Blackberry Muffins

Its a great year for blackberries in Ireland!  The past two days I've been out picking.  This year they are big fat and juicy but also sour.  I've been playing around with a low sugar/low fat muffin/cake recipe for a few weeks. Using my all time fav zucchini muffin recipe I replaced almost all of the oil with that old standby of apple sauce.  Also cut down the sugar (hey apples are Sweet!!!).

Blackberry Muffins
For 12 Muffins
2 apples
2 eggs
1/4 cup of sugar (If you want a sweeter use 1/2 cup instead)
1/8 cup of rapeseed oil
1 orange (the zest and juice)
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups self rising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

2 cups blackberries

 Oven 170c.  Peel and chop the apples.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and cook till soft about 5 min.  Blend or mash.  Cool a bit.  Mix with wet: eggs, sugar, oil, orange and vanilla.  Add the dry: flours, spice, salt.  Mix and add blackberries.  Fill the muffin tin and into the oven for about 30 min. 

These are a great breakfast muffin.  Most and not very sweet.  If you are used to  white flour, oil and sugar you may need to add 1/4  cup more sugar the first time you try this recipe.  The blackberries are soar this year so I'm going to add it next time!

Irish Soda Bread: Outside of Ireland

 I never liked Irish Soda Bread until I tried Darina Allen's recipe from Forgotten Skills of Cooking and then I made 6 loafs for our going away party.  Now that we are back in Ireland I'm still making it.

  My kitchen scales are in KS (with Darina's very heavy book) so I've changed the recipe to use cups and added oats.  Also for those making soda bread outside of Ireland it is hard to find the right kind of whole wheat flour.  The flour need to be very coarse. Add wheat germ, ground flax and oats to make the whole wheat flour more like the Irish kind.  Also is American baking soda salter than Irish???  Having made this bread in both places I would say yes.  I cut down the salt.

 Irish Soda Bread: Outside of Ireland
 Makes 1 loaf

2 cups whole wheat flour (with extra coarse fiber)
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp salt (add 1/2 tsp more if you like salt)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbs  sunflower oil
1 tsp honey
1 egg
2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup seeds +1 tbs for the top

Oven on 350f 180c. Mix the dry.  Mix the wet.  Add the wet to dry. Add seeds.  Mix.  Will be a big sticky mess.  Into a greased loaf pan (or pot in my case).  Top with more seeds. Bake for about 50 min.  Do not even think about cutting until cooled!!!!

Enjoy with butter, smoked salmon, Irish stew or with cheese, tomato, avocado and cucumber.

Shawn's Oven Chips (Fries)

 Shawn knows about potatoes. Back in May he brought 10kgs of potatoes over to our house.  Lucky for those Irish Red Roasters he told me about a very simple oven chip recipe.  Bring the potatoes to boil first! I have made one change to his simple recipe...add turmeric.  It gives the potatoes that golden 'fried' look.

Shawn's Oven Chips (Fries)
serves 2 1/2
3 large potatoes
1 tsp sunflower seed oil
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper

Cut potatoes into the size chips that you want.  Put in a pot of cold salt water and bring to a boil.  Drain and let the potatoes dry.   Mix the cooled potatoes with the oil, turmeric, salt and pepper on a cookie sheet.  Bake in a very hot oven (220c) for around 20-30 min or until golden brown.

note: This is also how to make the perfect roast potatoes that you can find with any roast dinner in any Irish pub.  Its just how you cut the potatoes and shake in the pot after draining.

Honeycomb Candy

Honeycomb candy is an old fashioned Irish/English treat.  I don't think I've ever seen it in the States.  I've been wanted to try my hand at making some for a while but I didn't want to buy a whole tin of golden syrup so I put it off.  But last night at 8pm when I 'needed' candy I started to think could I make honeycomb with honey???? I searched and found a very easy recipe.

All you need is sugar, honey, water and baking soda.

Creamy Beet Salad

The beets in my garden are still filling out but luckily be found a lady selling them for 1e a bunch. One of the first recipe I made was this creamy beat salad. For years I have been grating cooked beets into bowls of plain yogurt. I even wanted it this salad at my wedding (it was vetoed by my mom). Last Dec we tried beet salad some Russian friends made. It had garlic, dried dill and creame fresh or yogurt. I've been adding garlic and dill ever since.

The greens I used raw in salad and cooked on pizza.

We ate a few beets raw, but mostly I roasted them. Just wash and bake them until the skin comes off. I cover the beet in tin foil and throw them in the oven when I'm baking something else. It takes about an hour before they soften.
Creamy Beet Salad
makes one bowl
3 roasted and pealed beets
1/2 clove a garlic
1 Tbs chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill
1/2 cup plain yogurt
salt and pepper

Grate the beets. Make a paste with the garlic by mashing it with 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix the beets, garlic, dill and yogurt. Add salt and pepper to taste.
We enjoyed this hot pink salad with homegrown cucumbers and homemade burgers. Yummy!

