I'm packing my bag this weekend so the meals are all a little light on the ground this week. For the next two weeks I will be staying in London to photograph the recipes for my new book which is out next year. It's all getting very exciting and as I am finally putting the finishing touches to the text, the next part is all fun. The photography process will take up most of the days while we're there, but I am hoping to finally get to see a bit of London. I have had loads of recommendations of places to eat, things to see and food markets to shop in so hopefully with a little bit of luck and hard work will we have some free time to see the sights!
Herby Sweet Potato Chips These sweet and spicy little wedges knock the socks off greasy fast food chips any day. If you haven’t tried sweet potatoes before, this is a great introduction recipe, where you just can’t go wrong. Serve as a nice side dish or a quick and tasty snack!
Serves 4 5 large sweet potatoes 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 3 tablespoons of olive oil A good handful of fresh herbs 1 teaspoon of sea salt 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5. If I am serving these as a side dish, I generally prepare them first and let them cook away in the oven while I get on with the rest of the dinner. In a pestle and mortar, bash together the a little of the olive oil, the herbs, garlic and sea salt until you have a smooth paste. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice in half lenghtways and then in half again, then chop into rough chips. Place in a bowl and toss with the herby paste. Place in a large roasting tin and drizzle with a little extra oil and sprinkle with ground black pepper until all the chips are well coated. Roast in the oven for about 40–45 minutes, or until the insides are soft and the edges are slightly charred.
Well I just finished putting together the rest of the stuff we got for the apartment from IKEA and I am very impressed with myself- not really being the handyman type- even Sofie was impressed! I'm going to post a few pics of the things we got as I'm pretty proud of them- it's really amazing how just a few new things can make your house feel so much more homely!
This is a nice little recipe that can be served as a side dish or a nice TV dinner style
Crispy Sweet Potato Wedges (Serves 4)
5 Large Sweet Potatoes
3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 Gloves of finely chopped Garlic
1 teaspoon of Maldon Sea Salt
1 teaspoon of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 teaspoon of dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon of dried Red Chilli Flakes
Preheat the oven to 220 oC/ 425 oF/ Gas Mark 7
Peel the Sweet Potatoes and slice length ways into 8 pieces.
Place in a large roasting tin and toss the wedges with oil and the remaining ingredient's until all the wedges are well coated.
Roast in the oven for about 20-25 mins, or until crispy. Make sure to toss them halfway through.
Serve as a nice side dish or a quick and tasty snack! YUM!
Well we're two rooms down on the house and surprisingly after 3 days in a row in IKEA, I'm still ready for more! We have just got in the door from sorting out the bedroom, with a bed and wardrobe set for delivery tomorrow. I have to admit that with all the rushing around, we have ended up in the cafe twice and I have to confess that I have munched my way through 30 meatballs in the last two days, with copious amounts of mashed potato, gravy and lingonberry jam! But then again when you are lugging your life around there is most definitely a need for some serious comfort food. Speaking of which today's recipe is one of my ultimate comfort foods- Slow cooked lamb shanks for many need absolutely no introduction as you will know just how delicious, slow-cooking this off-cut of meat is. If you haven't tried them before, give this recipe a go it's perfect for the cooler evenings.
Lamb Shanks with Colcannon Mash I really am a sucker for a good lamb shank, with it's melt-in-the-mouth texture, which literally falls off the bone, it truly is a thing of beauty! The key is to slow cook it at a low temperature. This transforms the gnarly piece of meat into a rich and juicy piece of deliciousness. You can serve it on normal mash, sweet potato mash, or with lentils, but I love colcannon and seeing as it is the season, it makes perfect sense!
Serves 4 30ml/2 tbsp of olive oil 4 lamb shanks 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 3 onions, finely chopped 1 carrot, finely diced 1 stalk of celery, finely sliced 350ml/12 fl oz of red wine A few sprigs of thyme, tied in a bunch with string 650ml/1 ½ pts of stock (vegetable or beef) 2 tablespoons of cornflour A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper
In a large casserole dish, heat the olive oil and add the lamb shanks and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. Fry the onions for two to three minutes until soft but not browned. Add the garlic, carrot and celery and fry for another couple of minutes. Pop in the thyme and stir through. Add the red wine and bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes. Place in the browned lamb shanks and pour over the stock. Bring to a steady simmer, then cover and place in the oven at 150oC/300oF/Gas Mark 2. Cook the lamb shanks very slowly, for three hours, turning them half way through the cooking time, until the meat is extremely tender and almost falls off the bone. Toward the end of the cooking time, taste and season. If you want to serve the lamb shanks with its juices, I remove a few ladles of the juices and place them in a small saucepan. Then place two tablespoons of the juices in a bowl and stir through the cornflour until you have a smooth mix, pour this back into the saucepan and bring to a steady simmer, cooking down until you have a thick gravy. Serve in large deep bowls with the colcannon.
