Asparagus – a feast of ferns !

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Over the years, several strange gifts have appeared on my doorstep. Once, just after moving into a new home, the doorstep vanished under a stunning 12ft Christmas tree ... I took an educated guess and reciprocated with homemade mince pies, wonderful neighbour.

Less delightfully... in a different house on a stormy Hallowe’en, I went to answer a loud knock at the door. There, glowing eerily in the darkness, was a large, elaborately carved Jack-O-Lantern, complete with flickering candle. That was plain spooky, particularly given how isolated the house was. I slammed and double-locked the door.

Apart from the odd tray of seedlings/bottle of Baileys from the neighbours, nothing unexpected or mysterious has appeared on my last few doorsteps ... until this week. Just as I was craving healthy greens, there appeared a bouquet of asparagus. I am utterly clueless as to where this beautiful bouquet came from, but I know exactly how I am going to deal with it.

I am going to bend each fat fern until it snaps, leaving a woody stalk (for vegetable stock) and a tender spear.

Then...

My No. 1 way of cooking asparagus:

I am going to take enough spears to feed two people, anoint them with extra virgin olive oil, spread them in a single layer on a baking tray, sprinkle on some Maldon sea salt and a twist of black pepper and roast them at 180°C until the tips start to crisp and brown – about 10 minutes - to be eaten immediately, forks optional.

Awesome asparagus!

 The rest of this gorgeous bouquet of ferns will be lightly pickled in olive oil and lemon juice as follows:

275mls white wine vinegar

225mls extra virgin olive oil

100 mls freshly squeezed lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon, cut into large strips. (try to avoid the white pith as this can be very bitter)

3 or 4 sprigs of fresh mint

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons fine table salt

500g asparagus spears

You will also need a 1 litre sterilised jar (run it through the dishwasher, or wash it thoroughly and dry it in the oven at 100°C).

1                    Place all the ingredients except the asparagus, in a large saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring once or twice to make sure the sugar has dissolved.

2                    When the mixture is boiling carefully add the asparagus spears. Cover the saucepan with a lid and continue to let the mixture bubble for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3                    Transfer the hot asparagus to the jar, then pass the liquid through a strainer, into the jar to cover the asparagus. Leave to cool before sealing. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks, although it is ready to eat straight away – as a starter, or added to salad. Allow to come back to room temperature before serving to get the full delicious asparagus/lemon flavour. The pickling juice also makes an unusual salad dressing. 

Pickled asparagus won't win any beauty contests but your tastebuds will love it!

   

Pickled asparagus isn’t going to win any beauty contests but oh, your tastebuds will love it!

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Cork World Book Fest Food Blogging Workshop - I had a blast in Cork last weekend giving the food blogging workshop. It was booked out despite the nasty weather and it was a delight to meet both seasoned and fledgling bloggers and to see that the Irish Food Bloggers Association was well represented. A huge thank you to my hosts, Cork City Libraries, and their awesome librarian, Ann Riordan!

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Chocolate Éclairs - a 'First Class' Pastry !

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'First Class' pastries...

For years I thought ‘excursion’ was a euphemism for “let’s take the kids out and see if we can’t all catch pneumonia”. You see, I often visited my Gran for summer holidays in Cork, and she would mastermind 'excursions' to the charming seaside town of Cobh for me and my million-or-so cousins.

This was always a recipe for great excitement – cousins you hadn’t seen in a year, a train journey through beautiful countryside, the anticipation of a picnic, the seaside. What more could a bunch of kids want!

No matter how blue the sky started out, it always, always, always lashed rain before we got home. I think Cobh has a special soak-you-to-the-skin kind of rain - although we Irish seem peculiarly unable to dress for the prevailing weather so maybe that has something to do with it too.

I returned to Cobh recently to meet my beloved’s Californian relatives whose cruise liner had docked for the day. As we waved goodbye, it struck me that almost a hundred years ago, Titanic had been waved off from the same dock.

Apart from the Titanic anniversary, I have a special reason for mentioning Cork this week. I am delighted to be running a food blogging workshop next Saturday for Cork City Libraries as part of their World Book Fest Constant Reader programme. If you are in the area, drop in. Free tickets for the event can be booked here.

In keeping with the Cork/Titanic theme, Chocolate Éclairs were on the First Class menu that fateful night of 14th April, 1912. If I’d been on board Titanic and somehow managed to sneak into First Class, these are what I would have pinched off the dessert trolley.

