Celeriac & Potato Rosti

Tweet

Another Brunch Recipe

It appears that of late I'm writing a lot of brunch recipes. Maybe that seems more romantic than calling them light dinners for one - which is what they are!

So celeriac is a pretty ugly vegetable, maybe that's why I have never cooked with it much. Generally it's treated in a similar manner to a potato. That's where the idea came for combining the two in a lovely rosti.

I won't lie this fell apart slightly when I flipped it over - still tastes great and works really nicely with the poached egg and baby rocket from my balcony.

Ingredients - Serves 1

1/4 of a head of celeriac - outer skin removed and grated

2 small potatoes - grated

Pinch of thyme finely chopped

1 egg yolk

To Serve

baby spinach or rocket

1 poached egg

Method

Pop the grated potato and celeriac into a clean tea towel. Push it all into the centre and then cover with the teatowel. Give it a really good squeeze to push out the excess moisture. Put into a large bowl add the thyme, egg yolk and seasoning. Mix thoroughly.

Heat a small amount of olive oil over a medium heat in a non stick pan. Spoon the mixture onto the pan into whatever size you want. I think mine were however too large, making it harder to flip over. You want to keep them pretty thin so that they'll cook right through. Press down firmly with a spatula. Give them about 3-4 mins on each side until a rich golden brown.

Serve with a poached egg sitting on top of some fresh baby rocket or spinach. My secret to perfect poached eggs (well I'd say good not perfect) First really fresh eggs. Secondly when your water reaches a good strong boil, twirl the water in the pan to create a mini vortex. Pull the pan off the heat. Then gently slide the egg into the spinning water from a cup. The movement of the water will keep the egg white together in a natural shape and will stop it from spreading out and getting thin. Always drain the egg well on kitchen towel to avoid soggy bread/rosti.

Enjoy

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

Tweet

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.

Cinnamon & Raisin Bagels

Tweet

Boilin' the Bagels

A trip to New York is never complete without ordering a bagel from a deli. The bagel emerges toasty hot and stuffed to the gills with your chosen filling. Pastrami to the thickness of a couple of inches, topped with thin ribboned iceberg lettuce and mayo and tomato. It's a feat to try and take in that first bite.

Since I've visited New york twice, I can by no means make any claims to be an expert. The bagels there are different from the ones you get in the local Spar here. A real bagel has to be boiled, and I don't see no large vats of bubbling water beside the ovens churning out the jambons and chicken fillets. After boiling they are indeed baked as well, but the boiling gives them a chewy and slight hint of dumpling that you just can't get here.

Leaning Tower of Bagels on a Sunny Day!

I decided to make some of my own after reading Donal Skehans post on his mammoth eating holiday in Manhattan. I found a recipe for Cinnamon and Raisin Breakfast Bagels on his blog too - so that all came together nicely. Donal is a long time Irish blogger, just celebrating the release of his second cook book 'Kitchen Hero' Congrats to Donal, hope the book does fantastically!


I followed his recipe faithfully here, and now have a freezer half full of bagels, just pop them in the toaster for instant breakfast or afternoon tea. Spread with fresh butter, or cream cheese. I attempted hot cross buns last year - and failed miserably, these are much better alternative.


Enjoy!

Chorizo and Waffle Hash

Tweet

Chorizo & Potato Waffle Hash

So the first post we ever made was the Waffle Omelette. At the time I wasn’t sure about having a blog, but decided to give it a try. I posted up the waffle omelette and then emailed the blog to Lola - and the rest is history, since then I’ve mostly posted my more serious recipes and pretended I never ate convenience foods. I do love potato waffles though - and have a box in the freezer for food emergencies- actually who am I lying to here - they’re there for hangover emergencies!

We made this the morning / afternoon after our dinner party and LOVED it, in the way you can only love food the morning after the night before.

Picture doesn't do this justice!

Serves 2
6 pieces of chorizo
1 onion
some garlic crushed
some red and yellow pepper - diced
Fresh thyme
fresh parsley
6 Birdseye potato waffles
2 eggs

Fry the  onion over a med/high heat along with the chorizo, after 2 mins throw in the garlic - cook for another two mins or so and then add in the thyme and peppers. While you’re doing this you can grill the waffles (it’s the only way for me!) Then in a separate pan- fry up two eggs as you like them (both our yokes cracked - but we weren’t prepared to start again.

