Spanish Stew!

"What's for dinner Mam?" is without a shadow of a doubt the most uttered sentence in our house. I might not have even poured the milk on their cereal or even have the faintest crispness on the rashers when the words leave their lips! It's hard to keep everyone pleased but one thing I know for sure is that anything of a stew or curry texture will be devoured.
Today the boys are at a summer camp and for certain, despite having a big lunch they will be famished when they come home. It's a bit of a dreary oul day in Offaly so I thought I would liven things up with a nice spicy stew. Quicker to make than a traditional Irish stew and something to add to the dinner repertoire! .

You will need;

5 boneless pork chops
225g chorizo, sliced
400g can chopped tomatoes
400g can plum tomatoes
400g can cannellini beans
1tsp smoked paprika
2 fat cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 a large onion, chopped

Fry off the pork chops until slightly browned.
Add the chorizo, onion, garlic & smoked paprika and fry until onions have softened.
Add the two cans of tomatoes and the drained cannellini beans.
Simmer for an hour.
Serve with some plain cous cous or whatever takes your fancy!

I can confirm after two* servings that it is truly delicious!

*may have been three

It's so easy to get stuck in a rut when you are feeding a family. Would love to hear what your families favourite dinner is. Thanks for reading!

Alexis Tweet Up!

Twitter is a funny old thing with the power to get things rolling from a simple 140 character or less tweet! At this stage ye all know I love food and adore eating out. Last night we (the twitterati) had the opportunity to have a fantastic meal in Alexis, Dun Laoghaire. If you haven't already been try and get there, gorgeous dining space and a great buzz makes for a very enjoyable evening. Our dining experience was very special as none of us knew what we would be getting on our plates although that choice was obviously in incredibly safe hands! Will let the pictures speak for themselves.....

Thank you to Patrick & Alan for making us so welcome. I enjoyed every morsel of food and the accompanying wines went down very well......

So who is on for the next tweet up? Guaranteed to be good fun!

Vanilla Sugared Plum & Frangipane Tart

My kitchen table is my favourite piece of furniture in the house and probably the county and maybe even the world. We bought it on the run up to our wedding and I still remember how delighted I was when it was placed in situ in our kitchen! Back then it was a little bit lonely with only the two of us sitting at it but now at least three times a day it is busy and full of crumbs! Nothing gives me greater pleasure than cooking for my family & friends, I love the whole celebration of coming together and sharing something that has been made with a bit of passion in the kitchen! I have my friends calling tomorrow for coffee and thought I would make a nice Autumn style tart for them, sure it is August after all!

To make this tart you will need to first make some sweet shortcrust pastry.
To make one pastry case you need;

125g butter
100g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
250g flour
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp cold milk

Cream the butter, icing sugar and salt together then rub in the flour and egg yolks.
When mixture looks like breadcrumbs add the milk to form a dough.
Place onto a piece of clingfilm and pat into a sausage shape.
Chill for an hour.
Once chilled cut slivers of the pastry and pat into an 11 inch tart tin. I never roll out pastry, I find it much easier to do it this way.
Bake blind in a preheated 180 degree oven for 12 minutes.
Leave to cool.

For the filling you will need;

300g ground almonds
300g unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
3 free range eggs, lightly beaten
6 plums, halved and destoned
3tbsp vanilla sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Add the ground almonds and the eggs and fold in until smooth.
Place in fridge.
Toss the plums in the vanilla sugar and allow to macerate for at least ten minutes.
Pour the frangipane mixture into the pastry case and arrange the plums on top, pressing them down slightly.
Place the tart on a baking tray and bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for an hour or until the filling is firm but still slightly wobbling in the centre.
Allow to cool for an hour before serving with some cream, chat, coffee and laughter! The kitchen table in my house is most definitely the heart of our home, great memories have been made there and am looking forward to creating thousands more!

Thanks for reading!

Lemon Posset Pots!

Summer has decided to eventually grace us with it's presence and with it the possibility of outdoor cooking and maybe even some dining al fresco. When I have people coming over I love to have the starters and desserts fully prepared so I don't miss out on any of the fun. This is a great prepare ahead dessert and has the perfect mix of sweet & tartness to keep everyone pleased. Provided they like lemons of course.

You will need;

600ml double cream
150g caster sugar
2 lemons, rind & juice

Bring the cream and sugar to the boil over a very low heat. Allow to boil for three minutes, then set aside to cool.

Once cooled whisk in the juice and zest of the lemons, pour into serving pots & chill for at least three hours.

I served these little pots with delicious lemon curd shortbreads. This recipe is originally from James Martin and you will find it here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lemonpossetwithlemon_85812

Pork Fillet Tray Bake!

