Oh Deer!....that's it for another year!.... Guinness Bread

Well it's all over now folks, bar the Christmas cake which still hasn't been cut into....can you believe it? Yes, I know, it's shocking.... this year we actually didn't have a slice of Christmas cake or even dessert on the big day. We have concluded that our stomachs, as they get older, get smaller....how awful...yet our waistlines seem to increase!...how doubly awful!

The Christmas dinner was a delight as always, and cooked to perfection by my brother who is also a chef...I didn't even have to carry out sous chef duties, although I did scrub the pots. This year he filled the cavity of the turkey with whole bulbs of garlic and some onion, covered the turkey in a layer of dry cured smoked bacon and roasted it ever so gently and lovingly on a bed of root vegetables.....and wow! what a delicious bird we had. 
Instead of the usual 'gammon' we had loin of bacon slowly roasted, then slathered with that famously fiery English mustard, covered with slices of pineapple studded with cloves, maraschino cherries, and a good layer of brown sugar. The whole was then given an extra touch in a hot oven just before serving, to caramelise all the brown sugar and sweet juices, resulting in the most tenderest, sweetest, most succulent piece of ham......far better than boiled gammon any day! and I LOVE boiled gammon!... but despite the deliciousness, none of us could manage to finish our dinner, and as for asking for seconds? that was a no go area for everyone...practically unheard of in this house at Christmas.

It wasn't that we had an enormous amount of food our our plates, we think it was the amuse bouche and the Apéro, and then the soup that did it! We began the day with our annual glass of Kir Royale accompanied by a few duck spring rolls and mini pizza triangles...only 2 bites worth of each as we opened our gifts, just enough to get those appetites up and running, but when we sat down to lunch we had my famous vegetable soup to start, with a few breads including my first attempt at Guinness Bread which turned out to be divine and very moreish....I think that was our downfall...note to self for next year....1 ladle of soup + copious amounts of homemade breads = no room for turkey!

A Christmas Eve Treat!.........Rocky Road Fudge

This divine Rocky Road fudge is the first great indulgence of Christmas! It's quick to make, sets fast, and can be bubbling away while you are doing other things like trimming the sprouts, making the stuffing, or enjoying a mulled wine.....and why not...it's CHRISTMAS!

You will need.....

80g butter
700g golden castor sugar
100 mls single cream
150mls full fat milk
250g dark chocolate with a minimum of 75% cocoa solids
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
100g glace or maraschino cherries
100g mini marshmallows
90g of your favourite nuts....macadamia or walnuts, pecans, peanuts....or no nuts if that's your thing

you will need a metal or ceramic baking dish about 6' x 9' lined with foil or baking parchment....I find foil works well

How to..........

• line your dish / tray and set aside
• chop the chocolate into small bits and set aside
• chop the nuts, leave whole or break into small pieces as you like
• halve and quarter the cherries....if you like them big then just halve them
• place the butter, sugar, milk and cream in a deep, heavy saucepan....stainless steel is best 
• heat gently and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved and everything is smooth and runny
• bring to the boil then turn the heat down ever so slightly, we want the mixture to be at a rolling boil.....now time it for 6 minutes
• at 6 minutes the mix should be starting to thicken and brown slightly....keep at a rolling boil and stir gently while allowing it to cook for another 2 minutes.....you should end up with a thick saucy consistency
• turn off the heat under the pot and remove from the heat source completely
• pour in the chocolate and vanilla extract, stir to melt
• stir in the nuts and the cherries, but don't be too forceful unless you want your cherries to be broken down
• pour your fudge into the prepared dish/tray
• scatter the mini marshmallows on top and press down into the fudge.....you could of course fold the marshmallows through the fudge but I fine they tend to melt and disappear!
• allow the fudge to cool a little then turn it upside down onto a suitable board....the fudge will set quite quickly so try and cut it into squares while it's still warmish....you will find the foil very easy to peel off
• store your fudge in an airtight container and it will keep for absolutely ages

Once the fudge has fully cooled and set you can bag it up for gifts if you wish.... it's not a sticky fudge but is firm and has a little crunch to it.

