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Breaded Fried Aubergine/Eggplant With A Kick

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There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.

– O. Henry

Despite the fact that I am Irish, I have always grown up with Thanksgiving as my Mam hails from Nebraska. While we never went all out for 4th of July, Thanksgiving was a sight to behold. Mam would have us on clean-up duty the entire week ahead of time, and, while we cleaned, she would bake and prepare tons of delicious food like her almond slices (to die for!), salad jelly (jello–which is one of my favourite Thanksgiving foods), and, particularly when we were younger, her homemade brown bread. By Thanksgiving day we’d be in a state of restless anticipation.

Besides my own family, which numbers nine, over the years we’ve had several different guests, but some of the consistent ones include two of my Mam’s best friends in Ireland and my Dad’s cousin who is like an aunt to us kids. When the guests would arrive we’d usher them into the sitting room to chat with my dad and whatever kids were free. Meanwhile, another troupe would be busy laying the table and fighting over whether the napkins should be placed in the glass or around the cutlery/silverware. Mam was like a general with her orders: “Potatoes are done. Put them in this bowl!” and “Grab that platter of garlic bread and bring it into the guests.” Of course she also ordered, “Did you see if anyone wants tea? Someone put on the kettle!”

And then, the bell would ring. Dinner was served. It was so hard holding back to let the guests go first, but somehow we managed. Then, we would have whispered squabbles for the best seats only to be told by Mam that “X sits there, Y sits there and Z, you’re up by Dad” defeating our best laid plans.

Besides stuffing and salad jelly, my favourite part was always after dessert. We’d be in the kitchen, the plates sitting where they’d been left, a huge pot of steaming tea on the table, and listening to the older people talking about past events, famous Irish figures, and who such and such person was in our family. It was so interesting and insightful. I would hang onto their every word, and try to stay my tongue (a hard thing for me to do!) so they would not lose their train of thought.

Even today, my favourite things about Thanksgiving are are listening to the conversations and watching how people will interact. I love all the food, but people are ultimately what make Thanksgiving. Gathering together to say “thank you” is amazing. We should be thankful. I am grateful for being exposed to this holiday my entire life and being able to challenge the above quote as Thanksgiving is no longer just an “American” holiday amongst expats here in Korea (or in Ireland for that matter!). It’s a time to be thankful and thankfulness is something everyone appreciates.

This year, my friends and I got together (around 30 of us) and celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday. It was great fun. We gathered at one of the local bars, and everyone contributed something from turkey to pumpkin pie to sweet potato casserole. My own contributions included a broccoli casserole (will be up before Christmas) and the following recipe. I used a Korean brand of bread crumbs which are quite crunchy. They are perfect for frying and I strongly believe that they are the breadcrumbs used on my favourite takeaway fried chicken! So yes, these breadcrumbs get a strong recommendation and big thumbs up from me!

Breaded Fried Aubergine/Eggplant With A Kick

Serves 10-15

Ingredients

  • 3 small aubergine/ eggplants or 1.5 large aubergine/ eggplant, washed and dried.
  •  ¼ cup flour
  • 1.5 cup Ottogi Breadcrumbs*
  • 1.5 tsp, chili flakes, divided**
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ tsp dried parsley
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • grapeseed or olive oil for frying

Method

  1. Slice the aubergine/eggplant into rounds, around 1 cm thick. Lay out flat on a colander and sprinkle with salt. Set aside for 20-30 minutes. Once beads of water have formed on the aubergine,  wash thoroughly and dry. Set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the remaining ingredients, minus the oil: put the flour in a bowl, set  aside. Put the bread crumbs and half the chili flakes (¾ tsp) in another bowl, stir and set aside. Crack the eggs into a third bowl, whisk in the remaining chili flakes, parsley and some seasoning.
  3. Dip each dried aubergine/eggplant round into flour, dust it off and dip into the egg mixture, and finally the breadcrumbs.
  4. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Once hot, add around ¼ cup of oil (you may need to add more oil as you go along, so keep it handy).
  5. Once the oil is hot, add a few slices of eggplant to the oil and let them cook until browned on one side, and then turn over and brown the other side. This takes around 2-3minutes per side. You can see the bottom browning, so turn when it’s golden.
  6. Replenish oil as needed.
  7. Place on paper towel and season lightly with salt, if needed.
  8. You can serve either hot or cold. They go really well with hummus or as a side dish to Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake.

