Christmast Muffin Mix

Put these in your Christmas hamper to give to your friends and family this Christmas, You can change it up, Such as brownie recipes , shortbread and so on. You can get little labels and write the instructions on them, tie a ribbon or some twine around the rim to add your own touch to this.

What you will need

• 300g of self raising flour
• Two teaspoons of baking powder
• Two teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• Two teaspoons of mixed spice
• 100g of pecans
• 140g of dried fruits, such as cherries, apricots
• 100g of light muscovado sugar

First start by sterilizing a large one litre jar, I prefer to use clip jars for this.
Layer all the ingredients in sections.
Write the following method on a label, Ive shorted it down!

'Tip contents into large mixing bowl, make a well.
Mix with wooden spoon, add 2 beaten eggs 
add 300ml of milk and 100g of melted butter
Mix well! prepare 12 muffin cases in the muffin tin
and fill each halfway with the muffin batter,
bake at 180 for 18-20 minutes,
Enjoy!'

Beetroot blinis with smoked salmon

What you will need

• One cooked beetroot
• Greek yoghurt , roughly about 170gs
• Two eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 140g of self raising flour
• Cream cheese
• Smoked salmon trimmings
• Fresh sprigs of dill

To make this very simple blini batter, Blend the cooked beetroot and greek yoghurt with either a food processer or a stick blender until smooth, Depending on what you have at home of course!
Whish in the eggs , bicarbonate of soda and the self raising flour.
Drop tablespoons of this mixture into a frying pan with a little vegetable oil.
This process is almost like making pancakes, when bubbles appear simply flip onto the other side cook for a further 30 seconds or so and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Spread each blini with some softened cream cheese and top with smoked salmon, season with a little cracked black pepper and some sea salt and garnish with a sprig of fresh dill.

Christmas Canape's

These are some really easy but gorgeous canapé's that only take a couple of minutes to put together , and involve little or no cooking.

Serrano wrapped pears with goats cheese

What you will need

• 6 slices of Serrano ham
• 1 pear
• 125g of goats cheese
• Some fresh rocket leaves

Simply tear 6 slices of Serrano ham.
Core a pear and cut into 12 slices.
Place a piece of pear on the bottom of the ham, add a little chunk of the goats cheese and scatter a couple of rocket leaves on top and roll up.
I sometimes like to add a drizzle of honey over the goats cheese but that's entirely optional. As an alternative to the pears peaches would make a very nice substitute.

Fish ''pie''

As the winter months are approaching , I find my cooking tends to lean more towards comfort food. Comfort food to me is steaming bowls of stew with meat that falls apart with just a touch of a spoon , crumbles and tarts with lashings of custard , this fish 'pie' is one of those dishes that always just hits the spot for me.  I use shop bought all butter puff pastry for this recipe, as in my own opinion , Puff pastry is just a waste of time to make at home when you can buy perfectly good puff pastry in the supermarket. You could however top this fish pie with creamy mashed potato it would be just as nice, I would recommend to drag a fork across the top of the mashed potato and top with little knobs of butter, just to add some texture to the over all dish.

For this very simple recipe all you will need is

• Some butter for greasing
• One packet of all butter puff pastry
• A little flour for dusting
• One egg, beaten
• Two shallots, finely chopped
• 250ml of white wine, I always use the rule of Only cook with wine you will actually drink yourself, It will make all the difference!
• 250ml of double cream
• 12 raw peeled prawns, cleaned
• One salmon fillet , Weighing roughly 300g , cut into bite size chunks
• One fillet of smoked haddock, weighing roughly 300g , cut into bite size chunks
• Fresh parsley, chopped
• Fresh tarragon, chopped
• Salt and black pepper

Depending on how many portions you are making the amount of fish your going to use will vary.

First start off by preheating an oven to 200C, grease a baking tray.
Lay the pastry on a lightly floured surface and begin to roll out, cut into 11cm rounds.
Brush the puff pastry rounds with the beaten egg, place on the prepared baking tray and bake in an oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

Put the chopped shallots and wine into a saucepan, Bring to the boil and allow to boil until the liquid has reduced by half.
Add the cream and a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. You know when the sauce is done when it begins to coat the back of a spoon.

Next add the prawns and chopped fish, cook gently for five minutes. You will know the fish is done when the prawns have turned pink , now add your seasoning and chopped parsley and tarragon.

