Pak choy with orange sesame noodles

Like all greens, pak choy is really good for you (duh!!) – lots of dietary fiber, vitamin A, C, K, B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Iron, Potassium and Manganese and despite having all this it’s not even fattening (yay!!). The way forward is Asian flavours and cooking so dust off your wok (a pan will do fine if you don’t have one) , grab some ginger, garlic and soy sauce or tamari (a healthier Japanese version).The white stalks are edible but will take longer to cook than the leaves. What I do is slice the stalk (about 1 inch thick) then tear the leaves in half or leave them intact if they’re small. Heat a little oil (as I mentioned before I’m loving coconut oil for this kind of thing as it takes high heat) toss in some minced, garlic, ginger and chilli. Stir-fry for a moment then throw in the pak choi stalks, toss for about 2 minutes then add the leaves. Allow them to wilt then turn off the heat immediately or they will start to get mushy. A dash of soy or tamari is all you need to serve. I love it with stir-fried tofu and some rice topped with lots of toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

Noodles are another way to go and last night I used carrots and scallions along with the pak choy to make very tasty meal. I made a stir-fry  sauce with freshly squeezed juice to add a little sweetness to the dish and it worked out really well…

Pak Choi stir-fry with Orange Sesame noodles

You’ll need:

1 bunch scallions sliced

1 large carrot,washed, peeled and cut into thin strips

1/2 red chilli -remove the seeds if you don’t want things too hot

A piece of ginger about 5cm long peeled and grated

1 clove garlic crushed

1 head of pak choi

200gr egg or soba noodles

1 tsp clear honey

Juice of 1 orange

4 tablespoons dark soy sauce or Tamari

4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds – do this on a dry heavy pan over a medium heat.When they start to change colour they are done.

Prepare the noodles then rinse in cold water, drain and leave  for later.

Mix the honey, orange juice, soy sauce and a level teaspoon of grated ginger together in a bowl and set aside.

Heat some vegetable or coconut oil in a wok or frying pan over a highish heat. Toss in the chilli then the carrots and spring onions and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and remaining ginger, toss for a moment then throw in the  pak choi. Stir -fry for about 2-3 minutes.  Add in the noodles and toss everything together until they are piping hot. Finally, pour in the sauce, mix everything well then take off the heat. Top with the sesame seeds and serve immediately.

A gratin with all that fresh Wicklow booty

 

Yes folks, the summer is coming (are you listening weather gods? The summer IS coming) but it’s a little, ahem,sluggish (hailstones??????????) in asserting itself. It’s way too chilly for May and what about all that rain? If only I could make frizzy hair work…

The cold prompted me to plan a whole day’s cooking based round the oven yesterday. The house is warm and smells amazing. I’m slow roasting lamb shanks a la Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall with olives and white wine . He calls for Gas mark 3 for 2 hours but I’ve dialled this down and am going for an all dayer on Gas mark 1. I also have a tray of slightly over the hill tomatoes roasting away with oregano and chilli. Again, these guys will be in for most of the day but we’ve just had a few of the more done ones for lunch). Earlier on I made this week’s fresh garlic and rainbow chard gratin in from Denis Healy’s farm, in Wicklow which was set off nicely with the tomatoes.

Fresh garlic is mild, tender and almost onioney so you use lots more of it than the regular kind. It’s lovely in omelettes and fritattas and gently fried with chilli will make a great pasta sauce. The rainbow chard is a favourite of mine. Tastewise, it’s like spinach but you get all those lovely colours as a bonus. I tossed the two in olive oil until tender then layered them up with some finely sliced spuds, grated cheddar and Pecorino. Yes, it was as tasty as it sounds.

Fresh garlic and rainbow chard gratin

You’ll need:

1 bunch rainbow chard

1 bunch fresh garlic

Olive oil

1k potatoes

200 ml single cream

200 ml milk

Salt and pepper

100gr cheddar cheese grated

75gr Pecorino cheese (Parmesan will also do)

Begin with the spuds – peel then slice them thinly (about 2 mm thick) If you have a mandolin this works brilliantly for this. Put them in a pot of salted water and bring to the boil and get on with things.

Wash and trim the garlic. You can keep the green parts. Roughly chop it all and begin to sweat in a generous glug of olive oil. Wash the chard and chop the stems to lengths about 1 cm long. After about 5 minutes you can add these to the pan. Shredded the chard leaves and add this to the pan after a further 5 minutes. Toss everything together until the chard wilts then take off the pan and allow to cool down a bit.

When the potatoes have come to the boil, drain them and set aside. Combine the milk and cream adding a generous pinch of fine salt and lots of black pepper.

To put the dish together lightly grease a  gratin dish with some olive oil and add a layer of potatoes (about 1/5 of what you have). Follow with about 1/3 of the chard and garlic and 1/4 of your cheese.

