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Archive for January, 2010

Pasta al forno with tomatoes and mozzarella

Posted: 29 January '10 by Niall

Pasta al forno means “pasta from the oven” and is a popular dish in Italy.

The method for making Pasta al forno is fairly simple and similar to those for lasange but you’ll see that it is much easier to make and needs far less cooking time.

This recipe for making this Pasta al Form con Pomodorino e Mozzarella is taken from “Jamie Oliver’s Italy” – although his was made with “orecchiette” pasta (“little ears”), we found this type fairly difficult to come by at last minutes’ notice, so we made ours with “conchiglie”, which resemble small sea-shells.

There’s a real rustic feel to this dish and it’s surprising hearty. I think it’s important to get the best mozzarella that you can lay your hands on – the “Taste the Difference” mozza that we tried was worth the extra cost and was a tasty, chewy treat amongst the tomato and pasta.

We served ours with a small rocket salad and home-made garlic bread made with ciabatta – delicious!

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Ingredients

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 500g of conchiglie pasta
• 8 fresh, large pomodorino tomatoes
• Some tomato puree
• 3 balls of mozzarella, sliced
• A wedge of parmesan, grated
• A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper for taste

You also need a large bowl and a kettle full of hot water.

Method

1. Cook the conchiglie in a large saucepan of salted water and drain thoroughly when done.
2. Place a large saucepan over a low heat, add some olive oil, and add the garlic and onions, sweating them until they are soft and translucent.
3. Half-fill the large bowl with the boiling water and add the tomatoes for a couple of minutes.
4. Remove the tomatoes one at a time and run a finger firmly down the flesh – you should notice that the skin peels away easily. Remove all of the skin and set the tomatoes aside.
5. When all of the tomatoes have been peeled squeeze them into the onion and garlic mixture, adding the soft flesh but disgarding the woody core.
6. Reduce the tomato mixture and fully soften the tomato pieces.
7. Squeeze some tomato puree into the tomato mixture and stir thoroughly.
8. Add salt, pepper and fresh basil and remove from the heat.
9. Preheat oven to 180°C.
10. Empty the sauce into the drained pasta and mix thoroughly.
11. Place some of the pasta into a casserole dish to form a layer of pasta that reaches half-way up the sides.
12. Take some of your mozzarella and lay them on top of the pasta to form another layer.
13. Place the rest of the pasta on top of this again.
14. Complete the dish by laying the remaining mozzarella on top of the pasta, grating a good amount of parmesan on top of this again, and drizzling the top with good olive oil.
15. Place the casserole dish in the oven and cook until the top has formed a golden crust.
16. Once you’ve spooned out the portions grate a little more parmesan over the top (can you ever have enough?) and drizzle with olive oil.

Enjoy!

Tags: pasta, recipe, recipes

Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes

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Seared scallops with black pudding and cauliflower puree

Posted: 27 January '10 by Niall

This was a dish that we first tasted in Clenaghan’s in Aghalee and we loved it that much that it’s become a favourite treat in our house.

The delicate flesh and sweet flavour of the scallops goes surprisingly well with the rich, spicy rounds of black pudding, and the cauliflower puree provides a subtle base and creaminess for the whole dish.

The secret to perfecting this recipe are the quality of the ingredients: fresh scallops and Clonakilty black pudding are a must. We usually buy our scallops from the Northern Ireland Fishermen’s Federation stall and the Clonakilty black pudding was bought from the Greenmount Farm Shop – both of which are in the City Food and Garden Market in St. George’s Market on Saturday mornings.

I usually slice the scallops along the middle to make two. There’s no reason to do this other than they make for an easier mouthful, and it looks like you’ve double the scallops on your plate!

I’ve also added some curry spice to my cauliflower puree to emphasise the sweet flavour of the vegetable and bring another dimension to the recipe. Cauliflower makes a fantastic canvas for other flavours too. So let your creativity run riot and add whatever you like to the puree – grated nutmeg and even mustard work well.

