Black Pudding Croquettes and Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake
A-fiddly diddly diddly dee fiddly fiddly dee dee
Diddly fiddly fiddly diddly fiddly diddly dee HEY!
Hold on to your hats folks because just around the corner is that grandest of celebrations - St Patrick's Day!
A-fiddly diddly diddly dee fiddly fiddly dee dee
Diddly fiddly fiddly diddly fiddly diddly dee HO!
And I really should have got around to this sooner, writing up this blog post about all the Irish goodies you can find in the new Irish shop section on Ocado but I've been so busy you see, already getting stuck into the craic...
Sad to say, I must be on me way!
So buy me beer and whiskey cos I'm going far away...
That I've missed the fecking deadline for this fecking competition organised by the fecking Bord Bia....
Far away!
Shame really, as I would have loved the chance to win a trip to Ireland, it's been a while since I visited the motherland.....
On the fourth of July eighteen hundred and six
We set sail from the sweet cove of Cork......
Oh yeah, I got some Oirish blood in me somewhere, can trace some of the family back to Limerick.......
We had five million hogs, we had six million dogs,
Seven million barrels of porter.....
Seven million barrels of porter.....
Or Lilliput, as I once called it in a bar in Dublin.......
In the hold of the Irish Rovaaaah.......feck I dropped me drink.........
But no matter, I still managed to conjure up quite a feast for my family the other day using some produce from the shop....
Guinness please......cheers......top of the morning to ya!
Some mussels from Carrs and sons......
Gobshite?
Some lovely bacon and black pudding from Clonakilty......
A-diddly diddly diddly dee fiddly fiddly...........Brian O'Driscoll! What a man, d'ya see that wink?.........
And a bottle of Baileys.....
Bejaysus, did you see The Walshes on BBC4 last night? What a pile of shite!......
Admittedly, I wasn't too convinced about authenticity of this new Irish shop because to be frank, there was feck all to chose from really........
I met my love by the gas works wall..........WHISKEY?...........
I mean c'mon, Jacobs Cream Crackers and Club biscuits are hardly synonymous with Ireland's rich culinary heritage are they......
DIRTY OL' TOOOOOWN......ah DIRTYOLTOOOOOOOWN.............
But what do I know, I'm just a plastic paddy............
A-diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly.......GIRLS! DRINK?........
So, for what it's worth, my celebratory St Patrick's Day Menu consisted of.......
Mussels in white wine topped with bacon and parsley
Confit of pork belly with black pudding croquettes, apple and celeriac veloute and pea shoots (because I thought they looked like shamrocks)
And a Baileys chocolate cheesecake with crushed (fruit) Club biscuit base
It was a fecking handsome meal and I would be delighted to share two of the recipes with you, namely the black pudding croquettes and the cheesecake......
Ah seo dhibh a cháirde..........ah duan......um........aah........ah feck it
All that remains for me now then is to say enjoy St Patrick's Day, wherever you are and take with you this pearl of wisdom once offered up to me by a dear old Irish relative of mine, who once cornered me in the pub and told me in a very serious yet very unsteady manner that I "should never, never, never...ever...................be afraid of the dark."
Sláinte
Black Pudding Croquettes - serves 8
Ingredients
200gms Clonakilty Black Pudding, roughly chopped
600gms mashed potato
1 onion, fine chopped
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
125gms breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for deep frying
Method
First, fry off the onion in a pan on the hob over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Take off heat and leave to cool. When cool place the onion in a bowl along with the black pudding, potato and parsley and mix thoroughly.
Using a clean surface, roll out the mixture into lengths so that it resembles a long plump sausage (you may have to make several sausages) and cut into barrels about 5-7 cms long. Then take two bowls, using one for your egg wash and one for the breadcrumbs. Dip and rinse each croquette into the egg and then coat with the breadcrumbs and place on a tray
Top tip - use your left hand for the egg and your right for the breadcrumbs. Might sure never the twain shall meet and you should come away relatively clean and tidy.
When ready to cook, heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan or fryer to 180C and fry the croquettes in batches for about 2-3 minutes at a time. Drain on kitchen towel and keep warm. Serve individually as canapes or with a nice roast dinner. You can be free and easy with these croquettes.
Baileys chocolate cheesecake with crushed (fruit) Club biscuit base - serves 8
Ingredients
250gms Club Fruit biscuits (about 8 bars)
500gms cream cheese
250gms double cream
100gm icing sugar
50mls Baileys
100gms grated dark chocolate
Method
Break up the Club biscuits and place in a food processor and briefly blend for about 30 seconds. Then place the biscuit and chocolate crumbs into a saucepan and gently melt over a low heat. Remove and pour the mixture into a loose bottomed round tin, the bottom lined with greaseproof paper. Smooth over with a palatte knife and place in the fridge for at least an hour to set.
Next prepare the filling by lightly whipping the cream cheese in a bowl, adding the sugar and Baileys into the mix. In a separate bowl, whip the double cream and then gently fold it into the cheese and then spoon the filling onto the biscuit base, again smoothing the surface all over with a palatte knife.
Place back into the fridge and leave for about 2 hours set. Before you pop it out of the tin, sprinkle the grated chocolate all over the top.
Serve without any extra cream or anything like as this dessert is quite rich and sweet but very nice indeed.
