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The Random Recipe Thread
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21-03-2007 11:07am#1
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False Apricot Jam
INGREDIENTS.
900 gm Carrots, sliced
100 gm Cooking apple, grated
900 gm Sugar
Zest of one lemon
Juice of two lemons
5 Tsp ground Almond
1 Tsp Tumeric (for added colour)
OPTIONAL
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Seeds of 5 Cardamom pods, crushed
You can of course add the flavours you like as well, things like star anise, ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg are recommended.
METHOD
Put sliced carrots into a pot with boiling water, around 300 ml to ensure they don't burn.
With a grater, remove the zest from one lemon and squeeze out the juice.
Squeeze the second lemon.
Peel and grate the apple.
Mix the ground almond, grated apple, lemon zest, cardamon pods and lemon juice.
When the carrots are softened a bit after about 10 minutes add the apple/almond/lemon mix and tumeric to the syrup and stir through.
Keep stirring until the apple has broken down.
At this point there should be enough liquid to cover the bottom third of the ingredients.
Add the sugar and dissolve. Keep stirring until carrots are soft.
After about 10 minutes its time to blend the mix. This is where we have a real advantage over the Victorians as the carrots can be blended down to almost a puree, giving a real apricot jam imitation.
This is a little different from normal jam making. This is because the carrots float.
Strain off the ingredients, retaining the liquid syrup.
Return the syrup to the cooking pot and keep on low temperature.
Add the solids to the blender and give it about 3 minutes until finely blended.
At this point I added the 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Return the blended solids to the pot and reduce over a low heat, remember to stir frequently to stop anything burning.
Do the cold plate test as normal for jams and prepare to jar up in hot sterilised jars as per the preserves made easy posting. Fill the jars to just below the threads and waterbath to seal.
CARROT MARMALADE
INGREDIENTS
900 gm red carrot (I used Lisse de Mieux)
100 gm tart apple
Zest and Juice of two Oranges
Zest and juice of one Lemon (try a couple of lime if you like)
200 ml water
500 gm white sugar
400 gm Demerera Sugar.
METHOD
Grate the carrots and apple.
The grating is done for texture and appearance
Zest and juice oranges and lemon
Mix orange/carrot/juice mix well, put into a large heavy bottomed pot and soften the carrot.
When the carrot is softened, take about 1/3rd of the grated carrot and put through food blender/processor.
Return processed carrot to pot and add all sugar.
Cook until reduced to setpoint.
Do the cold plate test as normal for jams and prepare to jar up in hot sterilised jars as per the preserves made easy posting. Fill the jars to just below the threads and waterbath to seal.
Yields 3.5 regular jam jars, tastes delicious.0 -
This recipe is based on Lebanese cuisine so the combination of herbs and spices which make this casserole spicy but not hot.
To make it hot, add 1/2 tsp of Harissa paste or some chili's.
It's a great way to prepare the cheaper, tougher but more flavoursome cuts of lamb like shoulder.
Its a deliciously warming, spicy one-pot dish that's easy to prepare - great winter food.
You can use stock cubes, but I don't see the point in this when you are trimming the chops anyway, and the home made stock can be used for more than one meal, so as a gardener and cook you get great value for money and delicious winter soups.
For more details on the stock, just check out my garden blog - link in signature.
INGREDIENTS
400g lamb shoulder chops, boned and trimmed
- the bones and trimmings are retained.
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large onion, sliced
1 leek, sliced
2 tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tbsp oregano,
400g skinned, de-seeded chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
500ml home made lamb stock
Salt
black pepper
FOR THE CASSEROLE
Toss the lamb in a mix flour and spices (ground coriander, turmeric and cayenne) just like with the Hungarian style liver on the blog
Fry the lamb gently for 2-3 minutes or until brown.
Add the garlic, onion, oregano and leek
Cook for about 5 minutes, or until soft.
Place in the casserole dish.
Add remaining ingredients.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cover and place in a preheated oven 170°C for 2 hours or until tender.
Or, alternatively, cook very gently on the hob in a heavy based pot on the lowest heat for 2 hours or until tender.
As an oven dish, it can be served with baked potato's to save on energy,
but I really like it with rice or cous cous.0 -
Gougere is a specialty of the Burgundy region. Traditionally, gougere's are made with gruyere, the well known swiss cheese with the holes - but other cheeses are sometimes used.
There are more pictures and tips at my Garden Blog as always, link in signature.
