Category: recipes

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A Pancake Extravaganza by Rachel Allen

rachel pancakes

Tuesday is pancake time. In all their shapes and forms, they are a real favourite in our household. It isn’t just our children who get excited – I adore pancakes and love an excuse to make a real feast of them. There’s something so pleasingly simple, so supremely comforting about a perfectly browned pancake, unchallenging and uncomplicated, but always delicious.
We’ll make all different sorts of pancakes on different years, and often on the same day. I love thin pancakes – they’re called crepes in France, where they’re usually made with some buckwheat flour. I like to eat them rolled up with lemon and sugar, or the perennial favourite, Nutella! We like to make thin pancakes as a savoury treat too, omitting the sugar and making a creamy mushroom filling with bacon and perhaps some Gruyere cheese.
If you’d like to make your pancakes a little more elaborate than just a squeeze of lemon and sugar, you can try this divine orange butter recipe, opposite, that we often make at the cookery school.
At other times, we like to make big, fluffy American pancakes, served with rashers and plenty of maple syrup. I’ve written recipes for blueberry and lemon pancakes in these pages before, as well as in a number of my cookbooks.
The Italian recipe here is a totally different take on pancakes that I’ve made on Pancake Tuesday in previous years. It was inspired by a conversation I had with the great Italian chef, Aldo Zilli. He told me a wonderful story about his mother using light pancakes as an alternative to pasta in certain dishes, and I’ve discovered that they work wonderfully with rich tomato sauces. The Italian baked pancakes with tomato sauce recipe, opposite, uses the pancakes in place of lasagne sheets, which adds a fluffiness to the dish. It’s a perfect family dish and would make a great centrepiece to a Shrove Tuesday dinner table.
Tip
Adding melted butter to the pancake batter will make a real difference to the pancakes’ flavour and texture. It also makes it possible to cook them without having to grease the pan every time.

Pancake Recipes:

 

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Rachel Allen’s Baked Mushroom Risotto #Ballymaloe

rach mush ris mar 16

Serves 2-4.

You will need:

50g (2oz) dried porcini mushrooms

400ml (14fl oz) boiling water

800ml (1pt 9fl oz) good-quality chicken or vegetable stock

50g (2oz) butter

1 onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

400g (14oz) risotto rice, such as carnaroli or arborio

200ml (7fl oz) white wine

8 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving

100g (3oz) butter, soft, cut into cubes

4 tablespoons marjoram or parsley, chopped

Good squeeze of lemon juice

2-3 tablespoons mascarpone (optional)

 Directions

In a heatproof bowl, combine the dried porcini mushrooms and boiling water. Soak for 20 minutes or until soft.

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 3. Place the chicken or vegetable stock, whichever you are using, in a saucepan over a medium-low heat and bring to just under a simmer.

Add the butter to a large saucepan or casserole dish with a lid, and place on a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and the chopped garlic and cook for 6-8 minutes until soft.

As the onion is cooking, drain the porcinis but reserve the soaking liquid. Roughly chop the porcinis and set aside, then strain the soaking liquid and add to the simmering stock. Season this liquid with salt and pepper.

Add the chopped porcinis to the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 1-2 minutes. Next, stir in the risotto rice and cook for two minutes, stirring gently. Add in the white wine, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes until it has evaporated. Pour in the simmering stock, stir to combine, place a lid on top and put it into the oven. Cook for 10-12 minutes until just al dente.

Remove the risotto from the oven, add the grated Parmesan and cubes of butter, then use a wooden spoon to beat everything together. Stir in the marjoram or parsley, whichever you are using, lemon juice and mascarpone, if using.

Serve immediately with grated Parmesan on top.

http://www.rachelallen.com/post/baked-mushroom-risotto

 

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Rory O’Connell’s Summer spinach with garlic, chilli and lemon with thanks to Rachel Allen

 rachel summer spinach 5616

Serves 4-6.

You will need:

1kg (2lb 3oz) spinach leaves, stalks removed

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and very thinly sliced

1 dried chilli, crushed into small pieces, or a pinch of chilli flakes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Directions

Wash the destalked spinach in several changes of cold water, then allow it to drain in order to remove as much of the water as possible.

