Roast rack of Pork with Apple and Prune stuffing

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Free Bia!

After a whole year of food blogging we have finally gotten our first free thing! The lovely people at Bord Bia delivered this amazing french rack of pork straight to Lu's office. It was actually enough for 8 people so I cut it in half, knocked up this roast and Colm and I ate half of that for dinner. the other half was left over, so Lu and I made an amazing roast pork hash with it on Sunday morning (recipe up next!). The other uncooked half lived to fight another day and is in the freezer for the foreseeable future. This is a really delicious and unusual cut of meat that I would never think of buying so thanks Bord Bia!

Recipe:

stuffing

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

6 prunes

1 small apple

250g breadcrumbs

1 tbsp chopped thyme, or parsley or sage

Chop the onion and garlic and saute in a large knob of butter and a big glug of olive oil. Saute until translucent. Chop the prunes and apples and add to the onion and garlic with the herbs. when the apples have softened slightly, add in the breadcrumbs and stir them around so that they soak up all the oils. Season and leave to cool

Take the rack of pork and arrange on an oiled roasting tin so that the ribs interlock and the two sides hold themselves up. Using your hands, make a tennis ball sized ball from the stuffing and place it in the cavity between the two sides of the rack. Using paper towels, dry the skin on the outside of the pork, score the skin with a sharp knife and rub it with salt. Pour about a half a glass of apple juice in to the roasting tin, wdd some parboiled potatoes and place in a pre heated oven, roast at 190c for 1 and a half hours.

when done, remove the meat and potatoes from the tin and place on a plate to rest. Stir a tablespoon of flour into the pan juices, place on your hob and add some madera or some sherry (a couple of tbsps). Stir it all in andand add a cup of apple juice and a cup of water or stock. Simmer to thicken and serve!

Cut between the ribs to serve, one 'chop' will be more than enough per person.

Leek & Bread Pudding

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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.

Grilled Endive with Cumin & Lavendar Oil

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While wandering around the Temple Bar Food Market on Saturday, I browsing through a selection of oils, when I came across a small bottle of cumin oil. Cumin is one of my favourite spices, so I was intrigued immediately. The friendly guy running the store seemed pleased I'd picked it up - as they had just got it in as new stock. He had given it to some food critics to sample duriing the week and said they'd been impressed. If it's good enough for the critics well then. I was a little scared when he described it as medicinal, though he assured me it was fine for cooking.

I paired it with some grilled endive - and let the few drops I applied do the talking.

Ingredients

3 heads of Endive/Chicory

a drizzle of olive oil

Salt and Pepper

3 drops of cumin oil per piece of endive

3/4 teaspoon of dark brown sugar

Lay the head of endive on your grill pan - drizzle with olive oil, add the drop of cumin oil and season well. Sprinkle over a little sugar. Pop under a hot grill for 10 minutes, turning once, the heads should be a rich caremlised brown on the edges, soft through witha little bit left in the centre.

I served these with some leek and bread pudding, and topped with a poached egg - delicious! There was a camera emergency while I was trying to cook this causing me to over cook the egg - damn - was still good though. Recipe for leek bread pudding to follow - now I'm going to bed!

Very Full Tart - by Yotam Ottolenghi

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Very Full Tart - by Yotam Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi write the 'new vegetarian' in the Observer on Sunday, I love his recipes, they always full of flavor and colour. This recipe was good if a little time consuming - not quite sure why it took me so long! Maybe roasting the veg for differing amounts of time did it. The blind baking the case, the baking the whole thing.

I've just included the link to the recipe as I followed it pretty much to the T - except I used a large yellow squash that came in our Fruitfellas box - in place of the aubergine - either would be great I'm sure.

This tart was bursting with flavor - the thyme is essential to the overall flavor - and the nice mixture of the ricotta and feta is wonderful with a crumbly pastry casing. Perfect  to bring along to an outdoor Sunday spring/summer lunch. This pie once baked - it was carried bicycle style across the city to Delo who had been working hard on a college project all weekend - mobile dinner - could turn that into a business maybe - what do you reckon?

