one for the road

I will post a proper blog later this week, just waiting to upload some accompanying photographs first :D

In the meantime, just to tide you over, here's a recipe I've written for my version of Spanish Chicken. Perfect for a lovely sunny day like today. Feels ( and smells ) like summer! Enjoy!

Leanne’s Pollo Espagnol

Ingredients :

2 large chicken breasts

100g chorizo, diced  

200g new potatoes ,cut into cubes/ quarters

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 small green pepper chopped

1 small yellow pepper chopped ( optional)

300g baby leaf spinach

2 tbsp country relish/ Ballymaloe relish and/or sour cream ( optional)

Method :

1.  Boil the new potato pieces  in hot water ,skins on, for 6-8 minutes until soft.  Then slightly rough them up by using a potato masher and lightly pressing it onto the potatoes so that the skins break and the edges are rough.

2. Place the chicken breasts on a roasting tray and cover with some olive oil and put into the oven at 200c for 20mins until cooked through.

3. Meanwhile, add the potato pieces to a frying pan  and fry in oil for 5 mins until they go golden and crisp.

4. Add the chorizo and the peppers to the potatoes and mix well. Cook until the peppers have softened and the chorizo goes cripsy.Some oil will come out of the chorizo when its done.

5. Arrange a handful of the spinach leaves on a plate, place the hot chicken breast on top. Put a portion of the chorizo potatoes on the side of the plate and garnish with a spoonful of relish/sour cream.

© Leanne Whelan, 2011

Chocolate cups galore! Where's the kitchen sink gone ?

Well, April has been a fun month.

Finally met up with a cheer friend from Washington/ Oregon, Katelyn Mashburn who moved to Dublin with her lovely bf Ben . Have been enjoying hanging out with them and getting to know them better :D 

Katelyn and Me

I 've been cooking like crazy too.  I tried rabbit for the first time last week by making a lovely rabbit stew which was delicious. 

I also made some peanut butter from scratch and made some peanut butter cups for a friends cheer bake sale. 

This prompted me to experiment with chocolate cups and I'm going to box some for friends for Easter including mint choc cups, strawberry mousse  cups, lemon cups and  caramel cups .

Going to a vintage fashion show tomorrow night thanks to vintage shop Quack and Dirk. Someone had better hide my purse ! 

I'm also going to the Dublin Flea Market on Sunday to find some vintage treasures which I am vert eggcited about hehe.

Since the sun has finally made it's way to Dublin, myself and Ronan have decided to go for walks in the evenings and enjoy the East Dublin coastline.  We went for a walk around the Howth peninsula and enjoyed some stunning views although the pathway on the lower cliff walk/hike route goes VERY close to the edge. Luckily we don't have vertigo . Here are some pics of the fantastic view.

Finally, I'll leave you with tonights dinner recipe. If you make it too , let me know how it turns out !

 

Gratin of smoked haddock, spinach, emmental and crème fraîche

Ingredients

• 2kg/4lb fresh spinach
• 2 large smoked haddock fillets, skinned and boned
• 4 large ripe tomatoes
• 240ml/8fl oz crème fraiche
• 125g/4oz emmental cheese, grated

Preparation method

1. Pick off the stems and wash the spinach.
2. Put on a large pan of salted water to boil. When rapidly boiling cook the spinach for 2 minutes, pour into a colander and refresh under cold water. Squeeze dry with hands.
3. Slice smoked haddock into bite-sized pieces.
4. Take a large earthenware baking dish or gratin dish, roughly chop the spinach and sprinkle on the base of the dish.
5. Next place on the smoked haddock, smear over the crème fraiche, then place sliced tomatoes sparingly onto the cream.
6. Finish with the grated emmenthal cheese.
7. Place in an oven at 160-180C/325-350F/Gas3-4 for 30 minutes and finish under a medium grill for 5 minutes.
8. Serve with crusty bread

 

Next time I'll be talking vintage dresses, time for tea, Parisienne macaroons and scrabble! 

 

Enjoy !

L x



Easy Cheesecake Recipes

Ok so I have put together 2 yummy cheesecake recipes and thought I would share them. They work every time and require very little effort which is definitely a bonus especially if you are a busy  bee like me!  I hope you enjoy them!




Serves 6
200g of ginger or digestive biscuits
100g of unsalted butter (melted )
400g of cream cheese
200g of white chocolate
100ml of cream ( I use single or whipping)
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon of icing sugar
30ml of Mozart White Chocolate liqueur

Grease a cake tin with butter or you can make them as single pots as per the picture. (I sometimes make them in little pots and simply eat the cheesecakes out of the pots).

Put the biscuits in a food processor  and blitz until you have fine crumbs.  Pour in the melted butter and process until everything is mixed through. Push the biscuit base into the cake tin  and chill in the fridge.

