Irish Whiskey Flavoured Rhubarb with Honey & Oat Crumble

I love Rhubarb and its clean, tart flavour. And it's great to see it making a return to popularity on restaurant dessert menus in various forms and as an accompaniement to duck, venison and other stronger flavoured types of meat.

We've always had rhubarb growing at home and it is very easy to keep if  (like anything else) you look after it. Keep the soil moist but not water-logged, keep it in the sunshine by cutting any over-hanging branches and give it an odd helping of well-matured organic matter of the horse variety and the rhubarb plant will come back year after year.

mmmmm! Freshly pulled rhubarb!

In late Spring, after the frosts finally decide to go away, the first shoots will show. You can put an up-turned bucket over these and this will help to bring forth what is known as "forced rhubarb". This is a great way to get a double crop. Pull the stalks clean from the base- do not cut them. After this first crop,  leave the plant to its own devices and you will get another growth coming into the start of the summer.

Rhubarb is one of those plants that grows well in a big pot in a town or city garden if you follow those guidelines. But don't put the leaves of rhubarb into your compost heap,as they are said to be poisonous and will have a seriously bad effect on your compost!  Rhubarb plants are available to buy in most good garden centres & you can also buy Rhubarb stalks, ready for your cooking pot, in all good Veg shops.

Here is a very simple but super delicious recipe for an old-fashioned Rhubarb Crumble. I always put a splash of whiskey into it (and a little bit into the whipped cream too if you want!) and my mum always added porridge oats to the crumble topping to make it crunchier. 

My Ingredients:
The Rhubarb...
1kg fresh Rhubarb
200g granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tbls honey
1 splash of your favouite Irish Whiskey
50ml water

The Topping...
400g plain flour
200g butter
100g flahavans porridge oats

100g brown sugar


My Method:
Preheat your oven to 180C

Chop the rhubarb chunky

For the rhubarb mix, chop the rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces and then put it into into a heavy based pot with the sugar, cloves, honey, and whiskey, over a medium heat and bring it up, just to the boil. Then turn down the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes until the rhubarb is soft but still chunky.

Don't forget the splash of whiskey!

Meanwhile, rub the butter into the flour as you would when making sweet pastry or bread. Add the oats and sugar and mix well together.

Ahh... Porridge oats mixed through the pastry crumb

Pour the cooked rhubarb into a baking dish, sprinkle the crumble mix on top and pat it gently, with your hand, to tidy up the top. 

Spread the mix over the stewed rhubarb

Pop it in the oven for 15 - 18 minutes, until golden brown on top. 

Serve with cream, custard or ice cream (or all three!) . Simple, tasty and delicious!

My Easy-to-Make Christmas Pudding!

Christmas pudding is also known as plum pudding because of the abundance of prunes in it! The rich and heavy pudding is boiled or steamed, made of a heavy mixture of fresh or dried fruit, nuts and sometimes suet, a raw beef or mutton fat. Vegetarian suet may also be used for a lighter taste. The pudding is very dark, almost black, and is saturated with brandy, dark beer, or other alcohols. They used to be boiled in a "pudding cloth," but today they are usually made in pudding bowls.

A Traditional Christmas Pudding flamed with Brandy

Many people stirred silver coins (for wealth), tiny wishbones (for good luck), a silver thimble (for thrift), a ring (for marriage), or an anchor (for safe harbour) into the mixture, and whoever got the lucky serving, would keep the charm. Ready-made and cooked puddings are now available in the shops but they can never compete with the flavour and the pleasure of making your own!

My Ingredients:

125g ready-to-eat prunes, chopped

225g raisins

225g currants

225g sultanas

Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

50g chopped almonds

1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

225g demerara sugar

225g suet (I use vegetable suet rather than beef)

125g fresh white breadcrumbs

125g plain flour

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

3 eggs

150ml Guinness

1 tbsp black treacle

35ml brandy

It looks like a lot of ingredients but the Christmas Pudding is very easy to make!

My Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.

