coffee & wine
As parents of three soon to be four we regularly get asked by soon to be first timers "what advice would you give?" One of our favourite lines is Coffee & Wine in no particular order!! This segment is dedicated to passing on years of restaurant industry knowledge so you can get busy creating tasty cocktails, drinking finer wine, making grown up snacks & smelling the beans grind!!
BEESWING
Ingredients
50ml Connemara 12 Whiskey
1 Tspn Pure Honey
1 Double Espresso
Method
Add honey to fresh espresso stir to dissolve. Next add Whiskey & lightly stir fill a cocktail shaker with ice add mixture and shake vigorously. Strain in to your favourite chilled glass. Garnish with coffee beans or coco powder and enjoy!!!
Remember you're not TOM CRUISE & this isn't the movie COCKTAIL
If you don't have a cocktail shaker or a fancy glass don't worry. use the glass you like and a protein shaker, travel mug or empty jam jar will work just fine to shake!!
Bertha's berry
Ingredients
35ml Berthas Revenge Gin
50ml Berry Tea
1 Tspn Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam
1 Egg White
1 Lemon
Method
Add berry tea bag & jam to a 50ml of boiling water stir & leave to infuse. squeeze a lemon in to an empty cocktail shaker add gin & pour over your tea/jam mixture. Dry shake all ingredients to create foamy consistency. Add ice & shake again. Pour in to a rocks glass or your favourite tea cup (totally counts as a cup of tea this way!) Garnish with berries or fresh flowers we used lavender from the garden. grab a book sit in your favourite corner and enjoy your tea.
aRBOS SANGIOVESE
(PRONOUNCED SAN-JUH-VEI-ZEE)
FAB ITALIAN RED ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE.€10 at your local supervalu. this is a great food wine, drinks great young, medium body, smooth soft tannins, good acidity & hints of the figs & damsons that you would except from a good sangiovese. we love this wine with pasta dishes especially our lasagne click on picture below for all our recipes including our lasagna.
Grown up Snack Alert
Curious cucumber raita with dippy fried halloumi
dATE nIGHT CHORIZO
INGREDIENTS
100G CHORIZO
3 TBSPN RED WINE
2 TSPN VANILLA
1 TSPN PURE HONEY
METHOD
ADD WINE, VANILLA EXTRACT & HONEY TO A SAUCEPAN & PUT ON MED HEAT STIRRING OFTEN. cHOP chorizo in cubes & place on a dry pan at med-high heat. kEEP THE CHORIZO MOVING AROUND THE PAN. ONE VANILLA AND HONEY HAVE COMPLETELY DISSOLVED POUR IN TO A BOWL. SPOON OUT CHORIZO LEAVE THE CHORIZO OIL IN THE PAN. CUT A DOOR WEDGE PIECE OF CRUSTY BREAD AND PLACE ON PAN TO ABSORB CHORIZO OIL, LEAVE FACE DOWN UNTIL A NICE CHAR COMES ON THE BREAD. GRAB A COUPLE OF SKEWERS FOR EATING CHORIZO, DIP BREAD & ENJOY!!
ingredients
Raita
1/4 cucumber grated
4 tbspn of natural fat free yoghurt
1 tspn of cumin seeds
Handful of mint leaves diced
Halloumi
1 block of buffalo halloumi
25g plain flour
1 egg beaten
Cracked black pepper
Sunflower oil
Method
Squeeze any excess water out of grated cucumber & mix with yoghurt add mint & cumin seeds & give a quick mix. Add sunflower oil to a small frying pan about 1/2 inch in depth turn on high heat. Mix generous amount of pepper through flour. Dip halloumi in egg then flour & fry for 30 seconds flip & fry for 30 more seconds take out once golden & leave 2 minutes on a paper towel to set. Serve with raita dip.
killeen it
ingredients
Killeens cheese wedge roughly cut
4 slices parma ham
mixed market leaves
5 asparagus sliced in half
6 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
rapeseed oil to drizzle
method
scatter a couple of handfuls of market leaves on a platter. put a frying pan on a med-high heat. drizzle rapeseed oil on pan & place asparagus for 4 minutes. season asparagus with pepper & chopped parsley (don't season with salt) lay parma ham on a baking tray & put under a grill on high heat. keep a watchful eye it will crisp up quick once crisp take out tear & scatter around salad. scatter cheese, tomatoes, asparagus & drizzle rapeseed over.
blue brew
Ingredients
1 banana peeled & chopped roughly
4 tbspn 0%fat greek yoghurt
1 tbspn porridge oats
1 generous shot of espresso/cold brew
method
add all ingredients to blender & blitz. pour, sip & wake up!!
easy peasy piadina
ingredients
3 tortilla wraps
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella sliced
9 slices of prosciutto
dip
1 cup cherry tomatoes
half a lemon squeezed
25ml rapeseed oil
handful of fresh basil
method
lay mozzarella & prosciutto on one side of the 3 wraps & fold. place one at a time on a hot pan on a high heat one charred flip cook until charred abd remove repeat process on all wraps. in a blender add all dip ingredients & blitz in to a paste. cut all piadina's in half dip & enjoy.
barbed goat
ingredients
1 bowl mixed market leaves
2 sticks rhubarb topped tailed & chopped in to 1 inch pieces
2 tbspn runny honey
2 slices of crusty bread
4/5 cherry tomatoes
1 pear sliced
6/7 tspn of st tola goats cheese
method
place chopped rhubarb in a bowl add honey & toss coating all the pieces. on a lined tray place rhubarb & pop in a preheated oven at 180c for 5 minutes. place bread on a dry hot pan over high heat & lightly char bread. roughly cut charred bread in pieces. in a small jug mix 1 tbspn of honey & 2 tbspn of rapeseed oil. add all ingredients to serving plate & drizzle with honey & oil mix.
pudd n' shroom bruschetta
Ingredients
2 slices ciabatta
handful of wild mushrooms sliced
4 slices black pudding
2 tbspn real butter
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tbspn sour cream
1 tbspn chopped fresh chive
cracked black pepper
method
in a dry hot pan lightly char ciabatta & set aside. lightly drizzle oil on pan & fry black pudding in a separate pan add butter, thyme & mushrooms & cook over a med-high heat. season with plenty of black pepper. in a small bowl mix sour cream with chives. place 2 pieces of pudding on each slice of ciabatta & spoon over mushrooms, top with sour cream.
proper pan pepper pitta
can you say this 5 times fast???
.ingredients
4 wholemeal pittas
2 Romano red peppers chopped
1/2 cup of walnuts
1 clove of garlic crushed
Handful of parsley
Squeeze of half a lemon
Method
Put a large dry pan on a high heat and place chopped peppers skin down for about 3 minutes until they start to char then flip add in the walnuts and garlic and toss for a further 3 minutes. Put mix in a blender add chopped parsley and squeeze half a lemon. Blitz in to paste. While blitzing splash water on pittas and place on pan until brown flip and repeat. Cut pittas in half down the middle to make two full circles then cut again in to semi circles making a nice thin chip to dip. Pour pepper dip in a nice bowl & dip pitta yummy on pasta or dotted on a pizza or even in a wrap
