Food by Miriam

Bread and Butter Pudding

This dessert is my ultimate nostalgia food and brings me right back to being a
little girl in my Mom’s kitchen, where she made this as a surprise treat from time
to time. I like to serve this warm with a generous dollop of vanilla custard.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 x Rankin Irish Fruit Loaf
Butter
600ml whole milk
3 medium eggs
1tbsp demerara sugar
Custard or cream to serve

Equipment: 1 x Pyrex Ceramic Rectangular Roaster Oven Dish, 25 x 19cm greased with butter.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 °C /160 °C fan/Gas mark 4.
Butter the slices of Irish fruit loaf and cut each slice in half diagonally into small
triangles. Place the triangles into the buttered oven dish so that they are in two
rows and overlapping slightly.
Warm the milk in a pan over a low heat, don’t let it boil! Meanwhile crack the
eggs into a large bowl and mix with a whisk. When the milk is hot, gradually add
it to the eggs mixture, whisking constantly. Strain this custard mix into a
separate bowl or jug.
Pour the custard over the bread and leave it to soak for about 15 minutes.
Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until
golden brown and set.

Beef and Guinness Stew

This is a really hearty and comforting dish. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes or
fresh crusty bread.
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons of vegetable or sunflower oil
400g diced stewing beef
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 carrots, cut into 2cm rounds
2 tablespoons of flour
440ml can of Guinness
1 beef stock pot
2 tablespoons tomato purée
2 bay leaves
Spring of thyme or rosemary

Equipment: Cast iron casserole pot. I used a shallow 30cm casserole.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas mark 3.
In the shallow casserole, heat some of the oil over a medium heat. Brown the meat in batches, then set aside. Deglaze the pan with a cup of water and keep the water to add back in later.
Add the remaining oil and place the chopped onion and carrots into the pan. Fry for 5-10 minutes and then return the meat to the pan. Sprinkle over the flour and stir in. Pour back in the deglazing liquid and add the Guinness. Stir in the tomato purée, stock pot and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then cover with the lid and transfer to the oven to cook for about two hours or until the meat is tender.

Meringue Roulade

This is a delicious and quick dessert to prepare! I love that you can adapt the
filling to suit the season… strawberries in summer, blackberries in autumn,
passionfruit in winter and rhubarb in spring are some of my favourite options.
This dish is best enjoyed on the day it is made.
Serves 8

Meringue roulade with fresh cream and passion fruit

Ingredients

4 free range egg whites
250g caster sugar
icing sugar to dust

For the Filling

300ml double cream, whipped
Filling of your choice e.g. 250g berries

Equipment: baking tray 31 x 20cm, lined

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 °C /180 °C fan/Gas mark 6.
In a spotlessly clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with your stand mixer,
beginning on a low speed to break up the whites.
Increase the speed and whisk until firm peaks form. Begin to add the sugar, one
spoon at a time and continuing to whisk until stiff glossy peaks form, and all the
sugar has been added.
Spread the meringue mixture evenly over the base of the lined baking tin.
Bake for 10 minutes at 200 °C /180 °C fan/Gas mark 6, then reduce the heat to
180 °C /160 °C fan/Gas mark 4 for another 6 minutes.
Remove the meringue from the oven and turn out onto a sheet of baking paper
dusted with icing sugar. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Spread the whipped cream evenly over the cooled meringue base. Next add your
chosen filling.
Place the baking paper and meringue on your serving platter. Roll up the
meringue from one of the long sides, using the paper to help you, into a firm
roulade. Tear off any excess baking paper from the opposite side so that you can
roll your roulade onto the serving platter with the seam on the underside.
Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Online cooking classes and group cooking classes

I am delighted to be announcing a new range of online cooking classes and group cooking classes. In the last year, we have become familiar with regularly zooming family and friends as well as colleagues for work. As many organisations will continue to work remotely, a group cooking class is a great way to bring people together for a fun activity, and you will have something delicious to eat at the end of the class too! I have outlined some online cooking class options available below. I am happy to work with you to build a bespoke class for your organisation or team, please contact me and we can discuss your ideas!

