Spicy Harrisa Chickpea Cakes with Chunky Raita

Here's a super quick, super healthy vegetarian dish perfect if you are stuck in a lunch time rut, like myself! The harrisa paste gives the chickpea cakes a real hot and smoky kick, with the raita being the perfect cooling accompaniment. This can easily be made ahead of time and reheated in the microwave and added to the raita salad, if you are office based. But equally this dish is a perfect starter for a dinner party or also throw the cakes in a pitta or flatbread for a wonderful alternative to a sandwich. Whatever the occasion, there is no excuse not to give these babies a go!!

Ingredients

• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 tbsp of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 tsp of harrisa paste
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 slices of bread, blitz to breadcrumbs

Raita

• 50ml of natural yogurt
• 1 tomato, deseeded and diced
• 1/4 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 5ml extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp diced red onion

Method

1. Add all the chickpea cake ingredients to a food processor and blitz to a batter style consistency.
2. Wet your hands and shape into small patties (cakes). I got 10 from this recipe, but you can make them smaller for canapes or bigger for burgers.
3. Heat a non stick pan to medium and add a small amount of olive oil.
4. Fry the chickpea cakes for 4 minutes on each side.
5. To make the chunky raita, simply combine all the ingredients and stir well. If you have mint or coriander, this would also work.
6. Enjoy. These can be stored cooled for 2 days in the refrigerator and reheated gently on a pan for for 1 minute in the microwave.

Swedish Style Low Fat Meatballs

In honour of tomorrow nights Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo Sweden, here's a dish in that can be a big hit for those tacky but great fun Eurovision House Parties I love so much. The meatballs have a salute to Sweden, and are the perfect canape, great for drinks parties of all kind.

The meatballs are normally made with a mixture of beef and pork mince, but as theses are low fat, we are using turkey mincemeat. The meatballs are also baked not fried, thus reducing the fat further.

I'm serving these with two different dips; a low fat tomato sauce and a parsley yogurt.

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 400g turkey mince
• 1 slice of wholemeal bread
• 6 tbsp of low fat milk
• 1/4 tsp of mixed spice
• 1 tsp of fennel seeds
• 1 large egg
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp of chopped flat leaf parsley

Parsley Yogurt

• 1 tsp of flat leaf parsley chopped
• 8 tbsp of low fat yogurt
• 1/4 of a garlic clove, grated
• salt and pepper
• Juice of 1/4 of a lemon

Tomato Sauce

• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 3/4 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 small fennel bulb, chopped
• 1 tsp of chilli paste
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Blitz the bread to crumbs in a food processor.
   
3. Add the crumbs to a bowl and mix with the milk
4. Add the remaining meatball ingredients and mix well to combine.
5. Using a wet tea spoon, divide out the small bite size meat balls on the baking tray.
6. Wet both hands and mould the meatballs into balls
7. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, turning half way.
8. To make the parsley sauce just combine the ingredients and place in a serving dish
9. To make the tomato sauce, add the chilli paste, onion, fennel and garlic to a frying pan, with the oil and saute on a medium heat.
10. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are broken down. Pour into a jug and blitz with a hand held blender. Return to the pan and season and heat. Place in a serving dish. (This basic tomato sauce can be used for just about anything! e.g. the remaining sauce is perfect for my pizza party)
11. To serve, scatter some rocket over a plate and place the balls on the plate and put toothpicks on each meatball. Serve with the sauces.

My Posh Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese is the ultimate comfort food. There just something about gooey, oozy cheese on toast that is so satisfying. This recipe below is barely a recipe, more an idea shared, to jazz up the concept of grilled cheese on toast.

If you want to impress your girlfriends with a quick and easy lunch that has undertones of a Parisan bistro, then look no further than this little gem of a recipe.  May I add that you could easily make a little dinner party starter out of this dish. Just swap the wholemeal brown bread for some crostini.

