A day of Baking

So I decided to brace the 30 degree heat of last Saturday and spend the day in the Kitchen.  Perhaps I was feeling a little homesick or lonesome - but for some reason I had the want in me for a slice of brown soda bread...so with no plans for the day I couldn't think of anything i'd prefer to be doing than to spend the day cooking.  I had also spend a number of hours on friday reading this amazing blog http://eatlikeagirl.com/ an Irish lady living in London ...which inspired me to get up off my ass and back into the kitchen!

Himself had had a pretty late night/early morning so as I was getting up he was going to bed...which left me with a quiet house and more time to plan my cooking.

So first things first, I made my brown soda bread.  Then while it was baking I took out the laptop and my cookbooks and made a list of all I was going to make...exciting times were ahead...

So I made the list - from Nevin Maguires  cookbook CountyLiving - One I truely recommend..It was actually the book that inspired me to cook more - he is my favourite Irish Chef - I have met him a few times throughout the years, firstly as a Thermomix consultant in Ireland, then while in China he visited as part of Irelands Ernest and Young Entrepreneurs of the Year, then as a treat for my parents and myself we visited his restaurant which is in my home county of Cavan in Ireland.  We stayed in they're B&B and had the most wonderful experience! I can safely say that my parents have never had a better meal before and will be hard pressed to ever have a better one. http://www.nevenmaguire.com/

Anyway back to the baking...so after a quick trip down to Wollies and the South Melbourne Market for supplies I found myself back home shopping in bags at my feet and the thermomix wizzing!

Nevin's White Irish Soda Bread with spring Onions and Cheddar cheese was created and thourally enjoyed.

I toyed around with the idea of making rough puff pastry for the Beef Wellington recipe I had stolen from the amazing website The British Larder http://www.britishlarder.co.uk/ . But decided with my tiny kitchen and overflowing fridge and freezer it was near to impossible to do so I bought a sneaky frozen one from Wollies while I was there!

So that leads you to what our dinner was that night - Beef Wellington with Creamy, Garlicky Potatoes.
When the boy got up at 4pm he was hungry so I made him our favourite Potato and Bacon Soup - always the best hangover cure - especially when served with freshly baked bread.

And for desert, well I just made some cookies...

New Year...New Posts

I am to make a promise to myself to continue with my blog this year...I have mentioned to friends and family  that I have been endeavoring to write a Food Blog which leaves them interested in reading it and what i'm blogging about.

Until I get into a groove of blogging - I would be too embarrassed to tell them about it.  I have sent hour upon hour reading through other blogs both here in Australia, in Ireland and the UK and am in awe with some of the fantastic and talented bloggers out there.

I owe my inspiration to you and my new Years resolution for 2012 is to get something down onto this page - weither its a quirky excerpt from my life, an outing to a beautiful restaurant or a simple homemade meal...I vow to keep blogging.

Plus I have about 50 photos of meals and ingredients on my iPhone to add to the blog and get recipes for so watch this space....

Chilli Butter

This Chili Butter has been made in the Thermomix Machine.

   Ingredients

·       50g butter, softened

·       1/2 red chilli, 

·       1 garlic clove,

·       1 teasp. Parsley, 

·       Juice of half a lemon

·       Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Making the Butter

1.     Mix the red chilli, with the garlic and parsley - throw into Thermomix bowl.  Blend at Sp8/10sec. 

2.   Then add in the softened butter with the lemon juice and salt and mix Sp5/10 sec. 

3.   Transfer onto a sheet of non-stick baking parchment, shape into a roll about 4 cm thick and wrap up tightly.    

4.   Chill for at least 1 hour until firm before use.

This butter is awesome and can be used for so many different types of dishes. Steak, Steak Sandwiches, Pork….

I had some recently on Mushrooms which I just placed in the Microwave for 3 minutes. #NomNomNom

Slainte!

My Love of Food and Cooking...Where did it come from?

Well I was lucky enough that while working as a sales rep for Irelands Largest Juice and Smoothie company we took on the Irish distribution of the wonderful...the amazing Thermomix machine.  At the time I was only 19 and was training deli staff to to run Juice and Smoothie bars (Boost Juice type places) within their own premises.  The Thermomix was brought in as an option for something that could make "warm smoothies".

Now the Thermomix does a lot more than that as I was soon to learn.  The wonderful Janie of UKThermomix took me under her wing and thought me all there was to know about it.  I was given a Thermomix to use for demos and to "practice".  Needless to say at 19 I had no interest in cooking and was from a very Traditional Meat and 2 Veg Irish family (and I HATED VEG).  So it was just Meat and Potatoes.  

I was did Thermomix demos for many of Ireland's Michelin starred chefs and sold them the machines...through tasting the food in their restaurants I was discovering a new world of culinary delights.  I learned about cooking and how to put food together from Ross Lewis of http://www.chapteronerestaurant.com/ , Kevin Dundon of http://www.dunbrodyhouse.com/, Derry Clarke of http://www.lecrivain.com/ and Nick Murchison of http://www.lortolan.com/.

