Dog Day afternoon! (Blackcurrant jam)

Today was the our first full day with our new puppy Bruno. He is a border collie rescue dog, and pretty damn sharp! He is already coming to his name and sitting on command.
We spent as much time in the garden as possible in an effort to kickstart the house training. It is starting to click with him where he is supposed to go, now he just needs to go there!
Garden time meant that I had lots of time to pick blackcurrants. It is a time consuming but very enjoyable task. I am sure there is a speedy efficient way to pick them, but I have yet to stumble upon it. The dog was very involved, inspecting tne contents of my basin from time to time, and sampling the odd dropped berry. I think he just sucked the juice and spat out the berry. Either way I feel he has had a paw in the making of this jam! Bless his little cotton socks if he is not all tuckered out now and fast asleep with his new buddy.

With such a crop of blackcurrants, jam was really the best use of this bounty, so I fished out my Ballymaloe cookery school book. Honestly who else could you turn to when it comes to the self-sufficiency of jam making only Darina herself. There is something very reassuring about her traditional recipes. They are written with conviction, experience and gravitas. No mere mortal could ever question her judgement on such matters. Her book is comprehensive in its details. You are given clear instructions on sterilising jars,storage, equipment etc. I felt tremendously equipped.

After picking about half the berries on the bush, I felt I had more than enough, so proceeded to de-stalk them, a task ideally suited for someone whos' primary objective was to monitor the bladder habits of a 10 week old puppy. This process takes some time. For my 800g of blackcurrants, this took an hour and a half. The type of job that is supposed to be good for activating the creative side of the brain. Indeed I found myself dreaming up colour schemes for the new flower bed I will never get around to planting.

(This is not 800g but merely a pretty picture!)

Next, I located a few jam jars and cleaned them thouroughly. (Or rather, Declan cleaned them thoroughly!) They need to be sterilised and Darina details a number of ways to do this including putting them through the dishwasher. I filled them with boiling water and emptied them out and put them in the oven preheated to 180c to dry. They only take a few minutes to dry out, and then they are ready for filling.

So next. I used a wide heavy bottomed saucepan and greased it. Then in went my 800g of now washed blackcurrants and 530ml water. Accurate quantities are very important as jam making is as much chemistry as it is cooking. Or 'Alchemy' as Nigella calls it.
With blackcurrant jam you must let the berries cook down until they are burst and soft so they don't end up tough in the jam. This takes about 10ish minutes. In the meantime, put 1kg of sugar into a stainless steel bowl, I used the lid of roasting tin, and put it into an oven at 150c for 10 minutes. Add the sugar to the softened fruit and stir until dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes stirring frequently.  You can skim the foam off as you go. To test that it is at setting point, you can use a candy thermometer, and when the mixture reaches 105c it is done, or you can every few minutes (after about 15 mins) put a teaspoon of mixture onto a cold plate and allow to sit for a few minutes. If it wrinkles when you push it with your finger, then you are ready to pot it up.

I skimmed off the last little bit of foam from the top and ladled the mixture into the jars.
I was not really prepared for potting jam, so I only had parchment with which to cover the jam. I got 4 pots out of this mixture. Can't imagine it will last too long, we do go through jam in this house.
Probably not a good sign!

When the last bit of jam that I put in a bowl had cooled, we tried it on some buttermilk pancakes. I had some batter left over from this morning, and made little bitesized ones just to test the jam.

I was terribly pleased with myself, with my new dog, homegrown berries and homemade jam on pancakes. Although my waistline is not really benetitting from such an exercise, this is the kind of cooking that kids love, and it teaches them really how much damn sugar there is in jam!

Bye for now and woof from Bruno x

Toad in the hole and Millionaire's squares

Well now that the house is back to normal with just the usual amount of chaos (!) and we have eaten the results of the cookery classes, it's time to start adding a few new ones to the blog.

Yesterday I made caramel millionaire's squares. I have never made them before, they always look delicious in cafes but are almost always a disappointment. I think they need to be eaten while still very fresh.

I got the recipe from the condensed milk tin and it could not be simpler.

Millionaire's squares

First make the base, you can make a shortbread biscuit base with 25g melted butter and 200g crushed shortbread biscuits but having no biscuits, i just made a pastry base and blind baked it first. (Recipe is in an older entry, you will find it if you search on the side bar)
Then make the caramel. I used a large non-stick frying pan.

