Post the Thirty-eighth (in which our heroine has Blogger's Block)

It's awful.  I can't think of anything to write about.  I was going to blog about Halloween and why I'm not joining in the festivities this year, but I only got about 30 words into that.  Then I was going to have a moan about how long my textbooks are taking to arrive from the Book Depository, but I wasn't really quite annoyed enough to get a whole post out of it.  I considered and discarded other moan topics in quick succession.  X Factor? Don't care enough.  The APA referencing guidelines we were initially told to use in our History assignment?  Didn't even want to think about that.  The weather?  Been there, done that.  I'm just feeling terribly apathetic altogether.  Methinks a ridiculously spicy dinner is in order this evening; it might shake me up a bit.

Anyway, continuing my love affair with all things Mexican, today's recipe is for three bean enchiladas.  The more eagle-eyed among you will notice that this is a vegetarian recipe.  You may also notice that there have been a few such recipes scattered over the blog.  The reason for this is that I have some kind of half-formed notion that it's good to go meat-free once a week.  Don't ask me whether this is for health, ethical or financial reasons, cause I really haven't thought about it that much, but the upshot is that you will find the odd vegetarian recipe popping up.  All of these recipes have (so far) been given the Hungry Man Seal of Approval (i.e. Emmet eats them), so why not give one a go?

Three-Bean Enchiladas - makes 5*

1 litre passata                             Tin each of chickpeas, kidney beans & cannelini beans
1 large onion, diced                    1 large chili, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed              1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin                     1 tsp cayenne pepper
Half tsp ground ginger                Half tsp ground coriander
150g grated cheddar                  Bunch fresh coriander, chopped
5 large soft tortillas                    Salt, pepper & a pinch of sugar

1. Heat the passata in a large pot.  Add the paprika, a teaspoon of the cumin, the cayenne, ginger, ground coriander & sugar.  Give everything a good stir and allow to simmer very gently for 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, then remove and reserve half of it.

2. Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a separate pan and cook the onion, chili and garlic until nice and soft.  Add the other teaspoon of cumin and mix well.  Add the onion mix to the pot with the passata in it and stir in the three tins of beans (drained & rinsed, obviously).  Check the seasoning and correct if necessary.

3. Oil an ovenproof dish that's big enough to take all your enchiladas in a single layer.  Take one tortilla at a time (heating them for 10 or 15 seconds first makes them more pliable, btw) and spread about two dessertspoons of the bean mix along the middle of it.  Roll up exactly as you would a fajita and place in the dish.  Repeat with all five tortillas - they should be nice and snug in the dish.  Pour your reserved passata over the top, spreading to make sure everything is evenly covered, then scatter with the grated cheese and bake at 210C for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbling.  Serve with a big green salad and plenty of sour cream or yoghurt.

*  Five enchiladas?  What kind of crazy-ass quantity is that?

So sue me, but five is exactly what fits in my dish and it works out perfectly for us - one for me and two for Emmet for dinner, then one each for lunch the next day.  Deal with it.

Post the Thirty-sixth (in which our heroine returns to education)

So, you know it is.  You're 16, you're filling out your college application forms and you don't really have a clue what you want to do with your life cause, y'know, you're 16.  So you apply for a B.Sc. in Biotechnology, thinking it sounds kind of cool, picturing Professor Weeto types teaching the course.  You go to college.  You correct the lecturer's spelling of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in your very first lecture.  You fail your first maths test miserably.  You realise you have absolutely no interest whatsoever in Biotechnology.  You drop out.  You decide to work for a year while you figure out what you *do* want to do in college.  Twelve years later, you're still working.

Or is that just me?

Anyway, the plan was always to go back to college eventually.  The problem was that, having bought houses and cars and whatnot in the intervening years, giving up work to go back full-time wasn't really an option.  And the kind of courses that are available in the evenings never appealed to me - all business-related.  Our heroine was despairing.  And then, lo!  Along came the Oscail programme at DCU - a distance-learning initiative that allows you to do your degree from home.  And lo!  They actually had a few Humanities degrees on it.  So our heroine now finds herself embarking on a B.A. in English and History and realising that she won't be able to coast through this on recall alone as she did with the Leaving Cert.  I'm actually going to have to - gasp! - study.  Something I have never done in my life.  Two hours a night, on weeknights, until my first two assignments are submitted.  It's all very alien to me, I have to admit.

