Pink Whisk

Toasted Oatmeal Strwaberry Tart

2010-05-18T03:06:00.000+01:00

A perfect summer treat, mimimal baking involved in the crust and the simplicity of the topping lets the flavour of the strawberries through. Recipe is originally from oregonlive.com.

Growing Nicely

2010-04-18T21:19:00.000+01:00

The peaches are fattening up nicely, now I only have to keep the squirrels away from them.

African Blue basil, a recent purchase which should florish in the Houtson heat.

I had enough tomatoes last week for one salad, but the birds nicked a few other ripe ones. These do need a lot of water and some tomato-specific food, the large thunderstorm we just had has done my watering for today though.

My herb garden: sage; oregano; rosemary; thyme; mint and dill planted in the autumn have been added to recently by the less sturdy herbs of basil, coriander and flat-leaf parsley (I can't abide the curly stuff).

Farmers' Markets

2010-04-18T19:01:00.003+01:00

One advantage of living at a laitude of 30 degrees is the longer growing season, our grass only stopped for about 2-3 weeks this winter (and it was a cold winter for here). The change in the seasons has become really evident in the last few weeks, a sudden explosion in the variety of produce available at the market. I stocked up yesterday morning and we then had a yummy bacon and leek quiche with a grated carrot salad (from Avoca Book 1) and Nigel Slater's cucumber, feta and radish salad (my all time favourite salad, 4th one down in the link).

Feeling Peachy

2010-01-26T22:48:00.004Z

For my birthday The Doc invested in some fruit trees for me. We bought them at the Urban Harvest sale held every January, they also run my local farmer's market. As we don't know how long we'll be in Houston we invested in varieties that will bear fruit in the next year, a Meyer Lemon tree, a fig and some blueberry bushes. A trip to Home Depot for some gardening supplies yielded a raspberry bush and a peach tree also. The peach tree has been a revelation, completely bare upon purchase only 8 days in the ground and it has blossomed beautifully.

Great Vegtable Side

2010-01-22T17:49:00.006Z

My prize for 'best new cookbook 2009' would have to be split between Ottolenghi and Claire Clark's 100 Perfect Desserts. Ottolenghi contains receipes from the restaurant of the same name in London owned by two guys from Isreali and Palestinian backgrounds and their food contains all the flavours of the region. In particular there are some great salads and veggie sides.

Green Beans and Mangetout with Hazelnut and Orange
serves 6

400g green beans
400g mangetout
70g unskinned hazelnuts
zest of one orange
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp hazelnut oil
S+P

top and tail the beans and mangetout, keep them seperate
blanch beans for 4 mins and refresh - under cold running water (or a bowl of iced water)
blanch mangetout for 1 mins and refresh
dry both sets of vegtables
heat an oven to 180 deg C and roast the hazelnuts on a baking tray for 10 mins
rub nuts in a clean towel to remove most of the skin and then chop roughly
mix all ingrediants together in a bowl and serve at room temperature

Remember nut oils go rancid quickly so buy in the smallest size available and store in a dark place.

The Demise of Gourmet

2009-12-08T00:04:00.005Z

The one little treat I allowed myself on moving to the US was some food magazine subscriptions. An annual one can be had here for about $15, it certainly beats €5+ per issue back in Ireland. They do come filled with direct marketing blurbs but they just go straight into the bin in my house. I went for Bon Appetit, Saveur and Gourmet. I'd only received one issue of Gourmet when the news came that Conde Nast were to halt publication, I guess Bon Appetit was the more profitable of the two magazines in their stable. Personally Gourmet has always been my favourite, the one I purchased every time I travelled across the Atlantic. They have also published some nice anthologies of writing from the first 60 years of the magazine, one of which focused solely on articles about Paris. The one issue of Gourmet I did receive was the Thanksgiving one, with its multiple variations on the theme from traditional to vegetarian. I stuck with the traditional for my first Thanksgiving and made this pecan pie.

The quantities below make enough for one full 9" pie (to bring to Thanksgiving dinner) and two mini ones (for next day leftovers!)

Pecan Pie
adapted from Gourmet magazine Nov 2009

dough
1 1/4 cups flour
1 stick butter, cold and diced
1/4 tsp salt
ice water, 3-5 tbsp

rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
stir in salt (no sugar needed, the filling is sweet enough)
add the water, starting with 3 tbsp, until dough just comes together
wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 mins
remove from the fridge and leave for 5 mins before rolling out
roll out into a circle and fit into a 9" pan, trim the edge of the pastry
use leftover pastry to line two small pie dishes
chill in the fridge for 30 mins while you make the filling

filling
1 stick unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten lightly
10 oz pecans halves

preheat oven to 180 C
melt butter in a pan on the hob, add sugar and whisk until smooth
remove from the heat and add the corn syrup, vanilla, zest and salt
whisk in the eggs
scatter pecans over tart shell and pour mixture over them
bake until filling is set in the middle, about 50 mins
leave to cool before slicing

One for These Winter Days

2009-11-29T19:04:00.004Z

This pie is perfect for those cold, rainy winter days. All it needs on the side is some steamed broccoli or carrots. Curl up in front of the fire and tuck in.

Beef and Chorizo Pie
adapted from 'Favourite Recipes from Books for Cooks 4, 5 & 6'
serves 6-8
This recipe makes either six 350ml (or eight 250ml) individual pies or else one large one.

filling
1 tbsp olive oil
200g chorizo, sliced
1kg stewing beef
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
250ml red wine
250ml chicken stock
S+P

pastry
175g unsalted butter, cubed
milk, approx 100ml
350g flour
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
salt
1 egg, to glaze

put flour, salt, baking powder and butter in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs
add milk and process until pastry comes together
knead pastry for a few mins
wrap in cling film and refridgerate for at least 30 mins

in a heavy pot warm the olive oil and add the chorizo
cook until the orange paprika oil runs out, about 5 mins
remove chorizo and set aside
increase heat and add the beef until browned
remove beef from the pot
add the onion and cook until soft and golden
add the garlic and cook for a minute
add the four and cook for a further minute
return the meats to the pot and add the tomato puree, paprika and thyme
pour in the wine, bring to a simmer and add the stock
cook over a gentle heat (or in the oven at 160C) for about an hour until the beef is tender
transfer to a bowl and leave to cool

preheat the oven to 190C
roll out the pastry until it is 0.25cm thick
fill you pie dishes with the beef filling and top with pastry
crimp the edges of the pastry with a fork, brush with egg glaze and pierce a hole in the centre to allow the steam to escape
small pies will take 20-25 mins to cook while the large one will take about 40 mins

I Hear it's Raining in Ireland

2009-11-25T20:36:00.007Z

Here are some pictures to cheer you up. They are of the market in Tashket, Uzbekistan taken by my dad while he was on a work trip. The variety and colours of the produce is simply amazing.

Grilled Summer Vegetables

2009-10-23T23:58:00.007+01:00

There are a couple of Farmer's markets here in Houston. My favourite is the Bayou City Market, it's a producers only market and everything must come from a 150 mile radius. As a result the produce is truly seasonal, on our first visit every veg stall was teaming with courgettes and squash of all shapes and sizes. This dish of summer grilled vegetables quickly became a favourite in our house. I usually make a full batch and then mix half with some grilled chicken and cooked pasta for the following day's lunchboxes.

Grilled Summer Vegetables

Serves 4 as a side dish

500g courgette / small squash
olive oil
2 peppers

Dressing:
mix together the following ingredients in a large shallow bowl:
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp mint, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

grill the peppers until the outsides are black and charred, this can be done under the grill but I just place them directly on the gas hob. Don't be nervous, they should be black all over.
place the peppers in a Ziploc bag (or a cling-film covered bowl), seal and leave too cool
slice the courgettes and squash lengthwise into 2-3mm thick slices
brush with olive oil and season
heat a ridged pan over a high heat, brush with olive oil
griddle the courgettes and squash in batches until charred on both sides
as you remove them from the pan place straight into the bowl containing the dressing
remove the charred skin from the now-cooled peppers, chop and add to the bowl
toss well to coat everything in the dressing

Texas Chilli

2009-10-23T01:22:00.007+01:00

What have I been doing? I hear you say. The last six months have been pretty hectic, we've relocated 4500 miles away to Houston, Texas. Now that we're all settled it (and all my kitchen gadgets have arrived) it's time to start cooking again.

Where better to start our Texas adventure than with a Texas Chilli

I used a pre-blended chilli mix "Chilli 3000" available from Penzeys in the US. I'm not usually a fan of pre-blended mixes and would always make my own for Indian etc. I figured I couldn't go wrong in the home of chilli though.

Texas Chilli

Serves 4
olive oil
1 kg beef, I used chuck steak
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt + Pepper
1.5 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp cumin, ground down in a mortar and pestle
400g can tomatoes
2 tbsp flour

in a heavy pan brown the beef in olive oil, you probably need to do this in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding the pan
remove beef and set aside
add onion and garlic to the pan and saute until soft
add chilli powder and cumin and cook for 1-2 mins
return the beef to the pan and the tomatoes and season
simmer over a low heat for 40 mins
if sauce is too thin add a little flour (mixed to a paste with water) to thicken

serve with Basmati (or Texmati) rice

One a Penny, Two a Penny

2009-04-13T16:10:00.003+01:00

It wouldn't be Easter without some Hot Cross Buns. This recipe come from Delia's "Complete Cookery Course" and is also available online. I made a double batch and I doubled the quantity of mixed peel also. If you can buy the peel that comes as a large piece that you chop yourself - much better flavour and a lot less dried out.

Lamb Shanks

2009-03-11T21:36:00.006Z

I bought a large jar or preserved lemons a few weeks ago and I was keeping my eyes peeled for a recipe to try them out when I spotted this one on Bibliocook. When I picture preserved lemons I instinctively think of Moroccan spicy food but it works really well in this dish, adding that little something which lifts it up from a mundane, everyday kind of stew. There was a lot of meat on our shanks and there was plently of sauce and vegtables to give me two extra dinners for the freezer.

Tasting Menu Chez Moi

2009-02-17T21:05:00.022Z

Mini quiches with gorgonzola and red onion confit.

Parsnip and honey soup shots with spicy crisps.

Celeriac Remoulade*

Tuna ceviche in corn cups.

Baked mini-potatoes with horseradish creme fraiche and smoked salmon.

Mini-corncakes with avocado and lime salsa.

We also at some point had "Cannellini bean bruschette with capers and slow roasted tomatoes" but they were all snaffled up before I could take any pictures.

