[Cocktails] Raven Rita

The Raven Rita is a delicious variation on one of my favourite cocktails, the margarita. Chambord is a magnificent black raspberry liqueur, which comes in a wonderfully regal, orb-shaped bottle. A little dash of Chambord in a glass of sparkling wine adds some real magic to celebrations, but it also brings depth and sweetness to many other cocktails. In fact, a bottle of Chambord never seems to last too long in our house.

In this variation on the classic margarita, the usual orange component (triple sec, or in my case Cointreau) is dialled back, replaced by the rich Chambord. As always, I recommend using a good quality tequila. I happen to have a stash of Patrón thanks to some well-priced duty-free shopping, but at a minimum make sure your tequila is labelled "100% Agave".

Raven Rita ingredients

Pre-chill some coupe glasses. In your shaker, combine 1 shot tequila, 1 shot fresh-squeezed lime juice, 1/2 shot Chambord and 1/4 shot Cointreau. Add ice, cover tightly with the tin and shake vigorously until the tin is too cold to hold. Strain into your chilled glasses and top with a small Chambord float.

I usually always have a salt rim with my margaritas, but I think it doesn't work with the additional sweetness of the Chambord in this variant. Spread the margarita love.

The Raven Rita

[Cocktails] Mixed Berry Julep

I've been feeling the heat so much lately. It's subtly oppressive, draining my energy and leaving me restless at night in a bedroom that's too warm. So when it came to making today's cocktail, I went for the julep, a drink with a fine tradition of cooling and refreshing. 

The julep evolved into its current state in the southern states of the USA, where it combines bourbon whiskey, mint, sugar and ice into a drink designed to beat the heat. This version varies slightly from with standard with the addition of some Irish summer berries which add colour and sweetness.

Ingredients for a mixed berry julep

To make a mixed berry julep, place 3 each raspberries and blackberries into the bottom of a glass and muddle gently. 

Add 12 mint leaves (smash them gently between your palms first), 2 shots of bourbon and 3/4 shot of simple syrup. Top with crushed ice and churn (or stir) to combine all the ingredients. There's no real need to muddle the mint first as the alcohol will strip out the flavour anyway. 

Once stirred, add more crushed ice and repeat. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint, add a straw and sip until refreshed. 

Muddle the berries

Add ingredients, fill with crushed ice and stir

When ready, garnish with mint sprig

fda

[Cocktails] Corpse Reviver #2

This weeks cocktail is from the bracing family known as the Corpse Revivers. These strong drinks are intended to set you straight when feeling a bit ropey after the night before. Nothing like more of the same poison to sort you out, eh?

I'm making the Savoy version of Corpse Reviver #2, which is exceptionally simple to assemble. This is probably a good thing if you're in the sorry kind of state that requires this drink. Equal measures of gin, Lillet Blance, Cointreau (or Triple Sec), lemon juice are combined with a dash of absinthe or pastis in this full frontal shock assault to the system.

1 shot gin (here I'm using Dry Fly gin, distilled in Spokane, Washington state)

1 shot Cointreau (or triple sec)

1 shot Lillet Blanc

1 shot lemon juice

Dash of absinthe or pastis

Ingredients

No fancy bartending techniques required for this drink. Start by placing a coupe in the freezer or fill with ice to chill the glass. Combine the gin, Cointreau, lemon juice and a small dash of absinthe in a shaking glass. Alternatively, don't put the absinthe into the main drink, but instead swirl a small drop around the glass, leaving a small coating.

Fill the glass with ice, firmly cover with the shaking tin and shake hard until the tin is too cold to hold. Strain into the chilled coupe. Decorate with a lemon zest twist.

Add a little dash of absinthe

The final article

Sip this fine drink slowly and carefully until the world stops spinning. But be careful. Treat it with respect. After all, bartending legend Harry Craddock says "Four of these taken in quick succession will unrevive the corpse again." 

[Cocktails] Strawberry Daiquiri

For some reason, the daiquiri  used to make me think of what the TV show "How I Met Your Mother" called "woo girls". You know the kind… a group of women in a disco bar or nightclub, frozen neon-coloured drinks and shouting "woo" at anything or anyone.

In reality though, the daiquiri has a fair old pedigree as a cocktail and apparently originated in a iron mine of the same name in Cuba. (Click on this link to see what is considered the first written version. The recipe is for 6 people!) Eventually it spread to the US and was a favourite drink of Ernest Hemmingway and the sainted JFK. A classic daiquiri is a mix of rum, citrus and sweet and nothing else. It's a simple drink to make, but can be potent.  In my version below, I'm going to use fresh Irish Wexford  strawberries to sweeten it a little, while still staying in the classic camp. 

