Tag: home cooking

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Darina Allen’s Sea Spinach Soup

 

darina allen sea spinach soup

Sea Spinach Soup

Sea spinach is at its sweetest and most delicious at present…. I absolutely love it and really want you to know about it so if you live near a rocky strand, look out for it – the shiny green leaves are unmistakable. It is, in fact, the ancestor to most cultivated varieties of beet, from beetroot to spinach beet. It can be cooked exactly like garden spinach and used in the same way, for example, try serving it in Middle Eastern style with raisins and pine kernels and a touch of cinnamon. Not surprisingly, because sea spinach is washed by the tides, it is full of iodine, minerals and other trace elements and it has an addictive salty tang. Sea spinach is tougher and slightly stronger in flavour than garden spinach, so it takes a little longer to cook.

The trick with these green soups is not to add the greens until the last minute, otherwise they will overcook and the soup will lose its fresh taste and bright green colour.

50g (2oz/1/2 stick) butter

110g (4oz/1 cup) onion, chopped

150g (5oz/1 cup) potatoes, chopped

600ml (1 pint/2 1/2 cups) homemade chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

425-600ml (3/4-1 pint/2 – 2 1/2 cups) creamy milk (1/4 cream and 3/4 milk)

salt and freshly ground pepper

225-350g (8-12oz/3 cups) sea spinach, destalked and chopped

Freshly ground nutmeg

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Garnish

2 tablespoons (2 American tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) whipped cream (optional

Freshly chopped parsley

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When it foams add the onions and potatoes and turn them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the boiling stock and milk, bring back to the boil and simmer until the potatoes and onions are fully cooked. Add the sea spinach and boil with the lid off for about 3-5 minutes, until the sea spinach is tender. Do not overcook or the soup will lose its fresh green colour.

Liquidise and taste and add some freshly grated nutmeg.  Serve in warm bowls garnished with a blob of whipped cream and some chopped parsley

Ballymaloe Cookery
@BallymaloeCS

 

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Odlums Salted Caramel & Chocolate Mousse recipe

Salted Caramel & Chocolate Mousse

CategoryChristmas

Chill Time60 mins

What you need:

For the salted caramel sauce

  • 125g/4oz Granulated Sugar
  • 2 tbsp Water
  • 2 tbsp Golden Syrup
  • 50g/2oz Butter
  • 170ml carton Double Cream
  • ½ tsp sea salt

For the mousse

  • 350g Dark Chocolate, chopped into small pieces
  • 50g/2oz Butter
  • ½ tsp Goodall’s Vanilla Extract
  • 8 Eggs, separated
  • 1 tbsp Shamrock Golden Caster Sugar

To serve

  • Double Cream, whipped
  • Chocolate, grated

How to:

  1. For the salted caramel sauce, place the sugar, two tablespoons water and golden syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. When the sugar has turned a rich amber colour, remove from the heat and stir in the butter, cream and salt. Pour into a bowl, cover the surface with cling film and cool completely.
  2. For the mousse, melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water – ensuring that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Set aside to cool a little. Then whisk the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture and add the vanilla.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to a light foam then add the caster sugar and whisk again until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Stir a third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites until well incorporated
  4. Pour a tablespoon of salted caramel sauce into the bottom of each serving glass. Top with one-third of the mousse mixture. Drizzle over enough sauce to cover the mousse. Repeat this layering with mousse and caramel, finishing with a final layer of mousse.
  5. Refrigerate for an hour before serving. If chilled for longer, remove 30 minutes before serving. Finish with a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Salted Caramel & Chocolate Mousse