Scallops and Black Pudding

This is the type of fusion food that is common in Ireland you wouldn't normally a mix of meat and fish on the same plate. The flavours in this really compliment each-other. The only thing is I dont know if you can get black pudding in most other countries you could substitute for venison sausage or a spicy Italian sausage (you have to grill it so it has to be a fresh meat sausage) This is a single serving, usually I would say 3 scallops depending on the size is equal to a portion;

2/3 Scallops

1 Slice each of Black & White Pudding

I heaped tablespoon of Red Onion Marmalade

Pesto

Olive Oil

Red Onion Marmalade:

2 Red Onions

Glass of red wine

Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar

1. Cracked Black Pepper
2. Water 

Method:

1. Heat a ridged grill pan and cook the slices of pudding. On the same pan, sear the scallops for 1 minute on each side
2. Place the onion in the centre of the plate, stack the pudding and the scallops neatly on top and drizzle with the pesto.
3. Marmalade: Slice the onions and sauté in oil over a low heat for several minutes. Season with the pepper, add the sugar, water and wine and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes until it reaches a shiny, jammy consistency.
4. Pesto: Blend together 4oz Basil leaves, 1 teaspoon Pine Kernels, 4oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 4oz Grated Parmesan Cheese. If the consistency is too thick, add a teaspoon of cold water.

Cupcake Adventures; Mighty Mini Attacks

This week was the beginning and the end of the shortbread, I was finally done with the wedding favors but on with the Scottish themed shortbread - so shortbread with a variety of decorations to the Highland cow, to a thistle to a Scottish terrier, it was different getting to be very creative with the shortbread this week, all good things must come to an end though. Shortbread week ended and it was an attack of the Mighty Mini Cakes and the even Mightier Mini-Mini Cakes, it was a fierce battle some were fruit cakes which meant I had to face the dreaded marzipan - even thinking about it is horrifying, everything about marzipan is just wrong - I'm digressing. The Mini Cakes and the mini-mini cakes needed to be iced and then decorated, some were to be with a Scottish theme so with thistles and flags, some terriers, and some roses I also decorated some with flowers, stars and Happy Birthday just for the general public. This week though ended on a cupcake high with the "Wicked" themed cupcake tower, which was vanilla cupcakes with green decorations and it was on a black iced board with a green ribbon.

That's on for this installment of Cupcake Adventures tune in next time!

Black Bream with Basil and Peas ‘Bonne Femme’

This fish dish is great, Sea Bream can be quite expensive but if you buy it from a fishmongers and not a supermarket you would get a much better deal. Great for a Friday night dinner and the peas that accompany it are so good! This recipe serves 6

6 Black Bream Fillets, Skin On, About 175g Each

Small Handful Of Basil Leaves

 

Peas 'bonne femme':

250g Unsmoked Bacon Lardons

Olive Oil, For Cooking

Few Sprigs Of Thyme

150g Pearl Onions

Sea Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

600g Fresh Or Frozen Peas

Method:

1. Remove any small bones from the fish fillets with tweezers. Score the skin of the bream fillets at 1cm intervals.
2. Season with salt and pepper and place a few basil leaves on the flesh side.
3. Place each fish fillet on a large piece of cling film and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Wrap up to enclose the fillets in the cling film, twisting the ends to seal.
5. For the peas bonne femme, fry the lardons with a little olive oil for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
6. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Add the onions and thyme to the pan and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender.
7. In the meantime, bring a large pan of water to the boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer.
8. Add the wrapped bream fillets and gently poach for about 10 minutes until the fish is opaque and cooked through. If the centre is not cooked through, poach for a further 2-3 minutes.
9. Add the peas and crispy bacon to the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until the peas are tender. Season well.
10. Divide the peas. Unwrap the bream fillets and place on top of the vegetables, skin side up. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Cake adventures - June 2012

I have now completed my first month of cake adventures there has definitely been highs and lows, but it has all
been new and exciting adventures. After a well deserved break (in my opinion) I will be returning to Scotland after my brief reappearance in Dublin where I once again reclaimed my role as head chef!