Continue layering like this ending with a layer of spuds and a final sprinkling of cheese. Pour over the cream and milk then cover with tinfoil and put in the oven at Gas mark 5 and bake for about 50 minutes removing the tinfoil after the first 25 minutes. It’s ready when the spuds are super tender and the crust is golden. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

As I mentioned rainbow chard makes lovely fritatta. Try this recipe with Parmesan if you want to give that a try. Or there’s stirfried with lemon, chili and garlic which makes a great sidedish.

Have a great weekend,

Sarah

An early summer salad with pink radishes, rocket, avocado, feta and toasted sunflower seeds

Radishes are in from Denis Healy this week and they are so nice to look at that it seems a shame to eat them. But don’t let that stop you for too long they are best super fresh. Crunchy, peppery and above all PINK, they make any salad look good. Famously they only have 1 calorie per piece so make the ultimate guilt free snack (summer is on the way you know and there will hopefully be some bearing of flesh).

The French eat them dipped in salty butter with crusty bread as a pre-dinner appetizer and on a lazy summer’s evening what could be nicer? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. The only trips to the garden I’ve been making recently have been mad dashes to get clothes off the line.

I really love  radishes with avocado where their peppery bite gets to play off the creamy perfection that is a  ripe avocado. This week’s recipe is very simple – finely sliced radishes and chopped avocado to start then with rocket from Denis,  toasted sunflower seeds and some crumbled feta. The perfect summer lunch or what? Even if you do have to eat it in the kitchen……..

An early summer salad with pink radishes, rocket, feta, avocado and toasted sunflower seeds

You’ll need:

A bunch of radishes washed and finely sliced

2 big handfuls of rocket (or any other salad leaves you fancy)

1 large ripe avocado

A handful sunflower seeds toasted

100gr feta cheese

For the dressing

The juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

A large pinch Maldon salt crushed

First of all, make your dressing by mixing the lemon juice, olive oil and salt together then set aside. Wash the rocket getting rid of any really stalky bits. Chop up the avocado. To finish you can then toss everything together and dress or, as I did, dress the rocket then lay the feta, sunflower seeds, radishes and avocado on top. That way it looks prettier and you can kind of pick and mix as you eat. As you can see from the photo I also added a final grating of lemon zest for colour. Enjoy.

No recipe required – midweek curries with whatever you have in the fridge plus Madhur Jaffrey’s Chicken with spinach

Absolutely everyone loves a curry. It’s weird -people who won’t eat local food in places like Spain and Portugal will all eat curry. In our house anything curried goes down a storm even with the kids who moan about the tiniest bit of ginger making their juice “too spicy!”. And it doesn’t have to be fancy either. Got loads of random stuff at the back of the fridge and don’t fancy soup? Make curry instead. Now, I’m no expert and most of my curries are, shall we say, on the not very authentic side but somehow they always seem turn out ok.

From some cooking I did alongside an Indian girl in Barcelona I know that a good way to start is with lots of slowcooked onions which is pretty much how I start most dishes. I sweat these in plenty of rapeseed or coconut oil over a low heat til they start to go mushy then throw in lots of garlic (not only because it tastes good but because it’s so good for you). Keeping cooking until the garlic softens then add a pre-mixed curry powder (I’m currently working my way through a tin of Madras but it’s whatever you fancy) along with a little chilli for extra fire. Normally I then throw in a few chopped tomatoes (a tin will also work fine) and cook these down a bit before adding some coconut milk (told you this wasn’t kosher!)

While all this is going on, I’m furiously peeling and chopping what, in any other dish would be a waaaay too random selection of veg – parsnip, carrot,cabbage (red, white and green) celery, fennel, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, spuds……pretty much anything works. In they go and I’m onto rinsing a tin of chickpeas. These get thrown in with some water or stock then it’s sit back and let things cook. If I’m using greens, they go in at the end as do courgettes and broccoli (they go to mush otherwise) and I’m also partial to a handful of sultanas at this stage. Serve with rice and some chutney and pickles – we’re enjoying a lime one from M&S at the moment that one of you recommended (thanks Penelope). Easy, peasy, lasts well in the fridge and it rocks the next day for lunch with flatbread.

When it comes to the real thing, I’ve always found Indian food to be such a complex mix of spices and flavours that unless I pay very close attention to a recipe book I usually don’t have a clue where to start so I tend not to bother with it unless I’ve got lots of time (so that means never at the moment). Plus, there are usually so many spices required that I’m frustrated before I start (when I’m ready to cook, I’m ready to cook). Paul is the one with the patience/OCD tendencies for all that assembling of ingredients and precision grinding of spices. He also does a mean matchstick of pretty much any root veg but I warn you – bring snacks because dinner’s at midnight.

Recently, Indian cooking guru MadhurJaffrey completely changed this for good when she brought out Curry Easy, a book that seeks to do the previously unthinkable – simplify and speed up Indian cooking. She says herself that over the years (she’s now in her seventies) her cooking had changed and that some of the processes she’d previously considered essential she has recently discovered can be done in different ways. So, instead of cooking for hours  there’s lots of marinating to really let the flavours sink in before you even start. There are also fewer spices (well, usually 6 or 7 but not the 10 -15 that you find in her other books) so there’s less faffing around. I feel like I’m starting to understand how to build Indian flavours without a recipe and I find myself using more in other cooking.

