Entering The Dun Laoghaire People’s Park

So Many Stalls!

My favourite way to spend a Sunday in Dublin is to head out to the Dun Laoghaire Farmer’s Market. Located in the People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire this market is jam packed with every food related stall you could wish for. I tend to go there at lunchtime on a Sunday and get a delicous box of pulled port and potatoes with onions and gravy from The Goode Life stall, or a falafal wrap from the Lebanese Food stall, always followed by a chocolate brownie and some fudge from the Truffle Fairy stall. It’s a winning combination and nothing gets me in a better mood! All the better is that you can afterwards go for a walk along the Dun Laoighre pier afterwards and admire the sea, boats, and everyone just happy chilling out! On a sunny day the place is unbeatable, people lie out on the grass eating and drinking treats bought from the stalls. In Summer there are often bands playing, and sometimes even a stage erected Last weekend when I was there a guy had set up a little DJ table and was spinning away tunes for everyone to enjoy.

It’s also a fantastic place to stock up on delicious food for the week. I always tend to leave with vegetables, cheese, preserves, tea and meat. You can also buy beautiful Colm de Ris pottery, home ware, craft and natural cosmetic products.

My favourite stalls and buys at the Dun Laoighre People’s Park Market are as follows:

The Goode Life- You can’t beat this stall for your Sunday roast fix! I tend to get the pulled pork, potatoes, onions and gravy. You can get pulled pork rolls too… delicious.

The Goode Life

Lebanese Food- These guys do seriously good falafel wraps and platters.

Lebanese Food Stall

Delicious Falafel Wrap

The Truffle Fairy- Where do I begin? My main motivation for going to this market is to get their 80% dark chocolate brownies and their fudge is so silky smooth, try the white chocolate, cranberry and walnut fudge, mint praline fudge and recently added orange and cocoa nib fudge. You literally cannot go to this market without trying these!

The Truffle Fairy Chocolate Stall

My Weakness

Drumeel Farm Muesli- The guy who runs this stall is an absolute gentleman, and even if he wasn’t his muesli and granola would still sell like hot cakes. The muesli and granolas come in different varieties and you can add in extra seeds, nuts and dried fruits to make your own custom bags. A perfect way to start your day.

Drumeel Farm Irish Muesli

The Real Olive Stall- These guys are at almost every market, and thank god they are. Even if you’re not an olive fan, fear not. Their basil hummus is delicious, but the main attraction has to be the mozzarella. They stock the Toonsbridge Mozzarella made in Macroom, Co.Cork. Toonsbridge imported a herd of buffalo to Ireland and started making the best mozzarella I have ever eaten. I guess it must be all our rain makes for greener grass and thus milkier mozzarella. I haven’t seen this cheese sold anywhere else in Dublin, so definitely buy a ball or two next time you see them.

The Real Olive Stall

Stocking Up On Olives

There are a fortune of other stalls to check out though, so many that I can’t fit them all in the blog. This market is definitely worth a visit though to try all the delights, stock up your fridge for the week, and for talking a lovely Sunday stroll along the pier.

Warm Poached Egg and Bacon Salad

Best Eaten With Buttered Bread

This salad came into existence as I tried to finish up a few bits and pieces in my fridge and cupboard, and I was really happy with the results. Most of all because it’s super quick to make, tasty, and relatively healthy. Despite being a “salad”, this warm eggy salad is really comforting and indulgent, especially when eaten with warm, buttery,toasted bread.

Some people have a mental block with salads, dismissing them a boring, rabbit-food excuse for a meal that no-one really enjoys. However, salads really are just any old ingredients you want mixed together in a haphazard way (suits me fine), usually involving a few veggies too. You can be as creative as you want with them, and experiment with delicious sauces and flavours. So before you dismiss this as just another salad, give it a go and be pleasantly surprised with how indulgent it can be!

