All posts by Kristin

30-minute meals, Seafood

Sweet Potato and Salmon Fishcakes with Chilli and Lime

The other day, a fellow expat tweeted, “When I see a tourist in Dublin on a nice sunny day, I always feel the urge to stop them and tell them how lucky they are.” “Never mind them,” I tweeted back, “lucky us! At least they get to go back home to a proper summer somewhere.” After weeks of rain and temperatures that rarely even get above 65°F, I’ve just about given up on summer again. Even so, I still crave bright, zesty flavors in the summer, such as it is. These fishcakes make for a light supper served with a salad — or maybe soup, if that suits your climate and your woe-is-me mood better.

Sweet Potato and Salmon Fishcakes with Chilli and Lime

Serves 4 as a light supper

If you don’t want to coat the fishcakes in breadcrumbs, you can simply dredge them in the seasoned flour and pan fry them. And if you’d rather bake the cakes in the oven instead of fry them, just put them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper in an oven at 350°F (180°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.

1 lb 2 oz (500 g) sweet potatoes
2 x 7 oz (200 g) cans of salmon
1 red chilli, finely chopped
zest and juice of 1 lime
a handful of fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (120 g) flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup (100 g) dried breadcrumbs
olive, vegetable or rapeseed oil
lime wedges, to serve
green salad, to serve

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into large chunks or thick slices. Place in a pot with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Mash the potatoes until they’re smooth, then stir in the salmon, flaking apart any large pieces with a fork. Add in the chilli, lime zest and juice, the chopped cilantro and some salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Shape the sweet potato and salmon mixture into fish cakes and set aside on a plate.

Place the flour in a shallow bowl or plate and season generously with salt and pepper. Place the beaten egg in a second shallow bowl or plate and the breadcrumbs in a third bowl or plate. First dredge each fish cake in the flour, shaking off any excess. Set aside the floured cake on a plate and repeat with the remaining cakes (doing it this way helps to keep your hands cleaner). Next, dip each floured cake in the beaten egg, making sure it gets coated all over with the egg, then place in the bowl with the breadcrumbs, sprinkling the crumbs all over the cake and gently patting them in place. Set aside the breaded cake on a plate and repeat with the remaining cakes.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the cakes to the pan in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Cook the cakes for 5 to 8 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden. Flip the cakes over and cook for 5 to 8 minutes more, until the other side is golden and the cakes are cooked through. (Alternatively, you can bake the cakes in the oven; see note above.) Serve with lime wedges and a green salad for a light summer supper.

Cookbook reviews, Lamb, Middle Eastern food

Moroccan Meatballs with Couscous

The first time I met Shelia Kiely at a food blogging event in Ireland and she let it slip that she has six kids, I’m sure I had the same reaction she gets from just about everyone: “Six kids?” What’s more, that number includes not one, but two sets of twins. And as if being a mother to six children and running her own food safety management consultancy wasn’t enough, she somehow found the time to write a cookbook, Gimme the Recipe, in addition to writing her blog of the same name. So to ask the question I’m sure everyone is wondering: Shelia, where do you get the energy? Or at the very least, what brand of coffee are you drinking?

I think it’s fair to say that Shelia takes the whole working mom thing and raises it to the nth degree. Not surprisingly, her book focuses on good, wholesome, no-nonsense food. There are lots of family-friendly and comfort food classics, from soups to stews, meat pies to pasta bakes, and every working mom’s favorite, one-pot casseroles. But Shelia caters to grown-ups too with dinner party and girls’ night in suggestions as well as helpful meal planners for special occasions like birthday parties, coffee mornings and the holidays. She covers all the bases.

As for me, I made these easy, tasty, moreish Moroccan meatballs from her book and we all enjoyed them so much that I promptly made them again the next week. With two young kids as judges, it’s as ringing an endorsement as you can get for a family cookbook.

If you like this, you might also like Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon and Mint Couscous, or see this post for a round-up of our other meatball recipes.

