I recently caved to a long-held desire and spent a budget-breaking €40 on a cookbook. To justify such insane expenditure, I’m going to have to cook just about everything in it – but so far, the Cornucopia: at home cookbook has more than lived up to my (significant) expectations.

At the risk of sounding like a paid reviewer (I’m not) or recipient of a complementary copy (cue a significant sigh from my purse, alas), I think I could live out of this cookbook alone. And I’m not a vegetarian. Every recipe starts with some often very-insightful background information about the recipe, and though it’s over 450 pages, plenty of recipes are followed by extensive modification suggestions, which are much more comprehensive than ‘try adding some cumin seeds’ or whatever, and often totally change the flavours involved.

One thing I would say, is that many of the recipes are laid out in a very accessible way. This is great for a beginner, but means the ‘method’ section isn’t always as efficient as possible – it will tell you for example, to dice the sweet potatoes and put them in a bowl of water to stop them browning before you start, when there’s actually plenty of time to do this later, as they’re added after the stew has been simmering away for ten minutes. I wouldn’t so much call that a criticism though, as something to be aware of if you do decide to pick up a copy for yourself.

Sambar, I can now tell you, is traditionally from Southern India and Sri Lanka: peas are cooked in a turmeric-flavoured broth, which is thickened with a ‘sambar powder’ of mixed spices and ground lentils. This dish is very much a Western interpretation, and though delicious, like many stews it was much tastier on day two, as the flavours had time to fully develop, so I’d recommend making it as far in advance as possible.

Sweet Potato, Broccoli and Lentil Sambar
Serves 4 – 6
Adapted from Cornucopia: at home

1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely sliced
2 medium sweet potatoes
1 small head of broccoli, in bite sized chunks (you can include the stalk all if you like)
1 handful green beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
75g lentils
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
3 teaspoons turmeric
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or one cinnamon quill)
Fresh coriander to garnish (optional)
Sunflower oil

1. Place a pot of salted water to boil. Rinse the lentils and add them to the pot. Simmer until soft – 20 minutes or so for the dry puy lentils I used, probably 8-10 if you’re using red lentils. When they’re cooked, drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli florets for three minutes in boiling water. Drain, reserving 250ml of the water if you can be bothered, refresh under cool water, and set aside. (In the interests of washing up saving, leave them in a bowl big enough to add the lentils to it when they’re done).
3. Then cover the base of a large saucepan with sunflower oil and place over a medium heat. Add the spices and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the onions, and stir for 3 more minutes. After this, add the carrots, tomatoes and 250ml water (either the broccoli cooking water or just tap water).
4. Cover, bring to a gentle simmer and reduce to a low heat, stirring occasionally. At this stage, you want to dice your sweet potato into bite-sized chunks, not too small though!
5. After 10 minutes, add the sweet potato and simmer for another 15 minutes, until the carrots and sweet potatoes are soft.
6. Add the beans and cook for a minute or two, and then the lentils and broccoli. Bring to a simmer and serve, either as a stew in its own right, or on rice.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves, if desired.

It would not be unfair to argue that these cookies are merely an inferior version of the recipe championed by Deb over at Smitten Kitchen. And while it’s true, that doesn’t negate the fact that these were made entirely with ingredients I already had in my cupboard (no mean feat these days). Oh and the flatmates devoured them.

Plus, I got to use my uber-cute new oven mitts (the fact they’re in french automatically increases my sense of culinary accomplishment). I mean, really there’s not much more to say.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes a lot. Like, 36.

1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter (I used Whole Earth crunchy original with no added sugar- I do have a favourite peanut butter, and it’s on special offer in Tesco)
3/4 cups caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. In a different large bowl, beat the butter and the sugars together until smooth. Add the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Beat well.
3. Add in the flour and mix well. Then stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.
4. Spoon a teaspoon of the cookie mix onto a baking sheet at regular intervals (leave some room for expansion) and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon.
5. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
6. When removing them on the oven, allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for a minute before removing them to a plate (or a wire baking rack if you have one).
7. Hide.

A while ago, I heard that the nice people behind Cully & Sully are running a competition. Now, Cully & Sully are actually a brand close to my heart. They launched (or perhaps more accurately, became available in my local Superquinn) back when I was sitting my Leaving Cert. And, caught up in the hype of the exam, I used to stay for late night study in my school several times a week – although those who were there can attest to the fact that studying was not always our top priority.

