And so this is Christmas..

by Cake in the country

I have never been as excited for a cookalong as I was for this one. It’s a merry happy Christmas cookalong!

To the scrooges of Christmas out there: I care not, I LOVE Christmas. I’ve had my good and bad ones, but in general I love it. In saying that, I reject anything remotely Christmassy until December, because otherwise it is ridiculous. And besides, I have exams to be thinking about. Just one subject with 2 exams this year, hurrah! It is rather important though, eek. Anywho, so for weeks I have planned this cookalong, and have had so much fun doing it. I cooked from 10.30am to 6.45pm yesterday and it was so worth it. I decided to do two types of menus, a dinner menu and a finger food menu. At Christmas it’s really nice when people call over for an evening and while shops make a fortune selling tiny tiny foodstuffs for outrageous prices, I refuse to partake in this. It is so simple to make tiny tasty items yourself. I don’t know how well these freeze but once I’m home I’ll test them out. But for now I’ll share my sample dinner recipe with you.

Multicultural Cookalong:

My menu

Dinner:

Roasted Duck with homemade Bramley Apple Sauce, served with roast potatoes and bacon caramelised brussel sprouts.

Ideally I’d serve glazed carrots and parsnips with this but I had no time!

I have to credit Julie with bringing me a Duck. Most butchers were duckless and she went to five (FIVE!) to get one. She was very happy with herself as was I 🙂

  • A duck!
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • salt and pepper
  • a few sage leaves
  • Pratai (Potatoes) as many as you wish. I wished for many

For Sprouts

  • Brussel sprouts
  • about 4-5 thick cut rashers. Good quality, whatever your favourite type is 🙂
  • Butter- a good chunk. Probably the best of an ounce or more if you roll that way

Apple sauce

  • 2 Bramley apples (big uns)
  • 2 oz caster sugar
  • 4 tbsp water
  • You can totally tell I made this up because of the lack of quantities in most places..

We got a 2.5 kg duck. I had 7 guests, so there wasn’t tonnes to go round, but we all had a nice taste and I cooked a ridiculous amount of yummy yummy spuds to go with. A 2.5 kg duck takes about 3 hours to cook. Im going to direct you to here on safefood.eu which advises you all about the whole turkey getting/cooking/defrosting process as well, seeing as it’s Christmas!

Heres the plan.

  1. Preheat oven to … eh… 150 or so. (My oven is wonky, the thermostat doesn’t work, I go by rough guesstimates while I wait for my thermometer to arrive. No macaroons for me :().
  2. Put your duck into a roasting tray or dish and rub the insides and out with some sea salt and black pepper. I put 3 sage leaves and 2 cloves of garlic into the cavity too for the craic. It wasn’t strong but I like to think it made a difference!
  3. Bang it in the oven as is, no butter, oil (you will see why..) no futhering around with bits of foil and all that. In as is.
  4. Straight away start the spuds. Peel them and cut off any bad bits. Chop them into golf ball sized chunks.
  5. Pop them in saucepan of salted water and cook for about 5-7 minutes until then edges are just softening. Drain completely and toss them around a bit to ruffle the edges. Give them a dusting of sea salt and leave aside.
  6. Meanwhile prepare the sprouts by taking off a few of the outer leaves and cutting the base down so that they’re neat. For the record, I am not a fan of sprouts. However I am coming round to them largely due to the lovely bacony goodness of them yesterday 🙂
  8. Cook the sprouts in lightly salted boiling water for about 8 minutes. Get a bowl full of cold water and a daycent amount of ice in there and remove the sprouts with a slotted spoon straight into this. This stops them cooking and keeps the colour. Set aside for when you need them.
  9. By this time the duck should have been in about 2 hours. Depending on the size of your potatoes, you need to put them in around now. The smaller they are the longer you need to leave them in. I know I know but at least I’m
  10. Take it out of the oven and recoil at the amount of fat that comes out of a duck first of all.. You maaaay want to pour a bit of this out unless you want totally fried potatoes. Although… if ever theres a time for it, its at Christmas!
  11. THEN take the duck from the tray and put it on a plate aside for a minute. Get your potatoes that have been parboiled and put them into the sizzling er.. liquid (I want to avoid the ‘F’ word) Toss them around to coat them and push them to the sides of the tray. Put back in your duck in the middle and back into the oven. You need to leave it in for the whole amount of time, 3 hours or so depending on the weight. Calculator available here. Looks like this:
  13. Next. Peel 2 bramley apples. Cut them into chunks and add your sugar and 4 tbsp of water. Cook on a medium heat until the apple starts to break down and fluff up. It took mine about 15 minutes altogether. Taste and make sure it’s right. It was rather lavely. Keep warm until serving time.
  14. Phew. Now 5 minutes before you’re ready to take the duck from the oven you need to snip up your rashers into delightful bitesize pieces and fry them with a little butter and oil until lovely and crispy.
  15. At this point it’s probably time to take the duck out. Out it comes, check its juices are running clear from the thigh or test with a meat thermometer. Double check the potatoes are done. Leave the duck to rest for about 5 to 10 minutes. Resist. I broke the skin, oopsys, but here, with a rubbish photo, is the general idea.
  17. Then all thats left to do is cut your sprouts in half, take the bacon out of the pan for a few minutes, add the rest of the butter, get the heat up high and add your sprouts. Toss and cook for about 4 minutes, add your bacon back in and cook for another 3  minutes until tender and bacony! Serve up in a warmed bowl.
  19. Ok. Serve the applesauce warm, carve up your duck and do please enjoy a lot! Oh and eat your sprouts!

