Brown Yeast Bread - Fast, Easy, Delicious

This is an exceptionally easy yeast bread that requires no kneading and is quick to make. It is lighter than soda bread and more elastic so can be cut thinner, especially if a strong wholewheat bread flour is used.

Ingredients for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 loaves

450 / 900 / 1350 / 1800 gms Wholewheat flour (preferably stone-ground and fairly fine; can substitute 10% strong white flour for some of the brown)
425 / 850 / 1275 / 1700 mls Warm water* (variable - dough just too wet to knead)
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 small tsp Salt
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 tsp Black treacle
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 sachets (7gms)    Dried yeast - yeast quantity not critical but will affect rate of rising
Sprinkle Sesame, sunflower or other seeds (Optional)

Method

• Mix flour, salt and yeast
• Mix Treacle into warm water* and mix quickly into the flour mix
• Divide into pre-warmed and oiled bread tins (containing seeds, if using), cover with warm tea-towels and allow to rise to rim of the tin (around 20 mins in warm place)
• Bake at 230C for 45 to 50 mins until brown and sounds hollow
• Turn out of tins and cool covered with damp tea towel

*Water temperature can be up to 50C but do not exceed that temperature or it will kill the yeast. Cooler water will take a little longer to rise

This recipe is loosely based on Darina Allen's Ballymaloe brown yeast bread. Darina suggests: Old yeast dough adds extra flavour and interest to a batch of bread. Sometimes when I'm making brown yeast bread, I hold back a quarter of the dough and put it in a tall glass jar (if it's white yeast dough, I use a covered bowl). Then I can save it for a few weeks and use it as a base for the next batch. The dough gets more sour and the brown bread takes on a deeper flavour, almost like pumpernickel.

Spice-Bag Salad

Spice-bag-ification

Coat with seasoned flour, fry with chilli and sprinkle with Spice Bag Mix - that's it in a nutshell.

Spice Bag Mix
1 tsp Five Spice powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder , pinch of salt - this is more than enough for 2 people.

Method
Coat chicken pieces (cooked or uncooked) with beaten egg (optional but better) then seasoned flour and fry with chopped chillies or dry chilli flakes and some fine sliced onion and/or scallions and cooked potato pieces.  Just before serving, sprinkle with the magic powder and serve with crunchy lettuce and any other salad ingredients you have handy

Options

• This also works well if cooked rice is fried with the chicken instead of potato
• Cumin may be added to the seasoned flour

Hot Smoked Salmon with Dill Bretonne Sauce

We once did a house swap to Helsinki where I sampled the magic of Finnish smoke-box cooking.  We don't have smoke-boxes in Ireland but I developed this variation for covered barbeque which works spectacularly well with salmon.

Ingredients

• Allow 170g to 200g salmon per person - either in one piece or individual darnes
• Soy sauce
• Olive oil

Method

• Marinade the salmon flesh side down in soy and olive oil for a while. Not strictly necessary but it seasons the fish well and imparts a lovely golden colour.
• Sprinkle damp wood chips on coals, place salmon aside from coals cover with lid (with lid vent placed to draw smoke over fish) and leave to smoke for 15 to 25 mins (depending on thickness of fish) until fish is cooked through

This is especially good served with dill Bretonne sauce

BRETONNE SAUCE

Ingredients

• 50g melted butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp finely chopped dill

Method

• Melt the butter and allow to boil
• Whisk the egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice and herbs together.
• Whisk the hot melted butter into the egg mixture little by little so the sauce emulsifies.
• Can be kept warm over bowl of hot (not boiling) water

The Perfect Cherry Clafoutis

(Serves 6)

