Easy Cooking

Its Friday night, time for another cocktail you and use any wine you wish in this one. Enjoy

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bottle chilled Moscato
• 1 10 oz can frozen Bacardi Strawberry daiquiri mix, thawed
• 1/2 liter lemon-lime soda, chilled
• fresh strawberries for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix wine and daiquiri mix together in a pitcher, fill with soda and mix well. Serve with ice if you wish

When we first saw the beautiful collection of boards that Caulfield’s Country Boards we immediately thought “cheese board” and that exactly what we are going to talk about with you today. Before we get into the detail about, you choose whatever cheese or bread and fruit you want to have it all down to you at the end of the day. I am taking inspiration for a trip to Rome we took last year we say tasted some amazing cheese over there with wine of course 😊
Before we get to the cheese board Itself the boards we are presenting on have been hand crafted by are friends at Caulfileds Country Boards which of course you have seen some of our recipes presented on during the week, All of there excellent products are under these 5 concepts.
Lifecycle design concept
Crafted from sustainable hardwoods
Handmade manufacturing
Minimal packaging
Recycling/Up-cycling design
Their striped cutting boards and coasters were specially designed and created to up-cycle and transform off-cuts into stunning wooden products.
With a wide range of products available you can stop online https://www.caulfieldcountryboards.ie/trade also if you spend €50 or over you get a free garlic board with your purchase. Some excellent gift ideas also with father da approaching or maybe just a small thank you gift for someone you know who may have helped you in these difficult times.

So, for the cheese board we went for a balance on cheese.

1. Gruyere (has that simple yet rich taste)
2. Brie (creamy and soft)
3. White cheddar with chilli (for some spice and flavour)
   We then served it will some roasted vegetables such as pepper tomatoes and courgette, marinated them in garlic and olive oil and they go well with some fresh bread or crackers your choice of course finished with a nice glass of red.

We hope you find some inspiration from this to make your own over the weekend and it so simple to put together, something that you can enjoy when the little ones go to bed with a good weekend film on the TV. .

It’s a brilliant way to get their fruit into the them because it looks colourful and fun to eat. You can really use any fruit you wish. For the purpose of the receipe I use ones we like in our house.

Ingredients

• Punnet of Strawberries
• 2 small Oranges
• 1 x bunch small grapes (can be red or green)
• Wooden skewers or popsicle sticks
• Cling wrap or zip lock bags

Method

1. Cut the tops off the strawberries
2. Quarter and peel or cut the skin off the oranges, then the quarters in half
3. Pull the grapes off the stem
4. Thread grape/s on to the skewer
5. Follow with orange pieces and strawberries
6. Wrap in cling wrap or place into separate zip lock bags
7. Place into freezer for overnight or until the fruit is frozen
8. Enjoy your delicious frozen fruit treat

Jam is such a simple thing to make and make lots of to keep in your press. When we popped into Hurleys Bros this morning we could smell the fresh scones baking in the oven. So, we had to do them justice by making our own Strawberry Jam to go with them. Along with presenting them on another beautiful board from Caulfields Country Boards. With Strawberry’s in season you have no reason not to give this a try.

Ingredients

• 16oz fresh strawberry.
• ¾ cup of sugar.
• 2 tbsp lemon juice.
method

1. mix strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Stir over medium heast until sugar is dissolved.
3. Once sugar is dissolved turn heat to medium high and bring mixture to a rolling boil.
4. Stir mixture frequently while mashing the strawberries as you stir.
5. Continue to boil the mixture until the jam is thickened and bubbles completely cover the surface of the jam (can take up to 10-12 minutes).
6. Once ready transfer to a jar and leave to cool at room temperature.

We are back this week with another recipe from Hurley Bros in Drogheda, after using the delicious turkey in our Summer Sandwich we are taking things to the next level with their delicious home cooked Ham. With the pie crust we not wrapping it around the dish we are going to place it on top so enclosing it on top of the mixture, so it soaks up all the delicious flavour. We are using Hurleys Homecooked Ham, but you can use any leftover cooked ham for this dish.

Ingreidients.
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 leeks chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 tbsp of plain flour
• 6 baby potatoes cubed
• 300ml of chicken stock
• 250g cooked ham diced
• 2 tsp of mustard
• 100g crème fraiche
• 375g of puff pasty
• 1 egg beaten

1. In a pan over medium heat add the butter and oil and cook the leeks and onion for 5 minutes with a lid on top.
2. Add the garlic and potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Turning down the heat add the flour and chicken stock mix together until the sauce thickens.
4. Take of the heat and add the mustard and crème fraiche, mix well and season with pepper. No need for salt there is already salt in the ham.
5. Pre Heat oven to 200 degrees, place the filling into an oven Pyrex dish and smooth out evenly.
6. Brush the inside of the dish with egg wash, place the pastry on top and tuck the sides down. With a knife slit and small stoke in the middle of the pastry.
7. Brush the top with egg wash, place into the oven to cook for 30 minutes.

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Another trips to Mexico for Breakfast. Last week we showed you how to do the Breakfast Quesadillas, these are quite similar and straight forward. This recipe is also good for freezing if you wish, also great for lunch on the go if you have gone back to work. You can really put anything into them it is up to you. Give these a try a kid’s will also love them.

ingredients
• 3 tbsp of Rapeseed Oil
• 4 eggs
• ½ tsp of Salt and Pepper
• 4 Cooked Sausages (any kind any brand)
• 4 Flour tortillas (White or Wholemeal)
• 2 cups of Shredded Cheese.
• 1 chopped Tomato (optional)
• 1 diced red onion (optional)
• 1 chopped avocado (optional)
Method

1. In a large bowl beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper
2. In a pan over medium heat place the cooked sausages and eggs, cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently until the eggs are fully cooked.
3. To assemble the burritos, spoon a line of the egg mixture with sausage, top with some grated cheese.
4. Close the Wraps tightly and serve.
5. If you wish to freeze them wrap them up in tin foil and place them into a freezer bag and place in freezer.

