6 medium potatoes

1 large white onion

6 large eggs

2-3 cups of olive oil

Salt to taste

Optional:

Half a red pepper, diced small

Chorizo, chopped into small pieces

Spinach, herbs

Peel your spuds and onion.

Chop your onion into small to medium sized chunks. Put into a large bowl.

I read that you shouldn’t use a food processer to slice the potatoes as they’ll be too thin, but it was fine. Anything for an easy life, me. Plus the potato slices fried up quicker, hurrah!

Add the potatoes into the bowl with the onion and mix well.Salt the mix and give it another mix to disribute.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan,  and add the potato and onions. I found that the potatoes and onion cooked nicely sitting in the oil, no need to have them floating in it, just enough to move them around easily. Even my bigest pan didn’t take the full amount of the mix in one go, so it may be easier to split the batch in two and fry seperately to ensure an even cooking time.

When the potato slices can be split easily with a spatula, you can take them out of the oil and into a large bowl. Drain the oil off seperately and save a small amount to use for the final fry off.

In a medium bowl, whisk the six eggs together. When the potato mix has cooled slightly, add the eggs to it and mix well. If you’re adding anything extra such as a bell pepper or chorizo, mix it in now.

Return about 2 tablespoons of oil to your pan, on a medium heat. Make sure it’s not any more than this or it’ll cook the bottom side too quickly. For this part, I used a 10 inch frying pan, which fit the mix perfectly.

Lift the edge up with a spatula to see how the bottom is browning. When it’s a golden brown, it’s ready to turn. Everyone seems to get a squeaky bum about this part but it’s no bother once you have a proper size plate and do it over the sink.

Turn the heat off and carry the pan to the sink. Place a large plate over the pan, so you can turn the tortilla out onto it. With one hand firmly over the base of the plate and your other hand holding the pan handle, flip the plate and pan. There may be a bit of runny oil or egg bit that escapes out the side (which is why it’s done over the sink), but the tortilla will be grand.

Put the pan back on the hob, add a little bit of oil to cover the base and put on a medium heat again for about 20 seconds. Gently slide the tortilla back onto the pan with a spatula. Again, there may be a little bit of runny bits, but just scoot that on into the pan. Shape the tortilla edge with your spatula and leave to gently cook for five minutes. If it needs an extra minute or so, leave it. Turn ff the heat and leave sit for a few minutes before transferring onto a suitable sized plate.

It’ll serve 4-6 as part of a main dish, or roughly 20 appetizer squares.

I serve it usually as how I saw it in Havana Tapas on Georges Street once, which is a disc of baguette, topped with a tortilla square, a fold of jamon (or prosciutto or parma since that seems easier to get hold of) and an olive kept in place with a cocktail stick.

Surprisingly, despite eating my body weight in it the last time I made it, there was a good bit left over for snacking and bulking up work lunch salads. If nothing else, it’s great to have around to chew on while standing in the kitchen deciding what you’re going to eat next.

Essential thinking noms FTW!

 (gif: reactiongifs.com)

Edited and re-posted from my old blog Where’s My Parade?!

First posted July 2013.

After a first time trip to Cortina’s in Dundrum Town Centre last week, I got a little obsessed with their cilantro and lime rice. I could eat this rice without anything else. Yum, coriander. I dance around with coriander bunches like Morrissey and his gladioli.

Anywho, onto the recipe. Cravings dictated the direction of my rice companion. Garlic and prawns said the belly brain. Lots of garlic. There may or may not have been a plan laugh involved.

 Very simple and veeerry tasty. I used Marcela Valladolid’s recipe

Baja Garlic Prawns

For two servings, I used the following-

1 tbsp butter

half pound king prawns

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 white onion diced small

4 garlic cloves

3 tblsp white wine

juice of half a lime

(in lieu of parsley) 2 handfuls of coriander chopped

Directions (from Marcela’s recipe on foodnetwork.com)–

Serve with a Margarita or five.

Edited and re-posted from my old blog Where’s My Parade?!

Originally posted October 2012.

Adapted from Lorraine Pascale’s recipe-not sure which book, I borrowed it from a colleague. I’ll edit when I find out….

Like Sardinia, drinking frequently and arsey faced cats, I have made no secret of my love for Gorgonzola.

Just FYI, in my head I say it in extended Kanye All Caps.

Lets get over-enthusiastic about food together- GORGONZOOOOLLLAAAAA!

Since the Gorgonzola panna cottas can’t be whipped up and eaten right away, I had to look for an alternative for last weekends starter. Gorgonzola soufflé with port poached pears. Mmm and mmmm!

