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WE ARE WEEKS into this strange new Covid-19 shutdown and I, for one, am doing my best to keep busy and stay focused. All we can do is take it one day at a time. It’s not easy, that’s for sure!
I’m grateful for the work I have and also glad I have a chance to share some recipes here to help readers find a way to escape the constant flow of bad news. Cooking and baking can be of great benefit to our wellbeing, offering us a chance to be a little creative in our own kitchens.
My ‘cupboard creation’ cooking videos are still doing really well on Instagram and I can’t get over how many people are interested in cooking at the moment. I’m trying to make high-end baking more accessible and show everyone that you can make some gorgeous food from whatever you have at in your cupboards.
With that in mind, here are some recipes for you. Hope you enjoy.
SHANE’S RECIPES
Smoked bacon & mustard mac and cheese
Sometimes, you just need some comfort food, and this fits the bill. It’s a quick, hearty meal and tends to be a winner with younger members of the family.
Shane Smith
Shane Smith
Ingredients
Mac & cheese
250g macaroni or any small pasta
1 small diced onion
150g chopped smoked bacon
50g Odlums plain flour
50g Kerrygold butter
500ml milk
1 tablespoon Wholegrain or Dijon mustard
200g grated red cheddar or any cheese of your choice
5 scallions, chopped
Salt & pepper
Topping
100g breadcrumbs
50g melted butter
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Method
Preheat your oven to 200C/180C Fan
In a medium pot, boil the pasta for two minutes less than the cooking instructions, drain and set aside.
In a frying pan, slowly cook the onions and bacon until the onions are soft and bacon is cooked, put to one side until needed.
Melt the butter in a pot and add the flour, stir to combine. Slowly add the milk whisking to remove lumps. Continue to do this until all the milk is added.
To this, add the mustard and the grated cheese and stir until the cheese is melted.
Fold in the pasta, bacon, onions and the scallions. Check for seasoning.
Place all of this into an oven-proof baking dish.
For the topping, melt the butter and mix with the breadcrumbs. Spoon this over the top and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
This should cost just €6.45 for four portions.
Upside down caramel banana cake
This delicious treat is suitable for all the family and can be great fun to make with your loved ones at home. Everyone is keen on banana bread at the moment, but here’s a nice twist on that old favourite.
It’s pretty simple to make but is absolutely delicious. Plus, you’re getting some nutritional value in the bananas, so it’s a win-win for all the family.
150g golden syrup
5 ripe bananas
180g brown sugar
100g butter
4 eggs
Dash of vanilla
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp bread soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
200g creme fraiche Caramel Sauce
100g butter
100ml cream
100g brown sugar
Method
Pre-heat your oven to 160C or 140C for a fan oven. This is a slow bake dish.
Line a 20cm baking tray with some parchment paper.
Take the golden syrup and pour it over the bottom of the tray.
Slice 4 bananas, slice them in half lengthways and layer them over the golden syrup.
Add the butter, sugar, vanilla, four eggs and sugar to your mixing bowl, as well as one chopped-up banana. Mix it for 2-3 mins until it binds together.
Add the flour, cinnamon and bread soda and mix again until they’re blended in.
Add the creme fraiche and give it one final mix.
Pour the batter over the bananas and place into your pre-heated oven. It should take 45 minutes to 1 hour.
While the banana cake is baking we need to make the caramel sauce, which takes two minutes.
Add the butter, sugar and cream to a saucepan and stir until it melts and reduces down to a sticky caramel. Leave aside.
When your cake is out, leave it to sit for 2 minutes.
Make some incisions with a knife so it can soak in the caramel sauce.
Pour about half the caramel sauce over the cake and allow it to soak in.
Turn the cake upside down and pour it over the top of the cake, on the banana side. This is your glaze.
Cool, and enjoy.
Shane Smith has nearly 22 years’ experience working in some of the world’s most celebrated pastry kitchens across the globe. Over these years he has received numerous award from “Best Bakery Manager in Ireland”-Shelf life magazine to “The top 10 best pastry chefs in Ireland” Food & Wine Magazine. Along with baking he writes for many national publications and can be found cooking up a storm at some of Ireland’s most prestigious food festivals. Shane also has a regular cookery slot on RTÉ on The Today Show where he can be seen bringing his natural flair and love for all things sweet to the nation’s homes. Find him on Instagram at @chefshanesmith or at www.chefshanesmith.ie.
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It smells like political posturing to me. The info in the paper during was in direct contradiction of what the minister said before Christmas – ruling out tax credits because as he said in a parliamentary question a system of tax allowances would not benefit parents working in the home and could be seen as discriminatory. In addition, tax reliefs would favour the high paid while those on the minimum wage or in part-time work would not benefit to the same extent. Secondly he ruled out the second ECCE year now it back on the table. He’s doing a political cha cha because of the growing momentum for the Association of Childhood Professionals petition and 17th February rally which is even more reason to keep the pressure going. These hollow promises are just to attempt to quieten voices but I for one was raging when I read the article. This committee too is just a stalling tactic too, it will take several months for the committee to be formed, compile the data, launch it, then it will gather dust for a bit and hay presto it’s election time and they’re gone. Surly there is enough reports done of the years that can be dusted off and acted on. I for one will be at the Dail on 17th Feb with the ACP using my voice and looking for positive change. #oneunitedvoice (rant over)
Course it is, it’s the same government that threatened to cut child benefit if we didn’t sign up to IW, “but childcare services are important to them” pffffft
The first thing they need to do is look at the childcare subvention scheme and community childcare.
Why oh why are the government subsidising childcare for those who choose not to work.
Yes I know there will be do-gooders who will say the child needs it, that maybe these parents are looking for work etc. there is millions wasted, I work in the community sector and as a working parent there is nothing that drives me mad than meeting parents (who choose NOT to work) leaving their kids off at crèche a few mornings a week, so that they get ‘a break’ and pay between €20-€30(and complain having to pay this) for the privilege as the government subsidises this. Yet I have to pay full crèche fees of a grand and pay tax. While there are numerous families struggling to pay bills and childcare, there are huge numbers of subsidised crèche places being taking up by parents who do not work or train and do not want to!!
Selita, maybe the fact that some people ‘choose’ to stay at home and take responsibility for the majority of their childs care should be praised and not criticised. Of course people who do this have less money and that is why they need subsidised fees, or are they simply not entitled to a ‘break’ because they don’t put their child in crèche for 8+ hours a day and subscribe to a societal norm that is about as anti-family as it gets!
No I see her point Henry, and have no problem with the cost of childcare coming down for working families, but I didn’t like her comments in relation to parents who don’t work!
I am not undervaluing the stay at home parent, it is something I would aspire to be!!! Rakel I am talking about parents (both) who CHOOSE NOT to work and have no intention of working, having numerous kids….claim social welfare benefits, social housing etc. Parents not wanting to work and putting there child into a crèche 20-25 hours per week is hardly looking after their children? if I didn’t have to work I wouldn’t have my kids in crèche, why would I? as a working mother when do I get a break, im up at 6am, kids feed and clothed, dropped off, in work run of my feet, work through lunch so I can get out early, pick up kids, spend time with them, make dinner, bed time routine, clean up and finally sit down at 10pm and off to bed at 10.30, woken at least once a night by my baby.
I HAVE to work in order to keep a roof over my kids head, if I gave up work we would lose our home, I cant sell as we are in negative equity, I would love a large family, but that is not possible.
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