Chocolate Macaroon Bars

These layered fragrant bars are not my own creation, rather I garnered the recipe from Martha Stewart. I did change up the recipe a little, between converting and changing some measurements and adding a little oil to the chocolate to help it 'stick' to the biscuit base, but it's not necessary.
They went down a treat at my baking class at the weekend, so here, for those of you who want to be able to try something that the whole family will enjoy, is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Base:
170g (3/4cup) cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
260g (2 cups) all- purpose flour
88g (1/2 cup) castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Toppings:

Chocolate layer:
283g (10oz) chocolate - I use milk for this as I find dark chocolate a little bitter for childrens palettes. You can use a mix of milk & dark either.
1 tsp vegetable oil
Macaroon:

4 egg whites
100g (3/4 cup) castor sugar
64g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
200g (7 ounces) sweetened flaked coconut. (I used dessicated coconut and it worked fine, you can sweeten dessicated coconut by adding icing sugar and water to it and leaving it to soak for approx 30 mins)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180⁰C/350⁰F/Gas Mark 4
Melt the chocolate and oil in a bain marie (a bowl over hot water) or microwave.
Make the biscuit base first by adding all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix until you have a crumb mixture. It will be dry with some lumps of butter in it. Takes about 3 minutes.
Grease a 13 x 9" sheet pan very well and add the biscuit base, pressing the mixture evenly into the pan.
Bake in oven for 15-17 minutes, until just turning golden brown.
While base is baking make macaroon topping.

Whisk egg whites & sugar until well combined.
Stir in flour and coconut and mix well.
Remove biscuit base from oven and pour melted chocolate over, covering evenly.
leave to cool slightly before adding macaroon topping and cover chocolate.
Return to oven and cook for approx. 20 mins, until coconut topping is browning at the tips.
Remove from oven and leave to cool before cutting into rectangular bars and serving.

Enjoy!

Pancakes

 

 

It seems that, depending on your location and religious leaning, tomorrow you will either be celebrating Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. It's always been Pancake Tuesday for us and for as long as I can remember Delia Smith's pancake recipe was the staple used in our house.
I see no reason to diviate from this tried and true recipe as in all the years I have made pancakes - and certainly not just once a year! - this recipe has worked a treat for our family.
So below is the basic pancake recipe that makes approx. 12 - 14.
You can certainly go all out and do savoury and sweet pancakes and stay true to the day.
For savoury ones you can do something as simple as grated cheddar and ham. You could take it up a notch and use some of your favourite cheese, like brie with an onion chutney. The heat of the pancakes complements the cool brie beautifully.
For a sweet combination it's hard to beat the traditional butter, lemon and sugar. However, nutella and banana works great, or berries and yogurt.
Maple syrup with or without bacon works well and would traditionally be used with an american pancake (thicker than the crepe style we are creating with this recipe), but there are no rules that say you have to eat them in any way over the other.
If you are making pancakes for breakfast you could always add a pinch of cinnamon to the batter and a dash of vanilla extract.
Whatever you decide to do. Enjoy your pancakes and I'd love to hear about what toppings you and your family like to use.


Ingredients:

4oz (110g) plain flour
pinch salt
2 large eggs
7 fl oz (200ml) milk mixed with 3 fl oz (75ml) water
2oz (50g) butter

Method:

Sift flour and salt into large mixing bowl, with the sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing.
Make a well in the centre and break the eggs into it.
Whisk the eggs, incorporating all the flour from around the bowl.
Add small quantities at a time, of the milk and water mixture, whilst continuing to whisk.
When all the liquid has been added use a spatula and scrape any bits of flour from around the edge into the centre.
Whisk again until batter is smooth and any lumps are gone.
It should be the consistency of thin cream.
Melt the butter in a pan.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into the batter and whisk it in.
Set the remaining butter aside to be used when cooking the pancakes.
Place the batter into a measuring jug or similiar to make it easier to pour into the pan.
If using a 7 inch pan (18cm) - use 2 tablespoons of batter. If using an 8 inch (20cm) - use 3 tablespoons of batter.
Heat your pan to very hot before lowering it down to medium and pour in a little melted butter.
Add the batter and swish around the pan to cover the base of the pan.
Cook for approx 30 seconds until the mixture starts to change texture.
Using a palette knife you can lift the edge and check that the under side is a golden colour.
Shake the pan slightly to release the pancake and if you are feeling brave, or indeed just want to give it a go despite the outcome you can flip the pancake over.
Otherwise, use a fish slice and turn the pancake and cook again for approx 20 seconds.
You can stack the pancakes between sheets of greaseproof paper as you make them on a warmed plate - although if your house is anything like mine they won't last on a plate and have to be served as soon as they are cooked!

