We will be back

Hi All

If you've noticed that The Paper Chef has been a bit quiet, then you're not alone.
Both Ilva & myself have been very busy with our respective careers, and along with low participation levels, we have decided to give The Paper Chef a rest until early 2011.

There may be format changes, or date changes or other changes.
If you want to make some suggestions for Paper Chef or wish to assist in some way, please send an email to us at paperchef AT gmail DOT com

Until 2011, Seasons Greetings & Happy New Year!

Paper Chef #57 - The Ingredients

Yes, its time to checkout what ingredients Sarah has selected and posted on her blog, Simply Cooked .
What are they?
Well you will have to go here to find out.

If you are participating for the first time, please read the Rules & Regulations. Even if you don't have a blog and want to participate, all you need to do is send an email with your creation & we will post it on the Paper Chef blog.

Ingredients Please

Raisins, anchovies, salsicce, cabbage, apples, fish, duck, rosemary, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, lettuce, quail, pork, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, basil, chocolate, cheese, milk, beef, yeast, cabbage, lamb, cinnamon, beetroot, spinach, carrots, parsley, cream, cardamom, coriander/cilantro, wine, leeks, chili peppers, kohlrabi, Oysters, eggs, brandy, bread, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, plums, chickpeas, shrimp, cloves, figs, beer, dried dates, blue cheese, tomatoes....

This is the list so far for the next Paper Chef Challenge. Feel free to suggest some more ingredients that you would like to be creative with.
The next Challenge starts 6th October so check back & see what the ingredients will be!

winner.....

I'm late, I'm sorry but I had to go to Sweden for a blitz visit but here's the winner at last!

The roundup - Paper Chef #56

A bit late but I just knew that there would be entries dropping in late and there were. I'm sorry that I am a bit short this time, but things (good and bad) have happened that keeps me busy outside the cyber world, thank you for being understanding!
This month the ingredients were chosen by Åsa from Miss Meisters Mat who won last month and she 'selected' capers, peaches, pumpkin/squash, and lemon grass as ingredients with a theme of “vegetarian”. I think our participants really made magic with them!

First to send me an entry was Sarah from Simply Cooked who has created a dish called pumpkin and peach salad with lemon grass dressing

Next came Karen from Prospect: The Pantry with Zucchini Lemongrass Pancakes with Fresh Peach Salsa with Thai Basil.

Mike from Spikey Mikeys turned up with a Pumpkin Tagine with Couscous & a Parsley & Caper Salad.

Tricia of Jonski Blogski has made Spaghetti Squash with Tomatillo Salsa and Nectarines for us.

And then we have Åsa herself who made Ovenbaked stuffed zucchini with a salty peach- and toufu sauce.


Good Luck to all of you!

They are up!

Ingredients are up, steer over to the Judge Åsa and take a look, have a think and then create your entry for this month's Paper Chef, send me the link to your blog post, or if you don't have a blog you can send me the recipe + eventual photos and I will post it here on the PC blog, to paperchef AT gmail DOT com, deadline is midnight on Tuesday the 7th but we are not fussy in case you are running a bit late, I accept late entries because we want this to be fun and an outlet for your culinary creativity!

Give me more!

Oysters, eggs, brandy, bread, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, peaches, plums, chickpeas, shrimp, cloves, figs, beer, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, salsicce, cabbage, apples, fish, duck, rosemary, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, quail, pork, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, basil, chocolate, cheese, pumpkin/squash, milk, beef, yeast, cabbage, lamb, cinnamon, beetroot, spinach, carrots, parsley, cream, cardamom, coriander/cilantro, wine, leeks, chile peppers, kohlrabi, lemon grass.

We are happy to receive more suggestions for ingredients!
On Wednesday it's time for the next round of the Paper Chef, start massaging your creative glands right now so that you are ready to roam between Wednesday 1st to Tuesday 7th of September. Our Judge is last month's winner Åsa from Miss Meisters Mat, a really lovely lady!

The 55th Paper Chef Winner...

