Babaduck

My Funny Valentine Biscuits

2012-02-11T11:19:00.000Z

On February 14th in our house, the emphasis is never on romance as both of our mums were born on Valentine's Day, so it's usually all about them. Eventually we'll exchange cards and even a little gift but it's never a huge palaver because mammies are far more important.

These biscuits are very special but also very easy to make. I used a variation of the sour cream icing from Sarah's Celebration Cake but made it very romantic by using white chocolate and a mixed red berry puree so it's very pretty in pink. The buttery biscuits are spiked with lemon and lime zest for an extra burst of citrus. If you want, you can replace 50g of the flour with cocoa powder for a chocolate hit - the contrast of the deep brown biscuit against the pale pink icing would be really pretty.

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Pristine Cuisine at La Cucina

2012-02-09T21:15:00.001Z

On Friday last, myself & The Hubs set off down the M7 for a weekend break in Limerick. The eating plan for the weekend was pretty much mapped out - so many places to eat, so little time! Our Friday night dinner was to be at Bridgestone listed and Best Casual Restaurant winner, La Cucina in Castletroy. Run by dream team Lorraine (@italianfoodie) and Bruno (@mritalianfoodie), this small but perfectly formed Italian restaurant draws customers from all over Limerick. Our taxi driver told us that "the queues are out the door but the pizzas are fantastic". Now that's a recommendation!

The Bridgestone Guide loves La Cucina too

Greek Beef and Aubergine Bake

2012-02-05T14:32:00.000Z

I saw this in a magazine a few months ago and loved the concept of it all, the only problem is that I'm not a big fan of lamb mince as I find that it's really fatty and oily. So I decided to swap it for some lovely Pat Whelan mince which was crying out for a good home! The original recipe had black olives which neither of us like, so I left them out (this means you can add them back in if you like them, the same with the lamb). It's a lovely warming winter dish and the little salty cubes of feta scattered throughout the beef are fantastic little flavourbombs. This also tastes even better the next day when it's had time to mellow a bit. If you're feeling virtuous, serve this with a lovely Greek salad. If not, just grab a spoon and dig in...

Sarah's Special Celebration Cake

2012-02-01T21:58:00.001Z

I do love chocolate cake and I've made loads of variations of it over the years from a Creme Fraiche cake, to a Ricotta cake, to a squidgy marmalade infused one. They've all been phenomenal and I was intrigued by a tweet from my friend (i.e. she tweeted me) Nigella Lawson with a picture of a cake she made for a school sale. It looked so homemade and retro that I had to give it a go. And then I discovered there was a birthday in work so it was the perfect excuse to make this cake. Actually, we discovered on Monday morning that Sarah the birthday girl had also managed to get engaged at the weekend as well, so the cake did double duty! For the record, her ring is a beautiful diamond and platinum vintage-style rock and it's utterly exquisite.

The secret of this cake is sour cream - both in the batter and the icing. Yes I know it sounds a bit bizarre but it makes the cake really moist and stops the icing from becoming sickly sweet like buttercream. The recipe wording was a little confusing and all over the place so I've taken the liberty of rearranging it in an easier to follow format. It's an all-in-one cake mix and it's an absolute doddle to make, as is the icing (which looks very runny when it's first made but firms up beautifully in the fridge). This poor cake never made it past 11am and kept the office silent as they all munched away...

Italian Hazelnut Brownies

2012-01-28T09:20:00.000Z

Just down the street from my day job, there's a restaurant where the food is fabulous and the atmosphere is joyous. It's called Caffe Formenti and their Italian coffee kickstarts my day. Richie the chef/owner absolutely loves food and many a "try this and see what you think" moment has happened in the morning. Last week, he gave me some of his straight from Italy hazelnut paste to use at home. The smell was intoxicating, like the purest Nutella or gianduja and it drove me mad all day beside my desk as I pondered what to do with it. Naturally, I'd have to make something that could be easily shared with the work team (and Richie, to say thanks). Apparently, the Chocolate Coconut Brownies I'd brought to work before were a massive hit, so I thought I'd stick to the brownie theme but use that heavenly paste instead.

