Spinach and Chorizo lentil stew

Lentils are amazing। Simple as!!! They go with anything and are so cheap yet so filling!!
dI really need to get a new camera with a special food option, my camera can never make my food look sexy....but it is :)
Anyways, I spent nearly all of my year in Italy munching on lentils, a friend of mine on Erasmus introduced me a recipe that her Chilean mum always cooked at home, I made a few variations to it and came up with this.....

1 large cup red lentils
Handful spinach leaves
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
2 Chorizo sausage
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Oregano, Basil, Salt, Pepper
Stock cube

• Boil the cup of lentils in two cups of water and stock

• Cut chorizo into small pieces and fry in a little oil, add the chopped onions and garlic. When the onions are cooked and have absorbed the juices from the chorizo, add the tin of tomatoes. Add in all the herbs.

• Simmer for a few minutes and then add to the lentils, which should have absorbed all the water by now. Add a handful of spinach leaves towards the end.
• 
  
• Allow it to simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.

• The flavours are quite strong so don't over do it on the portions.

• Garnish with some Parmigiano Reggiano.
  

La Pizza Verace.....

The first time I ever tried this pizza was on a trip to Naples at the end of my year long stint in Italy last year, it was the ultimate location to finish an absolutely amazing adventure!!
Almost every evening, after trekking all around Vesuvius, Pompeii and La Costiera Amalfitana, we would visit the second oldest pizzeria in Naples, the pizza comes only in one size.....60 cm...i think, could have been inches, but I'm terrible with measurements :p anyway I took the idea and mixed a simple pizza base recipe and topped it off with some juicy ingredients.

The mozzarella di bufala is quite watery and stringy and adds a lot of moisture to the base, it's taste and aroma is also quite distinct from normal mozzarella, it's the traditional cheese from the region of campania in Southern Italy, an amazing place to visit if you are ever in doubt of where to go in Italy....I could talk for hours about it, it's truly spectacular!!



The traditional recipe uses buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil leaves,
This recipe is enough for one pizza but whilst it's cooking you can be making another one ;) it's perfect for a night in with a few friends....
so all you will need is:

4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved
Buffalo Mozzarella
Mozzarella
Basil Leaves
Red Onion
Oregano


200 g Self raising flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
125 ml milk/water
50 g Margarine


Heat the oven to 200 degrees

• Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder into a mixing bowl

• Rub the margarine in with your fingers

• Add the liquid to turn in to a stiff dough

• Roll the dough out on a floured surface

• Grease a pizza tin and stretch out to the sides

• Top with halved cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and buffalo mozzarella, red onions and basil leaves, coat with some oregano, salt and garlic salt.
  

and simply bang in the oven for 20 minutes(fan assisted oven)

As it was my first time ever making pizza, I wasn't too sure about how much flavour and ingredients I would need, making it again, I would definitely add more cheese and herbs and salt....guaranteed perfection :)

Falafel

About 6 years ago, my eldest sister came home with a packet of falafel for me....I hoovered it up and I've been addicted to it ever since. I gave up meat for 3 years and found that falafel was a great alternative, it's really tasty, easy to make and very substantial and full of protein!!!
The recipe I've used here is for one person, well a very hungry person, it makes about 4 falafel patties and they're very easily eaten by one mouth!!!
If you want, you can just double the portions to make it for 2 or 3 people

225 g can chick peas
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon parsley
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion
pepper

To serve:
Pitta bread
Hummus
Salsa
Lettuce
Red Onion

• Heat a pan with oil, about 1-2 inches
  
  Mash up the chick peas to create a nice texture and then blend up the rest of the ingredients I uuse a soup blender, works a charm and a fork but if you have a food processor, it makes it so much easier!!

• Form the mixture into either patties or round shaped balls, I prefer patties :) they fit nicer in to a pitta. Cover the falafel in some flour and/wheat bran.

• Fry in lots of oil until brown on either side and serve in a warm pitta bread, smoothered in hummus and a little salsa and lemon juice for that extra kick and some lettuce.
  

Easy Peasy!!

Frosted Lemon Cake

Melt in your mouth cakey goodness!!! I used the basic Madeira mixture for this one too, it's so easy to make, it's unbelievable. After a week in Sligo, I'm totally hooked on baking!!!

