We Love Cooking!:
garlic

I would like to blame jet lag as the reason I didn't really post last week, but it was really down to pure laziness! But I'm back and that's what really counts. Saturday gave us the last sun, Ireland will probably see for the next 7 months, so we made the most of it and had a lovely salad on the balcony, which was actually the first time we have used it since we moved in!

I made a lovely salad with a dressing that I just had to share here!

Classic Dijon Balsamic Dressing

1. 1/4 Cup of Olive Oil
2. 3/4 Cup of Balsamic Vinegar
3. 1 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
4. 1 Clove of crushed Garlic
5. A good pinch of Sea Salt and Black Pepper

It can really bring out the flavours in a plain old salad and put a SMILE ON YOUR FACE!

I can't guarantee the smile... but maybe!

I have a few winter warming dishes coming up but this recipe is actually taken from the book and was featured on Georgina Campbell's Ireland Guide website. Plus I got a request in the comments section so I just couldn't resist!

Hearty Minestrone Soup
This is a perfect winter meal solution, full of tasty vegetables, and filling thanks to the
pasta. I use wholewheat spaghetti, but feel free to add other shapes like fusilli or pasta elbows instead. If you don’t have any paprika, you can get a bit of spice by adding a dash of tabasco sauce, or a good pinch of dried chilli flakes.

Serves 4
1 courgette, chopped into small chunks
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 x 410g tins cannellini beans
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped into small chunks
2 litres/4 pints homemade chicken stock
75g/3oz wholewheat spaghetti, broken into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons of olive oil
A good pinch of paprika
A good pinch of sea salt

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and fry the garlic cloves and onion for 2
minutes or until they become soft.
Stir in the celery, carrots and courgette and cook for five minutes. Add the
chopped tomatoes and chicken stock, and bring to the boil, then reduce the
heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the wholewheat spaghetti, paprika and cannellini beans. Give the
soup a good stir and cover. Cook gently for a further 10 minutes or until
the pasta is cooked.
Season with a little sea salt and serve straightaway with a good chunk of
wholemeal bread and enjoy!

On Tuesday I traveled down to Cork for the first time ever to meet with the guys in Mercier press to discuss the release of the cookbook and the interior design. When I arrived they had a full mock up of the book to leaf through and I'm really thrilled with the look were going for. There's lots of bits to add here and there but it's much easier to work on it when you can see something that resembles the finished product.

I'm finally getting settled back into a some sort of normal routine after a fairly exciting but disruptive Christmas period, which means I'm getting to do a lot more cooking and photo's! I cooked two pasta dishes with goats cheese yesterday, one with sundried tomatoes and basil and this one here with garlic and mushrooms.

I'm a huge fan of goats cheese not only because of its distict flavour but there is recent research that suggests goats milk and cheese can be digested by the human body far easier than cow's. As it contains a similar calcium and nutrient content as cow's milk, it's has become common knowledge that people who suffer from a lactose intolerance can often use goat's milk and cheese as a dairy alternative.

Garlic Mushroom and Goats Cheese Pasta

Garlic and mushroom is a classic combination and works super in this tasty pasta dish. Crumbling the goats cheese over the hot pasta creates a creamy coating and leaves the dish with a distinctive tangy taste. The dish only takes the time to cook the pasta and is perfect to make a little extra and stick in a lunchbox for tomorrow.

250g of wholemeal penne pasta.
1 tablespoon of olive oil.
3 cloves of garlic chopped finely.
1 onion chopped into thin half moon slices.
150g of mushrooms sliced thinly (Approx. 6 large mushrooms).
75g of goats cheese.
A generous pinch of black pepper.
A generous pinch of sea salt.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the pasta. While the pasta is cooking prepare the garlic and onion.
In a large frying pan heat the oil, add the garlic and onion and fry gently until softened and browned. Then add the mushrooms and cook until soft. The mushrooms will turn from white to a nice creamy brown colour.
When the pasta is cooked drain in a colander and put back in the pot. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil and add the mushrooms, garlic and onion. Crumble in the goats cheese, add the salt and pepper and stir together until everything is combined evenly.
Serve straight away in deep dishes and season with a little extra black pepper.

Speaking of tradition, it's as good as written law around here that when there are fresh, local strawberries on hand there must also be strawberry shortcake. So, we had back to back shortcake. The second time 'round though I needed it to be an easily transported dessert to bring to a party. Cake form seemed like the perfect way to go, all assembled and easy to head out with. Playing on the orange tones of my first orange-rosemary shortcake, I incorporated some Grand Marnier to lend a sweet citrus flavor to the whipped cream. Also, instead of a plain vanilla bean cake, I made a rustic cornmeal cake to add pleasant texture and sweetness from the fresh milled corn.

One note though, as pretty as it is to have the green tops on the strawberries topping this cake, it's a total suckers move and I implore you to resist it! I can't tell you how many ways in which I should have known better, but the beauty of the berries with the tops still on conspired to drag me down as I opted, thoughtlessly, for aesthetics over eating. A choice that meant I later had to sit, shamefaced, as my friends picked berries out of the mess of whipped cream to remove the tops, which of course they couldn't enjoyably eat. Sigh.

I tried to make it up to them though with my favorite pie, strawberry rhubarb. Following the thought about cornmeal and strawberries, which worked so well in the cornmeal shortcake, I made a tender pâte sucrée with cornmeal and coconut oil instead of margarine or oil. The coconut was a very mild flavor influence on the end result and worked surprisingly well in the crust which was wonderfully flaky, light and tenderly sweet against the tart fruit filling.