For 8 – 10 éclairs you will need...
... to pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Choux Pastry

150mls water

50g butter, cut into cubes

70g strong white flour/plain flour

a pinch of fine table salt

2 large eggs beaten

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
300mls of fresh cream, whipped

1 tablespoon of icing sugar (sifted)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Simply mix these three ingredients together to make the filling.

Topping

100g good quality dark chocolate, melted

1                    Heat the water and butter together in a medium saucepan until the butter has melted and the liquid is simmering

2                    Remove from the heat, then carefully tip the flour and salt into the liquid in one go. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a soft smooth ball of paste and no dry flour remains. Spread the ball of paste over the bottom of the saucepan and leave to cool to room temperature.

3                    When the paste has cooled, add the vanilla extract to the beaten egg, then add the egg to the paste a little at a time, whisking well between additions. An electric whisk is best for this job. You want a smooth glossy soft paste that will hold its shape so check the mixture as you go along as you may not need to add all the egg.

4                    Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a 1.5cm plain nozzle and pipe lines approximately 10cm long onto a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking parchment, leaving approximately 6cm between pastries. Transfer to the oven. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until evenly golden brown. Remove from the oven and poke a small horizontal slit in the side of each pastry to release some steam. Return to the oven for a further 2 minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack.

5                    Assemble the éclairs just before serving: slice them in half horizontally and fill with the flavoured whipped cream. Drizzle a little melted chocolate over each.  

Tip: Pop a roasting tray with a handful of ice cubes into the bottom of the oven a few minutes before putting the pastries in to bake. This helps create a steamy atmosphere and helps the pastry to puff up beautifully.

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Honeycomb – a Schoolgirl Crush that has Lasted and Lasted !

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I think many of my schoolmates will remember one of our science teachers – Mr Divine (uh huh!). Although he seemed ancient at the time, he was barely out of school himself and maybe that’s why he was among the few that were able to connect with a class of unruly 12 year-olds.

He set up experiments that interested us – distilling Poitín for instance, or manufacturing lipstick.  My favourite experiment seemed like alchemy to me – he combined a few simple ingredients, added heat, and made a huge bubbling mass of honeycomb. I think more than a few of us fell in love with Mr Divine that particular day.

While my schoolgirl crush on Mr Divine has long since disappeared, my love for this sweet treat has lasted and lasted.

For a sweet treat practically conjured out of thin air you will need...

200g caster sugar

100g honey

2 tablespoons cold water

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1/8 teaspoon fine table salt

1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda 

1                  Line a 21cm (8”) square tin with non-stick parchment paper.

2                  Weigh the sugar and honey directly into a saucepan large enough for the mixture to expand up to 5 times its original volume. Add the water, vinegar and salt and heat gently until all the ingredients have melted together.

3                  Now, turn up the heat and let the mixture bubble without stirring (stirring can recrystalise sugar (although, feel free to give the saucepan the odd swirl if you like.) If you have a sugar thermometer it should reach ‘hard-crack’ (149° - 154°C or 300°F  - 310°F. If you are working by eye, let the mixture bubble until it is a dark golden honey colour. Do not go to answer the door. Do not pick up the phone. This stuff is hot and will burn the instant you take your eyes off it.

Do not pick up the phone! Do not answer the door! This stuff WILL burn.

4                  Have a whisk ready for the next step: Remove the saucepan from the heat, and quickly add the bicarbonate of soda. Give the mixture a quick stir to disperse the bicarbonate – it will foam up impressively. Quickly pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Resist the urge to spread it out as you’ll only pop the bubbles. It is self-leveling.

5                  Allow to cool – when nearly cool you can score it with a knife if you want to break it into regular shapes or simply break it into pieces when cold.  Store in an airtight container and use within 24 - 48 hours, particularly if the weather is humid.

Here's to the little guy who made it all possible!

While this honeycomb is rather good just as is, here are two more ways to enjoy it.

Melt 150 dark chocolate and give the cooled honeycomb a bath. Allow excess chocolate to drip off before letting the chocolately pieces set on non-stick parchment paper.

Take a tub of good vanilla ice cream out of the freezer and let it soften before stirring in a handful of finely chopped honeycomb and returning to the freezer to firm up.

