I Act Like I Don't Remember,

Josh Ritter is one of my all time favourite musicians and I have seen him play live countless times, from a church in Dublin to a rugby club in Tullamore via a little parochial hall size venue in New York City, and each time during the gig, I have been moved to complete silence at least once. I have also been known to shed a tear at some quieter moments.

He has, more than once, sang a spine tingling version of The River, by Bruce Springsteen. Stepping in front of the mic, at a full venue in Dublin and starting this, the crowd descended into complete silence and whispered the song along with him. Definitely one of the teary moments.

Well, this link of Josh Ritter singing The River arrived in my inbox this morning and it certainly made my day. Hope that it makes your Monday slightly more bearable.


Orls xx

You've gotta roll with it...

As I have mentioned over the last few posts, I was on the Ray D'arcy show on Today FM last thursday having asked for some traditional Irish biscuit recipes for St. Patricks Day. I baked four treats and Ray and the others in the studio decided which one was the winner.
Now while figs are not traditionally Irish, one listener did say that she had three fig trees in her garden and that was enough to swing the vote!
So the winning recipe was Figgy Slices, a variation of the fig roll.
While the original recipe calls for port, I am not one for drinks in food so I just used apple juice.

For the figgy paste, you will need a half a pound of dried figs chopped, 80mls of apple juice, and about 30mls of lemon juice. Place the figs and juice in an airtight jar and soak for at least 12 hours. I use a kilner jar with a rubberised seal.

Pour out most of the juice from the mixture before blitzing to a paste that looks like a tapenade.

For the pastry mix, you will need;

175g plain flour, 100g butter at room temperature, 50g caster sugar

Put the flour in a bowl and add the butter in cubes. Rub together until like bread crumbs. Then add the caster sugar and combine until a thick dough. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

Double the pastry you make so that you have one for the top and one for the bottom.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Roll out the pastry to about 5mm thickness. Place on a large baking tray line with silpat or parchment.

Spread the fig mixture out onto the pastry like a thick jam. Roll out the second piece of pastry and place on top of the figgy mixture.

Bake for about 15-20 mins but keep a keen eye on the oven from 15 mins so that it doesn't burn.

Allow to cool before cutting.

When completely cool, cut the edges off to keep straight.

Don't feel that you have to make them into slices. Mess around with the shapes. For one of the batches I made I rolled out some pastry flat, spread the fig mix down the middle and rolled it. I told everyone that now I know just how they get the figs into the fig rolls!!!

When I was in the studio last week, I had a lovely surprise from the team telling me that Ina's Kitchen Desserts, in Dublin were going to make the winning recipe for me. The show are doing their "Feel Good Tour" starting in Carlingford, Co Louth on Friday, March 20th (tomorrow), and the lovely people in Ina's have made over 160 of my figgy slices for the good folks that are attending!

I was very very happy and I am also very very nervous to see how they are going to react to them! I will find out in the morning. Along with the rest of the country!!!

Fingers Crossed!!!

Tune into Today FM and listen online from 9am to see whether they are a hit. Or a miss!!!

I also just want to thank Ray, Jenny, Mairead, Will and Siobhan for letting me visit them with cakes! And thanks to Bernard in Ina's for making my figgy slices!!! It is all very exciting!

Orls xxx

Ginger (nuts)rule!

Another recipe that was suggested by the listeners to the Ray D'arcy show on Today FM last week was Ginger Nuts. I believe that it was all tongue in cheek but, it did make me think whether it would be possible to get the same consistency as shop bought ones. And whether I could achieve the burny sensation that I get when I eat about 5 of them at a time.

I did some investigating and I found , and tried the following. While they don't have the tooth breaking crunch of shop ginger nuts, they have a very satisfying crunch, and a slightly softer centre. And yes they have the burny sensation!

Pre heat your oven to 160C. Line a large baking tray with silpat.

You will need;

8oz plain flour, 2tsp ground ginger, half tsp of ground cinnamon

4oz light brown sugar, 2 oz of black treacle

one half tsp bicarbonate of soda

3oz butter

Sift the flour, cinnamon and ginger into a large heatproof bowl and add the sugar.

In a saucepan, heat the butter and treacle until melted. The add the bicarbonate of soda and stir gently. The mixture will take on a very odd, fluffy look. Add this to the flour mix and stir until combined.

The mixture will look like sand, and will feel a little like sand to the touch, but that is normal.

Take a tablespoon size amount of mixture and pack tightly into a ball in your hand. Place on the baking tray and flatten down. Don't worry if the mix cracks a little. You will see that when it cooks it looks like the real thing!

Bake for 15-18 mins. Allow to cool and store in an airtight jar.

Enjoy with a cuppa. And let the ginger take hold!!! Not just saying this but I actually prefer these over the shop bought ones!!!!

Orls

PS Gracie, my lovely girl in Oz has been looking forward to this recipe!Hope you enjoy!

Oats so tasty!

I have been having problems with my computer over the last week hence the lack of posting. It was "preparing to hibernate" for 3 days. Very frustrating, and worrying as I thought that I had lost lots of images that I hadn't got round to backing up! Anyway. I am back in action.