My husband and I are like ships in the night these days with both of us working around our children, I wouldn't change it for the world but we always look forward to having a break together and some quality family time. Have had a busy few weeks touring around Ireland, stopping off in Dublin with a visit to The Honest 2 Goodness Market in Glasnevin to stock up with goodies from Armelles Kitchen, Mexican Shop Eire & Arun Bakery amongst others. I can only recommend that you go & see for yourselves the fantastic array of fresh produce for sale there, wish I lived closer as it would definitely be on my weekly to-do list! We travelled onwards to Tipperary for a night before making our way to Kenmare for the first Kenmare Food Festival! There are not enough words in the Oxford dictionary to describe how much fun it was and what a fantastic weekend we all enjoyed. It was organised to perfection and much joy was had in the breaking of bread and sharing of wine, beer, several shots and some cocktails......
It was great to meet both new & old friends there and much merriment was had. The icing on the cake was my husband coming 57th in the Killarney 15 mile maxi marathon although I could have done without the 4am wake up call from him to download a running album onto his iPhone!

Onwards we trekked to Newport in Mayo where after a bit of drama in the hotel we settled down to five days of cycling, kayaking, surfing, eating, laughing, drinking and relaxing. We had a fantastic time on the Great Western Greenway last year and this year was no different, such a fantastic amenity for the people of Mayo, would love to have something similar closer to home. We spent two days relaxing on Achill Island and found the most perfect beach to while away an afternoon or two, Keem Bay is a beautiful sheltered & secluded little spot and both days we were there the sun was splitting the stones!

All too soon our trip was over and we were back to reality. I somehow managed to damage my trapeze muscle so am up to my eyes recuperating on the sofa! However there are still hungry mouths to be fed and this turned out to be surprisingly tasty. I needed something that was quick to throw together and didn't need minding! There were clean plates all around which is always a good thing when it comes to dinners for children!

You will need:

1 pork fillet
750g mini potatoes
5 carrots, peeled & chopped
2 granny smith apples, segmented
2 fresh ears of sweetcorn, cut into thick slices
Olive oil
1tbsp fennel seeds
1tsp seasalt
1tsp black pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Grind the fennel seeds, salt, pepper and some oil in a pestle & mortar and rub onto the pork fillet.
Place into a roasting dish and surround with the potatoes, carrots, sweetcorn and apples.
Drizzle some extra olive oil on top before placing in the oven for approximately 50 mins, depending on your oven.
Serve & enjoy!

#michelinathome

I don't normally write on the blog about events I have been to or places I have visited but am making an exception for last Sunday night. I was unbelievably pleased to be included in a fantastic evening of Michelin starred food made by the astoundingly talented Martijn Kajuiter from the Cliff House Hotel.

Our evening kicked off to a great start with cocktails in the sun accompanied by the most delicious oysters I have ever had. Granted I have only tasted them once before and am no expert but I loved them! We took our seats at 8pm and what was to follow was the most fantastic culinary experience. Eggs cooked for hours at a low temperature, asparagus, lobster, crab, prawns, pork, lamb and the most delicious selection of breads and butters all featured. The meal concluded with peach and parsnip custard, whole poached peach and poached meringue, it was unbelievably good.

This event was to raise money for Pieta House and was the brainchild of Helena Moloney. Helena has done outstanding work raising money for the charity in the last few months, she has great drive and ambition about her and is a fantastic person to be around. Unfortunately depression and suicide are still relatively taboo subjects but please if you are depressed just talk to someone. Talking is the first step to recovery.

I would like to thank everyone there for such a wonderful night. Much fun was had by all, it's fantastic that friendships have sprung from the power of 140 characters. Got to love the power of twitter! It was just so amazing to be part of such a unique event! I didn't include any of the pictures of the latter part of the night, I don't want to lose any regular readers! ;-)

Lemon Curd & Chocolate Brownies

I think I may have a slight addiction to all things lemony! Limoncello, curd, tart, cake, cupcakes, impossible for me to resist any of these things once the word lemon is in front of it. I am enjoying throwing together a batch of brownies and experimenting with different additions. This was a "sure we will see what happens" kind of recipe and it turned up trumps! The lemon curd kept the brownie very moist and gave it a nice tang. Hope you enjoy them!

For these delicious squares you will need;

175g sugar
175g soft butter
150g self raising flour
125g drinking chocolate
4 eggs
100g dark chocolate, in pieces
6tsp lemon curd

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line/grease a brownie tin.
Mix together the sugar, butter, flour, drinking chocolate and the eggs until you have a runny mixture.
Fold in the chocolate pieces.
Pour into the brownie tin and swirl the lemon curd through the mixture.
Bake for 45 mins or until there is a slight wobble in the middle.
Cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning upside down onto a wire rack and peeling off the parchment paper.
Turn onto a bread board once cooled and cut into 16 squares.
Dredge with some icing sugar and enjoy!