Pancakes from Miriam's online cookery class

Brunch

Learn how to make a delicious brunch dish, choose between making crepes or American style pancakes. We will also make a fruit compote to serve with the pancakes. This is a very straightforward recipe to make and one that you will turn to again and again for a delicious weekend brunch. This is a great team cooking class option, we will make the pancakes together and then you can enjoy your pancakes while you have a team meeting with your colleagues.

A slice of cake, make this in an online cooking class

Cake Making

Learn how to make a delicious Victoria sponge cake, it’s a classic for a reason! In this online cooking class, I will explain how to achieve a wonderfully light and fluffy sponge cake and discuss the variations possible with the base recipe. We will fill the cake and I will showcase some piping techniques for you to practice! This is a great class to get younger members of the family involved with – the more the merrier!

Learn how to make meringue with your food mixer in this online cooking class

Food Mixer Masterclass

This is an online cookery class for owners of food mixers. Maybe you have just purchased a new food mixer or perhaps you have one at the back of the cupboard that you would like to learn how to use! In this class, I will explain the tools that accompany your machine and how you can use them. We will make 3 recipes in this session using each of the 3 attachments, and you will finish this class feeling much more confident using your food mixer!

I am experienced in working with a range of teams that are working in different time zonse and countries on Zoom and Webex. If you are interested in arranging a team cooking class for employees in your organisation, get in touch. We can create a bespoke plan to suit your needs and tastes.

I was looking for someone to run a group cooking class experience amongst our team. Miriam came highly recommended. I explained to Miriam a little about our team, what we had in mind… Miriam tailored our group cooking class which was held on Webex and had over 50 people join us across 6 time zones and it was seamless. We received great feedback from everyone involved, we will definitely be using Miriam again.’
Michelle Hurley, Cisco Webex

Fig and Goats Cheese Tart

This tart is so quick and easy to prepare, especially after a long day in the kitchen at work when the last thing I want to do is come home and cook again! This is one of my favourite recipes. You could also add a couple of slices of prosciutto on top of the figs – the prosciutto goes deliciously crispy when baked.

Ingredients

Puff pastry rectangle measuring roughly 26cm x 12cm
60g soft goat’s cheese
Fresh thyme
3 ripe figs quarters
Honey

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°C fan/220°C
Place the puffed pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Define the crust of the pastry but scoring a 2cm border around the edge of the pastry.
Dot most of the goat’s cheese evenly over the base of the pastry, avoiding the border. Season with a twist or two of black pepper before placing the fig quarters on top of the goat’s cheese. Sprinkle the remaining goats cheese over the top of the figs.
Bake for 20 minutes. Let the tart cool for a minute or two, then drizzle with honey and serve.

Carrot and Parsnip Cake

Here is another recipe to inspire you to pull out the mixing bowl and spoon and get baking this week.
I have decorated the cake with ribbons of purple heritage carrot which gives a dramatic and eye-catching topping to the cake. I also added a crown of rosemary for texture and colour contrast.

Ingredients

250ml sunflower oil
200g soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
Zest of one orange
160g grated carrot
130g grated parsnip
80g chopped walnuts
200g self-raising flour
50g self-raising wholesale flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon mixed spice
Half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Icing

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g icing sugar
150g cream cheese, at room temperature

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°C fan. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins.
In a large bowl beat the sunflower oil, sugar and eggs with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for 3-4 minutes.
Stir in the orange zest, grated carrot and parsnip and chopped walnuts.
Next fold in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt and the nutmeg and mixed spice.
Pour the mix equally into the 2 tins and bake for 25-30 minutes. A metal/wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean when the cake is ready. Cool the cakes on a wire rack while you make the icing.
Beat the butter for about 3-4 minutes until it changes to a lighter shade of yellow and being to add in the icing sugar gradually. Next add in the cream cheese, about a third at a time, and fold into the mixture until it is all combined.
When the cakes are fully cooled spread half the icing over the top of one of the cakes (you may want to trim the top if there is a large dome). Pop the other cake on top, bottom side up so that you have a flat base for the top of the cake. Spread the remaining icing across the top and decorate.