2. Whisk the eggs, guinness, brandy and black treacle together and stir into the mixture.

3. Cover and leave to stand overnight in a cool place.

4. Butter three x 600ml pudding bowls and put a circle of greaseproof paper in the base.

5. Pack the mixture into the bowls and smooth the top. Leave about 2.5 cm space to the top of the bowl.

6. Cut a double layer of greaseproof paper into a 30cm circle. Make a pleat and cover each pudding. Tie with string around the edge, then tie with more string to make a handle so that it can be easily lifted in and out of the pan.

7. Put the bowls into a heavy-based saucepan (placing an upturned plate in the bottom of the pot first). Pour boiling water around the edge until it comes two-thirds of the way up the sides of the bowls. Cover with the lid of the pan and simmer for 3 hours. Remember to top up with boiling water every hour.

8. Cool. Put on a new greaseproof or parchment cover, and then cover tightly with foil.

9. Store in a cool dark place until Christmas. The puddings will keep for up to six months.

10. To serve cut into portion sizes and heat in a microwave, on full power, for 2 minutes until piping hot. Warm two tablespoons of brandy in a small saucepan. Set alight and carefully pour over the pudding. Serve with brandy custard cream or brandy butter.

Christmas Pudding with a Brandy Custard Cream!

Brandy Custard Cream

This is a simple and very tasty Christmas cream that I prefer to serve with my Christmas Pudding. Whip 250ml cream until it holds a figure eight shape and stir it into 250ml of cold prepared custard (you can make this yourself or buy it pre-made). Pour in 35ml (one shot) of brandy and add a pinch of grated nutmeg. This can also be served over warmed mince pies for a delightful change to the usual!

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the Bottom of this Post!

zack

This week's Guest Chef - Ruperta Gallagher

Ruperta Gallagher returned, with her husband Brian, from America in 1993 and opened the Blueberry Tearooms in Donegal Town. She loves baking tasty pies & tarts and this recipe, from her kitchen, is one of her favourite homemade Autumn cakes.

The Blueberry Tea Room & Restaurant, Donegal Town

Cinnamon Pear Cake with Vanilla Fudge Sauce
750g ripe Pears
40g butter
3 tbls muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
200g butter
200g caster sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
200g SR Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Set the oven at 160*C. Melt 40g butter, dark sugar & cinnamon together slowly in a shallow pan, stirring often. Carefully add the peeled, cored and roughly chopped pears and cook until tender and coated in sauce. Don't let the sauce go dark. Set aside to cool.

2. Beat the 200g butter and sugar until light & creamy. Add the eggs and flour alternately and fold in any remaining flour with the baking powder.

3. Add the pears and their syrup and mix gently. Pour into a 24cm loose-bottomed and lightly-buttered cake tin and bake for 45 mins. Leave to cool before removing from the tin.

Cinnamon Pear Cake with Vanilla Fudge Sauce

For the Fudge Sauce bring 100g muscovado sugar, 100g golden syrup & 50g butter to the boil in a heavy-based pot. Stir in 150ml cream and a few drops of vanilla extract and leave it to cool & thicken. Serve over the cake with some ice cream.

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this Post!
zack

"Waterford Blaa" to be EU Registered as Unique

The Irish government has begun the formal process to seek EU recognition of the unique characteristics of the Waterford 'Blaa' - the simple, but special, bread roll/bap that is associated with Waterford City. 

The Waterford Blaa

Minister Simon Coveney launched a national consultation process on the application of the “Waterford Blaa” for registration as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). On completion of the national consultation the application will be forwarded to the European Commission for review. Granting of this intellectual property protection to "Waterford Blaa" would mean that producers of the product within the specified region only could use this name.

Bakers from the Waterford Blaa Bakers Association

Minister Coveney said "The publishing of the specification document follows a period of engagement between the producer group in Waterford (Waterford Blaa Bakers Association) and my Department."

He went on to say "It is important that we take advantage of the EU Quality Products Scheme; to date Ireland has not sufficiently exploited this opportunity, this is a positive step forward, I would encourage producers of regional products to discuss possible applications with my Department".