*Ottogi Breadcrumbs is a Korean brand of breadcrumbs that are very dry and crunchy. Panko would probably be similar. For Irish and British readers, I do NOT recommend using the breadcrumbs you find in the supermarket refrigerator or at your local butchers. I would recommend heading to your nearest Korean or Asian Market. For Irish readers, Hansung on Great Strand Street, Dublin 1 should be able to help you.

**These are slightly spicy, so if you don’t like spicy things, I would leave out the chili flakes that go into the breadcrumbs and only use it in the egg mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake

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Pasta doesn’t make you fat. How much pasta you eat makes you fat.

– Giada De Laurentiis

Years ago, I was visiting my sister who lived in Galway at the time. From my memory it was either late Autumn or early Winter. We had gone out the night before and had spent our day recovering by watching TV, chatting, and I believe she introduced me to the magic that was “G’s to Gents”. When we finally decided to eat she introduced me to what has become one of my favourite meals to make when I’m having friends over.

All the vegetables and chicken smelled divine by themselves but adding the Dolmio® Creamy Tomato Sauce gave it that extra edge. My sister is one of those people who always ups her game when it comes to cooking and this recipe had already been given to her by another friend in it’s basic form of the Dolmio jar, chicken and pasta. My sister not only added vegetables, but she also stirred in single cream and added hunks of cheese to the pasta and topped it with even more cheese. It was so sinfully good. Every bite was heaven, and you knew that while theoretically it was chocked full of veggie goodness, in reality it was really brimming over with cholesterol-ridden deliciousness which you just didn’t care about. I was hooked.

Over the years, my sister has made this for me plenty of times, and I’ve made it fairly frequently myself. Eventually, my sister created her own creamy tomato sauce from scratch for this recipe, and it is just as good as the Dolmio version. When I moved to Korea, my cousin had come to visit me for a week my first year. I wanted to make something special to thank her for her visit and also to celebrate another friend’s birthday. This was the recipe I chose to make, and it was a huge hit. Finding Dolmio, however, was impossible so I ended up making my own sauce. Over the last 2.5 years I have made this recipe fairly frequently, and I find it is quite adaptable for different versions of this pasta bake( although using chicken is still my favourite version). To me this, along with Shepherd’s Pie (coming soon, I promise!), are my ultimate comfort foods. It might take a bit of time to put together, but its heartiness more than makes up for that!

Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta Bake

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp dried basil
  • ¼ tsp dried parsley
  • ½ tsp chili flakes
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bitesize pieces.
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 bell pepper (any colour, but I prefer red or orange), chopped
  • 1 cup courgette/zucchini, diced
  • 1 cup aubergine/eggplant, diced
  • 1 cup broccoli, chopped into small florets
  • 1 cup asparagus, chopped diagonally
  • 2-3 mushrooms, sliced (optional)
  • 1 cup spinach (optional)
  • 411g tin/14.5oz tin diced tomatoes
  • 411g tin/14.5oz tin tomato sauce/passata /crushed tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 500g/17.5oz conchiglie pasta
  •  double cream/whipping cream
  • 1.5 – 2 cups/150g – 200g mozzarella or cheddar, grated
  • 1 package buffalo mozzarella, sliced or thin slices of cheddar cheese

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
  2. Heat a large wok with the oil over medium-high heat.
  3. Once hot, add the herbs, chili flakes and seasoning. Cook for 15-20 seconds.
  4. Add the chicken and coat with the oil. Cook for around 1 to 2 minutes.
  5. Add onion and garlic.
  6. Increase heat to high and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
  7. Add the pepper, aubergine and courgette and stir fry until the chicken is white throughout and any liquid from the vegetables has reduced.
  8. Add the broccoli, asparagus, spinach and mushrooms, if using.
  9. Stir-fry for around 5 minutes until the asparagus is tender. If you have time, you can also cook until the chicken is very lightly browned.
  10. Add the diced tomato, tomato sauce, tomato paste and season with salt and pepper.
  11. Bring to a boil.
  12. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  13. Turn off theburner but leave the wok where it is. Add in the cream, and, once thoroughly mixed, mix in the shredded cheese.
  14. Meanwhile, boil a large pot of water.
  15. Add a pinch of salt, a little oil, and the pasta. Cook until al dente.
  16. Drain and add to the tomato sauce after the cream and cheese have been stirred in. Make sure all the pasta is completely coated with the sauce.
  17. Transfer the pasta to an oven-proof dish. Top the pasta with slices of buffalo mozzarella.
  18. Place in the oven for around 30 minutes until the cheese melts.
  19. Serve with fried aubergine, green beans and/or a salad. You could also serve with these stuffed mushrooms.