Blancmange with Basil Coulis*

Mojito Cheesecakes

Both the Remoulde and the Blancmange came from the Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook by Clotilde Dusoulier (author of the food blog of the same name). It's a great book with very original recipes and flavour combinations - including chocolate and zucchini cake.

Celeriac Remoulade
serves 6 as a starter

700g celeriac
200g plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp string Dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
S+P

grate the celeriac - easiest way is in a food processor
mix immediately with the yogurt, mustard, lemon juice and garlic in a large bowl
season, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour min but ideally for a day
I used old beans cans as my mould - simply use a can opener to remove the bottom and you have a cylindrical mould
Spoon the remoulade into the moulds and serve immediately

Blancmange with Basil Coulis
serves 4 - or 8-10 of my small servings

Basil Coulis
20g basil leaves
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

process all ingredients in a food processor until smooth
keeps for 1 day in the fridge

Blancmange
125g whole blanched almonds, chopped to small chunks
125g whole hazelnuts, chopped to small chunks
375ml milk
250ml cream
70g sugar
1 1/2 sheets gealtine (I used 3 as the sheets I bought were 1/2 the size of my normal ones, it gave a just barely wobbling set).

soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for about 10 minutes
add the nuts (minus 2 tbsp for decoration) to the milk in a saucepan
bring to a simmer, remove from the heat leave to cool (covered) for 10 minutes
whisk together the cream and the sugar in a mixing bowl
set a sieve over the mixing bowl and strain the milk mixture into the bowl
press on the nut to extract as much of the liquid as possible
rinse the saucepan and return the milk/cream mixture to it
squeeze dry the gelatine leaves and add to the saucepan
cook until the mix just starts to simmer
strain through the sieve into a mixing bowl and leave to cool for 5 mins
transfer to ramekins/glasses and chill until set in the fridge
remove from the fridge 5 mins before serving and top with basil coulis

Be My Valentine

2009-02-16T18:50:00.008Z

I love Tastespotting but over the weekend there were a selection of rather dubious 'Valentine's' offerings, beet sorbet anyone??. The perfect Valentine's dessert should be just that little bit decadent and special, but not necessarily lurid pink. I found the perfect recipe in my Ice Cream Ireland book. I used a pink champagne which added just a hint of subtle colour.

Meatless Feast

2009-02-04T20:46:00.015Z

The word feast usually conjures up images of the traditional 'fatted calf' slaughtered to welcome home the prodigal son. However I think the picture above sums it up better - simply family and friends sharing food, wine and conversation.

On a recent visit home we wanted a 'feast' but having consumed rather too many heavy dinners of late I decided to forgo the meat element of the feast. Of assistance here was my new favourite book from 'Ottolenghi'. I have a rule that a cookbook, however nice, must bring something new to my kitchen before I can justify its purchase and this has certainly earned its place on my shelves of late.

We ate:

Roasted Butternut Squash with Burnt Aubergine

1 large butternut squash
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds
10g sliced almonds
salt and pepper

for the sauce
1 medium aubergine
150g Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
(1 1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses - I left this out I couldn't get any in Wexford but I imagine it would complement the smokiness of the sauce)

cut squash into wedges, coat with 2 tbsp olive oil and roast in a 220 deg C oven for 30 mins
reduce oven temp to 180 deg C, toast seeds and almonds for 8-10 minutes - Watch carefully these burn easily
place the aubergine under a very hot grill for about an hour, turning occasionally, until the skin dries and craks (alternatively this can be done in 15 mins directly on the flame of a gas hob)
scoop the flesh out and place in a colander to drain for 10 mins
stir together all the sauce ingrediants and place in a bowl in the centre of a serving platter
surround the bowl with the squash, scatter over the nuts and seeds and drizzle the remaining olive oil

Courgette Cakes

Marinated Sweet Peppers with Mozzarella

6 sweet peppers
120 ml olive oil
3 tbsp corainder, chopped
3 tbsp parsly, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp cider vinegar
large ball mozarella
salt and pepper

preheat the oven to 200 deg C
drizzle 2 tbsp olive oil on peppers
roast for 15 mins
mix together herbs, garlic, vinegar, 80ml oil
put warm peppers in a bowl and pour over marinade
leave a room temperature for a minimum of 2 hours
lay peppers on a serving plate, tear up the mozzarella and scatter over

We also had a tomato and advocao salad, some olives to nibble on and this bread, which was good - but I think I could do a little better so you'll have to wait for the recipe.

Something to Warm Those Toes

2009-01-04T18:35:00.005Z

My go-to source for substantial, comforting soups has always been the first Avoca book and this one certainly hits the spot on a cold winter's day.

Tomato, Lentil and Orange Soup

50g butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 orange, zested and flesh chopped
50g red lentils
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
300ml vegtable stock ( I use Marigold boullion)

melt butter and cook onion for approx 10 mins until soft
add garlic for 1 min
add orange zest and flesh, lentils, tomatoes and stock
bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins
puree, adding more stock if it is to thick

I Guess Somebody Liked It!!

2009-01-04T18:05:00.008Z

At Christmas time it's always a good idea to have something in the fridge that can spice up those leftovers. I made this a few years ago and it disappeared in a flash so I decided to do it again, as well as being good with leftovers it really jazzes up a cheese sandwich. The recipe comes from Paul Flynn's 'An Irish Adventure with Food, The Tannary Cookbook', which has recently been re-issued with a new cover (and hopefully some more proof-reading - the font changes on random pages in the original).

Red Pepper and Chilli Relish
makes approx 5 jars (750g)

50g caster sugar
60ml white wine vinegar
5 red peppers, de-seeded and chopped
1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
2" piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, grated
2 x tins (400g each) tomatoes, blended
2 leaves gelatine

put sugar and vinegar in a pan and bring to the boil
add pepper and cook for 2 mins
add chilli, garlic, ginger and tomatoes, season, cook for another 15 mins and then remove from the heat
soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water
when gelatine is soft, squeeze off excess water and stir into pepper mix off the heat
fill sterilised jars with relish

To sterilise jars either:

run through a dishwasher cycle and fill while still warm, or
place in 150 deg C oven for 15 mins - again fill while still warm

In theory this should keep in the fridge for 2-3 months, however it never lasts that long in my house!!

Mince Pies

2008-12-26T20:44:00.013Z

My Dad rang me in a bit of a panic on Christmas Eve "I can't find Mrs. Dunbar's pastry recipe", having made six dozen mince pies the previous weekend I could rattle this one off the top of my head. By now my mincemeat has matured nicely, much more moist than the commercial variety with an added citrusy kick.

Rich Sweet Pastry
makes enough for 15 mince pies

8oz of plain flour
2oz of icing sugar
5oz butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp ice-cold water
1 tsp lemon juice

whisk together egg yolk, water and lemon juice
sieve together flour and icing sugar
place all ingrediants in a food processor and blend until they come together
wrap in cling film and refridgerate for at least 1 hour before using

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and brush the tart pans with melted butter. Roll out pastry to approx 1/2 cm thick and cut rounds using a pastry cutter or glass (I like to cut bigger rounds for the base than the lids). Place the larger rounds in the base of the tart pans and add a generous teaspoon of mincemeat, cover with the smaller rounds and pinch together. Brush with egg wash and bake for 20-25 mins.

Boxwood Cafe

2008-12-24T20:11:00.015Z

To those of us not in the know the reservations policies of well-known London restaurants can be something of a mystery. For our London trip we were on the waiting list at the River Cafe - to this day I have no idea if we came anywhere near getting a table or not. Happily Gordon Ramay's Boxwood Cafe operates a very egalitarian resevations policy, and bookings for tables up to 4 persons can be made online from one month before the date in question.

We turned up for lunch on a wet cold Sunday afternoon and were greated warmly despite a backpack and a myriad of parcels - all these, plus coats, were wisked away allowing us to proceed unemcumbered into the dining room. The clientele was a varied mix on a wet sunday afternoon, some hotel guests, well-heeled locals, out-of-towners doing their Christmas shopping and a few tourists.

What we ate:

For The Doc a kind of deconstructed salad - this is the sort of dish that relies on the quality of the individual ingredients and in this case everything was spot on. I've been trying to replicate the texture and creaminess of the advocado and I'm close but not there yet.

For me a ceviche of salmon with crab, grapefruit and chilli. I was slightly afraid that the chilli would overpower this dishes but it was a simple background presence with the citrus of the grapefruit the predominant note.

The Doc went for the burger - but not any old burger, a veal and foie gras burger. The veal was melt in the mouth tender which is not what you expect when biting into a burger, and he didn't feel the texture worked in a burger setting. Surprisingly, given Gordon Ramsay's rants on the subject, the burger could only be ordered "Medium" (or "mooing", as the Doc commented).

Once I started reading the menu this dish intrigued me, I would never have paired tuna with parsnip and then added a pepper sauce to the mix - I just had to order it. The tuna was served rare, as I had requested, and was meltingly tender. Surprising the combination of the slightly sweer parsnip puree with bold flavour of the pepper sauce worked really well and the parsnip crips added a dramatic flair to plate that needed something to bring it all together.

This was possibly the best pear and almond tart I have ever had. Drenched in syrup it was moist without being too sweet. The custard was spot-on, silky, sweet and warm.

When I ordered the chocolate fondant I was told 'there will be a fifteen minute wait madam' , 'not a problem' I replied. There was no way a fifteen minute wait was going to come between me and a chocolate fondant. Was it worth the wait? Definitely. What arrived on the plate was perfectly cylindrical but one small slice in with the side of a spoon and the whole thing collapsed with molten chocolate flowing accross the plate. Accompanied by some salted caramel and mint ice-cream (kept from melting in a pre-chilled metal canister) which just tempered the richness of the chocolate slightly.

Two coffees were ordered and arrived with two chocolates each. The looked like pretty standard chocolate truffles coated in cocoa powder. I bit into one to find molten caramel cascading out, simply wonderful.

The total bill including sparkling water (but not wine, we don't tend to drink a lunchtime) was a nice round £100, which is a lot less in € than it was a year ago, but there is a set lunch menu which I feel is a steal at £25.

London Calling

2008-12-06T23:26:00.010Z

The Doc and I made the trip to London last weekend and our first stop of the trip was Borough Market. The Doc described it as 'medieval' and he's right, it's been there since AD43. It's a true market - full of tourists too - but the primary focus is still the daily trading.