Anyway, as my evening pottering-around-the-kitchen time is now severely curtailed, I'm tending to make big pots of stuff that will look after dinner for two or three nights in a row.  I'm sensing a lot of soup, stew and chili in my short to medium-term future.

Which brings us to the first (I think) soup recipe of the blog.  It's a Jamie Oliver one - English (as opposed to French) Onion Soup.  It's a really hearty, filling soup which, with a few sausage rolls on the side, makes a meal in itself.


English Onion Soup - makes 8 bowls

5 red onions, sliced                         3 large white onions, sliced
2 leeks, washed & sliced                3 shallots, diced
6 cloves garlic, crushed                   Large bunch fresh sage, chopped
2 litres beef stock                           8 slices crusty bread
200g grated cheddar                      Worcestershire sauce
Glug of olive oil                               Generous knob of butter
Salt & pepper

1)  You need a fairly massive pot for this, be warned.  Heat the olive oil & butter over a low heat.  Add the sage & garlic and allow the butter to melt.  Add the onions, leeks & shallots, season with salt & pepper, give everything a good stir to coat and then sweat gently with the lid on for 50 minutes.  Remove the lid for the last 20 minutes.  Stir occassionally to make sure nothing's sticking to the bottom.

2)  When your onions are lovely and silky and slightly golden, add the stock.  Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

3) Preheat your grill to full whack and toast the bread on both sides.  Taste the soup and correct the seasoning if needs be.  Ladle into 8 deep bowls and bung a slice of toast on top of each - tear it up to make it fit, if you have to, and feel free to dunk it into the soup a bit.  Top the bread with some grated cheese and a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce.  Place the bowls on a baking tray and flash them under the grill until the cheese is golden and bubbling.  Very carefully remove the tray and bring to the table, remembering to warn your guests that the bowls are absolutely hopping!  Serve with warm sausage rolls - see below.

 Ok, so these are more home-assembled than home made, but they're still excellent.  And, in my defence, I did make proper home-made ones last week, and these were actually nicer (not to mention a hell of a lot easier), so I'm sticking with them in future.  By the way, I'm aware that the quantities in this recipe are a bit vague, mostly because I'm terribly disorganised and never bothered to write down the weights on any of the packaging, but for what it's worth, the sausages and the puff pastry I use for these are both from Aldi.

Home "made" Sausage Rolls - makes about 30

Packet of good-quality cocktail sausages               Packet of puff pastry
50ml olive oil                                                        50ml Worcestershire sauce

1)  Place your puff-pastry sheet on a large chopping board.  I use the Aldi one, which is a bit thick, so I generally go over it with the rolling pin once or twice to flatten it out a bit.  The other advantage of this is that you get more sausage rolls out of one sheet :-)

2) Pour the oil & worcestershire sauce into a small bowl and give it a good whisk.  Brush the sheet of pastry with a good layer of this.

3)  Snip your sausages into singles and place a row of them across the top of the pastry, leaving a gap of about 5mm between each one.  Cut the pastry into strips lengthways, so you have several long strips of pastry with a sausage at the top of each.  (I really should have taken some photos of this process...)

4) Roll the pastry over the top of your sausage so that it's fully covered, but only just.  Cut the pastry, then repeat this process until you run out of either pastry or sausages.  To form each roll, press & pinch the edges of the pastry together to seal.  Don't worry about the gaps at the sides; when the pastry puffs up during cooking, these will close.

5)  Place the sausage rolls on a baking tray and brush again with the oil/worcestershire sauce mix.  Bake in the oven at 210C until lovely and golden-brown.  Allow to cool on wire rack for 5 minutes, then serve.  Try not to eat the entire batch in one sitting.