We have a Winner!!
Who is it?
To find out click HERE

55th Roundup

Yes, all the entries are in, and there are a few of them this month!
Alessio from Recipe Taster had the task of randonly selecting the ingredients, which were: Cranberries, Dried Dates, Candied Orange Peel, & Flour. A very complimentary group of ingredients!
So, in no particular order, we have:

Tanna, from My Kitchen in Half Cups with her entry of Breakfast Fruit Bread



From Will Work For Biltong, Adele created a Chocolate, Date and Cranberry Cake with Candied Olives & Orange



Susan, from Wild Yeast made some Orange Pecan Sticky Buns with Dates and Cranberries



Karen, from Prospect in the Pantry, can up with Date-Nut Bread with Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese



From Simply Cooked, we have Cranberry and Date Jammy Biscuits that Sarah made.



Asa, from Miss Meister's mat med mera came up with Zucchini and date vegetter with fresh cranberries



Kizzy, from Culinary Annotationswith a Orange-Scented Date-Cranberry-Pinoli Pastry



Some Spiced Fruit Scrolls made by Mike, from Spikey Mikeys



Naomi, from Bakers Royale with a Crisp Poached Pears Stuffed with Chevre & Haroseth; Served over a Pomegranate Molasses Sauce



And finally this month's judge, Alessio from Recipe Taster also created a dish, Middle Eastern raviolo served with cranberry-sage butter sauce, fresh peach crescents and thyme leaves (but you can't pick your own entry Alessio!)


So there you have this month's entries, quite a varied selection, and quite a few first time participants! It's now upto Alessio to pick the winnner.

Ingredients are Up!

The time has come...
Alessio has selected the ingredients for the Paper Chef Challenge #55. They can be found here.
Good luck & good cooking!

Ingredients....

Oysters, eggs, brandy, bread, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, peaches, plums, chickpeas, candied orange peel, shrimp, cloves, figs, beer, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, cranberries, salsicce, cabbage, apples, fish, duck, rosemary, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, quail, pork, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, basil, chocolate, cheese, flour, pumpkin/squash, milk, beef, yeast, cabbage, lamb, cinnamon, beetroot.....

This is the list so far for the next Paper Chef (55).
Feel free to suggest more ingredients before Alessio from Recipe Taster selects the random ingredients Wednesday August 4.
Stay tuned....

A Winner!

The Judge has spoken!

Finally-A Roundup!

I was a bit worried that there wouldn't be a roundup but then I waited a little longer and see, a couple of entries appeared! Thanks for that!

This month the Judge is Karen from Prospect: The Pantry who won last month and she gave us some tricky ingredients (zucchini, raspberries, beans and cereals) but nothing scares a Paper Cheffer, so here we go with the three entries in competition plus a bonus one from the Judge herself - grip your fork and follow me!

First we have Alession aka Recipe Taster, it is the second time he participates and let's hope that it isn't the last, he's definitely got the attitude of a true paper Cheffer! He serves us a Seared salmon fillet served with a zucchini and rice timbale, black eyed peas cooked with mint and garlic and a raspberry sauce!

Then we have Trish from Jonski Farms, a veteran Paper Cheffer by now who has made us Herbed Grains and Green Beans that may sound plain but if you take a look at the recipe you find that it is full of wonderful flavours!

There's another veteran Paper Cheffer here too, Kizzy from Culinary Annotations has created a fabulous sounding dish, Couscous, Edamame and Raspberry Stuffed Courgettes with Raspberry Oil!

And then we have Karen's own lovely Wheat Berry Salad with Zucchini, Fava Beans and Raspberry Sauce that I find very tempting indeed.

So what are you waiting for? Let's eat!
Good luck Karen with the judging and Thank You for doing it!

Time to get cooking

Finally I manage to pull all the shattered pieces of my life together and tell you that Karen of Prospect: The Pantry has posted the Ingredients! Go there and Just Do It!

Because of this late posting, I will be extremely elastic with the deadline date, you can send me entries to paperchef AT gmail DOT com until the roundup is done around Thursday next week!

ingredients, ingredients!

