Garlic Bread and Tomato Bake

You know how it is on a Saturday when you haven't really planned what to eat for lunch?  Then suddenly you find that everyone is at home and looking expectantly for you to come up with something tasty for them to enjoy.

Well that's what happened to me last Saturday.  What could I make? What did I have in the larder and fridge?

Garlic Bread and Tomato Bake
Serves 4

A single garlic baguette
6 tomatoes
4 eggs
100 ml milk
2 tbsp red pesto
75g grated cheddar
freshly ground pepper
A few basil leaves (optional)

1. Pre - heat the oven to 180C
2. Slice up the garlic bread and place in a buttered oven proof dish.
3. Thickly slice the tomatoes and layer over the bread.
4. Cover with 2 tablespoons of pesto.
5. Beat the eggs and add the milk, pour it over the bread and tomatoes.
6. Season with freshly ground pepper and cover with the grated cheese. 
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until risen and golden.
8. Tear up a few basil leaves and scatter over the top.
9. Serve with salad.

And of course Credit Crunch Munch as this is a thrifty dish which will fill up the family at very little cost.   Credit Crunch Munch is run by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All

Labels: Bake, basil, bread and butter pudding, cheese, Credit Crunch Munch, garlic bread, No Waste Food Challenge, tomato

posted by Janice @ 19:45 24 Comments

Easy White Chocolate Eton Mess Ice Cream

Ice Cream in January, with all the snow and ice? What am I thinking about?  Indeed, I am shivering just looking at the picture, however it's nice to have a change from the rich fare we have been eating in December.

This particular ice cream is the result of me defrosting the freezer, you see I found a small carton of strawberry puree from summer 2012!  I let it thaw and had a taste and it was fine, but needed to be used.  I also had a single white chocolate meringue left over from New Year, a teeny tiny bar of Green and Blacks White Chocolate and  a tub of Creme Fraiche in the fridge, it was either Eton Mess or Eton Mess Ice Cream.


Easy White Chocolate Eton Mess Ice Cream

250g ripe strawberries
100g caster sugar
300g Creme Fraiche
1  left over meringue crushed into chunks not powder
25g white chocolate

1. To make the strawberry puree, hull the strawberries and crush them with the sugar, either in a food processor or with a fork, it will take you a bit longer but you do get some nice chunky bits of strawberry.

2. Mix the strawberry puree with the creme fraiche, cut the chocolate into chunks and mix it into the strawberry mixture.   Put in an ice cream maker to churn or put the bowl into the freezer until the ice cream is firm.  I would recommend using a shallow flat dish as it will freeze quicker.

3. Take the ice cream out of the freezer every 30-45 minutes and break up the ice crystals by whisking with a fork.  The third time you do this, the ice cream should be firm enough to mix in the crushed meringue, then leave it to freeze until firm.

4. To serve, take the ice cream out of the freezer and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes until it is soft enough to scoop.

As I used half-fat creme fraiche, the ice cream was more crystallised.  You get a better result with full fat products but it is still delicious. 


I'm entering this ice cream for the double-bubble blog event We Should Cocoa/Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream being jointly run by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and Kavita at Kavey Eats.

I am also entering this for the No Waste Food Challenge run by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.  The strawberry puree I used was rescued from the freezer and the single meringue was left over from New Year.

Labels: Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream, chocolate, Eton Mess, ice cream, meringue, No Waste Food Challenge, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 07:00 25 Comments

May No Waste Food Challenge Round Up

Labels: Banana and Chocolate Chip Cookies, chicken stock, No Waste Food Challenge, Pesto, Pizza, raspberries, Tarte au Framboise

posted by Janice @ 21:55 4 Comments

Baked Rum Bananas for No Waste Food Challenge

I'm hosting the No Waste Food Challenge this month.  This challenge is all about using every bit of food that you buy, it was started by Kate of Turquoise Lemons, and is now in the capable hands of Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

You are free to share any recipe which uses up any ingredients which otherwise might have gone to waste. Tell us how you salvaged that stale bread, spotty mushy brown bananas, those softening vegetables in the bottom of the fridge.  Elizabeth has also set up a Pinterest board, to which all entries will be added.

I did have some of those spotty bananas, it doesn't happen often and usually I use them to make banana bread or muffins.  However, I didn't have time to do that, so I thought they would make a simple and delicious dessert.  I also had half a lime in the fridge and a small quantity of rum in the bottom of a miniature bottle.

