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Home-made Beef Burgers

Posted on January 21, 2017October 9, 2017 by sheila kiely

If you’re going to have a beef-burger at home then be good to yourself and make it a home-made one. More often than not I buy them ready made but even those from the best butcher counter in the world are not going to beat the one you make yourself. You’ll know exactly what goes in and I love being able to really taste the onion in mine. I’m not a huge fan of ketchup generally – I think it was one of my brothers eating ketchup sandwiches as a kid that put me off and I probably did the same to him with my vinegar ones – (our neighbour was far more cosmopolitan than us and indulged in butter and sugar sandwiches) – but where a burger is concerned ketchup is a necessity. You will need a decent bun to put it in, preferably a good ol’ crusty one to soak up any escaping meat juices. Lettuce, onion and tomato are good to add flavour and I’m definitely partial to coleslaw, sliced cheddar and pickle in mine. If properly loaded you should just barely be able to take the first bite, a bite that has you drooling with anticipation and leaves you closing your eyes with heady satisfaction.

Beef Burgers
Makes 6.
You will need:
1 egg
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
500g round steak mince
100g breadcrumbs (3 slices bread blitzed – wholegrain if possible)
2 tsp dried herbes de Provence or oregano or basil
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper
Method:
Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl.
Peel and finely chop the onion and crush the garlic.
Place the mince in a large bowl and add the onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, herbs and beaten egg and season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with a fork.
Shape the mixture into 6 balls and flatten into burger shapes with your hands.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium/high heat and cook the burger for about 5 minutes on the first side until nicely browned.
Turn the burgers over and lower the heat slightly to medium and cook for a further 15-20 minutes turning the burgers once more half way through cooking and pressing down with a spatula to encourage heat to penetrate through the burger.
Test that the burger is thoroughly cooked by cutting through to the centre with a knife. There should be no pink meat and the juices should run clear.
Serve in a toasted burger bun or ciabatta with some potato wedges and salad or just load it up with all your favourite toppings.
Enjoy!
‘Til next time, Sheila.

Christmas, Recipes

Warm Maple Pear with Black Pudding & Crumbled Cranberry Wensleydale – Christmas Starter

Posted on December 7, 2016 by sheila kiely

Warm Maple Pear with Black Pudding & Crumbled Cranberry Wensleydale – A Christmas Starter

This is a Christmas Day starter that you could partly prepare the day before if you wish. If you cooked the pears and black pudding and refrigerate them, then reheat with a quick microwave blitz on the day, all you’ll have to do is assemble on a large platter for self-service, finishing off with crumbled cranberry Wensleydale.

Make it even more Christmassy with a garnish of walnut pieces – not pictured here because I’d run out!

Inspired by a friend of mine who described pears cooked in brandy I decided to make it more kid friendly by going with sweet maple syrup instead.

Crumbly black pudding, creamy cheese and sweet warm fruit make for mixed mouthfuls – one sweet another savoury – pure food heaven.

I’m thinking of having a second starter – this citrusy, mint, grape and melon one is so refreshing it will cleanse like a sorbet and it too can get prepared the day before.

For dessert I’m contemplating this black forest chocolate roulade however what’s putting me off is the storage nightmare. Where will I put it until ready to consume? Would extra fridge rental be a good business idea for this time of year I wonder? I really could do with one of those giant American fridges outside the back door plus a Nigella Lawson style pantry but just for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t be keeping those stocked all year round. Besides the storage nightmare I’m not looking forward to trolley wars & brussels sprouts panic very much either. I am looking forward to my dinner though. There will be brussels sprouts and there will be turkey. Though not a whole one. I’ve succumbed to turkey crown over the past few years, pre-prepared and pre-stuffed. My kids aren’t that gone on turkey so we’ll do a moderately sized duck or goose as well but I have to have turkey and leftovers. There shall also be a pineapple & brown sugar glazed baked ham and spiced beef (a Cork tradition) both cooked the day before. I’ve been warned to make plenty of stuffing and as I’d eat a stuffing sandwich for breakfast myself I have no problem making an abundance of it. The shopping & storage will be the hard part but I can’t wait for the cooking and feasting part. And the no cooking for at least 2 days afterwards while we empty the fridge!

