Theeee best chocolate biscuit cake

by Cake in the country

Ok I know its been ages, and I’ve been having photo upload problems lately, but in the meantime I am going to give you a lovely simple recipe that everybody will request. I picked this up working in a restaurant and it was always a hit. I kinda jazzed it up with a few choice additions like rolos though. (Rather proud of that one actually)

What you need

  • 3 x 100g bars of dark chocolate. (In the restaurant they used wonderbar cooking chocolate, I use a mix of milk and 50-70% depending on mood)
  • 1 tin of condensed milk
  • 18 digestive or rich tea biscuits, broken into medium sized pieces
  • Optional: 2 packs of rolos, maltesers or muchies
  • Optional: about 10 large marshmallows
  • Decoration: White chocolate
  1. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt over a double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water
  2. When the chocolate is melted, pour into a mold or plain old bowl. You may want to pop a layer of clingfilm in first and smooth it out, which makes it easier to unmold. I, however, forget to do this every single time and so will mention the other way to unmold later.
  3. Add the biscuits, marshmallows, maltesers and rolos and stir to distribute evenly
  4. Here you need to move fast. Add the condensed milk to the mixture and stir quickly to mix completely. It will set very quickly so be on the ball people!
  5. Smush down so that the top is flat as this will be the base when you unmold.
  6. Pop in the fridge to set fully. At least 1 or 2 hours should do it.
  7. If you forgot to line the bowl you will then want to steam the bottom of the bowl for a minute or give it a blast with a hairdryer.
  8. Turn upside down and unmold, cut up into generous slices and be happy in the knowledge that you look like a culinary expert after minimal effort, boo ya!

Enjooooy!

Have you got the chef factor, eh?

by Cake in the country

So as usual I’m horribly busy trying to get College and big bad evil monies organised (bane of my existence, I suggest regressing to barter. I make a mean damson muffin).

So, in this era where every Saturday evening my sister’s social life revolves around the X Factor, I wanted to just let ye all know about a bigger and better competition that’s going on that you all should enter.

Aheh-hem.

The rather lovely peoples Cully & Sully are organising the event of the year. It’s big. It’s bold. It’s new! And it’s open to everybody! IT. IS…

….. Drumroll please….

Chef Factor! (I resisted the urge to make this bright and flashy)

Here’s the thing- it’s not about being a class one michelin star chef (ahem, I’ll take 3 please). You can make your special partaaay dish, you can go a bit wild, you can make your ‘go-to’ dinner. But all you have to do is make something you enjoy, take a picture with the words Cully and Sully in it somewhere, fill out a wee form, and boom, you are entered.

And the best part:

The prize:

Holy Moly I would looooove to win this prize (but I can’t give up a placement to partake of it, tho I was sorely tempted!)

Ok. Take a deep breath.

A place on a 12 week Ballymaloe Cookery Course worth €12,000 plus accommodation, knives and everything you’ll need to be Ireland’s next great culinary success.

Can you even imagine? Can you? Sigh, daydream, happy!

So if you have a hankering to be Irelands next big chef, the new Jamie or Nigella- take a photo, enter yourself into it. And remember, it need not be a caviar souffle type of dish, just something you love to make and enjoy. And leave me a comment with the link to your entry, I’m dying to see what y’all enter! No pressure, but you better win…

So off you go now and take a piccywicture, and I’m going to learn about taking a psychiatric history. Slightly on the overwhelmed side with this year and all its MCQs and continuous assessment and shtuff. Ooooh, totally doing a stationary post later because Mary brought me home pens and highlighters and they are amazingly cool (I have warned you, I am the biggest stationary nerd).

Later alligator!

A Jam pickle of a situation.

by Cake in the country

I have spent quite a few hours of the last few days wandering around my garden and the fields, as one would expect. In doing so I have managed to collect a whopping amount of damsons, blackberries, and a large quantity of smallish (so far) cooking apples.

Damsons damsons everywhere  🙂

So yesterday I had a bit of a baking day.And I am going to share with you the recipes for the treats I made!

First up: Damson Jam. I quite like this jam, it has a nice tartness to it which I think compliments afternoon tea- scones, clotted cream and jam- really nicely. I highly recommend it.

