Smoked Mackerel Pate

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I'm a huge fan of Felicity Cloake regular column in the Guardian. 'How to cook the perfect...." I've used several of her recipes and they've all worked out very well. She cooks and reviews several chefs recipes for well known dishes. Then she creates her own 'perfect' recipe based on her results. I can only imagine what her home life is like "Hi family, this week we're eating only salad nicoise" in her attempt to test a range of different recipes and create her own.

I made this great smoked mackerel pate over the weekend. I'm in the process of a long move - so my kitchen things are in storage. I think the pate works quite well in these nice tea cups I got in the second hand shop!

Her recipe is over here. 
I followed it pretty closely - except I didn't use a blender as I prefer a coarser pate. The horseradish and dill off set the oily fish beautifully. A great dish that comes together very quickly. A great starter for a dinner party you can prepare the night before. Serve with homemade brown bread.

Summer Swedish Balcony Salad

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This morning it was raining - tipping it down. A soggy July, hot on the heels of one of the wettest Junes on record! Then this afternoon the clouds parted and out came the sun. After work I headed to the park to take it in. On getting home I knocked up this quick, Swedish inspired salad with the fridge contents, and some fresh pickings from the balcony. The oak leaf lettuce, dill, parsley, and sprouts - are all the fruits of my semi attentive labour

Ingredients

Oak leaf Lettuce

Dill - finely chopped

Parsley - finely chopped

1/3 cucumber - seeded and diced

2 beetroots - diced

1 spring onion - thinly sliced

some fennel seeds

Some crumbled feta

Poppy seeds

a squeeze of lemon juice

a dollop of good olive oil

a drizzle of honey

To Serve - a hard boiled egg and some sprouted mung beans

Method

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil and honey in a small dish until blended. Put the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle over the dressing and toss. Top with sprout and boiled egg on the side. Hardly a recipe to change the world, but I had to start back somewhere.

Crunchy Toasted Chickpeas

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Higher Protein Popcorn

This is a great stock cupboard snack to have up your sleeve. Nice to serve with drinks, or while watching a film should you have been watching (god forbid) Heston Blumenthal pointless quest to rid cineworld of popcorn. The less said about that programme the better. You have to allow these to cool before eating as it's only once they're cooled that they gain their crunchiness. You can use any variety of herbs and spices for these - whatever you like just chuck it in there! The chickpea flour is not necessary, you can use ordinary flour. I used a mixture of chickpeas and other beans (kidney and haricot) - they didn't come out so well so I'd just stick with the chickpeas


Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas - well drained
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of chickpea flower
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of garam masala
a dusting of dried chili flakes
A good bit of salt
Freshly milled pepper


Method
1) Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, until all the chickpeas are evenly coated.
2) Toss onto a baking tray
3) Toast at 200c for 30 mins turning every 10 minutes
4) Allow to cool and serve. I served mine with a lemon and yogurt sauce though it was kind of tricky to eat, they're best eaten on their own with a nice beer - Helwick Gold maybe mmmmmmm beer! 

What's wrong with this picture?

Salmon Yakatori

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The Salmon of Knowledge

So this is my first proper cooking after finishing the course. I spent a good week eating mostly vegetables and drinking plenty of water. Then my wonderful friend Kate bought me a flight to Madrid for my birthday, so off I went to relax and soak up this beautiful city with it's wonderful art, architecture and tapas! The culinary highlight of the trip was a visit to The Mercado de San Miquel just off Calle Mayor. If you are ever in Madrid I urge you to check it out. It's housed in the old fish market. Under the ornate metal arches are housed vendors of every kind. You can stroll around collecting small dishes from an array of delectable treats. Everything from caviar, Spanish cheeses and ham, to churros and fantastical chocolates. There are great wines and prosecco for sale by the glass. I could have spent all day there, gently grazing. The best thing about Spain is the portions - allowing you to tailor your meals to just how hungry you're feeling - not a bad idea?


