I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend. The celebrations again may be dampened once again due to restrictions. It is at times like these that I feel that food and traditions are more important than ever to mark and celebrate these occasions and save us from the everyday mundane. For those that follow me on Instagram you may have noticed I started on the hot cross buns several weeks ago. Easter Sunday there will be herb stuffed leg of lamb and all the trimmings. For pudding there will be a couple of options my Eton mess roulade and chocolate fudge cake. Below are a few recipes that may be of use over the long weekend.
However you celebrate I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend. Stay safe & well friends
Hot cross buns are enriched buns studded with dried fruit and marked with a cross to represent the crucifixion of Christ. They are usually made and consumed at the end of Lent. I don’t restrain myself to Easter alone to enjoy these gorgeous buns. My recipe is an all inclusive recipe in that I know that a lot of people in particular children are not fond of the sultanas that are traditional in the buns. However, I do not completely stray from tradition instead I split the dough and to one half I add the tradtitonal sultanas and to the other half I add chocolate chips. The recipe produces twelve buns, giving you six of each. I must warn, that you will want, no need lots of good butter to go with.
This year’s celebration will again be very different as here in Ireland it is the anniversary of Lockdown 1 and we are still in Lockdown. This year there will be a key ingredient in my Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations one that I love to both eat and drink that mighty pint of black stuff Guinness. It adds a herbily note with tones of molasses. In sweet items it gives a subtle almost ginger bread flavour and it is so good in beef stew in place of wine. I hope you all enjoy your Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations & stay safe.
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It can be hard to be inspired first thing in the morning about food. If like me you need several cups of caffeine whilst pondering what it is you would like for breakfast then you may be interested in this post. Below I have listed a few of my favourite breakfast dishes that might aid you in making a decision.
Guacamole Eggs
This dish is without doubt my favourite breakfast. It originally started out as Çılbır or Turkish eggs. Which is a dish of poached eggs served on garlicky yoghurt with a chilli butter sauce, I know it sounds crazy, but truly is divine. My version came about as I really wanted Turkish eggs for breakfast and had avocados that really needed using up so I mixed them through the yoghurt and it made the creamiest mild guacamole. I then substituted the aleppo pepper in the butter sauce and made a spicy chorizo sauce. I think perhaps I should have called these Irish eggs not because any of the key ingredients are Irish, but because it has the same colours of our flag the green of the guacamole, the brilliant white of the poached egg and the orange tinted chorizo butter sauce. All you need with these eggs is some good toasted bread to scoop them up. I hope you try and enjoy.
Ham & Cheese Jambons
For those not in the know ham and cheese jambons are a puff pastry parcels filled with, you guessed it, ham and cheese. They can be found everywhere in Ireland every petrol station and deli counter and for just reason nothing makes a better portable snack. Another, benefits of these are that the mixture makes 12 what I do is cook 6 to eat still warm from the oven and freeze the remaining 6 to be cooked straight from the freezer at a later date.
Granola Muffins
I used to really only ever make breakfast muffins at the weekend, now with this simple recipe I make them any day of the week. As with all muffins they are best eaten on the day they are made, I find the particularly handy during the week I can take a couple to my desk and eat through the day as I work. The time can vary a little in the cooking depending on the granola used.
Another favourite of mines is a dish that originated in lockdown one, not even really a recipe. I was out of bread and since I was making as little trips to the shops as possible, I had to come up with an alternative, I certainly first thing in the morning wasn’t going to start making a loaf of bread. I had some frozen potato waffles and though they are something to be honest I had eaten in years. I had a box for when my nephews and nieces are visiting, some of them are very fussy eaters. I simply toasted them in the toaster, it took 3 times for them to come out bronzed and slightly crisp. Whilst the waffles were toasting, I poached some eggs and make the quickest zingy chilli sauce by combining the juice of ½ lime, 1 tablespoon of runny honey and chilli flakes, fresh chilli chop finely is an excellent choice here too. Just stir together over heat until it begins to foam up, switch off the heat and let it stand to cool slightly whilst you waiting on the eggs and waffles. I simply topped the crispy toasted waffles with the soft poached or fried eggs and then drizzle with the chilli sauce.
What are your favourite breakfast dishes? Leave me a comment down below ad let me know.