Last week, the ever-funny English Mum was boasting that she had the most perfect brownie recipe ever, so I thought I'd put her to the test and try it for myself... be afraid Becky, be very afraid!

Salted Chocolate Cookies

2012-01-25T09:45:00.000Z

A few days ago, two of my friends Edible Ireland and Like Mam Used To Bake were talking about a recipe for Salted Chocolate Cookies which was causing them some confusion. It was from a blogger called Orangette and unusually for a cookie recipe, it added milk to the dough which turned it into a batter and first attempt reports weren't good. I am a big fan of mixing salty and sweet together for the wonderful contrast of flavours so I was curious.

I changed the original recipe a bit because I'm comfortable enough making cookies at this stage to know what will work for my eating audience (our work colleagues) and I sliced my cookies much thinner so they were more biscuit-like rather than doughy - this also gave me more cookies to feed people with. Some people were initially sceptical when they heard salt and chocolate together in the same sentence but just one bite and they were hooked. So hooked in fact, that the big box that The Hubs brought to work, with the intention of giving some to his Mum, vanished without trace by lunchtime. Savages! This recipe is not a quick mix & bake - you do need to make it the day before and leave it in the fridge to set fully because of the melted chocolate it contains. It's worth the extra effort though. Oh, and they spread like wildfire when they cook, so leave at least 2 inches between each cookie...

Oat and Vanilla Shortbread Biscuits

2012-01-22T13:27:00.001Z

This is originally a Rachel Allen recipe from her book Bake which I absolutely love. For some reason they never struck a chord with me until I tasted a version made by Tracey from Mammy's Kitchen at a Bord Bia Blogger's Day (where I brought my Chocolate Sable Biscuits as my contribution to the groaning tables of food). I came home with a bag stuffed with baked goodies made by other food bloggers and myself and The Hubs sat down to an evening of gluttony. These really stood out because they tasted almost popcorn-like and we fought like children over the crumbs, so I knew I had to make these at home. They're really simple and the trick is to get the dough as cold as possible and slice it with a serrated knife so it doesn't crumble.

Rack of Lamb with a Herby Crust

2012-01-13T21:29:00.001Z

I love lamb, me. Luckily, so does The Hubs (otherwise he'd starve). To be honest I like my lamb pink, juicy and very tender - my idea of hell is grey, stringy overcooked lamb and... I can't stand lamb shanks. I know they're uber-fashionable and very hearty but I just can't take to them at all myself. A rack of lamb is the perfect cut of meat for me - the bones add flavour to the rack as it roasts and you end up with perfect little pink chops with a crunchy herby crust quicker than a takeaway would arrive.

When you're buying your rack of lamb, make sure you ask your butcher to trim the bones really well - they should be completely clean of meat otherwise they'll catch and burn in the oven - not exactly what you're looking for! This is very easy to make - make your herby crust & have it ready, sear the meat on the hob, smear it with mustard, sprinkle on the crust and throw it into the oven. Simples.

Crunchy Chicken Croquettes

2012-01-08T10:05:00.000Z

At my last job, I worked with a Spanish girl called Maria and as is usual with me, a lot of our conversations revolved around food. She had me in stitches when she told me of her first experience with Irish croquettes - she was horrified to find them full of potato and covered in bright orange breadcrumbs. When I had stopped laughing, I explained that croquettes here bore absolutely no resemblance to the delicious bechamel-filled Croquetas that she was used to in Spain (more's the pity) and decided to make them myself. In Spain, I've had them with either ham or chicken and making them at home was the perfect opportunity to use the leftover chicken from our Sunday roast to create a filling Monday-night supper.

