So far, this year’s festivities are just as thrilling, with the launch this evening of Irish Distillers’ Yellow Spot single pot still, and more exciting events in the offing from the bekilted Michael Foggarty and the WJ Kavanagh crew. And all this before the main event in the Mansion House this Saturday! So, for the week that’s in it, some decadent whiskey-laced treats are in order – delicious on their own or with the dram of your choosing.

Chocolate whiskey truffles, adapted from Endless Simmer

What you need for around two dozen truffles:

225g dark chocolate – 60-70% is ideal – broken into chunks
120ml double cream
a pinch of finely ground sea salt
40ml whiskey (Redbreast and Kilbeggan work well – a madeira or port finish would be delicious too)
around 50g cocoa powder, for coating the truffles

What to do:

Place the chocolate and cream in a bowl, and sit it over a pot of simmering water. Leave the chocolate and cream to heat up for around four minutes, then remove the bowl from the heat and lightly whisk the two ingredients together until smooth and glossy. Stir in the salt, and then gently and gradually add the whiskey.

Pour the truffle mixture into a flat-bottomed container (Tupperware is grand) and leave in the fridge to set for at least three hours, or overnight if you can.

Take the container out of the fridge about an hour before you want to make the truffles and let the mixture warm up to room temperature. Scatter the cocoa powder out onto a plate.

Using a melon baller or a teaspoon, scoop out a small amount and roll into a ball using the palm of your hands. Quickly coat the truffle in the cocoa powder. Repeat for each truffle (you may need to wash your hands halfway through!). Transfer the truffles to a box or tin and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

(Of course, the same jet-lagged state had me snoring in bed until far too late on Saturday morning, and we only just managed to snag the last four vlaas at the market, but all’s well that ends well!)

This method of cooking pork belly lends itself well to a lazy Sunday: minimal prep, of the sort that can be done in one’s pyjamas over a cup of tea, and a long, slow, delicious-smelling roasting time. And, as an added bonus, a leftover cider aperitivo – it’d be wrong to leave it behind, right?

Pulled pork belly ‘Vlaas’ with apple and fennel slaw

(adapted from, respectively, Jamie magazine and Williams-Sonoma)

What you need for two servings, plus lunchy leftovers:

For the pork:

1kg pork belly, a middle bit if possible
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
zest of one lemon
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp cider vinegar (I used Llewellyn’s balsamic)
6 shallots, peeled and halved
300ml dry cider (I used I used Armagh’s Carsons Crisp)

For the slaw:

the heart of 1 Savoy cabbage
1 fennel bulb
1 sharp apple (e.g. Granny Smith)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp cider vinegar (the Llewellyn’s again, if you have it)
juice of one lemon

To serve:

2 ‘Vlaas’, floury baps or sourdough rolls
2 potatoes for chipping, if you like

What to do:

First, crush the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar and mix through the lemon zest and thyme leaves to create a rub for the pork.

Use a sharp serrated knife or Stanley blade to score the fatty surface of the pork belly, deeply and at 1cm intervals. Gently spoon the vinegar across the scored surface, making sure it gets in between each of the ‘ridges’ in the skin. Rub the lemon, thyme and pepper mix into the sides and bottom of the pork belly. Return to the fridge, uncovered, and leave to marinate for two hours.

As the two-hour mark approaches, preheat the oven to 220C / 200C fan. Remove the pork from the fridge and rub half a teaspoonful of fine table salt into the skin. Arrange the halved shallots in the centre of a roasting tin and rest the pork on top. Sprinkle over a teaspoon of sea salt flakes and roast in the hot oven for 20 minutes to get the crackling started nicely.

Reduce the heat to 170C / 150C fan. Remove the pork from the oven and quickly pour the cider into the base of the tin, ensuring the pork stays dry. Return the tin to the oven and roast for a further two hours until the meat is tender, checking mid-way and adding more cider if needed.

To make the slaw, first shred the cabbage leaves finely using a mandoline or sharp knife. Transfer the shredded leaves to a bowl of ice water. Next, finely chop the fennel bulb, removing the wispy leafy bits and any tough stalk, and blanch the pieces in boiling water for thirty seconds before adding to the bowl with the cabbage (and more ice). Chop or grate the apple, and add to a second bowl with half the lemon juice and more cold water.