7 strawberries, hulled

2 shots rum

1/2 shot freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 shot simple syrup

Ingredients for a strawberry daiquiri

Start by taking a coupe or martini glass and placing into the freezer. This will chill the glass nicely in advance of the cocktail.

Place the strawberries into the shaking glass and muddle. Add the rum, simple syrup and squeeze in the lime juice. I use a citrus press or Mexican Elbow to quickly squeeze citrus.

Start by muddling the strawberries

Add rum, simple syrup and squeeze the lime

Fill the glass with ice, place the tin on the shaking glass, making sure to seal well and shake vigorously. A good shake will further smash the strawberries and the ice will slightly dilute the drink. 

This drink will require a double strain, meaning a pour that uses both the Hawthorne strainer and a fine sieve. This will remove any fruit and ice debris from the liquid, leaving a clear, smooth drink.

Shakey shakey

Get ready to double strain

Elegant perfection

And there you go, a perfect summer drink. Two shots of rum means that it's not a lightweight, despite the sweet strawberry flavour. So don't go too crazy. Enjoy!

[Recipe] Folláin's No need to knead brown bread

I'm very proud of the far that I grew up in Cork's Muskerry Gaeltacht, or Gaeltacht Mhúscraí. This meant that I completed all my education through to secondary level "as Gaelige". I sat my Leaving Certificate in Irish, even going so far as to have Irish language textbooks for subjects such as Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. It all seems so distant now in this modern world where I travel the world and work with many cultures, but it has had a deep influence on my life.

But being from the Gaeltacht is about much more than just speaking our native language. What I took for granted as a child and teenager has been revealed by adult life to be a cultural treasure-trove. These days, there is a new form of culture developing at home in Cork. Well-established food companies such as Coolea Cheese, Folláin Jams and Preserves and Macroom Oatmeal (located just a tad outside the Gaeltacht) have been joined by newcomers including McCarthy's Natural Dairy, 9 White Deer (beautifully named after the legends of Naomh Gobnait), the hirsute Mountain Man Brewing and Toonsbridge Dairy. I'd love to know what they're putting in the water down there!

Out of all these great companies, I have a certain grá for Folláin Jams. As a child, I would head into the fields with my mother or cousins to pick blackberries or other summer fruits for their jams. I can't remember what we got paid per pound, but I probably ate my way through a lot of potential earnings.  Whenever I hear the word "halcyon", these are the memories that are conjured. Sunshine, scratches on my arms from briars and fingertips stained with blackberry juice. Back at the farmhouse, I would slather slices of my grandmother's brown and white soda breads with thick layers of butter and jam.

If you want to try a little taste of Ireland on St Patrick's Day, or indeed any time of year, read on for Folláin Jams' "No need to knead brown bread"

• Pre-heat your oven to 190C / 170C fan / Gas Mark 5
• Combine 225g Macroom coarse brown flour with 1 teaspoon of bread soda, a teaspoon of salt and 225g of sieved white flour
• Add a teaspoon of dark brown sugar and mix well
• Mix 2 teaspoons of sunflower oil with 235ml of buttermilk, add to the flour mixture, mixing lightly with your hands until the mixture is sticky
• Transfer the mixture into a greased loaf tin, score it and bake for 45 minutes until the bread is golden
• Allow the bread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool before slicing
• Slather a fresh slice with Irish dairy butter and a selection from the Folláin Extra Fruit or No Added Sugar ranges. If you want something savoury, try one of their delicious relishes
• Serve with a piping hot cup of tea!

If you need a little extra assistance, a video of this quick and easy recipe is available here. 

[Recipes] Summer Cocktail & Drink Special

I have never liked the use of the word "foodie". I've dabbled for a while with being a gourmet, a gourmand or simply a food-lover. But none of these terms quite sat right with me, until I rediscovered the phrase "Bon Vivant". It was a lightbulb moment in my head and its suitability was further reinforced when I was asked by RTÉ food to participate in their Summer Series of guest posts. One of the suggested topics was "Summer Cocktails & Drinks" which I grabbed onto like a drinker at last orders time.

The following is a re-publication of the article, which first appeared on RTÉ Food. 

