Roast pork, prawn ristto, prawn dip, mashed potatoes

I invited my aunties over for dinner. I wanted to do a nice spread of things, but I ended up serving dishes that are too rich. But they tasted good anyway...so here are the recipes. Just don't serve them at one dinner.

The first...prawn ristto...

I had to boil prawns for prawn dip and thought that it will be a terrible waste to throw away the water in which the prawns were boiled. So I boiled it again with bouquet garni in it to give it a bit of favour. The colour is not that nice because the prawn stock was murky-green/brown. But it tasted so rich and intense. Yum.

(The ingredients are approximate at best. )

1/2 to 3/4 cup of rice, washed and drained.

3-4 cups of stock, warm

1/2 onion

a pinch of chopped garlic

a dash of white wine

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, add olive oil and fry garlic and onion until the onion peices turn translucent.

2. Add rice and keep stirring them till it turns semi-transparent.

3. Splash white wine and let it dry a bit.

4. Add a laddle of stock, keep stirring them until almost all the stock is absorbed. Add more stock and repeat the process until the rice is cooked to your liking. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Put a spoonful of risotto in a bowl and add some pan grattato and a tiny spoonful of sour cream.

Prawn dip

It is very rich. Eat moderately.

1 kg of prawns in shell

1 cup of sour cream

1 cup of mayonaise

1/2 onion, chopped

2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons of tabasco sauce

Salt and pepper

1. Boil and peel the prawns. Roughly chop them up.

2. In a bowl, place all the ingredients together. Mix well. Season well.

3. Serve it with toasted white bread or pumpernickels.

Roasted shoulder of pork

I adapted from Jamie Oliver's slow roasted pork. For the original recipe, click here .

2 kg of pork shoulder with skin

1 1/2 tablespoon of fennel seed

2 onions, quatered

2 medium carrots, cut into four pieces

1tablespoonDried thyme (a bunch of fresh thyme if avaiable)

1/2 bottle of white wine

1 cup of chicken stock

Coarse sea salt

Pepper

Preheat the oven to max.

1. Pat dry and score the skin. Be careful not to cut through the meat.

2. Massage the meat liberally with olive oil. And then coat it with fennel seeds and salt.

3. In a roasting tray, place onions, carrots and thyme. Place pork shoulder on top, skin side up.

4. Put in in the oven and let the skin go beown and a little crackly for 20-30 mins. After that, reduce the temp to 120°C. Cook for 5 hours.

5. After five hours, add a half bottle of white wine. Let it cook for another hour.

6. Take the meat out of the tray and let it rest on a board.

7. Strain the liquid from the tray. Pour out the oil layer on top.

8. Add chicken stock. Let it boil for a while. Check the seasong.

9. Tear the pork - it did not tear as easily as I expected it to. I may have to put it in the oven for longer- with hands or fork. Serve it with pieces of crispy scratchings on top with gravy.

I made a nice creamy mashed potatoes. Again, very rich, but delicious.

6 medium potatoes

1/2 cup of cream

a knob of butter

Chopped garlic cooked in olive oil (I had some left over so I used them but it can be replaced with sliced clove of garlic)

salt, pepper

1. Boil the potatoes. When cooked, tip all the water out and let them sit for a while with the lid on.

2. Boil cream, bottom and garlic in a small sauce pan.

3. Mash the potatoes and add cream/butter mixture. (If using sliced garlic, remember to remove them before adding)

4. Season with salt and pepper.