We’ve been cooking our way through this book for a while and everything we’ve made has been amazing. First of all, we tried the Chicken Karhai with Mint which involved marinating everything overnight then simply frying it up and it was superb. We served it alongside Aubergines with Tomatoes which were also great. After that we were hooked. Standouts so far have been Chicken with apricots, Masala fish steaks and the green lamb curry.

I have earmarked this week’s spinach in from Denis Healy in Wicklow for one our favourite dishes from the book which I’m going to share with you –  Chicken with spinach.  I haven’t changed anything except lower the quantity of oil used. It’s very quick and fantastically moreish.This recipe feeds 2 with leftovers.

Madhur Jaffrey’s Chicken with Spinach

3 chicken legs separated into drumsticks and thighs weighing about 1k in total

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 medium onion roughly chopped

2.5cm/1 inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1/2 tablespoon sweet red paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons olive/ rapeseed oil

1 x 5cm/2 inch cinnamon

4 cardamom pods

150g/ 5 oz spinach, chopped

Spread out the chicken pieces and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and lots of black pepper on both sides

Put the onions, garlic, ginger, paprika and cayenne in the food processor and chop all the ingredients as finely as possible taking care not to allow things to go to mush.

Heat the oil in a large pan or wok. Add the cinnamon and cardamon letting them sizzle for a few seconds before adding as much of the chicken as will fit in a single layer. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides then remove to a bowl leaving the spices behind. When all the chicken is cooked add the onion mix to the pan and fry for about 5 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated taking care to stir as you go so thing don’t stick and burn. Add the spinach and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the chicken, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 12oml/4 fl oz water. Bring to the boil, cover and lower the heat then gently simmer for about 30 minutes. Any excess fat can be removed before serving with boiled basmati and nan bread

Enjoy!

This week  there’s also celery in our selections and I notice how Guardian columnist Yotan Ottolenghi has been using the leaves and inner tender stalks for salads a lot recently. Last Saturday’s Avocado, radish and celery salad with spiced croutons and lime is on my to-make list for this week – sounds fab right? Our larger bags have radishes from the Healys and I’m hoping to secure enough for all our bags next week.

Have a brilliant week,

Sarah

What to do with the last of the root veg………..

It mightn’t look like it today, but summer is on the way and this week we had what I reckon might be the last of the parsnips so I thought a dish with them was in order. Like all roots, they are beautiful roasted especially with a drizzle of honey and maybe a splash of balsamic. Do them with beets and carrots and you have a gorgeous  side that will do any roast proud.

More usual in our house though, is the vegetarian route and last night was no exception – I made honey roasted beets and parsnips then a lightly dressed warm lemon cous cous salad with toasted sunflower seeds and some baked goat’s cheese .It’s a combination that’s easy to prepare and always goes down a storm.

I think the best way to go is to  boil the vegetables first (separately or everything will go pink and it is nice to have the 2 colours) so the roasting doesn’t take too long. This way, once the veg is in the oven you’ll have enough time to do the cous cous, slice the goat’s cheese and of course have at least one glass of wine.

Balsamic Roasted Beetroot and Parsnips (for 2)

You’ll need:

600gr Parsnips

600gr Beetroot

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Honey

Start with your beetroot as they’ll take the longest. Wash but don’t peel them or all their lovely colour will leech out. Cover in water and bring to the boil then simmer til done (ie until you can easily stick a knife through them). This will take anything from 40 minutes to an hour for really big bulbs. When they’re ready take them off the heat, drain and allow to cool slightly. Peel and cut each Beetroot into quarters or eighths depending on the size.

While the beetroot are cooking, you can get on with the parsnips. Wash, peel and cut into chunks or lengths. Boil in salted water until tender (this should take about 15 minutes).

When the vegetables are ready, heat your oven to Gas mark 6 or 200 degrees and warm some olive oil on 2 non stick baking trays (roast the veg separately too to avoid turning the parsnips pink). When the oil is hot, add your veg along with a generous drizzle of honey.  Toss well then put in the oven. After about 25 minutes toss again to make sure things cook evenly. Return to the oven and roast for another 25 minutes, then add a dash of balsamic vinegar, toss and return to the oven for another 15 minutes or until everything has carmelized nicely. Season with salt and pepper and they’re ready to serve.

The Cous  Cous and baked Goat’s Cheese

You’ll need:

Cous Cous

Sunflower Seeds

Lemon Juice

Olive Oil

2 rounds Chevre Goat’s Cheese about 1 inch thick

Rosemary or thyme

Olive oil

Prepare enough cous cous for 2 and dress with some nice olive oil and lemon juice. Toast some sunflower seeds on a dry pan and throw them in.

The baked goat’s cheese is simple -drizzle with olive oil and top with herbs (I used thyme) then bake the rounds on a tray for about 8 minutes. When you think the veg is starting to caramelize, throw them into the oven and everything will be ready together. If you want to make things really special marinate the cheese in oil with some rosemary and thyme a la Alice Waters. This can be done the day before and really brings up the flavour of the herbs in the cheese.