Making the bechamel sauce reminds me of making choux pastry - lots of whisking and beating involved and you think it will never come together but magically it does. It should be very thick because it needs to be this consistency to hold the chicken and the other flavourings together and form a croquette without falling to bits. You can use fresh breadcrumbs but here I used Panko, the dried Japanese ones because they add a lovely element of crunch to the croquettes.

It's best to make the bechamel sauce in advance and allow it to cool because everything needs to be cold to roll into balls and coat in the breadcrumbs before you bake or fry them. This makes enough to feed 4 hungry people or 6 people as a starter

Italian Pasta & Vegetable Soup

2012-01-07T18:23:00.001Z

The holidays are over and most of the country are on a detox after eating the country out of house and home for a fortnight. But eating good food shouldn't mean a diet of gruel and goji berries, although I'm sure they're utterly delicious. This is a handy way to up your vegetable intake but not lose out on taste. Adding the pasta bulks out the soup to keep you full and parmesan is full of calcium, so this is practically health food!

Feel free to change the vegetables to suit yourself - I used what was hanging around the fridge and veg basket. I kept the vegetables very small & all the same size so they all cooked evenly. This makes 1.5 litres of soup which will give you lunch every day for a week (keep it in the fridge).

Classic Rib Roast

2012-01-03T21:48:00.001Z

If you've been hiding under a rock, you mightn't know that my favourite butcher Pat Whelan has opened a shop inside the new Avoca store in Monkstown, Co. Dublin to add to his original store in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. I have a lot of love for this store because they know exactly where their meat comes from and the premises themselves are absolutely stunning with a completely open shop so you can see the butchery area - nothing is hidden away.

Ring Out The Old, Bring In The New

2011-12-31T17:59:00.001Z

I did promise you a break from my ramblings over Christmas but I can't go cold turkey (geddit???) and not write something. It's New Years Eve and for the first time in FIFTEEN years, The Hubs is off today. Most people would mark this momentous occasion by going out for a long healthy walk, perhaps a lunch somewhere in front of an open fire and visiting friends. Sod that, he yawned. We'll have a lie on, I'll let you watch Saturday Kitchen without moaning and we'll sofa surf all day. Well, I'm an obedient wife, so that's precisely what we did. Actually we went out for dinner last night to The Loft which was lovely - the service is now precision-run by Roz at front of house and the food was delicious. Afterwards, we went downstairs to the bar where I met up with some old friends, the drinks were flowing and we headed home in merry mood, ready for a day of relaxing.

No Looking Back...

Tonight we'll be at home eating lots of canapes, drinking champagne and having a lovely evening in, remembering people dear to us who sadly left our lives in 2011 and who we will miss greatly. We'll also be thankful for our health and the great things we did this year - both turning 40 was a bit of a shock to the system, but it was tempered by our dream holiday where we renewed our vows in Vegas & ate some outstanding food, some of which I still have to write about! It was also a great year workwise after a dreadful 2010 - I started the year in a great contract job where I made some fantastic friends and ended the year in a new and very challenging job which is going to keep me on my toes for the foreseeable future.

2012 for me will be about enjoying what we have and making the most of the experiences that will come our way. I'm looking forward to finally eating at La Cucina in Limerick, going back to The Tannery with my wonderful girlfriends and hopefully coming up with new recipes to keep you all entertained. I write this blog because I love doing it and I hope that you continue to read it and most importantly continue to comment like mad because it's no fun without you.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Aoife x

The Christmas Recipe Roundup

2011-12-22T15:48:00.001Z

That's it, I'm done cooking for you lot for the year - it's time for me to take a break and put my feet up while mainlining Baileys Biscotti and mince pies. Real work has also finished so I am going to spend the next week sleeping, reading, watching the tellybox and possible eating and drinking a few choice morsels. I shall not be getting up at stupid o'clock and spending both hours in the car and the GDP of a small African nation on diesel. Sadly, the Hubs is working for almost all of the holidays but he is off on Christmas Day for which I am thankful and because I am a nice wife, I am cooking his favourite dinner on Christmas Eve... Chicken and Pea Risotto. He's a man of simple yet refined tastes!