Last year I served my strawberry rhubarb pie with basil ice cream, but this year my basil is not incredibly bountiful. My lemon verbena could swallow up the yard, but the basil is sort of a no-go. It's sad. There is enough to work smaller projects with though, so I made a dessert that caught my eye in Johnny Iuzzini's Dessert FourPlay a couple months ago. In the original version, Iuzzini fills strawberry mochi with strawberry rhubarb compote and serves it with basil fluid gel. I took some liberties to make the dessert a little faster to assemble and different in flavor, pairing my fresh strawberry jam filling with a freeze-dried rambutan mochi (reasoning that if I find an affinity between strawberries and lychees, rambutans would work as well) and serving it with Thai basil sauce. My mochi technique could use some work (I blame the leakage on my imperfect motor control with a hand still swollen from carpal tunnel release surgery) but overall, I adored this light little dessert and its intriguing Southeast Asian flavors.

A more straightforward, classic pairing between strawberries and chocolate was something I noticed had fallen by the wayside this season. I guess I've been taking my chocolate pretty straight these days and have been in a particular rut with the super dry, dark and lovely 84% Theo single origin bar from Ghana. So good. But I digress. Feeling that these amazing strawberries could make chocolate even more magical, I whipped up a very random pudding of organic baby bananas, dark chocolate, anise, chilies, cinnamon, nutmeg and espresso salt, sweetened with date syrup and topped with fresh berries. It was meant as a quick treat of no consequence but was so good, I'm pledged to make it again and actually write down every element of the recipe since several friends have proclaimed it's one of the best things ever, period.

After finally getting my strawberry and chocolate fix, I realized that I'd sort of been enjoying the two together all along in my breakfast bowl. Homemade cocoa nib granola with fresh berries isn't quite chocolate dipped strawberries, but it's more than satisfying at seven am.

Thinking about how nicely nibs complemented strawberries, I sprinkled a few Taza chocolate covered nibs into my mini tarts. They provided a nice bittersweet crunch against the fruit and buttery almond crust.

Almonds are a natural complement to strawberries. Their rich sweetness and lightly bitter edge are perfect against tart berry notes. And there's a reason why strawberry cheesecake is so popular; sweet tangy cheese has its richness both cut slightly and complemented by each bite of berry. So, an almond crusted and amaretto spiked cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries glazed with hot strawberry syrup and sprinkled with almond slices seemed like just the thing.

I've had a lot of semi-successful vegan cheese-ish substances around lately as I've been experimenting to find one that really suits me. None of them are perfect, but with a good amount of fiddling, they've all turned into tasty additions to desserts and ice cream bases. The mixture that I turned into cheesecake was also spun off into a nice mellow farmer's cheese that went wonderfully with fresh strawberry rhubarb jam (again from the Joy of Jams, but with much less sugar than called for).

In fact, I made several jams from the new book: plain strawberry, strawberry rhubarb and strawberry kiwi. With such deliciously fresh tasting jams are hanging around the house, it seemed pretty much obvious that I needed to make a delicious delivery mechanism for them. So when King Aurthur flour had a free-shipping deal, I refilled my stock of organic high gluten flour and made a batch of bagels from the Bread Baker's Apprentice, some coated into sesame seeds and some streaked with pasilla chili powder and topped with chili lime Hawaiian sea salt.

Toasted and spread equally with fresh made jam and strawberry cream cheese, these were a delicious promise that the joy of strawberries in season can last as long as the jars of jam do, even if we've only got another week or two to enjoy them fresh.

The funny thing about the food writing biz is that you end up preparing things way in advance of certain events and Christmas is one of the major ones which editors and researchers panic about and will have you cooking turkeys and hams even before Halloween has passed! However it was very refreshing yesterday to be shooting lots of leftover Christmas dinner recipes for RTÉ's 4Live in the middle of the Christmas season with snow on the ground outside. We thrashed through 6 great festive dishes including, cranberry and white chocolate muffins, leftover ham pies, and a Christmas cheesecake. A big thanks to the lads, Robin, Mark, Niall and Tony who left the house last night stuffed... or so they told me! I'll post some of the recipes from the day during the next weeks but for now just in case you have been suffering from Christmas overload, how about some real food?

Roast Garlic Shepherd's Pie
I was never really a big fan of shepherd's pie growing up, mainly because it was churned out most weeks (sorry mom!) so we became far too used to it, which realistically is a terribly ungrateful complaint, but it's only in the last few years I have fallen in love with this classic little dish all over again. I make mine with a twist by stirring mashed roast garlic through the potato, to be honest I normally make it with two bulbs of garlic because I'm a bit of a garlic fiend, but if you are pushed for time skip the garlic and just make the mash, it will taste just a good. Another handy tip to remember is that once you have assembled the shepherd's pie to the point just before you put it in the oven you can actually freeze the pie and cook from frozen if you fancy prepping a few in advance!

