Cauliflower & Bacon Fritters

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Easy Weekday dinner

Ingredients

Makes lots for 2 - enough as side for 4

1/2 head of cauliflower steamed or boiled

1 large free range egg

3 rashers of bacon grilled until crispy

2 tablespoons of plain yogurt (cause I didn't have enough milk)

a dash of milk

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 heaped table spoon of gram flour / or regular flour

mustard seeds

salt and pepper

Method

1. Once your cauliflower is cool mash it with a fork or masher
2. Cut your bacon into small pieces
3. Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl
4. Heat a frying pan with some oil over medium to high heat
5. When it's nice and hot spoon in one tablespoon of mixture per patty
6. Cook one one side for 2-3 mins or until nicely golden
7. Flip carefully over
8. Press down with the spatula to firm up the fritter
9. Remove from pan and place on kitchen towel
10. Repeat with rest of mixture

I served these along side some salad and homemade baked beans

Rhubarb & Ginger Compote, with Honey Pecan Granola & Strawberry Yogurt Pots

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Dashing Dessert Breakfast

Looking for a breakfast that tastes as good as a dessert. That packs a nutritional punch, with some great healthy fats and a good whack of protein and calcium. Then look not further. If all that nutritional waffle has put you off - do not be deterred! These are super yummy, pretty snacks that can be enjoyed at any time of the day.

Granola is an old favorite of mine - perfect start to the day with fruit and yogurt. I have three recipes here, here and here. To this one I added a good handful of crushed pecan nuts, desiccated coconut, a tablespoon of vegetable oil and a tablespoon of honey


Returning shame faced after a run in the park I tucked into one of these. Some lovely army men were doing maneuvers in the park. They promptly all sprinted passed me, they were however in full gear and carrying huge backpacks. Ah well - what can you do. I was carrying a set of keys!

Ingredients - Makes 6 portions
Rhubarb Compote
4 stems of rhubarb - cut into 3cm chunks
3cm of fresh ginger grated finely
1 tablespoon of brown sugar


750 ml of yogurt - I used Glenisk
1 punnet of strawberries
1 jar of granola (links for recipe above)


Pre-heat oven to 150c


Method
To make the compote mix together the rhubarb, ginger and sugar in a small oven proof dish. Cover and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft. Allow to cool.


Get glass ramekins, wineglasses or any small containers you have that are made of glass. Cut strawberries length ways in 1/4 cm slices. Push them up against the side of the glass to show the cut side out. Then layer in alternate layers of yogurt, compote and granola. Finish with a layer of granola.


Serve and enjoy. There are lots of alternative fruits you cold use such as blackberries, apple, mango or raspberries. Feel free to use other flavored yogurt, or make your own by stirring the compote through a whole pot of yogurt.

Lemon Yogurt Drizzle Cake

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The Sasa Special

I found this wonderful recipe for Lemon Cake on Sasasunakku blog. It's a lovely witty blog - with some great recipes, this is the first one I've tried and it was amazing. Thanks for letting me use your recipe on the blog Sasa. There is a large amount of yogurt in the cake - making it wonderfully moist, and relatively good for you! Hurray. I made it in some little ramekins - and they popped out small and cute. I followed her quantities and it made 5 large portions (I'm greedy!) I used Glenisk Greek yogurt, I doubt you can use low-fat yogurt, but don't take my word for it.

Thanks to the lovely Des Moriarty for the great pictures! Aren't they amazing?? We had a fun day of food photography over in my kitchen. Think we got some beautiful and delicious shots. Check out his other work here.

I'm putting my neck out here - but I think I prefer lemon cake to chocolate cake ..... what d'ya reckon?