When your waffles are crispy and golden brown - break them up - add to the chorizo and onion mixture - pile onto two plates top with a fried egg and a generous sprinkling of black pepper - and you‘re good to catch the re-run of x-factor.

Hash is an American invention - yes? Invented by cowboys I believe!

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

Tweet

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

This is a traditional english breakfast dish but I just ate it for dinner and it hit the spot nicely! There is no need to be pedantic about what time of day things should be eaten, I always think!

You can make this with any smoked fish but if its raw fish make sure to poach it in milk for 8-10 mins previous to adding it in to the rice.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 smoked mackerel fillets

2 eggs

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1 inch piece ginger

1 yellow or red pepper

1 red chili

1 teaspoon garam marsala

1 teaspoon curry powder

160gr basmati rice (I used wholemeal/brown basmati, but you could use white just as well)

1 bunch fresh coriander or dill

begin by washing the rice thoroughly

Then boil it according to the cooking instructions on the pack. Wash the eggs, then, using the tip of a very sharp knife, drill a small hole in the end of each egg. This will stop them cracking when you drop them into boiling water. When there is 10 minutes left to go on the rice, add the eggs in their shells to the rice and cook the rice and eggs together (just handier this way!).

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely, and grate the ginger. Saute everything in a frying pan until the onion is soft and transluscent. the add the spices and the chopped pepper.

When the rice is cooked, remove the eggs and set aside. Add the drained rice to the frying pan with the onion etc in. Stir well. Flake the mackerel fillets into chunks and remove the skin. Add this to the rice mixture and stir well.

To serve, peel the shells off the eggs, cut them in half and put them on the plate as a garnish to the kedgeree. Chop the coriander of dill and sprinkle this over just before serving.

Yet another breakfast/brunch treat! We must have a brunch party soon to try out all these recipes on real people!

Huevos Rancheros

Tweet

Viva Mexico!

Apparently Mexico are doing pretty well in the World Cup right now... I have managed to not watch a single match so far... oops!

I figure most Irish people are behind Mexico, what with the green strips and beating France 2-0 an all... Also on this blog we seem to have developed a serious liking for Mexican food. So I decided to whip up some Huevos Rancheros this sunny Saturday morning. Perfect for brunch! They went down a treat and made us love Mexico even more, I'm now even contemplating a visit!

Serves 1 hungry person, or two not so hungry people. All quantities can be doubled or tripled depending on how many eggs you want for brekkie!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1/2 a red chili

1 small red onion

2 cloves garlic

2 flour tortillas

Start by making the tomato sauce. Chop the onions, garlic and chili (take out the seeds if you don't want it too hot!) and saute in some olive oil in a frying pan until the onions are soft and translucent. Then add the tin of tomatoes and stir everything together. Simmer for about 10 mins or until the sauce 'comes together'.

Push the sauce to one side of the pan and add a bit of olive oil to the exposed pan. break the eggs into this oil and fry them. Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat a teaspoon of oil and heat up the tortillas, one at a time for 30 seconds on each side. When they are done and browned transfer them to a plate. by this time your eggs should be nearly done. Leave them sunny side up, even if, like me, you usually don't eat them like that. Place them on top of the tortillas and then top the eggs, covering the yolks with the hot sauce. This will cook the tops of the eggs.

Serve topped with some grated cheese if you like, or some pinto beans, or, like I did, a bit of avocado.

Muchos Yummios (sorry!)

Deep Fill Leek, potato & Bacon Omlette

Tweet

Lest I forget (completely) 

My photo archives show me some very tasty dishes I have cooked over the last year - but due to circumstances they never reached the pages of this blog in sufficient time - and I've forgotten how exactly how I made them, I have a good idea though. So no longer will these photos lie on my hard-drive unloved and unseen - the will be released onto the pages of our blog - and if anybody wants further details - just ask - and I'll do my best to remember!

