My little kitchen garden, which I started earlier this year is in full bloom at the moment, and if I was harvesting weeds alongside all the lovely veggies I would probably be thrilled - they've literally taken over. However, despite the amount of unwelcome weeds and other guests includings snails, slugs and a family of caterpillars who have all happily taken up residence in my little plot, I have been busy harvesting this week! Last month I plucked out eight massive bok choys which, freshly chopped, made a tasty Asian salad with chopped cashew nuts, two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, two tablespoons of soy sauce, and a teaspoon of sesame oil. Now I could talk to you about the sense of pride there is in picking and cooking something that you've grown in your own back garden, and of course there is, but if I did so I would feel a massive sense of guilt because realistically, I'm a bad gardener! I have spurts of interest, then I get preoccupied with other things and, like last weekend, come back to check out the progress to find my plot completely overgrown.
Last year's kitchen garden was a complete disaster but this year I have my amazing raised veggie garden boxes which can be ordered on Patchworkveg.com from Sean Gallagher who installs them with no hassle and even imparts a bit of growing advice while he's at it. The raised boxes are a lot more manageable for first time veggie gardeners and make for far less back breaking work when you end up doing the amount of weeding I do! The magic of good old mother nature is a beautiful thing and even though my plants don't actually recognise me each time I come to visit, I'm still left with super veggies - like the amazingly beautiful peas I picked this week, which were so sweet and fresh that I had to be stopped from eating them all right there in the garden!
Pea Mint and Feta Pasta This is a super simple little supper which can be thrown together in the time it takes to cook the pasta. To be honest, if you can't get peas straight from the garden it's almost better to use frozen here, as peas begin to loose their natural sugars as soon as they're picked, so even fresh ones in the supermarket probably won't be as good as you will get frozen. This recipe is easily adapted with most leftovers you might have in the fridge. I love a little bit of chorizo added here or maybe some freshly chopped basil with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese.
Serves 4 300g of pasta 5 tablespoons of creme fraiche 150g of feta cheese 150g of fresh peas if you have them, otherwise use frozen A good handful of fresh mint, finely chopped A pinch of salt A good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the pack and drain. If you are using frozen peas, cook them until tender and drain. If you are using fresh peas and they are tender and young, I don't bother doing anything to them apart from shelling them and giving them a quick splash under some cold water. When the pasta is cooked, add the creme fraiche, feta cheese, peas, mint, salt and pepper and stir gently until the pasta is evenly coated. Serve straight away with a good squeeze of lemon juice!
Grand Marnier: blended cognacs with orange essence
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.
Cornmeal cake with Grand Marnier vegan whipped cream and fresh berries
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.
Strawberry rhubarb pie with cornmeal pâte sucrée
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.
Fresh strawberry jam filled rambutan mochi with Thai basil sauce and strawberry powder
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.
Chocolate spiced baby banana pudding with strawberries
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.
Breakfast with berries and nibs
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.
Almond crust mini tarts with fresh fruit, nibs and lemon verbena
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.
Almond strawberry cheesecake
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.
Whole wheat English muffin with farmer's cheese and strawberry rhubarb jam
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).
bagels fresh out of the oven
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.
Brunch at Dara's with everyone's delicious contributions: homemade bagels and jam, fennel seitan, chicory in tahini garlic sauce, roasted potatoes, beet orzo and melon with mint
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.
After a fairly busy weekend the majority of my worldly belongings have been moved into our new house! The bad news we got today however is that it's going to take a whopping 25 days to get broadband installed in the house because there hasn't been a line there since 1994. So a life of robbing other peoples internet is what's on the cards for the next 25 days. Which isn't a bad thing really, I mean I would get far more things done if I wasn't drooling over my new favourite food blog What Katie Ate and talking crap on twitter. The truth is that I will probably far more focused now on cooking in the kitchen without my laptop keys getting covered in flour, corners nearly being singed and screen getting a lovely smattering of grease.
We should really talk about the kitchen, it is a bit of a work in progress but there is lots and lots of light and space so in the next few days I'll be adding a few touches to make it perfect and then you most definitely will be due a photo or two. Very exciting stuff! The other advantage this new lovely house has is a big back garden, which at the moment looks like an overgrown jungle, but with a bit of work, by next spring will make the perfect little vegetable garden! Right enough new house talk how about a recipe?
Rustic Apple and Blackberry Galettes These are one of my favorite little autumnal (yes I said autumnal, it rolls off the tongue doesn't it!) desserts, because they are really easy and make you look like a baking genius, when, realistically all you do is make some pastry and fill it with apples and blackberries. No messing around with blind baking, pie tins, or fancy latticing here, this is a no fuss dessert which you have to serve with cream or, even better, a soft scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Serves 4 Pastry: 250g of plain flour 3 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 140g of chilled butter, cut into pieces 1 large egg yolk 3 tablespoons of cold water
Filling: 250g of blackberries 250g of cooking apples, peeled and sliced thinly 4 tablespoons of light brown sugar A good squeeze of lemon juice 1 egg whisked together with a drop of milk to brush on the galettes
Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter to a mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, combine the dry ingredients with the butter, until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. This can take time, but don't worry the mixture will come together. Add the egg yolk and water and form the dough using your hands. Press the dough into a sausage shape and cover it in clingfilm, place in the fridge to chill for at least 30-40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas mark 5. Mix together the blackberries, apples, sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside. Split the dough in four and roll each quarter out into 6"/15cm circles on a floured work surface with a rolling pin. Transfer the rounds to a baking sheet with a non stick surface. Add a handful of the blackberry apple mix to the centre of each pastry circle and fold the sides of the pastry up and over the sides of the fruit mix. Brush with the pastry with egg wash and place in the oven to bake for 20-30 minutes. Allow to cool before serving with a dollop of thick, cool whipped cream and dust with a little icing sugar.
