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00:00Creamy, dreamy, irresistibly tasty.
00:03Whether it's the key ingredient or main event,
00:05Philadelphia is the one cooks reach for.
00:08You've got a friend in Philly.
00:10They say the dinner table is the heart of the home.
00:14But what they forget to mention is...
00:17the absolute chaos it takes to get there.
00:20Navigating the small daily hurdles, the inevitable chaos
00:23and the everyday victories are what make family life such an adventure.
00:27Thank you!
00:30Welcome to the bit between the fridge and the fork,
00:34where the chaos battles calm and pasta waits for no one.
00:38Mmm!
00:39I literally would eat that directly from the pan.
00:42This is not a cooking show about perfection.
00:45This is real-time cooking,
00:48where every minute matters and every dinner served is a small triumph.
00:53So let's get cooking.
01:00Today is all about food that feels fresh, comes together fast and still delivers that something a little bit special.
01:10We're kicking off with crispy golden fish cakes packed with herbs and zing.
01:14And served with a cool summer noodle salad that's crunchy, light and full of flavour.
01:19This is the kind of bowl that my kids go crazy for.
01:22Then we've got a bold spiced kebab plate.
01:24Juicy kebabs, creamy hummus and a bright sharp Shirazi salad that brings the whole thing to life.
01:30You just know it's going to taste fantastic.
01:32And to finish, we're giving the classic Greek salad a proper upgrade.
01:37Creamy whipped feta blended with cream cheese, topped with za'atar croutons, crunchy veg and a whole pile of herbs.
01:45Big flavour, no fuss. Let's get to it.
01:53This recipe is one I come back to time and time again.
01:56It started as a little appetiser and it's developed into a full-blown meal in our house.
02:01It starts with some boneless, skinless, white fish fillets.
02:04Anything will do, like hake or cod.
02:06But ultimately we're going to blitz this up in a food processor with some vibrant aromatics.
02:11And they come in the form of some ginger, which I'm just going to prep up.
02:14And all I want to do is give the food processor a little helping hand just by slicing roughly on this ginger.
02:22I also need some chilli.
02:24So essentially we've got the building blocks for a really vibrant fish cake mix.
02:30So chillies, ginger and a little bit of garlic.
02:35It just takes a little bit of prep and then the food processor is going to do the rest of the work for you.
02:40And in amongst that I have a whole hunk of beautiful coriander.
02:44Go heavy on your herbs here.
02:46Get the lid on and give that a blitz.
02:51OK, just a couple of seconds.
02:54That's blitzed it up.
02:55To this we're adding the fish.
02:57Now as I said, any white fish will do here.
03:00But you want to make sure that it is skinless and that there's not too many bones.
03:03I'm going to blitz this until everything starts to come together and creates a really nice smooth paste.
03:13Once that starts to come together, I'm going to add in some flavour in the form of some red curry paste and some fish sauce.
03:19Add an egg to bind and then blitz it together.
03:24Right, I'm going to leave that to blitz away and it gives me the perfect moment to get my noodles soaked.
03:29So I have some rice vermicelli noodles, a freshly boiled kettle and we're going to add the water in here.
03:35They only need a couple of minutes in the boiling water to soak through and to cook out.
03:41Now, stick a plate straight on and leave it to sit.
03:44OK, that is our fish cake mixture ready to go.
03:48I've got my pan coming up to temperature.
03:50I'm going to add plenty of oil and get these fried off straight from the food processor into the pan.
03:55The best way to do that is to grab up your mix, take a spoonful and just slowly slide little fish cake balls straight into that hot oil.
04:08It means no rolling, no mess and gorgeous little fish cakes.
04:13Just work your way through the mixture.
04:16These cook off pretty quickly, so keep your eye on them.
04:19Once they start to brown, flip them over, then turn down the heat and let them finish cooking while we get on with our dresser.
04:24This again is made with really simple stuff that you might have in your store cupboard already.
04:30The fish sauce, a little bit of sweet chili sauce.
04:33I've got a tiny bit of sugar, some soy sauce.
04:36All of these ingredients get mixed in a bowl to create a gorgeous little dressing.
04:41Let's start off with some sugar.
