Sunday, May 24, 2009
Bread and jam
Nothing like it! Tastes nostalgic (brings you right back to the Ann and Barry days) and good! Use bread recipe posted earlier and bog standard jam. And a bit of butter. Delicious.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Radio
No recipe today, but...
Stay tuned for details of the Life of Miley Radio show - coming soon on Tallaght FM!
I have a few days off work at the moment, and this is doing wonders for examining the world of the daytime. Turns out there's more to the hours between 8 and 6 than computer screens and crumbs in my keyboard.
So time without much money, a slight cold (guinea pig flu)has not led to any new life of miley insight.
So i offer this...meal. I'm not calling it a recipe.
2 slices of toast
2 dessert spoons full of supermarket egg salad
that's it.
(for today's recipe - check out http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2009/05/hasselback-potatoes.html) I haven't tried it, but it'll feature this weekend.
Stay tuned for details of the Life of Miley Radio show - coming soon on Tallaght FM!
I have a few days off work at the moment, and this is doing wonders for examining the world of the daytime. Turns out there's more to the hours between 8 and 6 than computer screens and crumbs in my keyboard.
So time without much money, a slight cold (guinea pig flu)has not led to any new life of miley insight.
So i offer this...meal. I'm not calling it a recipe.
2 slices of toast
2 dessert spoons full of supermarket egg salad
that's it.
(for today's recipe - check out http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2009/05/hasselback-potatoes.html) I haven't tried it, but it'll feature this weekend.
Monday, May 11, 2009
My newest favourite recipe
I've started to scribble a few easy yet scrumptious recipes down in my diary, so if for some reason a quick dinner is needed wherever I find myself I'll have some good options. All of the diary entries are dead easy to make, inexpensive and taste pretty good too.
My latest addition is risotto, and I'm in love with it! I made risotto for the first time in my life about two months ago, and now I'm almost an expert. The recipe I follow is infinitely easier than all of those other ones that require constant stirring and leave you with a mess as often as a delicious dinner. You can follow the recipe below (which serves four), but feel free to make a few changes and chuck in whatever's in the fridge either - I even made an Irish breakfast risotto recently!
You will need:
25g butter
an onion
150g chicken
200g risotto rice
a teaspoon of fennel seeds
900ml of chicken stock
75g frozen peas
juice and grated rink of about half a lemon
2 tablespoons of double cream (or maybe a little bit more)
50g or so of grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons of chopped mint
salt and pepper
To cook:
Boil the kettle and pre-heat the oven to about 200 degrees. Chuck the butter into a pan. Throw in the chopped onion and the chicken and fry for a couple of minutes. Make up the chicken stock. Add the risotto rice and fennel seeds to the pan of chicken, butter and onion and stir it all about for a minute or so. Add the stock and the peas.
Put that mixture into a casserole dish, put the lid on and cook it for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it though - the goal is for the rice to be tender and all the liquid absorbed. When you get to that point you're almost there.
All that's left is to stir in the lemon juice and rind, cream and Parmesan, and add a bit of salt and pepper. Cover it up and leave it sitting for about two minutes, and stir in the mint just before serving. If you're watching what you're eating you might want to add only half of the Parmesan and put the rest on the table so more can be added if needed.
Let me know what other ingredients work for you in this risotto.
Enjoy!
My latest addition is risotto, and I'm in love with it! I made risotto for the first time in my life about two months ago, and now I'm almost an expert. The recipe I follow is infinitely easier than all of those other ones that require constant stirring and leave you with a mess as often as a delicious dinner. You can follow the recipe below (which serves four), but feel free to make a few changes and chuck in whatever's in the fridge either - I even made an Irish breakfast risotto recently!
You will need:
25g butter
an onion
150g chicken
200g risotto rice
a teaspoon of fennel seeds
900ml of chicken stock
75g frozen peas
juice and grated rink of about half a lemon
2 tablespoons of double cream (or maybe a little bit more)
50g or so of grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons of chopped mint
salt and pepper
To cook:
Boil the kettle and pre-heat the oven to about 200 degrees. Chuck the butter into a pan. Throw in the chopped onion and the chicken and fry for a couple of minutes. Make up the chicken stock. Add the risotto rice and fennel seeds to the pan of chicken, butter and onion and stir it all about for a minute or so. Add the stock and the peas.
Put that mixture into a casserole dish, put the lid on and cook it for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it though - the goal is for the rice to be tender and all the liquid absorbed. When you get to that point you're almost there.
All that's left is to stir in the lemon juice and rind, cream and Parmesan, and add a bit of salt and pepper. Cover it up and leave it sitting for about two minutes, and stir in the mint just before serving. If you're watching what you're eating you might want to add only half of the Parmesan and put the rest on the table so more can be added if needed.
Let me know what other ingredients work for you in this risotto.
Enjoy!
Food Failure
Cooking is all about personal taste and experimentation. Keep trying, and fine tuning, and picking up tricks, and the food you cook will get better. You'll also save money by being happy to cobble together dinners out of seemingly nothing.
However.
Along the way, it's certain that you'll make one or two dishes that will threaten to put you off food for life. Here are some things I put together that would be perhaps best avoided.
Fried Cheese (made when I was 14)
I like cheese. I like fried things. It doesn't take a genius to stick a slice of cheddar ona hot pan, wait for it to turn into black oozing death, and then spoon it up.
Pasta Gaseous
To make Carbonara, mix pasta with raw egg, tiny bit of milk and parmesan.
Put in too much milk to early, and you'll cool down the pasta, and you won't cook the egg, and you'll end up with pasta and raw egg. I farted. A lot.