Any bartender can mix ingredients together to produce a drink optimistically called a "cocktail". But these sugary, neon-coloured drinks are an insult to proper cocktails. Mixologists take pride in understanding their ingredients and blending them together to create drinks that are classic, seasonal and always satisfying. 

The first recorded use of the word cocktail in the English language occurred all the way back in 1798, followed ten years later by an official definition "Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters". In 1862, the acknowledged father of cocktail making, Jerry Thomas, published his bible "How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant's Companion" . I personally like to think of myself a Bon Vivant, so therefore, I feel a natural affinity with Mr. Thomas and his craft. 

But before we get started with recipes, I want to share some tips and tools for making cocktails at home. Cocktails are generally either shaken or stirred (the nub of eternal James Bond martini dilemma). As a quick rule of thumb, cocktails made with similar spirits are best stirred, while cocktails with different spirits are best shaken. Based on this knowledge, James Bond would have been better served ordering his martini stirred!

Make sure that your ice cube trays are filled as ice is crucial to making cocktails. You'll need it to cool your glasses and for shaking. A handy shortcut I often take to chilling glasses is to rinse a glass and then place them briefly in the freezer. When used in shaking, ice helps dilute and "crush" the ingredients. I prefer to use a Boston shaker when making cocktails, which consists of a metal bottom and glass top. Although the Cobbler shaker (all metal) is more iconic, the metal pieces tend to fuse together which is frustrating when you're trying to get your delicious creation out into the glass. Best to leave the Cobbler as decoration on the shelf.

Finally, a citrus press (also known as a Mexican elbow) is a great addition to your kitchen gadgets. Most cocktails require citrus of some form, but squeezing limes or lemons quickly becomes monotonous. With a citrus press, juicing is simplified thus permitting you to get to your cocktail all the sooner.

Margarita 

Tequila is one of my favourite spirits and it has such a natural affinity with limes, although it is also partial to grapefruit. A real margarita is served short, cold and definitely not in adult slushie form. Try to find a tequila brand that is labelled as 100% agave to guarantee a good tequila. I prefer Cointreau in my version, but any triple sec (orange flavoured liquer) will work. The trick here is to find the ratio that works for you, so feel free to vary the proportions to find your favourite. A salt rim is optional, but I should say that tequila loves salt nearly as much as it loves limes. 

1oz tequila

1oz Cointreau

1oz fresh squeezed lime juice

Dash simple syrup

Place all ingredients into a shaker and add ice. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds and then strain into chilled glasses.

Simple syrup is very simply made by combining equal volumes of white sugar and water in a saucepan, then briefly bringing to the boil before letting it cool down. It allows you to sweeten cocktails and also helps marry flavours together 

My second recipe involves a summer classic - rhubarb! Firstly, we will make a rhubarb cordial, which can then be used in alcoholic cocktails or refreshing sparkling drinks. 

Rhubarb cordial

Take one bunch of rhubarb, trim, chop and place in a saucepan along with one cup of water and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Place over medium heat and stew for about 10-15 mins or until the rhubarb is soft and mushy. Using a sieve, strain the rhubarb into a bowl. Do not force it through the sieve, but instead let gravity and time do the work. You will be left with a ruby pink tart juice. 

Place equal volumes of the rhubarb juice and white sugar in a saucepan and gently heat until the sugar is dissolved. If any while scum appears during this process, just skim it off. Let the rhubarb cordial cool and add a little squeeze of lemon juice before use. 

Rhubarb Aperol Spritz

Here we combine our homemade rhubarb cordial with the classic Italian aperitvo Aperol to make a refreshing sparkling drink. Aperol contains, amongst other ingredients, bitter orange, gentian and rhubarb, so it marries well with the cordial. Although prosecco would ensure an Italian theme in this drink, I personally prefer a nice brut Cava. 

1 tablespoon rhubarb cordial

1oz Aperol

Cava to top

Place the rhubarb cordial and Aperol in the bottom of a wine glass or champagne flute. Mix lightly and then top with chilled Cava. Sit in the sunshine and enjoy

Rhubarb Apple Cooler

Place one tablespoon of the rhubarb cordial in a highball glass, and half fill with a good quality apple juice. Add some ice cubes and top up with sparkling water. The rhubarb and apple juice will naturally settle into different layers, creating a rhubarb and custard type effect. Stir to bring the layers and flavours together. 

The Pamplemousse 

There are few other liquers which taste as summery and as light as St Germain. It contains elderflowers and comes in the most exquisite 8-sided Art Deco bottle, which is a work of art in its own right. This cocktail combines the floral notes from St Germain with gin and citrus to create a refreshing and balanced drink. 

