Lamb parmigiana

I bought some lamb steaks from M&S earlier this week but left them in the freezer as we ate out quite a lot.

I thawed two steaks for dinner tonight. Instead of grilling them, I decided to make a simple lamb parmigiana. 

Ingredients

• 50g grated parmesan cheese
• 100g fresh breadcrumbs (2 slices of toast, leave to cool, blend in a food processor)
• a pinch of dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 2 lamb steaks
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Place a clingfilm on a chopping board
2. Place a lamb steak (trimmed of fat) on the clingfilm on the centre of the chopping board
3. Cover the steak with another sheet of clingfilm and flatten it using a rolling pin
4. Repeat for the other steak
5. Season the steak with salt, pepper and rosemary
6. Mix the breadcrumbs with the grated parmesan in a bowl and set aside
7. Dust each steak with flour, dip into the egg, and coat with the breadcrumb mix
8. Line a baking tray with foil and place the steak onto the foil
9. Bake in the even at 200 degrees for 25 minutes
10. Remove the steak from the oven, flip it over, and place under a grill for 2 minutes as the underside may have turned soggy

I served my lamb parmagiana with spicy potato wedges, broccoli, sautéed potatoes and chilli sauce.

 

The Bloody Stream

Hubby and I went to a pub in Howth called the Bloody Stream last Saturday night for a romantic meal for two. The pub is right beside the DART station so it is hard to miss.

The pub had a rather touristy feel about it, but not in a tacky way. There was plenty to choose from the food and drinks menu but we went there for seafood for which the pub is renowned for. We both ordered half pints of Guinness to drink (hubby was driving, and we had plenty to drink the night before), 4 oysters to share, salt and pepper calamari on a bed of salad for me, and Dublin Bay prawns in garlic butter served with brown bread for hubby. We also ordered a portion of chips to share.

The oysters were juicy and fresh, and I topped them up with a squeeze of lemon.

The salt and pepper calamari didn’t bowl me over – I’ve had tastier ones in London (Saraccino’s West Hampstead – try their grilled calamari with breadcrumbs, yum). The dish could have done with a bit of seasoning, and the accompanying sweet chilli dip was terribly bland. The only plus point about this dish was that the calamari tasted very fresh.

The winner of the evening was the Dublin Bay prawns cooked in garlic butter. The prawns were, as with the other seafood, fresh, juicy and simply delicious in the garlic butter sauce. Hubby mopped up most of the sauce with the chips and brown bread.

Food and drinks plus service charge came to €44.  The waitress was very attentive, although she was fairly rushed off her feet. We had forgotten to bring along the camera so the photos were taken on my phone. I’m glad we’ve ticked the box for Guinness, Oysters and Dublin Bay Prawns in Howth! I’d love to come back, but will probably try one of the little cafe/fish bar type places instead.

Chocolate roulade

I’m expecting friends over for Sunday lunch tomorrow. The menu is a simple chicken pie served with sweet potato mash, potato wedges (recipes provided in previous posts) and broccoli.

For dessert, I made chocolate roulade and found a good recipe on bbc food http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/theultimatechocolate_73731.shtml I used my own filling recipe. The first attempt was unsuccessful as there was insufficient cake mix for my larger than average swiss roll tin (40cm x 28 cm). I dragged poor hubby out to the shop to buy more eggs and chocolate for a second attempt at the cake! I modified the recipe below so that there would be enough cake mix for the tin.

Chocolate roulade

Ingredients

• 200g milk chocolate
• 175g caster sugar
• 8 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp drinking chocolate powder
• 60g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 300 ml double cream
• 180 ml thick Bailey’s pouring cream (I found this at Sainsbury’s)
• icing sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius (gas mark 4).
2. Lightly grease a swiss roll tin and line with baking paper
3. Place the chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Careful not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Remove the bowl from the pot once the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool
4. Whisk the egg whites using a mixer on high speed until stiff and white
5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs yolks, vanilla and sugar using a mixer on high speed until pale, creamy and light
6. Add the melted chocolate to the egg yolk and sugar mix
7. Fold in the egg whites gently, careful not to over-mix
8. Add in the chocolate powder, plain flour and baking powder, mix gently
9. Pour the mix into the swiss roll tin and bake in the oven for 2o to 25 minutes, until the cake is firm to touch
10. Remove the tin from the oven and leave it on a cooling rack to cool down for a few hours or overnight
11. Whip the double cream, but not until it is stiff
12. Mix in the bailey’s cream
13. Measure baking sheet to the size of the swiss roll tin, with 2 extra inches on all sides
14. Lay the above baking sheet on a kitchen towel
15. Sprinkle some icing sugar on the baking paper
16. Tip the swiss roll tin onto the baking paper above
17. Remove the old baking paper from the cake
18. Trim the edges of the cake to make it neater
19. Spread the cream mix all over the cake
20. Start with the wide end of the cake – lift the baking paper along with the cake and roll all the way to the opposite end to form a log. Remove the baking paper
21. Don’t worry if cracks appear. Sprinkle icing sugar and chocolate powder to conceal
22. Slice the roulade and serve with strawberries, hot custard and ice cream (hubby’s favourite combination)

