The Random Recipe Thread

The Hill Billy

Hi All - This is the Random Recipe thread. If you have a recipe that you wish to share with us & you don't feel that it belongs in the Easy Peasy Recipes or Here's what I had for Dinner... or The Cooking Club Random Recipe threads - pop it in here...

The same rules apply - no spamming blogs & no quoting pics.

Thanks,

tHB, Faith & Mr Magnolia

Zuiderzee

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.

Zuiderzee

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.

Zuiderzee

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.

The Hill Billy

Zuiderzee wrote: »

...gruyere, the well known swiss cheese with the holes...

Nice recipe.

But just thought that I'd mention that while Gruyère is a Swiss cheese - it doesn't have holes.

Zuiderzee

Bugger, your right - got it confused with Emmenthal I think

Speaking of holey chhese, the Government should have given the free stuff to religious sects for distribution - with our accent, they can go round to peoples houses on Sunday

Knock knock
"Do you like jesus"
"No, never liked that sort of stuff"
"What - you dont like the holy jesus"
"Nope, never even liked the swiss, the Nazi sympatising bastards"
"But holy jesus is Jewish?"
"Holey Cheeses??"
"Yeah, like the baby jesus"
"But I hate babybel!"

Alun

Minder

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 cheese

Zuiderzee

Its the dark, crusty bit under the chicken sauce, my presentation is not the best - food styling is not my strong point - I piped it in around the edge of the dish

Zuiderzee

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 sig

Zuiderzee

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.

Mr Magnolia

Please don't pimp you're blog in your posts. The link in your signature should be enough.

Zuiderzee

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.

Corsendonk

Looks great, I did a variation with cucumbers, certainly a great way to make bland cucumbers taste good.

The Hill Billy

You can make cucumber chips? I would have thought that they had too much water.

How thin should they be sliced?

brian ireland

Wow thats sounds nice.
I am always looking for new novel ideas to amaze my friends at dinner parties. I suppose you can't use the pickled ones. Do you need to use fresh ones?
I think I have seen them vac-packed in lidl. I will give it a go next week.
Thanks.

Corsendonk

Hill Billy wrote: »

You can make cucumber chips? I would have thought that they had too much water.

How thin should they be sliced?

Not too thin, peel the green skin from the cucumber, then slice into decent size chips, season with salt of pepper then dip in flour and quick deep fry. If you want real crispy you can try french fry size.

You have to be very inventive when you grow your old veg or you soon get fed up after a few weeks eating the same dishes. Anyone got a good recipe for 200 chillies?

Minder

Corsendonk wrote: »

Anyone got a good recipe for 200 chillies?

I've made this without the sweet red pepper (so 300g chillies) and it's fine - all depends on how hot your chillies are.

Nigella's Chilli Jam
150g long fresh red chillies, each deseeded and cut into about 4 pieces.

150g red peppers, cored, deseeded and cut into rough chunks

1kg jam sugar

600ml cider vinegar

6 x 250ml sealable jars, with vinegar-proof lid, such as Kilner jar or re-usable pickle jar

Sterilize your jars and leave to cool. Put the cut-up chillies into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the chunks of red pepper and pulse again until you have a vibrantly red-flecked processor bowl. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring. Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave it at a rollicking boil for 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool. The liquid will become more syrupy, then from syrup to viscous and from viscous to jelly-like as it cools. After about 40 minutes, or once the red flecks are more or less evenly dispersed in the jelly (as the liquid firms up, the hints of chilli and pepper start being suspended in it rather than floating on it), ladle into your jars. If you want to stir gently at this stage, it will do no harm. Then seal tightly. Serves: Makes approx. 1.5. Litre

Zuiderzee

brian ireland wrote: »

Wow thats sounds nice.
I am always looking for new novel ideas to amaze my friends at dinner parties. I suppose you can't use the pickled ones. Do you need to use fresh ones?
I think I have seen them vac-packed in lidl. I will give it a go next week.
Thanks.

I'd go for the fresh lidl ones provided they are not pre-boiled (that was the norm in Holland when I was living there)
All recipes I put here or on the blog incorporate mostly what I can grow in the kitchen garden or forage.

Sad thing is though that the veg patch is almost empty, so its super markets until Feb at the earliest for fresh veg other than parsnip, beets, cabbage and a few root crops.
One thing I am looking forward to is the Oca, that gets dug up later today:D

Other than that its all turning up the soil and cleaning the pathways, laying new pine needles and ash in the never ending war against slugs.

