Soda Bread Farls

I really used to miss Soda Bread, another staple Northern Irish food.  Soda bread is available in most English supermarkets, but it's always the brown/wholemeal sort, and not the delicious bread of my childhood.  Soda farls (farl refers to the shape of the bread) were briefly available in my local supermarket, but were discontinued, so I was at a loss - until I found out how incredibly quick and easy they are to make!  And it can be made in advance in batches, as it freezes really well.

Soda bread is delicious when it's cut through the middle and grilled or toasted - buttered and topped with bacon and brown sauce, or sausage and a fried egg... or my personal favourite, corned beef and melted cheddar (I can hear the discomfort of Ulster folk as I write that, but I love it!).  It's also a vital ingredient to be fried up in an Ulster Fry.

Ingredients

300g Plain Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
250ml Milk
2 tsp Lemon Juice

Method

1. Stir the lemon juice into the milk, and leave to sit for about 10 minutes.  This allows the milk to curdle slightly, forming a buttermilk.  (You may just use buttermilk instead, but my local shops don't seem to have it).

2. Mix together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.

3. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and add the milk mixture.

4.  Get in with your hands and mix the ingredients to form a fairly dry dough.  If your dough is sticky, add some more flour a spoon at a time.  If it becomes too dry (and starts cracking), add a splash of milk.

5. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and turn out the dough.  Shape it into a circle about 1cm thick.  This is thinner than you expect, but remember your dough is going to puff up a bit when cooked.  Cut your circle into quarters with a knife.

6.  Heat a frying pan to a low to medium heat.  Sprinkle some flour in to the pan (the pan needs to be totally dry), then place your farls on top.  Now LEAVE IT ALONE for around 8-10 minutes until the underside is nicely coloured.

7.  Turn the farls over and cook for another 8-10 minutes on the other side.  Remove from the heat and allow the farls to cool completely before either freezing them or cooking with them.

Mexican Bean Stew

Another one of those recipes that seems too simple to put on Grubbed Up! since it's so quick and has some cheats, and it's just a staple midweek meal for us (and there's usually some leftovers for a work lunch the next day).  But I've also served this a few times to friends, and they always want to know how it was done.  It's also one of those dishes that can be served in lots of different ways... It's delicious by itself, but also fantastic when served with either rice or Fried Cauliflower Rice.  It works well on a baked potato.  If you can afford the carbs, my favourite way to have it is in wraps with some southern fried chicken goujons, sprinkled with a little grated cheese.

In the picture, I've chosen to add Quorn vegetarian steak strips to the stew.  A lot of people seem to hate Quorn, and I think that's mainly because they've had it badly cooked and ended up with a dry, chewy disappointment.  For me, Quorn only works if you cook it in a sauce, as it's when it soaks up flavours from your cooking liquid that it becomes super tasty.  Try it!  (Or if you really can't bring yourself to use Quorn, add some cooked chicken pieces instead).

Ingredients

250g chopped onions
250g sliced peppers
150g sweetcorn
400g can butter beans
400g can kidney beans
400g can chopped tomatoes
100g tomato puree
1x35g pack fajita seasoning (I use Old El Paso Smoky Barbecue)
Optional ingredients:
1 tbsp sunflower oil
300g pack Quorn chicken style pieces/vegetarian steak strips or 300g cooked chicken pieces

Method

1. Heat the sunflower oil (if using) in a wok or pan on a high heat.  Add the onions, peppers and sweetcorn (I use frozen vegetables for convenience).

2. Cook the vegetables until the onions and peppers are soft and cooked through.

3. Add the beans, tomatoes and tomato puree.  Sprinkle over the fajita seasoning and stir through.  Keep heating this until the sauce starts to bubble, then reduce the heat to a low simmer.

4.  If you are using Quorn or cooked Chicken, add it now.  You can cook these from frozen if required.

5.  Simmer the stew for 10-15 minutes and serve. (If you used frozen Quorn/Chicken, make sure it is fully heated through).  Don't overcook the stew, as the beans may start to break down and mush a bit.

Fast French Onion Soup for Cheats!

Firstly - this is not the way to make french onion soup.  Seriously, it takes ages to make french onion soup properly to get that amazing onion flavour - some people say it takes 2-3 days to do right! But this cheat version can be ready in about 40 minutes, and for me it gives me enough of the essence of the real thing to satisfy.  Turn your nose up at my cheats if you like, but I love it!

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil (I use sunflower oil)
50g butter
1kg sliced onions (I use a big bag of frozen onions)
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (or use 3-4 tsp of powdered garlic)
1 tbsp plain flour
8-12 beef stock cubes (depends on how beefy you like it)

Method

1. Melt the butter in the saucepan and add the oil.

2. Add the onions and fry them until they go soft (about 10 minutes on a medium high heat).

3.  Add in 1 tbsp of sugar and continue to fry with the lid on until the onions start to go brown - but don't let them burn.  (If you started with frozen onions, you may want to keep the lid off as a lot more water needs to come out.) . It takes around 20-30 minutes for this, be patient.

4.  Add the garlic and flour and cook for 5 minutes more.  The flour sometimes makes the onions go a bit gloopy, if that happens add a little water to loosen them up.

5. Add 1.5 litres of boiling water from the kettle, and 8 stock cubes to the pan.  I hate crumbling oxo cubes and the way it makes my fingers feel gritty, so I have a technique... If you fold back the foil flaps carefully, and gently squeeze the cubes, you can crush them still in the packaging, so you don't have to get them all over your hands.

If you like it beefier, add some more stock cubes to taste.

6. Simmer for a few more minutes, then serve.  The classic way is to serve in a bowl and add a slice of toasted baguette with some melted cheese on top.  I sometimes just crumble a bit of cheese straight in and have some chunky bread for dipping.

Split Pea and Lentil Soup

Soups are usually really easy to make, but this one is super simple, and only has a few ingredients.  As with most soups and stews, it tastes better the day after making it too.  My version uses gammon, but if you want to make this vegetarian, you can just use vegetable stock as the base instead.

Ingredients

1 gammon joint (or use Ham or Vegetable stock cubes instead to make up a stock)
150g Yellow Split Peas
150g Red Lentils
250g Chopped Onions (frozen chopped onions are brilliant!)
3-4 large carrots (or if you're lazy - which I often am - 2 small tins of carrots)
2 tsp Garlic powder, or 2 cloves of crushed garlic (optional)

Method

1. Place the gammon joint in a saucepan and cover with boiling water.  Simmer this for 1-1.5 hours until the meat is cooked through.  You need to check this every 15-20 minutes or so, and top up the water if required.

2. Remove the meat from the saucepan (leaving the stock in the pan) and leave it to cool.  Peel and slice the carrots.  Add these to the saucepan along with the split peas and lentils.  (If you're using tinned carrots, don't add these until a few minutes before serving.)

3. Return the pan to the boil for around 30 minutes, until the all the vegetables are soft.  Add the chopped onions and garlic and simmer the soup until it thickens (keep checking this every 10-15 minutes - you don't want your peas sticking and burning on the bottom of the pan - it takes 30-60 minutes to turn into a lovely thick soup).

4. To serve, chop up or shred some of the meat and place in the soup bowl (if you're a meat eater).  Spoon out the soup on top, and serve with a chunk of your favourite bread (perhaps Soda Bread?) for dipping - easy peasy!

Tip
Split peas and red lentils are usually cheaper in the 'World Foods' aisle in the supermarket.