Food Bites and other stuff

No recipe post until later this week so I thought I'd tell you all about some food related its and pieces to keep you going until then. The picture above is one I took across Galway bay to the Aran Islands a few weeks ago when we were down there for the bank holiday weekend, this is one of the most beautiful views in the world to be and when we drive along the coast road from Ballyvaughan to Fanore it's like my heart has come home!!!!

Firstly I have to rave about a fantastic kitchen accessory site I came across last year, Kitchen Dresser, this is a fantastic site with lovely bits and pieces for the kitchen and I check it regularly to see if they have new stock.


I recently bought these lovely plates, bowls and a jug from them that you can see in the picture above that are so cute and pretty and have a lovely vintage look to them. I also have to compliment them on their outstanding customer service, when my order arrived a plate in the set of 4 I had bought was broken, I mailed them and received not 1 but 2 mails back telling me I would get a new plate and it arrived the very next day. I am seriously impressed with Kitchen Dresser and will definitely shop there again, the postage is only €8 to anywhere in Ireland aswell so no excuse to get some lovely bits for your kitchens laydees.

My second piece of "news" is that tonight I had this for my dinner, bruschetta ai funghi. Lorraine is always encouraging me to get back into mushrooms, I have a slight aversion to them due to a traumatic experience in Biology class when I was doing my leaving cert that involved an hour long video of the most terrifying mushrooms and toadstools actually detaching from the ground and moving!!!!!!! HORRENDOUS!!! This was a gorgeous recipe and I added a tsp of cream and some fresh thyme to it, I can't recommend it enough and actually mailed Lorraine to say how gorgeous this was.


Another food related piece of news that I am sure most of you know about was the release of Kieran and Seans fantastic Book of Sweet Things that came out at the beginning of May and a fantastic book it is too. I made rum and raisin ice cream, it being my favourite flavour, and it was SSSSSOOOOO good!! And Fairycakeheaven got a mention in the book which I am well chuffed about.


I have to tell about another book I got recently too - Ursula Ferriogno's Complete Italian Cookery Course, I got this for all of €6 in TK Maxx and it's one of the best purchases I have ever made there, I've used this loads and because of the wonderful pictures I have made a few risottos and have even graduated to making them with whatever I have and not just using the recipes which I am very proud of indeed. This is a must have book for anyone into Italian cooking and I even prefer it to Jamie's Italy and Giorgio Locatelli's Made in Italy: Food and Other Stories which have until now been my go to Italian books after Lorraine of course.

I am sure there are other things that I have meant to tell you over the last few weeks, I bought Carrageen moss at the weekend so I'll be making Carrageen Panna Cotta or Souffle over the next few weeks, the recipe will be from a book my grandmother owned and is a very treasured possession.

On a non food related bit, this is my favourite song at the moment, I am loving Duffy andI think her album is fantastic, she's very reminiscent of Dusty Springfield I think and very soulful without being depressing too. Let me know what you think.


Also, check out Desserts Magazine, an online magazine with great recipes and submissions from bloggers I read all the time, Helen's macaron tutorial is also invaluable for anyone who wants to make macarons for the firt time or who just needs a few tips in making them, I still haven't gotten around to making some but as this weekend coming is a bank holiday I'm hoping to give them a whirl so keep your fingers crossed for me.

And on that note I'll sign off for the night, I need my daily dose of scandal from Perez Hilton. Ciao laydees (and any gents but I don't think there are any apart from Niall) Rachx

SHF #43 - Citrus - Pomelo and Lime Curd with Orange Curd, Orange Mousse and Lemon Lavender Butterfly Tuiles

All I have to say about this is YUM!!! There was no way I was passing up a chance to take on the citrus challenge of the year!!! Tartelette a.k.a Heléne is hosting this round of Sugar High Friday and it's a doosie, what could be better than citrus (apart from almond and cardamom) but really this is wonderful as I got a chance to really let my creative juices flow!

