Even on a wet and grey London day, there is something to be excited about because it’s WEDNESDAY!!!!  And today is a special Woman Crush Wednesday!  Because we are honoring Hemsley + Hemsley!  The sister duo Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley.  Since it is doubly special,  for this once, we are calling today Women Crush Wednesday.

These ladies are even more gorgeous in person than in their stunning photos.  I had the pleasure of meeting them at Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival the end of August. They were doing a demonstration of their kitchen essential tool the Spiralizer.  And when they asked for volunteers from the audience, well my exuberant American self jumped up in two seconds flat.  Actually it was great to give it a go. It is a non electronic gadget that turns any veg or fruit into beautiful edible ribbons of flavor.  With the recent shift away from carbs, gluten and grains, this handy gizmo gives you the effect of spagetti pasta noodles but with veg such as courgettes. Hence their courgetti with a beef ragu recipe in their book The Art of Eating Well.

Since I don’t own a spiralizer I decided to do one of their other famous recipes, BB Brownies, as a way to show them some love!   The BB is for Black Beans and I hoped that when I did the tutorial for snapchat (user name blissbakery) I wouldn’t lose viewers.  I have done loads of healthy recipes before, even though I tend to lean towards the naughty treats.  But beans in a dessert could be such a paradigm shift for some that they might tune out.   It seems like a strange ingredient for chocolate brownies but quite frankly, they are actually a perfect choice!  They add texture and nutritional value while maintaining a neutral taste.  What you end up tasting are the other lovely flavors.  The chocolate and maple syrup come through along with the vanilla extract and the bit of coffee.  And I like that the recipe is also flexible in that it says you can use butter or coconut oil.  I chose the coconut oil since I wanted to keep it dairy free.

The good news is from the snapchat response, it was a massive hit!  So many people are trying to look after their health and wellness. Yet they don’t want to walk around feeling deprived. These brownies are the answer!  They are fudgy and moreish.  The instructions are pretty fool proof too.  It helps to have a food processor of course, but other than that you don’t need anything fancy and the ingredients are easy enough to find at your local grocery store.  Often times ultra healthy recipes call for ingredients that can only be found in a health food store. That isn’t a problem per se, but can exclude some people, like a busy working mom of four.  With little time to make extra stops on shopping days, it might make it a bit tricky to incorporate new recipes like these.  But with H+H’s  BB brownies, which a mom can put together in no time, the whole family can nosh on these nutritious and delicious goodies without a hint of guilt!

The Hemsley Sisters are not professionally trained chefs, but their ascent to celebuchef status is well deserving.  They talk the talk and walk the walk.  A read through their book and you know they have done their research.  The don’t go overboard with harsh food rules,  but they are committed to a healthy lifestyle while still being balanced.  One look at their glowing faces would make anyone want some of what they have going on.  And in a current culinary climate of young women who are starving themselves by eliminating whole categories of essential food groups, these ladies are still enjoying loads of things such as meat, dairy and fat.  They just believe in eliminating refined sugars and certain grains.  They also espouse common sense tips such as chewing food properly to help aid digestion.  And they are big on the notion of “boiling your bones” to create a nutrient rich broth that is used in everything from soup to risotto and ragu.

When I do my snapchat tutorials I always have music accompanying me.  And much to my pretty pit Stella’s chagrin, I like to sing along, and dance a little too.  But even with bad singing and bad dancing I demonstrate some good recipes.  Like this one!  And today, all of the music featured artists with Filapino ancestry.  Bruno Mars, Arnel Pineda, Lea Salonga and X Factor’s new find, 4th Power (now called 4th Impact).  Why?  Because Jasmine and Melissa’s mom was born in the Philippines.  They have talked about how that ethnic food has influenced their palettes.  I have met many Filipinos over the years while living in L.A. and even in Dublin.  I also had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines back in 1994.  I absolutely love their warmth, friendliness and openness.  I feel that the Irish are akin to them.  Both cultures have a strong sense of family and one of the centerpieces is everyone around the dinner table.  Likely, for the Hemsleys, these brownies would feature in a good coffee clutch with mom, granny, aunts and cousins all in attendance!