1oz gin

1 oz freshly squeeze grapefruit juice

1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 oz St Germain liquer

Place all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds before straining into a small chilled cocktail glass. 

[Recipe] Butternut Squash Cake (Wheat-free)

I subscribe to many blogs, and I have found some treasures through word of mouth and recommendations. I usually bookmark the posts I find interesting and stockpile them until I have time to sit down and transfer the good content into my Evernote account. I recently added Juls' Kitchen to my list of subscriptions and started to read her posts about life and food in Tuscany. As I browsed, one particular recipe reached out and caught my attention almost immediately. 

The recipe was for a butternut squash cake and it's bright orange colour demanded that I make it myself. The concept of using carrots is well-established and I do have a trusty reliable recipe for delicious carrot cake. Butternut squash is one of my favourite vegetables, regardless of whether it's in a soup, oven roasted or mixed in a risotto. But I had never considered using a butternut squash in cake! Plus Juls had made her cake in a bundt tin, and I had just acquired such a tin. This seemed like the perfect occasion to christen it.

As I don't eat wheat, I modified Juls' recipe slightly by replacing the flour with Doves Farm Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free flour. This is an amazing flour substitute and produces great baking results. I even used it to make my Shrove Tuesday pancakes, and the results were excellent. But back to the cake! The end results are excellent; it is a moist, solid cake but not overly heavy. The sweetness of the sugar is nicely balanced by the vegetable tone of the squash and the tang of yogurt. It's a great alternative to carrot cake, and bound to garner some attention.

One final word, get over to Juls' lovely blog and start reading. You won't be disappointed. 

(taken from Juls' Kitchen)

Ingredients

350g butternut squash

125g plain yogurt

3 eggs

180g Demerara sugar

125g butter, melted

250g wheat-free flour

15g baking powder

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Icing sugar to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C, and generously butter, then lightly flour a bundt cake tin (24cm).

Use a food processor to grate (or alternatively grate by hand) the butternut squash, then puree with the yogurt. 

Beat together the eggs and sugar, until pale and increased in volume. Stir in the butternut squash puree, then fold in the sifted flour, baking powder and nutmeg. 

Pour the mixture into the cake tin, taking care to wipe away any bits stuck to the edges or outside of the tin. Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Let the cake cool down somewhat, then turn out from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. To serve, dust with icing sugar. 

[Recipe] Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork

I don't publish many recipes on this blog. In fact, most of you probably think that I live in restaurants! In reality, I do love to cook and do so most evenings when I'm not travelling for work. The real reason I don't post recipes is that I don't have the time or daylight to take decent photographs of my cooking. I simply can't compete with some of the beautiful images posted by other Irish food bloggers!

I've long been addicted to Chinese food, and although I regularly seek out Chinese restaurants, I tend to go through phases of cooking it at home. However, I've lately been inspired by Julie O'Neill's Shananigans Blog, which is in turn inspired by her far-flung family and her travels. Through the medium of Twitter, we discovered our shared love for Chinese food and have swapped cookbook and cooking tips. Julie is cooking up a storm, blending Irish produce with wonderful Chinese recipes and ingredients.

Several months ago, Julie cooked Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork, based on the recipe from Fucshia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. Chairman Mao came from the Hunan district and despite the culinary suppression of the Cultural Revolution, he remained a devotee of the spicy cuisine of his native province. This braised pork was his firm favourite. I've cooked this dish several times exactly as per the recipe, but in the version below I've also added just two more extra ingredients to get the dish to sing just the way I like.

My prepared ingredients - dried chilis, star anise, cinnamon, ginger & garlic

Ingredients - (Brackets indicate my optional ingredients)

500g belly pork (skin removed)
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
10g fresh ginger, skin left on and sliced
(3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced)
1 star anise
2 dried red chilis
Small piece of cassia/cinnamon bark
Light soy sauce, salt and sugar
Coriander or spring onion to garnish
(1 tablespooon cornflour mixed with a little water)
(1 tablespoon chili bean paste)

Method

Bring a pot of water to the boil. Cut the belly pork into thick slices. At this stage, I prefer to remove the skin, as well as any rib bones. Place the belly pork into the boiling water and cook for about 4 mins, until partially cooked. Remove the pork from the water and drain on some kitchen paper. Once the pork is cool enough, cut into bite-sized chunks. 

