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.