Eat Like a Girl - A Flavour First Recipe Site for Homecooks
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Beans, Breakfast, Brunch, Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Summer

‘Nduja Chickpeas with Tomato, Coriander and Scrambled Egg

Lockdown marches on and takes us along with it. I hope you are doing ok and it is not proving too difficult and that Covid has not impacted your life directly. If it has, I hope you are doing ok. I have been fairly silent here, which was not my intention. But, I am back now and I have lots to share with you. Lots of this will be recipes too. 

It won’t surprise you to hear that the publication of my book, Bacon, has been impacted by Covid. The latest in a litany of hurdles but the last one. My printer was affected by the Italian lockdown but things are moving again and I will keep you updated as to when Bacon will be on sale. I am also planning on publishing an updated version of Comfort & Spice after that with a fresh design and a light rethink. But Bacon first, and I can’t wait to share it. Continue reading

June 17, 2020by Niamh
Beans, Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Seafood, Summer

Pan fried hake with preserved lemon and yellow tomato butter beans

Hake is a beauty of a fish that is so underappreciated. We love it in Ireland, the Spanish love it too. In a way, I am glad that it isn’t hugely popular here as it makes it quite affordable. That big piece of hake in the photo came in at under £5 in an excellent but expensive London fishmonger. It flakes gently and has a beautiful light flavour. It works very well with big things like chorizo but it also plays well with gentler things like these summery beans.
Continue reading

July 18, 2019by Niamh
Beans, Cooking, Soup

Chickpea and Sausage Noodle Soup with Cavolo Nero and Preserved Lemon and Chilli Gremolata

It was 17C in London today. In FEBRUARY. That is completely bonkers. Still, it is February, so soup weather. I lightened this one a bit, basing it in a light garlicky broth with beans (chickpeas, but use whatever bean you like), streaky bacon, crumbled sausage, cavolo nero, a pinch of chilli and a twist on gremolata on top.

Let’s talk about gremolata! I love it and it is perfect for brightening things, especially anything meaty, like a rich slow cooked ragu. It is simply lemon zest, flat leaf parsley and raw garlic. Chopped and chopped and chopped together, until really fine. I said this was a twist, and so it was. I used preserved lemon and added some chilli also. It really lifted the bowl. Continue reading

February 21, 2019by Niamh
Beans, Cooking

Easy Speedy Chinese Style Black Bean Sauce

I know this looks dark and messy, but truly, aren’t many of the best things? I love crispy beef and I love black bean sauce. I am working on a gluten-free version of crispy beef which makes no compromises. It is almost there! For now, my speedy black bean sauce is good to go, so I will share it with you now. 

I use Chinese salted fermented black beans which are a cupboard essential for me. You can get these in any Chinese food store, usually in small plastic bags or a yellow cardboard tub. Fermented foods are a way of borrowing time from before and adding fast flavour. How lovely is that? I soaked the beans briefly and then simply blitzed all of the ingredients together, then cooked it for 10 minutes. Done! Continue reading

February 11, 2019by Niamh
Beans, Cooking, Seafood

Lemon and Chickpea Taramasalata (GF, DF)

Once you start making taramasalata, you can’t go back. It is so delicious, so fast and easy to make and much more economical to make at home. It takes minutes and provides so much pleasure.

Most taramasalatas are lightened with bread, but on my current gluten-free diet I have been playing around and adding lots of different things to my tarama. Don’t be horrified, these are just as delicious and sufficiently different to be very interesting. I still love the original of course, and fondly remembered trips to Greece are my inspiration. If only I had the sea lapping nearby as an accompaniment!

Tarama means salted and cured cod roe, that being the egg sack of the fish. It is luscious and rich and is used to great effect in many food cultures, notably Japanese cuisine. In Japan cod and pollock roe are cured with chilli and called mentaiko. The colour is bright red and it is the perfect partner to many things. I love mentaiko in Japanese fusion dishes like Mentaiko Mac and Cheese. My friend Luiz Hara has a bright new cookbook The Japanese Larder, that will educate you all about that and I have shared a lovely mentaiko recipe from his first book before also: Mentaiko Spaghetti with Clams and Parmesan.

