We've had a pretty bad summer here in Ireland weather wise, and I had high hopes for lots of lovely summer evening BBQ's with some tasty salads. Instead I have had to settle with eating out whenever it's been dry for more than 30 minutes and dragging a full table setting in out of the rain on more than one occassion. However we still have the whole of August to go so fingers crossed for that perfect summer evening! I have one more recipe from our little bank holiday break and few more photos too, enjoy! This was the view from our table while we ate this salad:
Spinach and Cherry Tomato Salad If you don't have avocado oil, don't worry, just use some good quality extra virgin olive oil. As I mentioned in a previous post I picked up some recently and it tastes great, plus it's super healthy, so if you can get your hands on some try it out!
Serves 4 3 large handfuls of spinach 2 large handfuls of rocket 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half 3 tablespoons of avocado oil 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon of English mustard 1 clove of garlic, finely minced A good pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Add the oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, garlic, sea salt and black pepper to a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the tomatoes, spinach, and rocket to the bowl and toss until all the leaves are coated in the tasty dressing. Serve straight away. You could also make the dressing ahead of time and keep in the fridge.
This one goes down really well when entertaining! It's an easy one to make ahead of time and stick in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.
Spinach and Riccotta Stuffed Pasta Shells This is a delicious pasta dish, which is packed with fresh ingredients. It is a little bit tricky but the tastes are great and well worth the effort!
Serves 3-4 portions. 1 tablespoon of olive oil. 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely. A good glug of red wine. 2 cans of chopped tomatoes. A handful of fresh herbs chopped coarsely (Oregano, Parsley, Basil) 250g of large pasta shells. 250g of Ricotta cheese. 250g of steamed spinach. A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper.
Fry the garlic in the olive oil in a large frying pan for 30-40 seconds. Add the chopped tomatoes and and the red wine. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and become thicker. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper and make sure to stir every few minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta until al denté. While the pasta is cooking, mix the ricotta, herbs, steamed spinach, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl until everything is combined. Spread a layer of half the tomato sauce in a medium baking dish. When the pasta is cooked drain and allow to cool in a colander. Spoon a heaped teaspoon amount of the ricotta mixture into each one of the pasta shells and place in the baking tray. When you have added all the stuffed pasta shells to the baking tray, cover with the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle over a handful of parmesan cheese and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese gets a nice colour. Serve straight away with a crispy green salad.
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!
This is one of the recipes I have been waiting to try forever and I really have no excuse as it is so simple! I had hoped to feature this in my book (which shows just how long I have been to getting around to making it!) but unfortunately I left it too late! I have adapted this recipe from Lor who writes one of my favourite Irish food blogs italianfoodies.ie, who runs La Cucina in Limerick and is an absolute genius when it comes to proper Italian comfort food.
Big Brunch Tomato Eggs Are you ready to meet your new Saturday morning breakfast cure? These eggs are going to change your weekends forever! If you are on the lookout for the perfect little throw together late breakfast this super easy dish hits all the right buttons. If you manage to stumble out of bed, serve these tasty eggs with some toasted crusty bread and you'll be laughin'! They also work if you are wide awake too!
Serves 2 generous portions 2 tablespoons of olive oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 400g tin of chopped tomatoes A good handful of spinach, roughly chopped A small handful of basil, roughly chopped 4 large free range eggs A little grated Parmesan cheese to serve A generous pinch of sea salt and black pepper
In a large frying pan heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic slowly for 7-10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Stir through the basil and spinach until it has wilted. With the back of a spoon make four wells in the sauce and then crack the eggs in. Cook the eggs in the sauce until the white is cooked through and the yolk is still soft. Season with sea salt and black pepper and a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Serve the eggs in tomato sauce on top of some crispy crusty bread for a hearty brunch!
Last year I tried my hand at growing a vegetable garden and although there were major fails like when my spinach went to seed and when my courgettes were eaten by slugs, there were also major success stories like when I harvested big heavy baskets of broad beans and pulled mysterious looking red cabbages from their stubborn roots! Those were the really proud moments of the whole experiment and made it all worthwhile! I made the conscious decision not to blog about it last year, partly because I was totally winging it and partly because I wanted to prove to myself I could do it, but I think this year it's time to let everyone in! I am still by no means in anyway an expert so I would like this little kitchen garden diary to be more of a journey which I will share any tidbits of the knowledge I pick up along the way which hopefully might inspire to get into the garden yourself!