Warm Maple Pear with Black Pudding & Crumbled Cranberry Wensleydale – A Christmas Starter

Serves 4
You will need:
2 ripe pears
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp maple syrup
Baby spinach leaves
Half a Black pudding
Wedge of cranberry Wensleydale cheese
Walnut pieces – optional
Method:
Peel the pears and chop into bitesize pieces removing the hard centre. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium to high heat in a small frying pan and add the pears.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium to high heat in another small frying pan and add chopped up black pudding.
Once the pears are warm add in 3 tbsp maple syrup mix well and reduce the heat to low until you are happy that the black pudding is sufficiently warm/cooked too.
Assemble baby spinach leaves on a large platter.
Scatter over the warm pear pieces and crumbled black pudding and then crumble the Wensleydale cheese with a fork and scatter on top.
Garnish with some walnut pieces (optional) and serve.
Enjoy!
‘Til next time, Sheila

Recipes, What's for Dinner Mom?

Stroganoff

Posted on November 20, 2016 by sheila kiely

If you want to make a creamy dish use cream! This Mushroom Stroganoff recipe was one sent to me by Irish Dairy food brand Avonmore to promote their Cooking Cream product. I’ve used their cooking cream numerous times before and in the promo they mention that the cooking cream has less than half the fat of standard cream so that makes it a good choice in the dairy aisle.

I love vegetables but I’m not vegetarian. I sometimes think I could be, however from time to time I crave a big juicy steak or a dirty burger, the kind that has you licking your lips and savouring delicious Irish beef. If you’re a meat fan too you might be interested in checking out ‘Steak Revolution’ on Netflix, a very interesting journey around the world in search of the perfect steak – disappointingly they didn’t make it to Ireland but it’s a good watch all the same.

I have digressed. As I said I’m not a vegetarian and the recipe sent to me was so along with making this dish I roasted up a tray of min-chicken fillets drizzled with a little oil and dusted with chilli powder and paprika (as shown above). As well as being quicker cooking than breasts of chicken, the mini fillets are usually a little cheaper too, which make them a winner for me. I put on more mini-fillets than I need and then chop up any left-over for next day’s school lunch sandwiches.

The recipe didn’t mention greens but as I mentioned I love my vegetables so added quick cooking tender stem broccoli and asparagus.

Avonmore’s ‘Creamy Mushroom, Fennel & Pea Stragnoff’ Recipe by Marion Hearne (unaltered):
You will need:

2 tsp olive oll
3 finely sliced shallots
1 finely sliced fennel
2 garlic cloves, crushed
350g button mushrooms, quartered
1 tbsp paprika
150ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp tamari
1 tub Avonmore Cooking Cream
70g frozen peas
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Small handful of broccoli shoots
Quinoa or basmati rice to serve
Method
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan and soften the shallots, fennel and garlic for 5 minutes, and remember to keep stirring.
Add the mushrooms and cook on a high heat for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Sprinkle over the paprika and mix well. Pour in the vegetable stock and tamari.
Bring to the boil and bubble for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce reduced to a thick sauce.
Remove from the heat and stir through the Avonmore Cooking Cream, lemon juice and peas.
Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Garnish with the broccoli shoots and serve with quinoa or wholegrain basmati rice.

As mentioned above I like to serve this with roasted chicken mini-fillets cooked in a little olive oil, chilli powder & paprika and serve with some steamed greens.
Enjoy!
Disclosure: Avonmore PR contacted me and asked me if I would like to share some of their cooking cream recipes. I like trying out new recipes, promoting Irish food products and I use their cooking cream anyway so I said I would.!
‘Til next time, Sheila.

Recipes, What's for Dinner Mom?