Heat the oil and sugar in a wok over moderate heat until the sugar melts. Raise the heat and occasionally swirl the wok gently until the sugar carmelises and turns a dark golden brown. I find that it is best not to stir this mixture, as it can crystallise. Instead leave the heat to do its work.

Once carmelised, add the pork and Shaoxing wine. Stir briskly, making sure that the pork is well coated. Add just enough water to cover the pork, along with the ginger, (garlic) star anise, chills and cinnamon. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 40-50 minutes, or until the pork is tender. 

Towards the end, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce and season with soy sauce, salt and a little sugar to taste. Add the garnish just before serving. 

Optional - at this point, I like to add the cornflour mix in order to thicken the sauce and make it rich and glossy. For extra flavour, I also add a tablespoon of chili bean paste to taste. 

Chinese chili bean paste

The finished dish, served with flat rice noodles

This post is dedicated to Julie O'Neill, her husband and her family who have experienced several recent bereavements. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

[Event] Mediterranean Magic at the Tannery Cookery School

A lot of my friends and family call me a lucky person. You may call me a jammy git, but over the years, I have won a fair amount of competitions and prizes, including many books, tickets to U2, and a top prize of an IBM laptop. (A huge prize for a poor postgraduate student). I don't have any secret to my success though - other than the fact that I enter competitions. It takes a second to pop your name in the draw and you could very well win. It's amazing the amount of people who will say that they have no luck, but how can you win if you don't enter?

Twitter has been a great mechanism for winning competitions. Until recently, my top Twitter prize was a 2 night stay at the lovely Sheen Falls Lodge, but that was all changed when Máire Flynn of The Tannery Restaurant, Townhouse & Cookery School rang. It turned out that I was one of three lucky Twitter winners who had won places on the Mediterranean Magic course. Máire had been struck by a string of last-minute cancellations, and generously offered the places via a Twitter raffle. 

We were a little late arriving at the Cookery School on the Saturday morning, which meant that we were able to sit with a cup of coffee in the kitchen, while Paul Flynn and the other attendees picked supplies from the garden. The kitchen in the school is an amazing bright space, which used to be a convent music room. Our particular class was going to be a demonstration class, but hands-on practical classes also on offer for the more dedicated students. 

The demonstration counter 

A wider view of the bright and airy room (#spotflynny to the side)

Watching Paul work was an educating experience. I'm no slouch at multitasking in the kitchen, but Mr Flynn is a whole different level. This shouldn't come as any great surprise, given his long experience in the cheffing game. He chatted and entertained as he chopped, diced and whisked his way through the dishes. We spent the morning watching him make the dishes for our lunch, including a fabulously fresh gazpacho, a vibrant Tuscan bread salad and a warming Moroccan chicken. Dessert was a wonderful Orange Almond Cake doused in a spiced orange syrup. 

Gazpacho

Moroccan Chicken

Panzanilla - Tuscan Bread Salad

Orange Almond Cake

As the dishes were completed, Paul and his lovely assistant piled them on the kitchen worktop and we then helped ourselves before taking a seat in the calm and serene dining room. Generous glasses of wine, and a common love of tasty food ensured that there was plenty of chat over lunch. We were treated to a visit from Twitter royalty in the form of Paul's wife and business partner Máire, along with their two angelic little girls. The Tannery is a real family business. 

Lunchtime in the elegant dining room

After lunch, we were more than a little sleepy, but Paul seemed to have gained in energy over lunch and he launched into Round Two of cooking. He churned out aubergine rolls with red pepper sauce, a comforting ham, cheese and potato cake, all finished off with an exotic and spiced fruit salad. Of course, we had to sample all this before we could depart! We rolled out of the Tannery holding our recipe booklets, hugely inspired by Paul's attitude to flavours and freshness. 

Aubergine Rolls

Spiced fruit salad

Ham, Cheese and Potato Cake

If you are interested in taking a course with Paul at the Tannery Cookery School, then you can check out the website below for more information on upcoming courses. If you want to make a weekend of it, it's also possible to combine a cookery class with a stay in the lovely Tannery B&B, as well as enjoying a meal in their famous restaurant. Or perhaps, given the proximity of the Christmas season, a trip to the Tannery Cookery School might make the perfect gift. 

