Fig & Raspberry Tarte Tatin

Figs are a fruit you either love or hate. They contain quite a few seeds and some people find that this gives them an almost gritty texture. Although, I discovered fresh figs only relatively recently, I have to admit that I love their slightly exotic allure and their taste is unlike any other fruit that I have eaten. Ripe figs have a rich, almost meaty taste and there is a definite air of the exotic about them. The aroma of a fresh fig is something beautiful to behold and promises much in the way of flavour to tempt the diner.

 

Figs are an extremely popular ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking and are quite regularly paired with rich or salty foods or meats in many recipes. They sit equally well in both sweet and savoury dishes and for me, this really adds to their appeal – there is something so grown-up and refined about figs and I love to use them, when I can, in my cooking.
 

Many people are surprised that figs can be grown quite successfully in the British Isles, provided you have a sheltered spot which catches the sun – because they really do need that warmth to release their full taste potential.
 

Amongst my favourite fruits are raspberries. I love their taste and believe that they complement the flavour of figs so well. The juicy sweetness of the raspberries marries so well with the rich, heady flavour of the figs and they taste delicious together. This is really an example of a dessert that is so much more than the sum of its parts.

 

I have previously given variations on the tarte tatin theme and I unashamedly give another one here. The reality is that tarte tatins are so easy to prepare, look so elegant and taste wonderful. So… here is another recipe, which I hope you enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

5 fresh figs, halved
150g fresh raspberries
100g caster sugar

55g butter

350g all-butter puff pastry
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan Oven 200C/Gas Mark 7.
2. Place the sugar in a large oven-proof frying pan (about 25cms in diameter) with 2 tablespoons of water and heat gently over a moderate heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, turn up the heat until the mixture starts bubbling. Allow it to bubble away for about 5 minutes, keeping a close eye on it to ensure that it does not burn. Do not allow it to become too dark – you want to achieve a rich golden colour.

3. Once it has reached this stage, remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the butter and mix through. Set aside to cool.

To finish:

4. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3mm and into a circle large enough to fit the frying pan with a little overhang.

5. Place the figs, cut side down in the frying pan on top of the cooled caramel. Nestle the raspberries in and around the gaps created by the figs.

6. Lay the rolled pastry on top of the figs and raspberries and tuck in the excess pastry around the edges, so everything is contained within the frying pan. Place the frying pan on a baking tray and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes approximately until the pastry is golden and well-risen.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for about 5 minutes before carefully inverting onto a serving plate.

8. Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with some freshly whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

 

Serves 6.
 

     

Cauliflower Soup with Cashel Blue Cheese

I have always loved cauliflowers and think that they are a much underrated vegetable that only ever seems get any air-time when smothered in a cheese sauce, gratinated and served as an accompaniment. I think that this is an awful shame as the cauliflower truly is a delicious vegetable and one that can be used in so many ways and in so many recipes when cooking.

Don’t misunderstand me - I love cauliflower cheese and sometimes as a completely indulgent treat, I like to make a Baked Cauliflower and Macaroni Cheese into which I throw in some leftover ham and a sprinkling of some crispy breadcrumbs – HEAVEN. I will post the recipe and some photos of that particular recipe in the near future, but for now, I want to give a recipe that shows the simple elegance of the cauliflower.

I love this soup. The earthy sweetness of the cauliflower really comes through and is accentuated by the addition of some crumbled Cashel Blue cheese. All too often blue cheeses are uses as a partner for broccoli, but I think that they work equally well with cauliflower, highlighting the sweet, creamy and almost nutty taste of the vegetable.

I deliberately do not use any stock when making this soup, as the taste of the cauliflower can get swamped by the taste of the stock… for me this soup really is all about the taste of the cauliflower and I prefer that nothing detracts from that. I do add a finely chopped small onion and one clove of garlic though; just to give the soup a little depth.
 

Once the cauliflower is softened I purée the soup and then pass it through a fine sieve so that the resulting soup is velvety smooth. The only other additions I make are cream and seasoning. I really do encourage you to taste the soup as you go along, adjusting the seasoning as necessary as it is crucial to the success of the finished soup. I use white pepper as the flecks of freshly ground black pepper, if used interrupt the virginal look of the finished soup.

 

Ingredients:

15g butter
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 medium-sized cauliflower, broken into florets

250ml double cream

Salt & white pepper

To finish:

Some crumbled Cashel Blue cheese 

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and sweat the diced onions and crushed garlic for about 5 minutes over a low heat until softened but not coloured. Add the cauliflower florets and cover with enough cold water to barely cover the cauliflower. Bring up to the boil over a high heat, and once boiling, reduce the heat and allow simmer gently for about 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked through.

2. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and purée everything to create a fairly thick, but still liquid mixture (You may need to do this in batches).

3. Pass the cauliflower purée through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and add the cream. Gently heat the soup, but don’t let it boil.
4. Serve in individual bowls with a little Cashel Blue cheese crumbled over the top.