Healthy, tasty, simple and you can put anything you want with granola, It is so easy to make and the smell around the house at it cooks in the oven is amazing. You will see in this recipe we have optional ingredients these are some idea that you can put with granola. For a healthy breakfast serve with some yogurt and fresh fruit and great way to start the day. Another excellent presentation on another product Caulfield Country Boards.

Ingredients

• 3tbsp vegetable oil
• 130ml honey/maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g rolled
• 50g sunflower seed(optinal)
• 50g pumpkin seeds(optional)
• 100g flaked almond(optional)
• 100g dried berries (find them in the baking aisle)(optional)
• 50g coconut(optional)

Method
 Add 300g of rolled oats to a clean bowl.
 Measure out honey oil and vanilla extract.
 Mix seeds and almonds into the oats. (optional)
 Pour wet ingredient into dry ingredients and mix until all oats are covered.
 Line a baking tray with baking paper.
 Pour mixture onto baking sheet and bake in the oven 180C for 10-12 minutes.
 Mix in coconut and dried fruit (optional) and bake for another 10-12 minutes.
 Remove and scrape onto a flat tray and leave to cool.
 Serve with milk or yoghurt.
 Enjoy

We as an island do not eat enough fish, I think people under rate fish a fair bit this recipe however is fool proof and an excellent way of getting the kids to eat fish.
People panic when they here fish cakes they associate the recipe with 100 things you must do to get them right. This recipe is nothing of the sort in quick and simple and the result in perfect. We are poaching the fish in this recipe which Is cooking the salmon in liquid on a low heat, we are using milk to poach the salmon however if your not cooking for the children you can poach the fish in white wine. We are using a beautiful board from Caulfield country boards from their stunning Native Collection (The Salmon of Knowledge (An Bradán Feasa)

Ingredients

•400 g salmon fillet
• 300 ml milk
• 1 lemon halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 900 g leftover mashed potatoes
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley (chopped fresh)
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 150 g fresh white or panko breadcrumbs
• 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
• sea salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)

1. Place the salmon in a large pan. Pour over the milk add in the lemon and bay leaves, cover and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave the fish for 5 minutes to finish cooking in the hot milk.
2. Put the mashed potatoes in a bowl and beat in the spring onions and parsley. Break up the flesh into rough flakes. Gently fold into the mashed potato mixture and season to taste.
3. Using an ice cream scoop or just a normal big spoon shape the salmon and potato mixture into even-sized balls, then, using slightly wet hands, shape into patties.
4. Place the flour on a plate and season generously. Put the beaten eggs into a shallow dish and place the breadcrumbs in a separate dish.
5. Dust the salmon fishcakes in the seasoned flour, carefully dip them in beaten egg and then coat in the breadcrumbs. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat.
6. Cook the fish cakes for 5 minutes each side until golden brown, place on some kitchen paper to take of any excess oil.

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Affogato Coffee and Ice Cream is an easy Italian dessert. It’s so good, you won’t believe it’s only 2 ingredients! Affogato looks and tastes fancy but takes seconds to make. Affogato is the Italian verb to drowned so we are basically drowning Ice Cream into rich coffee.Best of all it does not have to stop with just coffee and ice cream you can easily add other delicious topping like chocolate sauce, caramel and marshmallows. The coffee I am using is on I’m really enjoying at the moment is Aldi’s Branded Colombian coffee, check it out it you havent yet. Even it you not coffee lover give this a try.

Ingredients
• 2 scoops vanilla ice cream (or vanilla gelato)
• 2 oz espresso (2 shots), or strong brewed coffee
Method

1. Add 2 scoops of ice cream to a serving bowl or glass.
2. Add chocolate shavings or other toppings if desired.
3. Pour 2 shots of hot espresso or strong brewed coffee over the ice cream and serve right away.

Nope this is not healthy but sometimes you need to have something like this every now and then. This is quite simple to make however it is not overly complicated the only you need to be careful about is not boiling the milk and the cream because then you will scramble the eggs. You serve this with some ice cream, custard or to be really bold chocolate sauce or all 3 😉.

Ingredients
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 10 slices of soft brioche bread cut diagonally
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 large eggs or 3 medium eggs
• 4 tablespoons white sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method.

1. Heat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 1 quart/1 litre dish with a little of the butter.
2. Spread one side of each of the bread triangles with remaining butter.
3. Cover the base of the dish with overlapping triangles of bread, butter side up. Sprinkle half the raisins evenly over the bread, then lightly sprinkle with a little nutmeg and cinnamon. Repeat this layer one more time or until the dish is filled, finishing with the raisins on top.
4. In a saucepan, gently heat the milk and cream, but do not boil. Set aside.
5. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, beat the eggs with 3 tablespoons of the sugar and the vanilla extract until light, airy, and pale in colour.
6. Slowly pour the warm (not hot) milk over the eggs, whisking continuously, until all the milk is added.
7. Pour the egg mixture slowly and evenly over the bread until all the liquid is added. Gently press the bread down into the liquid. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar over the surface.
8. Bake the pudding in the hot oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown, the pudding is well risen, and the eggs are set.

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