Moroccan Meatballs
adapted from Gimme the Recipe by Shelia Kiely

Because I was feeling lazy and didn’t fancy lugging out my food processor to make a paste, like Shelia’s original recipe calls for, I adapted it by adding the onion and garlic to the sauce instead of to the meatballs. I also used garam masala instead of the cumin and cinnamon called for (you can see the original recipe here). I serve this with couscous studded with chopped apricots, raisins, a finely chopped sliver of preserved lemon and chopped fresh coriander (aka cilantro).

Serves 4 to 6

2 lb (1 kg) minced lamb
2 tablespoons garam masala
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
1 x 1 inch (3 cm) thumb-width piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 x 14 oz (400 g) cans of chopped tomatoes
1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock
chopped fresh cilantro (a.k.a. coriander), to garnish
couscous (see intro above) or rice, to serve

Place the minced lamb in a large bowl along with 1 tablespoon of the garam masala and some salt and pepper, mixing well to combine. Form the mixture into small meatballs about the size of golf balls.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat (don’t add any oil because the lamb will throw off a lot of fat). Add the meatballs to the pan in batches (don’t overcrowd the pan) and cook for about 5 minutes, until browned all over. Remove the browned meatballs from the pan and set aside and repeat with the remaining meatballs.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy-based pot or casserole, heat the oil over a medium-low heat. Add in the onion and a pinch of salt to stop it from browning and cook for about 10 minutes, until softened but not browned. Add in the garlic, chilli (if using), ginger and the remaining 1 tablespoon garam masala and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and the chicken stock and season to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and add in the browned meatballs. Partially cover the pot and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve with couscous or rice and a sprinkling of chopped fresh cilantro (coriander).

 

Italian food, Pasta and noodles, Pork

Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs

The first recipe I ever asked my mom for was her turkey meatballs. The first food I fed my infant daughter that wasn’t from Annabel Karmel’s baby food cookbook was those same turkey meatballs, pureed in the food processor, which she gobbled up with delight. And if you’ve come to visit me from America, chances are I made a big batch of meatballs, kept warm in the slow cooker in their sauce, so that dinner could be on the table as soon as I could boil the pasta when the jet lag finally started to get the better of you.

Over the years I chopped and changed my mom’s original recipe until I eventually hit on this, my own version, which kicks things up a notch. I kept in loads of garlic and Parmesan but swapped the turkey, which I came to find too dry, for pork and ramped up the flavor with fennel seeds and lots of herbs. It’s now my go-to classic comfort food dish. And if and when my kids ever ask for my meatball recipe when they’re older, this is the one I’ll give them, which I’m sure they’ll in turn tweak and make their own.

We love meatballs! Here are some more recipes for you to try:

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Makes 40 to 50 small meatballs

My go-to tomato sauce is Marcella Hazan’s famous recipe, but feel free to use your own favorite recipe or even jarred sauce. To add some extra umami to the meatballs, sneak in a few finely diced anchovies as a secret ingredient. I like to make loads of meatballs so that I can get two dinners’ worth out of them, but they freeze beautifully too.

for the meatballs:
2 lb (1 kg) pork mince
3 cloves garlic, grated with a Microplane zester or very finely chopped
1 cup (50 g) fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup (50 g) finely grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped, with some reserved for garnish
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper

for the tomato sauce:
5 tablespoons (75 g) unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
1 x 28 oz can (or 2 x 14 oz/400 g cans) whole plum tomatoes, with their juices
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lb (450 g) spaghetti

To make the tomato sauce, melt the butter in a large pot (one that can also accommodate all the pasta later) over a medium heat, then add in onion halves and pour in the tomatoes with their juices. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a simmer, mashing up the tomatoes gently with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free from the tomato and the sauce has reduced and thickened. Stir occasionally, continuing to mash any large pieces of tomato with the wooden spoon. Taste for seasoning, then discard the onion when the sauce is ready.

While the sauce is simmering, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking tray with foil or parchment paper. To make the meatballs, place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Using your hands, mix everything together until it’s just combined, trying not to overwork the mixture so that the meatballs stay tender. Shape the mixture into small meatballs the size of golf balls and place them on the lined baking tray. Bake them in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until they’re just cooked through. Be careful not to overcook them or they’ll dry out and become tough.