Serves 4
1 garlic bulb
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion , chopped
2-3 medium carrots , chopped
500g pack minced lamb
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
400ml beef stock
800g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
75g butter
50ml milk
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season

First things first, get the garlic in the oven! Preheat the oven to 200oC/Gas Mark 6.
Slice the top off the garlic bulb just enough so that each of the cloves is exposed and place on a roasting tray. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with a some sea salt. Place in the oven to roast for 40 minutes or until soft and tender. When the garlic is cooked, remove the roast cloves from their skins and mash with the back of a fork.
While garlic is roasting, add the potato chunks to a pot of cold water, cover, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork.
When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat, drain into a colander, then add back into the pot with the butter and milk. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. You may want to add a little bit more or less milk and butter, it is up to you! Add in the mashed garlic and season with sea salt and ground black pepper, stirring to combine.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium frying pan over a medium heat and soften the onion and carrots for 5-6 minutes. Turn up the heat and allow the pan to get hot before you add the minced lamb. Using the a fork break up the meat and allow to brown and cook through for 3-4 minutes. Stir through the tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce until combined and then pour over the beef stock. Bring to a steady simmer, then partially cover and cook for 45 mins.
Preheat the oven to 180oC/Gas Mark 4.
When the lamb is ready, season with sea salt and ground black pepper and transfer to an ovenproof baking dish and top with the roast garlic mash, using a fork to make a nice topping. Give the topping an extra sprinkle of ground black pepper and bake in the oven for 25 mins until the top is starting to brown and the mince is bubbling up around the edges.
Serve straight away for a delicious and comforting supper!

Life is constantly full of surprises, there are some things I plan for and then there are some things that sneak up and just smack you around the chops! I was lucky enough to be shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards last month for my book Good Mood Food, but to be perfectly honest never really expected to win, it was an extremely tight category with some amazing competition. Not being a regular at black tie events I borrowed a tuxedo from my pal Simon, which just about fit, bar some tightening with a belt and dragged myself into the mansion house in Dublin for the awards. It wasn't until the first award winner Donal Og Cusack stepped up to deliver his speech, that the panic set in that on the off chance of winning, I had absolutely NOTHING prepared! Not the way I usually roll! So Best Irish Published category came up and guess what I WON! Honest complete utter shock took over and I really can't remember what I mumbled on stage but I was just so thrilled. It's a fantastic tip of the hat towards young and upcoming writers and huge win for myself, Mercier Press and of course everyone who was involved in producing the book. While celebrations ran into the earlier hours, I managed a couple of hours sleep before getting up to prep my demonstration at the Food&Wine Show in the RDS. It was a fairly packed weekend with the Taste Of Christmas also taking place at the new convention centre in Dublin. For my Food&Wine demo I ran through a collection of traditional Swedish Christmas dishes, after working at a Julbord (the traditional Swedish Christmas buffet) in Gothenberg, I had a great selection of interesting dishes to show off. Along with the Julgrot and Gravadlax I demoed the big hit of the day was the Jansson's Temptation a delicious creamy potato dish which is served alongside the Christmas Ham. It makes an interesting addition to our Irish Christmas dinner and I definitely suggest you give it a go! :)
I am getting around to a full thank you video for the book award but I'll keep you posted on that!

Janssons Temptation
Not unlike a French Potato Dauphinoise this Swedish take features anchovies and is a regular at the Swedish Christmas table. If you don't fancy the anchovies you could of course add some finely chopped garlic instead.

Serves 8
14-16 Swedish anchovy fillets and the brine they're stored in
2 large onions, sliced in half moons
5 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
200ml of cream
2 tablespoons of butter
A small handful of fine breadcrumbs
Sea salt and ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 225oC.
Put half the potatoes into a large rectangular pyrex dish. Evenly distribute the anchovy fillets and onions over the top of the potatoes and top with the remaining potatoes.
Pour half the cream and anchovy brine over the top and then add the butter in knobs over the top. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Place in the oven until the potatoes are golden and after 20 minutes remove from the oven and top with the breadcrumbs and remaining cream and brine. Place back in the oven and cook for a further 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Thankfully work is that little bit less busy this week, which has given us time not only to play in the snow, but also to spend some more time in our new little house. It's not there just yet, but it's really starting to take shape and after numerous trips to IKEA we finally have enough furniture to fill the place! I wasn't feeling very at home in the house, mainly because the last three weeks had been so jam packed, dinner was eaten out and breakfast was bought on the way. I know I know, not exactly the perfect routine, but there had been no time to set up the kitchen just the way I like it. So the last few days we've been making big breakfasts and enjoying really tasty dinners using up the ridiculous amount of food I've left over from all the cooking we've been doing. Ireland, for my foreign visitors, at the moment is experiencing probably the most snow that I can even remember, so I think it's definitely time for some comfort food. This recipe was from a piece I wrote on comfort food for the Irish Independent. I suggest using ready to go gnocchi, but if you are lucky enough to be snowed in, it's all the more comforting to make them yourself!

Mozzarella, Tomato and Gnocchi Bake
Gnocchi in Italian translates as ‘lumps’, and it goes way beyond pasta as my ultimate bowl of indulgence. You can make the gnocchi yourself, but you should be able to pick up packs of the ready-made stuff quite easily. This dish combines the classic Italian flavours of tomato, mozzarella and basil, all baked together for a fantastic comforting dinner.

Serves 4
500g fresh gnocchi
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2x400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
2x125g mozzarella balls, sliced
1 tsp sugar
Handful of basil leaves
Sea salt and black pepper, to season

Cook the gnocchi according to the instructions on the packet, then drain and set aside. Heat the olive oil over a high heat and sauté the garlic and onion until soft. Add in the chopped tomatoes and chilli flakes and bring the sauce to the boil.
Lower the heat and cook at a steady simmer for 15 minutes until it has reduced. Add in the sugar and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Tumble the gnocchi into the pan and stir through with the tomato sauce until each piece is nicely coated.
Pour into a highsided baking dish (9in x 9in) and top with the mozzarella slices and torn basil leaves. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and bubbling. Serve straight away in deep bowls with a little grated Parmesan.