My favourite trader is definitely Brindisa - set up in 1988 they import fine Spanish food into the UK. I got some cheese, manchego and membrillo to go with it (unfortunately I had to had the membrillo over at security in Satanstead as they consider it a liquid :-().

There was a huge queue for the coffee at Monmouth both at the stall inside the market and at the shop outside it. We joined the throng to see what they were excited about it, the coffee of the day was 'Finca La Fany' from El Salvador. It definitely not a 'standard' coffee, I liked the taste, a rich dark flavour and the heart shaped foam was a nice added extra!!

Our other foodie shopping experience was as the food halls in Harrods. If you have never been here it has to be seen to be belived, any place that has a whole room devoted to chocolate goes right to the top of my list. The Doc's head was turned by the whole corner devoted to Jelly Belly. We spent a good hour wandering around marvelling at the selection. The thing that I found odd was that they also sell staples like milk and Wheetabix - are there people out there who buy everything in Harrods???

Say tuned to see where we went for lunch...........

Plain Jane?

2008-11-16T20:03:00.011Z

Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, this looks like a pretty boring cake but in fact it's perfect. A moist firm crumb which holds it's shape when cut and improves with age. It comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking which I picked up on my trip to Houston. I had never heard of her before I bought this but have since discovered that there are an mpressive 41 pages on egullet devoted to this book. Everything is in cups, but I weighed it all as I went along and have only given my measurements here.

Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking)
makes two 2 pint loaves

Cakes
390g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
425g vanilla sugar*
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs
150 mls double cream
2 1/2 tbsp rum
210g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Syrup
85ml water
45g sugar
60ml rum

preheat the oven to 180 deg C
grease two loaf pans
sift together the flour, salt and baking powder
beat together eggs and sugar until tripled in volume
whisk in the vanilla extract, then the cream and the rum
fold in the dry ingrediants
fold in the melted butter
bake for 55-60 mins (check after 30, if the tops are getting too brown cover with foil)
Once the cakes go into the oven start making the syrup.
stir sugar and water together over a low heat until sugar is dissolved
bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the rum
leave to cool
When cakes are cooked leave to cool for 5 mins in the tin and then unmold. Turn the right way up, pierce all over with a skewer and brush over the syrup. Work slowly with the syrup to ensure in all gets soaked up.

* I actually use vanilla sugar in pretty much all my baking. Simply chop
two vanilla pods into thirds add to the sugar and store in an airtight
jar (I use a Kilner jar as you can see). Top up the sugar and give a little
shake to mix as you go along.

Time for Cake

2008-11-15T21:12:00.008Z

I'm not a great fan of Christmas cake, I find it a bit too rich and I don't like marzipan or icing either. I wasn't going to make one at all this year until I was flicking through my copy of Nigella's 'Feast' (her best book IMO) and came across this recipe which is for a lighter cake that is later topped with glazed nuts and candied fruit. It's very simple to make, I substituted apricot jam for the chestnut puree and also used brandy rather than rum - both of these are suggested by Nigella herself. Don't skip on preparing the tin, you don't want the cake getting too dark around the edges.

Easy Light Christmas Cake (adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast)
525g mixed dried fruit
250g glace cherries
175g unsalted butter
250g dark brown sugar
250g apricot jam
125ml brandy
juice and zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, beaten
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

double line and grease a 10" square tin
put two layers of brown paper around the outside of the tin (secured with string), it should stand 3-4" proud of the tin
chop cherries in quarters and add to heavy pan along with the rest of the dried fruit
add the butter, sugar, jam, rum, orange juice and both zests
over a low heat stir until the butter has melted
bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins
remove from the heat and leave to cool for 30 mins
preheat the oven to 150 deg C
sieve together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
lightly stir in the eggs and flour mix
pour into the prepared tin
bake for 1 3/4 - 2 hours, the cake is done when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean

Once the cake has cooled completely wrap the cake in two layers of greaseproof paper followed by two layers of tinfoil.

Preparation Time

2008-11-09T17:33:00.007Z

I know it's a bit early to be talking about Christmas but some things, like cake, pudding and mincemeat, taste better when left to mature for a while. Back when I was a teenager my friend S and I made our Christmas money by selling mince pies to our nieghbours. When I think back on it, it was a highly organised affair. The mince pie enterprise started in late November when we canvassed the nieghbourhood for orders. Then it was time to made the mincemeat. leaving it to mature for a few weeks. Typically we made about 1000 mince pies over a single weekend in M's kitchen, then delivered them in nicely packaged boxes a few days before Christmas.

I have always used this recipe from Delia, the real key is the quality of your ingrediants. Buy whole candied citrus peel and chop it yourself - the taste doesn't even begin to compare with the bitter stuff you get in the supermarket. I bought all my stuff in The Gourmet Shop, just beacause I can walk there from work. Interestingly I bought some ground almonds also @ €17.50 /kg .I priced them the next day in my local Tesco where the cheapest ones (and they were on 'special') were €21.50/kg!! It always pays to shop around.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2008-10-29T21:23:00.006Z

And what better to warm up with than a crumble? This is a very simple one from Tartlette but the addition of some cardamon to the topping brings a little extra to the mix. A big fat mug of tea in the other hand and what more could you ask for?

How Y'All Doin??

2008-10-21T21:40:00.017+01:00

Last week The Doc and I were in Houston visiting our good friend BJM. Houston is somewhat of a culinary conundrum. The NYT food critic Craig Claiborne said that there are only five regional American cuisines worth considering - bbq, Cajun, Creole, Tex-Mex and soul-food - these all converge in Houston. It is the city that eats out more than any other in the US, yet it is also the fattest city in the US. As the fourth-largest city in the US it also has a very diverse range of ethnic eateries, the expected Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Indian and Chinese abound but there are also Korean, Ethiopian, Sardinian and Greek restaurants. A good guidebook is the 'Food Lover's Guide to Houston' which includes information on grocery stores, markets, bakeries, speciality shops, bars cafes, kitchenware shops as well as restaurants.

On our whistlestop tour we ate at:

Brasil: BJMs local cafe. Simple salads, quiches, pizzas, good coffees and yummy desserts. The emphasis here is freshness and organic where possible.

Aladdin: We got take-out food from here. In my head 'take-out' is associated with greasy 'fast-food' but this Greek restaurant has a big selection of the freshest salads, 3 served with a meat of your choice (grilled to order) for $10.50, and the best hummus I've ever had, served with fresh pitas. There is a large Greek community in Houston with their own Orthodox church and school (about 40% of the students here are ethnically Greek). As we left they were preparing for their annual Greek festival.

El Tiempo: The one miss of the trip, The Doc's fajitas were good but my Chalupas del Mar didn't taste of much and came smothered in iceberg lettuce. It was also overpriced for the level of resaturant that it thinks it is.

Paulie's: Down the road from BJM's house (although nobody walks anywhere in Houston, I sense a possible connection with the obesity level). A simple neighbourhood Italian which is also known for its cookies, these were a little on the sweet side for me but the pecan tart is to die for.

Beck's Prime: This styles itself as 'The World's Freshest Fast Food' and is a far removed from McDs as a fast-food joint can be. I had the California burger, with fresh guacamole and a patty that was reassuring inhomogeneous in both shape and texture, a burger that both looked and tasted like it once ran around a field. The chips (skin on) were good but the limeade was a little to sweet for my liking - I did eat lemon halves as a child though, so my taste is probably on the sour side for most.

Mockingbird: The standout meal of the trip. This bistro is proud of its wine list, it runs to 17 pages and although I'm not an expert on any wine, nevermind American ones, those in the know do rate its selection. The food on the other hand I can comment on, the menu here is the one we chose from (it changes regularly). I started with the calamari which were plentiful with a light crispy batter and not at all chewy. At that they were not a patch on my main course of buttery mountain trout served with lobster and garlicky green beans (and only $29!!). The Doc's Kobe beef burger came topped with 1/2" of Hudson Valley foie gras and the accompaning truffle fries brought that heady earthy smell to the table. Around the table we also had the tuna with wasabi potatoes, the free-range chicken with roast veg and the Angus beef fillet, there were votes of approval all around. Dessert was a carrot cake served with ginger ice-cream and caramalised pineapple, a combination I'll be trying at home soon.

Starbucks: had to add this in. It seems like there is one everywhere you turn in Houston, even to the extent that there are two directly across from one another in BJM's local mall!!

A tip to all those travelling to the US, I bought two Microplane graters for my sister for $12 each, I love these graters and use mine everyday but I've never seen them here for less than 30 Euro.

Ananda

2008-10-12T13:18:00.002+01:00

First there was a little whisper: Atul Kocchar mentioned on Saturday Kitchen that he was to open a restaurant in Dublin.

Following this a little murmur: The Jaipur chain were to open in Dundrum.

Then there was some muttering: Atul and Jaipur were joining forces and it was to open in May.

Then the name 'Ananda' cropped up, a few weeks later this website appeared. I rang a number of times and it always rang out, I signed up for the newsletter.

Then I heard a rumour, Ananda had opened, and it was good. That is happily one rumour that I can confirm. Though it does appear to be a 'soft' opening as I have yet to receive a newsletter.

Two Fridays ago, the Doc and I decided to head out for a quick bite, the only table in the main restaurant available was for 6.30 (we only rang about 5) and it was very quiet but the buzz developed over the next 40 mins.

An amuse bouche of pea soup was subtlely, aromatically spiced. The Doc started with Kurkura Murgh, good quality moist chicken lightly spiced and grilled. I opted for Kekda Balchao which was my dish of the meal, served in a cylindrical kilner jar with a chopped mango and chilli in the bottom and topped with sweet succulent crabmeat on the side was a tempura crab claw, each mouthful was a sweet/spicy explosion

The mains are divided into two sections, the first bears Atul's influence the second features some dishes more commonly found in Indian menus. The Doc opted for Nalli Ki Kaliyan, a shank of lamb that was literally falling off the bone, the rich sauce was mopped up with some good garlic and coriander naan. Unable to decide I went for the Ananda's Masahari, a variant on the traditional Indian thali small selections of a number of different dishes. The main plate arrived with some lemon rice and some succelent grilled chicken (not very spicy I need to taste it again to figure out the flavour). A half moon shaped plate surrounded this with four small bowls, a lamb rogan josh, a mild chicken curry (murgh makhani?), a prawn and a chickpea curry as well a two pieces of naan. There was easily enough in this dish for two, the only critisim I would have was that all four curries were the same colour and it thus didn't have the visual imapct of all the other dishes.

