Author Archives: tara

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Thin & Crispy or Fat & Fluffy Pancakes on LMFM’s Late Lunch?!

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“Thin & Crispy” Pancakes

 

2 Tablespoons of plain flour

¼ pint of of Milk

1 Egg

1 teaspoon of butter

Salt and Pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the batter and leave to rest for up to 2 hours.

Heat a pan with a teaspoon of oil. And add batter to middle of pan and allow to spread.

Flip or turn with a fish slice to cook both sides.

Make pancakes ahead of time and leave on a plate over a boil of boiling water covered with another plate.

Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese & Chives

Smoked salmon, sliced into thin ribbons

Cream Cheese

Chives

Lemon (for juice)

Black Pepper

 

  1. Spread the cream cheese thinly across the pancake and place a few “ribbons” of smoked salmon in the middle
  2. Sprinkle the chives over and squeeze a little lemon juice on top
  3. Season with freshly ground black pepper
  4. Fold the edges of the pancake in and roll up

Roast Red Pepper, Chilli and Feta Cheese

Jar of roasted red peppers (or homemade if you prefer) sliced

Fresh red chilli chopped

Feta cheese, crumbled or chopped

Salt and pepper

 

  1. Place the roasted red peppers on the pancake and sprinkle the chilli over (make sure you taste some of the chilli so you know how hot it is!)
  2. Place the feta cheese on top and season generously
  3. Fold the edges of the pancake and roll up

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Banana

Chocolate Spread

Banana, sliced

Chopped hazelnuts, toasted on a dry pan

Smooth the chocolate spread over the pancake and place the banana slices down the middle, top with the chopped hazelnuts

Roll up and serve

Tropical Fruits and Chopped Nuts

Your choice of tropical fruits such as mango, passion fruit seeds or pineapple, chopped

Chopped almonds or hazelnuts

Brown Sugar

Crème Fraiche

 

  1. Lightly toast the nuts on a dry frying pan
  2. Sprinkle the sugar over the pancake whilst it is still warm
  3. Place the fruit and nuts along the centre of the pancake and place a dollop of the Crème Fraiche on top
  4. Roll up and serve

American Style Breakfast Pancakes with Bacon or Blueberries and Syrup

(Make smaller, thicker pancakes for this)

Pancakes

Ingredients:

200g plain flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp golden syrup

75g blueberries

zest 1 lemon

200ml milk

1 large egg

butter, for cooking

Method:

First, put the flour, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda in the bowl. Mix them well with the fork. Drop the golden syrup into the dry ingredients along with the blueberries and lemon zest.

Pour the milk into a measuring jug. Now break in the egg and mix well with a fork. Pour most of the milk mixture into the bowl and mix well with a rubber spatula. Keep adding more milk until you get a smooth, thick, pouring batter.

Heat the frying pan and brush with a little butter. Then spoon in the batter, 1 tbsp at a time, in heaps. Bubbles will appear on top as the pancakes cook – turn them at this stage, using the metal spatula to help you. Cook until brown on the second side, then keep warm on a plate, covered with foil. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.

 

Streaky Bacon, cooked until crispy and chopped

Maple Syrup (or brch syrup)

Blueberries and/or raspberries

Place all the toppings on the pancake and serve

 

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Boyne Valley Flavours on LMFM’s Late Lunch-Dunany Flour

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Rye & Caraway Bread with Dunany Rye Flour

Ingredients:

200g Rye Flour

200g strong white flour

½  teaspoon Oriel sea salt

1 tablespoon sugar

7g pack fast acting yeast

1 tsp honey

250g lukewarm water

1 tsp Caraway Seeds

1 egg, whisked

Method:

