Adieu.......et absentia.

What began as a mild cold just before Christmas, has now developed into an extremely uncomfortable chest infection requiring antibiotics and copious amounts of rest, hence my absence from the digital culinary world.

It's at times like these, when I have little or no appetite and even less sensation in my taste buds, that I can truly be thankful that I am ordinarily able to fully enjoy natures greatest gifts while so many are not due illness or other health reasons or even financial constraints.

As ever I will maintain that 'fresh is best' and is always cheaper! and I hope to soon be putting my palate through its paces once more inventing some new recipes and reviving some old classics for the new era.

The way things are going though, by the time I recover, all turkey, duck, goose and the party food and drinks of new years eve, of which I will not be partaking, will be a distant memory and we will all be trying to keep to all the new resolutions of eating a touch lighter and a little bit healthier......so until then my dear friends, I wish you all a most healthful and happy new year......may your pots never burn, may your tables be laden with memorable meals, and your friends and family be ever near........adieu 2015!

'Charlatans' Christmas Pudding!

Christmas pudding is as much a part of Ireland's culture as bacon and cabbage, and most likely every home will have one in some shape or form for the Christmas season be it a shop bought one or a home-made one prepared early in November and left to 'mature' for the big day.

I'm not sure many people go to the trouble of flaming their puddings these days, too much of a fire hazard probably! but I like to think that in the past it would have been flamed with that old Irish moonshine 'Poitin', rather than brandy, for who among the peasant folk could have afforded brandy!

I usually find myself making puddings from just after Halloween, but there is invariably a phone call or text message in the days leading up to Christmas from some poor soul who has forgotten to put in their order for a proper hand made pudding. When it comes to food I hate to see anyone going without so I came up with the idea for a 'last minute' pudding.

This pudding can be made almost at the last Christmas minute as it just needs to relax for a mere 24 hours before it can be eaten, so yes, technically you could make it on Christmas eve!, perfect for those in desperation if the local stores have run out of the 'good one's' or if you've forgotten to order one!

I think this is a really convenient method of doing a pudding,  shop bought mincemeat has the bulk of the fruit and suet required to make a pudding, and because mincemeat has already been 'matured' to gain that traditional flavour, there is no need to mature your pudding! I do advise you to get a good moist mincemeat though, some cheaper versions can be a little dry.

Although you will find this pudding a little less dense than a traditional pudding, everyone seems to love it done this way, some have even said they prefer it! so if you're in a hurry or you just like experimenting, have a go at making this and do let me know how you get on!

Crimson Cabbage.......Sorry, No Bacon Allowed

The red cabbage is another of those vegetables that I think are vastly underrated and rarely get a mention.
A member of the brassica family, the red cabbage is delicious eaten raw or cooked, although unlike the more common green cabbage they can be slightly difficult to get hold of on a regular basis.

You can do with a red cabbage pretty much what you would do with any other cabbage, but surprisingly I find that bacon does not really go that well with it, it could be just my taste preferences of course so do try it for yourself, maybe you will love red cabbage & bacon!

Red cabbage lends itself very well to being cooked with sugar and spices, vinegars, wine, dried fruits, or served raw with chilli, lemon, ginger and lime flavours in an Asian styled slaw.

But luckily at this time of year it seems to be readily available in the supermarket, so why not take advantage of what nature gives us. My recipe for 'Crimson Cabbage' is well suited to the season of Christmas, with all it's spices and wine flavours it is a dish that will do justice to roast turkey, duck, goose, or even beef if that's your pleasure. For convenience you can cook this dish a day or two in advance and warm it up when needed, helping you to be that bit more organised for Christmas day! The delightful crimson colour will also look stunning against the vibrant green of sprouts which I DO recommend having with bacon! or chorizo, or pancetta or any cured bacon.......

I'm dreaming of a white.....Christmassy Chocolate Pie

Christmas pudding is wonderful, and if you haven't made yours yet, never fear, I will have my recipe for a 'no mature' Charlatans Christmas Pudding up shortly!

But after we scoff what will be an overly indulgent Christmas day luncheon, the traditional fruity pudding might be better reserved for Boxing Day when our lunch will be a much simpler affair of a cold turkey, stuffing, pickle and cranberry sandwich.


So unless you are a complete Christmas die hard and simply must have that pudding on the big day, with such a heavy meal to be consummed, it might be a good idea, if you intend to have dessert at all, to plum'p (pardon the pun), for something a touch lighter to follow all that turkey! and a light dessert of cheesecake can fill that need for something sweet, yet won't be too heavy on the stomach.

