We Love Cooking!:
sesame oil

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.

Just when I thought there was a bit of spring in the air, I find myself out de-icing my car windscreen again! I am so ready for the spring to start, I am already dreaming of all the vegetables I'm planning to grow. In anticipation of what I like to think of as the lighter eating months of the year I have been cooking up some really tasty salads. I am particularly proud of this one, as it fits in nicely with my Chinese New Year recipes this week and is really fresh and healthy, so enjoy!

Spicy Sichuan Chicken Salad
A lot of Chinese dishes can be heavy going but this spicy Sichuan chicken salad, is light, bright and crisp. To get the best aromatic flavour out of the Sichuan peppercorns, toast them in a hot oven for a few minutes, allow them to cool and grind in a pestle and mortar.

Serves 2
2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 small thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
4-5 spring onions, sliced finely
1 stick of celery, sliced finely
5 shitake mushrooms, stalks removed and sliced finely
½ cucumber, sliced finely
1 large carrot, sliced finely
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
½ teaspoon of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of lime juice
1 teaspoon of honey
½ teaspoon of ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns
½ teaspoon of sea salt
½ teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
Toss the chicken in a bowl with the soy sauce, ginger and garlic.
Heat the oil over a medium high heat in a large frying pan and add both chicken breasts. Cook for 3-4 minutes either side or until cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pan, slice thinly and set aside.
Place the chicken slices in a large mixing bowl and toss together with the rest of the ingredients, until everything is evenly coated.
Serve the salad in delicious high piles and sprinkle with a little extra Sichuan pepper and sea salt.

After yesterdays quick dip in aid of pancake day, I'm back with another Chinese recipe today! Were doing a bit of filming this week, so the blog is kind of on auto pilot, but I hope you haven't noticed. Just a quick reminder that the plans for the next twitter dinner are well underway so I would love to hear your suggestions for the menu- leave a comment below with your ideas! :)

Ginger and Garlic Braised Bok Choy
I absolutely love Bok Choy, and although a completely foreign vegetable, it takes extremely well to growing in my vegetable garden! There are so many ways to make the best of this great vegetable, and for me, more often than not, it ends up as a regular ingredient to a quick and tasty stir fry, with lots of other fresh veggies. This braised Bok Choy recipe is a fantastic way to enjoy it, making it a perfect side dish to any main Chinese meal.

Serves 2
4 bok choy, sliced in quarters
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly
A thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoons of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

Heat a wok over a high heat, add the oil to coat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds.
Add the bok choy and stir fry for 1 minute. Sprinkle over the sugar, and pour in 60ml of water, toss everything to combine.
Bring the wok to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered for 3 minutes or until the bok choy is tender.
Finally add the sesame oil and oyster sauce, stir it through until everything is coated and serve straight away.

Chinese New Year falls on Valentines day this year, so it’s the perfect excuse to whip up some tasty Chinese dishes for your loved one to celebrate and I’m not talking about calling the local takeaway! But Chinese cuisine has so much more to offer than what’s on the local takeaway menu, it's packed with delicious sauces, aromatic spices, and unusual textures. If you haven’t tried cooking any Chinese dishes, I have put together some fairly easy ones which I'll be posting all week to celebrate Chinese New Year! They don’t take too much time and leave you with some incredibly tasty results.

Healthy Singapore Noodles
Singapore noodles are a standard Chinese restaurant dish, but making them at home is so easy and it also means you can monitor what’s going in to them, adding whatever healthy vegetables you feel like. The addition of curry powder to this dish not only brings a new flavour to it, but it coats the noodles and gives a great texture to every bite.

Serves 2
3 cloves of garlic, minced
A thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
100g of rice vermicelli noodles
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
2 celery sticks, finely sliced
1 carrot, finely sliced
4 spring onions
1 tablespoon of Asian curry powder
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
A good handful of bean sprouts

Marinate the chicken with the garlic, ginger, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and oyster sauce. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Soak the noodles in a bowl of boiling water for 6 minutes or until soft. Drain and set aside.
Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil to coat. Add the chicken and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
Add the celery, carrot and spring onion, and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the curry powder and toss through for another 2 minutes.
Add the noodles and bean sprouts and a drop of sesame oil to taste. Toss everything together using kitchen tongs until it’s combined.
Serve straight away.