Naughty or Nice! ...... Seeded Sesame Snaps

Yes, I put my hand up. I am one of the guilty when it comes to indulging in those sweet somethings at Christmas, but it is possible to enjoy those delicious treats and get a little bit of goodness in there at the same time.
These little sesame seed snaps may be a crunchy sweet indulgence, but they are also packed with those high omega seeds that can only do you good! Not only do these snaps taste great, but they are another of those edible gifts you can make in advance and have packaged and ready to go in case of unexpected callers bearing gifts!

Classic Christmas Gingerbread

Never mind the turkey! what about the gingerbread?

It's a sure sign for me that Christmas is getting close when it's time to make gingerbread. I love all kinds of gingerbread and believe me it comes in all shapes, sizes and textures.....probably more than you realised existed.
Here are some of the gingerbread's I have discovered on my travels...
Aberdeen, Ashbourne, Dumfries, Grantham, Grasmere, Kirriemuir, Nottingham, Wrexham, Parkin.....as you can see the British love their gingerbread!

There are numerous styles of gingerbread in cake or biscuit form that originate in Germany, France and Holland, such as the German lebkuchen, very popular here at Christmas in those European economy stores and a firm favourite of my mothers!, The French almond gingerbread which unfortunately is rarely seen outside of France, and the Dutch speculaas which are very interesting as they are made using wooden moulds in the shape of dolls, windmills or religious figures....I found one that looks a bit like our St. Patrick!

Dutch speculaas

Sara Nelsons Grasmere Gingerbread

My all time favourite when it comes to gingerbread, is Grasmere gingerbread. Made from a secret recipe invented over 160 years ago by Sara Nelson, there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world, and on every trip to the English Lake District, where I used to live, we stock up and return to Ireland with boxes of the stuff....chefs tip...it makes an unusual and stunning base for a cheesecake!

German Lebkuchen

Classic ginger sponge cake 

Lemon Cheese....or Curd.

You may be in the habit of buying your Lemon cheese, or lemon curd as it is more commonly known, from the supermarket, but until you have tasted home-made, you won't realise exactly what you are missing! Shop bought curds tend to have extra ingredients added to help thicken or to preserve it and so prolong its shelf life, and mass producers will most likely use a chemically enhanced lemon flavouring that tricks the tastebuds into believing that you are actually tasting real lemon, however, make your own lemon curd from all fresh and natural ingredients and you will never tolerate a false abomination again!Home made curd is in a league of it's own when it comes to creaminess and capturing those real lemon flavours. With 4 simple ingredients and a lot of love going into the making, your curd may not last as long as shop bought, but believe me, once you've tasted it, it won't last long enough to go off!

you will need:

150 g unsalted butter at room temperature

340 g castor sugar

zest and juice of 3 lemons

4 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

sterilised glass jars / pots with suitable lids...this recipe will fill approx 2 standard jam pots

Zingy Apple & Red Onion Chutney

you will need:

400 g red onions

200 g sultanas

1 tablespoon olive oil ......not extra virgin

100 mls apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar if you can't get the apple 

200 g soft dark brown sugar

400 g cooking apples

1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon 5 spice

1 teaspoon each of ground ginger and ground cumin

1 small fresh green chilli or 1 teaspoon ground chilli...leave out if you don't want the heat!

a deep heavy pot with a tight fitting lid

sterilised jars with suitable acid proof lids / kilner jars

Spiced Cranberry Preserve

Cranberries mean Christmas to most people, and Christmastime is when this delightfully ruby red berry becomes readily available in Ireland...you can find out more about this interesting berry HERE!

This recipe for spiced cranberry preserve is suitable for eating when freshly made or for bottling up and giving as gifts. The combination of spices used just summon up those smells of Christmas, and if you make loads, and why wouldn't you with the berries so fresh and in season right now.....and great value,...you and your family and friends can enjoy the taste of Christmas all year round!

I like to use 'jam' sugar in the recipe as it has pectin already added and makes preserving much easier and faster with no messing about with sugar thermometers.