The Tannery Cookery School, 10 Quay Street, Dungarvan, Co Waterford
Tel: +353 (0)58 45420
URL: www.tannery.ie/cookery-school
Twitter: @TanneryDungarva @paulflynnchef

[Recipe] Orange and Almond Cake

Food is one of the great pleasures in life, but having a healthy digestive system is equally important. People who suffer from allergies, autoimmune disorders and other illnesses have to keep an eagle eye on ingredients and preparation. I've suffered with bad acid reflux, heartburn and a whole heap of other nasties for over 10 years now. Through trial and error, I've effectively eliminated wheat from my diet as well as red wine. Thanks to a recent gastroscopy, I now know that I have a hiatus hernia, and that I'm not a coeliac.

In a weird way, it's disappointing not to have a clear label for what is wrong with me. When you have a medical diagnosis, you can point to that, and not feel embarrassed about special attention. All I can say is that wheat doesn't agree with me - and you just get the feeling that people don't take it as seriously.  I've made some great progress in my attitude to wheat. I no longer crave it, and I even sometimes feel repulsed by it. It's as if my body knows that the wheat is going to cause some hurt. 

As someone who loves to bake, the removal of wheat is a challenge. For a while, I just stopped baking altogether. But the recent Great Irish Bake Off challenge woke me back up, and particularly the episode where the contestants had to bake a torte with non-wheat flour. Almond flour is a classic alternative to wheat flour, and on a recent visit to the Tannery Cookery School, chef Paul Flynn shared a recipe for Sicilian Almond Cake. It's delicious, sticky, moist and a multitude of other good things. The original recipe calls for stale white breadcrumbs, which I just omitted while baking. Enjoy!

Orange and Almond Cake

Orange and Almond Cake

50g stale white breadcrumbs
200g caster sugar
100g ground almonds
1 1/2 level teaspoons baking powder
200mls sunflower oil
4 eggs
Zest of one lemon, finely grated
Zest of one lime, finely grated

Start by lining the base of an 8" baking tin with a round of greaseproof paper. Grease and flour (I used the ground almonds) the sides of the tin.

Mix the breadcrumbs (I left these out) with the sugar, almonds and baking powder. Whisk the oil with the eggs, pour into the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the orange and lemon zest.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 180C and bake for 45 - 60 mins until the cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. (Apparently, placing the cake into a preheated oven would cause a soufflé effect, along with subsequent deflation).

Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a plate.

Letting the syrup soak in

Syrup

The addition of a zingy, spiced syrup makes this cake incredibly moist and sticky.

Juice of one orange
Juice of one lime
75g sugar
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Put all the ingredients into a stainless steel saucepan. Bring gently to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved completely, then simmer for three minutes. While the cake is still warm, pierce it with a skewer, and spoon the hot syrup over the cake. Leave to cool. Spoon the excess syrup over the cake every now and then until it is all soaked up.

Serve with softly whipped cream or some Greek yogurt.

A slice of deliciousness

[Recipe] Great Irish Bake Off - Week 5 - {Key} Lime Pie

Last week was only great. All my fretting about the wobbli-ness of my crème caramels paid off and I was chosen as the Week 4 winner of the Great Irish Bake Off. Chuffed does not come close to describing how I felt. The challenge for Week 5 was to make an American classic, Key Lime Pie. Given the challenge in sourcing Key Limes in Ireland, the parameters were relaxed to a Lime Pie. I love limes (mainly in cocktails), so I was very much looking forward to this challenge. I decided to use a recipe from the classic Delia Smith.

I made a sweet shortcrust pastry following the recipe from one of my staple references, Michel Roux's Pastry. This book is currently selling for a mere £6.99 on Amazon, and if you don't have it on your bookshelf, then you really should. (You can of course, take the cleaner and simpler option and buy a good, chilled pre-prepared shortcrust pastry). Once the pastry was chilling in the fridge, I headed for brunch at Beckett & Bull, followed by a pitstop for pie ingredients.

Only one thing went wrong during my bake - just one thing. But of course, it had a major impact on the whole adventure. I pulled out the ring from my 23cm pie tin, but I couldn't find the flipping bottom. I turned the cupboard upside down, but it was no where to be found. Given that we have a tiny kitchen, losing the base was a major achievement. Anyway, I resorted to my bigger pie tin, but this meant that ultimately I would have a thinner pie, not the deep luxurious fill I had envisioned. 

Lime slices - ready to be candied

I wanted to decorate my pie with homemade candied lime slices, so while the base was blind baking, I thinly sliced some lemons. These were blanched for 2 mins before being added to a simple sugar syrup, where I cooked them gently for 15 -20 mins or until the slices were translucent. I drained them on a wire rack and left to cool, before dredging in some castor sugar.