My plans for the vegetable garden this year are already under way, and I have been speaking to lots of gardening people in the know, a few of whom will be popping up on the blog in the coming months. One of the many things I learned from last years experiment was to get as much advice as possible. The people I have spoken to, from home growers to professional gardeners are all so incredibly passionate about what they do and are more than happy to have lengthy conversations about what to grow, when to grow it and even the best ways to cook them. If you do know someone who grows their own veg, give them a call, sometimes the best advice you can get is from people you already know. An essential buy for me last year was a really decent book about growing vegetables, "Grow Vegetables" by Alan Buckingham is fairly extensive and details growing in even the smallest spaces, also after watching Carol Klein's passionate BBC series I bought her book, "Grow Your Own Veg" which is a pretty straightforward and informative book.
You can plan your garden in advance earlier in the year, but March is really go time in the gardening world, with a huge variety of seeds being recommended to be sown now. I have been lucky enough to nab my lovely aunts back garden to grow my veggies which has now become my very own little allotment. I am pretty sure she has mixed feelings about me trudging through the house with muddy feet but it all pays off when the veggies arrive. I was busy in the garden yesterday as Sean Gallagher from patchworkveg.com installed 3 amazing raised veg boxes which are perfect for growing in. I will be showing you the pics from the full installation process during the week because these beds are ideal for people who haven't grown before! I am heading out to pick up some seeds today which can be sown this month, I will be picking up onions, cabbage, broad beans, peas, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes and spinach. Another tip is that Lidl and Aldi both have really cool mini greenhouse sets you can pick up on offer at the moment, they are perfect for starting seeds out and mean you can keep them outside without the frost getting at them!
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.
Getting homemade pizza right is a real art, I used to make it a lot when I was a kid and slowly perfected it over the years! One of my favourite things to do was to try different topping combinations from Asparagus and Spinach, to Feta and Rocket. One of the great things about pizza is that it's just so customisable. I also recommend experimenting with the tomato sauce as it can really enhance the overall flavour. The main thing I find when mixing is always to make sure your dough is not too moist as this creates a really unpleasant doughy taste when cooked. Here is my standard recipe for a great pizza dough, I'm not sure where the original came from as I know it by heart!
Basic Pizza Base Dough
1 sachet of active dry yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 cup of warm water
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
3 and 1/2 cups of Strong all purpose flour
Combine the yeast with the sugar and warm water in a separate container and leave stand for 15 minutes or until foamy. Then stir in the olive oil and salt.
Put the flour in a large bowl and create a small well, pour the yeast mixture in and slowly combine incorporating the flour from the sides. This bit generally the most worrying as it looks like it will never come together, but it will just keep mixing! When the dough begins to come together put it on a work top and knead the crap out of it for about 7 minutes.
When all your frustration has been taken out shape into a ball and place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place. The warmth activates the yeast and will allow the dough to rise quickly. Leave it stand for about an hour or until it doubles in size. This is normally when I start making the tomato sauce and preparing the toppings, effective time management you see!
When the dough has risen punch it down to remove the air. Then place it on a worktop and depending whether you like your dough thin split into two or four. Form the separated pieces into a circle and keep pushing until you have the right shape. The base is now ready for toppings!
Spicy Tomato Pizza Sauce
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Drop of olive oil
Two Tins (400g) of chopped tomatoes
Pinch of Sea Salt and Ground Pepper
1 Tablespoon of dried Oregano
1 teaspoon of tobasco sauce
Sauté the garlic in the olive oil till brown then add the tomotoes and bring to a steady simmer. Then stir in the salt, pepper, oregano, and tobasco sauce. If you have a drop of red wine available to you it adds a richness to the sauce and by all means add it! Leave at a steady simmer to reduce for about 25 mins. Leave to cool until it's room temperature and then it's ready to add to the pizza base.
- I generally use mozzarella cheese for the topping, but any cheese can be used really! ENJOY!