My Grandparents Heading On Their Honeymoon To Wicklow In 1950
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.
It's quickly becoming an annual tradition that early on a Saturday morning at the start of autumn just before the leaves fall from the trees, we take my little cousin out blackberry picking. It doesn't take too much persuading really, because at the end of our trek around the local hedgerows and fields, she always knows we'll end up cooking a whole batch of sweets and treats. Last year we spent a bumper day of cooking, which included, Blackberry Coulis, Blackberry Mess and the most amazing blackberry cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting! AMAZING!
This year it was just a big batch of blackberry jam and these really easy blackberry crumb slices. Blackberries are most certainly not the most pretty of fruits our Irish countryside has to offer, especially when compared to our most prized summer berry the seductive and far more grown up, glamourous, strawberry. No the blackberry is a bit more like your rough and ready cousin who doesn’t bother with the latest trends and insists on wearing wooly jumpers! But despite all this, blackberries are by far the most accessible and economical of all the fruits our countryside has to offer, with bramble bushes along most road sides literally teeming with the bulging black fruit. So if you have the time this weekend, grab a few extra hands, pull out an old basket or a bucket and get picking! I got some good advice to bring an umbrella with a hook on the end to pull down the branches- the big ones are always at the top!
Blackberry Crumb Slices I think these blackberry crumb slices match the fruit perfectly! They are most definitely and bit more rustic looking than most cake slices, but are full of warm sponge and juicy flavours. Both the cake mix and the crumb topping are extremely easy to make and great for baking with kids!
Makes 24 delicious slices 115g butter, at room temperature 175g caster sugar 1 large free range egg 280g self raising flour 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 125ml milk 300g of fresh blackberries (you could use frozen if you’re stuck)
For the sweet crumb topping 115g caster sugar 85g plain flour zest of 1 lemon 75g of butter
Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas Mark 5. Grease a rectangular baking tin and line it with parchment paper. If you’re stuck for parchment paper you could probably get away with greasing the tin and flouring it instead. Using a hand mixer, in a bowl beat together the sugar and butter until pale. Add in the egg whisking to incorporate the mixture little by little. Using a wooden spoon fold in the flour, cinnamon and milk. Mix gently until you have a sticky dough like mixture. Spread evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking tin, this requires patience as the dough can be sticky, but bear with it you’ll get there! Then arrange the blackberries on top. Set aside while you prepare the sweet crumb topping. Add all the ingredients for the sweet crumb topping to a bowl and rub the dry ingredients into the butter with your fingertips as you would with pastry. Keep mixing until you have a mixture that resembles rough breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the blackberries in the baking tray and place in the oven on the middle rack for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing into 24 pieces.
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to meet Catherine Fulvio and have a quick chat, she mentioned she was filming a new tv series for RTE, but never mentioned the fact that she had a brand new fantastic book hitting book shops this month. I got a copy from the folks at Gill and MacMillan to flick my way through and it is packed with great Italian recipes and lots of lovely food shots. I have three copies to give away this week so you can try and grab a copy via twitter, facebook or on the entry form below. I'll be posting a few of Catherine's recipe here on the blog this week and remember to check out her RTE show Friday's at 8.30pm!
Beef Carpaccio (Carpaccio di manzo) Of all the delicious things to come out of Harry’s Bar in Venice, including the Bellini cocktail, carpaccio tops the list for me. Generally, carpaccio refers to very thinly sliced raw beef, but nowadays the term is widely used, from swordfish carpaccio to pineapple.
300g fillet steak, cut into wafer-thin slicesextra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp lemon juice salt and freshly ground black pepper rocket, to garnish Parmesan shavings
Spread the slices of steak on a serving platter. Drizzle with olive oil and the lemon juice. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with rocket, sprinkle over the Parmesan shavings and serve. It’s possible to buy beef carpaccio precut and prepacked, but I always buy it fresh and ask my butcher to slice the beef. That way, I’m assured of freshness and provenance.
To be in with a chance of getting your hands on a copy of Catherine's book, all you gotta do is answer this simple question.
What is the name of Catherine Fulvio's Cookery School? A: Ballymaloe Cookery School B: Ballyknocken House Cookery School C: Cooks Academy Please note that by entering this competition, you will be signing up for The Good Mood Food Blog newsletter, but if you don't wish to subscribe, please put "NS" after your answer. The competition will close on Thursday evening (2nd Sept) at 9.30pm. Only one entry per person please!