So, in case you missed any of the recipes, here's a roundup of this and last year's festive food

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Boozy Yule Log

2011-12-21T21:51:00.001Z

It's time to turn Christmas into an adult affair (steady there, English Mum, don't be getting ideas...) and forget all this nonsense that it's all about the kids. It's all about the adults who need copious amounts of sugar and booze to get through it all without having a tantrum. This Yule Log packs a healthy slug of much-needed alcoholic refreshment in both the filling and the icing. If you don't drink, just leave it out. If you do, and you don't like what I've used, go mad and improvise. Either way, you're onto a winner with this sweet treat.

I used the same icing recipe which covered The Hubs' Birthday Cake but added a few tablespoons of Kahlua, tasting as I went, to get the balance right. The centre of my Yule Log was filled with some more icing and lots of delicious Avonmore Baileys Cream which was part of a hamper which Avonmore sent me for being a runner up in their Cook With Avonmore competition a few weeks ago.

Spectacular Sprouts

2011-12-19T12:27:00.001Z

With less than a week to go, people are frantically planning their Christmas dinner and half of the country is probably mentally shuddering at the thoughts of rock hard stinky brussels sprouts contaminating their plate of turkey and ham. My brother in law is a sprouts hater but one year I decided he wasn't going to get his own way and refuse to eat them, so I fried them with pancetta, put them on his plate and kept quiet. He ate the lot. That's all the proof I needed to know that if you change the way you cook something, then you can convert the haters.

The trick is to shred the sprouts from the base upwards and then separate them into strands with your hands - they just look like shredded savoy cabbages when you do this. I also steam or microwave them very briefly, just to par-cook them before adding them to my shallots and pancetta. Any leftovers can be turned into fantastic bubble and squeak if you have some mashed potato lying around... and we usually have 3 or 4 types of potato with Christmas dinner, so this should be easy enough to sort out!

Santa Butter Cookies

2011-12-18T16:22:00.001Z

I'm in the middle of my Christmas baking and I've been dying to use a 3D Santa shaped cookie cutter I bought a few months ago but I needed a cookie dough that stays really stable when it's baked. After a bit of experimenting, I think I've got the perfect buttery crunchy biscuit that anybody would love to receive as a Christmas gift.. Don't fret if you haven't got a fancy schmancy cutter like mine - cut out circles or use any cutter that you have - it's how they taste that's most important and this makes delicious cookies.

Lemon Bars : Holiday Biscuit Recipe Exchange

2011-12-17T13:57:00.003Z

A few weeks ago, the lovely ladies behind the Irish Food Bloggers Association mentioned the idea of a cookie recipe swap for Christmas which was the brainchild of Anne Marie from the Warm & Snug & Fat blog. I thought it was a great idea - I love trying other people's recipes and wanted some new inspiration for my Christmas baking.

So a few days ago, an email landed into my inbox from a lady I already know - the incredibly talented Theresa from The Green Apron. I've already tried her amazing chocolate raspberry preserves and plan to stock up when we head to Limerick in the New Year, so I knew whatever she sent me would be delicious. Her Lemon Bars recipe is tart, crunchy and a complete antidote to all the usual heavy Christmas treats. It's a two stage recipe - you make and bake the base first before topping it with the creamy lemon filling and baking it again until set. I used a long swiss roll tin which makes a flattish Lemon Bar so if you want a thicker bar, use a smaller tin and bake for an extra 5-10 minutes.

Beef and Winter Vegetable Stew

2011-12-15T13:58:00.001Z

It has been absolutely freezing recently. There's nothing like trekking out to the car in your dressing gown to thaw out the thick frost to wake you up in the morning. Brrrrr... And it's cold all day so you try to wrap up warm in layers of clothing and then melt when the heat kicks in and you shed items of your wardrobe all over the place (usually a coat, cardigan and scarf on the back of my chair in work). At mealtimes, all you want is something to take the chill out of your bones and this is where my stew comes in.

