Our Recipe for a Successful Marriage

One of the great things about being married is that you share responsibilities with your partner! This week my adorable husband decided he was going to make me dinner. Of course this doesn’t happen very often, he has a few dishes that he is in charge of, usually grilled cheese, because for some reason his just taste better than mine, and what he calls ‘Nathan’s Gourmet Mac’n’Cheese’ (although he uses penne or fusilli pasta so it isn’t really mac…but that’s just a detail.) So last night of course he wanted to make his mac’n’cheese, which was fine by me, because it meant I didn’t have to cook, but if you know me now you probably realize that I have a passion for all things culinary, so I really can’t just hand over my kitchen and sit on the sidelines, and honestly what’s better than cooking with your honey? In my opinion not much!

Since we have moved to Ireland, my husband has developed a taste (and love) for cheese, Dutch Smoked Gouda is his favorite, but he loves ANYTHING smoked usually. So our fridge is usually fully stocked with assorted varieties of cheese (I gotta make sure my man is happy!) Last night we had a selection of mature Irish Coloured and white cheddar, white cheddar with peppercorns, white cheddar with Irish Whiskey, (are you noticing an Irish theme here?) Dutch smoked Gouda, Dutch Edam, parmesan, and singles (aka ‘American’ cheese.)


We assumed our roles, him as the (stand-in) head chef and me as his sous chef, and we started cooking up a cheesy storm! Now the whole recipe actually started earlier in the day when I prepared the grilled chicken and the rashers (bacon). I started by lightly seasoning the chicken, olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, and a bit of smoked paprika, Then I grilled them for about 8-10 minutes each side (I am PARANOID about under-cooked chicken.) Meanwhile, I placed the rashers on a baking rack over a parchment lined tin. I baked the rashers for about 20 minutes on about 180 degrees C, turning them halfway. When the bacon and the chicken were finished, I removed them to a small plate and let them cool. Once they were cooled, I diced the 

meat and put it in the fridge until we were ready to add them. After that we started on the sauce and put the water on for the pasta. He started by making a roux, and heating the milk. After cooking the roux for a few minutes, he added the milk, and then we (by we I mean I LOL) tempered an egg and added it to the mixture. When it had cooked for a few minutes, it was time to get crazy with the cheese!! Now he has a very particular order in which he adds the cheese, (probably because he's an engineer...and they tend to have exact 'logical' ways of doing things.) He begins by adding the singles (processed American cheese). Then the Dutch Edam, Dutch Smoked Gouda, any other random cheese we have lying around, and then both red and white cheddar and stir until most of the chunks of cheese have melted into a lovely pale pool of cheesy goodness. By this time, the pasta should be done, and your sous chef (aka me) should have drained it. He added the diced chicken and the rashers to the sauce and stirred briefly, then I poured in the noodles and he stirred until the cheese was evenly distributed. Then we poured the cheesy noodles into an 8"x8"x2" baking dish, covered with seasoned (and buttered) bread crumbs, and we baked it until it was golden and delicious! 

Here's his special recipe:

Ingredients:

• 30g butter
• 15g plain flour
• 500 ml milk
• 1 lg egg
• 5-10g dried powdered mustard
• 5g smoked paprika
• 5g pepper
• 2-3g salt
• 4 slices of (American) Singles
• 60g Dutch Smoked Gouda
• 120g Dutch Edam
• 240g mature red cheddar
• 240g mature white cheddar
• 250g Penne or Fusilli pasta (or pasta of your choice)
• 150g bread crumbs 
• 60g parmesan cheese
• 200g Rashers (bacon)
• 250g boneless skinless chicken breast
• Assorted herbs/spices to season bread crumbs

Method:

1. Season chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and parsley and grill over medium-high heat for about 8-10 minutes per side. Meanwhile, place rashers on a baking rack over a parchment lined tray and bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes, turning halfway through.
2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Bring water to a boil for pasta. Meanwhile, melt butter in a separate saucepan over medium-low heat, when butter is melted add the flour and the powdered mustard, and stir constantly for about 5 minutes, meanwhile pour milk into a heatproof jug and warm in the microwave for a few minutes. When the milk is hot, add it to the butter mixture. Lightly beat the egg and temper it with about 200ml of the warm milk mixture, whisk constantly and add the egg mixture back into the pan. Add paprika, pepper, and salt. Let the mixture thicken for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. After the sauce has started to thicken, add the cheeses, and stir until the cheeses melt, then add the cooked rashers and chicken and stir until combined. Mix in the drained pasta.
4. In a small bowl, melt 15g of the butter, add bread crumbs, and parmesan cheese, season with any herbs you like.
5. Butter/spray an 8"x8"x2" baking dish and pour in the cheesy pasta, and top with the seasoned bread crumbs. 
6. Bake at 220 degrees C for 20-25 minutes or until bread crumbs are golden and crispy.

Cloudy...with a Chance of Meatballs

So I don’t know how other families are, but in my family the biggest argument (EVERYDAY) always started with “What do you want for dinner?” So when I got married and moved away, I decided NOT to have that argument ever! So on this cloudy Irish morning when I woke up without a dinner plan…I panicked a bit! I rushed into the kitchen desperately searching for something to throw together. I found some whole wheat spaghetti, two cartons of tomato passata, and 500g of turkey mince. Suddenly it was clear: Spaghetti Bolognese and Meatballs! I opened the cartons of passata and dumped it into the slow cooker, and added all of the ingredients listed in my grandma’s spaghetti sauce recipe, and a few of my own. Next step was the meatballs. Now, I have never made meatballs before…but I figured I watch enough Food Network to pull it off. I knew the general ingredients, and how to assemble them. I started with garlic, bread crumbs and tons of herbs. I mixed the meat with the herbed bread crumbs, and rolled it into meaty balls of deliciousness.