I've been packing a fair bit of travel in this summer and I'm fairly sure with the amount of airmiles that have wracked up, I'm doing the environment no favours! This week is no different I'm back in Sweden for a bit of work and to fully soak up all the best a Swedish summer has to offer! One of my favourite things about Sweden in the summer is the beautiful still lakes with their picturesque jetties. This week I finally got my first swim of the summer in and despite always being slightly worried about what lurks at the bottom of those murky waters, I can report that the water was beautiful. All that swimming in lakes can make a cook like myself hungry, so we decided to sample what the Swedes do best, the Smorgasbord!
One of my favourite places to eat in Gothenburg is the Gunnebo Coffee House and Restaurant which is situated on the grounds of one of Sweden's most beautiful neoclassical estates, just south of the city. The buffet style lunch is made with all organic ingredients and always has something interesting and healthy to offer. During the summer months the kitchen uses fruit and vegetables from the huge gardens outside, which I find very exciting to walk through! The day we were there amongst the fantastic choice of dishes there was a cabbage salad, cucumber and fennel lentil salad, herbed pork fillet, boiled cumin potatoes, roast salmon with a creamy sauce, and Roast tomatoes with Goats cheese and red onion. We assembled our plates with fairly hefty portions, a handful of the chunky homemade bread and headed outdoors to pick our way through it. There is something fairly special about eating fresh and healthy food outdoors on a warm summer day that just makes everything taste all the better! For now, as the Swedes say "hej då"!
Roast Tomatoes with Goats cheese and Red Onion This is a super way to make the most of the last of the summer tomatoes! This method brings out the fantastic natural sweetness and is perfection in every bite. You can prepare these ahead of time and serve them at room temperature.
Serves 4 4 tomatoes, cut in half 1 goats cheese log, cut in slices 1 red onion, sliced in half moons A good glug of olive oil A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200oC/Gas Mark 6. Arrange the tomato halves on a baking tray and top each on with a few slices of red onion and then place a slice of cheese on top. Drizzle each tomato with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Place in the oven to cook for 35 minutes or until the the tomatoes are soft and tender. Serve warm or cold.
Cucumber and Fennel, Lentil Salad I think lentils are by far one of the most underused pulses. They are like the black sheep of the legume family, with many people having never even cooked them before. However that all has to change, they are full of health benefits, and just as quick as pasta to cook so no excuses! They go great with lots of different dishes but they go great here as a tasty little salad!
Serves 4 1 cucumber, cut in chunky diagonal slices 150g of green lentils A good handful of fennel fronds, roughly chopped Juice of 1/2 a lemon 2 tablespoons of olive oil A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper
Rinse the lentils in cold water drain and place in a pot. Cover them with plenty of water and bring to the boil, cooking for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside to cool. In a large bowl whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil. Add in the fennel fronds, cucumber slices, and cooled lentils. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper and serve!
I'm in Spain on holidays this week for a few days to soak up as much sun as possible, after finally delivering all the recipes for my new book. One of my favourite things to do when I visit other countries is to create dishes inspired by some of the dishes I sample on my travels. Spanish food uses a great selection of distinctive ingredients to make up some of its well known cuisine, including smokey paprika, cured hams and one of my favourites, chorizo sausage. I have been driving everyone with me mad, because everytime we pass rolling fields full of produce, I insist we pull in to inspect the bright yellow lemons or the big fat melons which are ready to be pulled from their stalks. We have been doing a lot of al fresco eating and this is one of the recipes we had for lunch during the week.
Spanish Fried Eggs with Chorizo and Potato Hash If you wanted to serve this chorizo and potato hash as a little tapas style dish, simply leave out the egg. This recipe would also make a hearty breakfast!
Serves 4 6 medium sized potatoes 150g of chorizo sausage, cut into bitesize chunks 1 onion, chopped Juice of 1/2 lemon Sea salt and ground black pepper 4 eggs
Place the potatoes into a pot of boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and place in a bowl of cold water until cool, drain again, slice into chunks and set aside. Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add in the chorizo, frying until sizzling and bright red. The chorizo should render out a rich red oil which you can fry the potatoes and onions in. Remove the chorizo from the pan and set aside on a plate. Fry the onion in the pan in the chorizo oil for 3-4 minutes until soft. Remove from the pan and set aside with the chorizo. Add in the potatoes and fry for 5-6 minutes or until crisp and golden. You may need to add a drop of oil into the pan if you don't have enough. Add the onions and chorizo back into the pan, add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Remove the hash from the pan and place in a serving plate. Add another drop of oil to the pan and fry the eggs until the white has set but the yolk is still soft and runny. Serve the eggs on top of the hash and dig in!
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.
Another recipe from that amazing dinnerparty I keep mentioning, this time it's the turn of the amazing cheesecake which Sadhbh's son Jamie prepared. Cheesecake is definitely a winner when it comes to making desserts ahead of time, and even if you don't have a son to make it for you, it's not to tricky to get great results! :)
White Chocolate Cheesecake (Recipe from Bill Granger's "Bills Food")
Serves 8 100g plain digestive biscuits 50g butter, melted 400g of good quality white chocolate 284 ml carton of double cream 250g full-fat soft cheese (such as Moonshine Farm cream cheese) 250g tub of mascarpone cheese
For the sauce 275g blueberries, raspberries or strawberries, plus extra to serve 50g golden caster sugar 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Whizz the biscuits in a processor until they look like breadcrumbs. Pour in the melted butter and whiz again briefly. Line the base of a 20cm springform tin with a disc of baking parchment. Tip the mixture in and press firmly to cover the base in an even layer – use the back of a spoon. Cover and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to make the topping. Break the chocolate into small pieces into a heatproof bowl. Put it over a pan of simmering water, then remove the pan from the heat and set aside until the chocolate has melted. Stir once or twice. Remove the bowl from the pan and leave to cool slightly. Gently beat the cream, cheese and mascarpone in a bowl until well-combined – don’t overbeat it or it will go too stiff. Stir in the melted chocolate until the mix is smooth. Spoon this mixture on to the biscuit base and put the cheesecake back in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. To make the sauce, tip half the blueberries into a blender or food processor, add the sugar and lemon juice and puree until smooth. Press through a sieve into a bowl and set aside until needed. Remove the cheesecake from the tin and cut into slices. Transfer to serving plates, drizzle with the fruit sauce and top with the remaining fresh fruit.