It uses a really cheap cut of meat so it won't break the bank, it's jammed full of really filling seasonal root vegetables and it freezes like a dream which is very handy for impromptu lunches and dinners. Because the meat is inexpensive, it needs long slow cooking on a low-ish heat. Don't try to take shortcuts by cooking it quickly on a higher heat because you'll end up with tough, chewy and frankly inedible meat - you need to take the time to cook this meat right down because it turns into meltingly tender chunks of beef with incredible depth of flavour. Feel free to vary the root vegetables in this stew - I'm not a fan of parsnips, but if you love them, throw a few in. I usually serve this with an extra portion of green vegetables - to add to the five a day - and some lovely mash to soak up the delicious gravy. I get about 6-7 portions from this quantity so if you want to cook for a big group, double or triple the quantities (use a bigger casserole, of course!)

Cheese Star Biscuits

2011-12-12T19:22:00.001Z

I know, the last recipe was stars too but it's Christmas and the perfect excuse to get out all of your fancy cutters and make your food look all pretty. These are moreish little biscuits for people who prefer to nibble on something savoury during the holidays (like my parents who were the recipients of this box of yummy stuff). You can mix up your cheeses if you like - I like the contrast between cheddar and parmesan but if you want to go with something else, feel free to use whatever you like, once you stick to a hard cheese that grates well.

Festive Star Bar

2011-12-10T09:16:00.001Z

I have some friends who are bake-phobic but want to join in with the festive food fun. This recipe is perfect - all you need is a pot, a hob and a big deep tin. It's also very flexible once you stick to the basic proportions of chocolate base and extra ingredients. I know for a fact that one of my more dipsomaniac friends plans to soak her dried cranberries in Cointreau for a more grown-up result (she'll do anything to justify necking liqueurs during the day...). My one piece of advice if you're going to use flaked almonds is to toast them yourself and not buy them ready toasted - the difference in flavour is unbelievable as they're aromatic and completely delicious.

I know this recipe is good because I brought it into work and it quite literally vanished. Polite people who thought they would wait before having some were bitterly disappointed. Luckily I had a spare piece at home so I was able to make somebody tremendously happy...

Three Ways with Stuffing

2011-12-06T14:58:00.002Z

Christmas is the time to eat your fill of porky products with glazed ham, glossy chipolatas, rashers over your turkey to keep it moist and my most favourite thing of all - stuffing. I get shivers of horror when I see readymade packets of "stuffing" in the supermarket which are nothing but a container of dusty breadcrumbs with a bit of dried onion and herbs thrown in. It's so much easier to take 5 minutes and make your own. Seriously, just 5 minutes.

In the interests of multi-tasking, I've come up with three different ideas to change the basic stuffing mix so you can feed your family, entertain a crowd and make your Christmas dinner delicious. My one non-negotiable standpoint is that you use sausagemeat which is no less than 75% pork. The other day I was in a discount frozen food retailer (think Stacey Solomon) where their sausagemeat was only 46% pork - that meant that over half of it was filler. Would you really want to eat that???

Christmas Snowflake Cake

2011-12-03T22:17:00.003Z

I'm going to make a shock declaration right now : I don't like Christmas Cake. I also can't stand Christmas pudding, traditional wedding cake, Dundee Cake, Oxford Loaf or anything filled with dried fruit. Luckily, The Hubs shares my dislike of such things although both sets of parents think we're crackers. I only had a tier of fruit cake at our wedding (the tiniest one...) to keep them happy because "it isn't a wedding without a bit of fruit cake". Rubbish - the Belgian chocolate sponge and lemon madeira tiers were far nicer, I can assure you!