With the great government cheese giveaway, I felt I had to offer a recipe that included fromage in the food!!! Who knows, with the way things are headed I may be doing recipes based on food stamps soon
With this recipe, as always, I have incorporated Irish flavours and aspects to it like cheddar, and in this case the use of buttermilk does add a lot to the final dish.
The main flavours to the filling of this dish are lemon and French tarragon.
I grew tarragon in the garden herb patch, and it is an underused herb in Ireland.
French tarragon is grown from root divisions, just like horseradish- whereas Russian tarragon is apparently grown from seed
Tarragon is easy to grow in any sunny spot well drained spot.
It can be grown with other plants in a flower bed or border,
given a little room to itself as it is not a great competitor.
This recipe is a real recession buster - a great way to use up left over chicken, and makes a change from the usual chicken and leek or mushroom pie.
Its what I call 2nd or 3rd phase chicken, first you have the roast, then you strip the carcass for this or a pie - then you have the carcass for stock and soup. With Christmas coming, I think it is also a way of using up turkey next month.
Its a lovely winter oven dish, and with the oven on the go you may
as well take advantage of that to roast or bake veg to accompany
the meal and save on energy costs.
I tend to use Cuinneog butter and buttermilk from Mayo - better flavour than regular mass produced stuff.
INGREDIENTS
For the Choux Pastry:
300ml - ½ Pint buttermilk
(traditionally the French use water, but the buttermilk makes it a richer pastry)
175 gm - 6 oz plain flour
100 gm - 4 oz butter or margarine
50 gm - 2 oz Finely grated cheese
(I used cheddar, but gruyere is the traditional type)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Pinch of salt.
For the filling:
225 gm cooked chicken, diced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh Tarragon (or 2 tsp dried)
1 tsp mustard - or ½ tsp mustard powder
1 pint white sauce* - easy to make yourself yourself
1 tsp paprika to garnish
METHOD
CHOUX PASTRY
Place the buttermilk in a pan with the butter and
heat gently until the butter melts,.
Bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, add the flour and salt.
Beat in the flour quickly to produce a smooth paste which comes away from the sides of the pan to form a smooth ball. Set aside to cool slightly.
Personally, I remove it from the pot to the blender and then use the pot to make the filling - saves on washing up.
The following can be done by hand, but I just use a blender on slow speed.
Gradually beat in the eggs to give a smooth glossy finish.
Fold in the grated cheese.
This mixture is spooned or piped around the side of a greased ovenproof dish, an oval dish is easiest.
FILLING
Make up the white sauce*
Add tarragon, mustard, lemon and chicken, stir in
Simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes
(while piping/spooning in pastry to dish)
Pour into the centre of the dish.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes
Sprinkle dish with paprika - serve hot.
The Gougere is shown here served with baked garden veg, Very simple and energy saving recipe.
I just sliced some parsnip and carrot - roughly chopped an onion, two cloves of garlic crushed and herbs (root parsley, thyme, fair whack of salt and some pepper)
Chuck them in a shallow oven dish with some olive oil, cover
with tinfoil and put into the oven when you start to preheat it for the gougere, the cooking time for the entire meal takes about 50 minutes that way.
*White Sauce
Ingredients to make white sauce
50 gm/2 oz butter or margarine
50 gm/2 oz plain flour
600ml/1 pint fresh milk
Melt butter on a low heat in a pan
Add flour and blend in with butter
Add milk, whisk.0 -
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Zuiderzee - What am I looking at in the picture? I can't make out the gougere part of the dish. My idea of what a gougere looks like is something like this...
Or this, if you join a load together...
Apparently French Gruyere has holes.....Burgundy recipe with holey cheese = french gruyere cheese0 -
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A simple, easy dish and a real pound stretcher.
Same chicken provided a roast, a Gougere, a soup and this risotto.
I used home made chicken stock, but a veggie stock can be used for a vegitarian version.
I use parsley, but a lot of people use rosmary in this type of dish.
FOR THE PARSNIP RISOTTO
A generous slice of butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
150 g parsnip, diced
900ml chicken or vegetable stock
200g arborio or other risotto rice rice
150ml of white wine (optional)
1 sprig of fresh parsley, finely chopped - I used my Akita root parsley leaves
A handful of freshly grated Parmesan, plus more to serve
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
As an extra option you can use a good balsamic vinegar to drizzle.
I served it with a poached egg, adding paprika dusting for a splash of colour.