Back to the point in question. After completing my course I was hoping that all my new skills would transfer to my kitchen - with it's significantly more humble set up than the spacious Cooks Academy. This salmon yakitori was delicious when I prepared it during the course. Could I recreate at at home. The answer was a resounding yes - phew well that's money well spent so!

Ingredients
4 Salmon fillets - skin removed
Sunflower Oil
Marinade
100 ml Soy Sauce
200 ml of sherry (Sake if you have it)
2 tbsp of caster sugar
Salad
1 tbsp Mirin (or red wine vinegar)
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 red chili finely sliced
1/2 cucumber - julienned
2 carrots - julienned
Coriander finely sliced

• Mix together the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Pop in your salmon fillets then refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight if you're highly organised.
• In a large bowl place your cucumber and carrots. Then combine the other ingredients for the salad dressing. Pour over and set aside for 20 minutes before serving.
• Heat the olive oil in a large non stick pan. Remove the fillets from the marinade and pat them dry on some kitchen towel. Keep the marinade liquid.
• Fry your fillets for around 4 minutes on each side - time is dependant on the thickness of your fish. Don't forget to cook the presentation side first as this always looks prettier!
• While the fish is cooking - add in the marinade liquid - this reduces down pretty quickly.
• Stir the chopped coriander through the salad before serving.
• On your plate - put a small mound of the pickled salad. Top this with the cooked salmon and then spoon some of the reduction of the salmon fillet. Garnish with a sprig of coriander or some fried ginger.

Enjoy! 

Grilled Peach and Mozarella Salad

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This recipe is heavily inspired by (copied from??) a dish Lucy and I ate at Juniors a few weeks ago. It was so delicious we spent the whole time trying to figure out and take note of exactly what was in it. Being the season for stone fruit, we decided it wouldmake a perfect and unusual starter for our alternative to the electric picnic: the Accoustic dinner party (geddit?!)

The dish was a huge success, as was the whole evening, which as planned turned into a big rowdy singalong into the very early hours, which saw us making up alternative lyrics to the tune of 'dirty old town' for the benefit of our American friends. Fun times, huge hangovers the next day!

So try this soon, before peaches are out of season. You wont regret it. But I think its important to get really good quality, creamy mozzerella (we got ours from Little Italy near Smithfield) and very ripe, almost over ripe peaches (or nectarines).

Serves 4

4 large RIPE peaches

1 large ball good quality buffalo mozzerella

4 handfulls mixed leaves, whatever you fancy (we used rockett and baby spinch)

about 16 whole walnuts

1/2 small packet pine nuts

lemon juice

good quality balsamic vinegar

olive oil

salt and pepper

First make the dressing.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over a low flame until they have browned on all sides. Allow them to cool and then grind them up using a pestle and mortar until they look like bread crumbs. Place the ground nuts into a bowl and add enough olive oil to give the mixture a good runny consistency. Add the juice of half a lemon (more if you like) and mix together with a grind of pepper and some salt to taste.

Toast the walnuts in the oven and allow to cool

Using a sharp knife, cut the peaches along their seams, and twist to separate the two halves. If they are ripe this should be easy and the stone should come away easily too. Brush them on both sides with olive oil and add a sprinkle of salt and a grind of black pepper. Place them under a very hot grill for about 10 mins on each side or until they are golden. You could also use a griddle pan if you have one.

To assemble the salad, place the leaves on a plate, add the peach halves and the mozzarella, torn into chunks. Then sprinkle the walnuts over and drizzle over the pine nut dressing. Lastly, drizzle the thick balsamic Vinegar artistically over the whole thing.

Oven Roasted Tomato & Caramelised Garlic Bruschetta

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Never Mind the Electric Picnic here's the Acoustic Dinner Party

So to distract ourselves from the fact that we weren’t at Electric Picnic - we had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night - the menu was loosely summer Italian, I really enjoyed all the courses - especially the starter  which was inspired by a meal we had at Junior’s in Ringsend recently. If you haven’t been you should try it - it’s a great restaurant. I’ve been there twice recently - for dinner and brunch!