We were too full to contemplate dessert but it looked more 'Indian inspired' than traditional Indian, which is no bad thing in my opinion. Along with two bottles of sparking water the bill (excluding tip) came to 83.75 which I think reflects excellent value for the level of the experience.

Cupcakes

2008-09-14T22:45:00.003+01:00

Until today I didn't really understand the allure of cupcakes. I think I was comparing then to fairy cakes from my childhood birthday parties. But cupcakes really are in a different league, moist in the centre and topped with a creamy icing (or 'frosting' as its American originators would call it). I got both of these recipes from Lorraine's site. The chocolate ones were my personal favourites, the hint of coffee means they really are 'grown-up' cupcakes, I topped mine with a cocoa covered coffee bean. I was less successful in my icing of the lemon ones, I suggest you add the lemon juice slowly in case you have a very juicy lemon like me!!

Last of the Summer Strawberries

2008-09-14T21:53:00.007+01:00

There are still some Irish strawberries available, on my drive back from Wexford on Saturday I passed numerous stalls selling their wares that would normally be well finished by this time of the year. If you get some good quality ones a simple recipe that showcases their beauty is best. I found this one in the Chocolate and Zucchini book by Clotilde Dusoulier, author of the blog of the same name. It's a really quirky little book and has earned a place on my shelves simply because everything in it is original and just that little bit different. The only change I made was to replace one large egg with one medium one plus another yolk which makes the filling just a little bit richer.

The pastry for this recipe is the same as she uses for her plum tart here, prepare and bake blind as she describes.

Filling:
500g strawberries
1 medium egg + 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
120 ml milk

whisk eggs, vanilla, sugar and cornstarch together
bring the milk to the boil, pour it over the egg mix and whisk
return to the saucepan and whisk over a low heat until thickened
cool slightly and then spoon into tart shells
leave to cool and then topped with washed, sliced strawberries

On the other hand if your strawberries have seen better days then I recommend this recipe from Smitten Kitten, the strawberries add that little bit of sweetness to the rhubarb (no pics as my camera was broken for the last few weeks).

Raspberry Lemon Tiramisu

2008-08-31T20:21:00.007+01:00

I’m very proud of this one because it’s the first recipe that I thought up from scratch myself. When in Italy I purchased a bottle of limoncello and I’ve been thinking of ways to use it (other than the obvious aperitif). So here it is – lemon raspberry tirsmisu.

Serves 10-12
40 savoiardi biscuits
Juice of three lemons made up to 200 ml with water
3 tbsp caster sugar
50 ml limoncello

Warm the juice and water together with the sugar until it dissolves
Add the limoncello
Leave to cool

200 ml cream
20 ml limoncello
500 g mascarpone
4 tbsp caster sugar
Zest of 3 lemons
4 egg yolks

Whip the cream
Add 20 ml limoncello
Whip until firm again
In a clean bowl mash the mascarpone and lemon zest together
Beat in the sugar and then the egg yolks
Fold in the previously whipped cream

600 g raspberries

I used a 7 by 7 inch square pan with a removable base. Dip ½ the savoiardi biscuits in the cooled lemon syrup and line the bottom of the dish. Spoon over ½ the raspberries and top with ½ the mascarpone mix. Repeat the layers finishing with a mascarpone layer. Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight to let the flavours meld together.

Serve with some fresh fruit salad.

Probably the best..........

2008-08-05T15:11:00.006+01:00

Chocolate chip cookies in the world

I first came across these on Orangette's blog, though they are originally came from the New York Times. I made two batches, one with 24 hours of resting the dough and the other with 48 hours. Both were good but the second lot were a bit easier to handle. The great thing about resting the dough is that you can come home from work, stick the oven on and 15 mins later have yummy fresh cookies to hand. I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter except for using ordinary plain flour for both 'flours' specified and I got 24 enormous cookies from the recipe.

P.S. I used chocolate chips that I bought in Cacoa Sampaka in Barcelona. They were great as they are really small and you get a nice, even distribution of chips throughout the cookie. Does anybody know where I can get ones like these in Ireland? (I found them in one shop but it would have been over 10 Euro for the chips for these cookies!!)

Party in the Park

2008-07-19T23:29:00.007+01:00

Ok, the Party in the Park. My friend S decided to invite a few friends to celebrate her birthday with a picnic in Bushy Park. If you remember last Sunday in Dublin she possibly picked our one day of summer for this event. Nobody should have a birthday without a cake so I provided this one.

An American friend gave me a cookbook of cookbooks Food & Wine ‘Best of the Best’ Vol 8 (thanks BJM). I’m not a big fan of very sweet desserts. I like dark chocolate, lemon and raspberries. I especially don’t like overly sweet icing/fillings, the filling in this cake is white chocolate rather than frosting based which made it jump out at me immediately. It is originally from ‘Pure Chocolate’ by Fran Bigelow. I know my recipe is a mixture of imperial and metric - the original is in American imperial and I converted the sugar and butter to metric because I can never get my head around a 'stick' of butter!!

First things first – when a recipe has an instruction like ‘chill overnight’ it’s probably for a reason. I baked my cake on Saturday evening and simply left it out to cool overnight, as a result it was quite stick and difficult to cut. Thus my cake had slightly-less-than-perfect edges but the taste was still good. It's quite a rich cake and you will easily serve 16 from this recipe. You do need to start this the day before you intend to eat it.

Ganache Filling
½ cup double cream
8 oz white chocolate

roughly chop chocolate and place in a bowl
heat the cream until just boiling
pour over the chocolate and keep stirring until it's smooth and glossy
cover with cling film (touching the surface) and leave to cool overnight

Cake
8 oz chocolate, chopped
115g unsalted butter, softened
5 eggs, seperated
340g sugar

preheat the oven to 150º C
grease, line and grease again a 9 x 13'' swiss roll tin
melt the chocolate
remove from the heat, stir in the butter until the mix is glossy
set aside to cool for 20 mins
whisk egg yolks + 170g sugar together until tripled in volume
fold the melted chocolate
in a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until firm
add the sugar and whisk until firm again
slowly and gradually fold the egg whites into the chocolate mix
spread the mix evenly in the pan
bake for 25 mins
CHILL UNTIL COLD IN THE FRIDGE (wrap in cling film)

Cake Assembly
Put the white chocolate filling in a mixer and whisk for 3-4 mins until it is lighter in colour and texture. Turn the cake out onto a cake board and cut into three lengths of equal width. Spread ½ the filling on slice 1, top with slice 2 and spread it with the remaining ½ of the filling and top with slice 3. Chill for at least and hour before proceeding.

Chocolate Ganache
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup double cream

heat the cream until almost boiling
pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy
put ¼ the mix in the fridge for 25 mins and leave the rest to cool at room temperature

Writing Icing
2 oz white chocolate
2 tsp vegtable oil

melt chocolate
stir in oil

Icing the Cake

Use the chilled ganache to thinly coat the top and side of the cake (this seals in the crumbs and provides a smooth surface for the rest of the ganache). Pour the rest of the ganache over the sides and then the top of the cake. For the writing icing I put it into a squeezy sauce bottle but you could use a parchment cone instead. Pipe three lines down the centre of the cake. Then using a cocktail stick draw a continuous series of figures-of-eight down the centre of the cake. Finally chill for about 2 hours so the ganache can set.

Courgette Cakes

2008-07-16T22:47:00.006+01:00

Sunday brought sunshine and a party in the park (more of which anon). By evening time we wanted something to nibble on but weren't quite up to a full dinner. I rustled up these cakes from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries and they really hit the spot. I used the fine setting on my mandolin and the cakes held together well and were no problem to turn over.

Courgette Cakes with Dill and Feta
6 cakes - serves 2/3 depending on how hungry you are!!
500g courgettes
1 onion
1 clove garlic
3 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
150g feta, crumbled
small bunch dill

grate the courgette thinly - using a mandolin is best
place into a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 mins
heat the olive oil and saute the onion and garlic
squeeze the excess liquid from the courgette and add to the onion
saute for 2-3 mins
add the flour for 3-4 mins until cooked
stir in the beaten egg, crumbled feta and dill
season

fry the cakes for 2-3 mins on each side until golden

Cultivating Cultural Interest

2008-07-06T18:28:00.007+01:00

It is an absolute joy to stumble upon little cultural events, particularly when they involve food. Last Saturday we made a trip into town to the Cultivate centre in Temple Bar for the Annual Indian Food Mela. We met up with our Indian friend A and his parents, who are over on a visit from Delhi.

There were a variety of stalls set up around the room. Having been at the mela two years ago, Iwas pleasantly surprised that this time it was better organised and more professional. Most of the stalls were run by people in the catering business. Dishes ranged from €1 for a samosa or poori to €6 for a big carton of chicken and rice. We sampled a number of the main dishes, tandoori chicken, chicken and rice mix, karahi chicken, onion bhaji, paranta, rice with kidney beans.

In the normal course of events I find Indian desserts to be far too sweet. A had some gulab jamun and jalebi, which I tried (in the name of research!) and the sweetness seemed to have been tempered slightly to suit the Irish palate - still not my desserts-of-choice though.

Gravity Defying Yoghurt??

2008-07-06T17:50:00.009+01:00

Is that what has happened to this Glenilen yoghurt? Or are your eyes deceiving you? I'm a great fan of these yoghurts (especially the raspberry flavour). They come in fab glass containers which are perfect for making individual desserts in. These are actually vanilla pannacottas with a strawberry topping. The recipe comes from the original blogger herself, Clotilde. She says they take about an hour in the fridge to set, at this stage mine were still liquid!! They took a good 3-4 hours to be suitable for serving and are really best made the day before. Even when 'set' they are still quite wobbly - this is the way I like pannacotta but I think if you turned them out onto a serving dish they would probably collapse. But why would you turn them out when they look so pretty like this?

Barcelona

2008-06-29T22:38:00.012+01:00

Introducing my first guest blogger, Little Sis, on the gastronomic pleasures to be found in Barcelona.

"Recently, I was lucky enough to spend a long weekend in Barcelona. Aside from the opportunity to watch some fantastic football, enjoy the sun and see some of Gaudì’s fascinating - and mad - buildings, my dad and I also got to sample some of the gastronomic delights of the Catalan capital.