In case you were wondering……..

The leaves in your bag with white stalks are pak Choy and they should be steamed or stirfried with garlic and ginger. The other leaves are  baby(ish) Wicklow spinach 

Hope you enjoy the recipes, have a great week,

Sarah

Some ideas for the weekend

Midterm break means…….bedlum really. A new recipe? Completely out of the question I’m afraid so I’ve done a quick trawl of things I reckon might be nice for long weekend. Here goes……

Blood orange season is nearly over so enjoy them before they go.  Skye Gyngell’s recipe for caramelized blood oranges is a lovely one.  All you need is a little ice-cream and maybe a slice of toasted panettone and you’ve got a simple, elegant desert. Or how about an intensely chocolately roulade with a blood orange salad for Easter Sunday?  Or there’s a cake with almonds and a vanilla mascarpone topping  that always goes down a storm.

If you’re planning a big meal for Easter this week’s fennel makes a fantastic gratin which goes with any roast. We’ve also got some early courgettes which I think I’ll use to make a soup with Parmesan. Right, I think that’s it. I hear Lee bawling downstairs, gotta go. Have a fantastic weekend xx

A salad of pan-fried halloumi and roasted beetroot with a gremolata dressing topped with toasted pine nuts

This week – another roasted beetroot salad. What can I say? I’m addicted. I’ve been making this one for the past few months and can safely say it makes a brilliant lunch. Gremolata is an Italian garnish of very finely minced garlic, parsley and lemon zest with olive oil usually used to perk up meat and fish and it really makes halloumi sing. Halloumi, if you haven’t  come across it before, is a tangy Cypriot cheese made with a mix of sheep’s, goat’s and cow’s milk that  is brilliant cooked (it has a very high melting point so it doesn’t fall apart like most varieties). It’s best eaten as soon as it’s cooked (2 mins on the pan will do it) so be sure you are ready to eat as soon as the salad is ready.

A salad of pan-fried halloumi and roasted beetroot with a gremolata dressing topped with toasted pinenuts (for 2)

You’ll need:

600gr beetroot roasted (see below for how to roast)

1 block halloumi cheese (about 200gr)

2 large handfuls of salad greens – rocket, baby spinach, lettuce or this week’s purslane all work well.

2 heaped tablespoons pine nuts

For the gremolata dressing

1 lemon

2 cloves garlic

1 heaped tablespoon pine nuts

A small handful  flatleaf parsley

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Maldon salt

Black pepper

Scrub but don’t peel the beets then bring to the boil in plenty of water. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes til just about tender. Drain them and allow to cool off before you peel, trim and cut them into large bite- size moons. Do make sure you cut them big as they’ll shrink by at least half in the oven. Toss in olive oil in a roasting tin and place in a moderate oven (Gas mark 5/180 degrees) for about 2 1/2 hours. Move them around every 50 minutes to ensure even cooking. When they’re ready let them cool while you get on with the rest of the salad.

To make the dressing gently grate half the lemon rind with a very sharp fine grater. Take care not to cut into the white pith as it’s  bitter and will spoil the taste of your dressing. Finely chop the garlic and parsley and combine with lemon peel. Add the juice of half the lemon, 4 tablespoons olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Toast all the pinenuts together in a dry pan til golden. Take about one third and chop them quite finely and add to the dressing. Season with crushed Maldon and black pepper.  Taste the dressing and correct the seasoning if necessary. You may like to add a little more lemon juice but this can also be done at the end when you’ve put everything together. Also, remember that halloumi is a very salty cheese so don’t go nuts with the Maldon.

To finish things off, divide the greens between 2 dishes and top each pile with half the beetroot then set aside. Cut the halloumi into slices about 1 1/2 cm thick. Heat a little olive oil in a griddle pan (a regular one will also do fine). Fry the cheese til golden on each side (about 2 mins). Place on top of the beetroot. Spoon over the gremolata dressing and finally, top with the rest of the toasted pine nuts. Serve and eat immediately.

We’ve got more purple sprouting broccoli this week which I’m thrilled about. I’m hoping to eat it with polenta, goat’s cheese and red pesto – one of my alltime fav dishes.

Have a brilliant weekend,

Sarah

A very simple pasta dish with purple sprouting broccoli plus broad beans and celeriac

This week a variety that takes us out of  winter eating and towards lighter summer fare – purple sprouting broccoli. It’s a variety that says yes, the seasons are changing you will not have to think about new ways to deal with root vegetables forever. Yay!  Summer is on the way.

So what is it? Well, it’s broccoli but better. More delicate and refined plus it’s a gorgeous purpley-green colour. Actually you also have the regular kind in your bag this week too. I only got the call about the sprouting kind at the last minute. Usually I have to stalk suppliers for weeks on end for it so I couldn’t say no.

As always with this type of thing simplicity is the way forward. Going fancy just misses the point. Steamed and tossed in butter or olive oil with maybe a spritz of lemon is a great place to start. With a bowl of quinoa this makes a beautifully simple lunch.

