A Rooty Rémoulade of Celeriac, Beetroot & Cashel Blue

A wonderful crunchy salad, a balance of fresh raw veg. and heady, aged blue cheese brought back to earth with toasted hazelnuts. Rémoulade is French in it's origins but is also popular in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Louisiana Creole cuisine. I served this recently as the starter for the Good Friday Supper Club and it went down a treat! I adapted this recipe from Nigel (my food crush) Slaters Tender volume 1 book. You could eat this as a light lunch or a starter for 4 -let's begin...

What you need;                                   Serves 2 as a main course

• 500g of nobbly celeriac -peel removed
• 250g of creme fraiche
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 large fresh beetroot -peel removed
• A hunk of Cashel Blue or Blue D'Auvergne -or any blue cheese you fancy
• Salt & pepper to taste

What you need to do;

• Using the grater setting on a Magi Mix or a large grater  grate your celeriac
• Mix in the creme fraiche, lemon juice, salt and pepper with the celeriac
• Grate your beetroot and in a separate bowl mix this with a handful of the celeriac mixture
• On a dry skillet pan toast the hazels, rub off the skin in a tea towel, bash them up a bit
• Arrange on a plate starting with the celeriac followed by the beetroot
• Crumble the cheese over and sprinkle on the hazels

You could also omit the cheese, add mustard and crispy pancetta as per Nigels recipe.

Roasted Parsnip Soup with Mussels & Hazels

Ever find yourself wandering aimlessly around Fallon & Byrne or the supermarket aisle with 'What will I make for dinner??' circling around your cranium. That was me yesterday, I was there for so long that the security guard started following me....I don't blame him -I was muttering under my breath and I had a slightly pained look on my face. Eventually I pulled myself together...protein, start with protein I said (under my breath). I side stepped my way from the Toulouse sausages past the venison -landing my feet and furrowed brow at the fish counter. Okay fish can be pricey and I am usually on a pretty tight budget -'Why were you in Fallon & Byrne?' I hear you cry....Simply put it's a place of inspiration and when it comes to quality protein at a reasonable price it ain't bad, oh and did I mention fresh fish! My eyes scanned the fishies and when I saw the mussels I had a flash back to the Observer Food Monthly magazine....Nigel Slater (my secret culinary crush -I don't fancy him so much as his food) had a recipe for soup with mussels and hazelnuts -bingo. I couldn't remember if it was celeriac or parsnip though...I decided parsnip....it was actually cauliflower! Nigels Recipe I have no doubt it is delicious with cauliflower but here follows the parsnip version of events....

What you need;      Serves 3 very hungry / 4 not so hungry peeps

• 1kg mussels -scrubbed and beards removed (tap any that don't close during the washing- if they still don't close these should be discarded)
• 10 black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 medium sized parsnips peeled and chopped into chunks
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic smashed
• 4 medium sized potatoes -peeled and chopped into chunks
• 2 hand fulls of hazelnuts pre-roasted or not (see below)

What you need to do;

• Turn oven on to 200'C / Gas 6
• When ready chuck your parsnips with some olive oil on a tray and roast for 15-20 mins or until browning at edges
• In the meantime sweat your onion and garlic in some butter over a medium heat
• If you have bought hazels in their skins (much cheaper than already roasted) simply put them on a dry skillet for 5-10 mins on a medium heat -keep an eye as they can burn easily. When done wrap in a tea towel and rub the skins off. To crush wrap in a tea towel and bash with a rolling pin
• Get your cleaned mussels on -put in a pan with 300mls of water, bay leaf and peppercorns
• Put a lid on the mussels and bring to the boil steam for a few mins until the shells have opened (any that haven't opened should be discarded -as they were dead before you started)
• Add your spud to the onion and garlic 
• Set your mussels aside strain the cooking liquid and pour into your spuds et al.
• When your parsnips have roasted chuck them into the pot
• You'll need to add more liquid to cook all the veg -the amount depends on how thick you want your soup to be....if unsure see what it's like when you've whizzed it up and you can always add more
• Simmer your veg. until the potatoes are softened -whizz with a stick blender taste and season
• To serve ladle into hot bowls, pop some mussels on top and sprinkle over some crushed hazels- delicious with these easy peasy bread sticks from Lorraine Pascale Bread Stix

Pumpkin Chestnut Mushroom -ménage á trois

Fresh chestnuts at the Venice food market.

