TooManyCookbooks

Hot and Sour Ramen with Grilled Sweet Chilli Chicken

2012-03-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

It's been over a month since I've posted a ramen recipe. I can't write this fast enough. I'm addicted to ramen - it's so healthy, tasty and versatile. I've cooked a few different types, mainly from the Wagamama book, but I've now started experimenting with my own.

I wanted this recipe to be a more substantial version of hot and sour soup and partnered it with some grilled chicken. For this recipe, you'll need the following to feed 2 -

2 chicken breasts (I had 3 so cooked them)
4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 litre chicken stock
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 x sachet red miso powder
1 tsp white pepper
Juice of 2 limes
1 red chilli, finely sliced
Noodles of your choice to feed 2
10 asparagus spears, halved lengthways
1 red pepper, finely sliced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Handful of coriander, roughly chopped

First, prepare the chicken breasts. Preheat your grill to a medium-high setting. Stick the breasts between two sheets of cling film and bat the hell out of them with a rolling pin or meat-tenderiser. You want to flatten them so they cook quickly. Set over a grill tray and brush with the sweet chilli sauce. Grill for 6-8 minutes on the first side until the sweet chilli sauce has caramelised. Turn over, brush with more sauce and grill again until fully cooked.

Meanwhile, get a large pot of water on the boil. This will be for boiling the noodles and vegetables. Once the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook for 4/5 minutes. For the final 2 minutes, add the asparagus and red peppers and cook until al dente. Drain and set a generous helping of each in the bottom of a large bowl.

In another pot, heat your stock. Add the sugar, salt, white pepper and miso and stir to combine. Add the sliced chilli and lime juice. This will give the stock it's hot and sour edge. Taste and season it more if it needs it.

Ladle the hot stock into the bowls and top with the sticky, charred chicken. For the final fresh hit, add a scattering of spring onions and coriander. Serve with a fork/ chopsticks and a spoon. As always, slurping is compulsory. Enjoy!

Valentine's Dinner

2012-02-28T14:19:00.000-08:00

The pressure was on. Karen requested a top class meal for February 14th along with some chocolates, cava, presents, the list goes on. The gauntlet was laid down with her assertion that this should be the 'best meal you've ever cooked for me.' She was joking... I think. There may have been some boasting from me also, though reports of this are unconfirmed.

I settled on a very achievable 3 courses. Simple crostini for starters, a restaurant-style scallops and black pudding dish for main and a creme brulee for dessert. The crostini was like the typical bruschetta with some melted mozzarella on top.

I mixed a few finely chopped tomatoes together with a little basil, a dash of vinegar and olive oil and seasoned them well.

I lightly toasted some ciabatta slices and rubbed them with garlic. Top them with the tomatoes and then some sliced buffalo mozzarella. Throw it under the grill for a few minutes and you're done. Serve it up in a romantic fashion or, in other words, as quickly as possible to your hungry girlfriend.

I'll call this main course 'Pan-fried Scallops and Black Pudding with Caramelised Apple and Celeriac Puree.' If you want to recreate this, you'll need (for 2 people) -

10 scallops
10 slices black pudding
1 apple, finely chopped
Olive oil
Butter
Sugar
1 celeriac, peeled and cubed
Cream
Grated nutmeg
Salt & Pepper

You can make the celeriac in advance. Simmer in some boiling, salted water until tender. Drain and puree using a hand blender. Stir in a generous dash of cream and lump of butter. Season with the nutmeg, salt & pepper.

Heat some more butter in a frying pan and add the apple. Fry for a few minutes before adding some sugar and stirring to coat. Turn up the heat and fry until it gets sticky and the apple has caramelised. Set aside.

Clean the pan and return to the heat. Fry the black pudding in a little oil and butter until crisp on both sides. Set this aside also. Yes, the evening's theme was butter, butter and more butter.

Wipe out the pan. Return to the heat over a medium-high heat. Season the scallops with salt & pepper. Fry quickly, just a minute or so on each side until slightly golden. Remove the pan immediately and serve.

To assemble the dish, lay the 5 slices of black pudding on the plate and top each one with a scallop. Arrange two dollops of the celeriac on the plate and then two spoonfuls of the apple. Serve in a romantic fashion or, in other words, to your slightly tipsy girlfriend.

The creme brulee is great dessert to have in your locker. It looks impressive, is actually very simple and never fails to impress. I got my recipe for it from Stephane Reynaud's incomparable Ripailles book. You're much better off making the custards the day before and chilling in the fridge until you need them. This will make 4 brulees. After all, Karen always likes a 2nd helping of dessert later in the evening!

500ml cream
75g sugar
4 Egg yolks
1 vanilla pod
100g soft brown/ demerara sugar

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale. Add the vanilla pod to the cream in a small pot and heat. When the cream is hot but not boiling add to the egg mixture, whisking constantly.

Add to the ramekins or, in my case, 3 ramekins and a cup. Lay in a bain marie and cook in a 160 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Chill in the fridge until cool and completely set. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar and blast with a gas gun, if you have one. Alternatively, put your grill on it's highest setting and set the ramekins as close to it as possible. You want the sugar to caramelise and burn around the edges. It should form a thin, glassy, caramel layer.

Serve with a little spoon so you can savour it. It's really good.

Bengali Prawn Curry

2012-02-23T14:27:00.001-08:00

I feckin' love prawns. They seem to be one of those love/ hate food items. A lot of people seem put off by their appearance and, interestingly, their texture. I find the texture to be really pleasing, tender and slightly chewy at the same time. They are naturally sweet and salty with a gentle seafood taste. In fairness, the more you think about the life of a prawn or shrimp, the more they do seem unappetising.

These little guys float around the bottom of the ocean, sucking up stuff off the sea bed. What do they like to eat down there? What do they come across on the sea bed and think 'Ooo, look at that! I'll have a piece of that!.' It doesn't really bear thinking about does it? I really know how to get the juices flowing don't I?

Don't worry, Gordon Ramsay does. This is an excellent recipe from his 'Great Escape' book, which focusses of dishes from India/ Sri Lanka/ Pakistan and the surrounding countries. You'll need -

400g large raw prawns, shelled and deveined
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
salt
2 onions, roughly chopped
A piece of ginger, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 cloves
4 green cardomom pods
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 whole dried chilli
400ml coconut milk
Steamed rice, to serve

Take the shelled prawns and add to a large bowl. Sprinkle over the turmeric and a pinch of salt. Stir to coat and combine. I left the tails on as it looks nicer in the final dish.