Add on my friends, it's time for a new round of PC this coming Wednesday:

beans, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, chickpeas, candied orange peel, shrimp, dried mushrooms, cloves, figs, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, cranberries, salsicce, Brussels sprouts, apples, white fish, duck, rosemary, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, zucchini/courgette, quail, crayfish, pork, taro root, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, basil, chocolate, cheese, flour, pumpkin/squash, milk, beef, yeast, oysters, eggs, brandy, bread

Paper Cher #53 - Winner!!!

Cathy from ShowFood Chef has selected the winner of this month's challenge. Find out who won HERE.

Paper Chef #53 - The Round Up

Well another Paper Chef Challenge has been completed.
Cathy from ShowFood Chef is the judge this month and had the task of selecting the all important magical ingredients that make this challenge possible. Her selection of Dried Mushrooms, Thyme, Vodka & Salmon opened up a whole range of interesting ideas.

First this is Karen's Salmon Terrine with Leeks and Mushrooms in Vodka Cream



Next we have Kizzy with a Wellington of Salmon



And our last entry is from Pauline with a Flammekueche and mushroom soup Flammekueche and mushroom soup

I also created a dish for this Challenge but due to a heavy workload was unable to write it up let alone post it.

So which one of these dishes will be selected the winner by Cathy? We'll find out soon!

Flammekueche and mushroom soup

Flammekueche is a typical dish from the Alsace region in Northeast France.
It's a type of flat bread usually topped with fresh cheese, fresh cream, onions
and bacon and baked in a stone oven. Traditionally, flammekueche are
served hot and the waiters set them on fire with a type of spirit.
My grandmother used to have a house in the Alsace so I enjoyed flammekueche
a couple of times as a child. I remember watching the chefs prepare them
and being very fascinated by the fire...

For this paper chef challenge I used wodka to light up my flammekueche
which worked really well, it kept burning for ages even though I only poured
a little on top of it... Instead of bacon I used pink salmon, because I figured
it would go well with the cream and onion and give a similar salty flavour
to the dish. The left-over fresh cream and some of the wodka formed the
basis for a mushroom soup which made a nice starter to the meal.

Flammekueche (2 p)

50 g of fresh cream
150 g of fresh cheese (quark)
2 onions, chopped into onion rings
5 sprigs of thyme
half a can of pink salmon (or 1/2 cup of bacon cubes)
1 ts of salt
olive oil
a little wodka to set it on fire
for the dough: 500 gr of self raising flour, 2 tbs of sunflower oil, 1 glass of water, a little salt

Mix the ingredients for the dough in a bowl and mix well. Use your hands to divide
it into 2 balls. Put a little flour on a kitchen top and roll the balls into large squares.
Make sure the dough is spread very thinly (thinner than when making a pizza).
Mix the fresh cream and quark with a ts of salt and spread the mixture on top
op the dough. Top the flammekueche with onion rings and salmon or bacon
and add the thyme leaves on top. Pour a little olive oil on top and let it bake in
a oven for 20 minutes at 200C. Before serving pour a little wodka on top and
light it for the flame effect. Enjoy!

Simple mushroom soup (2 p)
1 cup of dried mushrooms (I used canned mushrooms because I couldn't find dried ones)
1/2 an onion chopped into cubes
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup of fresh cream
2 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup of wodka
nutmeg
black pepper

Let the mushrooms well up in a little bowl with water. Heat up a frying pan and
fry the onion in a little butter. In the mean time heat up a large pan with the
chicken stock. Now add the garlic and the mayority of the mushrooms (keep
a few to use for garnish) to the onions and stir regularly. Add the onions and
mushrooms to the stock and then fresh cream, wodka, a pinch of nutmeg
and a little pepper. Stir well and let it cook for 15 minutes. Blend it in a
food processor. Heat again before serving and garnish with a few
sauted mushrooms.

They're Here.....

Drum roll please....
Yes, Cathy from ShowFood Chef has selected this month's ingredients.
They are found HERE.


Send your entries to paperchef AT gmail DOT com before midnight Tuesday 8th next week, this will be fun!!

Ingredients are on their way...