Ingredients

• 4 Slices of goats cheese
• 2 slices of wholemeal brown bread (We love McCambridges here in Ireland)
• 1 tsp of basil pesto
• Handful of bistro-style lettcuce (Every supermarket does this)
• 4 sun dried tomatoes
• 4 walnuts halves, crumbled
• Honey to drizzle 
• Balsamic syrup to drizzle

Method

1. Preheat the grill, and spread the pesto over the bread.
2. Place 2 slices of cheese over each slice of bread
3. Grill until the cheese is starting to bubble and the bread is getting nicely toasted
4. Place the lettuce on a plate and scatter with the sundried tomatoes
5. Place the 2 slices of grilled cheese over the lettuce
6. Scatter the plate with the walnuts
7. Drizzle with the honey and balsamic syrup

Low Fat Morrocan Inspired Meatballs & Couscous

Yes I do realise that its been FOREVER since I blogged, but the business has got me kept!! Business is good, can't complain, lots of lovely guests from all different and interesting backgrounds!!! This has resulted in putting the blogging on the back burner!!! Seriously though guys, each day I look at the clock and its evening time again!!! Time has yet again escaped me and my blog writing!!! Each day I promise to finish that sushi blog or  a blog about how the B&B is going! Writers block has seemingly affected me on those grounds, but in a return to tradition, over the weekend I cooked a really low fat morrocan inspired pickn'mix dinner!!!

It was very low in fat, yet I felt it was satisfying and felt like a 'treat dinner' all the same.  My meatballs are (as always) made from turkey meat, keeping the fat down and the protein high!!! The other 'pick n mix' options are salads, cous cous, and a yogurt sauce!!!

Serves 3-4 people


Apricot & Cumin Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

• 400g turkey mince
• 2 crusts of bread (whizzed to breadcrumbs) - any leftover bread will do
• 1 egg
• salt/pepper
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 5 dried apricots
• 1 clove of garlic, diced
• 4 tbsp of chopped coriander

Method

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz until combined
2. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
3. Place a sheet of baking paper on a tray
4. With damp hands roll balls of the mince mixture between your hand (I use an icecream scoop to measure the quantity)
5. Place all the meatballs on the tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, turning once.

Carrot & Coriander Salad

This doesn't require instructions really, simple strip a carrot with a vegetable peeler, and sprinkle chopped coriander over the strips and drizzle with lemon juice. Fast, and yum! (zero calorie points)

Saffron Almond & Chickpea Couscous Salad

Ingredients

• 100g of cous cous
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of ground cumin
• salt/pepper
• 115 ml of boiling water mixed with 2-3 strands of saffron
• 1 tin of chickpeas (washed and drained)
• 40g of toasted flaked almonds
• Lemon Juice from one lemon
• Chopped coriander and/or flat leaf parsley

1. Place the cous cous grains in a bowl, and rub in the cumin, juice from half a lemon, salt, pepper, oil and ground cumin
2. Add the hot saffron water, cover the bowl and leave for 15 minutes
3. When the cous cous has soaked up all the water, fluff up the grains with a fork (don't use a spoon)
4. Add the remainder ingredients and stir to combine well.

Quick Yogurt Sauce

Blitz 100 mls of natural yogurt, with 3 tbsp of fresh coriander, juice from a lemon and season with salt and pepper. This sauce is a great quick accompaniment to the meatballs. You may wish to include some pitta breads or flat bread with this dinner!!!!

Low Fat Beetroot Soup

I’ve only embraced the beetroot in the past year or so, and now I simply cannot get enough of it. It’s a shame really as it was everywhere when I was in Russia, with Borscht (Russian soup with Beets) featuring on every single menu we encountered. I’ve decided to do my own twist on Borscht, without the fat.