If you don't know who Ken Hom is, where have you been hiding! When I was growing up he was the king pin when it came to Chinese cooking, he was the guy you turned to when you needed advice on which wok to buy and how to create that very first stir fry. I was introduced to him via his first cookbook "Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery" which one of my aunts had bought back in 1984, being an avid fan of Chinese cookery I tried so many recipes from this book and have been a fan ever since.

Now although, there have been many Chinese chefs since Ken introduced the cuisine to our TV screens, I still think he is the best and he is regularly regarded as the world's leading authority in Chinese cookery. He was in Dublin launching a new range of Chinese ready meals he has developed with Tesco which includes Crispy Aromatic Duck, Spare Ribs, Duck Spring Rolls, Crispy Chilli Beef, and Chicken Chow Mein all quite reasonably priced. Although people can be cynical about chefs selling out and doing these sort of things, Ken had loads to say on the whole process of recipe development and taking what he described as really bad ready meals to ones which had far more authentic flavours and interesting back notes. I was convinced!

During the demonstration, he spoke about the idea of Chinese cooking and how the aim is too build layers of flavours and textures. He really emphasised the importance of cooking with a really hot wok to seal the in the flavours and how it was so important to marinate any meat you cook with, but generally no more than 20 minutes. I loved the fact that throughout the demonstration, Ken tasted absolutely everything he put in to the wok before it went in, and was really particular in the amounts he used. He also introduced us to a brand new ingredient he had started using called Chee Hou sauce which is made from fermented soy beans with garlic and has a sweet and salt taste, I will be keeping an eye out for it. If you've tried it let me know!

Beef and Black Bean Stir Fry
This is the recipe we were given along with the press release and Ken actually demonstrated the dish for us. I can tell you it is absolutely delicious and you should definitely give it a go. It follows through from what he mentioned about using different ingredients to build layers of flavours and many different notes.

Serves 2
200g of beef, sliced in strips
25ml of rapeseed oil
2 teaspoons of ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Zest of one orange
1 teaspoon of birds eye chillies, chopped
25g of black beans
75g of spring onions, chopped in 1 inch shanks
50g diced onion
75g diced red peppers
75g diced green peppers
45ml oyster sauce
40g of Chee Hou sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
200ml water
20ml sesame oil
1 teaspoon of cornflour

Heat the wok over a high heat and add oil to coat. Quickly stir fry the meat and when it is cooked through, remove from the pan and set aside.
Heat the oil in the wok and add the ginger and garlic. Stir fry over a high heat until it becomes golden and toasted.
Add the orange zest and fry until it releases fragrant citrus notes.
Then fry the chilli, black beans and chopped onions for 20 seconds.
Add the spring onions and peppers and fry lightly until tender.
Add the the Chee Hou sauce, oyster sauce, water and sugar and stir through. Then add the meat and toss until it is coated with all the sauce and vegetables.
Finish with the sesame oil and thicken with the cornflour.
Serve with noodles or rice.

Back in the land of the living, I flew home on Sunday morning after a late night bus across Sweden which left me totally wrecked! The big news this week is that I'm heading over to London to appear on Good Food Channel's "Market Kitchen" and I am so excited! I hope they will let me take a few shots behind the scenes so I can post them here on the blog. So while I'm gearing up for my UK tv debut (hehehe couldn't wait to say that!) here is a recipe which is perfect for everyone who probably headed back to work today, it's a super lunchbox filler from the book and I hope you like it!

Tahini Noodle Toss

This little recipe came about after I ate at the California Pizza Kitchen in America; they served a really tasty crisp salad, with this rich and tasty peanut dressing. I recreated it from taste, adapted it and recently discovered it goes perfectly with noodles. This is another great little lunch box filler as it can be served hot and cold. Tahini is a creamy, yet smoky paste made from sesame seeds and is similar to peanut butter, which you can also use as a substitute. I sometimes add finely shredded raw Chinese cabbage to these noodles for extra crunch. I love this recipe because you basically combine all the wet and dry ingredients just before serving.