Place a wide, low-sided, heavy saucepan or frying pan on the heat and add the olive oil. Immediately add the peeled thinly sliced garlic, and cook gently until the olive oil gets hot and the garlic colours slightly. Add the crushed dried chilli or the chilli flakes, whichever you are using, and cook for a few seconds – the garlic should now be golden.

Increase the heat and add the drained spinach, being careful because it will hiss and spit a bit. Cook the spinach, turning it constantly, then season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the lemon juice and zest, and stir them in. Pull the pan off the heat and taste. Correct the seasoning and serve the spinach immediately in a hot dish. The spinach can also be removed from the pan when it is cooked, spread out flat to cool, and served later at room temperature.

Garlic Recipes:

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.@Anahaugh stuffed roast chicken breast & mushrooms @SaturdayKitchen

Anna Haugh’s meat feast medley combines sausagemeat stuffing, pancetta and chicken breast, all in one neat parcel.

Ingredients

For the potatoes

For the stuffed chicken

For the mushroom sauce

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5.
  2. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes until par-boiled, not fully cooked through. Remove and allow to cool whilst you prepare the rest of the dish.
  3. Combine the sausagemeat, hazelnuts and parsley in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
  4. Divide the sausagemeat filling between the pockets in each chicken breast. Season the chicken with a pinch of salt and roll each chicken breast in 3 slices of pancetta. Place the chicken breasts on a baking tray and bake for 10–15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breast. When the chicken is cooked through, remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes.
  5. Grate the par-boiled potatoes on a box grater. Meanwhile, put a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, then the grated potato, garlic powder, onion powder and a pinch of salt and fry until golden.
  6. In a separate pan, melt the butter and add the garlic and sage leaves. Fry until the leaves are wilted, then add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Cook for 1–2 minutes until golden.
  7. Add the chicken stock and reduce to a sauce consistency. You can add an extra knob of butter to finish the sauce, if you like.
  8. To serve, place the fried potato on a serving plate. Carve the chicken and arrange on top, finishing with the mushroom sauce.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stuffed_and_roast_77417

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Mary Flahavan- how to make the perfect bowl of porridge…

· 2 hrs

 

 

We are sharing Mary Flahavan’s definitive guide to making the perfect bowl of porridge, as it’s been handed down through the Flahavan’s family for seven generations.#PerfectPorridge #FlahavansPorridge #NationalPorridgeWeek

The Perfect Porridge Recipe…

(Porridge on the hob with 3 topping variations)

Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients:
120g Flahavan’s Oats
875mls of whole milk

Method:
Makes 3 x 40g servings on the hob.
Stir oats into milk.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes stirring continuously.
Pour porridge into serving dish.

Serving suggestion 1
Top with greek yoghurt, mixed berries, coconut flakes, chia seeds
Serving suggestion 2
Top with peanut butter, grated dark chocolate and a chopped banana
Serving suggestion 3
Top diced apple, dried cranberries, honey and cinnamon

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Potato and Mushroom Omelette

Serves 4

Cooking time:

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized Rooster potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (apprximately 300g)
  • 1tbsp olive oil
  • 10g butter
  • 100g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
  • 5 medium eggs
  • 20ml milk
  • A dash of cream
  • 2tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • Salt and milled pepper

To Cook

Place the sliced potatoes into a pan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, drain and leave until needed.

In a large frying pan add the olive oil and butter and cook the sliced mushrooms until soft, approximately 5 minutes. While the mushrooms are cooking preheat your grill to medium.

In a bowl lightly whisk the eggs, cream, parsley and a little seasoning.

Pop the potatoes into the pan with the mushrooms, arrange so the pan is evenly covered. Pour in the egg mixture and cook over a very low heat until the egg is setting around the edge, pop under the grill and continue to cook until set.

Serving Suggestions

Serve with fresh crisp salad.

 http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/recipes/vegetarianrecipes/pages/potatoandmushroomomelette.aspx

For more delicious and healthy potato recipes visit www.potato.ie/recipes/