Cheesecake can be anything you want it to be and the flavour possibilities and combinations are limitless. I have a personal preference for what I would term a 'fresh' cheesecake...ie...one that has not been baked but has been set with the assistance of a fruit inspired gelatine or chocolate.....the texture of a baked cheesecake has never really appealed to me and even when I've baked one myself with careful preparation, I still find the texture to be a bit too heavy and dense for my liking.

This cheesecake is a quick and easy no cook recipe and as I've said, it's more of a pie than a cake. The texture is delicate, smooth, light and creamy with just a tang from the cream cheese and a little festive kick from the whiskey cream liqueur.

Marrying the richness of the white chocolate with the spice of my seasonal cranberry compote gives a little touch of tartness to balance out the sweetness, very refreshing after a full on roast turkey dinner!

You can make this recipe as one large pie or in small individual portions.

I enjoy new ways of presenting dishes and as we are using a whiskey cream liqueur in this recipe why not try making these in a whiskey glass, they are usually quite wide and deep and perfect for this kind of dessert.







So for my White Chocolate Velvet Pie, to feed 6 - 8 people, you will need:

for the base:

200 g plain digestive biscuits

80 g unsalted butter

50 g dark chocolate min 65% cocoa

for the filling:

350 g good quality white chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200 g full fat cream cheese almost at room temperature
80 g castor sugar
1 large measure of Irish whisky cream liqueur.....eg Baileys

200 mls whipping cream 

for my Spiced Cranberry Compote: click HERE!

how to: Base

• crush the digestive biscuits by hand or in a blender until you have nice even sized crumbs
• break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a small saucepan, add the butterer and melt very slowly and gently, mix the two together well so it resembles a chocolate sauce then add the biscuit crumbs and stir until the crumbs have absorbed all the liquid
• press the crumbs into the base of your pie tin or glasses, but don't press too firmly as we don't want a hard solid base that may be difficult to break, we want it to be a touch crumbly
• place in the refrigerator to set for at least 20 minutes

filling:

• melt the white chocolate, again very gently, in a bowl over a pan of hot, not boiling! water, make sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl, stir gently while melting, if you melt white chocolate at too high a temperature you may risk it getting grainy......not very nice at all!
• once the chocolate is melted turn the heat off under the pot, we want the chocolate to stay warm
• whip the cream cheese and Baileys together until smooth
• pour your cream into a deep bowl, add the castor sugar and stir to dissolve then whip the cream until it begins to thicken and will form a ribbon when you lift the whisk out, be careful not to over whip, we want our pie to be 'velvety' smooth!
• add the melted white chocolate to the whipped cream, then fold in the cream-cheese/Baileys mixture, mix it all together well but don't over whip
• pour the filling onto your chilled base, return to the refrigerator and leave to set at least 3 hours or preferably over night

To serve you can top each 'pie' with the cranberry compote or serve it on the side, don't forget a bit of extra whipped cream on the side, we're going all out here, it is Christmas after all!

I hope you have a go at this recipe and if you have any Christmas kitchen questions you can fine me on twitter and facebook.

Roasted red onion, plum tomato & Blacksticks blue cheese tart........try saying that when you've had a few!

I may bore you after a while on the subject of cheese but it's something I can never have enough of!

Blacksticks cheese comes from near an old stomping ground of mine in Lancashire and as you can see it is a most unusual  'blue' cheese as it is orange....and 'blue'.

It is a cheese that is creamy, crumbly, has that perfect blend of blue cheese acidity and um.....stinkiness....I love it!

I love cheese in a hundred different ways but I am particularly partial to the cheesy tart / quiche combination. This dish is great for a dinner party starter, a light lunch or supper and eats just as beautifully cold or hot.

you will need:

7-9 inch non stick flan tin

1 sheet of shortcrust pastry.....but feel free to make your own if you have the time

1 large red onion

about 20 baby plum tomatoes

150-200 g Blacksticks blue cheese or other blue cheese

4 eggs

200 mls single cream 

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

sea salt / fresh black pepper

olive oil

how to:

• peel, halve and cut the onion into thick slices, place on an oven tray, halve the tomatoes and place on another oven tray, season both with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil
• roast at 180 until the tomatoes begin to wilt and the onions have browned a little
• remove from the oven and set aside
• butter the flan tin then line with shortcrust pastry
• bake the tart case 'blind' by covering with a piece of greaseproof paper weighted down by baking beans or I like to use rice

• bake at 150 c until the pastry is firm but not browned! this will help stop shrinkage during the baking of our tart, stop any fluid leaking out and prevent a soggy bottom......nobody likes soggy bottoms!
• artfully arrange your roasted onions and tomatoes in the tart case, keep a few of the tomato halves back to decorate the top later
• dice the cheese and scatter over the top of the vegetables
• whisk the eggs and cream/milk together well and season liberally, strain through a sieve into a jug
• add the chopped fresh thyme to the egg/cream mixture, stir well then slowly pour the over the vegetables, place a few more tomato halves on top of the egg
• place your tart on a baking sheet and put in a pre heated oven at 160c
• bake for approx 30 minutes or until the egg is set and the top is very lightly browned

how to enjoy:

You can eat the tart straight from the oven or let it cool then refrigerate to eat later.