Dinner was eaten in the home economics room; a hastily prepared affair. Avonmore soups always featured prominently – I ate so much Tomato and Basil soup that year that truthfully, I don’t think I’ve had it again since. Then there was the mixed-bag of leftovers from whatever the rest of your family had eaten for dinner the evening before. Stir fry, I learnt, does not microwave well. And then, one day, someone discovered Cully & Sully. It was a chicken dish, in it’s own little ceramic dish, and it was delicious. I have quite the collection of ceramic dishes now to prove it. Fish pie, I think, also made an appearance.

So when I heard Cully & Sully were launching their ChefFactor competition, I got very excited and started planning my entry immediately. Obviously my Macbook is deeply attuned to my emotional state, because I woke up the next morning to find the power supply had gotten over-excited itself during the night, unfortunately, of the sizzling and fizzling kind. The issues with finding a new power cable don’t bear discussing, except to say that I am blessed with fantastic flatmates, who only require that I occasionally bake for them (of which more later).

In any case, the competition remains pretty nifty. You bake a dish, you take a photo of you and your dish (with the words Cully&Sully visible in the photo) and you get the chance to win a €12,000 cookery course at the world-acclaimed Ballymaloe Cookery School. You can even pick whether you want to do the course in January 2011 or January 2012.

More information can be found over on the official website but the important thing to note is that you can enter right up until November 24th (though voting starts on October 25th so you might want to get your entry up by then!). They’re not looking for Masterchef standard – that’s what Ballymaloe is for – just a dish that you’ve prepared yourself, even if it’s just beans on toast (I like mine with chorizo and tabasco… mmm).

I still haven’t managed to come up with my entry yet but in the mean time, I leave you with this humble, but oh-so-tasty steamed mussel pasta. Who knew mussels were so cheap? Mine were from the ever-reliable Kish Fish and cost €3 for a kilo. Success!

Steamed Mussel Pasta

Serves 2*

* This makes a double quantity of pasta sauce – either do as I did and freeze half the tomato sauce or double the amount of mussels and spagetti to serve 4.

Ingredients:

1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 red chili (optional)
2 x 400g tins tomato (I used 1 tin plum tomatoes, 1 tin cherry tomatoes)
1 glass white wine (optional)
1 anchovy in oil, mashed (optional)
250g wholewheat spaghetti
1 kg fresh mussels
Olive oil
Black pepper
Fresh basil

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and chili if using, fry gently until the onions become translucent.
2. Add the tomatoes, wine and anchovy. Gently break up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon, simmer over a low heat for about 45 minutes, until the sauce has reduced.
3. Meanwhile prepare the mussels. Wash them in a colander, rubbing them roughly against one another to remove any beards and crusty bits.
4. Tap the mussels sharply against the counter, discarding any that do not close after a minute or two.
5. When the tomato sauce has been on for about thirty five minutes, bring a pot of water to the boil. Then cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet – probably for about 12 minutes.
6. By this stage, the tomato sauce should be just about ready. Add a handful of fresh basil, finely torn. If you do want to freeze some of the pasta sauce, spoon it into a separate container now.
7. Add the mussels to the pot of tomato sauce, and turn up the heat. Put on the lid and steam the mussels for three minutes. Discard any mussels which do not open.
8. Drain the pasta, add to the mussel and tomato sauce mix. Serve with fresh basil.

Mondays are always mad hectic when it comes to dinners. With at most an hour to change, eat and tidy up before heading out again, quick but filling is a must – despite my best efforts I have yet to manage to cook a batch of anything other than soup at the weekends, and that gets brought to work or frozen for my emergency lunch stock.

You can pretty much throw whatever’s in the fridge into this, I certainly do! This version is vegetarian, but would be vegan without the feta.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 can mixed beans
3 tomatoes, in large dice
2 spring onions, finely chopped
40g feta cheese
Kalamata olives (These didn’t make it into the photo, I added them for my lunch today)

Juice 1/2 lemon
Dash balsamic vinegar
Dash olive oil
Black pepper

Method

Mix the salad ingredients. Pour over the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil (no need to mix first) and season with black pepper.

