We Love Cooking!:
market kitchen

As I mentioned I am on Market Kitchen all this week cooking down at the world famous Borough Market in London, a real haven for food lovers! I really loved the day recording down in the market as it was a lot more hands on, and we got to actually shop around for some of the ingredients, plus there was a bit of time for me to nose around the great selection of veg and food products on offer. We recorded all five shows in the one day, so let me just say it is a LONG day! I arrived at about 8am and didn't leave till around 9pm that night, but despite the long hours and the freezing cold, the amazing team really made recording an absolute pleasure.

There was a crack team of five food super heroes producing the content for the show down in the market and these guys really work hard! I have a feeling they have posed together for a photo before because when I told them I wanted a picture, they very naturally assembled themselves in that formation! Let me introduce you to them, Leonie in the middle is the home economist and she spend loads of time compiling info on each of my recipes, the woman is like a human food encyclopedia and was on hand with great one liners to stick in to my piece! Rasheed there with the clipboard is the producer and made sure everything ran smoothly and kept my spirits high throughout the day, he is a former chef and he too has a fantastic and extensive knowledge of food!

Robin with the glasses and hoody, is the hard core camera dude, who is clearly an expert at his job, as he showed no signs of loosing his patience with me even after my 15th take on one shot! He was full of advice and really helped me keep things moving along throughout the day. Olga is the foodie equivalent of a rockstar music video director and kept me so motivated all day long! She is a bundle of energy and was lots of fun to work with. Last but not least in blue hoodie is Dan, and he is literally a professional feeder! I think I saw a documentary about people who kept their partners overweight by feeding them a constant supply of junk food, and I am fairly sure Dan could be guilty of this. (note: I just googled feederism and apparently feeders derive a sexual pleasure in feeding their partners, sorry Dan maybe your not one!) He is solely responsible for introducing me to curly wurly cake! (I know, I know, recipe coming soon!)

In terms of recording, I much preferred cooking direct to camera, although, I've watched the slots last night and tonight and I'm kind of coming across like a duracell bunny! Extremely excitable but I blame the cold! One of the biggest problems of the day was keeping the frying pan hot, because of the bitter cold weather, every time I would add something to the pan, it would cool down, but Leonie did come to the rescue by erecting a portable metal guard which she would stick around the hob and we would stop filming in order for it to heat up.

I was actually flying to Sweden the following day to go skiing, so luckily had packed thermal underwear (I know, sexy right?) which after about five minutes of arriving I ran across to the nearest toilet to to change into them! So if you are wondering just how many layers I am wearing, I think the total came to seven, but I was still cold! We finished up after a long day with high spirits and lots of laughter! The dishes I cooked which will be coming up on the show this week are mackerel with chorizo potato salad, healthy Singapore noodles, healthy paella, aromatic duck salad, and one more which I has completely slipped my mind, so it will just have to remain a suprise for us all for now! :)

I do have to apologise for another chorizo recipe but I think it may just be my current food addiction. Hopefully there won't be too many complaints! While I was in London recording episodes for Market Kitchen down at the Borough Market a few weeks ago, there was an amazing little Spanish food shop called Brindisa which was selling all different types of chorizo and an amazing selection of fantastic, high quality Spanish ingredients. Myself and Leonie, the amazing Market Kitchen home economist, picked up some and we actually used it in one of the dishes I cooked on camera.

Brinidisa also had the coolest little stall just beside where we were filming, where there was two busy stall holders with a massive hot plate frying up thick pieces of chorizo for the funkiest sambos I have ever seen. I later learned, after a quick google, that these little babies are famous right the way around the world, with mentions in many travel guides from Japan to Australia!

Brindisa Chorizo and Rocket Sandwiches
Isn't it amazing that some of the most tasty dishes are always the easiest. This recipe is hardly a recipe really, it's a case of assembly when you get down to it. Do try and get your hands on some good quality chorizo from a speciality Spanish food shop if you can, it makes all the difference in taste!

Serves 2
4 good quality fresh chorizo sausages, halved
2 roasted piquillo peppers, sliced
2 large handfuls of rocket leaves
2 ciabatta, lightly toasted
A good drizzle of olive oil
A splash of balsamic vinegar
A good pinch of sea salt and crushed black peppercorns

In a large hot frying pan, fry the chorizo halves until roaring red and sizzling on both sides.
Toast the ciabatta halves and slice in half.
Toss the rocket leaves in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper.
Assemble the sandwich, place the chorizo on the ciabatta, add a few thick slices of roasted peppers, and some dressed rocket leaves.
Devour immediately!

Just to let you know I'll be on Market Kitchen all this week cooking up some really tasty dishes down at Borough Market so tune in from 7pm on Good Food Channel SKY 249!

Another quick note to tell you to tune in to Good Food Channel on Sky Channel 262 this evening and tomorrow evening at 7pm, I'm going to be appearing on Market Kitchen. It's competition week on the show all week, so you'll have to tune in to see what dishes won over the diners! :)

Hey there!

Just a quick note to apologise for the lack of recipes, I am in London this week recording a few episodes of Market Kitchen which will air at the end of April. I have managed to grab a few minutes to myself to share with you these video's from last weeks foodstock event in Paris. I have so much Paris stuff to get through I don't know where to start, but will have a lot of time on a flight on Friday to go through them all and hopefully get some delicious photos online!

But for now enjoy the videos and please excuse my shoddy French!