BB Brownies
Makes nine to 16
INGREDIENTS
2 x 400g tins cooked black beans, drained
230g (8oz) coconut oil
4 medium eggs
85g (3oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
150ml (5fl oz) maple syrup
1½ tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coffee extract, or use extra vanilla extract
130g (4¾oz) chopped walnuts

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170°C/330°F/gas mark 3½.
Rinse the black beans and leave to drain. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat, then set it aside.
Place the drained beans, eggs, cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla extract and coffee extract (if using) into a food processor with a large pinch of salt. Pulse a few times and then blend until smooth. Add the melted butter, very slowly so as not to cook the eggs, while the machine is running. Taste the batter – add more maple syrup if needs be – then stir in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving a handful.
Grease the inside of a 24 x 20cm (9¾ x 8in) china or glass baking-dish. Pour in the brownie batter and gently tap the baking-dish on to a kitchen counter to even out the batter. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the brownie feels firm and springy and its surface is cracked.
Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Refrigerating the brownies makes them wonderfully fudgy.

I didn’t have walnuts so I used pecans.  In the recipe it also says you can replace the nuts all together and use dried cranberries instead.  For the coffee extract I only had Irel (a famous Irish coffee extract) but it contains a bit of sugar.  Because I wanted the brownies to be completely sugar free I made some espresso (a Nespresso caramel flavor) and substituted that.  It worked totally fine!

I am really excited about these brownies and anticipate it will be on heavy rotation in my kitchen!  It is great to have a healthy treat, as I have a wicked sweet tooth.  And I have put their spiralizer on my Santa’s list!  Soon enough the Hemsley sisters will have their second book out and I can hardly wait to see what they have in store next.  But with their positive outlook and genuine desire to help people achieve healthier lifestyles, I’m sure they will be flying to the stratosphere!

Thanks Melissa and Jasmine. You are shining stars!

Crushing and Loving,

YDP

Today is my favorite day of the week.  Wednesday.  Why?  Because of this wonderful new way to get through the “hump day” to once again fascinate on a female foodie.  Today we are celebrating none other than chef, author, and food writer Trish Deseine.

I had an epiphany while out on a walk with my pretty pit Stella this morning.  It struck me that today is the third Woman Crush Wednesday we’ve done here on YDP.  And three being a very significant number in Irish history and folklore.  Ah, yes, it was our dear St. Patrick who used the beloved shamrock to illustrate the meaning of the Holy Trinity to convert the then pagan people on the Emerald Isle.  Since our beautiful and amazing Ms. Deseine is in fact the third in this weekly installment and has only recently returned home to God’s Country after 25 years of living in France, I thought, how perfect!  To top it off, her new cookbook is based on Irish recipes and is aptly title “Home”.

Okay, now that I have a massive lump in my throat thinking about when my return to Ireland might be, I am going to give you a snippet of this famous chef’s accomplishments.  Chances are, you probably already know about her.  Besides her stunning television cooking shows,  she has sold a whopping one million plus cookery books and has won numerous awards for them to boot.  She has made French food, and in particular cooking it, obtainable for us normal folks.  And she has done all of this while living in a “foreign” country and raising four gorgeous children.  I use quotations around the word foreign because it might feel that way for people that don’t speak the language or understand the culture.  But as Trish is fluent in French and truly immersed herself in Parisian life, she made it seem effortless when we all know it isn’t.  Though no trace of an accent when she is speaking French, which is in fact her second language, it is only when she speaks English that you hear she still has that lovely Northern Irish lilt that is so endearing.

She and I have a lot in common. We were both born in 1964, we are both divorced from the fathers of our children, and we are both unabashedly and unapologetically chocoholics! Though I have never met her and don’t own any of her cookbooks (the only reason being that, I think I might have mentioned to you before, I was put on a moratorium from buying any more cookbooks) I have a major crush on her.  Like seriously!  I mean, infatuation city!

