irish onion soup...

French onion soup made properly is a joy. But, this is not French onion soup. This one has an Irish accent and is all the better for it.

The most important element to a good onion soup is the proper caramelisation of the onions. Caramelising onions take at least thirty minutes of slow cooking of the onions over a medium high heat. This browning brings out the sweetness in them and that's what makes this soup so good. The chicken stock and cider give it a lighter finish than the traditional French version which usually lists beef stock and Cognac among its ingredients, but at the end of the day, it's just a different kind of delicious.

It's the bog-standard brown onions you want here, red onions will go a sickly grey colour as they cook. Thinly slicing the onions is a doddle if you do it with the shredding attachment of a food processor.

Ingredients
50g butter
1kg brown onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp picked leaves of thyme
200ml Irish cider (MacIvors or another artisan cider is ideal)
Chicken stock fresh, cube or concentrate made up to 1.2 litres

1 nice sourdough or baguette, sliced
1 garlic clove, halved
Extra-virgin olive oil
100g Mossfield or other hard Irish Cheese, grated

Method
Heat the butter in a large pan and gently cook the onion and thyme until the onion is softened but not browned. This might take up to thirty minutes. Increase the heat slightly and cook for another 15 minutes, stirring now and again to stop them catching, until the onion becomes dark golden, sticky and caramelised. Add the cider and simmer for 2-3 minutes, then add the stock and bring to the boil. Season. Simmer for 10 minutes.

While that's simmering, toast the bread, rub each slice with garlic, then drizzle with a little oil. Sprinkle with the cheese and grill until golden and bubbling. Serve the soup with the cheese croutons on top.

donut muffins...

These are called doughnut muffins but in truth are not very doughnut-like at all. The sugar coating and spoon of jam in the centre is about as far as it goes. What they do have going for them is no resting or rising is needed and no vats of boiling oil are required. They are very quick to throw together, taste better the day after you make them and keep for four or five days in a sealed container. They also make a very acceptable breakfast muffin and kids just love them.

The original recipe for these little cakes is from BBC Good Food Magazine and lists raspberry preserve, which I love. But some are not keen on the pips, so I used the universal crowd pleaser that is Bonne Maman’s Strawberry preserve instead. Show me someone who doesn't like strawberry jam and I will show you a kitten kicker.

Ingredients
150g caster sugar
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100ml plain yoghurt (I used regular Glenisk but low-fat works just as well)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g butter, melted
12 tsp strawberry preserve
150g caster sugar to coat
Makes 12 muffins

Method
Heat the oven to 180°c and lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin.
Put the sugar, flour and baking powder in a bowl and mix to combine.
In another bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, eggs and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients and melted butter into the dry ingredients and fold until mixed well.
Place 2 tbsp of the mixture into each muffin hole. Add 1 tsp of the jam into the centre of each and then cover with the rest of the batter.
Place the muffins into the oven and allow to bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before removing and tossing in the caster sugar. Top tip folks - keep them bottom side up after coating as they will hold their sugar crust better.

natural blonde...

In the world of human stereotypes it is the blonde who is the more obviously attractive and the brunette who has the duller, 'girl next door' image. But, in the cake world it's the other way around… the Blondie with it's paler coloring is the less attractive on the plate and has to work a little harder to get some attention. The rich chewy chocolate charms of the Brownie is the one that most would reach for.

These Chocolate Fudge Blondies have a chewy, hidden depth. They are so easy to throw together and bake in no time. As with any moist brownie, they keep well in an airtight container. So, put your preconceptions aside and have a blondie moment...because you're worth it!

Ingredients

200g butter softened

175g brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

250 plain flower

1 tsp baking powder

200g white chocolate, melted

75g fudge small chunks

75g dark chocolate small chunks

Method

Grease and line a 20cm x 30cm tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180c (350F). Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla beating well after each addition. Add the flour, baking powder and melted chocolate and beat until combined. Spoon half the blondie mixture into the prepared tin . Mix together the fudge and chocolate chips and sprinkle over the mixture. Spoon the remaining mixture on top and spread out to cover the chips completely. Bake for 25 to 30 mins until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin, slice in to 12 large pieces or, as I do, 24 smaller ones. If you do cut them into 24, remember to eat twice as many.

a post about toast...

Bread slices that have been brushed with oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and baked until golden brown. Crostini is just a fancy name for toast. You can make them ahead and they keep for ages in an airtight container. Munch on them plain, crumble 'em on top of a smooth soup or make an endless variety of instant canapés. Just spoon on your choice of toppings and serve them on a smear of something, in this case a good quality mayonnaise, micro greens pined on top is a must.  Arrange them elegantly on the very trendy slate-ware from Irish company Slated… voila! Restaurant food at home!