Put the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies in a food processor with a few tbsps of water and blitz to a smooth, loose paste.

Put your pan on a medium heat and add the vegetable oil. When it's good and hot, add the mustard seeds, cloves, cardomom, chilli powder, cinnamon, bay leaves and whole dried chilli. Fry for 2 minutes until the mustard seeds start to pop.

Add the paste and fry on a medium heat for 12-15 minutes. The paste will become slightly drier. Towards the end of the 15 minutes you'll begin to hear it frying, rather than boiling. You'll need to stir it frequently to prevent it from catching.

Add the coconut milk now and bring to a simmer, leaving it on a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes until the flavours are incorporated.

Add the prawns and bring up to a simmer again. Cook for just 2-3 minutes so the prawns remain juicy and tender.

Serve simply with plain steamed rice or naan bread. I hope you get a chance to try this one out. If you're not mad about prawns I'd urge you to give this a try too as they are lovely in a mildly spiced curry like this one. Enjoy!

A Salad Dressing and other thoughts

2012-02-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

This is my 91st post on this blog. 91 recipes, 91 different dishes. As I close in on three figures, I've been thinking about what I'm trying to do with the blog. I've focused heavily on showcasing recipes from the very large cookbook collection at my disposal. It's been a great learning experience, as I've tried to cook different recipes from different books and have covered alot of different styles and tastes from all over the globe.

I want to start bringing you more of my own recipes and maybe highlighting, along the way, how my cookbook exploration has improved my skill and knowledge. After all, cookbooks aren't for following to the letter. They are a great aid in creating your own dishes. If this blog serves as an online cookbook, I hope some of you have been able to put your own spin on the dishes I've written about.

The subject of this post is just a simple salad dressing, from the Wagamama cookbook. At first glance, I didn't think it sounded too appealing but trust me, it is incredibly moreish. In fact, in the book, they claim it is their most requested recipe. To create it, you'll need -

2 tsps finely chopped onion/ shallot
1inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 garlic clove, grated
1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp water
100ml veg oil
3 tbsp soy sauce

Simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. That's it.

Now you can create a dish around this delicious dressing. By the way, please don't be turned off by ketchup in a salad dressing. It's a great ingredient for this purpose, it has the acid and the sweetness that you find in most salad dressings. Plus...it's ketchup!

I served mine in a salad with, firstly, some stir-fried chicken. I marinaded some chicken breasts in a little chilli paste, sweet chilli sauce, rice wine and soy and then fried until cooked through and slightly golden.

I served this on a bed of lettuce, tomato and sliced red onion and drizzled a generous amount of the dressing over the top, along with a scattering of toasted sesame seeds.

My salad was really tasty, I hope yours is too. Enjoy!

Fish Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

2012-02-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

I've been planning to make these for a while. I've seen them on tv programmes and read about them in books but have never had the pleasure of tasting them. I was in no doubt that I'd like them however - crispy deep-fried fish with salsa in corn tortillas? - pretty delicious in my book.

There's nothing wrong with the standard tortilla wraps that you can buy in supermarkets but making your own adds another dimension to the tacos. If you do decide to make the tortillas, you'll need to invest in some masa harina - Mexican cornmeal. I purchased some blue masa from http://almacenlatino.com/, a great online store for Mexican produce. Apart from the difference in colour, it is identical in texture and very similar in flavour to the normal white masa harina. To make the tortillas, you'll need the following (recipe courtesy of Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers) -

450g masa harina
A pinch of sea salt
A dash of oil
600ml hot water

Add the masa to a large bowl and mix in the salt and oil. Add half the hot water and leave to sit for 10 minutes. You'll already get that sweet, earthy smell from the corn.

When the ten minutes is up, start to knead the dough together with your hands, slowly adding more water. The dough will come together fairly quickly but keep adding the water. Remember, you'll be rolling it out very thin so, if it is dry, it will crack and split. When you've kneaded it for about 5 minutes and added all the water you will be left with a large ball of sticky, smooth and soft dough.

Cover with a damp tea towel until you are ready to use. When it comes to rolling out the tortillas, take a walnut-sized piece of dough for each one. You can roll it out with a rolling pin and two sheets of cling film. Flatten out the little ball of dough and place between the two sheets of cling film. Roll out to a 1mm thick circle.

Ok..so I cheated... I have a tortilla press. You'll still need the cling film to put on the plates to prevent the dough sticking but it makes the whole process much quicker. You should get at least 15 tortillas from this amount of dough.

When the tortillas are ready, get your frying pan on a medium heat. Put the tortillas into the dry pan and toast until lightly coloured on each side, about 4 minutes in total. Set the tortillas aside and keep warm while you make the rest of the dish.

For the fish and accompaniments you'll need -

4 x whiting fillets, skinned and cut into strips (you can use any firm-fleshed white fish)
250ml beer
100g cornflour
50g plain flour
Salt & Pepper
1 litre vegetable/ sunflower oil
Salsa
4 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely diced
A small handful of coriander, finely chopped
Juice of half a lime
Salt & Pepper
Guacamole
2 avocados, flesh mashed roughly with a fork
Another small handful of coriander, finely chopped
Juice of half a lime
Salt & Pepper
Chipotle Sour Cream
100ml sour cream
2 tbsp Chipotle En Adobo (I found the recipe on this amazing blog)

The salsa, guacamole and sour cream couldn't be easier - just mix the ingredients together and season to taste with the salt & pepper.

Salsa

Chipotle Sour Cream

Whisk the beer and the flour together until frothy. Season with a little salt & pepper. This batter should be lighter and more liquid than, for instance, a beer batter for fish & chips.

Heat the litre of oil in a medium-sized saucepan over a high heat. Make sure the oil doesn't fill more than a third of the pan. When the oil is too hot to hold your hand over for more than a few seconds, dip the first piece of fish into the batter and lower it carefully into the oil. You can fry about 10 pieces of the fish together at one time. They should be golden brown and cooked after 2/3 minutes. Set the cooked goujons aside while you make the next batch.

When everything is ready, bring all the components to the table and let everyone build their own tacos. The fish will be crisp and moist. The salsa will be tangy and hot. The guacamole will be creamy and the sour cream will be both spicy and cooling at the same time. Add a generous portion of everything to the warm tortilla and dig in! Enjoy!

