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.
I've been cooking with wild garlic all week using it like garlic or green onions. The wild garlic has a lighter and less sharp taste which I found really easy to cook with. So I have three recipes to share. Wild Garlic Pesto Makes about 1 cup
5 or 6 whole wild garlic (bulb and leaves) or 1 clove garlic and 6 green onions
1 cup of basil (leaves and stems)
1/4 cup of roasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2-3 Tbs olive oil
salt, pepper, hot pepper to taste
Blend everything slowing adding the olive oil until 95% smooth.
Enjoy raw on fresh bread, on pizza, in tomato soup or mixed with pasta. We did.
Wild Garlic BBQ Mackerel for 4 small fish 2 med 1 large
4 fresh Mackerel
20 fresh wild garlic leaves
1/2 lemon cut into slices
salt
Wash the mackerel and stuff each one with whole garlic leaves, lemon and salt. Wrap the extra garlic leaves around outside of the fish. BBQ for 10 min turning once or until the meat is white and flaky. Shawn's Garlic Prawns 4 as a starter 2 as a main
1 pound of prawns (cleaned)
3 cloves of wild garlic or 1 normal
1 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper
Mash the garlic into the oil. Add salt and pepper to taste (hot pepper anyone??). Fry or BBQ until pink.
Shawn really knows his prawns. These are so buttery (but with no butter).
I like to eat whole buckwheat raw or even sprouted. Unlike wheat or rice it is soft and easy to eat uncooked. But this morning I felt like having crepes so I popped some buckwheat into my food processor to make flour. Crepes are so easy to make. There are tons of recipes out but 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup flour always works for me.
Buckwheat Crepes with Shawn's Applesauce Severs 2 (6 crepes)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup buckwheat flour
2 Tbs oil
4 small apples
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 Tbs plain yogurt (optional)
Buckwheat Crepes
Mix the egg and milk together. Add the buckwheat flour and stir well. In a non-stick pan on med heat add 1 tsp of oil and pour 1/6 of the batter. Tilt the pan to spread the batter. Flip when the bubbles have popped and the crepe is pulling away from the pan. Cook for 20-30 sec before removing. Repeat with the rest of that batter.
Shawn's Applesauce
Peal and chop the apples and put in a small pot. Cover with water. Add the cinnamon and cloves and bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 min until most of the water is gone and the apples are falling apart. Remove the spices and mash.
Fill the Crepes with the applesauce and top with plain yogurt.
This delicious Smoked Mackerel Pâté was made by our friend for Thanksgiving. Everyone loved it. I think its a great recipe for any holiday. Rich, creamy goes well with pita bread, chips or even raw veg!
Recipe by Shawn McCourt and adapted from a recipe in
Small Food: snack sized bites to share with friends. Murdoch Books Ltd. Sydney.
Smoked Mackerel Pâté
Makes 1 ½-2cups
Ingredients:
1 whole smoked mackerel, or 4 boneless smoked fillets [can also use whitefish, eel salmon, trout or other hot smoked fish*] or around 800 grams
2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 to 1 whole package (200-250g) of Philadelphia cream cheese
Approx. 200g or ¼ cup of melted butter
Black pepper
Spring of fresh parsley and lemon slices, to garnish
Preparation:
Remove all skin, head and bones from the smoked fish and put in a food processor with the cream cheese, butter and lemon juice. Blend until mixture is quite smooth. Season to taste with cracked black pepper. Add more lemon juice if necessary. Can either serve immediately (as we did) or refrigerate overnight until firm. Garnish with parsley sprig and thinly sliced lemon. Serve with toasted bread, pita or crackers.
* Use only hot smoked fish, not cold smoked, as the cold smoked kinds have a ‘raw’ consistency and will not produce a desirable pâté.. I like the mackerel, but any other oily fish such as kippers, eel or whitefish would work. If you use salmon or trout, you may need to add more cream cheese and/or butter to produce the desired effect as there is less oil in these.