 

Serves 4.     

Smoked Gubbeen & Thyme Canapés

This is not the exact recipe for the cheese tartlets that I recently made as part of a team challenge given to the final ten cooks on MasterChef Ireland, but it is my attempt at recreating what I made as part of the blue team on that day.

 

As mentioned in my previous post this was an incredibly stressful test, but one that looking back on it, I enjoyed tremendously. For the task we were expected to produce 350 of each of three canapés, one of which was Caramelised Shallot & Gubbeen Tartlets. The following recipe is my take on these tartlets.

 

Needless to say, cooking these in my own kitchen, in familiar surroundings and using equipment I am used to was a world removed from the situation that myself and the other contestants found ourselves in on All-Ireland Final day in Croke Park. Also, this recipe produces 36 bite sized tartlets rather than the 350 we had to do last September, but please feel free to scale up the recipe if you are planning on serving them to scores of people!!!

I will say that the great thing about having endured the Croke Park Canapé challenge is that cooking at home for a few friends and family no longer seems daunting.

Ingredients:

Pastry:
200g plain flour, sieved

A generous pinch of cayenne pepper

A pinch of salt

100g butter, chilled and cubed

1 egg yolk

1tblsp cold water

Caramelised shallots:

2tbls vegetable oil

Large knob of butter

500g shallots, sliced finely

2 bay leaves

Filling:

2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg

150ml double cream
100ml milk

100g Smoked Gubbeen cheese, grated

1tblsp fresh thyme, finely chopped

Salt & freshly ground black pepper
 

Method:

Make the pastry:
1. Place the flour, cayenne pepper and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and using your fingertips rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and water. Using a fork, lightly work in the egg yolk and flour to make the pastry dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead briefly to form into a ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Caramelised shallots:

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the shallots over a medium heat for about five minutes, stirring regularly.

3. Reduce the heat as they are just beginning to colour and add the butter and bay leaves. Season well. Continue to cook on a low heat, stirring frequently for about 40 minutes until the onions have reduced in volume and are a deep golden colour. Set aside to cool. Remove and discard the bay leaves.

Blind bake the pastry:

4. Preheat oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Lightly grease a 36 whole mini-muffin tin and set aside.

5. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry to about 2mm thick on a work-surface lightly dusted with flour. Stamp out 36 rounds of the dough using a 5cm round cutter and use to line 36 mini-muffin tins. Place an empty mini-muffin case on top of the pastry that you have just lined the muffin tins with and weight down with a few baking beans.

6. Blind-bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool. Remove the baking bean filled muffin cases and allow the tartlet shells to cool completely.

7. Reduce oven temperature to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 3.

To make the filling:

8. Using a small balloon whisk, whisk the egg yolks and whole egg together in a mixing jug. Add the milk and double cream and whisk again to fully incorporate everything. Mix in the Gubbeen cheese and chopped thyme and season well.

To finish:

9. Put a small teaspoon of the cooled caramelised shallot mixture in the base of each tartlet shell. Carefully pour the egg and cheese mixture almost up to the top of each tartlet case. When all the tartlets have been filled, place in the preheated oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and the egg custard mixture has slightly puffed up (this will deflate as they cool). Allow to cool and serve at room temperature.

Makes 36 tartlets.     

Carrot Cake

Although I do like chocolate as a special treat, I have always been much more of a “cakes and pastries” type of gal! If made to choose between a bar of chocolate and a slice of cake I inevitably opt for the slice of cake… and to be honest, as far as I’m concerned nothing beats homemade cake. When you make your own cakes, you can be sure that the best quality ingredients have gone into them.

I always like to have a homemade cake in the house so that I can offer a slice or two to any unexpected visitors or to friends and neighbours who might call by. And yes…  I also like to have home-baked treats on hand to satisfy my taste for something delicious to eat when having a cup of my beloved tea!

I think that one of the most delicious of cakes is carrot cake. The inclusion of carrots adds an extra natural sweetness, but perhaps most importantly, a pleasant moistness to the finished cake. I get extremely annoyed when I taste dry carrot cakes and wonder how they could possibly have ended up like that as the carrots really should keep everything nice and moist without the cake being soggy or damp.  I have tried many carrot cakes over the years and I regret to say that far too many of them are dry and quite tasteless.

I have also baked many recipes for carrot cake and have had varying success. Some of them have been over-spiced; others have been too soggy but after many years of tweaking recipes I think that I have finally hit upon a recipe that I am really pleased with and this is the one that I present here.

 

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this recipe is that it uses oil instead of butter. I have tried variations using butter, but this is one time, despite my addiction to butter, where I will actually recommend that you use a good sunflower oil INSTEAD of butter.  Those who know me or have read some of my previous posts will find my butter rebellion with regard to this recipe somewhat alarming, but never fear… the cream cheese icing which I suggest you top the cake with includes some! Speaking of icing, some people hate carrot cakes to be iced, but I love the creamy, tangy sweetness that this icing gives to the finished cake. Omit the icing, if you wish… But I urge you to try it out, at least once.