You will need: makes enough to fill 4 x 325 g jars

400 g fresh cranberries....or use frozen ones which you have defrosted if you can't get fresh

1 large Clementine
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick

100 mls water

1 generous measure of brandy

600 g jam sugar

1 heaped tablespoon mixed spice

A deep saucepan with a tight fitting lid
jars with lids that will fit tightly sterilised in a warm oven or dishwasher

how to:

• pick through the berries for stray sticks and leaves then rinse them in cold water
• place the berries in the saucepan, add the water, brandy and mixed spice
• remove the zest from the orange and set aside, cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice and pulp into the saucepan, stir everything together well, add the cinnamon stick
• bring the cranberries to the boil then turn the heat down to medium, cover with a lid and cook until the cranberries begin to pop and burst....this takes about 5-8 minutes, do check and give them a stir every so often
• remove the cinnamon stick then add the jam sugar, stir until it is dissolved
• turn the heat up and bring the cranberries back to the boil
• keep at a rolling boil for 2 minutes then move off the heat....don't forget to turn off the heat!
• leave to sit until the bubbles subside and then you can decant it
• pour your preserve into a jug then into warm sterilised jars, put the lids on tight immediately
• turn the jars upside down for about 10 minutes then turn them the right way up again.... as the jar cools a vacuum will form between lid and fruit, this will keep them fresh for literally months!
• label and date your creations

You can enjoy this cranberry preserve with savoury items such as goats cheese, on a brie and ham toastie and with roast turkey or goose...I must say it goes particularly well with confit of duck!

Surprisingly this preserve also goes well with sweet flavours, and is a delicious topping to this White Chocolate Velvet Pie ..... find the recipe HERE!

Individual White Chocolate Velvet Pie with Spiced Cranberry Topping
A great seasonal dessert

A Plum(b) Gooden! .......the beauty of home made gifts.

'A plumb gooden'...... An American phrase to which the Irish translation would read....'absolutely wonderful' which perfectly describes home made gifts....and their makers!

Being on the receiving end of home made gifts is fabulous, especially when they are edible ones! you can taste the love and care that has gone into them. On the other hand, making edible gifts for friends, acquaintances or work colleagues is a good idea, they may take some time but it removes the stress of what to get so and so for their secret Santa, or whatever, without spending a fortune, and lets be honest, everyone loves home made!

Over the next 2 weeks I'll be posting a few recipes that make perfect gifts. They will be easy to make and tasty......of course! Some will have the convenience of being 'keepers', which means you can make them well in advance and they will last well into the new year...if they can be resisted that is!... and some last minute treats that can be enjoyed on Christmas eve or even Christmas morning.....and, if you are imaginative with your packaging and presentation, you will be king, or queen, of the Secret Santa tub, neighbourhood, street, bridge club....or your great auntie Gertrude!

But to start you off, here's the recipe for my 'Plum Gooden' Chutney, it is 'absolutely wonderful' and a change from the usual cranberry preserve that dominates Christmas meals....This chutney goes great with pate, on a boxing day morning cold turkey and stuffing sandwich, as a topping to melted camembert or a crottin of goats cheese, cold ham, and meat terrines.....and it's particularly tasty with smoked salmon or mackerel....my personal favourite!

Click HERE for the recipe or jump to my previous post.

Plum Gooden Chutney

This 'Plum Gooden' Chutney is 'absolutely wonderful' and a change from the usual cranberry preserve that dominates Christmas meals. It goes great with pate, with your Christmas roast bird, on a boxing day morning cold turkey and stuffing sandwich, as a topping to melted camembert or a crottin of goats cheese in a tart or galette, with cooked cold ham, meat terrines, quiche.....and it's particularly tasty with smoked salmon or with mackerel....my personal favourite!

You might think that now the summer is over that fresh, ripe plums may be hard to come by, home grown ones maybe yes, unless you grew your own then froze them, but now that summer has reached the southern hemisphere and the sun has returned to the equator, fruits from those warmer countries is now landing on our shores. For this years batch of chutney I found it very easy to get plums and at the ready price of less than 2 euros a kilo!

The chutney is relatively easy to make if you don't mind a bit of chopping at first and don't mind
being patient while it is cooking.
Choose good quality ingredients....ripe  but still firm plums, plump sultanas and fresh onions and apples, and a good quality red wine vinegar.
Once stored in jars in a cool larder, your chutney will keep unopened for months, but once open it still keeps extremely well in the refrigerator for a good week or more.
How many jars you can fill from the recipe depends on the jars used, but I can get about 8 - 10  228ml jars from a batch

Snowy Winter Frosting

This simple wintry white frosting is the perfect topping for not just carrot cakes...see carrot cake recipe HERE! ... it's also great as a basic frosting or filling for using say in a victoria sponge cake with a layer a raspberry jam, or in a lemon or orange cake with the addition of some lemon and orange flavourings. You can just replace the vanilla extract with any other flavour....you can even do coffee, lime, or try using liqueurs such as creme de menthe, grand marnier, Baileys...this list is endless so be adventurous and experiment with your favourite flavours. Changing your flavours means you can also change your colours...add a drop of red colour for baby pink etc.