Melt
150g soft dark brown sugar
150g butter
until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved.
Then add
1 tin of condensed milk.
Stir occasionally and wait for the caramel to start bubbling, take it off the heat and pour over the pastry/biscuit base.
Allow to cool and then put in the fridge until set. (It won't harden, but will firm up a little.

Melt 200g chocolate (milk/dark) and pour over the top, spreading evenly.
Put it back in the fridge so the chocolate hardens and cut into squares.

They are rich, but very tasty. I would say if you leave them too long the pastry could go very dry. Thar won't be a problem in my house, the kids have taken to checking on them every half hour to make sure they are still there for dessert after dinner!

For lunch today, we made mini Toad in the Hole.

The kids loved it, and Robyn made the batter. Unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures, but next time.

First put a little sunflower oil into each cup of a muffin tray.

Put it into the oven and preheat to 200c. You want the oil to reach that temperature too.

Next cook 12 sausages or 24 cocktail sausages until cooked. Cut the large ones in two.

Make the batter by whisking

110g plain flour

2 eggs

pinch of salt

300ml milk

until smooth with no lumps until the consistency of cream.

When the oven hits its heat, take out the muffin tray carefully. The oil will be very hot.

Put two halves of the sausage, or two cocktail sausages in each section and fill with batter. The mixture should  make 12 exactly.

As quickly as you can put the tray back in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until they are puffy and golden brown. They will rise up dramatically.

Robyn likes sitting in front of the oven and watches them rise!!!

Who needs TV?!

When out of the oven they collapse a little. If you leave them to cool for a couple of munutes they shrink and are easier to remove from the tray.

We had them with fried onions and onion gravy (instant) Not the healthiest combo, but it was just what we needed on a horrible rainy day.

Baking day. Cheese and Bacon scones, plain scones, banana cake, shortbread, chocolate muffins, and busy bees!

Well. I am done! Three days, 12 children, 50 eggs, 6 kilos of flour and one scarred kitchen later!

Todsy was the busiest day, I knew it would be. It always surprises me when I hear parents saying they bake with the kids, but don't make dinners. Baking is the hardest. The kids eat all the ingreadients as they go, usually end up wearing half of what they are making and want the results immediately!! Dinners are a far less excitable affair.
All that aside, today was fantastic. The chidren in the workshop were patient and keen and the results were great. Although I think my own daughter left out the sugar in the banana bread, I just had a piece and can pretty much say for sure that there ain't no sugar in it!

My favourite from today, (a view also held by an 8 year old participant called Hannah) were
Cheese and Bacon scones.
They were light, but savoury and were a perfect lunch for us when we took a break.

The ingredients are:

450g plain flour

1 t bicarb of soda
1 t cayenne pepper (optional)
1 t salt
30g cold butter diced
110g bacon grilled and chopped (I actually put the bacon in a hot oven for 8 mins)
110 g gruyere or cheddar cheese
1 egg
375 ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 220c and flour a non-stick baking tray
First, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the bacon (finely chopped) and the cheese.
Beat the egg and add the buttermilk.

Add the egg and milk to the mixture and stir until it comes together.
It will form a sticky dough so flour your board well before putting it down to roll.

Roll out to a thickness of 2-3 cm and cut into the shape of your choice. We used circles and squares just for variety! Brush with a little beaten egg or milk.

Put them on a lightly floured tray and bake for between 12-15 mins depending on the size of the scones.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
This mixture makes at least 12 scones

Plain/Fruit scones

These are really simple and if you make them in a large quantity they freeze really well.


Ingredients


225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
50g cold butter diced
50g caster sugar
150ml buttermilk
1`beaten egg
50g sultanas

Preheat the oven to 180c and flour a non-stick baking tray
Sift the dry ingredients together and stir to combine. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resemble breadcrumbs.
Add in the sugar and the sultanas if you are adding them and stir.
Mix the egg and buttermilk together and add to the dry ingredients, making a dough as you did with the scones above.
Roll out gently on a floured surface, cut into shapes & place on the tray. Brush with a little beaten egg or milk and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Leave to cool on a wire rack


We made chocolate muffins next, the recipe is in the posting a couple of days ago. The shortbread recipe is the one Daniel used to make strawberry shortcake, also in an old posting. (You can find all these if you search for them in the bar on the right.)

I am afraid the banana cake recipe is a little secret, only to be divulged upon completion of a course. It goes back years and I have to have something that's my own!

The busy bees on the other hand are a gorgeous little recipe and they need neither cooking nor chilling. The all important instant results! Perfect for making with really small children and really very nutritious. It is an Annabel Karmel recipe.