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!
I hope you enjoyed Gizzi's recipes on the blog the week before last, I managed to grab Gizzi for a quick interview, this girl is busy! :)
So people will probably know you as one of the cook yourself thin girls, but "Gizzi's Kitchen Magic" is your first solo cookbook, are you the Geri Halliwell of the group? What do the rest of the girls think of the book? Haha! God, I hope not. Cook yourself thin came to a mutual end as the 4 of us. Both Harry and Sophie have been super supportive of it. I loved both of their books too. I am actually the last one to bring a book out, not the first!
I love the way the book is full of such great tips at the start of each chapter, but as we all know cooking in the kitchen doesn't always go to plan, what was the worst kitchen disaster you have come across? Oh Man, too many for words. In fact it was stressing out at skills and the way I was taught to be such a perfectionist at catering school that made me rebel and want to write a technical book that would be understood by everyone and take pressure of cooks. You see, my nemesis was pastry and this was because your told that the best pastry is short, and to be short it is not that wet and a pain to work with. After too many times of my pastry falling apart when trying to line a tart dish, I thought sod it, I want to make a pastry that I can handle and Gizzi's kitchen magic was born. A techniques book, where the techniques have been rewritten for the modern person. Someone who wants to cook, but wants to avoid disasters. At the beginning of each chapter there is a lowdown of how not to balls things up and then it turns into inspiring recipes in the way most of us are used to in other cook books.
There are a lot of family inspired dishes in the book but what was the selection process for the recipes in the book like? Well, the great thing about doing a book based around techniques is that it gives you quite a lot of scope for different types of food. Your right about family inspired dishes. I have a bonkers Mother who was always experimenting in the kitchen so our childhood favs were a bit more original. I think that has stayed with me in my food. I love the classics but like a bit of a spin on them.
Do you have a favourite meal from childhood that you love to recreate today with your own little twist? My favourite is 'Chicken in weeds'. Its a really light fragrant curry that is spiked with ginger and lemon and the weeds part comes in from bounds of fresh coriander. It kicks arse!
As the summer is nearly upon on us, what sort of dishes are you looking forward to cooking? I am looking forward to doing some slow roasting on the barbeque. The Brits are hopeless at barbeques. I have worked on so many American barbeque books I am pretty damn nifty with some hot coals and a pair of tongs. We tend to use a barbeque as a grill, but in the states they make use of the lid and use it as a smoking oven. I have slow cooked shoulders of pork and legs of lamb and they are just exceptional. The tip is to get the coals white hot and then move them to the edge of the BBQ. Brown the meat all over with the lid off, then put the lid on and it'll slow roast for about 5-6 hours. Beyond amaze. also grill some bread dough on a barbeque and drizzle it with barbequed garlic oil.
There seems to be quite a lot competition in terms of lovely ladies in the cooking department, what sets you apart from the Nigella's and Rachel Allen's of world? Apart from my age, style (being heavily tattooed and into 60s music and punk) and way of cooking, I am much more immersive. I want to get mucky and learn stuff as I go.
Every foodie has a favourite place to visit in the world for inspiration and delicious dishes, where is yours and why? Well I spent loads of time in Thailand as a teen and have an affinity with Thai food, but am desperate to get to Japan and Vietnam, neither of which I have seen, but both producing some of my favourite food. I tell you what though. New York has some stupendous restaurants and a fabulous way of eating. I love the whole raw bar: oysters, clams, sashimi ect followed by really indulgent classics like a truffled fois gras burger.
What are the plans for "Kitchen Magic" will you be recording a TV series? Were in talks, but I am currently filming my own show with Channel 4 which comes out in June and on Iron chef for a week in May as well as being a regular on This morning, so its all going tickity boo!
Thanks for the interview Gizzi, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers of the blog? Just that I hope you like the book and a mega thank you to all that have supported me, including your fine self Donal.
I have three copies of Gizzi's fantastic new book "Kitchen Magic" up for grabs and you can enter over on twitter by tweeting about your best kitchen tip followed by the hash tag #gizzierskine and on "The Good Mood Food Blog" facebook page by telling me your favourite kitchen tip!
To be in with a chance of getting your hands on the book right here on the blog, all you gotta do is answer this simple question.
Gizzi is best know from which Channel 4 TV show? A: Eat Yourself Thin B: Cook Yourself Thin C: You Are What You Eat
*COMPETITION NOW CLOSED!*
Please note that by entering this competition, you will be signing up for The Good Mood Food Blog newsletter, but if you don't wish to subscribe, please put "NS" after your answer. The competition will close this evening (27th of April) at 9.30pm. Only one entry per person please!
