Gimme The Recipe – You came for the food now stay for the romance!

With ‘vent’ being the French for wind and ‘vol’ the French for flight, this pastry is made so light it could potentially fly away in a little puff of wind. If you have a lot of time and patience on your hands then be my guest and make your own. If you are of my ilk you are not here for a time consuming lesson in pastry making. You are here because you know I will give you a simple but very tasty take on a classic.

Chicken and leek make for natural bedfellows, resting very comfortably together between the puff pastry sheets. The chicken will be tender with the littlest of bites to it, the leek will yield a silky mouthfeel and it is the thyme that will bring the couple to life.

Butter my friends though is the secret, real Irish butter. Butter in your pastry and butter in your pan. Be fussy when you buy your pastry, you shall not be buying pastry made with oil, you deserve better than that, you want all-butter puff pastry. If your shop does not stock it put in a request. If you don’t ask you won’t get and supermarkets do actually listen to their customers.

I do not buy vol-au-vent cases and I do not shape the pastry in circles. Instead I cut a puff pastry sheet into squares or rectangles to desired size, let them puff up in a hot oven and then cut them in two for filling.

TIPS:
1. Have the oven good and hot and pre-heat the baking tray, I use a sheet of parchment paper in the base of the tray so that the pastry does not stick.
2. I recommend that you give full attention to the chicken mixture and cook that first and then let it on a very low heat while you then cook the pastry, bringing the chicken back to full heat just before serving.
3. For entertaining – you can make your cooked chicken filling mixture the day before you need it – store when cooled in refrigerator and heat up gently when needed adding more milk to loosen it up.
4. For more photos of the ingredients I used and some of the cooking process see the end of this post.

Creamy Chicken & Leek vol-au-vents
You will need (serves 4):
1 pack all-butter puff pastry (defrosted if frozen)
Flour for rolling it out
3 medium leeks
4 chicken breasts
Butter and a little olive oil for frying (stops the butter burning)
2 tsp dried Thyme
2 tbsp flour
500ml milk
Fresh parsley to garnish (optional).

Method for chicken:
Prepare the leeks – cutting off and discarding both ends, slice in two lengthways, rinse under cold water
Slice the halved leeks thinly (see photo for size)
Drizzle a little oil in the base of a large frying pan on a medium heat on the hob, add a large chunk of butter (approx 2 tbsp) and let this melt.
Add the leeks to the heated oil and butter, stir well, leave to soften for approx 15 minutes, have the heat on a low to medium, (do not brown them)
While the leeks are cooking cut the chicken breasts into bite size pieces.
Pre-heat the baking tray at 210^oC (fan oven)
Once the leeks have softened (15 mins), push the leeks to the side of the pan and add the chicken to the centre, turning the heat up to start to cook all sides of the chicken pieces, add a little oil if needed, do not brown the chicken, takes approx 5 minutes, tossing it as it cooks lightly on all sides.
Next sprinkle in 2 tsp thyme, on the semi cooked chicken followed by two tablespoons of flour in the centre.
Stirring the thyme and flour through the chicken pieces for a few minutes to disperse it you are now cooking the flour for the base of the sauce.
After a few minutes begin to pour a little milk into the centre of the pan, stir this through the floured chicken pieces, add some more milk a little at a time, then stirring everything together to combine the chicken, leeks and sauce. Lower the heat and leave on low while you cook the pastry.
Method for Pastry:
Roll out the pastry sheet on a floured worktop or board
Cut the pastry into squares e.g. 6 large
Place the pastry onto the lined (parchment paper) preheated baking tray and cook in the hot oven on a high heat for approx 10 minutes, it should begin to puff up and brown, then lower the heat to 200^oC (ovens vary so if the pastry has coloured too much put the heat lower so that the centre will now continue to cook without over cooking the outside), cook for approx 10 minutes more (go by pack instructions).
Once the pastry is cooked, cut each puffed up parcel across the middle to create a base and a lid
Fill each parcel with the warmed up chicken & leek mixture and serve with a garnish of fresh parsley (optional).
Voila, vol-au-vent. Enjoy!
x Sheila

..some pics….

Good on day one, better on day two and unctuous on day three – that’s beef stew. Like all of us and good wine it gets better with age.

The last time I ambitiously put a ‘bouquet garni’ together (it has to mean pleasant smelling garnish or something close to that) I entwined together some sprigs of herbs and bay leaves. Nice and cheffy but that leaves you with surplus sprigs and a container of bay leaves that in all probability will never truly find love. My latest find is a container of what looks like several teabags labelled as ‘bouquet garni’ , nice and handy, that will do nicely thank you very much.

Beef & Guinness Stew

(An extra large frying pan or hob proof large casserole pot is best for the first stage, I like to transfer to a large tagine for the oven stage)

You will need:

2 tbsp any cooking oil you like

1 kg stewing beef pieces

2 fat onions

4 chubby cloves

1 tbsp dried thyme

4 tbsp tomato puree

2 heaped tbsp flour

1 tin whole peeled plum tomatoes

1 500ml can Guinness

1kg carrots chopped

Bouquet Garni

Method :

Preheat the fan oven to 140C

Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the beef (do in batches if pan not big enough)

While beef browns chop your onion – whatever way you like it

Set the beef aside

Soften the onion in the pan for 5 minutes

Add the chopped garlic, thyme and tomato purée , stir well to coat the onions

Add back in the meat , sprinkle the flour over the top and stir well to cook the flour for a few minutes

Add the tinned tomatoes and the Guinness , raise the heat , stirring to combine everything until there is a gentle bubble of heat

Add chopped carrots

If you have a tagine transfer the stew to that and then place in the oven

Cook on 150C fan oven for one hour

Reduce to 140C and cook for further two hours at least

Great with any type of potatoes but particularly comforting with buttery mashed potatoes. (remove the bouquet garni!)