Busy Bees

In a bowl mix the following ingredients together in no particular order!

1 Weetabix crushed up
4 T peanut butter
1 T skimmed milk powder (such as Marvel)
1 T sesame seeds
1 T honey

Stir all the ingredients together and with your hand make little bee shapes, kind of like mini weetabix pieces.

Decorate with white buttons for the wings and choc chips for the eyes. If you dip a cocktail stick first into water then into cocoa, you can paint on stripes for the bees back. Apologies for the awful photograph.

So that was it! A successful few days. I will keep you all posted on the cookery school website, and once it's up, I will be back to family meals here on the blog.

See y'all soon!
P.S. Check out my kitchen after today!!

Kitchen Wizards Dinner day.... Lasagna, Parmesan Chicken goujons, homemade ketchup and egg fried rice.

Day two!
Well it was a great day. 5 very hard workers and keen eaters too. The perfect combination.
We started with the goujons so that they would be in  the fridge ready for us to eat at lunchtime.

Chicken goujons

6 chicken fillets (makes about 36 goujons)

Adults will eat 5-6 of these and kids usually between 4-5. You feed alot of people with this little recipe. Especially if you serve them with potato wedges. Then an average 'big person' would eat 4 goujons.

Cut the fillets into 6 strips. The thinner they are, the easier they are to cook. If you opt for fat chunks then you will be dealing with overcooked breadcrumbs and pink insides. Trust me..... cut them into thin strips!

Then, on a plate put 75g plain flour, a teaspoon of salt and teaspoon of ground black pepper.

In a bowl, beat 2 eggs.

In a large bowl/pyrex dish, put in a 200g packet of breadcrumbs (save yourselves the grief folks and buy the breadcrumbs.) and add 100g finely grated parmesan cheese. Season with 1/2 t each of salt and pepper.


Now you are ready to go.

First dip the chicken pieces into the flour, shake off the excess and then coat in beaten egg and then straight into the breadcrumbs. Leave on a tray coated in greaseproof paper until ready to cook. They can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours like this until you are ready to cook them.

To cook the goujons, heat a frying pan with a couple of tablespoons of sunflower oil and wait for it to heat up so that when you drop a breadcrumb in, it sizzles without burning.
Fry the goujons for about 4 mins on each side. Check one to make sure they are cooked. They should loose their springiness as they cook and become firm, but I still cut open one to check, in case I poison one of my guests!

Serve with homemade tomato ketchup. This was a real hit with all the kids. I was surprised, I was expecting some faces, as it is has a real kick.

Tomato Ketchup

2 medium onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cans whole tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon paprika


Sweat off the onion and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, then add all the other ingredients. I would let this simmer away on a medium heat for about 50 minutes. Then cool the mixture before putting into a blender or using a hand  blender , (like the one you use on baby food) to blend to a smooth creamy sauce.
The longer you leave this sauce to reduce, the more intense the flavour gets.
I have deliberately left out the salt and pepper in this as the flavours are pretty intense, and the more you can eliminate salt from things the better/

When blended, allow cool, before serving with absolutely everything! I would even include cornflakes in that list!


Lasagna

This is a recipe I make alot, but still need to refer to my little recipe notebook for the ingredients. Every cook has their own version and this is mine. I have flown by the seat of my pants a few times but it is always a little different if I don't follow the recipe. The spices are what it's all about here.

So..... the pasta

I usually make my own. Only because I am used to doing it, and any time I make lasagna I am using it as a method of escape! But it does taste better and is worth it, but only if you have time.
You can make pasta with a rolling pin, but you need to be prepared to lean on it seriously.
A pasta maker is not too expensive, and is really a great way of keeping the kids occupied, it's like a playdough product! And pasta is indestructible.

Anyhow, if you decide to buy lasagna sheets, skip the next bit. If you buy the fresh lasagna sheets from the fridge section, you can put them straight into the dish with the two sauces, but if you buy the dry stuff, then you need to cook them in boiling water first so they are pliable.


Ok. Now. Pasta!

You need 150g '00' flour (get this in Fallon and Byrne or Get Fresh or the like) or Strong White bread flour
100g Semolina
1 whole egg and 4 egg yolks

In a bowl, mix the flours together. Beat the eggs together and add to the flour.
Use your hands to bring the dough together. You are looking for a smooth elastic dough that is not sticky and behaves like a rubber ball! Knead until silky and divide into about 6 pieces. Roll out each piece and if you are using a rolling pin, keep doubling up and re-rolling until it is smooth and thin.
If you are using a machine, keep rolling through the machine on decreasingly low settings until you have a very thin sheet of pasta.