The PGI scheme protects particular product names that are linked to a particular territory or to a production method. The products themselves do not have to be unique, yet the applications must show how the characteristics of the region - topographic, reputation, natural resources - have an impact on the characteristics of the product.

A Lamb burger on Waterford blaa topped with sweet cherry toms & dressing  fromEden Restaurant, Dublin,  who get their Blaas delivered from Waterford every day! pic via @MarkMatanes

The requirements for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) are:

• The product/foodstuff originates from the defined geographical area
• Possess a specific quality, reputation or other characteristics attributable to the defined geographic area
• At least one stage of production, processing and preparation of the agricultural product or foodstuff takes place within the defined geographical area.

It is a stringent process and can take several years to complete from the time a decision to apply for the registration of a product is made. After analysis by national authorities it goes to Europe for consideration. Once it gets to European level the Blaa will undergo examination by the Commission services & publication with a 6-month opposition period before registration may be granted.

Four Irish products already have an EU Quality label:

Clare Island Salmon, Connemara Hill Lamb, Imokilly Regato, and Timoleague Brown Pudding. These products were worth €35 million to the Irish economy in 2010 and have a strong track record in the export market.

12% of Irish products bearing EU quality labels are sold within the Irish market, 82% are sold to other EU countries, and 6% are sold outside of the EU. In the EU as a whole the opposite is the case, as the vast majority of quality label products are sold within their country of production. This difference reflects the strong export-oriented nature of Ireland's food production industry.

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this post!

zack

A Very Fast Soda Bread Pizza!

Summer time, gardens, children, friends, barbeques & Pizza are some the main ingredients for a great day with the family! Pizza is so easy to make but some people are put off by the thought of getting the yeast, proving the dough and all that - so here is an alternative bread dough that you can make in five minutes and works just as well!

It is based on a traditional white scone bread mix with a wee twist and works perfectly every time. 

My ingredients:

For the dough -makes two 10” pizzas

800g plain white flour

½ tspn baking powder

2 tbls olive or rapeseed oil

A few twists of ground black pepper

A few twists of ground sea salt

125ml cold water

You can buy Pizza trays cheap in any hardware or discount shop.

My Method:

Heat your oven to 160ºC.

1. Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir with a whisk to mix well. Add the oil and stir.
2. Now add ¾ of the cold water and with your hand pull the mix into a dough. Add a little more water if you need to. When the dough comes together in the centre dust it with a little flour and turn it out onto your table.
3. Cut in half and roll out into two thin circles the size of your pizza trays. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove and leave aside.

 For the topping

1x jar of Tomato Sauce for Bolognaise

Thinly sliced peppers, Salami, onions, olives, bacon or any topping of your choice

Chopped fresh herbs

150g Mozzarella cheese sliced

Grated Irish Cheddar or Goats cheese of your choice

My Method:

Spread the sauce on the half-baked pizza base. Place your sliced meats, vegetables & herbs on top and finish with the mozzarella and grated cheese. Pop into the oven for another 8 minutes and serve. It couldn’t be quicker than that!

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this post!
zack

Whin Bush (aka Gorse) Pastry Cream for Eclairs

The Whin Bush, otherwise known as Gorse, Furze or Furse is a spiny evergreen shrub that is actually a part of the pea family! The bright yellow flowers have a wonderful & distinctive coconut scent.

This is an important plant for wildlife providing a dense thorny cover which is ideal for protecting nesting birds. Whins bushes almost always have a flower in bloom hence the old English country phrase: "When gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion".

Darren Bradley's Gorse Ice Cream looked yumm (seen here) (click for a link to Darren's blog)

and give me the idea for this.... it's a simple Pastry Cream using those same lovely coconut fragrant flowers that would be delicious inside homemade eclairs!


My Ingredients:

½ litre milk
200g Whin (gorse) flowers

4 egg yolks

130 g castor sugar
30 g plain flour
10g cornflour
a pinch of salt

My Method:

Bruise the flower petals with a mortar & pestal or a very quick whizz in the food processor to help release more of that delicious coconut flavouring.