Renowned Irish chef Martin Shanahan is mad about fish! Or so the program title tells us. Martin has just recorded a 6 part RTÉ series which starts this evening on RTÉ 1. As the owner of the award winning restaurant Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, Co. Cork. Martin has years of experience cooking with seafood, and he believes that many Irish people are still afraid of cooking and eating fish. Throughout the series Martin’s determined to “take the fear out of fish” and show that anyone can cook simple tasty seafood at home. I spoke to Martin yesterday to have a quick chat about fish! Check out the interview below and make sure to tune in tonight!
Hi Martin, congratulations on the new series, the promo on youtube looks really fantastic! So how did you find the crossover from cooking in the kitchen to the filming process and cooking on camera? A bit nerve wracking initially, I suppose number one I'd be a chef and obviously the biggest part of it was when I got in to the fish business first I had a fish shop for 7 years, and I wouldn't have cooked so much during that time, but I listened to the customers all the time. The biggest thing was that they all obviously loved fish, but they weren't able to cook it or they were afraid of the bones. That was the feedback all the time! I think a lot of people come into fishmongers and they are afraid to ask for the fish without the bones. So basically in the program I'm trying to educate people and to encourage them to go out and go in to your fishmonger and ask them to do those little jobs for you. Most fishmongers would be more than happy! Can you tell me a little bit about how you got into cooking and how cooking fish became your passion? I would have trained as a chef in Rockwell back 25 years ago and I would have worked by the sea quite a lot and I worked in San Francisco and anywhere I worked it would have been beside the sea, so I always loved cooking fish. It was always so simple and tasty. My experience in the restaurant is that you never get a complaint that the fish is tough. Fish is truly nature's fast food and it really is, it can be cooked so fast and so easy. That's why in the program I say that if you can fry a rasher or cook a sausage, you can cook a piece of fish! Again the techniques are really simple and that will definitely encourage people to get cooking.
People may know you as the owner of Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, but for people who haven't been to Kinsale could you tell us a little bit about the area and the food scene down there? Well look, Kinsale is a great tourist town, and when I say tourist town, I consider someone coming down from Cork to be a tourist! People come down for an afternoon from Cork to get away from the stresses of their everyday life and it's only 20 minutes down the road but it's like walking into a different atmosphere. And the obvious connection I suppose is with the sea, you don't think of a cow, you want to eat prawns or you want to eat a bit of fish and chips!
What are some of the most successful dishes from the restaurant? We'd have a couple of great ones but one of the most popular is probably the traditional fish and chips! We use fresh haddock and we take the skin and bone out of it and cut it into pieces, fry it in batter and you pick it up in your hand, put it in, close your eyes and you can be guaranteed no bone.
In the promo you mention you are on a mission to get people eating fish, and from my experience people seem to be quite nervous when it comes to cooking fish, have you any sure fire winning dishes that always win over even the pickiest eaters? The very simple one we do is a pan fried piece of cod and people would be nervous about a piece of fish like cod, or haddock, or hake, because they have a line of bones around the top of them, but in the program, I cut a piece of cod, I show them exactly the piece they should look for in the fishmongers and we just roll that in a little seasoned flour and pan fry it. I add a little knob of butter near the end and a little drop of water and by the time the water has evaporated, the butter has melted into it and you finish it off with a squeeze of lemon and on to the plate, I tell you can get nothing better! The one thing I would always say to people is to season fish, although it comes from the sea people think it might be salty but it's not, it's quite mild in itself, so you have to season it! The other thing is to make sure is that you have a good solid pan, you can't cook a fish in one of these omelet pans because they just don't hold the heat and the minute you put on the piece of fish the pan goes cold and starts to stick.
There are some great shots of you doing some cooking at a local kids school, how would you recommend getting kids to eat more fish? At that demo we actually made fish fingers in the school and we shot some back in the studio to show people at home how to make them. Fish fingers are great because they involve the kids and I would encourage parents to go to the fishmonger, ask for a pound of nice white large fish, it can pollock, it can be hake, it can be cod, it can be haddock, but again no skin and no bone, and I would encourage them to ask the fishmongers to cut them into fish fingers for them. Then you bring them home and do your flour, a dip in egg and breadcrumbs and pan fry them. That way the kids can do it with you, and it gives them a great connection with the food. You'll see in the program the reaction of the kids when they eat the fresh fish as against the processed fish and what we find is kids never lie. You know they say it as it is, you can't tell them "don't say that", they just spit it out. You will hear some of the comments from the kids and they know there stuff even at that young age.
What was the reaction to you filming locally? We got a great reaction! When the lads from RTE approached me, I wouldn't be one for the camera, but they said they would love to make a program and I said no lads the only way we could make it, was if we were to make it in Kinsale and they asked me why and I said well I know everyone in the streets, so I'd feel comfortable around them and I can have a chat with them! But the reaction overall with people has been super and everybody local just can't wait to see it. We're involving people on a day to day basis and get great feedback from people and so we understand their fish fears!