04:44Mix that with a little bit of lime juice.
04:47A little bit of fish sauce.
04:50If you're nervous about using fish sauce, I highly recommend you try this.
04:56It's a really simple way of making it come to life and it's all about the balance of the flavours.
05:00You should get saltiness from that, the sour acidity from the lime juice, the sweetness, which we're also going to echo with a little bit of sweet chili sauce.
05:09About a generous tablespoon.
05:14For a touch of saltiness and a bit of colour, I've got some soy sauce.
05:19And then I'm going to finely chop a chili and I'm going to grab some garlic and finely slice those too.
05:24With these sort of store cupboard ingredients, they need a little bit of electrocution to get them alive.
05:29So it helps to add something fresh in there as well.
05:32Chilis go in.
05:34And then a little bit of finely chopped garlic too.
05:37This is a dressing that I use so often and it'll hold in a jar in the fridge for about five days.
05:45And you can add it to grilled meat.
05:47You can add it to a whole host of different things.
05:49It not only works with these fish cakes, but so many other options too.
05:53Garlic goes in.
05:55And then just give that a good mix through.
05:58A little taste.
06:01Woo!
06:02Bit of heat.
06:03Absolutely where I want it to be.
06:05Right.
06:06Fish cakes, noodles, dressing.
06:09Time to assemble with some veggies.
06:10I've got some red onion, I've got some radishes, and I have a little bit of butterhead lettuce in the fridge.
06:17A fine slice on the red onion and radishes.
06:20And then I also have some snacking cucumbers that I'm just going to cut into chunks.
06:26Then tear off some butterhead lettuce leaves.
06:29Rinse the noodles under a cold tap, and we're ready to build this bowl.
06:33So I've run the noodles under the cold tap.
06:37It's stopped them cooking, and it allows you to create these lovely little nests of the noodles.
06:43So the idea here is that you have all these great veggies that get tossed together with that sauce, with those fish cakes.
06:50This is the kind of bowl that my kids go crazy for, because there's lots of things that they can try and taste.
06:56But ultimately it comes down to these warm fish cakes that land on top.
07:00So about three little fish cakes in here.
07:03This is all about layering textures.
07:06You've got the cold noodles, the warm fish cakes, all those nice little crunchy bits.
07:11And it really requires plenty of fresh herbs as well.
07:15Do not skimp on them.
07:16And I think oftentimes people see herbs and they feel a bit nervous about using them.
07:20But be generous with the herbs here.
07:22Lots of mint, lots of coriander, and then all that beautiful sauce over the top.
07:27And you can just imagine the flavour. Spicy, sweet, cool and refreshing.
07:34And this deserves a little moment to tuck in and try.
07:38A little bit of that fish cake.
07:41Some nice fresh veggies.
07:44Oh man.
07:47I love that.
07:48You've got warm fish cakes, crispy crunchy salad, loads of spice.
07:53That is a proper real-time dinner.
07:57I have been making a version of this kebab plate for years.
08:11It is a firm family favourite in our house.
08:13It is filled with all the things we love.
08:15Char-grilled meats, beautiful veggies, and a simple hummus to boot.
08:19Really easy to make. Let's get cracking.
08:22The first step is to get your kebabs sorted.
08:31So I have some diced lamb shoulder here.
08:34And all I'm going to do is pop it into a bowl alongside our veggies.
08:38I have some onion and some jalapenos.
08:41Now, you can use any meat you fancy here.
08:43Pork shoulder is delicious in here.
08:45Even some chicken thighs would be great as well.
08:47But lamb shoulder is a fabulous one to barbecue or to griddle.
08:51To this, we're going to add in some veggies.
08:54So I have an onion and I'm going to keep it as much in shape as I possibly can,
08:58because we're going to skewer these up.
09:00So take off the peel.
09:02I'm going to grab up my scraps bowl and just pop them in there.
09:05And as they cook out, they're going to leave us with this lovely sweetness in amongst the lamb.
09:10So just slice them into quarters, ensuring that you keep that root.
09:15The root is going to be what keeps this together.
09:17So pop them straight in.
09:19To this, some jalapeno peppers.
09:21Nice and whole.
09:22We're going to season with plenty of sea salt.