Elderflower Cordial

The Elder is blooming. Last weekend I picked about 40 heads and I used half of those to made my first ever elderflower cordial. I used a recipe from selfsufficientish.com but I used 2 limes rather than a lemon.
I've never even seen cordial of any kind in Kansas but here in Ireland elderflower cordial is sold everywhere. Cordial is a very sweet fruity syrup which is diluted with water or soda water.
Elderflower Cordial
Makes about 1 litre
20 elderflower heads
2 limes (sliced)
2 tsp citric acid
1.5 kg sugar
1.2 ltr water (boiling)

Dissolve the the sugar in the water. Add the elderflowers, limes and citric acid. Cover and leave for a few days (some recipes say 24 hours, 48 hours or even 5 days). I went with the 4 days as I kept forgetting find some bottles! Make sure you give the brew a mix everyday.

Strain using cheese cloth or muslin and funnel into sterile bottles.

Enjoy right way and or keep in the frig for the next year. I've mixed mine a few ways so far water, soda water, mint tea, and orange. I think I like it best with a slice of orange.

Wild Irish Garlic Kimshi

As soon as I filled my kitchen with wild garlic it smelled like Korea. So i figured might as well make kimshi! Kimish can be as hot or not as you like. I really like the taste of Korean hot pepper powder so I used 1 Tbs but if you don't like it hot kimshi can be made without it.

Wild Irish Garlic Kimshi
Makes 1 jar (8oz)
4-6 cups wild Irish garlic leaves
1/2 inch grated ginger
1 tsp salt
1/8-1/2 tsp fish sauce or dried scrimp
1/2-1 Tbs Korean dried hot pepper powder

Wash the garlic leaves well. Soak the leaves overnight. Dry the leaves and mix with the ginger, salt, fish sauce and hot pepper powder. Mix well and don't worry if its dry the salt is going to bring the water out of the garlic leaves. Put into something with a lid and leave out at room temp for a few days stirring eat day. Move into the the warmest place in the frig and enjoy right away if you like young kimish.

I like older kimshi so I left mine for a month and its still not to my taste yet!!! I check on it about once a week to let out the gas.

Gathering Wild Irish Garlic

Our talented ecologist friend (Shawn) very kindly took us to into the woods to look for wild Irish garlic. The woods were full and we gathered a whole bag.
We found two different kinds of garlic on our hunt. The one on the left (it looks like a white bluebell) is called Three Cornered Garlic or Allium triquetrum. It is not native to Ireland, it has a nice round bulb and thin long leaves. On the right(and top photo) is Ramson's or Allium ursinum. This is a native Irish garlic. It's bulb is longer and thinner than the Three Cornered Garlic and its leaves are wider.

The top garlic is Ramson's and the round bottom ones are Three Cornered Garlic. The bulbs are a bit small (they will be bigger in a few weeks, but the whole plant can be eaten. My next post with have a recipe for both.

Rhubarb Stew or Khoresht Reevaas

It is spring here and Irish rhubarb has hit the shops. All winter I have been waiting to make Khoresht Reevaas or Rhubarb Stew. In April I posted a recipe for Khoresh Baddemjaan (Eggplant Stew). This stew is almost the same, just make with rhubarb not eggplant.
Rhubarb Stew or Khoresht Reevaas
severs 4
1 chopped onion
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup of stewing meat (lamb or beef)
1/4 cup yellow split lentils
1 tsp tomato paste
1 dried lime
salt, pepper, hot pepper
1 tsp mint
1 tsp parlsey
3 stalks rhubarb

In a pot over med heat brown the onion in the oil and turmeric. Add the stewing meat and seal. Add the yellow lentils. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Stir in the tomato paste, drop in the dried lime*, salt, pepper, herbs and hot pepper if you like. Its a good idea to cut the lime in half. Put on the lowest heat and let stew 2 to 8 hours. Just make sure it doesn't dry out.
*Note if you do not have dried lime and or you don't like sour then you can leave out the dried lime as the rhubarb is sour.

Cut the rhubarb in 1 1/2 inch sticks. Drop into the stew for the last 5 min, so they soften but don't turn into a string mess.
I've made this stew 2 times this month, 1 beef and 1 lamb. It has a light fresh taste which is perfect for spring. We had our with rice.

Homegrown Mushrooms

Last month we got a mushroom growing kit. It is just a small bag of veg compost and mushrooms spores but after some time spent under our sofa we have picked 5 mushrooms and there are more on the way. We paid 8e for the kit so it is not cheaper to grown your own, but it is way more fun and loads taster.

Left mushrooms from the store. Right homegrown mushrooms.

The homegrown mushrooms are whiter and harder.

I fried a mix of the two kinds of mushrooms in salty Irish butter and fresh thyme.

Nettle Tea

The weather has been grand here and over the weekend we planted our vegetable garden. But there is one plant (which we did not plant) was ready for harvest.