The perfect excuse to make pancakes on a weekday. Whilst a good recipe is essential to pancake making, and below you will find one provided. For me the magic is what you eat them with. Usually for me it’s either a simple blackberry or raspberry sauce made by cooking the frozen berries in a little honey or with crispy bacon and poached eggs. However, you like your pancakes the below recipe won’t disappoint it makes fluffy delicious pancakes. I’m going rogue tomorrow and plan to eat mines with a salted caramel sauce, whipped cream and berries.
The below recipe calls for kefir, simply as I always have some in the fridge you can use instead buttermilk or runny plain yoghurt.
February 14th Valentine’s day; a celebration of love and romance. St. Valentine’s days romantic connection originated from the festival of Luprecalia, held in mid-February. The festivals celebrations included the pairing off of men and women hence it’s romantic connection. The day got its name from a priest that was martyred by emperor Claudius II Gothicus and his body buried close to the Ponte Milvio, to the north of Rome, on February 14th. The feast of Saint Valentine was established by Pope Gelaius Ad 469. It is believed that the colour red became associated with Valentine’s day to represent the blood of the martyred St. Valentine.
Let talk food and drink
What makes a recipe romantic? Is it the mood enhancing chocolate, the aphrodisiac qualities of oysters or perhaps some celebratory bubbles? For me someone who is completely food obsessed it’s quite hard to narrow down. I think whatever the dish maybe it must be easy on the washing up and dessert should be a make ahead one. I’m sure a kitchen strewn with dirty pots and pans does not make for a romantic setting. Below I have made a few suggestions as to dishes that I feel may help with the romances.
Steak tagliata , is a steak that is simply cut into thin strips, in fact it gets its name from the Italian word tagliare meaning to cut. I use a big juicy sirloin steak and can easily feed two of us with the one steak, and we aren’t light eaters. If this sound like the dish for you check out the recipe below.
What’s not to love about this classic Italian dish? It has some of the best flavour combinations eggs, bacon, pasta and cheese. This is another very quick dish, by the time the pasta has cooked everything else will be ready to go and only needs tossing together. Of course should the mood take you, you and your significant other can always have your Lady and the Tramp moment with this dish.
Again, another quick-fire recipe after all who is going to be in the mood if they have been slaving away in the kitchen all day and what a quacking recipe it is too. By the time the duck breasts have rendered out their fat and become golden brown and crispy skinned and had a few minutes resting everything else should be ready.
My go to dessert for Valentine’s day would without question be my quivering prosecco jellies with strawberries. These grown-up jellies still have a little tongue tingling fizz from the prosecco. It is an absolute requirement for me to have some double cream to pour into the crater left after every spoonful.
No Churn Nutella Ice Cream
Would any Valetine’s day be complete without chocolate? This is one of my favourite ice-cream recipes it only requires 3 ingredients and a quick whisk together and then pop it into the freezer until frozen.
I feel a little ambivalent about white chocolate or at least I used to until I discovered good white chocolate the kind that comes flecked with vanilla seeds. Again, another simple dessert that requires very little cooking a few minutes in fact to make the raspberry sauce and melt the white chocolate. Then just just pop them into the fridge until ready to eat.
Chorizo often creeps its way into my comfort food and go to recipe for a couple of reason one is its long shelf life I always have a couple stashed in the fridge and the other is because I simply adore its flavour and the flavour it imparts on any dish it is cooked with. For example, the flavour it can bring to a simple pan-fried chicken breast is phenomenal. Simply chop the chorizo warm it through in a dry pan until it releases those flavoursome orange tinted oils, remove from the pan then fry a butterflied chicken breast seasoned simply with salt & pepper in the oil until cooked through. Top with cheddar cheese and pop under a hot grill to melt the cheese. Yum!
This brings me to my chicken & chorizo orzo which is the type of bolstering comfort food I love. The orzo gets all sticky and gives the whole dish a velvety texture, the chorizo gives bright bold flavour and the chicken cooks in the steam released from the whole dish and the skin in the final 15 minutes in the oven with the lid off makes the skin really crisp up and bronze. Truely comfort food at its best. It also helps that it is very easy on the washing up. Check out the recipe below.