So I'm kinda working backwards a little here, but last week was a busy one so there was a LOT to digest (no pun intended!). After Paris I was back in Dublin before I had time to blink, and just in time to help launch the Stop Food Waste campaign on Tuesday with the lovely Rachel Allen and the incredibly talented Kevin Thornton. The campaign highlights the fact that by using our leftovers we can save money and reduce waste.

All the recipes I demonstrated were based around using the leftovers of a roast chicken, which, as a regular on most Sunday dinner menus, always leaves you with a few bits of leftover meat. I always save the chicken carcass and bones in a large resealable bag in the freezer until I have the remains of about three or four; the perfect amount to make a really good chicken stock. The rest I used for a delicious Chicken Caesar Pasta using mayo, Dijon mustard, parmesan and olive oil to make a simple Caesar dressing. It's dishes like these that really make the most of the ingredients that are close to hand. More often than not, they're even tastier than something you'd spend a lot of money on in the supermarket.

My mom was the queen of leftovers so I was brought up making the most of all the ingredients in the house before heading out to buy more. The veggies in the bottom of fridge were made into tasty soups and the leftover meat into sandwiches for school the next day. This chicken and sweetcorn soup is a zingy little way to make the most of leftover chicken pieces and it's absolutely packed with flavour... perfect for the cold snowy evenings we're having at the moment!

Leftover Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
This super tasty soup has become a classic in our house, it was always requested on sick days home from school. I always find sweetcorn lends a warm and comforting taste to soups and its bright colour puts a smile on my face. Try not to skimp on ingredients for this one, it tastes best when you use the best ingredients – homemade stock and fresh ginger are a must!

Serves 4
Leftovers of half a roast chicken, shredded
1 litre/2 pints of homemade chicken stock
2 x 400g tins sweetcorn
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 large thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
4 spring onions finely sliced diagonally

In a large pot with a little oil, fry the garlic and ginger for about 3 minutes, add the corn and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add a little bit of the chicken stock and, with a hand blender, blitz the mixture until it becomes smooth.
Add the rest of the chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. Bring to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Beat the eggs in a pyrex jug, which will make it easy for you to trickle them into the soup.
Reduce the heat and while the soup is still simmering, stir it continuously in a figure of eight motion and gently trickle in the beaten egg a little bit at a time to form thin strands.
Add the chicken shreds and stir through. Serve with a generous garnish of spring onions.

I'm writing this on a dark train in the middle of a snow bound Sweden, this week we are visiting Sofie's folks in Gothenburg, so I have unwillingly been catapulted into the Christmas season whether I like it or not. As you all know of course snow equals Christmas and during the long dark days in Sweden they really go all out for the festive season. We are hoping to get in all the sights and sounds of a Swedish Christmas to bring home some Scandinavian inspiration to our home just in time for the seasonal period. While all that is going on let's not forget that on these cold dark days, serious fuel is needed to boost the immune system and keep you up and running! My mushy Roast Garlic and Cherry Tomato Pasta is one of those dishes I came up with hungry after work last winter. It has all those great punchy flavors of roast vegetables combined to make the most luscious thick juicy tomato sauce for the hot pasta you tumble in on top. Don't be afraid of using a whole bulb of garlic, the roasting process will take away the strong flavors you get from raw garlic and instead you will be left with a sweet intense mush which can be pushed out its skin using the back of a fork. Possibly one of THE BEST recipes from Good Mood Food, you will make this one again and again!

Mushy Roast Garlic and Cherry Tomato Pasta
Serving this little supper hot to the table with a good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese is an absolute must! It brings the whole dish together and pumps up all those amazing roasted flavors.

Serves 4 people
250g/9oz wholewheat penne
1 large bulb of garlic
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1 large red onion
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of olive oil
A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper
A large handful of grated parmesan cheese
An extra glug of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
Slice the top off the bulb of garlic so that almost all the cloves are exposed.
Place the garlic in a large roasting tray.
Prepare the cherry tomatoes by slicing them in half. Place the tomatoes in
the roasting tray. Prepare the red onion by peeling and slicing into rough
quarters, place alongside the tomatoes and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and
using a pastry brush, brush the mix over the tomatoes, the red onion and garlic bulb. Sprinkle the tomatoes, garlic and onion with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Roast in the oven for 30–35 minutes or until the tomatoes have reduced to half their size.
While the garlic, tomatoes and onion are roasting, bring a medium-sized pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain the pasta in a colander and set aside.
When the tomatoes, garlic and onion are cooked, remove from the oven and, using a fork, carefully push out the garlic cloves from their skins and mash all the ingredients together until you have a thick mushy sauce. Tumble the cooked pasta into the roasting tray and add the parmesan cheese and an extra glug of olive oil. Toss everything together until the pasta is evenly coated. Serve in a large bowl and enjoy!

