I Made it to the final 3!!!!!!

Okay so I do not know where to start!
I got such great news last week that I made it to the final 3 contestants in the Cono Sur Blogger Competition which I am so overwhelmed and delighted with! Life is a little bit of a roller coaster at the minute!
Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me.

I am also in disbelief about the fact that I am in WEEK THREE here in Ballymaloe Cookery school!! The time is flying and I haven't posted one photo yet on the blog! My instagram has most of them and I will do up a blog post this week once I'm back in Dublin with good internet!

Again I just want to say - Thank you again so much to everyone who voted for me in this amazing competition!

Fingers crossed for Friday to see which lucky person gets to go to Paris!


Tracy X

Teriyaki Chicken with Sticky Jasmine Rice

This dish is absolutely stunning! It is so tasty and packed with beautiful aromatic fresh flavours.
It is also very easy to make.
The meat literally melts in your mouth after being baked in the oven for 3 hours.

Seriously if you want to try something different for your dinner that is inexpensive - you have to try this dish!

I cooked this in a deep Le Creuset Casserole dish which allowed the juices to stay sealed and keep the sauce especially since it is in the oven for 3 hours. If you don't have a casserole dish with a tight fitted lid make sure and cover well with tin foil and check the meat every 45 minutes to ensure the sauce does not dry up.

This dish serves 3 - 4 people comfortably.

Ingredients:
3 large chicken breasts
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
3cm piece of ginger
1 red chilli
Juice of one lime
100ml sticky boyne valley honey
100ml soya sauce
60ml rice wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper

1 tablespoon of corn flour
additional cold water

2 spring onions thinly sliced
200g jasmine rice
400ml hot boiling water
2 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds
Chopped coriander


Preheat the oven to 180℃. Place the chicken breasts into a deep casserole dish. Season with black pepper. Thinly slice the onions, garlic, red chilli and ginger and leave to one side in a bowl. Whisk in the liquid ingredients and mix together. Pour this mixture on top of the chicken breasts, cover tightly and bake in the oven for 3 - 3 1/2 hours.

After this time remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and shred the chicken using two forks.
Boil the rice in hot water for 10-12 minutes until all the water is completely absorbed.

Transfer the sauce into a pot and bring slowly to the boil. In a separate bowl whisk the tablespoon of cornflour with about 50 ml of cold water until dissolved. Pour this into the sauce mixture and stir until thickened. Remove from the heat and pour the sauce over the shredded chicken. Toss to combine together.

In a dry hot frying pan gently toast the sesame seeds for 2-3minutes.

Assemble the teriyaki chicken on top of some sticky jasmine rice. Sprinkle some finely sliced spring onions and the toasted sesame seeds on top.

Garnish with some chopped fresh coriander.

and Voila.

Absolutely Beautiful!

No Bake Energy Bites - Back to School Snacks!♥️

It's that time of year again - Back to School Time - except not for me this year... Ballymaloe is fast approaching! Only 3 weeks until the BIG move to Cork.  

As you see I had a lot of fun photographing these! Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that I am not back to school like everybody else and I have all this free time on my hands! 

My photography skills are slowly improving day by day! 

So this post is all about preparing a healthy tasty snack that you might enjoy in a back to school lunch box for kids or yourself or as a mid morning snack to help keep you going till lunch. 

These are so easy to make and can be made as healthy as you like or as cheeky as you like! 

I've made these now a few times and you can experiment as much as you want till you find the flavours you like and what works well together.

The batch photographed above include the following recipe:
This batch made me about 18 mini bites.

Ingredients: 
175g Flahavan's Oats
2 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of goji berries
1 tablespoon of dried cranberries
1 tablespoon of dark chocolate chips

-Stir all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Cover with some cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for half an hour.
-Once chilled, roll into bite size balls and store in an air-tight container in the fridge.


Additional ingredients to use in alternative bites: 
Any nut butter - cashew, almond
Nutella
Chia seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds
Pistachio nuts, Cashew nuts, walnuts, almonds,  pecans
Dates, dried sultanas, raisins,
Cacao nibs
White chocolate chips & Toasted Coconut (must try this one soon)

So I hope you like the recipe and give them a try - keep tweaking them till you find your favourite combination and let me know if you made them in the comment box below!