This is not an ad for Coke, it just happened to be put there. As you can see it’s a multicultural Christmas cookalong. Julie brought latkes and a dreidel and there were games played and the whole shebang. And those latkes are gooood! Went really well with the applesauce.

I’m going to make the finger food a separate post because I believe this was a long enough one!

Winter warmer: Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon & Apple cake for dessert

by Cake in the country

Well hello there. It’s snowing! And it started during the Toy Show. I am still resisting Christmas music and putting up my (rubbish) tree, but I have caved and am currently watching Mary Poppins and researching my topic presentation. And by researching my topic presentation, I really mean that I am writing this post. Well, what have you. Oh Mary Poppins, wonderful stuff. I can’t tell you how many times I stood in my room clicking my fingers trying to make everything fly back into place. I didn’t have a nice enough painting to jump into though…

 
Well back to it. Recently a delightful amount of lovely people took part in our Winter Warmers cookalong. Cully and Sully have kindly agreed to judge it, so the competition was tough. As you now know, we have the cookalongs the first Friday of every month, and I encourage you all to join in every time. It can be a culinary challenge or as simple as you like. I try to keep the themes broad so you can cook whatever you like. The idea is that you pop up some pictures as you are cooking and then pop up a blog post or facebook note with the recipe if you wish! There’s usually a hashtag on twitter. This one was  #winterwarmers, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I made Julia Child’s Boeuf  Bourguignon and a delightful upside down apple cake served with freshly whipped cream. Nothing says winter warmers to me like a steaming hot rich and lovely beef casserole, and Julia Child’s is a king (or queen) of rich beef casseroles. I do generally add the extra carrot or two though, as I find it balances the richness with just a lovely amount of sweetness. My photos are currently missing because my phone has decided to freak out with me and I’m waiting on it to get fixed. Will upload asap.

Without further ado:

Boeuf bourguignon (from Julia Child with one or two adjustments)

  • 2.5lb stewing beef (I actually got some really nice quality meat from my local butcher. Went all out)
  • A 6 oz chunk of bacon
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 3 cups red wine, young and full-bodied (like Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Burgundy)
  • 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups brown beef stock
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 cloves mashed garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • A crumbled bay leaf
  • 18 to 24 white onions, small (If you have trouble finding silverskin you can use shallots)
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons butter
  • Herb bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)
  • 1 pound mushrooms, fresh and quartered
  1. Ok here goes. Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
  2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.
  3. Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.
  4. Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Don’t overcrowd it, it will not cook. Add it to the lardons.
  5. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.
  6. Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
  7. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust). Remove casserole and turn oven down to 170 degrees.
  8. Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind.
  9. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. Check it every so often to ensure it doesn’t burn like mine. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
  1. While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.
  2. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.
  3. Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.
  4. Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.
  5. Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
  6. Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.
  7. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.
  8. When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.
  9. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.
  10. Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.
  11. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.
  12. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.

Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, buttered noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley. I served it with baby potatoes, quarteres baked in the oven with the casserole with just a smidgeon of thyme, sea salt and butter. They were delightful. Bake them until tender, takes about 15 minutes in my oven. Lovely stuff!

Ok. That is the joyous dish that is Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon. Now dessert times. Inspired by the deliciousness of Fiona’s apple cake at Stagrennan farm, I decided this would be lovely after the big rich meal. I had some bramley apples left over since then and used them as the base/top-when-cooked. I rang my Mum at home who went rooting through the recipe box in the corner, which holds all things lovely and asked her for a recipe and she found this lurking at the back. I have no idea where it comes from or who to credit with it but its really nice! Plus its a pretty bang on old irish mammy cake recipe, cream up some butter and sugar, add milk and flour bit by bit and voila, cake! I made one or two adjustments and it turned out loverly altogether.

You will need

  • One bramley apple, cored, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 4 oz demerara sugar
  • 2 oz unsalted butter
  • ________________________________________
  • 8 oz cream flour and one teaspoon of baking powder
  • 4oz unsalted butter
  • 4 oz caster sugar
  • A large free range egg.
  • 150 mls of full fat milk (trust me)
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  1. Okily dokily. Preheat oven to.. eh.. 180. (50 if you have my good for nothing rubbish oven) Grease and line an 8 or 10 inch cake tin (I have used both, I prefer the 8 inch, more cake to apple)
  2. First up, cut the butter into sugar so that you mix it evenly as if making pastry.
  3. Press this into the bottom of your cake tin. Arrange the apple slices on top.
  4. Make your cake mixture- Cream the butter and sugar.
  5. Mix the egg with the milk and vanilla. Mix the baking powder and flour.
  6. Add the milk mixture and flour/baking powder mix bit by bit and mix until combined.
  7. Spread over the apples and pop into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Again, my oven is catastrophic so I can’t actually tell you exactly how long, but when it looks golden and a skewer comes out without wet batter on it you are golden my friend.
  8. Leave to cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate and let cool. I serve this just warmed with a dollop of fresh whipped cream! Enjoy. You will, trust me.

Lets make some Ravioli

by Cake in the country

A while back (actually before I went to Italy) Roma were kind enough to send me out a packet of their new tipo ‘00’ flour. I had been reading recipes that suggested using ‘00’ flour for ages but the closest I could get was the odd packet of ‘0’ flour which I would scoop up immediately. So the news that 00 flour might be available in the common supermarket was only wonderful. Well I went to Italy, got mahself a pasta maker – and lugging that back in an already full rucksack is no mean feat let me tell you. But it cost a mere 15 euro in the giant supermarket (did I mention the cheese? It was wonderful). So a few weeks ago on a rare non busy evening I had an egg or two lying around and decided it was pasta making time. I must try pizza too but for now, here’s what I did.

What you need:

  • 100grams 00 flour – Look out for Roma in your local shops and ask if they don’t have it, makes better pizza bases too!
  • 1 large egg
  • (Can be doubled. Or tripled. Or do whatever you want really…)

What to do:

  • Measure out 100g of flour on a nice clean smooth surface. Make a well and crack a large egg in the middle. Topple the flour in and mix up so that it forms a dough.
    • Alternatively you can pop the flour and eggs in a food processor, process until it looks crumby, and tip it out on a nice surface.
    • Knead this mixture for a few minutes until it’s nice and smooth.
    • Now wrap completely in clingfilm and pop in the fridge for an hour or two.
    • Depending on what you are making, get your filling or sauce ready in this time. (I am on fire with the tips here, am I not)
    • Ok here’s the fun part. I cut the dough into 4 pieces, and one at a time I roll out the pasta somewhat.
    • Then if you have a pasta maker, put it through on the widest setting first. Double it over on top of itself and run it through again. Fold in the other direction and do again. When it’s nice and silky looking, start decreasing the setting one at a time until it’s lovely and thin. Be careful to keep it nice and straight. If it starts to stick, sprinkle a light dusting of flour over it as it goes through the machine. You can cut it into more manageable pieces should you need to.
    • When it’s nice and thin either work with it straight away by using the attachment you need (I like spaghetti type) or cut it into ravioli. If you’re not ready to use it yet leave it covered by a damp towel as it will dry out, and quickly.
    • Alternatively you can roll it out as thin as possible and cut into shapes of your choice.#

Spinach filling for ravioli

  • A bag of spinach
  • A clove of garlic
  • A piece of nutmeg
  • You could leave out the nutmeg and use a tub of ricotta if you so choose! I like the nutmeg lower fat type.
  1. Lightly sautee the finely minced clove of garlic in a chunk of butter on a medium heat.
  2. Add a bag of spinach leaves and fry down until wilted.
  3. Grate about ¼ to ½ a nutmeg into it and give it a good stir. Drain off as much juices as possible, and chop the spinach on a chopping board.
  4. Spoon onto a piece of pasta (I use largish pieces and do 6 at a time), brush the edges with an egg. Press down a second piece of pasta of the same size and shape. Press down lightly getting rid of all of the air from the piece of pasta. Use a round cutter/pastry cutter or cut into squares with a sharp knife. Ensure edges are sealed, trim if needed.
  5. Cook for minutes until pasta floats to the top. Test one first to ensure if fully cooked. The time spent cooking depends on how thin you’ve managed to get your pasta, so it’s very much a test and see cooking time. My ravioli cooked in about 4 minutes.

This is not the best picture but it gives an idea I guess…

Stagrennan farm – where they greet you with smiles and apple cake.

by Cake in the country

What do you get if you put 6 camera wielding food bloggers in an orchard on a fine autumn day?

Well I shall tell you, good sirs! A very nice tour, that’s what.

I’m a real joker me.

But all joking aside, having had a chat with Michal from Bord Bia pre cookalong organisation, we organised a wee tour to Stagrennan farm in Drogheda. Why you ask? Well firstly – A day in an orchard (the apples! Think of the apples!) was just much too good an opportunity to miss out on so I vowed to set aside the books for a few hours. Secondly, as if you even need another reason, we (the Irish, not you and I personally) grow 1/3 of the worlds supply of Bramleys.  Yeah! Bet you never knew that. Neither did I, but I now have a factsheet and with it comes power to teach facts! Want another one? The Brehon laws (originating between 2000 and 1000BC) stipulated that anyone cutting down an apple tree would be subject to a severe penalty; namely a fine of five cows. Even removing a limb or branch warranted a fine of some sort…

I really like that one.

So, back to it. Orchard tour. After a miserable day of rain on the Friday (I know, shocking. Rain. In Ireland.. Who’d have thunk it?), I packed myself some wellingtons (fine pink specimens as you can see in the background) and many layers of rainproof material only to step out into a clear but crisp day! Perfect apple testing weather in my humble opinion. Well wasting no time, myself, Joanna, Deirdre, Kristin, Ashling (eventually, and with a brand spanking new camera – see below!) and Michal set out for a thoroughly lavely morning.

We were greeted at the door of a rather charming bungalow (part of a courtyard that I must have in my house) by the lovely Fiona who ushered us in to a cosy little office with a small kitchen area and a family atmosphere. Halloween decorations were up and really impressive!

After a brief chat she disappeared off and reappeared almost immediately with a tray of tea, coffee, a delicious looking upside down apple cake and a gluten free apple, sloe and blueberry crumble. A hearty breakfast let me tell you.

Well after we’d all eaten our fill we set off with Olan to see the farm, him in his skinny tractor and us in the scarily modern jeeps! I think they actually did the washing up and cooked dinner when you pressed a button on the dash.

They grow mostly bramley apples at Stagrennan, and very nice ones they are too! Olan filled us in on growing, picking and maintaining tips!