A little sautéed garlic, chilli maybe some tangy Parmesan or Pecorino are also good foils. Add some pasta and you’ve got one of those gorgeously understated dishes which, baby Lee permitting I’ll be making (or bullying someone else into doing it for me) this evening. Orecchiette (literally babies ears) from Puglia would be my pasta of choice for this kind of dish but it’s up to you. Unless you stop to feed a baby about 10 times this will be ready in ten…..

Purple sprouting broccoli with garlic and chilli (for 2 or 3 at a push)

You’ll need:

About 250gr purple sprouting broccoli

5 cloves garlic chopped

1  fresh red chilli with or without the seeds, finely chopped

Pecorino cheese or Parmesan if you don’t have Pecorino

Orecchiette pasta

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Put the kettle on for the pasta and sort through the broccoli trimming the tougher stalks. You don’t need to cut it unless stems are really big. Place in a steamer until tender but not soft then remove and set aside.

While the broccoli is steaming put on the pasta. Heat a generous glug of olive oil on a pan and gently sweat the garlic and chilli until soft. Add the broccoli and toss everything together.

When the pasta is done, drain and add to the pan mixing everything together. Add salt, lots of black pepper, some grated cheese and a generous drizzle of your best olive oil. Serve with more cheese and eat immediately

Early broad beans are another sign of summer. They are another variety that cry out for a simple approach. The recipe above can easily be made with them but they are also great in salads. Check out my recipes for a warm salad with Serrano ham or with star-anise infused cous cous with blood orange (they’ll be gone soon so look smart!) and feta.

In case you were wondering…….

The gnarly beast in your bag is celariac. Like all roots it can be boiled, mashed and roasted. It also makes great soup. I’ll be having it crushed with potatoes topped with crispy onions and fresh green chili - yum!

Rhubarb is now in season!!!

We’ll be getting some in from Wicklow next week.If you’d like a bunch give us a shout.It’ll be €2.75 a bunch. Get ready to crumble!

Have a great Sunday,

Sarah

The best ragù ever!!!!

As someone who eats mainly vegetarian (chorizo’s not meat right?) I’m rarely completely confident about cooking meat. Give me a filet steak and yes of course I’ll get a result but when it comes to those tougher cuts things get a lot more hit and miss. Flavour might be good but I always seem to have toughness issues despite all the “slow cooking”. Recently, I think I’ve cracked it and what I’ve realised is that  3 hours, despite what books will tell, you is not slow cooking. For slow cooking to really work its magic you need at least 6 and ideally 8. Really. It’s then that you get that meat that falls off the bone and a sauce that wows.

For this kind of dish the holy trinity of celery, onion and carrot really come into its own conferring that wonderful depth of flavour. Wine is also essential. The acidity helps break down the meat fibres  and of course it makes things even tastier.

This week’s recipe is for a  ragù of beef cheeks and apart from the aforementioned celery, onion, carrot and wine the only other ingredients are a tin of tomatoes and some thyme. That’s all. Sounds way too dull was what I thought the first time I started preparing this dish…….. surely things need spicing up? I was so wrong.  What followed was quite simply the best ragù we’d ever made. Some kind of magic happens when you cook simple ingredients for such a long time. The flavours mingle and become so much more than the sum of their individual parts. After a while it’s not even clear what’s in the sauce it just tastes AMAZING.

I love this sauce with those enormous pasta tubes or  large flat noodles.  Lasagna is on the menu this week and I know for a fact this would be amazing with a bowl of polenta or creamy mash. All you need is some decent Parmesan to serve on top. I strongly advise making double quantities……….

Beef cheek ragù

You’ll need:

Olive oil

2 carrots diced

2 onions diced

1 stick of celery diced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 bay leaf

5 cloves garlic

750gr beef cheeks cut into large chunks – you might have to hunt a little to track this down. A good butchers should have them or can get them for you. You’ll definitely find them on Moore Street if you’re still having trouble. Cheeks are very tough so cutting and trimming them will take some time so allow for this or, sweet-talk your butcher into doing it for you.

300ml red wine

600ml beef stock

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Salt and pepper

Heat a dash of olive oil in a heavy pot. Add the onion, carrot and celery with the bay leaf and thyme then sauté over a gentle heat for about ten minutes until they have nicely softened. Throw in the garlic and cook for another few minutes until tender. Turn off the heat and remove all the vegetables from the pot.

Reheat the pot with another dash of olive oil. Season the meat with salt and pepper then brown on all sides. Do this in batches if necessary setting aside each batch as it browns.  When all the meat is browned and taken off, turn up the heat a little and deglaze the pot with the wine stirring well to ensure all the juices from the meat get thoroughly mixed with the wine. Reduce the wine by half then return the meat and veg to the pot.

Add the stock and tinned tomatoes then season. Bring things to the boil then turn down the heat. Leave partially covered and simmer for 6-8 hours until the meat is falling apart. If things start to dry out simply add a little more stock or water . You should be able to leave things to their own devices for most of the cooking so make sure the heat is nice and low. When the sauce is ready most of  the meat will have fallen apart  - you can help this along by breaking  down the chunks with a wooden spoon towards the end if needs be.

