Don’t let the dull grey appearance of the paté fool you, this is a flavour smacking creation of tastiness. Served with some home-made Melba toast and a glass of wine its perfect comfort food for cold winter nights and an excellent authentic starter to an Italian meal.

You’ll Need:

Starter for 4-6 People

*     300g of chicken livers .

Chicken Livers can be a little hard to find but a good butcher should be able to order some in if they don’t normally carry them.   I got mine from the local Butcher, Noel Kavanagh in Glasthule  for the princely price of only €3.59.

*     Large Glass of Red Wine

*     2 medium Red Onions. Most Tuscan Crostini Recipes call for white onions but I love the flavour of red.

*     Olive oil

*     1 Cup of Chicken Stock

*     Anchovies

*     Butter

*     Ground Black Pepper

Method:

Clean the chicken livers, chop into medium chucks and eliminate the fatty parts. Place the meat in a bowl and marinate in the Red Wine for at least 15 minutes.

Cut the onions  in small pieces and fry it in a pot with a good dash of oil for about 10 minutes. Make sure to stir the onions regularly so as not to let them stick of crisp in the pan. You want them nice and soft.

When the onions are ready, take the liver out of the bowl and add it to the pan. Stir and let fry for 5 minutes.

Add a generous dash of Black Pepper then cover the mixture with the red wine used to marinate the meat. If the meat is not covered, add a little more red wine and let simmer for 20 minutes.

When the wine has evaporated, add chicken stock. Cover the mix and let cook until it has evaporated.

Put the meat in a blender and add the anchovies and a teaspoon of butter. Blend until the mix is smooth and suitable for spreading on bread.

Cheat’s Melba Toast

All you need is some slices of bread, a rolling-pin and a grill. Roll the bread out until it’s about half its original depth. Place under a medium grill and toast for 5 minutes. Then cut it into little triangles and serve with the warm chicken liver spread and buon appetito!

Entire cost of dish: Chicken Livers: €3.59, Anchovies: €1.89, 2 Onions 64c – everything else is a staple of the cupboard and I already had it in.

I finally found something to do with that big bag of fresh cranberries which had remained in the fridge after New Year’s Dinner:-Donal Skehan’s White Chocolate and Cranberry Muffins. I love the zesty tang of these yummy little treats.

You’ll Need:

Makes 8-12 Muffins

• 100g of butter, melted
• 200ml of buttermilk
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 large free range eggs
• 150g of caster sugar
• 250g of self raising flour
• 250g of fresh cranberries
• 200g of white chocolate, roughly chopped(I used Milky bars - yummy)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175oC. Line a muffin tray with paper cases. In a bowl, whisk together the butter, buttermilk, orange zest and set aside.

In a standalone mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the butter mixture and whisk until combined. Gently fold in the flour until just combined. Stir through the cranberries and white chocolate until combined. Be sure not to over mix the batter.

Spoon the mixture into the papercases and place in the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes until brown on top. Remove from the oven and place on a wire wrack to cool.

Serves 4

You’ll Need:

800g New Potatoes

3 Tomatoes

30g Parmesan cheese, grated.

A large bunch of Asparagus

Large Bunch of Fresh Basil

Small Bunch of Scallions

1 Medium fresh red chilli

2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

4 Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Lemon

4 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme

A Knob of Butter

Olive Oil

Salt & Black Pepper

Method:

Add peeled potatoes to a large pot of boiling water and cook for approximately 15 minutes.

Roughly chop tomatoes and basil leaves. Trim and slice scallions. De seed Chilli and all these ingredients to a blender.

Add a splash of olive oil, black pepper and red wine vinegar to the blender and blend to a chunky salsa.

With a sharp knife score the underside of the chicken breast and season with salt & pepper.

Lay breasts our on a chopping board, cover with cling film and bash them with the bottom of a heavy pan under they are about 1cm thick. Remove cling film and grate the zest of the lemon evenly over the breasts. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and then season further with a scattering of thyme leaves.

Add chicken breasts to a hot pan and cook on each side for about 3 minutes.

When the potatoes are a few minutes off cooked add the asparagus to a steamer or pan of shallow boiling water. Remove from heat after no more than 5 minutes.

When potatoes are boiled drain and mash with some butter and add the parmesan.

Serve.



You’ll Need:

4 Eggs

Knob of Butter

Splash of Cream

Salt & Pepper

Method:

Add some butter to a saucepan on medium heat. Gently beat eggs, just barely breaking up the yolks. Add eggs to the pan.

Allow eggs to congeal slightley before beginning to whisk. Then whisk gently and continously until the eggs have reached the desired consistency.

Add cream and seasoning to the enggs and wisk once more.

Serve with streaky bacon and home-made (or McCambridge’s in my care) brown bread.

Chilli Con Carne

(Serves 4/6)

You’ll Need:

• 2 Medium Red Onions
• 2 Medium Carrots
• 2 Red Peppers
• 1 400g Tin of Chickpeas
• 1 400g Tin of Red Kidney Beans
• 2 400g Tins of Chopped Tomatoes
• 500g Mince Meat
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 heaped teaspoon of Chilli Powder (hot)
• 1 Heaped Teaspoon of Ground Cumin
• 1 Heaped Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon of Tomato Puree
• Bunch of Fresh Coriander (or a teaspoon of dried coriander leaves)
• Ground Black Pepper
• Splash of Worcester Sauce
• 100g Natural Yoghurt or Cream Cheese

Method:

Peel and finely chop onion, carrots and garlic

Halve the peppers , remove seeds and stalks, wash and chop roughly.