I wore kitchen gloves to pick and wash the nettles. The young green leaves are the best.

Nettle Tea
makes 1 pot
1/2 cup fresh nettles
boiling water

I brewed my tea for about 3min and it had a light earth taste. Not bitter or gross at all. But I think next time I'm going to add a bit of mint.

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Green Eggs with 'Ham'

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We are heading to Dublin City Center to enjoy the parade (in our silly green hats). But first we enjoyed green eggs (made with spinach) and sausage rolls (vegetarian) . If you would like to make these very green eggs, just blend a cup of raw spinach per each egg and scramble.

Farm Eggs = a Leek and Cheddar Souffle

Last weekend in Wicklow we stopped at a farm to buy eggs. As we pulled into the drive we had to dodge the truly free range fowl.
The price for fresh eggs? Well your not in Kansas anymore. 6e for 12 (boxes of 10, with the extra to hold in your hands).
Duck Egg, Leek and Irish Cheddar Souffle* Not a recipe from a souffle expert.
Serves 4
1 tsp oil
3 chopped and cleaned leeks
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
1 1/4 cup of warm milk
3/4 cup grated Irish Cheddar cheese
1 tsp thyme
salt, pepper, hot chili pepper
3 duck egg yolks
4 duck egg whites

1. Heat oven to 350f or 180c.

2. Over a med heat cook the leeks in the oil until soft.

3. Make a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk. (Melt the butter in a pan over med heat, add the flour and stir. Cook for about 30 sec and then add the warm milk. Mix Mix Mix until there are no lumps.) Add the cheese, herbs and spices. Let cool a bit and then add in the yolks.

4. Beat the egg whites. (Fresh eggs whites take longer so maybe ask you husband to do this part!!!)
5. Fold everything together and put into little pots or anything you have ( I used a big pie pan).

6. Into the oven and hope for the best. Cook 30-50 (mine was 40 min, i had to put a foil on the top to stop it from burning while I wait for the middle to be cooked)

It was like eating a cloud of fat!

BBQ Liver on top of the Wicklow Mountains

Saeid and I went to the Wicklow Mountain with friends to enjoy the wonderful weather and have a BBQ. The sun was setting before we found a spot in which to BBQ but view more than made up for the wait.
I like liver, but even if you haven't enjoyed liver and onions in the past give this recipe a go at your next BBQ. It cooks really fast and no Irianian BBQ would be complet without it.

BBQ Liver
feeds 4
1 single use BBQ
1 package of Lamb Liver (about 2 livers)
1 pack of flat bread
1 bag of washed spinach
salt, pepper
water

Find a safe place to light your BBQ. Once it heats up pop the liver on and add salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3mins, turning once. Enjoy inside a flat bread with some spinach. Yummy.
After we had this tasty sandwich we used the BBQ to cook longer cooking meats, (like hamburgs and steak). Then we put the fire out with water and took our BBQ home with us to bin.

Smoked Mackerel and Dill Rice (Mahi Doudi va Shevid Polow)

We enjoyed our breakfast of smoked mackerel so much that went to Howth to buy some more. At the Wrights of Howth we got 3 wilded catch (France) for 10.50e.
While gutted the Mackerel still had its head, bones and skin. Not to worry it was so easy to de-bone (just asked our fisherman house mate).
Cut along the side of the fish, putting your knife between the top fillet and the backbone. Separate the the fish into two. Pull the head with the back bone off in one go. That takes care of most of the bones. The rest are easy to pick out.
We didn't heat the mackerel up, but just mixed it in with hot dill rice and mint and cucumber yogurt.

Fresh Irish Mussels

We had a lovely fish dinner to say good-bye to lovely friend who was going back to Japan. Our housemate went to Howth (a fishing village) and got fresh mussels, shrimp, and squid, cod and john dory.
I was always picking mussels out of my soups when I was in Korea, but these smelled so good. My friend had cooked them in white wine, onions and garlic. There was no fish taste or smell. I said I would try one and ended up eating a dozen or so. Thank you Thank you Sam I Am!!!

Organic Irish Lamb Chops

This is my second time making lamb chops for my husband. The first time I cook them rare. He just asked more more potatoes. So this time I cook them really well done.

2 organic Irish Lamb chops
Rub with salt, pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, drop of oil.
Cover and let marinate for10 min/ few hours.
Cook on a really hot grill pan 5 min on each side.
Pull the meat off and let rest for 5 min before.
De glaze the pan with red wine/ grape juice and pore on top of the lamb.
I also made roasted Indian potatoes.
Par-boil 4 potatoes.
Heat the oven to the highest heat.
Into a pan 2 Tbs oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 3 whole cloves of garlic and 5 small green chillies. Heat the pan in the oven and then put in the par-boiled potatoes.
Bake for 20 min.

Fast and yummy, but I miss my rice!