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Tagliatelle with Quick Sausage Meat Bolognese May 27, 2014

Filed under: Fast Food,Italian,Meat,Pasta,Uncategorized — delishuss @ 9:10 am
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IMG_20140526_221429[1]I was looking for a pasta recipe and came across this one from Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course. It’s a perfect weekday evening recipe because it’s so quick and easy. The success of this recipe is dependent on the choice of sausage. Buy good quality packed with flavour.

Ingredients

Olive oil, for frying

1 small onion, peeled and finely diced

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

3-4 best quality Italian flavoured sausages (I used beef with sundried tomatoes and herbs)

150g dried tagliatelle

200g cherry tomatoes, halved

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

 

Method

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  • Heat a large frying pan and add a little olive oil. Sweat off the onions for 3 minutes and add the garlic for another 2 minutes or until the onion is softened.

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  • Remove the skins from the sausages and add to the frying pan. Break up the sausage meat as you fry it so that it resembles mince meat.
  • Meanwhile start cooking the pasta as per the packet instructions.

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  • When the sausage meat is lightly coloured, add the halved tomatoes and a little seasoning to the pan and continue to cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to break down. Add a tablespoon or two of pasta water to the pan as it cooks to create a sauce.

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  • Drain the pasta, reserving a further couple of tablespoons of the cooking water. Add the drained pasta directly to the pan with the sauce. Toss well, and loosen with a little more of the cooking water if necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve hot with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

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 http://www.pinterest.com/grainiac/recipes/

 

Avocado, Cheese and Salsa Puffs May 25, 2014

Filed under: Mexican,Starters,Tarts & Pies,Uncategorized — delishuss @ 9:54 am
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I was looking for a Mexican starter recipe for my friend’s dinner party and came across these on: http://www.averiecooks.com. I cooked them the evening before the party as I knew I wouldn’t have time to prepare them that evening.  You can just pop them in the microwave for a minute or two to heat them up but they are best served straight out of the oven. They tasted really good but I think if I was making them again I would make them with a cheese that melts and goes stringy. Also I used a salsa that had chipotle and black bean flavours and it competed with the flavour of the cream cheese, but would probably work better with a less flavoursome cheese. I’m not the best at baking but these are so simple and require very little technique but the finish product looks impressive.

Ingredients

Makes 18 puffs

2 ripe avocados, mashed (1 tablespoon per puff)

1/3 cup cream cheese or manchego (1 teaspoon per puff)

1/3 cup salsa (1 teaspoon per puff)

3 sheets puff pastry (thawed as per the packet instructions if frozen)

1 egg beaten for glazing

Salt & pepper

 

Method

1. I made these in batches as I only had one baking tray but you can add multiple trays at a time if you wish. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add a sheet of baking paper to the tray (s) and spray them with cooking spray to prevent the puffs sticking.

2. Flour your work-top and place your sheet of pastry on top. The original recipe said to roll it out as thinly as possible. I didn’t bother. Flour a sharp knife (stops the pastry sticking) and cut the sheet into 9 squares. you will use 6 squares for the first batch and then the remainder with the next batches.

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3. Spoon a tablespoon of avocado, a teaspoon of salsa and a teaspoon of cheese on a square of pastry.

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4. Top with another square of pastry.

 

20140519_2034135. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal the puffs.

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6. Repeat this process with the remainder of the pastry and filling ingredients. Place the finished pastries on the baking tray.

7.  Brush the pastries with the egg mixture and place in the oven.

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8. Cook the puffs for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown and puffed up. Check them 10 minutes into the cooking time just to make sure that they are not cooking faster than the mentioned time.

9. Remove from the oven and serve.  I served 2 puffs per person.

Me

 

 

Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding Recipe March 18, 2014

Filed under: Desserts — delishuss @ 11:34 am
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Now I haven’t actually made this recipe, but rest assured I have tasted it and it’s fab. It’s really luscious so a little goes a long way. My dear friend Robyn brought this dish to a dinner party, so I had to get the recipe.

Ingredients

1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups of ice cold water

1 (3.4 oz) packet of instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups of heavy cream

1 (12 oz)  box Nabisco Nillia Wafers

4 cups of sliced ripe bananas

 

Method

1. In a small bowl, on a medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, approx 1 minute. Add the pudding mixture and mix well, about 2 more minutes. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight before continuing.

2. In a large bowl on medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until a stiff peaks are formed.

3. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

4. To assemble the dessert, select a large wide bowl, preferably glass with a 4-5 quart capacity.

5. Arrange 1/3 of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then 1/3 of the bananas, then 1/3 of the pudding.

6. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding.

7. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours or up to 8 hours before serving.  More than 4 hours allows the wafers time to become cake-like.

 

 

Cob Loaf March 17, 2014

Filed under: Bread — delishuss @ 11:35 am
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One of the girls at work brought a version of this recipe into work one day and it went down a treat. When we were kindly asked around to some Irish friends for Christmas day, I decided that it might be a nice to nibble on over a few drinks. It was a roaring success; I must have been asked by each person at Christmas dinner (think there were 12 people) how I made it. It’s dead easy, you should give it a go if you are having people over for nibbles and drinks.