For the dressing, combine the cider vinegar and mayonnaise. Add the remaining lemon juice gradually and whisk to a smooth, pourable mixture.

Drain the cabbage and fennel and use a tea towel to get rid of any remaining moisture before transferring both to a clean bowl. Drain and add the apple, and pour in the dressing, mixing thoroughly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Once the pork is done, leave to rest for half an hour. Remove the crackling layer and shred the meat using two forks. Pile onto the vlaas, along with a spoonful of the cider juices from the roasting tin, a couple of pieces of crackling, and the slaw. Serve with chips on the side if you’re extra peckish, and a hoppy pale ale if you’re extra thirsty.

Anyway, it has been as quiet in my kitchen this month as December was manic. Having resolved to make 2012 my year of eating Lots More Veg, I’ve been pootling steadily through the fantastic River Cottage Veg book, a much-welcomed Christmas gift. I now have a mild addiction to kale, and growing confidence in my ability as a veggie cook (one bland biryani incident aside).

What with all this veg consumption, there’s been much less meat eaten at Runcible Spoon HQ this month – no bad thing, considering the size of our festive turkey, ham and spiced beef! It’s also meant that we can spend our money on the good stuff, like this wild Wicklow venison from Hick & Sons, which I picked up at their H2G stall, and baked in a pastry-topped pie.

The filling for the pie takes a while to put together, but it’s entirely worth it, and could be prepped in advance if you’re stuck for time. It’s also delicious without the pastry topping and with a heap of mashed potato. And maybe some kale, if you’re as hooked on it as I am.

"Beware of shot" - oo-er!

Venison pie (inspired by BBC Good Food)

What you need for four servings of pie:

2tbsp olive oil
a knob of butter
8 shallots, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 leek, peeled and chopped
500g Ed Hick’s venison goulash mix (or venison pieces)
2 white turnips, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
450ml rough red wine
450ml rich beef stock (I used a Stock Pot)
leaves from one sprig of thyme

1 sheet frozen pre-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten

What to do:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 160C fan.

Heat the butter and olive oil on a medium heat in a heavy-bottomed casserole pan. Add the shallots, garlic and leek and fry for 5-7 minutes until soft and starting to colour. Lift the veg out with a slotted spoon, leaving as much of the oil and juices in the pan as you can.

Tip in the venison pieces, taking care not to crowd the pan, and fry until browned on all sides. Add the shallot, garlic and leek mixture back to the pan along with the turnips and carrots, and give everything a good stir.

Pour in the red wine and stock, scrape up any stuck bits from the bottom of the pan, and add a little salt and pepper and the thyme leaves. Bring the lot to the boil, then cover and transfer to the oven for one and a half hours. Check the pot after an hour and add a little extra water if the liquid levels have dropped.

Once the filling has cooked, allow it to cool for a few minutes and check the seasoning before transferring to the pie dish (or dishes) of your choosing.

In the meantime, crank the oven temperature back up to 200C / 180C fan.

Ready for topping

Cut the puff pastry sheet to the necessary size and cover each pie. Glaze with the beaten egg and pop in the oven for another 25 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden. Serve immediately, with some green winter veg on the side.

One thing I do have up my sleeve already, though, is a plan for our Christmas dinner leftovers. Given the size of the turkey and ham I’ve ordered, there should be pickings aplenty on St. Stephen’s Day. Something quick, easy and still relatively decadent is just the ticket for post-festive feasting, and these pasties tick all the boxes. The pastry’s quickly made (especially with some seasonal tunes for company), and its buttery glory makes it well worth the effort.

Turkey and ham pasties

Ingredients for 4 dinner plate-sized or 6 smaller pasties:

For the pastry:

500g white flour
a pinch of salt
250g cold Kerrygold butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten, to seal and glaze

For the filling:

a glug of olive oil
a knob of Kerrygold butter
1 onion, finely chopped
300g leftover turkey meat, chopped into 1cm cubes
300g leftover ham, chopped into 1cm cubes
a sprig of tarragon, leaves removed and finely chopped
125ml chicken or turkey stock
4 tbsp double cream
4 leftover roast potatoes, chopped into 1cm cubes

What to do:

For the pastry, stir the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Rub in the cold cubed butter with your fingertips until the mixture has a breadcrumby texture. Add in six tablespoons of ice cold water and bring the mixture together to form a firm dough. Cover and leave to rest in the fridge while you prepare the pasty fillings.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C / 375F / 180C fan.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat the butter and oil together. Fry off the chopped onion for 5-6 minutes until just starting to colour. Turn the heat down and add in the cubed turkey and ham, the tarragon leaves and salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle the stock in and add the cream, and stir the lot together. Lastly, add the roast potato bits carefully so they don’t mush up too much. Turn off the heat and leave the mixture to sit while you prepare the pasty cases.