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Strawberry & Ginger Jam – and Confessions of a Blog Trainer

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I would be useless as a dog trainer - I cannot even get my blog to behave! To show you what I mean, let’s eavesdrop on a typical scene from Alchemy in the Kitchen...

Me:                 Hey, blog. What are we going to cook today?

Alchemy:       [Excitedly] How about strawberry jam?

Me:                 No! I know the weather is weirdly wonderful for this time of the year but it ain’t strawberry season quite yet. We’re making stuffed baked onions today.

Alchemy:       Whinge. Sulk. Blank page.

Me:                 [softening a little] Alright then, how about a nice pancake cannelloni? (see, trying to bargain – a fatal mistake for a blog trainer to make!)

Alchemy:       Silence. Absence of fingers tapping over keys. Tumble weed.

Me:                 Strawberry jam, eh? [voice-over of me thinking to self: Maybe this blog has a point.  The last twelve months have been relatively jam-free because the jam-maker extraordinaire in my life, my mother, has had to cope with first a fire, then less than a year later, an even more damaging flood when the miniscule stream behind her house rose by a terrifying 12 feet in the space of a few hours in Dublin’s first ‘Monster Rain’. Jam has been the last thing on my mother’s mind. (Although with all the silt the flood left behind, it’s going to be a fantastic year for the fruit trees, Mam...   Mam?)

                        Ok, maybe you have a point, blog. Let’s pop down to the shops. If they have some decent berries, you can have your way. Just this once, mind!

The End

So, you can see it would be useless to send me your dog for training.

Anyway... while I absolutely love homemade jam, I don’t eat vast quantities of it and don’t have ideal storage for it. Therefore unless I am making it as gifts, I make only a little at a time.

For approximately 350g (1 small jar) of delicious strawberry and ginger jam you will need:

350g fresh strawberries, rinsed, dried and chopped into bite-sized pieces

200g caster sugar

30g fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 3 or 4 large slices

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Sugar and spice...

If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, put a saucer or small plate in the fridge before you start – you’ll need this to test that the jam has set.

You will also need a sterilised jam jar – To sterilise jars, I run mine through the dishwasher but you could wash them and pop them in the oven at 100°C for a few minutes.

1                    Place the strawberries and ginger in a glass bowl and add the sugar. Cover and leave overnight. The sugar will draw the juice out of the berries. The following day, transfer to a large saucepan (you need plenty of room for the jam to bubble). Heat gently until all the sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. When the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon juice, then turn up the heat. Pop the sugar thermometer into the pot. Allow to bubble until the temperature comes up to ‘Jam’ (106°C or 222°F).  Be sure to take a moment to enjoy the heavenly scent rising from the saucepan. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, simply keep the jam bubbling for 8 minutes, then test it the old-fashioned way by spooning a little onto the cold saucer you placed in the fridge. Leave it a moment or two to cool, then push your finger through the jam. If the surface wrinkles, the jam will set. If not, continue letting the jam bubble for a minute or so more, then test again.

2                    Remove the jam from the heat and fish out the pieces of ginger. Leave the jam to cool for about 15 minutes before transferring to the sterilised jar. This is because if you pour the jam into a jar while it is still very hot, all the fruit rises to the top of the jar. If you leave it to cool a little first, the fruit will distribute itself evenly.

I think this batch has Victoria Sponge written all over it. What say you?

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‘Irish’ Eggs – Green, White and Gold for Paddy’s Day !

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I have horrible memories of my one appearance in the Dublin Paddy’s Day parade. I washed my costume the night before and it hadn’t quite dried the following morning. It actually formed a layer of frost while we waited for the parade to begin, only thawing out as I high-kicked my way down O’Connell Street. I was aiming for ‘glamorous’ but as I was a pale shade of blue under my fake tan, I think I achieved ‘Smurf’. Brrrrrr.

Traditionally the booziest day in the year, the Dublin parade has evolved from concentrated one-day Oktoberfest, to a more civilised week-long festival with plenty of interesting things to do besides consume vast lakes of Guinness.

While I try to get to some of the events, the best place to catch the parade is at home, in front of the TV, with suitably-coloured food to snack on. There has to be green. There has to be white, there has to be gold.

