Elderflower Cordial

 

20 large heads of Elderflower

1 lt Water

700g Sugar

1 Lemon

2 Teaspoons citric acid

Choose nice Creamy flower heads with good bouquet, best to pick them during a dry spell and early in the morning to catch their taste at its best.

Use a basket (this'll give a bugs a chance to escape back into the wild on your way home) and pick the flower heads only with as little stem as possible attached.

Method

Boil the water.

Place the flowers into a clean bowl or bucket (3lt capacity)

Pour the water over and add the skin of the lemon. Stir well cover with a lid and leave to steep overnight in a cool place.

Once steeped strain through a fine sieve with a piece of muslin or coffee filter into a suitable pot, add the sugar, citric acid and the juice of the lemon. stir well to dissolve the sugar.

Bring to the boil stirring often, decant the liquid into sterile bottles whilst hot.

Keep in a cool place, once opened refrigerate and consume within one week.

Bread, Irish Traditional Baking, Soda Bread

Soda Bread, Split the Mix, make it Savoury & Sweet.

Recipe (100% Hydration)
200g Self-raising Flour, 200gm Buttermilk, pinch of sea-salt, and a
little bit of extra flour for shaping dusting.

Method
Put the Flour and salt in a bowl, make a well in the centre, pour in
the buttermilk, cut it through with a metal spoon or joint knife,
until the mix comes together.

Split your Mix in half, grate 70g of strong cheddar and mix it 50g
into one of the halves, flour your hands and shape it and set it onto
a baking tray, rub the other 20g with 20gm of flour to form crumbs,
brush the soda love with a little buttermilk and sprinkle with the
crumb.

With the other half add 25g sugar, a heaped teaspoon of mixed spice and a
handful of dried fruit, mix them in, flour your hands again and shape and set onto
the baking tray, brush with buttermilk, mix a desert spoonful of sugar
with a teaspoon of mixed spice and sprinkle it on top.
Split both loves down the middle with a sharp knife and bake in a hot
oven 180°c approx 25mins.

Feel free to add your own flavours,ie. Tomato Puree & Fennel seeds or
Glace Cherries

Roast Sweet Potato & Chickpea Salad, Balsamic & Honey Dressing

Roast Sweet Potato & Chickpea Salad, Balsamic & Honey Dressing
Bright and fresh,full of flavour and simple to do with typical store cupboard spices so no need to go running to the shops. It's good on it's own or as a side to a Roast or your favourite bites of a Barbeque. Serve it up with your choice of greens, I've used wild garlic with mine, Spinach, Broccoli or Kale go great with it as well and probably handier for most.
A simple dressing of Balsamic vinegar, Honey and Olive Oil brings rounds of the favours, a spoonful of Pomegranate Molasses if you have it will bring out an extra zing to the spices and sweetness of the roasted Sweet Potato. 

Ingredients
300g Sweet Potato peeled and diced - roughly 1cm cubes
100g Cooked Chickpeas (1/2 tin drained)
150g Cherry tomatoes, Halved, some for roasting and some left raw
1/2 Red Onion, Sliced some for roasting and some left raw
1/4 Lemon
1/2 Lime
20g Pumpkin Seeds
Teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Turmeric
Pinch of Chilli Flakes
25ml Vegetable Oil for roasting
20ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Dressing
Sea Salt / Cracked Black Pepper for seasoning.
Some Salad Leaves & Flowers if you have them, I've used Pea Shoots, Beetroot Leaves, Mint Leaves,Unopened Chive Flowers and Wild Garlic Flowers

Preheated oven 170℃

For the Dressing, 1 dessert spoon of Honey 1 Dessert Spoon of Balsamic Vinegar, 3 dessert Spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pinch of sea-salt and cracked black pepper.

Getting it all together.
Put the sweet potato into a roasting tin or onto a baking sheet drizzle a little vegetable oil over just to coat them lightly season with sea-salt and pepper. Squeeze the quarter lemon over them and place into the oven on the middle shelf and roast approx 15 mins - they will have started to soften out and colour on their edges. Remove from the oven place on a flat heat proof surface, add the chickpeas, half of the tomatoes and red onion, sprinkle on the spices and pumpkin seeds, stir through to coat everything evenly. Return to the oven for a further 15 mins, your tomatoes will have softened out and the spices will have had enough heat to release their flavours and give a wonderful warmth and aroma in the kitchen.
Remove from the oven, add in the raw tomatoes and onion mix through with a spoon,check the seasoning give them a little drizzle of olive oil, spoon into a serving dish or straight onto your plates. Garnish with some leaves or herbs, mint and coriander go great with it and a squeeze of lime juice adds an extra pique. Happy cooking!

Chicken Wings, Potato & Pepper Bake

'Chicken Wing Dinner' wild garlic pesto, ,Dunany. Wholemeal loaf.

A simple easy dinner nothing needs to be too exact about it, taste as you go, use what you have or prefer, we're just after simple tasty dinners, happy cooking.