You can also freeze these before cooking - put them on the baking tray, brush with the oil mix, then put the whole tray into the freezer - this will stop them sticking together as they freeze.  Once they're frozen you can chuck 'em into a freezer bag to store.  Cook straight from frozen, but at 200C and for approx. 25 minutes.  Again, they're done once they've puffed up and turned golden-brown.  Enjoy!

Post the Twenty-seventh (in which our heroine wishes she liked seafood more)

I want to like fish.  I really, really do.  But, despite years of trying, and with a few exceptions, it just does nothing for me.  I know I *should* like it, and I know I can never be a proper foodie as long as I don't really eat it, but just, no.

Like I said, there are a few exceptions.  I'll eat mahi mahi if it's on a menu where nothing else floats my boat.  The meen balchao in Vermilion is to die for, as are the swordfish tacos in Dillinger's.  And I absolutely love the smell of fish cooking on a barbeque or griddle; to me, it's just amazingly evocative of childhood holidays in Portugal.

And then, of course, there's tuna.  Everyone likes tuna, right?  The "chicken of the sea", to quote a well-known brand in the US.  I wonder how much their marketing people got paid to come up with that?  Now, if you were to compile a league table of the most nutritionally advantageous types of fish to eat, I doubt tinned tuna would even feature, but hey, it's tasty, it's low in fat and you nearly always have a few tins of it knocking around the house, which makes this recipe a good emergency standby.

Tuna Cakes with Onion Salsa- makes 8 cakes

For the cakes
2 tins tuna in brine, drained                        250g mashed potato*
1 small onion, very finely diced                  2 fat cloves garlic, crushed
1 red chili, finely diced                               Large bunch coriander, chopped
Dash of soy sauce                                     Pinch of ground coriander
Zest & juice of 1 lemon                             1 egg
Salt & pepper

1. Chuck all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix really well until everything is evenly combined.  Check your seasoning carefully - you don't want to go mad with the salt, as the tuna is quite salty already.  When you're happy with the seasoning, shape the mix into 8 cakes, then chill for half an hour to firm up.  Make your salsa while you wait.

For the salsa
500g cherry tomatoes, quartered                1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 small chili, finely diced                             Small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
Juice of 1 lime                                            Salt, pepper & a pinch of sugar

2. Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl, mix well and allow to sit at room temperature until you serve.

3. Remove the tuna cakes from the fridge.  In a wide, shallow pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil over a medium heat.  Fry the cakes three or four at a time.  Don't touch them for the first couple of minutes of cooking - you want to give the bottoms time to firm up.  Give them a little nudge with a spatula and if they move easily, turn them over and cook the other side.  Remove, drain on kitchen towels & keep warm while you cook the rest.

4.  Serve the cakes on plenty of mixed leaves and top off with a generous dollop of salsa.  Emmet, being a cottage cheese fiend, also had a dollop of that on his.

You could also make these with tinned salmon.  I'm dying to try them with crab, after sampling the FAB crabcakes from McAllister's Fishmonger in Lucan.

Or, you could make them with pretty much any white fish fillet - just blitz the raw fish in a food processor with the potatoes, then make as directed above.  You will, however, need to cook the cakes for a little bit longer, on a slightly lower heat.

*If you're making these a day or two after the potato skins from the last post, obviously just use your reserved potatoes from that, and don't worry too much about the weight - no two sets of fishcakes are ever alike anyway.

Until tomorrow, mes amies, I must bid you adieu.

Post the Twenty-sixth (in which our heroine returns to the world of the gainfully employed)

So, after my false start last week, I finally started my new job yesterday.  Although I also got off to a bit of a bad start this week - I left myself an hour and a half for the journey, just to be on the safe side, and still barely made it in on time.  I got stuck behind not one, but two crashes on the way in.  What are the bleedin' chances?  It was one of those "God hates me and wants me to fail" moments.  I got there in the end, though.  Barely.