The deep fried cucumber sounds really interesting, grew gherkins this year so may give cucumbers a go, but the climate here in Connemara makes things like that quite chalenging - especially as there are a few trees that will need to be cut down to get more sunlight into the veg patch.

Corsendonk

Zuiderzee wrote: »

The deep fried cucumber sounds really interesting, grew gherkins this year so may give cucumbers a go, but the climate here in Connemara makes things like that quite chalenging - especially as there are a few trees that will need to be cut down to get more sunlight into the veg patch.

Unless you have a good polly tunnel or greenhouse it can be hard to grow cucumbers otherwise try growing courgettes which just need a good bed of FYM, you can deep fry as fritters and the flower isnt bad deep fried either. Regular harvesting make it more a worthwhile veg for limited space gardens and you can allow one or two plants to grow on fruit to develop marrows which store well. I still have a good quanity of home grown Butternut squash left which grows the same way. How would you prepare Oca?

Zuiderzee

Well Corsendonk, I dont think I can afford a pollytunnel - and I dont know if I really want one, winds up here being a major factor.

I did some cougette outdoors this year alright, did quite well despite the fact that I went away for a while and it was heavily shaded by squash - a heritage variety from realseeds.co.uk called White Volunteer.

Kept a few seeds from it if you want to swap for a few butternut squash ones.
I missed that veg for Moroccan food this year - having moved back from Holland I find the lack of variety and of available spices etc. a bit frustrating, hence the growing of things like Japanese mustard greens, acocha, root parsely etc. - but I have managed to save a lot of seed for next season.

Funny you should mention the flowers as food, been considering doing that for spring salads, if I'm still in the country that is - be good for the bees as well.

As for the Oca, still looking at recipes on the net, but I have a few ideas from New Zealand, or a variation on a 7 minute supper the Hairy Bikers did.

I'll probably write it up for the blog and here Monday

brian ireland

Roasted Beetroot

Zuiderzee

Nice one Brian, I find that before pickling beetroot that roasting gives them a better texture than boiling.
To try to save on energy bills, generally I pick the beets from the garden before cooking a joint of meat and chuck them in the bottom of the oven at the same time

Corsendonk

Yeap I tried the roasted beetroot myself this year, better results than boiling with lovely soft sweet flesh. Just gently scrub the flesh and leave the main tap root intact or you will have a bleeder.

The leaves of fresh beetroot earlier in the year are great in a salad. Brian you might be able to pick up some fresh beetroot locally but I wouldn't use the vac pack beetroot that G's seem to make for everyone.

The butternut squash seeds I actually got the cheap way, I bought a supermarket butternut squash, deseeded the squash and separated the seed, selecting the largest seeds. Then placed the seed in an envelope and left in the hot press 1-2 weeks to gentle dry.

Zuiderzee

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.

Zuiderzee

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.

Zuiderzee

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.

Zuiderzee

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.

Zuiderzee

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.

shinikins

Thanks for posting your version zuiderzee, its one of those recipes that I've always wanted to try but put on the long finger as i could only ever find the complicated versions!! I'll definitely give yours a go though!!

Zuiderzee

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 plums

Zuiderzee

Combining two items which formed a staple of the Scottish crofters diet over many centuries, herring coated in oats is a traditional, tasty, nourishing dish rich in Omega Oils. These two ingredients would have also been staples in Connemara, although I don't think they were used together in this part of the world.
Herring are an under-rated fish, healthy, commonly available and economical.

They are also one of the most environmentally responsible species.

This quick and easy meal is without doubt one of the simplest and tastiest meals to cook, great with salad and soda bread or new potatos later in the year. If you are lucky enough to have them, mashed jeruselem artichokes are great with this dish

Ingredients:
Allow 2 herrings per person
Rolled Oats - unsweetend like Flahavans porrage oatlets.
Salt and pepper
Knob of butter


Method:
Cut along the underside of the herring, lay it on a table, cut side down and hit across the backbone in a few places with a rolling pin or your hand.
Remove the backbone and as many of the smaller bones as possible.
Scrape the scales from the fish with a knife, remove heads and tails.


Sprinkle with salt and pepper and either toss them in a plastic bag with plenty of rolled oats or put the fish on a plate and coat them with oatmeal - you may have to press the oats into the fish to ensure it is fully covered.
Put a knob of butter in the pan - cooking oil or dripping also work - put them in with the skin side upwards first.
Fry until lightly brown, turn and cook the other side. It should take 5/7 minutes.
Drain the fish on kitchen paper (paper towels).