Ingredients (serves 1):

1 egg

50g smoked bacon lardons (I used Gubbeen)

1/2 ripe avocado

1 small handful cherry tomatoes

1 large handful rocket

2 tbsp parmesan cheese shavings to serve

1 glug balsamic vingear (I used Llewelyn’s Apple Balsamic vinegar)

cracked black pepper

2 slices good quality bread (I used rye)

1. Poach your egg. The best way to do this is add vinegar to a pot of boiled water over your hob on a medium heat, stir the water in a circular motion to make a well in the middle of the water, pop in your cracked egg (best to crack the egg into a glass, and then pour it into the well as the water is still moving in circles). This helps keep the egg in a nice ball and prevent it from shredding away into the water.

2. Fry your lardons until golden, and set aside. Half the cherry tomatoes lengthways and fry gently until softened and cooked through.

3. Coat your rocket in your balsamic vinegar and mix in your cherry tomatoes, avocado chopped into little bitesize pieces, bacon and spinkle your parmesan cheese shaving on top. Place the poached egg on top and crack some black pepper over the top.

4. Serve with toasted, buttered bread.

Gubbeen Smoked Bacon Lardons

Waiting For It’s Yummy Egg!

Now All You Have To Do Is….

… Crack Into Your Egg and Eat The Gooey Yolk!!

Ballymaloe House

Entering the Magical Big Shed

Amazing Crepe and Galette Stall

Ballyhoura Mushrooms

Food Graffiti

What a great May Bank Holiday it has been, but what a busy one too. Despite having lots of plans last weekend, most of which were in West Cork, I took a detour on Saturday morning down to the Ballymaloe Literary Festival as I really didn’t want to miss it. I only had an hour as I had to be in Schull that afternoon, so I decided to make an hour’s pit stop for lunch. I unfortunately didn’t fit in any talks, which is a shame as I wanted to see Michelle Darmody’s talk on self-publishing among others, but it was still a great spot for an hours lunch.

Ballymaloe converted a big old shed of their’s into a space filled with farmer’s market style stalls, but it was obvious how high Ballymaloe set the standard for what the stalls should look like. Walking into The Big Shed was like walking into a foodie fairytale! All the stalls were dressed in ivy and flower garlands, there was a magical play area for kids, a book stall selling favourite cookbooks, and a graffiti artist spraying out images of much loved Irish food culture.

I ended up going for a savoury galette with smoked salmon, cream cheese, herbs and beautiful unusual dressings, but I also helped my Dad finish off his BBQ from Gubbeen smokehouse… obviously! I also stocked up on treats for the weekend: king oyster and shiitake mushrooms from Ballyhoura farm, Porcini dust and a delicious salad from the Rocket Man. It was such a beautiful sunny day, that I wished I could have stayed longer. Alas, next year I’ll keep a full day free to come down and enjoy the festival. It was visually stunning and the programme of events was world class. Trust Darina Allen to pull off the best food festival in Ireland, with world class chefs, speakers, demos and events while staying true to her ethos of supporting local and artisan Irish food producers!

Inside The Big Shed

Children’s Play Area

The Greedy Pig Stall

Rocket Man – The Best Salads in Cork

Gubbeen Smokehouse – My Favourite

Gubbeen Smokehouse BBQ

I Picked My Lunch Quickly When I Saw This

My Smoked Salmon Buckwheat Galette

I Ended My Day With A Quick Shopping Trip

The Cake Cafe Supper Club

Cake Cafe Supper Club Menu

Too Pretty To Eat!

Chilling Out With A Glass of Wine

On Wednesday night I went along to Cake Cafe’s supper club organised by the head chef in the Cake Cafe, Ray O’Neill. While I have a borderline obsession with Cake Cafe, I unfortunately missed the first supper club he ran last month (I was down in Arbutus learning to make bread!) but when I heard about this one, I put my name down straight away and invited my two lovely house mates. The food, while keeping the ethos of using local and artisan food suppliers that Cake Cafe is renowned for, definitely had a different twist for the evening and you could tell a lot of love went into making this menu. The dishes were so beautifully but unpretentiously presented… really imaginative.

Enjoying My Basil and Elderflower Fizz Cocktail!