This is a really vibrant pink soup. It’s just so so pretty that it looks like a soup that Elle woods in Legally Blonde would be proud of. My pink soup packs a punch though with some red chilli adding a fiery punch. The great thing about this soup is that it’s completely fat free and the only remote bit of fat with it is if you were to add crème fraiche, yogurt or a soft cheese to the centre for serving. I’ve compromised a little and added a teaspoon of low fat natural yogurt, to give the fiery soup a great refreshing tangy flavour. Also right at the end, might I suggest a squeeze of lemon juice to give the soup an instant burst of freshness.

This is a real time saver soup, using a food processor to do all the chopping and using pre-cooked beetroot. If you make a large batch freeze in individual containers once completely cooled.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Basic Soup Base

·         1 cooking onion

·         1 clove of garlic

·         1 leek
·         1 carrot

·         700 mls of vegetable stock

·         Salt & pepper

·         4 precooked beetroots, finely chopped

·         ½ red chilli, deseeded and chopped

·         6 tsp of low fat yogurt (one tsp per bowl)

·         6 sprigs of flat leaf parsley.

·         Low fat cooking spray

Method

1.       Roughly chop the onion, garlic, leek, carrot, and chilli.Then add to a food processor and pulse a few times.

2.       Spray a saucepan on medium heat with low fat cooking spray.

3.       Sauté the pulsed vegetables for 5 minutes until soft.

4.       Add the beetroot and vegetable stock. Bring to boil and then down to a simmer for 10 minutes.

5.       Season well and blitz with a hand held blender. If it’s too thick add more boiling water and stir through.

6.       To serve place in soup bowls and pour over some yogurt and garnish with flat leaf parsley.

Soup Tip

When making soup, I nearly always use the same soup base.

Basic Soup Base

·         1 cooking onion

·         1 clove of garlic

·         1 leek
·         1 carrot

·         700 mls of vegetable stock

·         Salt & pepper

Different ingredients can be added to make all types of soups using this soup base. Whizz the ingredients , sauté in a pan and then add you preferred vegetable (e.g. carrots, parsnips, broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes – to name a few soups) and finally add stock and boil, simmer and whizz. I’m always trying new soups, but usually stick to this base recipe.

Cumin Roasted Butternut Squash with Spicy Green Chickpea Salad

I love the fact that butternut squash is sooo tasty, yet extremely low in fat and a very healthy food. It can be boiled, roasted, baked, chipped, mashed and so on.... but my favourite way of eating it is when its roasted in the oven sprinkled with herbs or spices. It can easily be the main star on the plate.

This roast butternut squash salad is made by roasting the squash in large wedges in oven scattered with cumin seeds and just light sprayed with low cal oil spray. The heat in the oven sweetens and intensifies the flavours of the squash and the cumin seeds permeates the squash beautifully.

The accompaniment for these fragrant wedges is a spicy green chickpea salad. You really can't get much healthier than that, not to mentioned...tastier!! For the crunch element I've roasted a few pumkin seeds in the oven for the last 2 minutes. Pumpkin seeds are unbelievably good for you, which is an added bonus because they are just so darn tasty.

This salad is the perfect girlie lunch time salad with friends, or reduce the portion and it stands as an elegant dinner party starter. Also you could increase the chilli chickpea salad as a main course for a vegetarian friend.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1/2 a butternut squash, halved down the middle
• 1 tbsp of cumin seeds
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 3 sprays of low cal spray
• 1 tin of chickpeas, rinsed
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp of chopped green chilli
• 2 tbsp of diced cucumber
• 1 tbsp of rocket leaves
• 1 tbsp of roasted pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp of olive oil, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice whisked together.
• Balsamic syrup to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
2. Cut the halved squash into wedges, either 4-5 pieces
3. Lay the wedges on baking paper lined tray
4. Sprinkle with cumin seeds and sea salt and spray with low cal spray
5. Roast for 20-25 minutes
6. Meanwhile, combine the chickpeas,spring onion, cucumber, chilli, rocket leaves in a bowl.
7. Pour over the whisked dressing and let to infuse.
8. Put the pumpkin seeds in the oven for last 2 minutes of cooking.
9. Remove the tray and allow 2-3 wedges on a plate per person.
10. Add the spicy salad to the plate, scatter with the toasted seeds and decorate with some balsamic syrup.