Smoked Mackerel Pâté

2012-02-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

This was a quick recipe inspired by Faboulous Baker Brothers. I saw them make a version on their TV show and tried some for myself. I bought my smoked mackerel in my favourite little fish shop - Egan's in Skerries. Two vac-packed smoked mackerel fillets are...I think.... €3.50? and they were lovely. Oily and rich, and smoky and sweet.

I almost prefer smoked mackerel to fresh as you can be assured it has retained it's freshness. Smoking is a form of preservation after all. Very good, which means very fresh, mackerel can be difficult to get your hands on.

So, all you'll need is 2 smoked mackerel fillets, some creme fraiche, a handful of both chives and flat leaf parsley and a lemon. Skin the mackerel fillets and pull the flesh apart in your hands, leaving it in big, rough flakes. Add to a bowl with the finely chopped chives and parsley. Add the zest and juice of the lemon to your own taste.

Add about 2/3 tbsp of creme fraiche and mix together. This is amazing just with some toasted brown bread. It makes a damn fine lunch too. Enjoy!

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

2012-02-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

Let's get it out there from the start. This is the Nigella Lawson recipe for puttanesca but I can't bring myself to call it by the name she gives it. I mean, come on Nigella..... aren't you playing up to your image just a bit too much by calling it 'Slut's Spaghetti?' I have to give it to you though, it's a smashing recipe.

A few big splashes of olive oil
8 anchovy fillets, drained and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
500g spaghetti
1 x 400g tins of tomatoes
150g pitted black olives, chopped
A small handful of capers, drained
A big handful of parsley, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Grated parmesan, to taste

Get a big pan of water on the heat and leave it come up to a boil while you start the sauce.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the finely chopped anchovy and cook for a few minutes until the anchovy disintegrates and melts into the oil.

Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for another minute, making sure not to let the garlic burn.

The water should be rollicking now so throw in a pinch of salt and the spaghetti. Stir it around to prevent it clumping together.

Add the tinned tomatoes, olives and capers to the sauce and stir to combine. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer, with the lid off, for about 10 minutes.

Remove a ladleful of the cooking water from the pasta pot before you drain the spaghetti. Set aside. Drain the spaghetti when it is al dente and add to the sauce. Mix through gently with a large tongs. Loosen with a little of the pasta water if it is too stodgy.

Season to taste and scatter over the chopped parsley.

Bring to the table and serve with plenty of grated parmesan. If you've never had this I'd urge you to try it, it's so tasty and is so cheap to make. Enjoy!

Chicken Laksa

2012-02-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a laksa? If I was to try and explain it in a few words I'd go for 'curry noodle soup'. I'm not sure how authentic it is but it's something close to a Malaysian/ Singaporean version. Most of the ingredients are the same to those you would use for a Thai-style curry.

4 x chicken breasts, chopped

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

3 tbsp Thai green curry paste

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk

400ml chicken stock

A handful of mangetout

A handful of baby sweetcorn

1 red chilli, finely sliced

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

The juice of half a lime

A handful of chopped coriander

Cooked soba noodles, to serve

Heat the oil in a large wok. Add the grated ginger and garlic and fry for 30 seconds until the garlic begins to catch.

Add the curry paste and fry on a high heat for 2 minutes. Stir constantly so it doesn't burn.

Add the turmeric, coconut milk and stock and bring to the boil.

Add the chicken and simmer for a few minutes before adding the mangetout and baby corn. Bring up to simmering point and cover.

After simmering for 10 minutes, the chicken will be cooked and the vegetables tender but still crunchy. Now it's time to finish the dish. Add the chopped chilli, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Stir to combine. Taste the sauce and add more seasoning as necessary. If it needs more heat, add more chilli...if it needs more zing, add more lime juice. Remove from the heat and add the chopped coriander.

Add the noodles to a deep bowl and spoon over the creamy broth together with the chicken and vegetables. Serve right away. Enjoy!

Beef & Stout Pie

2012-02-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

My regular readers (hello?...) will have seen my previous post on a Beef & Ale Stew with dumplings. This is a another big, flavoursome beef stew from my new favourite book, A Pie for All Seasons by Pieminister. Their version is called 'Posh Paddy's Pie', the posh element coming from the addition of some smoked oysters.

I didn't have any to hand, but this recipe is worth it anyway. The gravy from the slow simmering is the best of any beef & stout recipe I've made. Sorry Jamie, sorry Darina but this one has trumped you. The homemade suet pastry takes it into the flavour stratosphere.

For this recipe you'll need -

30g plain flour
900g stewing beef, cubed
25g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 tsp sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tsp tomato puree
1 large carrots, cut into large dice
3 celery sticks, cut into large dice
a small bunch of rosemary, leaves chopped
a small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
300ml beef stock
500ml stout (I use O'Hara's Leann Folláin)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp mustard
1 egg, beaten
1 x quantity of suet pastry (see my post on Sausage, Cider and Potato Pie for the recipe)
Salt & Pepper

Start by adding the beef to a large bowl and scattering over the plain flour. Turn the beef over in the flour to coat evenly. Add a pinch of salt & pepper to season.

Heat the butter and oil in a large pan and fry the beef until well browned, in batches if necessary. Don't crowd the pan as the beef will boil and not fry. Remove to a bowl when browned.

You will be left with a sticky, gluey brown mixture in the pan from the beef & flour. Add the onions and sugar and reduce the heat. Fry these gently for 10 minutes until the onions have softened.

Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes and stir in the tomato puree. Cook for a minute more and add in the carrots, celery, rosemary and thyme.

Return the beef to the pan and mix everything together. Add the liquids now - the stock, stout, Worcestershire sauce and also add in the mustard. I urge you to try using an Irish craft stout rather than Guinness. There are so mnay great stouts brewed here and they are simply superior to Guinness. Trouble Brewing's Dark Arts, O'Hara's Leann Folláin or Dungraving Brewing Co's Black Rock Stout will do nicely!

Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer for at least an hour and a half until thickened and the meat is fall apart tender.

Roll out the pastry to 5mm thick and cut into circles with a cookie cutter. When the filling is ready, tip it into your pie dish and top it out with the overlapping pastry discs. Brush with the beaten egg. Cook in a 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Serve with a big dollop of mash, making sure everyone gets some of the crumbly pastry. Enjoy!