Underpants Stirfry
To give your stirfry the taste of sweaty underpants, drench in Nam Pla (Fish Sauce) and add some dry sherry. And some vinegar. You can sell this from Japanese vending machines, I hear.
Veal Shank Schnitzel
I used to work in a fairly dodgy restaurant - my Boss was big on cost cutting. He brought in some veal shanks for an attempt at fancy meals. Of course no one was eating veal shanks, so it sat in the walk-in for far longer then was strictly safe. Then, together (and I will take blame here) we stripped off the fatty meat, breaded it, pan fried it, tried some, and nearly vomited. (he still flogged one or two)
Egg and Cheese cake.
I was young. My mam asked me to make lunch for my brothers. I had visions of delicious cheesy omelettes - but thought I'd invent a new way. I took a pyrex pie dish. Filled it with grated cheddar cheese, pushed four holes in it, and broke eggs into the holes. Then I put it in the oven until i had a hard, greasy bright orange disk. yummy.
Duck for six.
The first time i cooked a whole duck, I took it out of the freezer - it looked the same size as a chicken I'd use to feed six people. Into the oven, and it evaporated into a giant puddle of fat. There was no hilarious taste experience, just a learning experience.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Barbecue, the continuing obsession
Honestly, there are some things i can do confidently and well. They are few and far between. I can play blackbird by the beatles on the guitar, i can navigate around MS excel like i'm in the olympics, and i can cook barbecue.
I learnt my trade from my dad, in the back garden, then from an early age, i sought more barbecue knowledge. I travelled the world, and spent some time in the darkest recesses of Queensland, plying my trade as a bbquer professionally. And now i returned to the rainiest country in the world, with the ability to cook summer food!
Ok, so, couple of quick caveats before we get onto the recipe:
1) This is for a gas barbecue. I'm fully aware that charcoal/wood/smokebox/etc bbqs offer a more authentic flavour, but let's please be realistic. We live in an apartment in Dublin. It's not a serious option. (also, the philosopy of this blog is 'good food, cheap')
2) I'm not going to tell you how to make bbq sauce. There's hundreds of recipes, and we've a list below of all the store-bought ones we've use.
BBQ Chicken Wings - Cheap, Cheerful, Awesome!
Buy your chicken wings from the butcher, they're the cheapest cut of chicken, so you'll get a good deal. (I paid 3 euro for 10 wings- makes 20 chicken pieces)
The wing will come in one piece, with 2 joints. Cut the wings at each joint, and throw away the wingtips. (If you're making stock, hang onto them, but i'll go into that another time)
Put the wings in a mixing bowl with a good dose of Olive oil, and salt and pepper. (You can throw other spices in at this point, but it's up to you - i normally add a tiny bit of cajun seasoning)
Mix them up until all the wings are oiled and seasoned. Put in oven at 160 degrees for 30-40 mins. At this point, they will be cooked through, and will be a light golden colour.
Take them out of the oven, and leave to cool for a little while. put them in the mixing bowl with a good dollop of bbq sauce. Again, mix around until they are nicely coated with the sauce.
Leave to marinate for as long as you have.
put these on the grill until the sauce on the outside browns, and blackens in spots.
You now have awesome bbq wings!
Safety Note
Cooking chicken on a barbecue is great, but you need to be conscious of the risks. Raw chicken can carry bacteria that causes food poisoning, so it is important that the raw chicken does not come into contact with anything that will be eaten uncooked.
Not too big a deal - use seperate plates for raw and cooked meat, wash all implements immediately after handling raw chicken, do make sure to wash your hands immediately after touching raw meat. It's obvious stuff.
I learnt my trade from my dad, in the back garden, then from an early age, i sought more barbecue knowledge. I travelled the world, and spent some time in the darkest recesses of Queensland, plying my trade as a bbquer professionally. And now i returned to the rainiest country in the world, with the ability to cook summer food!
Ok, so, couple of quick caveats before we get onto the recipe:
1) This is for a gas barbecue. I'm fully aware that charcoal/wood/smokebox/etc bbqs offer a more authentic flavour, but let's please be realistic. We live in an apartment in Dublin. It's not a serious option. (also, the philosopy of this blog is 'good food, cheap')
2) I'm not going to tell you how to make bbq sauce. There's hundreds of recipes, and we've a list below of all the store-bought ones we've use.
BBQ Chicken Wings - Cheap, Cheerful, Awesome!
Buy your chicken wings from the butcher, they're the cheapest cut of chicken, so you'll get a good deal. (I paid 3 euro for 10 wings- makes 20 chicken pieces)
The wing will come in one piece, with 2 joints. Cut the wings at each joint, and throw away the wingtips. (If you're making stock, hang onto them, but i'll go into that another time)
Put the wings in a mixing bowl with a good dose of Olive oil, and salt and pepper. (You can throw other spices in at this point, but it's up to you - i normally add a tiny bit of cajun seasoning)
Mix them up until all the wings are oiled and seasoned. Put in oven at 160 degrees for 30-40 mins. At this point, they will be cooked through, and will be a light golden colour.
Take them out of the oven, and leave to cool for a little while. put them in the mixing bowl with a good dollop of bbq sauce. Again, mix around until they are nicely coated with the sauce.
Leave to marinate for as long as you have.
put these on the grill until the sauce on the outside browns, and blackens in spots.
You now have awesome bbq wings!
Safety Note
Cooking chicken on a barbecue is great, but you need to be conscious of the risks. Raw chicken can carry bacteria that causes food poisoning, so it is important that the raw chicken does not come into contact with anything that will be eaten uncooked.
Not too big a deal - use seperate plates for raw and cooked meat, wash all implements immediately after handling raw chicken, do make sure to wash your hands immediately after touching raw meat. It's obvious stuff.
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