Cathy, our judge to the this month's Paper Chef, is travelling and has emailed that she will be posting the ingredients very shortly....
Nothing like a bit of anticipation, what will they be?

Ingredients Please..

Paper Chef is up to the 53rd challenge & here is the ingredient list so far:

beans, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, chickpeas, candied orange peel, shrimp, dried mushrooms, cloves, figs, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, cranberries, salmon, salsicce, Brussels sprouts, apples, white fish, duck, rosemary, thyme, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, zucchini/courgette, quail, crayfish, pork, taro root, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, basil, chocolate, cheese, flour, pumpkin/squash, milk, beef, yeast, vodka, oysters, eggs, brandy, bread

As usual the ingredients for the last challenge has been removed and feel free to suggest some other ingredients that you would like to add to the list.

The winner is.....

...found here!

Paper Chef #52 - The Roundup!

Duck, tomatoes, cream and wasabi. These were this month's four ingredients and maybe not the easiest to combine but there are nevertheless five entries for The Judge, Fiona of Nice Profiteroles, to taste. Good Luck Fiona, you will not have an easy time deciding!



First we have Karen from Prospect: The Pantry who made the fantastic sounding dish
Wilted Dandelion Greens with Wasabi Cream and Duck Bacon, it looks great too!



Then we have Cathy of ShowFood Chef who also came up with an amazing dish, Pan Roasted Duck Pot Stickers in Tomato Broth with Wasabi Cream Sauce. I want some! Now!



And here we go with another gorgeous dish, Pan-Seared Duck with Tomato-Sake-Cream Sauce and Honey Wasabi Oil, created by Kizzy over at Culinary Annotations. Please send some over at once.



And to crown this round, we have Pauline's Bebek Pendang that must be a joy for the palate!



I made Duck With Wasabi panna Cotta and Tomato Twist that was quite nice to eat.

I am as ever impressed with the entries but this time maybe a little more than usual because I know how much I had to think to make a combination that worked. Thank you all, and all women actually, for your creative dishes!

Bebek pendang

This is Pauline's entry for PC #51:

Here is my entry for Paper Chef, it's called Indonesian style roast duck
with yellow rice and wasabi-cream soup. The dish is inspired by an
Indonesian dish called Bebek Pendang, which includes duck, ginger
and tomato sauce. I think the ginger and tomato sauce goes really well
together with the duck, it makes a great combination!

Bebek pendang (serving 2)

300 grams of duck meat
1 cup of tomato frito
1 cup of ginger sauce
sunflower oil
1 chili pepper, finely sliced

Heat a drop of oil in a frying pan, add
the finely sliced chili pepper. Roast the duck
in the pan for 3 minutes, add ginger sauce and
tomato frito. Stir well. Turn the heat down and
let the sauce thicken. Serve with yellow rice
and use a little coriander for garnish.

Wasabi-cream soup (serving 2)
1 small onion
3 cups of spinach leaves
a few leaves of coriander
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 cup of stock (e.g. chicken stock)
1 sachet of wasabi paste (add to taste)
sunflower oil for frying

Finely chop the onion, heat on medium fire
in a little oil. Add garlic, stir well. Add spinach
leaves to the frying pan, turn until all leaves are shrunken.
Put the mixture in a food processor and add coriander
leaves, stock and cream. Blend the ingredients until the
texture becomes smooth. Put the soup back into the
frying pan and heat before serving.

Ingredients are up!

Fiona has put up this month's Paper Chef ingredients over on her blog! Run run!

Send your entries to paperchef AT gmail DOT com before midnight Tuesday 11 next week, I'm looking forward to your entries!

ingredient list!

beans, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, tomatoes, chickpeas, candied orange peel, wasabi, shrimp, dried mushrooms, cloves, figs, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, cream, cranberries, salmon, salsicce, Brussels sprouts, apples, white fish, duck, rosemary, thyme, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini/courgette, chicken, quail, crayfish, pork, taro root, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, basil, chocolate, cheese, flour, pumpkin/squash, milk, beef, yeast, vodka

feel free to add more!

The winner is...

