Sticky Toffee Pudding

This is a recipe I've been meaning to try for a long time. Sticky Toffee Pudding is a staple on many dessert menus around the world, and this is Jamie Oliver's sweet and delicious take on it. It's definitely calorific but great as a treat!

Recipe

225g/8oz fresh dates, stoned
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
85g/3oz unsalted softened butter
170g/6oz caster sugar
2 large eggs
170g/6oz self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons Ovaltine
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt

For the Toffee Sauce

115g/4oz unsalted butter
115g/4oz light muscovado sugar
140mls/5fl oz double cream

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Put the dates in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with 200mls/7fl oz of boiling water. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes to soften, then drain. Whizz the dates in a food processor until you have a purée.

Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar until pale using a wooden spoon.

Add the eggs, flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and Ovaltine.

Mix together well, then fold in the yoghurt and your puréed dates.

Pour into a buttered, ovenproof dish and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.

While the pudding is cooking, make the toffee sauce by putting the butter, sugar and cream in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened and darkened in colour.

The final product, smothered in toffee sauce.

Chicken and Broccoli Gratin

This is another recipe from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook (I know, I'll try mix it up a bit in my next post!) I had tried making this dish in Home Ec years ago, but it wasn't a patch on this recipe.

Recipe

6 chicken breasts
1 Spanish onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
A few springs of parsley
1 bay leaf
A few black peppercorns
300mls double cream
1 large head of broccoli, divided into florets
15g butter
50g strong cheese, grated
110g breadcrumbs

For Roux

50g butter 50g plain flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Peel and chop the carrot, celery and onion.

Place the chicken in a large saucepan with the onion, carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns and enough water to cover. Bring slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan, and leave to cool. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan.

Next make the roux, melt the butter and add the flour. Cook gently for 5 minutes, taking care that the mixture does not colour. Allow to cool. Meanwhile, dice the chicken.

Boil cooking liquid until reduced to 600mls/ 1 pint. Add the cream, return to the boil and then whisk in the roux a little at a time to form a thick sauce.

Blanch the broccoli in boiling salted water until just tender, then drain and refresh under cold water. Stir the diced chicken and broccoli into the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Pour this mixture into an ovenproof dish.

Melt the butter and mix with the cheese and breadcrumbs. Spread over the chicken mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until brown and bubbling.

Super Sandwich Sunday - James's Steak Sambo

Last Sunday was quite a lazy one, James and I had just got back from a few days away in Waterford (which was amazing, Tramore is my new fave place) and we were quite tired after it. While walking around the supermarket, James developed a craving for a steak sandwich, so he picked up a few ingredients he wanted to use to make it. I was a bit sceptical, he gets these notions in his head where he just wants to eat a steak, or a piece of salmon, or a salad, and he won't stop until he gets it. This particular Sunday, a steak sambo was on the menu...

First, chop up the garlic and slice the onion. Fry off 2 steak medallions (more depending on size) in a little oil and leave to rest. Fry the onion and garlic in some oil until soft. Finally build your sandwich, add the beef, salad leaves, onion and garlic to your ciabatta and sprinkle with a little blue cheese.

Recipe

oil
1 ciabatta bread
2-4 beef medallions
blue cheese                                   
salad leaves
1 small onion
1 clove garlic                                        

Caramelised Rhubarb and Custard Tart

At this time of year, with it being in season, there is always rhubarb in my house. My mom uses it to make rhubarb and custard or rhubarb and ice cream. I decided to try something new and so found a recipe, again in the Avoca Café Cookbook, for Caramelised Rhubarb and Custard Tart. The custard used in the tart is a separate recipe in the book, and for the tart you must halve the quantity. The book itself says

'This is a variation of the classic French apple version, which Fleur says is better because the rhubarb is sharper and more consistent'

Unfortunately, my attempt at the shortcrust pastry for this recipe was a disaster, it would just not roll out the way I wanted. So I had to cheat and use a chilled shop-bought version of shortcrust pastry instead. Well they do say even the top chefs use it sometimes!