We arrived hungry and disorientated after a 4 a.m. start, badly needing solid, reliable comfort food. Luckily, we soon found an innocuous-looking underground tapas bar called ‘La Bodegueta’ which quickly served up some of the simplest, and best, food I’d ever had. We shared plates of chorizo, cheese and the eponymous tortilla, and also enjoyed one of Catalonia’s signature dishes, crusty tomato bread. I particularly liked the tortilla, which I ended up eating at every possible opportunity after that - this was probably the best example we had. The cheese plate was also interesting, especially a variety which had been stored in oil and had a tangy, moist-but-not-oily taste. All in all, it made for an excellent start to our trip.

That night we ate at ‘Tragarapid’, a fast-food (fast-food in the Catalan style, which basically means cheap and informal) restaurant in the Tragaluz group, who have restaurants all around the city. We also lunched at the flagship ‘Tragaluz’ restaurant and a third member of the group, ‘Bestial’ on other days. ‘Tragarapid’, although vastly preferable to fast-food outlets here, wasn’t particularly memorable until we got to the dessert. I had an unremarkable rigatoni with tomato sauce and parmesan, while dad had fried chicken. However, the dessert was one of the single best things we ate on the trip - a basil and lime sorbet. The sharpness of the lime perfectly complemented the richness and slight oily taste of the basil; this dish was a revelation. ‘Tragaluz’ itself was more impressive, though that was possibly helped by the fact that dad brought along a Catalan friend who seemed to know every member of staff. We shared a portion of deep-fried aubergine to start (apparently, the Catalans share the tendency to deep-fry everything in sight with the Scots, though they haven’t yet got to Mars bars) which was much better than it sounds. We both had a simple, but perfectly made, starter of rigatoni drizzled with pesto and then I had a main course of seared veal. For dessert, a mango coulis cut through the richness of my chocolate brownie; this made for a wonderful conclusion to a great meal. The third restaurant, ‘Bestial’, was one of two restaurants from the group on the seafront (the other is ‘Agua’) and was definitely the weakest of the three. We started with seafood antipasti, which wasn’t bad but also wasn’t anything special. For the main course, dad’s mushroom risotto was reasonable while I accidentally ordered foie gras ravioli in a port wine sauce. Given that it was a hot afternoon, this was far too rich and cloying to have on he menu and neither of us could eat it. Although the caramel and cinnamon ice-creams we had for dessert were good, they didn’t really compensate for a disappointing meal. As this was one of the most expensive restaurants we went too, I can’t recommend it - the food never lived up to the stunning setting.

In a spirit of adventure, we booked a dinner at ‘Loidi’, a new venture by the three-time Michelin-starred Basque chef Martín Berasategui. A four-course set menu for €33.65 per person was thankfully quite a bit short of Michelin prices and both of us enjoyed an excellent meal. A tasting menu for €45 was also available for those that were so inclined. We were offered glasses of cava as soon as we entered, although possibly that was because we were the only people there - as a general rule it’s not a good idea to go out for dinner at 8 p.m. in Barcelona. I started with a rice and chicken casserole, while dad had an intriguing leek and egg soup - the egg was actually poached before being cooked in the soup. Both dishes made for a good start to the meal. For the fish course, dad had a helping of monkfish and clams, while I had a double helping of rabbit - I don’t like most fish. The rabbit was rich and juicy and my only problem that I wasn’t quite hungry enough to do it justice. I continued with the rabbit into the third course while dad had a lamb ragù. This was perfectly cooked; the lamb falling off the bone in a deeply rich sauce. The meat was perfectly complemented by the bottle of Finca viladellops we shared. The high standard continued into the desserts where I had an interesting coffee and Bailey’s spongecake topped with a crème brûlée-style crust. Dad had an apple tart with a sharp-tasting apple ice-cream. He finished with a ‘cortado’ - an expresso with a shot of milk - the traditional way to finish a meal in Catalonia. On the whole, we thought that ‘Loidi’ was well worth the visit.

No visit to Barcelona is complete without a trip to the Boquería, arguably the best market in the world. For a foodie, the only question is how many days you spend there. It’s a riot of colour and scent, a real feast for the senses. It’s here that you can get ‘cinco bellota’ ham, made from pigs that have been fed only on acorns. As it’s expensive, there’s a sliding scale based on how many acorns the pig has been fed. Even the smell of this ham is intoxicating, and I find myself savouring the tiniest amount of it. There are stalls dedicated to every type of chili and spices and sections full of fruit, vegetables and fish. A few of the stalls also act as cafés where you can sample ham, cheeses and myriad varieties of chorizo. This place is mesmerising, and any foodie who goes to Barcelona will find themselves in heaven.

‘Cacao Sampaka’ is a place of pilgrimage for every member of our family. There are branches throughout Spain and they serve the greatest hot chocolate known to mankind. I’m not exaggerating. ‘Azteca’ is drink made of 80% cacao infused with spices and tastes much like solid chocolate that has been liquidised and mixed with cream. It’s so rich that it starts solidifying as soon as you take your spoon out. I dream about this stuff. There’s also a variety of pastries available, although they’re mainly a sideline to the chocolate. We had feather-light melindros which were excellent for dipping, and perfectly buttery - but not over-rich - brioche. Dad also had a yoghurt and lemon smoothie which was apparently nice, but still ended up unnecessarily diluting the chocolate (in my opinion). It’s also a shop, so you can take some of the chocolate home with you - and, believe me, you will.

Although that’s a round-up of the most notable places we ate, Barcelona is full of good food. The Camp Nou serves up fresh, sturdy hot dogs at half-time with particularly good ciabatta-style bread. On our way home from the Parc Guëll (one of Gaudì’s) we dropped into the ‘Store Café’ where we had lovely, fresh drinks - I had lemon with ice, while dad had a strawberry and lime smoothie. Fresh bocadillos (sandwiches) are readily available and are almost invariably filled with excellent quality ingredients. The only misgiving we had was about the hotel breakfast - it was €18 per person for a mediocre meal, while we had hot chocolate and pastries the next day for a fiver in a small café. It’s something to watch out for if you go there as it’s easy to eat well for little money once you avoid the tourist traps. If you get the chance to go there - and eat there - savour it!"

Wraps for Dinner

2008-06-25T21:48:00.010+01:00

I have been an OFM reader since the very beginning. It is edited by my favourite cookery writer, Nigel Slater. I love the fact that his writing is descriptive and contains wonderful imagery whilst still retaining a veil over his own life. This recipe comes from Allegra McEvedy in last Sunday’s edition. The original was suggested as a lunch dish, I added the chicken to make it a bit more filling for dinner time. The combination of flavours worked really well together, we'll be having these again.

Wraps with Courgette, Feta and Chicken.
(adapted from Observer Food Monthly, Sunday June 22^nd 08)
Serves 2

120g feta
120g natural yoghurt
100g peas, cooked
1 lemon, zested
1 spring onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt + pepper
2 chicken breasts, chopped
2 small courgettes
garlic infused oil
4 tortilla wraps, warmed according to packet instructions
4 big lettuce leaves (I used Cos lettuce)
small handful mint leaves
1 chilli chopped, minus seeds and membrane

Mash the feta and stir in the yoghurt, peas, lemon zest, spring onion and olive oil. Season
Cut the courgettes lengthways into three (think of a Toblerone shape)
Heat a griddle pan until it’s nice and hot
Lightly oil the chicken and courgette with garlic oil and griddle until done
Assemble and enjoy

Still in Italy

2008-06-23T22:21:00.010+01:00

……….I wish

We arrived back to on Friday evening and decided to continue the Italian theme for dinner on Saturday. The structure of a full Italian meal is usually some kind of antipasta followed by gnocchi/pasta, then a meat/fish dish and finally dessert.

We started with a simple melon and parma ham salad – simply drizzle over some olive oil and lemon juice (if there wasn’t mozzarella in the next course I would have followed Nigel Slater’s lead an added some good quality buffalo mozzarella, flat-leaf parsley and served it on a bed of rocket).

Next was the gnocchi course – for this recipe I turned to Lorraine’s site. I used 500g for 6 as we were having four courses.

Take T-bone steaks. Sear. Rest. Olive oil + rosemary. Serve on bed of rocket. Could it be any easier?

For dessert you are going to get an actual recipe. These semifreddos come from Bill Granger’s Everyday. He marbled the raspberries and nuts into the mix halfway through freezing whilst I kept the overall flavours the same by serving mine with a raspberry coulis and a sprinkling of pistachios, (the assigned plates are The Doc's attempt at decoration).

Rosewater Semifreddo
(adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger)
Serves 6

6 egg yolks
3 tbsp honey
250 ml cream, whipped
2 tsp rosewater (the best place to buy this is middle-eastern shops – it’s cheap and hasn’t been sitting on the shelf for a year, I got mine in Spiceworld in Portobello)

Beat egg yolks and honey together until pale and doubled in size
Fold in the cream and the rosewater
I froze mine in individual dariole moulds which I lined first with cling film

My Meal of the Year

2008-06-06T14:25:00.008+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted but as you can see from the picture above I was slightly busy with some other stuff!! Ever since The Doc asked me to marry him we have been adament that we didn't want the traditional Irish 250-people-at-the-local-hotel kind of wedding. We are both quiet people so just invited 64 of of nearest and dearest to spend the day with us. But organising this wedding has taken all my time and we've been revisiting lots of old favourites on the dinner side of things. I'm looking forward to getting back into my cookbooks.

Where better for a foodie to have her wedding than in the local fine wine and food store, Greenacres in Wexford. The store is housed in the old family solicitors' building, they have added a fab modern extension with an art gallery and this is where they hold all their events. It's a great mix between old and new and the sense of light in the gallery space is amazing.

We designed the menu ourselves and I got the one thing I had been really looking forward to, the croque-en-bouche. This tower of profiteroles is a traditional French wedding cake and even though I'm not a fan of fruit cake I did want something that is associated with a wedding. It looked really classy but I'm glad to report that it tasted even better! The starter was served on a platter for each table so you could pick and choose, we had the speeches during this so that the guys could relax and enjoy their main courses. It being a wine shop they advised us as to what would go with all the dishes and suggested that we greet our guests with a glass of Prosecco and some strawberries (from Wexford of course!). Instead of the traditional sarnies at 11pm they sent out a platter of cheese to each table - the perfect end to a perfect meal.

Now it's iPods and cameras packed as we fly off this evening for two weeks in Tuscany. I look forward to lots of cooking, baking and blogging upon my return.

P.S. Little Sis, despite being my only bridesmaid and staring down the barrel of the dreaded LC this week, managed to put this together a our wedding gift.

