Valentine’s Day Rice Pudding
Many restaurants are already booked out of ‘tables for two’ on Feb 14 but there is always the 13th and the 15th or you could cook a sizzling supper at home on St Valentine’s Day and really clock up brownie points.
Try to ‘suss out’ favourite dishes ahead of time it’ll probably be comfort food, maybe even the rice pudding mummy used to make.
The golden skin, an irresistible blob of softly whipped cream and some soft Barbados sugar on top transforms this simple pud into a feast.
However if you wanted to make it more edgy, how about scattering a few pomegranate seeds and coarsely chopped pistachio nuts on top — or maybe add a few cardamom pods to the milk while cooking.
Blood oranges are in season just now, this little salad is fresh tasting and will flit across the lips and wake up the palette.
I also love dips. We adore this new puréed beetroot and yoghurt with za’atar from Ottolenghi’s last book Jerusalem.
Serve it with some flat bread or toast.
A warm and comforting soup can also do the trick, we have tons of kale in the garden at present so we’ve been eating it in every possible way, this kale soup got an enthusiastic response recently but if you don’t love the sound of that substitute watercress or cabbage — but Curly Kale Soup really hits the spot.
I chose a tagine for main course, a Moroccan stew so easy to serve with couscous and a dollop of yogurt.
Follow it with a salad of winter leaves and whatever pud you fancy — it’s hard to beat a little choccie mousse. Put it in a heart shape dish.!!
When I eat this, I feel like every mouthful is doing me good.
Note that if this soup is to be reheated, just bring it to the boil and serve.
Prolonged boiling spoils the colour and flavour of green soups.
Serves 6
50g (2oz) butter
140g (5oz) potatoes, peeled and diced (7mm/1/3in)
110g (4oz) onions, peeled and diced (7mm/1/3in)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1.2 litres (2 pints) chicken stock or vegetable stock
250g (9oz) curly kale leaves, stalks removed and chopped
50–125ml (2 – 4fl oz) cream or full-cream milk
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan.
When it foams, add the potatoes and onions and turn them in the butter until well-coated.
Sprinkle with salt and grind on some fresh black pepper.
Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes.
Add the stock and boil gently, covered, until the potatoes are soft.
Add the chopped kale and cook with the lid off, until the kale is cooked, about 5 minutes. Keep the lid off to retain the green colour.
Do not overcook or the vegetables will lose both their fresh flavour and colour. Purée the soup in a liquidiser or food processor.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Add the cream or creamy milk just before serving.
Serves 4
1 kg lamb shoulder diced
2 tbso oil
30g (1¼oz) butter
4 onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp chilli powder
2 bay leaves
350g (12oz) stoned prunes, soaked in lots of water for at least an hour or overnight
175g (6oz) dried apricots
Hot stock or water
Chopped fresh coriander to garnish
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on a high heat, brown the lamb on all sides in batches.
Heat another few tablespoons of olive oil in the pan, add the onions and celery and stir and cook on a medium heat until soft and lightly coloured, about 8 -10 minutes. Sprinkle in the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add the spices begin to stir for 2 – 3 minutes until they release their aromas.
Add the bay leaves and dried fruit and pour over enough hot liquid to just cover.
Bring to the boil, then simmer very gently over a low heat until very tender – 1 ½ hours.
Sprinkle with plenty of chopped coriander and serve with couscous.
Serves 8
350g (12oz) couscous, precooked
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
50g (2ozs) dried apricots, soaked in cold water
50g (2ozs) raisins
450ml (16fl oz) homemade chicken stock or water
salt and freshly ground pepper
pomegranate seeds from 1/2 pomegranate
50g (2oz) pistachio nuts (or toasted almonds) halved
2 tbsp flat parsley leaves
2 tbsp coriander leaves
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, if necessary
Put the couscous into a Pyrex bowl. Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the couscous and rub with your hands.
Drain and chop the apricots and add with the raisins to the couscous.
Bring the stock to the boil, add ½ teaspoon salt, pour over the couscous and dried fruit.
Allow to soak for 15 minutes, stir every now and then. Cover the bowl, heat through in a moderate oven 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for about 10 minutes.
We usually put the bowl into a Bain-Marie. Taste and correct the seasoning.
Add the pomegranate seeds, pistachio nuts and fresh herbs just before serving, taste and add a little freshly squeezed lemon juice if necessary.
Serves 6
900g (2lb) medium beetroots — (500g (18oz) after cooking and peeling)
2 garlic cloves – crushed
1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
250g (9oz) Greek yoghurt
1½ tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish the dish
1 tbsp za’atar
Salt
To garnish:
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
15g (¾oz) toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed
60g (2½oz) soft goats cheese, crumbled
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Mark 6. Wash the beetroot and place in a roasting tin.
Put them in the oven and cook, uncovered, until a knife slices easily into the centre, approximately one hour.
Once they are cool enough to handle, peel and cut each into about six pieces. Allow to cool down.
Place the beetroot, garlic, chilli and yoghurt in a food processor bowl and blend to a smooth paste.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in the date syrup, olive oil, za’atar and one teaspoon of salt.
Taste and add more salt if you like.
Transfer the mash onto a flat serving plate and use the back of a spoon to spread the mixture around the plate.
Scatter the spring onion, hazelnut and cheese on top and finally drizzle with a bit of oil. Serve at room temperature.
If the beetroot is watery and the dip ends up runny and doesn’t hold its shape, consider adding a little mashed potato to help thicken it.
A creamy rice pudding is one of the most nostalgic comfort foods.
You need to use short-grain rice, which plumps up as it cooks.
This is definitely a forgotten pudding and it gets an unbelievable reaction every time!
Serves 6–8
100g (3½oz) pearl rice (short-grain rice)
50g (2oz) sugar
Small knob of butter
1. 2 litres (2 pints) milk
1 x 1. 2 litre (2 pint) capacity pie dish
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
Put the rice, sugar and butter into a pie dish. Bring the milk to the boil and pour over. Bake for 1–1½ hours. The skin should be golden; the rice underneath should be cooked through and have soaked up the milk, but still be soft and creamy. Time it so that it’s ready just in time for pudding. If it has to wait in the oven for ages it will be dry and dull and you’ll wonder why you bothered.
Three good things to serve with rice pudding:
* Softly whipped cream and soft brown sugar (make a heart stencil to sprinkle the sugar over)
* Compote of apricots and cardamom
* Compote of sweet apples and rose geranium
Seems like it’s all happening in Ringsend and Stoneybatter — the Shoreditch and Hackney of Dublin.
Recently I popped into Food Game on Lotts Road near the Aviva Stadium. Try their choccie dipped oatcakes or bacon and egg pies.
Bring along your special pet. www.foodgame.ie
Winter Suppers — Michelle Darmody’s Cake Café in Dublin is offering another treat this year — Giles Clark will cook a series of Winter Suppers on Feb 13, 14, 15 and 16.
Tickets cost €35 which includes a four-course meal. 01-4789394.
The buffaloes at Toonsbridge Dairy near Macroom, West Cork are milking again so we can look forward to Irish Mozzarella within the next few weeks.
I recently picked up some plump Turkish figs and unsulphured apricots as well as olives from the Olive Stall close to the Midleton Farmers Market. 026-41471.
Come and make some noise at Ballymaloe Cookery School! East Cork Slow Food are having a Wassailing ceremony of eating, drinking and singing to scare away evil spirits and ensure a bountiful harvest of apples in the Autumn — today at 5.30pm in the orchard near the Shell House. 085-2295237.
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