Baby Bunny Carrot Cakes

The best thing about the holiday season, apart from all the delicious foods and the tidings of joy and peace, is the abundance of visitors to the house, some people are well organised (practice etiquette) and book their visit, and others tend to just turn up out of the blue whenever it suits them. So at this time of year it's best to be like a boy scout......be prepared!.

Carrot cake is known for being a moist delumptious (a cross between delicious and scrumptious) cake, which keeps very well and for ages either in an airtight container in a cool place or in the refrigerator. You can serve it plain or you can whip up a little seasonal snowy frosting to top it off.
I like to make carrot cake as these little individual cakes, perfect for baby bunnies, so no messing about cutting slices and worrying about portion sizes, you just plonk a cake down on each persons plate.
It may seem like an horrific amount of oil in the recipe, but really, you're not meant to eat the whole lot at once!, and anyway, I would only use good heart healthy oils!
The addition of a ripe banana bumps up the sweetness naturally so in actual fact could call this a low processed sugar recipe....put that in your diet book and eat it! just stick to the rule, everything in moderation, and enjoy...it's Christmas after all.

Leftover Mincemeat?........ Fast, Festive Fruit Bread

Christmas at home is all about tradition, from the baking of our cake, the choosing of the perfect pyramid shaped tree, to the duck spring roll and mini pizza canapes, washed down with Kir Royal's as we open our gifts. Now I'm all for tradition, but sometimes tradition can go just a bit too far for my liking!

Christmas traditionalist cooks would maintain that one must make ones own mincemeat, well that's all very well Delia, but between you and me, I can't be bothered with all the faffing about sorting through fruits and cutting up apples, bottling it up and patiently waiting for it to mature which usually takes to the following Christmas! especially as I go through gallons of the stuff in the run up to the big day.
So why not buy it? There are so many excellent mincemeat's on the market, does one really want the bother of making ones own anymore? I think not! The only issue you might have with shop bought mincemeat is that you might find yourself left with some at the bottom of the jar and this festive offering gets rid of those last couple of tablespoons nicely.

If you are a fan of the Irish traditional Halloween barmbrack, then you are gonna love this! Don't be disappointed though when you cant find the ring or a coin, because there won't be any in it...it's not a christmas cracker!

A Tagine on a Tuesday!.....Sweet & Spicy Pork Tagine

Tagines are the simple yet complex flavoured one pot dishes of Morocco, a country in Northern Africa. Over the centuries the foods of Morocco have been influenced by both its natives, and its invaders. The Berbers were the indigenous peoples of the region, but the country has been influenced by the Bedouin nomadic tribes of the dessert, the Arabs, the Ottomans, the Moors from Spain, Sephardic Jews and finally the French. Yet among all this dilution of their culture, the original Berbers managed to maintain their cultural origins and right proud they are of them too.

The Tagine is a classic Berber dish, it is also the name of the pot the stew is cooked or served in.

A Tagine is basically a glorified stew of either meat, fish or vegetables, but it is a stew that is aromatic and thick, filled with the scents of sweetness and spice. The meat is tender, the fish, melt in the mouth, and the vegetables more flavourful than any curry. Tagines will also have the addition of fruits such as apricots, dates, prunes, olives and preserved lemons, with lots of strong flavours such as coriander and harissa, but also the sweetness of honey.

Bagging A Lidl Bargain......the 49c Butternut Squash!

I do love a bargain, and in my life there is no room for 'supermarket snobbery' as I call it!
If I see an offer on things I know I will use then off I will trot, regardless of the establishment!
You may be of the opinion that Lidl does not offer the 'bells and whistles' of other supermarkets, and if you are thinking in terms of self service automated checkouts (which I detest) and butchery counters (where the meat has arrived vacuum packed anyway) then you are correct, but Lidl does what it does in a way that I, as a chef, cannot argue with...... and at a significant lesser cost to the buyer! so much so that there are other supermarkets that I simply do not bother to frequent any more.
Hot off the shelves this week, amongst other great bargains, were the 49c butternut squash...yes...49c for a butternut squash and no, they weren't tiny! they were of standard size and a great buy.