Anyway, the new company seems very promising - not only do I have  my own office, which is manna from heaven for a misanthropist like me, but my department has a BAKING CLUB!!!  A different person bakes each week, and everyone meets on Friday morning for coffee and something tasty.  It's my boss's turn this week, which I find kind of funny (in a nice way), cause he's a really, really senior guy in there and I'm finding it hard to picture him in an apron.  But worry not, I shall report back on his baking skills in due course.

The return to work is forcing me to partake in activity I previously wanted no part of - menu planning.  I'm not getting home til about 6.45, which doesn't really leave time for my usual half an hour of staring into the fridge/press/freezer while I consider and discard 17 different dinner options before finally settling on one or making something up off the top of my head.  Spontaneity begone!  Who knows, though, it might save me a few shekels.

So, last night was:

Thrice Baked Potatoes - serves 2

4 large potatoes                                    150g cheddar, grated
6 tbs sunflower oil                                 1 tsp aromat
0.5 tsp garlic granules                            0.5 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano                                        Splash of milk
Knob of butter or spread                      Salt & pepper

1.  Scrub your potatoes, dry them and prick fairly deeply with a fork a few times on each side.  (I once had an unpleasantly memorable experience with an exploding spud that was insufficiently pricked.)  Bake in an oven preheated to 200C for an hour to 90 minutes, depending on size.  They're done when you can easily slide a sharp knife into them.

2. Remove from the oven and immediately slice them in half lengthways, holding them with a tea-towel so you don't burn the hands off yourself.  Lay them cut-side-up on a wire rack until they're cool enough to handle.  This step is vital to ensure the utmost crispiness of the finished skins.

3. While you're waiting for the spuds to cool, mix your oil, aromat, garlic granules, paprika, oregano, salt & pepper in a small bowl.  I find putting it in the still-warm oven for a few minutes helps the flavours to infuse.

4.  When you can handle the potatoes comfortably, scoop the flesh out into a bowl.  Do not, as I have done on not one but several occasions, feed it to your dogs before remembering that you will, in fact, need it later in the recipe.  With a pastry brush, coat both sides of each potato with the flavoured oil.  Return your oven to 200C and bake the skins upside-down (it stops them closing up) until nice and crispy.  Leave the oven on.

5. While the skins are crisping, melt your butter or crappy low-fat spread in a large pot.  Throw half your scooped-out potatoes into the pot (hang on to the rest, though, cause we're going to use it tomorrow) and mash with enough milk to get a nice, fluffy consistency.  Season well and keep warm.

6.  When the potatoes are crisp, fill each one with a spoonful of mash - you want just enough to coat the skins by a half a centimetre or so, it's not a loaded baked potato we're going for here.  Sprinkle with the grated cheddar and return to the oven until the cheese is browned and bubbling.  You can flash them under the grill for the last two minutes if needs be.  Serve with sour cream and, if you're feeling virtuous, a green salad.

P.S. If you have an avowed carnivore living at home (I'm looking at you, RF), you can fry off some bacon bits or chorizo and add them into the mashed potato filling.

P.P.S.  It's a good idea to cut these using a steak knife - they really are very crispy.  A dinner knife is like to send them shooting off your plate, which causes no end of excitement if you happen to have dogs knocking around the kitchen.

P.P.P.S.  You could totally save yourself a whole lot of time and effort by skipping the second baking and simply frying your scooped-out skins in a couple of inches of oil (or, if such things still exist, chucking them in a deep fat fryer for a few minutes).  I, however, like to fool myself that baking them (albeit coated in oil) is staving off my old pal the rag on a stick for yet another while.  If you do go down the frying route, do it in plain oil and add the aromat, etc. to the mash.







I have a confession to make...

...my camera ate the photo I took of the potato skins.  The one above is an old one of a different skins recipe and they weren't very nice at all.  Don't tell anyone.

Post the Twenty-fourth (in which our heroine opines that halloumi is the greatest of all cheeses)

O halloumi, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...

Your rubbery salty skin,
Encasing the delights within,
Your chewy, springy meat
Is all I wish to eat.

Bake you, fry or grill,
You're simply rather brill.
Drizzle you with oil,
A dash of chili will not spoil.

