Treats for Mum
Maybe show your appreciation with breakfast in bed or cooking even one fab dish for lunch or supper — you can’t imagine how thrilled us Mums are when we get a little surprise.
For breakfast in bed, always a delight, lay a little tray with a pretty cloth and a posy of flowers. You’ll need a nice pot of tea or coffee for a start and maybe some mini scones or muffins. They are really easy to make and look adorable. A glass of freshly squeezed orange or pink grapefruit is also a special treat, just cut the citrus fruit around the equator and squeeze — even one of those little plastic juicers will do the job perfectly.
It’s a bit of a mission cooking a full Irish but a delicious scrambled egg or a mini frittata made with good eggs can be delectable. If you really want to impress, make a loaf of bread as well, this is a nice easy recipe. There are gorgeous bunches of new seasons rhubarb in the shops at the moment so I’ll also include rhubarb and ginger jam which can be made with little effort over two days.
If you prefer to rustle up something for lunch, try a cheddar cheese fondue, the whole family can gather around the kitchen table, tuck in and have fun. Better still there will be virtually no washing up.
If you want to go the whole hog and treat your mum to an evening off, then how about a full dinner? Try to enlist other family members to help, lay the table, do place names, and maybe draw zany place mats. Better still, run a nice bath for Mum to relax in, while you cook. Maybe scatter some rose petals into the water, light a few candles, play some soothing music, then treat her to Tomato Soup with Pesto Toasts followed by Roast Chicken Salad and as a finale, a luscious Chocolate Meringue Roulade. Now that really would be a special treat for Mum.
THIS is a more modern version of Soda Bread, couldn’t be simpler, just mix and pour into a well greased tin. This bread keeps very well for several days and is also great toasted.
Makes 1 large loaf or 3 small loaves
400g (14 oz) stone ground wholemeal flour
55g (3oz) white flour, preferably unbleached
1 level teaspoon bread soda, sieved (Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey
1 egg, preferably free range
1 tablespoon arachide or sunflower oil, unscented
425ml (15fl oz) buttermilk or sourmilk approx. (put all the milk in)
Sunflower or sesame seeds optional
Loaf tin — 9 inches (23cm) x 5 inches (12.5cm) x 2 inches (5cm)
Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Mark 6.
Put all the dry ingredients including the sieved bread soda into a large bowl, mix well. Whisk the egg, add the oil and honey most of the buttermilk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in all the liquid, mix well and add more buttermilk if necessary.
The mixture should be soft and slightly sloppy, pour into an oiled tin or tins and bake for 60 minutes approx, or until the bread is nice and crusty and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
A fondue party is so retro, terrific fun. Choose your seat carefully because if you drop the bread into the fondue you must kiss the person on your right — this could be your big chance.! Myrtle Allen devised this cheese fondue recipe made from Irish cheddar cheese, a huge favourite at Ballymaloe. Even though it’s a meal in itself it can be made in minutes and is loved by adults and children alike. A fondue set is obviously an advantage but not totally essential.
Serves 2
2 tbsp white wine
2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp Ballymaloe Tomato Relish or any tomato chutney
2 tsp freshly chopped parsley
170g (6 ozs) grated mature Cheddar cheese
Crusty white bread
Put the white wine and the rest of the ingredients into a fondue pot or small saucepan and stir. Just before serving put over a low heat until the cheese melts and begins to bubble.
Put the pot over the fondue stove and serve immediately. Provide each guest with fresh French bread or cubes of ordinary white bread crisped up in a hot oven. They will also need a fondue fork and an ordinary fork.
Crisp leaves of little Gem lettuce provide the perfect scoops for chunks of tender chicken drizzled with creamy Caesar dressing. Everything can be prepared ahead, ready for the final assembly.
Serves 12
1 large organic chicken
2 lemons
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp clear honey
Caesar Dressing:
2 egg yolks, preferably free-range
2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 x 2 ozs (50g) tin anchovies
1 clove garlic, crushed
A generous pinch of English mustard powder
½ tsp salt
½-1 tbsp Worcester sauce
½-1 tbsp Tabasco sauce
6 fl ozs (175ml) sunflower oil
2 fl ozs (50ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 fl ozs (50ml) cold water
I make the dressing in a food processor but it can also be made very quickly by hand. Drain the anchovies and crush lightly with a fork. Put into a bowl with the egg yolks; add the garlic, lemon juice, mustard powder, salt, Worcester and Tabasco sauce. Whisk all the ingredients together. As you whisk, add the oils slowly at first, then a little faster as the emulsion forms. Finally whisk in the water to make a spreadable consistency. Taste and correct the seasoning. This dressing should be highly flavoured.
To Serve: Separate the leaves from the lettuces, arrange the leaves over 2 platters. Remove each breast coarsely from the chicken in one piece. Pull the meat from the legs and wings and shred it. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cut each breast in to 6 pieces each with a little skin attached. Put a little brown meat in each lettuce leaf, then top with a slice of breast. (Save the remainder of the dressing for another occasion. Refrigerate until needed).
Just before serving, drizzle a little dressing over each piece of chicken. Garnish with watercress sprigs
WE worked for a long time to try and make this soup reasonably foolproof. Good quality tinned tomatoes (another must for your store cupboard), give a really good result. Homemade tomato puree, although delicious, can give a more variable result depending on the quality of the tomatoes.
