Bacon and Cabbage: A Taste of Ireland...

As many of you know my husband and I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend. While I was able to have a taste of home with my fresh pumpkin pie, I wanted to do something similar for my husband. He comes from a large fun loving Irish family (is there any other kind?) and one of his favourite dishes is bacon and cabbage.

Traditionally the dish calls for boiled bacon but we used some smoked back bacon rashers instead. We decided to keep this dish very simple so all we used was the bacon, some Savoy cabbage and a knob of butter. It was served as an accompaniment to roasted chicken thighs and garlicky potatoes. The saltiness of the bacon really complimented the chicken and the potatoes. The cabbage gave the whole dish a lovely texture and it soaked up some of the garlic from the potatoes – which was divine!

This is a simple crowd pleaser and a real taste of Ireland!

Luna Raye’s Bacon and Cabbage

Ingredients

3 rashers of smoked back bacon cut into bite sized pieces

½ a medium Savoy cabbage roughly chopped or shredded

1 knob of butter (approximately 1 Tbsp)

Black pepper to taste

Directions

Put the cut bacon into a pan over a moderate heat

Stir every so often until all the bacon is cooked through

Add the cabbage and give it a good mix around with the bacon pieces

When mixed add the butter and keep stirring everything until the cabbage is just wilted (not long – about 5 minutes)

Season with black pepper and serve

Enjoy!

This recipe serves 2-3 people as a side dish

Bacon and Cabbage

These Thanksgiving dishes brought back many precious memories of past experiences, our homes and our families. It provided a good opportunity to remember all that we have to be thankful for, and all that we have to look forward to.

My Grandmother’s Spinach Soup Served with Hard B...

My Grandmother is an excellent cook and I absolutely adore her food! Every meal she prepares is done so with love and care and is always full of the most beautiful flavours. A few years back when my husband and I were visiting Canada, she made this spinach soup and it has been on our minds ever since. I finally got a hold of the recipe and thought this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. It was just as good as I remembered although I did go a tad heavy on the salt. Never mind, next time I will be much more careful!

This soup makes a great lunch or light supper and it can even be used as an elegant starter – although I haven’t quite mastered the art of making a pretty flower out of hard boiled eggs yet (but I will keep working it!)

So here it is Raija’s Spinach Soup.

Ingredients

1 large Spanish onion finely chopped.

350 – 400 grams of fresh spinach well washed.

1 ½ – 2 tsp butter or a drizzle of olive oil (for sweating the onion).

2 Tbsp butter for making a roux.

2 Tbsp flour.

Chicken stock (approx 2 ½ – 3 cups) – I used Vegetable stock for mine.

Double cream.

Pinch of nutmeg.

1 clove minced garlic (optional).

Pinch of white sugar which helps give the soup some smoothness.

4 hard boiled eggs.

Directions

Melt the 1 ½ – 2 tsp or drizzle of olive oil in a pan. Be careful not to let the pan get too hot if you’re using butter as it may burn.

Add the finely chopped onion and mix well. Put a lid on the pot and allow the onion to sweat for a few minutes. Don’t let the onion get any colour. (I read somewhere that adding salt will prevent the onion from colouring and this is where I went wrong with my seasoning – I added too much salt at this stage! – so be careful).

In a second pot heat the spinach carefully – don’t add any water, butter or oil to the pot. The moisture in the spinach will be enough. The spinach should just go very slightly limp.

Once the spinach is just limp remove it from the pot and squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can.

Chop the spinach into small pieces and set aside.

Now it’s time to begin the roux. In another pot melt the 2 Tbsp of butter and then add the flour.

Do not let this mixture turn brown. Keep it on a moderate heat and gradually add the stock.

Mix it well and allow it to cook for approximately 3-5 minutes as you stir continuously.

Add the chopped spinach and onion to this mixture. Allow it to cook gently for another 5 minutes or so.

You can grate some nutmeg into it, or add some minced garlic at this stage. Also a pinch of white sugar will help give the soup some smoothness.

While the soup is cooking you can prepare the hard boiled eggs. Peel them and cut into halves or quarters.

When you just about ready to serve the soup stir in a good drizzle of double cream and mix well.

Serve with some freshly ground black pepper and the hard boiled eggs pieces arranged in the form of a flower.

Enjoy!

Or as my Grandmother would say in Finnish

Nautiskella!

Spinach ready – now it’s time to make the roux!

Chinese Style Chicken Thighs With Egg Fried Rice....

In these tough economic times many of us our counting our pennies and looking for bargains when we do our food shop. Using leftovers creatively is a great way to save money, as is using less expensive cuts of meat. I have become very fond of using chicken thighs which are much cheaper and more flavoursome then chicken breasts.

Tonight I tried a completely new recipe with some chicken thighs and served it alongside some egg fried rice. It was a hit and I will be making this again for sure!

Luna Raye’s Chinese Style Chicken Thighs.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs with skin and on the bone (I use organic free range chicken).

For the Marinade:

5 Tablespoons of Superior Dark Soy Sauce.
Juice of half a lemon.
2 Tablespoons of runny honey.
2 cloves of minced garlic.
1 Tablespoon of freshly grated ginger.
Drizzle of olive oil.

Directions

Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large bowl.

Add chicken thighs to the bowl and mix thoroughly into the marinade so the thighs are completely covered.

Cover the bowl and allow the thighs to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Add to an ovenproof dish and cook at 200C turning the thighs at least twice during cooking. I like the skin on top to crisp up.

Cooking times may vary but I kept mine in the oven for an hour. Do make sure the chicken is cooked through before serving.

Egg Fried Rice

For the egg fried rice recipe I used Ken Hom’s recipe as a base but made a few changes. This is a great recipe top play around with. Follow the basic directions and try adding different things like bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and prawns. For my version I used:

• 1 cup of cold cooked white basmati rice.
• 2 salad onions (spring onions) chopped finely.
• ½ cup frozen peas (thawed).
• ½ cup frozen sweet corn (thawed).
• 2 eggs beaten with 1 Tablespoon of light soy sauce (I had run out of sesame oil).

Chinese Style Chicken Thighs With Egg Fried Rice