Eat Like a Girl - Homecooking and Recipes – Bringing the World to Your Kitchen
Eat Like a Girl - Homecooking and Recipes – Bringing the World to Your Kitchen
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Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Speedy Supper

Spiced Lamb Chops with Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a vegetable, even though we treat it as a fruit. I only ever had it as stewed rhubarb with custard or rhubarb fool in childhood, and I loved it. Understanding later on that rhubarb could be a savoury ingredient was a game-changer.

If you think about it, rhubarb isn’t sweet at all. Even the gorgeous bright pink forced Yorkshire rhubarb is markedly sour. Rhubarb loves sweet though. That makes it a wonderful ingredient in terms of a play on sweet and sour in a dish. It makes lovely ketchup too. It works with most meats, I especially like it with lamb and a roast like pork belly. Continue reading

May 8, 2020by Niamh
Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Pasta, Speedy Supper, Spice

Spaghetti with ‘Nduja, Prawns & Basil

 

Jump straight to the Spaghetti with ‘Nduja, Prawns & Basil Recipe

Spaghetti and sunshine, sausage and prawns, chilli and tomato. Add a little basil there like a spritz of perfume on your wrist before you go out, and you have a gorgeous plate to devour.

‘Nduja? A fridge essential? (Trust me) 

Yes, of course, I could live without it, but I absolutely choose not to while I have the choice. A soft and very spicy cured and spreadable Calabrian sausage, it is brilliant just as is spread on bread, toast or crackers. Try it with eggs, mix it through a tomato sauce for a porky arrabiata, spread it on top of some white fish just before it finishes cooking with an oregano and breadcrumb top for a gorgeous spicy crispy crunch. Continue reading

April 24, 2020by Niamh
Cooking, Gluten Free, Speedy Supper

Miso Beef Cottage Pie

Miso beef cottage pie is every (good) cottage pie you have ever had but it is better. It is deeper and richer, and this is all achieved with the simple addition of a hero ingredient, miso.

You will know miso soup, made from dashi (a simple but full flavoured broth made from kelp seaweed and/or bonito flakes usually) and miso. Bear with me while I explain as cooking and food is so much easier when you know what things are and once a scientist, always a scientist, right?! Plus, it is so interesting and as always I will keep it simple. Continue reading

January 19, 2020by Niamh
Cooking, Curry, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Speedy Supper

Minced Beef, Aubergine and Coconut Curry (GF, DF, Speedy)

I know everything should start with an onion, or so the saying goes. Most of my cooking does. But not always. Sometimes just garlic will do and occasionally not at all. When I made this dish I started with minced beef not sure of what I would add next. The final result was a tasty speedy supper that required little work or preparation. I call that a winner!  Continue reading

March 29, 2019by Niamh
Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Seafood, Shellfish, Speedy Supper

Coconut and Coriander Prawns with Pumpkin (GF, DF)

The more that I cook, the more I desire simplicity. Fresh bright flavours delivered without fuss and with speed. Food that is healthy and bright. 

There was a time when I would devote much of my evening to delivering the meal that I would eat, often too late. Increasingly my cooking becomes simpler, fitted into tighter timeframes. I desire food that is fast and that delivers on flavour and that will sustain me too. Food that is healthy and balanced and that changes day to day. This way I always enjoy it, and my nutritional intake is varied too.

I generally cook for one but I usually cook enough for two meals each time. Borrowing time from the night before for the next day. Leftovers are terrific and the second iteration will usually have a twist so that it is different. This didn’t. I loved it so much the first time I kept it the same. 

Coconut and Coriander Prawns with Pumpkin – a speedy delicious and nutritious meal

Continue reading

March 20, 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
Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Seafood, Shellfish, Speedy Supper

15 Minute Lemongrass Prawn Patties – Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Gorgeous

Jump straight to the 15 Minute Lemongrass Prawn Patties recipe

Frozen raw prawns are a freezer staple for me. They defrost quickly, cook in minutes and are super versatile. I love them in a curry (my Goan prawn curry is one of my most popular recipes, still, after 11 years on the site). They are fantastic with noodles (like these spicy peanut butter noodles). Brilliant in a soup (this prawn tom yum kung recipe from my trip to Bangkok is gorgeous)and who doesn’t love a laksa? (Prawn Laksa recipe right here!). I love them in a meatball (prawn and chorizo meatballs in broth, anyone?). Cook them whole, mince them, put them on a stick and grill them. There are endless possibilities with the humble prawn (which some of you North American friends which may call shrimp) and they are wonderful in these speedy and bright lemongrass prawn patties. 

