Category Archives: General foodie news

April 17, 2015

Emergency Tapas

By lettercollumkitchenproject

Owning a food shop is no guarantee that there’s going to be something readily available to eat in the house.
Inviting friends to drop in for an apéritif was fine on the drink front – I had chilled some wine and made ice cubes but then I started to wonder what we could have for an instant aperitif. This is an art the Spanish have perfected – open a can of fish or some other wonderful ‘conserva’ so I had a look on our jumble of a can shelf and found a can of sardines.

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Delicious as they are, but whizzed up with a little red onion, lemon juice, olive oil and sake

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they made an unctuous spread that makes lots of little tostadas.

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I diced up tomato, red onion and parsley and piled it on top to make what looked like quite an elegant creation.

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Yum!

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March 11, 2015

Speltotto and the Vegetable Basket

By lettercollumkitchenproject

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I discovered that it was my turn to cook today after I had been into town, so I decided that whatever we were going to eat had to be from whatever we had in the house. This is not nearly as drastic as it sounds as we do have a vegetable garden so ‘in the house’ is a bit of a misnomer.
What we did have was some whole spelt grain which I cooked like a risotto and served with some roasted veg. I basically cleaned out the veg basket. Anything too scabby went to the compost and the rest I peeled and tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. The real crowning glory was the grated lemon zest which just happened to be a bergamot lemon. The flavour impact was deliciously exotic. I also stirred in a handful of sprouting broccoli from the garden and handful of chervil.

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It was received with grunts and nods.
Yum!

Here is the recipe

Selection of vegetables for roasting ;
I used fennel, parsnips, sweet potato, carrots and celery. I don’t usually roast celery but we had an abundance so I chucked it in and it does roast well. Remember what looks like a mountain of vegetables will shrink considerably when roasted
Peel, chop and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for about 45/50 minutes at 180c

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For the Speltotto

300g spelt
2 onions
25g butter
25mls olive oil
large glass of white wine
1 litre hot vegetable stock
about 150g parmesan cheese.
zest of 1 lemon

Soak the spelt in cold water for 2-3 hours

Peel and chop the onion. Heat a saucepan then add the butter and olive oil, once this bubbles up stir in the onions. Cook on a medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Don’t let the onions brown, turn down the heat if this is happening.
Drain the spelt and stir into the onions. cook for couple of minutes then add the wine.

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When the wine has bubbled up start to add the stock. Keep the spelt cooking on a medium heat. It should be gently bubbling away. When the stock has been absorbed add a little more. Mine took about 45-50 minutes to cook and by then the spelt was nutty but not hard to eat.If you run out of stock add a little water. Stir in the purple sprouting broccoli, cook for another minute then take off the heat and beat in the parmesan cheese and grated lemon zest.
Serve in bowls with roast veg on top and chopped chervil if you have some.

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This fed five hungry people

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February 27, 2015

Kale ‘n Pasta

By lettercollumkitchenproject

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The longer days mean the green things are kicking back into action in the garden. I even found enough nettles last week to make a soup – admittedly I had to search – which is a funny thing to do with nettles as come another month and we’ll be tripping over the bloomin things.
Nettles apart, some green things soldier on through the winter here. The kale, spinach and chard have managed to quietly survive the colder months and now that there is more daylight the growth is taking off and we are out picking leaves again.

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We put kale in soups, salad and stir-fries, it’s a very versatile, it’s also one of those ‘feel good’ vegetables, so wonderfully green that you know it’s good for your nutrition

My new favourite way to eat kale is with some pasta. My pasta cooking skills have come along way since I left home. It was one of the first things that I cooked = Spaghetti buried in vegetables and sauce. The first time I went to Italy I thought they were very mean with the sauce and even meaner with the Parmesan cheese. I’ve since learnt to dress the pasta and use one or two key ingredients rather than everything that’s in the vegetable basket.

I have used orecchiette, which look like little ears and scoop up the sauce beautifully but you could use other pasta shapes.
Try to co-ordinate cooking the pasta with making the sauce.
Put a big saucepan of water to boil, blanch the kale and then use the same water to cook the pasta, just add more salt. The pasta cooking time varies from brand to brand and also from shape to shape so check your packet for cooking times.
The fried breadcrumbs are known as ‘pangratto’, which translates as breadcrumbs but it’s also known as Poor Mans Parmesan. They are easy to make and give an interesting flavour and texture to the dish.