I'd suggest serving with lemon and parsley - old Scots would not have known such refinements!

Zuiderzee

Again, being in Holland visiting, I go back to the old North Sea / Baltic staple.
This is basically a Scandinavian dish adapted for more Irish style ingredients.

I'll get some photos up on the blog later later when I can.

One thing we love with our fish is the sharp tang of citrus like lemon, so the buttermilk and mustard sauce gives that flavour.

This is a simple dish, get the potatoes down when you turn on the oven to pre-heat, and put the beans in a steamer about 5 minutes before the fish are done.
Takes about 25 - 30 minutes to cook if the fish are pre-cleaned.

ingredients (serves 2)

4 large herrings
cooking oil[

for the sauce

3 tbsp (1 1/2 oz) 40 g butter
30 g (about a 1/4 teacup (1 oz)) plain flour
300 ml (1/2 pint) buttermilk
1 tablespoon Dijon wholegrain mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper

* Some sugar or honey on standby (see note)

parsley and lemon wedges, for garnish

method
1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400 F) gas mark 6 and butter a deep ovenproof dish. Remove the heads from the fish, clean, gut, scale and bone them. Rinse and pat dry.

2. Slash the skins diagonally with a sharp knife two or three times on each side. Brush with a little oil. Put the herrings in the dish, cover and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the flesh is no longer pinky.

3. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Gradually blend in the milk, stirring. Add the mustard and bring to the boil slowly, stirring until thickened. Season to taste.

* While tasting, if you find the sauce too sharp add sugar or honey to sweeten slightly

4. Serve the herrings with the sauce poured over, I plated up with some potatoes and buttered green beans.

S.R.F.C.

Like the sound of the sauce, maybe throw this into one of the recipe threads though? There's one for random recipes in the cooking club!

Corsendonk

Anyone actually know were on the East Coast you can get Herrings? I tried Howth and was basically told they make more money in Spain.

Zuiderzee

OK - I have been cooking a lot of herring recently, but one thing I overlooked was the roe.
Most people throw it away, but doing so is a waste as you buy fish by weight and it is delicious.
When you clean the fish, the females have two large roes, or egg sac's, in the abdominal cavity. They are a dark red - like the colour of liver.
Males have white, fatty looking sacs in the same area. These are not to be used for this recipe.
They are worth keeping, as this makes a great breakfast treat or starter.
Had it yesterday as a starter, but forgot to take photo's

INGREDIENTS
500g soft herring roe
2 tbsp plain flour
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
50g Cuinneog butter
1 tsp lemon juice
A few drops of Tabasco sauce
A good pinch of paparika
2 slices wholewheat toast, liberally buttered

Method:
Place the roes in a colander or sieve and pour boiling water over the top.
Dry with kitchen paper.
Season the flour with salt and freshly-ground black pepper. Use a fair bit.
Toss the roes in the flour before and set aside .
Melt the butter in a pan and when foaming add the roes along with the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce and fry for between three and five minutes, or until dry, almost crispy.

In the meantime prepare the toast. Butter it generously.

Cut into triangles, then spoon the cooked onto the toast.

I like to sprinkle over some sliced shallots.

Garnish with a pinch of paprika and serve with a little dressed salad.

Kewreeuss

Where did you get the herring? I'd love some but it's years since I've seen it in the shops here in Dublin.

Mellor

Zuiderzee wrote: »

Males have white, fatty looking sacs in the same area. These are not to be used for this recipe.

INGREDIENTS
500g soft herring roe

Soft roe (aka milt) comes from the males only

Zuiderzee

Kewreeuss wrote: »

Where did you get the herring? I'd love some but it's years since I've seen it in the shops here in Dublin.

Tesco, Galway. Later in the year I normally catch my own.
I only need about 3 boxes for the year - that includes presents to others, so smoked and frozen they do last.

Zuiderzee

Mellor wrote: »

Soft roe (aka milt)

Thats the bloody word I was looking for - gracias - mentioned in dispatches ( I edited)

Zuiderzee

This recipe I developed to stretch lobster also works well with crab as a much cheaper alternative, and is just as delicious.
Quite simply, the whole concept of a kitchen garden is to deal with what you have at hand, and what is available.