Well we're two rooms down on the house and surprisingly after 3 days in a row in IKEA, I'm still ready for more! We have just got in the door from sorting out the bedroom, with a bed and wardrobe set for delivery tomorrow. I have to admit that with all the rushing around, we have ended up in the cafe twice and I have to confess that I have munched my way through 30 meatballs in the last two days, with copious amounts of mashed potato, gravy and lingonberry jam! But then again when you are lugging your life around there is most definitely a need for some serious comfort food. Speaking of which today's recipe is one of my ultimate comfort foods- Slow cooked lamb shanks for many need absolutely no introduction as you will know just how delicious, slow-cooking this off-cut of meat is. If you haven't tried them before, give this recipe a go it's perfect for the cooler evenings.

Lamb Shanks with Colcannon Mash
I really am a sucker for a good lamb shank, with it's melt-in-the-mouth texture, which literally falls off the bone, it truly is a thing of beauty! The key is to slow cook it at a low temperature. This transforms the gnarly piece of meat into a rich and juicy piece of deliciousness. You can serve it on normal mash, sweet potato mash, or with lentils, but I love colcannon and seeing as it is the season, it makes perfect sense!

Serves 4
30ml/2 tbsp of olive oil
4 lamb shanks
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1 stalk of celery, finely sliced
350ml/12 fl oz of red wine
A few sprigs of thyme, tied in a bunch with string
650ml/1 ½ pts of stock (vegetable or beef)
2 tablespoons of cornflour
A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

In a large casserole dish, heat the olive oil and add the lamb shanks and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.
Fry the onions for two to three minutes until soft but not browned. Add the garlic, carrot and celery and fry for another couple of minutes. Pop in the thyme and stir through.
Add the red wine and bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes.
Place in the browned lamb shanks and pour over the stock. Bring to a steady simmer, then cover and place in the oven at 150oC/300oF/Gas Mark 2.
Cook the lamb shanks very slowly, for three hours, turning them half way through the cooking time, until the meat is extremely tender and almost falls off the bone. Toward the end of the cooking time, taste and season.
If you want to serve the lamb shanks with its juices, I remove a few ladles of the juices and place them in a small saucepan. Then place two tablespoons of the juices in a bowl and stir through the cornflour until you have a smooth mix, pour this back into the saucepan and bring to a steady simmer, cooking down until you have a thick gravy.
Serve in large deep bowls with the colcannon.

For the colcannon:
1kg potatoes, peeled and diced
250g cabbage, finely sliced
1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced
2 tablespoons of butter
75ml of milk or cream
A good pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Add the peeled and diced potato to a pot of cold water, cover, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork.
Place a metal steamer into another pot, add a little water and bring to the boil. Place the cabbage into the steamer and steam cook until it is tender.
When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat, drain into a colander, then add back into the pot with the butter and milk. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. You may want to add a little bit more or less milk and butter, it's up to you!
Add in the spring onion, steamed cabbage, sea salt and black pepper and stir through with a spoon until evenly combined.
Serve with the lamb shanks.

There's a huge list of delicious ingredients coming into season this month, so now really is the time to check what your local supermarket, butcher, fishmonger or farmers market has to offer. As the season changes, bringing with it a nip in the air and beautiful crisp golden leaves, kitchen habits inevitably begin to sway a little more towards those more comforting and warming dishes.

Personally, as much as I love nice quick meals, if I have the time, delicious slow cooked meats, warm healthy soups and bubbling autumn fruit desserts always beat them hands down on a cold evening. Of course it's very important to keep active during the colder months, but nothing can be better than spending an afternoon cooking up a storm in a warm cosy kitchen, safe in the knowledge that you have a feast bubbling away in the oven. October has lots of fantastic produce coming into and already in season, including mussels, pumpkins, nuts, celeriac and blackberries.

This week's recipes are part of my Big Harvest Feast; creamy mussels steamed in cider, delicious slow cooked lamb shanks with colcannon mash, and a cosy little dessert of rustic apple and blackberry galettes. I think they make the most of what's in season right now and after devouring it all after taking these photographs, I can promise you it tastes darn good!

Mussels in Irish Cider
Mussels have a reputation for being difficult to cook, but this is just not true. The hardest part in reality is the washing. Place them in cold water (they should close, if they don't you should throw them away). Scrub any dirt off the surface of the mussels and remove the beard with a small knife. If you can get this down you will have no trouble and they take minutes to cook, so they're the perfect little starter. I love serving the pot straight to the table from the stove and clunking large spoonfuls of the cooked steaming mussels onto guest's plates. Make sure to serve with some chunky bread to mop up the juices!

Serves 4
1.5kg mussels, washed and the beards removed
1 medium onion, finely chopped 

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

200g of pancetta pieces. 

A good knob of butter

400ml good Irish cider
4 tablespoons of cream
A good handful of freshly chopped parsley,
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Discard any mussels that are open before cooking and any that stay closed after cooking.
Place a large pot over a high heat and brown the pancetta pieces until just golden and sizzling. Add in a knob of butter, allow it to melt and then add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for three minutes until the onion is soft.
Add in the cider and allow to bubble away for a few minutes so all the flavours mingle in together. Tumble in the mussels, cover with a lid and allow them to steam for about four minutes until they open, making sure to give the pot a good shake once or twice during the cooking time.
Remove from the heat and stir in the cream and parsley and season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Serve with some crusty bread to mop up the liquid!