In my family home, the traditional meal was always bacon and cabbage with mashed potato and turnip so there was the green, white and gold of our flag on the plate. Keeping the colours in mind, and keeping in mind that our national saint’s day has gone all sophisti-mi-cated (to be said in a Dub accent), here is a wee snack for the day, an Irish version of the ‘Scotch’ egg, wrapped in a parsley colcannon. Make sure to use a floury potato.

For 12 ‘Irish’ eggs (feeding 4 people as a canapé) you will need...

… a deep fat fryer

12 quails’ eggs

4-6 slices of proscuitto or other cured ham (optional), cut into strips

360g freshly cooked mashed potato, simply seasoned with salt and white pepper, and cooled (don’t add butter or milk when mashing – you want this mixture as dry as possible).

4 tablespoons very finely chopped fresh parsley

1 spring onion, very finely chopped

Coating

6 tablespoons plain flour

2 large eggs, beaten

100g dried breadcrumbs

Sunflower oil for deep frying

1          First, hard boil the eggs by placing them in a saucepan of cold water, bringing them to the boil and boiling for 90 seconds. Drain the saucepan carefully and fill with cold water to cool the eggs quickly (otherwise you end up with that nasty green ring around the yolk – not the look I’m going for). Peel the eggs and leave to one side while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2          Add the parsley and spring onion to the mashed potato and mix well.

3          Pat the quails’ eggs dry with kitchen paper and wrap with the strips of prosciutto.

4          Take a walnut-sized portion of the potato mixture in the palm of one hand and with the other, pat it into a round approximately ½ a centimetre thick. Place one of the quails’ eggs in the centre of the mixture and carefully enclose it in the potato, adding a little more potato if necessary to seal it in. (Be careful not to trap air, which would expand when frying and cause the package to burst.) Roll gently between the palms of your hands to form a smooth egg shape. Place on a tray and continue until you have enclosed all the eggs similarly. Refrigerate until ready to cook.

5          When you are ready to eat, set up a dipping station: Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Place the beaten egg in another shallow bowl beside it. Place the breadcrumbs in yet another bowl.

6          Carefully dip the prepared eggs in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Follow with a second bath of egg and a second coating of breadcrumbs, patting gently to ensure a good stick. When you have coated all the eggs, heat your deep fat fryer to 180°C.

7          When the oil is at the correct temperature, place the prepared eggs in the basket – don’t overcrowd them or you’ll lower the temperature and the end result will be oily and horrible - and carefully lower into the hot fat. Cook for 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately – unlike their ‘Scotch’ cousins, they don’t hang about.

Green, white, gold (and delicious)

Are these finicky? Yes.  Are they worth it? I think so. Happy St Patrick’s Day.

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Brioche Pudding with Sour Cherries and White Chocolate – a crowd pleaser!

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Bread-and-Butter Pudding is one of the great mysteries of the universe. How is it that such a simple collection of ingredients - stale bread, a few eggs, a little sugar and some dairy - can make such a crowd-pleasing dessert?

I have some friends coming for dinner so I have upped the ingredients a notch to raise this dessert from ‘family favourite’ to ‘elegant afters’... Hey, who am I kidding? This dessert will never be elegant but it tastes really, really good. It is light and luscious, with a crunchy sugary almond top. What more could you ask for from a dessert!

For 6 servings you will need...

... to pre-heat the oven to 170°C at step 3

25g butter, at room temperature, to butter 6 ramekins or individual pie dishes

350g brioche, cut into slices about 1cm thick, then cut into triangles

120g good quality white chocolate, roughly chopped

60g dried sour cherries (dried cranberries can be substituted)

375mls fresh milk

180mls fresh cream

75g runny honey

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

60g almonds, roughly chopped

Icing sugar for dusting

Whipped cream or ice cream to serve 

1                 Butter six ramekins or individual pie dishes. Arrange a layer of brioche triangles in the base of each. Scatter the sour cherries and the chopped white chocolate over this layer. Cover with another layer of brioche.

2                 Pour the cream and milk into a jug then add the honey. (The easiest way to weigh the honey is to put the jug on weighing scales and add the honey directly into the jug). Add the beaten eggs and lemon zest and stir until all the ingredients are well combined. Divide this raw custard between the dishes and scatter the chopped almonds over the top. Cover loosely with cling film and leave in the fridge for several hours or overnight for the brioche to absorb the mixture and for the lemony vanilla flavours to meld.

