Category: Recipe Index

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Roasted Tomato Soup With a Kick!

tomato soup with garlic and chillis

Recipe: Roasted Tomato Soup With a Kick!

I spotted a certain influencer in the UK post her recipe for tomato soup last week that would have fed a pigeon. So when I harvested the last of the tomatoes from our polytunnel I figured I’d show you how soup is really, really simple to make.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients
1.5kg mixed tomatoes (size does not matter)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 – 3 small chillis, chopped
Generous glug of olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Basil to serve

Method
Chop the tomatoes into chunks. If you are using cherry tomatoes just leave them as they are. Turf the lot into a deep dish baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 170 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Until you have the level of char you’re happy with.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before blitzing. Add the basil leaves at the very end.

I see a lot of people recommending you cook or roast fresh basil. It’s a very soft herb. Yes it looks lovely on camera and on baking trays but you will ruin the flavour. Add soft herbs at the end of the cooking process for the best flavour

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Porridge Bars Or Flapjack Bars

porridge oats, golden syrup, and salt

Recipe: Porridge Bars Or Flapjack Bars

Ingredients
• 125g margarine
• 125g soft brown sugar
• 100ml/g golden syrup
• 450g rolled oats (make sure these are gluten free if you are catering for a gluten free diet)
• Pinch of salt

Method
1. Melt the margarine, sugar, and golden syrup together on a low heat until the sugar crystals are dissolved.
2. Pour in the oats and salt, stir until well coated in the mixture.
3. Press into a lined tin firmly (see the notes below about the tin size and resulting texture).
4. Bake in the oven at 180oC for 20 minutes.
5. Once baked, impress the bar lines into the hot mixture (carefully). Cover with a teatowel and allow to cool completely before lifting from the tin and breaking into chunks.

Recipe Notes:
I make these bars super thick so that they are fudgy and chewy rather than crunchy and brittle. Make them in a bigger tray if you prefer your bars crisp.

You might note that I am using Stork rather than butter in this recipe in the video. Making the bars plant based makes them last longer and dairy free – this accommodates certain dietary requirements in my house. By all means, sub out the Stork for butter or Coconut Oil, whichever you prefer!

The same applies for golden syrup. Maple syrup is fine as a substitute, it’s just far more expensive than golden syrup and this recipe is on a budget.

Add in soaked raisins, sunflower seeds or any other topping that you like. This is a basic recipe that you can play around with.

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Warming Beef Stew Recipe!

beef stew with onion, carrot, chickpea, garlic


Serves 6 hungry adults.

Ingredients
• 500g stewing beef
• 100g frozen chopped onions
• 200g frozen chopped carrots
• 100g frozen chopped turnip/swede
• 1 tin drained chickpeas
• 1 tbsp dried garlic
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 150ml beef stock (made from stock cube)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1.5 tsp smoked paprika

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker/crockpot/heavy casserole dish. Stir well so that the herbs and spices coat the meat and vegetables.

If cooking in the slow cooker/crockpot, put the lid on and cook on high for 6 hours.

If cooking in a heavy casserole dish in the oven, add a further 400ml of hot water to the pot. Put the lid on and cook at 160 degrees for 3 hours.

The dish is ready when the meat is tender. Serve with rice or mash. Eat with a spoon.

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Raspberry Bakewell Tart Recipe

Raspberry Bakewell tart with shortcrust pastry and almonds


Serves 10-12 Adults

Ingredients
• 1 roll premade shortcrust pastry
• 125g butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 125g self raising flour
• 125g ground almonds
• 2-3 drops almond flavouring
• 200g raspberry jam
• 125g flaked almonds

Method

1. Preheat the fan oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

2. Line a baking tin with the pastry. Patch up any holes – you can see here that my roll of pastry wasn’t the right shape but that was grand. Prick the pastry, then line with some baking parchment. Pour some baking beans/dried beans/clean coins into the baking parchment. Spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove from the oven and set the tray to one side while you prepare the filling.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until combined, then add the eggs. Beat again. Next add the flour and ground almonds, followed by the almond flavouring. You will be left with a stiff batter.