Remove the pastry dough from the fridge and divide into four or six pieces, depending on the size of your pasties. Roll out each piece to around 3mm thickness in a roughly circular shape. Using a dinner plate or smaller plate, cut the exact template for each pasty.

Brush a little of the beaten egg around the edge of each pastry round and spoon the filling equally across one side of each. Gently fold the other side of each pasty across and press the edges firmly together to seal. Brush the remaining beaten egg across the surface of each pasty to glaze. Place on a non-stick baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden.

Best served warm with homemade cranberry sauce on the side.

(ps – the lovely people at Kerrygold sent me some butter to make this, but I’d have used it anyway, I love it that much. They’re featuring lots of lovely seasonal recipes from Irish food bloggers this week over on their Facebook page).

I couldn’t resist adding some of Tyrconnell’s port finish whiskey to this version (thus breaking into our seasonal stash, much to Himself’s chagrin!) It’s just as tasty without, though, and, with some great deals on fresh cranberries to be had this year, easy to make in bulk as a lovely foodie gift.

Whiskey-spiked cranberry sauce

Ingredients for two 150g jars’ worth:

100ml freshly squeezed orange juice
100g soft light brown sugar
75ml whisk(e)y – not the peated stuff though
250g fresh cranberries

What to do:

Combine the orange juice, sugar and whiskey in a pot and heat gently until bubbling.

Tip in the cranberries and stir to coat. Leave to simmer gently on a low heat for about ten minutes until the berries have burst apart and are starting to go a little mushy.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Stir again to combine the berries and liquid, and pour into sterilised glass jars.

There wasn’t much in the way of soup-making veg in the house this past Sunday, but this recipe yielded two lovely warming lunches. And the chat was good, too.

Spiced roasted butternut squash and red pepper soup

Ingredients for two hearty bowlfuls:

1 medium onion
1 large red pepper
2 cloves garlic (whole, skin on)
1 smallish butternut squash
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
a couple of glugs of olive oil
600ml vegetable stock

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan.

Chop the onion into eight chunks. Remove the seeds from the pepper and slice into strips. Add the onion and pepper pieces to a roasting tray along with the garlic cloves and toss in a glug of olive oil.

Peel the squash (a potato peeler works best for me) and carefully cut in half. Remove the seeds and pith and chop the lot into one-inch chunks or so. In a second roasting tin, toss the squash in the cumin, chilli powder and another glug of olive oil.

Pop both trays in the oven to roast for around thirty minutes or until tender. When the roasting time is almost up, prepare the stock and leave it on a very low heat.

Allow the roasted veg to cool for a few minutes before carefully peeling the pepper slices and squeezing the roasted garlic flesh from its skin. Add all of the veg to the stock, stir and leave to simmer for a few minutes.

Take the pot off the heat and let the soup cool slightly. Whizz the lot up with a hand blender until smooth, adding a little more stock if needed, and season to taste. Serve with a scattering of toasted flaked almonds.

The bones of this recipe – now much tweaked and experimented with – originate from Helen Jane Hearn. I especially love the crunchy demerara crust, the lingering smoky hint of maple sweetness, and best of all, the slathered layer of melting butter on a slice straight from the oven.

Mapley banana bread

Ingredients for one loaf:

3 squishily ripe bananas
2 large eggs
280g white flour
40g golden brown caster sugar
30ml maple syrup
1 tsp bread soda
large pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 heaped tbsp demerara sugar
3 or 4 whole walnuts (optional)

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 325F / 160C / 150C fan oven. Butter and line a loaf tin with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas well. Thoroughly whisk the eggs in a separate bowl. Add to the mashed banana and mix through.

Add the flour, sugar, maple syrup, bread soda, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir to combine into a thickish batter.

Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the demerara sugar evenly over the top. Dot the walnuts along the middle, if using.