Leave to sit between sheets of greaseproof or parchment while you make the sauce.


Tomato sauce

In a pot put

2 chopped onions
2 crushed cloves of garlic
2 medium carrots chopped finely
2 sticks of celery chopped finely

with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
Allow to sweat until a little soft and add


2 T chopped sundried tomatoes
1 t grated nutmeg
1 t paprika
1 t oregano
1 t basil
1 t salt
1 t pepper
A dash of Worcestshire sauce

Then add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes to the mix and stir well.
Allow the mixture to come to the boil and simmer for a about 20 minutes or until the carrots have softened. Then using a hand blender, blitz the sauce until smooth.

In another large pot, pop in 1 kg or 2lbs of round steak mince to dry fry.
Put the pan on a high heat and stir the meat occasionally until it is cooked through. (It will look grey and umappealing but the sauce will bring it to life!)
When the meat is cooked, add it to the blitzed sauce and leave on a very low simmer while you cook the cheese sauce.

In a small saucepan, put 75g of butter and allow to melt and add 75g of flour. Mix until combined and cook out for a few minutes and add 500ml of milk gradually while whisking with a hand whisk.
Keep whisking on the heat until thick and smooth.
Then add 120g ish of cheddar cheese grated/ Whisk until all combined.

Now. Assembly!

In a large lasagna dish, put half the meat sauce in the bottom. Then layer on your pasta, covering all the meat. You can cut the pasta into whatever size or dimensions you need to compelete this task.
Then a layer of cheese sauce. Now the rest of the meat and now more pasta.
Finish with the rest of the cheese sauce and top with more grated cheese.

Bake this at 200c for 30 mins or until the cheese on top is bubbly.

The kids today did a wonderful job of their lasagnas. I used little foil takeaway boxes for each of them which is two servings and they made gorgeous pasta, yummy tomato sauce and perfectly smooth cheese sauce.
I am so proud of them all!


This is not a quick recipe nor is it convenient, but it is plentiful and fantastic to freeze.
I love when you can get those foil lasagna dishes and I make it in those, and freeze them. Great standby for when you have a pile of kids over and no time to cook.

The Kitchen Wizards Cookery School is open for business!

Well today was my first day of my new career. I have packed in my perfectly good teaching job to start my own cookery school. It is something that has been gestating for a good while now and I decided if I didn't make the jump now, I never would.
So today was day one of the summer workshops. I have three day workshops running just for the summer and in september I am kicking off the after school classes, which will be the bread and butter of the business.

I had 5 kids today and we covered 5 recipes that are all lunchbox friendly. The idea is that the children would do a bit of cooking at the weekend and have some yummy food for their luncboxes during the week. The salads are easy prepared the night before.

The picture is I know not brilliant, but from left to right, we made; Wizard drumsticks, Couscous salad, Pasta salad, Mini Quiches and White bread rolls.

The Quiche recipe and the White bread recipe is already on the blog, the other three are below.

Wizard Drumsticks

Marinade

150ml greek yoghurt

2 T redcurrant jelly
1 T wholegrain mustard
1 garlic clove crushed
Juice and rind of one lemon

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in the dish.

Remove the skin from 8 chicken drumsticks and coat them in the marinade. Leave in the dish to soak up all the flavour and to tenderise, preferably overnight, but a couple of hours does the trick too.

Roast in a roasting tin at 190c for 50 minutes.
Can be served hot or cold.

Couscous salad

200g couscous

250ml hot vegetable stock

First pour the stock over the couscous and allow to soak up for 3-4 minutes. Always stir couscous with a fork, it helps to keep it fluffy.

Then add;

2 red dessert apples diced
125g cheddar cheese diced
75g sultanas
8 T apple juice
1 T chopped parsley

Mix through and serve.

Pasta salad.

100g pasta shapes cooked and drained

2 T sunflower oil
1 t sundried tomato paste (jar of sacla)
1 t white wine vinegar
½ small carrot diced
1 tomato diced
50g cheddar or mozzarella cheese diced
Chopped basil to taste


Personally I prefer mozarella with this recipe. If you add the pasta hot to the rest of the ingredients, then the mozzarella melts a little and makes a sauce almost.
Incorporate all the ingredients together and serve.
 
Tomorrow is dinners; lasagna, chicken goujons, and butternut spaghetti.
 
See y'all tomorrow.