Soda Sliders

Don't you just love when a food becomes trendy? Sliders - well we have had cupcakes, pulled pork and cronuts already! Anyway it basically means a small sandwich. I didn't feel much like cooking but knew I had some crabmeat in the fridge. Home made mayonnaise takes minutes to make and is infinitely superior to any shop bought. Soda bread rolls can be made and baked in jig time too.

Soda bread rolls
2 cups of  coarse wholemeal flour
1 cup of white
1 teasp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg optional
buttermilk

I rarely weigh ingredients for this as throw it in by eye. In a bowl add the sieved soda and white flour to the coarse wholemeal. Add beaten egg and buttermilk until you have a wet consistency but can still gather it into a circular shape. Handle as little as possible. Use pastry cutters and cut 8-10 buns. Place on a flour dusted baking tray in a preheated oven at 190 deg for about 15 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

In meantime make the mayo. I would be very wary of using any eggs for this other than my own. If you have a good source of genuine free range eggs use it.

1 free range egg yolk
half a teasp of powdered mustard
2 teasp of cider vinegar
sunflower oil or a mixture of *olive and sunflower
pinch salt and pepper
crushed clove of garlic (optional)

Using a hand held whisk beat the egg yolk, salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar. Drizzle in the oil slowly to begin, with the whisk running. As it begins to thicken up you can speed up the flow. It has never split on me, but if yours does just add in another egg yolk. I use about a cup full of oil. When you have the texture and quantity you are happy with stop adding oil. Check seasoning and add garlic if you wish a garlic mayo. You can also add herbs of choice.



Store in a jar in fridge. Keeps for at least a week.

*Using all olive oil can make a very strong flavoured mayonnaise. 

Also delicious with some strawberry and rhubarb jam from previous post. A sweet slider for after.

Strawberry & Strawberry and Rhubarb Jam

It's strawberry season and rhubarb is just finishing off. It's no coincidence that these fruits (well okay fruit and vegetable) go magnificently well together. So make the most of both and either get crumbling or make jam.

I bought a 4kg box of jam strawberries from a grower just outside Gorey, Co. Wexford - Green's Berry Farm. If you are lucky enough to have access to a grower, this is the way to go. The strawberries are perfect but all shapes and sizes and not as cosmetic as supermarkets demand. (Why?)

My rhubarb is just about finished and this year I got three good crops from two plants. These last stems are slightly thin and a bit straggly but perfect for jam making or indeed crumble.

Strawberry Jam
I hate jam that is too sweet so I read a few recipes and then used considerably less sugar than any advised, including Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Darina Allen. Although it is low sugar and strawberries don't contain a lot of pectin it set easily. (Always use a combination of under ripe and ripe berries if possible).

1kg of strawberries hulled and lightly crushed
400g Sure Set sugar (jam sugar)
Juice of a lemon

Put the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a large heavy based pan. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, then bring to a boil. Keep it at a rolling boil.
Put a couple of small plates into the fridge. Using a jam thermometer *test for a set as soon as the temperature gets close to "jam set" point marked on the thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer (and it is really worthwhile to buy one) this takes about 15-20 minutes. You do not want to boil the bejaysus out of it as the colour will go from that nice red pictured to a brown.

Meanwhile sterilise jam jars by putting some water into each jar and zapping in a microwave for three minutes. You can also do this in the oven. (no need to add water in oven).

Allow the jam to stand for about 15 minutes and then pour carefully using a pyrex jug into your hot, sterilised jars. Cool and cap.

This recipe made a litre of jam.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Jam

500g rhubarb washed and chopped into small pieces
500g hulled strawberries
350g sugar
150g Sure Set sugar

Put the rhubarb, strawberries and sugar in a pan. Use method above. It may take slightly longer to soften the rhubarb and allow this in the time before bringing to a rolling boil. It reaches setting point faster however.

This quantity made just under 1.5 litres of jam.








*To test for a set - put a blob of jam on a cold plate and pop back in fridge for a few minutes. Run your finger through the blob and if it has reached setting point it will wrinkle slightly.


Jam keeps well in a warm, dry cupboard but once opened store in the fridge. It should keep unopened for a year. If there is any mould when you open it, just scoop it out. You can reboil it but a bit of mould never did me any harm.

In the depths of winter is there anything nicer than a big scoop of strawberry jam on a fresh scone?

Cherry Clafoutis with a Kick

You just have to love summer. It pays to wait and buy seasonal fruit and veg. It tastes better. It looks better and it is better. And best of all, if you only have it when it's in season you appreciate it. Is there anything less desirable in the depths of winter than a tasteless, watery strawberry flown half way around the globe?

Years ago in the bakery we got a phone call late one afternoon from a pain-in-the-ass chef (this one was always a monumental one). She wanted a clafoutis. Me, I hadn't a clue what that was, but at a push could have found a recipe and made one. But the temperamental French pastry chef on duty said he had never made one either. Now I'm pretty sure he just couldn't be arsed. But anyway he got a kick in said part of his anatomy and was told to go find a recipe and make one.

I saw these cherries on special offer today. I got them home and saw they weren't going to hang around long so the infamous clafoutis came to mind. I roughly followed Nigel Slater's recipe but added a kick.

Recipe
300g cherries stoned
1 tablespoon Armagnac (optional)
80g sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
90g flour
30g melted butter

Stone the cherries and soak them in the Armagnac for about half an hour.

Grease a 20cm quiche/flan dish with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until creamy and light coloured. Sieve in the flour. Add the vanilla extract and melted butter. Pour over the cherries. Bake for 35 minutes until it is set.

Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with a big dollop of whipped cream.

This recipe is so easy and fast to make and you could use any other seasonal fruit (blueberries, raspberries etc.) The Armagnac gives it that little bit extra but you could use Kirsch. The texture of clafoutis is like a set custard so don't assume yours has not been cooking for long enough. It can easily be reheated.