Enjoy
Jill

Fish Pie

Serves 4

I adapted this Fish Pie recipe from a Neven Maguire recipe from some years back.
I wanted to make it more budget and time conscious and I don’t like to use alcohol in recipes when I’m doing family style ones. But if you want the original recipe search for Neven Maguires Killybegs Fish pie, it's nearly as delicious as the one below!
My son adores this whenever I make it and to keep within a budget you can get a fish pie mix that's near it's sell-by date from the fridges in larger supermarkets which work perfectly well with this dish. 

Ingredients

18oz/840g fish. Mix between salmon, smoked haddock & cod or other sturdy white fish
400ml milk
1 bay leaf
1oz/25g butter
4oz/115g leaks, washed and finely chopped
1oz/30g plain flour
½ tablespoon mixed herbs, e.g dill & parsley
1/2lb/400g potatoes , peeled & diced
4 carrots, peeled, diced and cooked al dente – optional vegetable, you can choose other vegetables as well,  e.g  parsnip or green beans or all 3!

Method:

Preheat oven to 160⁰C/325⁰F/Gas 3

Season the fish and place in oven proof dish with the milk and bayleaf.
Poach for approx 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and drain the milk into a measuring jug – you will need about ½ pt.
Leave fish to cool a little before removing any remaining skin and checking for bones.
Discard the bayleaf.
Increase oven temperature to 180⁰C/350⁰F/Gas 4.
Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a large pot of salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes or until tender.
Drain and return to heat, add ½ tablespoon butter, season well and mash.
Melt the remaining butter in a small pot and add the leeks and cook for approx 5 minutes, do not brown.
Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, again do not brown.
Add half the reserved poaching milk and whisk the roux together.
When all the liquid has been absorbed, add the remaining milk and whisk to a smooth sauce.
Add the mixed herbs and season well.
At this point you can add in the flaked fish and any other vegetable you are using and have blanched.
Lastly add a rounded tablespoon of crème fraiche (optional).
Ensure you do not boil the mixture at this point.
Spoon the fish mixture into the oven proof dish you used to poach the fish.
Top it with mash potato and using a fork spread the mash evenly over the top.
You may wish to add a few dollops of butter to the mash topping as this will give a lovely golden finish when cooking.
Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the pie is piping hot throughout.

Serve and Enjoy!

Cooking on a budget

Happy New Year everyone, it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things as I was working hard with my kids cooking classes last week and I eased myself back in gently this week!
This post is from an article I wrote for 'The Meath Coaster' and, unless you are lucky enough to live on Ireland's North East Coast you won't have gotten your hands on a copy.
It seems to have resonated with alot of people, so I am delighted to add it here as my first post of 2013.
If you enjoy this article more budget tips and 30 minute recipes will follow, so make sure you sign up on the right for email notification when I post more.

Cooking on a budget

The majority of us have had to seriously tighten our belts over the past few years. I find myself
getting quite emotional when I hear stories of children and adults going about their day hungry
because money just won’t stretch to food after bills are paid.
Cooking on a budget is about being serious about creating nutritious, flavoursome food for yourself and your family.
When you find yourself short on time and money, convenience foods and supermarket price deals
scream at you from the aisles. But, be careful, price deals in supermarkets are designed to trick you
into thinking the deal with the brightest colours or biggest sign is the best one for you to buy. However, this is not always the case, and by spending a few extra moments looking at container
sizes you can find that, in fact, you would be better with a different brand or size because it will offer
better value.
My opinion on convenience meals is that they are handy to have in the freezer for a real emergency,
however, to be honest I can’t remember the last time I had one, other than pizza, in mine.
If you really want to give yourself and your family the food you deserve then cooking your food with
fresh ingredients is the only way to go. Convenience foods are filled with sugar, salt and fat. Don’t be
fooled by ‘low fat’ on a label, because in order to give you ‘low fat’ the manufacturers need to
replace the fat they remove with sugar!
So here are some tips and a few recipes, for setting you and your family up for a healthier, more
nutritious future on a strict budget, so nobody will turn around and say, ‘Mammy I’m hungry,’ when
you have nothing to give.