3                 When you are ready to cook the brioche pudding, pre-heat the oven to 170°C and boil a kettle of water. Meanwhile, dust the puddings with a generous layer of icing sugar. When the water has boiled, place the puddings in a roasting tin then transfer the tin to the oven. Carefully add enough boiling water to come about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. This helps distribute the heat evenly and avoids the eggs overcooking.

4                 Bake the puddings for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with whipped cream or good vanilla ice cream. (While at their best straight out of the oven, these have been known to make an excellent breakfast.) 

Variations: This dessert is also really good with French bread, or croissants. Vary the flavours by adding different dried fruits and flavouring the egg mixture with spices (I love dried apricot and cardamom; or candied orange peel and fresh ginger).

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Boquerones Fritos – a taste of happily ever after !

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Every time I taste boquerones fritos it takes me back to a magical week spent with some writer friends in a remote Spanish village near Grenada about ten years ago. It was the sort of place where you could expect to be woken at dawn by the sound of cowbells and donkey carts rattling through streets too steep and narrow for cars.

Here I was first introduced to the notion of tapas: you order a drink and a little plate of something wonderful arrives with it. How civilised! In one cervecería, the patrón produced plates of fat green olives, black morcilla, rosy petals of jamón, and lots more, placing them on the zinc counter with generosity and regularity, there for everyone to share.

Hmmmm... potential

There was nearly an international incident however, when one of the girls mistakenly thought one of the locals was hogging a plate of fried anchovies. The aroma was sensational. I guess she couldn’t help herself. They were just too tempting. She reached over his shoulder (gasp!) and helped herself to a handful of golden fish... which just happened to be the man’s lunch. To this day, the incident is still a topic for discussion in the village. Once the unfortunate man had gotten over the shock and the fish thief had gotten over her mortification and apologised, they got chatting. She stole his fish; he stole her heart; it was a fair swap and they lived happily ever after. The End.

So, anyway, back to the fish...

Two or three boquerones fritos with a squeeze of lemon are the perfect accompaniment to a cold beer on a sunny evening. Any more than that, and for me, they begin to taste a little one dimensional. To keep the taste buds tantalised, make each mouthful a surprise. Here’s how.

Keep the taste buds tantalised by making each mouthful different

To serve 4 – 6 people as a canapé you will need...

Approximately 36 fresh anchovies (or about 300g), heads and insides removed

Filling 1

1 small clove of garlic, crushed and mixed with 1 teaspoon very finely chopped fresh parsley

Filling 2

1 – 2 slices of Serrano ham or prosciutto cut into narrow strips – about ½ cm wide

Filling 3

1 red chilli, very finely chopped

Coating

6 tablespoons plain flour

a pinch of fine table salt

2 large eggs, beaten

100g dried breadcrumbs

Olive oil for cooking

A little sea salt (Maldon) for sprinkling

Wedges of lemon to serve

Flour, egg, breadcrumbs... simple ingredients, magical food

1.                 Divide the anchovies into 3 equal portions. Fill the first portion with the garlic and parsley mixture, gently pressing the fish closed over the filling. Fill the second portion with ribbons of Serrano ham or prosciutto. Fill the third portion with the finely chopped chilli. Make sure to press each fish gently to close it over the filling. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavours to penetrate the flesh.

2.                 When you are ready to cook the fish, set up a ‘dipping station’: place the flour in a shallow bowl and add a pinch of salt; place the beaten egg in another shallow bowl beside it; place the breadcrumbs in yet another bowl (yes, there’s lots of washing up but it’s worth it). Dip the prepared anchovies into the flour, then into the egg, then finally into the breadcrumbs. (Tip: use one hand for this dipping process, as doubtless as soon as you are covered in eggy breadcrumbs, the phone/doorbell will ring.) Place the dipped anchovies on a plate ready to be fried.

3.                 Pour olive oil into a large frying pan to a depth of ½ cm and place over a medium heat. When the oil is good and hot, but not smoking, add the anchovies. They should sizzle when they hit the oil. You want a crisp coating so don’t overcrowd the pan. As soon as one side is golden brown, turn them to cook the other side. This takes about 90 seconds in total. When they are golden, lift them out of the oil with a slotted spoon and serve immediately as these do not live happily ever after, but go from sublime to so-so in about one minute flat. Serve with wedges of lemon and, if you have some homemade mayonnaise, so much the better.

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