Baked Rum Bananas
4 bananas
30g butter
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 tbsp rum (or orange juice)
zest and juice of half a lime

1. Heat the oven to 220C/Gas 7.
2. Slice the bananas lengthways and place in an oven proof dish.
3. Sprinkle over the lime zest and pour over the rum and lime juice.
4. Dot the butter over the bananas and cover with the sugar.
5. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until brown and bubbling.
6. Serve with greek yogurt, cream or icecream.

I'm not usually a huge fan of baked bananas as they are often too sweet for my liking, however the lime zest and juice really cuts through the sweetness and we all really enjoyed the Baked Rum Bananas.

Challenge Conditions:

What will you make for the No Waste Food Challenge?



This is a blog hop get the InLinkz code

Labels: Baked, Bananas, lime, No Waste Food Challenge, rum

posted by Janice @ 20:55 3 Comments

Slow-Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket - Irish Beef for St Patricks Day

St Patrick's Day on the 17th March is about celebrating all things Irish.  Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest will be full of images of Leprechauns,  shamrocks and every type of food will be dyed with green food colouring.  Instead of celebrating the colour green for St Patrick's Day, I'm celebrating Irish quality produce and, in particular quality Irish Beef.

In Ireland the beef cattle are typically outside for eight months of the year, only between November and February do they bring them inside and feed them hay and silage (fermented grass), topped up with a ration of barley, beet pulp, maize and molasses.   The health benefits of the cattle of being grass-fed are passed on to us when we eat their meat, which is rich in omega 3, vitamin E antioxidants and the exceptional polyunsaturated marvels that are the omega-6 fats, CLAs (conjugated linoleic acid).  Eating grass also means that the cattle lay down an intramuscular marbling of at which is part of what helps to make the beef taste so good.  (extract from The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness)

Bord Bia, The Irish Food Board are keen to spread word about the quality of Irish Beef and sent me The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness to review,  along with a large joint of Irish Brisket to make one of the recipes.  If you want to find out more about Irish produce or access more recipes then pop over to the Bord Bia website. 

The Irish Beef Book starts with an introduction to Irish Beef: A world class natural product, covering What makes Irish Beef so good, The Whelan Family History , How to choose good quality meat.  A bit about Breeds and the food culture of Ireland and Irish Artisan Food Producers.

There is an excellent explanation of the different cuts of beef and how they are best cooked and also a treatise on 'The Thorny Question of Fat'.

The Recipes in this book are intended for the domestic cook, there are no cheffy tricks and cooks are encouraged to use local ingredients where possible.  Each chapter begins with photographs of the different cuts and cooking tips.

The first chapter is all about Steaks and also includes some 'Good Things to Eat with Steak' including Triple Cooked Chips, Roast Onions in Balsamic Vinegar and a variety of traditional sauces such as Bearnaise and the less traditional like Chimichurri.

Roasts are always popular and this chapter contains everything you need to know to roast beef just the way you like it. No Roast dinner is complete without the Trimmings, so recipes for Individual Yorkshire Puddings, Creamed Horseradish and Beef Dripping Roast Potatoes are all included, as well as alternatives such as Horseradish and Dijon Mustard Yoghurt Creme Fraiche.  Other options for your roast include Roast Fillet with Prosciutto or Brisket and Butternut Squash Pot Roast with a Rosemary Gremolata.

Chapter 3 provides us with 'The Classics' including Steak Tartare, Beef Wellington, Boeuf Bourguignon, Steak Diane, Beef Stroganoff and Beef Goulash.

If you are in a hurry then Chapter 4 provides some Quick Beef recipes including Skirt Steak Fajitas, Steak Sandwich, Beef Teriyaki with Spring Onions, Pomegranate-Marinated Hanger Steak with a Warm Farro Salad, Beef and Green Vegetable Stir Fry with Oyster Sauce.

Regular readers of Farmersgirl Kitchen will know how much I like slow cooked recipes, so Chapter 5: Long and Slow is full of just my kind of recipe some of the recipes which appealed to me particularly were Beef with Anchovies and Olives, Braised Beef with Five Spice, Ginger and Highbank Apple Syrup, Beef Rendang, Braised Short Ribs with Maple Syrup and Star Anise and Moroccan Tagine with Preserved Lemons.