.... over here.
Yes, Adele Will work for Biltong has selected this month's Paper Chef challenge winner! So head on over to her blog to find out who it was.

Paper Chef #51 - The Roundup

This month's Paper Chef entries are in! Adele's blog: Will work for Biltong randomly selected the 3 ingredients of: Lobster, Apricots, Orange and her selection of Ginger. I'd always wondered when Lobster would make an appearance & how everyone would use it in their dishes.
So without rambling too much, here are this month's entries in no particular order:

Our first entry comes is Karen from Prospect: The Pantry with a delicious Orange-roasted Lobster Salad.



Next up is Fiona from Nice Profiteroles with an elegantly simple dish ofGinger-poached Lobster with Orange & Apricot Salsa.



And we also have Tricia from Jonski Blogski with a delicious sounding Orange-Ginger Lobster and Apricot-Ginger Rice Cakes.



So there we have it, 3 quite different entries for this month's challenge.
It's now up to Adele to select the winner, so stay tuned for the decision!

Ingredients are up!!!

Yes Adele has selected the ingredients for the 51st Paper Chef Challenge!
Want to know what they are?
Then head on over to Adele's blog: Will work for Biltong

Email us (paperchef AT gmail DOT com) the link to your entry sometime before midnight your time on Tuesday April 13th, or if you don't have your own blog, send us the recipe and eventual photos to me and I will post it here.

Idea's & Suggestions Please - Paper Chef #51

The 50th Paper Chef has been & gone & Adele from Will work for Biltong was the winner of that milestone challenge, meaning that she will be randomly selecting the ingredients & judging the next challenge.
So now its now time to start looking at the next ingredient list. As a starting point we have:

beans, capers, chicken, currants, gooseberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, tomatoes, chickpeas, candied orange peel, wasabi, shrimp, dried mushrooms, orange, cloves, figs, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, cream, cranberries, salmon, salsicce, Brussels sprouts, apples, ginger, white fish, duck, rosemary, thyme, apricots, cherries, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini/courgette, chicken, quail, lobster, crayfish, pork, taro root, sweet potato, carrots, couscous, apricots, basil, chocolate, cheese, flour, pumpkin/squash, milk, beef, yeast, vodka.

Feel free to suggest any other ingredients that you feel would make the challenge more interesting.
Adele will be posting the selected ingredients Wednesday, so get your suggestions in!

The winner is up!

Take a look here!

Roundup #50-THE PARTY!

A big thank you for everyone who took part in this party, I am delighted to see so many great entries and they all make me feel hungrier and hungrier! As usual I should say, every edition confirms how incredibly creative you are and you manage to entice me every single time!
But let's get going, our gracious Judge, Karen from Prospect: The Pantry, picked the ingredients for this round: honey, ricotta, dill and eggs and we have in front of us a line-up of great dishes based on these ingredients:

First out was my great co-host Mike of Spikey Mikey, the nicest of people, and this time he had to fight storms and disaster to make his delicous Ricotta Fritters with Honey & Dill Mayonnaise, I am happy he managed despite all the problems!

Adele from Will Work For Biltong finally jumped on the train and joined us here on Paper Chef with her lovely Ricotta, dill and honey crumpets, maybe these will make her and her husband more inclined to get up early in the morning?

Pauline sent me her recipe of French quiche with ricotta and salmon marinated in honey, it sounds fantastic doesn't it?

Kizzy of Culinary Annotations is back with new creations, plural as usual, she unites Hungary and France in her two dishes, first she has a Hungarian Farmer's Cheese and Fresh Dill Tart that is followed by beautiful Asparagus and Ricotta Crepes!

And I am happy to see Bill of Bill's Brew-B-Que here again, this time he created these astounding Ricotta Stuffed Honey Gruit Pork Chops, a completely different take on the ingredients which yet again shows what a great event Paper Chef really is!

Cathy of ShowFoodChef managed to squeeze in some time to make her interpretation of the given ingredients, Real Dill Eggs: Baked w/ House Ricotta & Sweet Potato Petals, a wonderful dish for us to try out in our own kitchens!