Bramleys are great for cooking, they’re big and plump and they don’t sink down as others do (Say no to flat apple pies! I thought it best to go for pie and not tart there…). Bord bia have some nice information on them I thoroughly approve of their use in making scrumptious cakes and tarts and pies and anything apple based! Here are some nice appley pics. They are not Bramleys mind you but they’re lovely to eat!

Most of them had been harvested at this stage, but we went to see the pollinators (a few different kinds of apples that flower at different times- see below pic) and took a detour by the Cox’s orange pippin apples that were utterly delicious picked straight off the trees.

As if the tour, the apple tasting, apple growing info sessions and generally lovely walk/drive wasn’t enough, we arrived back at the office to meet Tara from The Tasty Tart, a Cordon bleu trained chef that gave us a smashing cookery demo using the apples and some other prime produce.

After another tasting session including pork and apple bake; Apple, bacon and blue cheese toasted sourdough sandwich, and an Apple, raspberry, pineapple and banana smoothie. To top it off we were sent home with a massive box choc full of apples and with a few tester samples of the upcoming stagrennan produce. More on that when we do some tasting tests! When we have time. I will keep you duly updated of course. In the meantime, here’s one apple and pork recipe I made earlier. Or actually, watched Tara make and it was nyommy.

Pork and apple bake courtesy of the wonderful as always Bord Bia.

Pork and Bramley Bake

And one of Bord Bias beautiful pics: 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 35 – 40 minutes

Serves: 4

This one-pot supper is perfect for families. The magical combination of pork and Bramley turns a simple supper into a real treat. Plus, using only one pot reduces the washing up, so everyone should be happy!

Ingredients:

  • 450g/1lb washed potatoes cut into wedges

  • 2 small red onions, sliced into wedges

  • 4-8 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled

  • 2 tbsp olive oil 450g/1lb (approx 3)

  • Bramley apples, cored and sliced into wedges (I’d use 2 cos I love em!)

  • 4 lean pork steaks

  • 1 tbsp fresh sage leaves or 1 tsp dried sage

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Fan 180ºC/400ºF/ Gas Mark 6. Place the potatoes, onion, garlic and oil in a large roasting tray or dish. Toss together and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 20 minutes.

2. Remove from the oven, then stir in the Bramley slices and lay the pork steaks on top. Season and sprinkle over the sage and then return to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the pork is golden and the Bramleys and vegetables are tender.

3. Serve with green vegetables.

SO EASY. So lovely. So make it.

AND Tara gave us this brill recipe for yummy yummy simple and gorgeous gravy

Cider Gravy

  • 15g butter

  • 1 tbsp flour

  • 75ml flour

  • 75ml chicken stock (low salt if you don’t make your own. Think of your blood pressure!)

  • small drop of soy sauce

  1. Melt the butter in the saucepan and add the flour to make a roux. Cook it for a few mins until the flour has cooked enough!

  2. Add the cider, chicken stock and soy, stirring until smooth

  3. Simmer until the flavour has intensified sufficiently – about 15 mins.

Seriously, this was amazing. It was yummilicious even!

I also used the bramleys to make a yummy upside down caramelised apple cake which you will see in my winter warmers post! Eventually. When I get round to it and figure out where I lost the photos of it..

Oh also, and this is really important to know.. I won a pink apron from Tara. It’s so cool. Im going to wear it with my pink wellies when I’m home.

Tadaaaaa

Must be onto warm apple strudel by now…

by Cake in the country

Inspired by http://www.likemamusetobake.com ‘s kind mention of my favourite things (don’t you just love that blog!), and the weather that’s in it, I bring you another instalment of ‘My favourite things’. And what a country themed one it is:

Favourite thing number… Eh.. 5?
When you’re feeling a bit under the weather and end up walking home in the drizzle and all you want to do is get warm and watch a movie in bed, and find that mammy or daddy or respective other has popped a gloriously scalding hot water bottle under the covers for you! *wails with gratitude

Same goes for when you arrive home from school and Kitty (replace with whoever minded you if/when your mammy was working. I recommend having a Kitty, shes great) tucks you in on the couch across from the range and you doze off to the sounds of north west radio and the smell of baking treacle scones… Aaaaah delightful.