Bake for one hour until the loaf is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Delicious fresh from the oven, with lashings of butter (or almond butter, or any nut butter really).

Crumbles, of any kind, are my sort of dessert – they can be prepared in advance, tolerate my let’s-throw-this-in-here-and-see-how-it-tastes tendencies, and are very happy to be drowned in custard or cream. This oaty variation, inspired by one of my favourite dessert books, has a fairly hefty crumble-to-fruit ratio, the better to soak up the caramelly spice of the Lasanta cream. It would work equally well with apples, and any sort of whisk(e)y cream.

Spiced pear crumble with Lasanta cream

Ingredients for 4 generous portions:

Crumble:
175g jumbo porridge oats
155g plain white flour
30g ground almonds
250g brown sugar
150g butter, melted

Fruit layer:
4 Conference pears
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Cream:
75ml Glenmorangie Lasanta whisky
170ml double cream
1/2 tsp caster sugar

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 190C / 170C fan.

Mix together the oats, flour, almonds and sugar in a bowl. Stir the melted butter through to form a thick, clumpy mixture. Store in the fridge for a couple of hours if making ahead of time, otherwise pop in the freezer until the fruit is prepared.

Peel the pears and slice thinly. Layer the pear slices evenly around a greased baking dish, and sprinkle over the cinnamon and nutmeg. Gently scoop the crumble topping in on top of the fruit, smoothing over the top. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is light gold in colour.

While the crumble bakes and bubbles, combine the whiskey, cream and sugar in a bowl. Whisk gently until the cream has reached thick pouring consistency. Apply liberally to the finished product (and quaff a dram of whiskey on the side, if the fancy takes you).

I had no idea, back in June, that I was planting such a tyrannical vegetable. But, since then, my eight little Savoys have grown and grown, dwarfing the peas and throwing shade on the courgettes (although the latter don’t seem to mind the dark too much). Last Sunday, I decided it was finally time to pull up a couple of heads, wash the dirt and beasties off, and see how they tasted. Lo and behold, my cabbages have hearts, and there are now weeds growing in their place.

Now, I am not a fan of watery boiled cabbage. I’d happily eat it raw, or flash-in-the-pan-fried. My favourite cabbage dish, though, inspired by the foodie uncle, involves a pancetta-y twist and some flavourful chicken stock. I’ve eaten piles of it by itself, but it’s a tasty addition to Sunday lunch, too – especially lemon, garlic and herb roast chicken and crisp-edged roasted spuds.

Moreish bacon and cabbage

Ingredients for two gluttonous or four side-dish portions:

1 Savoy cabbage
150ml best chicken stock
1 onion
a knob of butter
around 10 slices / 100g of pancetta (buy Irish if you can – TJ Crowe and Sir Jack know their stuff! Streaky bacon works, too)
a handful of toasted pine nuts
salt & pepper to taste

What to do:

Rinse the cabbage leaves in some icy cold water, and chop roughly. Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a large pot and add the cabbage. Cover the pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the cabbage is soft but not falling apart. Keep an eye on the pot and add a spoonful or two of water if needed.

While the cabbage is cooking, chop the onion finely and fry in the butter until golden. Lift the onion out with a slotted spoon, add the pancetta and fry in the buttery oniony juices until crisp. Toss the pine nuts through for a couple of seconds at the very end, then remove the pan from the heat.

Once the cabbage has cooked through, drain off any remaining liquid. Return the cabbage to the pot and stir the pancetta, onion and pine nuts through. Season to taste, and serve immediately.

1. I eat more than the usual amount of chocolate
2. I stop cooking new things

And lo, it’s been a couple of cocoa and comfort food-filled weeks at Runcible Spoon HQ as I make do without my daily dalliances at the stove. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though, and a garden full of fruit and veg to be harvested. (It was a pleasant surprise to pick the first two chillies from our first ever chilli plant this evening and find them hot!)

Whilst I continue dodging spatulas and pots, here are some photos of one of the cakes I made a couple of Sundays ago. (I say “one of” as there were two chocolate cakes, too – a one-day record for me, and a lovely way to spend an afternoon.) The recipe is Jamie Oliver’s, the plums from my parents’ trees, and the idea from my mam, who has taken to texting me photos of things she cooks. Perhaps I can get her on the food blogging bandwagon too…

Caramelly plums

Ready to go in the oven

The finished product. Very m-word.

(Back soon.)