Moroccan Magic

2008-04-18T21:51:00.009+01:00

Another recipe now from February's Delicious magazine - in this case from a selection of pulse/grain recipes from Bill Granger. I had this on the table less that 20 mins after arriving home last week and it offers a great alternative to the ubiquitous midweek pasta. I had somehow up to now missed out on Bill Granger but after this dinner The Doc went and bought me two of his books 'Holiday' and 'Every Day', so expect a lot of his recipes in the weeks to come!

Harissa Chicken with Bulgur Wheat, Pine Nut and Parsley Pilaf
6 chicken breasts
3 tbsp harissa
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
40g pine nuts
375g bulgur wheat
600ml chicken stock - hot
80g sultanas

Put a few slashes in the chicken and place in a bowl to mariande with the harissa and half the olive oil
Warm the rest of the oil and cook the onion until soft
Add the ginger, allspice, cinnamon and pine nuts and cook on a medium heat for 10 mins (I like to add 1-2 tbsp water to stop the dried spices sticking to the pan and burning
Add bulghur wheat to the onion mix and cook for about a minute
Remove from the heat and add the stock and sultanas, cover and set aside for 10 minutes until all the stock has been absorbed
Meanwhile heat a frying pan and cook chicken until golden
Stir parsley into bulgur and season

Flapjacks

2008-04-06T21:05:00.006+01:00

We were heading over to a friend's house for Grand Prix today and I knew there would be lots of chocolate/crisps etc. provided. I'm trying to be healthy so I wanted to bring something that would be tasty and stop me grazing but not leave me eyeing up the junk food. You think flapjacks are healthy and then you see that they have 250g butter AND 250g sugar!!! So I browsed the net for some slightly heathier options. I combined advice from a few different sites and kinda made it up as I went along, replacing the butter with sunflower oil, cutting down on the sugar and adding dried apricots to keep them moist. You can add any combination of nuts, seeds and fruits that take your fancy. The tartness of the blueberries contrast well with the sweet apricots in this version.

Flapjacks
100ml sunflower oil
30g brown sugar
150g golden syrup
250g porridge oats
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
50g dried blueberries
75g dried apricots, chopped

Melt together the oil, sugar and butter
Stir in the remaining ingrediants
Pour into greased tin
Bake @ 180° for 15 mins
Cool before slicing up

I made mine in a flexible silicone mould which made them really easy to get out when it came time for slicing them up.

Squish Squash

2008-04-04T19:56:00.007+01:00

Among the pile of newspapers, magazines and books beside my bed I unearthed an unread copy of February's Delicious magazine. While browsing through I came across this recipe for an unconventional 'risotto' made with pearl barley. We are making a concerted effort in this house to broaden our carbs from the usual pasta, spuds and white rice so I thought I'd give this a try. And the result? This is definitely a keeper, the barley retains a nutty bite which contrasts well with the sweetness of the squash - although I did alter the proportions slightly to increase the squash to barley ratio.

Pearl barley risotto with roasted squash, red peppers and rocket (adapted from the Feb 08 edition of Delicious)
serves 2
350g peeled butternut squash, cubed
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
175g pearl barley
750ml hot vegtable stock
flat-leaf parsley
2 handfuls rocket
Parmesan

Preheat oven to 180°
Coat squash and peppers in oil and season, roast for about 35 mins
Heat 1 tbsp oil and add onion, garlic and thyme leaves and cook till soft
Add barley and cook for 1 min
Add one ladleful of stock, stir and simmer until absorbed
Continue adding the stock one ladelful at a time until it is all absorbed (this should take about 40 mins) and there is still a 'bite' to the barley (I then needed an extra 100ml of water to cook the barley to the texture I wanted)
Stir in the parsley, squash and peppers
Serve topped with rocket and Parmesan

Now this left me with half a butternut squash so I used the foodblogsearch (see below) to find myself a soup recipe. I found this lovely one for 'Roasted butternut squash with smoked paprika' from glutenfreegirl and just made a half portion. If you read her instructions she advises straining it through a mesh sieve. Boring though it may be this really is needed as the initial blended mixture has a texture like baby food. I only strained half of mine before I got bored - this was enough for a pourable soup but if I was making it for guests I would strain the whole lot. It's a lovely soup, the smoked paprika adds some depth and takes the edge off the sweetness of the squash.

Food Blog Search

2008-04-01T20:20:00.003+01:00

Food blog search has been around for a while but I only came across it at the weekend. Its a nifty little tool that does exactly what it says. You can add it directly into your own blog, to your Google homepage, to your Google toolbar or if, like me, you use Firefox as your browser add it directly to the search toolbar. If your blog is not on the list (and mine wasn't) you can just drop them an email and they'll add it in a day or two. For more details click here.

Tune in later for the soup.

Pea and Pesto Soup

2008-03-30T15:37:00.004+01:00

While flicking through my copy of Nigella's Express The Doc exclaimed "Oh, that looks good". 'That' was her pea and pesto soup and with the weather being the way it is what is better for a Sunday lunch than a nice warming bowl of soup? She advises using deli-bought pesto here, I used rocket pesto as my local deli had sold out of the standard basil variety and my basil at home is looking very sad at the moment. The flavour of the soup was good but the consistency was too watery (I have suggested 600ml rather than the 750ml water that I used). And I served it with some simple Bruschetta Al Pomodoro.

600 ml water
375g frozen peas
2 spring onions, trimmed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lime juice
60ml pesto

Bring the water to the boil in a pan
Add the peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice
Simmer for about seven minutes
Remove spring onions, add pesto and blend

She says this serves 2, but we had another bowlful left over

Caffè Carluccio's

2008-03-17T17:40:00.007Z

Little sis and I decided to check out Carluccio's for our dinner last night. I popped in a few weeks ago to pick up some bits in the deli section and the queue was out the door. We stuck our heads in on our way down Dawson St. yesterday and seeing the absence of a queue we hopped straight in. The fact that it was only half five might have helped - by the time we were leaving it was close on seven and there were at least a dozen people in the queue. If you're going it might be best to pick an early hour or be prepared to wait. It's definitely worth waiting for!

Those of you curious about the menu can take a look here. We started with a selection of Italian breads dubbed the 'savoury bread tin' on the menu, grissini (bread sticks) and foccacia were good but we both felt the slice of brown walnut bread was slightly misplaced. It doesn't really work being dipped in olive oil like the others. For starter I had the Calamari which had only the barest coating of batter and were all the better for it, a simple salad and squeeze of lemon was all that was needed in accompaniment. Little sis had the Arancini di Riso Sicilian - deep-fried rice balls with ragù in one ball and mozzarella in the other with a red pepper sauce. They made wonderful comfort food and would make a good way of using up leftover risotto although the sauce would have been better if it had been slightly warmer. For main I opted for the Penne Giardiniera, described as "our own Pugliese penne with courgette, chilli and deep-fried spinach balls with parmesan and garlic". The concept of the deep-fried spinach balls intrigued me but they were good, adding a new texture to a dish that would otherwise be very soft. It was also nice to see something outside the pesto/carbonara/bolognese on an Italian menu. Little sis tends to be a picky eater but she went for the Penne alla Luganica. This was penne smothered in a rich tomato and spicy sausage sauce. The spices were subtle rather than overt and the texture was nicely smooth and creamy, leading to a dish that both she and I highly enjoyed. After this lot we were stufffed and wouldn't have been able to do justice to dessert. It felt it was very good value, with three San Pelligrinos the total bill was €51.25.

However we on our way out we picked up two chocolate slices from the deli and tucked into them about two hours later. They were nice but nothing spectacular, a little on the sweet side for both myself and Little sis. In retrospect they were only €2.50 and there was also a chocolate torte for €4.50 - perhaps the price differential speaks of the amount of good chocolate needed.

P.S. The Doc did remark this morning that I reeked of garlic, so maybe if you are going to pay Carluccio's a visit it would be best to bring the one you love with you!

Lasagne

2008-03-16T20:38:00.013Z

The thing about lasagne is that it is on every pub and cafe menu up and down the country but it is so rarely well-executed. It's not difficult to make a good lasagne but it does require some time - not necessarily chained to the stove - but just keeping an eye on things. I like to make this recipe over three days, ragu sauce on day one, make bechamel sauce and assemble on day two and then leave overnight for the flavours to meld together before baking.

Ragu Sauce:
2 carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
150g panchetta, diced
1 glass wine
1 kg mined beef
2 x 400g good quality tinned tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
pinch dried oregano

Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the pan and add carrots, celery, garlic, onion and pancetta
Cook over a moderately low heat for 20 mins - you want all the veg to soften but not colour (this is known as a soffritto in Italian)
Turn heat up slightly and add the minced beef, stir until all meat has browned
Add the glass of wine and leave to bubble off
Add tomatoes, puree, oregano and season
Cook over a low heat for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until nice and thick

Bechamel Sauce:
1200 ml milk
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
10 peppercorns
65g butter
65g plain flour

Place milk, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns in a saucepan
Bring up to the boil, swith off heat and leave to cool and infuse
Melt butter in a saucepan and add flour
Cook over a low heat for 1-2 mins (essential to cook the flour)
Add the milk one ladle at a time and whisk in thoroughly
Cook slowly over low heat until thick, stirring all the time

I like to blanch my lasagne's sheets for about 10 mins before assembly as it cuts down the cooking time later and allows the flavours to come together better before cooking. When ready to bake top with grated parmesan and bake @ 180° for 30-40 minutes.

Soothing Supper - Indian Lentils

2008-03-08T20:58:00.010Z

In this house, we are a big fan of Indian food and this recipe comes from our most-used books "India with Passion: Modern Regional Home Food" by Manju Malhi. Most of the Indian food that the Irish palate is familiar with is Punjabi (from Northern India). However this book is divided into North, South, East and West with a description of the cuisine of the region at the beginning of each chapter.

Dal Makhani (buttered spiced black lentils) is one of our favourites. On cold nights like these a bowl of warming lentils is just perfect. The quantities here are for 2-3 as a main, 4-6 as a side dish. The Doc made this tonight and played around with the published method slightly - we were lucky enough to live for a few weeks with a family in New Delhi, and one of our Indian friends made something similar then and suggested frying the dry lentils briefly before adding the water (similar I would think to frying the rice for a minute before adding the liquid when making a risotto?).