Pre-dinner Nibbles

Ingredients
Makes 9
1 head of garlic
18 baby tomatoes
3 teaspoons of Maldon Sea Salt
3 teaspoons of Caster Sugar/Light Brown Sugar
Olive Oil
Good quality sourdough bread
1 clove of garlic

Cut the whole head of garlic across the middle - so that each clove is cut in half. Mix together the salt and sugar in a bowl.  Then dip the head of garlic cut side down into the mixture - so that it sticks. Then on a oven proof tray - put the remaining sugar and salt in two piles. Place the two pieces of garlic cut side down on the two piles. Cover the garlic with tin foil. Place in the oven at gas mark 6 for 30 mins until they are tender.

While these are cooking - coat the tomatoes in a little olive oil and bake these along with the garlic - so they should be ready at the same time. If you have them on the vine keep them that way - as they’re less likely to loose their delicious juices in the roasting process.

Remove the garlic and tomatoes from the oven and allow to cool. Then pop them out of the skins, mix together in a small bowl to form a paste with a small bit of olive oil.

Toast the sour dough - spread each piece of toast with a little purred garlic and top with a  few torn basil leaves and two tomatoes.

This is the smallest part of the dinner but thought I’d better start today or we’ll never get it all down. Stay posted for the next five installments - yup 5! Wow we’re mad as a pastry brush around here

Carrot, Chickpea & Harrisa Soup

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A Thoroughly Super Soup

So I spent a lovely weekend at home with my parents and visiting my friends and all of their little babies! Cute the lot of them. My mum cooked a great soup which she got from the BBC Food magazine. It was delicious, spicy filling soup, with a hearty consistency. A real winner and super healthy of course, thanks mum!

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion dices
50g of carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tsp of coriander seed
1 tsp of caraway seed
1 tbsp of harrisa paste
1 litre of vegetable stock (or chicken of you like)
a small bunch of parsley
410g can of chickpeas
To serve – plain Greek yogurt

In a large pan cook the onion in some olive oil on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until translucent and soft. Next add in all the carrots and the garlic and cook uncovered for another 5 mins.

Meanwhile grind all the whole spices in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Tip this mixture into with the carrots and onion long with the harissa. Stir well to mix and then add in all of your stock. Bring to a nice simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are soft.

Then add in the drained chickpeas, and allow these to heat through. Remove one cup full of the mixture and blend the remaining with a stick blender. Add back in the cup and stir before serving with a big dollop of yogurt.

This soup sounds pretty simple – but it’s pretty spectacular. It must be the harissa – seriously make it – it’s great!

I went a bit crazy with this photo – but I like it.

Sun Dried Tomato & Sprouted Red Linseed Tapenade

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Alive, Alive – ooh!
Firstly, you may or may not have noticed that this little corner of the Internet has been a little quiet of late. Reasons for this being, firstly various holidays taken by me and Lola and secondly has been work – I have been closing up a large and frantic tender – and Lola has recently started a new job. Food, sadly has been low on our list of priorities.

I ate some wonderful Polish food in Gdansk, great sauteed potatoes and pork fillet pounded thin and tender in a  rich creamy sauce spicy with green peppercorns (for breakfast – ahem). The other memorable food experience was cooking a ratatouille in an empty swimming pool in the centre of Berlin.

So following these late nights of both partying and working – with all convenience food that goes with them, I felt like I needed a little cleanse. So I’ve been eating raw food  for the last few days. I’ve been sprouting seeds sporadically over the last few years, it’s great fun and very easy to do.

Simply soak 1 tablespoon of seeds in water over night  - then drain and place on a saucer/plate/sprouter. Rinse the seeds once/twice a day and watch as they triple in size and explode apart with shoots. I’ve bought a few packets of pre-mixed assortments of seeds in health food shops, but have also successfully sprouted mung beans, chickpeas, cress and various lentils. It’s amazing to think of so many store cupboard ingredients being able to transform themselves so readily with just some water and daylight.

I’ve added these most often to salads, but also go great in curries, stews and soups – as garnish or an integral part of the dish. This was the first time I used them as a part of a dip,  Sharp, tangy, hot and garlicy – goes great with crudities.

