When I was on my mini break in Bali. I ventured upon a lot of cookery schools, mainly booked out. No space for one more? Nope. Darn it! Then I found the gorgeous Casa Luna Cookery School. Hurrah!
Tag Archives: Cooking
Cookery Class at Casa Luna, Ubud
Filed under Adventures, Bites and Delight
Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut Squash, the almighty superfood, has been part of my kitchen life for so many years. Whenever I come home, I always make sure I get to make a big pot of butternut squash soup for my family.
Here is a very simple yet very tasty recipe for Butternut Squash Soup.
1 large butternut squash, cubed
Ground nutmeg
1 large potato, chopped
1 medium white onion, diced
1 1/2 litres of Vegetable/Chicken stock
1 tspn whole peppercorns
Olive oil
In a large saucepa, heat up olive oil and add in the onion.
Sweat them for a few minutes and add in some nutmeg and peppercorns.
When the onions have become translucent, throw in the potatoes. Cover them with the onions and fry for a few more minutes.
Add in the butternut squash and mix everything up together.
Pour in the stock, a little at a time.
I like to use chicken stock, but if you would like to keep the soup vegetarian then you can opt for the veggie stock. Either tastes lovely!
Allow to come to a bowl and then reduce to simmer for 20 minutes.
Blend and serve, piping hot.
Decorate with a sage leaf…tastes yummy too.
Filed under Bites and Delight
Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Colcannon Mash
Parmesan chicken is a melt in your mouth kind of meal. The flavours blend so beautifully together to create a refreshing and light mouthful!
I wanted to mix the Mediterranean influence of the chicken with something traditional and homely so I thought that Colcannon Mash would go well, and it did!
With a bit of rocket and parsley salad, this meal is perfect for having a few friends over.
Here’s the recipe…. I hope you like it 
For the Parmesan Chicken:
6 fresh chicken fillets
150 g Breadcrumbs
60g finely grated parmesan
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
1 tspn lemon zest
For this recipe, you will need to start by flattening the chicken fillets. You can use either a rolling pin or an empty bottle of wine and cling film. I used a bottle of wine and pounded the chicken until it was nice and flat.
To make the crust, mix the breadcrumnbs, grated parmesan, chopped parsley and lemon zest together in a bowl.
Beat the 2 eggs together in a separate bowl.
Dip each chicken fillet into the egg, shake off any excess.
Lay the chicken fillets into the breadcrumbs one at a time, ensuring total coverage on both sides.
Leave to set on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes.
Heat up a wide based frying pan with butter and a dash of olive oil.
Place each fillet into the pan and fry for 4-5 minutes on either side.
I put the cooked chicken fillets into a baking try and popped them in the oven for 10 minutes before serving.
Colcannon mash:
8 medium sized potatoes
250ml fresh milk
1 head savoy cabbage
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
salt
pepper
butter
Boil up the potatoes, leaving the skin on.
When the potatoes are almost cooked, drain off some of the liquid and put back on the heat to finish cooking.
Peel the dark leaves off the cabbage and place in a saucepan with a little water on a low heat. Cook for 7 minutes.
Put the milk in a saucepan and allow to come to a low heat for a few minutes, without letting it simmer.
Peel the skins off the potatoes. Mash the potatoes and add in the milk and a tablespoon of butter.
Mix in the cabbage and spring onions.
Sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste.
Serve up the Colcannon Mash with the Parmesan crusted Chicken.
A side salad of rocket, parsley and a few shavings of parmesan with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice dressing goes really nicely with this meal too.
Filed under Bites and Delight
Steak and Guinness Pie
Qatar Irish Society hold an annual Irish Ball and this years ball is to take place on St. Patricks Day. The Irish Society’s committee approached me and asked me if I would be interested in submitting a few of my recipes for the Irish Society’s programme. I was only delighted to be able to showoff a few of my creations.
So, as I am at home in the bosom of my family, I thought no better time than to get my collection of recipes together with my perfectly willing guinea pigs.
Last night’s dinner was a scrumptious Steak and Guinness Pie served with a couple of roosters and washed down with a 2007 Nottage Hill Cabernet Shiraz. It was a feast but be prepared to wait a couple of hours for your dinner as it takes time and with this time, you will certainly appreciate the traditional flavours and aromas that fill your kitchen and have your senses going crazy!
