Pork Belly and Apple Burger

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Pork belly is relatively inexpensive and packed with flavour. It also carries other flavours really well, so feel free to open the spice cupboard and go nuts.

A disk of fried apple adds some sweetness to cut the richness of the pork. I used coleslaw and salad leaves to add some freshness. Top it off with some spicy mayo for a little heat and the whole thing is an explosion of yumminess.

Makes enough for 3 burgers (you can up the quantities of you’re cooking for more people).

Ingredients

500 Grams Pork belly

1 Tsp Ground ginger

1 Tsp Ground Coriander

1 Tsp Salt

1 Apple

25 Grams Butter

3 Tbsp Coleslaw

Salad leaves

3 Burger baps

2-3 Tbsp Mayonnaise

Siraccha to taste

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 140 degrees (Celsius)
  • Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels, and rub with the spices and salt. Place in an ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes
  • Cut the apple into 1cm thick disks. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat. Fry the apple disks until they start to brown on each side. Remove from the pan and set to one side.
  • Remove the pork belly and fry on a high heat in the same pan you cooked the apple in, until it starts to crisp up. Cook on each side
  • Toast the burger baps. To make the spice mayo, simply mix a couple of tablespoons and as much siraccha as you like and mix well. Spread the mayo on the baps
  • Add the coleslaw and salad leaves to one half of the bap, and top with the pork belly and apple. Top with the other half of the bap and serve immediately

French Onion Tart

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Fried onions are one my favourite savoury flavours. This tart is brilliant hot or cold and many of the component’s can be made in advance and then assembled and baked at the last minute if you’re cooking for friends so you have more time to chat. This tastes great and is a pretty cost effective dish if you want to make lunch for friends for example.

I used ready made pastry to save time (it was reduced in the supermarket, don’t judge sometimes its fine to take short cuts). The onions need to cook long and slow before going into the tart and this can be done a day or two in advance and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.

I used Gruyere cheese because I felt like being fancy, but a well flavoured cheese like cheddar or even parmesan would also work well.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

300 Grams Ready made short crust pastry

1 Kg Onions (finely sliced). This will look like a lot, but it will cook down.

2 Tbsp Oil (Or you can use half butter half oil if you prefer)

2 Eggs

50 Grams Gruyere (finely grated)

300 ml Double Cream

Flour for rolling out the pastry

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Add the oil to a large frying pan to heat before adding the onions. Cook over a medium heat for 45 mins stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t burn. Remove from the heat and allow to cool
  2. Preheat your oven to 180 degree (Celsius).
  3. I used a 12in loose bottom flan tin, make sure that this is well greased so that the flan will come out if the tin easily
  4. Dust a counter with lightly with flour and roll out the pastry in a circle fit big enough to fit the flan tin. Make sure the pastry is pressed well into the edges of the tin. Lay baking parchment on top of the pastry and pour on baking baking beans (I use old rice/dried beans that I keep in a jar, its cheaper than buying the fancy clay versions). Bake for blind 15 minutes, before removing from the oven. Carefully remove the baking parchment so you don’t drop the baking beans (or what ever you’re using) into the pastry
  5. In a large bowl beat the eggs, cream, and cheese together in a bowl (add salt and member if you think it needs it). I have French friend who worked as a pastry chef, and her top tip is to put the eggs through a seive to ensure that the mix will be smooth and you have any spots of egg white, but this isn’t essential. Stir in the fried onions and mix well before spooning into the pastry case
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tart is golden brown and lightly set

Roast Corn

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Corn on cob makes a great side dish, and is low effort and tastes great cooked on the barbecue or in the oven.

I used fresh mini corn cobs, but you can also use frozen ones that you have defrosted. There’s no need to blanch the corn first, it can go straight in the oven or on the barbie (just remember to turn occasionally).

