Pear & Almond Tart

I’m home from a once in a lifetime incredible trip to Sunny California where I had the best time treating my palette like a queen and sampling some of America’s finest food gems. 

Since I’ve come home from the States I’ve been flat to the max working for my second year at a Summer Camp “Smart Cooking” in Templeogue College for the past fortnight! Here I have been busy working with children and teenagers making everything from Swiss Roll to Lebanese Style Cous Cous. Needless to say I am very much back in the food zone again and dying to start baking and sharing some more dishes and recipes that I have picked up in the States and from my time in the Smart Cooking Academy Camp. 

The featured dish is a favourite of mine and I have ‘borrowed’ this recipe from the lovely Edward Hayden who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Taste of Christmas event back in 2012. His book ‘Food to Love’ is fantastic and a really staple go to book in my cookery book collection!   

This tart is a real crowd pleaser (serves up to 8people) and while it takes a little bit of effort I believe it is well worth it!       

I like to make the pastry a day in advance and leave to chill in the fridge to help speed up assembling the dish and to make the pastry easier to work with and roll. 

Ingredients: 

Sweet Pastry: 

300g plain flour 

110g caster sugar 

150g cold butter 

1 large free range egg 

There are loads of different ways to make your pastry. I am a traditionalist (and do not own a food processor) so I prefer the ‘Rubbing in’ Method. 

To begin, sieve the flour into a bowl, rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar. Beat the egg in a measuring jug and add to the mixture until it binds to form a dough. *If it does not bind together add a little cold water to help bring it together*. 

Wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest and to help with ease of rolling. 

Using a 9inch/23cm flan tin, line with the chilled pastry and leave to chill in the fridge again for 20-30minutes to firm up and to prevent shrinkage at a later stage. Do not trim off excess pastry yet!  

Almond Sponge Filling Ingredients

175g soft butter  

175g caster sugar 

1/2 teaspoon of almond essence 

3 large free range eggs 

50g plain flour 

175g ground almonds  

Topping: 

6-8 canned pear halves (canned pears work best as they tend not to discolour during the cooking process) 

50g flaked almonds 

2 dessertspoons of apricot jam  

To serve: 

Vanilla Bean Ice-cream / Freshly whipped cream 

Preheat the oven to 180DC/Gas Mark 4. 

Cream together the soft butter and caster sugar and add in the almond essence to give a strong intense almond flavouring. Cream until light and fluffy. (This may take up to 5minutes depending on how soft the butter is). 

Next add in each of the 3 eggs one at a time and beat well after each. Sieve in the ground almonds and flour together and mix until everything is combined. 

Pour the wet mixture on top of the pastry lined tin until it is completely covered. 

Next carefully slice the pear halves thinly and place round side upwards on top of the almond sponge keeping them at best in their original shape. Trim off any excess pastry that may be hanging over the edge of the flan tin. You can make an indent on the edge of pastry using the back of a fork or using a crimper. 

Bake in the oven for 35-40minutes until it has a nice golden brown colour. By this stage your kitchen will smell incredible! 

After the tart has cooled completely (20-30minutes) remove it from the tin and place on a serving platter. 

Heat the apricot jam with about 2 tablespoons of boiling water in the microwave. Sprinkle some lightly toasted flaked almonds.  

Brush the tart with the boiled jam and serve alongside some vanilla ice-cream or freshly whipped cream. 

Hope you enjoy! 

Strawberry Jam

This year was my first time to visit Bloom in the Phoenix Park.  

It was without doubt a fantastic day, packed full of activities. There was a huge array of stands which catered for all age groups. The food stands were amazing and there was plenty of free samples available and loads to pick and choose from! Of course I was straight to the Bord Bia tent in search of Sheila Kelly and Nevin Maguire who gave fantastic demonstrations and cooked some lovely dishes. 

Among the many delights on show I picked myself up some beautiful fresh Keelings Strawberries and decided it is well over time to get back on my blog and start posting again! The ‘Kitchen Aid’ has been in hiding since I have been on countdown for my summer holiday to California (less than 5days away)! 

