Wednesday 5 March 2014

St Patrick's Day Menu


Irish Smoked Salmon With A Lemon And Poppy Seed Dressing

Responsibly sourced wild salmon which is sseasonally caught in Ireland's finest freshwater rivers. Ideally served with a lemon Poppy seed dressing with a sprinkling of cracked black pepper over the dish.

For the Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

100g Irish smoked salmon from Carr & Sons
Fresh salad

Preparation time about 5 minutes.
Serves 4
No cooking is required

In a screw top small jar, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, poppy seeds, salt, and pepper. Shake until mixed well.
Set out some fresh salad leaves , place some Irish smoked salmon on top and drizzle with the lemon and poppy seed dressing.


Lamb and Leek Heartwarming Stew

Stew is old as time as itself and nothing says traditional more that a hearty stew with fresh ingredients and the drink of the nation Guinness.

Ingredients
30g/ 1 oz Plain flour
1kg lamb should or necked cubed
3tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
2 carrots
500g roughly chopped Leeks
550ml/ Guinness
450 ml of Beef stock
Corn flour for thickening stew at the end
I loaf of bread cut into 2 and hollowed out to make bowls for the stew.
The resulting leftover bread can be used for breadcrumbs in other recipes.

You could omit half the leeks and add 2 potatoes about 20 minutes before the end of cooking.



Place the flour in a freezer bag then add the cubes of meat and shake well to coat.


Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the meat on all sides.(Do this in batches as adding too much meat at once makes the meat steam rather than brown.


Heat the oil in the same pan you used for the meat, adding more oil if needed. Once the onion is browned.

Get your slow cooker out and cook for 4 hours on low or place in a casserole dish in a preheated oven for 1 hour 30 minutes.

Add the carrots, leeks,turnip, honey and beef stock and return the meat to the slow cooker or casserole dish.

About 20 minutes before serving add the potato to the stew ( adding them at this point means they keep their shape). Season to taste , with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper before serving.


Sprinkle cornflour in to thicken to personal tastes.

Preparation 15 minutes

Cooking time 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves 4
There is plenty left over which can be frozen.





Irish Tea Loaf

There is nothing more welcoming than coming home after a cold day to a hot steaming cup of freshly brewed Irish tea along with a nice slice of Irish Tea Loaf.


Ingredients

330g of mixed fruit
200ml of hot Barry's Irish tea
1 egg
2 Tablespoons of Irish Double Cream
2 Tablespoons of milk or enough  so the mixture feels adequately loose.
50 g Light Brown sugar
Optional Kerry Gold Irish butter from spreading on when the tea loaf is cold.


This is best started this the night before.

All you do is place the fruits and peel in a bowl, then dissolve the sugar in the hot tea ( I was using Barry's Irish tea) and pour this over the fruits. Then cover with a cloth and leave them to soak – as the fruits absorb the tea they become plump and juicy. 

Now whisk the egg and add it to the fruits and after that sift in the flour. Then add 2 tablespoons of double cream and and then the milk till the mixture feels adequately loose.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin ensuring it is level. Place it on a lower shelf in  the centre of the oven, and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes until it feels springy in the centre.







  • When it comes out of the oven, turn it out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve it cut in thick slices spread generously with butter and although it does keep well in an airtight tin in its liner, it’s also extremely good toasted.

  • Preparation 12 hours for the soaking of the fruit
    Cooking time 1 hour 10 minutes
    Oven temperature 170 c
    Serves 4 but with plenty left over.



  • The products I used were sourced from Ocado who kindly gave me a voucher for the ingredients.

    23 comments:

    1. Oh wow that all looks so nice. I bet you couldn't move after all that!

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    2. That sounds like a perfect early Spring menu!! Food to stay in and keep cosy and warm with!

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    3. can you come to my house to cook? yum yum!

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    4. Barry's Tea is my cup of tea heaven when I was little and visiting my nanny in Ireland I always got a mug of Barry's and a hunk of local cheese. Nice to see a drop of the black stuff too.

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    5. Mmmmmmm

      Delicious and I love the idea of using the bread as a serving bowl x

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    6. i don't eat fish ..but i do love lemon and poppy seed! the loaf sounds nice though.

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    7. That sounds good. Love the look of the smoked salmon, haven't had any for ages!

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    8. I love salmon and how you have cooked and served it both looks and sounds delicious!

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    9. I am not a fan of fish but that tea loaf looks delicious!

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    10. That looks and sounds great. i've not tried cooking with Guiness before. I should give it a try.

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    11. The smoked salmon looks gorgeous. And I'd like to try that stew too.

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    12. I quite fancy your tea loaf how delicious does that look!

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    13. Smoked salmon with lemon dressing sounds fab!

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    14. The smoked salmon looks lush - we tend to only ever eat it at Christmas!!

      I recently posted: Free Things To Do In Essex: Hainault Forest Country Park

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    15. All sounds lovely, especially the tea loaf!

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    16. I have really become dedicated to my slow cooker since Christmas. It is saving us a fortune in food costs and it makes cheap cuts of meat taste so delicious. I haven't tried a lamb stew yet so thank you for the recipe I will be giving this a try x

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    17. Will be trying these out they sound fabulous

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    18. Yummy. Can you come and cook for me please?

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    19. The salmon looks delicious! Love salmon

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    20. Beautiful menu - clever lady! Thanks for joining in with #recipeoftheweek. I've Pinned and Tweeted this post and there's a fresh linky live now. You might have already popped over but if not, please do!

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