ALl you need is:

150 g Self Raising Flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100 g Caster Sugar
100 g Margarine
2 free range eggs
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
Teaspoon natural vanilla essence
Icing
115 g Icing Sugar
Juice of half a lemon

• Grease a cake tin

• Cream the margarine and sugar together

• Gradually add in the two beaten eggs, stirring after each addition

• (if curding occurs, add in a little flour)

• Stir in the zest of one lemon

• Sieve in the flour and baking powder

• Add in the juice of one lemon

• Fold the mixture into itself, ensure it is evenly mixed through

• At the end, I added a little extra sugar, about 2 teaspoons, just to make sure it didn't go bitter with all the lemon!!

• Pour into greased cake tin....I used cooking spray to grease the tin and also it's not really a tin, it's the rubber baking "tin" thingy from Dunnes, I love it!!!

• Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 35 minutes 

• To make the icing

• sift the icing sugar and add in the juice of half a lemon, slowly add in the juice until you get a nice thicky yet drizzly consistency

• Garnish with some lemon zest 

• Sit back, relax and enjoy it with a cup of green tea :)
  

Quesadillas!!!!

MMMMM.....just the thought of cheesesy fried tortillas get your taste buds going!!! I love this recipe and stumbled across it a few years ago when I spent some time in the South of Spain in Jerez, a beautiful city riddled with architecture inspired by the muslim invasions....anyways enough of my daydreaming!!! here is the yummy recipe I rustled up earlier

tortillas
Cheddar
olive oil 

black pepper

choice of fillings:
red onions
peppers
avocados
chicken
salsa

or really anything that tickles your fancy!!

 

·         Heat the pan and cover evenly with oi

·         Add a tortilla and flip every 10 seconds

·         When air pockets form, add the grated cheddar and some black pepper and salsa

·         Add your filling of choice and then slowly fold over the tortilla to form a moon shape

·         Flip a few more times to ensure cheese has melted and all the fillings have cooked a little bit

¡que aproveche!

great with a few spicy wedges or some tossed salad ;)

Banana and Walnut Wholemeal Brown Bread

This was just an experiment.....it was definitely not as good as yesterdays cake extraordinaire!!! but after letting it settle for a couple of hours, it was quite impressive. I wanted to combine the really great nutritive value and goodness of wholemeal bread with the beneficial oils from walnuts(good for your brain) and the yumminess of bananas...and this is what happened:
again, with the measurements, I used a pint glass to measure the flours, both rye and wholemeal and as well, I just added the buttermilk until the right consistency appeared.



1 pint of wholemeal flour
1 pint of rye flour
teaspoon of bread soda
5-6 bananas
handful of walnuts
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
olive oil

 

·         Follow directions 1-4 of Wholemeal bread with treacle

·         Mash the bananas and then add the walnuts

      Add this mixture to the flour 

      ·         Add two tablespoons of Greek yogurt to the buttermilk and then slowly add the                              buttermilk, a little at a time, stirring it in after each addition

• When it reaches the right consistency, a little sticky, it's ready to put into the oiled bread tins.

• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 200 degrees

Wholemeal Bread with treacle

Mum showed me how to make this morning, it's really yummy and so easy to make. I've always been afraid of bread making, although, after trying it, it's probably the easiest thing to master!
as long as I've been watching mum and my relations cook, it's always been a spoonful of this and a handful of that. so, writing down measurements for this was not easy but she gave me a good pointer: if you fill a pint glass with wholemeal flour and another with rye flour or white flour depending on how rich you want the bread.
make sure butter milk is at room temperature, best thing is to leave it out over night.

Pint full of Wholemeal Course flour
Pint full of rye flour
2 tablespooons treacle
Butter milk
olive oil


Heat oven at 200 degrees and oil two bread tins

Sieve the two pints of flour into a mixing bowl.

Add a teaspoon of bread soda to the mixing bowl.

Add two tablespoons of treacle to the butter milk, allow it to reach room temperature to ensure the treacle has melted throughout the milk

Very slowly add the buttermilk to the flour mixture a little at a time, after each addition, mix with a wooden spoon

When the mixture becomes sticky, not runny or dry, it is ready to add to the bread tins.

Smooth out the mixture in the tins with a spoon dipped in cold water



Bake in a well heated oven at 200 degrees for 40 minutes,




*DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN* the bread will sink.