If you get some nice jars this jam makes quite a nice gift for someone. Top the jam with some checked wax paper and string for a traditional spin on a thoughtful home-made gift!

You will need

  • 2.5lb damsons (I had 7lb but only had 2.5 lb of sugar at 9pm last night!)
  • 2.5lb sugar (I used jam sugar as my fruit was not all very ripe. You may not need it. Jam sugar contains pectin, which helps the jam set)
  • about 100mls or so of water
  • 3 tbsp of lemon juice
  • 2-3 Jam jars, well washed and dried. We will sterilise these before the jam goes in.
  1. Preheat oven to about 120*C. We will put the jars in here to sterilise them.
  2. Wash your fruit well and pick off any stems. Cos mine were like this 1st.
  4. Pop your fruit, water and lemon juice in a heavy saucepan (if you have one for jam all the better) and set over highish heat until it all begins to stew and boil.
  6. The skins will start to come off, the fruit will start to disintegrate. Stir it around and squish up the fruit as it stews.
  7. Getting to a great colour here.
  8. As stones come out of the fruit, you can pick them off with a spoon, preserving as much of the liquid as you can. This is tedious work, but has to be done!
  9. When most of your stones seem to have been picked out, and the fruit is all pretty uniform and gloopy, you may add your sugar.
  10. Stir until dissolved. Taste and make sure you don’t need any more- again, this depends on the fruit and how ripe it is. The riper fruit will not need any extra.
  11. Pop a sugar thermometer (my saviour) into the pan.
  12. I want a room this colour. It is brilliant.
  13. Pop your jars and lids (separately) into the oven after about 5 minutes. You want to keep them in there for about 5 minutes to sterilise them and reduce the chances of your jam going bad early.
  14. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes, keeping an eye on the temperature. You want it to get to 220*F – or to where your thermometer says Jam (again, thermometer love)
  15. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test your jam by dropping a spoonful on a chilled plate, leaving it for a few seconds, and pushing it with your finger. If it wrinkles up, it’s ready to go!
  16. Be sure to keep an eye out for missed stones and skim them off as they float to the surface.
  17. Remove jars from oven.
  18. Skim the jam. Remove all this shtuff:
  19. Carefully pour the jam into the jars. It’s useful to trickle it down the side to avoid big splashes of hot jam, and it also prevents air pockets forming.
  20. Fill right up to the rim of the jar. Pop the lid on.

You are done! Some people pop the jars of jam in the oven for a few minutes to sterilise even more, but yesterday I was lazy, so I didn’t… Yup. Brutally honest.

Enjoy your jam on some lovely scones or as a traditional jam sandwich. School day memories, children hyped up on jam and white bread 🙂 Loverly!

    Back with a bang. And a lasagne.

    by Cake in the country

    So you may be wondering where on earth I have been over the last 3-4 weeks. Well, as frightfully lazy as I am lately, I come furnished with an excuse: I have been losing my sanity in Italy! Along with some of the nicest people ever, I have spent 3 weeks singing camp songs involving such enthralling topics as bananas, frogs, washer women (but boogie woogie washer women, naturally) and not forgetting, of course, the martian, who came from mars. Beware though, he will try and buzz on your kazoo…  We have also partaken in rather a lot of showing people our bungalow. Yup. Want an explanation? Here we go:

    Vicky and Fiona rock the Bungalow. If there were a bungal-oscar, they would be the recipients.

    Oh and yes, that is about forty 20-30 yr olds standing around in a circle singing and dancing. That is how we do it.

    So where’s the food I hear you asking? Well, one clear-skied sunny Saturday, I rolled up my sleeves, got out my chef’s hat, and made dinner with my Italian family (the second). But what dinner you ask? Lasagne!

    Yup. You heard me. It was made rather differently to the lasagne I am used to. Heres the recipe. Oh, we made 3 so… I’m scaling this back.

    1 lasagne dish.