I sautéed the meatballs in a bit of oil until they were golden brown and fragrant, and removed them to a baking tin lined with kitchen towels. After they cooled enough to handle, I placed them into the bubbling tomato hot tub. I let the sauce and the meatballs cook for about 7 hours on low heat, and served over whole wheat spaghetti with freshly grated parmesan cheese and garlic bread. Now since I only cook for two, I placed the remaining meatballs and sauce into freezer bags so the next time I wake up without a dinner plan, I have a lovely supply of frozen pasta sauce and meatballs.

• 500g Turkey Mince
• 6 cloves garlic (I REALLY love garlic)
• 75g fresh bread crumbs
• 75g freshly grated parmesan 
• 2-3 garlic Italian herb blend
• 1g onion granules
• 1g thyme
• 2-3g parsley
• 1g rosemary
• 1g oregano
• 2-3g basil
• 2-3g smoked paprika
• 40g butter, melted
• 50ml water
• 1 lg egg
• 3-4 tbsp oil (for sautéing)

Method:

1. Mince garlic and place into a large bowl, add breadcrumbs, cheese, and all herbs, add in melted butter and stir to coat evenly.
2. Add turkey mince, egg, and water. Using clean hands gently combine the meat and the bread crumb mixture.
3. Pinch of small bits of meat and roll gently into 1" balls, place on a tray until all of the meatballs are mad
4. Heat 3-4 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat, when the oil starts rippling, add about 1/3 of the meatballs to the pan and brown them on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Once the meatballs are browned remove from the heat and drain excess oil on a kitchen towel.
5. After all of the meatballs have been browned, allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes and add them to the pasta sauce.

Tantrums in Tesco...

Tantrums in Tesco…

Cooking in another country can be extremely over-whelming. So you can imagine having lived here for only a week or so and browsing through recipes online (or getting them from mom) then making the journey to the supermarket only to discover they don’t have the ingredient(s) you need. This concept caused many tears and tantrums, specifically in the baking aisle of my local Tesco and Dunnes stores. I never stopped to think about the many things that are available in the states that aren’t available here. So I would make the trip back home completely empty handed, depressed and homesick! I decided that Google was probably one of the best resources available to me at the time, so I started searching for things, and I discovered that many of the things I had been looking for, had been right under my nose the whole time, I just never realized that it was referred to by a different name here! I have compiled a list of many of the things that I had trouble with over the course of the past year, with hopes that it will help some one out there from having to go through the same thing I went through.

US Name	British Equivalent
Baking Soda	Bread Soda
Cornstarch	Cornflour
All-Purpose Flour	Plain Flour
Bread Flour	Strong Flour
Confectioner's (Powdered) Sugar	Icing Sugar
Raw Sugar	Brown Sugar (Demerera or Muscavado)*
Rutabaga	Swede
Zucchini	Courgette
Eggplant	Aubergine
Hamburger	Beef Mince
Swiss Cheese	Emmental
'American' Cheese	Singles
Heavy Cream	Double Cream
Steak Sauce (ie: A1, Heinz 57 etc.)	Brown Sauce
Cookies	Biscuits
Chips	Crisps
Candy	Sweets
Pudding	Custard
Jello (Gelatin)	Jelly**
Chicken Fingers (Tenders)	Chicken Goujons (Dippers)
French Fries	Chips
Ice Pops (Popsicles or Ice Cream Bars	Ice Lollies
Diapers	Nappies
Trash Bags	Bin LIners
Saran Wrap	Cling Film
Hot Cocoa Mix	Drinking Chocolate
Coffee Creamer	Whitener
Cilantro	Coriander
Buns (burger or hotdog)	Baps
Parchment Paper	Baking Paper+
Bandages (Band-aids)	Plasters
Scotch Tape	Sellotape

*Brown (Demerera or Muscovado Sugar) is more closely related to our ‘Raw’ sugar in the states, but there is also Light and Dark Soft brown sugar in Ireland & the UK that is the same as Brown Sugar in the states.
**Jelly in Ireland and the UK is typically found in a concentrated block of gelatin, but the directions are very similar to those of Jello. However, a powder form of gelatin is available, but it is typically of the sugar-free variety.
+Baking paper can also be substituted for wax paper, which is usually only available in specialty shops.

Now, there are some things that I wasn’t able to find an exact match for, so here are some of the items that I have experimented with that work well with making American recipes. I have yet to find tomato sauce, but what I have found that works well is Passata. Passata is made from tomatoes that have been pureed and sieved to remove skin and seeds. It is typically sold in jars and can be smooth or chunky depending on the sieving process. Along those lines, instead of tomato paste in most of my recipes, I substitute tomato puree, which is usually sold in small tins or tubes much like tomato paste in the states. Another thing that we have discovered is Jacobs Mediterranean Lightly Salted are similar to saltine crackers we would have in the states. If you’re looking for corn syrup…look no further than Golden Syrup, it’s not exactly the same, but it has a sweet taste and a thick viscous consistency, which makes it a perfect substitute for corn syrup. There are way too many examples for me to list here, but hopefully this will be enough to get you started in the kitchen! And if you are completely desperate for American Foods, Amazon has a variety of delicious American treats available here.