Righto, this is a cooking thread, if you will. A chance to talk about nice food, food you love to eat, and most of all (if you can cook) cook up. This is an opportunity to share a few recipes, and to be able to learn a few tips about cooking.

Now, I don't want people posting that they made cheese on toast, or managed to scramble an egg, pour cereal and milk into a bowl, or god forbid spread butter onto toast. Nor is this to be turned into a sexist thread where Kiwichick (sorry, you're the only female regular here) is being told to go into the kitchen and make a sandwich or that her rightful place is in-between the oven and the sink. None of that. (I like a good chuckle about it too, but I'm trying to be serious about this thread).

So I'll start off.

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Over the weekend, after having read about it in the paper during the week, I decided to cook a dinner for my family. A celebration dinner if you will because m pop got back from Hospital and I hadn't cooked a dinner in a while. My nan is very partial to fish, and I'm a big seafood fan with prawns, mussels, calamari, and crab/lobster at the top of that list. So after having seen the recipe in the paper, I thought'd I'd cook a Mediterranean Seafood Soup, with Garlic Toast.

Serves 6 approx.

Ingredients.
•   1 tablespoon olive oil
•   3 cloves of garlic – crushed
•   Ginger (according to taste), chopped finely.
•   400g can of diced tomatoes
•   3 cups of fish or vegetable stock
•   ½ cup of dry white wine (optional)
•   1 pinch of saffron
•   2 strips of lemon rind (about 3cm wide, 5cm long)
•   600g firm white boneless fish fillets (cut into 3cm pieces)
•   18 Prawns
•   18 Mussels
•   18 pieces of Calamari
•   1 leek (halved lengthways and chopped finely)
•   1 red capsicum (halved and chopped finely)   
•   1 clove of Garlic
•   6 pieces of Sourdough bread or Baguette
•   2 tablespoons of parsley, chopped
•   Salt & Pepper (according to taste)

Method:
1.   Peel and de-vein prawns, leaving tails in-tact.
2.   Scrub mussels, then pull off the beard (the little seaweedy bit that hangs from the joint)
3.   Heat oil in a pan, over a medium-low heat. Add Leek & Capsicum and cook for ~10 minutes, stirring occasionally until soft and lightly coloured.
4.   Add Garlic, Ginger and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
5.   Add Tomato, stock, saffron, lemon rind, and wine and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
6.   Add fish, prawns, calamari, mussels and cook, covered, for a further 5-10 minutes, or until mussels open and fish and prawns change colour. Do not overcook Calamari, otherwise it will go a horrible rubbery texture and become virtually un-edible.
7.   Toast bread, and rub it with the cut sides of the garlic and some butter/margarine, or drizzle with Olive Oil.
8.   Ladle soup into bowls, and sprinkle with Parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with the Garlic Toasts.

The dish was really nice, and you can spice it up if you fancy, chuck in a chopped chilli (or two, for that extra kick). Definitely going to make it again, and next time will add photos.

Anyway, I dunno where this threads going to go, but maybe we can turn it into a Masterchef style thread.