Moroccan Lamb with Prunes, in a harissa spiced squash with pomegrante bulgur and mint yogurt

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Cheffactor Entry

Here it is! In all it's glory, what I have strangely decided to call my signature dish, though I've never cooked it before. I'm delighted with how it's turned out, I just hope that enough people vote me though so I can get to cook it for the judges in the final...... Fingers crossed! If you're not familiar with Cheffactor, Cully and Sully are offering the winner a 12 week cookery course at Ballymaloe Cookery School - so if you haven't voted yet click here and give me your seal of approval. Thanks - I really appreciate it.

A big thanks to the lovely and talented Des Moriarty for taking these pictures. Head on over here to see some more of his work.

So I have no idea where I came up with this recipe from - possibly an amalgamation of many things - Tagine, Halloween, squashes and the season that's in it.

Serves 6-8

For the meat

1.5 lbs of fresh minced Irish lamb - I use FX Buckley's on Moore Street

6 shallots - finely sliced

3 cloves of garlic - minced

thumb sized piece of ginger grated

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of coriander seed

1 tablespoon of smoked paprika

2 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts

small bunch coriander - chopped

1 tin of tomatoes

2 tablespoons of of tomato puree

2 handfuls of prunes - roughly chopped

For the squash

2 butternut squashes - halved - seeds removed

Harissa paste - 1/2 teaspoon for each half

For the bulgur wheat

2 cup of bulgur

4 cups chicken stock

1 red onion - finely chopped

7/8 stamens of saffron

A big pinch of sumac

2 big pinches of turmeric

2 teaspoons of mustard seeds (I used black)

1 pomegranate - seeds removed

For the dressing

6 tablespoons of plain yogurt (I used Glenisk - cause it's gorgeous and Irish!)

1 big handful of fresh mint leaves

First half and de-seed the squashes. Retain the seeds if you want to make a tasty snack by roasting them in the over - recipe to follow. Rub a little olive oil over them and pop into a pre-heated oven at Gas mark 7.

Put the saffron seeds into a bowl with a teaspoon of bowling water -  crush gentle to release the flavour and colour. Bring 2 cups of stock to the boil. Add the bulghur wheat to the saffron and combine. Next pour over the stock. Cover with cling film and allow to sit for 30 minutes to cook.

Then dry fry the cumin and coriander in a hot pan until you start to release their flavours - you'll smell it! Then remove to a pestle and mortar and give them good bash. Then fry the shallots in a little olive oil, after a few minutes add in the garlic, after another few minutes add in the minced ginger and cook until soft. Stir in the cumin and coriander. Then add in the meat. Cook this until it's browned. Stir in the paprika, cinnamon, tomato puree and tin of tomatoes. Give a good stir, then add in the prunes and pine nuts. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook covered for 25 minutes.

Remove squashes from the oven when the meat is ready. Remove a scoop or two of the flesh to make the hole bigger. Smear over the cut side - the harissa paste. Stir the coriander into the meat and then pop into the squash. Put this in the oven and bake at gas mark 5 for approx 20 minutes. Until the top of the squash is becoming a rich deep brown.

While this is in the oven prepare the bulgur wheat. Fry the onion in a little oil until soft. Stir in the turmeric, mustard seeds, and sumac. Then stir in the cook bulgur wheat, and gently heat it through.

Remove squashes form the oven. Just before you serve - remove from bulgur from the heat and stir in the pomegranate seeds, they'll loose their nice jewel colour with heat. I used a small coffee cup to make this into pretty mounds, and served alongside the cooked squash and drizzled yogurt sauce. Serve some more of the dressing in a side dish should anyone want more.

Thanks for reading and for voting, I really appreciate everyone's help on this. I lost my job last week so this would just be an amazing opportunity to become and amazingly accomplished chef (that last bit is called the sob-factor!)

Lucy xx

Carrot, Chickpea & Harrisa Soup

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A Thoroughly Super Soup

So I spent a lovely weekend at home with my parents and visiting my friends and all of their little babies! Cute the lot of them. My mum cooked a great soup which she got from the BBC Food magazine. It was delicious, spicy filling soup, with a hearty consistency. A real winner and super healthy of course, thanks mum!