  1. Put the flour and salt into a large bowl. Keep the salt to one side of the bowl, away from the centre. Make a well in the centre, add a little of the water and the yeast. It is important to keep the yeast away from the salt as the salt can kill it, resulting in a flat and heavy bread.
  2. Gradually add the rest of the water and the honey and work into the flour to make a soft dough.
  3. Sprinkle over a little flour if the mixture feels too sticky, but make sure it is not too dry- the dough should be pliable and smooth.
  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, knead for 10 minutes  (sprinkling a little flour on when needed) until the dough is smooth and stretchy (soft but elastic). Add the caraway seeds to the dough and mix through.
  5. Oil the bowl, place the dough in and cover with cling film and let rise in warm spot until doubled in volume, about 1 to 1½  hours.
  6. Preheat the oven to 220℃, 200℃ Fan or gas Mark 7.
  7. Knock the dough back again and shape into a circular loaf. Place on a floured baking tray and brush with the egg. Sprinkle a few more caraway seeds over and place in the oven for about 30mins or until it sounds hollow when knocked on the bottom. Allow to cool before serving.

Whole Spelt Grain with Roast Butternutsquash, Tarragon, Parsley & Shallots

This is a lovely lunch or light supper dish or served on the side with a steak, piece of fish or chicken. You could bulk it out with the addition of goats or feta cheese or some smoked chicken either. This is also a great salad for leftovers as the spelt holds its texture after being dressed.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

About 100g butternutsquash, peeled and diced into approx 1cm pieces

A sprig of thyme

100 g Whole Spelt grain

1 shallot, finely chopped

A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

For the dressing:

2 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

Boil the spelt in plenty of water for about 1 hour.

In the meantime,pre-heat the oven to 200 Celsius, 180 Celsius fanPut the butternutsuash into a roasting dish with a little oil, a few thyme leaves and salt and pepper

Roast for 20-30 minutes or until softened.

When the spelt berry has softened, mix the herbs and shallots through the spelt and add the dressing. Toss the butternutsquash through and serve warm or at room temperature.

 

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Vietnamese Prawn Salad & Spring Rolls on Weekend AM

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Watch the clip here

VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS

These are fantastic, healthy and tasty little rolls. They are quick to prepare and are perfect for

a mid week meal as well as if you have a craving for a Chinese on a Friday evening. It’s a

main, these are not like spring rolls that you get from the traditional take away. If you don’t

want to bother putting these into rice paper, which can be a little fiddly, you can just eat the

filling as a nutritious salad instead. It can also be a bit of fun if you serve all the ingredients

on a platter and allow diners to make up their own rolls. If doing so, serve a dipping sauce in

small bowls. You can make these a little ahead of time and keep in the fridge covered with a

piece of damp kitchen roll or tea towel.

Serves 4

Ingredients

20 prawns (I recommend buying Dublin Bay prawn tails)

1 large piece of ginger, peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

1 fresh red chilli, sliced

6 spring onions

500ml chicken or vegetable stock

1 portion rice noodles

½ cucumber

1 large carrot

A few sprigs of fresh coriander and mint

A few handfuls of beansprouts

1 packet of Vietnamese rice-paper wrappers

For the Asian dressing:

1–2 limes, juiced

2 tablespoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

Method

Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl and set aside. The sugar has to be

completely dissolved before this is ready to use.

For the prawns, squeeze them to break the shell and pull the shell off at the tail end,

taking the entrails with it.

Place the shelled prawns, slices of ginger, nam pla, chilli and 2 spring onions,

roughly sliced, in a pot and cover with the stock. Bring to the boil.

Remove the  from the pot as soon as it is boils:  this should take

about 1 min. Put in a colander to cool. Chop each in half. Discard the stock and the flavourings.

Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the pack and rinse with cold water.

Finely slice the cucumber, the remaining spring onions and the carrot (use a mandolin if

possible) into matchstick size and roughly chop the herbs. Wash the beansprouts and trim

if desired.

Fill a large bowl with lukewarm water and place the discs of rice paper into the bowl two at a

time. Submerge for about 2 minutes or until softened, then remove. I recommend keeping

the rice papers in a clean, damp tea towel whilst you are waiting to fill them as they dry

out very quickly.

Add the prawns, noodles, vegetables and herbs to a large bowl, add the dressing and toss.

Place a spoonful of the filling along the middle of each rice-paper roll. Tuck in the ends of the

rice-paper and roll up.