Thursday night is date night here. I cook, he brings the wine and we both relax. It started as an excuse for me to try out new dishes using the Chief Taster as the guinea pig but with all that’s being going on this summer we went a little off track, The night we resorted to shop bought pizza I knew it was time for a rethink.
Midlands Cheesecake
When asked about Irish food producing areas the Midlands is rarely the first place that comes to mind but did you know that we have our own honey, ice cream, yoghurts, sausages, cordials, cheese, chocolate, bread, chorizo …..to name but a few products
Lights, Camera, Action
Last summer I catered for the film ‘A Nightingale Falling’ which was made by Mixed Bag Media here in Offaly. I loved doing it as it allowed me to experiment with things other than canapés and corporate lunches and also made me embrace the discipline of working to a budget ( not an easy task for me!)
Tapas and Wine
If you looking for something different to do in Dublin this month then might I suggest the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail ?
This is my third year to go on the trail and it just keeps getting better. The Chief Taster loves Spanish food but he was missing on a golf trip so I ‘persuaded’ my good friend Siobhan to come along instead.
A “Lidl” Midweek Treat
As a rule I don’t buy meat in supermarkets, but when I came across guinea fowl in the Lidl Deluxe range I admit I gave into temptation as I’m a big fan of this bird but find it very difficult to buy locally. The one on offer was frozen and reduced from €9.99 to €7.99 so I bought it as a midweek treat.
Summer Cooking
There’s something about cooking and eating outside that makes food taste better. As soon as the sun comes out my kitchen doors are thrown open and the patio becomes my dining room. Given the vagrancies of an Irish Summer it’s important to be ready to grab every opportunity to enjoy the sun so the last thing you want to do is spend hours in the kitchen. This pork and apple burger fits the bill and the asparagus ‘slaw is the perfect accompaniment. A nice chilled glass of wine and what more could you need? Continue reading “Summer Cooking”
Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
When we were children everywhere was closed on Good Friday, the Fast day was adhered to and you weren’t even supposed to speak between 12 and 3pm. There wasn’t anything to watch on TV except the Long Good Friday. The only good thing was the bag of hot cross buns that my Mum used to buy from McGinn’s bakery. These sticky buns were delicious with lashings of butter – we protested that they counted as a collation and so formed part of the Fast Day diet.
Good Friday is now almost like any other day except for Hot Cross Buns that is. McGinn’s no longer exists – it’s now the CopperPot Still Pub. I’m not even sure how many people observe the Fast Day anymore.
In the last few years I have started making my own hot cross buns to see if I can recreate that childhood taste. I’ve had various degrees of success but I never seem to remember to write down how I made them or which recipe I followed.
This year I am going with a twist as I want to include Hot Cross Buns in my Easter Chocolate Class in Butlers Chocolates. And because people like to know how to reproduce what I demonstrate I’ve even remembered to write down how I made them 🙂
I took my inspiration from a number of recipes but I’ve broken a few rules by adding everything in together. I came across the idea of using the muffin trays on the Taste Australia website and it’s such a good idea I can’t believe I hadn’t come across it before.
There’s a bit of time involved in making these but trust me they’re worth it 🙂
Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
Makes 12
What you need:
- 450g strong flour
- 50g caster sugar
- 25g cocoa
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 2 *7g sachet dried yeast
- 150ml milk, made up to 200ml with warm water
- 50g butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 75g mixed peel
- 75g Butlers milk chocolate, chopped
- Zest & Juice of 1 orange
- To decorate:
- 4tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- Water
What you do:
- Make your dough by mixing together the flour, sugar, cocoa, mixed spice and yeast in bowl of your Kenwood.
- In a jug mix the warm milk mix, melted butter and beaten egg. You want this mix to be lukewarm so it will activate the yeast.
- Pour this mix into the dry ingredients and knead using the dough hook ( or you could do by hand if you’re feeling energetic!)
- Once the mix comes together add in the mixed peel, chocolate, orange zest and juice and continue to knead for another 5 mins.
- When the dough mix is smooth and springy transfer it to an oiled bowl. Cover lightly with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back and knead for a minute or two (by hand this time!)
- Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper liners. I knew I’d eventually find a use for the lovely ones that have been languishing in my baking cases box for the last two years.
- Divide the mix into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball and place one in each hole of the muffin tray.
- Cut a cross in the top of each bun using a scissors . Cover the tray and leave to rise for another 20 mins.
- Heat your oven to 200C/180Fan/Gas6
- To top the buns mix the 4 tbsp. of flour with enough water to form a paste. Put the paste into a plastic bag, snip of the corner of the bag and pipe into the cross on each bun.
- Bake in a hot oven for 12-15 minutes. To check they’re cooked tap one of the buns on the bottom and you should hear a hollow sound
- To get that lovely sticky glaze on top melt the 2 tbsp. sugar with a tablespoon of water and then brush over the top of each bun.
These hot cross buns are best enjoyed warm with lots of butter. The Chief Taster is in the UK on business so I’ll have to make another batch when he gets back to see what he thinks of the chocolate twist. Any excuse I know….
Happy Cooking !
A fritter type of pancake…
Sometimes you just need time out and this weekend was one of those times. I love being busy – both workwise and socially but things have been pretty hectic for the last two months.
I had an early night on Friday and spent a very pleasant few hours Saturday morning reading Mary Berry’s autobiography before tackling some long overdue housekeeping. The pantry had taken on a life of its own and needed to be brought back under control. Now everything is neatly grouped and visible ……for a while anyway. The tupperware is organised and the kitchen presses are organised.
