This n That

Swiss Carrot Cake
(got this from a recipe exchange and haven't tried as yet, so let me know pls)

Ingredients
5 eggs, separated
2 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
1 cup very firmly-packed finely grated carrots
100g ground almonds
100g finely chopped walnuts
50g fresh white breadcrumbs
50g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Grease a 25 cm (10 inch) cake tin, and line the base with paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, salt, cinnamon and cloves, until thick and creamy.
Mix together the carrots, ground almonds, walnuts, breadcrumbs and the flour sifted with the baking powder; stir these ingredients into the egg yolk mixture.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold in. Turn the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting½ cup butter
1 cup cream cheese
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 lemon, juiced and rind (finely grated lemon rind)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence( not artificial!)

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Sift in icing sugar, add lemon rind, juice and vanilla. Mix well, then spread over cake.

Peel and de-vein cooked prawns (preferably medium sized, like tiger prawns).
Finely slice lettuce.

Avocado diced finely. (about one avocado for 2 people serving)
Cut avocado in half, remove seed. While still in "shell", cut into a few pieces(3 or more) lengthwise, and then across finely. Scoop out of shell.

Seafood sauce or Praise Thousand island dressing

Cherry Tomatoes- halved
To halve a cherry tomato, leave top and bottom and cut horizontally.. this leaves seeds in pattern

Stir together. This is a standard seafood cocktail.

To make a homemade seafood sauce (Divide by 5!! as large amount
Please note- I haven't tried this as yet!)
5 whole eggs
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard(French mustard).. this helps it combine
50ml lemon juice
50ml white vinegar
While beating with electric beaters on high or a fast hand whisk if preferred gradually
pour in oil (not pure olive oil as sets in fridge, some sort of vege oil, blended or canola oil works).. about 3 to 4 litres of oil

Night before or at least 4 hrs before
Finely slice an eshallot(small oval shaped pinkish French onion which can be eaten raw and has a sweeter smell).
Add sliced eshallot to a half /half mix of olive oil and white wine,lemon rings(sliced lemon) salt pepper. You need about one small eshallot to half litre oil/wine mixture. Let sit for a couple of hours(can be up to day before).Remove lemon rings, leave onion in.
This is a white wine vinegarette(salad dressing.)

2 hrs before
Score calamari.
(Score= cutting fine slits about 1/4 inch apart or less. Turn and continue to make crosshatching cuts , like a diamond "hash" pattern (don't slice all the way thru))
Cut Calamari into about one inch pieces.
Blanche Calamari(place in boiling water for a few seconds and drain).
Add Calamari to salad dressing.
Leave sit for another 2 hours(can be up to 4 hrs).

Before serving
Diced feta cheese.. about 1/4 inch cubes.
Cut lettuce leaves into pieces and other green salad leaves.

Also add thinly sliced capsicum(Julienne style-very thin slices).
If you want the salad to last over a day and capsicum to stay crisp you need to take a part of the flesh off as well. This applies to Julienne style tomatoes as well as capsicum.
Other things usually added are thin (Julienne)lebanese ie. skinny cucumber sliced,sun-dried tomato diced finely, olives.

You can add whatever you like, I like halved cherry tomatoes too, but it won't keep well, so probably better if separate in a tomato-lettuce style salad

Remove Calamari with fingers from the dressing.
Keep leftover dressing for table for people who like a lot of salad dressing to add their own as desired.
Add Calamari to green lettuce mix and feta cheese.
Mix with fingers.
This gives just enough salad dressing without "drenching" the salad.

Boil eggs for about 7 minutes from cold water.
Remove from heat and put cold water in saucepan. Leave cool.
Slice into halves.
Spoon Hollandaise sauce (used Maille Salsa Hollandaise sauce with lemon juice in bottle -was nice) on top of each half and sprinkle with a little Cajun pepper.

Serve eggs on a bed of lettuce leaves and/or on top of a garnish of grated carrot and thinly sliced tomato(Julienne). Here you remove the tomato middle part just leaving the skin and a bit if flesh, then dice finely. This makes a nice garnish.