I don’t think I ever made souffle before, and was less inclined after watching lips purse and eyes sparkle when contestants on Come Dine With Me would find one on their hosts menu. ‘Oooh’, they’d say, ‘Risky. It could all go wrong very easily’. And then you’d see a thought bubble above their head of them rocking back and forth cackling wildly at the likelihood that their competitor will flop faster than their souffle.

But since how else are you going to learn unless you practice, it went down on my menu (Snigger. Sorry.).

It was fine to make, although next time I wouldn’t bother with the pears, they added nothing to the dish, despite being well soaked in lovely port. It was a waste of bleedin’ port which bothered me most. Booo…

I’ll put down the measurements as I used it, and note in italics where I’d make changes for next time to see if that works a little better as I was left over with a good bit of mixture and breadcrumbs.

Ingredients

2 Medium Pears, peeled, cored and cut into large chunks. Use 3-4 med. pears. Or none.

150ml (5fl oz) port I used tawny port. Drink it yourself instead.

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

40g (1.5oz) unsalted butter

75g (3oz) bread crumbs Two slices of bread did the job, although half that would suffice.

40g plain flour

150ml (5fl oz) milk

75g (3oz) GORGONZOOOLAAAA

1tsp mustard powder

5 eggs, separated

Squeeze of lemon juice

Equipment

1 large (like, rilly large) soufflé dish, 4 soufflé dishes or 8 ramekins

Put the prepped pears in a pan with the port and black pepper. Add a little water if the pears are not fully covered. Bring to just under the boil and turn down the heat so only a couple of bubbles break the surface of the liquid. Cook until the pears start to go soft, remove from the pan from the heat and leave the pears to infuse for a few minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C/ 400 deg F/ Gas Mark 6 and place a baking tray in the oven. You need direct bottom heat to give the eggs a good upward boost in the oven.

Prep your souffle dish/es/ ramekins. Butter the sides and base, in an upward motion on the sides. Tip some breadcrumbs into each mould and tip the moulds to coat the insides. The breadcrumbs will give a crispy crunchy crust.

Remove the pears from the port and put them into the dish/es, distributing evenly.

Separate your eggs. Put the whites into a mixing bowl and the yolks can go into a cup or whatever will hold them until you need them.

Heat the butter in a medium pan (what I call medium you may not, just be aware that you need space to fold in the whipped egg whites later in this dish) over a low heat, add the flour and stir to combine well. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually add the milk, bit by bit, stirring all the time. if it all goes in at once, it will get lumpy. If it goes lumpy, whisk like a mad yolk (dadum dum tishhh) to get rid of the lumps.

Turn up the heat until the mixture is boiling and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. The sauce will begin to thicken. Remove the pan from the heat and add the GORGONZOOOLAAA. Cut up a bit and nom as you go along. Pour a bit more port. G’wan ye good thing ye.

Also add the mustard powder and season with salt and pepper. Season more than you think you’ll need as the eggs will dilute the flavour a little.

Add the egg yolks and stir well.

Add a squeeze of lemon to the egg whites and whisk. Start slowly and then pick up speed. The whites should be whisked to a shiny and stiff peak (lawd have mercy) so it will hold their shape in the bowl. Add one big spoonful of whites to the cheese mix (called a panade, ooh, foncy) to loosen it up and make it easier to fold in the rest. Using a large metal spoon, slowly fold in the egg whites keeping as much air in the soufflé as possible.

Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and place the dish/es on it, and pour in the mix. Run a finger along the edge of the dish/es to ensure the mixture is not coming over the side.

Use a palette knife to level the top of the soufflé so it rises evenly.

Bake immediately, 20-25 mins for a large soufflé dish, 10 minutes for the small ones.

Try not to open the oven door while it’s baking or it might collapse.

So, that’s it. Pretty easy. It was a touch too liquid-y in the centre for my liking and there was a good bit of mix and breadcrumbs left over. I’ll make individual ones later and see how much further that stretches and will edit the ingredient amounts if needed. I served it with salad…and more port.

I give this recipe three Grumpy Cats out of five

 Alright, edit time-

There was enough left over for three little soufflés. Much nicer without the pears.

Goes great with a glass or two of port, if you insist, like.

Insist, damn you. *shakes fist*

I’ve wanted to try this for a long time but with wildly varying reviews of how good it is, I figured why cause more wash up for something that could possibly be pretty manky.

I’m not a huge chocolate cake fan, but sometimes, only a slice of fluffy cocoa cakey goodness will do. Or in this case, a mug of.

It ended up with hasty research for a quick and easy chocolate cake to get my fix. And tah-daaaaaaaaaah….microwave choccie cake in the time it takes you to boil a kettle of water.