Serves 5
1¼ pints (750ml) homemade tomato puree or 2 x 14 oz (400g) tins of tomatoes, liquidised and sieved
1 small onion, finely chopped
¾oz (15g) butter
8 fl ozs (250ml) Bechamel sauce (white) (see recipe below)
8 fl ozs (250ml) homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock
Salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar
4 fl ozs (120ml) cream pesto — see fool proof food
6 crostini made from inch (5mm) thick slices of thin French bread cooked in olive oil until crisp and pale golden
Sweat the onion in the butter on a gentle heat until soft but not coloured. Add the tomato puree, (or chopped tinned tomatoes plus juice) white sauce and homemade chicken stock. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.
Liquidise, taste, dilute further if necessary. Bring back to the boil, correct seasoning add a little cream if necessary.
Spread a little blob of Pesto on 6 freshly cooked crostini and serve with each bowl of tomato soup.
Note: This soup needs to be tasted carefully as the final result depends on the quality of the tomato puree, stock etc.
½ pint (300ml) milk
A few slices carrot
A few slices onion
A small sprig of thyme
A small sprig of parsley
3 peppercorns
2oz/45 g roux
Salt and freshly ground pepper
This is a wonderfully quick way of making Bechamel Sauce if you have roux already made. Put the cold milk into a saucepan with the carrot, onion, peppercorns, thyme and parsley. Bring to the boil, simmer for four to five minutes, and remove from the heat and leave to infuse for ten minutes. Strain out the vegetables, bring the milk back to the boil and thicken to a light coating consistency by whisking in roux. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, taste and correct the seasoning if necessary.
A really luscious but completely irresistible dessert, perfect as a naughty treat for Mum on Mothers’ Day.
Serves 10-12
Meringue:
4 egg whites
250g (9oz) castor sugar
4 rounded teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Chocolate Filling:
225g (8oz) best quality dark chocolate
300ml (10fl oz) cream
½ — 1 tbsp rum or orange liqueur
Chocolate Wafers:
50g (2oz) best quality dark chocolate
Icing sugar
Swiss roll tin 38x25.5cm (15x10inch)
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/regulo 4.
First make the Meringue. Check that the bowl is dry, spotlessly clean and free of grease. Add 225g (8oz) of the castor sugar to the egg whites all at once and whisk until the mixture forms stiff dry peaks (this can take up to 10 minutes). Sieve the cocoa and the remaining 25g (1oz) castor sugar together and fold in very gently.
Line the Swiss roll tin with oiled tin foil. Spread the meringue evenly over the tin foil with a palette knife. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes or until just firm to the touch.
Turn out onto a sheet of bakewell paper and remove the tin but leave the tin foil on, allow to get cold.
Meanwhile make the chocolate filling Put the cream in a heavy-bottomed, preferably stainless steel saucepan and bring it almost to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. With a wooden spoon, stir the chocolate into the cream until it is completely melted. Transfer the chocolate cream to the bowl of a food mixer and allow it to cool to room temperature. Add the liqueur and whisk until it is just stiff enough to pipe.
To make the chocolate wafers: Melt 50g (2oz) of chocolate over a gentle heat or in a very low oven. Spread onto a piece of card, allow to set.
To assemble: Peel the tin foil off the meringue, spread most of the ganache over the surface. Holding the edge of the bakewell paper roll up the roulade from the short end. Transfer to a serving dish – easier said than done!
Dredge with icing sugar. Pipe the remainder of the ganache onto the top.
Cut the chocolate sheet into diamonds or stamp out in heart shapes. Use to decorate the roulade. Serve with softly whipped cream.
Homemade Pesto takes minutes to make and tastes a million times better than most of what you buy. The problem is getting enough basil. If you have difficulty, use parsley, a mixture of parsley and mint or parsley and coriander — different but still delicious.
Serve with pasta, goat cheese, tomato and mozzerella.
4ozs (115g) fresh basil leaves
6 – 8 fl ozs (175 — 250ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 oz (25g) fresh pine kernels (taste when you buy to make sure they are not rancid)
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 ozs (50g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese (Parmigiana Reggiano is best)
Salt to taste
Whizz the basil with the olive oil, pine kernels and garlic in a food processor or pound in a pestle and mortar. Remove to a bowl and fold in the finely grated Parmesan cheese. Taste and season.
Pesto keeps for weeks, covered with a layer of olive oil in a jar in the fridge. It also freezes well but for best results don’t add the grated Parmesan until it has defrosted. Freeze in small jars for convenience.
INSTEAD of, or as well as, giving a box of chocolates on Mothers’ Day this year why not give a gift voucher for ‘Hand Made Chocolates — Demonstration Course’ from 10am to 4pm on Sunday April 10, 2011 at the Baking Academy Palmerstown Village, Dublin 20, close to the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. They also have some wonderful bread and cake baking courses. Phone 01 8451214 or email: bakingacademyireland@gmail.com; www.bakingacademyireland.com
- Build a wood fired oven — if you have been bitten by the DIY bug how about picking up a copy of ‘Building a Wood Fired Oven to Cook Bread and Pizza’ by Tom Jaine, published by Prospect Books. Meanwhile don’t miss Philip Dennhardt’s yummy Saturday Pizza’s at the Ballymaloe Cookery School every Saturday between 12pm and 4.30pm – 021 4646785 – talktophilip@gmail.com
- Slow Food Ireland have organised a Seaweed Foraging event on Friday, April 8, at 2.15pm sharp Bruce MacDonald of Copper Coast Tours will show you how to identify and harvest edible seaweed on Shanagarry Strand (Garryvoe Beach) in Co Cork.
Bring your boots, coats, buckets, knife or scissors. Phone 021 4646785.
- Why not invite a few pals to a soup party — then donate €1 per bowl to the Gorta Soup for Life campaign.
www.makehungerhistory.org
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