Back in mid-December, I lost my Granny. Not as in "Where did we leave Granny" but rather as in "Gone Forever Granny". Just over two months on, and I'm still very much processing the fact that I'll never see her again.
I have been asked to submit a couple of sweet/savoury tapas for an upcoming event where Clonakilty Chocolate will be launching their new bean-to-bar chocolate range (5th March…get your tickets here!). Following on from the success of my Savoury Cooking with Chocolate Supper Club in February I was feeling very much up to the challenge!
Continue reading “Rosemary and Salted Dark Chocolate Tartlets with Candied Walnuts”
Back in mid-December, I lost my Granny. Not as in “Where did we leave Granny” but rather as in “Gone Forever Granny”. Just over two months on, and I’m still very much processing the fact that I’ll never see her again.
This recipe is part of my “Tea with Granny” blog post on my Flavour Favourites blog. I’d love it if you could give that post a read as well please – thank you!
This recipe is part of my “Tea with Granny” blog post on my Flavour Favourites blog. I’d love it if you could give that post a read as well please – thank you!
This recipe is part of my “Tea with Granny” blog post on my Flavour Favourites blog. I’d love it if you could give that post a read as well please – thank you!
Continue reading “Pea and Ham Hock Puree with Seared Scallops”
Who doesn’t like chocolate? For many of us a weakness for the brown stuff usually results in heading for a sugary bar of milk chocolate to quickly satify an impulsive craving. But how about looking at chocolate in a different way?
Continue reading “Flavour Supper Club – Savoury Cooking with Chocolate, February 2015”
I have been asked to submit a couple of sweet/savoury tapas for an upcoming event where Clonakilty Chocolate will be launching their new bean-to-bar chocolate range (5th March…get your tickets here!). Following on from the success of my Savoury Cooking with Chocolate Supper Club in February I was feeling very much up to the challenge! Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be adding a few more sweet/savoury chocolate recipes to the blog just to finish off the Chocolate Season on Flavour.ie in style!
Making cookies is such a satisfying thing to do! They take virtually no time or effort to make, fill the house with delicious smells while they are cooking and provide you with a biscuit tin full of tasty goodies for the whole family for however long they last!
The wonderful thing about food is that everyday is a chance to learn something new. For instance, who knows the difference between a Chocolatier and a Chocolate Maker?
Continue reading “From Ghana to Clonakilty to You – with Love”
Who doesn’t love a bit of chilli? Beef chilli, bean chilli, veg chilli – I just can’t resist the warm hug of chilli. Something so simple that packs a whack of flavour is always a sure fire hit with me, and, like a curry, gets better the second day too which makes for awesome left overs and gives you extra bang for your cooking buck!
The 17th December 2014 will be one of those “remember where you were dates” that will stay with me for many, many years to come. For my talented friend, Diana Dodog, it marked the beginning of a period of time at the end of an amazing year for her which saw her win Irish Masterchef 2014, launch her amazing Food Truck gourmet food experience in West Cork (http://www.fooddepotireland.com), and culminating in a wonderful supper club experience to remember; being listed in McKenna’s Guide for 2015 and being listed as one of the Top 10 Hot Chefs to watch in 2015 by the same magnanamous duo! Phew!
I can almost hear the sleigh bells ringing at this stage! The kids have broken up from school; many many mistakes have been made I am sure following on from the invasion of the annual office party into every city, town and village and people are starting to lose their temper at the supermarket as everyone rushes out to get the things that they only buy once a year. Christmas mania is here; but not at Flavour HQ where we are the kind of calm and collected you only find where all overseas presents and cards have finally been posted; the meat for feasting has been ordererd weeks ago, and your veggies will be collected directly from the farm pre-ordered and pulled a mere two days before Christmas! The rest is just sweets, booze and cooking – simple!
Christmas dinner is the one thing I cannot help but plan literally months in advance! It’s my all time favourite meal of the year and everytime its my turn to host I like to try and do something a little different to keep it special and surprising for those that we dine with! Three days of feasting that I literally cannot wait for! Everyone has their own take on the perfect Christmas dinner, and for fear of me trying to teach anyone to suck eggs I thought I would share with you our Christmas feasting plans here at Flavour HQ more in case for anyone who maybe stuck for some ideas for one or more of their courses or meals over Christmas! There are no recipes written here yet, but if anyone would like me to send one or more of the recipes directly then just contact me at flavour@allsorts.net or via Facebook or Twitter and I will happily oblige!
Medium bodied red wine mulled with clementime, lemon, cinnamon and cloves finished with Cointreau and Brandy for an extra indulgent touch!
Festive Ham cooked in sweet fruit juices and spices for about 3 hours and then finished off in the oven studded with cloves and with a glaze made from homemade cranberry sauce, mustard powder and honey so it goes extra sticky and lovely! I’ll be serving this up with some fresh homemade soda bread (our recipe is here), baby potato and scallion salad, homemade carrot and fennel slaw, pickles and a leaf salad.
Desert is inspired by my recent trip to Belfast and a french patissiere in the Christmas market there: puff pastry tartlets, topped with thinly sliced caramelised applies and served up with a salted caramel sauce and ice cream.
Starting off the Christmas Day feast with an all traditional snowball (in memory of my Grandad who made a mean one) served in crystal glasses with a dressed rim of lime juice and icing suagr.
Starter: Choice of rustic wild West Cork rabbit terrine or a smooth chicken liver pate served with homemade red onion chutney, crostini, pickles and dressed winter salad leaves.
Mains: Slow roasted haunch of wild West Cork venison (marinaded overnight in port, red wine, garlic, rosemary, juniper berries, all spice berries and whole black and pink peppercorns) served up with braised red cabbage, duck fat roast potatoes, maple glazed carrots and parsnips, brussels sprouts with pancetta, garlic and chestnuts and served with a red wine and meadowsweet jus, homemade cranberry sauce and homemade horseradish sauce.
Desert: Winter Berry Trifle (blueberries, redcurrants and cranberry sauce), atop cointreau saoked ladies fingers and set in an orange and brandy jelly, topped with thick vanilla custard, whipped cream and white and dark chocolate shards.
MJ O’Neill’s special recipe spiced beef served with colcannon and plain mash, peas, carrots, portabello mushrooms, mustard and gravy.
I hope this helps to provide some inspiration for your Christmas feasts this year, or maybe for 2015 which, as we all know, won’t be long in coming around again – I already can’t wait!
Wishing all my supporters, friends, family and well wishers all the very best for a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmastime and with all good wishes for a great 2015!
Lots of of Love and a very Merry Christmas – Flavour.ie xxxx
web design and development by the designer of things
