Clonakilty Black Pudding & Spinach

Irish Black Pudding is something I discovered whilst in Cork and a favourite of mine. Just to note, this is not like Bury Black Pudding- it has an amazing texture (it's full of oats) and is incredibly flavoursome- no lumps of fat here!
Luckily, there is a shop near here that sells it. But how to eat it? As part of an Irish "fry" it is hardly healthy, and I would wonder if it is shown in all its glory.
 
Like this you reap the flavour, but there is no need for guilt : )
 
You need:
 
Onions (two medium for 280g black pudding)
Black Pudding
Baby spinach (as much as you like!)
Tomato (one finely chopped)
 
Saute the onions and chop the black pudding into bite sized pieces. When it is half cooked, add the spinach and tomato on top. When it starts to wilt, stir the mixture, until it is all cooked.
 
Serve with freshly baked bread, mashed potato or stirred into pasta

After Party Turkey/ 2

Following on from this delicious version, and having also stocked up on Turkey steaks at Morrisons, I made another version of my After Party Turkey.

I marinaded the turkey steaks (4 thin slices) in the leftover wine (in this case, red, about 1/3 of a bottle or two small glasses) with two peeled garlic cloves, about 8 squished tomatoes (they had mysteriously frozen in our amazing fridge and had thawed to a pulpy splat) and half a teaspoon of pimenton (smoked paprika).

The next evening I browned the turkey and also sauteed a medium sized onion. When done, I added the wine, tomatoes and garlic and simmered until the wine was well reduced, created a lovely sauce.

Great meal from two ingredients that would so easily have ended up in the bin- the tomatoes and wine : )

Moro-ish meatballs with pepper sauce

Recently I got carried away in Morrisons where they had great deals on beef mince. An enormous bolognese sauce later, there was still 1.5 kilos left. I decided to be brave and make something that I've never made before- meatballs. This was further complicated by the fact that I don't eat bread so would need a bread-crumb free version. My friend wanted "something with a winter flavour" so I opted for "vaguely Moro", dependent upon what was in the cupboard. I had pimenton (smoked paprika) from a previous recipe and apricots thanks to canapes that I had made for a party the night before. These combined with other ingredients to makes something rich, warming and satisfying.

You need:
3/4 kg lean beef mince
8 dried apricots
1 teaspoon pimenton
two spring onions
two medium sized onions
four peppers (red & yellow, not green)
two tins of tomatoes
500g fresh tomatoes
1/4 tea spoon allspice
three cloves garlic
two heaped tablespoons hemp flour
1 egg
one tea spoon butter


For the meatballs:
Mix the beef with the finely chopped spring onion and one diced onion. Add four finely chopped dried apricots, two minced cloves of garlic, half the pimenton, the hemp flour and the allspice. Mix them very well and then mix in the beaten egg. Form the mince into balls about 4 cm diameter and brown in a hot frying pan.

For the sauce
Saute the other onion, diced with some olive oil and the spoonful of butter. Add the remaining pimenton and a whoel clove of garlice. Add the peppers, diced and saute also. When they have softened, add the fresh tomatoes, chopped, and five minutes later the tinned tomatoes, with an additional canful of water, bring to the boil and simmer. If the sauce is bitter after about 20 minutes of cooking, and a couple of apricots. Blitz the sauce until smooth with a hand mixer.

To serve:
The great thing of this recipe is that you can make it in advance and then just heat the meatballs up in the sauce. Great served over rice or pasta.

Tips:
Obviously, the meatballs could be made with very different flavours, and the sauce could also be made with different vegetables and spices.

Italians on Horseback

Devils on horseback- I had them as prunes wrapped in streaky bacon growing up- some would argue that the real "devils" are chicken livers wrapped in bacon. Angels on horseback are supposed to be oysters wrapped in bacon- my grandma make them with dried apricots.

Returning home exhausted without having shopped for real food for a while, I resorted to what I will call "Italians on Horseback". I had 6 tomatoes and a pack of bacon rashers, both of which were in need of consumption. I halved the bacon longways and quartered the tomatoes.

Our oven is broken and a mystery unto itself. These should have gone into a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil- however, they went into a griddle pan on the hob with a generous sprinking of sage and occasional turning.

An excellent and easy supper for two with a piece of brown toast!