Last week, I was on the Ray D'arcy programme on TodayFM. After asking for help in coming up with an Irish biscuit recipe, the common ingredient in a lot of the suggestions was oats. They are one of the only ingredients or foods that are known to actively lower cholesterol. They are low in fat and are a low GI food too. Meaning that they are all round good for you. Horray!!

I adapted a lovely recipe to include fresh blackberries.

Pre heat the oven to 180C and line 2 fairly big baking trays with parchment.

You will need;

170g unsalted butter, at room temperature

215 g light brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract

105g plain flour, one half tsp baking soda

one half tsp salt, one half tsp cinnamon

260g rolled porridge oats

200g blackberries

Cream the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth in an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the oats. The mixture will be heavy so it is best to do this last part by hand.

Before adding the berries, bake in a hot oven for about 30 mins. This will sweeten them up nicely. Add them to the batter. They will be very soft and will squash up but this adds to the colour and the texture of the cookies once cooked.

For large cookies, take a large tablespoon of batter and space the cookies about 2 inches apart. Wet your hand and flatten down on the tray, so that they are about half an inch thick. Bake for about 15 mins, or until golden at the edges and still soft in the middle.

Remove from the ovens and let cool or a few mins on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Other suggestions that I made for the show were Ginger nuts and a variation of fig rolls. There was also some very exciting news when I was on the show!

More to follow tomorrow and Friday!

Orls xx

Biscotti for Breakfast

I love biscotti dipped in a frothy hot soya latte,when the coffee is in the dough, mixed with some slightly melted chocolate chips and whole almonds. I have yet to come across shop bought ones as nice as the ones I make. Now I am sure that an Italian would tell me that my biscotti are not actually biscotti, but for arguments sake, that is what I call them.

Without any coffee to soften them, they are very hard and crunchy. Dipped in coffee (or tea if you prefer) they soften a little and are yummy. The recipe I use comes from Feast, by Nigella and is called Breakfast Biscotti. While I find them a little sweet for breakfast, I can just about bear them just as I finish my cereal!

Preheat the oven to 180C. You will need:

1 large egg, room temperature,

100g caster sugar, one half tsp vanilla extract

a couple drops of almond essence, 125g plain flour

one half tsp of baking powder, one quarter tsp salt

50g natural shelled almonds, 75g dark chocolate chips

Whisk the egg and sugar until pale and creamy, until it leaves a ribbony trail behind when you lift the whisk out. Beat in the vanilla and almond. Slowly fold in the flour, salt and baking powder.

When the mixture is combined, fold in the whole almonds and the chocolate.

Then form the dough into a log shape of about 25cm x 5cm, slightly tapering at the ends. I use silpat to lay it on.

Place in the oven and bake for about 25mins. It will be pale brown in colour. Take out of the oven and leave for about 5 mins to harden a little. Then slice in diagonal 1cm slices.

Put these back on the baking tray on their side and place back into the oven for another 4-5 mins.

Let the biscotti cool on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week. However, I dare you to see whether you can resist them for more than 2 days! I make them and give them away!!!

Orls.

xx

I had a few friends around for dinner at the weekend and I made a few nice treats that are going to make appearances here over the next few days, as well as some Irish treats for Paddy's Day, and some exciting news!

Home Comforts

For me, total comfort food includes my mum's roast dinners, my mums pavlova, and my grand-mothers home made brown bread, still warm from the oven, with melted butter, dripping off the sides.

When my mum used to visit her, she would send a few loaves of bread up for me. You would travel miles for it. That and her homemade strawberry jam. I can taste it now!!
However, my granny didn't exactly have a recipe for the bread. It was a bit haphazard and was a cup of this, and a handful of that. I think that it was one of my aunts who followed her around the kitchen one afternoon measuring and weighing everything , and then kindly shared the recipe with us.

I make it in a big batch, and freeze about 3 of the loaves to keep for later. Otherwise I would eat it all!

You need to pre-heat the oven to 200C. And grease and flour 4 loaf tins.
You will need;

8oz white flour, 2.5lbs wheaten flour

3tsp soda, 2.5 oz margarine

2oz sugar, 2oz oatmeal, 2oz wheatgerm,

5oz bran, pinch of salt

1 litre & half pint of buttermilk

Mix the flours and the salt together and rub the margarine in as much as you can.
Mix the rest of the dry ingredients into the flour mix. Add the milk and mix really well and knead.

Turn the mixture into the loaf tins and flatten the top. Score the surface of the bread with a knife.
Place in the oven at 200 for 30 mins. Then turn down the heat to 130 and bake for a further 30 mins.
Allow the bread to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.




Enjoy the bread warm from the oven with butter and jam. Or toast it and have with a runny poached egg.

Orls
xxx

Ps: I have made this bread dairy free in the past. Substitute the margarine with soya spread and instead of buttermilk, use soya spread with vinegar. For every cup of soyamilk, add a one tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Wait for about 20 mins until the mix has curdled. Then add to the mixture as normal.