What are some of your favourite dishes from the series? I couldn't pick just one, but what I am hoping will come out of this more than anything, is that we'll keep the fishing industry that we have here in Ireland. My business wouldn't be successful without the product the local fishermen are catching. If we lose the local fishermen, and they are under pressure between quotas and costs, and people aren't obviously eating enough fish in Ireland, and we end up exporting a lot of it. So hopefully this program will highlight it and we'll make people realise it is a great product, it's a local product and you couldn't get anything more natural, it's not grown, it's not fed fertilizer, it's not mass produced at the push of a button, so hopefully people will see that and taste it and think that was lovely!
Martin's Mad About Fish airs tonight on RTÉ 1 at 8.30, make sure to tune in!
I'm pretty much settled back into the land of the living after the last few busy weeks and loving being back in my own kitchen. I'm especially loving the amazing weather Ireland has been having all week, summer is most definitely on the way and I am already thinking of more summer orientated dishes, with really fresh flavours! This is is the recipe for this weeks column in the Cork News, with a really simple recipe to make the best of one of my favourite fish, mackerel!
Simple Mackerel Fillets with Chilli, Garlic and Lemon I grew up on mackerel! It was and still is one of the easiest fish to catch just off Howth head. I have some of the most amazing childhood memories of sunny mackerel filled summers with my grandad Do on his boat, where my cousins and I would be busy racing to pull in rods with heavy lines, fish on each hook, while my grandad would gut them and fillet them like the pro he was, belly laughing at the fact that we were all to squeemish to take them off the lines ourselves. For me, mackerel dishes always have to be simple with really fresh flavours, and I love this quick and simple lunch which has a great kick of heat thanks to the chilli. People get a bit worried when it comes to cooking fish, but go to the fishmongers and ask them to do all the hard work and you will be left really lovely fillets of fish which are no more complicated to cook than pan frying a chicken breast!
Serves 4 4-6 mackerel fillets 2 red chillies, finely chopped with the seeds removed 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped Juice of 2 lemons A good drizzle of olive oil A good pinch of sea salt and cracked black pepper
Place the mackerel fillets on a large plate and drizzle with olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Don't use all the lemon juice here, as it's nice to give the fish an extra squeeze of lemon while it cooks and then at the end to serve. Sprinkle over the chilli and garlic and gently rub into the fish on both sides, turning to coat in the lemon and olive oil. Season the fillets with sea salt and black pepper and cook on a hot, non stick griddle pan, over a high heat, for 2-3 minutes either side, depending on their size or until they are cooked through. Halfway through the cooking time, give them another splash of lemon juice. Serve the mackerel fillets with a spicy tomato salsa or a fresh side salad for a really light and healthy lunch!
Gizzi Erskine may be a new name to you, she was for me, but her book, "Gizzi's Kitchen Magic" cover totally caught my eye while I was browsing through the amazon cookery section the other day. This is possibly one the coolest cookbook covers I have seen for a while and it's even cooler when you get your hands on it as it's embossed in gold! Now not being one to judge a book by it's cover I took my copy with me on my travels to have a good nose through it and get a good feel for Gizzi's writing. To give you a brief bit of back ground Gizzi is one of the "Cook Yourself Thin" girls and was orignally a food stylist before she got into the tv side of things, so has a huge knowledge of food! The one thing I do have to point out is that the book is quite girly, and I know quite a few potential domestic goddesses who could definitely be encouraged into the kitchen with a present of "Gizzi's Kitchen Magic" wrapped up in a bow! The book is absolutely jam packed with really fantastic tips on everything from what meat cuts to buy to choosing the best pastry to make. The lovely folks at Virgin books have provided me with a few recipes from the book to share with you this week and on Friday there will be 3 copies up for grabs, so stick around for that. Gizzi will also be stopping in for a quick interview aswell so if there are any questions you want answered, leave a comment below.
Gizzi Erskine's Creamy Smoked Salmon & Pea Spaghetti Spaghetti carbonara is a classic for a reason, but it is laden with cream and, therefore, also very guilt-inducing. So I decided to halve the cream content and replace the rest with Greek yoghurt. Having done this, it seemed natural to replace the smokiness of the bacon with smoked salmon. I then decided to add some green colour with the summery addition of broad beans and green peas, my favourite veggies, and fi nished with a hint of lemon to lift the dish.
Serves 4 Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time 10 minutes 350g dried spaghetti 150g podded and shelled broad beans 150g fresh or frozen garden peas 200ml double cream 200ml Greek yoghurt 2 large free-range egg yolks 35g Parmesan cheese zest of 1 unwaxed lemon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 180g smoked salmon (about 8 slices), sliced into short ribbons A small bunch of fresh chives, snipped
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet. For the last 3 minutes of the cooking time add the broad beans and peas. Meanwhile mix together the cream, yoghurt, egg yolks, Parmesan, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Drain the cooked pasta, beans and peas, leaving a few tablespoons of water in the bottom of the pan. Return the pan to a low heat and pour in the sauce. Toss the pasta in the sauce, then add the smoked salmon and chives, giving it all a good mix round until it’s evenly incorporated and the salmon has cooked through. Serve piping hot.
(Taken from Gizzi’s Kitchen Magic by Gizzi Erskine published by Virgin Books, price £20)
This week I was on The Afternoon Show cooking up some diabetic desserts and in preperation I did a lot of research on the topic and spoke to lovely Sinead from Diabeties Federation of Ireland who gave me the low down on some fantastic dessert ideas for people with diabeties. This delicious panna cotta is one of the desserts recommended and it’s an absolutely perfect one for entertaining!