For a lot of people the dawn of  Autumn is somewhat depressing, spelling dark nights and chilly days ahead. For me it's different, it makes me smile -it's a season of deep earthy energy. It means hot comforting food, roaring fires, crunchy leaves and visually the countryside is just bloody gorgeous! I love this dish as it's so very Autumnal and you get to cook and serve it in the pumpkin, providing a great centre piece for a dinner party -as well as less washing up!

• Choose the size of your pumpkin depending on how many you're feeding. Turn on the oven to 220C Gas 7. Carefully cut a lid out of the top and scoop out the seeds and stringy bits.
• Place the pumpkin on an oven proof dish, rub the inside with sea salt, fresh black pepper, chopped garlic and olive oil. To prevent drying out put two desert spoons of water inside, pop the lid on and pour 1 cm of water into the cooking dish.
• Put into the hot oven for 20/25 mins.
• Meanwhile chop an onion, two cloves of garlicand gently fry, in butter and olive oil.
• Add some herbs to the pan -sage, thyme, parsley...as you wish.
• If you cant get anything else you could use button or field mushrooms but try your best to get a variety of the more interesting fungi -oysters, chanterelles, whatever the local green grocer has ...or if you've collected edibles before and know what you're doing -then go wild! Chop the cleaned mushrooms, add too pan and continue to sautee.
• The handiest thing to use are chestnuts that have been cooked already -but don't be afraid to prepare them from fresh either.To do this score an x in the flat side, bake in the over for 15/20 mins 220C Gas 7. Allow to cool a bit before peeling.
• Roughly cut up the cooked chestnuts and place in with the mushrooms and herbs. Continue to cook for 5 mins. 
• Next to create some sauce you can just add stock and thicken with cornflour or you can add cream and season well.
• Remove the pumpkin from the oven, pour out any excess water from inside and gently add your hot chestnutty mushroomy filling.
• Return to oven and cook for a further 20 mins or until you can stick a skewer into the flesh of the lid. If it begins to burn cover with foil. 
• To serve bring to the table and chop it up, while still in the oven dish, accompany with crusty bread  and some salad leaves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZTfI0TzifY

   Fungi -the dolphin

It's raining coffee and cookies...

I love visiting my parents because the larder is stocked and the kitchen full of all the gadgets I desire but don't possess...plus my lovely family (of which none are food-fussy) are always willing to taste the results...JOY! Today the rain was pouring down and the misty grey clouds seemed to be stuck overhead ....I find the best emotional juxtaposition to that kind of weather is procured by baking! The oven warms the house and the smell of anything al forno never fails to put a smile on my face. For biscuits I usually turn to a recipe I adapted from Nigel Slater.... if you are without a food processor you can use icing sugar instead of granulated, as the creaming of butter & sugar by hand is something which probably only happens in labour camps....

• Cream 170g butter w. 100g golden caster sugar/ icing sugar
• Add 180g plain flour sieved & 60g ground almonds

That's the basic dough recipe, today mine were the first two options below, but you can add any of the following or whatever your imagination dreams up...In terms of quantities you can taste the dough as you add because there's no raw egg....

• Dark chocolate chunks & orange zest
• Dark chocolate chunks & ginger (crystallised & powdered)
• Dark chocolate chunks & toasted hazelnuts
• Dried lavender & orange zest

Brush with egg yolk & bake on greaseproof paper @160C/gas 3 for 20/25 mins ...enjoy warm or when cooled with fresh coffee or a nice cuppa builders tea, while watching the link below......!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PkQRh3QXA     THE LEGEND THAT IS THE COOKIE MONSTER.........in Cookie Monster auditions for Saturday Night Live