I think it’s safe to say that Summer threw a spanner in my blog-updating schedule. And a lot has happened since my last post, way back when. Aside from finishing up my summer job, I submitted my MA thesis at the beginning of this month. Three days before that, I moved out of home, and six days later I started my new job. So it’s safe to say, there’s been a degree of upheaval to my comfortable routine.

Chocolate, however, remains a constant. The recipe for these chocolate fudge muffins came from the BBC Good Food site, however my personal baking supplies do not yet extend to two seven-inch cake tins, so I made muffins instead. And pretty good muffins they were too!

The original icing recipe was a little different, with icing sugar instead of caster sugar and without the melting. I couldn’t be bothered to buy icing sugar though, so made some changes to the method.

Makes 12 Large Muffins

Cake:

175g self-raising flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

150g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 pint vegetable oil

1/4 pint milk

2 tablespoons golden syrup

Icing (makes a lot – if you are making muffins rather than a cake you can probably half this).

75g butter, at room temperature

150g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place muffin cases into a muffin tray.
2. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa. Add the sugar and stir well.
3. Make a well in the centre and add the beaten eggs, milk, golden syrup and vegetable oil.
4. Whisk until smooth and then spoon into the muffin cases. The batter was very runny at this stage, but rose a lot in the oven – half filling the muffin cases was perfect.
5. Cook for 20 minutes. The muffins should have risen and be firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool.
6. Meanwhile, make the icing. I just melted everything together and spread it on top of the cooled muffins. Easy peasy.

I think we can all agree that almonds are a thing of health and goodness. Packed full of protein, healthy fats and Vitamin E, the benefits attributed to almonds include lowering cholesterol, preventing diabetes and heart disease and even helping weight loss. Really an excuse to combine them with lashings of butter, flour, sugar and eggs if ever I heard one.

The intention was to create something akin to almond fingers, and while this mission was not entirely successful, these almond slices made a surprisingly addictive treat nevertheless. As an added bonus, I munched them all through Wicklow and have yet to keel over, so whatever about the health benefits, they’re somewhat less than lethal! They were also very good with a fruit salad of strawberries, nectarines and the obligatory (in my house at least) Cointreau.

Almond Slices

1 egg, separated

3/4 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup icing sugar

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/4 cups plain flour

3/4 cup (170 g) butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks.

30 blanched almonds

2 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Butter a brownie pan and line with tin foil. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Mix 1/4 cup ground almonds with the icing sugar, egg white and a teaspoon of almond extract.
2. Add the salt and 1/4 cup caster sugar, stir well.
3. In a separate bowl, use a hand-held mixer to beat together the butter and remaining sugar, until the mixture changes colour.
4. Add the almond mix, egg yolk and the remaining almond extract and beat until well combined.
5. Reduce the mixer speed to low then incorporate the flour, 1/4 cup at a time.
6. Transfer the batter into the tin and place the blanched almonds atop the batter at regular intervals.
7. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the top is golden. When done, remove from the oven and leave in the tin on a wire rack until completely cooled. Then lift out the tin foil from the pan and slice into squares.

I’d like to pretend that my recent absence from the blogosphere was due to a number of fascinating real-world commitments, which entirely monopolised my free-time but will make excellent dinner-party conversation for years to come. Unfortunately, the real reason is tragically mundane: my laptop died. The grieving period was short however, and I managed to struggle on, even making it to my first ever GAA match – and what a match it was.

Delicious Served with Mango and Pepper Salsa

Now though, ‘new’ (i.e. other, reconditioned), laptop in hand, I am back, and able to tell you all about my latest culinary undertakings, with no nasty real-world commitments to deter me. Oh, except that I’m still working that crazy million-hours-a-day-on-the-other-side-of-the-city job but its good to be busy!

One of the quote-unquote ‘perks’ of my summer job is that lunch and dinner are included. Which is nice because it’s convenient, and less nice because it’s a lot of chips and pizza. So while I like to think that this salmon was delicious based on its own merits, please do bear in mind that I hadn’t had a home-cooked meal in three weeks!

Five-Spice Salmon with Noodles

For the Salmon:

4 salmon fillets
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Juice 1/2 lime
2 teaspoons Five Spice powder
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 thumb fresh ginger, finely chopped

For the Noodles:

4 portions dried whole-wheat noodles
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon seasame oil
2 heads Pak Choi
1 bunch asparagus
1/2 green chilli, sliced on the diagonal

1. Prepare the marinade for the salmon by mixing the honey, soy sauce, lime juice, five spice, red chilli and ginger together. Spread over the salmon and leave to marinade for 15-20 minutes.