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Orecchiette with Kale, Chilli and Garlic

500g kale, stems removed
3 cloves garlic
6 anchovies from a can
1 tap fennel seed
1tsp chilli flakes
2 slices old bread
200mls olive oil
25g butter
500g orecchiette
150g grated Parmesan to serve

Put a large pot of water to boil. When it’s boiling add 1tsp salt and the kale. Submerge the kale with the back of a spoon and when the water returns to the boil drain the kale and refresh under a cold tap.
Squeeze any excess water from the kale and slice into thin ribbons. Season with a little salt and put aside.
Remove the crusts from the slice of bread and buzz to crumbs in a food processor.
Heat a frying pan, add 25g butter and 25mls olive oil, when the oil and butter bubble up throw in the breadcrumbs and toss well. Cook the breadcrumbs on a medium high heat until golden and crispy. Put aside.
Peel the garlic and slice thinly, chop once or twice and put aside.
Bring the large pot of water back to the boil. Add 1dsp salt and the orecchiette. Give them a good stir.
Heat the frying pan, add 50mls olive oil and the garlic, fennel seeds and chilli flakes. Cook on a medium heat for a few minutes then stir in the anchovies. Stir the pan until the anchovies break down then stir in the shredded kale. Cook gently until the kale is heated through.
Strain the pasta into a colander. Tip the pasta into a bowl and then stir the kale through.
Drizzle over a little extra olive oil and sprinkle the crispy breadcrumbs over the top.
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.
Enjoy!

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February 18, 2015

Banh Xeo – Sizzling Pancakes

By lettercollumkitchenproject

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Banh Xeo are the most delicious Vietnamese savoury pancakes. They are fried until crispy then rolled up in salad leaves with mint and dunked in dipping sauce before popping into your mouth
Guaranteed to make you swoon. Our family thought they’d died and gone to heaven when I made them for dinner. Just silence and appreciative grunts coming from the dinner table.
The pancake is made with rice flour, or a combo of rice and wheat flour mixed together with coconut milk, spring onion, egg and turmeric. This is whisked to a smooth batter. I made them with prawns, mushrooms and beansprouts but the filling is fairly free lance. Whatever you fancy but don’t put too much in as the pancake will be unmanageable when you flip it.
The inclusion of regular flour makes them more manageable for non coeliacs but the recipe works well both ways
Here’s the recipe

200g rice flour or combo of rice and regular flour
2tbs cornflour
1 egg
half tsp turmeric
a handful of chopped spring onion greens
150mls coconut milk
about 100mls water
half tsp salt

Put the dry ingredients into a bowl, make a well in the middle then crack in the egg and add the coconut milk.
Whisk everything together and thin with water until you have medium pouring consistency – like melted chocolate. Stir in the spring onions.
Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes

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For the filling
20 raw prawns – 2 for each pancake
250g mushrooms
250g bean sprouts
a little butter or oil to cook the mushrooms

Salad leaves – washed and spun
a big bunch of mint leaves

Heat a frying pan. Slice the mushrooms, drop a knob of butter or a glut of oil into the frying pan and add the mushrooms. Toss them well and cook on a high heat until they are cooked the way you like them. Season with a little salt and pepper and put aside.
To make the pancakes heat a small to medium size frying pan. Add a little oil and a couple of prawns, cook them for a couple of minutes – until they are pink- then add a few mushrooms. Drag the mushrooms and prawns to one side and pour in a small ladle of batter.

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The pancake should be thin like a crepe. Cook on a medium high heat for a couple of minutes then add a small pile if bean sprouts to the pancake and flip in half. Increase the heat to high and cook each side until crispy. You might want to add a little more oil.

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To serve the pancakes make a little dipping sauce

Dipping Sauce

3tbs Lime juice
2tbs Fish sauce/Nam Pla
1tbs water
2-3 Chillies
2 cloves garlic
1 dsp Sugar

Peel and chop the garlic and chop the chillies then mix together with all the other ingredients.

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Put the pancakes onto plates and break or cut a piece off and wrap it in a salad leaf with a couple of pieces of mint tucked in. Dunk in the dipping sauce and pop it in your mouth.

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Yum!

3 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Fish dishes, General foodie news, gluten-free, Vietnamese

February 12, 2015

Truffle Hearts

By lettercollumkitchenproject

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Valentines day is coming and Con spent today making truffle hearts and plain old truffles which are delicious.
We think he makes the best chocolates ever.
Go Con!!

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They had to be protected from sneaky fingers.