Alessio of Recipe Taster dicovered the Paper Chef this week so I gave him some extra time to create his dish and I am very happy I did, I think you agree when I say that his Deviled egg with ricotta and dill mousse over a Honey-Dark Chocolate sauce were well worth waiting for!

Ricotta Dill Custards on Honeyed Carrot Puree, she couldn't not stand there without creating something on her own even though she knew that she can't be part of the competition and I am so happy she did because I love this creation from this month's Judge!

Thank you all again and Good Luck to Karen - what a hard choice to make this will be! I do hope I managed to do the right links etc., if I haven't let me know I will put it right next week when I come back from London!

French quiche with ricotta and salmon marinated in honey

Pauline's entry:



First of all, congratulations!

Here is my entry for Paper chef's anniversary.

French quiche with ricotta and salmon marinated in honey

Ingredients:
1 can of Atlantic salmon (MSC)
120 grams of ricotta
100 gram of fresh cream
4 eggs
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
4 sheets of puff pastry
2 tbsp of dill
1 tbsp of honey

Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius. Take the sheets of puff pastry out of the freezer and allow them to soften at room temperature. Marinate the salmon with honey. In a large bowl, mix the eggs. Add salt, pepper, dill, ricotta and fresh cream to the bowl and stir well. Add salmon, chopped pepper and onion.
Cover a round tray with pastry, fill it with the mixture. Place the tray in the oven for 45 minutes. When it's cooked, allow it to cool off for a few minutes and serve with salad and/or rice. Enjoy!

A 50ieth anniversary and I almost forgot it!!

Our Judge for this month, Kathy of Prospect: The Pantry, is more awake than me because she has noticed that it is the 50ieth edition of the Paper Chef and she is rightly celebrating this over at her blog where she has posted this month's 4 ingredients. So head over and celebrate and, most important, get creative and cook something for the Paper Chef while you are having fun in the kitchen!
Send me (paperchef AT gmail DOT com) the link to your entry sometime before midnight your time on Tuesday 9th of March (or even a bit later, I'm not fussy) or if you don't have your own blog, send me the recipe and eventual photos to me and I will post it here.

Are you still here? nonono, you should be here!

It's ingredient list time again!

orange, cloves, figs, dried dates, raisins, anchovies, cream, cranberries, salmon, cherries, salsicce, Savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, ricotta, apples, ginger, white fish, kale, honey, duck, meatballs, rosemary, thyme, fennel seeds, apricots, green beans, cherries, aubergines/eggplant), nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini/courgette, chicken, quail, lobster, crayfish, pork shoulder, pigeon peas, taro root, sweet potato, dill, carrots, couscous, ginger, apricots, basil, beans, capers, cherries, chicken, currants, gooseberries, elder flowers, peaches, plums, quail, raspberries, lobster, tomatoes, chickpeas, candied orange peel, wasabi, artichokes, shrimp, dried mushrooms

This is the current list, please submit any ingredient that you think would make it even more interesting and challenging. Or that you like and want to give a chance to be chosen! And do come back on Wednesday when this month's Judge who is Karen from Prospect: The Pantry will post about this month's four Paper Chef ingredients!

Quiet Please!!!!!

Cath, our judge for this month's Paper Chef - the 49th - has handed me the envelope with the winner.
Who is it???
Go here to find out.

Paper Chef #49 - The Round Up!

Sorry about the delay with the round up, but we had a pretty severe thunderstorm here in Melbourne & we had to suffer a blackout & then no Internet for 2 days!!
Enough of the apologies & onto something more interesting, the round up for this month's Paper Chef!

As last month's winner, Cath from ShowFood Chef had the fun of selecting the ingredients. Her random selections were: Prawns, Fennel, & Sweet Peppers and a fourth ingredient of, a theme: Passion.
Very interesting ingredients, which I personally liked!

So what did everyone come up with......

First up we have a non-blogger, Bill, with Mothership Wit Superbowl Skewers. Perfect watching the Superbowl with the boys.
** Amendment: Bill does have a blog & posted his entery at Bill's Brew-B-Que **


Next there is Karen from Prospect: The Pantry with a delicious looking Seafood Pot Pie with Fennel and Peppers.