Dal Makhani (literally "Buttered Lentils" adapted from "India with Passion" by Manju Malhi)

1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
115g black lentils
70g butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 green chillis, de-seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp chilli powder
small tin kidney beans
1 tsp grated ginger root
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 tsbp single cream (or yoghurt)
coriander leaves as garnish

Method:

dry fry coriander, cumin and lentils for 1 min
add 600ml water and simmer until lentils are tender (about 30 mins)
melt butter in frying pan and add onion, chillis and garlic
once onion starts to brown add lentils and all remaining ingredients down to the garam masala
simmer until thickened, about 10 mins
stir in cream and top with coriander

Warm Chocolate and Raspberry Tarts

2008-02-25T22:46:00.009Z

From the moment I first flicked through Claire Clark’s "100 Perfect Desserts" I have wanted to make these. It’s a well-known combination but there is just something special about chocolate and raspberry. I just needed a dinner when there would be more than just me and The Doc. Once we had been invited to his parents for Sunday dinner I immediately offered my dessert making abilities.

My previous experiences with chocolate pastry have been a bit hit and miss, it can be very delicate and prone to breaking but this pastry crust is a dream to work with. I managed to roll it out really thin with ease, resulting in a crisp crust (you really do have to get the pastry thin when making individual tarts in order to get the optimum crust to filling ratio).

The chocolate filling is really a variation on chocolate mousse and I can confirm that it tastes good all by itself. It doesn’t set firm, as you break the crust with a spoon there is an unctuous flow of chocolate, so I wouldn’t advise scaling this up to a big tart. I served mine with crème frâiche which I much prefer it to cream with rich chocolate desserts; I just feel that it cuts nicely through the richness.

This would make a really wow dessert for a dinner part, all the constituent parts can be assembled well in advance and the tarts then just need 8 mins in the oven to finish them off.

Pastry:
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
25g cocoa
Pinch salt

Cream together butter and sugar
Beat together egg and vanilla
Add in stages to butter/sugar mix, beat well between each addition
Sieve in flour, cocoa and salt
Bring together with your hands
Rest in the fridge for 30 mins

Roll out on a lightly floured surface
Cut out 8 15-cm diameter circles to line 10-cm individual tart dishes
Rest again in the fridge for 15 mins
Line tartlets with greaseproof paper and baking beans
Bake @ 160°C for 15 mins
Remove beans and bake uncovered for a further 10 mins

Filling:
400g raspberries
3 eggs
4 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter
300g good-quality 70% chocolate

Whisk together eggs, egg yodlks and sugar until tripled in volume (you really need an electric whisk for this unless you are looking for a sore wrist)
Melt together butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water
While it is still warm fold the chocolate mix into the eggs

Place 6-8 raspberries in each tart shell
Spoon over the chocolate filling and level with the back of a knife
Bake @ 180°C for eight minutes until the middle still retains a little wobble

Gooey Chocolate Puddings

2008-02-10T23:13:00.003Z

No pics for these - I had guests and couldn't really intrude with my camera. There must be hundreds of different recipes for this kind of chocolate dessert, firm on the outside with a molten, oozing centre. I saw an episode of Masterchef last week where they said that 'the route to the final is scattered with failed chocolate fondants'. I think one of the keys to this recipe is to resist the urge to open the oven to check on them. Once the top starts to crack the centre should still be liquid.

This recipe comes from Nigella's 'How to Eat', I'm not a fan of her books that go with the TV series but this one is a gem. I've bought a few copies as presents as I think it's a great introduction to cooking.

125g dark chocolate
125g unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
150g caster sugar
35g plain flour

Gently melt together chocolate and butter
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and flour
Stir in the chocolate mix
Grease four ramkins
Bake at 180 degrees for 12-15 mins

I served mine with the last of Kieran's orange ice-cream, yum.

Gnocchi di ricotta e salsa di gorgonzola

2008-02-10T22:16:00.004Z

Ricotta and nutmeg dumplings with gorgonzola sauce - sounds better in Italian doesn't it?

The Doc gave me a copy of Ursula Ferrigno's 'Complete Italian Cookery Course' for Christmas. On my first glance through these jumped out at me but I took a while to make them as I was wondering what to serve them with. In the end I decided a simple lemon roast chicken would be best - the gorgonzola is such a strong flavour I didn't want it to be overwhelmed. It was the right decision, although the dumplings themselves are quite light the sauce is rich and you will only eat a few.

The original recipe is for 6, I halved it but mine was still to sloppy to be called a paste and I ended up adding twice as much semolina flour in order to make it possible to roll out. I suspect the reason for this is something to do with the difference between supermarket pre-packed ricotta and that available in Italy.

Dunplings:
250g ricotta
1 tbsp grated parmesan
2 medium egg yolks
5 tbsp semolina flour
fresh ground nutmeg - a pinch
salt and pepper

Mash all ingrediants together to form a paste
Roll into a log 1cm thick
Cut into 2cm pieces
Place in a pan of boiling water - after about 2 mins they should rise to the surface
Gice them another 30 seconds in the pan then remove and drain

Sauce:
10g unsalted butter
2 tbsp cream
100g gorgonzola, mashed

Melt together butter and cream
Add cheese and blend well

Place dumplings in an ovenproof dish, pour over the sauce and bake for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees.

Afternoon Tea

2008-02-03T20:26:00.000Z

My friend S was visiting for tea and a chat on Saturday afternoon so of course I had to provide something to much on. The kind of cake that goes with tea at 3pm is quite different from the kind you have for dessert, something simple yet tasty is what is called for on these occasions. Clotilde's Gâteau au Yaourt has been on my to-bake-list since I got my copy of her book last summer, however I felt that it need some addition. Then I remebered that Caroline at Bibliocook enhanced hers with pistachio nuts and lemon zest and I decided that this was the way to go, I went with Clotilde's quantitites as she has them in metric in her book.

80ml vegtable oil
250g whole milk natural yoghurt (I used Glenisk, but be careful as the packaging for the whole milk and low fat versions is very similar)
200g sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
a handful of shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
240g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bread soda pinch of salt

grease a 22-cm springform pan with some of the oil
beat together yogurt and sugar, add the eggs one at a time
beat in the remaining oil and the vanilla
gently fold in the lemon zest and the nuts
sieve together the flour, baking powder, bread soda and salt
fold gently into the cake mix
bake at 180 degrees for 35-40 mins

As you can see from the picture above mine was a tad overcooked even though I did a bare 35 mins at 170 degrees (turned it down ten as I have a fan oven). My oven is brand new so I must remember to bear it's efficiency in mind in the future!

I've been tagged

2008-02-03T19:33:00.004Z

This is the first time that I've been tagged

First, the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share five random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.

3. Share the five top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list.

4. Tag a minimum of five random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog.

Firstly I was tagged by Rachel at Fairy Cake Heaven

5 random and/or weird facts about me
1. I swam competitively until I left school
2. I have more than 50 pairs of shoes
3. In my day job I work as a physicist
4. I have an uncanny ability to remember numbers - this can be dangerous when it means that you know your VISA card off by heart!
5. When wearing heels I'm more than 6ft tall

5 top places on my "want to see or want to see again" list
1. Italy: I've been once, on a family holiday as a teenager and it whetted my appetite (literally!) for more. But we're going.....in June.....on our honeymoon. I can't wait, we're going to Tuscany and are going to move around over the two weeks. A few days lounging by the pool in a villa, a few days exploring the towns and cities and we may even sneak in a cookery course for a day or two.

2. India: We love Indian food, one of our best friends is Indian and we have had the pleasure of his cooking here in Ireland. But also five years ago we went with him to visit his parents in New Delhi, from this base we took day trips to Jaipur and Agra as well as a few days up in the Himalayas. Visiting a country such as India with a native is just fantastic experience, eating in roadside stalls that you wouldn't be brave enough to try yourself, going to the restaurants that tourists never hear of. We had dinner in the houses of a number of his relatives, the Indian way of dining involves a selection of dishes placed in the centre of the table from which you select what takes your fancy. This is a great way to try a wide variety of dishes, although we both came away with the view that there is no such thing as a good Indian dessert (they are all far too sweet). On our last night, on the way back to the airport, we had dinner in Bukhara in the Shereaton Hotel - that year it was voted one of the top 50 (and best in Aisa) restaurants in the world by Restaurant Magazine. We got to go into the kitchen and see them putting the family-sized naan in the tandoor - one man puts it in while another holds his legs so that he doesn't fall in. It was an absolutely fantastic meal, classic North Indian dishes but just really well done as well as the best dahl I've ever had. India is hot, noisy, chaotic but magic and we can't wait to go back.

3. London: because I've never been. I know it seems odd to say that, I've been in all London's airports but always on the way to somewhere else. It's just that when it comes to a weekend away it seems so expensive compared to Paris or Barcelona.

4. Dubrovnik: I spent less than 24 hours here last summer and I really want to go back and explore it further, it's gorgeous and all around this region you can get fantastic fresh fish for dinner.

5. Wexford: my hometown. Now I have no particular desire to move back there but there is something special about Wexford in the summer, fabulous beaches, buying strawberries on the side of the road. Oh and in "La Dolce Vita" it has what Tom Doorley described as "some of the best Italian food in the country".

5 people I'm going to tag
Jen from Little Bird Eats
Caroline from Bibliocook
Valerie from Val's Kitchen
Sarah from Stuff Yer Bake
Brett from Educated Nobody

Definitely not Muesli

2008-02-03T18:46:00.002Z

When I saw this recipe on Kieran's site I knew I just had to make it. What's not to like about orange ice-cream complete with little bits of Jaffa cakes? I made just two small alterations to his recipe, a 1/2 tsp of orange extract in the milk and I put in 2 extra Jaffa cakes - less left for me to scoff then.

btw the container is from Stable Diet Toasted Muesli, my breakfast staple. This company from Wexford (my hometown) makes lovely mueslis and flapjacks - you can get them in Superquinn. My freezer is full of soup and ice-cream in these empty containers!

Real Food Again

2008-01-29T19:41:00.005Z

I’m bored of rice pudding but not quite able to chew yet so I searched about for something yummy but yet easy to eat and I found it here. I’ve made this risotto from Lorraine’s site a few times and it has become one of the weekday favourites in our house.

People think that risotto is difficult, it’s not. It does require you to be around your kitchen for a good 30 minutes but it does not need the slavish attention that you might think. After a stressful day I find that some repetitive stirring is exactly what I need to calm my mind!

Check this recipe out – it’s really good.

Brief Hiatus

2008-01-25T20:58:00.000Z

Hi all,

I've not deserted the blogging world, it's just that I've had my wisdom teeth out and so my diet this week has consisted of rice pudding, soup and mash. Not exactly blogging material!