Blue Monday after 'Black Friday'.... Smoky Fish Cakes with Dill & Caper Cream

The United States of America has been a great influence in my life, not only on my ancestral heritage, but on many of my attitudes, beliefs and ideals, I am a 'Disney' child after all, a member of that first generation to be raised on a diet of mass media, the target of global corporate marketing techniques, and consistently force fed a mantra of 'thou shalt consume'.

I have never really been one for regular shopping as the majority of the population seem to do, and unless I've been in dire need of something, I tend to avoid the 'shopping mall'.....and yes! I DID need that set of double sided plain and fluted pastry cutters I bought last week, but my obsession with cookie cutters is another story!.......
Instead of queuing for the latest 50 inch screen 4K television or mobile phone with the gadget thingy that can turn your oven on and compile your weekly shopping list by talking to your refrigerator, when it comes to shopping, I am the one making a beeline for the kitchen equipment and home-ware department, and if I do buy something, I will always make good use of it!

Bakewell Bundt ....with cherry & pear

Following on from my previous post of pear tart, when you've got a handle on a basic recipe such as the frangipan, it is amazing how much further you can expand on it by using your imagination.

For this recipe I increased the quantities of the basic frangipan recipe and made one and a half times the recipe amount, then I decided to add 2 pear halves that I had left over from the pear tarts, and, because I love cherry bakewell tart, I simply had to have some glace cherries in the mix....the pears, cherries and ground almonds give a deliciously moist cake.
I added a little orange extract to the mix too as I am of the opinion that orange goes very well with almonds....call it the Mallorca effect!.....the island of Mallorca is famous for almonds and oranges.

Just to make my cake a little more exciting and aesthetically interesting I have used a medium sized bundt cake tin. You can get bundt tin in small individual sizes like a muffin cup....I found some wonderful silicon ones in Lidl, other sizes are available in most good cook shops or online.....medium sized tins are around 7 inches across and 4 deep, or you can get the classic bundt tin which is anything from 8 to 10 inches wide and very deep like, 6 inches or so, but that's an awful lot of cake, unless you are having a party or have a big family to feed!
As I am using cherries, poached pears and orange extract, I have reduced the amount of castor sugar needed as there will be sufficient additional sweetness from the cherries etc.

A Pear Tart From A Pear Tree

The harvest season has almost passed us by, and apart from the root vegetables still snug in their clay beds and the wintering cabbages which are in their youth, the poly-tunnel has pretty much given up its goods.
The bean plants which have dropped most of their leaves are beginning to shrivel but there is still the odd bean hanging around here and there, the tomato plants which eventually turned into a jungle, are still laden with fruit but it looks like we will be having fried green tomatoes or green tomato salsa as there ain't no way on earth they are going to ripen at this point!.

Elderberries

We have reached the end of our growing season so now we will be concentrating on preserving as much as we can to enjoy during the dark winter months. Apples have been made into pies and frozen, spiced apple chutneys, apple sauce, and apple jellies have been bottled, jams have been made, pears have been 'put up' as they say in the preserving community, and the other day I noticed the elderberry bushes are heavily laden, their fruits just ripe for the picking, so that will be my next project.....I feel elderberry cordial or ice-cream coming on.

Even if you have no growing space and have to get your fruit from the supermarket, it is a great idea to have some preserved fruits on hand, be they bottled as jams, frozen 'au naturel', cooked in syrup or even preserved in alcohol...bottles of which make great christmas gifts by the way......have you ever had peaches in brandy?  hashtag YUM!
Make the most of those 49p or 49c supermarket offers when you get them. If you see pears or apples, or any other sturdy fruit, and I do see them on offer quite frequently where you can get about 6 pieces of fruit in a punnet or a bag for 49p, then make the most of these offers by buying in bulk and doing something with them......no one said you were only allowed to eat them fresh from the fruit bowl!