What’s in a name?

by Cake in the country

So this is a quick update to let you know that the website has changed name to http://www.cakeinthecountry.com. Seeing as I wasn’t doing any musing as a med student and all that! There may still be the random med post but for now lets focus on the good stuff. Currently being worked on are posts about the orchard tour, winter warmers cookalong, how to make pasta, and some cakes etc including an auld brack that you can throw together in no time. I am also going to be making more cakes. As the name suggests. Mmmm.. caaaake..

I’m also going to try and find time to do afternoon tea some weekend as I’ve been send a lovely selection of tea to try out by Robert Roberts! So planning on making fruit scones, apple cake.. and more as I think of it! Perhaps lemon scones.. And strawberry shortcake. Yes.

Thats all for now, but heres a quick photo of the Stagrennan farm orchard tour we went on a week ago (and lovely people they are too!)

 

 

P.S. Working on making it a bit easier to read on the background, will update soon.

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes and Carrot/Parsnip Mash. Phew. And take part in our Winter Warmers cookalong!

by Cake in the country

Well hello there. Despite my case notes staring at me from my notebook, I am writing a quick post and recipe for ye all. I am soooo good to you, really… Well with a sudden change in weather yesterday from lovely and sunny to a sudden downpour which I endured going over to Mary, Laura and Anjuli’s house to be sociable, I think it’s time to start with the winter recipes. Do I hear a woohoo! Or perhaps a more dignified ‘Oh lavely, how spiffing’.

But first, an announcement. We shall be having a Winter warmer cookalong on the 5th of November, please do take part. Not only shall it be a delectable feast inspired by wooly jumpers and fluffy slippers, we have a cracking judge – Cully & Sully to give a prize to the participant they deem most worthy. And it shall be fun! In order to inspire you, I shall be posting a few recipes that would work nicely for it.

The first is a lovely (courtesy of Jamie Oliver with a few wee changes here and there):

Lemon and Garlic Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Roast Potatoes and Carrot and Parsnip Mash.

What you need

  • 1 (preferably free range) chicken
  • 1 whole bulb of garic, broken into cloves and peeled
  • 1 unwaxed lemon (see kitchen tips and tricks if you can only find waxed for info on how to dewax)
  • A saucepanful of potatoes. I shall not judge. It’s cold out. you need your energy. Peeled and cut the larger ones in half. Make them about the size of a golf ball
  • 5 carrots
  • 2 parsnips
  • A handful of fresh rosemary
  • A good sized knob of butter
  • Sea salt and black pepper

What you do:

  1. Preheat over to 180 degrees C.
  2. Put your lemon, potatoes and all garlic into a large pan of salted water and cook for about 10 minutes.
  3. While they are cooking, prepare your chicken by ensuring giblets are removed, and pat it down with some kitchen roll. Pop it onto a roasting tray (no lid needed). Then take your butter and rub all over the outside of the chicken. Season with plenty of sea salt and pepper inside and out.
  4. Drain, remove the lemon and garlic, and put potatoes back on the turned off hob to steam for a while. You should put a newspaper over them. Don’t ask me why, you just do. Only not the farmers journal. Cos Richie keeps them and shall be annoyed if you turn it into a potato smelling wrinkled steam catcher. Toss them about a wee bit as well so that the outside gets all floury.
  5. Prick the lemon a few times with a fork while still hot, and put it and the garlic into the cavity of the chicken.
  6. Pop in the oven for an hour.
  7. Here you can chop your rosemary up and throw it into the potatoes while they wait.
  8. After an hour your chicken should be sizzling nicely and you should have some lovely juices bopping around the bottom of the roasting pan. Take your chicken out, move it onto a plate for a few seconds while you get the potatoes sorted.
  9. Take your potatoes and pop them into the juices. Give it all a good swirl and get them covered. Then push them to the sides and put your chicken right back in the middle.
  10. Put them all back into the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the leg just pulls away easily. If you’re fancy schmancy you can use a meat thermometer but I go by how easily the leg pulls off. I have yet to get food poisoning so it seems to work.
  11. You may need to turn your potatoes around at about 25 minutes through the cooking process. I generally forget. But it might be worthwhile.
  12. While the chicken is in the oven, prepare your carrots and parsnips. Wash, peel and slice them evenly. Leave aside in a pan until about 20 minutes before the chicken is due out of the oven.
  13. When you have about 20 minutes to go, add a minimal amount of boiling water to the pan and cover with lid. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft enough to pass a fork through. Drain (Keeping juices for gravy should you choose to make it), and leave to steam for about 5 minutes, so that you won’t end up with watery mash. I reissue my sentiments about the farmers journal here.
  14. Mash the carrots and parsips with a potato masher or with a hand mixer if you forgot to bring a potato masher to Dublin with you as can happen to SOME people. Ahem.
  15. Take out your beautiful chicken and delightfully browned roast potatoes. Stare at it and wonder if you have the heart to cut it up. Then get the delicious scents wafting toward you and decide ‘why yes I do’. Serve generous portions to your guests who will love you forever.
  16. Enjoy!

