A friend of mine was visiting relatives recently when he found himself sitting in front of TV with a distant cousin he had hardly seen since she was a child. She was watching a cookery programme, not sure which one, but she was spellbound, unavailable for conversation and completely absorbed.

When the programme ended he asked her if she enjoyed these kind of shows.

“I absolutely love them, I watch them all.”
“So, you must be a pretty good cook then?” he commented.
“Oh no, I hate cooking, I never cook at all” was her extraordinary reply.

I wonder how unusual she is? I know I am just as addicted to food on TV as she is - my current obsession is Masterchef, The Professionals and everyone knows not to even try speaking to me if Heston Blumenthal appears - but in truth I very rarely replicate precisely what I see on the screen.

I do pick up ideas though, and take away some tips, from these shows, but often adapt recipes to what’s readily available and also what’s low carb.

A few weeks ago on Saturday Kitchen on BBC, made Beef Koftas with Halloumi and Fig Salad, which looked just yum. So I had a go at something similar yesterday, but instead of fig (not low carb) and halloumi (couldn’t find it) tried an avocado and fried mozzarella salad instead. I also changed the beef recipe a bit.

So what I ended up with was Beef Koftas with Mozzarella and Avocado Salad and Cucumber Dressing - maybe not the same, but I’d never have made it if I hadn’t watched that programme.

There are quite a few potentially expensive ingredients making up this dish - but since the beef, avocado, mozzarella and yoghurt are all Lidl’s it ends up fairly frugal. In fact everything except the cumin and coriander came from Lidl.

First the Koftas. Here’s what I used to serve 2 people:

• 1/2 lb minced beef
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
• 1/2 small onion, very finely chopped
• 1/2 red chili, very finely chopped
• Very generous pinch coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and black pepper

Mix everything together well, divide into four and then form each portion into sort of sausages on skewers. I probably should have made them less fat than I did.

Fry these on a griddle pan or grill them under a hot grill.

Meanwhile make the dressing. This makes what looks like too much dressing, and I thought we’d have left overs. Not so, it was really tasty and we ate the lot:

• 1 tub Lidl Organic full fat yoghurt
• 5 inches of Cucumber
• 1/2 red chili
• 1 bulb Chinese garlic (this sort, which has a mild shallot-like garlic that is good raw)
• 1 scallion

Peel the cucumber and scrape out most of the seeds (they make the dressing too sloppy). Chop the cucumber into fine dice. Chop the scallion, garlic and chili finely, and everything with the yoghurt. Leave in the fridge to chill.

Make the salad at the last minute, because you want the mozzarella still hot:

• 1 pack Lidl (or any) Mozzarella, sliced
• 1 avocado
• Mixed leaves
• Lemon
• Olive oil

Peel and slice the avocado, squeeze over a little lemon juice and toss in a teaspoon of olive oil. Add a small amount of oil to a pan and heat until it starts to smoke. Add the mozzarella two or three slices at a time, don’t overcrowd the pan or it will cool down and the cheese will melt instead of frying. It cooks very quickly. Turn over after about 30 seconds. Repeat until all slices are cooked.

Toss the cheese and avocado together and serve on a bed of leaves alongside the Koftas with the cucumber dressing on the side.

Let me tell you now that the revelation here was the salad, which was wonderful, and I’ve never even thought of frying mozzarella before. It’s gorgeous, went very well with the Koftas and the hot mozzarella with the cool avocado and dressing was a great combination. I’ll be doing that again.

Tags: Avocado, Beef, Mozzarella, Recipes, TV food
Posted in Recipes, TV | 4 Comments »

Before I had a child I imagined (naively) that any I did have in the future would eat everything, none of this fussy nonsense in my kids thank you very much. Especially they would eat veg, because I’d just give it to them when they were too small to care and never stop so they wouldn’t think not to eat it.

I’ve had to revise my thinking a bit in the light of actual experience.

It turns out that children very quickly make their own minds up about what they’ll eat and try as you might it won’t always be what you think they should. And I ended up with one who, though cooperative and easy going in almost every other respect, thinks vegetables are akin to rat poison and to be avoided at all costs.

So of necessity I have become something of a whizz at sneaking in veg or dressing it up in a way that means at least a little goes down. My favourite ploy is tomato sauce, in which, if you simmer it for long enough, you can dissolve pretty much any grated vegetables.

These turnip chips pass muster too and are at least nibbled at whereas ordinary turnip would be spurned completely. They are also an excellent replacement for potato chips for anyone watching their carbs. Lidl often have HUGE turnips for anything from 69c to 89c, so they are very good value too.

They are very simply made, but a little care and attention is required or they can just be soggy and greasy. The secret is browning them fast in very hot oil. This amount is enough for three or four people, depending on their age and how hungry they are.

