A gift from your kitchen
This Christmas, don’t pour all your savings into buying presents for family and friends; put your heart into making them treats from your kitchen table instead.
Gifts From Your Kitchen is a beautifully illustrated guide to making a variety of gifts and to packaging them attractively, too. From fudge to face masks, biscuits to body scrub, mother of five Deborah Nicholas shows you how – from a few raw ingredients and blank sheets of paper – you can cut your budget for gifts in half, and still leave your recipients feeling more spoilt and appreciated than ever.
Learn how to make biscuits, cakes, sweets, herbal teas, fragrant gifts, pickles and preserves, flavoured syrups and cordials – and how to present them in cupcake boxes, gift bags, mini storage drawers, pillow boxes, decorative jars and much more.
New cookbook
The new ICA cookbook is available in the shops. It contains lots of useful recipes given in by ICA members from all over Ireland. ICA members can purchase the book from Central Office or An Grianán at a reduced rate but there is a charge for
Footballers and chef combine for fundraiser
Newcastle West Rovers FC will host a tasty fundraiser on Wednesday November 14 at 8pm in the Courtenay Lodge Hotel, where award-winning chef, Neven Maguire; will join in the club’s fundraising efforts by demonstrating a range of easy to prepare home-cooked meals which are bound to suit all tastes. All money raised through ticket sales will go to Newcastle West Rovers pitch development fund. The club has recently purchased a field which will eventually be a state of the art football facility. €25 tickets are available locally or from the venue.
Celebrate the fungus
WITH the celebrated arrival of the game season we are in the prime time for mushrooms and with that in mind I have a few handy dishes to include in the kitchen repertoire so here are these clever little dishes to tickle the taste buds.
Mushroom Tapenade
Place 50g of dried porcini mushrooms into a medium heatproof bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside to soak for 20-25 minutes or until soft. Drain well. Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add 5 crushed cloves of garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until light golden. Stir in drained porcini mushrooms and cook for 5-6 minutes or until just tender. Remove and place into food processor bowl. Add 1/4 cup oil and 250g of button mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring often, over high heat for 5 minutes or until golden around the edges. Remove and place entire mixture in to a processing bowl. Add ¼ cup of lemon juice, salt, pepper, 1 tbsp. of tarragon and oil to mushrooms. Process until mixture is finely chopped (do not puree). Spoon the mixture into a medium sterilized jar. Drizzle with a thin layer of extra oil to completely cover tapenade. Place lid onto jar, cover jar with a tea-towel and set aside to cool completely before sealing. Store in the fridge, and use within 1 month. Serve tapenade with grilled sliced bagels, crispbreads or sliced baguette.
Mushroom soup with coriander cress
Soften 2 large shallots and 2 cloves of garlic in a frying pan with some oil. Add 1kg of sliced mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the juice of half a lemon then pour in 500ml of chicken stock, bring to the boil, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Blend the mixture in a food processor and pour back into the pan. Add 250ml of double cream and mix thoroughly. Gently warm, and then stir in 125g of diced butter. Sauté 250g of mixed mushrooms in oil until cooked through, then season and set aside. To serve, divide the cooked mixed mushrooms between bowls, ladle over the soup and sprinkle with the chervil and coriander cress.
Minty Mushrooms on Tomato Slices
Spray a little olive oil into a medium-sized pan. Place over medium heat. Add 450g of quartered button mushrooms, then cover and cook for about one minute, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and gradually stir in 20ml of mint sauce and 200g of Greek style natural yogurt. Cook gently to heat through. Spray a little olive oil into a non-stick frying pan, place over medium heat, and then cook two beef tomato slices for about 2 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. Serve tomato slices on warm plates with mushrooms spooned over the top.
Greek Style Roasted Mushrooms
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Brush a little oil over the top of 6 large flat mushrooms and place stalk up on a roasting tray. Mix three ripe chopped tomatoes, one small chopped red onion, one small chopped garlic clove, 75g of reduced-fat feta cheese, 50g of pitted chopped black olives and 45ml of chopped fresh parsley and season to taste. Heap the tomato mixture on top of the mushrooms. Bake for 15mins or until the mushrooms are tender. Serve hot or warm with a crisp salad.