Spoon the mixture into warm bowls and top the 'fish pie' with the golden puffed lids of puff pastry.

Blueberry Swirled Muffins

This is somewhat of a healthier take of muffins. I've made these muffins using a cup measurement, You can buy these in most shops now for a couple of quid, Its an easier take on baking instead of using a regular scales.

What you will need:

• 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar, plus One teaspoon
• Finely grated lemon zest, Of one lemon
• 2 1/2 cups of plain flour, sifted
• 2 cups of blueberries
• One tablespoon of baking powder
• One teaspoon of salt
• Two eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• One cup of almond milk
• Two teaspoons of vanilla extract

In a small bowl, simply stir together one teaspoon of sugar and the grated lemon zest and sit aside.
Preheat the oven to 200-180 , Spray a muffin tray with some cooking spray.
In a small saucepan over a medium heat , bring the blueberries and one teaspoon of sugar to a gently simmer and allow to cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow to come to room temperature.
In a large bowl , whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl beat one cup of sugar , eggs , milk , oil and vanilla until smooth.
Add to the flour mixture and stir until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tray, Spoon about one teaspoon of the blueberry compote into each muffin batter centre , using a fork swirl.
Sprinkle each muffin with the lemon sugar.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, A tooth pick should come out clean when cooked.
Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Pea Risotto

Risotto is a pretty basic dish once you understand how to make it. The key is using hot stock and allowing the rice to absorb the liquid. You can use whatever ingredients you have may it be some left over roasted butternut squash, dried porcini  mushrooms, fresh asparagus tips these will all make a  beautiful alternative.

You will need:

• One litre of hot chicken stock
• Half an onion, finely diced
• 25g of butter
• A sprig of fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 400g risotto rice, This is Arborio rice, it is a short grain rice
• 200g of frozen peas
• Some freshly ground black pepper
• 150ml of white wine
• 75g of Parmesan cheese to garnish

Simply heat the chicken stock in a large saucepan have your ladle at the ready.
In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and a little drizzle of oil on a medium to low heat ,fry the onion, do not brown but cook until translucent. Next add in the thyme with the onions and cook for a further minute and season lightly.
Add the rice , This is where you have to be careful, Turn up the heat and keep stirring the rice, don't allow it to catch. The rice should slightly change in colour.
Add the white wine and stir.
Add one ladle of hot stock to the risotto, keep stirring and allow to fully absorb, This is important. Keep repeating this process allowing each ladle of stock to fully absorb into the rice, this should take about 20 minutes, You want the rice to still have a slight bite but not a chalky gritty texture which often happens with risotto.
On the last ladle of stock, add the peas , You want the peas to still have a slight bite also.
Remove from the heat and grate in some parmesan cheese ,Stir and season.
Garnish with some shards of parmesan and if you like even thinly slice some fresh mint!

Lets talk about Wild Garlic!

 

The more I'm trying to figure out what kind of chef I am I see its coming back to basics and keeping food as natural and simple as possible, Great ingredients and doing very little with them. Food shouldn't be complicated in my opinion. The past couple of years I've started to appreciate food a lot more when I began to grown my own vegetables and my dad began to rare pigs. You respect the welfare of the animal , and I think that's just as important as the end product you end up with. Even more so when I find free food that many of us walk by without realising its worth, I myself am guilty of this, a little knowledge about all this great produce around us and your laughing!

Wild garlic being one of those, it grows wild all over Ireland, You will smell it before you see it and its a great product to make soda breads & pesto's with. Here's a simple Wild Garlic pesto recipe which you can keep in the fridge up to a week, its beautiful with pastas, dressing salads with and with fish.

What you will need:

• One large bunch of wild garlic
• 60g of toasted pine nuts
• 60g of parmesan cheese, grated
• 150ml of oil, I like to mix this between a mixture of olive oil and vegetable oil as I find olive oil over powers the flavour of the wild garlic
• Squeeze of some lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

In a dry frying fan over a medium heat toast the pine nuts, Keep a close eye as they can burn quickly. Shake the pan a couple of times to ensure even cooking.
When golden set aside.
In a food processor , Add the toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese and wild garlic and blend to a smooth paste.
Through the funnel of the food processor slowly add in the oil until it begins to thicken.
Season and add a squeeze of lemon juice.