    • 1 onion
    • 3 cloves of finely minced garlic
    • A handful of fresh basil
    • 1 lb of quality assured Irish beef mince. Or use ½ pork and ½ beef if you wish!
    • 1 bottle of tomato passata
    • Many sheets of fresh lasagne (upcoming recipe, expect it this week)
    • Fontina cheese, thinly sliced – the amount you need varies with size of your pan, I used one block weighing… eh.. this much.
    • ½ litre of béchamel sauce. I made it in my other  (slightly less fatty) lasagne recipe: click HERE.
    • About 2 handfuls finely grated parmesan/grana cheese
    1. Finely dice your onions and fry them with the garlic in olive oil for a few minutes until soft.
    2. Add your mince and cook over a medium heat until it is nicely browned.
    3. Pour in the Passata into the pan and add the handful of fresh basil, finely chopped.
    4. Cook on a low heat for 45 minutes. Yoms.
    5. Meanwhile, make your béchamel – without adding the cheese) and leave aside. (See instructions here). When your meat sauce is ready, pop it on a low heat to keep it warm. Ok, here comes the fun part:

    To layer it up!

    1. Begin by putting a spoonful of béchamel on the bottom of the bowl and brush it around so that the bottom is coated.
    2. Line the bottom with pasta sheets.
    3. Spread 2 spoons of béchamel over the pasta and spread around with a pastry brush.
    4. Spread about 2-3 spoons of the meat sauce on the pasta. Don’t put too much on. See no.5.
    5. Layer the thinly sliced cheese on like this:
    6. Pop the pasta sheets on top again.
    7. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat again. And again. Just keep going 🙂
    8. When you get to the top, stop at the meat layer. Sprinkle the parmesan on top and leave it at that!
    9. Next. (Optional) Attend your Italian family’s birthday party here:
    10. You can leave this for a day in the fridge without cooking. It’ll taste even better when you make it the day before.
    11. Pop in the oven for about 35-45 mins at about 170*C.
    12. Serve with some mixed leaves- drizzle with olive oil and salt, large slices of tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar, and a nice chunk of crusty bread top mop up those tomato juices with. Yummilicious.

    Now. LET me see your bungalow, let me see your bungalow.

    Best Sounding Medical Terms/Jargon etc

    by Cake in the country

    Just when you thought you had heard it all.. Part 2 of the best sounding medical terms/jargon comes your way. Well I never! Julie supplied a few of these, a muse she is.

    • Ependymoma

    Sounds like: Something you should be saying in a southern country accent (Well that’s just an ependyyyyyyymoma of a problem there chuck, ain’t it). Is actually: A tumour of sorts.

    • Methotrexate

    Sounds like: A transformer. Is actually: A drug

    • Gonadoblastoma

    Sounds like: An ‘interesting’ superhero power. Is actually: Not.

    • Ophthalmology

    Sounds like: What you say when jaws stuck together with toffee (And I’d know) Is actually: Eye stuff (My professional description of course)

    • Saddleback fever

    Sounds like: The sequel to brokeback mountain. Is actually: A pattern of fever, seen with such illnesses as Dengue fever.

    • Chikungunya

    Sounds like: A takeaway meal! Probably from a dodgy restaurant.  Is actually: A tropical fever (See why I love tropical medicine, it has the BEST names)

    • Agammaglobulinemia

    Sounds like: A goopy material. Also, a tongue twister. Seriously. Say it 3 times quick. Is actually: A genetic disorder where people can’t fight off infections

    • Coccidioidomycosis

    Sounds like: Mary Poppins’ next musical venture. Is actually: Mary Poppins’ next musical adventure for at risk groups.

    • Amphotericin

    Sounds like: A kind of reptile, possibly extinct.  Is actually: An anti-fungal agent.

    • Leishmaniasis

    Sounds like: Something the evil wizard in a Disney movie yells before swirls of black purple smoke descend upon his tower and lightning strikes.   Is actually: A tropical parasite. Loverly.

    • PLAP

    Sounds like: Something you should shout and get yelled at by parents.   Is actually: Abbreviation for Placental like alkaline phosphatase (quite the term in itself!)

    • Alpha Thalassaemia

    Sounds like: The first and second names of a child whose parents let me name them. Is actually: A genetic disorder of the blood.