Let’s get old fashioned (Cake included.)

by Cake in the country

I love this song:

Old Old fashioned by Frightened Rabbit.

On that note, I’ve been getting back to the recipes that one would come across in his/her early days growing up in the wesht. Now, living on a farm in the back arse of nowhere generally means that the only baked goods on the menu are the likes of soda bread, rock buns, and the occasional scone laden with a heart stopping amount of buther. And bacon and cabbage. That counted as baking on the ‘farm’ Saturdays. When the sheep had to be dipped or dosed or sheared or any of that shebang. So thats all that was cooked on those days.

However, the occasional church bake sale would thrust upon us cakes of a more ‘delicate’ nature. Amongst those bun cases (yes Mary, BUN CASES) that had a wee bit of chocolate with a marshmallow on top- you know the generic Irish Mammy-making-things for the bake sale thing- well amongst those we spied victoria sponges smothered in fresh cream and delightfully dusted with a dredging of icing sugar; Catherine’s coffee cake which made regular appearances at the communion or confirmation after party; even the occasional lemon drizzle cake. Well I’d heard the lemon drizzle cake recipe being thrown about the old internets lately so it was time to go back to the recipe box and find me a recipe. It had to be made. It was a Sunday. What else would you be doing on a Sunday like? Studying you say? Pah! I am a professional procrastinator, I bake! (I did actually study, I needed some baking relief from the joys of dementia facts)

Roish. So to make yourself a fanTABulous lemon drizzle cake like this here one

You will need:

  • Lemons. 1 zest of lemon that is. Get an unwaxed lemon! Otherwise leave in boiling water for about 2 mins, and scrub off the wax.
  • 8 oz butter (unsalted bah)
  • 8oz sugar
  • 8 oz self raising flour + 1 extra tsp baking powder
  • 4 eggs
  • And for the drizzle, the juice of 1 and a half lemons and 3 oz caster sugar.

Nice? Love it, 8 8 8 4, can’t go wrong

  1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
  2. Now. Grease and line a round cake tin. I used the one  in my press. I don’t know what size it is. I am sorry. I will find out and measure it. It’s pretty standard size round tin. Like about 8-10 inches diameter.
  3. Ok. Cream your butter and sugar until pale and creamy and lovely.
  4. Beat eggs in one at a time, mix well after each one. Admire handiwork.
  5. Sift in the flour. Wipe up all the flour you knocked onto the floor, counter, everywhere… Stir the flour in until well blended.
  6. Add the lemon zest and give it another stir for good luck.
  7. Pop cake in oven for 35-40 minutes or until cake skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean
  8. Mix together the juice of 1 and a half lemons and 3 oz of sugar until smooth and gooey and lovely.
  9. Take out of oven but leave in tin. While still warm pour on your lemon drizzle and let sink in. Let cool in tin.
  10. Sin e.