2. Slice the pak choi and chop the asparagus into thirds. Add the green chilli and sunflower oil to a wok and heat for two minutes (or as long as it takes for the oil to get very hot) before adding the chopped vegetables.

3. Cook the noodles in boiling water for two minutes, then drain and add to the wok, along with the sesame oil.

4. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the salmon for 3-4 minutes on each side. Check the noodles and vegetables throughout – remove from the heat when the vegetables are still al dente.

For the Mango and Pepper Salsa mix the juice of half a lime with 1 mango, diced, 2/3 red pepper diced and a handful of chopped coriander.

Dear readers, if one day you should find yourself working crazy long hours on the other side of town, remember this post. These muffins will save your life.* The recipe came to me Confessions of a Tart, who described them as “the perfect breakfast muffin“. She could just be right.

Don't these carrots look healthy to you?

What do you think? Are these a contender for the perfect breakfast muffin, or do you have a recipe that will top them? Or do you have a quick and easy breakfast that will blow away all competition, muffins included? For the next six weeks I’ll be working long hours with early mornings, so I’m looking for suggestions!

* In such circumstances, a sister who is willing to take over the baking when you realise that the Tomato Tart has to go into the oven stat or Father’s Day brunch isn’t going to happen is also godsend. Thanks, Rosie.

Cranberry Breakfast Muffins
(Makes 18)

1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholewheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit: raisins, apricots, figs.)
1 large apple, peeled and grated
120g carrots, peeled and grated
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup natural yoghurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 170

2. Whisk the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a large bowl. Then add the sugars and which again.

3. Add the carrots and dried fruit to the flour mixture and toss well.

4. In a separate bowl, add the eggs, oil, yoghurt and vanilla extract and whisk. The stir the apple into the egg mixture before combing the egg mixture with the flour mix.

5. Stir until the mix is well-combined and there are no dry spots remaining.

6. Divide batter among approximately 18 muffin cups and bake until puffed and golden, between 20-25 minutes. A tester such as a skewer or fork should come out clean. Remove from the oven and turn onto wire racks to cool.

The muffins can then be frozen, or will keep for up to five days in an airtight container at room temperature.

I’m not sure what is responsible for my tart-baking obsession of late, sweet or savoury, I just can’t get enough of them. I’ve tried to break the habit, bookmarking and post-it-ing dishes at a rate of knots, but when it comes to getting in the kitchen, it’s the tarts that call to me.

The green stuff is Tarragon Mustard!

I think part of the problem dates back to the days of Junior Cert Home Economics. In the search for nutritiously balanced exam fare (for someone with a calcium deficiency) I cooked quiche. Specifically, Salmon and Broccoli Quiche. Not just once mind, or even twice. Indeed I’d say I cooked Salmon and Broccoli quiche at least once a week for the better part of three months.  Suggestions from The Mammy that I might try some different fillings were knocked out of hand. She didn’t understand home economics I told her. To this, she snorted, regretting, I am sure, her decision to mock me mercilessly for my choice of subject.

So for three months I cooked this little quiche to death. Armed only with my ingredients list and timing plans, I tested smoked salmon (expensive) and tinned salmon (kind of gross, but with more calcium) and various proportions of the two. I found my golden ratio, and then I cooked some more quiche. By the time it came to my exam, even I was stick of that eggy, cheesy mess. The perfect quiche was plated, presented, and quite possibly chucked in the bin. I had cooked my last quiche.

It's not quiche - but too close for comfort! Broccoli tart from the non-tomato-loving Sister

But perhaps in my eagerness to escape from the clutching grasp of the quiche, I overlooked it’s culinary cousin, the tart. Tart is like quiche, only better. You still get the tasty pastry base, the pretty, fluted edges and a wide variety of gorgeous fillings. But they’re lighter, less stodgy and definitely nicer looking. Plus you can have sweet tarts too. I challenge you to find a sweet quiche. But I think the tart and I might have to take a break now, if only because I have found a tart so perfect I would cook it every week.