Serves 2-4

4 Mini corn cobs

1-2 Tbsp Oil

1 Tsp Smoked paprika

1 Tsp Salt

Method

  • Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (Celsius).
  • Add the salt, oil, and paprika to a bowl an stir well
  • Roll the corn cobs in the oil mix and place on an oven proof dish
  • Bake for 15 minutes (don’t try to eat immediately as they’ll be piping hot)

S’mores Pie

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About a million years ago I spent the Summer working in an American Summer camp (Camp Danbee).

It was a total culture shock, we worked like dogs, had some great craic and got to try food that was new to wee girl from Belfast.

One of my favourite things were S’mores. Digestive biscuits/Graham crackers sandwiching chocolate and a toasted marshmallow. How could you not love this.

They popped into my head and I decided to try a more grown up version. This pie has a biscuit crumb base, rich chocolate filling and toasted marshmallow topping. Yes, it’s incredibley rich, but a little piece for a special occasion will do no harm.

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the base

12 Digestive biscuits (bashed to fine crumbs, either in a food precessor or in a bag with something heavy)

100 Grams Butter (melted and allowed to cool)

For the filling

300 ml Double cream

225 Grams Chocolate (I used half dark and had milk chocolate, but into small pieces)

3 Eggs (whisked)

Topping

200 Grams Marshmallows (mini marshmallows are best, I couldn’t find them so cut normal one in half)

Method

  • Lightly grease a 9 in (loose bottomed pie dish)
  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees
  • Mix the biscuit crumbs and melted butter together and press around the sides and base of your pie tin (push with the back of a spoon to make sure it’s firmly packed in
  • Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool
  • Put the chopped chocolate into a large bowl. Heat the cream until just before boiling and then pour over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate has melted.
  • Allow to cool for 5 minutes (if you don’t allow it to cool a little first the eggs with cook as soon as it hits the mix). Whisk in the eggs quite thoroughly and bake for 25 minutes, before removing from the oven and allow to cool
  • Spread the marshmallows across the top of the pie. If you have one of those chefie little blow torches you can use this to toast the marshmallows. If not put the pie under a hot grill and watch carefully so that it doesn’t burn

The Bear’s Omelette

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If you have watched The Bear recently, its a fairly accurate representation of the highly stressed shouty nightmare that a professional kitchen can be.

I made this version shown in the TV show and am slightly addicted to it. A simple omelette with a Boursin cream cheese filling and a handful of crushed sour cream and chive crisps over the top is amazing.

You can go down the chefie route and and sieve the eggs first to make the omelette super smooth, but if you can’t be bothered it won’t affect the taste. In the TV show the chef also piped the cheese onto the omelette, but really who has the time, just spread it , it will taste the same.

Give this a try, and I guarantee you’ll make it again.

Serves 1

Ingredients

3 eggs

Large knob of butter

50 Grams Boursin garlic and chive cream cheese

Salt and pepper

Handful of crushed sour cream and chive potato crisps/chips

Method

  • Whisk the eggs together (you can put them through a sieve if you want a really smooth omelette but it isn’t essential)
  • Heat the butter in a pan over a medium/high heat
  • When the butter has started to foam slightly (don’t let it brown), add the eggs.
  • Roll the eggs around the pan and with a spatula move the cooked parts towards the centre of the pan so that runny bits run out to the edges and cooks. It doesn’t have to be perfect it just has to be cooked
  • Spread the Boursin on one half of the omelette and fold over. Cook for another minute to allow the Boursin to warm through
  • Top with the crushed crisps (you can also used chopped chives or herbs of you have them) and devour immediately

Hearty Growers – Fungify Me

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If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know I love mushrooms of any type.

I had the chance to attend one of Hearty Growers mushroom events and for nerdie foodies like me it was perfect (and even normal people too). https://www.heartygrowers.com

Hearty Growers is based in the Banana Block in East Belfast. If you haven’t been there before it’s well worth a visit. It has great cafes, and local traders selling everything from tropical plants, vintage records, a micro brewery and runs events like comedy nights, monthly artisans market and pop up food events.

Hearty Growers have been running their workshops for the last 12 weeks and have had great interest. Terry, the owner is really passionate and interesting in explaining how an interest in funghi and their place in the ecosystem developed from a hobby during lock down into a thriving business.