Slow Roasted Vietnamese Pork

A 'No Knife Required Roast'...

If you are not a big pork fan, this recipe should change your mind. I'm using a rolled joint of pork that Nugent Butchers in Cork prepared for me. They scored the fat and tied this pork up for me. I simply just created the marinade and banged it in the oven and forgot about it for 6 hours, which let me to get on with the rest of my day.

Serves 4-6 (depends on their greediness)

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork shoulder, rolled and scored
• 4 tbsp of fish sauce
• 2 lemon grass, bruised
• 2 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 2 red chilis, deseeded and finely sliced
•  thumb size ginger piece, peeled
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp of black peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 1 tbsp coarse sea salt
• 500g thin egg noodles
• Spring onions
• 3 large mushrooms, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced finely
• 4 chopped spring onions
• Soy sauce
• Freshly chopped mint, coriander, and basil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Prepare the marinade: in a mini blender blitz the garlic, ginger, chili, peppercorns, sugar, and star anise 
3. Rub the marinade over the meat and get some inside the scored fat.
4. Rub sea salt into the meat.
5. Put the meat in a roasting tray and add the lemongrass in also.
6. Pour over the fish sauce and roast in the oven for 20 minutes
7. After 20 minutes, take the meat out of the oven and cool the oven down to 140 degrees.
8. Put double foil over the roasting tray and put the meat back in the oven for 5 hours.
9. After the 5 hours, turn the heat up to 200 again and take the foil off. This allows the crackling to cook perfectly.
10. Take out of the oven after being cooked for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Allow to rest for 20 minutes at least.
11. Just before serving, cook the egg noodles and stir fry the mushrooms, carrots and other remaining chili.
12. Drain the cooked egg noodles, add to the stir fry and pour in some soy sauce and chopped herbs.
13. Divide the noodle stir fry in serving bowls.
14. To carve the meat, cut off the crackling with a knife and simply use a fork to separate the pork.  It's meltingly tender and a trip back for seconds cannot be avoided.
15. Top the noodles with the pulled pork, and top with some chopped herbs and spring onions, and some crackling.

Paprika Pork & Chorizo Stew

Pork is something I don't eat very often, due to its high salt and fat content, but it is the weekend afterall, and my motto is everything in moderation, so I'm treating myself and my husband to a Spanish style pork stew flavoured with paprika and spicy chorizo sausage. I'm making enough for four as this meal with freeze well, as well as keeping nice and handy in a lunchbox for a working lunch.



Spanish cuisine is my ultimate indulgence. I like nothing more than cured meats, spanish olives,cheese , break and smoky paprika. The Spanish use olive oil in nearly every dish, and lemons and flat leaf parsley are all very Spanish ways of flavouring dishes. This Spanish style stew is my salute to all those ingredients.


Serves 4

Ingredients

• Pork Shoulder, cubed
• 1 chorizo, cubed
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 7-8 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp of sugar
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp of smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar
• 1 glass of spanish white wine
• 2 tbsp of spanish olive oil
• Juice of a lemon

To Serve

• White long grain rice 
• Crusty bread
• Flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a lidded oven proof casserole dish, add half the oil and set the heat to medium-high on your hob.
3. Add the cubed pork and smoked paprika (in batches if necessary), and brown the meat completely.
4. Set aside on a plate.
5. Add the rest of the oil, the chorizo, onion and garlic. Fry for a few minutes.
6. Add the wine and scrap the sediment from the pan.
7. Add the vegetables, thyme and bay leave and stir to combine all the flavours.
8. Reintroduce the meat and add the tin of tomatoes. Fill the empty tin with water and add this liquid too.
9. Add the sugar and wine vinegar and bring the whole mixture to the boil.
10. Cover and place the casserole in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
11. When ready to serve, scatter with chopped flat leaf parsely and squeeze lemon juice over.