To serve, simply prepare your pasta of choice. This amount of  ragù will give you enough for 6 decent portions. Enjoy!

What I’ve learnt about the first month of having a new baby? Always have cake in the house.

All in all it’s been going well. Lee is thriving and I, while definitely beginning to feel the effects of all that broken sleep, am doing pretty well. Yes, there are piles of laundry (mainly clean though sometimes it’s hard to tell) in almost every room in the house at this stage, hair-washing has become a luxury, dressing doesn’t happen until 4pm some days and the high speed approach taken has had some frightening results (why and how does baby spew seem to appear on things which haven’t even been near the baby – don’t I have enough to contend with????) and “me time” are those ten minutes at about 3.30am when I am alone and not holding anything before I go to bed.

A big development is that Auggie seems to have finally accepted Lee’s existence and even manages to say his name  (well, sometimes). I believe Lee’s amazing farting abilities sealed the deal. Both his brothers have been massively impressed and now can’t wait for him to grow up into some kind of Dennis the Menace as far as I can make out. Word of his amazing powers have even reached the school and crèche where he has attained almost celebrity status- not bad going for a four-week old……

Foodwise, we’ve been keeping it very simple. Paul is back at work and Lee pretty much feeds all the time so most days it’s a bowl of pasta in the evenings and whatever comes to hand the rest of the time. While hummus, cheese, olives etc are all brilliant for this, I’ve come to rely on sweet stuff  for much needed energy boosts throughout the day. Biscuits and chocolate just don’t do it. Cake is what I need. We’ve had Nigel Slater’s Moscovado and Hazelnut one a few times which the boys can pretty much make on their own if you give them the ingredients. It’s a firm favourite at ours and a cinch to make but rather than risk overkill I’ve been branching out and somehow managed to make this week’s mango and coconut cake a few days ago while my sister cuddled Lee.

Coconut and mango is one of those matches made in heaven. You just can’t go wrong. This cake is really a sort of tart but instead of pastry there’s a shortbread base made with coconut that has a gorgeous crumbly texture. Then a layer of mango which I simmer down with blood orange and rum until it goes jammy. Finally, there’s a sprinkle of the crust mix so you get a crumble style topping. The result is a cake/pie that is perfect on its own with a cuppa but which also makes a brilliant dessert with vanilla ice-cream.

I’ve been making this cake for a while now, tinkering around with proportions and ingredients. The first time I made it was for a celiac friend and I used rice flour which worked perfectly so I’ve kept that up. If you don’t have any, you can use regular plain white or whole-wheat. This recipe uses dried as opposed to fresh mango and the reason is that all the flavour of fresh mango completely dissipates when you cook it. It’s a complete waste. We had amazing Osteen mangos a few months back and I made a version of this cake with them and you couldn’t even tell it was mango. You can of course use other fruit, I’ve made a version with cranberry and cinnamon which was so nice that I bought up lots of half price cranberries after Christmas and froze them so I could rustle up impromptu desserts at a moments notice. Hmmm…like that’s going to happen any time soon.

Mango and coconut crumble cake

You’ll need:

100gr dried mango

2 blood or regular oranges juiced 100 ml approx

50ml rum (I used Captain Morgans)

150 ml water

1 heaped tablespoon cane sugar

For the crumble

150gr rice flour

90gr cane sugar

140gr butter

60gr desiccated coconut

A pinch fine salt

Begin by preparing the mango – combine the slices with the juice, rum, sugar and water in a pot and gently simmer over a lowish heat for about 45 minutes leaving the mango soft and the liquid reduced to about 3 tablespoons of thick syrup. Allow this to cool while you get on with the rest

To make the cake crumble all the ingredients together with your fingertips as you would any other crumble. Lightly grease a cake tin then with your hand press 80% of the crumble mix to the bottom so it all sticks together.

Finely chop the mango conserving all the juice left in the pot. Spread all of this on the crumble base. sprinkle  the rest of the crumble mix on top of the fruit leaving the edges uncovered so some of the lovely deep red of the fruit can peep through.

Bake for 30 minutes are gas mark 6 til the topping is golden. Serve warm or at room temperature with a little vanilla ice-cream.

It’s now purple sprouting broccoli season and most of you have some in this week’s bag (sadly they weren’t quite able to harvest enough for us so a few of you have something else instead). For this special treat keep things simple – it’s lovely steamed then tossed with gently sautéed garlic, pasta, pine nuts and a squeeze of lemon or you can go all out try it on a bed of polenta with sundried tomato pesto and goat’s cheese (this really rocks). Whatever you do, do it asap so you get it at its best. Those of you who missed out this week can rest assured I’ll be doing my best to get more in asap.