Simple Panna Cotta with summer fruits and dark chocolate! If you have never made this type of dessert before, don’t be put off, it is super easy and this is a wonderfully light and fruity dessert which is the perfect little pick me up after a heavy meal. The advantage of panna cotta is that you can make them ahead of time and stick them in the freezer allowing you time to prepare the rest of your meal. I particularly like them because they really look impressive when you slip them out of their moulds and serve them with the delicious fruit.
Makes 2 Panna Cotta 4 gelatine leaves 2 tablespoons of artificial sweetener 4 tablespoons milk 500g natural yogurt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract To serve: 200g strawberries, hulled 2 squeezes lemon juice 1 tablespoon artificial sweetener 200g raspberries 100g blueberries A small handful of dark chocolate shavings
Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water in a shallow dish. Put the artificial sweetener and milk in a small pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Bring up to the boil, then take off the heat. Take the gelatine out of the water and stir into the hot milk. Leave to cool for 10 minutes. Beat in the yogurt and vanilla extract and pour into 2 moulds or you could use ramekins. Chill in the fridge until set, this usually takes about 3 hours. To make the sauce, puree the strawberries with the lemon juice and artificial sweetener. Sieve to remove pips. Mix the raspberries and blueberries in a separate large, pretty serving bowl. To serve, dunk each mould into warm water for about 10 seconds, swiftly dry the base, then turn the panna cotta out on an individual plate. Spoon a little of the strawberry sauce and berries around each pudding, sprinkle with some dark chocolate shavings and serve.
I spotted these amazing cupcakes in Leila's book when I first scanned through it, they really pop out! They would be absolutely perfect for kids parties as I am sure they would get a great reaction. In fact there is a whole chapter in "A Piece Of Cake" dedicated to Leila's fab cupcake creations, including flavours like, raspberry, lemon and poppy seed, banana fudge, blueberry corn, and carrot, ginger and walnut!
I know I have been talking about Leila all week but as I said I am a little bit in love! :) I hope you have been enjoying learning a bit about her and some of her recipes. Tomorrow I have a really exciting competition for you to win a copy of the book, so make sure you stop by to enter!
Leila Lindholm's High Hat Cupcakes These fantastic-looking cupcakes should be served cold. You can keep them in the fridge for about three days, but cover them carefully in clingfilm to keep them fresh. They are the yummiest of cupcakes.
Makes 12 cupcakes 3 organic eggs 225g caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar 50g unsalted butter 100ml sour cream 2 tablespoons baking powder 2 tablespoons cold coffee 210g plain flour 4 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder 1 pinch of salt 100g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
For the meringue topping 6 organic egg whites 850g caster sugar Juice of 1 lemon 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
For the chocolate coating 350g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Prepare the cupcakes according to the basic recipe. Preheat the oven to 175oC/350oF/Gas Mark 4. Beat together the eggs, butter and vanilla sugar until pale and fluffy. Mellt the butter, add the sour cream and coffee and blend with the egg mixture. Mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt and carefully fold into the mixture. Chop the chocolate coarsely and melt it in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Add the the mixture. Put paper cases in a muffin tin and pour in the mixture until the cases are two-thirds full. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool.
In a stainless steel bowl mix together the egg whites, caster sugar and lemon juice. Beat by hand for about 1 minute until fluffy. Rest the bowl over a pan of boiling water. Beat until the sugar crystals have dissolved and the mixture has a consistency as fluffy as meringue. You should see the trail from the whisk to them foam. Remove the bowl from the pan and beat the vanilla sugar into the foam. Use a hand-held electric beater to mix the meringue for a few minutes until it is thick and cool. Put the meringue in a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe the meringue on top of the cupcakes in spirals. Leave about 1cm around the edges. Leave to set in the fridge.
Make the chocolate coating. Chop the chocolate and melt it with the vegetable oil in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Pour the chocolate into a small bowl and leave to cool. Take the cupcakes out of the fridge and dip each peak in the chocolate. Brush on additional chocolate if there are any gaps. Leave to set on a plate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Everyone has their favourite way of enjoying pancakes, personally I love them nice and simple with a sprinkle of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, sweet and fresh! Generally the more simple ideas seem to work when it comes to serving up really tasty pancakes and to be honest nothing gets more simple than a spread of nutella and scattering of chopped toasted hazelnuts. To make life easy zap the nutella in the microwave for about 30 seconds and it will be much easier to spread or drizzle! I posted this basic pancake recipe I use all the time last year but in case you're looking for one today here it is again. If you're not a chocolate fan, why not try these caramel apple pancakes!
Basic Pancake Recipe You can easily make this batter the night before to save time in the morning. Have a little melted butter in a bowl and some kitchen paper so you can wipe the pan before adding a ladle of the batter.