Serve with rice and crusty bread to mop up all the smoky garlicy juices.

CHEF FACTOR 2011

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE GUYS

http://cheffactor.ie/content/competition-entries/serenas-scallops-spicy-dhal-mint-yogurt-dressing

Warm Halloumi, Tomato & Walnut Salad

Halloumi cheese, the Greek non-melting cheese, is deliciously tangy and salty, and absolutely scrumptious when served warm. It’s best griddled or grilled, and when marinated it makes for an extremely tasty dish.

Halloumi cheese and tomatoes are a great match, and add a herby salad to the mix and you have a wonderful salad. Halloumi isn’t a very fattening cheese and as it has a powerful taste, a little goes a long way.

With salad, textures are always important. The dominant texture in this salad is the warm griddled cheese, which is really really smooth and the walnuts give a crunchy dimension to the salad and lifts the whole salad.

The marinade used in this salad is a wonderful Mediterranean combination of thyme leaves, dried oregano, lemon juice, black pepper, honey and balsamic vinegar and diced red chilli.

Ingredients

·         80g Halloumi cheese, sliced length ways

·         4-5 cherry tomatoes halved

·         Handful rocket leaves

·         ¼ of cucumber, sliced

·         Fresh mint and coriander

·         1 tbsp of chopped walnuts

Marinade

·         Thyme leaves

·         Dried oregano

·         Lemon juice

·         Black pepper

·         Honey

·         Red chilli, deseeded and diced

·         Balsamic vinegar

Quick Beetroot Relish

•       ½ a beetroot from vac packet, cubed
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
•     1 tbsp of chopped mint

Method

1.     Slice the Halloumi, mix the marinade ingredients together in a shallow bowl.
2.     Marinate the cheese slices with the tomato halves in the marinade for 30 minutes.
3.   To make the beetroot relish, add the chopped beetroot, balsamic vinegar and mint.
4.   Pre-heat a griddle pan and fry the Halloumi slices 1 minute a side.
5.   Meanwhile to make the salad, slice the cucumber thinly. Combine the rocket and herbs and the tomatoes and marinade juices and toss well.
6.   Place the grilled Halloumi on top of the dressed herby tomato salad, scatter with the walnuts. Serve with the beetroot relish.

Swahili Chicken & Spicy Lentils

This dish instantly brings me back to Africa, the fragrant flavourful spice mix........the lentils......,and the green beans that seemed to be put in just about every dish. The yellow split pea lentils are kicked up a notch with cayenne and turmeric, and the chicken breasts are baked in the oven with Garam Masala spices I brought back from a spice farm in Zanzibar, but any garam masala will do if you’re not popping over to Zanzibar anytime soon. This dish is high in protein and iron, high in flavour and very low in fat.

Serves 2

Ingredients

·         2 Chicken breasts
·         1 tbsp of garam masala
·         1 tsp of olive oil
·         200g of yellow split pea lentils
·         400ml stock
·         1 tbsp turmeric
·         1 tsp cayenne
·         1 tbsp of cumin seeds
·         1 tbsp of coriander seeds
·         1 garlic clove minced
·         4 spring onions, diced
·         150 g green beans
·         1 tbsp chopped coriander.

Method

1.       Put the lentils in a saucepan, add the stock and simmer for 45 minutes (make soon the pan doesn’t dry out, add more water if required)
2.       Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
3.       Add the chicken breasts to an oven proof dish, make a few slashes and coat with the garam masala mixture.
4.       Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
5.       In a frying pan, dry fry the cumin and coriander, careful not to burn them, when you can smell the fragrance, take off the heat immediately.
6.       Pound the seeds in a pestle and mortar.