• 1/2 a large turnip
• Dessert spoon of soy flour
• generous shake of black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Grated nutmeg (I use about half a nutmeg)
• Olive oil

Cut the raw turnip into chip shaped pieces and boil in lightly salted water for about 30 minutes. The actual time varies a bit from turnip to turnip, so it can take as little as 20 mins or as long as 40. You want them cooked, but not too soft.

Drain well and return to the saucepan over the heat for a minute or do to steam off any excess water, then leave aside to cool for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile put the olive oil in a large metal baking tray. If you happen to have chicken, goose or turkey fat using this mixed with the oil gives a great flavour. You need enough oil to cover the base of the tray to a couple of millimeter depth. Put this into a hot oven - about 200°C.

Mix the soy flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Sprinkle over the turnip. Put a lid on the saucepan and shake it gently, turning it upside down and sideways as you do. This will slightly roughen the outside of the turnip and make sure it’s fairly evenly coated with the flour mix.

Tip into the baking tray and toss around to coat in the hot oil (it needs to be really hot at this point). They take about 10-15 minutes to cook - toss again half way though to turn the chips over.

Drain on a little kitchen paper and serve immediately - they get a bit soggy if left hanging around.

The soy flour browns very well and gives a slight extra crispness, you can of course vary the flavouring to suit yourself.

I don’t have a deep fat fryer, but I imagine these would cook very well in one and would probably be even crisper.

Tags: Recipes, Turnip, Vegetables
Posted in Low carb, Recipes | 5 Comments »

Spring was wet and grey, the dull miserableness continued through June, July and August and it’s not looking like there is much chance of an Indian summer. It’s mightily depressing.  So now and again I try to create summer inside by making food that is redolent of sunny days.

At the Farmer’s market on Thursday I bought some sweet and tangy pink grapefruit, the kind to which the addition of sugar would be a travesty. Combined with avocado and prawns from Lidl this made a salad that looked, and tasted, just like summer.

To make enough for two you need:

1 pink grapefruit
1 soft, ripe avocado
About a cup full of frozen prawns, defrosted

1 dessertspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Small piece of chili
Squeeze of lime

Salad leaves
2 scallions
Black pepper

The dressing on this is scant and light, it doesn’t need much and certainly needs nothing heavy. It’s simply made with very finely chopped chili, mixed with the olive oil, vinegar and lime.

Peel the grapefruit with a sharp knife, removing all the white pith. Cut into segments. Cut the avocado into chunks. Mix these with the prawns and stir in the dressing.

Serve on a bed of leaves, sprinkled with finely chopped scallion and a good shake of black pepper.

I used Lidl’s Mediterranian salad, which has a nice mix of leaves (Escarole, Frisée, Radicchio and Lollo Rosso) and which I think is good value at €1.29 for a 170g bag.

I know some people tut-tut about ready prepared bags of leaves and in a way it is ludicrously expensive compared to tearing it up yourself. But I like the variety of both colour and flavour in the mixed bags and if I bought three or four different lettuces most of it would end up being thrown away.

We ate this salad looking out on rain teeming down on the garden (which I suppose should be full of lettuce, but isn’t). It may not have been a good summer for people, but the flowers and plants just loved it and are still blooming in rampant profusion.

See all those apples? We have three trees positively groaning with fruit, all of it delicious. There isn’t a hope in hell of us eating all of them, so if anyone is in or around Kilkenny and wants some, let me know.

Tags: Apples, Avocado, Grapefruit, Prawns, Recipes, Salad
Posted in Farmer's Market, Recipes | 5 Comments »

After the chocolate tasting I had most of three bars of chocolate left over, so it was time to make a really intensely chocolaty dessert. And these rich and delicious logs fit the bill perfectly.

It’s a sort of an all day project to make them - though each stage is simple there is waiting time along the way. But they are well, well worth the effort.

This is what you do, in the order of doing it:

1. The nut base

• 60g whole hazelnuts
• 20g butter
• 1 teaspoon sugar or splenda
• 10g of chocolate, which is one square of Lidl’s Ecuador or Fair Trade chocolate.

Put the hazelnuts in a preheated oven (180° C) and roast for about 5 minutes. Remove and while still warm but 2/3rd of them into a blender with the butter, chocolate and sugar and whizz till quite fine. Then put in the rest of the nuts and whizz again just enough to chop them into smallish pieces.

Liberally smear whatever container you are using with butter (even if it is non-stick). Press the hazelnut mix into the bottom of the container. Return to the oven and cook for 5-10 minutes until nicely brown. Watch it carefully - it’s very easy to burn.

Leave to cool fully.

I made these in the silicon tray on the left, which I picked up in TK Maxx a while back - I love the kitchen stuff you find there. But you could equally make them in a tray with round cups.

However it is best if whatever container you use has fairly straight sides. You may get four portions rather than three with different sized containers.