    • Gleevac

    Sounds like: A mood elevating cleaning appliance.   Is actually: A drug for treating some forms of cancer

    • Hydroxychloroquine

    Sounds like: A cleaning product from 50s America… Or a foodstuff from 50s America.   Is actually: An antimalarial drug

    Next: Words chosen by Julie.

    • Rugger Jersey Spine

    Sounds like: It’s just such a great descriptor.   Is actually: A description of a spine where it actually looks stripey on XRay, seen in osteosclerosis (possibly caused by the blasted kidneys and their evil reign of bodily terror)

    • Zygomatic

    The forgotten lyrics in Greased Lightening, ‘iiiits zayyyyygomatic’.   Is actually: Your cheekbone. Zygomatic bone, arch.

    • Leiomyoma

    Sounds like: An exclamation before one begins to salsa (Llly-oh-my-OH-ma! eeeeeeeee). Is actually: A tumour of smooth muscle.

    • Apple Green Birefringence

    Sounds like:…Maybe Snow white’s nickname. If she had sea green silk dresses on. Post ‘primary-colour-pre-marriage’ shenanigans perhaps. Is actually: What you get when you look at amyloid under polarized light with a congo red stain (boo ya. Will never forget that, seriously)

    • Toxic megacolon

    Sounds like: A villain in some superhero film. Like – I! AM! Toxiiiic MEGACOLON! *evil laugh* Is actually: Er… A toxic megacolon.

    • Ecchymosis

    Sounds like: A german insult. Eck-ee- MOSE-is!   Is actually: A kind of rash. Subcutaneous Purpura if you will.

    Cod in beer batter and homemade chunky chips

    by Cake in the country

    Sometimes you just feel like something super tasty. And there was a delivery of local fish in the butchers this morning. This got me thinking… Cod. Cod would be lovely.  So I picked out a few choice pieces and off home I went.Well it was only fabulous. So here is the recipe I used!

    Ingredients:

    • Batter:
      • 3 tbsp cornflour
      • About 170g flour (or enough to bring the flour up to 200g)
      • Almost a full bottle of beer. About 300mls
      • Salt and Pepper
    • For the fish before batter
      • Eh. The fish. 4 thick and chunky cod fillets, try and get good local ones!
      • 4 tbsp flour
      • 1tbsp paprika
      • Sea salt and a pinch of pepper
    • For the chips
      • 2 large potatoes, cut into large chunky pieces
      • Salt and lots of it
      • Paprika
      • Vinegar if you want the proper fish n chips experience

    Method

    1. Chips: Put your cut potatoes into a bog bowl of sea salty water. Leave for at least 1/2 an hour
    2. Drain them and dry them well with kitchen paper.
    3. 2 step cooking process.
      1. Heat your oil to about 150 degrees. Fry the potatoes for about 8-10 mins until there’s a bit of a skin formed but they’re not brown. Take them out, leave them in a bowl and set aside until ready to serve your fish.
      2. When ready to serve fish, Heat oil right up to 190, 200 degrees and fry them for about 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle sea salt, paprika, and vinegar (if you choose) on them.
    4. The Fish: Make sure all bones are out of your cod fillets.
    5. Put your flour, paprika, salt and pepper on a plate. Dust your fillets with the mix and shake off any excess. Set aside.
    7. Mix batter- add the beer to the dry ingredients and give it a mix. It can be a little lumpy.
    8. Heat oil to about 180degrees
    9. Take each piece of fish (I do two at a time), dip one at a time into the batter and put directly into the hot oil immediately (careful of splashes)
    10. Fry for about 6-10 mins depending on thickness of fillet. The batter should be golden brown and the fish crispy and yum. Repeat with all fillets, keeping the others warm in a warming oven (but not for too long or they’ll get soggy)
    11. Look at those bubbles in the batter. Lovely stuff!
    12. Serve with your freshly cooked chips, some mushy peas and a big wedge of lemon and enjoy!

    Use any remaining batter to make awesome onion rings! Dip in em flour mix, batter, and fry! Yum 🙂

    Sushi, eh? An irishfoodies cookalong recipe!

    by Cake in the country

    Well it was a Friday evening. The first Friday of August. What else would we be doing but an (now regularly scheduled) irish foodies cookalong session. The theme: Seafood. Anything and everything that one could think of on a seafood theme. This is what becomes of discussing mussels on twitter!