While the meatballs are cooking and the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions. When it’s done, drain the pasta and add it directly to the sauce. Stir the pasta until it’s all coated with the sauce. Divide the pasta between the individual bowls or plates and place a few meatballs on top of each serving. Serve with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan and garnish with the reserved parsley.

Cakes, Desserts

Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

I’ve hit on the perfect play date treat with these banana, cherry and white chocolate cupcakes. Unusually for a cupcake these days, they’re not smothered with any frosting, so they’re not messy to eat and don’t make for sticky fingers. Plus they don’t have too much sugar in them, relying on the bananas for sweetness instead, and I always feel like any treat with fruit keeps it on the right side of indulgence. Friends, you’ve had fair warning now — next time you invite me and my kids over, I’ll be bringing a batch of these.

Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (125 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup (60 ml) sour cream or natural yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups (300 g) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (40 g) dried cherries, chopped (you could substitute dried cranberries or even raisins)
1/4 cup (50 g) white chocolate, chopped, or use chips or buttons

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone cases.

Melt the butter in a saucepan big enough to eventually hold all the batter. Off the heat, add the sugar, vanilla and mashed bananas. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt and the eggs and beat to mix with a wooden spoon. Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, then fold in the cherries and chocolate. Mix until everything is just blended (don’t overmix!), then divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases. Cook for 20 minutes, until golden and springy on top and a tester comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes in their papers to a wire rack and leave till cool.

Poultry, Soups and stews

Homemade Chicken Soup

It’s been a tough winter in my house, with bad colds, bad backs, the flu, food poisoning and fevers, topped off by my 3‑year-old getting chickenpox last month. It had been going around his daycare since Christmas, so I had already resigned myself to the fact that he was going to get it; the only surprise was that it took so long. I’ve lost count of the number of pots of homemade chicken soup I’ve made this season, coaxing one or another of us back to health and an appetite.

Chicken soup is one of those things everyone should know how to make. You shouldn’t be able to leave school without knowing how to at least make a roast chicken, chicken soup, an omelette and pasta (don’t laugh — I know someone who didn’t even know how to cook pasta in their early twenties). This recipe is for making stock and soup from scratch, but if you’ve roasted a chicken, you should always make stock with the carcass to extract every last bit of value and goodness from it. It will keep in the freezer for three months, ready for those times when a bowl of homemade chicken soup and a hug is the only thing that will do.

Homemade Chicken Soup

Serves 4

Most chicken noodle soups use wide egg noodles, but I like to use macaroni because it’s easier to scoop up with a spoon, especially for children. If you’re not feeling the best to begin with, you want the act of eating your soup to be as undemanding as possible.

If you’re feeling very organized, prep the soup vegetables when you make the stock and add the carrot peelings, celery leaves and onion and garlic skins to the stock pot. For a stock with an incredible golden color, use a corn-fed chicken. Using my 5 1/2 quart (5.3 liter) Le Creuset pot, I get 3 pints (1.5 liters) of stock.

for the stock:
1 large whole chicken
3 carrots, scrubbed well but unpeeled and cut in half
3 celery stalks, cut in half (leaves included)
1 onion, unpeeled and quartered through the root end
1 head of garlic, cut in half around its middle to expose all the cloves
10 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 bunch of parsley
1 tablespoon salt

for the soup:
olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 celery stalks, cut in half lengthwise and finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 or 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
a few handfuls of cooked, shredded chicken
3 pints (1.5 liters) chicken stock
7 oz (200 g) macaroni (use more if you want a more substantial soup with less broth)
a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
crusty bread, to serve

To make the stock, place the chicken in a large stockpot, one roomy enough to hold it and all the vegetables plus plenty of water. Add in all the remaining stock ingredients, then pour over enough cold water to cover the chicken. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a steady simmer and let it bubble away, covered, for 90 minutes to ensure the chicken gets fully cooked. Partially uncover the pot and continue to let it simmer for a further 30 to 60 minutes to let the stock reduce a bit and get a more concentrated flavor. Don’t be tempted to let the stock boil for more than 3 hours max or the texture of the chicken will get too mushy.