I have some big news! We are upping sticks and moving to a new kitchen next week, so we have our serious planning hats on at the moment. It's always so exciting when you get a new kitchen and of course a place to stay, although for me one is most definitely secondary to the other. There are a few things I look forward to most when it comes to moving into a kitchen, first and foremost a good storecupboard, jam packed with all those handy essentials which make a meal, and the second, kitchen gadgets! I've been getting lots and lots of advice on twitter and facebook about your "new kitchen essentials" with the one over ruling suggestion being a Kitchen Aid mixer, which I do not already have. We've decided that the best thing to do is get settled, see what we need, beyond what we already have, and plan a shopping list! I'll keep you posted on the big move but for now here's a recipe for today!

Zingy Quick and Tasty Stir-Fry
Stir-fries are a brilliant way of getting lots of veggies into your diet without compromising on taste.
This one is full of zingy flavours and healthy, tasty veg. Don’t be put off by Chinese cabbage — it’s a great standby vegetable which will last quite a while in the fridge and works well in stirfries such as this one or eaten raw in a crunchy Asian salad.

Serves four
250g noodles of your choice
2 tbsps soy sauce
1 tsp honey
Juice of 1 lime
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
2 carrots, grated or sliced in thin matchsticks
½ head Chinese cabbage, roughly shredded
1 red onion, sliced into thin half moons
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 red chilli, finely chopped

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, drain and set aside.
Whisk together the soy sauce, honey and lime juice in the bottom of a large bowl. Add in the chopped veggies, except for the onion, garlic and chillies, and toss until everything is combined.
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan until it’s very hot, add the onion, chilli and garlic and stir-fry for about 40 seconds.
Add in the veggies and stir fry until they are tender. You can check this by taking a bite.
Then add the noodles and toss in with all the veggies until combined, then fry for a further minute.
Serve straight away or allow to cool then pop in a lunchbox for the next day.

It's definitely a sign you had a fairly packed weekend when you only start to relax on a Monday morning! I was working on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but Saturday night was the big occasion, 25 family members, young and old packed into my parents front room to eat their way through a three course meal and celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

They are my grandparents on my moms side of the family, they married in 1950 and made a living as sculptors, all the while raising my mom and her 3 brothers and 3 sisters. My grandmother has a fantastic knowledge of food and I can talk with her for hours about her delicious rich recipes (if we can steal a moment away from my granddad's well trained 3rd degree questioning skills!) which always seem to transform some extremely unique off cut of meat into a melt in your mouth, one pot wonder. I love how she can tell me she had nothing in the house, yet then go into intricate detail of how she whipped up an old French recipe so delicious it would put the great Elizabeth David to shame. Needless to say that love of food has been passed down the line, so the food at gathering such as this are normally of a certain standard! Anything less of course and you can expect a full critique by the time the coffee and teas are served!

On the menu was a delicious crab salad with lemon zest, for mains we had hefty portions of slow roasted lamb shanks in red wine with a tomato and white bean stew, and to wrap things up we had the delicious mocha meringues with whiskey cream, chocolate sauce and toasted hazelnuts which we cooked for the event in Paris during the spring. All this was followed by an amazing cheeseboard from Sheridans Cheesemongers which despite the big helpings for dinner was devoured!
So things are back to normality this week thankfully so here's today's recipe, enjoy!

Whoohaa Chorizo Bean Pasta!
Pasta is definitely a super-cheap store cupboard ingredient which can easily be transformed into hundreds of delicious dishes. This is one of my favourite ways of making the most of it. When making a tomato sauce, the key to getting the best flavour out of it is to cook it slowly. I love to add a good glug of red wine while it reduces to bring out a really great richness. The chorizo gives the dish a kick of heat and will leave you feeling full.

Serves four
150g chorizo, sliced in thick discs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season
400g tin cannellini beans
250g penne pasta
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and throw in the sliced chorizo. Fry on both sides until roaring red and sizzling. Remove from the pan and set aside. You should be left with a rich red oil in the pan.
Place the pan back over the heat, add the garlic and onions and fry for two to three minutes until the onions are soft.
Add the chopped tomatoes and dried oregano, then half fill the empty chopped tomatoes tin with warm water and stir into the pan (if you have red wine it would be great here instead of the water). Bring the sauce to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until it has reduced a little.
While the sauce is reducing, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, drain and set aside.
Stir the chorizo and cannellini beans into the tomato sauce until everything is warmed through.
Add the sauce to the cooked pasta and stir through.
Serve with a good grating of Parmesan cheese.

Mushroom hunting in Ireland is something that I feel takes place with something of an uneasy pleasure. While the idea of foraging for free food always gets me excited, mushroom hunting is somewhat more hazardous than picking a few juicy blackberries off a thorny bush. Last year I went on my very first mushroom hunt with a funghi expert who described the process as more dangerous than some of the most breathtaking extreme sports including skydiving and bungee jumping due to the large amount of extremely poisonous varieties! Mincing through the woods with a wicker basket suddenly just got a bit more manly!

The experienced mushroom hunter out there knows the chanterelle mushroom is the most prized variety. An expensive purchase at about €20 to €40 per kilo makes discovering these little beauties all the more satisfying to pick for free! With it's distinctive golden orange colour, funnel shape and thick gills, the chanterelle mushroom is by far one of the prettiest looking mushrooms and makes a delicious and meaty feast for cooking at home.