When my Hubby and I first moved to Dublin in 2008 we didn’t own a television for the first 8 months.  I am not a big tele person anyway, I prefer to read, so I didn’t miss it quite frankly.  But when we finally got a T.V. my Hubby watched Sentanta Sports (MMA Ultimate Fighting, guy stuff) and I would watch Trish’s cooking shows.  To be honest, I was never one to watch cooking shows prior to that.  When I lived in the U.S. the Food Network was all the rage.  But I hadn’t embraced it at that point.  However, Trish’s relaxed, warm, and dare I say, sensual way of presenting her French food literally had me enraptured.

Let’s also talk about her writing…she is without a doubt one of the best food writers ever published!  The way she speaks of food I feel as though I am a child hearing a calming nursery rhyme before bedtime.  She lulls you into an intoxicated dream like state and you can literally see with vividness what she is describing!  And yet all the while her style is approachable and accessible.  For instance,  when I read this article she wrote for the Irish Times at Christmas it made me feel cold, warm, hungry, full, nostalgic, happy, etc. etc. etc. all in one!  Talk about delighting the senses!  Wowza!

I’ve read some articles comparing Trish to other chefs.  They say she is the Irish equivalent of U.K.’s Nigella Lawson, and the U.S.’s Ina Garten.  But I think each of these women stand on their own merits, and as all of us are unique individuals, no one can be us.  We can only be a better version of ourselves!  And I think that with Trish “coming home” to Ireland, the old sod, she will continue to blossom and reveal all sorts of culinary wonders!   Because now she will have such amazing ingredients from which to choose.  You do know that Ireland has the best raw materials and food stuffs the world has to offer don’t you?

So today, I would like to reignite your love affair with her and encourage you to go and buy her new book.  I might have to get a special dispensation just this once and buy it myself.  Or dig out one of her older ones from your shelf and have a crack at some of her classic recipes .  And if you haven’t met her before, then I am happy to introduce you to her!  This is one blind date you will never forget!  As per usual with these #WCW I will be doing a snapchat tutorial so you can always follow along with me (user name: blissbakery) but it sadly disappears within 24 hours.

I have left this recipe for her Irish Apple Cake in tact, just as she has written it, because I shall not breaketh thy words of thy master (or mistress in this case)!  You’ll notice I’ve put all her words in quotation marks.  And you might want to see the ethereal and effortless way she has photo styled her cake on her website here.

“Irish Apple Cake

There are as many versions of this in Ireland as there are shapes of apples, it would seem. As the recipe has been handed down orally, or scribbled on the back of an old shopping list, or the margin of a cookbook, it has slowly evolved and multiplied, winding its way across the branches of many a family tree.

For 8/12

10 minutes preparation

45/50 minutes cooking

400g plain flour

2 rounded teaspoons baking powder

175g salted butter, very cold

150g sugar + 2 tablespoons for the top of the cake

4 cooking apples

150g blackberries (optional)

2 eggs

175ml fresh milk

½ teaspoon good vanilla extract

Grease and flour a round, 20cm springform cake tin. (Or use a cake tin liner.)

Pre heat the oven to 180C.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into small cubes and rub it through the flour with your fingers until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar.

Peel, core and chop the apples into 2cm chunks. Toss them through the flour mixture.

Beat the eggs and milk in a separate bowl and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the mixing bowl and mix it in with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined into a thick dough. Be careful not to work it too much. Add the blackberries now if you are using them.

Tip this dough into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top with the spoon or spatula. Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the cake and bake for 45/50 minutes, until it is well risen and slightly golden and cracked on top. Test the cake with a knife or a skewer, which will come out clean if the cake is baked.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes or so in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.

Sprinkle with a little caster sugar before serving.”