Cono Sur Food Blogger Competition - Go on Throw me a Vote!

This has been a crazy week! Great news for Pound of Butter - I'm still in disbelief that I have been lucky enough to be shortlisted to the final 13 people in the ConoSur Food Blogger competition in Ireland!

The competition is very simple - you have to create a recipe (main course dish) that teams well with any Cono Sur Single Vineyard Wines.
My chosen recipe is 'Risotto with wild mushroom and Pancetta' and I teamed this dish with Cono Sur Sauvignon Blanc.
Risotto is one of my all time favourite dishes to prepare.

I have included the recipe below taken from the ConoSur Website.

Now onto the really important stuff - the prize for this competition is pretty UNBELIEVABLE and it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Starting from last week people are able to vote for their own country's favourite recipe one vote per person and email address. Then on September 15th (Day 2 of Ballymaloe Cookery School for me) the top three recipes from Ireland will be shortlisted and go on to Round Two!!

Renowned Chef Christopher Carpentier will then prepare each Semi-Finalist's dish and select one finalist from each participating country. From this 5 finalists will be sent to none other the beautiful Paris (did I mention my sister lives in Paris?) Here each finalist will prepare their dish to a panel of judges. The overall winner will be sent on a trip for two to Chile to visit the Cono Sur Vineyards and discover it's beautiful home country!


So if you think I'm worthy and you'd like to see me go a little further you can vote in the competion through the following link:  

http://bloggercompetition.conosur.com/index.php/vote

Thank you for your support in advance and thanks for stopping by!

Onwards & Upwards!

Will keep you all posted!

Tracy X

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

I'm a little late this year with World Nutella Day 5th February (I learnt this fact only today!) ... however I shall make up for it now!

This post brings you Gooey rich Nutella filled brownies that are incredibly moist and so INDULGENT! I have been dying to make these for so long now and I eventually got around to it this weekend when I knew they could be shared among friends and not lingering in the fridge! I cheated with the brownie layer and actually just crushed up some chocolate cream Oreo biscuits with melted butter which actually works really well in adding extra texture.
I made the whole thing using a food processor which is so handy and saves on the old wash up! You do not have to have a food processor to make these though it can all be done in a mixer or by hand too.

This recipe makes 12 large bars.

Ingredients:
Biscuit layer:
300g oreo biscuits
50g melted butter

Cheesecake layer
400g full fat cream cheese
100g caster sugar
2 large free range eggs
3 tablespoons of Nutella
60ml double cream
10-12 raspberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 180℃. Line a deep tin (8x10") with greaseproof paper.
Blitz the oreo biscuits including the filling in the food processor until like coarse breadcrumbs. Alternatively you can also bash them in a freezer bag with a wooden spoon. Melt the butter and add into the crushed biscuits and blitz again until moist. Press this buttery biscuit mixture into the tin and flatten with a spatula. Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes until set and leave to chill after.
*Leave the oven on as the cheesecake will be baked.

Wash the food processor and add in all the cream cheese, caster sugar, 2 eggs and 3/4 of the double cream mixture and blitz until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix together until smooth. Pour 3/4 of this mixture on top of the cooled biscuit base. Spread into an even layer.

Using the other 1/4 of the cheesecake mixture add in the 3 tablespoons of nutella and the other 1/4 of the double cream into the food processor and blitz again until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix till you have a smooth chocolate mixture. Using a large tablespoon dot this mixture on top of the cream cheese filling. Using a skewer or a knife swirl the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture to make a swirl design.
Finally add in the raspberries in sections.
Bake the mixture in the hot oven for 35-40 minutes until they still have a slight wobble.
The bars will puff up in the oven but will sink slightly as they cool down.
Make sure you allow them to cool fully at room temperature before slicing and tasting.
These brownies will last easily in the fridge in a container for up to 5 days.

Wholesome Cottage Pie

Warm comforting cottage pie. This is one of my favourite ultimate comfort food dishes to have when you need a little love and nourishment. I grew up eating this dish for dinner. It's a classic and to me it never gets old. 