I did find a recipe for a Beef Steak Pie in my Great Auntie Katie’s Home Ec book. I took the idea from that recipe and added in a few extra bits, such as the guinness and carrots and I used shop bought puff pastry, cheeky, I know :p. I also changed around the method. No major changes but it worked so well together.
My dad also arrived home with a box laden down with veggies he bought in Lidl. The garlic bulbs caught my eye. They are single bulb garlic and beautifully mild and went perfectly in this pie.
Here is the recipe I used:
1 lb Round beef steak
1 can Guinness
3 carrots
3 onions
1 single bulb garlic
1 tblspn flour
1 tspn fresh thyme
1 tblspn chopped fresh parsley
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 egg, beaten
Beef stock
Roasting pot
Method:
Leave the beef out for an hour before cooking, marinate is in some oil and pepper.
Cut the beef into 1 inch long strips, coat in the flour, salt and pepper.
Heat a wide based pan with the olive oil and fry the beef to seal the flavour.
Put the roasting pot on the stove and heat up with olive oil and bit of butter.
Add in the onions and garlic. Sweat them down and when they are nice and browned add in the carrots and the beef.
Cook for a few minutes to release more flavours.
Pour in the can of Guinness and about 200ml beef stock.
Simmer to let the juices reduce for 15 minutes
Cover and pop in the oven for 90 minutes.
After 90 minutes, take out of the oven and leave to sit for 10 minutes.
While the beef is cooling you can get your pastry ready, I was rather cheeky and used ready made puff pastry (it takes a little of the pressure off)
Grease your dish for the pie and lay down a sheet of puff pastry. Ensuring to cover the base and sides of the dish with pastry.
Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and cook in the oven for 8 minutes, remove and cool for 5 minutes.
Brush on some beaten egg and cook for another 5 minutes.
Remove the dish and gently spoon in your beef and Guinness mixture. Lightly brush the edges of the crust with some of the beaten egg.
When you have filled the pie crust with the mixture, cover the top with your second sheet of puff pastry. Pressing down the edges with a fork to ensure the two sheets glue together.
Glaze the pastry with more egg and prod it with a fork, without completely piercing the pastry.
Place in an oven preheated at 180°C for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and serve up with some roosters and prepare to gobble!
Filed under Bites and Delight
Vintage Irish cooking at home
Monday morning and I was up bright and early, out for the walk and planning my afternoon in the kitchen. Before I knew it, my mum had covered the kitchen table in bright and colourful cookery books from all over. The one that caught my eye and which I had the most interest in was my Great Auntie Katie’s Home Economics Book and her exercise book. Dating back to 1939, the Home Ec book is jam packed with old traditional recipes. My mind started racing with what goodies I could whip up from this precious find.
After perusing through the pages of this delicate book, I decided I wanted to whip up something traditional, Irish and a little bit vintage. I searched around the kitchen for ideas and stumbles upon a pot of leftover mashed spuds from last nights dinner and a vague recollection of my dad mentioning I should make potato cakes in the morning.
So, I pulled out my mixing bowl and here’s a recipe I whipped up for a traditional Irish Boxty:
2 cups of leftover mashed potato
1 cup of grated raw potato
1 cup flour
1 cup of milk
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn pepper
Parsley
Garlic
Place the leftover mashed potato in a mixing bowl.
Grate the raw potato in a separate bowl and squeeze out all of the excess liquid.
Put the raw potato in with the leftover mash.
Add the flour, salt, pepper, baking powder into the potato mixture.
Slowly pour in the milk and stir to combine.
Make sure that an even batter is formed.
Heat a pan with olive oil and butter.
Spoon in the batter to the hot pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on either side.
Serve with some grilled back rashers and a steaming hot cuppa chá
Perfect vintage Irish food.
Although after making the Boxty, there was a major Boxty debate with my dad. He suggested that they should be baked in the oven first and then served up. I later found a recipe for this and will try it at a later date. It appears what I made was more of a potato cake.
Filed under Bites and Delight