Meanwhile, my pastry case was out of the oven. Despite some shrinkage around the edges, things were looking good, so I left it to cool while I prepared the filling. Opening the tin of condensed milk took me right back to childhood cooking and making my first ever batch of millionaire squares. The filling came together quite nicely, but as I had predicted, it just wasn't deep enough when poured into the tin. It baked well, and once cooled, I transferred to the fridge to rest and chill thoroughly.

American pies are often decorated with lashings of cream and toppings, and I decided to top mine with a soft meringue. I had 3 egg whites left over from the pie filling, so this was really simple economics. I've always loved the magic of making meringue, and it was fun to pipe concentric rings of little rosettes onto the top of my grill. I whizzed the pie under a hit grill, until the peaks were gently browned. DONE!

The finished product - with gently browned meringue topping

The mandatory base shot - nothing soggy here

A slice of lime pie with homemade candied lime slices

The finished result was a wonderfully tangy pie, but I was disappointed by the filling depth. This would be so much more decadent with a deep layer of lime custard. Ah well, that's what happens when you can't find the base of your loose-bottomed tin.

Great Irish Bake Off - Week 4 - Crème Caramel

Last Tuesday was Week 4 of the Great British Bake Off, where we saw the contestants' creativity tested with the design of a large flourless torte, followed later by a creative layered meringue cake. The surprise technical challenge was a classic crème caramel, chosen by Mary Berry for it's precise requirements. For us Irish bakers, the Great Irish Bake Off continued in parallel, with a choice between the crème caramel and layered meringue cake. 

I really wanted to tackle both challenges and I had even spent my latest drive between Cork and Dublin thinking about flavours for the meringue cake. But time makes fools of us all, and I had to choose. Given that I had recently received 2 lovely sets of vanilla pods as a prize from Goodall's Ireland, and the simple fact that I love custard, I chose to make crème caramel.

My prep board - eggs, vanilla pod and my new ceramic knife

I started by reading the recipe, very carefully. This recipe involves making a sugar syrup and boiling it until it turns to caramel. I have a respectful wariness of sugar work, so I wanted to get this one right. One thing I do know is that you should use a clean, smooth saucepan. Unfortunately, most of my cookware is cast iron, so I had to dig out the small egg pan. I added the sugar and water and placed on a low heat, stirring occasionally until all the grains had dissolved and I could no longer feel any grittiness. 

In the meantime, I preheated the oven and placed my ramekins in there to warm through. Once the syrup was ready, I turned up the heat and watched it keenly. You're not really supposed to stir the caramel, so I had to make do with gentle swirls of the saucepan. It seemed to take forever, but eventually the syrup started to turn from clear to gently golden. It then progressed very quickly to the desired copper colour, at which point I pulled it off the heat and poured a generous layer into the base of my ramekins. 

The dangerous part - making the caramel

First hurdle complete - caramel in the ramekins

I left the caramel to set and turned my attention to making the custard. I took out one of my new vanilla beans and split it down the middle. I added the seeds to my egg and sugar mixture, while the empty pods were added to my milk. The milk must be heated until it's just about too hot to dip a finger into. At this point, I poured a tiny amount into the egg mix and beat well (If you add too much hot milk too fast, you will scramble your eggs). Once the egg mixture was tempered, I was able to pick up the pace and mix in the rest, bit by bit. 

A good layer of butter is required on the ramekins, followed by pouring in the custard (through a sieve to catch all the vanilla pod bits). The ramekins were placed in a deep dish, which I placed in the oven, and then partially filled with boiling water, creating a bain-marie. This helps the custard cook evenly and gently.  The BBC recipe calls for 20-30 minutes baking time, so I dutifully checked after 23 minutes! Some of my ramekins had picked up a little colour, while the others were wobbly. I decided to trust my instincts and take them out of the oven to cool.

After the bake - cooling down

Once cooled, the creme caramels were transferred to the fridge to chill and allow the caramel layer to dissolve around the custard. To free the cremes, I ran a knife around the inside of the ramekin, and then placed a plate of top. A quick prayer and a little shove, and the creme plopped out surrounded by a lovely puddle of rich coloured caramel. This was of course followed by a rebel yell of delight from myself!

Turned out - successfully!!

A cutaway shot for the #GIrishBO judges

After a few photographs, we settled down on the sofa to eat the fruits of my labour. I was amazed at the texture of the creme, which was silky smooth and as good as anything I've eaten in a fine restaurant. The rich, slightly dark flavour of the caramel was beautifully balanced by the smooth coolness of the creme.