So straight after Bloom I bought myself some cute medium sized Killiner jam jars in Home Store and More for a surprisingly low €3. They are a perfect size and this batch of strawberry jam here made two full containers.

Hope you enjoy the recipe and give it a try! Jam is surprisingly very easy to make and worth the hassle! You can have some fun decorating the jam jar and labelling it as you see I did! 

I’m holding of on eating mine as i’m letting it ‘mature’ and I’m going to enjoy it with some fresh warm fruit scones after my holiday…  

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1kg strawberries 
• 650g jam sugar 
• Juice of 3 lemons  

I sterilised my jam jars in hot soapy water first and then put them into the oven on a baking tray at 180DC for 10-15minutes.  

Method: 

Remove the stem of the strawberries, wash and add to a large saucepan with the juice of the 3 lemons. (The lemon juice increases the pectin which allows the jam to set, this is required as strawberries are low in pectin).  

Cook the strawberries on a medium temperature for 5 minutes to soften.  

Next add in the sugar and cook until all the sugar has dissolved. Increase the temperature to boil for about 10minutes until it reaches setting point.

*To check if it has set, add one teaspoon of jam to a cold plate that was kept in the freezer, push it around the plate and if it wrinkles the jam is set. If it is not set boil for an additional few minutes. 

Skim away any white scum on the surface of the jam using a large spoon. Carefully ladle the jam into sterilised dry jam jars. Leave to cool for about an hour before sealing and labelling.  

Lemon Drizzle Cake

The number of people learning about my blog is starting to increase so I am starting to feel a little pressure and excitement to get the good stuff up and build this gem which I am enjoying a lot! Easter Holidays have finally arrived and I intend to experiment a lot more over the next two weeks and of course share everything along the way! 

For this post I decided to go with a classic, Lemon Drizzle Cake. 

This cake is a hit with most people I know. It always goes down well for so many reasons. The cake is so light and incredible easy to make. You can adapt it and add some poppy seeds to give it a twist and seedy element. I like to keep it very simple and classic. 

This cake is so moist and light and can last easily up to 3-4 days in a airtight container if of course you actually manage to keep it hanging around for that length of time! 

Hope you enjoy! 

Lemon Drizzle Cake 

Ingredients: 

-Zest of 2 lemons 

-225g soft butter 

-225g caster sugar 

-225g Self-raising flour 

-1/2 teaspoon of baking powder 

-4 free range eggs

-1 teaspoon of lemon extract  

Lemon Icing: 

-Juice of 1 lemons 

-200g icing sugar sieved 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180DC. Grease one 1lb loaf tin well with butter or sunflower oil. 

Beat the butter first until soft and creamy. Add in the caster sugar and continue to beat until smooth. Add in the lemon zest and each egg one at a time. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture using a metal spoon. 

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 

To make the icing: 

Sieve the icing sugar and add in the lemon juice. Whisk well to remove any lumps of sugar and stir until it makes a nice paste. You may need to add more sugar depending on how much juice was in your lemon(s). Once your cakes are out of the oven pour over the smooth lemon icing and let it sizzle into the hot cake. 

Hot Cross Buns

Most days I tend to feel like I deserve a little treat and nothing gives me greater joy than spending hours in the kitchen following work preparing something with care and attention and seeing and tasting the final product. Furthermore I do think it is important to mention here that I do enjoy sharing these treats among friends and colleagues in work and do not (always) sit at home eating them all to myself! 

This evening I went with a traditional Easter treat, Hot Cross Buns.  They are easily identified by their traditional white cross on top and beautiful sticky fruit glaze. These buns were traditionally eaten on Good Friday Morning and the cross was seen as a symbol of the crucifixion. Since there is only 3 school days left till the Easter Holidays I thought what better way to get in the mood! 

They require a bit of time to prepare with three stages of proving the dough to let the yeast rise however I do believe similar to the Cinnamon Buns posted below they are very much worth the wait! 

Hope you enjoy! 