Tips:

Make it your own: Substitute a large tin of tuna for the chicken or leave out the meat entirely. Add or remove the vegetables you don’t like. Green beans and corn work quite well as substitutes, as do carrots and celery. If you want to make it more sauce-y, reduce the amount of pasta that you cook and add to the sauce.

Make a lighter version: Substitute single cream for double cream. I can only find double cream here so that’s why I use it. You could also add coconut cream if you prefer. You could also add cheese only to the top of the bake and not to the mix.

One-ringing cooking: Follow steps 1 – 12, remove the sauce from the stove and set aside. Boil water, cook your pasta and then reheat the sauce. Once hot again, add cream and cheese and follow steps 16-19.

“Pizza” Baguettes and English Muffins – Cooking with Kids

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Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.

– Guy Fieri

One of my favourite little people, The Jam, loves cooking. Sometimes, when we Skype, he is in the middle of baking something delectable with his parents. This made picking an activity to do with him (besides reading stories) quite easy! In fact, when I was home in January I decided to get him, and his family, two cookbooks – The Usbourne Beginner’s Cookbook and Ella’s Kitchen: The Cookbook. When I returned in August, I picked a recipe from the former of these books to make with him. So, off we marched the local shop where we picked up some baguettes and where he conned me into buying ice-creams for his parents and a King Cornetto for himself (smart kid!).

One reason why I feel this recipe is a great one to do with kids is because they can choose their own toppings based on their own likes and dislikes, and can help at a variety of levels depending on their age. They can learn to chop onions, mince garlic and pull together a tomato sauce, under supervision, or, if not quite ready for that, just add the toppings like The Jam did. Plus….pizzas are always fun!

When I made this recipe with The Jam it was a three person effort: his mom chopped the deli ham, chorizo, and peppers, I cut the baguettes and made the sauce, and he made the pizzas with my help. As he is only three, he did need a little help spooning the sauce onto the baguettes and smoothing it out. However, he was more than capable of sprinkling on the meat, peppers, and cheese. He also had fun dolloping on the pesto. Best of all? He had his own little pizza!

I tried to replicate these recently with my friend, Ashley. Unfortunately, the bakery didn’t have any baguettes that weren’t loaded with cheese or sweet garlic. After a moment of panic and crossness, I picked up some English Muffins as I figured that the sauce wouldn’t sink through the bread. I was right, and while the taste is definitely different, I’d recommend them as an alternative to baguettes and they’d be a good idea for making individual portions with kids.

When making these with kids, organise your table left to right – baguettes on the right with your sauce and toppings to left of the baguette. Make sure that there are spoons for the sauce, pesto and cheese.

pizzamuffins

Pizza Baguettes and English Muffins

(Adapted from Usbourne Beginners Cookbook)

Ingredients

Base

2 baguettes/ 4 English muffins

Sauce

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 410g (14oz) tin, chopped tomatoes
  • ½ tsp dried mixed herbs (use a mix of basil, parsley and oregano)
  • ½ tsp tomato paste
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings

  • 1 stick chorizo, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1-2 slices of deli ham, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 bell pepper, washed cut into bite size pieces (yellow, red or orange work best)
  • handful spinach, washed and chopped (optional)
  • 3-4 black olives,cut into thirds (optional)
  • Bunch of cilantro, washed chopped (optional)
  • 3 sundried tomatoes per “pizza” (optional)
  • 1 cup shredded cheese (Mozzarella, Cheddar or “Pizza” Cheese are good options)
  • Pesto

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
  2. Cut the baguettes in half lengthways/cut the muffins in half burger bun style Place on a baking sheet or pizza pan and set aside.
  3. Meanwhile, heat the oil on medium heat.
  4. Once hot, add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until they are soft.
  5. Increase heat and add the tomatoes, paste, herbs, and seasoning. Bring to a boil.
  6. Reduce heat to medium and cook for ten minutes until most of the liquid is gone.
  7. Remove from stove and set aside to cool for around 10 minutes.
  8. Whilst cooling prepare your vegetables and meat.
  9. Divide and spread the tomato sauce evenly among the baguettes/muffins.
  10. Top with chorizo, ham and peppers. If you want, you can move on to step 11. Otherwise, add some, or all, of the other vegetable toppings
  11. Sprinkle cheese on top of each baguette
  12. Using a ¼ teaspoon, dollop pesto on top of the cheese.
  13. Place in the oven* and cook for around 15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and lightly toasted.
  14. Let them cool slightly and then enjoy.