Also, Boxty to add texture and colour
More thoughts, pics, tips, links etc as always at the garden blog - link in sig0 -
This is a great way to use up small veg.
Served with Bacon and cabbage covered on the blog
My turnips were grown in too much shade, so never really got up
to a full size, something that will be rectified next year
with the chopping of a few trees.
The flavour is rich and buttery. As always, I used cuinneog butter
- mostly for the flavour but also to support a small Irish company
and reduce food miles.
You can, of course, do only potato's or other root veg,
I just decided to do a mix.
INGREDIENTS
2 small turnip
2 small suede
2 small beetroot
2 small potato (I used kerr pink's)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
160 gm Cuinneog butter
80 ml chicken stock
1/2 tsp Rosemary
1/2 tsp Thyme
Peel the veg. You can reserve the turnip, beetroot and swede leaves
for greens.
Then cut the veg in slices to about 2 cm thick.
The veg has to have a flat top and bottom, like a flat barrel shape
Real chiefs at this stage use cookie cutters to give an even, all round shape. I just trimmed with a peeler around the sides, the important part is to bevel the edges to prevent burning.
Melt 160 grams of butter in a heavy bottomed pot on a medium heat.
When this was bubbling I started to add the veg.
I used beets, turnip, swede and potato.
All of these cook at different speeds so I staggered the cooking
- i.e. only after the beets got their first turn did the turnip and swede go in, and only after they were turned did the potato go in.
The vegetables in total took about 12 minutes to start going a golden brown.
At this stage add two crushed cloves of garlic and the herbs.
After about 3 minutes stirring in the garlic and herbs add 80ml of chicken stock.
A word of warning - it will start to spit and bubble.
Allow the veg to simmer for 30 minutes or until tender and the stock is absorbed.
This meal is so simple, and apart from the meat, flour, milk and butter there is really very little that anyone with even a small garden needs to buy, reducing costs and food miles.
I write these recipes for my own amusement mostly, but every time I do a meal, I try to minimise on cost, basing recipes on what might be on offer at Lidl, Aldi, Dunnes and other stores.
A lot of recipes use food that people throw away that is perfectly good - i.e. chicken bones and veg offcuts for stock or the turnip leaves that are used in this recipe - and what might be wasted from this one like the bacon and greens cooking water that can be used in a future dish.
I hope this and other recipes might inspire readers to take Irish food and look at it in a different, more adventurous way and see how a few quid can be stretched.0 -
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I wanted to add colour to a meal of gammon steak and Spanish omelette - one of the few veg left in the garden now are beetroot.
I sprinkled the chips with some Spanish sherry vinegar, gives a lovely tang to the sweetness of the beetroot.
BEETROOT CHIPS
Cut chips to equal width.
Heat oil to 130C and fry the chips for 8-10 mins or until soft.
Drain and leave to cool .
Heat oil to 180C and fry the chips until crispy.
Drain, pat dry and serve.0 -
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I saw that Lidl have a good offer on Scallop at 12 for €5 at the moment - well worth checking out for Christmas.
Scallop is one of my favorite seafood's, it requires very little in the way of dressing up - its perfect as it is.
This recipe is kind of inspired by one of the Hairy Bikers Cook Off programs on BBC, one of their 7 minute supper challenges was made using scallops.
I'd normally serve scallop in its shell with a bacon and cheese type sauce - but they put it together a little differently than I would have - with potato, so I decided to use Oca I grew this year in this dish and serve with beetroot and spinach.
I'm used Oca in this meal, but diced potato would work - and to be a little more exotic maybe sweet potato which I think in Irish cities would be easier to find than Oca.
Simple Scallops
I had some bacon in the fridge - you could also use streaky bacon.
I cut off the piece with the most fat.
Slice the bacon thinly. Use one piece of bacon for each scallop.
Fry the bacon in butter and olive oil at a high temperature until crispy, rendering out the fat.
After about 6 minutes of cooking, the bacon was taken out of the pan, put in an oven proof dish and chucked in the oven to stay warm.
Reduce the heat under the pan to medium.
Then the Scallop is added to the pan, using the rendered bacon lard to cook it.
This takes about 5 minutes - so the top and bottom of the scallop is dark brown, caramelised - but be very careful not to burn them.
I always cook them with the tounge, not only does it add to the flavour - it also helps to colour the jus.
After they are cooked, put them in the oven with the bacon to keep warm.
Drain the pan over the scallop and bacon.
NB: At this point put the serving plates in the oven.