Not a recipe

I guess I mandolin-ed  a few spuds – chopped some leek – cooked the leek in some butter with thyme and garlic – then added the spuds and cooked until they were soft. Then when this was all soft and golden and delicious – I whisked up some eggs with a little milk and seasoning  - then I chucked these over the leek and suds allowed to cook on the heat for a while. I probably then grated some cheese on top – then banged it under a hot grill which made it go all puffy and crisped the top,

Then I dressed some rocket leaves with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and shaved some parmesan and tomatoes. There appears to be some bacon in there too – that would have been fried up just before adding in the leeks I guess.There may well have been some chives in there  - or parsely

The one thing I remember for sure was – that is was delicious. Oh yes! It would have been a shame to let this recipe slide past just cause I’m forgetful

Leek & Bread Pudding

Tweet

Twice Baked Bread

I saw this recipe mid-week and just knew I had to make it. One of my favorite things is bread and butter pudding, and this is a savory version including a rich conte cheese and gently carmelised leeks. This recipe comes from the super blog - based out of NYC - Smitten Kitchen. I love her recipes its one of m favorite blogs - so be sure and check it out. She has  a book in the due out in the next few, which is def on my Christmas list (oh hint, hint!)

I followed the recipe exactly at this link. I served it with some fresh - uncoloured smoked haddock, from the fishmonger at the Saturday food market in Temple Bar - I hadn't been there in a while and had forgotten how great it is, for an morning wander and a nibble. 

To prepare the fish - simply poach in milk for 5 minutes, flake over a slice of this bread pudding hot from the oven - it's Saturday lunch heaven. Give Delo an extra large slice cause he bought you a lovely bunch of flowers!!! My pictures don't really convey the texture of the bread too well, it was crispy and crunchy on top, whilst soft, spongy and creamy inside - this is a well recommended recipe and the possibility of endless variations.

Tweet

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!

Apple Filo tarts

Tweet

Sunday paper-thin treats

I had a yen to make Parisian apple tartlets like these, but unfortunately, once again I couldn't find any ready made puff pasty in the whole of the Dublin 7 area (ok, I tried 3 shops and gave up). You may remember that we had a similar problem back in August when we were making the Beef and Guiness pie, and I actually had to go to effort of making my own! It turned out ok, but as all my tv cooking heroes (Nigel, Nigela, and Jamie) say, its not worth making your own puff, as the bought stuff is always going to be better. Anyway, Its a Sunday afternoon, and the less palaver involved the better.

Once again to the rescue came our local middle eastern shop Alauras. It stocks frozen filo, which can be used to make baklava (I will have to try it one of these days) and Lucy's famous home made jambons, (another improvised recipe which called for puff pastry but had to settle for filo) Using frozen ready made pastry means that these tarts are so quick and easy to make, and if you actually use puff pastry then you don't have to bother with all the brushing of melted butter. Just pop the sugar and apple on top of the pastry, and bake!

On reflection, I think I would actually prefer the filo version. These tarts were crunchy, melty, delicious. Perfect with a cup of coffee and the Sunday papers!

Ingredients:

Frozen filo pastry, defrosted

4 oz butter

1 large apple (2 small) such as coxs or braeburn

2 oz brown sugar

ground cinnamon

Start by melting half of the butter in a pan. Brush 6 individual tartlet cases with some of the butter. (If you don't have cases, you can just layer the pastry up in tart-sized squares on a buttered baking tray. This is what you would do if you were using puff pastry, too)

Layer the pastry, one sheet a a time into the cases, brushing each of the pastry sheets with the melted butter as you go. There should be 5 or 6 layers of pastry in each tart. Press the pastry in to the tins and leave the excess corners sticking out (I think they look lovely like that). Brush the top layer of pastry all over with the butter. Sprinkle some of the brown sugar into each of the buttered pastry cases.

Peel and core the apple, cut into quarters and slice very thinly. Arrange the apple slices in a fan shape in each of the pastry cases, and sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon on each. Cut the remaining butter into tiny cubes and sprinkle these over the apple and sugar.

Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at about 180c. You want the apple to be cooked and tender, the sugar melted, but the pastry not over cooked or burned.

Leek and Bacon Crepes

Tweet

Crêpes avec Poireaux et Lardon It was the weekend of the brunch. We started on Saturday with a place I would like to nominate for 'Best BLT' in Dublin, The News Cafe in Blackrock. They also do a great fry - with their own recipe flat sausage - nice.

Then it was onto these for Sunday brunch. I ate the best crepe ever in Roscoff while waiting for the ferry. They were divine and a very fitting end to the two week eating and cooking binge that was my summer holiday. I wrote a little about them here.This is my attempt to re-create them - hampered only by my lack of a drop of white wine for the sauce. We cheated and bought pre-made pancakes - I will blog the recipe for pancakes - pancake Tuesday special perhaps.