I'm delighted that I chose to make this classic French dessert. Taking part in the Great Irish Bake Off has challenged me to tackle something new, and the results have been impressive. Here's hoping for some more interesting challenges from the #GIrishBO crew!

Spanish Baked Eggs

Cooking is such a rewarding activity. It doesn't matter if it's just taking salad ingredients from the fridge or creating a 3 hour masterpiece. When you eat a plate of food that you made yourself, and that more importantly tastes great too, then you feel rewarded. It's even better when other people enjoy your food!

Last Sunday, I had a craving for baked eggs. Or to be more accurate, I wanted eggs with spicy tomato chorizo sauce, served with home fries on the side. The only downside to this craving was the time it would take to put together all my ingredients. First up was the making of a spicy chorizo sauce. While that was bubbling down, I cooked my potatoes in the microwave, sliced them and got them frying in a skillet. The very last step was to bake the eggs in a ramekin along with some sauce, covered by a protective layer of parmesan.

I posted several photos on Twitter during the course of making the dish, and received several requests for the recipe. I wish that I had had a chance to stage my photos, and take beautiful, arty, moody food shots. But let's be honest, that was not going to happen on the Sunday morning after a bottle of cava the night before. So iPhone photos it is. 

Warning - I like to make my sauce as rich and flavoursome as I can. I am a flavour junkie. By the time that it is served with eggs and home fries, the effect will be diluted somewhat, so bear that in mind when adjusting your seasoning. 

Spicy Chorizo Tomato Sauce

1/2 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1/4 chorizo sausage, diced
1 teaspoon pimentón picante (spicy smoked paprika)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt & pepper to season

Heat some oil in a heavy, large frying pan and sautee the onions and garlic until lightly browned. Add the chorizo and fry, stirring frequently until the onions are coloured with the oil from the chorizo. At this stage, I like to add an extra teaspoon of pimentón and cook gently for another minute or two to pump up the Spanish chorizo flavour. 

Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and mix well. Add the sugar, season with salt and pepper and leave to cook down. Using a large, heavy bottomed pan will help the sauce reduce down faster, as the liquid will have more room to evaporate. Taste continuously as it reduces and adjust the seasoning as required. Once the sauce has reached a nice thick consistency, take the pan off the heat and put to one side until ready to assemble.

The photo below shows some leftover sauce from my cooking - look at that lovely dark, rich colour. That sauce didn't go to waste either, as Himself later used it for a quick pasta dish.

Leftover spicy chorizo tomato sauce

Crispy Homefries

One of the great things about getting breakfast in the US can be the addition of home fries - or crispy fried cubes of potato.  I don't know why those horrendous lumps of raw potato that masquerade as hash browns are so popular for hotel breakfasts in this country. Homefries are far far nicer, and so very satisfying. 

To make these, I quickly cooked some new potatoes in the microwave until just cooked. Once they had cooled enough to handle (no asbestos hands here), I simply cut them into half and then sliced into half-moons.  By now, I had emptied the spicy sauce from my trusty cast-iron skillet, given it a quick rinse and had heated up some oil and a little knob of butter. 

I laid the potatoes into the oil and left them alone for a few minutes to crisp up nice and brown. Don't be tempted to start flipping the potatoes too early as they may start to disintegrate from too much handling. Wait instead until the first side is nice and brown before flipping over to repeat. Once the fries are at your preferred stage of crunchiness, turn them out onto some kitchen paper to drain. 

Homefries browning nicely

Spanish Baked Eggs

Have your oven preheated to about 160 C (turn it on while making the spicy sauce). I chose to bake my eggs in a set of large ramekins which I half filled with my delicious dark spicy sauce. I then carefully cracked in two eggs, which bought me close to the top of the ramekin. I added a nice thick crust of protective cheese (parmesan in this case) on top to protect the eggs from overcooking in the oven.

The ramekin was placed on a baking sheet (to make it easy to get in and out of the oven), and the entire lot was placed in the oven for about 15-20 mins or until the crust was nicely set and golden brown at the edges. The eggs were taken from the oven and left to cool and settle for about 5 minutes before serving. Word of warning - this dish can be El Scorchio in the inside, so hold your horses and give it a few minutes before digging in. 

Baked eggs just out of the oven

So there you go.  I actually find eggs quite hard to eat sometimes, but this always works for me. If you have any other suggestions for tried and trusted ways to enjoy eggs, please do share.