09:25Plenty of pepper.
09:27And now it's time for our spices.
09:30So a generous amount of cumin goes in here.
09:33A generous amount of coriander.
09:36Coriander has that kind of almost citrusy flavour that it imparts to meat like this.
09:40And then I'm also going to add a hero ingredient in my house, which is harissa.
09:44It is a North African spice paste.
09:46It's sort of a dark sweet heat that goes really well with lamb.
09:50So get that all in and then give it a generous glug of some olive oil in there as well.
09:56You do need to add the oil, especially if you're going to barbecue or griddle like we are.
10:01It'll just ensure that you get a nice, even cook.
10:03Now, the last fragrant ingredient is some garlic cloves.
10:07So two or three garlic cloves here.
10:09Now, if I'm using them in a marinade like this, I tend to leave the skin on and just let the microplane do the work.
10:14So grate that straight in there.
10:17Give it a little tap.
10:19And then it's time to mix.
10:22You can leave that in the fridge to marinate for as long as you want.
10:25So if you want to do some meal prep, this is an ideal job to do first.
10:28Now for the messy bit.
10:30Pan is on.
10:31I'm going to skewer my meat and get it straight on to start cooking.
10:34What you're looking for here is a nice, even combination of those beautiful onions, the jalapenos and then that sweet meat.
10:49That's my last little kebab on.
10:52I need a little bit of clean down and then it's time to make up a beautiful Shirazi salad.
11:19Now, time for the salad.
11:31It comes together really easily.
11:32It doesn't have too many ingredients.
11:34And best of all, you can eat it with a spoon.
11:36And it's a classic Persian salad that's served alongside grilled meat.
11:40With the cucumber, all I'm going to do is take off nice little strips.
11:44We're going a little retro.
11:46And then we're just looking for nice little fine slices.
11:51I'm going to get rid of the center of that just to get rid of any excess moisture.
11:55You can do this with a teaspoon.
11:57It just means that you get all that great cucumber flavor without any of the excess water.
12:03So, a little bit of chopping to do.
12:11That is the cucumber done.
12:13Time for our tomatoes.
12:14I have a lovely selection of different colors here and it's going to add to the vibrancy of the look of this salad.
12:19So, nice little chop on these two.
12:21Next, go in with some finely diced red onion and a good squeeze of lime juice.
12:28You just want brightness in amongst those fresh flavors.
12:31I'm going to season this with plenty of salt, plenty of black pepper and a good hunk of some fresh coriander.
12:40Just pick those leaves in.
12:42It's a lovely fresh hit.
12:44Flat leaf parsley works a treat in here.
12:46Whatever herbs you have to hand.
12:48Give it a good mix and we are good to go.
12:51That's our salad sorted.
12:53Check on the kebabs.
12:54See where we are at.
12:56Do not be afraid of the char.
12:58We are looking for smoky flavor.
13:00Look at that.
13:01Gorgeous.
13:02The onions are starting to kind of caramelize a little bit and those beautiful jalapenos are starting to kind of char up as well.
13:10You just know it's going to taste fantastic.
13:12That harissa, the spice and now that smokiness.
13:16Our kebabs are all but cooked, which leaves me a bit of time to first put on my pan for some flatbreads.
13:22And secondly, to pep up some store-bought hummus, which all I'm going to do is pop into a bowl.
13:29And of course, you can make it yourself with some chickpeas, but sometimes we need a little bit of a cheat shortcut.
13:35So get that hummus in there.
13:36I'm going to add in a good squeeze of some lemon juice.
13:40About half a lemon here and I'm just squeezing it through my hands to catch any pips to prevent them going in.
13:45Lovely.
13:46A little of the cumin we used earlier and some of that coriander.
13:51A bit more seasoning in the form of some salt and some black pepper.
13:55And then just give that a good mix up.
13:57It will turn your store-bought hummus into something really special.
14:02Give it a little spoon across your bowl.
14:06Feed it generously with a good glug of some extra virgin olive oil.
14:11A little hit more of that ground cumin over the top.
14:15And then if you have them, a few toasted pine nuts to finish.
14:19Now, my last tip to make this kebab plate worth your while is grab up some flatbreads and pop them onto a smoking pan and let them come back to life.