Pizza - from first principles

2008-01-13T11:07:00.001Z

Last year, for my birthday, The Doc gave me a pizza stone, a circular piece of porous fireclay stone which gives a lovely crisp pizza base.

Dough

When making dough I find that it is sooo much easier to handle if it is made the night before, simply pop all the ingrediants below in a bowl, mix well and then knead for approx ten minutes (I have a Kenwood chef, so I use the dough hook attachment and knead for 2-3 minutes). Leave in a warm place until it doubles in size (hot press is perfect), knead again and allow to rise for at least 20 minutes. I made my dough Friday evening, kneaded it Saturday morning and it was a dream to roll out on that evening.

Please excuse the cup measurements - I keep meaning to translate this to metric.
1 sachet (7g) dried yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
31/2 - 4 cups cream flour

Tomato Sauce

I usually make a big batch of this and freeze '1 pizza' portions, the quantities here are enough for pizza for four (as is the amount of dough above).

1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tins tomatoes - blended (or passata)
some chopped semi sun-dried tomatoes, I used 2 tbsp Crespi sundried tomato and olive paste

sweat the onion and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 10 mins
add the tomatoes and cook over a low heat until it has halved in volume

I not going to prescribe toppings as pizza is a very personal thing. We had pepperoni, peppers and goat's cheese. I find that the 20 mins it takes to cook the pizza is not long enough for the peppers. I always grill them on my George Foreman first, making them nice and sweet, and I tend not to remove the skin.

Pizza stones don't like extremely rapid changes in temperature (they can crack) so place in the oven before you turn it on and leave to cool at room temp. As they are porous they will take up any flavour they are immersed in, when finished simply scrape off any crumbs with a knife, everything else simply imparts flavour to the stone.

Tip: We've also discovered that a pizza stone is great for making home-made 'sun-dried' tomatoes. Simply set your oven to the lowest setting possible, spread the stone with halved tomatoes, season and leave for 2-3 hours.

Chocolate Mousse

2008-01-11T19:36:00.002Z

Although I enjoy experimenting with recipes, when it comes to entertaining I like to stick with things that have been tried and tested. Trying to assemble complicated dishes while the clock ticks ever closer to your guests' arrival is just stressful and takes from the enjoyment of the occasion. The following recipe for Chocolate Mousse is one of my favourites, I like to flavour it with orange zest and a drop of Cointreau but leaving it plain and sprinkling the top with some crushed Ameretti is good also.

Chocolate Mousse (this recipe came originally from a National Dairy Council Publication circa 1988 - I'm not sure how close my version is to the original, it has undergone a number of refinements over the years)

225g dark chocolate
6 eggs, separated
25g caster sugar
125ml cream
50g butter

melt chocolate and butter in a bowl
whisk in the egg yolks and sugar
whip cream and fold in lightly
whip egg whites until stiff and fold in in three batches
chill for at least 4 hours

Truffles

2008-01-09T23:31:00.002Z

Among my internet Christmas buying for others I snuck in a copy of "Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts" by Claire Clark (pastry chef at the French Laundry) as a little present to myself. I said in my introduction that I like a culinary challenge and this certainly poses one. It is a fantastic book - but it's not for beginners. Many of the recipes consist of more than one stage - some of the chocolate ones invole steps such as tempering it first. On the list of things to try soon include: orange pistachio cakes; warm chocolate and raspberry tarts; mango and lime mirliton tart; fig and blueberry creme fraiche tarts; green tea and jasmine delice. I forsee a lot of baking in my future!!

In my initial flick through the book these truffles immediately caught my eye, while I like white chocolate it needs something to cut through that cloying sweetness and the combination of balsamic vinegar and black pepper suggested here intrigued me. There are three basics steps to the recipe: preparation of the ganache; tempering the chocolate and covering the sweets; coating them in the strawberry flakes.

The quantities are slightly off in this recipe - it is supposed to make 40 truffles and I got about twice that many. They are quite rich and I wouldn't want to be making them any bigger that I did, it just means that there are plently for sharing.

Strawberry, Black Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar Truffles (from Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts" by Claire Clark).

Strawberry Flakes:
500g strawberries (I used frozen ones - just be careful that there is no added sugar in them)
2 tsp black pepper

Preheat the oven to 110 degrees C
Line two baking tins
Blend the strawberries until smooth
Place all but 1 tbsp of the puree onto the baking tins and spread out thinly with a palette knife (spend some time trying to get it a uniform thickness so that it dries out at the same rate)
Put in the oven for about 2 hours until it is dark red, dry and crisp (recipe says 1 1/2 hours but I left mine in for 2 hours and should probably left it for another 15 mins as it coul have been a little crisper)
Leave to cool
Crumble and mix with the black pepper

Ganache Filling:
300g white chocolate
150g dark chocolate
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp reserved strawberry puree - see above
200ml double cream
1 tsp black pepper

Chop the chocolate finely and place in a bowel with the balsamic vinegar and strawberry puree
Heat the cream to boiling point, remove from heat and pour it over the chocolate
Whisk until smooth
Stir in black pepper
Leave to cool

When cool fill a piping bag with the ganache a pipe lines on a baking tray (this step worked like a dream - line upon line of neat chocolate cylinders)
Refrigerate until cool
Slice into 3cm sticks (using a metal knife warmed in a cup of hot water makes this step easy)

White Chocolate Coating:
500g white chocolate

Ok this is the bit that defeated me, I didn't temper the chocolate for the coating. For the scientifically minded among you when chocolate is tempered it simply means that it contains many stable crystals giving it a glossy sheen, smooth feel in the mouth and makes it easier to handle. Which all sounds good, but it involves heating to 30.5 deg C, cooling to 27 deg C and warming again to 28 deg C and I only have a sugar thermometer in my kitchen! At some point I will tackle this challenge.

Spread the strawberry flakes out in a thin layer on a chopping board. I simply melted the chocolate in a bowl, dipped the tubular ganache into it and then dropped each one onto the strawberry flakes.

Even though my coating is not a smooth and gloosy as one might like the final verdict, as always, goes to the tastebuds. Result: these are very very good, the pepper and balsamic vinegar are good counterpoints to the richness of the white chocolate and add a extra dimension to the flavour.

Almond Slices

2008-01-04T17:16:00.001Z

My granny used to make these yummy almond slices and lo and behold when making my mince pies this year I glimpsed a recipe on the back on the packet of flour. Yesterday was a stormy day, bitterly cold and lashing rain. A good day for baking something comforting to go with that cup of tea.

It wouldn't be me if I didn't fiddle around with the prescribed recipe, for a start I replaced the margarine with butter as I hate the feeling that you get when the margarine coats the top of your mouth. Next it called for 2 tbsp of jam - I needed 1/2 jar to cover the base with a thin layer.

Almond Slices (adapted from recipe on Odlums flour packet)

Base:
175g plain flour
pinch of salt
75g unsalted butter
2-3 tbsp cold water

Topping:
200g jam
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
75g plain flour
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract

flaked almonds to decorate

Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Sieve flour and salt together
Rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs
Add just enough water for the dough to come together
Roll dough out and line a Swiss Roll tin (it will look like it couldn't possibly stretch that much but persevere - it will)
Spread jam over dough in a thin layer
Melt remaining butter and stir in sugar, ground almonds and flour.
Beat in eggs and almond extract
Pour topping over jam (again it will look like you don't have enough - it does rise in the oven)
Sprinkle over flaked almonds
Bake for 18-20 mins

Pear and Walnut Chutney

2008-01-02T10:42:00.000Z

When browsing C&Z forums I came across this recipe for pear and walnut chutney courtesy of red dragon. With so many leftovers during Christmas it's always good to have a few things on standby for making that 5th turkey sandwich a little more interesting. This chutney is quite sweet and I feel it was particularly good with spiced beef - the blend of spice and sweetness was just right.

P.S. a word of warning - it took a number of hours for this to reach the required thickness so be prepared to hang around your kitchen for a while.

Chocolate Yule Log

2008-01-02T09:52:00.002Z

I'm starting the New Year with a Christmas recipe. I made this Chocolate Yule Log for Christams Eve and again for a family gathering yesterday. It's inspired by a recipe in the December issue of Delicious magazine where the creamy chocolate filling is offset by the sharp tang of cranberries. I prefer a lighter sponge so I used a version from Good Food (Dec 06) which whisks the egg whites separately. On Christmas Eve I didn't have the required amount of cream so I reduced the ganache by 1/3 - there was still loads - and I have continued to use these proportions.

Sponge:
5 eggs
140g light brown sugar
100g self-raising flour
25g good-quality cocoa

preheat oven to 190 deg
butter an line a Swiss roll tin
Beat together egg yolks, sugar and 2 tbsp water until light and thick
Sieve in flour and cocoa and fold in lightly
Whisk egg whites until still and fold gently into cake mix in 3 batches
Bake for 10-12 minutes and turn out onto some clean greaseproof paper
Leave to cool and roll up tightly in the greaseproof paper (along the long edge)

Cranberries:
200g fresh/frozen cranberries
75g caster sugar
2 tbsp water

Put 3 ingrediants in a saucepan and heat together gently until cranberries pop
Leave to cool

Filling:
450ml cream
300g good-quality chocolate

Break chocolate up and place in a bowl
Warm 300ml cream up to boiling point and pour over the chocolate
Whisk gently until chocolate is melted - leave to cool
Whisk reamaining cream into soft peaks - fold in 5 tbsp of the cooled ganache

Unroll the sponge and spread with the chocolate cream and then the cranberries. Roll up tightly, I then cut 1/3 of the log at an angle and placed it at the side to resemble a log. Spread over the cooled ganache, I put some greaseproof paper around the log to catch any ganache that drips down.

The sponge can be made a few days ahead - or even frozen for up to 3 months. It was reported that the first log tasted even better 2 days later - the second one didn't last long enough for me to test this hypothesis!

2008-01-01T14:39:00.000Z

After a year in which I discovered food blogging - opening up a whole new world of recipes and new ways of doing things (I never heard of 'brining poultry' before) - I've decided it's time to join the fray. I spend most of my spare time thinking about food - what's for dinner, how to use that new ingredient, what cake am I going to make this weekend? While I obviously like the final product, I also enjoy the process - browsing my (extensive) collection of cookbooks for ideas, going to the butcher's, the fruit+veg shop, setting up in my kitchen and finally sitting down with family and friends to enjoy the results.

I'm not a fancy cook - although I do enjoy a challenge - and I have no professional training, so I hope what you see on these pages will inspire you to pick up a whisk and start cooking with me.