:: Good Mood Food Blackberry Mess

I thought I should really post this sooner rather than later, as I would imagine the remaining blackberries on the bushes have only a matter of days before they are all completely gone.  So go out and get picking before it’s too late!  This is my recipe for this month’s Irish Tatler magazine to which I now regularly contribute, this month’s edition is out now, so check it out!

If you can’t get your hands on blackberries you could just as easily use frozen mixed berries which are a great freezer stand by and just allow them to thaw before you add them.  Boylans fruit farms have a great selection of frozen berries and you should be able to find them in most Irish supermarkets.  They should work wonderfully in this recipe if your stuck!

Good Mood Food Blackberry Mess

This is my take on the classic English recipe “Eton Mess” which originally uses strawberries.  You can really use any fruit here and just adapt on the cream and meringue mixture.  The recipe takes minutes to throw together and is a super last mintue dessert.

Serves 4
200g of blackberries
6-8 tablespoons of blackberry coulis
4-5 meringues
250ml of cream
4 glasses for individual servings

In a bowl, whip the cream until it becomes thick.
Crumble the meringues into the cream and stir to combine.
Gently fold half the blackberry coulis into the cream and meringue mix until you get a nice marbled effect.
Place a few blackberries in each glass and layer with the cream and meringue mixture.  Repeat the process.
Serve with an extra drizzle of coulis and a few more blackberries on top of each.  Delicious!

:: The Great Big Pie Bake Off: Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

One of my favourite food related movies has to be “Waitress” it’s full of beautiful imagery and has a cute little story to match! The story is based around Jenna who is a waitress, trapped in an unhappy marriage, her one escape is creating and baking the most amazing, inventive pies you could imagine. If you haven’t seen this great movie make sure to go out and rent it, it’s not deeply intellectual but it’s a warm, clever and cute one which serves a purpose, here’s the trailer:

I was searching on the internet a few weeks ago for some of the fantastic recipes from the movie and it turns out when the movie was first released, promo cards were printed with 5 of the pie recipes! I stuck the link up on my twitter and it got a great reaction with lots of retweets, so much so it inspired a group of us on there to start our very own blog event! So I would like to proudly introduce to the first monthly:

We had originally planned to just bake the pies from the movie, but as time went on we thought it would be great to try and start something that others could join in too. So I hope you enjoy this post, and stick a comment below and let me know if you would be interested in joining us next month for the great big pie bake off!

Check out the other bloggers and their pies from the movie:
Lori: Recipegirl – I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong & I Don’t Want Earl To Kill Me Pie
Sandie:  Inn Cuisine – I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie
Tiffany:  The Nesting Project – Falling In Love Pie
Patsy:  Family, Food Friends– Baby Screamin’ Its Head Off In The Middle Of The Night; Ruinin’ My Life Pie

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

This is definitely a once a year pie, it is most likely one of the most unhealthy desserts I have ever cooked in my life!  Saying all that, it is delicious and extremely therapeautic to make.  This is the orignal recipe but I used digestive biscuits in the place of graham crackers and toasted dessicated coconut on a baking tray in the oven.

Serves 8
9 graham crackers
1/2 Cup sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 tablespoons. butter or margarine, melted
34 marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form.
Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.
Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.)
In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight.
Top with mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries and rainbow sprinkles.

:: Rustic Pear Tart with Apricot Brandy

As I mentioned earlier in the week we got landed with a large amount of pears last weekend. Not that I was complaining, and by Sunday I had already cooked my way through the majority of the box! They were absolutely, deliciously ripe and ready for use, the leftovers, which didn’t make it into the fresh salad, rich tart, and warming crumble were quickly devoured without any fancy cooking involved.

This is the perfect recipe to wow guests at the end of a lovely homecooked meal, it’s extremely easy to throw together. Plus the pastry can be made ahead of time, so all you have to worry about is rolling it out and slicing the pears.

Rustic Pear Tart with Apricot Brandy

This pastry can be made ahead of time and should be good for about three days in the fridge.