15 Minute Lemongrass Prawn Patties

Continue reading

October 5, 2018by Niamh
Cooking, Soup, Speedy Supper, Summer

Salmorejo with Quails Eggs, Bacon and Nasturtium Oil

Jump straight to the Salmorejo with Quails Eggs, Bacon and Nasturtium Oil Recipe

We are going to have to start a yellow tomato fan club and get you a hat and a badge. So said my guy at the tomato stand last weekend when I asked my usual weekly question, do you have any more yellow tomatoes? The yellow beef tomatoes that they sell are sublime and now a hallmark of every summer for me. As the season draws to a close I near panic about the looming lack of yellow tomatoes in darker days. Yellow tomatoes are distilled sunshine and last weekend I bought many in an effort to retain every sun soaked minute and prolong summer. 

It has been a while since I have been to Spain – something that I must rectify soon – I fancy a retreat filled with excellent food and long days reading. A little wine too, of course. I am whisked back to Spain from my kitchen when I make of gazpacho, salmorejo and ajo bianco, the holy trinity of gorgeous cold Spanish soups.

Salmorejo – a speedy and gorgeous Spanish cold tomato soup

Continue reading

September 18, 2018by Niamh
Cooking, Dairy Free, Seafood, Speedy Supper, Summer

Monkfish Cheeks with Tomato and Chorizo Ragu

Jump straight to the Monkfish Cheeks with Tomato and Chorizo Ragu Recipe.

Feeling cheeky once more. Whenever my fishmonger has monkfish cheeks I have to buy them, they are so good. As with cod cheeks (which I blogged about in my most recent post) they are tender and ready to go. No chopping, just as they are. They are wonderful fried in a tempura batter with a garlic aioli to dip in. They are sublime in a curry. They cook fast making them perfect for weekday evenings and hot summers where you don’t want to be over the stove. With delicate white fish like this there is much that you can do.

An instant ragu might seem like a pointless, maybe even impossible thing. A great ragu takes time after all, but bear with me. I use the term ragu in the loose sense of the word. I am not saying even for a second that there is such a thing as an instant Italian ragu. I have so much respect for that sauce and I have shared beautiful authentic versions of ragu that Italians were kind enough to share with me. What this sauce has is the depth of flavour and fruitiness that I recognise in ragu and we get there in a super speedy way. It coats pasta beautifully for a speedy supper, and here it gives gorgeous monkfish cheeks a steady sleepy rumble. It is much subtler than you think, my friend didn’t realise there was chorizo in there, he just asked WHAT was in THAT lovely sauce, (and in that way).  Continue reading

August 8, 2018by Niamh
Cooking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Light Bites, Seafood, Shellfish, Speedy Supper, Summer, Supper

Cod Cheeks and Clams in a Tomato, Basil and White Wine Broth

Jump straight to the Cod Cheeks and Clams in a Tomato, Basil and White Wine Broth Recipe.

Simplicity is the key for me in cooking at home. Good ingredients, cooked well, often quickly. I have lots of store cupboard ingredients. There is always chorizo, a cupboard full of a variety of pasta shapes, noodles and rice. Lets call it the carb cave (and I LOVE my carbs). But often on a hot day I want simple seafood flavoured with fresh herbs and other bright ingredients. 

My original plan was to make the squid stuffed with beef and chorizo that I told you about in my last post. I am so keen to share that one with you soon. But, alas, there was no squid to be had. There was a bounty of cod cheeks, gorgeous delicate morsels of cod meat. There are many reasons to love these, they are delicious, and there isn’t even any chopping to do, they are all bite size. They are usually cheaper too, in this case they were half the price of the clams.

A Perfect Healthy Speedy Supper

Continue reading

July 31, 2018by Niamh
Cooking, Light Bites, Speedy Supper

Potsticker Sausage and Kale Dumplings

Jump straight to the Potsticker Sausage and Kale Dumpling Recipe.

