Cholow Kabab

Back in September I tried to make Kabab Koobideh, but it was only 40% Iranian. Last weekend we had a second attempt with the same ingredients but way better results maybe up to 85%.

Makes 4 Kababs

450 gm Ground Beef or Lamb
2 Onions grated
1 Egg
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
Sumac

The key to making these kabab is crying. After grating the onions place in a clean tea towels and squeeze out all the onion juice.
Mix the dry onion with meat, egg, salt and pepper. Using your fingers mix and mic the meat until it is sticky. (about 5 min) It is a good idea to use gloves for this. Cover the meat and let rest in the frig for 3-12 hours.
Pre-heat oven to hottest setting. (200c+) Line a baking sheet with foil. Shape the kababs and mark the top with the back of a spoon. Bake for 30 min. Add a sliced tomato for the last 5 min of cooking.
Top the kababs with sumac and serve with Cholow rice. Our kababs where a tinny bit dry, so next time we are going to cook them on the grill pan.

Happy Thanksgiving

Whats the differance between American and Irish Thanksgiving? I have to wait till Saturday! Enjoy your Turkey!

Chicken and Biscuits

Whats better than chicken soup and fresh hot bread on a cold rainy night? Chicken and biscuits! A thick and creamy sauce topped with rich biscuits. Yummy!

Serves 4
1 pound of chicken
1 stock cube or 3 cups of stock
1 onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 large potato chopped
1 tsp oil
1 cup frozen peas
2 tsp butter or oil + 2 tsp more for biscuits
2 tsp flour
1 tsp mustard
1 cup Irish soda bread mix or biscuit mix
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp fresh tarragon (optional)
Salt and Pepper

Chicken and Veg
Bring the chicken to a boil in stock, cover and lower the heat. Cook for an hour. Remove the chicken, de-bone, shred and put in an oven safe pan. Keep the stock for the sauce, but put 1/2 cup of the stock in the frig to cool for the biscuits.

Brown the onion, carrots and potato in the oil. Add to the chicken.

2 tsp of butter or oil in a empty veg pan with 2 tsp of flour stir together and slowly add the hot stock (about 1 1/2 cups) mixing all the time. Add the mustard and herbs. Pour over the chicken and veg add the frozen peas and mix. Check the taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Biscuits
Cut 2 tsp of butter in with Irish soda bread mix, add the cool stock a few drops at a time.
If using biscuit mix use the recipe on the box, but use the cool stock as the liquid. Should be a wet dough.
Spoon on top the the chicken and bake the whole thing at 185c or 365f for 30 min.

Enjoy while its hot!

Very Lazy NYT No-Knead Bread

New York Times No-Knead Bread that tasty craze. I haven't made it in years, but I wanted to see if I could make it in my bread machine. I mixed it up the night before and baked it in the morning. The dough overflowed and the whole house smelled like burning bread for a week. My bread machine has two 1 pound pans which is too small for the original NYT recipe. So I set to work making an smaller one.

I know what you are thinking "Its no-knead you don't need to use your bread machine!" I do, I'm lazy and its cold in Ireland. The bread machine mixes everything and then keeps it warm.
1 cup of water
2 1/2 cups of flour ( I use 1/2 of whole wheat)
pinch of salt
dash of yeast
Turns out the using the bread machine cuts down the raising time by 12 hours. In fact if I left to to rise longer the dough would overflow again. I haven't baked it in the bread machine, but I did find a lazier way of molding the dough. When the dough is ready turn the oven on its hottest heat. Flour some parchment paper(use tons like 1/2 cup or more) and drop the dough on it. The dough will look normal from the top, but inside the pan it will be a wet cobweb mess. Once all the dough is out use the parchment paper to shape the dough. The dough will be covered in flour. The extra flour on the parchment paper will burn, so dump it or get a new paper. Oil the paper and cook the bread for about 30 min.
I like this bread even better than the original. You don't have to wait for it to cool all the way and the crust is hard but not so thick. I like it toasted with Kerry Gold Butter and Marmite!

