Something for the summer – key lime pie

This is quite a rich, quick, no cook pie, brilliantly offset by the bitter lime juice. There are a couple of things I’d change for next time, so read until the end! If you happen to have the ingredients lying around, it is the type of thing you could knock up if you were having some impromptu guests or if by some miracle, summer arrives. It is very rich, so you will get 10 portions out of it.

Key lime pie: yummy, heavy on the calories and could be greener

Take 375g biscuits (I used ginger nuts) and crush them in either a food processor or in a bag with a rolling pin.

Melt 150g of butter in a pot and mix the crushed biscuits through it. Squash this into a loose-bottomed 23cm cake tin and put it in the fridge while you get on with the filling.

Zest and juice 8 limes – I got about 350ml of juice from the ones I used. In a large bowl, mix 570ml of full fat cream and a 397g tin of condensed milk. Whisk these together with the lime juice for a couple of minutes and pour it on top of your biscuit base. Chill this for a couple of hours.

Next time: I made this in individual ramekins as I was a bit terrified of getting the cake out of the tin, even if it’s loose bottomed. I thought the buttery biscuits were a bit of an overkill, so I’d make the filling and serve it with the crushed biscuits sprinkled over it or, as I’d used individual dishes, put the un-buttery biscuits in the base, as they will absorb some of the liquid from the filling and the crumbs will stick to it. Or don’t crush the biscuits, and serve a couple of whole biscuits with the filling for people to dip or spread as they like. Finally, the filling’s colour was off-white, which was lovely, but I’d think about adding a drop or two of green food colouring just to pep it up a bit.

I should add that this recipe is from the BBC food website. 

Scallops and mashed potatoes

This is a simple, light dinner and a good way of sneaking some vegetables into your daily diet.

Scallops and mashed potatoes

For two people:

200g potatoes

a knob of butter and a dribble of milk

100g lardons

one leek, sliced into thin rounds

one chopped onion

100g scallops (fresh or frozen)

Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks, and boil them until they are tender enough to mash. In the meantime, fry the lardons, with the onions and the leeks over a medium heat, until the vegetables soften. The fat from the lardons should be enough to lubricate the pan, so you don't need to use oil. 

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain the water off them, add the butter and the dribble of milk and mash them. Add your vegetables and the lardons (keep the residual fat in the pan for cooking the scallops in a moment), with a little salt and pepper and mix them well.

In your frying pan again, fry the scallops for about 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second.

Switch your grill on. Put your cooked scallops into an individual, shallow dish and cover with the mashed potatoes. Pop these under the hot grill until the top crisps up, so about 3-4 minutes.

If you don’t have leeks, you could add some carrots or other vegetable to the potatoes. If you have some cheese lingering in the fridge you could also add that to the mash. 

Quinoa and chicken yummy simpleness

I admit that have been very busy over the past few weeks and as a result, have been falling back on tried n tested recipes, many of which are already in this blog. However, I tried these two for dinner during the week. They are both from Domini Kemp in the Irish Times from over the summer and were simple, tasty and fast, which is exactly what you need when you’re short on time and everything else. I’m loving Domini’s recipes the more and more I try them as they are always good and most importantly, they work every time. Thanks Domini!

Quinoa and spiced chicken, from Domini Kemp

Quinoa salad 

Serves 4

200g quinoa

Few tbsp olive oil

Black sesame seeds or nigella seeds

Bunch coriander, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

2 preserved lemons, finely chopped or juice and zest of 1-2 lemons

Cook the quinoa in boiling water according to the pack instructions and then drain it and rinse until cold. Let it drain really well, otherwise it tastes too soggy. Simply toss with the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.

Lemon spiced chicken with chickpeas 

Good glug of olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

4 skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized chunks

Salt and pepper

½ a cinnamon stick (approx 8cm)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

2 tins chickpeas (approximately 400g) drained and rinsed

350ml chicken stock

1 x 250g bag baby spinach

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan with a lid and saute the onion until it is soft. Add the chicken, turn up the heat and season it well. When you’re starting to get good colour on the chicken, add the spices and continue to cook and get even more colour on the chicken. After another few minutes, add the lemon juice and zest. Then add the chickpeas and stock. Mix well, put the lid on and simmer very gently for about 12-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning then add the spinach just before serving and let it wilt.

You can add water or stock if you would like it to be a bit more soupy or stew-like. Likewise you can simmer it without a lid if you prefer something dryer. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick before serving.

Pork and fennel tray roast with lemon and coriander

I’ve made this three times now, and this is the first time I’ve been quick enough to get a photo before it’s devoured! It’s really simple, and the kind of dish you can pretty much prepare, pop in the oven and leave there while you potter around. From fridge to table, it takes an hour.

Roast pork and fennel with lemon and coriander

The recipe comes from the May 2012 edition of delicious magazine.

For four people:

2 large red-skinned potatoes cut into chunks (new potatoes are in, so I used 3-4 per person)

2 fennel bulbs, sliced into eights

3 red onions, quartered

Olive oil

2 pork fillets (I used 600g), trimmed and cut into 8

Paste

2 preserved lemons, rinsed and dried and cut into pieces

A dribble of olive oil

Garlic cloves (I love garlic, so I use lots)

Chili – whatever amount you like, either flakes, dried or fresh

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of honey

chopped coriander

Heat your oven to 180°.

Put the potatoes and fennel into a pot of salted water, bring to the boil and boil for 2 minutes. Drain well and put into a roasting tin together with the onions and the olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

While all that’s going on, either blitz all the paste ingredients in a blender or chop up finely and mix together (second option = less washing up). I always add a crumbled stock cube too, and of course a little salt and pepper.

Rub the paste all over the pork pieces and leave aside.

When your veg have hit the 20 minute mark in the oven, tumble the pork pieces on top and return the lot to the oven for another 20-25 minutes, until the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are soft.

As I’d some parsnips in the fridge this week I used these too. I just boiled them with the potatoes and fennel first. Yum.

Photos are en route (probably tonight).