Now if only I could persuade someone to do the ironing 😉
After all that hard work I had to recover on the couch with some TV and cookbooks. My book of choicewas a lovely one I brought back from Canada, ‘The Ontario Table’ and one of the recipes that I wanted to try was for Corn Fritters
By coincidence when I was flicking through the channels I came across The Two Fat Ladies cooking corn fritters. A sign definitely …
So combining the two recipes I made the following for Sunday Brunch:
Corn Fritters (or are they pancakes?)
What you need:
- 200g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp Irish Atlantic Chilli & Paprika salt
- 2 eggs
- 180ml milk
- fresh corn kernels from 2 cobs of corn
- Bunch spring onions chopped
What you do:
- Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- Whisk eggs and milk together in a jug.
- Make a hollow in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in egg mix
- Fold in to make a creamy batter then add in the corn and the spring onions.
- Drop 2-3 tbsp. onto griddle pan, allow to ‘bubble’, then turn over to cook other side.
I served the fritters with crispy Pigs on the Green bacon and my latest food addiction – Golden Beetroot Relish from In Season Farm which I found in the lovely Hereford & More shop
Technically fritters should be fried in oil but I opted for the griddle method of cooking which makes them more of a savoury pancake and therefore an option for Shrove Tuesday don’t you think?
Happy Cooking !
And even though I may have gotten a little bored last night (as predicted by the CT!), my batteries are now fully recharged and ready for the week ahead 🙂
To fry or not to fry?
I bought a deep fat fryer a few years ago because I wanted to cook Deep Fried Brie – it’s a favourite of the Chief Taster 😉 After about two uses it took up residence somewhere deep in my shed. Anything that needs to be deep fried is now baked. Well except for the brie – experiments have proven that it ‘explodes’ in the oven and it is now a dish to be enjoyed only when we’re out 🙂
Last night we had a ‘Taste of Asia’ class with dishes from China, India and Thailand. All the dishes were very well received including the baked spring rolls with hoisin sauce.
Here’s all you need to do to make a healthier version of take away spring rolls:
Spring Rolls
What you need:
- Selection of vegetables such as:
- 1 carrot, finely julienned
- 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
- Tin of Chinese mushrooms
- 1/2 packet Beansprouts
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 10 Spring Roll Wrappers
- 1 egg, beaten
- Dipping Sauce:
- 3 tbsp. hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp. Nam Pla (fish sauce)
- 1 tbsp. cold water
- 1 chilli, finely chopped
What you do:
- Heat a tbsp of sunflower oil in a wok.
- Add the vegetables and stir fry for 2-3 mins
- Add the soy and oyster sauces, cook for another minute then set aside to cool.
- Place spring roll wrapper on chopping board. Place a small pile of vegetables, in lower corner of wrapper – Fold bottom over, then bring in the two sides and roll over to enclose the filling – like an envelope (It gets easier!)
- Seal the end of the pastry by brushing with the beaten egg.
- Then brush each roll with egg and bake in hot oven (200 C Fan) for 10 mins until crispy
- To make dipping sauce – mix hoisin sauce, fish sauce, water and chillies in a bowl.
You could also add shredded duck or pork if you’d like. I was pleasantly surprised that the Chief Taster polished off the veggie ones 🙂
Happy Cooking !
If you’d like to attend one of my cookery classes in Tullamore please let me know. Next week is a ‘Taste of the Americas’
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate……….
My father used to talk about Meitheals in the West of Ireland where he grew up – everyone coming together to help their neighbour to complete a task which would have taken forever otherwise.
I saw the Meitheal concept in operation last week when very good friends gathered round to help me photograph my food offerings. The wonderful Derick, one half of Kenmare Foodies, ventured up from the Kingdom and spent the day cooking up a storm. The lovely Fiona from Hunters Lodge arrived supposedly to potwash but was quickly put to work as a food stylist (and ironer). The fabulous Paula Ryan was photographer for the day and the results are stunning. Paul from the Shoebox arrived in the afternoon and we even got him to do some work in the kitchen! Then Jacqui & Geoff appeared that evening to make us cocktails and sample the food.
Here’s a flavour of the day…
And then there was the poser…..
And I love this one – very Downtonesque
Food photography is hungry work so I had to provide everyone with a treat to keep them sweet – with chocolate cake of course 🙂
This gorgeous cake is from a Nigella recipe and then topped with lovely orange and almond chocolate which turns it into a rather large jaffa cake…..
Chocolate & Orange Cake
Oven: 180°C/fan 160°C/Gas 4
What you need:
- 5 clementines
- 6 eggs
- 225g /8oz caster sugar
- 250g/9 oz ground almonds
- 1 tsp (heaped) baking powder
- 2 bars Butlers Orange and Almond Chocolate
What you do:
- Simmer the clementines in saucepan of water for 2 hours. Check occasionally to make sure you don’t run out of water! Drain and allow to cool
- Cut each clementine in half, remove any pips and then whizz oranges in a food processor.
- Line the base of 20 cm springform tin with baking parchment and butter the sides
- Beat the eggs
- Mix the dry ingredients – sugar, almonds and baking powder together.
- Add in to the beaten eggs and mix well.
- Finally stir in the puréed oranges.
- Pour mix into the lined tin and bake in preheated oven for 50 mins to an hour or until skewer comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool in tin for about 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack
- To finish, melt the chocolate bars and spread quickly over the top and sides of the cake.
Happy Cooking !
Thanks again to Derick, Fiona and Paula for all their hard work – you were brilliant guys x.
Oh and the lover bit – well to quote Meatloaf two out of three ain’t bad – the CT was on business in the UK and missed all the fun.
Hey Pesto! 