1. Get ORGANISED – This is No.1 on purpose, the key to doing any of this is to be organised.
2. Do up a recipe list for the week prior to going shopping.
3. Do up a shopping list from your recipe list, after checking your cupboard staples.
4. Get to know what spices/herbs enhance different meats.
5. Check for produce getting close to its sell by date, most supermarkets have these sections now and even if you aren’t going to use the item straight away, freeze it.
6. Become great friends with your freezer, it will pay you back tenfold. Make larger batches of food, and freeze for days when you know you won’t have time to cook.
7. Use all the food in the house. Sounds obvious, but amazingly as a nation, we still discard nearly 30% of all the food we buy in a year.  In monetary terms this could add up to an amazing €2,340 per annum for a family of four spending €150 a week on food.
 

The best meals to serve when short on time and money are:

·         Prepared stews, tagines and slow roasted items that can be set on a timer.

·         One dish oven wonders, which can be prepared and placed in the oven when you get home
and cook while you catch up with family. E.g salmon, roasted vegetables and roasted cubed
potatoes. Squeeze a little lemon over the salmon and wrap it in foil. Use up any vegetables
you have, from peppers and tomatoes to onions and parsnip. Peel and cube potatoes into
little pieces so they cook in the same time as the vegetables. The vegetables and potatoes
can be places on the same baking sheet if there is room. Splash them all with a dash of olive
oil, some balsamic vinegar for flavour  and season with salt and pepper. Cook for approx 40
– 50 minutes and you have a great meal with little cleanup to boot! The salmon will probably
only take 20-25 minutes depending on its size or you can substitute chicken here.

·         Stir-frys – you don’t need a jar of black bean or sweet & sour to complete a stir-fry. A much
cheaper and healthier option is, honey, soy sauce and some fresh ginger.

·         Fajitas - Make fresh guacamole to up the nutrient value of this meal. Avocadoes are a great
source of everything from cholesterol reducing beta-sitosterol to heart healthy vitamin E
and glutathione. Mash up an avocado and add a crushed garlic clove, chopped tomato, half a
small onion, chopped, and some lime juice. Season with salt and pepper and you have your
own guacamole without any fillers and for 1/3 of the price of shop bought.

·         Pasta bakes -  A great way of getting kids to eat something like tuna is to add their favourite
pasta shape (preferably wholewheat!) to it, a little white sauce (roux), and some cheese and
baking it in the oven until the cheese melts and starts to brown.

·         Pies – particularly great for leftovers, in fact we had one St. Stephens day with a yummy
pastry topping. 

·         Pasta dish with pre-prepared sauce – e.g marinara or pesto. Making your own pesto or
marinara sauce is much more straight forward than you would guess.
Marinara sauce is so versatile and apart from being able to use it to hide lots of nutritious
vegetables from fussy eaters you can use it as a pasta sauce or as a red sauce base for a
homemade pizza. Both recipes are on my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Jillskitchen2012

Walnut Pesto

I realise this isn't quite seasonal, but it is really very handy to have something to change up the usual Christmas fare. Try adding a little pesto under the mash potato of a fish pie ala Nevin Maguires Killybegs fishpie, or why not add some fresh pesto to some wholewheat spaghetti and use up some of that leftover turkey! Add some garlic bread and a fresh salad and you have a wholesome meal in minutes.

Ingredients:

75g/3oz walnuts
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 handfuls fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
360ml good olive oil
30-40g freshly grated parmesan

Method:

Place the walnuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 15 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Use right away or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

Notes: Air is the enemy of pesto. For freezing, pack it in containers with a film of oil or plastic wrap directly on top with the air pressed out.

