Sunday Lunch Feat. Steak & Kohlrabi

Sunday lunch yesterday was a delicious fillet steak from Tom Durcan's in The English Market. I served this delicious piece of beef with baked kohlrabi chips (fries) and three types of purée; carrot & cumin, pea & mint and kohlrabi.

Accidental purée tri-colour

For the perfect tasty morsel of meat, read my blog on how to cook the perfect steak.

Kohlrabi is a fantastic new find of mine, which can be picked up at the Quay CoOp. It's like a turnip, but not as strong tasting. It's a starchy vegetable which is ideal for roasting, but at only 6g of carbohydrates per 100g (compared to potato's 17g!) it's a fantastic alternative.

For The Kohlrabi Chips:

1. Cube the kohlrabi and par-boil in salted water until knife-soft. This should take about 15 minutes.

2. Cover with rapeseed oil and sprinkle over a little salt and pepper.

4. Roast in a pre-heated oven at 180C/355F for 30 minutes, turning occasionally, until crispy on the outside.

For The Kohlrabi Purée:

1. Cube the kohlrabi and par-boil in salted water until knife-soft. This should take about 15 minutes.

2. Blend in a food processor with salt, pepper and a generous knob of butter.

Pro-Tip: Par boil all your kohlrabi and separate into chips and mash to make your Sunday dinner appear extra-posh!

For The Carrot Purée:

1. Slice fresh carrots and par-boil in salted water until knife-soft. This should take about 10 minutes.

2. Blend in a food processor with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of cumin.

For The Pea Purée:

1. Boil fresh peas in salted water until soft. This should take about 15 minutes. (Tinned ones will do in a pinch, but make sure to choose the low-sugar version.)

2. Blend in a food processor with salt, pepper and a handful of chopped fresh mint.

Serve it all up and bask in the admiring glances of your Sunday Dinner Guests!

Man, I don't think I've ever typed the word purée so often.

Quick & Easy Chicken Skewers with Homemade Tzatziki

The weather is starting to warm up here in Cork, which always makes me crave light, spicy dinners.

These skewers are so easy to make- easier (and tastier) still if you can marinade the chicken the night before. And chop the veggies. There's nothing like coming home to a fully-prepped meal you can put together without much concentration.

We make this kind of meal a lot, so metal skewers are an economical choice. Using metal skewers also helps the meat cook quickly from the inside out. If you're using disposable wooden ones, don't forget to wet them under cold water before use to avoid burning.

For The Skewers (Makes 6)

6 Chicken Fillets
4 Capsicum Peppers, Various Colours
1 Courgette
1 Onion
Chop All Of The Above Into Large Chunks Which Wont Break On The Skewer

For The Chicken Marinade

Here's the list of spices I used, you can of course add/remove/adjust to fit your personal taste. These are listed in order of most to least used:

Paprika

Cumin

Salt

Black Pepper

Fennel Seed

Cinnamon

Ground Cardamom

Ground Ginger

Ground Nutmeg

Ground Cloves

Crushed Coriander Seed

Crushed Star Anise

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/ 375F.

2. Combine all your spices in a bowl with a few glugs of olive oil. Add your chicken chunks and mix to coat well. 

Ideally, cover and let the chicken sit overnight in the fridge. An hour or so will do too, but overnight is definitely tastier!

3. The rest is pretty self-explainatory! Build your skewers alternating chicken and vegetables.

4. Lay out on a wire tray and pop in the oven for 30 minutes, turning once during cooking.

While the skewers are in the oven, I like to knock together an awesome homemade tzatziki which compliments the spices perfectly. 

For The Tzatziki

200g Greek Yoghurt

1 Cucumber

Juice of Half A Lemon

1 Clove of Garlic, Crushed

Pinch Of Salt

Pinch Of Black Pepper

Handful Of Fresh Dill, Finely Chopped

1. Cut your cucumber in half and carefully remove all the green skin.

2. Using a cheese grater or similar, grate the cucumber onto a sheet of strong kitchen paper. (It's important to use a strong paper so you don't end up with chunks in your tzatziki!) When you're done grating, fold all the cucumber up into the paper towel and squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible.

3. In a bowl, combine the yoghurt, grated cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt and pepper. Mix Well and chill slightly before serving. Sprinkle with a few springs of dill if desired.

How To Chop Bell (Capsicum) Peppers

While in school, I worked part-time at a deli for almost three years. A large part of the daily chores included chopping large amounts of salad vegetables for the sandwich stand. This had to be done as quickly as possible, and with as little waste as possible.

On my first day I was taught this technique for chopping peppers, and I've used it ever since. It's simple to do, takes a couple of seconds, and you use every part except for the seeds and stalk.

Firstly, chop the top off the pepper, from just where the side turns into the top.

Use your hand to grab onto and scoop out the large lump out of seeds in one go.

If there are the odd couple of seeds left inside, holding the pepper upside down and giving it a quick tap on the bottom will flush them out.

Next, pull the stalk from the top part of the pepper.

Now the top and body of the pepper are seedless and ready to be sliced or diced, and all you have to throw away are the seeds and stalk. 

Give it a try the next time you're chopping peppers and you'll be surprised how much of a difference it makes, and how much more you'll get out of every vegetable.