Tuseday Treat! - Old School Rice Krispy Treats

Any child who has been raised in Ireland will know the joy of the rice krispy bun....always a favourite at birthday parties...... for any parent who is not in the least skilled at baking they are the easiest thing to make and well worth it to see the pride on that little face when they say my mammy or my daddy made these......even if it means you are picking rice krispies off the floor for the next month!
Kids can also get involved in the making process as all you are doing is melting chocolate and stirring in rice krispies then scooping it into paper cases and chucking some hundreds and thousands over the top or even mini marshmallows....easy peasy for anyone! However, we can take the classic rice krispie treat a step further and make it something altogether more luxurious!

This recipe results in a krispie treat that is rich and sweet from the caramel but with a delish bitter chocolate top to counteract that sweetness. I don't advise letting the kids help you with this one as lethally hot sugar and kids are NOT a good combination! BAKER BEWARE!

Scarborough Fair Chicken

I am a Simon & Garfunkel fan, a child of the 70's and 80's, and who couldn't resist the delectable, young, Dustin Hoffman in 'The Graduate' ! I found the movie unusually funny in places...and at the time I thought the story beyond absurd....am I alone in thinking this?.....or maybe I had been leading a very naive and sheltered Irish existence and didn't understand that these things actually went on in the real world and not just in the movies!

The sound track to the movie was by the wonderful Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel who introduced me, not personally I might add, to the glories of traditional folk music. One of my favourites from the movie is  'Scarborough Fair'. which is an ancient folk balled from the late 1600's to the mid 1700's, no one seems quite sure which. Scarborough itself is a seaside town on the east coast of England, in Yorkshire to be precise, and a lovely little town it is too with a fortified castle overlooking the sea that is well worth a visit. Sadly Scarborough Fair no longer exists as this momentous fair...it was held for 45 days!...ended in 1788...there has been some effort at reviving the tradition on a somewhat smaller scale of course and it's usually held in September.

Traditionally a 'fair' or 'fayre' was a place where traders and farmers would gather to buy and sell livestock, wares and any excess of home produce not specifically needed by the family such as eggs, butter, cheese, wool and livestock. Back then all homes were pretty much self sufficient but one of the things housewives would buy at the fair would be chickens, albeit live ones! which she would take home and either raise them to produce eggs for either eating or to provide more hens.

This is a very tasty way of cooking a chicken and is an extremely simple dish, but packed with maximum flavour from the assorted herbs which blend so well with the orange. If you can roast a chicken you can master this and it's a perfect Sunday lunch meal.

If you can't get flat parsley you can substitute with curly and a stalk of celery for added flavour.

You will need......feeds 4 - 6 people

1.5 - 2kg whole, oven ready chicken
3 medium oranges....try and get really juicy ones
50 - 80g butter plus an additional 100 g which you should dice and keep well chilled
4 sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme
6 - 8 sage leaves
small handful of flat parsley with stalks attached
500mls water
sea salt, fresh black pepper
1 shot of Cointreau if you can get it

How to....

There is one simple rule when working with chicken...have a sink or bowl filled with hot soapy water, anytime you touch the chicken you must scrub your hands before handling anything else.... also you must scrub anything that touches the raw chicken like the chopping board or knives etc. I always try to do any work to the chicken in the actual roasting tray rather than use a chopping board.

Back In The Saddle! More tasty Goodness On The Way!

Having a physical affliction slows you down somewhat and certainly puts a dampener on ones enthusiasm for certain things, and as I have been suffering for a few weeks with a painful leg it has meant that I have spent little time standing at my stove for any length and indulging in my favorite pastime....cooking! But thank goodness things have turned the corner and the old bones are getting back on track and I feel re-energized and ready to light the fires under the pots once more.

Having to stay off my feet for the majority of the time has had its advantages in that I have dragged down from the shelves groaning with cookbooks, some old classics that I haven't read through in many moons and discovered some old recipes that I haven't cooked in a few years and some that have never seen the inside of a saucepan or an oven!

New discoveries can stimulate the imagination and can develop wonderfully into something new and exciting and copious notes have been made for future meals and recipes which I will share with you over the coming months.

Soon to follow will be a sweet paprika and pork casserole, 'Scarborough Fair Chicken'...and if you know the song you will know it will include parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme! there will also be a delicious 'breakfast on the run'...a running out the door healthy breakfast...and so many other delights to get the taste buds watering...so until then, check back soon....later on today in fact!