Bring to a cake bake sale near you 🙂 Or just enjoy. But don’t make it on a farm Saturday or you’ll get in trouble for not being able to run after a flock of sheep like a mad eejit.

Urban Sunset: Dublin at Dusk

by Cake in the country

This is from the other night, had to post it. Just really liked the sunset. Dublin Oct 10.

Completely unedited for the record this is SOOC (Straight out of camera)

What to eat in Milan? Mushroom and Courgette Pasta of course.

by Cake in the country

So on my first trip to Italy with the lovely Carol (Hi Carol) we spent a few days on a gloriously kid-free tour of Milan and Florence. Well, take a seat my children, let me tell you the wonders, the genius that made… The food.  Oh the food. The upcoming recipe is particularly good and particularly quick and easy!

I remember very well a place in Florence, found after we walked across that bridge (you know the one with the shops) in the 40something degree heat. Well we got rather exhausted and took a left as soon as we were across it, looking for some sort of sitting down apparatus. And then the light shone down upon a place, a magical place.. Actually that doesn’t say much, the light was shining, beating down bleedin’ everywhere. But somehow or other we came across a restaurant that boasted shade, decently priced food and real cloth tablecloths. As if that weren’t enough, the even had chairs! Well you cannot go wrong there can you! Pretty sure I wasn’t hungry at the time but when in Italy in presence of italian food? Well you just eat. I had some sort of ravioli and they were unbelievably good.

Now, getting to the point. Nowhere did we come across a similar restaurant of excellence in Milan that wasn’t well outside the auld budget, but we did come across a rather lovely cafe that seemed to be choc-a-bloc with Italian (Eye-talian as my granny says) regulars. We were sold. If I recall, that time we were hungry. Famished in fact. Well we went in and looked at a large selection of pasta salads etc behind a glass pane, and after drooling for a minute or two (they’re well used to it, if I remember correctly they had hired a man with a cloth to stand by and wipe the glass clean after all the foreigners left, giving you an understanding glance that let you know that the whole process was appreciated in a roundabout way!) we chose our poison. I picked out a linguine with a mushroom, courgette, and parmesan kind of mix sauce shenanigans. Basically it was pretty much carbonara with mushroom and courgette in the place of bacon. And let me tell you it was good!

So here is how you make it. Recreated in the disappointingly unitalian but getting there kitchen of Sarah. Yup. Oh and I don’t recommend this for pregnant women, kids, the elderly or people with immune problems because it has lightly cooked egg in it, and just in case, I would like to be on the safe side!

Mushroom and Courgette Pasta

  • 100g shitake mushrooms
  • 200g fresh field mushrooms
  • 100g chestnut mushrooms
  • Ok you can use any mushrooms but I like this mix. Also I go heavy on the mushrooms, change if you wish!
  • 1 courgette, diced up into nice pieces
  • 1 well minced clove of garlic
  • Linguine enough for 4 people!  I shall leave it up to you to decide what you consider enough.
  • 1-2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup of grated parmesan. That is fresh parmesan that has been grated, not that powdery rubbish.

Okily dokily.

  1. Put linguine on to cook in a pot of lightly salted boiling water.
  2. Beat the egg(s) well (2small or one large) and set aside. Leave cheese at hand too!
  3. In the meantime: Clean and chop up the mushrooms, courgette and garlic. Fry in olive oil over a medium heat until just cooked enough. You may want to start with the courgette and then then mushrooms so that one isn’t overdone!
  4. Cook the pasta until just al dente. Now, move fast here, you want to keep the pasta hot enough to cook the egg without putting it on the heat.
  5. Drain pasta, but then pop the pasta back into the saucepan, add the mushroom courgette mix.
  6. Add in the cheese and stir it around to mix everything up.
  7. Add in the egg mix. The pasta should still be hot enough to cook the egg and make it all safe!
  8. Serve immediately. Preferably with a nice chunk of garlic bread and a side salad drizzled with a good balsamic vinegar!

Now you may experience Milano in your own home. I know, I know, I accept thanks in the form of chocolate, send it to Sarah’s house, Sarah’s lane, Sarah’s town, Ireland. Thank you.