Cauliflower Crazy – Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Curry

Posted on October 23, 2016 by sheila kiely

For a while there it was courgetti that the blogosphere was raving about but maybe all the spirulisers have gotten broken or something because the latest vegetable to attain the popularity badge is the head of cauliflower.

I’ve always thought it an appealing looking vegetable, a perfect plump white crown nestled in a bed of green leaves. Talk about versatile, about the only thing you can’t do is spirulize it. Boiled, roasted and even crumbled into a rice substitute or moulded into a ‘pizza’ base it is a vessel awaiting your direction.

Steer this vegetable in any way you chose, as a side or as a main contender, it will deliver. Have you come across Cauliflower Steaks yet? Google them if you haven’t! Great thick slices panfried and savoured in place of a juicy striploin – I think not! Yes,I’m a fan of cauliflower but I’m not fanatical, steak it isn’t.

It’s a vegetable and lets just treat it like that. In this vegetarian curry I like to keep both the sweet potato and cauliflower bitey so be wary of cutting the sweet potato too small, keep it in large chunks. This recipe is from my cookbook ‘Enjoy!’

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato curry
Serves 4
You will need:
5 cardamom pods
1 medium onion
1 tbsp rapeseed or coconut oil
Thumb-sized chunk of fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 large cauliflower (approx. 750g)
1 large sweet potato (approx. 500g)
200ml passata
500ml vegetable stock
250ml water
Boiled rice, to serve (optional)
Method:
Bash the cardamom pods – a pestle and mortar is good for this job – to release the seeds and discard the husks.
Finely chop the onion. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low heat and soften the onions for 5 minutes.
Grate the ginger and crush the garlic, then add to the softened onion and mix well. Turn the heat up to medium and add the cardamom seeds, garam masala, chilli powder and turmeric and cook for 1 minute.
Break the cauliflower into florets and cut the sweet potato into large bite-size chunks. Add these to the pan, mixing well to coat with the spices, then add the passata and mix well.
Pour in the vegetable stock and enough water to almost cover the vegetables.
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid almost covering the pan for 40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Serve as is or with rice.

Top Tip: Store ginger in the freezer and grate it, frozen and unpeeled, with a Microplane grater.

Enjoy!, ‘Til next time, Sheila.

Recipes, What's for Dinner Mom?

Ice Ice Baby – Smoothies.

Posted on October 9, 2016October 10, 2016 by sheila kiely

I have six teenagers in my life and I can’t feed them. The kitchen is always open and I don’t know why there’s a door on the fridge as it’s never closed. They are all still growing and as long as they continue to stretch they have the luxury of being able to eat what they like. Yes, I try to have healthy snacks in stock but there are always sweet quick things on hand to keep the hanger under control too. We’ve stockpiles of various types of nuts to munch on, rice cakes, jars of peanut butter, fresh-fruit, crackers and cheese. We cannot run out of pasta and pesto. Tinned tuna and sardines are handy too.
With a gargantuan visa bill managing to work its way through the letter box in September and another on the way for October I’ve taken to shopping around and filling my freezer. Frozen vegetables are a revelation to me – I’ve only ever used frozen peas and sweetcorn but recently saw a video online of a quick dinner whipped up by Jamie Oliver using frozen spinach. I’ve never used it but it’s in my freezer now. I took to facebook to ask what it was and my cousin’s wife told me about these frozen fruit and vegetable smoothie bases in Aldi, one of which uses frozen kale. Wow! Thank you Aoife. These are going down a bomb in my house with the starving teens.

We’ve gone through a number of smoothie makers/blenders over the years but on the recommendation of Jessica Kelly of Newstalk I got hold of a – Kenwood ‘2Go’ Sport – smoothie maker and so far so good. The kids find it easy to use and its been put through its paces with these smoothies. They’ve been making them with a fist full of the frozen fruit/veg and combining with apple juice.
Simple and quick and as I say as long as the kids are growing upwards I’m not bothered by sugar content.

‘Til next time, Sheila.