You don’t need to count
#calories, ever, but you do need an awareness!#alcohol
Traditional Irish Brown Soda Bread (1st post Jan 2015)
This is a delicious, easy and very healthy bread.
Ingredients
- 250g wholemeal flour
- 200g plain white flour
- 1 teasp. bread soda, sieved
- 1 teasp. salt
- 1 egg
- 350ml buttermilk, approx.
- 1 teasp. Honey
Optional Topping:
- 1 tablesp. sesame seeds or pinhead porridge oats
To Cook
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6, 200°C (400°F).
Mix the flour, bread soda and salt together in a bowl. Combine the egg with the buttermilk and honey then mix into the flour. Add a little more buttermilk if the mixture is dry – it should be a soft dough. Then pour the lot into a lightly oiled loaf tin. Sprinkle the sesame seeds or porridge oats over the top of the loaf if using.
Bake for 45-50 minutes. To know when it is cooked simply tap the bottom of the loaf – it will sound hollow when it is fully cooked. Remove from the tin and wrap in a clean tea towel while cooling. This will keep the crust soft.
Apricot and Almond Cake with Oranges & Caramel
Ingredients
- 225g butter
- 225g sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 75g ground almonds
- 100g plain flour
- 100g dried apricots, chopped in the food processor
- 3 Quality Assured large eggs, beaten
Oranges in caramel
- 4 large oranges, peeled and sliced
- 4 tablesp. sugar
- 125ml water
To Cook
Set oven 180°C (350°F) Gas Mark 4.
Line a shallow 23cm cake tin with baking parchment.
Beat the butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy, add the lemon juice and ground almonds. Fold in the flour, apricots and eggs. Transfer the mixture to the lined cake tin, smooth the top and bake for approx. 35 mins., until firm to the touch.
Oranges in Caramel
Place the oranges in a flat dish, heat the sugar in a heavy pan, allow the sugar to brown add the water and boil until you have a caramel sauce. Pour it over the oranges. Serve with the cake.
10 Health Benefits of Carrots
#HealthTips 10 Health Benefits of Carrots
Molly Malone’s cockle and mussel chowder @rachelallen1
Molly Malone was a beautiful girl who sold cockles and mussels and died tragically of a fever while still young, or so the song goes. Molly may not have been a real girl, but since at least the 17th century, there have been fishmongers on the streets of Dublin who sell ‘Cockles and Mussels, alive, alive, oh!’
Cockles, with their distinctive flavour and lovely curved shell, are traditionally eaten in Ireland with Oatcakes. If you can only find mussels, this chowder will be just as good.
Serve either as a substantial starter or with chunks of crusty bread as a meal in its own right.
Heat the sunflower oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and sauté for about 1 minute, until crisp and golden. Add the butter to the pan and melt. Then add the leek, carrot and potato. Reduce the heat to low and sauté gently for 4–5 minutes, until soft but not browned.
Meanwhile, prepare the cockles and mussels. Scrub the shells clean and discard any that remain open when you tap them against a hard surface. Remove the beard – the little fibrous tuft – from each mussel. Bring the wine to a boil in a large saucepan and add the cockles and mussels. Cover with a tight-fi tting lid and cook for 3–4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the shells have opened.
Remove from the heat, drain the shellfi sh in a colander, reserving the cooking juices, and discard any shells that remain closed. Return the shellfi sh to the empty pan to keep warm. Place a fine sieve over a measuring jug and strain the cooking liquid. You should have at least 600ml (1 pint); if not, add water to make up that quantity.
Add the pan juices and the milk to the bacon and vegetable mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 6–8 minutes, until the potato is tender. Add the cream and simmer for another 2–3 minutes, until the soup is reduced and thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, remove half of the cockles and mussels from their shells and add them with the remaining cockles and mussels still in their shells to the chowder. Stir in the parsley and serve at once.
http://www.rachelallen.com/post/molly-malones-cockle-and-mussel-chowder
Amelda’s Perfect Sausage Rolls recipe. @macneanhouse Co.Cavan
Chocolate Iced Mille-Feuilles from Neven Maguires Irish Food Trails
This dessert looks so impressive that it’s hard to believe that you’ve actually made it yourself with such little effort. It can be made up to 1 month in advance, leaving nothing for you to do on the day.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 x 100g (4oz) bar of plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
- 150g (5oz) white chocolate, broken into pieces
- 225ml (8fl oz) cream
- 1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
- 1 large egg white
- 2 tsp icing sugar
- good-quality cocoa powder, to dust
- fresh raspberries, to serve
To Cook
Use a little water to dampen a 450g (1lb) loaf tin (the more square shaped, the better), then line with a double layer of cling film. Line 2 large baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.