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Serves 2

Ingredients

Ingredients: Seared scallops with black pudding

• Half a Clonakilty black pudding, cut into rounds that are about the same size as the scallops
• 6 scallops
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Splash of olive oil

Ingredients: For the cauliflower purée

• 1/2 a small cauliflower
• 100ml (6 tbsp.) cream
• 150g (10 tbsp.) butter
• A good pinch of curry spice

Method

Method: For the seared scallops with black pudding

1. Take a sharp knife and slice where the orange scallop roe (also called “coral”) meets the scallop. There is also a small membrane which runs around the scallop and should come easily free once the roe has been removed.
2. Brush your frying pan with olive oil and fry the black pudding on a medium heat until both sides have become crisp. Transfer the black pudding to a plate lined with kitchen paper and keep warm.
3. Rub the scallops with a little olive oil and season them with salt and black pepper.
4. Increase the heat of the frying pan until the oil smokes slightly.
5. Place the scallops in the frying pan and cook – one minute on each side should do. Each side of the scallop should have a nice golden crust.
6. Pat the scallops dry on kitchen paper.

Method: Cauliflower puree

1. Boil the cauliflower in the milk until the cauliflower has become soft.
2. Put the cream and cauliflower into a food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Pass the mixture through a sieve.
4. Cook the butter until golden brown and add to the puree, along with the curry spice.
5. Season to taste with salt.

To serve

1. Place a piece of black pudding in the centre of each serving plate with a scallop on top.
2. Pipe or spoon a little of the purée in between.

Enjoy.

Other information

Clonakilty black pudding comes from County Cork. Produced by Edward Twomey from an old Harrington family recipe, and just crumbles in your mouth with the most delicious, more-ish flavour.

You can visit the Clonakilty black pudding website here.

You can also read more about St. George’s Market, Belfast here.

Tags: recipe, recipes, seafood

Categories: Featured Post > Recipes > Seafood > Starter Course

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Comforting beef casserole with mashed potatoes

Posted: 22 January '10 by Ciara

I am really excited about this new recipe. I tried it for the first time this evening and we all loved it. It is packed with flavour and was the perfect thing to eat on a cold snowy evening. Sophie has been quite run down recently, so i am a bit paranoid that she should be getting as much goodness into her as possible,  and i was delighted that she loved this.

Please note that I cut my vegetables quite small and also the carrots were grated quite finely too as Sophie doesn’t really like a lot of lumps in her food, so feel free to cut up your veggies to your own liking.

The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Feasts” programme.

Serves 5

You can see more photos here.

Ingredients

Ingredients: Beef Casserole

• 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots sliced or grated
• 2 celery stalks sliced thinly or 1 inch thick
• 3 cloves of garlic grated
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2lbs of beef fillet stewing meat
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine or beef stock (i obviously used beef stock for Sophie)
• 1 large can whole plum tomatoes (i also blend these for Cor, who hates lumps of tomatoes in his food)
• peel of half an orange

Ingredients: Mashed Potatoes

• 6 maris piper potatoes
• 4 knobs of butter
• 30ml full fat milk

Method

Method: Beef Casserole

1. Heat oil and over a medium heat fry onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves and thyme for 5-10 minutes until onion turns translucent. Remove veggies to a bowl leaving as much oil in the pot as you can.
2. Meanwhile, place flour and salt and pepper in a plastic bag along with meat. Shake until meat is coated. Place into the pot which you have just removed veggies from and cook until pieces are well browned.
3. When this is done add the wine or beef stock then add veggies, tomatoes and orange peel.
4. Bring to a simmer and then reduce to a low and cook for 3 hours. Remove bay leaves, thyme sprigs and orange peel and serve with mashed potatoes.

Method: Mashed potatoes

1. Boil potatoes for 20-25 minutes
2. Drain and mash
3. Meanwhile heat butter and milk together
4. Add slowly to potatoes continuously mashing

Enjoy!

Tags: recipe, recipes

Categories: Beef > English Food > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes

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Swearing, with some cooking thrown in

Posted: 19 January '10 by Niall

I have to confess – Kelly and I like Gordon Ramsay. Behind all of the swagger and media-courting I think there’s a great chef with a lot of talent, drive, and ambition.