This week I headed out twice to Sweden's vast forests where foraging for chanterelles is a popular but highly secretive past time. The Swedes speak about mushroom picking hot spots in hushed tones and excited whispers, looking over their shoulders for fear someone might be lurking just out of sight to try and overhear the location of the latest hotspot! My first visit took place after we got a tip from a neighbour who had a friend who had got lucky on a path close to a lake near a forest just south of Gothenburg. The location was scrawled onto a scrap of paper, shoved tightly into a pocket and we were off. After about two hours of fruitless searching we finally came across a bumper patch close to the path, hiding at the base of a tree. The thing about chanterelle's is that once you find one, whether your eyes suddenly become aware of what you are looking for or they just grow close to each other, it seems inevitable that you will find more close by.
My second visit came last night, when we were accompanied to a spot just off the corner of a golf course, to a secret location which was hidden by a group of large trees. After battling our way through wild brambles our eyes opened wide to discover a clearing literally teaming with little golden dots every where we looked. It seemed nobody had been there before, so whispering quite excitedly, so as not to reveal our very own secret location, we gathered up armfuls of mushrooms and snuck back home to the kitchen!

Simply Cooked Chanterelles with Garlic Toast
Mushrooms can have the marmite effect on some people, you either love them or hate them. In my case I love them and while you can pick them up quite easily in most supermarkets, nothing is more satisfying than picking them yourself. If you are lucky enough to come across a bumper load of them in the forest, in my opinion you have to enjoy them straight away cooked as simply as this.

Serves 2 generous portions
A good handful of chanterelle mushrooms per person
A good knob of butter
A little sea salt and ground black pepper to season
1 clove of garlic
A good glug of extra virgin olive oil
4 slices of nice chewy sourdough bread, toasted

In a large pan melt the butter over a medium high heat.
Add in the mushrooms and fry until lightly browned and tender. This about 5 minutes depending on the amount you have in the pan. Some mushrooms will throw off a lot of water, but don't panic just continue to cook until all the water is gone. Season with a little sea salt and ground black pepper to taste. Try not to over season as you really want to allow the natural flavours to shine through.
While the mushrooms are cooking toast the bread, when it turns golden drizzle with a little olive oil and rub vigorously with the clove of garlic, finally season with a little sea salt.
Top the toast with the hot and tender mushrooms and serve straight away!

Another recipe from Catherine's cookbook today and it's a damn good one, you seriously can't go wrong with homemade spaghetti and meatballs, especially on a day like today! Can you believe it's already the 1st of September? This dish would make a perfect little warming supper dish so enjoy!

Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Meatballs form the secondi or meat course at the Italian table, while pasta is the primi, so they would not traditionally be served together. That said, they work well together, so if this takes your fancy, allow 400–450g of dried spaghetti to serve four. I also sometimes add 50g freshly grated Parmesan to the meatballs and reduce the salt, yum! Have a bowl of cold water beside you when forming the meatballs to dip your hands into, as keeping your hands moist prevents the meat from sticking when forming the balls.

Serves 6
for the meatballs:
50g fresh breadcrumbs
100ml milk
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
225g minced pork
225g lean minced beef
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
extra virgin olive oil

for the spicy tomato sauce:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
175ml vegetable stock
500g tinned chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pasta, to serve
freshly grated Parmesan, to serve

To make the meatballs, first soak the breadcrumbs in the milk.
Mix the chopped onion and garlic with the pork and beef. Add the breadcrumbs, oregano, salt and pepper to the meat mixture and mix well. Add in the beaten egg and mix thoroughly. Roll the mixture into small balls.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and add in the meatballs. Fry for approximately 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To make the sauce, heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the chilli and onion and cook on a low heat for 7–10 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, stock, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Add the meatballs to the sauce and leave to simmer for 10 minutes to heat through.
Serve with your favourite pasta and sprinkle grated Parmesan on top.

I'm packing my bag this weekend so the meals are all a little light on the ground this week. For the next two weeks I will be staying in London to photograph the recipes for my new book which is out next year. It's all getting very exciting and as I am finally putting the finishing touches to the text, the next part is all fun. The photography process will take up most of the days while we're there, but I am hoping to finally get to see a bit of London. I have had loads of recommendations of places to eat, things to see and food markets to shop in so hopefully with a little bit of luck and hard work will we have some free time to see the sights!

Herby Sweet Potato Chips
These sweet and spicy little wedges knock the socks off greasy fast food chips any day. If you haven’t tried sweet potatoes before, this is a great introduction recipe, where you just can’t go wrong. Serve as a nice side dish or a quick and tasty snack!

Serves 4
5 large sweet potatoes
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
A good handful of fresh herbs
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
If I am serving these as a side dish, I generally prepare them first and let
them cook away in the oven while I get on with the rest of the dinner.
In a pestle and mortar, bash together the a little of the olive oil, the herbs, garlic and sea salt until you have a smooth paste.
Peel the sweet potatoes and slice in half lenghtways and then in half again,
then chop into rough chips. Place in a bowl and toss with the herby paste.
Place in a large roasting tin and drizzle with a little extra oil and sprinkle with ground black pepper until all the chips are well coated.
Roast in the oven for about 40–45 minutes, or until the insides are soft and
the edges are slightly charred.

Well I am just up after travelling to Gothenberg via Copenhagen last night, and I have a certain sense of accomplishment (and relief!!!) about myself today. For the last 4 weeks I have been keeping my head down busy writing recipes for the new book and in between all the writing I got the amazing and slightly nerve wracking opportunity to give cooking demonstrations at two of Ireland's leading foodie festivals, something this time last year I couldn't even imagine! Thankfully both went extremely well and it's funny how things like that can make you nervous before hand but when it comes down to actually doing them, they are thoroughly enjoyable. I suppose in life there is always goals you lead up to, things that are ahead of you that you know you have to achieve in order to go on to the next step. The last few weeks have been for me the next step and now on sunny morning in Sweden, it feels great to know that I only have a handful of recipes to write to complete the new book!