Melt the plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Spoon half the melted chocolate onto each sheet of baking paper and spread it out to the edges in a thin layer. Put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set.
Melt the white chocolate and 5 tablespoons of the cream in a separate heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Once melted, give it a good stir and set aside to cool.
Whip the rest of the cream in a large bowl with the vanilla seeds until the cream is just holding its shape, then fold in the cooled melted white chocolate.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white and icing sugar until stiff peaks have formed, then fold into the white chocolate mixture.
Carefully peel the plain chocolate from the baking paper and break it up into pieces.
Place a couple spoonfuls of the whipped cream mixture into the prepared loaf tin and cover with a layer of the plain chocolate pieces. Repeat the layers until the loaf tin is filled up, finishing with a layer of whipped cream. Cover the top with cling film and freeze overnight (or up to 1 month). Any remaining pieces of plain chocolate can be put into a freezer-proof container and frozen separately to use for decoration.
About 1 hour before serving, transfer the loaf tin and reserved chocolate decoration to the fridge.
Serving Suggestions
To serve, carefully turn out onto a serving plate and peel away the cling film. Break up the reserved plain chocolate into small jagged pieces and use to decorate the top. Add a light dusting of cocoa powder and put straight on the table. Cut into slices and arrange on plates with some raspberries
Chocolate Roulade with Strawberries and Avonmore Cream
It’s one of our favourite days of the year! World Baking Day! Why not Add a Splash of Magic to the day and bake this Chocolate Roulade with Strawberries and Avonmore Cream http://bit.ly/1RAJ2zs
Colcannon Cakes with Poached Eggs and Hollandaise Sauce
This dish would also be delicious served with a slice of baked ham or bacon if you have any leftover. Alternatively, chop up the ham or bacon and add to the colcannon mixture before shaping into patties.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 450g potatoes, peeled
- 40g butter
- 3 scallions, finely chopped
- A little salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 50g Savoy cabbage, shredded
- A little plain flour, for dusting
- Olive oil, for frying
- 1 tablesp. white wine vinegar
- 4 large eggs
For the Hollandaise Sauce
- 2 teasp. white wine or tarragon vinegar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 100g unsalted butter
To Cook
Cook the potatoes in a covered pan of boiling salted water for 15-20 minutes until tender.
Meanwhile, heat a knob of the butter and one tablespoon of water in a heavy-based pan with a lid, over a high heat. When the butter has melted and formed an emulsion, add the scallions and cabbage with a pinch of salt. Cover, shake vigorously and cook over a high heat for 1 minute. Shake the pan again and cook for another minute, then season with pepper.
Drain the potatoes and mash until smooth, then beat in the remaining butter. Fold in the cabbage mixture. Shape the mixture into four balls, dust with flour and press into neat patties.
Heat a thin film of olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan and add the patties, then cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.
To make the poached eggs, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the vinegar and season with salt and keep at a very gentle simmer. Break the eggs into the water and simmer for 3-4 minutes until just cooked but still soft on the inside. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on kitchen paper, trimming away any ragged edges.
To make the hollandaise sauce, place the vinegar and egg yolks in a food processor with a pinch of salt. Blend until just combined.
Gently heat the butter in a heavy-based pan until melted and just beginning to foam. Turn on the food processor and with the motor running at medium speed; pour in the melted butter in a thin, steady stream through the feeder tube. Continue to blitz for another 5 seconds and pour back into the pan but do not return to the heat. Allow the heat from the pan to finish thickening the sauce as you stir it gently for another minute before serving. Season to taste with salt.
Serving Suggestions
To serve, place a colcannon cake on each warmed plate and place a poached egg on top of each one. Spoon over the hollandaise sauce and add a grinding of black pepper.
Nutritional Analysis per Serving
Protein: 13g
Carbohydrates: 23g
Fat: 46g
Iron: 2.5mg
Energy: 555kcal
Blueberry & Pecan muffins fresh from the oven…Murrays -Salthill by the Sea
Blueberry & Pecan muffins fresh from the oven…Vegan friendly and baked in fully compostable cases 
🌱
Foodaware 