We arrived in the Cake Cafe and were greeted with a cocktail of prosecco and elderflower cordial that they had infused with basil for over a week. After a busy day in work there was nothing better than sitting down outside in the sun and sipping away on some fruity bubbles to fully switch off. That’s one of the many nice things about Cake Cafe, despite being located in Dublin city centre, you really feel switched off from everything when you get there. It’s like a little zen hideaway! Thankfully we weren’t waiting long before being called in to take our seats and get started on our four course meal. We started with a complimentary course of blinis with Goatsbridge caviar and dill creme fraiche, which were delicious.

Goatsbridge Caviar and Dill Creme Fraiche Blinis

We then moved on to our starter of a little fig, Durrus cheese, bacon and rocket pesto tart. That was definitely my favourite course, in fact just writing about it is making my crave another! I’m a big fan of all the West Cork cheeses, but this combination of all four ingredients was completely mouth watering. Throughout the whole night we had some delicious new flavour combinations that worked really well together, and you can tell a lot of thought went into the menu.

Fig and Durrus Cheese Tart with Bacon and Rocket Pesto

Goatsbridge Smoked Trout, Pickled Golden Beetroot, Organic Salad with Shaved Fennel and Herb Yoghurt

Our second course was Goatsbridge Smoked Trout with pickled golden beetroot, salad and herb yoghurt. I really must find out where to get the Goatsbridge smoked trout, I’ve heard a lot about them but haven’t seen their stuff sold anywhere. This was delicious and light and bursting with smoky goodness! Despite being already well fed by the time our main course came, we all had a few slices of their soft and crusty bread for good measure. Even the butter was handmade and scattered with some salt flakes. It was all the little touches during the night that made it such a special experience.

For main we had rabbit and pancetta hotpot which was delicious. I love rabbit, but you often don’t see it served in many places, so it was a nice surprise on the menu. To finish off we had a slice of mango and lime sponge with cream which we ate in happy, sleepy silence! The whole experience was great, and the three of us have already decided we will go to the next one, when it’s announced. It was a fantastic night, and I would recommend checking out the next one. I’m already excitedly imagining what will be on the next menu!

Homemade Carraway Seed Bread Bun

Rabbit and Pancetta Hotpot

Mango and Lime Slice with Chantilly Cream

Butternut Squash and Chorizo Risotto

Since starting to cook risotto a few months I have been descending down a slippery slope of carbohydrate overload, but some evenings when it’s cold and wet outside, this is just the only dish you want to eat when you’re rugged up on the couch.

This one works really nicely are I think squash is so hearty and warming, and the chorizo flavour really packs a punch. I used Gubbeen chorizo and I highly recommend you to seek it out, their artisan smokehouse in West Cork produces the mosts flavoursome meats and they are quiet reasonably priced also. I usually stock up my fridge with a lot of their products in one go, as smoked products don’t go off for a long time. This dish is so colourful, comforting and delicious that it’s perfect for a nice night in.

Here Comes The Aeroplane…

Ingredients (Serves Two):

130g Arborio Rice

2 shallots finely chopped

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1/2 glass white wine

1/2 litre good quality chicken stock (keep this simmering in a saucepan while you cook)

1 handful grated parmesan cheese

Chorizo chopped (about 2 thumb lengths of chorizo)

1 small butternut squash chopped (in equal sizes so it cooks evenly)

1 large knob of butter

Salt & Pepper

1. Put the chopped squash in a heavy bottomed pot with the knob of butter and a generous pinch of salt and pepper, put the lid on and let it cook away on a medium heat, stirring occasionally. (This will take about 30 mins or so).

2. Lightly sauté the chorizo for a minute or two. If any oil comes out of the chorizo when cooking then reserve a tablespoon or two in a side dish for later. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pot the chorizo is cooking in and add the garlic and shallots and sauté for two minutes. Add the rice and sauté for another minute or two.

3. Add the wine to the pot and stir until is has been absorbed. Then start adding the chicken stock, one ladle at a time. Don’t add in a new ladle of stock until the previous ladle has been absorbed. Stir continuously.

