Homemade Chicken Stock

chicken bones, carrots, celery, garlic, cheese rinds, herb stalks, and cauliflower stems

homemade chicken stock is a great thing to make when you've got extra bits left over from dinner. i'm sure many of you have made chicken stock before at home and know the joys and the world of difference it can make to your own home cooking.

throw in some onion and a couple bay leaves and your in business the 'stock market'!

i don't have a specific recipe and really its just scraps thrown into a pot and covered with water. one thing that really makes the stock special is the addition of cheese rinds, the ends of hard cheeses like parmesean are great to throw into stock. the dried out ends seem to and an extra savoury depth, without melting too much and getting all gooey. so, next time you have some hard cheesey bits left over just throw them in the freezer for your next batch of chicken or veg stock.

simmer for two hours, strain out the bits and you're done!

the consensus with stock is to always use the holy trinity of veg: carrots, celery and onions. from there its all up to you! once your chicken stock has finished cooking and cooled down you can store it in the fridge or in the freezer till needed.

Wasabi Deviled Eggs

today is one of those days where the skies just open up and let loose. its absolutely bucketing down here, and my hens are probably wishing they were ducks, huddled up in the corner of their shelted pens. so, in honour of them im bringing this recipe to the table. it's a bit of a dinner party stand by, has a lot of room for improvising and has family memories that come with it.

it's that time of year for dinner parties, and being american myself, this season kicks off with a bang - Thanksgiving. my sister has (without fail) produced amazing thanksgiving dinners for upwards of 20 people every year. there's something about the dinner that instantly recalls back to memory the years of thanksgiving dinners, the memories of family and friends getting together, and giving thanks. much like christmas dinner does here in ireland. but, in my family, thanksgiving is always a bigger dinning event. chistmas eve being the second big dinner and chistmas day a more intimate family day lunch. this may seem odd to some but traditions are usually always biased, and im partial to mine!

with all these parties to consider, and the heaps of food required for these dinners, there's always three things im asked to make. every year. they are: cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and Deviled Eggs. i can make anything in addition to these sides, but these, are 'traditionally' mine to make.

deviled eggs are hard boiled eggs that are halved and the yolks are blended with a mixture of mustard, something acidic, something spicy, and a touch of seasoning. this mixture is then piped back into the halved eggs and garnished, most commonly with paprika and curly parsley. deviled eggs and many other 'retro'  foods are getting a new lease of life, with: deviled quails eggs, green curry deviled eggs and bloody mary deviled eggs - these wasabi ones meet the modern mark on a retro canape.

my first deviled egg memories are of my grandmother, Geraldine, who was a natural entertainer. she loved food and get-togethers. as a child i can remember always being attracted to the mustardy eggs and their wiggly soft texture. probably eating far more than my share, but when you're a kid, and you like something- fair is subjective. my grandmother died when i was 6 so these types of memories are held quite dear, they usually all revolve around eating (funny, huh?): my first ketchup with scrambled eggs, discovering fresh papya, bread n' butter pickles, canned peaches, fresh curly parsley growing from the garden, and ambrosia salad. if i was only old enough to try the cocktails at her parties!

there is a key to making good, easy to peel, hard boiled eggs. the eggs need to be 'not so fresh.' aged, rather. which, if you are like me and pride yourself on the freshest eggs around, this is a tough egg to crack. most grocery store eggs are going to be a week old or older so will probably do. i recently discover from, a local egg producer, that eggs can last for 3 months! but the health department, in all their wisdom, only allow 28 days from being laid to being sold. so, its up to you to decide when to toss em. the consensus is: if the egg floats in water it's bad.

 i would by eggs as close to their 'sell by date' as possible for deviled eggs. the reason being is: an older egg has more a bit more oxygen inside its shell, from a longer absorbtion period. making the egg (once cooked), much easier to peel away from the shell. peeling fresh eggs is a nightmare and usually results in multiple crumbly throw aways. it is still possible to get a peeled egg from a fresh one, just more time consuming.

i brought these Wasabi Deviled Eggs to our Thanksgiving Dinner last thursday. they went down a treat, the wasabi adds that needed kick to the eggs, while the subtle cooling cucmber garnish mellows the flavours. wasabi is a member of the brassica family (cabbage, brocolli, mustard, etc.) and is generally called japanese horseradish, as its native to japan. but funnily enough its not of the horseradish species (which shares the same family) at all! the flavour is very similar, if not more potent, as the more familiar horseradish. you'll usually find wasabi in more well known sushi dishes as a condiment.

have fun at your next dinner party!