Carefully remove the chicken from the pot onto a plate and allow it to cool enough that you can shred it. Strain the stock through a sieve into a large bowl, pressing on the vegetables with the back of a spoon to get as much liquid as possible out of them, then discard them. If you’re making the stock ahead (or only making stock and not soup), cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge overnight to allow the fat to congeal on the top, then skim it off. Otherwise, don’t worry about it — in fact, it’s said that the flu-fighting properties of chicken soup are in the fat anyway.

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones and any other unsavory bits. Dice or shred the remaining chicken. You’ll only need half of it for the soup, so save the rest for adding to pasta, stir-fries, salads, lentils, risotto, chicken salad sandwiches — you get the idea.

To make the soup, place a pot over a medium-low heat and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. When the oil is warm, add in the carrots, celery and onion along with a pinch of salt (to keep the onion from browning) and some pepper and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables have softened but not colored. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the chicken and stock and bring to the boil, then reduce to a lively simmer and add in the pasta. Cook for 10 or 15 minutes, until the pasta is cooked through. Add in the parsley at the last minute and ladle the soup into bowls. Pass around plenty of crusty bread to mop up every last drop of nourishing stock. Serve steaming hot and feel better soon.

 

 

Beef, Mexican food, Slow cooker

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef

You think you’re busy now? I sometimes find myself thinking on days when I’m feeling frazzled by the ceaseless demands of two young kids. Wait till they’re old enough to want to be doing things after school and on weekends. I imagine future weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings spent ferrying them around to sports or music or friends’ houses, when no doubt I’ll look back at this time and laugh at how easy I actually had it. We’ve taken our first steps down this road recently after my daughter started swimming lessons in the new year, which means we don’t get home till late on Tuesdays now. Landing in the door with homework still to be done and two tired, hungry kids clamoring to be fed, I’ve been keeping an eye out even more than usual for recipes that I can get on the table quickly on Tuesday nights. So far I’ve made stew the night before that I could just come home and reheat and ditto for a big pot of spaghetti Bolognese, but I’ve also been relying on my slow cooker a lot again.

I’d never heard of barbacoa beef before spying this recipe on The Kitchn, where it was presented as Superbowl party food to feed a crowd. The tangy flavors of the lime and vinegar sounded like just to thing to perk up dulled winter taste buds, not to mention the smoky chipotles. It’s a new favorite in my repertoire of slow cooker recipes and a lifesaver on a busy day.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef
adapted from The Kitchn

Makes enough for 30 tacos

Dinner doesn’t get much easier than when it’s made in a slow cooker, but this makes more than enough for two dinners if you want to have the same thing all over again as leftovers on a second night for an even easier time of it. Otherwise freeze half of it for another time. Instead of using the beef as a taco filling, you could also pile it onto nachos. In Ireland, you can get tinned chipotle chiles from my friend Lily’s online shop. I found this recipe had plenty of flavor as it is, but you could try adding oregano, cumin, ground cloves, smoked paprika or even a teaspoon of espresso powder if you want to spice it up a little more.

4 chipotle peppers (from a can), finely chopped, plus all the adobo sauce they sit in
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled and cloves smashed
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
5 dry bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt
4 to 6 cups (1 to 1.5 litres) beef or chicken stock
1/2 cup (125 ml) cider vinegar
juice of 4 limes
5 to 7 lb (2.2 to 3.2 kg) beef brisket or stewing beef

to serve:
flour or corn tortillas
cherry tomatoes, quartered, or salsa
1 or 2 red onions, thinly sliced, or a few thinly sliced scallions
chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges

Place all the ingredients except for the beef directly into your slow cooker and stir them around until they’re fairly well combined. Add in the beef and put on the lid. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, until the meat is cooked through and can be shredded easily when pulled with a fork.