Something Old, Something New! A Recipe For Perfectly Sweet, Sweet Pastry

When I first started out on the road to becoming a chef.... and I still haven't reached my destination yet by the way!.....like any other chef, as I began to gather skills and experiences from other more skilled professionals, I also began to gather recipes, but this as far as I can tell is normal practice in our profession. Ask any chef and they will probably have their own favourite recipes too, those tried and trusted basics that they can rattle off the list of ingredients to and most likely make with their eyes closed. These are the recipes we know are fail-safe and will never let us down, even during the busiest of services.

I too began my own compendium of recipes and tips. Some were truly reliable and others I altered from their original source to suit my own tastes and needs. Eventually through years of experimentation I developed what I classed as my own creations, they may be called classic names but the quantities of ingredients and how I treat them are pretty much unique to me. Every chef will for example make pastry in their own way. Yes we may all rub fat into flour but we all feel our ingredients differently....some may like their butter to feel firmer, some softer maybe more towards room temperature. Some like the feel of a coarse flour, some a fine flour. No two chefs will rub butter into flour to the exact same point, as we like all humans, we see and feel things differently too.

Christmas is coming...Time to bake that cake!

I am of the opinion, and you may be too, that anyone who says they dislike Christmas cake has simply never had a good one!
Too dry, and you need a gallon of tea to wash it down, too wet or under-cooked, and the stodgy mass resembles the pudding you had for dessert.
Some people dislike the fruit, some the nuts...myself included as I can't abide walnuts...instead I use pecans...problem solved. But the high quantities of dried fruits required means there are no alternatives if you want your cake to be authentic, but still, choosing your proportions of fruits correctly, and choosing good quality, plump fruits, can make a huge difference.

There is something ritualistic and spell binding about the making of the christmas cake, certainly in our house where the task falls to myself and my mother, just as it did to her and my grandmother. It is a joint effort of sorting, cleaning and soaking of fruits, chopping of pecans and cherries, buttering and lining of cake tins and of course....baking not only the cake, but two tiny muffin sized cakes for us to enjoy after our efforts.....the cooks reward!

As we get older and we become ever more health conscious, our appetites seem to decrease as do the size of our Christmas cakes. Last years cake was much shallower and this year I believe I will be on the hunt for a cake tin that is no bigger than 7 inches.....making our cake in a loaf shape doesn't have quite the same appeal so the tin I buy must be round.

For the first time in our living memory, our family Christmas cake, made using a recipe handed down through the generations, will most likely be served without any icing, marzipan or buttercream of any sort.......the last time this happened was probably during rationing in world war II....and why are we leaving it bare? well, as none of us are very fond of royal icing or that paste you can roll out, I tend to ice the cake with a butter icing naughtily spiked with a little Baileys Irish cream liqueur....needless to say butter icing does not last very long and one feels obliged to scoff the cake before the icing becomes inedible....our ageing digestions simply cannot cope with such richness day after day and leaving our cake naked means we can continue to enjoy it well into January!

As we are now well into the first week in November it is time to start planning the baking of your own Christmas cake. The optimum time to bake a fruit cake and ensure it is well matured by Christmas is within the next week or two, anytime after the 20th of November and you are dicing with danger!

For my 'Mary Poppins' as I like to call it, Christmas cake....as in a cake that is practically perfect in every way, we will need pull our socks up and get the ball rolling.....you can find my Christmas Cake recipe HERE!

If you really can't get over your hatred of Christmas cake then never fear, over the next few weeks I will come up with some delightful alternatives that can make your post Christmas lunch cup of tea so divine you won't feel you are missing out.

Happy Halloween!..... An Excuse For Vegetable Soup!

I haven't been feeling the best for the last couple of weeks hence the lack of attention to my blog, and having contracted some sort of bug in my large intestine, I could hardly bear to look at food let alone cook anything interesting so I'm sure I can be forgiven all neglect.

It's Halloween here tonight and really Ireland goes all out when it comes to this ancient festival which was celebrated even before Christianity and St. Patrick arrived. For the first time in as long as I, and the kids, can remember, I have not done any baking of treats for this spooky celebration and have been entirely lazy. I went to the supermarket and filled my supermarket trolley with all those unmentionables that fill me with horror at any time of the year, stuff I would normally turn my nose up at....but yes that's how bad it is! I certainly won't be partaking in any of it...I'll just be passing it off to all the children in the neighbourhood.