Dipped in herbs and spice,
You're really rather nice.
Or wrapped in warm flat-bread
And stuffed inside my head.

You can keep your cheddars and Gloucesters
And ooey-gooey bries
And if ever I find myself on death row
I'll be saying "Halloumi, please".

Halloumi Wrapped in Roasted Red Peppers - serves 2

Block of halloumi, sliced in 4                         4 red peppers
1 red chili, finely diced                                   Finely grated zest & juice of 1 lemon

1. Roast your peppers whole until just beginning to soften - don't overcook, cause they've to go back under the grill later.  When they're done, place them in a large bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave for ten or fifteen minutes.  When they're cool enough to handle, twist off the stalks, cut down one side, then open out and remove the seeds & membrane and pinch off the skins.

2. Place a slice of cheese on top of each pepper and sprinkle with lemon juice, zest and some of the chili.  Roll the pepper around the cheese and secure with cocktail sticks or kitchen twine soaked in water.

3.  Get your grill up to full whack and grill the peppers on both sides until they're beginning to char slightly.  Serve on warmed plates with the bean salad below.

Red Onion, Bean & Tomato Salad - serves 2

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced                          Finely grated zest & juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs olive oil                                               400g can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
12 cherry tomatoes, halved                          1 red onion, finely sliced
3 tbs fresh coriander, chopped                     1 tsp fresh mint, chopped
Salt & pepper

1. Place the oil, lemon juice & zest and the garlic in a large pan and set over a low heat.  Allow to infuse for 5 minutes, then stir in the beans, tomatoes & onions and leave to warm gently for another 5 minutes.  Scoop into a bowl, season generously then leave to marinate at room temperature for at least an hour.  Stir in the coriander and mint just before serving.

Note: Garlic tends to turn green in lemon juice, but don't worry, it's perfectly fine to eat.

Post the Nineteenth (in which Leinster have their first home match of the season)

And I'm not at it.  #rage, and all that early twenty-first century jazz.  Emmet and I generally go to all the home games, but we've to be in Dublin tomorrow night (and early Sunday morning for the match - more on that later) and it just wasn't feasible for us to go up tonight for the match.  Dogs don't generally appreciate being left on their own for three days at a time, you'll find.

So it's three-all at 25 minutes in.  Against Newport Gwent Dragons, btw.  Of course, no-one is supposed to say that the opening weeks of the Pro12 are going to be less than explosive, with most of the teams missing their star players because of the world cup, but everyone's thinking it.

Success on the world cup brekkie front, by the way - my oldest sister is hosting this Sunday's.  Result!  Thanks Clo!  I've said I'll supply the chilies for the huevos rancheros and she has allowed that jim-jams are acceptable attire.  Everyone's happy.

On the food photography front, I've been snapping away all weekend, with various different settings on my camera.  All the photos still look the same.  I'm beginning to think my camera only has an idiot-mode.  It's a Sony Cyber-Shot 8.1 Mega Pixel, if anyone is familiar with it and would like to give me a few pointers.  I'm kind of ashamed to admit that my phone takes better pictures.  I shall keep trying, however.  I'm nothing if not stubborn.

So, as I averred to yesterday, last night was my night off the low-carb wagon, and what better way to celebrate it than with the carb-tastic wonder that is gnocchi.  Potato-based pasta dumplings  You really can't get better than that.  Now, gnocchi is actually very easy to make from scratch, if you can be bothered, but for me it's one of those life's-too-short things.  So sue me, I buy mine.

Gnocchi & Parmesan Bake - serves 4

500g gnocchi                            2 tins tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped           Bunch of basil, stalks chopped, leaves chiffonaded
75g parmesan, grated               1 tbs dried oregano
2 onions, diced                         1 small red chili, finely chopped          
Salt, pepper & pinch of sugar

1. Boil your gnocchi in lots of salted water until almost done - about 4 minutes.  Drain, refresh in cold water and set aside.