When it’s done, remove the meat from the slow cooker and place it on a rimmed baking sheet or in a large bowl, then use two forks to shred the meat. Place the shredded beef in a large serving bowl and pour over a few ladlefuls of the cooking liquid (you want the meat to be moist but not drowning in the liquid). Serve in tortillas topped with quartered cherry tomatoes or salsa, onion slices, fresh cilantro and an extra squeeze of lime juice.

Grains and pulses, Soups and stews, Vegetarian main dishes

Lentil Vegetable Soup

I was in a pub in County Cork on New Year’s Eve 10 years ago when the euro was introduced in 2002. We were staying with some friends whose parents had a holiday home in Schull, and I remember there was a German woman sitting in the corner of the pub smoking a pipe. After midnight, when we paid for our pints with Irish pounds, our change was handed back in euros, the notes starch-crisp and the coins shiny, fresh from the mint. It was the middle of the Celtic Tiger and everything was still possible. A decade later, with a wallet full of coins circulated from all over the European Union, no one seems to know what will happen now. Will the euro still be around by New Year’s Eve 2012? Will I be lugging around those old heavy Irish punts instead?

I’m just like everyone else I know these days — worried about money, a little scared about the future and nervous at what the coming year might bring. I’ve stopped reading the papers (again), put off by all the doom and gloom and financial crises I don’t understand. Instead, I retreat to my kitchen and make soup. This time of year calls for a big pot of lentil vegetable soup, in the spirit of the Italian tradition of eating lentils in the new year, when their coin-like shape becomes symbolic of wealth and luck. Who couldn’t use a little of that these days? I’ll take it wherever I can get it and eating some lentils is as good a place as any to start. That, and a lotto ticket.

 

Wishing all our readers a happy, healthy and (hopefully!) prosperous new year!

The Barefoot Contessa’s Lentil Vegetable Soup
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

Serves 8 to 10

This makes a lot of soup, but I make a full batch anyway and freeze half of it for another time. Otherwise, just halve the recipe if you don’t want to make quite so much. If you’ve got a Parmesan rind hanging around (I always save them for soups and pasta sauces), add it to the soup along with the stock for an extra umami hit.

1 lb (450 g) French green lentils
3 large yellow onions, chopped
2 leeks, white part only, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon ground cumin
8 celery stalked, chopped
4 to 6 carrots, chopped
3 quarts (3 liters) vegetable stock (or use chicken stock if you’re not worried about keeping it vegetarian)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons red wine or red wine vinegar
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain.

In a large stockpot on medium heat, saute the onions, leeks, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and cumin for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are translucent and tender. Add the celery and carrots and saute for 10 more minutes. Add the stock, tomato paste, and lentils. If you have a Parmesan rind hanging around, add that in too. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, until the lentils are cooked through. Check the seasonings. Add the red wine and serve hot, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

Desserts, Italian food

Affogato al Caffe

I was having dinner out with a friend awhile ago and after overdoing it with the starter and main course, none of the heavy desserts on the menu appealed to me that night. “You know what? I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I’m going to go off menu!” I said, and asked the waitress for an affogato al caffe. They sold vanilla ice cream and they sold espresso, so it was just a matter of putting the two together in one bowl, like an ice cream sundae for grown-ups.

I was reminded of affogato al caffe (which means ‘drowned in coffee’ in Italian) when Café de Cuba sent me some of their Really Good Organic Coffee, decaf coffee and teas to try recently. This is one of those recipes where the quality of the ingredients really matters. Use the best vanilla ice cream you can find and use good, strong espresso (regular brewed coffee will not work here).

Affogato is good any time of year, but if you’ll be entertaining during the holidays, it’s an easy option for a dessert and pick-me-up after a big meal.

Affogato al Caffe

Serves 1

Put a few scoops of best-quality vanilla ice cream (though you could also use chocolate ice cream) in a bowl, sundae dish or cappuccino cup. Pour over a shot of freshly made espresso and serve immediately. You could also add a shot of amaretto or other liqueur to give it a little kick.