Balsamic roasted beetroot, orange and feta salad

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A recipe and some waffle - not a waffle recipe!

I’m celebrating by heading off to a festival for the bank holiday. It’s called Vantastival  - so we’re taking down our lovely van Mister to hang out with all the other old VWs. There is lots going on for the weekend - lots of music, Kila, Sleep Thieves, Fred, Ambience Affair - and little xs for eyes (my band)

Most importantly - I will be entering the second cooking competition of my life! The first was Aoife Mac’s Pie Off. This is  a camper van cook-off. All contestants must cook up the best meal they can with limited ingredients and the cooking facilities of their vans - for me that’s a two ring hob. We toyed with the idea of connecting a rotisserie arm to the engine - but sadly that ‘s not allowed - any suggestions for how to cook a nice desert on a hob would be appreciated I’m drawing a blank right  now. See picture  of the Facilities!! Wish me luck

I’ll update you all when I return - have a great bank holiday you guys!

Also a fail to report - I tried and failed to make yoghurt yesterday - but I have not been put off I will persevere - blog post to follow when successful

What a load of Waffle, here’s a recipe

Balsamic roasted beetroot, orange and feta salad
2 fresh beetroots - diced (1cm cubes)
1 orange segmented
big handful of parsley - chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
1/3 block of feta

Toss your beetroot in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and season. Pop into a preheated oven for 35 mins at a high heat (gas mark 7)

When it’s roasted and turning nicely deep red, remove from the oven. Prepare the rest of your ingredients in a bowl. Mix together the olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Combine the beetroot with the other ingredients and toss well with the dressing.

This is a great salad - with a huge range of flavour. I had sprouted some watercress especially for this salad (it took a week to sprout) then I forgot to add it in. The sharp peppery taste would definitely add to the overall flavour, but it was still delicious without.

Here's a photo of this salad from Jenny Hammerton from Silver Screen Suppers Blog. Thanks for sending it onto me - always good to get feedback. Check out her blog - it's great themed around food the glamourous stars of yesteryear cooked! 

Jerusalem Artichoke and Roasted Garlic Soup

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The Worlds Tastiest Soup?

I have been reading the British Larder blog for a while now, this is the first recipe of theirs that I've tried. They're cooking is of a different echelon to mine, this soup seems a good place to try and up my game a little. It's amazing, well worth the little extra effort, slow roasting the garlic lends a rich depth and a little sweetness. I am forwarding it for most tasty soup ever, anyone argue that?

You can find the recipe here, check out their other recipes while you're there too!

 If you're not familiar with a Jerusalem artichoke - then it's the little knobbly guy there on the bottom right in the picture above.

This is the best picture I got of the finished product - hot soup may have been fogging my lens - try it you really won't regret it. The other half of the roasted garlic can be spread on freshly toasted sourdough and eaten as is  -just don't serve it with the soup - that would be complete garlic overload - even for me!  For a dinner party this would be thoroughly impressive starter, and the garlic could be roasted along with other parts of the evening menu.

Pea and mint soup

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Absolutely minted.

I have blogged before about my early childhood experience of brightly coloured soups before. So suffice to say that this version of pea soup is so quick its almost instant. Fresh, bright green and delicious. I served it with the aforementioned homemade sourdough bread on a gorgeous spring afternoon. Its a winner all round.

1 small onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 500g pack frozen peas

500ml good vegetable stock

a handful fresh mint leaves, chopped

Saute the onion and garlic in a small glug of olive oil in a roomy pot until they are soft and transluscent. Add the peas to the pot and the hot stock. Bring back up to the boil. At this point the peas will be cooked. Add half the mint and blitz the whole lot in a blender or with a stick blender. Season to taste. To serve add the rest of the mint. Thats it!

Some chopped grilled bacon added in to this would be really good too.