Ingredients
4 sun dried tomatoes in oil 
a big handful of any kind of sprouts (I used a mixture of brown lentils, red linseed and mung beans) 
1 clove of garlic (less if you’re not a big garlic fan) 
A good squeeze of lemon juice 
2 small cherry tomatoes 
1 tablespoon of olive oil 
1 tablespoon of tahini 
a few sprigs of parsley 
Salt and freshly milled pepper

Add all ingredients,  except the fresh tomatoes, into a blender and blend to your desired consistency -  I added in the two small tomatoes at the end to thin it out a little and give it a better consistency. I’d love to know what you think of this yummy cousin of hummous twice removed !

I’ve been busy in the kitchen – making various things to go in jars – spicy tomato chutney and homemade mustard – can’t post till they’ve had some time to mature so stay posted!

Tahini honey oat cakes

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Ta honey

These are lovely little biccies to have with your cup of tea, and they are pretty much guilt free as they contain no sugar, wheat, dairy, egg or butter! Also they only take 10 mins to bake and are super easy to prepare, being from the 'throw everything into a bowl and stir' family of recipes.

I love to have something sweet after my dinner and am trying a wheat free diet right now so these are pretty much a godsend and I know I will make them again and again.

Ingredients:

6tbsps Tahini paste

1/2 cup runny honey

1/2 a cup toasted flaked almonds

1/2 a cup raisins

6 dates, chopped

Blend the tahini and honey in a bowl, then add all of the other ingredients and mix well.

Using a spoon, divide the mixture into cookie shaped heaps on a greased baking tray. This should make about 12. Bake at 180c for 10 mins. Let them cool a bit and them transfer them to a cooling rack so that they don't go soggy underneath. Be careful when transferring them as they are crumbly when they are still hot, but get more solid as they cool.

You could use different variations depending on what you have lying around your kitchen, I will definitely be trying these with some of the following:

-toasted sunflower seeds

-hazelnuts (or any other nuts for that matter)

-lemon zest & a bit of juice

-candied peel

-Maple syrup

-peanut butter + some vegetable oil in place of the tahini (with chocolate chips which would make it not healthy but pretty delicious)

Deep Fill Leek, potato & Bacon Omlette

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Lest I forget (completely) 

My photo archives show me some very tasty dishes I have cooked over the last year - but due to circumstances they never reached the pages of this blog in sufficient time - and I've forgotten how exactly how I made them, I have a good idea though. So no longer will these photos lie on my hard-drive unloved and unseen - the will be released onto the pages of our blog - and if anybody wants further details - just ask - and I'll do my best to remember!

Not a recipe

I guess I mandolin-ed  a few spuds – chopped some leek – cooked the leek in some butter with thyme and garlic – then added the spuds and cooked until they were soft. Then when this was all soft and golden and delicious – I whisked up some eggs with a little milk and seasoning  - then I chucked these over the leek and suds allowed to cook on the heat for a while. I probably then grated some cheese on top – then banged it under a hot grill which made it go all puffy and crisped the top,

Then I dressed some rocket leaves with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and shaved some parmesan and tomatoes. There appears to be some bacon in there too – that would have been fried up just before adding in the leeks I guess.There may well have been some chives in there  - or parsely

The one thing I remember for sure was – that is was delicious. Oh yes! It would have been a shame to let this recipe slide past just cause I’m forgetful

Pea and mint soup

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Absolutely minted.

I have blogged before about my early childhood experience of brightly coloured soups before. So suffice to say that this version of pea soup is so quick its almost instant. Fresh, bright green and delicious. I served it with the aforementioned homemade sourdough bread on a gorgeous spring afternoon. Its a winner all round.

1 small onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 500g pack frozen peas

500ml good vegetable stock

a handful fresh mint leaves, chopped

Saute the onion and garlic in a small glug of olive oil in a roomy pot until they are soft and transluscent. Add the peas to the pot and the hot stock. Bring back up to the boil. At this point the peas will be cooked. Add half the mint and blitz the whole lot in a blender or with a stick blender. Season to taste. To serve add the rest of the mint. Thats it!