Chapter 6 brings us Burgers, Brisket, Meatballs and Dude Food!  The burger recipe uses Knockmealdown porter a craft beer produced by Eight Degrees in the beautiful Ballyhoura region of County Cork.  As well as the burger recipe there are recipes for 'Good Things to Eat with Burgers' and so to the brisket:   I'm a huge fan of brisket as a cut of beef, for me, it has more flavour than the faster roasts and shrinks less too.  The recipe which ticked all the boxes for me was Slow Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket.  (recipe below).

Chapter 7 is a shorter chapter with recipes for Pasta and Pizza including Irish Beef Cheek Lasagne, Bone Marrow Pizza and Oxtail and Truffle Pizza. 

Pies are always popular and I am tempted by Braised Beef Shin and Eight Degree Ale Pie and Individual Potato-Topped Steak and Chorizo Pies.

Bringing in 'the coo's tail' (cow's tail) is a chapter on 'The Other Bits'.   Liver and Onions with a Mushroom Sauce is a dish Pat cooks for his family as a quick supper.  I'm not sure I could face cooking a beef tongue, although my granny regularly cooked and pressed tongue, maybe that's what put me off! However, a Salad of Tongue and Roast Beetroot with a Balsamic Dressing sounds amazing. I've never tried Bone Marrow, but there are a number of recipes here which tempt me to do so.

The book concludes with two pages of  comprehensive Conversion Charts and an Appendix of Tipperary Food Producers.

The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness
Published by Gill and Macmillan Books
€11.50


Slow-Cooked Pulled Chipotle Brisket
Serves 6 (however I would say it serves 8-10 depends on your portions!)
 
2kg piece of brisket, on the bone (as you see mine isn't on the bone!)

For the Marinade:
6 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp chipotle paste
330ml beer
2 tbsp wine vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Highbank apple syrup ( or honey, or maple syrup)
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
small bunch of thyme
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade.  Slater the marinade all over the meat and place in the fridge, covered with clingfilm, overnight.

St Patrick's Day Curry with GREEN peas!

I'm entering the curry for the No Waste Food Challenge,  run by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary and hosted this month by Chris at Cooking Around the World.

I was provided with The Irish Beef Book and a joint of beef by Bord Bia, The Irish Food Board.  I was not paid and all opinions are my own. 

Labels: Beef, Blue Kitchen Bakes, Brisket, Chiptole, Cooking Around the World, curry, Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary, Irish Beef, No Waste Food Challenge, slow cooked, St Patrick's Day

posted by Janice @ 14:42 29 Comments

Crespelle - Italian Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

Next Tuesday, 4th March, is Shrove Tuesday this year.  Traditionally, Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the day to use up all the rich foods in the house before Ash Wednesday and the start of the fasting season of Lent. It's also traditional to make pancakes, whether you take part in Lent or not, pancakes are a simple and delicious base for sweet or savoury toppings, so well worth using this annual reminder to cook some up. 

Winter Fruit Pancakes



Breakfast Pancakes - Roti Telor Style


I had three pancakes left over so decided to have them for our breakfast.  I would normally grill my bacon but am operating out of a temporary kitchen due to the work that is going on in my kitchen, so I fried  up the rashers in my Tefal Superior Frying pan then set to one side.







I drained off some of the fat from the bacon and added a pancake. Then I broke an egg onto the pancake and swirled it about.  Anyone who has been to Malaysia and eaten breakfast in a street cafe will have tried Roti Chanai (Pancakes with a curry sauce) but for added protein you can have Roti Telor.  All that means is that an egg is broken on top of the pancake, it was my husband's favourite when we visited Malaysia in the 1980s.  Before the egg is cooked add the bacon.

I found that I had to flip the pancake over to make sure the egg was fully cooked  and to enclose the bacon in the pancake.

There was only one thing missing...Maple Syrup!  Unfortunately, it wasn't something that I put in my temporary store cupboard, so we had to do without.





I'm entering both recipes for Shop Local, the blogger challenge run by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary to highlight the great products available in our local area. Walkmill Cider products are available at my local farmers market and the eggs I used in the pancakes and on the pancakes come from a local farm.

