How to make Basil Pesto

Posted on July 1, 2020 by sheila kiely

Home-made Basil Pesto.

The Italians know what they’re at when it comes to food. They keep it simple and tasty. Fresh crusty bread, some mozzarella, juicy ripe tomatoes generously drizzled with fresh basil pesto. Incredible. A recipe that needs few words my one recommendation is that you use a food processor with a small bowl or a mini-chopper to combine the ingredients.

Ingredients for 350 ml of pesto
50g pine nuts
Large bunch of fresh basil leaves (25g)
50g Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves
200ml olive oil

Method:
Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry heated frying pan over a medium heat until they begin to take on a golden colour, then remove from the heat. (Watch them carefully as they burn easily.)
Rinse and roughly chop the basil.
Finely grate the Parmesan and peel and crush the garlic.
Combine everything with the olive oil in a food processor or mini chopper, and blend until smooth.
Store in a sterilised old jam jar in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Sheila

Recipes

How to Make Pasta Carbonara – Remembering Paola Tullio

Posted on May 29, 2020 by sheila kiely

As the anniversary of Paola Tullio’s death approaches (5th June 2015) I’d like to celebrate and remember this wonderful man. It was his voice, his manner and his presence. All of that gently surfed and beautifully traversed the radio wavelengths into your kitchen or office or wherever it was that you happened to be when you had the pleasure to hear him. For me that was frequently in the car. Probably most often on my way to collect my kids from school I would catch Paola’s regular ‘Food’ slot with Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk. Listening to Paola was therapeutic, the fact that he was an Italian talking about food was a bonus.

Paola’s was a very distinctive, mesmeric voice, he reminded me of a softer version of Albert Finney, another beautiful voice.

I never got to meet Paola but I had the absolute joy of hearing him say my name and review my first cookbook with Sean Moncrieff on his radio progamme. Thankfully he liked it and declared ‘Gimme the Recipe’ a ‘very good book.’ Thrilled was a complete understatement at the time and now it is a very fond and cherished memory.

I don’t know if he had even seen my Carbonara recipe in that book but boy was I thankful that I had not included cream in mine, a complete no-no for Paola.

Paola you are missed and remembered and I will never put cream in my Carbonara.

Pasta Carbonara

Having played around with a number of Carbonara recipes, some with cream, some with wine and then pared them back and chopped and changed quantities, I eventually came up with this recipe which is simple and scrumptious. Not being a huge fan of pasta, this is one meal that has surprised me by how much I enjoy it. The heat of the pasta cooks the eggs as you stir them in and the Parmesan forms a smooth sauce with a little of the cooking water. This meal can be on the table in 20 minutes.

Ingredients – serves 4–5

400g dried spaghetti or any pasta
10–12 rashers or a packet of 10 slices of cooked ham* (approximately 300g)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
3 eggs
100g Parmesan
Black pepper
Small handful of fresh parsley to garnish

Method:

Boil a large saucepan full of water and once it is boiling put the pasta on to cook for 6-8 minutes (or according to pack instructions).
While the pasta is cooking, chop up the rashers or cooked ham and cook in a large frying pan with the olive oil for 5 minutes.
Next, peel and crush the garlic cloves and add them to the meat to cook for 1 minute.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl and grate in half of the Parmesan. Give this a good whisk together. Grate and reserve the other half of the Parmesan for later.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving about a cupful of the cooking water.
Take the frying pan with the cooked rashers off the heat. Add the cooked pasta to the rashers and garlic and then pour the Parmesan and egg mixture over this with enough of the cooking water to moisten it and mix well. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg as you stir it through the pasta.
Season with freshly ground black pepper.
Serve with the remaining grated Parmesan sprinkled on top, garnished with freshly chopped parsley and some garlic bread on the side.

Tip: Home-made garlic bread can be made very easily by mashing some butter with a crushed clove of garlic and generously buttering a baguette or ciabatta with it and then grilling it until the garlic butter melts.

* If you are using pre-cooked ham, it could be ham that you have left over from a cooked joint or slices of packed cooked ham. Frying it up with the olive oil and then adding crushed garlic as above will heat it up and enhance the colour and flavour.

Enjoy xx,

Sheila

Recipes

And the winner is……….. Seafood Paella

Posted on April 30, 2020 by sheila kiely

One of the kids suggested we do a Covid Come Dine with Me, Kiely style, and it was an outrageous success. Night after night they presented different dishes all cooked to perfection.

The 6 contenders were :

Roast Fillet of Beef with a Mushroom Gravy, Mashed Potatoes & Veg
Roast Leg of Lamb (rosemary, garlic), Gravy, Roast Potatoes & Veg
Country Risotto with asparagus, courgette, peas, (Vegetarian)
Seafood Paella
Creamy Chicken & Pasta
Green Thai Curry (beef) with rice & naan bread

How’s that for a menu? My husband also cooked on the 7th night so that was a whole week off from cooking for me and it was heavenly.

Seafood Paella

Back to the Seafood Paella. Top marks for taste and presentation and also for deciphering my Paella notes that I had written on the back of an envelope. Note: I use arborio rice (risotto rice), not true to Spanish Paella but a good substitute.