Roast chicken with cranberry stuffing

I cooked roast chicken for Sunday dinner earlier and invited friends J and J over.  The first time I ever made roast chicken was based on Bill Granger’s recipe, and have modified this over time.

Roast chicken

• 1 organic whole chicken (1.7kg) – giblets removed
• 1 tub ricotta cheese
• lemon rind from 2 lemons
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Stuffing

• breadcrumbs from 5 slices of bread
• 3 tbsp dried cranberries, finely chopped
• 3 shallots, finely sliced
• dried italian herbs

Method

1. For the stuffing, heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the shallots
2. Season with salt, pepper and italian herbs
3. Once the shallots are cooked, remove pan from the heat
4. In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with cranberries
5. Add in the shallots, mix well and season with salt, pepper and dried herbs. Leave aside
6. Wash the chicken and pat dry with kitchen towel
7. Mix the lemon rind with the ricotta cheese
8. Using your fingers, create a gap between the chicken and skin in the breast and thigh areas
9. Fill the gap with the lemon ricotta mix. This mix adds additional flavour to the chicken and keeps the meat moist as well
10. Fill the cavity (centre of the chicken) with the stuffing. Using a rubber band, tie together the legs so that the stuffing is secure in the cavity
11. Roast the chicken at 180 degrees celsius – follow the instructions on the chicken pack for cooking time. Mine took 1 hour 50 minutes. 

 

Strawberry pavlova

Hubby found it highly amusing that I had googled ‘eggless pavlova’ before attempting this recipe.  We were entertaining friends last night and I thought I’d try baking a pavlova.  A good tip from a friend was to bake the pavlova in the evening and leave it to cool and set in the oven overnight (which I didn’t get to do as I only did my food shopping on the day that I was baking). I also forgot to add in 2 key ingredients which I’m sure contributed to a less than perfect pav.  There’s always a next time.

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp lemon juice/white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• double cream, whipped with icing sugar
• strawberries

Method

1. Draw a circle on baking paper using a 22cm baking tin. Place the paper on a flat baking tray
2. Pre-heat the oven to 140 degrees celsius, then turn down to 120 degrees when baking
3. In a bowl, beat the egg whites using an electric mixer at medium speed
4. Once the egg white mix turns stiff, pour in 25g of sugar and beat using the mixer
5. Add in 25g of sugar at a time and continue beating until the mix is stiff. If you flipped the bowl over, the mix should remain in the bowl!
6. Check that the sugar has fully dissolved by testing the mix with your finger. If it is grainy, then it hasn’t fully dissolved, so continue beating
7. Fold in the vanilla extract, cornflour and lemon juice/vinegar
8. Spread the mix onto the baking paper (from step 1) ensuring it stays within the circle
9. Work the mix so that the pavlova is hollow in the middle
10. Transfer the baking paper and tray in the oven for 1 hour 20 mins (at a lower temperature of 120 degrees)
11. Switch off the oven and leave to cool
12. Remove the pavlova from the baking paper, and place on a dish
13. Top it up with whipped cream and strawberries just before serving

(Note: I spread cream all over my pav to cover up some cracks)

Lemon chicken

I had some lemon to use up (hence the cake in my previous post) and decided to make Lemon Chicken. I found a good recipe in Bill Granger’s Everyday, which I modified slightly as I didn’t have all the ingredients. I served it with ginger and pea rice (another Bill’s recipe) and omelette (this is just about the only type of egg I’d eat, provided it is served with chilli!)