The celebration of Halloween signifies the true start of winter for me and I look forward to evenings with the open fire blazing and a deep bowl of chunky soup or a heart warming stew to keep the chill out. But even though I feel under the weather, I can always be tempted with a bowl of my vegetable soup. Made with a good chicken stock, it is mild enough for the tenderest of digestions and is filled with the life giving and healing properties that naturally occur in chicken.
As I am typing this, I have a pot of it bubbling away on the stove top and in about 5 minutes I will be diving into a big cup....care to join me?

You can find my Chunky Vegetable Soup recipe HERE!

Your Health in Your Hands! ....The basics of Food Hygiene & Enjoying Your Food Safely

As someone who loves food, I am sure you would agree that the worst thing that can happen to you is getting yourself a dose of FOOD POISONING!

FOOD POISONING! It sounds very dramatic and somewhat lethal when you say it out loud, but we are not talking Agatha Christie here, no one will die at dinner! at least we hope not, as the food poisoning I am talking about is completely unintentional and accidental 90% of the time.

Me Oh My, I Love Pie! .... Speedy Chicken Pie

The simple things in life are the best and you know what? I think they are right, because this chicken pie is one of those simple classics that just warms the cockles of your heart, especially on a blowy, wet October day.
If you have chicken that is already cooked, and a store bought, pre-rolled sheet of puff pastry, then so much the better as this speeds things along, and speed is the name of the game for this dish!

Beauty is in the eye?...... Pan Fried Pork, Creamy Oyster Sauce, Spiced Rice

There are times when things you cook may not turn out as aesthetically pleasing as you would want,  but.... boy do they taste dam fine!
This pork dish is a prime example...it's not the prettiest thing you've ever seen on a plate and doesn't photograph to it's advantage, but the flavours are fab!

The ingredient at the heart of this dish is OYSTER SAUCE. What is oyster sauce?....does it actually come from oysters?...the answer is yes. Personally I can't stand oysters, I tried them once and never again! yes they may taste sensational, but the sensation I get when trying to swallow one?....well, I think I'd rather swallow a snake! I'm shuddering just even thinking about the cold, squishy, sliminess....if you have the nerve I highly recommend giving them a go, at least you'll be able to boast that you actually ate oysters, even if you only ever forced down one! but back to the oyster sauce.....

Oyster sauce is a thickened caramel sort of liquid to which the essence of real oysters has been added. It is mainly used in Asian cuisines, most regularly when stir-frying.
It does have a unique but delicious flavour, and I have found that adding it to a casserole or a quickly pan fried steak or breast of chicken with the addition of a little white wine and cream makes a scrumptious stroganoff type of dish.
When buying oyster sauce, do try to go for a brand that is MSG free.

Learning to Vegetate!......... Aubergine, tomato & goat cheese bake

Breath the words 'vegetarian or vegan', especially to a chef, and you may be treated to a roll of the eyes and deep sighs. At best vegetarians / vegans, are viewed as tree hugging, sandal wearing individuals with flowers in their flowing hair, scampering naked through the forest at full moon as they worship mother earth.....at worst, they and their eating habits are viewed as a nuisance and greeted with disdain. 

But sorry to throw rain on your parade of condescension if this is also your opinion, the reality is very far from the truth, for vegetarians and vegans are normal people like you and me...they just have a little bit more of a conscience and are a lot more health savvy!

Many chefs hate to see vegetarians or vegans coming into the dining room because in the world of the chef, meat is still king! and they just aren't geared up (due to laziness mostly) for the vegetarian or vegan customer. A lack of research and ignorance of the 'lifestyle' is generally the cause for such hate filled reactions. But really, there are a myriad of cookery books out there if they could just be bothered to read them! and actually cooking a vegetable based meal is a lot quicker and more cost effective....someone should tell them that!

But putting all ethical and philosophical reasons aside, there is NO DENYING that a move towards a plant based diet will do you nothing but good! In fact, if you believe all the latest research, it could actually save your life! helping you loose weight, regulating your blood sugars and increasing insulin sensitivity thereby able to actually turn the clock back on  Type 2 diabetes diagnoses, improving bowel function, helping to reduce your risk of cancers, and...it's good for the environment!...but shush we don't want anyone from the multi billion euro a year meat industry to hear us as all will be denied and they will vehemently tell you that you cannot live without meat in your diet.