2. The Hazelnut Filling

• 2 heaped dessert spoons of Hazelnut butter
• 1 heaped dessert spoons of sugar/splenda
• 1 inch of vanilla pod (or 1/2 teasp vanilla extract)
• 1/2 envelope of powdered gelatine (or a bit less)
• 100mls boiling water (a bit less than half a cup)
• 20g chocolate
• 50 mls cream
• 1 teaspoon strong instant coffee (I used Gold Blend)

Mix the hazelnut butter and sugar together well. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix through.

Put the boiling water into a cup and sprinkle on the geletine. Leave for about 2 minutes before stirring, then stir very well. Don’t worry if it does not all dissolve, you really just need whatever amount does dissolve. Mix this gradually into the hazelnut mix, passing it though a small seive to remove any undissolved geletine.

Put the chocolate and the cream into a small microwave proof bowl and zap for about 40 seconds at high. Stir to fully dissolve the chocolate. It it’s still in lumps return and zap for another 10-20 seconds. When the mix is fully smooth, add the coffee and stir to dissolve.

Blend the chocolate/coffee cream into the hazelnut mix very thoroughly. I used a stick blender to do this.

Pour the filling into the containers over the nut base, filling them right to the top. You may well have a little filling left over - that’s the cook’s bonus, just let it set and eat it up!

Put the container into the fridge and leave to cool and set for at least 3-4 hours.

3. The Chocolate Topping

• 50g chocolate
• 40 mls cream
• 20g butter at room temperature

I didn’t add any sugar to this, there is enough in the filling and biscuit to offset the rich darkness of the topping, but you could add a little if you wanted to.

Remove the logs from their containers carefully - you may need to loosen them by running a knife around the edges of the container first - as the nut base can be a little delicate. Place them on parchment paper, well separated so that they are easy to work with.

Melt the chocolate into the cream as you did earlier when making the filling. Stir in the butter little by little until it is all dissolved.

Using a spoon, divide the chocolate between the logs equally, pouring it over the tops in a thick layer. It will start to pour down the sides - help it, using a knife to spread it out so that all sides of the logs have a good covering of chocolate.

Don’t worry about getting it perfectly smooth or even - it really doesn’t matter - but it should be a fairly thick layer.

4. Serve and Eat!

The logs need another hour or two in the fridge before they are ready to serve, but will also keep perfectly well overnight, so you can make them a day ahead.

I served these very simply, with a dollop of vanilla cream. You can also slice them and arrange the slices on a plate, which looks very nice and has the advantage that you’ll probably be able to get more portions. These were large portions - but funnily enough nobody complained.

Tags: Chocolate, Hazel Nuts, Recipes
Posted in Chocolate, Recipes | 8 Comments »

In spite of the best laid plans we never made it to Waterford and the Terra Madre events yesterday - sometimes life just happens. Oh well. But I am going to make it to Cork tonight for the Geek Girl Dinner, come hell or high water. Yeah!

My son thinks this is hilarious - that his Mum is actually happy to be called a ‘geek’. I haven’t explained to him that it’s really the ‘girl’ bit that is making me smile.

But I had planned to be away yesterday and so also planned to put something in the oven before we left that would be ready and waiting on our return. This chili can be happily left cooking slowly on a low heat for hours, in fact it’s almost a case of the longer the better.

It’s a hearty and warming dinner I’d normally consider most suitable for the depths of Winter, so that basically covers the months of September-August in Ireland.

1 lb round steak or stewing steak, cut into cubes
1/2 a Lidl Chorizo
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
2 chili peppers, as hot as you like ‘em!
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
A few basil leaves
1 parsnip
Piece of turnip about the size of an apple
Olive oil
1/2 pint Beef stock *

* If you don’t have homemade beef stock and cannot find either very low salt or, preferably, no salt stock cubes, leave this out and just use water instead. Otherwise, because of the chorizo, the chili will end up way too salty.

Put some olive oil into a large pan over a hot ring. Brown the beef in two batches, removing them to a deep ovenproof dish with a lid once they are done.

Peel the casing off the chorizo - which is a fiddly job, but nessessary. Cut into slices about 1/2-3/4 inches thick. Add some more oil to the pan and toss the chorizo and the chopped onion in this until the onion is soft. Towards the end add the chopped garlic and chopped chilis. Add to the beef.

Add the tomatoes, chili powder, coriander, cumin, chili powder and cocoa to the beef/chorizo and stir well. Chop the basil (I used about 10 leaves) and stir it in. Finely grate the parsnip and turnip and mix through. These may look strange, but they completely dissolve into the sauce with slow cooking and make it thick and unctuous and add a really nice mild sweetness.

Add the half pint of stock or water. Cover and put into an oven pre-heated to 180° C. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 120° C. Leave it there for 4-5 hours. You can stir it now and then if you are around, but it’s not strictly necessary.

The result will be a dark chili, with meltingly tender meat and a rich sauce that has lots of heat and flavour. Perfect to come home to after a day away.

We had this with cheesy spinach and spicy roast turnip, with some grated cheese and sour cream on top of the chili.

Tags: Beef, Chorizo, Recipes
Posted in Low carb, Recipes | 4 Comments »