Just because we don't like fruit cake doesn't mean that we can't have a Christmas cake though. I decided to make a pretty little sparkly iced cake for us to have as a special treat. This is a lemon madeira cake, covered in lemon and vanilla buttercream and a soft white fondant icing, and topped with disco-tastic gold and silver snowflakes.

It looks very scary but it's really simple to make. Here's a few tips... the cake will rise and form a dome when it's cooked. Trim the top with a serrated knife so it's level then turn it upside down so you have a perfectly flat surface for icing. Make your buttercream in advance and make sure the butter is as squidgy as possible - the icing sugar combines much more easily. And use ready rolled icing. It makes the whole process much easier. I tend to unroll the sheet and roll it a few mm thinner - you don't have to do this, but I prefer a slightly thinner icing. If you decide to use glitter sprays, don't wear anything decent - this stuff spreads like wildfire. Cut your shapes out on the sheet of icing plastic & then spray them. Let them dry - this takes 15 minutes - before you attempt to put them on the cake. I also need to clarify that I bought the glitter spray in Sainsburys in Belfast - as far as I'm aware, Dr.Oetker haven't listed it for sale here (sorry to be the bearer of bad news...)

Review : Hotel Chocolat Ultimate Advent Calendar

2011-11-28T19:52:00.001Z

A few weeks ago, a very welcome parcel arrived on my doorstep - a box of deliciousness from luxury chocolatier Hotel Chocolat to taste and review. They have a myriad of Christmas treats to suit every palate and pocket so I chose something very suited to myself and The Hubs - the Truffles for Two Advent Calendar. Seeing as we've no kids and there's just the two of us, this grown up box has two truffles behind each door, so there's absolutely no fighting and the flavours are adult enough to deter nieces and nephews. What a result!

On first inspection, the box is large and sleek - it contains 320g of truffles in a purple and silver treasure trove which opens out to reveal the advent calendar within. As there's 24 days in Advent, there are 24 pairs of truffles for two in six different varieties : Gingerbread Truffle, Salted Soft Caramel, Mulled Wine Truffle, Cinnamon Praline, Milk Praline and Simple Dark Truffle.

We Should Have Gone To McDonalds

2011-11-27T19:50:00.002Z

Did you ever go out for dinner, sit down at the table in the restaurant and get that sinking feeling? Welcome to our meal out in Belfast last night. We decided a week ago to head up for the night, managed to get a hotel without spending a fortune and then the hunt for somewhere to eat began. The ever-lovely Manuel and even lovelier LMM threw out a whole list of suggestions but they were all completely full, unless we wanted to eat at 5pm. That's a bloody late lunch for us! Eventually, I found a table at The Grill Room at Ten Square. Reviews were relatively decent so the reservation was confirmed (all the time hoping that the other places would have a cancellation).

Image courtesy of Tripadvisor

Toasted Almond, Apple & Syrup Muffins

2011-11-21T08:49:00.002Z

This recipe came about because of a bag of cooking apples I bought last week with great intentions. As usual, real life got in the way and I ignored them in favour of making dinners rather than dessert. The weekend came around and I decided to use them for my usual Sunday baking extravaganza (the new work people seem to be enjoying Monday mornings a lot more now...) and couldn't decide between a traybake or individual muffins. I had a quick flick through my copy of The Flavour Thesaurus just to make sure I was on the right track, so decided to add some almonds and golden syrup to the basic recipe.

The trick to maximising flavour in this recipe is to toast the flaked almonds yourself. Yes, I know you can buy ready-toasted almonds but I find that they always taste a bit stale and I prefer to put them in a hot pan, watch them like a hawk, and toast them until they're golden brown. Nuts burn incredibly quickly and once they go black, throw them out as they'll ruin anything you bake with a bitter burnt taste. The golden syrup gives the muffins a beautiful caramel taste and colour, while the apple keeps it all moist.

The beautiful crockery was a birthday gift from my lovely friend Rosanne