Makes 12-14 pancakes 110g of plain flour. A pinch of salt. 2 large eggs. 200ml of milk. 75ml of water. 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and with a spoon make a well in the center. Break the eggs into the well and using a whisk slowly incorporate them with the flour. Don't worry too much about lumps as they should disappear when you add the rest of the liquid. Gradually add the milk and water until you have a light batter. Heat a little butter in your frying pan over a hot heat, and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the batter, stir through to combine. Add a ladle full of the batter to the hot pan and move from side to side until it evenly covers the surface of the pan. Reduce the heat and cook for about a minute each side or until the batter begins to take a nice golden colour. Feel free to try your hand at flipping half way through! Serve straight away with your filling of choice, or try the classic filling of lemon juice and sugar. You can cook all the batter off and save the pancakes for later. Simply layer the crepes on top each other, cover with some cling film and store in the fridge. They should heat up well in a microwave.
Well with the new year well in swing, and the days becoming brighter, I am already starting to get excited about the whole new season of ingredients to play with in the kitchen. I love really light and bright salads and getting back into the garden means being flooded with lots of fresh and tasty veg to make my way through!
There are so many options when it comes to salads, and you can make them as healthy or different as you want. For me it just depends what sort of mood I'm in, but when I'm in a really healthy buzz, I absolutely love using as many fantastic healthy ingredients I can get my hands on.
I don't know if you have come across a brilliant little food company called Good4U foods in the supermarket, but they produce a load of really healthy ingredients that are so easy to incorporate into salads. I originally thought the company was UK based because of their web address, but last year I got an email from the lovely Laura Butler who started the company with her mum Bernie in Limerick. I was thrilled to hear they were Irish based which gives me even more reason to rave about them. Their full range of products include, alfalfa shoots, brocco shoots, sunflower shoots, and a whole host of seeds which are all perfect for sprinkling over salads! Stay tuned to the blog this week as I have a fab competition coming up from the Good4U folks!
Rocket Power Chicken Superfood Salad As the winter months are thankfully coming to end, I am already starting to look towards more fresh and healthy dishes. Thankfully the days are becoming longer and brighter, now don't get me wrong, I'm all about comfort food, but as we start to look towards the spring nothing beats a really fresh and zingy salad. This Rocket Power Chicken Superfood Salad ticks all the boxes for me, it's perfect for a healthy lunch box, just save the dressing until the last minute. I absolutely love Brocco shoots and Lentil and Bean Shoots from Irish owned health food company Good4U, and they can be found in most supermarkets, perfect for boosting healthy salads! The Good4U range has a whole host of healthy ingredients which include, alfalfa shoots,
Serves 2 100g bulgar wheat 170ml boiling water A drizzle of olive oil 2 chicken breasts A little black pepper 25g brocco shoots 60g lentil and bean shoots 150g soy beans 30g spinach leaves 30g rocket leaves
For the dressing: 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 1 tablespoon of natural yoghurt 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil 1/2 teaspoon of English dried mustard A good pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Place the bulgar wheat in a bowl with the boiling water and cover with cling film. The bulgar wheat will cook in the water while you can get on with the rest of the salad. Season the chicken breasts with a little black pepper, brush a griddle pan with a little olive oil and cook over a medium high heat for 4-5 minutes either side or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and slice thinly. While the chicken is cooking, cook the soy beans according to the packet, drain and rinse in cold water, set aside. Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together in a small bowl. In a large bowl toss the spinach, rocket, brocco shoots, lentil and bean shoots and soy beans with the dressing. Assemble the salad with a layer of bulgar wheat on each plate, top with the salad leaves and shoots and finally place the chicken slices on top and serve!
If you haven't heard of Sally Bee before, and I hadn't up until recently, Sally is a mother of three who at the age of 36, despite a healthy lifestyle, suffered 3 major heart attacks in the space of one week. I'm not even going to go into the amazing story of her recovery, you really just have to read it. "The Secret Ingredient" is a collection of super healthy recipes which don't go over the top and features meals which are perfect for family home cooking.
I recently got the opportunity to meet the lovely Sally Bee, and despite our extremely brief encounter she comes across as an extremely vibrant and fun individual and when I remarked on her incredible story, joked and feigned heart pains! This is one of the fantastic recipes from her book, "The Secret Ingredient" which is out on Thursday 21st of January and can be ordered online via Amazon.
Prawn, Avocado and Pecan Herb Salad
You know, salads don't have to be boring. This dish is full of flavour! You can serve it as a main meal or smaller portions for a healthy starter. If you don't like prawns, you can substitute with chicken; anything goes, really. Be adventurous with your salads and make this a regular, everyday dish. Prawns give great texture and flavour to this recipe, but they do contain cholesterol,so I have allowed only four prawns per serving. If you want to make it more substantial, you can add extra protein: such as tuna, chicken or turkey.
Serves 2 Drizzle of olive oil 2 salad onions or spring onions (scallions),peeled and finely chopped 1 garlic clove,peeled and crushed 1 tbsp soy sauce Freshly ground black pepper 8 uncooked king prawns (jumbo shrimp) Mixed salad leaves Watercress 1 ripe avocado 2 tomatoes, sliced Juice of 1 lemon Handful of fresh basil, torn Handful of shelled pecan nuts
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped salad onions, crushed garlic, soy sauce, black pepper and raw prawns. Sauté until the prawns have turned pink all the way through. Arrange the salad leaves, watercress, avocado and tomatoes in a big dish, then pour over the prawns and other cooked ingredients. Squeeze over the lemon juice, sprinkle with torn basil and pecan nuts and serve.