Roasted Sesame & Honey Chicken Thighs/ Broccoli with Chilli & Ginger

2012-02-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

Nothing combines economy with flavour better than the humble chicken thigh. They are almost the cheapest cut of meat you can buy and they beat breast meat hands-down for flavour. That's right, I'm a thigh man, not a breast man.

I came with this recipe to give some roasted chicken thighs and Asian twist. All you need is to quickly marinade the chicken and then bung it in the oven. The vegetable accompaniment is a simple stir-fried broccoli. To feed 3/4 people you'll need the following -

10 chicken thighs, skin-on & bone-in
A handful of sesame seeds
Marinade
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp chinese rice wine
2 tbsp honey

2 small heads of broccoli, divided into florets
1 red chilli, finely sliced
a thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely sliced
1 tbsp light soy sauce

Steamed rice, to serve

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Combine all your marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir until the honey has incorporated with the other ingredients to form a sticky glaze.

Add the chicken thighs and turn to coat evenly with the marinade. Remove to a lined baking tray, scatter each one with some sesame seeds and and put in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Reserve the marinade and half way through cooking time spoon it over the chicken thighs. When they are golden and crispy, remove the oven to a warmed plate.

Bring an inch of water to the boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add a little salt and throw in the broccoli. Par-steam for just 2 minutes. Drain and leave aside while you heat your wok/ pan.

Add a little vegetable oil to the pan and heat until smoking. Add the chilli and ginger and hard-fry for 1 minute until the aromas fill the kitchen!

Throw in the broccoli and stir-fry for 2 minutes and splash in the soy sauce. Remove to another warmed plate.

Serve in the middle of the table with some steamed rice and let everyone tuck in. Enjoy!

Shredded Chicken in a Mulato Mole

2012-02-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

Since purchasing Thomasina Mier's excellent 'Mexican Food Made Simple,' I've become very interested in Mexican cuisine and can't stop trying new dishes. My interest and enthusiasm got another boost recently when I found an excellent supplier of Mexican ingredients and supplies here in Ireland!

http://www.almacenlatino.com/ run by @MexicancookEire supplies a great range of chillies, spices and other ingredients. She has almost everything you could need for exploring Mexican food. I decided to purchase some mulato chillies and some blue masa harina. For my first dish using the chillies I decided to make mole. A Mole is a Mexican stew, often using multiple types of chillies and herbs and sometimes even containing chocolate! The mulato chillies are big, black, dried chillies which are full of aromatic chocolate and tobacoo flavours. They aren't the hottest but they still pack a punch!

For my shredded chicken in a mulato mole, you'll need -

1 x chicken, poached (see below)
2 dried mulato chillies
2 tomatoes
1/2 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
3 garlic cloves, whole, peel on
Handful of flat leaf parsley
Handful of pinenuts
100g bread, roughly chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chipotle en adobo
Fresh salsa, to serve
Guacamole, to serve
Grated cheese, to serve
Sour cream, to serve
Flour tortillas, to serve

Poach your chicken in a large pot of water with some carrots, celery, onion and herbs. Simmer for 25 minutes and then leave to cool in the water. You'll end up with a light chicken stock to use afterwards too.

Re-constitute the chillies by simmering in a pot of water until bloated and soft. Set aside and remove the stalks.

Throw into the large bowl of your food processor. Put a large pan on the heat and dry-toast the tomatoes, onions and garlic cloves. You are looking for them to be nicely charred. This will echo the smoky, rich flavours of the chillies.

Put these in the processor with the chillies. In the same pan, dry-toast the bread, pinenuts and herbs. When the nuts and bread have turned golden brown, add these to the processor too. Add the chipotle puree and about 200ml of stock and puree.

Tip back into the same pan you used before and bring to a simmer. Add a little more of the stock if it looks a bit thick. Cook for 10-15 minutes on a medium heat to develop the flavour.

Take the cooled chicken and pull the skin off it. Poached chicken skin is not something worth eating. Use a fork or your hands to pull the chicken apart into tender shreds. Add to the mole sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.

This is great served just with rice but I love it with tortilla wraps and all the (Mexican) trimmings! Get the sour cream and grated cheese out. Make a simple salsa - roughly chop tomato, onion, coriander, chilli and season with salt, pepper and a little lime juice. For an even simpler guacamole - mash up the flesh of two avocados, add a little coriander and season again with salt, pepper and lime juice.

All that's left to do now is pack as much as possible into the tortillas! Enjoy!

For another example of a mole, see my post on Thomasina Mier's Chicken and Chorizo in an Almond Mole

Salmon Ramen

2012-01-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

I love ramen. Broadly speaking, we're talking about big bowls of aromatic broth with noodles, vegetables and quite often, some meat or fish. There are a few key elements to a good ramen.

1) Use good noodles. You can buy very good ramen noodles in any Asian supermarket.

2) Choose vegetables for flavour and texture. Use your favourite vegetables but it's far better if they are flavourful, fresh and crunchy.

3) Use a homemade stock. Start with a good vegetable/ chicken stock and season it appropriately (see below)

4)Keep it simple - don't add too many ingredients.

This recipe for Salmon Ramen is adapted from the Wagamama cookbook. You'll need (for 4) -

500g ramen noodles
1 x head of pak choi, stalks separated
100g mangetout
1 tbsp veg oil
4 x salmon fillets
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce (see below)
1.5 litres of chicken stock (normal stock seasoned with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp dashi powder*)
75g miso paste**
1 x can/ jar of bamboo shoots
4 spring onions, finely sliced

*Don't be intimidated if some of the ingredients seem odd. Dashi powder is used for creating a dashi stock, which is a light fish stock. Don't worry - it's not overly fishy.

**Miso paste is a fermented soya bean paste used widely in Japanese cuisine.

Both are available in good Asian supermarkets or in the Japanese section of your local Tesco.

You can buy teriyaki sauce or you can make the Wagamama version. Dissolve 110g sugar in 4 tbsp light soy sauce until syrupy. Add 2 tbsp sake and 1 tbsp dark soy sauce and simmer for a few minutes until thickened.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the noodles according to packet instructions. For the last 2 minutes, add the pak choi and mangetout and simmer.

Drain, and rinse under cold water. This is very important as it will stop the cooking process and stop the noodles sticking together.

Preheat your grill and set the 4 salmon fillets on a baking tray, skin side up. Brush each fillet with a little oil and throw under the grill until the skin has gone crispy and the flesh is soft and tender. You shouldn't need to turn them.