Some chopped grilled bacon added in to this would be really good too.

Grilled asparagus salad with warm poached egg

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Spring is here!

So, I was sick all last week and feeling very sorry for myself. My wonderful mother thought she needed to perform some real old fashioned motherly duties and arrived at our house bearing gifts: a care package containing bunches of flowers and two shopping bags full of lovely treats like papaya, grapes, chocolate Swiss roll, more baked goods than is good for me, a whole chicken, and loads of lovely fresh veggies including two bunches of asparagus. She even hoovered the hall stairs, what an amazing lady! I am now systematically cooking my way through all the delightful ingredients she brought, and last night I whipped up this dish for Lu and I. It tasted even better than it looks!

(for 2 people)

Ingredients:

1 Bunch asparagus

2 eggs

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 large handfuls rocket leaves

6 leaves of romaine lettuce

2 slices good crusty Italian (or similar) bread

1 clove garlic

juice of half a lemon

olive oil

mustard

honey

Hold each asparagus spear at either end and bend until it breaks where it naturally should break. Discard the woody ends. Toss the asparagus spears in olive oil and pepper and place under a hot grill. Grill for 4-5 mins on both sides until slightly charred and softened.

Meanwhile, bring a shallow pan of water (about 3 inches in depth) to a rolling boil. Wash the salad leaves and dry. make the salad dressing using 3 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice, and about a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of mustard (depends on how you like it). Use this to dress the salad leaves.

Toast the bread and cut the garlic clove in half. Rub the cut edge of the garlic all over the slices of toast.

Turn the heat down on the boiling water until it is just simmering. Add the vinegar. Break an egg into a shallow cup or ladle, and tip it as quickly as you can into the water. The idea is to try to get the egg to stay as 'together' as possible while you are tipping it into the water. Do the same with the other egg, you can cook the two of them together in the same pan. Use a slotted spoon to check if the egg is cooked. The white should be firm but the yolk still runny. Give it about 3 minutes.

To serve, assemble the salad & asparagus on the toast and top with the egg. This would also have been nice with some Parmesan shavings or some grilled pancetta.

Lu's new camera has really come into its own, hasn't it! So worth it, look forward to our photos improving even more from here on in!

Chicken soup

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For your sick chicken

I've been languishing in bed for the past three days- thank God for laptops! I even missed our St.Patrick's day party, which sounded like it went with a bang judging by the noises coming from downstairs and the state of my friends coming upstairs to pay me a visit. When Lu and I first lived together in College, I introduced her to the joys of a good chicken soup, which, according to my mother can cure everything from a broken heart to a broken toe, but its definitely the best comfort for a cold or flu.

So Lu, like the great friend she is came home from work last night and cooked me this, my Mum's chicken soup special. Joy! I had some for dinner and just ate this delicious bowl of goodness for my lunch-in-bed. I feel better already!

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, grated

1 red chilli, chopped and de-seeded

about 2 1/2 litres water

2 carrots, cut in half

2 sticks celery, cut in half

1 bay leaf

6 whole black peppercorns

In your largest pot, saute the onion, garlic, ginger and chili in some olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the chicken legs and the water (the water should cover the chicken legs by about 1 inch, and will probably reach the top of your pot), followed by the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil, and then simmer at a low heat for anything from 1 -2 hours. depending on how long you have.

Remove the chicken legs from the broth and strip away all the meat. Discard the skin and bones and shred the chicken meat. Return this to the pot. Fish out the peppercorns. You can eat the carrots and celery too if you like, of leave them out if you don't fancy it.

Serve with noodles, rice, dumplings, or just by itself. Its nice garnished with spring onions.

Make a huge pot and eat it for a couple of days... until your cold is all gone!

Saffron Spiced Bulgur Pilaf with Pomegranate

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Anti-oxidant Rich and Quick

So I have a quick hour to prepare some dinner after work before nipping off to rehearsal. I’d also like some food for my lunch tomorrow, so decide to make up a kind of fancy bulgur pilaf. Something full on flavour and light on time. You can substitute the bulgur for cous-cous, quinoa or rice if you have them handy.