I was really lucky to be in with a lovely group who were also very interesting. Other guests included people who were involved in product development, traditional Chinese medicine, a pharmacist, and people like myself who just love food.

Mushrooms/funghi are fascinating and really underrated, both for their medicinal qualities, and performance enhancing properties, as well as being yummy. Terry and his staff were great, letting us taste samples of different teas (which I promise don’t taste weired or mushroomy, but have great health properties). We also tried mushroom jerky, mushroom beer, mushroom chocolate etc, as well as locally made pies.

Mushrooms are grown on site and it was interesting to learn what the process is, and how they’re trying to get involved in circular farming. Hearty Growers sell a range of products, they produce themselves, and I had to stop myself buying more than I could carry. I left with shitake mushroom powder (which smells amazing and I know is going to be brilliant in stocks), a grow your own oyster mushroom kit, and a lion’s mane mushroom kit on order. They will also be launching a subscription service soon, so if you have a foodie in your life the kits and other products are brilliant gift ideas.

Rose and Raspberry Meringues

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Barbie fever has taken over the world. I was more of a tomboy and never really got into Barbie, but it did give the chance to make something cute and pretty.

These may look “rustic”, but if you can be bothered with the faff of a piping bag, you can make the meringue nests a little more uniform, and the cream in top look fancier. They can be kept undecorated in an airtight container for 3-4 days. If you’re entertaining this is useful so that you can make these on advance and assemble at the last minute.

I used the tiniest amount of rose water in the cream (less is definitely more with this stuff), but if it’s not your thing it’s fine to leave it out. Just to be whimsical I used some pink food colouring in the meringue and some dried rose petals just be fancy, but these will still taste great with out the girly touches.

Makes 6-8 meringue nests

150 Grams Sugar

3 Egg whites

Pink food colouring (optional, ideally use a gel food colouring, I added a tiny bit but can add according to how strong you want the colour to be)

For topping

300 ml Double or whipping cream

50 Grams Icing sugar

1/4 Tsp Rose water (optional)

200 Grams Raspberries

1 Tbsp Dried rose petals (optional)

Method

  • Preheat your oven to 110 degree (Celsius)
  • Line a baking sheet with baking parchment, and draw 6cm circles as a guide for your meringue nests . I have a silicon baking sheet with circles already drawn on which is really handy
  • Using a stand mixer or electric whisk, whip your egg whites into soft peaks
  • Continue whisking (if you’re using food colouring add it now) and gradually add the sugar to the egg whites until the meringue is stiff and glossy
  • Using the circles on your baking sheet as a guide, spoon or pipe the meringue into the circles
  • Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes and then switch the oven off and leave the meringues on the oven while it cools down
  • When the meringues are completely cold, whip the cream, icing sugar and rose water together until it forms stiff peaks
  • Spoon or pipe on top of the meringues and then top with fresh raspberries and sprinkle with rose petals for a little bit of fanciness

Surprise Cake (Guess the Secret Ingredient)

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If like me you love trolling through old recipe books, you find some pretty weird stuff.  Don’t start me on how wrong Fanny Craddock’s mincemeat omelette is.

Recipes with weird ingredients largely came about because times were hard or normal ingredients just weren’t available.

This cake dates back to the depression, and was popular again during World War 2 when the secret ingredient was used when butter was rationed.

If you haven’t guessed yet, the secret ingredient is Campbell’s condensed tomato soup.  Before you get grossed out, I promise the cake doesn’t taste of tomato soup, it actually tastes great.

This isn’t the depression era recipe (because lets face it butter makes everything taste better).  I’ve used a cream cheese frosting and grated chocolate but you could also use nuts as a topping too.  I baked this as a sheet pan cake, but you can also split it between two 6 inch cake tins if you want to make this as a two tier cake.