The measurements below are what I figured would work (although I lobbed in the liquid stuff in hoping for the best), and here’s how it turned out.

Makes 1 big-ass mug cake (it’s a technical term), or 2 decent cakes in separate mugs/ cups

Dry ingredients-

2 oz flour

1 oz sugar

1 oz cocoa powder

Wet ingredients-

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons melted butter (or 30g/ 1 oz melted for 15 secs in the microwave)

Baileys Biscotti for flavouring-I used about two runs around the bowl

Unfortunately, I didn’t have chocolate chips. They’re not essential but would have broken up the texture nicely.

Method:

Mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl. I did this originally because I didn’t believe it would only fit into one mug, it does, but you won’t get to mix it properly in the mug once the wet ingredients go in.

Then add your egg, and mix it until it’s all fairly binded. Add the milk and melted butter and mix until it forms a batter. Add the flavouring

Pour into your microwave proof mug, or two microwave proof mugs/ cups

Pop it in for three minutes. My microwave is supposed to be 850w but it acts like it’s more 1000w. Keep an eye on it while it’s going, in case your cup or microwave gives different results. There’s no point trying to do something the lazy way if it means something blows up or spills over and causes more cleaning, boooooo!

Glossy, mmmmm!

It’s quite dense inside, but has loads of flavour and is rich enough for even the biggest chocoholic!

Next time, I’d use chocolate chips, split the mix between two mugs and serve with ice cream, other than that..

There was a Christmas charity bake sale a couple weeks back in work so thought I’d give truffles a go. I got a present of homemade truffles last year (now, there’s a good friend!), so pilfered the recipe and gave it a bash.

Recipe:

14 oz/ 400g dark chocolate

1 cup/ approx 250ml of double cream

3 tbsp/ 45g of butter

Booze or flavouring

Powdered chocolate

or ground almonds

The flavours I decided on were two-Baileys Biscotti and dark chocolate, and White chocolate and Rum and raisin cream rolled in cocoa powder and crushed almonds.

The following photies are from both the white and dark chocolate process, rather than showing them on the double, I mixed it up.

Break up choc in a bowl.

Melt the chocolate into the cream. Suddenly, silky, heavenly smooth chocolate will appear.

Add in the butter and stir. I used Stork margarine, and it worked just fine.

Add in whatever booze or flavouring you would like at this stage, I added two eggcups and a half (my shot glasses were dirty, ahem) to the dark choc mix. The Rum & Raisin cream for the white choc mix had enough going on, so nothing was added there.

Silky!

Cover and place in fridge to set for a few hours or over night if needed.

When set, using a teaspoon and a cup of boiling water, scoop out spoon sized lumps and roll between your palms to make a round shape.

Don’t make them too perfect or they’ll lose their bobbly effect and get too coated when you roll them in your chosen coating/s, and in my opinion, don’t look as good. Use a big spoon and don’t be afraid to make big ones. I nearly lost the will to live when I realised how much you get out of each mix (approx 30-50 depending on size). It doesn’t take long, once you get going, and you can’t drink at the same time when your hands are covered in all sorts. But, hey, you can make up for it after!

After shaping, I rolled both mixes in coca powder or ground almonds. Do this per truffle after you’ve shaped it.

1 stalk lemongrass

1 fresh square inch ginger

3 garlic cloves

1 jalapeno pepper

2 tablespoon brown sugar

3 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoon rapeseed oil

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

6 chicken thigh fillets

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Minimum Passive Time: 1 hour

Grilling Time: 30 minutes

Peel outer layers of lemongrass. Cut off top third of stalk, Cut off root end of stalk. Thinly slice stalk crosswise, then finely chop to mince.

Cut away outer peel of ginger, then mince. Peel garlic clove and mince. Cut Serrano/ jalapeno pepper and mince. Discard seeds for more mild flavor.

In a small sauté pan, combine brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, canola/ rapeseed oil and rice wine vinegar. Slowly heat and stir until palm sugar has dissolved. Then add in lemongrass, ginger, garlic and Serrano/ jalapeno pepper. Bring up to simmer until lemongrass is fragrant; then turn off heat and let mixture cool.Once mixture cools completely, pour into zip lock bag, add in chicken, zip up top (squeezing air out) and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Remove chicken from marinade and grill over low heat for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Serve immediately.

I served it with more lime and coriander rice.

I haven’t had this particular craving in a long time. Well, not since I decided to bypass the proper cake in favour of a supposedly easy cheesecake last year, which turned out to be a labour of frustration and boredom from patting each cherry dry (I still can’t believe I bothered). I thought this would be an even bigger you-know-what in the hoop, but it was a piece of pi… cake.