For the colcannon: 1kg potatoes, peeled and diced 250g cabbage, finely sliced 1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced 2 tablespoons of butter 75ml of milk or cream A good pinch of sea salt and black pepper
Add the peeled and diced potato to a pot of cold water, cover, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is tender when pierced with a fork. Place a metal steamer into another pot, add a little water and bring to the boil. Place the cabbage into the steamer and steam cook until it is tender. When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat, drain into a colander, then add back into the pot with the butter and milk. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. You may want to add a little bit more or less milk and butter, it's up to you! Add in the spring onion, steamed cabbage, sea salt and black pepper and stir through with a spoon until evenly combined. Serve with the lamb shanks.
It's official I have a new favourite recipe, and it has arrived just in time for the summer season! It's a really easy little number which is guaranteed to impress! Now I know the idea of cutting a chicken open, cracking bones, and skewering the flesh is all a little bit Hanibal but this recipe is so tasty and it's well worth the hassle. Though if you really can't handle it, ask your butchers to do it for you and I'm sure they will be happy to help. I served this for a summery Sunday dinner with Red Cabbage Coleslaw and some Spicy Sweet Potato Chips.
Barbeque Cajun Spatchcock Chicken The combination of spices here are so tasty, but if you are missing some, don't be afraid to use dried herbs or even whatever fresh herbs you have available to you. Barbequing can be a little tricky but the cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken, if you are worried, simple insert a skewer at the thickest part and if the juices run clear, the bird is cooked!
Serves 6-8 2 small chickens. 4 cloves of garlic. 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar. 2 tablespoons of paprika. 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper. 2 teaspoons of dried oregano. A small handful of fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped. A small handful of thyme. Juice of 1 lemon. 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil. A generous pinch of sea salt and pepper.
To prepare the chicken, place the bird breast down, and using a knife or a sharp scissors, cut along the back bone. Open the bird out and flip it over breast side up and using your fist push down hard on the breast to break the back bone. Thread a skewer diagonally through the bird from the leg to the breast and repeat on the other side. Score the bird on the legs and breasts. Repeat the whole process for the second chicken. Place the chicken in a large roasting tin. See diagram below.
Prepare the marinade. Place the rest of the ingredients in a pestle and mortar or a food processor and break down until you have a rough paste. Spread the paste over the chicken until it is completely covered. Cover the roasting tin in tin foil and place in the fridge to marinate for 30 mins to an hour, if you have time. Place the birds on the barbeque over a medium heat and cook breast side up for 25-30 minutes. Half-way through give the birds a squeeze of lemon juice. Turn the birds over and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the chickens are cooked through. If you find the chicken is blackening too much, place them on some tinfoil until they are cooked through. Enjoy!
Just a quick little post to show you some pics from the food demonstration I did to camera on Monday. I will be using some of the footage as promotion for the book and we managed to cook 9 dishes in the one day, which I was pretty impressed with! Recipes from the book were on the menu including mixed berry smoothies, herby roast chicken, spicy sweet potato chips, mushy roast garlic cherry tomato pasta, hasselback potatoes and a few more! Here's the pics:
First of all a big thank you to some of the readers here who nominated "The Good Mood Food Blog" for this year's Irish Blog Awards and a big congratulations to everyone else nominated- Fingers crossed!
The last few months have been a little crazy and things don't look to be settling down, I'm going to be in Sweden for the next week and bit so hopefully will be able to stick up a few pictures up here. Even if they aren't food related!
In other news, myself and Sofie have been busy planning our very own little vegetable patch as an experiment for this year. The aim is to expand our herb garden and learn a little more about growing our own vegetables, with the hope to provide enough, to include in a good few recipe's during the spring, summer, and autumn. We will be documenting the process as we go along, so stay tuned to keep up with our progress!
Fork Crushed Herb and Roast Garlic Potatoes This recipe always has my mouth watering at the thoughts of it. Roast garlic has to be one of my absolute favourite roast ingredients. The process takes the pungent cloves and transforms them into a smoky, sweet and wonderfully creamy mush. This is a super side dish which goes really well with any main course, or even on its own as a tasty belly filler!
750g or about 16 Baby Potatoes. 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. A Large handful of Flat Leaf Parsley. A Handful of Chives, chopped coarsely. A Handful of roughly chopped Dill. 1 Bulb of Garlic. A Good Pinch of Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper.
Before you start anything get the garlic in the oven. Cut off the top of the garlic so the tips of the cloves can just about be seen. Drizzle with a few drops of olive oil so the exposed tips are covered. Now cover in tinfoil and pop in the oven for 40 minutes at 200oC/ Gas Mark 6. While the garlic is roasting, place the potatoes in a large pot of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, you can check this with a fork. While the potatoes are cooking prepare and chop your herbs. Drain the potatoes and tumble into a large mixing bowl.
With a fork roughly crush each potato and season with salt and pepper. When the Garlic is ready, pop out the cloves from their skins and mash with a fork on a chopping board. Transfer the garlic to the mixing bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and scatter the dill, chives and parsley on top. Gently mix all the ingredients to combine, and be careful not to break up the potato too much. Serve in a large bowl with a final scattering of Parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.
