Lemon Geranium Custard Cream

Lemon Geranium Pelargonium crispum

 this is my new favourite dessert or dessert accompaniment. it brings the unexpected geranium leaf into the kitchen and not just the window sill, the flavour remains lemony familiar but with a hint of the exotic.

my lemon geranium plant was given to me as a cutting from my friends plant, earlier this year. i had seen a recipe for rose geranium cream in the cookbook: Tartine, from the now famous Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. the recipe itself got me thinking, why not lemon geranium as a substite? im not suoer wild about heavy rose flavours in my desserts anyway. the result was an exciting flavour reminiscent of a lemony turkish delight. its great alongside any sponge cake or as a filling for tarts.

hot milk steeping with geranium leaves

Pumpkin Fudge

i've still got one medium sized pumpkin in the kitchen from this fall's harvest. after awhile pondering what i might make with it, i recalled a particular recipe for Parsnip Vanilla Fudge from the book: Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache, by Harry Eastwood. the book specializes in cakes made with vegetables and low fat, usually wheat free recipes. and guess what? the recipes work! which is great for  gluten free cooking enthusiasts, especially when every recipe uses veg in some way. for those of you used to gluten free baking: you may know some recipes have a tendency to be 'bricklike' and dry. but the clever addition of grated vegetables in Harry's recipes yield moist and light baking.

you don't need much pumpkin for this recipe, so count on making a nice pumpkin curry afterwards.



 

 the authour has a whimsical way of writing recipes, refering to cakes and their individual personalities like they are a part of a story book. which can hit hard on the annoying scale, but if you can over look this then, you are well on your way to exciting baking. the book is well worth the shelf space.

Wheat Berry Risotto with Beetroot and Blue cheese

this time of year is always busy down in the bakery where i work, and this week the orders are flooding in for christmas. so updating the blog has been put on the back burner. sad, but true. i am always thinking about new recipes, though. i've tried out a few ideas, some good, some not so good. i'm looking forward to a whole queue of posts i'm lining up like: pumpkin fudge, lemon geranium custard (my new favourite dessert!), and more on our knobbly giant friend - celeriac. so stay tuned in after christmas!

im revisiting one of my favourite ingredients in this recipe: beetroot. earlier this autumn i dedicated 3 posts to the bold vegetables, if you missed the posts you can read them here, here, and here. has anyone tried the beetroot gin and tonic? they're perfect for christmas parties, and festively coloured!beetroot are really the only things left out in the garden, with some rainbow chard, kale and a handful of broccolli plants. there's quite a few spots opening up and i've begun thinking about the spring whats going where. once christmas passes i'll dive more into it, and post the 2013 garden layout.

Cookbook Review: Flour Water Salt Yeast: the Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza

it's taken me awhile to write this post. mainly because of all the research and baking i've done with while reading this book! im well on my way to my fourth bread recipe, and i can't wait for the next baking day at home.

i bought Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: the fundamentals of artisan bread and pizza, after searching for new baking books to read. the name instantly jumped out at me, for obvious reasons! it seems we (the authour and I) were on the same wavelength, as far as titling our projects go! after a a little detective work,  i realized i've actually been to the bakery this book hails from and indulged in their lovely breads. it was serendipty. i bought the book immediately, with baking and a book review in mind. i'm so glad i did.

the concept: 'flour water salt yeast' is highly apt for the art of bread baking, taking a few simple good ingredents with the help of invisible microrganisms and fermentation creates- bread! the alchemy of bread never ceases to amaze. in this book, the recipes rarely stray from the above 4 ingredients, except for the 'Pan au Bacon,' but who can leave out bacon?

Sweet Potato and Pear Pizza

Ken's Artisan Bakery is run by Ken Forkish, who studied at the San Francisco Baking Institute, he also apprenticed with renowned bread baker, Chad Robertson, of Tartine Bakery (san francisco).  Ken opened his doors in 2001, in Portland, Oregon. the bakery specializes in long fermented breads with high hydration content and well rounded flavour. these breads have been adored since they were first baked in the bakery 11 years ago. since then, Ken has opened a pizza spot, there are 4 different pizza base recipes in the book to choose from, and are equally as delicious as the bread recipes.

bread recipes in ths book are wetter than most and require folding, rather than kneading

since getting the book i've read it front to cover and baked three bread recipes - two with commercial yeast  and the other sourdough. being a long time baker myself, i went for a sourdough recipe (Country Brown), and since then, i've been short on time, tried out the simpler recipes (the Saturday White Bread and White Bread with Poolish). every recipe has been memorable and highly addictive.