Ingredients

1 cob loaf

3 spring onions, chopped

300g bacon, chopped

250g tub of sour cream

150g tub of chives and herb cream cheese

150g grated cheese

1 tbs oil

Black pepper to season

 

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Cut the top off the cob loaf, approximately 2cms in thickness. Tear the top of the loaf into pieces.

3. Scoop out the soft inside of the cob loaf and also tear it into pieces and set aside.

4. Chop the bacon into small pieces. I used bacon bits in the past and I thought they tasted a bit processed, so I prefer to use normal bacon and chop it up. Streaky bacon would also be good.  Heat a frying pan and add the oil. Fry off the bacon until crispy and remove from the pan and leave to cool.

5. Mix the sour cream, cream cheese, spring onion and cooled bacon together in a bowl. Add some pepper to season. I don’t add salt as there is normally plenty in the cream cheese and the bacon also tends to be salty. Spoon the creamy mixture into the loaf centre and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

6. Place the loaf and the bread bits on an oven proof tray and heat in the oven, this will take approximately 30 minutes. Remove the bread pieces from the oven if they are burning and the creamy mixture is not fully heated through.

7. Use the bread bits to scoop up the creamy mixture and munch away to your hearts content. Once the bread bits are finished, you can tear off pieces from the outside of the loaf.

You can add spinach or sweet corn kernels or both if you want to mix it up.

 

 

Innocent Pea Salad with Evil Porky Pepita Crunch January 22, 2014

Filed under: Meat,Salads and Dressings — delishuss @ 11:54 am
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I’m not overly convinced about sweet and savoury combinations normally but I think this recipe really works. It’s great to source nice salad recipes. I know some of my nearest and dearest would not associate nice and salad in the same sentence but trust me this is great. I have taken the recipe from Matt Preston’s Fast, Fresh and Unbelievably Delicious cookbook which I got as a lovely Christmas gift (Thanks Robyn :-)).

Ingredients

1 cos lettuce, dark leaves discarded and the paler inner leaves finely shredded

360g (3 cups) frozen peas, cooked

140g (1 cup) celery, cut into pea-size dice

100g (1/2 cup) green apple, peeled and cut into pea-sized dice

Juice of 1 lemon

6 rashers streaky bacon, diced

40g butter

160g (1 cup) pepitas

100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

Salt flakes

200g fresh ricotta, cut from a wheel at the deli counter, not in a tub

100g feta

1 bunch mint, chopped

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

4 spring onions, cut into rings

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

 

Method

1. Lay the shredded lettuce down the middle of a platter. Layer the peas and the celery on top. Toss the apple in the lemon juice and sprinkle over the platter.

2. Make the bacon and the pepita crunch. Fry the bacon in the butter until it’s tanned in places. Throw in the pepitas and let them start to toast. When some of the pepitas are starting to go golden at the edges, stir in the sugar and let it melt. Keep stirring and a caramel with form from the brown sugar and the rendered pork fat which will coat the pepitas and bacon. Sprinkle with come salt flakes and spread out on baking paper.

3. Now finish the salad. Crumble over the cheeses- large lumps of ricotta, smaller lumps of feta- and scatter on the herbs. Dress the salad with olive oil and a splash of sherry vinegar. Smash up the pepitas of evil and strew over the top.

Done! Serve!

 

Beef Fillet with Salsa Verde

Filed under: Favourites,Meat — delishuss @ 11:33 am
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I loved Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cooking series on Lifestyle Food. I bought the app for my android phone but something happened to it and it stopped working. So, I treated myself to Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking cookbook before Christmas. This recipe is taken from the book. While the recipe took longer than expected, I will explain as I go through the method, it was absolutely gorgeous.

A note from the main man: The beef should not be cooked to well-done, “it would be a travesty”.

Ingredients

Olive oil, for frying

1kg piece of beef fillet cut from the thick end

2 heads of garlic, halved horizontally

4 thyme sprigs

2 rosemary sprigs

Butter, for basting

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Salsa Verde

5 anchovy fillets, reserve some of their oil

1 1/2 tbsp capers

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Bunch of parsley, leaves only

Small bunch of mint, leaves only

Freshly ground black pepper

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/Gas 6

2. Place a heavy based ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat and add a dash of olive oil. Season the beef all over, then brown in the pan on all sides for a minute or two. Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and roll the beef around with the herbs. Add a couple of knobs of butter and, when melted, baste the beef in it. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 10-12 minutes (rare) or 15-17 (medium rare). Okay, I cooked it in the oven for 15-17 minutes and it was very rare when I carved it. So I put it back in the oven sliced for another 10 minutes and it was cooked to medium to medium rare in some pieces. My recommendation is to use a meat thermometer to gauge how well the meat is cooked.