Add a good splash of oil to a large saucepan (big enough to hold all the ingredients while cooking) and place on a medium heat.

Add chopped veggies to the pot together with the chilli powder, cumin, cinnamon and a sprinkling of black pepper. cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid the vegetables from sticking to the pot.

Add the drained chickpeas and lentils to the pot together with the cans of tomatoes. There is no need to drain the juice from the tomatoes.

Add the mince (uncooked) together with the purée and a half cup of water.

Add the chopped coriander and a good splash of the Worcester Sauce.

Bring the pot to the boil and then turn down to a gentle simmer with the lid slightly open. Simmer for about one house, stirring ever so often.

Serve with a crispy skinned baked potato.

You’ll Need:

• 10 oz (280 g) bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa)

• 4/5 cup (180 g) butter

• 8 eggs

• 1+¼ cup (275 g) sugar

• 1+¼ cup (140 g) all-purpose flour

Method:

Preheat oven to  180 deg C.

Grease 10 large muffin tins or cups; paper muffin bake cups can also be used.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water.

Beat the eggs with sugar and mix with flour.

Slowly fold in the melted butter and chocolate.

Bake at 180 degrees for only 8-12 minutes; the outer part should be cooked and the inner part slighly gooey.

Serve with  whatever you can get your hands on. In this case, some Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Ice-cream which had been hiding out in the freezer.

These also work well as mini cup-cakes. Simply cook them for a shorter period of time.

The only variations I made to the pie was the addition of some left over stuffing, potatoes and vegetables lying in the fridge. I think this only made it better.

You’ll Need:

• 2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
• 2kg leeks, washed, trimmed; white end chopped into chunks, green end finely sliced
• 800g cooked turkey meat, torn into big chunks
• 1 x 500g packet puff pastry (I used the 450g pack of Jus Rol Puff Pastry which worked great)
• 2 tablespoons of crème fraîche
• 2 pints turkey, chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
• 2 heaped tablespoons plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• Olive oil
• A large knob of butter
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 sprigs fresh sage, leaves picked

Method:

Preheat  oven to 190°C.

Put bacon in a large pan on a medium heat and add thyme leaves. Add a good splash of olive oil and the butter and let it all fry off a few minutes.

Add all of your prepared leeks and fry them off for about 3 minutes so they are well-coated in the butter. Add a pinch of salt and pepper then pop the lid on top, turn the heat down to medium and let them cook away gently for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes.

When the leeks are ready, add the turkey meat to them and stir.  Add the flour, mix it in well then pour in the stock and stir again. Add the crème fraîche then turn the heat up and bring everything back up to the boil. Have a taste and add a bit more salt and pepper if it needs it then turn the heat off.

Pour the mixture through a sieve over another large empty pan and let the gravy from the mixture drip into the pan while you roll out the pastry.

Get a deep baking dish (roughly 22 x 30cm). Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with a bit of flour and roll your pastry out so it’s about double the size of your dish.If using Jus Rol, it comes in two sheets so simply roll each sheet out so that it’s wide enough to cover your pie dish.  Tear a few of the sage leaves over the pastry and seal between the pastry sheets.

Spoon that thick leek mixture from the sieve into the pie dish and spread it out evenly. Lay the pastry on top, tuck the ends under then gently score the pastry diagonally with a knife. Add a pinch of salt to the beaten egg then paint this egg wash over the top of your pastry.

Pop the pie in the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. When the pie is ready, re-heat the  gravy and serve with your pie, along with some garden peas.

(I really must invest in a camera. The Iphone camera doesn’t do this it’s yummy justice.)

You’ll Need:

A small can of chickpeas, drained.

Small Handful of Pine Nuts

3/4 slices of black pudding

Medium Serving of Feta, crumbled.

Directions:

Break the pudding up into crumbs and place in a medium-hot pan with a small splash of olive oil.

Cook for two minutes then add the chickpeas. Cook for  further minute to warm the chickpeas.

Add the pine nuts and cook for another minute.

Take off the heat and add the crumbled Feta.

Serve. Easy chickpeasy!





Irish chef, Neven Maguire made an appearance at the Ploughing Championships last week and this cookbook jam-packed with delicious recipes made its way home from Athy.

I think I’ll start out by trying the Tomato & Parmesan Twister Bread Rolls, the Lion of Lamb in Crisp Potato Crust, Spice Goat’s Cheese with Polenta, Chilli Jam and Pesto, and the Amaretti Baked Peaches.

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Makes 8 mini  or 2 larger loaves.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 50 minutes

You’ll Need:

110g butter
190g caster sugar
2 large eggs
240g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 large bananas

Directions:

1.     Preheat the oven to 180oC.

2.     Cream the sugar and the butter in a bowl with a hand held mixer until light & pale. Add in one egg & a little flour and mix through, repeat with the other egg & the rest of flour and baking soda, until everything is mixed through & smooth.
3.     Peel the bananas & mash them with the back of a fork.  Add them to the bowl with the vanilla extract & mix through.
Pour the mix into a well greased loaf tin & place in an oven for approximately 50 minutes. Cover it with tinfoil after 25 minutes to stop it browning too much on top if you need to.

4.     Insert a metal skewer into the centre of the loaf & if it comes out clean the banana bread is ready.  Remove from the loaf tin & place on a wire rack to cool.

Recipe pilfered from The Good Mood Food Blog.