This was the beginning of my passion for food.

I've come a long way from someone who "didn't like" most of what was put in front of her as a child.  I travelled to China with work in 2010 (most of my family thought i'd starve). The chopsticks took a while to get used to but I embraced the food and loved every minute of it...Snakes, Frogs, Toads and all!  We had Japanese Teppanyaki's once a week, street food 2/3 times a week and food from every other nation in the world. Shanghai is one of the most amazing and diverse countries in the world.  It was there that I met my sole mate and love of my life Shaun.  Who stole me away to Australia with him.

I moved to Australia from China in Nov 2011 so I have been here a year now.  I have had an amazing year and am blessed with every aspect of life.  I began cooking from the moment I got off the plane - I think after 9 months of eating out in China all I wanted was real home cooked food again.  I am lucky that Shaun loves cooking and food just as much as me so we can experiment and have alot of fun in the kitchen.

2nd Attempt

So as I have been endeavoring to write and actually begin this blog - it has taken me 2 years, since I first started thinking about it.  I wanted to Blog but didn't know what to blog about.  I guess being a little shy by expressing words on a page and having people judge me by them made me dismissive of the idea.

But it all came home to me one night while watching Julie and Julia (for the 2nd time) and it was as if a light switch came on in my head.

I love cooking and I want to start a blog so here we go, although I do feel that more and more of my life will get poured into this as we move forward but how and ever.
(Perhaps I should rethink the title of the blog?)

So then I wanted to learn about writing styles and how one show write on a blog piece.  Well I guess thats all depending on what your blogging about as-to how your going to style it. Many many wonderful and highly acclaimed bloggers give tips to newbe's and wannabe's like me so checking them out was the best thing I could do.  Particularly..... http://www.joythebaker.com/ she is awesome and for a whole consortium http://www.irishfoodbloggers.com/resources/ is also fantastic.  And a wee guy that really made an impression on me as a home cook was Donal Skehan http://www.donalskehan.com/ . They are really worth checking out!

So the best advice seemed to be - BE YOURSELF - and I guess that has worked well enough for me so far in life and i'll allow it to be a space for me to express myself (Bar my brief spell on the Irish TV Show The Apprentice- this year-but thats a story for another day)!

So here's ME....

Red Meat Wednesday! "Aussie" Steak Sandwich with Chili Butter and Thrice cooked Chips

So this is my 1st actual recipe posting.  My mother always said that I should make a wish when I do something for the 1st time..... 

 

So I mentioned before that I love Meat and that Meat and Potatoes were the stable foods of my diet for the last 24 years.  (Until I moved to China!) But you will notice in most resipes a general absence or lack

 

 This is a regular Steak Sandwich recipe taken in some part from Nevin Maguire (he is my kitchen hero)  http://www.nevenmaguire.com/.

 

The original recipe comes from the "Board Bia" website in Ireland - which is somewhere I gain a lot of inspiration for my Irish cooking.  The online version feeds 4 people but there are only 2 of us so this is edited to suit us!

Ingredients
2 x 100g striploin steaks,
2 slices of smokey bacon,
4 slices of cheddar cheese,
2 jumbo free range eggs,
1/2 red pepper, 
1/2 red onion, 
2 handfulls of salad leaves (I used Rocket),
1 tablesp. Balsamic  vinegar,
1 tablesp. olive oil,
2 ciabatta's.

Method

1.     Preheat the frying pan and add knob of butter. 

2.   Place the steaks, red peppers and red onions in a shallow dish and sprinkle over the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and season with salt and pepper turning to coat.

3.   Add the 2 rashers to the grill.

4.   Add the steaks to the pan.

5.   Throw the vegetables on top of the steak for 4-5 minutes, turning once. The steaks will take 2-3 minutes on each side for medium rare. Remove steak and clean pan to fry eggs.

6.   Place the ciabatta's with sliced cheese under the grill to melt.

7.    Once cheese is melted, remove and add salad leaves, pepper and onion, and bacon.

8.   Add the steaks and a slice of the chilli butter, and top with a gooey fried egg!

9.   Arrange on plates with trice-cooked chips to serve and enjoy.

Slainte!

My 1st Blog Post...

So I have been toying around with the idea of creating a blog post for a while now and with a gentle push in the right direction form my partner and some work colleagues here I go.

This blog will be a journey through food and the food I cook on a daily basis.

I am an Irish girl living in Australia and have a huge love for Ireland and in recent years have become quite a foodie. I enjoy keeping my roots to home strong as a result I have turned my poor Australian boyfriend Shaun into a spud eating paddy... although he has developed a grá for Irish food and luckily for me embrases my cooking of it!

We are currently coming into summer in Australia and I know that some of the dishes will be extremely out of context with the warm weather but its wintertime in Ireland.