Slowly melt the  chocolate in a bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Meanwhile, put the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and then add the melted chocolate, cream, vanilla essence, liqueur  and sugar. Beat all the ingredients together until you get a nice light mixture.

Put the cream cheese mix into the tin smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

NOTE :  The combination of ginger and white chocolate works very well together.

© Leanne Whelan 2011

Boozey  Chocolate Orange & Ginger Cheesecake Recipe

Serves 6
200g of ginger biscuits
100g of unsalted butter (melted )
400g of cream cheese
200g of dark chocolate
100ml of cream ( I use single or whipping)
1 teaspoon of orange  essence and / or orange liqueur
1 tablespoon of icing sugar

Grease a cake tin with butter or you can make them as single pots as per the picture. (I sometimes make them in little pots and simply eat the cheesecakes out of the pots).

Put the biscuits in a food processor  and blitz until you have fine crumbs.  Pour in the melted butter and process until everything is mixed through. Push the biscuit base into the cake tin  and chill in the fridge.

Slowly melt the  chocolate in a bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Meanwhile, put the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and then add the melted chocolate, cream, orange essence and/or orange liqueur  and sugar. Beat all the ingredients together until you get a nice light mixture.

Put the cream cheese mix into the tin smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

© Leanne Whelan 2011

3 course Sunday

First of all, it's been a while since I've written due to very busy few weeks at work. So I am just getting a chance to do this now.

What a weekend! Had a great time vintage shopping in Dublin's city centre on Saturday. Got a great bargain vintage 50s dress for €10.00 !   I love it and cant wait to wear it! I also got some Audrey Hepburn style long black gloves for a black and bling hen night on Saturday . I did my hair in a 1940s/50s style and wore my lbd and black gloves. Had a great night !

Oh heres the dress...

Sunday then I had a lazy morning and went grocery shopping for Sunday dinner. I had promised Ronan I would make him a  3 course dinner totally  from scratch.  So I put together a menu of  prawns with  mango salsa for starter, chicken , leek and mushroom pie for main with home made chips and a passion fuit panna cotta for dessert.

I got my ingredients then rushed home to start making the panna cotta to give it enough time to set!  Here's the recipe I used for the passion fruit panna cotta. I used powdered gelatine as I couldnt get leaves but it worked just as well. I used half a sachet of powder for the passion fruit jelly and half a sachet for the panna cotta itself.

So once panna cotta was made and left in fridge to set, myself and Ronan headed to the park for some air and Ronan decided he would teach me to the play hurling ( an Irish sport a bit like hockey). We had lots of fun although my back did start acting up again ( has been giving me trouble since the car crash) so I had to retire a little earlier than I wanted to and head back to the car.  

Once we got home I checked on dessert again and was pleased it had set. Heres the recipe I used..
http://www.rte.ie/food/2010/0301/passionfruitpannacotta.html

 Mine turned out like this ( served with ice cream)  ....

I had never eaten prawns before so I decided I would buy them from the fish shop in the harbour and try them out. Little did I realise  I would have to chop the heads off and de-shell the tails!! Considering I have a phobia of fish and sea creatures this was quite an achievement for me . Ronan helped me take the heads off ( he's such a good boyfriend although perhaps he was just protecting his ears from the potential sreaming and moaning I could have inflicted otherwise lol ) and I then used my Cordon Bleu essentials book to help guide me through the de-shelling. I did the prawns with a manga and spring onion salsa on crusty bread which complimented the prawns beautifully.

 For the main I made a chicken, leek and mushroom pie. I love this dish because it is hearty wholesome food and you can play around with ingredients . I love having ready rolled puff pastry in the freezer and fridge. Its just so versatile!!  So my pie turned out like this ( made with love of course)

All in all it was a brilliant weekend. 

Got some gingerbread men cutters too so I think that's my project for this week. Will post back on how they turn out.

Bye for now .

Leanne 

Cottage Pie and waffle

The cottage pie last night certainly looked good but it was a bit too tomatoey for my liking. I added tin of chopped tomatoes and some paste at Ronan's suggestion ( he insisted there should be tomatoes in a cottage pie ) but it tasted more like a bolognese than what I would regard as a cottage pie.  However, it looked great and was totally edible so a success I guess.

Lots of tummy pains today but Im not letting it rain on my parade. Looking forward to the cinema later. Ronan started his new job in the restaurant downstairs today so I wonder how he's getting on. Roll on 5pm so we can catch up in the car on the way to town for the premier of Morning Glory that I won tickets to.  Will let you know what I rate it tomorrow, if anyone is even out there lol .

Oh I joined the Irish Countrywoman Association even though Im not techincally a countrywoman (yet!) First guild meeting is in early February and I'm really looking forward to it  ,even if I'm the youngest lady in it.