3. Meanwhile, make the salsa verde. Put the anchovies with a teaspoon of their oil, capers, garlic, a pinch of salt and half the herbs, in a mortar and pound with the pestle until a paste has formed. Stir in the mustard and vinegar. Loosen with a little oil, then stir the rest of the herbs. Mix well to your preferred consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

4. Once the beef is cooked to your liking, baste it in the pan juices and transfer to a warm plate. Spoon over a couple of spoonfuls of salsa verde, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

5. To serve, slice thickly and spoon the salsa verde alongside. I served this with potato bake and Matt Preston’s Innocent Pea Salad with Evil Porky Pepita Crunch.

Note: I’m not a big fish fan so I was worried that the anchovies could be very over-powering so I reduced the quantity to two. You couldn’t taste them in the salsa verde. I promise, non-fish lovers 😉

 

Happy New Year January 7, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — delishuss @ 9:44 am

Happy New Year everyone,

Thanks for all the support over the last year. I will have lots more interesting posts over the year to come.

Grainne

 

Lamb Shanks November 26, 2013

Filed under: Favourites,Meat,Soups and Stews — delishuss @ 11:27 am
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I love lamb shanks. This is my own recipe. I made them one Sunday in the slow cooker. I started the preparation around 10:00 am and then cooked them in the slow cooker until about 7:00 pm. Okay I know that’s ages but they are so succulent and tender they are really worth waiting for. I know I’m slightly biased but they were absolutely delishuss 🙂

Serves 3

Ingredients

4lamb shanks

2 carrots, cut into large batons

3 shallots, quartered

1 onion, quartered

1 bouquet garni

3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons of pickling spice

200 ml beef stock

3/4 bottle red wine

1 oxo cube

3 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper

 

Method

1. Heat the frying pan and add 1 tbsp. of olive oil. Sauté the vegetables for 4-5 minutes.

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2. Meanwhile, grind the pickling spice in the pestle and mortar. Remove the frying pan from the heat and pour out the vegetables onto a plate.

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3. Rub the spice mix onto the lamb shanks.

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4. Heat the remaining olive oil in the frying pan. Add 2 lamb shanks and brown, remove onto a plate. Repeat with the other 2 lamb shanks.

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5. Pour the stock into the frying pan and bring to a simmer. Add 1/4 of the wine and bring to the boil and reduce, add another 1/4 and reduce and then the final 1/4 until it’s a nice syrupy consistency.  Crumble in an oxo cube. While the gravy is simmering heat the slower cooker. I have an automatic setting on mine but if you don’t I would recommended starting it off on high for a couple of hours and then bringing the temperature down to medium or low.

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6. Transfer the vegetables, meat, bouquet garni and gravy to the slow cooker.

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7.  Cook in the slow cooker for as long as possible, 7-9 hours. The meat should fall off the bone. Serve on a bed of mash and with some steamed broccoli.

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Chicken Sausage Salad November 25, 2013

Filed under: Chicken,Meat,Salads and Dressings,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 11:30 am
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Here’s another salad idea from Weight Watchers. It’s really substantial, you don’t feel like you are going to be starving ten minutes later.  I was actually starving making it so I didn’t get a chance to take any photos. Trust me it’s really good. I was a bit hesitant about the dressing but it tasted lovely, would consider using that for other salads.  I ended up using Thai Style Turkey Sausages from Aldi for the recipe. They are great, even the in-house taste tester was impressed.

Serves 4

Ingredients

12 baby chat potatoes, quartered

2 tsp vegetable oil

6 lean sausages

1/2 bunch rocket, chopped

1/2 cup (140g) no-fat Greek-style yoghurt

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 bunch watercress, sprigs picked

1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, sliced

250g cherry tomatoes, halved

 

Method

1. Place the potato in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausages, turning, for 6-8 minutes or until browned and cooked. Slice diagonally.

3.  Using a food processor, process the rocket, yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Combine the potato, sausage, watercress, cucumber and tomato in a serving bowl. Drizzle with the rocket and yoghurt dressing and toss to coat.

 

Warm Thai Pork Meatball & Noodle Salad

Filed under: Asian,Meat,Noodles,Salads and Dressings,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 11:10 am
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This is a great recipe. It’s filling and flavoursome. Salads can be so boring but not this one. It’s from a Weight Watchers magazine. Love it.

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g lean pork mince

1 tbs Thai red curry paste

1 1/2 tbs lime juice

2 tsp brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 long fresh red chilli, finely chopped

200g dried rice noodles

640g pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into wedges

1 cup (80g) bean sprouts

2 celery sticks, thinly sliced diagonally

2 green shallots, thinly sliced diagonally

1 cup fresh coriander leaves

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, torn

1 tbp sunflower or canola oil

Method

1. Combine the mine and curry paste in a medium bowl. Roll the mixture into 20 balls.

2. To make the dressing, combine the dish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic and chilli in a small bowl. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.

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3, Cook the noodles following the packet instructions. Drain. Cool under cold water and drain. Place the noodles in a large bowl with the pineapple, bean sprouts, celery, shallot, and three quarters of the coriander and mint.

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4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the meatballs, turning occasionally, for 8 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

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5, Add the meatballs to the salad. Drizzle with the dressing and toss to combine. Divide the salad between serving bowls and sprinkle with the remaining coriander and mint.  http://www.pinterest.com/grainiac/recipes/

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