14:28Gives me the perfect amount of time to get our kebabs on the plate.
14:32Beautiful, deep char marks.
14:35Gorgeous flavours.
14:36And really simple to do.
14:38Yum, yum, yum.
14:39OK, flatbreads, let's check on how we're getting on here.
14:42Fabulous.
14:43Time to serve up the salad.
14:46You can just imagine that gorgeous, fresh vibrancy you're going to get from those ingredients.
14:50Right, flatbreads are coming.
14:53Serve this straight to the table.
14:55Everyone can tuck in a little bit of the salad, a little bit of the hummus.
14:58But for me, it's all about that beautiful meat.
15:02I just have to try some.
15:04Tender, sweet lamb, that rose harissa.
15:10Absolutely gorgeous.
15:12And the kind of thing you can happily bring to the table and let everyone fight over the last kebab.
15:16Yum.
15:25Greek salad is a classic, but this version levels things up.
15:29We've got all the usual suspects, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion.
15:32But the real star is the whipped feta.
15:35I blend it with a bit of smooth cream cheese and it turns into this velvety base that makes the whole thing feel really indulgent.
15:47Now, to make this spread into a food processor with a little bit of yogurt.
15:54Now, this dip is pretty much addictive.
15:56I am obsessed with it and it's gorgeous with a whole host of different things.
15:59You can eat it on toast just as it is.
16:01Make a little bruschetta.
16:02It's fabulous.
16:03But ultimately, this is going to form the base of our beautiful Greek salad.
16:06So in on top of that, I have some cream cheese.
16:09This is going to add lovely creamy flavour and help to balance out the saltiness from the feta cheese.
16:16And now, crumble this in.
16:19And the amazing thing about feta is when you break it up, it crumbles.
16:22But when you whip it, it turns into this velvety, smooth, salty, creamy mixture that is ideal with all the fresh flavours in this salad.
16:31Lid on and let's give it a quick blitz.
16:33Okay, we're in business.
16:40Just look how smooth and creamy that is.
16:44Absolutely gorgeous.
16:45It's going to form the perfect base for this platter of gorgeous Greek salad.
16:49So I'm going to transfer this out to a bowl.
16:51So get every last bit of that creamy mixture out of the food processor.
16:56And you should be left with this beautiful velvety mixture.
17:01Always worth at this stage giving it a quick taste.
17:05Really nice.
17:06But it actually does need a little bit of lemon zest just to bring it to life.
17:10And now that just gets folded through.
17:12And that is essentially the base of our beautiful salad.
17:14So I'm going to leave it aside and crack on with our veggies.
17:17Because this is Greek style, we're going to go cucumber.
17:20We're going to go tomatoes.
17:21We're going to go onions.
17:22And there's just a whole pile of slicing that needs to happen now.
17:26There are big tomatoes sorted.
17:33I'm just going to slice up some of these lovely cherry tomatoes.
17:35And a good little tip.
17:36I don't know if you know this, but there's a little dimple across the top of your tomato.
17:40And if you slice across that dimple, you'll always get an open-faced tomato like this.
17:45If you slice down the ways across the dimple, you get ones that don't look half as pretty.
17:51That's our tomatoes in.
17:53Now for the cucumber.
17:54I'm just going to peel it and chop it into nice chunks.
17:57Next, the red onion, which I'm going to slice nice and thin.
18:02Stick the onions in.
18:04Plenty of salt at this point.
18:06Some black pepper as well.
18:07A nice glug of your best quality extra virgin olive oil here.
18:11This is your moment to use the very best extra virgin olive oil you can get your hands on.
18:15You want something that's robust and peppery that's really going to flavour up the salad because we're not going to add too much extra.
18:21Last little touch is some citrus in the form of our lemon, which we've already used the zest of in our beautiful dip.
18:28So I'm just going to go about half a lemon in here.
18:34And you're going to get that beautiful citrusy flavour running right the way through all the sweetness of the cucumber and beautiful tomatoes.
18:41Give that a little squeeze, get rid of your scraps and then go in with your hands and just mingle those flavours together.
18:49And even if you let this sit for about 15 minutes, the salt and the acid is going to work its magic and start to macerate all those beautiful flavours and allow them to come out.