Banana and Greek Yogurt Sweet Bread

Ever since I can remember my mum has been making banana bread for us, we would always gobble up a few slices of it after school and the smell of it still drives my taste buds a bit loopy!! I'm home in lovely Sligo for a couple of days and last night myself and mum put our thinking caps on and after several ideas I decided this recipe was my favourite, I basically just looked at what we had in teh fridge and out a few things together. I've used a basic Madeira cake recipe for guaranteed sweetness.



100g Castor Sugar
150g Self Raising Flour
2 eggs
100g margarine
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 dessert spoons of Greek yogurt
handful of sliced almonds


preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius(fan assisted) and grease a cake tin

cream the margarine and sugar until smooth

add in the egg a little at a time, stir after each addition to avoid curdling, add a little flour if curdling happens

sieve in flour and baking powder

mix it all together until smooth, no lumps!

squash the 2 bananas with a fork and add into the mixing bowl, add 2 dessert spoons of grrek yogurt and some sliced almonds

mix it all up together and add to the greased cake tin

place in centre of the oven at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes

avoid opening the oven as it will prevent the cake from rising

put the kettle on and enjoy!!

Cheesy Omelette/Tortilla

I was away at the weekend at the Irish Windsurfing Inter varsities in Achill, unfortunately we(UCD) didn't win anything bar the best fancy dress....Phil in a French Maids outfit, our off the water activities were definitely memorable!! on Sunday, after all the random locals had gobbled all of the food in our house, I rustled up a rather naughty cheesy omelette!!
It was a great cure for my 'last day of the inter varsities blues' :(

I've used mozzarella and cheddar with this before, but really it depends on whatever tickles your fancy!! use just enough to avoid over powering all the flavours with the cheese but yet give it that extra kick!!

All you need (for one person) is:

2 free range/organic eggs
1/2 medium onion, diced
6 baby potatoes, sliced
teaspoon of butter
pepper
garlic salt
parsly flakes
the cheese of your choice

Heat the butter in a frying pan whilst chopping the potatoes in to slices.

Add potatoes to the pan and fry until golden brown

Add the diced onion and all the herbs

Whisk up the two eggs in a small bowl and add a dash of water to thicken it up a bit, chop up pieces of cheddar and add this and some pepper to the egg.

Make sure the potato and onion mixture is spread out evenly through the pan and then add the egg&cheese mixture to the pan. Throw on some more cracked pepper :)

Let this fry for a few minutes and then place under a heated grill,leaving the handle sticking out. The cheese will absorb the pepper and will melt and be DELICIOUS!!!

perfect for a lazy Sunday :)

Spicy Roast Baby Potatoes

Nobody can resist a good spud....so I thought I'd throw a few spices and herbs together to create either a snack during the day or an accompaniment for a main meal, they're absolutely gorgeous and go really well with either salsa or mayonnaise...or both!!!
I find Dunnes Stores Exquisa new potatoes are nice for this recipe!



1 bag of new potatoes potatoes,
Rosemary
Cumin
Coriander
Cracked Black Pepper
Garlic/Salt
Parsley flakes
Lemon/Juice


Heat a roasting tray in the oven with some Olive oil

Parboil the potatoes

Mix together all of the herbs, keep the lemon juice and basil leaf for garnish

Add a layer of herbs to the bottom of the roasting tray, then add the potatoes to the tray and cover the potatoes with the rest of the spice mixture

Place in the centre of the oven, fan assisted for about 15 minutes.

Place in a bowl adn garnish with a drop of lemon juice and basil.

Ginger and Lemon Prawn salad

I love this recipe because it's so easy and takes no time to make, it's great in the evenings after yoga as it is so light yet so full of flavour. Your taste buds won't stop tingling!! I used to refuse eating prawns until my sister, Denise convinced me that I had to try them.



100g Prawns
1/4 head of Iceberg/Cos lettuce
2 scallions
Cucumber
Cracked Black Pepper
Half a carrot, grated
Juice of half a lemon
Ginger(peeled and diced)
1/2 teaspoon Olive Oil

Add the oil to a frying pan and heat.

Add in the prawns, ginger, cracked black pepper and lemon juice, make sure there is a lot of juice.

Simmer this mixture until the prawns have absorbed all of the juices.

Chop up some lettuce, cucumber, scallions, grated carrot and add into a salad bowl

When the prawns are ready, add them to the salad and mix up together.

Enjoy!!!