This is still a fairly experimental dish, but the idea is similar to the duck salad I posted earlier this month, but without the noodles. It's really easy, quick and spicey! If you have a cold this will really clear those sinuses!
Spicy Chicken and Cucumber Salad
2 Chicken Breasts finely sliced
Enough flour to coat the chicken slices
Salt and Pepper
1/2 Cucumber finely sliced length ways
2 Peppers finely sliced
1 Red Onion finely sliced
6 Radishes finely sliced
The juice of 1 Lime
3 tablespoons of Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tablespoon of Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon of sesame oil
2 Cloves of Garlic very finely chopped
Half a red chili very finely chopped
Thumb sized piece of ginger peeled and very finely chopped
Wow fourteen that's a lot! STAY WITH ME! Mix the flour with salt and pepper and coat the thinly sliced chicken. Fry them in a very hot pan with vegetable oil until nice and brown, leave to the side.
In a large bowl, combine the lime juice, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil, garlic, chili, and ginger. This should be to your taste so add something, subtract something be my guest! Add to the bowl, the cucumber, radish, red onion and red pepper. Mix the all the ingredients together in the spicy dressing.
Serve the spicy cucumber salad with the chicken strips on top and enjoy!
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!
This is such a tasty, fragrant and fresh dish, I have had the idea for this dish for a while now and eventually got round to cooking it last night. The whole process took about 30 mins and was pretty hassle free. The duck is from Silverhill foods, it's a really great product, it's so handy to have in the freezer and is nice and crispy when cooked.There is nothing more appealing to me in fresh cooked food as combining texture's and this dish has it all, crunchiness from the cucumbers, crispiness from the duck, and softness from the aromatic vermicelli noodles.
This recipe is a perfect example of experimentation in cookery. I had a vague idea of what I was doing when I started but the dressing itself came purely from my own tastes. That's the way cooking should be, not meticulously following recipe's to the last word, but adding something here, adding something there till it tastes the way YOU want it!
So fly my pretties and make MAGIC!
AROMATIC DUCK NOODLE SALAD
1 Crispy Half duck portion (available at most supermarkets)
180g Vermicelli rice noodles
1/2 a Cucumber
Bunch of Spring Onions
For Dressing
The juice of half a lime
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 thumbsized piece of ginger peeled and minced
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 and throw in the oven for 25 mins at 210 degrees C. Soak the noodles in hot water while you are preparing the veg and dressing.
In a small bowl mix the ingredients for the marinade and set aside.
Cut the cucumber in half again and slice very thin, trim the spring onions and slice thinly, set aside. Drain the noodles, rinse them in cold water and then mix them with the marinade in a large bowl.
Take the duck out of the oven, slice thinly and add to the noodles along with the cucumber and spring onion. Serve straight away!
Also check out The Humble Housewife writing a fabulous guest blog on the ravishing Damian Mulley's Blog.
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.
If you follow me on twitter, you will probably be sick of me talking about it, but we (Industry) are currently on tour with JLS for their tour dates in Ireland. It makes a stark contrast to all the cooking I have been doing lately! The one question I have been asked the most since the book came out is which I prefer, the singing or the cooking, and to be honest after Saturday night, when we performed in Dublin's o2 arena, the singing gives the cooking a good run for its money! Though I think I will always have that hunger for performing on stage, it is just one of the most amazing feelings to stand in front of a crowd that size and sing! All the excitement and nerves aside, I have been managing to eat really well despite the lack of time, and these noodles are just one of the dishes which have kept the band well fed the last few days.
Crunchy Peanut Satay Noodles I am a huge fan of Asian flavours, and I absolutely love exploring Asian supermarkets to find new weird and wonderful ingredients. Noodles are one of my favourite things to buy there, and there are so many varieties to choose from thin rice vermicelli to the thick chunky udon noodles I use in this dish. You can use whatever noodles you can get your hands on for this recipe, and don't be afraid to experiment with the veggies, just use what you have, Chinese cabbage, carrot, or bok choy all work really nicely here. The beauty of this recipe is that it is just basically combining all these fantastic flavours with noodles and fresh veg which gives it that extra crunch factor!
Serves 2 400g of udon noodles 1/2 cucumber, sliced thinly 1 red pepper, sliced thinly 5 spring onions, sliced finely diagonally A handful of salted peanuts, roughly chopped
For the peanut sauce: 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil 1 clove of garlic, finely minced 1 small thumb sized piece of ginger, finely minced 1 small chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 200ml coconut milk 3 tablespoons of soy sauce Juice of 1 lime 3 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the pack, rinse under cold water, drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a small sauce pot, add the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry for about 30-40 seconds stirring continuously. Add in the coconut milk, lime juice, peanut butter and soy sauce. Bring to the boil, stirring to melt the peanut butter, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked noodles to a large mixing bowl and add in the spring onions, red pepper, and cucumber. Pour in the peanut sauce and toss all the ingredients together until combined. Serve with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts and some extra sliced spring onion.