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Wasabi Deviled Eggs
Makes 24


'classic' deviled eggs have a mixture filled with dijon mustard, minced shallots, tabasco and mayonaise; garnished with paprika. but, let your mind run wild for filling additions! for a  'bloody mary' spin try using: horseradish, worchestire sauce, lemon juice, tabasco and celery salt - garnish with finely chopped tomato, black pepper and a splash of vodka! for green curry ones try: green curry paste and lime juice with a coriander sprig garnish.

1 dozen hard boiled eggs, cooled

filling:
2 tablespoons wasabi paste
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablesppons fresh ginger, minced super fine
3 large spoonfulls of store bought mayonaise

garnish:
1/4 cucumber, de-seeded and finely chopped
rice wine vinegar
chilli flakes
chives, finely chopped

• take all but the chives for your garnish and toss together with enough rice wine vinegar to coat the cucmber pieces. set aside.
• peel your hard boiled eggs. i do this under a running sink tap. tap them to loosen the shells.
• dry the eggs, once peeled with kitchen paper.
• halve you eggs with a sharp knife and remove the yolks into a mixing bowl. set the halved whites on a serving platter.
• with a fork or whisk mash your egg yolks till smooth. add the rest of the ingreidents for the filling, mix till combined. taste the filling and adjust with what you feel it needs. we're looking for a balance of flavours, and a nice kick.
• fill a piping bag or freezer bag with the end snipped, fitted with a star piping tip, with your filling. and pipe rosettes into the egg white 'shells'
• garnish with your cucumber garnish, and chopped chives.
• chill until ready to serve.

 

Nasturtium Capers




nasturtiums add needed colour to the garden,
and attract bees and butterflies

nasturtium seed pods dangling off the vine





this may surprise you, but you can makes capers with nasturtium seed pods! i first heard of the idea last year. it seemed like a good idea, caper berries are an acutal berries of a certain shrub, and nasturtium capers are something like the 'poor mans' version. their flavour has a hint of the nasturtium spice you get in the flowers that mellows once pickled. if you have loads of nasturtium plants in your garden, is worth the hour it takes picking and jaring up these little buds. i got half a pint of seed pods from 3 plants, and i could have kept going.  this recipe suits that amount perfectly.

 

a pint o' pods

 

 

Harvesting Pods: pick the seed pods once they have turned green and big on the vine. don't use seed pods that have fallen off plants, they've dried up and will make new plants next year.

 

Homegrown Bloody Mary

the best excuse to drink before 5pm

its been a one-in-a-50 year summer here in west cork: record rain, record wind and record alcohol consumption levels (that last one might only apply to me) and against all odds my new potager has produced quite a harvest thus far. while im typing we are currently experiencing  gale force winds and rain, so fingers crossed the veg will be there in the morning! as it turns out one of my favourite veg, celery, is a bog plant and what better way to describe the soil right now but as: 'boggy.'  since my celery is having a 'hay-day,' i decided i should join in on the fun by introducing my new food and garden blog with a delicous and celebratory, Home Grown Bloody Mary! i would also like to point out that today is THE day of birth of THE Julia Child, and what an auspiscious day to be launching a food/cooking blog! i didnt plan it that way, i swear, she's watching us. the first drinks for Julia!

we all know you can't make a mary, bloody without some tomato juice. you knew that, right?

 believe it or not, this season i've managed to produce some amazing fruits on my 8 tomato plants (currently im growing: tigerella, pineapple, sungold, cherry, and moneymaker varieties). one of the great things about living in ireland is you HAVE to grow plants like tomatoes in a poly-tunnel, for shelter. otherwise your looking at blight, wind damage and at best, green tomato chutney! or green tomato bloody mary's? that recipe is still in the works....

celery having a 'hay-day'

getting ready for the juicer

a bloody mary for me isn't just a hang over cure, its a great excuse to get in some of those five a day veg, a quick 'liquid lunch!' and a way to sneak a drink before happy hour hits. i've often produced this delicious cocktail with organic tomato passata from my local shop, but this version takes the cake. i never thought i'd go through all the trouble of juicing ripe tomoatoes for a bloody mary, but its worth it, tust me. especially so if you're looking at a bumper crop of toms and cringing at the thought of cooking a truck load of tomatoes. i used a juicer for this recipe but you don't need one, a food processor or blender would work fine in its place. since the celery is blitzed together with the tomatoes you do need a blending device to make this juicy bevy.