Yet the fate of the quiche recipe warns me to beware: having cooked it by heart a thousand (exaggeration here is minimal) times, I now have zero recollection of what was involved. In my memory, it tasted better than any other quiche before or since, but I can no longer verify that fact. I no longer eat quiche, because nothing can match up to this distant and quite possibly entirely unrealistic memory.

So I am stepping away from the tarts, or at least from this absolutely delicious tomato, goats cheese and mustard tart. For as long as I can resist.

Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz.

For one 11″ tart dish (there was enough dough left over to make two individual-sized tarts as well). Half a tart served three for brunch, with green salad and asparagus on the side.

210g plain flour
125g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 tablespoons cold water

Dijon mustard. I used Tarragon Dijon Mustard though you could also use wholegrain mustard or even pesto for a different flavour.
4 ripe vine tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped herbs (thyme, chives or tarragon) – if not using flavoured mustard
200g goats cheese, cut into rounds.

1.  To make the pastry, mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the butter. Use a pastry blender (or your hands) to mix until the mixture has a breadcrumb-like consistency.

2. Beat the egg in a separate bowl, then make a well in the middle of the flour mix and stir in the egg until the dough comes together. If the mixture is to dry, add cold water, a tablespoon at a time.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and roll, using only enough flour to ensure it doesn’t stick. When the dough it the right size for the pan (large enough to cover the base and go up the sides) roll it onto your rolling pin to easily transfer it to the tart dish.

4. Gently fit the dough to the dish, then run your rolling pin across the top of the dish to ensure a clean edge.

5. Preheat the oven to 210°C.

6. Spread a layer of mustard over the bottom of the tart and leave to one side to dry while you prepare the tomatoes, slicing them into rounds.

7. Arrange the tomatoes over the mustard in an even, single layer, then drizzle with olive oil. Top with the goats cheese rounds and the fresh herbs, if using.

8. Cook the tart in the oven for 30 minutes, turning the oven down to 170°C once the cheese has browned (for me this was after 15 minutes).

There’s something inherently amusing about the way people can fixate en-masse over aspects of the weather. When I lived in Cambridge, the first week of the bitterly cold winter would inevitably result in a new kind of greeting, an urban myth which would be repeated again and again, as if just saying it would make you feel warmer. “Cold, isn’t it?”, “It’s the wind – there are no mountains between here and Siberia you know”. I don’t know whether the wind actually came from Siberia (I suspect not), but somehow it was certainly consoling to think that it might.

Fortunately in Ireland of late, conversation has taken a different bent, with all attention focused on the ‘Azores high’, which has resulted in some unusual (even unseasonable?) warm weather. As someone who hedged my bets with a brisk dip in the Irish sea back in May, because sometimes that’s the only summer we get, I’m out to make the most of it. In this, salsa is an essential accompaniment. Great as a dip with tortillas taking the place of a starter at impromptu barbeques, or you can add  jalapeños  and guacamole (to follow) and Gourmet Burger it up for a Mexican twist to your meal. And it’s not only cheaper than buying pre-made salsa, it’s dead simple and much tastier, without that gloopy texture that’s so typical of store-bought varieties.

Homemade Salsa

For this recipe, you need either a food processor, or a handheld blender.

The quantities here make about two bowls of salsa. You can half the recipe if you want, though it keeps surprisingly well in the fridge (probably 3 – 4 days).

2 tins chopped tomatoes, drained
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 cucumber
3 spring onions
1 red pepper
1 chilli – the amount of chilli will need to be adjusted dependant on your taste, as well as the variety of chilli. I find one chilli is usually best if making this for other people. If I’m just making this for my family I’d use 2, as we all like our food quite spicy.
Juice of 1 lime
Generous handful fresh coriander
Tabasco (optional)

1. Cut the cucumber and red pepper into chunks. Slice the garlic and spring onions and finely chop the chilli.

2. Combine all the ingredients (bar the tabasco) in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse for about 10 seconds. Stir, then pulse again – you’re aiming for a slightly chunky, rather than smooth, consistency. [If you used whole, rather than chopped tomatoes, you may need to spoon off some excess liquid at this stage, as its harder to drain them initially].

3. Taste for seasoning, adding tabasco for a spicy kick if desired.

]]> http://mangoeswithlime.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/homemade-salsa/feed/ 1 Aisling O'Dwyer Homemade Salsa Making Salsa