Ingredients: 

-300ml full-fat milk

-50g butter 

-500g strong flour 

-1 teaspoon salt 

-75g caster sugar 

-1 tbsp of sunflower oil

-7g fast action yeast 

-1 egg

-75g sultanas 

-50g mixed peel 

-zest of 1 orange 

-2 tsp ground cinnamon 

      For the cross:                                            

-     75g plain flour 

      10 tablespoons of water

For the glaze: 

-juice of the orange 

-75g caster sugar 

Method: 

1. Begin by heating the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the butter and stir to mix. Leave to cool. 

2. Next put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix well, then bring everything together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.

3. On a lightly floured table knead the dough for 5 mins until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for up to 1 hour or until doubled in size. 

4. Once doubled in size, add in the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest and cinnamon. Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. Again Leave to rise for up to an hour until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film to stop the dough getting a crust.

5. Divide the dough into 15 even pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. Arrange the buns on one or two baking trays lined with greaseproof paper, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. Cover again with more oiled cling film, or a clean tea towel, then set aside to prove for a final 1 hour.

6. Finally preheat the oven to 220C. Mix the flour with about 5 tbsp water to make the paste for the cross – add the water 1 tbsp at a time, so you add just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses. Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf of the oven, until golden brown. While the buns are in the oven heat the orange juice and sugar in a pot until sugar has dissolved and heated. 

7. Once the buns are out of the oven brush the orange syrup over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool. 

Banana Walnut Bread

Inspired and adapted from the recipe by passionatebaker.com 

So it’s ‘Let’s try to be healthy and not bake week’. We'll have a healthy detox Fruit and Vegetable week we said...  

Epic fail. 

Trying to stay away from baking is virtually impossible for me and since I’m trying to be good as summer is coming I decided to use up my very ripe bananas to make some good old Banana Bread. 

This is really nice in big thick slices just out of the oven. 

This recipe makes one loaf which will yield up to 12 slices! 

Hope you enjoy as much as I did! 

Makes 1 loaf (21cm long)

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas

• 1 tablespoon milk

• 2 medium eggs

• 160ml maple syrup

• 40ml olive oil

• 200g plain flour

• 2 teaspoon baking powder

• 60g walnuts, roughly broken

Method

 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly oil a 21cm loaf tin & line the bottom with some baking parchment.

 2. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas, add in the tablespoon of milk and combine the two together.

 3. In a stand alone mixer, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup and olive oil until thoroughly combined. Next add in the banana mixture and whisk again to incorporate.

 4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the wet mixture and fold carefully to combine. Finally add the walnuts & fold again until just combined.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the loaf is golden & risen on top & a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 6. Remove from the oven & leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Avoca Seedy Brown Bread

Ingredients: 

• 350g course brown flour 

• 200g plain flour 

• 50g bran 

• 25g wheatgerm 

• 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder 

• 1 level teaspoon of salt 

• 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds 

• 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds 

• 1 tablespoon of linseeds 

• 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seed mix 

• 75g sultanas 

• 1 tablespoon of treacle 

• 500ml milk (more if needed) 

• tablespoon of sesame seeds to spindle on top of loaf 

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 180DC. 

Grease using a pastry brush the inside and sides of a 9lb loaf tin with a little sunflower oil.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix together. Add in the treacle and milk and mix until you a stiff dough.  Shape into the loaf tin and sprinkle with sesame seeds on top. 

Bake in the oven for up to 1hour, I tend to turn off the oven after 50minutes and leave in the remaining heat to ensure even cooking. 

This bread can be enjoyed on its own or with a little butter and Blackberry Jam for a little extra sweetness.

Enjoy! 

Chu Chee Chicken Curry with Sticky Thai Jasmine Rice

This is my signature dish. I like to make this for people when trying to show of my skills and my ultimate comfort food dishes. I think I’ve cooked it so often I may have even overdone it. I recently cooked this for a group of good pals from work and it went down a treat and I’m delighted to say the recipe has been passed along nicely!  

The dish Chu Chee chicken curry is a dish adapted from the Asian restaurant Wagamamas. 

Wagamamas is such a cool place it’s where myself and two of my best pals used to meet up for food straight after work before those two lovely ladies Lorna and Naomi left me for Australia! Never quite feels the same going there now without them! I love the quirky interior layout, the laid back atmosphere, the bench tables and seating and the always lovely staff (did I mention I also have a 20% discount card?!). 