i love Ken's in-depth writing style and way his book is meant to bring newcomers to the joys of bread baking. by starting small (with one day recipies) and working up to intermediate, then advanced recipes - some taking days to prepare, this book is for everyone wanting to bake bread. the chapters and recipes are written in a timeline from easy to advanced, so you can work your way through the book, like a bread cookery course. after which you should be a bread baking master, there's 19 recipes in all! most of the bread recipes provide handy timelines for the working person to go by, so you don't have to be home the whole day waiting for your bread to rise, like the 'saturday white bread', (which im getting ready to take out the oven as we speak), this bread was developed for days when you need bread fresh bread in a few hours, begining at 9:30 am and finishing the bread at 5:00pm in the evening.

shaping the wet doughs into loaves

the book itself is broken down into four parts. Part 1 being an introduction to bread baking and the tools needed. Part 2 is a collection of 'Basic Bread' recipes, like straight doughs, and breads made with pre-ferments. following onto the more the advanced Part 3: levain bread recipes, with understanding the levain (sourdough) method in hybrid and pure levain breads, as well as making your own sourdough from scratch. Part 4, contains 3 chapters dedicated to the art of pizza and focaccia making, favouring homebaked pizzas baked with a super high heat and pizza stones.

baking with a cast iron dutch oven

when attempting the bread recipes in this book do try and seek out a cast iron dutch oven to bake in. this is a much celebrated method of home bread baking, and is essential to creating a crust with crispy caramel colouring. breads such as these rely on steam captured in ovens to allow the loaf to rise thouroughly in the oven, and gelatinize starches in the crust. it may sound complicated, but in practice the bread does all the work for you! this method has been adopted by many professional bakers and written about in books like, The Bread Builders, and Tartine Bread. everyone should do it! look at the bread you could end up with! it's amazing.

Saturday White Bread

 

the final conclusion is: i'm totally inspired by this book. f you're interested n everything there is to know about bread or want to learn how to make better bread, this is the book for you. the recipes may take some time to finish, but really only involve minutes of actual active time, wth stunning results!

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.

 

Homemade Sour Apple Vodka

im to the point of being obsessed with infused spirits, last year it was foraged blackberries and a spiced quince vodka. this year im trying out my own sour apple vodka for Sour Apple Martini's, click here for the recipe. homemade infused spirits are simple to make, time and aggitation (a good shake) are the key - my quince vodka from last year hasn't stopped improving since it was ready for consumption. 6 weeks seems to be the consensus for good flavour when infusing spirits, but a month is perfectly alright.
this year's theme is 'apples,' our cupboards are filled with a mass of infusing spirits. we've got damsons stewing away alongside, apple and cinnamon, plain apples, apple and clove and of course this Sour Apple Vodka.

 

a few more ideas on my infusing to-do list are: black pepper vodka for bloody mary's, cucumber gin for gin and tonics, pear brandy for well - pear brandy, rosemary vodka for a winter martini, mint whiskey for mint juleps.... its endless: ginger, pineapple, elderflower, horseradish, pumpkin, spices, herbs, fruit, leaves, brownbread (?), cardboard (?) - why not? ok, maybe those last two were a bit adventurous.

the idea is: any spirit can be infused and anything can be used to infuse it. homemade spirits are a great gift too, and are sure to be consumed and disappear. solving that age old dilema, what can i get that person that won't just sit on a shelf collecting dust? infused homemade booze is as good as it gets.

Leeks Vinaigrette with Hazelnut Oil and Ummera Smoked Bacon

Leeks Vinaigrette

gardens across the northern hemisphere are winding down. my garden has slowly become a shadow of its former self, with the beans gone and the courgettes wilted. the strong specimens of the brassica family are standing with a few less leaves from the recent windstorm. the rainbow chard has been reluctant to grow new shoots, and the lettuces will be moving into a cold frame soon enough.

winter cabbage plant with leek seedling and curly kale in background

its all fine because i've planned ahead this year and decided to have a go at a winter veg plot. usually i have a few chard plants left or some leeks but never planted with winter in mind. i found a great book on the subject, How to Grow Winter Vegetables by Charles Dowding, it has absolutely all the information you'll ever need on the subject. as well as a chapter on 'No-Dig' gardening which i'm keen to have a go at next spring.

my winter veg patch at present

most of my winter veg plants were a bit late going in but seem to be braving the elements well. i picked up curly kale, winter cauliflower and winter cabbage at the Mahon Point Farmer's Market in August. they sat outside till september when they finally had room in the veg plot, after the spuds.
i also started leeks indoors and interplanted raddichio treviso and 'pixie' cabbage between the rows.