2. In the same pot, heat a glug of olive oil.  Add your chili, onions, basil stalks & garlic and fry til beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.  (Are we beginning to see a pattern with the tomato sauces, btw?)  Add the tomatoes, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, add the chopped basil, oregano and a pinch of sugar.  Simmer gently for 15 minutes.

3.  Season the sauce and stir in the gnocchi.  Pour into a large dish, scatter over the grated parmesan and bake at 190C until golden & bubbling.  Serve in deep bowls with a green salad and garlic bread.

A note on oven temps: Unless specified otherwise, take it as a given that all ovens are preheated.  I'm not going to tell you when to switch it on - you know your oven better than I do.  My oven heats really quickly, so switching it on at the start of cooking, as most recipes specify, is a waste of energy.  My mother's oven, on the other hand, needs to be turned on some time the previous day before you can start cooking in it.  So, know thy oven.

Another note on tinned tomatoes: I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I always buy whole tinned tomatoes, rather than chopped ones.  They're 10 to 15c cheaper, and tend to be better quality - not as many stalky bits.  I just whizz 'em in my mini chopper for a couple of seconds before using.

Today's Top Tip: Save time when crossing a one-way street by only looking in the direction of oncoming traffic.

Post the Tenth (in which our heroine apologises for her tardiness)

I'm a terrible blogger.  Two whole days with nary a recipe, a moan or a rumination.  I really am sorry.  I'm on my holliers in Dublin (i.e. staying in my mam's for a few days) and have been doing entirely too much drinking and the blog just fell by the wayside.  But I'm going to make it up to you now by giving you the recipe for a friggin amazing cannelloni that's almost guilt-free because I've replaced the ricotta cheese and bechamel sauce with cottage cheese and the ultimate lazy white sauce.  Having had a good look at myself in a full-length mirror this morning, I think I need to do a lot more cheese replacement in the coming weeks.  I'm looking rather more Rubenesque than I'm entirely happy with, I have to say.  I blame being a bum.  Too much time on my hands to cook nice things and bake bread which simply demands to be eaten with real butter.

Spinach & "Ricotta" Cannelloni - serves 4

2 knobs butter                                     4 cloves garlic, peeled & finely sliced
Handful fresh sage or oregano              1/4 of a nutmeg, grated
8 large handfuls spinach, washed          Handful fresh basil, stalks chopped, leaves chiffonaded
2 tins tomatoes                                    400g low-fat cottage cheese
100g grated parmesan                         Sugar, salt & pepper
500ml fat-free natural yoghurt              1 egg
16 cannelloni tubes

1) Put a knob of the butter and a dash of olive into a large pot/pan.  Add two of the garlic cloves, the sage or oregano (chopped, obviously) and the nutmeg and turn the ring onto high.  By the time the oil is hot, the garlic should be softened.  Add the spinach (pull off any really tough stalks) and cook down - as it wilts, you'll be able to keep putting more in - nothing does a more impressive disappearing act than spinach.  Allow to wilt thoroughly, then stick it into the bowl/jug of a food processor and leave to cool a bit.

2) Put the pan back on the heat and add the second knob of butter and a bit more oil.  Add the basil stalks and the rest of the garlic and cook for 5 minutes without browning.  Add the tins of tomatoes, a pinch of sugar and salt & lots of black pepper.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until you get a nice sauce consistency.  I usually chuck in a good tablespoon of oregano at this stage too.

3) Preheat the oven to 180C.  Add the cottage cheese and half the grated parmesan to the blender.  Whizz it all together, then spoon it into a sandwich bag and tie it off.  Find a shallow tray that will take all your cannelloni in one layer, and put the tomato sauce in the bottom.

4) Cut one of the corners off your sandwich bag and pipe the spinach mix into the cannelloni tubes.  Lay them on top of the tomato sauce.  Make your white sauce by mixing the yoghurt, the egg and the rest of the parmesan, and loosen with a few drops of water.  Spread over the cannelloni and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden and bubbling.  Serve with a green salad and garlic bread.

Photo shamelessly stolen from my friend R, as I totally forgot to take one!

Enjoy!