Serves 2
250g/9oz wholewheat noodles
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
4 tablespoons of tahini paste
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
A good handful of bean sprouts
Toasted sesame seeds
A small handful of coriander, freshly chopped

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, rinse in cold water and set aside.
In a small saucepan, fry the garlic and chilli for about 30 seconds, then add the soya sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and tahini paste.
Cook over a medium heat until the mixture comes to the boil and, when it does, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, add the noodles and bean sprouts, toss together with the tahini sauce until mixed through.
Serve in hearty bowls and top with toasted sesame seeds, freshly chopped coriander and thinly sliced spring onions. Time to get those chopsticks out!

This is my recipe contribution to December's edition of Irish Tatler, and it also just so happens to be one of my favourite recipes of all time forever and ever the end! It is also one of my favourite recipes from my cookbook which may I remind you would make a lovely christmas present for a loved one! Ok shameless plugs aside, this is such a wonderful dish and it's super easy to prepare, stick the duck in the oven slice the vegetables, make the dressing and you're done! Couldn't be easier!

Open Aromatic Duck Salad

This is basically an adaptation of the classic aromatic duck and pancake dish which is available at most Chinese restaurants. It’s one of my favourite dishes and is so simple to produce. The tender crispy duck goes well with the fresh raw vegetables and tangy Asian dressing.

Serves 2
1 crispy half duck portion (available pre-cooked at most supermarkets)
2 large carrots, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
½ Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
Bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced

For the dressing:
Juice of ½ lime
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Before you start, put the duck in a roasting tin (you can stick the breast on a wire wrack, this way the fat will drip) and place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 or until heated through.
In a large mixing bowl mix the ingredients for the dressing. Add the carrot, cucumber, cabbage and spring onions, and toss to combine.
Take the duck out of the oven, slice thinly and add to the salad. Serve straightaway.

Photo credit: Jocasta Clarke

I was interviewed earlier this year for a blogging feature in Irish Tatler and a few weeks after I was offered the chance to become a regular contributor. This is the recipe I wrote for the October issue!

Asian Chicken Salad with Chilli, Ginger and Lime Dressing

Packed with tasty ingredients, this recipe is perfect for entertaining. You can prepare all the ingredients separately, stick them in the fridge and assemble the salad when your guests arrive. Don’t be afraid to add other vegetables here, peppers, cucumber, spring onions and bean sprouts are all tasty additions.

Serves 4
Marinade:
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
Juice of ½ lime
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ red chilli, finely chopped
½ thumb sized piece of ginger minced

Dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
Juice of ½ lime
2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
½ red chilli, finely chopped
½ thumb sized piece of ginger minced

4 chicken breasts, sliced thinly into strips
1 Chinese cabbage, slice thinly
3 carrots, sliced thinly
1 red onion, sliced thinly
100g of sugar snap peas, sliced thinly
100g of chopped peanuts to serve
A handful of chopped coriander to serve

Add the chicken strips to a mixing bowl with the marinade ingredients and mix through. Cover and place in the fridge while you prepare the salad and dressing.
In a small bowl add all the ingredients for the dressing and whisk to combine.
Place the Chinese cabbage, carrots, red onion, and sugar snap peas in a large salad bowl. Add half the dressing and combine until all the vegetables are well coated.
Fry the chicken strips until golden brown and cooked through. Approximately 2 minutes either side.
Serve the salad in individual bowls topped with the chicken, a sprinkling of chopped peanuts, a little chopped coriander and a extra drizzle of the dressing.

As a food blogger, it's quite often that you get sent offers and promotions by new companies or event organisers on a weekly basis, asking for promotion on the blog. If the product or event is something that catches my attention, I do generally give it a mention or ask for a sample so that I can use it in a recipe for the blog. This was the case when I received an email two weeks ago, from Nigel Cobbe, the owner of the brand new company, Simply Sourced which is a home delivery service throughout Dublin and Wicklow for top quality free range and totally traceable meat. It's a really great concept and having sampled the product it offers a really reliable alternative to butchers and supermarkets. I like the idea that they have a set price and you know the quality of produce to expect!

Nigel told me that their pork is from rare breed of Saddlebacks which have fabulous depth of flavour whilst their beef is from a rare ancient pedigree called the Long Horn -Heston Blumenthal's source for his ultimate steak! Orders are individually butchered to customer's requirements with free delivery throughout Dublin & Wicklow with orders above 50 euro.