Ingredients
2 as a main - 3 as a side
1 cup of bulgur wheat
5 strands of saffron
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small red onion - finely diced
2 small cloves of garlic crushed
2 teaspoons of poppy seeds
1 large handful of cashews
1 handful of raisins
1/2 pomegranate - seeds
big pinch of garam masala

In a pan - add one cupful of hot water to the saffron strands, crush the strands gently with a wooden spoon to release the colour. Leave to steep while you prepare the rest of your dinner.

Fry the onion, in a non-stick pan, for two minutes over a medium heat for a few minutes before adding in the garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent. Stir in the garam masala and cook for another minute. Stir in the bulgur wheat until coated with oil, then add in the saffron water, and then another cup of water. Bring to a simmer and cook for three minutes, add a little more water if this begins to stick.

Stir in the seeds, raisins and cashew nuts when you think it’s cooked. A big bunch of freshly chopped parsley would be great stirred in here, or some fresh coriander if you have some. Stir in the pomegranate seeds when off the heat, reserve a few more for garnish.

This makes a great side to serve alongside baked sweet potatoe falafel or hummus, or alongside some sticky ginger roast chicken legs. It would be a great little dish to bring along to a picnic or buffet lunch. The yellow from the saffron and the red little jewels of pomegranate seeds make it a very pretty side dish. I served it with some carrots that I parboiled and then glazed with honey and balsamic vinegar and popped under the grill to get rich and brown.

Roast Pear & Parsnip Soup

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The Bare Necessities

My sister in law Jessica is the healthiest person I know. She's a veggie who rarely indulges in sugar, wheat or dairy and as a result she is never sick, has a figure that I would kill for and perfect, skin, hair, teeth etc etc. Her two year old has never had a cold or any other ailment in her life. Go figure...
 

Anyway, Jessica is also a great cook and over the years has become adept at making delicious recipes with none of the naughty stuff included, but you would hardly know. I'm talking baked goods here, chocolate brownies, muffins and the like with no sugar wheat or dairy but still amazingly light and delish. (I'm angling for a guest blog from her some time soon!). I was telling her about our vegetable box and the fact that we had a surplus of parsnips, and she suggested I try making pear and parsnip soup. So I did, and here is my version of what sounds like a strange combination... its pretty sweet but if you don't eat any refined sugar I guess it could be a nice treat if you have a sweet craving. In typical me - style, I ate it with toast slathered in butter and melted cheese, which kind of defeats the purpose of such a healthy, satisfying and filling soup.
 

Ingredients

1 onion
6-8 parsnips
1 pear
1 ltr veg stock 

salt & pepper

Cut up the onion into 8ths, peel the parsnips and cut them lengthwise into quarters and then cut these quarters in half. Cut the pear in half and remove the core. Place everything on a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in a hot oven for about 3/4 of an hour until the parsnips are soft all the way through.

Transfer to a large saucepan and add the hot stock. Using a stick blender, whizz everything together until smooth. If you think it's too thick, add more stock. Season to taste.

Reheat and serve!

Paneer Tomato & Green Bean Masala

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So it's been a while since we went to the land of curry. I'm on a bit of an 'eat less meat buzz' right now, and I had some paneer lurking in my fridge for a week or two now. I think I should prob brush up on new Indian recipes, I've fallen into a rut with the spices and herbs I use - but hey they work - so why change!

Paneer is a lovely dense cheese, used in Indian cooking, like tofu, but much nicer. It comes in a block, and can be added to curries and cooked in the mixture, or I prefer to fry it a little to give it a nice golden brown colour and then allowing it to bubble away in the mixture to absorb all the depth and spice of your chosen curry. I made a Panner Butter Masala which is delicious, creamy and rich, make this if you feel like a treat, this however is a more healthy way of using this great cheese - inspired by the delicious food served at Govindas if you've never been it's well worth trying one of their three restaurants in Dublin City for a HUGE portion of healthy delicious food.