I bought some new red shoes today to go with the red handbag I got for Christmas. The shoes were on sale for €12 so I had to have them for work and they will last me year round I'm sure. They look a bit like this  

Well thats all for today I think. Before I go just  want to say the flood victims in Australia are in my thoughts as are the families of  Michaela Harte who was killed in Mauritius this week. Sad times . 


Stay safe all.

Slan go foill,

Leanne

Weekend Recipes- The results

Well the weekend was a culinary expedition and I was Ernest Shackleton !

For breakfast on Saturday  I made Cinnamon French Toast with maple syrup which was delightful and I thoroughly recommend it !

For dinner I made Steak and Guinness pie as I previously posted and it too was perfect ( photo to follow ) .  I must say though you could do with a third hand to put the pastry lid on top and luckily Ronan was near the kitchen so I enlisted his services.  Go team!

Dessert was chocolate fondants which looked fab ( again pics to follow) but unfortunately I left them in about 8-10 mins and they werent as gooey in the centre as they should have been so I 'd say 3-4 mins next time.

Sunday then , well after a verrryy late night in town on Saturday we were lazy on Sunday morning so I got up at 12pm , went next door to the shop and bought croissants to accompany coffee . I then took the lamb shanks out of the freezer to defrost and went back to bed for a few hours. I got up later and put the lamb in for 90mins and did champ and carrotts with it. It was delicious. Recipe was from Nevin Maguire's cookbook with some slight alterations ( thanks again Fidelma) .  For dessert I did a lemon meringue ice cream which basically consists of broken meringue nests mixed into some softened vanilla ice cream and lemon curd. You mix them all together and spoon the mixture into a loaf tin lined with cling wrap and put the tin into the freezer until set. Easy peasy.

All in all a good weekend of wholesome cooking and not an "e" number or MSG  in sight :D

Last night I happened to watch a baking show and saw an easy recipe for French pattiserie style millefuilles so I made an impromptu  Peach and Lemon Cream millefuille ( pics to follow) which went down a treat with Ronan on his return from work.

You can use this and put almost any filling in and for tea parties they look fab! Check it out here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/blueberry_and_lemon_03932

Well tonight , Ronan is off work and it's going to be a team effort to make a traditional Cottage Pie. Cooking together is always fun . Will post back tomorrow.

Before I go, I thought I would share some old pics I came across of my old cheerleading team at their first competition in the UK . We were the first Irish cheerleading team to compete in competition abroad and won 2 trophies. Miss those little sweethearts!

Slan for now .

Leanne

Recipe for Steak and Guinness Pie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i67S0le0f6Y


Found this video useful thought of course I use good old Irish Guinness . Making this tomorrow and dessert tomorrow will be creme brulee ( my first attempt at one ) .

 Sunday's dinner will be Lamp Shank with Champ and a choc pudding with lemon meringue ice cream again new recipes.

I will report back with my findings on Monday.

Toodles xx

Last Night's Dinner

Well the Dublin Coddle was a great success! It turned out just as my mum made it when I was a kid and I enjoyed it with some lovely crusty French bread -deeeelisssh. 

           Dublin Coddle

I started reading my new book last night,   " A Century of Dance" which follows the growth of various dance styles from the 1900's right up to hip hop in the Noughties. Its good reading for any dancer .

I also spent the rest of the night taking down our Christmas Tree ( sniffle sniffle ) and  ironing piles of clothes, mostly Ronan's shirts. As a result, I was so completely shattered that I didnt even hear Ronan coming in from work in the early hours.  I usually wake when he comes in when I hear the door opening and say hi to him, ask him how his shift was etc. but last night there was just no waking me. I slept great but I'm still tired so I'm very thankful it's Friday so I can stay in bed late tomorrow .

Also plan on going to feed the seals down at the harbour tomorrow, weather permitting of course. Hopefully I can take some nice photos and will post back on Monday.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend and no doubt I will be back on Monday with more random ranting .

Slan go foil,

Leanne

New Start

Hi all,

Well I thought I would share some of my many thoughts and an insight into my life and experiences as 2011 unfolds.

I haven't made any resolutions. Im happy and if that happiness persists well and good and if it doesn't I'll do something about it when that time comes.

 A huge source of happiness is my wonderful boyfriend Ronan and although we have only been together since March 2010 , I know he is the man for me. 

Well , one thing I have decided to do is to get back into Ballroom Dancing. I competed at beginner level a few years ago but my partner moved back to South Africa so I stopped . I am starting back at lessons next week and once I am good enough there will be competitions almost once a month which I am very excited about.  Must dig out my ballroom shoes !

I am also trying at least one new dish and dessert a week and tonight's dish is a Dublin Coddle . Will update you tomorrow on how it turns out.



Bye for now.

Leanne