Dont forget to retain all the shells left over as a base for bisque or chowder.

Lobster, an utterly delicious food, but ridiculously expensive. Lobster, for me, is a very welcome gift from local fishermen, and it normally comes around Easter or Christmas.

So, with a little imagination, two small lobsters can go a long way - and produce a rich, warm meal rather than a salad.
This recipe can also be done as a pasta sauce, stretching the lobster even further.

The thing is, we have been conditioned to serve the food on the shell with a salad and a light sauce, and that is perfect if you can afford it - but if your feeding more than 4 a half lobster each, then it gets very pricey very quick.

FOR THE PASTA

It could not be simpler, you do not need a pasta machine you might use 6 times a year, all you need is a rolling pin.
2 cups flour
2 large eggs, whole
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3 tablespoons water

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process for 30 seconds.
Check consistency and add a small amount of flour is pasta is too wet, or a small amount of water if pasta is too dry. Whizz for another 30 seconds to incorporate any additions.

Turn dough out onto a pastry board, large chopping board or work surface sprinkled lightly with flour and knead by hand for a minute or two, until smooth.

Place the dough under a bowl to rest for 20 minutes before rolling, or refrigerate, tightly wrapped in plastic and stored in a plastic bag if not using right away.
Use within a few hours for best results.

Roll pasta out. Fold dough over and roll through again, gradually making the pasta thinner as it becomes smoother; dust lightly with flour as needed, but not too much.
It helps to brush off excess flour with a pastry brush.
When pasta is thin enough it is ready for use in making ravioli.
Use the pasta sheets as soon as they are rolled; dry pasta sheets don't seal as well at the edges as fresh sheets, causing the ravioli to separate when cooking.

If your pasta sheets have dried out, brush the edges with an egg wash or water (where the pasta is crimped together).

For this recipe you will need two sheets of pasta. The first one made can be draped over the back of a chair on a clean dishcloth, the second - base layer, can be left on the board - but make sure the board is well floured. You do not want this sticking when you lift.


FOR THE FILLING AND SAUCE

2 lobsters (1 1/2 to 2 pounds each)
3 tablespoons olive oil
250 ml (1 teacup) white wine
125 ml (1/2 teacup) sherry or Madeira
500 ml (2 teacups) heavy cream
salt
cracked pepper
pinch of cayenne
pinch of nutmeg
Beurre Manie (the uncooked roux - flour/butter paste for white sauce, without the milk as in Galway Gougere recipe)

For Ravioli parcel
Freshly chopped chives
Pinch of paprika

RECOMMENDED EXTRAS

I love to add a good tablespoon of chopped tarragon to the sauce, it really adds to the flavour.
Recently I also added mussels and cooked them in the sauce, they look fantastic, their dark shells surrounding the ravioli parcels.

PROCESS

1- kill the lobster** (see footnote)
2- Turn the lobster around and cut the tail and body in half long ways.
Cut the tail into sections.
3- Remove the claws and reserve.
4- Along the center of the lobster are three kinds of viscera, the dark green are the stomach and intestine that can be scraped out and discarded.
The yellow green and red coral are the tomalley and the roe which are delicious and may be left in.

COOKING THE LOBSTER TAIL

Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pan.
Sear all the lobster tail meat pieces until bright red.
Remove lobster tail meat from pan - at this point you can start to de-glaze the pan (see further on) and cook any extra shellfish.

FOR THE RAVIOLI

Mix the cooked lobster tail with the chopped chives and paprika, and place on the ravioli sheet, about a tablespoon per parcel.

If you want extra zing, a little chili or a squeeze of lemon juice can be added.
Again, be sure that the surface under the base pasta sheet is well dusted with flour and will not stick to the work surface.

Then apply a light eggwash beween the food clusters and drape over the second sheet.

Press down between the food parcels, then using a glass or a cookie cutter cut carefully around them.
Crimp the edges with a fork to seal.

5 minutes before the sauce is ready, drop the ravioli parcels in boiling water. They will float to the surface when cooked.

If you are in any way nervous about the parcels splitting, you can also use a steamer or fish kettle, although this will make the pasta a little dry, but it's still nice

FOR THE SAUCE

While preparing the lobster ravioli packages, put the white wine on the pan to deglaze.
Reduce by half.