4. Spoon the raspberry jam into the par-baked pastry case, spread evenly. Gently spoon the cake batter on top, making sure there are no gaps in the tart for the jam to escape.

5. Smooth the top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the flaked almonds on top of the cake batter and gently press the almonds onto the top so that they stick to the batter.

6. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the cake area is cooked through. It should be golden on top and if you use a skewer or a cocktail stick to test, it should come out clean.

7. Remove the tart from the oven and leave it to sit to one side for at least 15 minutes before removing from the tin, slicing, and serving.

8. Enjoy with lashings of tea, maybe some cream on the side.

Recipe Notes:
Yes this freezes so it’s a perfect make in advance tart.
Use whatever jam you prefer.
I only use free range eggs because that’s my preference.
The tin I use here is 30cm x 12cm with a removable base.
If you have a nut allergy you can substitute the 125g of ground almonds for more self raising flour. Do not use the almond flavouring.

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Burger Wheels Recipe

Burger wheels with puff pastry, beef and pepper

Burger Wheels Recipe
Serves: 6-8 people

Ingredients
• 1 roll puff pastry
• 450g mince beef
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried garlic
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 200g grated cheese

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray.

2. Spread out the puff pastry and press the mince beef to an even layer on top. Sprinkle liberally with the cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, and dried garlic.

3. Add the chopped onions as the next layer, then half the grated cheese.

4. Carefully roll the pastry and then slice into circles. Place the circles onto the baking tray.

5. Sprinkle the top with the remaining grated cheese.

6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden on top & the pastry has puffed up.

7. Serve with pickles, mayonnaise, fresh tomatoes and lettuce if you like. Or eat in the hand as you go. This is messy food but it’s very very satisfying!


Recipe Notes:
Don’t use lean meat in this recipe as it needs the cheaper beef with the higher fat content.
I’d probably chop up the gherkins to add to the mixture if I thought my family would eat them.

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Batty Bourbons Recipe

This is a fudgy, chewy biscuit recipe perfect for filling with chocolate buttercream.

Batty Bourbons Recipe
This is a fudgy chewy biscuit recipe which is perfect for filling with chocolate buttercream.
Ingredients
• 300g plain flour
• 100g cocoa powder
• 90g of caster sugar
• 85g of butter at room temperature
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod)
Method
Beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy.
Add the eggs one by one and beat until they are well mixed into the batter.
Add the vanilla extract or seeds from a pod.
Pour the flour and baking powder slowly into the bowl and beat until mixed with the eggs, sugar and butter. Then the cocoa powder
Beat until everything becomes a tight dough.
Cut a large piece of cling film and turn out the dough onto the cling film.
Wrap well and place into the fridge for at least 1 hour before rolling and baking.
At this point you can put the dough into the freezer to keep for up to a month. Just remember to take it out to defrost in the fridge until you are ready to cut it to size and bake.
After at least an hour heat your (fan) oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Dust your worksurface and rolling pin with flour.
Cut as you please with whatever shape cutters you like. I used a variety of different cutters this time.
The amount of time the cookies will take to cook depends on their size. A medium (palm of your hand) sized cookie takes approximately 10 mins. Adjust your cooking time up if they are bigger or thicker, down if they are thinner or smaller.
For the chocolate buttercream – beat together 225g of unsalted butter with 350g of icing sugar and 150g of melted chocolate.


Recipe notes: I made any leftover cookie dough into small balls which I put into a box and froze. I can make instant cookies at short notice now with these offcuts.
Yes, I made far too much buttercream, just as well it freezes perfectly for another day.

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Crispy Oven Chicken



There are a couple of tricks to making the most crispy oven chicken so listen up!