Ingredients:
For the Rice:
1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil
450g risotto rice (arborio)
3 cloves garlic
1 red, 1 yellow pepper
2 tsp hot paprika, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp thyme
150ml white wine
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 litre chicken stock
For the Seafood:
Mussels
Prawns
Butter
Garlic or garlic granules
White wine
Half Lemon
To Serve:
Lemon wedges & Chopped fresh parsley

Method:
Prepare the veg : finely chop onion, garlic, and chop the peppers.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in v large saucepan / hob proof casserole dish or pan (A paella pan would be amazing if you had one – I don’t)
Soften the chopped onion for 5 minutes over medium heat
Add the risotto rice to the onion and mix around with the onion to absorb oil and flavour (approx 3 mins)
Add the garlic and mix through (approx 1 min)
Add the chopped peppers and herbs/spices and mix well to colour the rice
Add the wine and raise heat until it bubbles then reduce heat to medium again
Add the tinned tomatoes, mix well
With heat at a simmer add two ladles of the chicken stock and mix well then allow to absorb and then add some more stock, stirring intermittently. Continue until all stock is added, should take around 25 minutes in all
Put the rice on a low heat and prepare the seafood
Heat some oil and butter on a hot frying pan to quickly cook the prawns, add some garlic granules or crushed garlic if you like. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Wash the mussels in cold water, tap any that are open and discard any that remain open.
Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan on a high heat, add the washed mussels splash in some white wine and some crushed garlic or garlic granules , then put on a lid to steam the mussels quickly until all are open. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Serve the Paella rice topped with the Seafood and some chopped parsley and lemon wedges.

Enjoy!

Note: when Eimear made hers she added more wine and stock than I had indicated so you may wish to do the same until you’re happy with the consistency of the rice.
The photographs above are from when I made it last summer and I will leave you with a photograph below of Eimear’s winning Seafood Paella – Covid Come Dine with Me, Kiely Style, 2020.

Recipes

Salmon in Soy Sauce

Posted on March 31, 2020 by sheila kiely

Here’s one I made earlier. A good 8 years earlier. That’s how long since my first book ‘Gimme the Recipe’ was published. In this recipe the salmon darnes are pan-fried. If you prefer to do what I did this evening and bake the salmon fillets instead – then drizzle with a little oil, bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes, then baste in the marinade ingredients (blitzed together in a food processor) and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Delicious, simple, no fuss.

Ingredients – serves 4
3 garlic cloves
3cm thumb-width piece of ginger
1 red chilli
2 spring onions
50ml dark or rich soy sauce
4 salmon darnes – approximately 480–500g
1 tbsp olive oil

To marinate:
Peel and crush the garlic and grate the ginger.
Deseed and finely chop the red chilli and slice the spring onions.
Combine the garlic, ginger and chilli with the spring onions and soy sauce to make a marinade and pour it over the salmon. Leave to marinate (refrigerated) for an hour or two, or ideally overnight, covered with cling film.

Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium to high heat.
Add the salmon pieces skin-side down and cook for 2 minutes, reserving the marinade sauce.
Turn the salmon over and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add the marinade sauce and heat through for 1 minute before serving.
Great as a light lunch served with Asian dressed salad or green beans.

Alternative:
As mentioned in the introduction I did not want to stand over a frying pan when I cooked this earlier this evening. So instead I baked the salmon darnes drizzled with the oil in a hot oven for 10 minutes, then blitzed the mardinade ingredients together in a food processor and basted this on top before returning the salmon to the hot oven to cook for a further 10 minutes. I served with sweet potato wedges that will cook alongside in the oven in around 20 minutes too, so ideal use of your oven and no frying.

Enjoy, xx Sheila.

Recipes

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie

Posted on February 29, 2020 by sheila kiely

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie

Looking back at this recipe from my first cookbook ‘Gimme the Recipe’ I spied an editing note that said suggesting rice as something to serve with it seems like ‘a strange combination.’ I stand by that suggestion though and for me it works. You’re only going to get a small bit of pastry in proportion to the filling and while it is the good buttery stuff I for one definitely need another carb to go with it and I choose rice! The filling works really well in vol au vent cases too which make for nice starter or lunch options maybe with a salad. I just made this pie again during the week and as a classic it will never go out of favour. I do hope you get a chance to try it out.

Ingredients – serves 4–5
1 quantity shortcrust pastry (I have a recipe in the book to to make your own or buy frozen and thaw out – i usually do the latter.)
1 leek
50g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp thyme
8 large button mushrooms
2 tbsp flour
300ml milk mixed with 100ml water
1 egg and a splash of milk for egg wash on pastry

Method:
Prepare the pastry and leave it to rest (or defrost if shop bought).
Preheat the oven to 180^oC/Gas Mark 6.
Prepare the leek by cutting off the root and discarding any darker outer leaves. Slice the leek in half lengthways and rinse, then finely slice the leek and rinse again in a colander (as the leek grows in layers, dirt can get trapped in between).
Melt the butter and olive oil together in a large frying pan over a low heat.
Add the leek to the oil and butter and leave to soften while you chop the chicken into bite-size chunks.
Add the chicken to the leek with the thyme and turn up the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash and slice the mushrooms.
Push the chicken out to the sides of the pan and cook the mushrooms for 2 minutes.
Add the flour, mix well and cook for 1 minute.
Gradually add the milk/water mix and stir well to thicken the sauce.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Transfer the chicken and leek mixture to a large ovenproof baking dish and cover the top with the pastry.
Brush over the pastry with the beaten egg and milk and prick the top of the pastry with a fork or score with a knife to vent it in a few places.
Bake in the hot oven until the pastry is golden brown – this should take around 25 to 30 minutes.
Serve with boiled wholegrain rice.

xx Sheila.