Serves 4
Pastry:
200g of plain flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
140g of chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon apricot brandy

Filling
4-5 ripe pears pealed, cored and chopped into rough slices
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of plain flour
Cool whipped cream and a little icing sugar to serve

Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter to a mixing bowl.
Using your fingertips, combine the dry ingredients with the butter, until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. This can be a little worrying, but don’t worry the mixture will come together.
Add the egg yolk and apricot brandy to the mix and form the dough using your hands.
Cover the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30-40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas mark 5.
Place the pears in the mixing bowl and toss with the sugar and flour.
Remove the clingfilm and place the dough in between two sheets of greaseproof paper.
Roll out the pastry until you have a large disc. Transfer the pastry disc to a baking tray and remove the top sheet of greaseproof paper.
Add the pears to the centre of the pastry and using the sides of the greaseproof paper fold the sides up and over the pears.
Place on a baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Serve with a dollop of thick, cool whipped cream and dust with a little icing sugar.

:: Simple Steak with Mixed Forest Mushroom Sauce

I don’t eat red meat that often but when I do, I always make sure to do it right, it’s so worth putting in the extra effort for a really fresh piece of meat.  I made these delicious steaks for dinner the other day and they went down an absolute treat.  The rich mushroom sauce adds an extra moistness that could save even the driest steak!  My dad picked up the steaks while he was passing through Mitchelstown in Cork last week and it was well worth going the distance for a fine auld hunk of country meat. 

Simple Steaks with Mixed Forest Mushroom Sauce

Depending on the dried mushrooms you buy, you can use the water you soak them in as part of the stock added in this recipe- Simply substitute half the beef stock with the mushroom water.  If you don’t have dried mushrooms, they are not essential but give a real depth to the sauce, so feel free to substitute with any fresh mushrooms available to you. 

Serves 4 people
40g of dried mixed forest mushrooms.
4 steaks.
1 tablespoon of butter.
1 tablespoon of olive oil (plus a little extra for the steaks)
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped.
1 onion, thinly sliced.
250g of button mushrooms, sliced thinly.
125ml of white wine.
250ml of beef stock.
4 tablespoons of cream.
A good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Rinse the dried mushrooms with water and then submerge in a bowl with warm water and leave for 20 minutes.  Prepare the steaks by drizzling them with a little olive oil, sprinkle over a generous amount of ground black pepper, cover and set aside.  When the dried mushrooms have finished soaking, heat a large pan over a medium high heat and add the butter and olive oil.  Fry the garlic and onion for 2 minutes, then add the mushrooms and continue to cook for 5 minutes or until they become soft.  Add the white wine, continue to cook and reduce the liquid by half. Then add the beef stock and simmer for a further 2 minutes or until the liquid begins to thicken slightly.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream until combined.  Season with sea salt and black pepper and set aside.
Heat a large griddle pan over a high heat and cook the steaks for 2-3 minutes either side for medium rare steak, depending on thickness.  Remove the steaks from the pan and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.  Serve them with the tasty mushroom sauce and some steamed veg.

:: Chocolate Chip Oreo Cupcakes!

I had spotted these on tastespotting.com a few months ago and have been craving them ever since.  My brother and I were a little bit obsessed with Oreo cookies when we were kids.  They only arrived on Ireland’s green shores in the late 90’s commercially, so they quickly became the coolest thing to have in your school lunchbox at the time!  We were banned from eating them when my mother realised we were addicted after catching us devouring a whole box in one go.  When she couldn’t see our teeth because of the black biscuit she never bought them again!

Cookies and Cream Chocolate Chip Oreo Cupcakes

This is my aunt Erica’s cupcake recipe and it could not be easier to make.  You can easily adapt this recipe to make a regular plain cupcake mixture also, simply remove the cocao powder and chocolate chips from the ingredient list.

Makes approximately 8 cupcakes.
175g of self raising flour.
110g of soft margarine or butter.
110g of caster sugar.
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
2 large eggs.
50g of good quality chocolate chips.
50ml of water/milk.

For the Oreo Cream frosting:
250ml of fresh cream.
25g of icing sugar.
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
8 oreo cookies, crushed.

Preheat the oven to 180oC and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.
In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips.  Make a well in the center of the bowl and break in the 2 eggs.  Using an electric hand mixer beat all the ingedients together until combined.  Add in half the milk/water and beat again until combined.  You are looking for the batter to be light and creamy.  Add the rest of the liquid if you need it you may not.
Divide the batter evenly into the paper cases and place in an oven for 15-20 minutes or until firm and light brown on top.
Allow to cool on a wire rack before applying the oreo cream.

For the Oreo frosting, simply beat the cream, vanilla extract, and icing sugar until it becomes thick.  Gently fold in the oreo cookie crumbles and spoon the mixture into an icing bag with a large round nozzle.  Squeeze the oreo cream onto the cupcakes and top with broken cookies.