I have to admit writing the first book was a bit of a disaster because I was extremely disorganised and generally did not know what I was doing, but having learned from mistakes things have run a lot smoother this time around, I have a set recipe list which was chosen a few months ago and it is just a case of writing in a set format, which makes it both easy for me and everyone else working on it. I'm dying to give you more details about it and hopefully in the next few weeks when everything is submitted I can give you a bit more info about behind the scenes! For now though, enjoy this quick and simple creamy broccoli pasta recipe! Make it a good one! :)

Creamy Broccoli Pasta
I am huge fan of simple pasta dishes which are easy to throw together in a matter of minutes and this one definitely hit’s the spot. There is a wealth of in season vegetables at the moment and you can easily replace broccoli with asparagus or cauliflower and maybe some broad beans thrown in for good measure. If you can’t your hands on parpadelle pasta, tagliatelle will do just fine.

Serves 4
250g of papardelle pasta
1 head of brocolli, broken into florets
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, sliced finely
200g of crème fraiche
Juice of 1 lemon
A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

Cook the pasta according to the packet.
Steam or boil the broccoli until tender when pierced with a fork, drain and place in a bowl filled with cold water.
Fry the garlic in a large frying pan over a medium heat, for about 1 minute, then add in the crème fraiche and bring to a steady simmer. Add in the lemon juice and season with sea salt and black pepper.
When the pasta is cooked, drain the water and place back into the pot. Pour in the garlic crème fraiche and broccoli and stir through gently until everything is combined.
Serve straight away with an extra sprinkle of black pepper.

You may have noticed there has been a serious lack of recipes around here lately, but I want you too see that as a good thing! The good news is that behind the scenes I have started work on my new book, so right now that's the main focus and everything else is kind of on the back burner at minute! Hopefully very soon I'll be able to reveal a lot of really exciting news about the book and some other VERY exciting projects coming up. I will do my best to keep the recipes coming but for now here's a really great little summer dish! Enjoy!

Zingy Purple Potato Salad
When people think of potato salads in Ireland, heavy mayonaisse laden over boiled potatoes come to mind, but I'm here to change all that! This potato salad is light, bright breezy and packed full of zingy flavours! There is nothing better than great veggies being shown off at their best with a really simple recipe! While most good vegetable shops have them from time to time, t these purple potatoes can be tricky to come across and while not essential for this recipe, they really add great colour to the dish! If you can't get your hand on them, normal baby potatoes will do just fine. This dressing is a great compliment to any steamed or boiled vegetables like asparagus or garden peas!

Serves 4
750g of baby potatoes (mix of purple and white)
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
3 spring onions, finely chopped
A handful of dill and basil, roughly chopped
A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a pot of cold water, cover, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes and slice in half lengthways.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the dressing. Whisk together the vinegar, oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, spring onions, and herbs. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Pour the dressing over the cooked potatoes and gently toss, until everything is combined.
Serve straightaway!

This is one of the recipes I have been waiting to try forever and I really have no excuse as it is so simple! I had hoped to feature this in my book (which shows just how long I have been to getting around to making it!) but unfortunately I left it too late! I have adapted this recipe from Lor who writes one of my favourite Irish food blogs italianfoodies.ie, who runs La Cucina in Limerick and is an absolute genius when it comes to proper Italian comfort food.

Big Brunch Tomato Eggs
Are you ready to meet your new Saturday morning breakfast cure? These eggs are going to change your weekends forever! If you are on the lookout for the perfect little throw together late breakfast this super easy dish hits all the right buttons. If you manage to stumble out of bed, serve these tasty eggs with some toasted crusty bread and you'll be laughin'! They also work if you are wide awake too!

Serves 2 generous portions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
A good handful of spinach, roughly chopped
A small handful of basil, roughly chopped
4 large free range eggs
A little grated Parmesan cheese to serve
A generous pinch of sea salt and black pepper

In a large frying pan heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic slowly for 7-10 minutes until soft but not coloured.
Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
Stir through the basil and spinach until it has wilted.
With the back of a spoon make four wells in the sauce and then crack the eggs in.
Cook the eggs in the sauce until the white is cooked through and the yolk is still soft.
Season with sea salt and black pepper and a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
Serve the eggs in tomato sauce on top of some crispy crusty bread for a hearty brunch!

Simple Garlic Mushroom Bruschetta
I love quick and tasty snacks like this which are easy to throw together and are packed full of flavour. Garlic is one of my favourite ingredients, and the fact that it has so many healthy properties, is one of the biggest reasons I justify the amount I use when I cook! Getting some decent quality bread makes all the difference for a bruschetta, you want something that has a nice crisp crust and a soft but chewy inside!

Serves 2
200g of mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 small ciabatta loaves, sliced in half
A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add a little olive oil.
Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds, then throw in the sliced mushrooms.
Fry the mushrooms until they are soft.
While the mushrooms are cooking, drizzle the ciabatta with a little extra olive oil and toast under a hot grill or on a griddle pan, until golden.
Place a generous amount of garlic mushrooms on each toast and season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Devour!