7.       Add the garlic, onions, ground spices and dried spices to the pan with a little onion and fry gently for 5 minutes.
8.       Drain the lentils, add the spices and onion mixture and return to the heat to combine the lentils and to soften them up further.
9.       Put green beans in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain immediately to retain the bright green colour.

A little taste of Africa..... in under an hour!

A Taste of Zanzibar: Hakuna Matata

Hakuna Matata!

What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata!

Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries

For the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

For anyone who hasn’t seen The Lion King, or doesn’t Speak Swahili, Hakuna Matata means, no worries, no bother, no problems!!! And it is a sentiment that you hear several times on a daily basis whilst on Zanzibar.

The people are so chilled and relaxed and obliging, it really is a paradise that makes you leave reality behind, and makes you feel  like you’re wrapped in a welcoming comfort blanket from the Zanzibar people!

Zanzibar is like no other place I’ve ever been(and I’ve been around),the minute you step off the plane you are greeted with a heavy tropical scent, that hits you straight away due to the balmy sea breeze that’s always there to keep you cool!!!I was extremely excited about the Zanzibar part of the trip, as being so into food, and Zanzibar being THE spice island, I knew I was in for a culinary treat, as well as an education in spices.

 After a short flight from Kilimanjaro Airport we arrived in Zanzibar in the evening, just in time for sunset. We were greeted by a staff member from our chosen hotel, The Z Hotel ( www.zhotel.com )and carried off in a air-con Toyota Luxury car. This was a huge change from spending the previous 5 days in a 4x4 over rough terrain. The hotel is a boutique hotel and to call it amazing, would not even do it justice, and to top matters off the main reason it scored so highly with us was the food. 

We were on a half board basis, meaning breakfast and dinner were included and we paid for lunch and drinks separately. The hotel had two Restuarants, Saruche and Cinnamon. Saruche plated up the most exquisite Swahili fusion gourmet plates, whilst Cinnamon, the bar, was a more relaxed affair serving international fare, with a Sawhili twist. Memorable dishes include the lobster dinner of course which we had compliments of the honeymoon package we were on.  As well as the amazing portions, the lobster was served with a really rich garlic butter sauce and the meat was melt in your mouth divine.

The Swahili curries were spectacular. Indian influence is deeply embedded in the cooking in Zanzibar due to the proximity of Zanzibar to India. Therefore Zanzibar’s speciality is curries. Also as Zanzibar was under Arabian rule for so long, there is a hint of Arabian/Middle Eastern flavours also. Combined with African flavours, the Indian and Arabian influence, cuisine in Zanzibar is very interesting and never boring. 

The Z Hotel often put a unique twist on classic western favourite, such as their take on Mozzarella,Tomato, Avocado, and Basil Salad. ( can’t wait to try to recreate it in a post). Also their club sandwich, was Lobster, Chicken, Bacon and Tomato. I probably won’t be able to afford to recreate that one though. (lol), I might try it with crayfish though, might be interesting!!! In general seafood features heavily on the menu, and sure why not! It's a small island after all. With fishing being the main occupation of its inhabitants. I remember at one stage saying to my husband, “I think I’ll turn into a prawn” I was eating so much of it, but that certainly was no complaint. It really is paradise for seafood lovers, getting to experience fish we never get in our waters here at home, such as kingfish. 

 I think my spice island tour deserves a whole post on its own. Though I will say to be frank, it was an amazing educational experience. Because if you’d have asked me before, where does turmeric, for instance, come from in its original  form, I wouldn’t have had a bulls clue other than its in a lovely jar with holes on the top for sprinkling purposes. So more on that later. All in all the culinary experience of Zanzibar, and indeed of the Z Hotel should go on everyone’s bucket list.

 And if I haven’t enticed you enough, need I mention their 2 cocktail bars, serving up delicious cocktails, such as caprihnas, mojitos and champagne fuzz, as well as more local concoctions, sure to put a fire in your belly and a bounce in your step. Perfect partner for watching their amazing sunsets over the Indian Ocean...