1. You’re going to use your herbs and spices twice. Whatever you choose, use some in the marinade and some in the flour mixture before breading the chicken.
2. Use buttermilk to tenderise your chicken. You will soak your chicken in the buttermilk and herbs/spices mixture for about an hour before cooking.
3. Strain the buttermilk into some beaten eggs when breading the chicken.
4. Use skinless boneless chicken thighs for perfectly moist chicken, rather than chicken breast which can get tough and dry. This is cheaper per kg to buy too!
5. Use Panko breadcrumbs which means you won’t need any oil for this crispy oven chicken.

The herbs & spices I’ve used here are dried coriander, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, white pepper, dried sage, salt, black pepper. By adding to each layer of the cooking process you get a more rounded result and you’ll use less salt overall. Which is always a good thing.

Cook in the fan oven at 190 degrees for 25 minutes. Yes, you can also cook this chicken in the air fryer. Cook at 180 degrees for 17 minutes, check with a temperature probe to make sure it’s cooked through and safe. Remember, 75 degrees to stay alive!

I got my Panko breadcrumbs at the Asian Supermarket in Ballymount a few weeks ago. I make the trip about once a month to stock up on ingredients. Always a happy customer, but you can also shop from them online

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Chocolate & Caramel Banana Bread (Cake)

banana bread with vanilla extract and chocolate chips

This is a decadant recipe that is incredibly moreish!

Ingredients
* 150g butter.
* 150g muscavado or soft brown sugar.
* 3 large eggs.
* 3 ripe bananas.
* 200g plain flour.
* 150g wholemeal flour.
* 1 teaspoon baking powder.
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
* 100g chocolate chips.
* 30g brown sugar for the crisp caramel topping.

Method.
Line a loaf tin and preheat a fan oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Cream the butter and sugar together until soft, then crack in the three eggs and beat into a batter. Next, beat in the soft bananas.
In a separate bowl, combine the plain flour, wholemeal flour, and the baking powder. Then add into the batter in the mixing bowl until combined.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the chocolate chips. Spoon the mixture into your lined loaf tin. Then sprinkle a line of the brown sugar down the centre of the loaf tin for the caramel topping.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, until cooked through. Use the skewer test to make sure your cake is baked. If it has some batter still stuck to it, increase your baking time by a further 10 minutes before testing again.
Wait until the cake is fully cool before slicing and enjoying. Otherwise it’ll crumble and while it tastes delicious it won’t slice as well!

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Jam Tarts

This is not a complicated recipe but more of a reminder that jam tarts are incredibly easy to make at home plus taste so much nicer than shop bought.


Use a roll of ready-made pastry. Cut into rounds, ease the rounds in a muffin tin that has been greased and lined with a generous amount of flour. Press into a cup shape. Use empty muffin cases to hold dried beans inside of the cups of pastry. Bake in the oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 15 – 20 minutes until crisp and light.


Remove the beans and muffin cases, set to one side. Fill the baked cases halfway with jam or even nutella. Return the muffin tin to the oven for a further 5-7 minutes until the filling has warmed through. Remove the tray from the oven and use the bake of a spoon or spatula to spread out the filling evenly. Leave to cool to room temperature before enjoying

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Honey Buns Recipe

Makes 18 Buns or 12 Muffins

Ingredients

140g self-raising flour
80g wholemeal flour
40g oats
150ml milk
100ml runny honey
75ml sunflower oil
3 medium eggs (or 4 small eggs)
2 ripe bananas

Method
Preheat a fan oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with bun cases.

In a large bowl combine the self-raising and wholemeal flour, along with the oats then stir. Take a second bowl and combine the milk, honey, sunflower oil, and eggs. Stir with a fork so that they are combined before pouring into the first bowl with the dry ingredients.

Whisk so that the wet ingredients are mixed with the dry ingredients. Once you have a batter, break in the 2 ripe bananas and stir. Spoon the mixture into the bun cases. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes and allow to cool before serving.