Cod and prawn bake in a cheese sauce

From Irish Cooking by Clare Connery
Serves 4

Ingredients
450ml / ¾ pint milk
¼ onion
6 peppercorns
Blade of mace
1 bay leaf
A few parsley stalks
50g / 2oz butter
450g / 1 lb cod fillets, skinned
50g / 2oz button mushrooms, sliced
125g / 4oz cooked peeled prawns
30g / 1 ½ oz plain flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
125g / 4oz grated Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

Put the milk into a saucepan with the onion, peppercorns, mace, bay leaf and parsley stalks. Bring to the boil, and then remove from the heat and leave to infuse while preparing the remaining ingredients.

Melt the butter in another saucepan and use a little to brush the inside of a 1.6 litre / 2 ¾ pint ovenproof pie dish. Cut the cod into finger size strips, place in the pie dish and scatter the mushrooms and prawns on top.

Strain the milk through a sieve, then discard the contents of the sieve. Add the flour to the remaining butter in the saucepan, stirring to blend. Gradually stir in the strained milk to make a smooth sauce.

Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper and lemon juice and add two thirds of the grated cheese. Stir until melted.

Pour the sauce over the fish, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, place on a baking sheet and cook in a preheated oven 180C, Gas 4 for 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown.

I love the taste of the white sauce! To the extent I made too much, and that’s why it looks a lot more than it actually is. I am saving up the cheese sauce so that I can have pasta with it.

Creamy salmon kedgeree

From Irish Cooking – Clare Connery
Ingredients
Serves 4

50 g Butter
1 large onion (finely chopped)
175 g long grain rice (cooked until just tender)
500 g cooked salmon (boned and flaked)
3 hard-boiled eggs (roughly chopped)
2 tblsp parsley (finely chopped)
150 ml Cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp chives (finely chopped to garnish)

Melt half the butter in a large pan, add the onion and fry until it is soft.

Stir in the cooked rice, and season well with salt and pepper.

Add the salmon, eggs, parsley and cream, folding them carefully into the rice to prevent the fish and eggs from breaking up too much.

Pile the kedgeree into an ovenproof dish.

Grease a sheet of foil with the remaining butter and use to cover the dish.

Heat thoroughly in a preheated oven, 180°C (350°F/Gas 4) for 15 minutes.

When hot, serve sprinkled with the chives.

Was in Dublin for a wedding, and I continued my habit from buying cookbooks from the countries I have been to. Bought this irish cookbook to test out its recipes, and started with this kedgeree dish. Very very creamy and filling, and quite tasty too.

Irish coddled pork with cider

From BBC More One-pot Recipes
Serves 2
Ingredients

small knob butter
2 pork loin chops
4 rashers smoked bacon , cut into pieces
2 potatoes , cut into chunks
1 carrot , cut into large chunks
1⁄2 small swede , cut into chunks
1⁄2 large cabbage , cut into smaller pieces
1 bay leaf
100ml Irish cider
100g chicken stock

Heat the butter in a casserole dish until sizzling, then fry the pork for 2-3 mins on each side until browned. Remove from the pan.

Tip the bacon, carrot, potatoes and swede into the pan, then gently fry until slightly coloured. Stir in the cabbage, sit the chops back on top, add the bay leaf, then pour over the cider and stock. Cover the pan, then leave everything to gently simmer for 20 mins until the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.

Serve at the table spooned straight from the dish.

At the end of the day, I still think soft cabbage with bacon and soup is the best comfort food you can get for winter.