Meanwhile, heat the stock in a pan and when it has reached boiling point, whisk in the miso paste. Taste the stock and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Divide the noodles and vegetables equally in 4 deep bowls before pouring over the hot stock.

Glaze the salmon fillets with the teriyaki sauce and sit on top of the noodles. Finally add a few bamboo shoots and a scattering of spring onion to each bowl. Serve straight away with a spoon and some chopsticks. Slurping is compulsory! Enjoy!

Penne with Chorizo & Spinach

2012-01-29T11:35:00.000-08:00

I saw this dish posted on boards.ie and decided to make my own version. I bought some lovely chorizo sausages in St Georges Market a while back and they'd been languishing in the freezer while I came up with a good recipe. I also used some of the dry chorizo you can buy in any supermarket in order to beef (pork?) up the quantity. How often do you get to see chorizo like this?...

You'll need the following -

500g chorizo sausage, roughly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
200g cherry tomatoes, quartered
200g young spinach, stalks removed
1 glass of white wine
1 tbsp chipotle en adobo
1 tbsp sun-dried tomato puree
500g penne
Handful of grated pecorino/parmesan/ manchego cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add the sliced garlic. Cook gently for a few minutes before adding the chorizo.

Continue to fry the chorizo for 3-4 minutes until it has released all it's oils and aromas. You want to crispen up the edges too. Let it release it's flavour and then improve it's texture, in other words.

Add the cherry tomatoes, and again, cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes begin to wilt and give up their juices. Once the tomatoes have amalgamated with the garlicky, paprika spiced oils turn up the heat and throw in the wine. Let it hiss and reduce away for a few minutes more until the harsh smell of the wine has receded.

Now add in the spinach and let it cook for just 2 minutes until the tender leaves have just wilted.

Meanwhile, cook the penne until al dente and add to the sauce. Mix thoroughly and plate, topping with the grated cheese. Manchego would be particularly nice with this dish. Enjoy!

Sausage, Cider and Potato Pie

2012-01-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

This is my Jerry Maguire moment. I had you at 'Sausage, Cider and Potato Pie' didn't I? This is an old school, full-on suet crusted pie which will stick to your ribs until next Winter. It'll feed your whole family too. The recipe comes courtesy of the wonderful people at Pieminister, and is from their 'A pie for all seasons' book.

First, you need to make the suet pastry. Mix 400g plain flour with a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Stir in 200g suet (I used vegetable suet from Tesco). Gradually stir in a little milk (about 200ml) until you have a stiff dough. Be careful not to add too much liquid as you need the pastry dry for that extra-crumbly finish. When it's starting to come together, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead with you hands for a few minutes, until shiny and clean.

Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Now onto the filling - you'll need the following -

500g new potatoes, cut into 6mm slices
25g butter
1 onion, sliced
1 apple, peeled and cut into pieces
1 tsp sugar
100ml good cider
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
500g good quality sausages (I only had pork mince which I seasoned with dried thyme, sage, salt and pepper)
1 x quantity of suet pastry
A handful of grated cheddar (optional)
1 egg, beaten
Salt & Pepper
Chopped thyme, to decorate

Cook the potato slices in some salted water until just tender. Drain and leave to dry.

In a large pan, melt the butter and soften the sliced onion. Add the apple pieces and sugar and cook until the apple has softened but is still intact. It's even better if you let it caramelise slightly. Add the cider and sizzle it away until almost all of it has evaporated.

Add in the mustard and stir to combine. See how the cider has evaporated in the photo below.

It's time to combine all the ingredients for the filling. Mix the cooked potato with the onion and apple mixture and then mix this into the pork/ sausage meat.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Take the pastry out of the fridge. Cut in half and roll out into a large disc, about 5mm thick. This will form the base of the pie. Carefully lift this into your pie dish. Push into the sides and bottom of the dish.

Tip in your filling and smooth over the top.

Brush the edge of the pastry with beaten egg. Now roll out the other half of pastry, slightly thinner this time. This will form the top of the pie. Again, carefully lay it on top of the pie. Trim of the excess pastry and crimp the edges to make sure you get a good seal. Brush the top with beaten egg and poke a hole in the middle with a knife. This will let the steam escape and prevent a soggy pie. Scatter the cheddar and thyme over the top.

It's now ready for the oven. I used a perforated pizza tray in order to easily handle the pie in and out of the oven. Cook in the preheated oven for 40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is cooked through. Are you sitting down?... Because this is what it looks like when it comes out!

A wedge of this bad boy is an intimidating prospect - you don't need much to serve with this. Three things in particular complement it perfectly. Take some of your favourite cheese - for me it's smoked applewood, a few gherkins or pickles and a tasty chutney. I had some home-made mango chutney so I used this.

The pastry is a revelation. It's not claggy or heavy like you expect suet to be. It's surprisingly light and crisp. The filling is substantial with the sausage and potato. You get the acidity from the apples and great texture from all the different ingredients present. Oh, and it's rather tasty too!

Thank you Pieminister - I can't wait to try more of your recipes. Enjoy!

Hot Beef and Coconut Curry

2012-01-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

As I said last time out, I'm often guilty of buying cookbooks for people and taking a few sneaky recipes out of them. My cookbook obsession makes me an easy person to buy for too. Karen's sister Lauren bought me a lovely book for Christmas from the M&S 'Made Simple...' range. It's the Thai edition.

This recipe is simple, using a shop-bought curry paste and, somewhat unusually, stewing beef. I've altered the recipe only slightly. To feed 4 you'll need -

400ml can of coconut milk
2 tbsp red curry paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500g braising/ stewing steak
2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 large red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Rice, to serve

When making Thai food, it's best to think about all the points of flavour you want to achieve. The salty (fish sauce), the sour (lime juice), the hot (chillies), the sweet (sugar), the spicy (turmeric) should all be present but should complement each other. The curry paste should contain all of these elements too. It's all about balance and finding which flavours work for you. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar. Hotter? Add more chilli and so on.

Firstly, put the coconut milk in your wok and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until it has thickened.

Add the curry paste and garlic and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the cubed beef and bring to the boil before adding the lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, chilli, turmeric, sugar and 1/2 tsp salt.

Cover the pan and simmer for 45 minutes until the meat is tender. It should be fork tender and have absorbed all those pungent flavours.

Stir in the basil and coriander and season to taste. Keep the hot, sour, salty, sweet and spicy flavours in your mind and adjust the balance accordingly. Serve with simply steamed rice. Enjoy!