Simply Sourced prices are close to and often less than supermarket / butcher prices yet bear no comparison in terms of quality and taste i.e. Denny Rashers are 21 euro/kg, ours are 19 euro/kg.
Their handmade sausages are the same price as Tesco Finest and contain over 92% shoulder and belly meat, Tesco's are just over 70% meat content. They also have a gluten free range at no extra cost.
All the meat is delivered chilled, fresh and vacuum packed for immediate enjoyment or for freezing for up to 6 months.

I tried the fillet steak in the recipe below and I can honestly say it was one of the best cuts of meat I have ever tasted. The steaks are really velvety and full of flavour, you really don't have to work too hard to make cuts of meat like this tasty. I also sampled the breakfast gammon which was equally tasty and I will definitely be ordering that again! With plans to expand this home delivery service across the country, I expect this will not be the last you have heard from Simply Sourced!

Oriental Steak Salad
You can add as many other ingredients to the salad as you want, beansprouts, or snow peas all work great in this. I used fillet steak here, but as this can be quite expensive, other cuts will work just as nicely, try sirloin or a good quality shoulder steak. This recipe can also be made ahead of time, marinade the meat in the fridge, prepare the veg beforehand and only toss with the dressing when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4
4 x 120g fillet steak
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
Small handful of chopped coriander to serve

For the marinade and dressing:
1 chilli, deseeded and minced
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely minced
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil

Place the steaks on a plate.
Mix all the ingredients for dressing/marinade together and pour 1/4 of the mixture over the steaks.
Toss all the veg together in salad bowl and set aside.
Heat a large griddle pan and fry the steaks for 3-5 minutes on either side depending on their size.
Remove the steaks and allow to rest on a chopping board for a few minutes.
Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine.
Slice the steak thinly, sprinkle with a little chopped coriander and serve with the zingy salad.

There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of interest in the food styling demonstration, but I'll be working with Erica for the photo's in the book, so maybe I can film a few bits and stick them up here.

Is it me or is the weather at the moment causing extreme drowsiness? Maybe not, maybe it's having to work when it feels like everyone else is on holidays- maybe it's a mix. Well I'll just have to put up with it, after all it's only a few more weeks and were heading back over to Sweden again. Sofie's dad arrived last night and is staying with us for the week, so we'll be doing some sight seeing this weekend and driving cross country to Galway. If you have any suggestions on where to bring a tourist in Galway please let me know!

I have been trawling the world wide web for international food blogs, and I wanted to share just a few of the ones that caught my eye:

Bitchin Camero- Mel is from Miami, and has some really great pictures, and the recipe's to match.

Kitchen Confit- Is written by three bloggers from Nashville, Tennassee, I love their post about "Fire Pit Roasted Oysters".

A Cat In The Kitchen- A great little Swedish blog- check out the cake buffet!

Dinner's For A Year- I love the idea of a BBQ turkey.

And via Mulley.net, Lidl Treats- How to get the best out of shopping at Lidl!

Inspired by my recent trip to the Chinese Supermarket, this is another one of the snacks I made for the party last weekend. It's kind of a mix between BBQ and sweet and sour sauce, but top it with finely sliced spring onions and sesame seeds, and you'll make your intentions clear!

Asian Chicken Wings

1. 12 Chicken Wings.
   
2. 1 Cup of Chinese Sweet Chili Sauce (looks like tomato paste)
3. The Juice Of One Lemon.
4. 1 Tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce.
5. 2 Cloves of Garlic Minced.
6. 1 Thumb of Ginger Minced.
7. 2 Tablespoons of Honey
8. 1 Tsp of Chinese 5 Spice powder.
9. 1 Tsp of Sesame Oil.
10. 1 Tsp of Cornflour.
11. Spring Onions and Sesame Seeds.
    

Preheat the oven to 200 oC/ 390 oF/ Gas Mark 6.

Bang the Chicken Wings into the oven on the top rack and cook for approx 45-60 mins, turning them halfway through. Serve straight away topped with sliced spring onions and toasted sesame seeds.