Markus & Jenny of I could even eat a baby deer! created a tropical dish of Prawns meet Peppery Passionate Pineapple

The lovely co-host of Paper Chef, Ilva has created a Fennel Seed And Grappa Infused Prawns with Chickpea Puree and Grilled Red Peppers.

Kizzy from Culinary Annotations created an intriguing
Prawns with Fennel, Sweet Peppers and Cognac.

Last entry is me, Mike, from Spikey Mikeys with an interesting Prawn & Fennel Rice Paper Rolls.

This is what I love about Paper Chef, 6 entries, 6 different creations! So if you're reading this & thinking to yourself "I would have made.." then next month's Paper Chef starts March 3rd. So what's stopping you from participating?

Cath will shortly select this month's winner & they will select the ingredients & then the winner of the next challenge, a special one at that - the big "five O" yes the 50th Paper Chef.

Mothership Wit Superbowl Skewers

Well my first entry into Paper Chef (49) is done!

Looking at the ingredients, (prawns, sweet peppers, fennel and Passion) I thought I would start with the esoteric ingredient first and work from there. What is my passion, in a culinary sense? What do I want to make, to try and eventually blog about? What is it that I want to share with the world? For that answer I have to look no further than the name of my blog; Brewing Beer and cooking on the BBQ. Also we have Superbowl 44 happening during this challenge, and many people are very passionate about that! I happened to be having few guests over to watch the game, so in addition to the normal snackykins that one finds at such events, I wanted to do something a little different.

So I have my cooking method down (Grill) and one extra ingredient (Beer). Beer makes an excellent acid base for a marinade, but what kind of beer would go good with the other 3 ingredients? Something light, so as not to overpower the flavor of the shrimp, but something that might complement the fennel. A Belgian witbierr sounded like just the thing. I decided to go with Mothership Wit by New Belgium Brewing. I have been enjoying it a lot lately and I haven’t gotten around to brewing my own witbier yet. Mothership Wit is a light organic wheat beer beer that is seasoned with coriander and orange peel.

Keeping with these light zesty flavors, along with the history of the fennel lead me to use a mediteranian feel with the dish, using garlic and dill to finish the marinade.
I’ve seen fennel on countless cooking shows, but I’ve never worked with it before. When I got it home I sliced off a tiny bit to taste it. It’s definitely got a unique flavor profile. The way I described it is anise crossed with the texture of an onion. Much of the research suggests that it can be roasted, and from that I extrapolate that if it can be roasted, it can be grilled.
Sweet pepper is basically bell pepper from what I’ve been able to find out.
From the kitchen dictionary at Recipezaar.com: “In the U.S. the term sweet pepper covers a wide variety of mild peppers that, like the chile, belong to the capsicum family. The best known sweet peppers are bell peppers, named for their bell-like shape.” So that makes that ingredient pretty easy to work with. Here is my final recipe:

Mothership Wit Superbowl Skewers
1 Fennel
2 Red Peppers
1 lb of uncooked, peeled, deveined prawns
Marinade
18 oz of New Belgiums Mothership Wit Belgian whitebeer
3 gloves of chopped garlic
¼ cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of Fresh Dill
Dash of Kosher salt
Dash of freshly ground black Pepper.

Chop fennel, red peppers into chunks. Detail the prawns, place all 3 in large non-reactive bowl. In large measuring cup combine beer, garlic, dill, salt, pepper, and olive oil and mix to form marinade. Pour the marinade over vegetables and prawns and refrigerate. Marinate at least 2 hours. Get your charcoal ready and start skewering. Cook 7-10 minutes per side.

How did it come out? Pretty much everyone agreed that the prawns were the best they had ever tasted, however the marinade didn't penetrate the vegetables as well as it did the meat. Fennel was new to everyone I presented it to, and it didn't go over great. This is primarily a carnivorous Superbowl crowd, so that it far from surprising. Overall, I felt the dish was a success. It was a lot of fun and got me thinking about food differently, and trying new things. Isn't that what paper chef is all about?