I have been procrastinating over getting the garden together since my last post, I kept putting it off, the weather wasn't good, I didn't have the seeds, I hadn't decided what I wanted to to grow, it was too much work, my feet hurt, Brothers and Sisters was on etc etc etc! The good news is I finally got around to it this week, thanks to the fantastic weather we've been having, I had no excuse but to get out there and get things started.
I have kind of made it sound like I have been doing absolutely nothing, but my little mini greenhouse already has some savoy cabbages, purple broccoli, and chili peppers which are sprouting and looking great! I think the breakthrough in terms of movement has to be the work I did in the garden on Monday. Since Sean installed the raised veg boxes, the layout has changed around a bit so I figured it was time to give the layout a little change around. As you can see from the photo above, I have added a little more structure by breaking the plot in two, which will hopefully mean I can make it a bit more pretty rather than the boring rows which left me with 25 cabbages last year!
The other exciting part of the garden is of course the fantastic raised veggie boxes! I decided to take Sean's advice and break the boxes up into square feet which will all be filled with different veg. I even marked it out with some string and thumb tacks to make it a little more visible until a little bit of growth starts. I did cheat a little by picking up some already grown seedlings of pak choy and some tender purple sprouting broccoli, from the garden centre just to add a little bit of colour at this early stage.
Apart from the ready sprouted stuff, I have sown, beetroot, rainbow carrots, red apache spring onions, spinach, and radishes all in the raised boxes, and some rooster potatoes, broad beans and peas in my newly established ground plot. The whole garden is really starting to take shape and I can't wait till things start sprouting out of the ground! On the other side of the garden I have some more space I'm prepping which is hopefully going to by a big pumpkin patch, with the hopes that were going to be able to pick our own pumpkins to carve for Halloween. Very exciting stuff! I went in to a fantastic little garden shop in the heart of Dublin on Capel St. the other day called Hacketts and they have a great selection of seeds, so I'm going to head in again tomorrow to pick up some Jerusalem artichokes and some more seeds to get going in the mini green house. Apparently Lidl have some great garden equipment at the moment so you might be able to pick up some good deals. April definitely is the month to get sowing, so if you are contemplating growing, do it sooner rather than later for some of the major veg. Also if you are interested in getting some raised veggie boxes yourself make sure to check out Sean's website patchworkveg.com, where he has lots of top tips for growing! Oh and if you have grown you're own veg garden before, what are you growing, and do you have any suggestions for interesting veggies I should be growing?
We got back from Turkey last night and are already feeling the cold! I'm going to be posting a little bit about each place we sailed through over the next two weeks and I have over 2000 photo's to sift through and edit so I'll be sticking them up too.
I also have some very exciting news about the book- tomorrow is the first official photoshoot complete with food stylist and photographer! We have spent most of the day preparing for tomorrow and all I can say is it's a stark contrast, going from tanning in 30 degree heat to prowling through boxes of peppers for the most photogenic, within hours of stepping off a plane! We have been cooking all day and the first shots will be taken tomorrow morning, so I'm hoping to feature a few behind the scenes pics later this week.
For now here is my travel log day 1 to 3! The pictures are more foodie related as the days progress so stay tuned and Enjoy!
Orhaniye The whole holiday was booked through Sunsail an English based yacht charter company, and unlike previous visits to Gocek, we decided to explore the new base of Orhaniye. After a long day which started in the early hours at Dublin airport, and a fairly erratic drive from Dalaman airport we finally arrived at our destination of Marti Marina, Orhaniye, in one piece. I always find it a bit disorientating arriving somewhere in the dark, but even the dim light could not disguise the fact that Marti Marina looked very much like a boat yard, and the website featured a hotel overlooking the marina. However on closer inspection the hotel was still in the process of being built and the building site gave the impression that the builders had given up and left a long time ago! But this was not our problem, in little under a few hours of well needed sleep, we would be on the water sailing, the overlooking building site, a distant memory. We picked up our yacht, a Cyclades 42, which would be home for the next two weeks and gave it a quick once over before hitting the pillow. The marina itself is fully functional with Shower and Laundry facilites, a small supermarket, a salt water swimming pool, and two restaurants overlooking the bay. After a briefing at the sunsail office, picking up provisions in the supermarket, and a quick application of much needed suncream we were out sailing. Two of the best things about a sailing holiday, is that you are outdoors practically all the time, surrounded by fresh air and with the water being so warm and clear, you find yourself in and out quite regularly to cool off from the sun’s heat. The second, you get too see so much, travelling to a brand new destination everyday!