What is it about dumplings that makes them so irresistible? Silky carbs enclosing gorgeousness, what is not to love?! 

I make dumplings more than is reasonable. Often I make the wrappers myself, it is worth the effort and is somewhat soothing when there is time. There are several recipes on the blog for dumplings already including wrappers (like this Beef & GInger Jiaozi recipe). I do use store bought wrappers too though, which do the job quite well (shop around as they vary), especially when pressed for time or on the road.

Making Handmade Chinese Style Dumplings

For now lets focus on Chinese style dumplings. Chinese style because they look like them and are most certainly inspired by them, but inside the filling for this dumpling is very Irish. Sausage dumplings are something that I have made for a while. I love Irish sausages so much that I had to make them with those, mixed with a little gorgeous kale to loosen the sausage mix and add texture and flavour.  Continue reading

July 30, 2018by Niamh
Cooking, Speedy Supper, Spice, Summer, Supper

Speedy Pure Beef Meatballs in Tomato, Coconut and Chilli Sauce

Pure beef meatballs? What do I even mean? I mean a meatball that has nothing but beef in. Isn’t that a burger? No! Bear with me.

This speedy supper was inspired by my lush little chilli garden. 8 plants in a raised bright yellow planting table (I have about 16 chilli plants scattered around the garden, just call me hot head). It comes with a transparent deep lid, and like a mini greenhouse, helped my chilli plants off to a rich start. My plants are bushy and lush, and are laden down with gorgeous hot chillies. They are starting to turn red, but have been wonderful green too.

My favourites are the jalapeños sliced fine and placed the other day on my juicy intensely red Santorini tomatoes which had grown a metre away, and a little parasol of neighbouring nasturtium leaves on top. Crisp large flakes of sea salt made these a perfect bite. I also love the serrano chillies, fever hot and intense, they were perfection in the sauce that accompanied the meatballs. Enough to wake my senses on that crazy rainy day we had earlier in the week.

My chilli table, and surrounding vociferous tomato plants (which I will prune today!).

Continue reading

August 11, 2017by Niamh
Cooking, Pasta, Speedy Supper

Pasta e Ceci (Pasta with Chickpeas)

Jump straight to the Pasta e Ceci recipe

My love of beans, lentils, and all pulses has been expressed many times. They are nutritious, delicious and so flexible, they are a dream for anyone who loves to cook. They can become soups, dips, stews, patties and burgers, the dried beans can be ground into a flour and become pancakes and lots of other wonderful things. Take the humble chickpea, and all its possibilities. Falafel, chickpea burgers, hummus, panelle, socca, before we even consider what we can do with it when it is simply its joyful self. 

I wrote about my love for beans in my first book and how I batch cook them and freeze them to be used as and when I need them. Home cooking dried beans may seem like a fiddle, but all it takes is time, no intricacy, and the results are far superior, cheaper too. Beans are the ultimate frugal food, and for this reason maybe they don’t garner as much respect as they deserve. The underdog of the kitchen cupboard, some countries know how good they are and they elevate them. Principally Spain, I adore wandering through markets dotted with sacks of varied pulses, proud and shiny, and I always bring kilos of them home. Italy too, also France, and that is just looking at our nearest neighbours.  Continue reading

July 28, 2017by Niamh
Brunch, Cooking, Speedy Supper

Tomato and Paprika Braised Sausages with Charred Lettuce

Jump straight to the Tomato and Paprika Braised Sausages with Charred Lettuce recipe

Let’s talk more about simple things and speedy suppers. Now in this time of glut when markets and gardens are full of wonderful things to eat we can be indulgent, but why would we be when letting perfect and simple ingredients shine is often the best way? In summer I like to eat lighter and simpler. I feel that way generally these days. 

Summer Sunshine Captured on a Rainy Day

I eat tomatoes more than anything all through the year, but especially in summer. My kitchen garden is packed and the tomatoes are flying but I have only a few tomatoes nearing red (and over 25 tomato plants growing, so exciting!). My counter is still stacked with tomatoes of all colours shapes and sizes from my local farmers market though. Rough and tumble beef hearts, wobbly and one sided. Bright round enormous yellow tomatoes, perfectly smooth and sweet as a mango. Small pops of colour and joy in every shade, green and tiger striped, reds approaching pink and gorgeous cherry tomatoes, plump and bulging from red to yellow to purple.

