Spring Has Sprung!
Recipes For Mother’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter
Hey Gang,
As Spring sets in, we’re heading for a month of non-stop festivities: Mother’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter all fall in March this year.
It’s hard to keep up!
But never fear, no matter the holiday, I’ve got a recipe to go with it. So, with that in mind, this month’s newsletter is full of inspiration to keep your plates and tables filled with seasonal flavours.
Kids in The Kitchen
Pancake Tuesday saw a very excited group of children join me on Zoom for our Gem Emoji Pancake class. As always, the creativity was top-notch as we decorated our pancakes with all sorts of faces and expressions.
Congratulations to Kayla Monahan, the winner of February’s treasure trove of Gem goodies.
Will your child be next month’s winner?
Our next free Gem cook-along on Zoom falls on Tuesday, March 19th at 5 pm. We’ll be baking a batch of scrumptious strawberry shortcake sandwich cookies.
Light and sweet, with a hint of nostalgia, they’re perfect for tea parties, birthdays or any special occasion.
And because they’re made with fresh strawberries, the flavours are head and shoulders above anything you’ll find in the biscuit aisle.
They’re definitely worth pulling out the fancy china and doilies for!
Best of all, we’ll be making them to mark a very special occasion – The Great Irish Bake for Children’s Health Ireland (find out more below).
To join us on the 19th of March, you can either:
Grab your FREE one-off spot at the Zoom class
Or
Join the Family Cooking Club for weekly child-friendly cook-alongs (including this one), plus recordings of all our previous sessions (€9.99 per month/€24.99 for 3 months/€99.99 for a year, cancel anytime).
The Great Irish Bake- Friday 22nd March
Do you want to use your baking skills to help others?
Well, here’s your chance to support sick children in Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly Hospitals.
Whip up a batch of scones to sell to workmates, invite friends around for a tea party, or go all out with an end-of-term bake sale at your children’s school.
Whatever you decide, your efforts will make a huge difference. Plus, it’s a fab way to spend some quality time in the kitchen with your kids.
Visit Children’s Health Ireland to find out more.
Child-Made Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea
If you’re a mam (or know a mam) hoping to get pampered this Mother’s Day, make sure to point your family in the direction of this blog post.
It includes everything your kids will need to prepare a show-stopping afternoon tea on a budget. With kid-friendly recipes and lots of tips for setting the scene, you can look forward to a treat to remember.
St. Patrick’s Day and Easter
Wherever I look, the shops are full of shamrocks and flags, bunnies and chocolate. It’s a bit of a feast for the senses out there at the moment!
To add to that feast, I’ve got two lovely meals lined up for these two special festivals. Both recipes are delicious, traditional meat and veg dinners that will fill the house with tempting aromas and leave you full and satisfied afterwards.
Slow Cooker Bacon and Cabbage
Ingredients
- 2 kg unsmoked Irish ham joint
- 1 head of cabbage
- A knob of Irish butter
- 200 ml milk
- A good handful of fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon cornflour mixed with a dribble of water make this just before preparing the sauce
Instructions
- Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and remove the core.
- Finely chop the cabbage leaves and add to the slow cooker.
- Add a knob of butter and place your ham on top.
- Put the lid on.
- Cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
- Remove the ham and drain the cabbage, reserving the liquid.
- Add the liquid to a saucepan and simmer
- Mix in a cornflour paste and whisk.
- Keep whisking and add the parsley and milk.
- Simmer and whisk until you have a sauce-like consistency.
- Slice the ham
- Serve with baked or mashed potatoes and your parsley sauce drizzled on top
- Enjoy 😉
Easter Roast leg of lamb
Equipment
- 1 large roasting tin
Ingredients
- 1 leg of lamb on the bone
- 3 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
- 1 onion
- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 fresh parsley chopped
- 6 carrots
- 1 kg baby potatoes (1 bag)
- 100 g butter
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 beef or lamb stock cube
- 1 pint water
Instructions
Roasting guide
- It is very important to check the weight of the joint allowing 20 minutes per 1lb.
- Plus 20 minutes at the end for rare.
- If you like your lamb medium, add another 30 minutes.Â
- If you like it well-done (like me) then add another 40 minutes at the end of cooking time.
For the lamb
- Preheat the oven to 230°c, gas mark 8.
- Then reduce the oven temperature to 180°c, gas mark 4 for the rest of the allocated cooking time.
- Mix half the herbs into the butter and smear all over the lamb.
- Using a sharp knife, make some little slits into the lamb. Press the garlic slices and some rosemary sprigs well into each slit.
For the veg
- Peel and chop the carrots and onion.Â
- Drizzle a tablespoon of oil over the potatoes carrots and onions, and scatter the rest of the herbs over them.
To finish
- When the cooking time is finished, remove the lamb, potatoes and carrots from the roasting tin and leave them to rest for a few minutes while you make the gravy.
- Place your roasting tin on the hob, mixing all the juices with a whisk.Â
- Addin the beef or lamb stock cube/ pot and mix again.Â
- Now add the flour and give another good mix.
- Finally, slowly pour in a hot pint of water, quarter by quarter, mixing as you pour.Â
- Carve and serve!