Dirsek Our first stop was Dirsek, a stunning little bay, surrounded by tall dry mountains, about an hour’s sail south from Orhaniye . There is a small restaurant in the bay which is run by the owners, who quite inconspicuously live in tents along the edge of the water, adding to the hands on feel of the place. Boats can anchor in the bay and tie a line ashore or the restauarant offers lazy lines along a jetty. We arrived at around lunchtime and got straight in for the first swim of the holiday, the water is so clear that you can see the bottom even at about 9 meters up, this makes great conditions for snorkelling, which quickly became my new favourite activity! We motored in to the restaurant with the small dighy which comes with the boat and arrived to a scene of what I would describe as controlled chaos. The regular chef had been rushed to the dentist with some major dental urgency and a happy go lucky waiter had been drafted in as the sorry individual who was set to take up the reigns. Guests are invited to go into the kitchen and choose from large table of meat and fish for their main course. On the opposite counter, large glass dishes full of cold starters are spread out in a large row for guests to choose from.
Roast Aubergine in Tomato Sauce, Cooked Green Beans with Yoghurt, Olive Oil and Garlic, Boiled Potatoes with a simple scattering of Parsley, Fried Corgettes, A sort of Onion, red Pepper, and Chilli Salsa, Cooked Spinach and Yoghurt topped with a sprinkle of Paprika, Cheese wrapped in Filo Pastry, and Tzatzichi were among the many dishes which made up the Turkish Mezze, a term coined to describe this massive selection of dishes. The restaurant charges a set price for the Mezze and you can choose whatever dishes you want in a buffet style, it’s a brilliant way to get a chance to try all the different flavours.
Now it’s not often that I feature sickly romantic moments between myself and Sofie, apart from the picture on the "About" page, but after dinner we lay up on deck and watched the stars. I know, I know, pass the bucket, but in our defence, with the only unnatural light coming from the restaurant in the distance, it was practically unmissable. I have never seen stars as amazing as on that night, and as we lay flat on our back it was as if we were wearing 3D goggles, with every last twinkling light jumping down at us. What a perfect way to end a great day.
Monastery of Panormitis, Simi Our next stop was a long sail to the Greek island Of Simi, just on the border of Turkish waters. It was an extremely strange little port, whose mystery was heightened further, when we discovered the pilot book had absolutely no information about it. It seemed to be less of a town and more of a church with surrounding accommodation, we only came across one restaurant, there could have been more. The change from Turkish to Greek waters was quite significant in terms of cuisine and for dinner we ate a pretty standard fare of Calamari, Moussaka, Souvlaki, with large side dishes of Tzatzichi. The large abbey sits right on the water front and is lit up quite impressively at night, the whole bay has a white painted walkway which goes from the abbey right the way around and up the hill to a large old windmill which overlooks the bay.
After a bit of googeling I discovered that the Monastry is Greek Orthadox and dates back to 450 AD. It is the largest on the island and is also considered one of the most important.
Apart from a few small shops, there was a bakery which sold fresh bread in the morning and had extremely tasty coconut macaroons topped with cherries. We left the following morning for a long and bumpy sail to the small Turkish town of Datca...
I'm in breakfast mood this week, and this one is particularly tasty. The recipe itself is fairly straight forward, but the combination of flavours between the peppery rocket, and the saltiness of the prosciutto makes for an interesting dish. It's a good protein packed plate to get you going in the morning, the rocket can be substituted with fresh spinach leaves, to give you an even more vitamins and minerals.
Rocket, Prosciutto And Egg's Over Easy (Serves, a very hungry, one!)
3 Slices of Prosciutto
2 Eggs
A good handful of Rocket
1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil
I think the method may be fairly straight forward but just in case; In a large frying pan fry the two eggs for two minutes, in the same pan drop in the Prosciutto, which takes very little time to cook , and turn the eggs over for a further minute. Add a good handful of Rocket to your plate and top with the Prosciutto and eggs. Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper and serve.
.jpg)