Bring the milk, flower petals, sugar & a pinch of salt to a gentle boil in a pot. Strain into a jug.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a big bowl until it's creamy and light. Whisk in the flour and cornflour until it is thoroughly mixed. Gradually pour the boiling milk into this while whisking continuously.

Transfer the whole mixture back into a clean pot and heat it on low to cook out. Stir it constantly with a wooden spoon until it has thickened. Don't let it stick to the pot!!

Once this custard cream has thickened, take it off the heat, pour it into a clean bowl and let it cool down. It will be thicker than a custard, more the consistency of a cold porridge. Once cooled you can cover it and refrigerate it until needed.

To fill your eclairs or flaky pastry slices etc, give the cream a good stir to smooth out before you spoon or pipe it into the cakes.

This is based on the classic French 'Creme Pattissier' so the recipe (without the flower petals) can be used and flavoured with whatever you like!

Hot Cross Buns for Easter!

One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot Cross Buns!

Video & Music by http://www.youtube.com/user/annshelaann

Hot cross buns are traditionally baked for lent, the 40 days before Easter. On Good Friday they have been served to commemorate Christ's suffering on the cross. However, the bun acquired mythical properties during the centuries. Early literature reveals that the hot cross bun was better known as the Good Friday Bun.

The most famous story says the hot cross buns origins date to the 12th century when an Anglican monk was sent to have placed the sign of the cross on the buns to honor Good Friday. Throughout history, the bun has received credit for special virtues, among them that of ensuring friendship between two people sharing a bun. An old rhyme states, "half for you and half for me, between us two good luck shall be".

Another tradition holds that a Hot Cross Bun should be kept hanging from the kitchen ceiling for one year to another to ward off evil spirits. Healing properties were also attributed to it. Gratings from a preserved bun were mixed with water to provide a cure for the common cold.

There are loads of delicious ways to eat this legendary treat: You can slice them, toast them and butter them! I love them with homemade strawberry jam! This recipe is based on one from my mother-in-law and makes about 10 buns.

Hot Cross Buns


My Ingredients:
450g bread (strong) flour
pinch of salt
2 tspn mixed spice
75g butter
7g fast action dried yeast (generally 1 sachet)
50g caster sugar
1 egg
275ml warm milk (40seconds in microwave will do)
200g dried raisins or currants (I don't like the traditional dried mixed fruit - but if you do, use that instead)
grated rind of an orange

My Method:

• Put the flour, salt and mixed spice in a bowl and give them a quick whisk to mix. This is much better that shifting for breaking lumps and blending ingredients together. Add the yeast, sugar, beaten egg and milk and stir together into a soft dough.
• Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. If you are using a mixer to make these buns give it five minutes on low with the dough hook. Add in the dried fruit and the grated orange rind and knead for another minute.
• Roll out the mix slightly and cut the dough into 10 pieces. Roll these into balls on the table using the flat of your hand and place on a baking sheet or tray. Leave their own width again between each bun so they will have room to rise.
• To make the cross mix 100g flour with about 3 tbls cold water to make a basic dough. Roll it out thin and cut into little strips. Dampen with a little water and stick to the top of each bun.
• Take a length of cling film and brush with a little cooking oil. Place this on top of the buns and leave in the kitchen to double in size - about 20 minutes depending on the weather and the warm of the room!

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C, 180°C if a fan oven, for 20-25 minutes.

The hot cross buns are taditionally brushed with a sugar & water glaze when still hot but I prefer to brush them with local honey, from the Saturday country market in Leghowney!


Dont forget to feed the fish at the bottom of this post!
zack

Making a Piping Bag with Greaseproof Paper

Making and baking and decorating and filling! In common these jobs all use, at some stage, 

a Piping Bag!

These useful catering bags come in all shapes and sizes and are made from a variety of materials. There is a massive selection of nozzels available to buy depending on the type of job you're doing. They are used for cake decorating, making choux eclairs or swans etc, piping potato dishes, making biscuits and hundreds of other uses.