To clean basil, remove the leaves, swirl them in a bowl of water, and then spin them very dry in a salad spinner. Store them in a closed plastic bag with a slightly damp paper towel. As long as the leaves are dry they will stay green for several days.

 Enjoy!

Tiramisu

Serves 6

It took me well into my twenties before I would even try tiramisu. I always considered it a ‘grown-up’ dessert, and well, I’m not even sure I’m that yet! I think it was the combination of coffee and a
liqueur. I’ve never been a fan of alcohol in a dessert. Yet, when I did try Tiramisu there was no turning back. I was lucky, I had an amazing one, in Ibiza of all places. The barometer for desserts for me has always been my Mum. Let’s just say she has tasted one or two, in fact she may have been caught on one or more occasions eating desserts that weren’t even hers! (A video never lies!) So when she oohed and aahed and insists I try the dessert she had gotten i gave in.
Since my first taste, I spent a long time trying to recreate the creaminess of that Tiramisu. It had a
wonderful balance of coffee to liqueur, no one flavour over-powered the other.
So, here is what will be a beautiful, easily put together dessert, that could wow at your Christmas table this year.

Ingredients:

3 large egg yolks
2 large egg whites
4 tablespoons castor sugar
250g/9oz mascarpone cheese
150ml/5floz strong espresso coffee
3 tablespoons Tia Maria (coffee liqueur)
Approx 20 finger biscuits
Grated chocolate or cocoa powder to garnish

Method:

1.       Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the form soft peaks.

2.       Fold in the mascarpone.

3.       In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.

4.       Add gently to the mascarpone mixture.

5.       Place the coffee and Tia Maria in a shallow dish.

6.       Dip the biscuits into the coffee mix but don’t let them soak up too much liquid.

7.       Assemble the tiramisu in your chosen dish with one layer of biscuit and one layer of   mascarpone.

 

8.       Finish with a dusting of cocoa powder or grated chocolate.

 

If you have any questions/comments please contact me, I’d love to hear from you.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget my Kids Cookery Course in Stamullen, Co.Meath over the Christmas Holidays. Wed 2^nd Jan – Fri 4^th.

www.facebook.com/jillskitchen2012/         Email: jillskitchen2012@gmail.com

Banana, walnut and chocolate chip bread

www.siobhanbyrnephotography.com

 
You may recognise this picture if you are a fan of my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Jillskitchen2012
as it's currently the profile picture. It was taken at a photoshoot I did with the fabulous Siobhan Byrne, you can check out her work at
http://www.siobhanbyrnephotography.com/.
We had a super time making and styling the photograghs and my willing assistants Fiona Cranwell & Gemma Brown, I can't thank you enough for all your help.
I only wish I could take such beautiful photograghs as Siobhan, but alas, my strength lies elsewhere.

So onto the recipe....

I remember making my first banana bread. I decided to just add bananas, no walnuts or choclate chips. i wanted unadulterated Banana Bread. But, in my enthusiasm I over worked the mixture and turned out a rather springy, chewy concoction.
So in my follow up attempts I decided to not only add in some extra ingredients but I also learnt NOT to over-mix (thank you Avoca for the lesson and the original recipe for this banana bread). Once you follow this simple rule you should have a wonderful, moist bread.

Ingredients:

225G/8oz plain flour
110g/4oz castor sugar
1 egg, beaten (if there are egg allergies omit this and add an extra tablespoon of sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
75ml/3fl oz sunflower oil
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
65g/2 ½ oz walnuts, chopped
4 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed
25g/1oz milk chocolate chips

 

Method:

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl.
Stir in the sugar.
Mix in the egg, sunflower oil and vanilla essence, BUT DO NOT BEAT.
Fold in the walnuts, mashed bananas and chocolate chips, using a fork.
Spoon into a lined 900g/2lb loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven  - 180⁰C/350⁰F/Gas Mark 4
for 50-60 minutes.
Loaf should be golden brown and spring back when prodded with your finger.
Leave for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool and as always....

Enjoy!