    Well, being a recent sushi convert, there was but one thing for it. Eh.. sushi. Whaddyaknow. Now I am in a county that doesn’t necessarily have the best supply of sushi grade fish, and I knew I’d be on placement that day, so opted for the imitation crab and smoked salmon route. Oh and prawns. Only I forgot to buy them. So.. eh.. yeah..

    Anyway, here’s what I had/got for the event. Tesco have recently started stocking sushi items but go to an asian supermarket if there’s one handy. And get wasabi peas and edamame beans while you’re there.

    • A sushi rolling mat (cover it in clingfilm to keep it all clean!
    • Nori (Seaweed wrappers)
    • 250g Sushi rice. It really has to be sushi rice. Its got the right texture
    • 330mls water (or follow directions on pack- this was just the directions on my pack)
    • Japanese rice vinegar (I used 1/4 cup)
    • Sugar (1/4 cup)
    • Salt (1.5 teaspoons or so)
    • Wasabi paste
    • Good quality soy sauce
    • Pickled ginger. If you’re gonna do it right!

    Filling ideas- julienne any of the following.

    • Avocados
    • Carrots
    • Cucumber
    • Asparagus
    • Scallions

    And the fish

    • Sushi grade tuna and/or salmon if you can get it
    • Smoked salmon (an alternative)
    • Imitation crab
    • Prawns
    1. Ok. Get the rice started. Put it in a bowl (a nice one, just for the hell of it) and wash out the rice a few times until the water runs clear.
    2. I cooked it according to the instructions on pack, but in a rice cooker. I love my rice cooker. It’s brilliant. Love love love.
    3. While thats cooking, mix your rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and heat over medium stove until all dissolved, but don’t let it boil.  Set aside until you need.
    4. When the rice is cooked, turn it out onto a wooden tray or something that won’t react with the vinegar.  Like this
    6. Then the awkward part. You need to get that vinegar mix on that and get the rice cooling off, so with one person it’s a bit difficult, but I managed it! Keep turning the rice over, drizzling the vinegar onto it so that it’s evenly mixed. If another person is there they can fan the rice to help it cool down.
    7. When the rice is cooled you are pretty much ready to go!
    9. Put out your mat. Get a wrapper and cover about half of it in a thin layer of rice. The rice is super sticky so keep a bowl of water there to rinse off your hands in.
    10. Choose what you’d like to put into your sushi roll. I put salmon, cucumber, avocado in- which I’ve heard is a Seattle roll! and put them in a little line on the rice.
    11. Ok, now making the roll- the fun part. Apart from the eating part (fun fun super fun!)
    12. This is hard to describe- but you basically roll it a bit at a time, keeping it as tight as possible, and tuck it into the bottom every time. Really you need to be shown or watch someone. Or just experiment!
    14. So then you need to get a nice sharp knife. Cut it in two, and then cut each one into 3 or 4, depending on how stable it is!
    16. Like that! Serve with some wasabi paste, pickled ginger and a wee bowl of soy sauce. Heres a rubbish picture!
    17. Messy plate, I do apologise..
    18. So now off you go and experiment with some fillings! I advise getting some lovely sushi grade tuna, it’s delicious!

    Are you a fan of sushi? If so what’s your favourite. And if not, would you try it?

    Skipping the whiskers on kittens because today I got…

    by Cake in the country

    A brown paper package tied up with string.

    For real.

    So no.3 of my favourite things: Parcels.

    I still look out for the postman every day in the hopes that he’ll bring me some parcel from afar. Lately he has been due to the blog and my online shopping problem. And today I hobbled downstairs only to find not one, but two packages lying in wait for me. I was over the moon. And they were so nicely wrapped. I intend to go out, buy some brown paper and old fashioned string, and wrap all my leftovers in it just so I get to unwrap them every time. Just saying.

    Ah do declare, we have a winner!

    by Cake in the country

    Drumroll please:

    This is a rather historic moment. The winner of the very first giveaway on Musings of a med student (and what a prize it is) is no. 29 – Sine!