The photos come courtesy of Delo - you can see more of his photos here. Be warned there are many, many , many photos of bicycles!

Ingredients
Serves 2
4 pancakes
3 leeks - sliced in 2cm slices
Lardons (or rashers sliced in strips)
4 slices of Provolone Cheese (or similar mild cheese)
2 tablespoons of cream
Butter!
Salt and Pepper

Cook the some butter over a medium heat for about 3-4 mins then lash in the lardons and continue to cook until your bacon is nice and crispy and the leeks are bright green - with nice little orangey brown edges yum. I once said my favourite colour is the inside of a leek - LOVE it - then eat it - that's what I say, except horses - don't eat horses, bad French people, but I love your pancakes.

Ramble sorry. Then add in the cream, season and bring up to a gentle simmer to thicken. In a clean frying pan - flick in a nob of butter, until it melts. Then pop in your pancake. Place a big spoonful of your mixture into the centre. Push it out to be a little smaller than a postcard. Top this with some cheese. Fold over the edgesTo make a nice little parcel - and serve. This orange is nice - fancy fanta!

Crumpets

Tweet

Tea Vicar?
After coming across a stall called 'The Strumpets Crumpets' at Electric Picnic, I ate my first crumpet in years and, oh my was it delicious! Eating it planted the seed of a craving in my belly and a few weeks later I found myself searching the web for crumpet recipes. I even went searching around town for crumpet rings!

Eventually I just used cookie/scone cutters, blunt side down to shape these perfect, buttery, gorgeously decadent treats. Pam rightly described the strumpets crumpets as a cross between toast and pancakes, which, sweet or savory, make them perfect for a Sunday breakfast. I really thought there would be too many but they were all scoffed pretty quickly. They don't take too long to make, its a bit like making pancakes but more fecky and with more opportunities for burning yourself (3 times!!!) Crumpet ingredients

• 300ml whole milk
• 300ml water
• 420g strong white flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 sachet fast-action dried yeast

Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Warm up the water and milk in a saucepan, not too hot, just until its the same temperature as your finger when you dip it in. Gradually pour the milk mixture into the flour, stirring to combine. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for an hour in a warm place. The mixture will rise and become all bubbly and light.

Heat a non stick frying pan and melt some butter in it. If you are using cookie cutter rings to shape the crumpets, brush the inside of them with melted butter and place on the pan. Pour the mixture into the shapes.

Cook until the bubbles rise to the top of the crumpets and burst. Then poke the crumpet out of the ring (be careful not to burn yourself) and flip it over to cook on the other side until golden brown. If you prefer, you can dispense with the rings altogether and just make individual blobs on the pan, they will be thinner, but still thicker than pancakes and I'd say it would be a lot less hassle. I'm going to do them like that next time. Crumpets are good cut in half and toasted with loads of butter & jam, or with cream cheese and smoked salmon (try adding some dill to the batter!) or with melted cheese and ham, or with.... anything really. I think my favorite is just with plain old butter, and of course accompanied by a cup of tea. SO good.

Breakfast in France

Tweet

Le Petit Dejeuner Galette

I didn't make this so maybe I shouldn't blog it, but it was a wonderful start to the day, delivered to me on a plate - I love holidays, thanks Delo.We ate a number of crepes and galettes while we were away, crepes are sweet, while galettes are savory and made with buckwheat flour. We bought these pre-made ones from the supermarket to play with back at the van. Often a galette comes with an egg on, the white quickly finds it way through the holes in the pancake and cooks while the yoke stay all gooey. Inside hidden away from sight are some nice little lardons (batons of bacon - see detail photo!) and some melty emmental. A grind of black pepper and a coffee and you're done.Also specialities in Brittany are creme de caramel au beurre salle, which is creme caramel made with salted butter, served on crepes with cooked apples or bananas and chantilly. There's always the classic lemon and sugar.

The best galletes we ate were in Roscoff and were just too delicious to photograph! Bacon with leeks fondue, the other had scallops with gratin vegetables, both were bursting with flavour and showed what a wide range of tastes and ingredients these little galletes can handle.... now I regret not taking a photo ah well, sometimes the moment is just too good to spoil

French Toast

Tweet

Breakfast of champions

Yes, I did feel like a treat this morning, and why not? Its sunday, and as an alternative to a big greasy fry, I decided that french toast with bacon was the order of the day. In my defence, I used honey instead of syrup... (like it makes a difference). This is a rare treat that is worth every single calorie.