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They’re all packed up and ready to head to the shop.
Serious limited edition

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These are the ones that didn’t fit into the bags!!
Happy Valentines

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February 10, 2015

Cinnamon Noodles

By lettercollumkitchenproject

This is a very surprising recipe that I learnt in Bangkok with May Kaidee. Cinnamon with noodles didn’t sound attractive to me so I was very impressed with the result
It’s just the business for a cold day and a very warming and a fast lunch

It’s a very simple recipe and it’s also quite flexible – I’ve already changed it as I didn’t have all the original ingredients – and it still tastes just as good.
Here’s my ‘Irished’ home version. The original recipe used mushroom sauce and soya bean sauce – this keeps it vegetarian – but I didn’t have either in the house so I used a mix of sweet soya, tamari and a little bit of shrimp paste to give it some body.

This is my take on the dish but feel free to play around!

1tbs coriander seeds bashed up in the mortar and pestle
3 fatty cloves garlic
1 hot red chilli
1 stem lemongrass
all roughly chopped then added to the mortar and pestle and ground to a paste.

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1 tsp ground black pepper
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
stirred into the paste

1 carrot, sliced thinly.
a little chopped cabbage
a handful of chopped mushrooms
the centre of a head of celery – the fronds bit, chopped
a handful of chopped spring onions
700mls vegetable stock

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1tbs sweet soya sauce
1tbs tamari sauce
1 tsp shrimp paste

a handful of rice stick noodles soaked in tepid water for five minutes

Heat a table spoon on oil in the wok then stir in the spice mix and cook on medium heat for a few minutes.
Stir in the vegetable stock, add the carrots, mushroom and tofu and bring to the boil.
Cook for 3-4 minutes then stir sweet soya sauce, tamari and shrimp paste. Next add the cabbage followed by the noodles. Cook for a couple of minutes more, take off the heat and stir in the chopped celery and spring onions.

Ladle into bowls and serve with crushed roasted peanuts and wedges of lime on the side.

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2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in General foodie news, gluten-free, One pot wonders, Thai, vegetarian, Vegetarian Recipes

February 6, 2015

Breakfast Gold

By lettercollumkitchenproject

Homemade marmalade is so delicious that even though each time I make it I say ‘ never again’ , come the next year somehow I don’t resist the temptation to buy Seville oranges. Especially when they are on special offer. I was passing by Urru in Bandon where, just beside the door, was HALF PRICE Seville oranges. Before I knew what was happening I had bought the lot. Five kilos.

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Each year the epic chore of marmalade production seems to hit some kind of memory lapse. Maybe the hard work  entailed to achieve the result’s a bit like having a baby. The results are so magnificent the human brain conveniently bypasses the agonies involved in bringing this wonder into the world. My daughter says it’s obviously a long time since i had a baby!!

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But I have to say five kilos was bit excessive. I spent two and half hours juicing, scraping out all the pith and pips and then finely slicing the orange peel.

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And I only did half. Two and a half kilos of juiced , pithed and sliced seville orange peel lolling around in my kitchen in a bath of juice and water. The pith and pips have been parcelled up in a piece of muslin and are marinating overnight together withe the peel to encourage the relase of the pectin.

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Fingers crossed tomorrow I just have to hop up, cook the peel then boil the lot up with some sugar to make marmalade.

Meanwhile it’s relaxing on the kitchen counter.

And there are another two and half kiosk looking for attention or a good home!!

 

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in General foodie news, gluten-free, preserves, vegetarian

January 28, 2015

Cashew Nut Island

By lettercollumkitchenproject

This recipe is coming from my hammock on a small Thai island in the Andaman Sea, close to Burma.

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It’s the place for an ultimate chill out. No roads, no retail therapy, no stress unless you have trouble deciding what to eat next. We have a simple hut on the beach made from woven bamboo, there’s a bed with large mosquito net, a bathroom with a toilet, a cold shower and a bucket for flushing the loo and best of all a deck with two hammocks which saves fighting over who gets to swing in the breeze.

The family that owns our hut look after everything. They get up early and sweep the leaves from the paths and the beach. they make delicious home cooked food any time you ask them and the pineapple shakes they make are to die for.

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It’s surprising how quickly the days drift away between swimming in the sea and wandering about the island.

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Most of the island is covered in dense jungle or patches of rubber palms and cashew nut trees.  To get a cashew nut from the tree to our plates is quite something, The  cashew nuts grow under the fruit, it’s known as an apple but looks more like a pear and the nut is dangerously inedible in its raw state.

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The fruit can be eaten or made into smoothies or booze but the nuts need a serious roasting before they can be eaten. The nut in the shell is surrounded by  a caustic liquid that would burn the top of your mouth off if eaten raw. The roasting has to take place outside as the fumes are toxic, it’s quite palaver so when you consider there’s only one nut on the bottom of each fruit, the price of a packet of cashews seems quite fair.