Bill’s lemon chicken

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast, diced
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1/2 potato, finely sliced
• 1 shallot, finely sliced
• a handful of curry leaves (as I had no coriander)
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• a pinch of chilli powder
• 80 ml chicken stock
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp golden syrup (instead of honey)
• juice of half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• vegetable oil
• sesame oil

Method

1. Coat chicken with plain flour, salt pepper and chilli powder
2. Heat up some oil in a wok and fry the chicken in 2 batches. Once fried, remove and lave to rest of kitchen paper
3. Fry ginger, lemon, curry leaves and shallots until fragrant
4. Add the potatoes and continue stir frying for a minute
5. Add the chicken, golden syrup, sugar and lemon juice and stir well
6. Season with salt and pepper and sesame oil

Ginger and pea rice

• Cook rice as you would normally, except add ginger (you could fry this before adding to the pot of rice before it is cooked), peas, salt and a dash of sesame oil

 

Omelette

• Finely slice 2 shallots
• Beat 2 large eggs and season with salt and pepper
• Heat up some oil in a pan
• Fry the shallots
• Once the shallots are brown and fragrant, add the eggs and swirl it around the pan
• Check that the underside of the egg is cooked and flip it over so and cook for a minute

 

 

Lemon semolina cake

Last week, while searching high and low for polenta, all I kept finding on supermarket shelves was semolina.  My aunt used to make semolina based sweet treats and I thought I’d give it a try myself. I found a few recipes for semolina cake – one of them was on taste.com.au which I modified slightly

Ingredients

(A) Cake mix

• 2 large free range eggs
• 125g butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon rind ( i used 3 lemons for this)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semolina (as in slightly more than half. Stating the obvious here as I almost misread the recipe as 3-4 cups!)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour

(B) Lemon syrup

• 1/4 cup lemon juice (put through a sieve to remove pulp and seeds)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 slices of lemon

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line with baking paper (bottom and side)
3. Using a mixer, beat the sugar, butter and lemon rind until pale and creamy
4. Add in an egg, continue beating and repeat for the second egg
5. Pour in the vanilla extract and mix well
6. Add the semolina, flour and milk into the wet mix
7. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes
8. Insert a tooth pick into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
9. Leave aside while making the lemon syrup
10. For the lemon syrup, add the sugar into a small pan
11. Top with 1/4 cup water
12. Pour in the juice and lemon slices
13. Boil for 10 minutes
14. Pour 3/4 of the syrup onto the cake
15. Bake the cake for 10 minutes in the oven
16. Remove cake from the cake tin and leave to cool on a cooling rack, removing the baking paper in the process
17. Serve the cake with the remaining lemon syrup, or as my hubby suggests, cream or hot custard 

 

Afternoon tea at The Montagu

Hubby, my in-laws and I went to The Montagu at the Hyatt Churchill for afternoon tea last Saturday. We ordered the champagne tea for 4.

The selection of sandwiches were as follows: carrot and cucumber, smoked salmon, ploughman’s, egg, and roast beef.

The sweet treats were lovely and we were spoilt for choice: passion fruit cream, macaroons, chocolate pudding, tarts and little cakes.

The scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam were served warm after we had eaten the sandwiches.  Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying the scones and forgot to photograph them.

Hubby and I were here for tea about 2 years ago,  and we’ve always compared other afternoon tea visits to the Montagu.  Good food, service and reasonably priced.  Definitely worth another visit.

Carrot and beetroot sauce

My friend AF who organises wholefoods cooking workshops had us cook this lovely carrot and beetroot sauce during one of her sessions.

Ingredients

• 5 carrots, finely diced
• 4 small beetroots, finely diced
• 3 shallots, finely sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• fresh basil (i didn’t have any, so I used dried italian herbs instead)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a heavy based pan. fry the shallots and garlic until fragrant
2. Add in the carrots and beetroot and mix well
3. Add enough water so that it just about covers the vegetables, and leave to boil
4. Once the water has boiled, add in salt, pepper and herbs and leave to simmer for 40 minutes
5. When the water has almost evaporated and the vegetables cooked, remove from the heat
6. Whizz the vegetables into a paste/sauce using a hand-held blender
7. Serve with polenta

Polenta

• Boil 5 cups of water, add 2 cups of polenta, shredded carrots, broccoli and peas.  Stir the mixture for 5 minutes and pour into a container. Leave for a few hours to set.

Simple vegetable nasi goreng

I made us a very simple dinner tonight using instant nasi goreng (fried rice) mix.

Ingredients

• cooked rice
• a handful of broccoli florets
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• a handful of frozen peas
• omelette – 2 eggs beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper, 1 shallot finely sliced
• 3 tbsp nasi goreng paste
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Heat up vegetable oil in a hot
2. Fry the shallots until brown and fragrant
3. Pour in the beaten eggs over the shallots and cook for 2 minutes until eggs are done
4. Remove omelette into a bowl
5. Heat up a bit more oil in the wok and add in the nasi goreng paste
6. Add in all the vegetables
7. Add in the rice, mix well and stir for 2 minutes
8. Add in the omelette, give the rice one final stir and remove from the heat