Ingredients    

-400g lean mince beef mince

-1 tablespoon of olive oil  

-1 onion (finely chopped) 

-2 garlic cloves 

-1 carrot (grated)

-2 sticks of celery (finely chopped) 

-75g frozen peas 

-1 beef stock cube (dissolved in 800ml boiling water) 

-2 tablespoons of tomato puree 

-2 tablespoons of worchester sauce 

-salt and pepper 

-5-6 large rooster potatoes 

-50g butter (melted)

-25ml milk 

-75g grated cheddar cheese 

Method 

Peel the potatoes and add them to a pot of cold water with a little salt and bring to the boil. Cook for 15-20 minutes until tender. When cooked strain the water and mash. Add in the melted butter and milk and mix till smooth and lightly creamy. Season with some salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a deep dish and when hot cook the mince first until brown. Add in the finely chopped onion and garlic and saute until soft. Stir in the grated carrot and finely chopped celery and mix together. Add the tomato puree and worchester sauce until combined. Add the frozen peas and finally pour in the beef stock, cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes until slightly reduced.  

Preheat the oven to 180℃. Transfer the mince mixture to a deep casserole dish. Cover with the creamy mashed potatoes and finish with zig-zag fork lines. Bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes and then add in the grated cheese to the top and return to the oven and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the top is golden and crispy.  

Serve straight away!

Toblerone Cheesecake with Almond Brittle

Happy Hump Day!

I've held off for a while posting this recipe.

I made this dessert back in February for family when we received as a gift the infamous size of your head duty free Toblerone bar. Now this gigantic toblerone bar must have been sitting in my fridge for days hours before I decided what to make with it.
Being Summer time and all and with large numbers of people passing through the airport I thought this would be a good time to share my favourite Toblerone recipe. Afterall who doesn't love a good old Toblerone bar from the airport? (Mine's the white chocolate one!)

This combination of crunchy chewy biscuit base, smooth chocolate cream cheese and salty honey roasted almonds make this dessert a little bit special and indulgent and not bikini friendly.
 
It is a simple no bake cheesecake recipe that I promise you will leave you wanting to make it again and again and rushing to the airport as Toblerone is actually difficult to find in your local supermarkets!



Ingredients: 
Honey Roasted Almonds
-300g Almonds (whole with their skins on)
-50g light brown muscovado sugar
-1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
-3 tablespoons of honey
-2 tablespoons of water
-1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Biscuit layer
-200g chocolate digestive biscuits
-75g butter (melted)

Cream cheese layer
-500g cream cheese (full-fat)
-50g caster sugar
-300g double cream
-300g toblerone melted

Topping
-75g melted toblerone




Method:
Start by preparing the honey roasted almonds. Preheat the oven to 180℃ and line a large flat oven tray with baking paper. Spread the almonds in a single layer and bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned. While the almonds are roasting, mix together the sea salt and sugar in a bowl and leave to one side. In a pot melt together the sunflower oil, honey and water and let it come to bubble. Once bubbling, add in the hot almonds and mix to coat them. Stir until the liquid has evaporated and the nuts are shiny and golden. Remove from the pot and add to a large bowl pouring over the sugar/salt mixture and stir to coat the almonds. Once coated in sugar/salt mixture remove them and place back on the baking tray in a single layer breaking up the clusters and leave them to cool. Once cool store in a lunchbox until serving and decorating.

Base: Crush the biscuits in a sandwich bag with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in pot and pour into the biscuits. Press this biscuit mixture into the base of the cheesecake tin and leave to rest in the fridge.

Cream cheese layer: Melt the toblerone chocolate in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water for 10-12 minutes until smooth. (Do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl as it will split the chocolate).
Beat together the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer until combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold the cream into the cream cheese and finally stir in the cooled melted toblerone chocolate. Spread the chocolate mixture over the set biscuit base and place in the fridge ideally overnight to allow it to fully set.

The next day just before serving the cheesecake - melt 75g toblerone chocolate again in the heatproof bowl and drizzle this along the top of the cheesecake using a fork.
Chop up the sugared almonds roughly and dollop a heap in the centre of the cheesecake and along the edges of the cheesecake.
And Voila!

Hope you enjoy!