Quail with Saffron Risotto

When I saw two cute quails I just had to buy them. The butcher took the back bone out for me so they cooked up so fast. Not everyone likes 'small birds' feel free to use chicken or enjoy the risotto on its own.
Tarragon Lemon Quail
Wash the quail and make sure all the feathers are out. Season inside and out with salt, pepper, chopped tarragon and lemon. Rub a drop of olive oil to the outside and drop in a very hot grill pan, 5 min a side. My quail were very small and the bones were out, if yours are bigger pop them into a hot oven for 30 min.

Saffron Risotto
Risotto should be made with a short grain rice like Arborio, but it is possible to use a medium grain rice. I used 2 cups of Arborio. And yes you have to stand next to the pot the whole time stirring and stirring, its worth it!

Finely chop one onion.
In a pot with 1 tsp olive oil and 1 tsp butter saute the onions.
Add the rice stirring until the rice is glossy or translucent.
Add 1/2 white wine and a pinch of saffron.
Once the wine is absorbed add 2 cups or more of warm broth one ladle at a time adding more only after the rice has taken in the liquid.
Finish with 1 cup of frozen peas and 2 Tbs of chopped fresh tarragon. Top with the small bird, or some Parmesan.

Chocolate Cake (hold the flour)

There is really only one kind of Birthday cake and that's chocolate, but what kind of chocolate. I felt like making my mom's flour free recipe. After 1/2 pound of butter, 8 eggs and 3 bars of dark chocolate there is no room left for any flour!
So rich! It was like eating a thick chocolate mousse. Thank you for finding the recipe Mom.

Italian Dinner

We had a great Italian dinner this weekend. For antipasto we had olives, beef, parmesan and focaccia.
Rosemarie, Basil, and Garlic Focaccia
2 1/2 cups flour (1/2 of which whole wheat)
salt
yeast
Mix with about 1 cup of warm water, the dough should be soft but not sticky.
Let rise and then press out in oiled pan. Top with olive oil, chopped herbs and very finely chopped garlic. I used a smoked garlic. Finish with salt and pepper.
Bake at 200c for 30 min or until the bread is golden brown.

A butter knife??? This rib-eye was that soft. I seasoned it with salt, pepper and olive oil and cooked it on a very hot grill pan for 3min a side.
Finish the meal off with a spinach, basil, tarragon, mandarin and feta salad. Little and fresh.

Beef Wraps

I haven't been able to get the taste of the winning pizza out of mind. I was thinking that those flavors would work really well in a Tex-Mex wrap.

Heat 1 tsp oil add 1 tsp cumin seeds and let them pop.
Add
250g Irish Beef
1 chopped onion
1 tsp turmeric
2 cloves chopped garlic
Once the meat is brown add some veg.
I had half a eggplant, a yellow bell pepper, some mushrooms and green cabbage.
After the veg cooks down a bit add hot peppers, a can of corn green/black olives and a few tomatoes or half a can of tomatoes.
Finish with 1tsp ground cumin, 1tsp ground coriander, chili pepper, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
Wrap it all up as in or add some cheese or yogurt. This was a great was to use up leftover veg and very tasty but not as good as that wonderful pizza.

Ox Tail Stew

Ox Tail is not something I have ever seen at Wal-Mart, so when I saw these I got them. My husband hates Aabgoosht, which is a chickpea stew/dip. But I've been think how can he not like Aabgoosht. He likes hummus. I bet I can make an Aabgoosht that he will like. I'll make it more like a stew than a dip and he will never know.

Brown the meat.
Remove and cook 1 chopped onion with 1 tsp turmeric and some oil if the pan is dry.
Add 4 cloves of garlic.
1/3 cup of dried chickpeas.
1 can tomatoes
Meat back in the pot.
Cover with water.
Bring to a boil, lower and cook for hours and hours. (6 or more) I left mine in the slow cooker.
An hour before eating add 2 chopped potatoes and one dried lime. Salt and pepper to taste.
Aabgoosht the dip would be eating with bread. But so my husband would think this was a stew I made brown rice (which he also hates). I tried really hard to trick him, but he knew right away. I will not be making this again!