Have a great week,

Sarah

Quinoa with caramelized leeks, toasted pumpkin seeds and feta with a lemon balsamic dressing

My love affair with quinoa continues and it’s not just about the amino acids (it has them all – unheard of unless you’re talking animal/fish protein). No, the attraction lies in the texture (crunchy yet tender ), the nutty flavour, the versatility (it does everything cous cous can plus it’s not wheat) and of course the simplicity of the cooking (20 minutes, not much stirring or attention and it always works out). If you haven’t had it I urge you to give it a go. It can be hard to track down but a good deli or your local healthfood shop should have it or you can have it delivered with your veggies from Home Organics.

My latest favourite quinoa dish is a salad with slow-cooked leeks, toasted pumpkin seeds and feta with a lemon balsamic dressing which you can serve warm or at room temperature . It seems to go with everything – falafel, fish, meat especially lamb, tortilla, roasted veg, hummus, guacamole and of course any salad but it’s particularly good with a beetroot one I’ve been making recently with blood orange and toasted hazelnuts, ….. basically it has slotted right into easy midweek eating. I make double quantities of the recipe below, we have half for dinner then the rest is on standby for the next day’s lunch, dinner and general munchies.

Quinoa salad with caramelized leeks, toasted pumpkin seeds and feta cheese with a lemon balsamic dressing

You’ll need:

1 cup quinoa

1 bunch leeks (about 3 or 4 decent size ones) trimmed of roots and tougher dark green bits

100gr feta cheese

A handful pumpkin seeds

For the dressing:

The juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

5 tablespoons olive oil

Maldon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

I cook quinoa the same way I do cous cous – lightly toast it on a dry pan then add water and allow it to cook. The toasting adds flavour and colour. It takes longer to cook than cous cous – about 20 minutes or so but unlike cous cous you don’t really have to watch it so it kind of takes care of itself allowing you to get on with the rest of the meal.

For this dish I like the leeks super- tender and almost at melting point and you’ll need about 20 minutes for this. Wash them carefully as they can be quite gritty – I usually cut down the centre a few inches then swish them around in cold water before I chop them in discs.

So, first of all start toasting the quinoa on a dry pan over a medium heat. Within about 2 minutes the grains will start to change colour and take on a golden hue. When this happens, turn down the heat slightly and add 3 cups of hot but not boiling water and a generous pinch of salt. Stir everything then leave things gently bubbling while you get on with the rest.

Heat a generous glug olive oil on another pan and add the leeks. Toss so the leeks are all coated in oil adding a generous pinch of salt as you go.  Heatwise you want things hot enough for the leeks to cook and soften but not so hot that they start to darken and burn unless you are constantly stirring them.

With the leeks and quinoa cooking, take (yet another pan) and toast the pumpkin seeds til golden then set aside. Make the dressing by whisking the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar with some crushed Maldon together.

When the quinoa is ready (tender with the little “tails” sprouted) take it off the heat and stir in the leeks. Allow things to cool a bit then add the pumpkin seeds and dressing. Taste then add more lemon juice/vinegar and/or salt along with a very generous grinding of coarsely ground black pepper. Crumble in the feta, mix once more and serve.

Marketwatch

It’s Seville orange season and we’ll be getting a delivery in next week. If you’d like to make marmalede or cake (that tang works so well with almonds and/or dark chocolate) be sure and give us a shout and we’ll you name on a few kilos. They’re €3.50 per kilo.

It’s all about the milk

Many, many thanks for all the good wishes following Lee’s birth last Tuesday.  He’s a dream…….just as long as the milk supply is near. Brothers Dan and August have adjusted to the new order pretty well although Auggie (3 1/2 and total mammy’s boy) has wondered if Lee (or “it” as he calls him) will be “popping” back into my tummy anytime soon. Hmmm…….. Well, at least there’s been no violence and anyway Lee’s such a bruiser (10lbs 2 oz!!!!) he could probably defend himself pretty well. So I really should put that story about a baby being thrown out a window by his older brother out of head right?

You know all those recipes I say are a cinch, superfast to put together, will only take ten minutes? Well, at the moment they’re out. You’d think given I already have two, I’d remember – when you have a newborn you have no time for ANYTHING else and that includes cooking and sometimes even eating. Yes, there are the occasional ten minutes (like now) but it’s really only enough for a trip to loo or to throw on a load of laundry. Then Lee realises it’s been oh, 8 minutes since his last feed and starts mooching around. Paul might be able to keep him cool for a minute or two but just as I open the fridge door the cry goes up and that’s when I know I have about 1 minute to stuff my face and get back.

Needless to say, good stocks have been the key to my staving off starvation (ok, a bit dramatic but that’s how it feels) – a big log of goat’s cheese bought a couple of weeks back has been a life saver. It’s avocado season and I get through at least one of those a day, sometimes just spread on corn or oatcakes with a pinch of salt and a little balsamic.Then it’s stuff like sundried tomatoes, jalapenos, speck, prosciutto and spicey salami. They all get piled up on bread or crackers and wolfed. A chaser of a piece of dark chocolate and I’m back on the sofa.

