Rose veal rib eye steak with carrot and cumin puree, horseradish hollandaise and red onion tarte tatin...

How good does it sound now - Rose veal rib eye steak with carrot and cumin puree, horseradish hollandaise and red onion tarte tatin... Makes me hungry already! :)
This isn't my recipe, but it's one I'm familiar with, having it done with Chef Mark Doe from JustCooking, during our cookery demo at Flavour of Killorglin. It was only right that I'll share this with you. I'm a huge fan of veal, I was brought up on it, it's still very popular kind of meat in Poland. It did gain a "bad reputation" in UK and in Ireland, but thankfully it's changing. Methods of producing rose veal has changed a lot, the welfare of the animals, as well as process itself.

Our meat on this occasion came from Ballyhar Farm, locally from Co. Kerry. You can't get any fresher than that, not to mention that it's organic.

Hope you'll try and look out for rose veal - it really is worth looking for, and paying that bit of extra as well. It's not your everyday kind of meat, but for a special occasion, for that Sunday dinner it's perfect! 

Personally, I was responsible only for the hollandaise - lots of whisking that one, but so rewarding, creamy, velvety almost in texture and perfect accompaniment not only for veal! I loved the little red onion tart tatins - such a great idea! I was thinking that if you're having more people over for a meal, you could probably make one, big red onion tart tatin and just cut it normally, as you would, into triangles. If you were to add some nice salad on the side - those red onion tarts would be a brilliant idea for a vegetarian meal :)

How to make it...

Flavour of Killorglin and Cookery Demo with Mark Doe...

Food Festivals are getting more and more popular in Ireland, each year you see something new in the events' calendar. Flavour of Killorglin isn't new, but it was the first time I was involved in it, both in organization and participation.
In the organizing committee I was responsible for general PR, marketing and I'm looking after the official Facebook page and website, but.... the real fun for me was during the festival itself ;) during Cookery Demos to be exact!

This year we've decided to jazz things up and pair a local Chef with a local "persona/celebrity" - how I've found myself among them, don't ask! ;)
We've had very talented Patricia Teahan, Head Chef from Carrig Country House cooking with Michael Healy-Rae, local TD. Second demo was run by brilliant Chef Mark Murphy from Dingle Cookery School, showing how to cook to Brendan Fuller from Radio Kerry. Third cookery demo was run by one and only Chef Mark Doe from Just Cooking cookery school and his "sous chef" for the day was no-one else but... me :D

To say I was a little bit nervous at the beginning is an understatement! Luckily I had a pleasure to have met Mark before, so that part of stress, of cooking with someone I don't know, was out of the way. Still, you're standing alongside a true PRO!

Pumpkin bars...

It's middle of September so... for me "pumpkin season" has started! :) I know that I'm not alone waiting in anticipation for those first days of Autumn to finally dig into that can of pureed pumpkin, to bake those gorgeous cakes and cookies, to fill in the house with pumpkin spice smell.

This cake, or rather tray bake that you cut into handy bars (hmm, maybe not so "handy" in my case, rather generous...), is simply delicious. Not too sweet (but I did cut back a bit of sugar), not too sticky. Springy, slightly moist sponge and that icing... Icing which I could eat with a spoon! Please, I'm begging you - bake it! Even if you're not a huge fan of pumpkin bakes, try this one. Pumpkin taste, as well as the amount of spice, is just right, not too overpowering.

The recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook "Home sweet home". Still going strong with my decision to bake through the whole cookbook. Not that it's such a horrible task ;)

How to make it...

Peanut butter & jam pinwheel cookies....

What's better than home baked cookies...? What's better than peanut butter cookies...? What's better than peanut butter cookies with strawberry jam...? Hardly anything! ;)
Cookies are usually quick to whip up together, to shape and bake... But they also usually equally quick (if not quicker) disappearing... Those cookies weren't any different. Yes, they were a little bit tricky to shape... rolling such a soft dough, with a layer of jam isn't the easiest thing ever, but the look of those little pinwheel and the taste are enough of the reward!

The recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook "Home sweet home", so... I'm well on my way of baking through the whole book! :)

How to make it...

Green gnocchi with tomato sauce and Mozzarella...

Any kind of dumplings made with potato have to be good, right? I know it's like that with me ;) but, on this occasion I was a little bit skeptical when I read Anotnio's recipe for green gnocchi... I love spinach, I really do - Like it's sharp, metallic taste and that rough feeling you get on your teeth when eating it. I love traditional potato gnocchi too, but somehow I wasn't sure that those two would work so well together. Only for my trust for Antonio I gave it a go. How lucky! Gnocchi turned out perfectly! The texture was more rough than of those traditional ones - which I think are soft and "pillowy" like. The taste - spinach wasn't too overpowering and went perfect with potatoes. Tomato sauce and mozzarella binds everything together! (Even though my two little girls still ate gnocchi as usual... with melted butter and... sugar :P ).

This great recipe comes from "Simple cooking" by Antonio Carluccio.
Green gnocchi are made by adding a little cooked, well-drained and very finely chopped spinach. Another type of gnocchi is what is known as gnocchi alla romana, and these are made with semolina or polenta.

How to make it...