up into bite sized pieces

5 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup tomato Passata

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons Harissa paste

1/2 cup hummus

3 slices pastrami

A cup of  baby exotic  tomatoes, sliced

8-10 button mushrooms, sliced

1 avocado, sliced 

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas

4 eggs

1/2 cup Egyptian white cheese, or feta, crumbled 

A handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped 

A few chopped chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and fry the pita, in batches, till crisp. Drain on paper towels. Fry the pastrami in the same oil until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then tear into smaller pieces.Prepare the tomato sauce, by combining  a tablespoon of the olive oil, passata, garlic, harissa paste, and some salt in a small saucepan. Simmer over low heat for five minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Rinse and slice all the vegetables. Bring a pan of water to a gentle simmer. Poach the eggs, one at a time for four  minutes,. Remove from water and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Meanwhile, place the pita crisps in a clean pan or casserole. Drizzle the tomato sauce over, then dollop on the hummus. Layer on the veggies, chickpeas, pastrami, and eggs.season to taste. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over.  Top with the cheese and some parsley and chives. Serve with a spritz of lemon juice... Bon Appetit

Serves four.