Serves 2

4 thick slices crusty bread

2 eggs

6 sliced sreaky bacon

Honey, maple, or golden syrup

Beat the eggs in a shallow dish and season with a bit of salt & pepper. Coat the bread slices in the egg and fry in hot butter on both sides until golden brown. Meanwhile, grill the bacon until its crisp. Serve the whole thing drizzled with syrup or honey, and accompanied by milky coffee and the sunday papers. Heaven!

Banana and Pecan Bran Muffins

Tweet

Breakfast of Champions

Lucy bought me these coloured silicone muffin cases for my birthday, so I decided to test them out! This is the best muffin recipe ever: really easy and you don't need to many rich ingredients. There is no butter in them so they are cheap, too. You can substitute the banana and pecan for whatever takes your fancy. I have done marzipan and cherry, apple and cinnamon, blueberry, chocolate buttons, etc etc etc. In may we did carrot cake muffins with lovely cream cheese icing, its all the same basic recipe. However, these were particularly good for breakfast.

190 g Self Raising flour
150 g Sugar
pinch salt tsp
baking powder
80ml Vegetable oil
1 egg
80 ml milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 ripe Banana

1 handfull pecan nuts

1 double handfull of bran or wheatgerm

for icing

1 cup icing sugar

tbsp water

(I know the measurements are a bit mad, but don't worry, it doesn't need to be exact)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the banana, mushed a bit and broken into little bits. add all the wet ingredients. stir until everything is mixed in. Voila!

Seriously, thats it!

Preheat oven to gas 6, about 250 degrees. Line a muffin/bun tray with paper cases (i'm using the lovely new silicone ones here), spoon in the mixture until its about 3/4 of the way filling each case. bake for 15-20 mins or until nice and golden.

Mix a tiny amount of water into the icing sugar, and when the muffins are cold, drizzle the icing over them.

More Granola

Tweet

Baby Food My friend Jen is having a baby in October, she put in a special request that next time I come to Limerick to see her, that I bring some granola. She's pregnant so I can't argue! I made her some granola, it as a nut heavy one with lashings of ginger and cinnamon, and a good dose of golden Syrup mmmm. I wanted this to taste a little like ginger nut biscuits, next time I'll add even more ginger. For recipe please refer to Peanut Butter Granola or Super-Granola-food

Then I went to visit my parents - so I made some more granola for my mother - I only took one photos - I'll save you the details, but I added in two teaspoons of mixed spice this time - giving it a nice Christmassy taste - I promise to be home again before Christmas too.... Apologies for all the pictures - but with all the lovely sunshine - they've just come out great

Super-Granola-Food

Tweet

Super-granola-food


I’m now remembering why I started to make my own granola – I’d been reading and hearing lots about superfoods and decided to make a concerted effort to incorporate more of them into my everyday diet…….

So for a month I tried to eat and cook my way through the below list. The contents of which are very much open to debate
• Black Beans
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Oats
• Oranges
• Pumpkin
• Salmon • Soy
• Spinach • Tea (green or black)
• Tomatoes • Turkey • Walnuts
• Yogurt
• Wheatgerm
• Tomato paste • Curry ?
• Ginger
• Black Beans • Fresh Herbs
• Dark Chocolate • Olive Oil
• Almonds
• Quinoia
• Seeds

It was quite fun to look at a list of ingredients in incorporate them into meals I already knew or to search out new recipes.

Back to the granola – I was looking for a way to combine a number of these foods so that it would be very easy to eat an amount of them in one go – Granola includes oats, pumpkin (seeds) walnuts, yogurt (to serve) wheatgerm, almonds (pronounced ahhhmint if you’re from Limerick) & even more seeds. Also it’s dead yummy and easy to make. With every batch you make some changes so it’s always different, I have seen some recipes that include cocoa and dark chocolate – so that could be one more off the list included.