Autumn with a bang! - 'Brooklyn' Braised Cabbage

There you are thinking joyfully of a delicious new season, contemplating blazing bonfires of orange and gold leaves, crisp chilly mornings with August like blue skies and blinding sunshine, walks in the woods to hunt for the first mushrooms and gather chestnuts, planning that first juniper spiced venison stew of the season when WAP! your throat feels like you swallowed a kitchen roll sized sheet of sandpaper and your head turns fuzzy....yes Autumn has arrived with a bang and my first cold of the season.

Thank goodness that on Saturday past I was very industrious and made a huge batch of my wellness inducing vegetable soup with a stock made from a turkey leg....although a chicken stock is delicious I do recommend giving a turkey stock a go! you can find my recipe for this awesome and life giving vegetable soup by clicking HERE!

It's at times like these that I refer to my abundance.....a very harvesty sort of word for the season that's in it....of recipes and meal ideas. Although I may not have the time to blog as regularly as I would like, owing to the fact that one has to work to earn ones money...I don't flog on my blog!.....I do cook daily and try to photograph as much of it as I possibly can...admittedly though there's not much point in taking yet another picture of a casserole, or a roast dinner....been there, done that so to speak.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that another of my loves in life, besides cooking, is reading, and not just every cookery book I can get my hands on, but also a good novel or two, or twenty! 

Having re-read Colm Toibins' 2009 novel 'Brooklyn' for the umpteenth time....now there's a man I would like as a guest at my dinner party to end all dinner parties!......and having recently witnessed the movie version, I got to thinking about the way Irish people have emigrated around the world and brought their influence to bear on many different cultures. 

Wherever we Irish turn up, we are noted for our friendliness, our craic, and our ability to hold copious amount of alcoholic beverages whilst performing our rendition of River Dance on a bar top somewhere in Manhattan or Melbourne....which a friend of mine actually did!...however, we have never really been known in times gone by for our food. These days though that is all changing and Irish exports of our wonderful produce are now literally world wide.

Bountiful Bundt Cake!....Coffee & Maple Baby Bundts

Ah the Bundt Cake....that American classic 'take to the neighbourhood pot luck, BBQ, or 4th of July picnic' cake, that conjures up the shiny innocence of the 1950's where life was all about clean living, church going, family, and wives doing the bidding of their husbands.

When I think of bundt cake I imagine Doris Day in 'Move over darling'.....as a woman normally subservient to her husbands wishes, her character 'Beverly' embarks on a career of her own with hilarious results including a Cadillac landing in the swimming pool!, but at the end of the day her husband, being male and synonymous with superiority, wins the battle of the sexes and she relinquishes her career...all to appease his punctured ego!

Along the same theme, there is also the movie 'Stepford Wives' which although it has gone through a modern day remake starring Nicole Kidman with a more comedic approach than the creepy horror filled version, it still carries those assumptions and preconceived notions with which men have viewed women since time immemorial....ones virginal wife is there to tend to ones needs by providing an immaculate home, a freshly ironed shirt each morning, gourmet meals, well behaved, perfect offspring, and then in the evening when he is greeted with his pipe, slippers and a 'how was your day dear', she obligingly turns into a sex goddess in the bedroom!
Am I wrong? have these male notions altered at all in the last 60 years? deep down I bet they haven't, although people are more careful about voicing those sorts of opinions these days as the feminists will put the fear of God into them.

Occasionally I meet the odd man who still carries these ideals and expectations around with him and is quite willing to voice his opinions on the matter.....and really you can't begrudge him his beliefs and wishful thinking because regardless of our advancements in equality between men and women in the workplace, women are still more likely to shoulder the burden of housework and childcare at home, and are, truth be told, still more likely to sacrifice their career in order to care for the family....unless you are in the brigade who can afford nannies and housekeepers, but then you are vilified for letting 'strangers' raise your children....we can't win girls...dammed if you do, dammed if you don't sort of thing!

But time to get off the soap box or we could be here all night....these little bundt beauties are perfect for the lunch box! or just a little treat. They are only a couple of mouthfuls each so not necessarily that naughty....as long as you can restrain yourself!