Ingredients

I block of paneer - cut into small cubes 2cm squares

2 small red onions - finely diced

4 large tomatoes - chopped (skins removed if you prefer)

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 inch of ginger root grated

a handful of green beans cut in half

1 red chilli (seeds optional - I optioned them in!)

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon masala curry powder

1 pinch of asa foetida (optional)

3 curry leaves (bay leaves will do)

3 cardamon pods

1/2 teaspoon of funugreek (ground)

1/4 stock cube

First dry roast the whole spices (mustard seeds, cumin and cardamon seeds) in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove to pestle and mortar and crush to release the flavors. The heat some oil in your frying pan and fry the cubes of paneer 10 or so at a time - till a nice golden colour on a few sides. Then remove to a plate and continue till they're all done.

Alternatively - use a pre-mixed spice - like garam-masala - or any type of curry powder/paste that you  have, don't let my extensive list of spices put you off!  

Add in the onion, cook for one minute before adding in the garlic and ginger. Cook these for several minutes until the onion is translucent. Then stir in your crushed spices and cook for a further minute or two, then add in the dried spices and stir. After this tip in the chopped tomatoes and stock cube add a little water and bring up to simmer, cover and leave o cook for about 20-25 minutes. Before you're ready to serve put the green beans on top of the curry - cover for two minutes, and then shy should be cooked but not mushy, stir well and serve.

I serve this with some jasmine rice and a side of aloo-gobi.

All veggies came from our box from Fruitfellas - I feel healthier just looking at this!

Roasted pepper and butternut squash soup

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All the Kings Veg

The aforementioned Fruitfellas box of goodies arrived and we found we suddenly had what seemed like several hundred red and yellow peppers in the fridge and in the box, and we needed to do something with them. The communal fruit/veg bowl also harboured half a butternut squash that was approaching the end of its time on earth. Something needed to be done. Fast.

So of course, we made soup, and very delicious it was too.

Roasted pepper and butternut squash soup

1/2 a large butternut squash

6 red and yellow peppers

handful cherry tomatoes or 2 normal tomatoes, quartered

1 head garlic

about 1 pint light stock (chicken or veg)

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Peel and slice the squash and place in your largest roasting tin along with the tomatoes and the deseeded peppers which have been cut into quarters. Bash the head of garlic so that it comes apart but don't peel the cloves. Add them to the tin and drizzle everything with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 200c or about 40 mins or until the squash is totally soft and the peppers are browned.

Transfer the vegetables to a saucepan. Peel the roasted garlic cloves and add these in too. add in the stock until it just covers the vegetables in the saucepan. Using a stick blender, whizz everything together until smooth. If its too thick, add a bit more stock until you get to the consistency you like.

Season to taste and serve with !

Almond Pesto

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With roasted vegetable pasta

Lu and I recently came across this new company, fruitfellas, who are better known as Rob and Gav, two lovely lads who for a mere 20 quid will deliver a box of gorgeous, colourful fruit and veg straight to your door. If like me you don't have a car, this is a godsend as it eliminates the need to carry tesco bags up a hill with your arm muscles straining and the bags cutting into your hands. Also, the produce is fresher & nicer than Tescos, and straight from the markets of Dublin to keep everything nice and local, kinda.

We got very excited about or box of fruit and veg, and, finding out that you can also get fresh herbs we ordered a silly amount of basil and flat leaf parsley. One week later, said herbs were still sitting around the kitchen looking slightly the worse for wear. 'We could make pesto if only we had some pine nuts' said Lu 'No way', I'm never eating pine nuts again, I'm too scared of getting Pine nut mouth' said I.

This pesto is subsequently made with almonds, which worked out perfectly. I don't know whey I never tried it before. Much cheaper than pine nuts too which I have seen at an aforementioned super market for €8 a bag!

