The Plucky One

By Vicky in About Stasty No Comments Tags:

 
At first glance this picture might look like three cats eating from a dish, but it is in fact two cats and a hen! You might remember from my previous post that the cats were a little suspicious of the free range hens, however a lot has changed since then. I am sad to say that the hens were attacked and savaged by a local dog and now there remains only one single hen.  She was always the plucky one and apparently she cleverly hid in the garage when the dog came, but she was pretty shaken when found. 

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Lemon Curd Yoghurt

By Vicky in Dessert 2 Comments Tags: ,

Last week was my first foray in the yoghurt making business. And I have to say I was a little sceptical to begin with. The yoghurt making contraption arrived via mail order and looked disappointedly low tech! It was basically a plastic flask with a plastic jar that fit inside. Hmmm. Anyway, undeterred I went off and purchased my milk, milk powder and natural yoghurt! Hang on, you need yoghurt to make yoghurt??? Yes, I discovered you do indeed need yoghurt, however you only need two tiny teaspoons of it to make a huge two litre flask of yoghurt and you can use your own homemade yoghurt as a starter for your next batch. Making yoghurt is relatively straight forward though it does take a bit of time to make (8 hours of waiting to be precise.) However, if you make it in the evening, and leave overnight it will be ready for use the next day. (Bit warm for breakfast, need to cool a bit before eating). The yoghurt I made was so creamy and silky and tasted less acidic than some shop bought natural yoghurt. I added a dollop of home-made lemon to curd to mine which made this a really creamy, zingy and refreshing dessert. More …

Waterford Food Festival

By Vicky in Event 4 Comments Tags:

One sunny Friday evening my other half and I chased out of the city, battled the rush hour traffic, meandered our way down the twisty roads of West Waterford, (dodged a couple of sheep on the way) before finally landing in the picturesque town of Lismore. We were there for the Waterford Food Festival, and were excited to see what kind of food the county had to offer. We checked into the quaint Lismore House Hotel and walked the short distance to O’Brien’s Chop House restaurant. We were greeted by the charming Maitre D dressed in a vibrant orange shirt which reflected his warm personality. He led us out to a secret garden lit by candle lanterns where we were treated to some crisp white wine and a talk by Norman Gillett on fishing for wild salmon in the nearby Blackwater River. Norman’s passion for salmon fishing is infectious, so much so that even us non fishing types were reeled in.The talk was followed by Eddie Baguiohe’s (Chop House chef) demonstration of some tasty and unusual cures for salmon gravlax. The treacle and salt cured salmon (pictured above) was a real winner for me. More …

Thank Crunchie Bits Friday

By Vicky in Treats No Comments Tags: ,

Now that Easter is nearly upon us, I thought I should share a nice chocolatey recipe with you all. I often get a craving for crunchies on Fridays, (I guess advertising really does work). I recently noticed that Cadbury’s have a new product on the market called Crunchie Nuggets. I knew it was possible to make honeycomb at home so I decided to try and re-create these crunchie nuggget bits for myself. I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe for honeycomb, she calls it hokey pokey! I dipped my honeycomb pieces in dairy milk to give it that Cadbury crunchie taste. I was really pleased with how these turned out, and they are a great little treat to have in your fridge for a quick chocolate fix. More …

Am I going bananas cake

By Vicky in Cake No Comments Tags: ,

I have just noticed that I have a lot of banana recipes in my blog. (Note to self -must diversify and buy some different fruit.)  I think the reason I have so many banana recipes is because I always have a couple left in the  fruit bowl and never manage to eat them all on time. I had seen this recipe before in Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe cookbook and the picture alone made me drool. The good thing about this recipe is that it uses 5/6 bananas so it’s great if you have loads to use up. Also this recipe really works with overripe bananas. Its pretty yum and it’s nice straight out of the oven with a cool yoghurt /crème fraîche or butterscotch ice-cream if you’re feeling bold.

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Cheesy Leek Quiche

By Vicky in Main Dishes No Comments Tags: , , , ,


You might have remembered me rambling on earlier this week about free range eggs and luscious leeks from the garden.  Well, I decided I would have to honour my hearty home grown ingredients with a suitably delicious recipe. I had a big hunk of nutty comté in the fridge as well, which I decided I would add to the mix. So, French cheese, sweet spring leeks and free range eggs….What would you have  made with this lucky dip of ingredients?  More …

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