So we settled down to watch “Gordon’s Great Escape” with some expectation. The basis for the programme certainly sounded good – Gordon was off to India, avoiding the posh restaurants to find authentic regional cooking. Yes, the format has been done plenty of times before, but it does make for interesting television.

The first of three one-hour shows should have been very watchable. The cooking sequences were good – cooking for passengers on an accident-prone train, learning to make Biryani with an irascible royal chef, and making ant chutney in the jungle. There were plenty of thoughtful confessions too in which Gordon talked about the difficult year that he’s had, and his need to get back to cooking – although I was left wondering was this a frank admission or more spin.

However, the programme was completely ruined by the persistant, needless swearing of the host. It was like a buzzing at the edge of your hearing which, once heard, seems to drown out all other sounds. And worst of all, the local people and chefs that Gordon met along the way were faultlessly polite, which only emphasised his crass behaviour.

The “Great Escape” was made when I changed the channel.

I’ve no idea who the programme-makers thought were going to watch “Gordon’s Great Escape”. Foul-mouthed food-lovers? Or viewers who are also afflicted with Tourette’s, perhaps. For me “Gordon’s Great Escape” is a terrible waste and a bit of an embarassment.

Other information

This episode: Monday 18 Jan, 9PM on Channel 4
Next episode: Tuesday 19 Jan, 9PM on Channel 4

You can visit the Channel 4 website to see some clips.

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Categories: News > On TV and Radio

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Super Market sweeps up the plaudits

Posted: 19 January '10 by Niall

The City Food and Garden Market in St. George’s Market is one of the highlights of our week – it’s a great start to the weekend – and is seems that The Guardian think so too, having named St. George’s as one of the top 10 markets in the UK. You can read the original post in The Guardian here.

The Saturday market is a real treat for all the senses: the air is full of exotic spices and the aroma of exotic delicacies for you to try; the happy murmur of shoppers talking to stall-holders about their produce; the sense of expectation that turning the next corner will reveal another stall of new and never-tried-before cuisine; and the strains of the live musical entertainment weaving through the crowds. Perhaps the best thing about the market, however, is the atmosphere – people genuinely care about the produce on display, from the proprietors to the customers. Freshness and flavour is the order of the day.

Many of the stalls actively encourage you to “try before you buy” too, with plates of free-to-sample food allowing customers to mull over their choice before handing over their hard-earned money. The choice is really bewildering, and everything looks so good. A word to the wise though – you will want to buy everything – like a recovering compulsive gambler in Las Vegas, you will have to take yourself aside and have a quiet word with yourself (or with your partner when your monthly statement comes in)!

Our favourite stalls include: the olive oil from Biostore; artisan chocolate from Co Couture; cold meats, olives, and cheese from Love Olive; bread from The Yellow Door; and free-range, organic rare-breed meat from Pheasants Hill Farm.

All of this walking about and tasting is hard work mind you. Fortunately, there are also a wide variety of hot food stalls (and seated areas) for you to take a break. You’ll often find us enjoying those tasty crepes from the French crepe stall, or trying something a little more fiery from the Jamaican food stall (the heat from those little pasties really sneak up on you!). There are also stalls selling filled sodas, tea, and coffee.

Having criticised the poor organisation of and motives behind the Belfast Christmas Continental Market and the Belfast Taste and Music Fest 2009 I think it’s only fair to say that Belfast City Council have really gotten this one right – St. George’s Market is something for Belfast to be proud of. Well done BCC!

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Other information

Variety Market
Day: Friday
Opening hours: 6am – 1pm
Details: Stalls sell a variety of products including fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, antiques, books and clothes.

City Food and Garden market
Day: Saturday
Opening hours: 9am – 3pm
Details: The market offers a huge range of local, continental and specialty foods including meat and fish, cheese, coffee beans, tapas and organic products. There’s also entertainment and music on most Saturdays.

St. George’s Market
12-20 East Bridge Street,
Belfast
BT1 3NQ
T: 028 9032 0202
W: www.belfastcity.gov.uk/stgeorgesmarket
You can also see St. George’s Market on Google Maps.

Tags: belfast, st georges market

Categories: Local Food Heroes > News > Northern Ireland > United Kingdom

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