Paul’s been doing all the other meals and we’ve had a lot of help. Everyone seems to know that with 2 young kids and a newborn all bets are off for at least a few months (or is that the next ten years?) so we’ve had any amount of lasagnes and casseroles delivered. When you’re feeding you are permenantly starving but I found that after a few days all the bacon sambos, lasagnes, pastries scored by Paul on the way home from the school run (plus we’ve been working our way through a stash of almond croissants he got me from the bakery on Moore street (the best in town) were just too heavy so I needed to get back to some kind of food normality.  For a proper injection of fresh stuff the guys have made juice a few times giving us a much-needed counterpoint to all the weightiness at dinnertime plus a big batch of quinoa I made a few days ago has made all the difference.

In the last few weeks I’d been working on recipes that I thought we could send you while I took a break. Then Lee arrived 2 weeks early (on time but as the others came so overdue I’d assumed I had all the time in the world). Some recipes have been worked out, even photographed while others are still in note form and still need revisions. Paul is back to work next week so there will be cooking and I can see myself sending out recipes at least sporadically for the upcoming months.We’ll just have to see how things pan out. I can hear other mothers saying yeah she’s just on a high after the birth, she’ll crash and burn over the next few weeks… there’s no way she’s going to do recipes. Well, maybe. I reckon if I do great and if I don’t it’s not the end of the world either.There are any amount of simple ideas on the blog and if anyone’s in doubt about what to do with their veg nine times out of ten most things taste deadly roasted in the oven……

Gotta go x

And here’s one I made earlier………… Beetroot salad with blood orange and toasted hazelnuts

If I had 15 minutes to myself this is what I’d make but alas the price of 4 and sometimes even 5 (!!!) and half hours uninterrupted sleep when you have a newborn is nonstop feeding by day so it might be a while…….

Beetroot is such a superfood and you can almost feel your insides thanking you as this salad goes down. Blood orange and  beetroot are one of those classic combinations – not only do they look great together they completely complement each other with the orange neutralising some of the beet’s intense earthiness. Toasted hazelnuts give a nice crunch plus lots of flavour. I eat this with falafel and hummus or, with last week’s quinoa and caramelized leek salad with feta. Both salads keep well for a couple of days in the fridge and can be grabbed for quick snacks and lunches but be warned drop them on any snow white babygros at your peril!

Beetroot salad with blood oranges and toasted hazelnuts

You’ll need:

500gr beetroot

2 blood oranges

75gr toasted hazelnuts coarsely chopped.

A small bunch parsley finely chopped

The juice of 1 blood orange

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic

2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard

pinch of salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Top, tail and peel all the beets then coarsely grate them then set aside.  

Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients and mixing well. Pour over the grated beetroot mix then set aside.

If your hazelnuts are not already toasted, toast them over a medium heat on a dry pan. Cool briefly then roughly chop. Add about half to the beetroot along with 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. If you have time put the salad aside for about half an hour (longer is fine) to allow all the flavours to mingle and mellow the earthiness of the beets.

To finish off, peel the oranges with a sharp knife carefully removing all the pith aswell. Cut into segments then divide each  segment into halves or thirds. Pile these on top of the salad then top with the rest of the hazelnuts and a final sprinkling of parsley.

Enjoy x

Lemon roasted Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes

Those funny looking knobbly creatures in your bag this week are called Jerusalem artichokes aka sunchokes. If you haven’t had them before don’t panic – they’re a bit of a pain to clean but these tubors have a lovely nutty flavour and can be prepared very simply – pan-fried til golden is a great starting place. Just scrub them really well then chop into chunks and pan-fry in olive oil til crispy on the outside but nice and tender inside.  A spritz of lemon and you’ve got something to pick on with beers before dinner or a lovely side dish that goes especially well with meat. Then there’s that great Nigel Slater warm salad with bacon and a mustard dressing.  They make brilliant soup but my own recipe for a warm salad with smoked cheese and lamb’s lettuce is one of our favourite ways to eat them and makes a very special lunch dish or starter.

Another way to go with Jerusalem artichokes I really enjoy is roasted with spuds and lemon. It’s very simple and comes courtesy of Mr. Slater though I have adapted it slightly. It goes really well with any roast and, I suspect, would work well with fish too.

Lemon roasted Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes (enough for 4-5)

You’ll need:

600gr Jerusalem artichokes

500gr potatoes

2 lemons

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

A large handful flatleaf (curly will also do if you’re stuck) parsley

Give the artichokes and spuds a really thorough scrub then cut them lengthways and chop into biggish chunks. Steam for about 10 minutes until tender. While the roots are steaming heat the oven to gas mark 6. Pour a decent glug of olive oil into a roasting tin and heat this in the oven. When the roots are ready, drain and tip into the roasting tin. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice of three halves over the veg then give them a good shake so the veg gets properly coated in the oil and lemon juice. Return the roasting tin to the oven and roast for about 40 minutes til golden and slightly crunchy. To serve, squeeze the remaining half lemon over the dish, sprinkle with some crushed Maldon, lots of freshly ground black pepper and the parsley (roughly chopped). Just so you know, Nigel’s recipe has more parsley and he adds Parmesan shavings to the finished dish. Up to you…

Enjoy!