4. When the squash is cooked mash two thirds of it, and leave the remaining third in their chunks. Stir all the squash into the risotto once all the chicken stock has been absorbed and the risotto it ready to serve. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve.

5. If you had any reserved chorizo oil then this is nice drizzled on top of the risotto, alternatively served with a grating of Parmesan on top and a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper.

Chop Squash into Equal Sized Cubes

Cook Squash in a Heavy Bottomed Pot with Some Butter and Seasoning

Gubbeen Chorizo Packs a Punch

Saute Chorizo and Add Garlic and Shallots

Add Rice and Start Ladling in Stock

Stir in Parmesan Before Serving

Stir in All Squash

Butternut Squash and Chorizo Risotto

Delicious

Beetroot and Camembert Salad

Healthy and Delicious

Salads don’t need to be boring, limp and tasteless! You can put anything you want into a salad, and this one I love as it has some of my favourite things in it. I made this for a party not too long ago and it was really popular. I’ve been using my training for the Cork half marathon as an excuse to indulge in carb heavy dishes, but after a few weeks of hamming it up with pasta dishes, toasties, risottos and home made pizzas I think it’s time to get back into the swing of fitting in a few salads a week!

This is a really delicious salad though, and you definitely don’t feel cheated of an indulgent meal! The beetroot and cranberries add some lovely colour, the Camembert cheese adds a lovely silky soft texture and taste, and the walnuts give a nice little bite.

This literally takes 5 minutes to prepare, all that’s involved is a little chopping and tossing and it’s done. This makes a lovely lunch or a side dish for a party.

Ingredients:

4 cooked beetroots (You can buy them in all supermarkets cooked and vacuum packed)

1 wheel of Camembert cheese

1 large handful of walnuts

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

1 large bag of salad leaves (dark leaves such as spinach and rocket work best, avoid iceberg lettuce)

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

1. Chop the beetroot into bite sized chunks, let any excess water from the beetroot drain away.

2. Chop up the Camembert into small chunks.

3. Mix together the beetroot, salad leaves, walnuts, cranberries and Camembert into a bowl and loosen it with a little olive oil.

4. Sprinkle a little remaining walnut and cranberry on top and season lightly with salt and pepper. Done!

Chop Up Beetroot and Camembert

It’s That Quick To Make!

Sausage, Fennel and Mascarpone Pizza

A Tasty Slice

I know this one sounds weird, I know. It isn’t though, it’s the nicest pizza I’ve had in ages! Fennel and pork always go well together anyway, and the mascarpone cheese adds a nice creamy sauciness if you, like me, don’t always want your pizza drowned in tomato sauce. Last Sunday, instead of the usual Sunday Roast, I had this bad boy and it really hit the spot. It was the perfect indulgence for an evening on the couch watching TV. I’m in the midst of a bit of a pizza fad at the moment, so I’m experimenting a lot.

To make this pizza work well, you need to buy the best quality sausages possible, as cheap supermarket sausages won’t cut the mustard here. I bought some Wild Boar sausages in my local butchers, Lawlors, and they worked a treat. They cost €5.40 for 500g, but I only needed half the pack (so €2.70). I had some pizza dough from Iago’s in the English Market which only cost €1.80 which I think is really good value and I made two pizzas out of the one ball of dough on two consecutive nights, (so really 90c per pizza base). I also used some leftover mascarpone cheese, some fennel (70c) and some dried herbs from my cupboard. It worked out cheaper than a shop bought pizza, it certainly was much cheaper than ordering a pizza takeaway on-line (about half the price), yet I can assure you it tasted much better, supported local food producers, and was much better for my health than either a processed supermarket or a take-away pizza. It’s an interesting thought as most people automatically assume supporting local, quality food producers will always end up more expensive, but when you’re crafty with leftovers and store cupboard products, you can be surprised how inexpensive a good quality meal can be! So why not give this one a go the next time you get pizza cravings?