It is possible to re heat this tart but do it very carefully, we don't want the egg to turn rubbery.

Serve with a nice green salad and some onion chutney for a bit of bite.

You can make this as individual or even little bite size tarts to serve at your Christmas party!

The Office Christmas Party......Is it ever a good idea?

  As I sit here in front of a lovely log fire nursing just a teensy glass of red wine, (which I truly deserve after the day I've had!) the wind has begun to hum up the chimney.
Storm Desmond has struck land on the west coast of Ireland and is slowly trailing it's destruction across county Donegal and we are in it's direct path! so the fire is lit, the candles are at the ready and the laptop is fully charged because around here if there's a stiff breeze, the electricity goes out!
As for my day?.......well it was a day of running errands and trying to organise ourselves for Christmas, and, as a special treat, or rather using the excuse of a Christmas 'works' party, I had a little lunch outing at a local hostelry, a place that people have raved to me about saying the quality of the food outweighs the costly prices.

Turkey..................Not just for Christmas.

Here in Ireland turkey and Christmas go hand in hand with over 80 % of us enjoying the big bird for the main meal!
In the lead up to Christmas, the supermarket shelves and butchers will have their prize birds on display and it seems, the bigger the bird the better! Do you really need a 15 lb turkey?

But turkey is appearing more regularly and in most grocery outlets and butchers you can buy either whole breasts, the legs of the turkey on their own, turkey breast escalopes and even minced turkey with n'er a Christmas bauble in sight!

Turkey is an excellent source of lean protein and it's mild flavour seems to be liked by pretty much everybody. If anyone hesitates over turkey it's usually because in their experience it is a dry meat, and each Christmas season brings a new battle to keep that turkey moist! But as Christmas is just over three weeks away we'll worry about that problem later!

With turkey products so readily available I have begun adapting some of my beef and pork recipes and substituting the meat for turkey. You do have to be careful though about what you choose to do with it as we want to avoid the dreaded 'dryness'!.....long, slow cooking does not a moist turkey dish make!

This recipe is along the lines of that family favourite, meatloaf.

It is full of flavour and moist! and with those seasonal bacon and sage flavours, Christmas has come early.

Christmas Turkey Meatloaf

you will need: to feed 6 people

500 g minced turkey 

100 g white breadcrumbs - fresh, not dried

50 g oatmeal

50 g pistachios

2 medium white onions

2 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 2 teaspoons of dried sage

1 medium egg

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

sea salt & fresh black pepper

1 stalk of celery

1 medium sized carrot

250 g dry cured smoked streaky bacon

How to:

• Peel and finely chop 1 of the onions, if you have a small food processor then puréeing the onions is even better, to make it easier you can add the egg and worcester sauce to the onion then blend
• place the minced turkey in a good deep bowl, add the breadcrumbs, oatmeal, pistachios, sage, onion and egg, and season well with salt and freshly milled black pepper..... mix everything well together.....using your hands is good for this task....if you use a mixer it tends to turn the turkey to a paste which make the loaf very heavy and dense
• shape the turkey mix into an oval shape
• wrap the smoke bacon in layers around the loaf, you can use some wooden cocktail sticks to hold the bacon in place if you need to
• slice the other onion and cut the carrot and celery into thick slices, place these on a shallow roasting tin
• add some water to the tray then place the turkey loaf on the bed of vegetables
• bake in a medium oven about 150 degrees centigrade for approx 1 hour

When finished cooking the bacon will be delightfully crisp and the meat enclosed lovely and moist. You can use the vegetables and roasting juices as the base for a gravy to go with your meatloaf, try adding some cranberry sauce and a dash of port to the juices before thickening into a gravy.

If there are any leftovers, like any meatloaf you can chill it to have in a tasty sandwich later, just don't forget the cranberry!

Marvellous Muffins.............Having your cake and eating it

Baking has been enjoying a renaissance for the last few years. The shelves in my local book store groan under the weight of recipe books and the television is awash with programs dedicated to sweet delights.

