Creamy Peppercorn Sauce

Sometimes you just get weird cravings for stuff. I was never really into peppercorn sauce until recently, and the other day I just HAD to have some. I didn't have steak or anything on hand, but I had all the ingredients for peppercorn sauce, so I roasted some chicken and threw it on top.

The next time, I would serve this my absolute favourite way - potato bread on the bottom, sliced steak on top, sauce all over.

There's not really many pictures of this because it's just that easy. Put everything in a pot. Cook it for a bit. Pour it over food.

Black Forest Gateau

I'm posting this well in advance of the weekend so you can use the week days to gather the ingredients. Because you will very much want to make this when you have a spare hour or two.

I never really knew what was going on with a Black Forest gateau. It sounded like a very dated 70s dessert to me, something you bought in the frozen section for a Sunday roast dessert. I don’ t really know where I got that impression from.

Because it’s basically a super chocolatey cake with booze and cherries and cream. It’s like a darker/autumnal version of a Victoria Sponge. The Germans do know what they’re at when it comes to chocolate, so I thought I would give it a go for my annual Eurovision party. Germany, represent!

I’ve basically gone with my favourite chocolate cake recipe for the sponge and altered it with the flavours of the Black Forest. Traditionally, the Germans love a stiff drink, so kirsch is the booze of choice. I didn’t have any of that, and I didn’t want to blow anyone’s head off, so I decided to substitute in what I had. Ginjinha is a sour cherry drink which is common in Lisbon, with lots of little places selling shots of it for a euro. It’s sweeter and less alcoholic than kirsch so it seemed like a nice introduction to the boozy cake.

If you’re doing a dry thing or making it for kids and don’t want to add booze, just substitute in more cherry juice.

You could also make this as a yummy set of cupcakes, I had leftovers of everything and so it was easy to whip up a couple..

Big Tall Victoria Sponge

I had a minor disaster a few weeks ago – my oven BROKE! Well, the glass door shattered for some reason, and rendered it completely unusable. Unfortunately it happened over the weekend when no one was around to come and fix it.

It was a tense 2 days with no oven, but then a very nice handyman came and installed a new one and all was right with the world! I’m still trying to work out how this oven bakes, so for its maiden voyage I decided to bake something fairly classic and simple (but that I had NEVER made before, great!).

The sponge here is actually the *second* thing I baked in the oven, because the first Victoria sponge didn’t turn out so well – there is enough batter in the mixture to make three good tiers, but I had initially baked it with only 2 tiers so the cake layers had their own little muffin top. I mean, the taste was good but the cake was NOT cute.

The only thing I would slightly change in this cake is that I think I put too much filling in, so the layers preferred to slide around a little bit (I have reduced the quantities here). But it tasted goooooood!

Fondant Potatoes

It was recently MY BIRTHDAY! And I’d like to thank all my family and friends for making it extra special this year – I’ve had a wonderful weekend of food, drink, presents and more drink and then cake.

And what better way for an Irish girl to celebrate but with a new way to serve potatoes?

I’m not going to lie. These are naughty. Carbs, butter, cheese, cream, you name something delicious and “bad for you” and I’ve put it in here.

These are a more elaborate (read: calorific) version of the hasselback potatoes I have previously made and loved. These are one of these midweek sides which I love – they take a small amount of preparation and then you can just stick them in the oven for the best part of an hour and get on with other things while they get delicious and crispy.

Potato Dauphinoise

New Year’s resolution be damned, I’m smothering carbs in dairy!

This is an excellent side dish, something quick to prepare that can be thrown in the oven while you get on with your business. I don’t make it often, because it is milk covered in cream covered in carbs covered in cheese, but when I do it feels like such a treat. And we all need a little treat in January, the proven worst month in the year. Bring on spring!

Creamy Bacon Pasta with Green Bits

This is one of my favourite midweek dinners, it takes a few minutes to whip up, uses ingredients I always have hanging around, and tastes delicious! We had it after a quick gym session, protein BRAH, and it was perfect. I feel like Jamie Oliver with my 10 minute supper.

It is infinitely adaptable for whatever you’ve got in the fridge. I really like it with leek and peas, but you could probably stir in some spinach or green beans instead of the peas. I just love peas. You may not.

PEAS

Coffee, Cardamom, Pistachio Cream Cake

Well, the name is a mouthful. As is the cake! Gentle comedy.

You may have noticed my lack of posting in August, a holiday hiatus, if you will. The Swede and I have been halfway around the world, and back again, but we are both firmly at home now. I plan to do some traveling-related cooking in the near future, but for now, cake!

So, I bought some pistachios the other day, so I decided to try out all the pistachio recipes that I had been hankering after over the last little while.

First installment: pistachio cookies. Second installment is this epic, flavourful, crazy cake. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, and the colour scheme is weird, but damnit if it isn’t one fine piece of baking. I’m really surprised that it isn’t Swedish recipe actually, it covers one of the main Swedish flavours (cardamom) and one of the main Swedish food groups (coffee). Changing the pistachios to almonds would probably be delicious and make it a Svensk trifecta.

For the coffee, I just made a little extra bit of filter coffee in the morning, but instant coffee dissolved in boiling water would work just as well.

One of my boyfriend’s faves, and he doesn’t give out praise lightly!

Mac and Cheese

America, represent!

I, of course, bastardise this traditional meal shamelessly.

I always feel that this most stodgy of carbohydrate dinners needs something to cut through all the beige. Which is where I come in. To make this a full and slightly more balanced meal, I usually add meat, in the form of frankfurters or bacon, and to give it a little crunch I mix in some scallions. I think spinach could be excellent in this as well.

Sorry, my American friends. This is mac and cheese, but not as you know it.

Semlor

Happy Pancake Day, guys!

Now, as amazing as pancakes are, I felt the need to mix it up a bit this year. Other countries have their own traditions on this most holy carbohydrate-loading day, so I decided to copy the Swedes and make my Swedish boyfriend’s favourite pastry EVER.

Semla (plural, semlor) are these little sweet cardamom spiced buns, with the top cut off allowing it to be filled with an almond mixture and topped with whipped cream, before placing the lid back on. 

They are understated and decadent. There is no “triple chocolate fudge” element, but they still pack a flavourful and rich punch. To prove they are no joke, when I was doing some reading around these, I read that King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died in the 1700s by topping off a decadent meal with fourteen of the early version of these buns.

Full disclosure, I don’t eat cream because it is weird to me, so I don’t really chow down on these bad boys often. I feel like I should clarify one of my above statements, they are my boyfriend’s favourite FOOD ever. So he isn’t totally crying that I’m not pinching any of his precious semlor.

Chorizo Carbonara

Sriracha hot sauce in the background, standard.

This is so quick to make! I am genuinely surprised that this Jamie 15 minute meal literally took 15 minutes. I win at Countdown-clock dinner!

This is a perfect dinner for when you really can’t be bothered making food. Normally, I would throw bacon in there, but I had chorizo in the fridge that needed used up and I thought I would mix things up a bit. Dat bright orange oil.

I know that "real" carbonara does not contain cream, but really, we're striving for delicious here, not authentic.