If you have mussels, cockles or other shell fish, you can also add these to the wine during the reduction process to cook.
I now always use mussels as it adds to the presentation

When the wine is reduced remove and put aside any extra cooked shellfish.
Add cream, Madeira/Sherry and seasonings, add the lobster claw meat to the pot and cook until the meat is cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Whisk in beurre manie a little at a time until sauce begins to thicken.


Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Return any extra shellfish 5 minutes from the end of cooking, the same time as you start to cook the ravioli parcels.

Adjust seasonings and serve sauce over cooked ravioli, surrounded by the extra cooked shellfish.

This meal is very rich, and very adaptable. If you don't like the idea of making ravioli parcels, use the fresh pasta to make tagliatelle instead, and serve all the lobster meat over the pasta as a sauce, this will stretch the lobster meat even further.

** An illustrated guide to killing the lobster in a humane way is at my garden blog, reader discretion is advised.

Zuiderzee

There are a few very simple dishes that always work well.
Bisque and Moule mariner are two, and by making and freezing shellfish stock, you always have ths at hand - it's simple, tasty and straight forward.

Making the shellfish stock is easy, and also gives you more value for money - and another helpful addition to the garden.

Whenever I have finished with the shells, I put them in the ash grate of a fire.
This way they toast or bake dry. I then break them up coarsely and spread them on the garden pathways. I hope that like egg shells the sharp, broken shell helps in the struggle against slugs and snails, besides, it's a form of recycling and can't do any harm.

The shellfish stock serves as a basis for two fish soups I like to do. The first is the simplest, and a classic Belgian staple - also very popular in the Zeus region of the Netherlands, served on the street every year outside De Mug - one of my favorite pubs in one of my favorite towns in the world.

There are several variations on Moule Mariner, but this one works for me and is pretty true to its Belgian origins but might be better described as a Mussel Bisque with more depth, using shellfish stock.
Quite often the soup in Belgium has additional kick added to it by adding a dash of Pernod, but I just add fennel buld for that same aniseed flavour.

Perfect served with freshly made soda bread. More pictures on the blog.


FOR MOULE MARINER
Ingredients:
1 Kilo Mussels
750 ml Shellfish stock*. (See footnote)
3 sticks celery, finely sliced
1 bulb fennel, finely sliced
1 leek, finely sliced.
1 Onion, finely diced.
2 Cloves Garlic finely sliced.
250 ml dry white wine
Parsley to garnish
Cream

Method:
In a heavy based pot, add a knob of butter and heat until foaming.
Add the sliced veg until softened.
Add the wine and mussels, steaming the mussels for 5 minutes - or until open.
Remove the mussels and set aside, add the shellfish stock and bring to the boil.
Return the mussels to the pot and heat up.
Serve in large bowls with a dash of cream and garnish with parsley - serve with soda bread, warm and delicious.

FOR BISQUE
Bisque is just a richer version without the aniseed flavours and contains more meat in the soup.
The mushrooms add richness. Rather than the aniseed flavour of fennel, this gets a kick from cayenne pepper.
Its more a winter/autumn soup than the Moule Mariner.
You can vary it to your own taste of course, one version pictured here was served with lobster shell for decoration and sliced, raw Oca to decorate and to add a citrus style zing to it.

The Oca really works for this recipe, its tart, sharp apple/citrus flavour cuts the richness giving a very nice tang to the meal.
The other photo has cream and lardon crutons.

FOR BISQUE
Knob butter
Handfull button mushrooms.
One onion, finely chopped
One leek, finely sliced
Two good stems chopped celery sticks
One chopped carrot
1 litre shellfish stock*. (See footnote)
teaspoon salt
1/2 (half) teaspoon cayenne pepper
120 ml dry white wine
225 g cooked lobster, prawn, crab or other crustacian meat
Cream
1.Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat.
Add the mushrooms, onion, celery, and carrot. Cook and stir until tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the shellfish stock, and season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

2.Pour the vegetable and broth mixture into the container of a blender,
and add half the crustacian meat.
Cover, and process until smooth.

3. Return to the saucepan, and stir in the cream, white wine, and remaining crustacian meat.
Cook over low heat, stirring frequently until thickened, about 30 minutes.

SHELLFISH STOCK
Very simple and straight forward. Take any shellfish remains, crab claws, lobster, prawn etc and break up.
Cover with cold water, add some salt, pepper, bay leaves, a small onion, small carrot and some celery.
Bring to the boil, simmer for an hour and a half. Allow to cool and strain off liquid.
Shells can be put in the ash drawer of a fire, dried out, broken up and spread on garden paths or veg beds to deter snails and slugs as eggshells are.