Delicious Flavour Combination

Ingredients:

1 ball of pizza dough or one plain pizza base

1 bulb of fresh fennel finely sliced

2 large gourmet pork sausages (at least 80% meat content)

4 tbsp mascarpone cheese

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

tbsp oil

1. Fry the sliced fennel bulb lightly until soft, be careful not to brown them.

2. In a separate pan fry the sausages gently until cooked through. Then chop them into discs and add to the pan of chopped fennel for a few minutes with the chopped fennel seeds, black pepper and chilli.

3. Roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface until it’s nice and thin. Smear a tablespoon of olive oil over the rolled out dough, and layer on the sliced cooked fennel and the sausage and herb mix. Pop it into an oven preheated to 200C for about 10 to 15 minutes (be careful to keep an eye on these, as they can brown very quickly).

4. When it’s just about done, dollop on the mascarpone and pop back into the oven to allow it to melt nicely on top of the pizza.

5. Slice up and enjoy!

Just A Few Ingredients Needed

Once Cooked Slice Sausages Into Discs

Return To The Pan With Fennel Seeds, Garlic, Chilli and Black Pepper

Top The Pizza Base and Pop in Oven

Add The Mascarpone A Minute Before Taking Out Of The Oven To Serve

Ready To Serve

Freshly Baked Herb Bread

Country Loaf

If you have been following my blog recently, you will know that I under took a bread making course at Arbutus Bread Company in Cork last month. It was such a fun experience, but as I’m living in Dublin, I had to commute home to Cork once a week to do the course and get back up to Dublin at the crack of dawn the following morning to get back to Dublin for work. It was a bit mad in retrospect, but we all do mad things to follow our passions!

Arbutus Breads was set up by Declan Ryan, the first Michelen star chef in Ireland who became famous with Arbutus Lodge. I can’t remember being there unfortunately despite the fact that it was a stones throw away from the first house my family lived in, as Declan retired and sold Arbutus many years ago when I was still a child, but my parents have great memories of the place. When Declan retired, he set up Arbutus breads, initially as a hobby, but it soon grew into a well established artisan bakery supplying Cork’s best markets, delis and shops. The bakery has a bit of a cult following at this point, as it really is the best bakery in the country.

Give Us Each Day our Declan Bread!

Party Bread

Beautiful Baguettes

As the course in Arbutus drew to an end, Declan offered us all the opportunity to witness how a bakery operates on a busy night, to which I of course jumped at! Their busiest night is Friday night, to meet the weekend demand on Saturdays. I was told to arrive at midnight and I would work through the night until all loaves were pulled from the ovens. Having been personally used to taking a full weekend afternoon to make one loaf of bread, I was intrigued to see how an artisan bakery committed to the traditional methods of bread making handles such large orders of almost 40 different types of bread in the space of 8 short hours.

I arrived 20 minutes early (I am an eager beaver), and though very excited, I wasn’t sure if I would be getting stuck in or just weighing flour and making tea. Darragh (Declan’s son, and a great baker at Arbutus) arrived and got me to work straight away, and thankfully I was straight away getting elbow deep in flour. I started off decorating some white yeast breads with creme fraiche, basil, tomatoes and herbs which was quite fun and strangely therapeutic. Then I got stuck into making a type of light brioche infused with saffron and filled with almond paste, this was probably my favourite one to help prepare as I love sweet things and it looked so pretty that it was quite enjoyable to make. I even got to make my own massive custard brioche to take home with me! Ivers ,who is a baker at Arbutus, specialises in all the Rye breads, and thankfully took me through each stage of the process of making his rye breads. My favourite is his Latvian Rye which is a sweet and sour rye with caraway seeds, which give it the most beautiful tangy flavour. He also let me get stuck into kneading the doughs and showed me some cool and unusual ways of shaping them. I was really impressed with how generous the bakers were with their time for me, as I’m sure showing me how to do things was slowing them down. I also wondered were they worried that I would be making more “rustic” looking loaves than they were used to, however, they were really encouraging and taught me so much.