Ingredients

120 Grams Butter (room temperature)

200 Grams Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla extract

210 Grams Plain flour

1 Tsp Baking soda

1 1/2 Tsp Ground ginger

1 1/2 Tsp Ground cinnamon

1 Can Campbell’s condensed tomato soup (do not add water)

For the topping

200 Grams Cream cheese

100 Grams Icing sugar

50 Grams Dark chocolate (grated)

Method

  • Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (Celsius)
  • Using a stand mixer or electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
  • Add the eggs, one at a time.  Mix well, and don’t panic if the mix looks like it’s curdled a little.
  • Add the vanilla extract, and dry ingredients and mix until it forms a smooth batter
  • Add the tomato soup concentrate to the mix, and fold in thoroughly with a spatula until there no more streaks in the mix
  • Line a 9in x 12 in cake tin with baking parchment.
  • Pour the mix into the cake tin and spread evenly, make sure to get the mix right into the corners.  Bake for 45-50 minutes before checking the centre with a tooth pick (if it comes our clean the cake is ready, if not give it a few extra minutes)
  • Allow the cake to cool completely before topping with the frosting
  • To make the icing, whisk the icing sugar and cream cheese together drape a tea towel over the bowl to stop the icing sugar billowing up
  • Once all the ingredients are combined, spread evenly across the the cake which should now completely cold
  • Sprinkle with grated chocolate or crushed walnuts

Cheapskate “Crab” Cakes.

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Proper cakes are amazing, but the last time I bought fresh crab I almost had a coronary because it was so expensive.

To make a cheaper version I tried using seafood sticks (little bars of processed fish my nephew refers to as fish sausages).

While using proper crab is preferable, if you’re on a budget these are still really tasty. They make a great lunch or starter, and you can serve them with tartar sauce or just a squeeze of lemon. It’s also a good way to use up left over mashed potato

Serves 4

Ingredients

10 Seafood sticks/about 150 Grams (finely chopped)

300 Grams Mashed potato

3 Tbsp Mayonnaise

1 Tbsp Siracha

2-3 Scallions/spring onions (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Parsley (finely chopped)

Juice of half a lemon

1-2 Tbsp Oil for frying

150 Grams Breadcrumbs (seasoned with salt and pepper)

Method

  • Add all the ingredients (except the oil for frying and breadcrumbs) in to a large bowl and mix with your hands until well combined
  • Divide into 8 patties, and coat these with seasoned breadcrumbs
  • Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and fry them 4 at a time for 5 minutes on each side each or until golden brown. You can also cook these in an air fryer or bake in the oven at 200 degrees (Celsius) if you prefer not to fry them

Biscoff Bon Bons (only 3 ingredients)

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I love a simple recipe, and if it doesn’t require a ton of ingredients even better.

These make a nice gift, and are fairly easy to make.  You need to reduce the Biscoff biscuits to fine crumbs.  You can do this by putting them into a plastic bag bashing the living daylights out of them (great as stress relief) . An easier way is to blitz them in a food precessor until you have fine crumbs, (you might have to do this in two batches). You can halve the recipe if you want to make a smaller batch.

If you want to make these a little bit more grown up can also add a tablespoon or two of your favourite booze.

Makes between 36-40

500 Grams (reduced to very fine crumbs)

250 Grams Cream cheese

300 Grams Dark chocolate

Method

  • Add the cookie crumbs and cream cheese to a large bowl and mix until thoroughly combined
  • Line or lightly grease a try. Take a small teaspoon of the mixture roll it into a ball about the size of a cherry, and place on the tray. I usually keep a bowl of water beside me when doing this, as its easier to do if your hands are slightly wet. Continue making small balls of the mixture and put on the prepared tray until it has used up.
  • Put the tray in the fridge and chill for 1 hour
  • Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave proof dish. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time (stirring in between each blast so it doesn’t burn) until the chocolate has melted
  • Using 2 forks to lift the bon bons, dip into the chocolate and place back on the tray. Repeat until all the bon bons have been coated. Allow them to set for an hour in the fridge then transfer to an air tight container, or place in tiny paper cups if you’re feeling fancy