For my creation I took inspiration from various areas, my pomelo and lime curd is from the Elle's New England Kitchen who got it from the New York Times and I found it on Tastespotting, so a round about way of getting there, the mousse is from Bill Granger's book Bills Food but with the lemon mousse changed to orange, the orange curd is is made the same way as the pomelo and lime one and tuiles are a recipe I have printed out and have no notion where it's from but I've tinkered with it a bit and used Chocolate Gourmand's method. Phew, there a lot of people who are responsible for me putting this together and thanks to all of them for their continuing inspiration and endless knowledge.

So as this is shaping up to be a long post I'll try to cut the chat to a minimum, so here's the recipes

Pomelo and Lime Curd/Orange curd:

1 pomelo
1 lime
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
125g sugar
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp butter at room temp

I washed my pomelo and lime as I couldn't get organic non-waxed ones. Grate zest from the pomelo and the lime and set aside.
Squeeze juice from both fruit into a sieve set over a bowl.
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, whole eggs, sugar and salt. Whisk in the strained juice.
Transfer to a saucepan over a low heat and stir continuously until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, approx. 10-15 mins.
Add the zest and transfer to a sterilised jar or bowl, cover and cool.
I transferred mine to martini glasses and the rest to a jar.

For the orange curd I used the juice of 3 oranges and the zest of 2.


Once the pomelo and lime curd was set, I followed the same method and spooned a layer of orange curd on top.

Orange Mousse:

zest of 3 oranges
60 ml orange juice
185g caster sugar
4 eggs seperated
150g butter, cut into shunks

Put the orange zest, juice, sugar and egg yolks in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly, for approx. 10 mins until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (this is another curd method that I've used before but it takes way longer to thicken).
Whisk in small ammounts of butter until it is all incorporated.
Allow to cool.
Whisk the egg whites together in a mixer until stiff peaks form.
Fold half of the egg whites into the orange mixture with a metal spoon and then fold in the second half.
Spoon the mixture over the curds and refrigerate until firm.

For the tuiles:

40g butter
50g icing sugar
60g plain flour
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp lavender syrup (I've been dying to use this since I bought it from Avoca, it's also available at www.foodhallonline.com)

Preheat the oven to Gas 6/200.
Place a flat tray in teh oven to heat with a non-stick sheet on it, I used a silicone baking sheet but I am sure well buttered parchment would do aswell as long as you butter again between batches or change the parchment for each set of new tuiles.

Cream the butter, sugar, flour, zest and lavender syrup together until it's light and fluffy. Add the flour slowly until just mixed in.
Heat a large serving spoon of the mixture in a bowl in the microwave for about 8 seconds so you achieve a pouring consistency.
Place a tablespoon of the dough on the heated baking sheet and spread out gently until the tuile looks quite thin.
Place in the oven and bake for 4-6 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cut into shaped or roll around the handle of a wooden spoon to make curls.

Feel free to cook your tuiles for longer but I like mine pale and chewy as opposed to darker and crispier. Serve with physallis and preferably after a bbq with friends!


This was a gorgeous recipe and one of the first I've used many inspirations and spent time on making notes etc. I really enjoyed making this as it's the first curd I've made that set up properly. You can't really see the layers in the photos but the mousse and orange curd were u gasp after the sweetness of the mousse and the first curd layer. I'm still eating the pomelo and lime curd on toast and trying to make it last as long as possible but the orange one is long gone as the husbag was eating spoons of it!!!!

I'm back with blueberries

Hey all, am back from 2 weeks of being lazy and not doing very much cooking. Thanks so much for your concern in wondering had I fallen off the face of the earth, unfortunately not, but I was away last weekend in the lovely county of Clare hence the no posting but I didn't make am amazing fennel, parsnip and potato gratin that I will post about when I make it again but suffice to say it was divine and of my own creation aswell (go me).

There was a wonderful trip to the Milk Market in Limerick where I met the wonderful Maz from Style Treaty along with her boyfriend and parents and had a flying visit from Laura from EatDrinkLive and her gorgeous little girl. A foray into Cafe Noir which was lovely, fantastic coffee and fantastic cakes, what more could a girl and her wonderful cousin Cait want (Hi Cait and thanks to you for putting us up - Again!).