I'm also adding this to Credit Crunch Munch as both are cheap, cheerful and filling. CCC is the blog challenge of Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All and this month is hosted by My Golden Pear.
 
And finally the Pancakes Roti Telor Style made to use up the leftover pancakes is going into the No Waste Food Challenge run by London Unattached and Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary

I was provided with a Tefal Superior Fry pan, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own. 

Labels: breakfast, Credit Crunch Munch, crespelle, italian pancakes, No Waste Food Challenge, pancakes, Roti Telor, Shop Local, Shrove Tuesday, Tefal

posted by Janice @ 07:00 29 Comments

Tortilla Bake

 
We love to eat fajitas. I buy the tortillas and the fajita spice mix and sometimes also the box of Nachos with their sachets of topping.  Sometimes I buy the salsa, sometimes  I make it, but I always make my own guacamole and have little bowls of sour cream, roasted peppers, cheese, salad and kidney beans.

When my sons were still at home it was their favourite meal and there were never any leftovers.  But now there are fewer of us, so last night there were three tortillas left, enough chicken for one and a few bits and pieces in each of the other bowls.  Just about enough for one person's lunch but not really enough for a meal.

As I am not really baking just now, all the bakeware having been packed away for the kitchen work, I have a bit of an overload of eggs.  We get our eggs from a colleague of my husband's and half a dozen beautiful free range eggs arrive every Monday.  Usually I've used them all before the next delivery but they are starting to stack up.  So eggs seemed like a good way to go with my recipe development!



Tortilla Bake (serves 2-3)

2-3 Tortillas
1-2 tbsp kidney beans
1 tbsp soured cream
1 -2 tbsp tomato salsa
1-2 tbsp roasted sweet peppers
1-2 tbsp  chicken cooked in fajita spice mix
1-2 tbsp guacamole
150g hard cheese (cheddar)
4 eggs
100ml semi skimmed milk
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Grease a round pie dish with butter or oil.  Lay one torilla in the base, add the cooked chicken, place another tortilla on top and cover with the beans, cream, salsa, chicken and guacamole.  Place the final tortilla over this. (If you only have two just make a big sandwich).
2. Beat the eggs and milk together in a bowl, season and pour over the tortilla layers.
3. Cover with foil and leave to rest in the fridge for 2-3 hours to let the egg mix soak in.
4. Heat the oven to 180C
5. Grate the the cheese over the top of the tortillas.
6. Replace the foil and bake for 20 minutes until the egg is almost set.
7. Increase the oven temperature to 220C
8. Remove the foil and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the cheese is browned and melted.
9. Serve cut into wedges with salad or vegetables.






Tea Time Treats is a blog challenge run by my friend Karen at Lavender and Lovage, this month it is being hosted by Jane at Hedgecombers and the Tea Time theme is 'EGGS'.


This is a new challenge for me, I found it in the list on the Food Blog Diary.  Cheese is integral to the success of the Tortilla Bake and the theme for Cheese Please, this month, is Comfort Food and Winter Warmers, so I think this cheesy supper dish definitely fits the bill!

Labels: brunch, cheese, Cheese Please, Chicken, eggs, fajitas, leftovers, lunch, No Waste Food Challenge, supper, Tea Time Treats, tortilla

posted by Janice @ 07:30 12 Comments

Sausage Stuffed Croissants

I've almost cleared all the excess food from the festive season, however there was quarter of a pack of frozen cocktail sausages in the freezer and a can of croissant dough in the fridge which was heading towards it's use by date. 

Originally I'd intended to make one of the sausage and croissant rings like the one made by Claire at Foodie Quine.  However, my good intentions came to naught and the other can of dough was baked into ordinary croissants.

I cooked the cocktail sausages in the oven making sure they were cooked through.  I took them out and left them to cool a little.  I unrolled the dough and separated the pieces, spread them with grain mustard and rolled up the dough around the sausages (two cocktail sausages per croissant) and baked for 15 minutes until puffed up and browned.


These Sausage Stuffed Croissants are ideal for lunch and would slip nicely into a packed lunch box too.

I'm entering this dish for the No Waste Food Challenge  originally created by Turquoise Lemons and now being run by Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

I'm also linking up to Daisies and Pie - Lunchbox Ideas

Labels: croissants, mustard, No Waste Food Challenge, sausages

posted by Janice @ 07:30 8 Comments