• 
  
• 500g fresh cherries 
• 75g caster sugar 
• 3 tbsp kirsch or other brandy 
• 20g butter, melted, plus extra to grease 
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar 
• 50g plain flour 
• Pinch of salt 
• 2 eggs, beaten 
• 270ml whole milk 
• 3 drops of almond essence (optional) 
• Finely grated zest of ½ lemonWash the cherries and remove the stalks. Put in a bowl and lightly crush, so the skins pop but the fruit retains its shape. Add 2 tbsp caster sugar and the kirsch, toss together, cover and leave to macerate for two hours.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 6. Grease a baking dish just wide enough to hold the cherries in one layer, and add half the demerara sugar. Spin the dish round to coat the inside with demerara, then set aside.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt and the remaining caster sugar. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the milk and melted butter, until you have a smooth batter. Stir in the almond essence, if using, and the lemon zest, then tip in the cherries and their juices.

Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake for about half an hour, until just set but still a bit wobbly. Sprinkle with the remaining demerara sugar and serve warm, rather than hot.

Mushroom and Chana Dahl Curry

Cheap, healthy, easily prepared and very tasty - from 100 Great Recipes - Indian

Note that portions above are quite small. Better to do the 4 portion version as leftovers will keep and are easy to use.

1. Wash the dahl, place in a large saucepan with curry leaves, cloves and cardamon pods pour over 600 mls of water bring to the boil and simmer until dahl is tender - maybe 40 mins. Drain
2. Heat the oil and ghee (or butter) in a large frying pan and cook onions for 4-5 mins until softened.  Add garlic, ginger, mushrooms & chillies and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have softened.
3. Add the spices and cook for 2 mins then add the tomatoes and the drained dahl. Simmer for 5 mins.
4. Serve.  Some chopped beetroot (jar or vacuum packed) in yogurt with toasted flaked almonds are great with this.

Granola

Basic rule is six parts dry to one part wet and seasoning - something like:

Dry - 3 parts rolled oats, 1 part nuts, 1 part seeds, 1 part other (coconut, puffed/flaked grains, more nuts or seeds).  Add dried fruits after cooling

Wet - Best 50/50 fat (coconut oil or neutral flavoured oil) and sweetener (mix of honey, golden, maple or sugar syrup). Use less sweetener if adding dried fruit later

Seasoning - always a little salt. Maybe cinnamon, cardamon or whatever to taste.

Method

Mix the dry ingredients, stir in the wet ingredients and seasoning - taste and adjust. Line a baking sheet with parchment, spread the granola out and bake at 150C for 40 mins - check and stir a couple of times.

Add dried fruit to hot granola on removal from oven.  Allow to cool and store in jar.

[For a one litre Kilner jar - 4/5th fill jar with dry ingredients (some rice crispies are good) and mix with c.  80gms oil and 100 gms. syrup or honey (less sweetener if adding dried fruit) -  not forgetting salt, cinnamon or similar]

Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

Roasting Meat - Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall

Times and temperatures for "fast" roasting meats below are from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's book "Meat" - they work very well.

He divides roasting into three stages:

1. The "sizzle" - initial burst of high temperature (210 for chicken & pork,230 C for beef and lamb and duck) for 20 mins (30 mins over 2kg, 40 mins over 3kg)
2.  The roasting - at 160 C for the times below (or to reach the specified meat thermometer reading)
3.  The Rest - 15 mins minimum but better 30 min (cover with foil in a warm place)

Cooking Times (in addition to the sizzle)

Beef, Lamb and Venison (for very large joints use time in brackets)

•    Rare (very pink in the middle): 10 (9) mins per 500g
•    Medium (just pink in the middle): 15 (12) mins per 500g
•    Well done (no pink at all): 20 (18) mins per 500g

Pork

• Well done (loin, leg, rack): 25 min per 500g
• Very well done (thick ends and spare rib joints): 30 min per 500g

Chicken (unstuffed)

• 30 - 70 mins (check that juices run clear) at 180C

Meat Thermometer Readings pre-"rest"; i.e. remove from oven temperature)

Beef, Lamb or Venison

• Very Rare:   45C
• Rare:   50C
• Medium: 60C
• Well done:  70C

Pork (never rare)

• Medium: 70C
• Well done: 75C