Prawn Risotto

2012-01-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

I knew well that this would happen when I bought it. One of the gifts that I got for my mam at Christmas was The Silver Spoon, an iconic Italian cookbook. If I have access to a cookbook I will take recipes from it. Karen's Wagamama book (also bought by me for her) has been pillaged and I've taken a serious shine to The Silver Spoon too.

Whenever I make risotto I tend to stick to mushroom risotto and I've gotten bored with it. This recipe stood out, in what is an absolutely outstanding cookbook. It's preparation is both simple and ingenious. For this recipe, you must have raw prawns in their shells. You'll need -

300g large raw prawns, shell-on
1 onion
2 cloves
1 celery heart
1 carrot
80g butter
350g risotto rice (I used arborio)
salt

Is that it you say? Yes, it is. This recipe is amazing. Bring 1 litre of salted water to the boil. Drop the prawns into the water and simmer for 2 minutes.

remove from the water with a slotted spoon and drain. As soon as you can safely handle them, remove the shells and de-vein. Throw the shells in your pestle and mortar and bash the hell out of them, crushing them fairly small. Set aside.

Stud the peeled onion with the 2 cloves and add to the prawn cooking liquid with the carrot and celery. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables have completely softened and imparted their flavour into the liquid.

Remove the cloves from the onion and add all of the ingredients, including the liquid, to your food processor along with the squashed shells. Blitz to a fine puree. Return to the pan over a low heat. This is your risotto stock.

Melt 50g of the butter in a large pan and add the rice, turning it to coat in the butter. Get your sieve out. Add a ladle full of the stock, making sure to sieve it, and stir into the rice until it has been absorbed. This is best done over a medium heat.

Repeat this step - adding the stock and stirring until it has been absorbed - until the rice is tender. Season to taste. Heat the remainder of the butter in a small pan and add the prawns. Stir them, coating them in butter, and heating them for just a few minutes. Be careful not to overcook them.

Spoon a generous amount of the golden risotto onto your plate and top with the prawns. Serve with some nice bread. This is the best prawn dish and the best risotto I've ever eaten. It's incredible. I urge you to try it. Enjoy!

Sausage and Black Pudding Rolls

2012-01-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

I came up with this recipe after watching that new 'Fabulous Baker Brothers' series on Channel 4. They're two brothers, ones a baker and ones a chef and they have annoying little banter sessions. They also cook some very nice food. On one of their recent programmes, they cooked a dish similar to this.

It's a kind of overgrown sausage roll with a few extra bits thrown in to jazz it up a bit. To make 2 large rolls like I did here you'll need -

2 x packs of sausages (about 12, I used pork & black pepper sausages), skinned
Half a Clonakilty black pudding, crumbled
A few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
A generous tbsp of Dijon mustard
A generous dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 x pack of pre-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

Take the skinned sausages and squish them together with your hands in a large bowl. Crumble in the black pudding and add the thyme, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

Mix together until thoroughly combined. At this point it was all looking a bit homogenous and I felt it needed texture. I finely chopped an onion and fried in a little butter, letting it soften but not colour. I mixed this in and set aside while I prepared the pastry.

Lay the puff pastry out on your chopping board and cut in half. You should be left with 2 rectangular pieces of pastry. Roll them out so as to make the narrow width wider. In effect, make the piece of pastry more square. This will allow you to encase the meat completely. Repeat with the other half of pastry.

Lay half the sausage mixture on one of the pastry sheets, favouring one side. Roll it, tucking in the sausage mixture until you have a neat roll. Don't worry about tucking in the ends. The meat at the end of the roll will caramelise nicely during cooking.

Again, repeat with the other roll. Score the top of the pastry with a fork/ knife and wash with the beaten egg.

Bake the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes until golden brown. Because there is a considerable amount of pork, you will need to ensure it cooks properly in the centre. A meat thermometer is perfect but you can test the colour of the juices with a skewer also. Don't be tempted to increase the heat of the oven - this will only further brown the pastry and leave the filling undercooked.

When serving, cut into generous slices. The black pudding gives it a great spiciness and the thyme and mustard cut through the rich porky fattiness. It goes great with even more mustard! I served mine with carrot smash and roast potatoes. If you have a nice chutney handy, this will complement it nicely too.

Beef with Black Pepper and Lime

2012-01-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

This is an extremely easy and incredibly tasty Thai dish. It's best if you marinade the beef overnight but it takes only minutes to cook. I serve mine with a mixed vegetable stir-fry and some noodles.

I got this recipe from a new book I got for Christmas, "Made Simple...Thai". It's a M&S publication. For the beef dish, you'll need -

400g steak ( I use sirloin)
1/2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
4 tsp soy sauce
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1/2 garlic bulb, cloves crushed
2 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp fish sauce
Stir-fried vegetables, to serve
Sesame noodles, to serve

Slice the steak thinly with a sharp knife. Put in a bowl while you prepare the marinade. Mix the sugar, pepper, soy, chilli, garlic and half the lime juice to a small bowl and mix well. Pour over the beef and stir to coat thoroughly. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.

Fast forward to the next day and it's dinner time. Remember to take the beef out of the fridge half an hour before you plan to cook it. Heat your wok/ frying pan over a high heat and add a dash of groundnut/ vegetable oil and swirl it around the pan. When it is smoking hot, add the beef and cook for 2 minutes. Stir it constantly so it colours evenly.

Add in the fish sauce and the rest of the lime juice. Cook for 1 minute more before removing from the heat and serving right away. It's that simple.

For the mixed vegetables, simply stir-fry your favourite vegetables for 2-3 minutes on a high heat with a few tbsps each of soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. I prefer vegetables with a nice crunch like onion, pepper, carrot, courgette, mangetout etc but use what you have in the fridge.

The noodles are just as easy. Boil your favourite type of noodles until tender. Drain and toss with a tbsp of sesame oil and some toasted sesame seeds. I like udon or soba noodles but again, any type is fine.

Serve it all up in the middle of the table and let people help themselves! Enjoy!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

2012-01-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

You know the feeling. You're at a nice restaurant and you want to try something new, tasty and exciting on the menu. Then you see it.... they have your favourite dish. You had it the last time but it's so freakin' good that you want it again! I struggle to stay away from steak and chips on any menu and, when it comes to desserts, sticky toffee pudding always keeps me coming back for more.