Baking at home is a wonderful pastime and a great way to introduce kids to the world of the kitchen. One can enjoy baking too without having to eat it all and believe me baking for your friends or those whom you wish to influence, will notch you up brownie points no end!

Cake and pastry recipes can be very simple or exceedingly complex, and even if what you bake doesn't turn out exactly like the picture in the recipe book, it will usually still taste great........because you made it yourself!

Everybody and anybody seems to love a little bit of cake, including me! but no matter how delicious, it comes with the unfortunate distinction that it is bad for us! due of course to the high levels of fats and sugars associated in the making of it.

But a little of what you fancy does you good, now and then.........just remember that too much of a good thing does no one any good! So, how can you have your cake and eat it?

Daube de Lamb or Winter Lamb Stew, Donegal Style

When discussing France and food, it generally brings to mind those foods we most identify with a
country blessed with an abundance of heat and light. The fresh fruits, the crisp salads and faux fillets with the obligatory 'pommes frites', the fresh seafood, the creamy cheese just ripe for the eating, the light as air croissants and crusty baguette, the delectable tarte au citron or chocolate mousse, the crepes hot off the griddle and creamy ice cream in crisp waffle cones, these are the foods of long hot summer days enjoyed on a 2 week annual holiday.......if you are lucky!

Having had the advantage and privilege of being more than a holiday maker in France, I was able to discover another food side to this wonderful country, one that appears when the last bronzed sun worshiper steps onto the plane.
There is a whole menu of cold weather food......cold weather as in the sun is still shining but the temperature is minus 5! or when the psychotic Mistral wind blows for days on end!
So when it's cold outside, just like in Ireland, the natives are drawn to those heart warming dishes of casseroles, thick soups and rich wine soaked stews, best eaten in front of roaring log fires with glass of red wine in hand!

One of my favourite French winter warmers is the famous 'Daube de Boeuf'. A rich Provençal stew with lots of vegetables and beef soaked in copious amounts of red wine, then slowly cooked for hours till it melts in the mouth. Accompanied by our old favourite the boiled potato, and washed down with a few more glasses of wine, you have central heating that will make you sleep like the dead and keep you warm through the coldest of nights!

Bread & Butter Pudding 'Italian' Style!

At this time of year the wonderful Italian Panettone appears in the shops and people seem to be amazed at the high price commanded for what is basically a loaf of bread with fruit in it.

Panettone is a bread type product, but it is so much more than you imagine, it is rich, sweet and takes an incredible 20 hours or so to make, hence the extortionate price, but as you will agree when you've tried it, there's value in every bite!

Panettone, which is very much like Irish 'Barmbrack' is sweetened with dried fruit, but with a much higher ratio of butter, also it is put through 3 stages of rising which gives the panettone its distinctive fluffy texture. But unlike in Ireland, where we eat our brack with a good cup of tea, the Italians enjoy their panettone with a glass of sweet wine or a strong cup of coffee, preferably espresso.

Although panettone is as easy as making any other enriched type bread, it is time consuming with all the rising required, and with so many wonderful panettone products of a good standard on the market.......why bother!

Last Christmas I ................ made my cake too late.

If you wish to have a Christmas cake that would make even 'Mary Poppins' proud......that is, a cake that is 'practically perfect in every way', then this weekend or early next week is really that final window of baking opportunity!

Those of us who got ourselves ahead of the game early....and well done to you if you are one of our gang!.....we are now at our last but one 'brandy-fying' hurdle.

This weekend we will be turning our cake and brushing the base with brandy, re-wrapping it and storing it upside down! for the next week.


If you have however been extremely busy, as so many of us are, don't panic! if you can get your cake made by the end of this week then you still have time to let it mature, although I would suggest 1 less dose of brandy!

So if you missed it here's my Countdown to Christmas 'Part I'

If you're not into Christmas cake of any kind then take heart, I will have some delicious festive alternatives for you over the next couple of weeks!

"Frikadellen"......... pardon my German!

Wandering around a supermarket recently, I spied an unusual item that I hadn't encountered before.

The item in question resembled an extremely overcooked little meat patty almost like a burger, but so great was my curiosity that I couldn't wait to get home and 'Google' it to find out exactly what they were, and as it turns out they were very interesting!



What I had discovered was 'Frikadellen'! What the 'f.... ' is a 'frickadellen'? well the natives of this little island will certainly not be familiar with these things unless they have been to Germany that is! or if they were adventurous enough to buy them!

According to that great oracle 'wikipedia', the 'frickadellen' is a small meat 'dumpling', but rather than having a the round shape of a dumpling it is more like a meat patty really. They are very popular in Germany and in many of those other 'eastern block' countries.