Friday, March 25, 2016

Easy Moroccan Lamb Tagine

I'm having a lot of fun at the moment restocking my freezer by cooking one pot meals like my Beef and Ale Stew - they're so easy to do and as they're cooked in one pot, cleaning up is a doddle.  Best of all, stews and casseroles use the most inexpensive cots of meat so are ridiculously thrifty.  Actually, Simply beef and lamb have a whole heap of slow-cook, frugal recipes on their LivePeasant pages and I've adapted one of theirs to create my version of a Moroccan Lamb Tagine Traditionally, this is served in a tagine dish - you know the one with the cone shaped lid - but you can do it in a casserole dish and nobody will know.

My Easy Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Friday, March 18, 2016

One Pot Beef and Ale Stew

There's nothing quite like the smell of a stew simmering gently in a pot on the hob to bring everybody to the table, especially when the weather is so changeable and can't decide if sun or snow is on the way.  Sunday afternoons are the perfect time to make a stew as you've time on your hands and chopping a pile of vegetables is remarkably therapeutic.  Stews are perfect lazy food as they're always easy one pot meals, saving on a mountain of washing up.  Just team them with a pile of creamy mashed potatoes and dinner is sorted.  I love that they're great value for money as you're using inexpensive cuts of meat, which, when slowly cooked, turn into a deliciously tender meal.  We're basically going back to peasant food, but in a modern style.


You can also turn a stew into a pie filling - make sure you reduce the sauce if it's a little thin* and just top with your favourite pastry.  Traditionally, Guinness is the beer of choice in a stew like this, but I decided to keep it local and use a red ale from Wicklow company O Brother Brewing.  It's the perfect match to beef and mushrooms.  Why not make this stew with a local beer or ale from your area?

Friday, March 11, 2016

Gooseberry Cloud Cakes

When I was a little girl, I used to go to work sometimes with my Dad where I'd be put to work filing invoices.  Slave labour, eh!  I was always distracted by the giant gooseberry bushes outside and used any excuse to disappear outside and pick as many as I could carry.  I learned pretty quickly that they weren't like regular berries and needed to be cooked first.  Holy moly, the sourness of a raw gooseberry is pretty unforgettable!  Something you rarely see now is Gooseberry Jam and I came across a jar in Danish home store Søstrene Grene last week which I simply couldn't resist.



Sunday, March 6, 2016

Review : Flanagan's Restaurant, Dublin 1

O'Connell Street rarely trips off the tongue when recommending restaurants, unless you like your food fast and cheap.  Thankfully there's now a real option for well cooked, great quality food on this once fine street with the arrival of Flanagan's Restaurant.  Just steps from Henry Street and the GPO, it opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a very tourist-friendly menu featuring Irish ingredients such as Jameson infused salmon and Irish Stew.