AH SURE AZURE

Author: Kathy

  • Espresso Brownie

    Anything chocolatey and gooey in the centre – delish
    With the hazelnut and dark chocolate this recipe has healthy credentials.

    grainnep's avataroliveoilandlemon

    Does Espresso in a brownie make them breakfast?
    They are nice enough to have anytime of the day but maybe that’s stretching it. What ever about that, they really are delicious…..
    Please be brave and take them out when they are still gooey in the middle as that is the hallmark of a really delicious brownie!

    Cuts into 16
    Oven at 180C

    50ml good quality espresso
    200gr dark chocolate
    150gr butter

    150gr sugar
    3 eggs

    50gr plain flour (You can substitute almond flour or an other gluten free flour of your choice)
    100gr hazlenuts, toast gently, skin and chop

    Melt the chocolate, butter and espresso gently over a bain marie
    Whisk the sugar and eggs together
    Fold in the flour followed by the melted chocolate mixture
    Add the hazlenuts and pour into a greased lined tin approx 10″ by 10″
    Bake for between 15-20 minutes. This is because all ovens…

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  • Up By Napper Tandys House

    This Sunday I went walkabout in Dublin’s oldest streets. Researching the price of organic cherry tomatoes, I made for the Dublin Food Coop. From Thomas Street, I passed throught Meath Street and The Coombe. Quiet and clean swept it being a Sunday, the redbrick houses are history in themselves. The families that grew up there, the messages bought, the workers arriving in , scraping theit boots on the built in irons that still protrude from the redbrick at foot level.

    The men who arrived home without work during the lockout and strikes of 1913 – the stories those walls could tell.

    IMG_3017Google maps brought me to the market – a buzzing hive of activity. Tourists from all over th world had found their way to this hub of crafts, music collections ,coffee and food.

    Cherry tomatoes were to be found @ €5 per kilo. Sourced from Spain so methinks there is a gap in the market for Irish Organic Cherry tomatoes.

     

  • Break my heart at Breakfast

    Apricot jam -v Marmalade
    unopened jar of Apricot Jam bought by mistake

    Did you ever cut open a brown scone, butter it and reach for the marmalade only to find the orange spread you ladle on is Apricot jam masquerading as marmalade?

    The illogical anger as your taste buds struggle and yearn for the zest and buzz of marmalade is matched only by the disappointment that your breakfast on your breakaway has been partially spoiled. The anticipation of the perfect breakfast scone has been unfulfilled and you look around for someone to blame.

    How could anyone think the bland smoothness of apricot would fool me? Who actually made the decision to substitute the real thing with an inadequate replacement. Better by far to say ‘We do not have marmalade’ than to lead one down or up the garden path and lull one into a false sense of consumable confiture.

    It is actually not jam at all  or jelly as they call it in the US.  The real thing was sliced in a manual slicer attached vice like to the kitchen table  Seville oranges came in once a year and the annual ritual would rotate between the Rayburn where the slices would bob around in the preserving pan, pounds of sugar added until it was decanted into sterilised Jam jars  and oh the smell!

    In times of need when the real thing was all eaten, mother would make it out of a tin .  Delicious !  Only when all else failed did we buy a pot of marmalade.

    The sausages are eaten, the second cup of coffee is poured but its all gone up in a puff of smoke.

    Is it worth talking to the waitress? Will this only serve to fuel the anger, underlining the unfortunate start to the day.

    Or does one just bottle it up and buy ones one jar of the real stuff at the local shop.

    Did you not know that ‘I was a morning grouch – until I discovered Little Chip marmalade ‘. One of the best pieces of advertising ever.

    So remember- serving Apricot Jam can be responsible for morning grouches all over the world.