*If using a toaster oven, you can keep the same temperature but use the lowest level of the toaster oven and check at 10 minutes to see how “done” it is. If ready, remove and serve. As you can see by my photo of the English Muffin, I didn’t think to do this originally. It was bit crisp but still good!

TIPS

Vegetarian Option:  Leave out the chorizo and ham. Use sautéed mushrooms or courgette instead.

For a larger crowd: This recipe is easily doubled, or you can cut the baguettes into smaller pieces and use a starter.

Make it your own: Add the vegetable toppings you like, experiment with different meats and use half cheddar or half mozzarella.  You can also add more or less cheese than specified above based on your own tastes.

Leftovers: If you don’t mind eating cold pizza, they make a good lunch or breakfast. If you have any left over vegetables, put aside in containers and in the morning, spread pesto on some baguette or English muffin and top with the remaining vegetables and some cheese. You could also add leftover vegetables to an omelette or scrambled eggs.

Colcannon: A Traditional Irish Potato Dish

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Elves and Dragons! Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you. Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you.

J.R.R Tolkien

Last weekend, one of my friends came to visit. We spent nearly all weekend cooking and eating, eating and cooking. From pizza baguettes to chicken sandwiches to stuffed zucchinis and a hummus platter, we had it all. Some adventures were had, lessons were learnt, and other lessons were re-discovered. It was so much fun, and we had a great time just chatting and creating.

One thing we both discovered was how fast time goes when you are cooking with someone else. Or, really, just doing anything with someone else. The morning after she arrived, we got up at 8.00 as we had to leave at 9.15 to help at a party for some local kids. Somehow 8.45 came with a bang when we had barely started preparing breakfast (nevermind actually being dressed). We had envisioned a lazy breakfast of scrambled eggs and avocado toast, lingered over with a cup of steaming tea. Instead, we were scrambling to eat everything at 9.10 whilst pulling on jackets, socks, and scarves. 

Amongst all the scrumptious food, I had planned on re-making one of the dishes I’d prepared for my Hallowe’en party last Thursday—Colcannon—which is my favourite Hallowe’en dish. However, I didn’t have enough kale left in my fridge, and, when we went to the shops, I forgot to include it on the list so we both suffered. However, I made it again this week and shared it with my friend, Becky. It’s simple, tasty, and a great way to use up a big batch of kale.

Traditionally, Colcannon is made with curly kale, but savoy cabbage or scallions can also be substituted. You can usually find a tin-foil covered coin in the dish at Hallowe’en. Sadly, in Korea, beggars can’t be choosers, and whilst I can find kale, the curly variety remains elusive. In fact, the first time I made it here I substituted cabbage, but since then I’ve managed to find kale which makes me happy beyond belief. Although the dish is traditional, everyone has a slightly different recipe their Mammy used to cook…my Mammy might be American, but she makes a mean Colcannon as her recipe is the same one that my Granny O (who is my Dad’s mam) made. 

Fried Colcannon

Here is the recipe I follow and love, and is definitely based on what my Mam makes:

Colcannon: A Traditional Irish Potato Dish

Serves

Ingredients

  • 5- 6 largish potatoes, peeled, quartered and washed.
  • 3 packed cups of (curly) kale*, stalks removed and finely diced
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 2 tbsp butter,
  • 2 – 3 tbsp milk
  • Salt, for seasoning
  • Pepper, for seasoning
  • Milk and butter, for mashing**
  • Butter, for serving

Method

  1. Cover the potatoes with cold water and bring to a boil on high heat for around 15-20 minutes until tender.
  2. Meanwhile, bring another pot of water to a boil. Add the kale and bring back to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for around 10 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.
  3. Using the same pot that the kale was in, add butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the onion and some seasoning. Saute gently.
  4. Once the onions are soft are soft and translucent, add the 2-3 tbsp of milk and let it cook for around 2 minutes.
  5. Then, add the cooked kale and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Once ready, drain and mash the potatoes with a generous splash of milk (around 2 tbsp), a knob of butter, salt, and pepper. Stir in the onion and kale mixture and serve hot with another knob of butter. 