Using smoked cod roe to make taramasalata 

Continue reading

February 6, 2019by Niamh
Beans, Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Speedy Supper

Braised Haricot Beans with Chorizo and Cavolo Nero

Jump straight to the Braised Haricot Beans with Chorizo and Cavolo Nero recipe.

It is never too soon for another bean recipe. This recipe has braised, chorizo and cavolo nero in the title too, so let’s get stuck in!

Chorizo and kale are the best of friends and I cook them a lot together. Cavolo Nero is just a glamorous kale complete with Italian accent. I make a chorizo and kale carbonara too which you should definitely check out as you are here. Added to braised beans, this makes for a super gorgeous comforting dish that eats so well on its own. You can also add some protein, I recommend a nice piece of roast chicken or pork, or a chunky white fish like turbot. Continue reading

January 10, 2019by Niamh
Beans, Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Speedy Supper

White Beans with Black Pudding, Sage and Radicchio

 

Jump straight to the Warm Winter White Bean Salad with Black Pudding, Sage and Radicchio recipe. 

Bean salad conjures images of sad tins and limp mixed beans presented to vegetarians after a last minute panic before a dinner party. Yes, I was a vegetarian once! A long time ago. Beans that have lived too long in saccharine sweet syrupy and salty water. Beans that once had flavour but that is now mainly erased. Beans too soft to be interesting.

Yes. Beans? They can be so much better.

The thing with beans is once you try them cooked from dried or take the time to cook them yourself, you spot immediately that there is a world of difference. It is also an incredibly frugal way to cook. A 500g packet of dried beans can cost as little as £1 and it will feed you for a week. Of course you won’t want to eat beans for a whole week, they would quickly lose their lustre. They freeze so well though, and I freeze them in 250g portions, the approximate equivalent of a tin. 

But they take so long! Nah. Soak them overnight even if strictly speaking you don’t need to, or are told you don’t. It takes no effort and it saves on cooking time and improves on texture. Importantly it makes them more digestible and massively reduces any gaseous effects. Most small beans will cook in half an hour. Larger, in 45 minutes. Easy. 

Which beans? Any and all. The ever present chickpea, adopted by so many cultures. As happy in an Italian soup bowl and a Spanish stew as in a Middle Eastern hummus. Butter beans! Small plump luscious ones from Greece and once twice the size from Spain called Judion de la Granja. Spain in particular has an enormous love for beans and sells them from enormous sacks in markets. Yes, Italy does too, but in Italy the selection is more focussed. I find new beans in Spain all the time.  Continue reading

January 9, 2019by Niamh
Beans, Cooking, Speedy Supper

Mexican Style Black Beans with Chorizo

Jump straight to the Mexican Style Black Beans with Chorizo recipe!

My second podcast is with Lily Ramirez Foran of the wonderful Picado Mexican in Dublin. Lily is a Mexican cook in Dublin, and the Irish authority on Mexican cuisine. She is who I go to when I have queries and I have learned a lot from Lily and her website A Mexican Cook in Ireland over the years. I always pop in to Lily’s gorgeous shop Picado in Dublin when I am home and stock up on proper corn tortillas, beans, chillies and anything else I fancy for cooking adventures at home. 

I was at home last week and I had a few days in Dublin. On the day that we recorded the podcast – and I will be sharing that soon! – I bought several things, on of which I will talk about now, a 1kg bag of dried black beans. I cooked up a batch and I have been using them since. Dried beans are a terrific and much under used ingredient. I love them. Tinned beans are only for an emergency for me (and yes, I am the type of person that might occasionally have a bean emergency!).  Continue reading

November 1, 2018by Niamh


Hello! I’m Niamh (Knee-uv! It’s Irish).

You are very welcome here. Eat Like a Girl has been my place to scribble online since 2007. That’s 14 years of recipes and over 1000 posts to explore.

Eat Like a Girl? It’s simple, we love to eat too. Anything else you’ve heard about women and only eating salad? It’s noise and misogyny.

But, we really love an excellent salad too. Shouldn’t everyone?!

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Baked Seaweed Beans (Haricot Beans with Tomatoes, Seaweed and Balsamic Onions)

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‘Nduja Chickpeas with Tomato, Coriander and Scrambled Egg

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Announcing our Special Guest for this weeks Cooking and Cocktail Show (TODAY at 5pm)!

Instant Mini Rhubarb and Rose Cheesecakes

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