Donal Skehan's blog

Donal Skehan's Dark Orange Hot Chocolate is the last word in Christmas decadence

21/12/12 at 06:08 PM | 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago myself and the Kitchen Hero camera crew headed to Austria to record the Kitchen Hero Christmas Special, which airs this year on Christmas Eve. The aim was to learn all about a traditional Austrian Christmas. We visited Meyerhoffen in the Zilla valley, an incredibly beautiful snow covered village. Some of the highlights were visiting a traditional Christmas market and the house where Silent Night became famous, and of course we got to sample lots of traditional Austrian food. The cooking sequences were shot 2500ft up a mountain in -15 degree temperatures, which can prove a little tricky when you are melting chocolate and creaming sugar and butter. To combat the chilly weather I made some of this hot chocolate... the perfect little Christmas treat!

 

Dark Orange Hot Chocolate

Serves 2

450ml milk

200ml cream

1 orange, zest only

150g dark chocolate, chopped

Donal Skehan's boozy pavlova is a seasonal showstopper

14/12/12 at 12:00 AM | 0 Comments

If you're a little disorganised, like me this Christmas, and haven't been soaking your Christmas cake since October, then you might be on the lookout for a cheat's Christmas dessert. This very simple boozy pavlova cake is full of Christmas cheer and can be made earlier and assembled at the last minute.  You can play around with the fillings, use winter berries or drizzle with dulche de leche... it's the perfect showstopping dessert.

 

Boozy Chocolate Mocha Pavlova cake

What I love most about this slightly alternative Christmas dessert is that it can all be made ahead and simply assembled last minute for show stopping results.

Serves 8

250g icing sugar

4 egg whites

2 teaspoons of cornflour

1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp espresso powder

750ml of cream, whipped

3 tbsp brandy

100g dark chocolate, shavings

 

Donal Skehan's duck rolls are a festive starter with a twist

07/12/12 at 09:03 AM | 0 Comments

Christmas is seriously sneaking up on me this year. I'd like to say I have everything organised, considering I'm on Christmas dinner duty, but I've been busy shooting the food images for my next book and time hasn't been on my side. My plan is to keep things traditional but with a twist; my Christmas ham is going to be glazed with plum jam and star anise and my turkey will have a maple and orange glaze, stuffed with apple and smoky bacon. That's the plan anyway!

Surprise Santa with Donal Skehan's Rocky Road Squares

29/11/12 at 08:04 PM | 0 Comments

I don't know about you but for me, Christmas comes a little earlier every year. In the world of food this is definitely the case as magazines, newspapers and TV shows require Christmas content as early as July, which can make for a very surreal summer time Christmas shoot! Last week I was in London filming a Christmas show for Food Network with Matt Tebbut and Lisa Faulkner. I was asked to come up with something sweet to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. These rocky road Christmas squares are perfect and easy to make with little cooks. Even if you feel it's a little early for Christmas cheer just yet, these rocky road squares are a delicious sweet treat!

Christmas Rocky Road Squares

These little rocky road squares are perfect to serve up to guests and visitors this festive season. They are very easy to make, just be sure to melt the butter and condensed milk low and slow.

Makes 20 about squares

Brighten up a dull winter afternoon with Donal Skehan's Swedish cream buns

23/11/12 at 09:45 AM | 0 Comments

Some of my favourite winter baking recipes come from Sweden, where café culture is big business and sweet treats are incredibly popular. These cream buns are a classic Swedish recipe, spiced beautifully with cardamom.

 

Semlor (Swedish Cream Buns)

Semlors or cream buns are incredibly popular in Swedish bakeries. Traditionally they are eaten on Pancake Tuesday, known as Fettisdag or Fat Tuesday in Sweden. During winter, stopping for "fika", the Swedish word for taking a break from the day to enjoy some coffee, tea and something sweet, is a must. It normally includes one of these cream and almond paste filled sweet buns...