Golden Syrup, Hazelnut and Vanilla Granola


Ingredients
This one smells amazing in the oven .
4 cup of jumbo oats 1 cup of wheatgerm
1 cup of hazelnuts & almonds - halved
½ cup of pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of poppy seeds
1 serving spoon of unsweetened peanut butter
1 serving spoon of golden syrup
2 serving spoons of water 1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Mix the golden syrup and water over a low heat till dissolved, then stir in the peanut butter, and finally the vanilla essence -remove from heat – don’t worry if the peanut butter remains a little lumpy – it will make some great crunchy pieces in your finished granola. Combine the other dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Then pour over liquid – mix thoroughly once again – turn out onto a very lightly greased large baking tray, spreading as thinly and evenly as you can. Bake in the centre of the oven – for 30-40 mins mixing every 15 mins or so to ensure even browning. Allow to cool before putting in an airtight container.

Serve with natural or flavoured yogurt, and dried or fresh fruit of your choice. Or raw with a spoon straight from the jar at your desk, if you’re working late…. My secret super-shame!! My straight up peanut butter granola can be found here

Homemade Jambons

Tweet

Imagine it's your birthday and you're woken with presents, coffee and homemade jambons - wouldn't that be great I hear you say, why yes that's what I thought.

I love jambons - little greasypastriesfromthedelicounterofSpar - they're my hangover treat, and I've been looking for an excuse to re-create them at home.

Thy would have been perfect except I bought the wrong kind of pastry - they still worked out pretty delicious

1 piece of Fontina cheese - grated
2oz Butter
Milk
Plain flour - maybe 2oz or so
Puff pastry (not filo pastry that I bought - oops)
Lardons (bacon/ham whatever you fancy)
1/2 teaspoon of English mustard

Grease a baking tray, and pre-heat your oven to gas mark 6.

Melt the butter over a med heat and sprinkle in some plain flour - enough to turn it into a paste. Then gradually add in a little milk stirring all the time to avoid getting lumps, gradually add the milk until you get a smooth thick sauce. Then add in the grated cheese keep stirring until all the cheese has melted. stir in some salt and pepper and the mustard. Bear in mind you want to keep this pretty thick - if it's too thick just add a dash of milk.

Fry up or grill your bacon and chop into little pieces.


Cut your pastry into 4 inch square pieces, put a heaped serving spoon of the cheese mixture into the centre of each square, and sprinkle on some bacon. Pinch the corners together to form a little rim around the edge.

Brush the pastry with a little mixed egg, and pop into the oven for 15-20 mins - till golden brown and bubbly.Pictured above is the vegetarian option - no bacon just a sprig of parsley

Allow to cool slightly - then devour - yum!

So yes - I did use the wrong pastry - so imagine like mine but puffier - yeah - ok? Great

Peanut Butter Granola

Tweet

Peanut Butter for Breakfast

2 1/2 c jumbo organic oats
1/2 c wheat germ
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
3 Tablespoon natural peanut butter
1 heaped tablespoon brown sugar
half cup of pumpkin seeds
half cup sesame seeds

In a large bowl, mix oats seeds and wheat germ together. In a small saucepan, heat up oil, peanut butter, vanilla and brown sugar over medium high heat and let it all melt together. Pour hot mixture over oats and stir well, so that everything is covered. It’s quite sticky at this stage but don’t worry. Spread it out on a non stick baking sheet, and smooth it out a little. The clumps are good as they stick together and make crunchy clusters. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and toast at gas mark 3/4 oven for 30-40 minutes in the middle of the oven, checking on it and stirring it occasionally until mixture is turning golden. When cool, store in a jar.

A recipe I found suggested adding in chocolate, but the best thing about granola is you can add what ever you like. I made a good one recently with toasted hazelnuts and banana chips. Add nuts and seeds into the oat mixture before baking, add dried fruit after when cooled. Some people say that the dried fruit will make your oat mixture soggy, but I haven’t found that, though I haven’t stored granola for much longer then two weeks as it all gets eaten. The peanut butter is optional - but it makes for good clumps.

Pictured is served with yoghurt, raspberries and honey at my desk in the office, no I don’t eat raspberries every day – sadly, normally it’s a banana. I found this recipe a little drier than other recipes, maybe it’s the amount of wheatgerm I hadn’t used that before – or the amount of sesame seeds, I’d have added some sunflower seeds if I had them. I went a little lighter on sugar than recommended and then added honey when serving, yum.

PS a note on food photography - they say it's hard to do and it is. Firstly it's very hard to arrange your food and take pictures of it while it's still hot and you're very hungry. Secondly honey does not stick to rasperries as illustrated in this picture! Any tips greatly appreciated.