When the greens (I used spinach for this meal - more detail in the blog) are done, return the scallop, bacon and liquid to the pan for about a minute, then remove the bacon and scallop retaining any fat and liquid in the pan-move to the warm serving plate.
Pour some white wine - about a third of a glass - into the pan to de-glaze, then add three tablespoons of cream, mix through and allow to reduce.
While that is reducing, get the veg fondant or whatever other veg you are serving onto the plate.
The sauce should be reduced slightly, spoon it over the scallops and bacon - be generous.
If I had parmesan cheese, I would have added a few shavings on top of the scallop for taste and presentation, but scallop really does not need much in the way of flavouring.
The Scallop was served with roasted Oca, beetroot potato fondant and sauteed spinach with a side salad of winter cos and a dressing made to compliment the oca.
As a wine, I used a Kiwi Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc, available at Super Value. Although the name suggests it comes from New Zealand, its actually made in France.
I think as this is a European dish, influenced by my time in New Zealand it is an apt choice, and it does go very well with the meal.0 -
Lidl are currently doing an offer on Langoustine - or whole Scottish scampi as they are labelled - at €9.99
We know them better as Dublin Bay prawns.
This dish is very easy to adapt for other combinations. It really is a great, colourful dish at this time of year.
1 tbsp olive oil
2 rabbit saddles, boned and cut into pieces (or chicken)
Dublin bay prawns, shell and head on
Cup of frozen, tailed prawns (also available from lidl)
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 can chopped tomato's
2 Onions
Bell peppers
200g/7oz paella rice, you can also use risotto rice.
Tsp Paprika
Tsp Oregano
a pinch of saffron or turmeric
1 litre/1¾ pints rabbit stock, made with rabbit bones boiling
Fry the rabbit, onion, garlic, herbs and spices.
Add the rice, making sure the grains are coated.
Transfer to a casserole dish.
Add the prawns, tomato's and peppers and mix gently.
Add the stock - bring it up to the top of the rice.
Cover and put in a pre-heated oven - 180 deg C for 30 minutes - or until liquid absorbed.
Ideally, if you have a big enough frying pan you can leave it cook on the hob if covered, but I don't so I had to adapt the cooking method.
Serve hot, its great fun to eat - breaking open the Dublin bay prawns.
Keep the heads, don't discard them as they make the basis of a lovely bisque.0 -
This recipe is great for rabbit and also great with chicken wings as fingerfood as well.
I believe healthier choice than the usual preservative sugar salt packed off the shelf mix that people normally use - and certainly waaaay better than chicken nuggets
Its another dish from the southern states in the US - great with collard greens and a little home made blackberry chutney.
This meal also compliments home-made soda bread very well, and you normally use buttermilk for that - so its a great way to use up buttermilk.
It works well with chicken, but is particularly good with rabbit as it stops the game drying out. Perfectly tender, well flavored, crunchy - just what one wants in fried rabbit or chicken.
With the crunchy, fun texture it is an easy way to introduce more squeamish kids to rabbit.
INGREDIENTS
SOAKING
350 ml - about 2 cups - of cuinneog buttermilk
1 large onion, sliced
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (parsley, tarragon, thyme) or a teaspoon each of the dried herbs.
Clove garlic, minced or grated
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
I really like to add a 1/4 cup coriander or cilantro in this recipe as well - but only if fresh.
Recently I found an absolutely brilliant fruit and veg shop in the Eyre Square shopping centre called Mister Beans
It's run by a very helpful, nice guy. Great range of products, especially the harder to find herbs and veg - with a far better range than the nearby supermarkets.
Its well worth a visit - probably the closest thing Galway has to what you can find in Corks English Market, and I always try to support the smaller outlets against the retail giants.
COATING
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
As a highly recommended optional extra 1/2 cup rolled porridge oatlets - I just use Flahavans.
The idea is actually Scottish, they fry herring in rolled oats and it gives real extra crunch in this recipe
METHOD
1 Soak rabbit or chicken overnight (at least 8 hours and up to two days) in buttermilk with onions, herbs, paprika, and cayenne pepper.
2 Drain in colander, leaving some herbs on chicken. In a plastic bag, mix flour and oats with seasonings.
Meanwhile, heat 2 cups of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet on medium high heat until a pinch of flour starts to sizzle when dropped in the hot oil (but not so hot that the pan is smoking)
3 Place rabbit or chicken pieces in bag with the oat and flour mix - shake until thoroughly coated.
Add the meat to hot pan and fry on 1 side for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown, and then turn the pieces over and fry for another 10-12 minutes, again until golden brown.