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion dices
50g of carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tsp of coriander seed
1 tsp of caraway seed
1 tbsp of harrisa paste
1 litre of vegetable stock (or chicken of you like)
a small bunch of parsley
410g can of chickpeas
To serve – plain Greek yogurt

In a large pan cook the onion in some olive oil on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until translucent and soft. Next add in all the carrots and the garlic and cook uncovered for another 5 mins.

Meanwhile grind all the whole spices in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Tip this mixture into with the carrots and onion long with the harissa. Stir well to mix and then add in all of your stock. Bring to a nice simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are soft.

Then add in the drained chickpeas, and allow these to heat through. Remove one cup full of the mixture and blend the remaining with a stick blender. Add back in the cup and stir before serving with a big dollop of yogurt.

This soup sounds pretty simple – but it’s pretty spectacular. It must be the harissa – seriously make it – it’s great!

I went a bit crazy with this photo – but I like it.

Spicy Curly Veggie Fries with Mint & Chive Dip

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I discovered a nice new blog yesterday from fellow Dubliner, David - Kitchen 72, there are some nice recipes with a healthy bent. I read his recipe for carrot and feta salad with mint and harissa and decided that I would make this for my dinner. One hugely failed shopping trip later and I had half the ingredients - so I made this instead - it has carrots, harrisa and mint in too - same same but roasted!
 

Ingredients
Serves 2
2 Yams
1 Sweet potato
2 Large carrots (all cut into thin batons
1 Tablespoon of harissa
5 Cloves of garlic
Salt & pepper
A good dash of olive oil

For the dip (serves one)
2 Tablespoons of yogurt
A handful of chives (finely chopped)
A handful of mint (finely chopped)
A sprinkle of smoked paprika

Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 6. Toss all the fries ingredients well in a big baking tray - the thinner you can spread them apart from each other the crispier they’ll be. Bake on a high shelf for 45-50 minutes turning once or twice to ensure even crisping.
 
To make the sauce simply mix together the yogurt and herbs and sprinkle with a bit of paprika.  The spicy harissa is balanced out with the mint ad yogurt beautifully.
 
This dish would be great with baba-ganoush as a dip  - or roast breast of chicken on the bone  - or some grilled halloumi.

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Anne’s Wonderful Rich Chai Syrup
From Berlin with Love

Anne sent us over a lovely xmas package with some goodies- a yellow spatula, a cute re-usable spotty bag, and best of all some super tasty chai syrup which she knocked up her self. We promptly finished the bottle and then craving more, begged for the recipe, which she very kindly provided.

The syrup is deep with flavour and is sweet without being too sickly. Anne said it would make the house smell great - and by god it did!

Ingredients
2 teaspoon of pepper corns
3 stick of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of cardamon pods
Root ginger, thinly sliced - 3 inch section
2 teaspoons of cloves
3 jars of honey
1 litre of water
Clean and sterilised jars

Mix and crush gently all of the big spices - and then tip into1 liter of water - bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 mins. Stir in 2 Barry’s tea-bag (Anne was very specific about this, had to be Barry's!) for two mins until a rich deep tea red color.

Sieve the water to rid it of any bits and pieces. Then add the three jars of honey. Bring this to a gently boil until it thickens up and darkens slightly.

Pour into sterilised jars. We did this by boiling them in a big pan of water for 20 minutes. The recipe makes in terms of volume about equal to the amount of honey that you put in – so if you like you could sterilize the jars that you took the honey from.

This syrup is great poured into hot milk, with blueberries over yogurt, on apple pancakes and also very, very good in tea. I’m tempted to use it as the sweetener in a fresh batch of granola also. We made two type on with Barry sand the other with green tea. The barry’s turned out a bit richer and a darer colour. Anne asked for a vanilla pod in the recipe – but we didn’t have one- maybe that’s the secret ingredient.

Thanks Anne I foresee this becoming a kitchen staple - see you for St Patricks Day!