 

Makes about 18 buns

2 teaspoons of freshly ground cardamom

350ml milk

2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast

140g caster sugar

150g salted butter, softened

1 large free range egg

700g plain flour

 

Donal Skehan's winter salad looks as good as it tastes...

15/11/12 at 10:51 PM | 0 Comments

Winter salads are often overlooked in favour of slow cooked stews and soups. This week I'm making a push for tasty winter salads and this one will hopefully prove that you don't have to go to too much trouble to produce something dark, delicious yet also healthy. Pomegranates are incredible fruits filled with gleaming ruby seeds which are highly nutritious. Added to salads they provide both texture and a sweet tangy taste. A common ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine, the fruit makes an extra special addition to salads like this one.  

Why queue at the chipper, asks Donal Skehan, when you can recreate a classic takeaway at home? 

09/11/12 at 01:10 AM | 0 Comments

It's all about home comfort this week in our house. I'm writing recipes for my next book so I've been chained to the desk trying to get it all finished before my December deadline. Working from home does mean cabin fever can take hold pretty quickly but long winter walks and catching up with friends is a quick remedy. The added advantage of being at home for an extended period of time is that I get to use the kitchen a lot! Between testing recipes, I've been cooking some old favourites and this week's highlight was these rather simple fish and chips made with lemon sole. You could also add some mushy peas to the mix here for some veggie action.

 

Simple Fish and Chips

A good fish and chips can be made at home quite easily. Try my version with a tangy tartare sauce and some alternative pan-fried potatoes.

 

Serves 4

2 tablespoons of olive oil

500g baby potatoes

4 fillets of lemon sole, skinless

Warm up a dark November evening with Donal Skehan's Deep South Gumbo

01/11/12 at 11:45 PM | 0 Comments

I'm still getting through all the images I photographed on my travels this year and now with the change of seasons, the comforting dishes I noted are becoming more and more relevant. One of the recipes I snatched up while visiting the home of Tabasco in Louisiana earlier this year was the classic dish Gumbo, an earthy, spiced soup that's perfect for cold weather. It's a wonderfully filling dish packed full of great flavour and can be made ahead of time if required.

 

Donal Skehan: Make like the Americans and bake your pumpkin into a tray of sweet and spicy muffins!

25/10/12 at 11:31 PM | 0 Comments

Halloween is just around the corner so it's all about pumpkins this week. One of my favourite things to do growing up was carving pumpkins and we used to plead with my dad to bring home the biggest ones he could find. I love the process of cutting the top open, diving into the squelching flesh and seeds and then ripping and scooping them out. Once the seeds are clean I toss them in a little melted butter, sprinkle on some sea salt and pop them in a hot oven until golden and crisp, they make the perfect little Halloween snack.

The actual carving of the pumpkin has become a bit of a competition in our house - Google is your best friend if you want some cool ideas. Irish people are of course well used to carving pumpkins but it's only in more recent years that it has become popular to cook and bake with the flesh as an ingredient. Roasted, added to soups or baked in pies it has a wonderfully unique sweet taste.

Donal Skehan's Hole-in-the-Bread Eggs are his dad's speciality... 

19/10/12 at 12:33 AM | 0 Comments

It's the simplest of dishes that satisfy me most in the kitchen. I'm talking about the ones that require just a few ingredients, a short amount of time preparing them and completely delicious results. Some of my favourite things to cook are recipes which are filled with nostalgia; the roast leg of lamb my granny would cook on a Sunday, it's smells teasing you for the hour or so in oven before it was ready, or the roast chicken, which was a weekly family tradition. Food is a wonderful vehicle for memories and some of my favourite dishes come served up with a generous side of old stories and family jokes that really make a meal out of them. These incredibly simple but highly impressive (to a five-year-old me) eggs always remind me of Sunday mornings in our house, creeping into a quiet kitchen to see what my dad was cooking. Sunday mornings being one of the few times he took up the kitchen duties and to make a full Irish for the whole family, something he took great pride in!

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