As our Irish heroes have been going for Olympic glory in recent weeks in Rio, this week, I decided to share a few recipes I love, using a local, award winning Gouda style farmhouse cheese.
Baked Carrowholly Cheese with spiced strawberry jam
Carrowholly Cheese is the only cheese produced in Mayo and their garlic and chive cheese is perfect for this recipe. It is important to support our local businesses, so if you have never tried Carrowholly cheese, give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.
This is, as with most of my recipes, very simple to make. I prefer not to mess about too much with fresh food, whether it is, meat, fish or cheese, and let the product speak for itself.
Ingredients
4 sheets of filo pastry (thawed )
8oz Carrowholly Garlic and Chive Cheese
1oz melted Irish butter
1lb fresh strawberries
8oz sugar
10 crushed green peppercorns
2oz Irish butter
Method
To make the jam, melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat, add the strawberries and stir with a wooden spoon until they have softened. Then add the sugar, butter and the peppercorns and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Let the whole mixture boil for five minutes, turn off the heat and stir until cool.
Pre heat your oven to 180c. Cut the cheese into four triangles. Brush the filo pastry on both sides with the melted butter, then place a piece of cheese into the centre of each sheet of filo. Wrap the cheese parcels carefully with the pastry and then stick them on a tray and into the oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the cheese is trying to burst out.
Serve the Baked Carrowholly Cheese with the spiced jam. The peppercorns give an unusual twist to the jam, (although I have been eating strawberries with black pepper for years ) but complement the cheese perfectly. So that’s my first Olympic food recipe for this week, try it as a starter with a small salad, or just as a delicious snack.
Carrowholly Frittata
I have previously printed a recipe for quiche, so today I thought that I’d share a recipe for frittata with you instead. Frittata is basically a quiche without pastry, so it is a very easy dish to make and impress your friends and family. First thing to decide is what sort of filling you like, you can put in anything you like, from summer vegetables to bacon and onions. This is my twist on the classic quiche Lorraine recipe.
Ingredients
8 streaky rashers, chopped
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
150g Carrowholly gouda cheese, grated
12 eggs
150mls cream
Seasoning
Splash of oil
Method
Firstly, you need to preheat your oven to 175c. Then, get a large frying pan with a non-plastic handle. (This is because I cook the frittata in the oven ). Break the eggs into a bowl and give them a good whisking, add the cream, scallions and cheese and season well. Put the frying pan onto a high heat, add a splash of oil and let it coat all the surface of the frying pan, so that the frittata won’t stick when it’s cooked.
Add the chopped bacon and fry it evenly until it is just cooked, then, add all the other ingredients. This will now look like a big omelette, so just give it a mix to evenly share the ingredients around the pan, then, place the frying pan into the oven for about 18-20 minutes. To test if the frittata is cooked, gently press the top of it and if it springs back, it’s ready.
You could also put a skewer into it and if it comes out clean, and not wet, it’s ready. Remove from the oven and let it cool down. It will continue to cook during this time. When it’s cool, slice into big wedges and serve with a freshly cut side salad. Delicious.
Frittata is commonly associated with Italian cookery. The secret to this recipe is to make sure that you really whisk the eggs and cream together thoroughly. This will help the frittata to taste lighter and fluffier. Another delicious variety is finely diced peppers and red onion in place of the bacon and scallions.
Whichever one you choose to make, I hope that you enjoy the recipes and find them easy and economical to make. Talk to you next week.