Zuiderzee

A lot of people go to great lengths killing dandelions on their lawn, but I would suggest you let them flower first, then collect before they can run to seed, thus controlling them, and make use of them.

You can always spray with poison afterwards, or go with homemade-organic-garden-chemicals. IMHO cheaper and safer, at least you know whats in it.

This recipe is based on a traditional French jam made with lemon, I use lime as I prefer the zing they have.
There are two varients I make, a jam and a syrup.

200 gm (2 teacups) Dandelion heads, the green bit removed
200 ml (2 teacups) boiling water
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime

300ml (3 teacups) sugar
1 tsp Pectin (this is already added in jam making sugar)

Place two cups of dandelion heads into a mixing bowl and add the zest of the lime.
Pour two cups of boiling water over.
Leave overnight to infuse.
You can add a few apple peels to help the setting process
After soaking pour the mixture through a sieve to separate all the leaves.
Add the lime juice and bring the mixture to the boil.
Add the sugar and pectin and boil rapidly for 10 minutes, then start checking while it reduces for set point.
After that, pour the mixture into warm sterile jars and waterbath.

Always date and label.
Once opened, consume within one month.

There is another option, by not adding pectin, you can simply reduce the liquid by about 30% and create a lovely syrup for puddings, toast etc. It is delicious.

boosh_fan

when you say dandelion heads, not the green bit - do you mean just the yellow petals?

Zuiderzee

Exactly, thanks for asking - your the second person to do so.
The green parts are bitter, so just the yellow petals

Mr Magnolia

I am going to remove your access to the forum if you continue to use it to promote your blog. That goes for all you threads/posts.

Zuiderzee

This is not an expensive meal, smoked fish, potato and eggs are the basis.
The mackerel was sourced from the Connemara Smoke House - eggs from the neighbours.

A few years back I was working in Australia, where I was introduced to Eggs Benedict-or more properly a variation that is common in Australia known as Eggs Montreal or Eggs Royale which substitutes smoked salmon for the ham in the classic dish.

After that I toured New Zealand, and ordered Eggs Royale in the So Hotel in Christchurch, near Tuam street and on Cashel street!
I think my favorite hotel in the world, with a great story behind it
They served their Eggs Royale with a small fillet of smoked salmon cut thickly rather than the usual slices, and I loved it.

The Maltese sauce is another variation on the classic - funny thing is, although I had the sauce in Malta - its actually a French Recipe!

Smoked fish and eggs is a classic combination, salmon and scrambled eggs, kedgeree in Scotland with smoked herring, eggs and rice - there are many examples.
I can't wait until the perennial bed comes up next year so I can use asparagus spears with the mackerel and garnish with samphire - Nevin watch out!!

With that inspiration, I came up with this brunch, with the usual Irish twist - as the mackerel came from Ballyconeeley I'm calling this one Eggs Errislannan

FOR THE MALTESE SAUCE
The Maltese Sauce is the hardest part of the meal to make, but the great thing about it is that you can make it in advance and re-heat.

80ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tsp orange zest
1 duck egg yolk (you can keep the white or chuck in the boxty mix if you like)
230 grams Cuinneog butter (using Cuinneog really adds to the flavour)
1 Tsp dried Tarragon
Good pinch of Cayenne

Melt the butter at a low temperature and keep warm in a bowl. Keep about 2 tsp in reserve for the boxty.

In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice and orange zest, and place over medium-high heat.

Bring the saucepan to a boil and reduce by 2/3, about 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and strain into a bain marie bowl.
Add the duck egg yolk, Cayenne and Tarragon - whisk.

Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and continue to whisk until the egg starts to thicken, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the heat, and slowly drizzle a little of the butter into the egg mixture.
Whisk constantly to incorporate.
Return the bowl to the heat, whisk again, and when the egg starts to thicken again, continue to add more of the butter to the egg.
Remove from the heat periodically to cool the bowl, and return it once it cools slightly.
Continue in this on-the-heat, off-the-heat fashion until all of the clarified butter is incorporated.
The moment the butter is incorporated remove the bowl from the saucepan, transfer the sauce into a cool sauce boat, and season with the salt and pepper.

=====
As a base for the meal I used buttermilk Boxty, I did try buttermilk whey chapatti, but this gives more depth and richness.