*As mentioned above, you can also use savoy cabbage, scallions or other kale varieties if you can’t get curly kale.

**You can use more or less of the milk to mash your potatoes based on your personal preferences.

Tips

Leftovers: Leftovers are really good fried: Melt 1- 2 tbsp butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the remaining leftover colcannon and season liberally with pepper and a bit of salt. You want the mix to be golden brown, so only stir occasionally. Some of the potato will stick to the frying pan, but just scrape it up and mix it in to the rest of the potatoes. You can also add another onion and fry before adding the colcannon. Serve with baked beans, fried mushrooms and/or a little ketchup. Alternatively, use the colcannon to make potato pancakes.

Lactose Free Option: Saute the onions and kale in olive oil,  You can also mash the potatoes with olive oil, and, if you want, a splash of non-dairy milk.

One-Ring Cooking:  Boil the kale first, and follow it up with the onion mix. Then boil, drain and mash your potatoes. Add in the kale-onion mix and serve.

 

 

 

Ghostly Graveyard Ice-cream Cake

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At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below

~Theodosia Garrison

I love Hallodscn0444[1]we’en! The fact that is a traditionally Irish holiday makes it all the better.

This Hallowe’en was a little bit EPIK (sorry for the pun – I’m an EPIK teacher in Korea and it was an EPIC weekend). The weekend before, some friends and I went to Everland, an amusement park near Suwon in South Korea. Despite the long queues we had a great time and even went to a Horror Maze. Confession: I closed my eyes for a good portion of this but I will admit that I think I psyched myself out trying to imagine what would be inside. As much as I love Hallowe’en the “gory” elements like zombies are not really my cup of tea. What I do love about Halloween are the decorations, the plethora of candles, pumpkins with scary faces and really creative carvings, persimmons (I was only introduced to this fabulous fruit when I arrived in Korea), ghosts, ghouls, mummies, and witches.actual halloween collage

The last couple of years that I was in Ireland, my friend Alessandra (and Prescillia) organised Hallowe’en parties at her house. Everyone dressed up and there was plenty of wine, good food, and great company. I enjoyed them so much that when I came to Korea I wanted to throw my own party. My first year it was just a couple of friends; but last year and this year, it was a big crowd.

I decorated my house (with some assistance) ahead of time, including making some Jack O’Lantern persimmon and origami skull faces. My friends and I made food from all around the world: Korea, Germany, USA, Canada, Spain,  India and Ireland were represented. I made my Kale and Rasher Stuffed Mushrooms, an experimental Stuffed Pork Steak (recipe will be up once I tweak it), Colcannon (recipe will be up next week) and I turned my Ice-Cream Cake into a Ghostly Graveyard.

Ghostly Graveyard Ice-cream Cake

Serves 12-15

Ingredients

Method

  1. Prepare the ice-cream cake ahead of time.
  2. At least 4 hours before serving, make skull faces/ghost faces or write “help”/ “BOO” using the chocolate pen. Set aside to harden.
  3. On the Milano cookies, make crosses and write “RIP” and set aside to harden.
  4. Meanwhile, put the oreo wafers/cookies into a blender and pulse until finely crushed. You can also do this with a rolling pin.
  5. Remove the ice-cream cake from the freezer and push in the milano cookies, vertically, and arrange the skulls and ghosts around the graveyard, pushing in as needed.  Spread the cookie crumbs over the surface and around the graves and skulls. Put in the freezer.
  6. Remove from freezer after an hour. Sprinkle with some wine apple seeds, cover carefully, and place in the freezer until needed.

Tips

Make it your own: If you don’t want to use wine apple, cut red jelly beans in half and sprinkle around the graveyard. I really wanted to use white chocolate Reese’s mini peanut butter cups but sadly we don’t have them in Korea. If you have access, make the marshmallows into skulls and make two eyes on the Reese’s cups. Turn them upside down so that they have a “ghost” shape.