    I used random.org to pick the winner so it was all fair and all that shebang, with farmer richie supervising, although I fear our new lawnmower may have distracted him somewhat (like a kid with a new toy he is).

    Screenshot:

    Is that clear or should I upload a clearer one?! Oh well, you can make it out.

    So Sine, if you can email me your full postal details at sarah@musingsofamedstudent I’ll send them on to the loverly folks at Robert Roberts and they shall send you out your parcel of wonders. Hope you enjoy muchly!

    The rest of ye: delighted with the response I got, there maaaay be another whopper of a giveaway in the works so don’t forget to check in!

    Join the facebook page for updates: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Musings-of-a-med-student/115718308461396?ref=ts

    Or follow me on twitter @reindeersp

    Happy Sunday y’all 🙂

    How to make crisps? I’ll tell ya how

    by Cake in the country

    2 ways.

    Like these guys:

    As all you Irish peoples know, we grew up with one savoury potato snack – the legendary Taytos. But the days have gone where the choice is so sorely limited, and tasty as the old Tayto are, it’s nice to see a bit of variety in the siopas. In saying that, I ain’t a fan of some of the other brands, and when I spent some time in Oxford I craved Cheese and Onion Tayto til there was no tomorrow (for future reference there’s an Irish pub on the way to the train station that sell them – score!). But when the word got out that Ed O’Donnell may have been giving away a few wee samples of their unreal Tipperary crisps, I jumped at the chance to sample their yummy produce.

    A parcel arrived in a matter of days, wrapped in brown paper and tied up with a length of string (the like of which one would expect to find in any boys pocket from an Enid Blyton book, along with a toffee and some discarded papers which will eventually become the means to an escape from the evil men who kidnap them and/or some kind of circus pony ) and emitting a high pitched screech of delight (it’s the parcel thing, I can’t help myself) I set about tearing the paper off in excitement.

    Inside a lunchbox (nice touch, no squashed’uns) greeted me and within it were nestled two delicious looking bags of crisps. A mouthwatering Mount callan cheese and red onion and a tantalising Irish cider vinegar and sea salt (yeah, admit it, you’re drooling).

    First up, I loved the packaging on the crisps. The nice thick bags make it feel luxurious and pretty sure it helps out with the old freshness shenanigans. But inside. Inside were crisp (imagine) slices of yummy potato coated with delicious flavour combinations that, quite frankly, I know will lead to serious problems with any weight loss planned. I’m not going to harp on, but I am going to advise you to go buy a pack of each. 2 packs of each. Trust me, they are bleeding lovely.

    Or yourself with a handy recipe:

    Crisps +/- the many flavour options

    • 2 large potatoes
    • Salt (plenty)
    • Sunflower oil
    • Lots of kitchen roll
    • A mandolin (you should really get one. If you don’t have one try a thickish potato peeler)

    Flavours I have tried

    • Salted (pretty basic)
    • Rosemary (Of course)
    • The oil from the jars of sun-dried tomato instead of sunflower oil.
    1. Ok. Basic. Scrub your potatoes well. I leave the skin on. Rustic baby.
    2. Using mandolin, cut the potato into really thin slices. Thin. Quite thin. They should be translucent anyway.
    3. Put a handful of salt in a bowl and add some water- enough to cover your potato slices that you put in. Or you can add some vinegar and make salt and vinegar crisps! Leave for about an hour.
    4. Take em out and pat em fully dry with some kitchen roll! Otherwise you ain’t gonna have crispy crisps. Disaster.
    5. Heat up your oil to 180 degrees C (again with the sugar thermometer)
    6. Put your potato into the oil,leaving them until just turning a really pretty golden colour (like a princesses hair! Sorry. I like fairy tales) Turn them over with a metal spoon.
    7. Take em out when they’re all golden and crispy and delicious. Add any extra flavouring you have sitting round the place, I’m just giving you the gist here, ya gotta experiment!

    Right. This meant to be short post has turned into a long post. I now must go read about gestational diabetes. (*Checks to see no sugar in above recipe, phew!)

    Before you go, what is your favourite flavour of crisps?