Here the tangy goat cheese is perfect with the sweet roasted pepper. I am loving Bluebell Falls' goat cheese at the moment when I can find some (not pictured) but use your own favorite. You can buy the peppers pre-roasted and skinned from any good deli if you can't face all that fiddly peeling. A few olives are a nice addition and, for that cheffy touch, pea-shots are the new rocket (arugula to my American friends). If you are looking for a quick dish that requires only a few ingredients and saves you hours in the kitchen, then 'fancy toast' is the one for you.

Basic crostini
Good quality baguette, cibatta or sourdough, sliced 1/4 inch thick
Olive oil (For extra flavor, use an oil infused with garlic or herbs)
Sea-salt and coarse-ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle two large baking sheets with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Arrange your bread slices on the oiled sheets, then drizzle top with olive oil and season again.

Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotate tins and turn crostini over halfway during baking. Leave to cool on baking sheets. Cover crostini with desired toppings, and serve.

I'm back...

Hello, it's me! I've been away. This is the bit where the absentee blogger usually says "I'm soooo sorry - I haven't blogged in ages, I've been so busy!" But I have been busy. Blogging. Loads. Somewhere else. 

I have been food 'festivaling', eating, taking loads of gorgeous foodie pics and searching out the best food & producers in the neighborhood. You can read all about it over on the Galway Food Festival blog here. These are a few of my own personal favorite shots from my food festival adventures, recipes for these dishes and others to follow naturally, just watch this space. I will, of course, be sharing with you here all the other tips and tricks that I have picked up along the way, now that the festival is over… until next year anyway!

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

As with all the best bread recipes, this traditional bread is simplicity itself. The ingredients in a traditional Irish soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. The brown soda bread is an every day staple, served with soup and other meals or alone but nearly always with lashings of butter. The white soda is the more refined version and often contains a handful of raisins.

It's true that soda bread dries out quickly after slicing, but it makes fantastic toast the next day. An Irish soda bread base can make great flavoured breads, with cheese, herbs, olives, roast cherry tomatoes, red onion or garlic, although strictly speaking it ceases to become an Irish soda bread when any of these things are added. I always think it is best eaten freshly-baked and warm or toasted, slathered liberally with butter and smothered in good jam.

Ingredients
400g plain flour
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
350ml buttermilk
2 handfuls of raisins

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 230C/gas 8.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in most of the buttermilk (leaving about 60ml in the measuring jug), at this stage add in the raisins if using. Using one hand with your fingers splayed (or two knives), bring the flour and liquid together, adding more buttermilk if necessary. Do not knead the mixture or it will become heavy. The dough should be soft but not too wet and sticky, but with the minimum amount of handling.

3. When the dough comes together, turn onto a floured work surface and bring together a little more. Pat the dough into a round about 4cm deep and cut a deep cross in the top.

4. Place the dough onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 200C/gas 6 and bake for a further 30. When ready, the loaf will be browned and will sound slightly hollow when tapped on the base.

5. Cool on a wire rack, wrapped in a clean tea-towel for a slightly softer crust.

Granola & Chocolate Chip Cookies

My second daughter, Lily, could be referred to as challenging by some, although I obviously don't think she is a bit. I make these cookies to take to the hard working ladies in the creche, who put up with a lot and come to the door, always in good humor, with their stories to tell her fond Mama. "Lily was in 'time out'" they say. "She punched Chloe/Callum/Freya". "Ah, she's just spirited" I say. "Have a cookie." They love these cookies. Lily may grow out of her three year old's hot temper one day, but if she doesn't I will make these cookies for her parole officer. I'm sure she will love them too.

This recipe came originally from the Primrose Bakery cookbook, but I found that the ratio of granola and nuts to actual cookie dough was unworkable. These quantities below will give you about 24 large cookies and a much easier dough to work with. These cookies should be made with a very good quality granola. I always make them with our own granola without any added dried fruit but if I was to make them with a bought granola I would go to that extra bit of trouble and pick out most of the fruit, as it's best with the crunchy nuts, seeds and oats and the soft, melty bits of sweet chocolate. Anything extra to me would seem a bit much, like an over-gilding of the Lily!

Granola & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
460g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
A pinch of salt
230g butter
230g soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g granola
150g white chocolate roughly chopped
150g dark chocolate roughly chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Line 2 baking trays if cooking immediately. Sift the flour, bicarb and salt into a bowl. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg, beat well, and mix in the flour mixture gradually to form a dough. Stir in remaining ingredients with a spoon (granola and both chocolate chips). Scoop about two tablespoons of mixture out and roll into a ball with your hands. Place them, spaced out, onto the sheet lined with parchment. Flatten cookies slightly with hands or a fork and bake for about 10 mins or a little longer until they begin to firm up.

If not cooking all the dough immediately, roll them into their portions and freeze. They will keep as well in the fridge for up to a week, well wrapped, so as not to take on any fridge smells. Any cooked and uneaten biscuits are fine in an airtight container for three or four days.