Ingredients

A large wing each
400g Potato, sliced roughly
1 sweet red pepper, cut roughly
1 red onion, quartered
1 mushroom stock cube (veg will do)
Dessert spoonful of Turmeric
Pinch of Chili powder/flakes
Generous pinch Ground White Pepper
Oregano/Thyme/Rosemary
25ml oil olive/Rapeseed

Some pesto or greens/broccoli and some bread for mopping up (I'd made a loaf earlier using 'Dunany' Wholemeal Flour)

'The rough guide' Method.
Simple enough: put your potatoes, pepper and onion in a oven proof pan a good dessertspoon of turmeric, and a couple of twist of black pepper. Blend the mushroom stock cube with 350 ml hot water & pour over, should come up to about 2/3 the level of your potatoes( if your making a larger batch just use a little extra water)
Set the wings on top drizzle with the oil, season with a pinch of sea-salt, a good pinch of white pepper, the chili and a pinch of dried herb. Sprinkle a pinch of sea-salt over the dish.
Place in a preheated oven at 170°c, cook about 40 mins, check your chicken is done, the potatoes should be soft with a light crust and all should smell good, simple tasty food.

Doesn't have to be chicken could be a quarter Aubergine or flat cap mushrooms.

Pasta with Spinach, Feta Cheese, Walnuts and Tomatoes

 Pasta with Spinach, Feta Cheese, Walnuts and Tomatoes, 
Penne or Fusilli work great here, use whichever pasta you have in the cupboard.

Ingredients 1 portion
125g Pasta
250g Spinach wilted- & chopped
10g Garlic- chopped or pressed.
50g Semi-dried tomatoes - chopped
50g Walnuts - chopped
Pinch Ground Nutmeg
Sea Salt & Cracked Black Peppercorns
50gFeta Cheese
25ml Olive Oil

Method.
Cook your pasta as per the instructions on your packet, keep warm.
In a wide bottomed pan on a medium heat add the olive oil, chopped garlic and walnuts and let them fry a little stirring with a spoon, this softens out the garlic and brings extra nuttiness to the walnuts. Season with a pinch of Sea salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of cracked Black Peppercorns. Add the tomatoes and let the warmth get into them, next add the Pasta stir through to get the flavours coating the pasta, taste a piece of the pasta for seasoning adjust if necessary, now add the chopped spinach stir through again until it's warmed, we're nearly done
Spoon your pasta into a pasta bowl and crumble the Feta Cheese on top.
Warm under a grill to heat the cheese and your dish is ready to eat, enjoy!

Caesar Dressing

Caesar Dressing -
This can be used for so much more than the classic salad, great for your chips, a dollop on Spaghetti Bo to give it a lift, as spread to rescue that sourdough you've been toasting or a spoonful into a humble baked potato releases all the umami from the anchovies and parmesan.

Basic recipe.

300gm Thick Mayo - preferably homemade.

8gm crushed garlic

2 Anchovy fillets - finely chopped

Juice from 1/6 lemon

1/3 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Dash of Worcestershire Sauce

A couple of dashes of Tabasco

1 teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar

50gm finely grated Parmesan.

Method.

Gather all your ingredients together stir them into the mayonnaise, don't forget to taste, add the parmesan taste again and adjust if necessary and you're done.

For this one I'm adding chopped wild garlic buds for serving

Basic Mayonnaise recipe 2egg yolks at room temp', 250 sunflower oil, 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 30 ml of cider vinegar. Pinch of sea salt & ground white pepper to season.
Put Yolks in a bowl (save the whites for meringue), add a dash of vinegar and seasoning, Whisk well until the yolks have lightened out, then add about 30ml of the oil at a time whisking well forming an emulsion, when you've about 200ml of the oil in add the rest of the vinegar whisk well and slowly add the rest of the oil. Check the seasoning and adjust to your preference as necessary.

Beetroot, Buckwheat 'Kasha' & Blueberries

Beetroot, Blueberries & Buckwheat 'Kasha'
 Light & refreshing with a great bursts of flavour

Buckwheat's one of those staple foods that let's you sit back and eat in a mindful manner, soft, nutty with a light bite, satisfying and nourishing full of good stuff.
Beetroot's a longtime favourite of mine I remember my mother growing it, the sweet earthy smell in the kitchen on it's long slow boil, then peeling off the soften skin in bowl of water, a little warmth left in the beetroot to infuse the vinegar.
The blueberries add a bit of bounce and sweetness, good for you too and work well   with the beetroot, buckwheat and acidic back notes.

For the Beetroot & Blueberry part.
250gm Cooked beetroot, diced 1/2 cm
150gm Blueberries
1 Dessert spoon of Honey or sugar
1 Dessert spoon of Cider Vinegar
Pinch of Sea Salt
Cracked Black Peppercorns
1 Dessert spoon of Vegetable /Rapeseed Oil.
Put the honey and vinegar into a pan on a low heat add 100gm of the blueberries and let them soften out a little to release some juices about 2 minutes add the diced beetroot seasonings and oil raise the heat a little to get the beetroot warmed  you'll get a little more liquid released from the berries so push the beetroot and blueberries to the edges of the pan and let the juices evaporate off and concentrate the flavours. That done add the rest of the blueberries just before serving stir them in, these will give a nice fresh berry pop in the salad.

For the Buckwheat, choose the roasted 'Kasha' type in the shops, Rinse 75gm of it in cold water, strain off the buckwheat put it in a wide bottom pot add 150ml boiling water bring to the boil reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and cook for 4 minutes, remove from the heat take lid off to release the steam add a pinch of salt and a dessert spoon of oil stir and put the lid back on.

Serves 4 as a snack lunch, try it with Greek Yoghurt, Feta cheese or Irish Goat's Cheese also Great along with some smoked or roasted meats.

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