I Can Has Cook?

Baking will most probably be forever shrouded in a mystical cloak of reverence for me. As I’ve gotten more confident with cooking, however, I find myself less amazed when something actually works for me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still thoroughly and completely pleased with my achievements. But the same wide-eyed wonderment that I haven’t had a kitchen disaster has, thankfully, been cooked out of me.

In saying that, what still really fills me with glee is when I find a recipe that is so stupendously simple to put together, yet returns so much when put upon the plate. This recipe for Spiced Indian Potato Wraps was one of those recipes. I tweaked it a bit, and added Niall’s famous Harissa and Mint Yoghurt Sauce, and ba-da-bing ba-da-boom, I had a flipping gorgeous Wednesday night dinner. And it was totally vegetarian.

Boy, did I feel smug.

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Like pretty much everybody else, the start of the week is always a little hectic in our house. On Mondays, we tend to eat light suppers after (more often than not) over-indulging on the weekend.

When Tuesdays come around, we can sometimes still feel a little wiped. In need of comfort food, but craving something healthy.

And so it was that a while back we came up with Pasta Tuesdays. Making a 15 minute dinner suits our energy levels and schedules, while the tasty things we pack into them usually push us gently back on to the road of feeling good again.

Here’s a recipe I threw together one Tuesday which uses Rainbow Chard, possibly the prettiest vegetable of them all. A taste-cousin of spinach, this variety of chard get its name from the beautiful colours splashed about its stalks.

It’s available at the moment from Denis Healy’s stalls at The Temple Bar market and I’d imagine you’d get it in most farmers’ markets or good vegetable shops. If not, you could substitute it easily with using kale or some lovely big grown-up spinach. As opposed to the baby kind.

There’s something about the combination of chili, garlic, lemon and chard here that makes this taste surprisingly good – hmmm, perhaps it’s the bacon? – so do try get your hands on the rainbow or the plain variety. Minimal effort and maximum results. My kind of mid-week supper.

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As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I grew up with my mum, dad, sister and two brothers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Every summer, we travelled home to County Monaghan and spent the summer with our grannies and extended family.

One thing we always longed for was our Nanny B’s home-grown potatoes. And her home-grown rhubarb, which she made into tarts. And her gravy that she made slowly over her aga in the front room. Basically, we really looked forward to eating at Nanny B’s. (FYI, Nanny McElwain was less about tarts and more about what a bad ass independent lady she was, driving around everywhere in her little Ford Fiesta until a golden old age.)

My sister and I especially loved Tea Time at Nanny’s. This was an informal supper served in the evening, and consisted of a platter of cold meats, an array salads and some home-made brown bread.

My sister Niamh lives in San Francisco now but was home recently for a visit. I thought I’d treat her to an old fashioned summer Irish Tea to welcome her home.

So we had:

Burren Smokehouse (ah-mazing) Organic Smoked Salmon

Beetroots with Lemon and Thyme Cottage Cheese

Potato Salad with a Honey and Mustard Creme Fraiche Dressing

Home-made Brown Bread
 

We had it with some sparkling Elderflower and some Muscavado Heaven for dessert.

I’m pretty sure Niamh loved it. Have a look after the jump for how it all came together.

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Honey and cumin roasted carrots with toasted couscous and a drizzle of harissa yoghurt. Carrot love! 

I’m an equal opportunities eater. By that, I mean that I like to treat all food as equally delicious morsels to chomp on.

As much as I try not to discriminate, I do, however, have my favourites.

And, I’m afraid to say, there are those vegetables which often find themselves at the back of my store-cupboard, neglected and rather sad.

Carrots are a vegetable which has fallen out of my favour in the past, thanks to a hard-to-shake memory of over-boiled anaemic carrots that I was sloppily served up at boarding school.

I’ve found ways to chomp on these carotene-mines that doesn’t make my Inner Vegetable Bigot go bleurgh.

The obvious way is to use carrots as an implement in which to eat to hummus. That works well.

But you can’t be dipping carrots into hummus all the time. Besides, they’re really rather versatile vegetables once you get to know them.

I recently put together this quick and very satisfying carrot salad, which made the orange spears an absolute treat to eat.

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Year-round comfort Fish Stew

Is it just me or does the sun feel “hotter” in Ireland than in genuinely hotter countries?

Today was a *blistering* 21 degrees celsius in Dublin city. Ahem. If you went on holiday to, say, Barcelona, you’d be raging if it was 21 degrees. You’d need a light scarf, for heaven’s sake! Yet here, 21 degrees makes one want to set up a paddling pool on one’s balcony and get the beers in asap. I think it’s because we’re so…grateful to feel the sun on our mugs.

As I write, however, our familiar friend Rain has reappeared. That’s ok. I’m fine with that. I’ve lived here enough to accept the weather. I’m (almost) immune to its fickleness.

I think it helps that I’ve also armed myself with a couple of delicious summery and light comfort dishes, which bridge the gap between summer and autumn. Just like our Irish weather does.

Like this tasty fish stew, inspired by this Fragrant Fish Tagine and this Summer Fish Stew.

So don’t worry if the weather changes halfway through the cooking process – this type of dish tastes great whatever the weather.

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Borlotti beans and their lovely pink pods

I’m all about the sausage and bean stews.  I love them in the winter and I love them in the summer.  I love them best with a kick of chilli and hunk of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

I got some lovely borlotti beans in my Home Organics bag this week so I boiled them up – they only take half an hour – and added them to my tomato sauce.  Otherwise, I use tinned beans, usually cannellini.  In a tomato-based stew you can use pretty much whatever bean takes your fancy – tinned borlotti beans, cannellini beans or even chickpeas.  It’s all good.

Well, except maybe kidney beans.  They’re perhaps best left in chilli con carne.  No disrespect intended.

I made a tasty, very quick and simple stew inspired by this recipe and by the lovely Italian Foodie.

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I think I’ve cracked it, guys.  I just may have tweaked my chicken noodle broth so much that I’ve brought it very close to comfort food perfection.

Chicken noodle broth is something myself and Niall often put together for an early-in-the-week dinner, when we’re in need of culinary-shaped hugs.  Over the years, we’ve made some pretty good batches of it.  But there have been some bland ones too.  The method I used last night, however, was definitely the best effort so far.

I was inspired by this recipe and used the Home Organics’ asian-style dressing as a marinade for the chicken, which added a truckload of luscious flavour to the broth.

Gosh, I feel like I’m boasting.  I don’t mean to gloat.  For a novice cook, it’s such a treat when an improvised recipe turns out well!

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