Recipe

For the Custard (halve the quantities in this recipe for the tart)

450mls full-cream milk
1 vanilla pod, split
110g/4oz caster sugar
5 egg yolks
2 level tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon soft butter

For the shortcrust pastry

225g/8 oz plain flour
150g/5oz butter, diced
25g/1 oz caster sugar
1-2 egg yolks

For the tart

700g/1.5lbs rhubarb
caster sugar

Method

We begin with the pastry.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar, then mix to a dough with the egg yolks and a little cold water if necessary. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile we prepare the rhubarb. Chop, wash and simmer the rhubarb in a covered saucepan over a moderate heat until tender. (This can be done the day before)

Next, the custard. Put the milk and split vanilla pod in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

 

 Whisk the caster sugar and egg yolks together until pale, then whisk in the plain flour.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk and gradually whisk the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture. Pour it into a saucepan and cook, stirring, until it just comes to the boil, then simmer very gently for 2-3 minutes to cook out the floury taste. Whisk in the soft butter.

Obviously I had to have a taste of the custard on its own and it is DIVINE! I would highly recommend making this as an accompaniment to other desserts like apple pie.

After the pastry has been chilling for 20-30 minutes, remove from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface and use to like a 28cm/11 inch loose-bottomed flan tin (I got mine in Homestore and More)

To bake blind, cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans (either ceramic ones or raw dried beans). Bake in the oven at 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, brush the pastry with lightly beaten egg white and return the pastry case to the oven for 5-10 minutes, until lightly coloured.

The egg helps to form a seal and keeps the pastry crisp when you add the filling.

Turn the oven off for a while so it can cool down and then heat to 150ºC/300ºF/gas mark 2. Combine the rhubarb and custard and pour into the cooked pastry case and bake. This temperature should just set the custard - if the oven is too hot the tart will end up like scrambled eggs. Cooking time is 45 minutes - 1 hour, until it no longer looks like liquid but wobbles when shaken.

Dust the top with caster sugar and caramelise either using a grill or a cook's blowtorch.

Serve with a nice dollop of cream or ice cream. Yum!

Avoca Fish Pie

How exciting, my first post! And funnily enough, it's a recipe including a food I'm not crazy about, fish.
I could eat shellfish all day, and am quite partial to a serving of good ol' Donegal Catch, but proper fillets of fish.. I'm not so keen! I made this dish because I wanted to try something new, and I figured it wouldn't be too fishy with it being a pie and all. Also I thought I'd be a nice girlfriend and serve it to James (the boyfriend) as he likes fish and pies, so inevitably this would suit him just fine!

This particular recipe comes from the Avoca Café Cookbook. I love all things Avoca so I figured if I'm going to like any fish pie recipe, it would probably be this one. The Avoca recipe calls for smoked haddock, however my local fishmongers were fresh out, so I settled on smoked cod instead. I also omitted the hardboiled eggs as I'm not a fan of these either.

Recipe

770g/1.5lbs smoked haddock
2 onions, peeled and chopped
600mls/1 pint full-cream milk
1 bay leaf
10 black peppercorns
110g/4oz butter, plus extra for the topping
50g/2oz plain flour
4 eggs, hardboiled, shelled and halved
A bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
200g/7oz frozen peas
6 tablespoons breadcrumbs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Put the haddock in a saucepan with the onions, milk, bay leaf and peppercorns. Place over a moderate heat, bring slowly to the boil and poach the fish for 5 minutes, or until it flakes easily.

Remove the fish and set aside to cool, reserving the cooking liquid.

Gently melt the butter in a saucepan and whisk in the flour.

Strain the reserved milk from cooking the fish and gradually stir it into the roux. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, stirring all the time. Season with salt and pepper.

Break the fish into large chunks and place in a shallow oven-proof dish. Add the hardboiled eggs, parsley and peas and pour the sauce on  top. Scatter over the breadcrumbs and dot generously with butter.



Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until brown and bubbling.

The finished product.

Both James and I had this for dinner served with a baked potato, and the verdict?

Delicious. This dish was very tasty, it wasn't overly fishy which worked out really well. I will definitely be making this again, and maybe next time I might add in some different kinds of fish to mix it up a bit.