One of the things I mastered last year, was preparing healthy dishes which are easy to have with you on the go. We (Industry) were on the road everyday during the summer when we released our first two singles so I made sure we all ate well in between our fairly tight schedule. Healthy salads were normally on the cards and went down the best, but if we were stuck for time quick and tasty wraps sorted us out! As I mentioned we were on tour with JLS all week, and the wraps below kept us full on the road up to belfast! We have been debuting our new tracks which you can hear over here, and here, so I hope you don't mind that I have stuck up a few photo's from the gig on Saturday night. We were very excited to perform in the O2 in Dublin, but I want to brace yourselves for the photos below, because a momentous occassion took place where I got my first pair of knickers thrown at me! Knickers on a food blog, who'd have thought! :)
Quick Fresh Veggie Wrap With Crispy Prosciutto Wraps are extremely handy for a quick and tasty lunch! The best thing is that you can really go wild when it comes to the ingredients. There are so many variations on this recipe which I make regularely, like avocado and bacon, chicken and chickpea, or even tuna and rocket! Find your favourite combo and experiment. If you can't get your hands on proscioutto just pick up some streaky bacon instead.
Serves 2 6 slices of prosciutto ham 2 large wholemeal tortilla wraps 2 tablespoons of mayonaisse 2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves 1 carrot, grated 1/4 of cucumber, sliced thinly 5-6 spring onions, sliced thinly A good pinch of ground black pepper
In a large hot frying pan fry off the slices of prosciutto until crisp and golden. Remove and set aside on plate with a piece of kitchen paper. Spread 1 tablespoon of mayo on one of the tortilla wraps. Arrange the slices of cucumber, carrot, and spring onions down the centre of the wrap. Add the spinach leaves and then place 3 slices of the crispy prosciutto on top. Roll up the wrap and enjoy! Repeat with the second the second wrap.
Ok so hands up you got me, burritto's are not exactly gourmet cuisine, but if you've been at work all day, and have little time to prepare for guests, sometimes this is perfectly acceptable. After all, if it's healthy and fresh, there can't be too many complaints really, can there? I have in the past spent a lot of time in preparing for having guests over, but as time has gone on the easiest and most enjoyable nights are the ones, that seemed almost efortless.
Here is a quick recipe for speedy burritto's!
Mood Food Burrito's!
250g of Minced Beef or a packet of Quorn Mince
2 Garlic Cloves minced
1 tablespoon of Chili Powder
1/4 tablespoon of Oregano
A good pinch of salt and pepper
Half a glass of water
1 Packet of Wholemeal Flour Tortilla Wraps
2 Peppers sliced thinly
1 Red Onion sliced thinly
Punnet of Cherry Tomatoes halfed
1 bag of mixed salad leaves
1 Tin of Sweet Corn
Half a cucumber sliced thinly
The only real effort in this dish is the browning of the meat and the preperation, apart from that you might as well put your feet up and wait for the guests to arrive!
To start, brown the the meat in a large frying pan, and season with the garlic, chilli, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the half glass of water and let simmer for about 8 mins.
Prepare the vegetables and heat the flour tortilla's.
And that's it, serve everything on the table and people can assemble their own burritto to their taste!
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.
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.
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.
First of all- TasteSpotting.com! Most of the online foodies out there will know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you have no idea, this site was pure indulgence for food porn enthusiasts! It hand picked some of the best photo's and recipe's from food blogs across the world, and displayed them in one handy site. I'm sure there will a similar site soon, as Tastespotting will be sorely missed.
And now, how about a recipe?
Dishes which are packed with healthy ingredients and stunning colors, are not only a cure for hunger, they can really improve your mood too. With the summer in full flow, there is so much in season veg and fresh herbs that it can get a bit traumatic knowing what exactly to with it- this quick pasta salad is a great solution as it's basically a raid on the contents of your fridge which you can transform too your very own taste. It definitely beats the image of soggy mayonnaise laden pasta salads sitting in plastic containers at your local supermarket!
I made this in about 15-20 mins right after I collected Sofie from the airport recently and not only does it hit the spot- it's a really handy and healthy little pasta salad. This is the way I do it;
:: SESAME PASTA SALAD
Wholemeal Pasta
1 Red Onion slice into half moons.
1 Carrot finely chopped.
1/2 small cucumber finely chopped.
Feta Cheese
Handful of Basil finely chopped.
2 tbs of Olive Oil
1 Tbs of Balsamic Vinegar
A handful of toasted Sesame Seeds.
A good pinch of Salt and Pepper.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the pasta, cook until tender, then drain and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, prep your veg, cheese, and basil.
In a large mixing bowl, add the vinegar and oil and give it a quick whisk. Then add all the veg cheese and herbs and combine with the pasta. Give it a good pinch of salt and pepper and serve. Top the finished dishes with golden toasted sesame seeds.
Squash! A bit more exotic to some compared to a regular onion or potato however just as tasty if not more! Squash come from the same family as pumpkin, melon and cucumber and were traditionally buried with dead native Americans for a bit of grub on their final journey. However dead Indians aside Squash full of nutrients which benefit the body and is in season from now until the end of winter. HERE IT COMES THE REASON'S TO EAT SQUASH!
It has Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Omega 3 fatty acids, and potassium to name but a few of the many nutrients the mighty squash contains!
It is full of beta carotene which has an anti inflammatory effect and is said to reduce the severity of Asthma and osteoporosis.
If you are a smoker, eating vitamin A rich foods can vastly reduce the deficiency in the vitamin caused by smoking.