Be careful to keep the oil hot enough to fry the meat, but not so high as to burn, and a lid on the side just in case.0 -
A very easy to cook meal, and a great way to do fish.
The advantage of this is that you also create a really nice, delicate sauce at the same time.
I hate doing dishes, so this is a way to cut back on washing up.
I used shop bought fresh haddock for this -
but whiting and pollack are good as well and provide a really good, more economic alternative.
This will easily feed 4 people.
INGREDIENTS:
4 haddock or other white fish fillet, about 200 gm each
2 tbl Lemon juice
2 tbl Olive oil
4 tbl water
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large carrot - peeled and sliced into thin strips (use a peeler for this)
3 sticks celery - finely sliced
1 leek - finely sliced
Salt and Pepper
Parsley.
Optional - about half a glass of white wine to deglaze
METHOD:
Place the lemon juice, oil, water, celery, leek and carrot in a large, heavy based pan.
Season to taste and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat to a simmer and place the fish skin side down in a layer on top of the veg in the pan.
Cover the pan with foil or baking parchment - then use a lid to cover it and keep as much steam in as possible.
It only takes about 10 minutes for the fish to be cooked, its done when the flesh is flaking.
Using a fish slice, very gently transfer the fish to a warm plate.
Now add the parsley to the veg mix and cooking liquid.
A drop of wine can be added to deglaze the pan at this point.
Then spoon over the fish and serve.
I just had some quickly wilted spinach and lemony courgette as extra veg and some oven fries - what would fish be without chips after all.
It is a very handy light meal, which is what a lot of us like this time of year after the Xmas's excess.0 -
Clafoutis is a simple French dessert - very easy to make, super simple,
but it looks really impressive.
It is very economical, made with seasonal fruit. It is also a great way to use up fruit that is just a little over-ripe, so a real money saver
Along with the usual extra tips and pictures I also recently posted a lot of pictures of a snow bound Connemara on the blog, so feel free to visit and take a look-see.
Traditionally in France Clafoutis is made with cherries.
You can use apples, pears, prunes, blackberries etc.
but in Limousin where the dish comes from if cherries are
not used its more properly called Flaugnarde.
You can use most garden fruits for this, I used shop bought plums,
sliced and stoned, and my neighbour Judahs eggs.
There are tons of recipes and variations, including some
that want pre-heating and cooling of the milk and cream,
but this is the simplelest way I have found.
It is good cold, but best served warm - ideal as a dessert
when you are doing other things in the oven like baked potatos
- as you will be prepping and serving this after the same meal,
using the same temperature.
INGREDIENTS
100 gm - ½ teacup - sugar (reserve 1 Tbsp. to dust baking dish)
100 gm - 2/3 teacup all-purpose flour
200 ml - ¾ teacup - milk
50 ml - ¼ teacup heavy cream
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Fruit of choice to fill
Knob of butter - about an ounce
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C
In a blender, combine all the the ingredients except the fruit and butter, and blend on high for 1 minute.
Take a good sized baking dish, add the butter and put it in the oven
until the butter is foaming.
Remove the baking dish and then spread the butter around
the base and sides.
Dust the dish lightly with a tsp of sugar.
Pour in half the batter
Now layer in the fruit in the partly filled pan, floating on the
lower level of batter
Pour on the remaining batter and bake until the top puffs
and starts to turn golden-brown, about 45-60 minutes.
Serve warm with a little flavoured whipped cream,
I added lime zest and sherry to mine.0 -
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Just an updated alternative Irish varient.
I try my best to produce my own ingredients or source them from closer to home. I also love to take recipes and give them an Irish twist.
This variation on the classic Clafoutis gives a richer, more savory pastry.
Connemara Buttermilk Clafoutis
100 gm - ½ teacup sugar (reserve 1 Tbsp. to dust baking dish)
100 gm - 2/3 teacup all-purpose flour
200 ml - ¾ teacup Cuinneog buttermilk
50 ml - ¼ tea cup heavy cream
3 eggs
Level teaspoon baking soda or baking powder
1 teaspoon Honey
pinch of salt
Knob of Cuinneog butter - about an ounce - to grease baking dish
Fruit of choice to fill
The method is identical to the classic version, and takes just a little longer to cook. The above measures take about 50 minutes at 180 deg C in a preheated fan assisted oven
Buttermilk Clafoutis with Nectarine and plums0
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