18:57So I'm going to leave this aside and get our toast on.
19:00I always think if you're going to do a vegetarian dish like this, having something to dip and soak up all those flavours is really essential.
19:06So I have a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread and I'm just going to slice this into nice big crusty chunks that are going to get toasted on a griddle pan.
19:15Look at that.
19:16You always know you're in a good place if there's sourdough bread in the kitchen.
19:19Now, with one half of this loaf, you're going to slice down the middle and then just slice this into chunky pieces.
19:27We're going to generously douse this with some olive oil and I'm just going to work my way through until I have nice griddle marks across all these pieces of toast.
19:41A little more olive oil on the other side and then let the heat do its thing.
19:47Forget about your sliced pan here.
19:49This is all about really good hunks of sourdough bread.
19:53And giving this the time to toast and griddle and char is going to make this a spectacular part of this recipe.
20:00If you don't have a griddle pan, a barbecue works a treat or you could do it in a frying pan just until you get those nice toasted edges.
20:07At a push you could stick it in the toaster, but it's better like this.
20:11OK, we're into the final stages.
20:14I have beautiful golden brown toast, nice char marks.
20:17And these would be lovely with all the things we have already.
20:20But the finishing touches here are to grab a bowl and another store cupboard saviour.
20:26I have some fabulous zaatar, which is a combination of beautiful cumin, sumac, toasted sesame seeds and basically a jar full of wonder.
20:35It's fabulous.
20:36So all I'm going to do is slice up my bread and get it into nice kind of clanky chunks so that it can take on as much of that flavour as possible.
20:46We're kind of going for fancy croutons essentially, but croutons like you've never had before.
20:52So good.
20:53OK.
20:54Pile them up and this is where I'm not going to add a tablespoon, I'm going to add two.
21:00Pop that straight in over.
21:03You want to go heavy on the zaatar.
21:06Plenty of olive oil just to help that bind.
21:10And then grab a spoon and get it tossed through.
21:15The zaatar should stick really nicely to that crunchy toast.
21:20Just look at those.
21:21I could eat them alone.
21:22They look spectacular.
21:23Now to build this platter.
21:25I've got a nice big serving platter, which I'm going to bring to the table to serve.
21:29Spread that yoghurt, feta and cream cheese dip all the way across the base of this.
21:37It's going to be the perfect base for all of these fabulous flavours.
21:41I'm going to take some of my zaatar croutons, place them in and around.
21:46And I love this style of eating.
21:50I love this style of serving.
21:52It means that everyone can dig in themselves and taste just about everything.
21:57Now it's time for all those chunky veggies on top.
22:00The cucumbers, the red onion, the different colours of the tomatoes here are fabulous.
22:05Now to finish that off, a little bit of dill, plenty of mint.
22:12And it's all about the herbs.
22:15Just tear them over the top.
22:17In amongst all these flavours, those herbs are just going to be the fresh maker that bring this to life.
22:22Some black pepper over the top, little pinch of some sea salt and a last little glug of olive oil.
22:31Look at that.
22:32Now for me, that is a veggie feast to be properly proud of.
22:38When it looks this good, you just got to go in and try some.
22:41I'm going to grab a little bit of that cool creamy dip.
22:44You know what?
22:48I'm taking this.
22:50I'm going to eat it by myself.
22:51Goodbye.
23:05If you ever needed proof that weeknight food does not have to be boring, this was it.
23:11Delicious crispy fish cakes done in minutes, paired with cool noodles and that zingy dressing.
23:18Then those lamb kebabs, spiced, juicy, stacked on skewers, served up with toasted flatbreads,
23:23creamy hummus and a big spoon of bright Shirazi salad.
23:27And don't forget the Greek salad, simple at first glance, but with that whipped feta and cream cheese base,
23:32this is next level creamy.
23:35Serve it with tomatoes, cucumber, herbs and a pile of warm za'atar bread and you are laughing.
23:40So there you have it, three easy wins already before you know it.
23:45For all the recipes from this week's show, visit ort.ie forward slash food and we'll see you next time.
23:51We'll see you next time.
23:54We'll see you next time.
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