Pizza Party

We had a make your own pizza party over the weekend. I made dough and then each person tried to make the best pizza. We voted for who the best pizza.
The winner was this a chicken, green and black olive, pineapple, hot pepper, red bell peppers, cheddar cheese pizza on a tomato herb dough. The sauce was the leftovers from the mussels. This pizza was busy, but the flavors worked. The clear winner.

More Mussels

Inspired by the mussels we had earlier in the week another house mate made some more. He cooked onions and garlic in oil before adding tomato sauce, Tabasco and mussels. Really nice.

Shamrock Food Competition....Winner!!!!

Remember the Desert Island Zucchini Muffins I posted in October? I entered the recipe in Shamrock Food's monthly recipe competition and won!
Check out the lovely hamper they sent over and head over to their website to see my recipe.

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!!!

Olive and Fennel Pasta with Turkey

I was going to make hamburgs for dinner last night, but then I saw nice olives on sale. I would have put the olives in the hamburgs, but then I found some nice fennel and turkey drumsticks.

In a big pan or pot:
1 tsp oil
brown the drumsticks
1 1/2- 2 onions chopped
4 cloves of garlic
2 large carrots chopped small
1/2 cup chopped turnip or swede
1 bulb of fennel (save the tops)
1 cup chopped olives
Cook the veg down for about 5min.
Add 1 can of tomatoes and water to cover.
Salt, pepper, dried herbs (oregano, basil, parsley) and 1 tsp of smoked paprika.
Cook for 15 min or until the turkey done.
Top with fresh parsley and the fennel tops.

With so much nice veg in the sauce, pasta is optional. We had tagliatelle and it was yummy!

Saffron Salmon

I like to bake fish in foil bags. It could just be because I like to gifts. Saffron and fish is not a new idea, Iranians enjoy this dish for New Year. But way wait till New Year? This is a gift I can give myself any day of the week.
Saffron expensive but if you grind first then you only have to use a tiny tiny tiny bit.

Grind a pinch of saffron with a pinch of sugar and salt. (My mother-in-law just uses sugar, but I like to mix it up).
Chop 1/2 of fresh herbs (coriander, parsley and mint).
Zest a lemon, slice half and juice half.
Rub the salmon with saffron, lemon zest and pepper. Fill the foil bag with the fish, herbs and sliced lemon. Add a drop of olive oil and the lemon juice. Fold up the bag. Bake for 15 min at 200c.

Open the foil bag and enjoy with dill rice.

Monkey Monkey Monkey Bread

This bread has 3x the monkey: banana bread, dried bananas and peanuts (Irish name monkey nuts).

The banana bread had to be thicker than a normal one so it could be rolled. I also wanted a yeast bread.
1 egg
2 mushed bananas
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 3/4 cup white flour
1/2 tsp yeast
Mix and kneed or into the bread machine on the dough setting.

Roll balls of the dough in a mix of 1 cup sugar and 2 Tbs cinnamon. Then roll in 1/2 cup chopped of peanuts and 10 chopped dried bananas (mine where not sweetened).
Put the balls into a bunt or loaf pan. Top a melted mix of 2 Tbs butter and 1/4 brown sugar.

Bake for 30 min at 170c. Could even pop back into the bread maker on bake (don't let it kneed). I liked the bread it was sticky and messy just like it should be. Would go really well with monkey blood (ice coffee).

Polow with Korean Wild Rice

Anyone who has used a Korean wild rice, in a mix or added to rice knows that it turns the pot of rice purple. When I was in Korean the 'healthy rice' a mix of beans, brown rice and wild rice was always purple. I wanted to use the wild rice, but I did not want purple polow.

Soak 2 cups basmati rice in salt water for 2 hours+.
Boil 1/4 cup wild rice, changing the water until all the purple is out.
Drain the soaked rice and add the to boiling wild rice. Cook until the rice starts to soften.
Drain, add the a rice maker or pot with 1 tsp oil in it. Steam for 20 min. I put slices of potato on the bottom of the pot before the rice and we enjoyed our non-purple rice with aab-goosht badenjan a split pea eggplant stew.

Happy Halloween