FOR THE BOXTY BASE
250g, peeled, grated, squeezed
250g cold mashed potato
100ml Cuinneog buttermilk
200g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1-2 tbsp melted cuinneog butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper

If prepping from scratch, you can also add the duck egg white left over from the maltese sauce.

Wrap the grated potato in a clean tea towel and wring well to get rid of any excess liquid.

Add the grated potato to a mixing bowl with the cold mashed potato and mix until well combined.

Add the flour and baking powder to the potato mixture and mix until well combined.
Stir in the melted butter and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.

Add the buttermilk, a little at a time, to the potato mixture, beating after each addition until the buttermilk has been fullyworked into the mixture. When all of the buttermilk has been added to the potato mixture it should resemble a thick, heavy batter. If the mixture is too sticky, add more milk as necessary. Set aside.

Heat some oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat.

Around this time its a good time to start poaching the eggs.

Add spoonfuls of the boxty batter to the pan, leaving enough space around each spoonful for the mixture to spread.
Fry the boxties on a medium to high heat for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the boxties are golden-brown and the grated potato is cooked through. Remove the boxties from the pan using a slotted spoon, set aside to drain on kitchen paper and keep warm.

PREPPING THE MACKEREL AND PLATING UP
The fillets from the Connemara Smoke House have a beautiful and natural colour, particularly on the skin - but dont be tempted to leave it on, its best to remove it.

Place the smoked Connemara mackerel fillet, skin side up, on the warm boxty base. Remove skin and any excess bones.
For a brunch serve with some lightly dressed sliced tomatos - I just use salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice - or a micro salad.

Place the poached egg on top of the mackerel carefully. Spoon over the warmed Maltese Sauce and garnish with fresh kitchen garden herbs - serve and bask in the glory.

Thing is, although the meal is quality, filling and delicious, once you've cracked making the Maltese sauce, its very easy to prepare.

nesbitt

I love mackerel, reminds me of holidays in Killkee Co. Clare as a small child. My mother makes soda bread using Cuinneog Buttermilk too

I agree that this would be easy once you have the sauce mastered. Yum.

The Hill Billy

3 links to the smokehouse & 3 links to the butter people. Give over on the links - it is spammy.

HB

Mellor

The Maltaise should really be blood orange. It's probably not a big deal, but you are so paticular about everything else, you might as well it right.

Look ok, but I think i'd prefere my usual "Irish Benedict" (eggs benedict irish bacon (bacon joint not rashers) instead of ham*)

*although in the states its corned beef as somewhere along the line, Bacon and Cabbage became corned beef and cabbage over there

Zuiderzee

Radish is a very easy to grow crop. I find it most useful as a marker crop for slow growing plants like leek or parsnip.
Quite often radish is thrown into a salad almost as an afterthought.

This simple recipe shows off the radishes finer qualities, and that peppery flavour is an ideal accompaniment to beef steak.
Essentially it is a carpaccio of radish

I served just with a simple steak sandwitch. For the very daring, beef could also be served with this raw, very thinly sliced and with a mustard dressing - but I just fancied a warmed salad.

To add to that I use an anchovy and Parmesan based dressing to add a salty tang to the meal.


Anchovy are a member of the herring family anfound in large shoals all around the world. They are very strong tasting, but more salty than fishy in taste.
For a variation on this recipe, capers would be a good alternative.

At the moment I am back at work, sitting in Inebolu port, Northern Turkey, but had enough sense to bring away some photos of meals etc. with me to update the blog now and again.

My radish were quite small, but my mate Damiens were huge, about the size of a small carrot.

I have two types of radish at the moment, a red French Breakfast 3 type that is available in nearly all seed outlets, and a yellow french type called Jaune d'Or Ovale.

Many people don't like large radish, or find them too hot.
For this recipe I like that peppery kick, and the large size makes for better presentation.
For 4 people you will need about 4 large or, of the more usual size that you get in the shops, about 16.

INGREDIENTS
Enough radishes for people to be fed - 1 large of 4 small per person
50 grammes Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons of Donegal Rapeseed oil.
Tablespoon chopped chives
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4-6 sustainable anchovy fillets, cut into small pieces
For the Anchovy HFW recommends fish-4-ever.com

Wash the radish. Using a veg peeler, slice into thin slivers as long as possible into a bowl.
Make a dressing using the garlic, oil, lemon juice, anchovy and grated Parmesan.
Pour the dressing over the radish and mix well.

Plate up and sprinkle over some chopped chives and a few shavings of Parmesan.