There were some lovely individual sponge cakes made with duck eggs I got in the market but these didn't get photographed either, very lazy of me I know but himself was eating them in 2 bites so I didn't have much chance!

So this is my return post, it's a kick back to a few months ago and the wholemeal pikelets which were lovely if I do say so myself. I bought some fresh blueberries in Tesco on Friday night reduced to a mere 93 cents a punnet so of course I couldn't help myself and bought 2 even though I should have gotten more and frozen them but my head wasn't working as efficently as it should have been after a week at work and I'll have to make so with what I got, both are now gone as I can't get enough of fresh blueberries at the moment - I think I'm addicted but am hoping over eating doesn't make any parts of my purple!!!


So picture this if you will it's Sunday morning, the sun is shining again but for how long so I decided a summery breakfast was in order and not having any buttermilk for buttermilk pancakes and not being in the mood to seperate eggs and whip egg whites I decided to make these as they are a very easy to make and the batter is quite thick but they're lovely and light when they're cooked.

I made a couple of changes and used a duck egg instead of my normal organic egg as I had 2 to use up, the last egg went into something else I'll post about soon, when I had the batter in the frying pan I popped a couple of blueberries on the top so when the pikelet was turned over they cooked into the batter and were divine, also I served these with a pomelo and lime curd (I finally made a curd that set up properly) I made on Saturday morning as pomelo's were reduced to an even more bargaintastic 35 cents in Tesco and the recipe for this will follow later on today as part of my entry for the Sugar High Friday blogging event.

So sit back, enjoy the sunshine, and have a leisurely breakfast, can't be wasting this sun now can we........................

Hay Hay it's Donna Day #19 - The Clafoutis Edition Event - Caramelised Apple Clafoutis at that!!!!

So every time Hay Hay it's Donna Day is on I look at the event on Is My Blog Burning, think oooooo yes I'll definitely do that and then never get around to it!!! This month I was determined to do it cos I LOVE CLAFOUTIS!!!! or anything with a batter/cake like consistency, am easily pleased when it comes to desserts.

I have amalgamated 2 recipes, the batter mix from Donna Hay as posted on Bron Marshalls blog (and the lovely Bron is also this HHDD's host) with a couple of moderations and an idea from a Bill Granger recipe for a puffed apple pancake so this is a Caramelised Apple Clafoutis and let me tell you - 'tis divine!!!

So for the batter you'll need:

200ml milk (I used low fat but whatever milk you prefer)
100ml cream (this is to make up 300ml in total but Bron's original recipe used 300ml full fat milk)
4oz caster sugar (In the original recipe 4 tbsp sugar is kept back to sprinkle over the fruit before the batter is poured on but I just didn't use this as there's brown sugar on the apples)
1tsp vanilla extract
I used 1 large, 1 medium and an egg white I had left over from the Daring Bakers challenge but the original recipe uses 3 free range eggs
pinch of salt
8oz plain flour

Mix all the batter ingredients together using a whisk or in a mixer/processor. Heat the oven to 190/Gas 5.


For the caramelised apples you'll need:

50g butter
4 tart apples, (I used Braeburns but Granny Smith's would be lovely too) cored, peeled and cut into eights (or smaller if you apples are very big)
3tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put whatever dish you're using in the oven to heat it.
Melt the butter in a pan and add the apples.
Cook on a medium heat for about 5 mins
Sprinkle over the sugar and add the lime juice and vanilla extract and cook until the sugar is melted and caramelised.
Take the dish out of the oven and put the apples and caramel in the bottom.
Pour over the batter and put the dish in the oven and cook for 35-40 mins until browned and puffed up.



Seriously this dessert has taken over from Bread and Butter pudding as my favourite dessert, it's cakey and battery and there's a lovely hint of lime off it along with the creaminess of the batter and the apples are lovely and tart. I served with unwhipped cream poured over in my new GIANT cups I got for my birthday from my wonderful auntie T!!! DIVINE!!!! We also had the wonderful cannelloni that Lorraine blogged about this week, twas also gorgeous and the husbag ate half a dish of it!!!!