Tomatoes growing in my kitchen garden

Tomatoes growing in my kitchen garden

Continue reading

July 23, 2017by Niamh
Cooking, Speedy Supper

Harissa Lamb Chops with Wild Garlic Crumb

Cooking from scratch is my thing. This site is a celebration of food and cooking, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love it. I love the work, I love the flavours, I love seeing what is possible and most of all I love eating it and sharing it. I am also a big fan of doing the best you can when there is limited time available. Speedy suppers and brisk brunches. (My cookbook Comfort and Spice has a whole chapter on Speedy Suppers).

The Anatomy of a Speedy Supper

Often this means that I cook something simple, other times it means that I use one of my cupboard helpers. Flavour bombs that dress up an otherwise simple dish and give it the gift of time borrowed from earlier, when it was first made, often more time from when it was allowed to age and ferment. I love to use miso, chilli oil, gojuchang, fermented black beans, black garlic, and this evening wild garlic oil and a tube of harissa paste from a local middle eastern shop. Yes, I do often make harissa, I love its vibrancy when fresh, but the tube is ace too and well worth having on standby. (I use a Tunisian harissa paste, Hariisa du Cap Bon, available in a tube or tins).

IMG_0237EDIT Continue reading

March 30, 2017by Niamh
Cooking, Speedy Supper

Winter Warmer: Chicken and Chorizo Pie

Jump straight to the recipe for Chicken and Chorizo Pie. 

A good pie is a difficult thing to beat at this time of year. Pie conjures images of labour and time and weekend projects. Pies can be speedy too,  and a pie really doesn’t need to be difficult. Most home cooks use shop bought pastry these days, and why wouldn’t they when it is of the standard that it is? I do. Many restaurants use shop bought pastry too, usually the all butter premium ones which can be excellent. 

An easy and speedy pie

Chorizo is a favourite of mine, it imparts such loveliness, spice and slippery fat, which coats and livens up the chicken .Chorizo also gives a slow cooked quality to the dish, a deception if you like. It is wonderful in this punchy little pie of chicken and chorizo in a rich tomato sauce, packed full of flavour and moisture. This recipe was one of the ones that made it into my book Comfort & Spice (most of them were new and not from the blog) and it is one of the ones that people message me about. It has proven itself to be addictive. 

This pie brings joy to cold and otherwise miserable winter nights. But as with all good things, have it whenever you want, and especially when you feel like it. 

This recipe makes two individual pies.


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Chicken and Chorizo Pie




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Chicken and Chorizo Pie

Ingredients


  • 500g diced chicken (preferably thigh - it has more flavour)

  • 200g cooking chorizo, sliced

  • 1 tin tomatoes

  • a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

  • 2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

  • 2 tsp Spanish paprika

  • 1 mild red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

  • 15g butter & 1 tbsp olive oil for frying

  • 1 egg, beaten

  • Shop bought puff pastry - pref all butter and pre rolled as we are being lazy here.

Instructions


  • Sauté the chicken until it starts to brown over a medium heat in the oil and butter. Remove the chicken and sauté the chorizo for a few minutes until it starts to release oil, then add the garlic and chilli for a minute or so, stirring to ensure it doesn't burn.

  • Add the tomatoes, paprika & chicken and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and the sauce to a low simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste. Add the parsley just before placing in the pie dish.

  • Roll the pastry if required to cover each pie dish. Divide the pie filling between each (buttered) pie dish. Add the pastry lid, brush with the beaten egg and cook for 20 minutes or so at 180 degrees celsius, or until the pie top is delightfully crispy and brown.

  • Enjoy!
  • 4.14

    https://eatlikeagirl.com/winter-warmer-chicken-and-chorizo-pie-recipe/

    Copyright: Eat Like a Girl

    Photography from Comfort and Spice by Niamh Shields (£14.99, Quadrille). Photography by Georgia Glynn Smith. 

     

    February 3, 2011by Niamh


    Hello! I’m Niamh (Knee-uv! It’s Irish). I love to cook and share my recipes here for you to recreate in your kitchen. Everything I make is packed with flavour and easy to recreate. I aim to be your friend in the kitchen and to bring the flavours of the world to you. Come cook with me!

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