Preparing The Herb Loaves

Brush Pastries With Egg Wash

My Custard Brioche

Latvian Sweet and Sour Rye Bread

Rye Bread

Sukru, the baker who taught me to make his Turkish Pide bread the week before let me watch him make his fragrant breads. He was also in charge of making the Brown Soda breads, and made over 60 during the night! I didn’t help out much with the pastries, as the dough needs to be made 18 hours in advance, but I happily egg washed them and watched them rise into sweet, buttery, crusty beauties!

At This Point I Had To Restrain Myself From Stealing One

Turkish Pide Bread

The main thing that struck me about the place was the time that is taken to create each loaf. I always support local and artisan food companies wherever possible and justify the slightly increased cost by the superior taste and quality, and the fact that I am supporting Irish jobs. However, one thing I have always taken for granted is the time that these artisans take to craft their food. I mean, despite thousands of loaves being made that night, each was crafted by hand. As I was delicately filling the saffron brioche dough with almond paste and plaited them into pretty little circles, I wondered would the person who bought and ate the loaf the next day appreciate that I had been up at 5am making it? Would it cross their mind that a passionate food groupie like myself had been up at 6am the previous day for a run, worked a full day, got a 3 hour bus to Cork to get to the bakery, and worked through the night to learn and help create these amazing loaves all for the love of food? They probably enjoyed every last crumb as I did the next morning when I took a loaf home, however the bakers who work through the night as we sleep soundly in our beds often get forgotton. The thing that struck me about my night in Arbutus is the time and care that goes into the production of artisan food, and I’m going to endeavour to remember that each time I pour some Flynn’s kitchen basil oil on my bread, or Llewellyn Apple Syrup on my porridge, Gubbeen chorizo on my pasta and certainly each time I take a bite of Arbutus Bread.

Saffron and Almond Brioche

My Morning Reward of Custard Brioche for Breakfast

Enjoying Sukru’s Pide For Lunch

History of Bread Making in Ireland:

In Ireland we don’t have a history of artisan yeast or levain breads, being a nation of devoted soda bread eaters (not that I’m knocking my beloved soda breads). Apparently the reason behind this is actually scientific. Our breads are low in protein and gluten (damn the Irish weather) and so it doesn’t rise with yeast, which is why we traditionally relied on raising our breads with bread soda and buttermilk. The French and Italians have very fine flours which make the most beautiful yeast breads, and that is why boulangeries are a part of the French and Italian cultures that are missing in Ireland. However, with delicious sodas and limited travel across Europe many generations ago, most people didn’t know what they were missing, and so no-one really minded.

Brown Soda Bread

Atrisan bakers will cite the invention of the Chorleywood process of bread making as the demise of quality bread making and standards. This process was invented during World War 2 in an attempt to cheaply and quickly feed those who were affected by food shortages. Unlike traditional breads that take hours to prove and use only water, flour and maybe yeast, these loaves were pumped with fat, sugar and other nasties that only took 5 minutes to prove. Apparently it is because of this process of bread making that we see an increase in the amount of intolerances to bread. When I asked Declan why he decided to start up a bakery after retiring from Arbutus Lodge, he replied “the sliced pan”! He was referring to the unhealthy bread we had become accustomed to as a nation, but alas, Declan is redeeming our lack of bread making notoriety as a nation one loaf at a time!

My Sweet Apple Relish

My Jars of Apple Relish

Sometimes when I have a quiet weekend coming up I get the notion to make a big batch of some kind of relish, chutney or jam and fill up all the empty jam jars in my press. This weekend I decided to make a batch of Sweet Apple Relish. The last batch of Tomato Relish I made was a hit with friends and family but I’m down to the end of my last jar, and thought that this time around I would make a batch of apple relish. I’m sure pretty much every other 24 year old was doing something really exciting last Saturday night, but alas, I was making relish. And what’s even worse? I did find it really exciting!