Just a few words on cake adventures as I sit here in Starbucks in Dublin airport gloating over the fact I got through security with a bagful of Irish classics in my hand luggage! I have some soda bread, some homemade brown bread, a selection of soups, some chocolate and butter, I know what your thinking "surely chocolate tastes the same in Scotland" - no it doesn't it's a bit sweeter there, well to me!

Thinking about the nice weather there was a bit in Dublin this weekend unlike Scotland where the rain is the only thing you can be sure about but I will adapt I will return in 2 months with webbed feet I'm sure!

The cake adventures this month have been plentiful if I think about how much I got to do - some photos I have posted to my Facebook and how much I have learnt in only one month I can only imagine what I will get to see and do is very exiting for a young Irish girl to go to Scotland they expected me to come to work all "top of the morning laddy" and I expected them to wear kilts all the time and have bagpipes as a ringtone - they don't which is a bit disappointing!

Scotland has definitely been a change but something I'm not going to forget anytime soon, will keep you posted on how things are going.

Tune in next time for the next instalment of CAKE ADVENTURES!!!!!!!

Prawns in a Blanket

This is great for finger food, there isn't much prep or cooking involved, marinating and some careful folding of the pastry so the prawn doesn't fall out. If your doing finger food I would say allow 3 prawns per person. This is a great recipe as it requires you to go to the Chinese supermarket, if you haven't been there before this is going to be a treat. You could serve this with either some rice, some steamed vegetables or a simple side salad. Enjoy!

12 Large Prawns 

Chili Sauce/Plum Sauce

1 Tbsp Plain Flour              

Peanut Oil

2 Garlic Cloves    

12 Spring Roll Sheets

3 Coriander Roots              

White Pepper

Ginger, Roughly Sliced      

1.5  Tbsp Oyster Sauce

Method:

1. To make the prawns easier to wrap, you can make incisions to straighten the prawns.
2. Mix the flour and 3 tbsp of water in a small saucepan until smooth, stir and cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes or until thick and remove from the heat.
3. Using a pestle and mortar / small blender, pound or blend the garlic, coriander roots and ginger together.
4. In a bowl, combine the garlic paste with the prawns, oyster sauce, pepper and a pinch of salt.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, turning occasionally.
6. Place a pastry wrap – fold the sheet in half, remove the prawn from the marinade and place it on the sheet with the tail sticking out of the top.
7. Fold the bottom up and then the sides in to tightly to enclose the prawn.
8. Seal the joins with the flour paste.
9. Heat the oil; fry the prawns until golden brown.
10. Transfer onto a serving plate, serve with chili or plum sauce.

Custard Sauce

This is perfect with crumble, its isn't custard it is a custard sauce which is a bit thinner than custard so don't worry if its not thick - its not supposed to be, Enjoy!

Custard Sauce

50g Castor Sugar

25g Custard Powder

½ Litre Milk

Vanilla Pod

Method:

1. Mix sugar and custard powder together and dilute with a small quantity of cold milk.
2. Boil remaining milk, with the vanilla pod , add in the custard and milk mixture and stir continuously to make sure there are no lumps and strain and cover 

The Basics - Shortcrust Pastry

As I have said before I tend to make my own shortcrust and sweet pastry, this is more firm in texture and give a crumbly texture when cooked. Perfect for apple tarts, for the fruit tartlets from a previous post. This is a great recipe to start off then build your way up, the pastry can be frozen once made into a dough so some for now and some for later. If you are going to freeze it, it needs to be wrapped in cling film but try not to have it in a large ball, roll it to about 1-2 inches thick, this makes it slimmer for storage and won't take as long to defrost. Enjoy!

900g Soft /Cream Flour
456g Butter (Unsalted)
227g Castor Sugar
1/4 Pint of Milk
3 Eggs

Method:

1. Mix the butter and the flour to a breadcrumb texture.
2. Add the milk and the sugar.
3. Add the eggs to form a dough.
4. Wrap in cling film and store in the fridge.

*you need to allwo it to rest for 30 mintues before using.