D x

Hey folks! Just to let you know I will be appearing on Nationwide on RTÉ 1 at 7pm tonight doing some shopping around Howth, and cooking up some mackerel! While over on Good Food Channel (Sky Digital 249) at the same time on Market Kitchen, I will be cooking up my Lime and Mint Mohito Chicken! Let me just warn you that this is my first outing on television cooking so fingers crossed it goes well, and if not... well I'll be hiding under a rock somewhere! :)

I had such an brilliant time on Thursday, as I mentioned here on the blog, I was appearing on Good Food Channel's, Market Kitchen! I was so nervous that I wasn't going to actually be able to fly as the whole of Ireland had come to a stand still due to the snowy weather. However the planets were aligned and even though Dublin airport had been closed the night before, Thursday morning our plane wasn't delayed and I was on my way to London!

I arrived at the Market Kitchen studios with my buddy Elaine who came along to take some pics and lend some moral support. As soon as we arrived I was whisked into makeup to get beautified, after which we were sat in the green room which had a great array of food magazines which kept me completely distracted as they had plonked the latest copy of Delicious on the table!

The lovely Faye then came to meet us to talk me through the process of recording. They had each step of the recipe planned out and what way they wanted it to flow. It was a lot to take in all at once but Faye kept telling me I would fine and to stay calm! While we were in the green room, I met the presenters Matt Terbutt and Amanda Lamb who were really lovely and very friendly.

Faye brought us up a very quiet stairs to the main studio and when she opened the door in, there was a rush of people running around, wires, cameramen, food stylists, and a lot hustle and bustle- all very exciting! We watched while another guest of the show, Simon Rimmer, demonstrated what looked like a really tasty egg dish. I have to say Simon is an expert at what he does and he certainly didn't put me at ease. An extremely tough act to follow! When Simon was finished I met the fantastic Home Economist who was in charge for setting up all the ingredients, equipment and generally making sure everything ran smoothly. She talked me through what I would be doing and made sure I had everything I needed before the filming started. I was making Mint and Lime Mohito Chicken so they had already marinated the chicken and everything was ready to go!

Before I did my cooking slot, I had a quick interview with Matt who was having awful trouble pronouncing my name, so much so that he had to hyphanate it on the autocue so that it read, Do-nal! Very funny altogether! After the interview we headed over to the kitchen space and got going on the dish. I wasn't sure if I was going to mention this but, as I was demonstrating butterflying a chicken breast, I sliced it wrong and ended up with a sad scraggly looking chicken breast and we had to cut! Let me just saw THIS DID NOT PUT ME AT EASE!

In fairness to all the crew, it was no bother to them and we just started again pretty quickly! The rest of the demo ran quite smoothly and hopefully it looks well when it's all edited together. When the demo was finished all the audience members got served mini portions of the dish to sample it and then gave their comments to camera! It was a little bit scary to hear what they were going to say but from what I could hear they were all extremely complimentary and no one got sick so it was all good! I had a ball doing the show and it was a fantastic experience, the first of many hopefully! It's going to air on the 21st of January on Good Food Channel so make sure to keep an eye out for it!

So things are all set for the big day tomorrow, I spoke to the lovely Faye at Market Kitchen yesterday and she talked me through each step of the filming process. Apparently all the members of the audience will be given a little sample of what I'm cooking, so no pressure like! It's my first on air experience, so there are a few butterflies, but I have done a bit of cooking to camera so I guess it's more excitement than anything else. The really good news is that Faye said I was allowed to take pics over there, so expect lots of them up here!

There are some days when recipes just float around my head after reading something or seeing something on tv, in most cases they go as quickly as they come, but sometimes, when I am organised, I write them into a little notebook I have with me at all times. I have had this recipe in my mind since last summer, probably because of my love of Swedish Cinnamon Buns, I guess it just stuck, so as you can imagine I have been dying to finally make it.

Pink Berry and Almond Swirly Buns

This recipe is a fresh take on the Swedish Cinnamon Buns which have been so popular on the blog and in the book! Inspired by Leila Lindholm (my current hero!) who uses blueberries in the filling, I decided it would be great way to use up the last of my leftover frozen berries. This recipe makes a lot of buns, but they freeze really well in ziplock bags and can reheated straight in the oven.

Makes about 40 buns
400ml/14fl oz milk
110g/4oz butter
2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
110g/4oz sugar
750g/1½lbs flour
½ teaspoon of salt
1 egg, beaten
A handful of flaked almonds

For the filling:
200g of butter, at room temperature
150g of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
450g of mixed frozen berries
2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Melt the butter in a large pot gently on a low heat and then add the milk.
When the mixture is lukewarm, remove from the heat and add the two sachets of dried yeast, sugar and salt.
Slowly incorporate the flour one cup at a time; be patient, as the mixture will eventually come together and you won’t be left with a sticky mess forever!
You may need to add less or more of the flour to get the right consistency.
When the dough has taken shape and is no longer sticky, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes.
Leave the dough to rise in the bowl covered with a damp cloth for 45 minutes.
Try and find somewhere warm, as the yeast will do its job a lot quicker.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. In a small bowl beat the butter with cinnamon and sugar until you get a light and creamy consistency. In another bowl combine the berries and icing sugar. You may have to zap the berries in the microwave to defrost them first.
When the dough has risen, cut it in half and roll it into a rectangle about 5mm thick, and then spread half the creamy butter filling all over. Top with half the berry mixture and spread evenly over the dough.
Then, from the long side, roll the dough so you get a snail effect and slice into approximately 15–20 pieces. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.
Place the slices in paper wrappers face up and bake the rolls in the oven at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for about 10–15 minutes or until they are a light brown colour. Remove from the oven brush with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with flaked almonds. Place back in the oven for another 5-6 minutes or until the buns are golden brown and the almonds are toasted.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack, if you can wait that long!