So it may limit my experience but when it's done well, it's bloody amazing. Karen made us some yesterday. The recipe is from James Martin's Desserts book. You'll need -

1 x 23cm square tin, greased and dusted with flour
50g soft butter
175g demerara sugar
200g self-raising flour
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp black treacle
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g pitted dates
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
Toffee Sauce
100g brown sugar
100g butter
200ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Beat the sugar and butter together until creamy in a large bowl.

Add the golden syrup, treacle, eggs and vanilla and mix again. Add the flour, mixing gently, until well combined. Meanwhile, put the dates in a small pan with 300ml water and bring to the boil. Remvoe from the heat and blitz, using a hand blender.

Add this to the other mixture and combine thoroughly. Pour into the prepared tin and put in the oven.

Mr Martin says 40 minutes but Karen took this one out after 30 minutes and it was perfect.

When the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin and portion as needed. To make the sauce, take a small pan and melt the butter and sugar over a gentle heat. Add the cream and simmer until it has reached the consistency you like. It will darken slightly the longer you cook it.

I like to cut a generous square of the pudding for 1 serving. Heat it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Spoon over the hot, luscious sauce and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Take a photo very quickly! Then it's time to devour it. Enjoy!

Spicy Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas

2012-01-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Quesadillas are probably my favourite snack food - you can put anything you want into them really. Leftover Sunday roast with some cheese, leftover vegetables with some cheese, the possibilities are endless...with some cheese. You don't really need cheese in them but it does make it better.

I served these quesadillas with a simple salsa and some guacamole. Chop about 4 tomatoes roughly and add half a finely chopped red onion, a chopped chilli, and some chopped coriander. Season with some salt & pepper and squeeze in the juice of half a lime.

The guacamole is even easier. Scoop out the flesh of 2 ripe avocados and mash with a fork. Add a little more chopped coriander and the juice from the other half of the lime. Season well.

For the quesadillas, you'll need the following to serve 4 -

4 chicken breasts, diced
Vegetable oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt & Pepper
4 tsp chipotle en adobo
2 red peppers & 1 onion, roughly chopped
2 handfuls of grated cheese (I used a mixture of manchego and cheddar but use your favourites)
2 tomatoes, sliced
4 x Tortilla wraps

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Now cook the chicken. Heat a little oil in a large pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil begins to smoke add the chicken and fry until browned. Now add the ground cumin, paprika and oregano. Fry for a few minutes more until fully cooked. Set aside.

Add the peppers and onion to a baking tray and toss together with a little more oil and salt & pepper. Roast in the oven until they are very sweet and slightly charred. Set these aside also.

Now get the tortilla wraps out and assemble the quesadillas. Lay your wrap flat on a chopping board and spread the chipotle en adobo over one half of it. See my blog post on how to make chipotle en adobo here. You can also buy it ready-made, either online or (in Dublin) at Fallon & Byrne and in the Epicurean Food Hall.

Now top it with the roast vegetables, chicken and sliced tomato.

Finally, top with the melted cheese and fold over the wrap, forming a half-moon parcel of spicy deliciousness. Wipe out your frying pan and return to the hob, over a medium heat. Add the half moon quesadillas and toast until the wraps are crisp and golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Cut each wrap in half when fully toasted and serve with a generous helping of the salsa and the guacamole. Enjoy!

Indian Feast Part 2 - Lamb and Spinach Karahi Curry

2012-01-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

This was the second main dish we had for our Christmas Eve feast. I'd made this before and it is truly delicious. It's probably the closest I've come to recreating the curries you can find in the best Indian restaurants. This was our table of goodies on the night.

In fact, this recipe is from an Indian restaurant. The Karachi Restaurant in Bradford, UK to be exact. I found the recipe by way of Rick Stein's Food Heroes book.

There's a lot of ingredients here and you need to start with one very important one if you want to recreate that authentic taste - ghee. This is what you need to use instead of oil or butter. It is clarified butter but it has an odd, somewhat acidic taste. You can find it in any Asian store. To make the dish you'll need -

250g ghee
550g onions, chopped
1 x 400g tin of tomatoes
120ml water
50g ginger, roughly chopped
65g garlic
900g cubed lamb (leg, shoulder, neck fillet)
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground coriander
350g spinach, washed
4 green chillies, seeds removed and roughly chopped
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1/2 tbsp garam masala
Rice, to serve

Heat the ghee in a large, wide bottomed pan and add the onions. Fry over a medium heat, for at least 20 minutes, until very soft and they have taken on a lovely golden brown. Remove the onions from the pan with a slotted spoon.

Put the tomatoes, water, ginger and garlic into a food processor and liquidise until smooth. Add the onions to this and blitz again until smooth.

Return this puree to the pan with the ghee. Add the lamb and salt and simmer for 30 minutes. The lamb will be about half cooked at this stage. It will be cooked through but it needs more cooking in order for it to tenderise.

Now add the turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, paprika and ground coriander and continue to simmer for another 30-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, put half the spinach into a large pan and sweat down until completely wilted. Transfer to the rinsed out processor and blend until smooth.

Rinse out the food processor again and add the green chillies with 3 tbsp of water. Blend until smooth. This is what will bring the curry to life!

When the lamb has finished cooking you will see there is a layer of ghee left on top of the curry (as above). You can remove this or leave it in (HINT - it's better if you leave it in!). Stir in the spinach puree and the uncooked spinach and cook gently for 2 minutes. I didn't take the following photo OK...my slightly drunk assistant did. It was Christmas Eve after all!

Taste the curry and add as much of the chilli puree as you wish. Add a little then taste again. You can always add more but you can't take it away. For me, I add enough to bring the flavour of the spices to life. With these curries that are cooked for a long time, the spices can lose some of their pungency. The chillies will excite your tastebuds and bring the spices to life as a result.

When you;ve got it to your liking, remove from the heat and add the coriander and garam masala. This will give it even more of a spice kick. Serve with the rice and, in my case, the tandoori chicken. Enjoy!

Indian Feast Part 1 - Tandoori Chicken

2012-01-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

This is the first part (of two) of the meal I cooked for the family on Christmas Eve. I wanted to create something tasty for everyone to share but also something that was different to the meal that was to follow the next day.

The last few years I've gone in different ethnic directions - Italian, Mexican etc and this year I decided to go Indian. I decided on two main dishes - Lamb and Spinach Karhai and Tandoori Chicken. I served them with rice, raita, homemade mango chutney and shop-bought naan bread. I'll show you the the recipe for the Lamb next time but first up it's the chicken.