Edinburgh and my cake adventures

Edinburgh is such a nice city to work in, even though I'm working 20 mins (by train) outside of the city it's still a quaint town to work in. With friendly people and some good craic it's almost like a home away from home, although they are very much into their tea and I'm so much more of a coffee person that's something I have to say I miss is coming down in the morning to a fresh pot of coffee mmmmm...... But now it's tea I like tea but coffee is my love - writing this while drinking a grande cappuccino from Starbucks.

I'm loving the cake adventures; making display cakes, getting some insider secrets to the world of decorating and coming up with new cupcake combinations - the possibilities are endless. I could pull a JK Rowling and one out with a best seller book called cake adventures about a girl from a far away land who travels across the wide ocean (ocean sounds better than Irish sea) to a far off magical place.... It could write itself!

I have been here ten days now and have gained so much experience I can only hope to gain so much more over the coming weeks and I will be a force to be reckoned with in the Irish cake community you can count on that.
You might want to start placing your orders now I might get to busy and too famous to do them - I wish!

Keep an eye out on the next instalment of Cake Adventures!

Fruit Tartlets

Now here is when you can show off all of the skills you have learned either from what I have given you so far (modest I know), cookery shows, cookbooks whatever or where-ever you get the inspiration These are  perfect for dinner parties as a great way to finish off the meal. It also makes it seem as if you have a great deal of skill when its actually a lot easier than it looks.

This isn't really a recipe it's a how to put it all together.

What You Need:

1. Creme Patisserie Recipe 
2. Sweet Pastry Recipe
3. Selection of Fruit; strawberries, oranges, raspberries, blackberries ect..... apples and bananas don't really go well as once they are cut the oxidation process begins and they turn brown which doesn't make for an attractive dish. 
4. Apricot Jam

Method:

1. Make the pastry as stated in the recipe, 
2. Bake blind* at 180/gas ark 4 for 12 minutes until the pastry is cooked
3. Make the creme patisserie as stated in the recipe 
4. Fill into the cooled, cooked pastry cases 
5. Place the chopped fruit on the creme patisserie 
6. Put the apricot jam in a pot and bring to the boil
7. Using a pastry brush gently brush the apricot jam (now glaze) onto the fruit to give them a shine

*When baking blind you could using baking beans and then again you could not waste your money. Get cling film (it has to be oven proof - not all of them are!) or parchment paper and cut it an inch bigger than the mould  so that the sides don't collapse. Then fill the tarts with rice grains - you normally have this at home and it doesn't hinder the grains when you go to cook them after. Ask yourself what is better for your wallet - €5 for 70g of baking beans (bare in mind you need about 8 of these to blind bake 4 tartlets at a time) or spend €1.60 in Lidl or Aldi and buy 500g of rice - tough question I know. 

Tart Tatin

The thing about tart tatin is that it is made in a pan and put straight in the oven so you need to make sure your pan is oven proof, I bought a cast iron pan in Lidl for €25, make sure you keep an eye out for deals. That’s the main problem with tart tatin you could….. caramelise the apples a little and line a tart mould place the apples in and some puff pastry on top prick a few holes and cook it that way you could do individual ones and it would be a way around making them if you didn’t have an oven proof pan. Alternatively you can make mini individual ones using mini tart-let moulds with the apple on the bottom if it is not non stick you may need some parchment paper to help to take out the tart.

6 Medium Dessert Apples (Bramley)

1 Lemon – Juiced

113g Butter

227g Caster Sugar

255g Puff Pastry Trimmings

Method:

1. Peel, core and halve the apples, sprinkle with the lemon juice, set aside to chill.
2. Spread the butter evenly on the base of a sautuer, sprinkle the bottom of the pan with the sugar.
3. Arrange the apples rounded side down on the bottom of the pan, cook on top of range till just coloured then cover with a disk of puff paste.
4. Transfer to a hot oven and cook for a further 20 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden.
5. As soon as the tart is cook, carefully turn it out on to a round serving dish, the pastry is now on the
6. Bottom with the apples on top, serve hot with vanilla ice cream