Still obsessed with rhubarb. It’s in peak season now—tart, sturdy, and showing up in everything. We made a classic rhubarb tart today, no frills, just letting the fruit do its thing & omg it was delish!!
Also practiced French omelettes (the kind where one second too long ruins everything) and made a fresh chicken stock that’s going to carry half the meals this week.
Oatmeal bars (or just oats in general) are great for boosting your energy and giving you a much-needed top up of fibre, known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. And apart from being full of health-benefits, added with flavours of cinnamon and vanilla, these oatmeal bars make a tasty snack to eat on the go anywhere.
Ingredients:
2 sticks (226g) unsalted room temp butter
2 x 2/3 cups of white sugar
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grounded cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 tsp baking powder
1 big jar black cherry preserve
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC.
Grease a baking pan (I used a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 in) with butter and leave to the side.
Cream the butter and sugar together really well.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan.
Spread the preserves over it in an even layer.
Crumble the remaining mixture, with your hands, over the raspberry preserves.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
Cool completely before cutting.
If you can’t get hold of any Black Cherry preserve then it’s just as easy to make your own – if not easier as you don’t need to leave the house! All you need is pitted black cherries, sugar and lemon. Glaze the cherries with sugar and leave for a couple of hours then simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.
No Friday would be complete without a seriously delicious pizza. Check out how easy these gorgeous pizzas are to re-create at home (using our very own Progress Oatlets), and you’ll be making your own Italian fakeaways every Friday night. Ciao! #FlahavansOats
Serves 2 pizza bases|Takes 15 mins
Ingredients: For the Pizza Bases: 85g Progress Oats 1 large egg white ½ tsp salt Optional – 1tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1tbsp grated parmesan or 1tsp nutritional yeast For the tomato topping: 400g tin chopped tomatoes 2 tbsp tomato purée 1 tsp dried mixed herbs 1 tsp honey 1 tsp sea salt flakes Couple of grinds of black pepper
Method: For the Pizza Bases: Pre-heat the oven 200C Combine the oats, egg white, salt and season in a high-speed blender and blitz for 2 minutes until completely blended. Heat a small heavy based frying pan over a medium heat. Add one tsp of vegetable oil. Spread half the oat mixture over the pan and cook for 2 minutes until the mixture firms up. Move the oat base onto a lined baking sheet and spread over the toppings and bake for 5 minutes until the pizza is cooked through
For the tomato topping:
Drain the tinned tomatoes through a sieve over a bowl, pressing with the back of a ladle until about most of the juice has drained. Tip the sieved tomatoes into a bowl and stir in the tomato purée, herbs, sugar and plenty of salt and pepper. Pour the tomato mix into a high-speed blender and blitz for 1 minute.
Natural Greek Strained Cows Milk Yogurt 10% Fat with Live Cultures
Nutritional Claims Source of Protein Source of Calcium
Features 10% Fat An unsweetened Strained Yogurt Source of Protein Source of Calcium Free From Artificial Colours Flavours and Preservatives Suitable for Vegetarians
Lifestyle Suitable for Vegetarians
Pack Size 450g ℮
Usage Other Text Number of Servings Per Pack: 3 Approx.
I normally use frozen berries straight out of the freezer so that you don’t have to use any ice cubes, but it can be hard on the blades of your liquidiser. However, in light of recent health scares, you might want to follow the FSAI’s advice to boil imported frozen berries for 1 minute, or even better, freeze fresh berries when there is a glut of them in the summer or buy Irish berries. Smoothies can be made up to 2 hours in advance and kept in the fridge, then just given a good stir before serving them.
MAKES ABOUT 1.2 LITRES (2 PINTS)
500g (1lb 2 oz) fResh or frozen berries, such as a mixture of strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants and tayberries
2 bananas, peeled
125g (4½oz) natural yogurt
500ml (18fl oz) raspberry and cranberry juice
handful of ice cubes (optional)
1 Place the berries and bananas in a liquidiser with the yogurt and juice. Process for 1 minute, until smooth. Alternatively, you can put everything into a large measuring jug and blitz with a hand-held blender, moving it up and down until smooth.
2 Half-fill tall glasses with ice cubes, if using, and pour in the red berry smoothie to serve.
MACNEAN SPECIAL PORRIDGE WITH HONEY AND CREAM
This is one of our signature breakfast dishes. It’s amazing how many people going to bed at night tell me that they can’t wait to taste the porridge! On cold winter mornings, it gets you off to a good start and takes no more than 10 minutes to prepare.
Serves 4
100g (4oz) porridge oats (organic if possible)
300ml (1/2 pint) milk (plus a little extra if necessary)
4 tbsp clear honey
4 tbsp Irish Mist
150ml (1/4 pint) cream
Place the porridge oats, milk and 150ml (1/4 pint) water in a heavy-based pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 8–10 minutes, until the mixture has slightly thickened, stirring all the time. It’s important that the porridge has a nice soft dropping consistency, so add a little more milk if you think it needs it.
To serve, spoon the porridge into warmed bowls. Drizzle each one with some honey and Irish Mist and serve with plenty of cream poured on top.
COOK AHEAD
One of the last things we do at night in the restaurant is steep the porridge oats in the milk and water in the fridge, as leaving them overnight makes them lovely and soft so that they cook much quicker. They can also be made the night before and reheated gently in a pan on the hob.
Foodaware 