As you might imagine the cashew nuts are delicious and feature on every menu. You can have salad with cashew nuts, prawns with cashew nuts, stir fried veg with cashew nuts, the list is endless. We had grilled barracuda with ‘green apple sauce’ the other night. It sounded quite a bizarre combo so of course we had to try. It was julienned Granny Smiths with a little carrot, chilli, garlic and cashew nuts, all dressed with lime juice and nam pla. Stunning!

Here’s a recipe for a sweet and sour carrot salad – with cashew nuts. We went for a ‘day out’ to another area of the island and ate this for lunch.

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I thought it was delicious and as usual we puzzled over what could be in it when we found the recipe in May Kaidees Thai Vegetarian Cookbook sitting on the table right front of us. Here’s my translation

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Sweet and Sour Carrot Salad

2 tbs shredded coconut, soaked in cold water for 2 hours

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

75g cashew nuts

1 tbs sesame seeds

50g tofu

2tbs soya sauce -not dark

juice 1 lime

1 tomato- diced into big chunks

2-3 carrots, peeled and grated

Drain the shredded coconut.

Put the coconut, 25g of the cashews and the garlic in a mortar and pestle  and mash together to make a rough paste. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle pulse buzz in a food processor and keep scraping it down

Crumble the tofu with your hands

Toast the other 50g of cashews gently in a dry pan, put them aside then toast the sesame seeds until lightly golden.

Put the carrots into a large bowl and mix together with the coconut/cashew paste then add the chopped tomato, sesame seeds, crumbled tofu, lime juice and soya sauce. Toss everything together

Pile the salad on a plate and scatter the toasted cashew nuts on top

I think I’d be very tempted to put a chopped chilli or two in as well!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Fish dishes, General foodie news, gluten-free, Thai

January 20, 2015

Yuzana on a Beach

By lettercollumkitchenproject

We’ve discovered a delicious new salad. It’s known as  Yuzana- a salad from Burma,

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It’s an intriguing kind of upscale cole slaw with lots of different dimensions. Super skinny slices red and green cabbage,  julienne of carrot, Honey toasted cashew nuts, peanuts and sesame seeds. chunks of tomato, garlic and chilli, crispy fried chickpeas and  split dal and then there’s something else. It tasted quite earthy, a little fermented. I thought it might be some kind of mushroom.

We asked the lady of the house and she said she didn’t know what this ingredient was called, just that it was Burmese, so we asked her if we could have a look and she came out of the kitchen with a sachet on a plate. It was very dark, soft and  a little bit stringy and we were none the wiser until we got back to our hammocks and googled Yuzana.

Yuzana are a Burmese company that pickle tea leaves. The chilli seasoned tea leaves are pickled then buried underground where they ferment. No wonder there’s such a flavour impact. There have been some dodgy write ups about their ethics and ingredients – the dye used was banned everywhere that knew about it and it would be difficult if not impossible to get in Ireland so I was thinking ‘pickled kombu’. I think that would deliver that intense umami that a little bit of Yuzana does.

It’s definitely one to try when we get home.

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Here’s a run down of the ingredients that I noted. I’m sure it would be a delicious combo whichever way you interpret it.

Red cabbage – very finely sliced

green cabbage – very finely sliced

carrot – super skinny julienne

tomato – a few meaty chunks

green chill chopped pretty small

garlic- thinly sliced

a handful of toasted peanut, sesame seeds and cashews

deep fried legumes – chickpeas, split peas, fava beans

lime juice, olive oil and salt

about 1 tbs of the mysterious pickled tea leaves

Put on a big bowl and toss everything together.

 

 

 

 

Comments Off on Yuzana on a Beach   |  tags: , , , | posted in burmese, General foodie news, gluten-free, One pot wonders, Salads, Thai

January 16, 2015

Monkey Nuts

By lettercollumkitchenproject

Having eaten gazillions of peanuts in my lifetime I was astonished when I bought some from this lady on the beach in Vung Tau, Vietnam.

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They looked like monkey nuts – peanuts with the shell on. Well I guess they were monkey nuts but the difference was that they had just come out of the ground. I cracked one open and popped it in my mouth and discovered it was squishy, a little bit blobby. On closer inspection I could see they still had a downy skin on. They were plump and snug in their shell and hadn’t been roasted.

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The people sitting next to us seemed to enjoy them but they didn’t float my boat.

It made me curious though so I checked out fresh peanuts and discovered a few facts.

Peanuts are not nuts. They’re legumes, hence the pea status in their name

They grow on bush type plants which flower as do all pea plants but they then throw down a tendril which buries itself and the peanuts grow under ground.

The peanuts we usually eat have been boiled or roasted.

So there you go!

 

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