There are times when a small pointed piping bag is required for a simple wee job like writing a name on a birthday cake or such and you are only going to use a little bit of cream or icing.

That is when you need to be able to fold together a quick little Greaseproof-Paper Piping Bag.

Well... here is how you do just that!

Fold a sheet of greaseproof paper corner to corner. It doesn't matter if it's a square or rectangle piece to start with as long as you fold it corner to corner, giving you a long fold in the centre

Keep the fold smooth and straight as you cut it with a sharp knife

The general stating position is to point the right-angled corner to your elbow, letting the smallest corner drop

Catch this bottom corner and fold it around your hand

Do not let go of the inside corner and complete the wrap around to look like this

Moving your two hands, slide the two corners gently up and down to tighten and sharpen the point of the cone  

Don't worry if it doesn't seem to be working, first time, as this part will take a little practice!

When you have a sharp point on the piping bag pinch the two top ends of the paper cone together and hold them tight - nearly there!

Fold the ends of the cone back on themselves, to tie the ends of the bag together and stop it from falling apart

It is now ready for use. It's a good idea to make a few of these in advance - they will sit inside each other for storage and you can keep them ready in a little plastic tub for easy access. Like many things in life....practice makes perfect on this one!

Fill the piping bag with your cream or icing and snip off the point to the desired piping size. Use a new bag if you need to. Don't try to re-fill the first one,  it doesn't work!

You can also go to the website http://www.irishfoodguide.ie/

and check out the Best Irish Food Guides, our Blog, IFG Daily News or chat on Twitter

all from the one place!

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the end of this post!
zack

Indian Meal Bread – A taste of the last Century

Indian meal (corn/maize meal) was imported from America around the early 1800's to assist when turnips and potatoes got scarce. During the Famine large quantities were distributed to the hungry. It was also used to feed the chickens and added to turnips, cut by hand on the edge of a scythe, for pigs.

Difficulties in grinding the corn produced poorly refined meal which caused digestive problems to those who had no choice but to eat it. When it was discovered that it really needed to be ground more finely for human consumption, Indian meal became popular in country diets in Ireland. It was made into porridge, pancakes and bread for the household until the early decades of the 20th century.

This, is a simple and light Indian Meal Bread recipe that my grandmother used to make and my own mother made and baked it in a pan with a tight-fitting lid, on the open fire in the kitchen. Turf "mole" was put on the fire to keep it safe at night and the bread would cook slow so we had fresh bread ready in the morning.

Gosh! That sounds like something that happened in the 1940’s but I’m talking about the 1970’s! Then, I guess, this is what traditions are all about…

My Ingredients:

600g self raising flour

1 level tsp baking powder

100g Indian meal

good pinch salt

tbls sugar

125g butter

2 large eggs

35ml olive oil

dash lemon juice

240ml milk

120ml water (approx)

My Method:

Mix the flour and baking powder together and rub in the butter.

Add the Indian meal, sugar and salt and mix well.

Break in the 2 eggs, dash of lemon juice, olive oil, milk and half the water. Mix together quickly and lightly. Add a little more water if you need to.

Pull the dough together in the bowl with a sprinkling of flour and turn it over

Place your bread on your baking tin and gently flatten it down with the palm of your hand. I always use a pizza tin for baking my bread because it works perfectly regardless of the size of the scone! Cut a cross over the top and into the bread. Gently push the knife to both sides as you cut to widen the gap.

Cutting the cross in the top of the bread had nothing really to do with looks. It was done to let the heat into the centre of the bread and to facilitate breaking the bread into pieces that were decent enough in size to take out to the fields or the bog or wherever the men of the house were working that day.

Here on the west coast, one of the traditions was to mark the bread in eight pieces not four. This was true portion control being exercised by the Mammy of the house!!

Put the bread into the centre of a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes. (As always drop 10°C for fan assisted ovens.)

If you can get the hang of it 5 minutes before cooking-time is up, take out the bread place a plate or baking tin on top and turn it over. Put it back into the oven to finish. This helps dry out the bottom of the loaf.

The scone should sound hollow to the tap on the base when it cooked.