 

Ingredients:

265g soft brown sugar
265g sunflower oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
265g self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder

2tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

265g coarsely grated carrots

100g roughly chopped walnuts (optional)

100g sultanas

Icing:

75g butter, softened

150g cream cheese

300g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract/paste
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 2. Line a 25cm square cake tin with baking parchment and set aside.
2. Put the sugar and sunflower oil in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together for a couple of minutes until well mixed. Add the eggs and continue to beat for about 5 minutes until the mixture has lightened in colour and increased in volume.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together and fold into the egg mixture. Add the grated orange rind, grated carrots, chopped walnuts and sultanas and mix together until everything is well incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 1¼ to 1½ hours or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Icing:

6. Place all the icing ingredients in a bowl and beat together using a hand-held electric mixer until light and fluffy. Using a palette knife spread the icing evenly over the cake, or as I have done place the icing into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain round nozzle and pipe small blobs of the icing on top of the cake.

Serves 12-14.     

MasterChef Ireland 2014 - National Dish Challenge

After finishing the Canapé Challenge, we were all mentally and physically exhausted and, at the time, had no sense of how well we had or had not performed in the task. We had arrived at Croke Park very early in the morning with no idea of what lay ahead. We soon discovered that we would be divided into two teams - presumably competing against each other - to prepare and cook the canapés. We assumed that there would be a winning and a losing team. Little did we know that one person would be selected from each team and given a free pass into the next round!

I can truly say that everyone on the blue team, of which I was part, cooked their hearts out and each person individually contributed something crucial to the success of the challenge and the fact that we had managed to produce so many high quality canapés.

 

The Final Ten with Nick & Dylan. Photo: (c) RTE.

That night I fell into bed completely spent from the exhaustion and excitement of the task, knowing that I would be back in the MasterChef Ireland kitchen early the following morning to hear Nick and Dylan deliver their judgements.

When Diana and I were asked to step forward we were immediately alarmed, thinking that we were about to be sent home and that our time in the MasterChef kitchen was over…



Charlie, Rich & Nessa

It took a moment or two for the judges’ words to sink in - on the basis of our performance during the team challenge cooking post-match canapés for the players and their families in Croke Park, Diana and I were given a day off, were through to the next round and did not have to cook off in front of the judges to secure our place in the final eight.

Woohoo!

Both of us felt strongly that everyone on both teams had played their part and had worked their socks off to achieve success on behalf of their respective teams. We were delighted to be through to the next round, but realised that it so easily and justifiably could have been anyone else on either team!

 

The other contestants had to remain in the kitchen and cook a dish of their own choice that represented Ireland to them and one that showcased their skills and love of food.

 

Edel, Mark (aka "Justin") & Nessa

Until the episode aired, neither Diana nor I had seen how the other contestants had performed in the National Dish Challenge. When I watched it, I was so impressed by the dishes that were prepared. The amount of considered thought and passion that had gone in to developing the various plates of food was unbelievable. I believe that the individual personalities really shone through in the dishes that were cooked and presented.

The one thing that was true of everyone who got into the final 24 and subsequently the final 10 was an absolute love of food and cooking. We all wanted to be there and wanted to perform to the best of our abilities, but the reality was that we were all under huge pressure, having to cope with unfamiliar equipment in an increasingly surreal situation. Feasibly, anything could go wrong for any of us at any time.



Me & Rich

We all knew that we were only as good as the last dish we had prepared and this created added stress. There was so little to distinguish between the various contestants in terms of ability and passion for food, so even the tiniest mistake could mean that you were a goner and would be out of the kitchen AND the competition!

 

Diana and I had spent the day wandering around Dublin visiting various food shops and kitchen equipment supplies stores; we also had the chance to have a delicious lunch, but all the time we were waiting to hear how the Challenge back in the MasterChef kitchen was going. After what seemed like an eternity word filtered through that two cooks had been sent home. Rich and Sonya were out of the competition.
 

Hugh, Nessa, Nick & Diana

I really liked the dishes that both of them had chosen to cook and to me they sounded absolutely delicious, if very different from each other. Sonya’s ability and love of food was apparent in how she had performed in the previous rounds and tasks. She also fervently supported Irish produce and ingredients, which is something also very close to my heart.

I was devastated that Rich had been sent home as we had come through the heats together and I knew what an amazing cook he was, with such skills and abilities. He is such a talented cook and I would happily eat his food anytime. Above all else, I was going to miss his hysterically funny and quirky take on life and his ability to make us all laugh and relax with his funny one-liners. I love reading about his passion for food and cooking and will continue to be an avid follower of his food adventures which he expresses so well on his blog at www.chefilepsy.com 

 

This programme first aired on RTE1; 8.30pm, 2nd April 2014.