Pesto Presto

Pesto and pastes have been on my mind. I had a few bashes at hummus making earlier in the summer, which nearly blew up my hand blender. Great fun though! Following that I have been intrigued about making other bean pastes (apparently hummus = chickpea, so the term cannot be carried into other bean genres). White bean "hummus" sounds tasty, perhaps with paprika and garlic in vegetarian fusion food version of fabada asturiana.

Hunger and desperate times lead us back to pasta al pesto. And with fresh pesto it is so tasty! I am thinking- what about a green pea pesto?

Here is a pesto recipe (from smitten kitchen) that I would love to try:
Linguine with Tomato-Almond Pesto [Pesto Trapenese]
Adapted from Gourmet
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
1 to 2 large garlic cloves
Several sprinkles of sea salt
6 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup grated Pecorino or Parmesan
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound linguine

In a large skillet, sauté the almonds in a little olive oil until toasted. Let cool, then blend them in a food processor or blender until they are in coarse pieces. (“The size of orzo,” the original recipe suggests.) Scoop them out of the processor and set them aside.

Put the basil, garlic and a few pinches of sea salt into the food processor and chop. Add the almonds back to the food processor (keeping them separate will keep them from getting too finely chopped as you get the basil and garlic to the right texture) with the tomatoes, cheese and olive oil and whirl briefly. Season it with freshly ground black pepper.

Cook your linguine until it is al dente and could use another minute of cooking time. Reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the rest. Immediately toss the hot linguine with the pesto and mix quickly so that it drinks the sauce up a bit. Add more pasta water if needed. Serve this lukewarm, or at room temperature, with a glass of wine, after you get the baby to bed.

Another one that has been lingering in my mind is this- the recipe looks great and also references a walnut and kale pesto-

Liver Two Ways: Italianese or Spicy with Rhubarb Yoghurt

Liver is a bit like marmite in that you either love it or, well, you don’t.

This liver was fresh from Smithfield’s market. Ox liver. I had never had good ox liver before, and I tried it over two days, two ways. Liver is cheap and nutritious, so it is a good value food if you can bring yourself to cook it!

Ox liver can be quite tough, but as this was fresh it was delicious. These recipes would also work with pig's or lamb's liver.

  

Before both, cut the liver into slices, perhaps 1cm thick, removing any sinew etc. wash and then pat dry with kitchen paper or similar.

  Liver Italianese

This recipe was given to me by Italian friends, and it is simple and delicious.

  

Saute onions- I did a mixture of red and white onion- over a low heat with olive oil

  

In a bowl mix flour (I used wholemeal), a pinch of salt and some thyme.

Turn up the heat in the pan, so that it is hot enough for the liver to sizzle when it goes into it.

Roll the strips of liver in the seasoned flour, and put into the pan. Turn the strips until they are brown on both sides- they should be in the pan for about 4 minutes. You want the liver to be cooked, not cremated, that way it is tender.

Serve with fresh bread for a simple meal, but make sure that you serve it piping hot and straight from the pan!

  Spicy Liver with rhubarb yoghurt

In the UK, liver always seems to be served with onions. Actually, this recipes would work with onions too, but it is very good without.

 

You need:

• One tomato per person
• Olive oil
• Enough sliced liver for each person
• Garlic
• Chilli flakes
• Flour (I used millet flour)
• Yoghurt

Dice the tomato and fry- you want them to reduce to a thick consistency.

Mix the flour (I used millet here, which has a slightly nutty, sweet flavour and is a wholegrain flour, but you could use any wheat flour. It is inexpensive and can be bought in many African or Subcontinental shops) with the chilli flakes, some salt if you choose and the diced garlic. My advice here is to go spicier than you think that you would like- the yoghurt takes away some of the heat and it combines beautifully.

Roll the liver slices into the seasoned flour, lightly coating, and place into the same pan as the tomato, at a high heat. You will need to turn the liver regularly, for around 4 minutes, so that it doesn’t stick to the pan. Coat it in the thickened tomato.

 Serve with a generous tablespoonful of yoghurt- the sweet and sour flavour of rhubarb yoghurt works well, but natural yoghurt, perhaps with a dab of mango chutney, would be delicious. Alternatively, try mixing some rhubarb or even gooseberry compote with your yoghurt.

Eat immediately, perhaps with plain or garlic naan bread and lentils.