Ingredients: 

2 x chicken fillets chopped into chunks

1 butternut squash 

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil 

1/2 red pepper

juice of one 1 whole lime

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of light soya sauce

2 tablespoon of palm sugar chopped

1 tin of creamy coconut milk (400g) 

1 tablespoon (30g) of panang curry paste

4-5 leaves of thai sweet basil 

200g / 1 cup of thai jasmine rice 

Equipment needed: 

1 large frying pan, small pan, wooden spoon, saucepan, cup, kettle, sharp knives, chopping boards (red & green) tin opener, 

The ingredients for this dish are readily available from your local Asian supermarket of which there is so many now. I buy the panang paste, palm sugar, thai sweet basil and the sticky thai jasmine rice from the Asia Market on Drury Street in town which has such a huge selection of oriental products. I also go to the Asia Market in Ballymount industrial estate as it is also very close to my work. It’s worth investing in large sizes of the thai jasmine rice and palm sugar as they are cupboard staples and can be used in a variety of different dishes. All of the other ingredients for this dish are easily available in your local supermarket.      

Preparation is key in this dish. The butternut squash needs to be roasted for about 30minutes in a hot oven before being added to the sauce to give the dish its authentic sweet flavour. This is very easy to do. The squash needs to be first peeled and roughly chopped in chunks, sprinkled in a little sunflower oil and roasted in a hot 180DC oven in a casserole dish for 30minutes until tender. 

Make sure and keep an eye on the butternut squash in the oven as it can easily be overcooked and become soggy. It needs to be firm and tender as it will become softer once it has been added to the sauce to cook for a final few moments.    

Next to make the sauce: weigh out all your ingredients and have them ready to go as the sauce can be prepared very quickly. The ingredients are the 1 tablespoon of panang paste (more if you like it hot), 1 tin of creamy coconut milk, juice of 1 whole lime, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of soya sauce and finally 2 tablespoons of palm sugar roughly chopped.  Begin my heating 1 tablespoon of canola oil/sunflower oil in a frying pan and add in the panang paste. Stir for two to three minutes until the paste starts to cook, make sure it doesn’t start to burn. Pour in the full tin of coconut milk and stir until the paste dissolves into the coconut milk. Next add the lime juice, soya sauce and fish sauce. Finally add in the two tablespoons of palm sugar and mix gently until you have a nice smooth sauce. Once achieved turn down the heat to a low setting and leave to one side. 

In a separate frying pan heat some oil and gently fry the chicken pieces until white. Next stir in the peppers and fry gently for 3-4 minutes.

For the rice I adopt Jamie Oliver’s philosophy which is one full cup of rice to 2 cups of boiling hot water. This is the perfect ratio and will result in perfectly fluffy sticky rice. The rice generally takes no more than 8-10minutes to cook with the lid on a pot. 

Once the chicken and peppers are done add to the sauce and increase the heat. Next add in the tender butternut squash and mix gently. Finally I like to break up some thai sweet basil leaves and garnish the dish generously with this. 

I like to use a little coffee cup to assemble the rice mould on the plate. The thai jasmine rice is perfectly sticky and will remove from the cup easily onto the place and keep its structure and shape.  

Finally serve and enjoy! 

If you would prefer the dish a little hotter you can use two tablespoons of panang paste when making the sauce to increase the spice level. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLHY_iEpYY

Above is a link to a video from a wagamamas chef demonstrating chu chee chicken curry! 

I have also included the ingredients to use if you would prefer to make your own paste at home, however I do find it is a lot of work and the panang paste that I buy from the Asia Market is very good quality. Ingredients list below:  

1 tablespoon peeled and chopped ginger
2 tablespoons lemongrass, sliced thin
6 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons peeled and chopped coriander root
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons black peppercorns, crushed
2 shallots, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon fermented shrimp paste
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
4 pieces of mace, toasted
2 cardamom pods, toasted
4 big green peppers, toasted
10 big red dried chillies, reconstituted in water for 10 minutes

Pound all the ingredients together, incorporating them one at a time in a large mortar and pounding with a pestle until the paste is smooth.