I contacted Superquinn to see if they’d share any of their confectionary wisdom since they were main dealer of everyone’s favourite 80’s classic cáca milis, but no luck. ‘Tis but a secret known only to their white aproned angels. Plus the batter comes pre-made, but whatever, it’s €6 a pop for a full cake and it’s ridic delicious, so yay, Superquinn! Very nice to talk to, too.

Egg firmly in arse to finally make it properly, off I went.

Cake batter:

500 g all purpose flour

440 g white sugar

165 g cocoa powder

1.5 teasp. baking powder

3/4 teasp. baking soda

3/4 teasp. salt

3 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 tablesp. vanilla extract

Cherry filling/ spread:

2 tins of pitted sour/ black cherries (around 400g per tin before draining)

Keep 3/4 cup of juice when draining the cherries.

230 g white sugar

60 g cornflour

1 teasp. vanilla extract

Fruit liqueur or booze of preference

Whipped cream:

24 fl oz heavy cream

75gm icing sugar

or the easy cheat-

700 ml (2 x Pre-whipped cream Avonmore tubs) cream

Can of squirty cream (oh, hush, it’s only for a little bit)

Start with the batter-

Prepare two 8 or 9 in cake pans by greasing and covering the bottom with greaseproof paper.

I have silicone moulds bought cheaply in Tesco, so no prep needed. Hurrah!

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add in the eggs, oil and milk and blend. If you have a standing mixer, use it as this batter is thick and heavy and is hard work with regular hand held beaters.

When all is mixed and smooth, pour into your pans/ moulds. Smooth it out as best you can as the mix is thick and will rise unevenly otherwise.

Check after 40 minutes using a skewer or toothpick. If it doesn’t come out of the centre cleanly, leave in for a little longer, checking at 5-10 minute intervals. Mine took roughly an hour, but would have done quicker if I’d alternated them on shelves about halfway through, so one took a little longer.

Leave the tins/ moulds on wire racks for 10-15 minutes before gently turning them out on the racks to cool fully.

Cherry filling-

Drain  the tins of cherries, reserving about 3/4 cup of the juice.

In a medium pot, pour in your drained cherries, reserved juice, sugar, vanilla extract and cornflour. You can add booze if you like. Cherry liqueur or Cointreau and the usual suspects work fine, but I threw in a glug of Zaconey which was tasty as flip.

Keep on a low heat until it thickens to a heavy honey consistency. If you want a sweet cake, I’d recommend using a full cup of juice and a bit more cornflour and sugar.

Leave to cool completely before using it.

Cream-

I presume if you’re beating your own cream, you might fancy piping it onto the top also. Ooooh, get you! Don’t you judge me, fancypants!

Beat the cream and icing sugar in a cold bowl until stiff. Prepare your piping stuff.

Knowing myself full well, I figured I would quite likely be losing the will to live at this point and may have hit the booze and unable to pipe cream in any delicate manner. Since it had all gone smoothly to this point, I was not a bit bothered but was indeed sampling snifters of Zaconey. Win-win….ish.

When the cakes have cooled fully, take a large bread knife and cut each one in half. Because the batter was heavy, it makes the cakes denser and easy to cut evenly. Huzzah.

Take one of the cake halves and crumble. Leave the crumbs aside. You’re not going to need the full amount of crumbs, so you could reserve some to make a few cake pops. Or, stuff them into your gob. Either, or.

Clear off any crumbs on your sill intact cake pieces, and place your first layer on your serving plate/ stand.

Spread out some whipped cream, leaving a small gap around the edge.

Spoon the cherry filling on top. You might find it easier to drop the cherries around and drizzle the filing seperately.

Place your next layer of cake on, and repeat. Top with your third layer, but leave a larger gap to the edges for the top of the cake.

Spread the whipped cream around the side of the cake. Don’t worry if it’s a little uneven, you’ll be slapping on the cake crumbs shortly.

Take small handfuls (not great mounds like I did. D’OH) and press against the cream along the sides. Brush off any excess on the base of your stand/ plate.

Pipe around the remaining cream at the base and on the outer top edge of your cake. I used squirty cream because I am impatient and didn’t want to wash any more things. It worked just fine.

That’s it! Just watch the crumbs on the side. I shovelled mine on and there was a minor avalanche just before the photo was taken.

The size of the flipping thing….even thought it was easy to do, it’s a lot of cake. A LOT.

Next time, I’ll chance making a swiss roll version (continuing the retro buzz) or split cupcakes.

The more cherry, the better!