Enjoy!

(Tastes even better reheated on Day 2+)

x Sheila

There’s always one.

The summer of 2026 in Ireland was incredible. Heat, heat more heat and in the end an expectancy that this was it for real, we were at last having a great summer. Heat naturally means outdoor dining, long evenings and barbecues at every opportunity. Which in turn of course means salad.

So ladies & gentlemen of the summer of ’26 I give you the winner. THAT Salad. Credit goes firstly to me for switching the radio to Claire Byrne on Newstalk with perfect timing and hitting the food slot and then of course to the Chef Brian McDermott for sharing the recipe over the airwaves.

When I am inevitably asked for this recipe I say the key thing to remember is that there are 5 ingredients – and then you rack your brain to remember what they are, but they will come eventually. You will remember the Butter Beans first because they are an unusual enough feature in a salad (in Eire anyway) and they take this dish to more of a mains than salad territory with their substantiveness. Next you will remember the Coriander with it’s unmistakable fragrance & next level freshness (if it tastes like soap to you I am truly sorry for you, but also leave now – today is not your recipe day.) What else was there? Red Onion, Juicy Ripe Cherry Tomatoes & finally the juice of a Lemon.

Optional (my preference): I highly recommend to begin your salad prep with the red onion : slice it thinly, put it aside in a bowl dousing it generously with Red Wine Vinegar, and let it wait until it is called up for duty after all the other prep is done. This processing will render the onion a little softer in texture, and you will remove it from the vinegar when you add it in. Something else I did like to do on our particularly warm days was to store my can of butter beans in the fridge for the day and rinse them with really cold water when prepping the salad for a little welcome Chill – a step not necessary of course in the Autumn months. This salad is coming with me into cosy season. Simple to prep, so tasty and good for you.

I like the tomato presence to out-balance the quantity of butter beans so I generally use approximately 2 punnets of tomatoes.

Essential:
Your tomatoes must be bright red, plump, juicy and slightly softening. There is a very fine line when choosing tomatoes – steer clear of the watery ones. Make sure they are ripe, ripe, ripe and flavoursome.

You will need:
Tin of Butter Beans (chilled optional)
Bunch of Coriander
Cherry tomatoes, 2 punnets
1 Red onion (pickled optional)
1 Lemon
(optional Red Wine Vinegar if pickling your onions yourself)
Salt & a little olive oil (my add on)

Method:
If you are me you will begin by peeling and cutting your red onion in half, slice it thinly, then place it into a bowl with red wine vinegar – to use at the end of prep.
Into a beautiful salad bowl you will add drained butter beans.
Next up, rinse and cut your tomatoes to just the right size for a small bite (so maybe halved or quartered, you judge).
Your lush bunch of fresh coriander is to be rinsed and chopped finely, using the stalks, (lots of flavour in the stalks and they bother no-one if chopped finely)
Your bowl will now be filled with butter beans, tomatoes and coriander. Add in your red onion thinly sliced (if you skipped the pickling step) and if you did pickle it at the start now is the time to just add the onion (without the vinegar)
Lastly, you will juice the lemon and combine everything together.
Tomatoes need salt in my opinion so I do recommend a good seasoning and also a little splash of olive oil just to loosen things up a little bit.

Enjoy!

p.s. the Bonus – the present the foodie in your life will love you for. Let me say firstly I am not here to promote anyone else’s wares so I shall not be linking to where to buy this from, I’m sure a quick search will find one for you. I bought mine in a mixed hardware store and if you want to know exactly where do message me via insta.

What you are looking for is a ‘Herb Cutter Rocker with Board‘ , be warned the blades are sharp so handle with care. They make chopping herbs an absolute breeze.

x Sheila

As I stroll the country laneways of West Cork I cannot help but notice the prevalence of the colour purple in the flora of our Irish hedgerows. I stroll in freedom.  The summer is a time when work quietens down and I chose to sit close to the sea as much as possible.  It is tranquil and peaceful.

Yet every day I am reminded of my brothers and sisters worldwide who do not have this freedom, this peace.

I think of those who are helping and I wonder what I can do.  I do not want to shout into the void.

I have gathered 7 Irish wildflowers and 7 Irish recipes. I give these to you with dochás – hope.

I hope that you will join me in supporting those who are putting their lives on the line, worldwide but particularly in Gaza. I have included a link to MSF but of course donate to whoever is your preferred aid provider.

Can you please give 7 euro or whatever your want.

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine – literally translates as people live in each others shadows, meaning that it is in the shelter of each other that we survive.

Please Note – in order that all of your money can go directly to Médecins Sans Frontieres – Doctors without Borders – I am providing ‘Seven Wildflowers’ in pdf file format, this should open on your device and you can read on any pdf reader or add to kindle (the kindle app is free).

Click here to go straight to Download ‘Seven Wildflowers’

You can donate from the link on the first page or from this link

Click here to donate to Doctors without Borders (MSF)

x Sheila