This is so easy - you just need to prepare 24 hours in advance in order to marinade. This recipe is adapted from The Curry Bible. You'll need -

1 x whole chicken, skinned
Half a lemon
1 tsp salt
25g ghee, melted
Coriander, to garnish
Tandoori Masala Paste
Half tbsp crushed garlic
Half tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp chilli powder
Pinch of ground cloves
1/4 tsp red food colouring (optional)
200ml natural yoghurt

Firstly, make the masala paste. Combine the ginger, garlic and all the spices. Mix thoroughly with the yoghurt and set aside while you prepare the chicken. The food colouring adds that typical colour we associate with tandoori chicken!

Take your fully skinned chicken and, using a small knife, cut small slits all along the breast meat and on the legs and thighs too. Now rub the lemon half all over the chicken and season with the salt.

Now, rub the masala paste all over the chicken, ensuring you push it down into all the cuts in the chicken so the flavour penetrates as deeply as possible. Cover in a large bowl and leave to marinade for 24 hours.

When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the chicken in a roasting tray, cover with the melted ghee and roast for about an hour until the juices run clear and the chicken is cooked. Be careful that it doesn't colour too much. If it looks like it's beginning to burn simply cover with some foil.

It's actually very forgiving as even if you slightly overcook it, the marinade will ensure the meat stays very tender. Simply joint the chicken into portions and serve. Enjoy!

NEXT TIME: Lamb and Spinach Karhai Curry

Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars

2012-01-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

This is a Nigella Lawson recipe, from her Kitchen book. She describes it, somewhat controversially, as 'the kitchen equivalent of crack cocaine.' In fairness, it is very more-ish and, in the way that the best sweet treats can be, quite addictive.

This is a more interesting mixture than that of a simple brownie or rocky road bar. It combines salted peanuts and crunchie bars for the textural element and also the opposite end of the salty and sweet scales. If you are the type of person who loves chocolate with their popcorn, you will love this! You'll need -

300g milk chocolate (or mix 200g milk with 100g dark)
125g unsalted butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
250g salted peanuts
4 x 40g crunchie bars
1 x 25cm round springform tin (or a foil tray, round/ rectangular)
Icing sugar, to garnish

If using the tin, line this with foil.

Break up the chocolate and add it to a bowl over gently simmering water. Add the butter and golden syrup to the chocolate and melt gently together.

In another bowl, throw in the peanuts. Don't chop them, just leave them whole. Take a rolling pin to the crunchie bars (in their wrappers!) and then open and tip the honeycomb crumble in with the peanuts.

When the chocolate has melted, combine the two mixtures and stir to combine. Now simply pour into the prepared tin. Smooth the top and leave in the fridge to set. Remove from the fridge when it has hardened and dust the top with the icing sugar.

I think it's particularly nice in the round tin as you can cut slices of it, as you would a cake. Enjoy!

Recreating the Takeaway 5 - Chicken with Oyster Sauce

2012-01-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

I came up with this recipe after noticing I had an unopened bottle of oyster sauce in the press that was fast-approaching it's best before date. I wouldn't be overly sold on the oyster sauce dishes you get in most takeaways. They tend to fall into the bland, indistinguishable bracket of Chinese takeaway food.

In fact, it was something that I never ordered for years because my mam told me that I maybe allergic to it. Apparently, when I was about 5, I suffered a bad skin rash around the same time I had sampled some Chinese food. The oyster sauce was deemed to be the culprit! Many years later, I decided to take the plunge and try some oyster sauce again and hey presto! no skin rash! (Note to self: two mentions of 'skin rash' is very unappetising).

I hope with this recipe, as with all the takeaway ones that I have done, that I am giving you a viable, economical alternative to the dishes we most commonly find in our local takeaways. To feed 4 people, you will need -

4 chicken fillets, sliced thinly
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
2 tsp sesame oil
Vegetable oil
1 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 thumb size piece of ginger, grated
1 chilli, finely chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
Bell pepper, roughly chopped (I used 3 mini peppers)
2 spring onions, finely sliced
Noodles/ Rice, to serve

Put the sliced chicken into a large bowl with 2 tbsp of the soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and cornflour. Stir thoroughly and leave to sit for a few minutes.

Heat your pan or wok on a high heat. When it is very hot, add a little oil and add the chicken pieces. Stir-fry for 3/4 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. The cornflour will form a thick, pasty coating on the chicken at this stage. Set aside.

Wipe out the pan and again, heat it to smoking point. Add another drop of oil and quickly fry the garlic, ginger and chilli.

After 20 seconds, add the onion and carrots as these will take longer to cook than the peppers. You can add any vegetable you want - the crunchy ones work best. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time.

Now add the peppers and fry for 1 more minute. Add the oyster sauce, stock and the rest of the soy sauce. Bring up to the boil.

Now, put the chicken back into the pan and stir through. The sauce will begin to thicken immediately due to the cornflour. Give it just 1 minute before taking it off the heat.

Serve with rice or noodles and top with the spring onions. I had mine with some soba noodles. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

2012-01-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

We had this on Christmas Day as our starter. Actually, I cooked it on Christmas Eve as there was enough work to do with the turkey, ham, and everything else that goes into the big Christmas Day feast. It's very simple. If you intend on serving this as a starter, I recommend serving it in a cup/ mug. You get just the right portion, especially if there's a heavy main on the way! Don't forget the crusty bread!

This soup is very simple and comes from Ireland's own Clodagh McKenna. It follows the typical soup method of sweating the vegetables before adding the stock and cooking them until tender before liquidising. To serve 4 people you will need (I doubled this to feed the crew we had down for Christmas) -

20g butter
500g butternut squash, deseeded and cut into small chunks
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
A generous grating of nutmeg
500ml chicken stock
100ml double cream (optional)
Salt & Pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan before adding the squash, onion and garlic. Stir to coat all the vegetables in the butter. Reduce the heat to medium low and put the lid on. Sweat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Grate in the nutmeg and then add the stock. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer. It should only need 8-10 minutes simmering. You want to take it off the heat as soon as it's cooked so that the vegetables don't lose flavour.

Remove from the heat when the squash is tender and puree using a hand blender. Be patient, as to get the soup really smooth, it will need about 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and if using, add the double cream while stirring. The cream will give it that extra bit of luxury but it tastes great without it! Now just serve with plenty of crusty bread! Enjoy!