Relish is really, really easy to make. It’s cheap, takes minimal effort and really adds great flavour to your everyday sandwiches, quiches, fry ups, omelettes… pretty much anything that could do with a kick. I went to the Glasnevin Farmers this weekend and came across a lovely woman selling the most delicious fruit and vegetables. I decided to stock up on my ingredients from her and so I left weighed down with a significant amount of bags of apples and onions for my batch of relish, and other fruity treats for later in the week.

Irish apples are perfect for this as they’re sweet and slightly sour. My parent’s neighbour has an apple tree and every year the apples fall into our garden, so this summer when they start ripening and making their way into our garden again I will probably make another batch. As the bad weather this Spring means that the Irish apples haven’t started ripening yet,  I would buy ripe red apples rather than green, and I would go for the sweet ones that are packed with sweet juicy taste and a little bit of sour. Apples like coxes work, avoid crispy, watery, flavourless apples like Fuji etc.

Delicious Apples

Ingredients:

1.5kg of red apples

2 large brown onions

300g sugar

300ml Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.

1. Chop up your apples and onions into small chunks and throw into a very large heavy bottomed pot and add all other ingredients.

2. Stir together and bring to the boil for 10 minutes, then reduce to a simmer and stir for about an hour. When done let cool down and season to taste.

3. Transfer into sterilised jars. To sterilise jars just put clean jars in an oven heatedto 180C for 5 minutes. Simple!

Get Chopping

Throw All Ingredients Into A Pot

Let Simmer Away For An Hour

The Apple Relish is Done

Leave Cool and Spoon Into Jars

Sweet Apple Relish

Smoked Paprika Squash Salad

Ready to Eat

This is my new favourite salad. As we’re coming in to the warmer (marginally warmer in Ireland) months, we tend to gravitate towards lighter meals, but salads don’t need to be the boring lettuce and tomato variety! This one is packed with flavour and texture, and can be eaten as a main with some crusty bread.

I made a home made mayonnaise laced with smoked paprika, roasted peppers and a little bit of chilli and it really gave tonnes of flavour to the roasted squash. I added roasted peppers to the salad itself also and used some of the fruity oil they come preserved in to dress the leaves. I also toasted a little pan of pumpkin seeds which added a little crunch.

This is a really good, tasty salad. I made it for a party recently and it went down a treat! You really must make your own mayonnaise though, there is no comparison between the home made kind and the jellyish shop bought kind, and it is surprisingly easy to make. You can make twice the amount you need and keep a little jar in the fridge for sandwiches. Two jobs done in one go!

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

1 jar of roasted red peppers

1 bag of mixed salad leaves (I used rocket, baby spinach and watercress)

1 large handful of pumpkin seeds

salt and pepper

Smoked Paprika Mayo:

1 egg yolk

150ml to 200ml oil (you can use the oil from the jar of roasted peppers, nut oil or sunflower oil… avoid olive or other strong tasting oils)

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

3 roasted red peppers blended into a paste

1. Put your oven on 180C and allow to preheat. Peel and chop your squash into equal sizes to allow it to cook evenly. Throw into a roasting tin, add a little mild tasting oil and salt and pepper and allow to roast away (around 45 to 55 minutes)

2. For the mayo add the egg yolk to a bowl and whisk in the mustard. Very slowly and little bit by little bit whisk in the oil. This is so easy to make, but if you add all the oil at once it will never come together, so add the oil very slowly. When it all has been added in and you have a nice smooth texture, then whisk in the paprika, chilli and blended peppers. Add more paprika or chilli to taste.

3. Take your pumpkin seeds and dry fry them on pan for less then a minute. Make sure to stir them constantly as they burn very quickly. Once they start popping and become nice and crispy then set aside.

4. When the squash is cooked (and make sure it is soft all the way through, nothing worse than undercooked squash), stir in enough mayo to coat all the squash. Add the rest of the jar of the roasted red peppers, the salad leaves and most of the pumpkin seeds. Stir together and add more of the oil from the roasted red peppers to coat the salad leaves if needed. Sprinkle the remaining seeds on top and serve with crusty bread.

Stir in Paprika and Chilli to the Mayonnaise

Smoked Paprika Mayonnaise

Ready to Eat