Almond pesto

NB- I didn't really measure anything, so this is a kind of guesstimate recipe. Use your instincts about how pesto should look and you will be fine

Ingredients

1 big bunch Basil

1/2 a big bunch Flat leaf parsley

about a double handful of flaked almonds (i dunno, about 1 cup in American measurements)

about 100 ml olive oil

2 oz Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1 small clove garlic (or half a big clove)

salt and pepper

In a food processor, whizz up the herbs and almonds. Then add the olive oil slowly while you whizz until the mixture reaches your desired consistency (you know, pesto-like) stop whizzing and transfer to a bowl. Add the Parmesan and crushed garlic clove and mix with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste, and more olive oil if you think it is too stiff.

We made a delicious pasta with this pesto.

We roasted some vine tomatoes, whole cloves of garlic(in their skins) red peppers and broccoli (that we had blanched in boiling water) all for about 40 mins. Then we cooked some pasta, threw in all the veg (took the skins of the roasted garlic first!) and a couple of big dollops of the pesto. Man was it good! It was so good I decided that Lucy and I are true culinary geniuses (genii?)

Speaking of which, I will be blogging a recipe from my new Julia Child cook book very, very soon, so get ready for butter, and lots of it.

January Detox Vegetable Bowl

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It's never too late

Well now, I know that this recipe is coming a little late into January, but after the turkey, ham, 20 different kinds of cheese, new years in a house with a deep fat fryer, the big freeze necessitating comfort food and then a quick trip to the alps with all the fondue and frites France could provide, I’m just getting down to a bit of healthy eating. It’s never too late don’t ya know.

I got loads of nice food pressies for Christmas - and this dish gave me a chance to use my new mandolin, thanks mum! It’s grate!! (sorry it had to be done) Basically it’s a nice big bowl of stir-fried veg with some nice dressing and a sprinkling of omega 3 rich nuts and seeds. It would make a nice side dish with some grilled salmon or a nicely fried pork chop, to make a nice low carb meal. The cabbage really looks like spaghetti in this shot, so you could pretend. It would also be super yum with red cabbage

Ingredients
Serves 1 as a main - 2 as a side
1/4 of a head of cabbage - finely sliced
2 small carrots - finely slice
1 white onion - finely sliced
4 spears of asparagus
3 cloves of garlic finely sliced
a handful of sliced almonds
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
a dash of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of white wine (or other ) vinegar
2 tablespoons of olive oil - and a little extra
1/3 teaspoon of English mustard
a handful of raisins/sultanas
Salt and Pepper

Under a hot grill toast the slivered almonds and sesame seeds, until turning nice and golden.

Heat up a dash of olive oil in a large frying pan/wok. When hot fire in your onion and garlic,, keep it moving gently with a wooden spoon, until soft and starting to take on a nice tinge of dark brown on some parts. Throw in the cabbage and carrots, and cook for two mins, keeping it moving still then fold in your asparagus tips and cook for another one minute.

Mix together the remaining ingredients to make your sauce., then stir it into the frying pan. Serve sprinkled with the toasted nuts and seeds, enjoy and feel virtuous. (PS I had a dream that there was lots of parsley in the fridge last night - Freud would say that if I could have, I would have, added some Parsley)

Tasty Filling Barley Stew

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Come share with me your pearls of wisdom, and give us some of your soup while your at it

I have loved pearl barley ever since I was a kid and my mum would put it into Irish stew. I wanted to make a nice barley filled chunky soup, this soup however got so thick it turned into a stew!

Ingredients
2 onions finely diced
2 cloves of garlic
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
3 small potatoes cubed
1 cup of pearl barley
1.5 pints of stock
6 leaves of sage shopped (can use dried if you like)
Sprig of rosemary - chopped
Salt and pepper
Oil of choice

Fry up your onion for 1 minute in your oil over a medium heat, then add in your garlic, rosemary and sage- cook until soft and translucent. Stir in your barley and fill up with stock, bring to a gentle boil. You can now use this time to prepare your vegetables. After about 20 mins of simmering pop in your veg and potatoes. Leave to simmer for another 20 mins until the barley is soft with a little bite and the potatoes are cooked. Serve!

Of you want a more soupy consistency - just add more stock