I have mentioned before, I am not a writer, I am a share-er.  I am not a photographer.  I only take pics on my little ol’ iPhone 6 for the purposes of showing you the before (ingredients) and the after (final result) of the recipes.  As you can see from the above pic the cake is out of the oven, and cracked on top, for the hoped for final result.  As well, I am not a professional food blogger.  I am using this blog as a medium to share my passion for food.  I am not food stylist either.  Most of the time because I am so food focused I want to rush through the taking of the pic so I can eat, asap!  But I AM a trained professional chef, however, there is always more to learn and explore.  And learning from others like Trish Deseine is such a rewarding experience.

I do hope I get to meet her someday.  She seems quite genuine.  I follow her on twitter and I noticed that she engages in what I call a #mutualadorationsociety and often gushes to and about other chefs.  In such a competitive world that we live in, it is refreshing to see that.  Especially, as I have said before, in the food industry which is dominated by males.  At times females clawing their way to the top in any business can forget to lend a hand to a “sister” but not Trish.  She is not only generous but also a class act!

So thank you Trish for being your exquisite and inspiring self and sharing all of it with us, your foodie fans!

Best of luck/ ádh mór,

YDP

Another Wednesday, another crush.  Gotta keep the female foodie infatuation going.  And this week’s star is a superstar!  So of course I had to do a snapchat tutorial/love fest in her honor!  If you haven’t joined yet, you should! You can find me at user name: blissbakery

With the weather getting cooler, the days getting shorter, and everyone I know suffering from the flu, I thought a nice healthy soup was in order for today.  Specifically, Broccoli Soup!  Who better to show us the way than none other than my former Ballymaloe Cookery School teacher.  The amazing Rachel Allen is our Woman Crush Wednesday and not only is she pretty on the outside, she is gorgeous on the inside too!

And it’s not just from eating all the super delish Broccoli soup, though I am sure it doesn’t hurt.  Why?  Because Broccoli is certainly nutritious and talk about a superfood, it has even been embraced by mainstream medicine for its benefits.  In spite of former U.S. President George Bush Sr.’s vocal dislike of the brainy veg, it has come through stronger than ever!  Even my four year old granddaughter loves it and though she can now say “broccoli” we still call it “gocki” which is how she pronounced it when she first started talking.

Rachel, originally from Dublin, moved to Ballymaloe as an eighteen year old cookery student and has made it a permanent home.  Now married with three children, she is carrying on the tradition of strong Allen women who’ve helped define and direct one of the most recognizable Irish brands.  Her eleventh cookbook called Coast just recently hit the market and like all of her books, the recipes are as accessible as she is.  The photography shows off her unctuous food, the rugged Atlantic Way, and her own natural beauty.

I speak from my heart when I say that Rachel Allen is truly one of the most lovely people I have ever had the pleasure to meet in my fifty years!  That she was also one of my cookery teachers during my three months at the Ballymaloe Cookery School is a true blessing.  Rachel is an extremely hard worker.  It could be because she has big shoes to fill, but also because she takes her role as a foodie expert seriously.  Certainly with the success of her television shows she could have rested on her laurels.  But she is still up at the school everyday working alongside it’s formidable founder (and her mother-in-law) Darina Allen and the talented Rory O’Connell.

One thing a lot of people might not realize about Rachel is that she is very funny.  In our cooking demonstrations at the school she had us all in laughter on a regular basis.  One day in particular while prepping prawns for a lovely seafood platter,  the little crustacean flew up into the top of, and then down, her chef’s jacket.  She let out a little girl giggle and had to surreptitiously remove it while continuing on with her instructions.  Of course the lads, though trying to remain professional chefs, still had the urge to offer to help “fish out” the runner.  But it was a moment when I realized that she is utterly human!

Another time she was in charge of teaching all 55 chefs the details of filleting fish.  She bravely admitted that when she was a student there herself she didn’t pay much attention during that particular demo.  Unfortunately, when she began working at the Ballymaloe House after graduation, on day one she was given the job of filleting all the fish for the dinner service that evening.  She learned a lesson the hard way and wanted us to pay heed!   But I loved the fact that she was so honest with us about her own hard knock teachable moment.

Whenever I go back to the school for visits, reunions or events (such as the Ballymaloe Lit Fest where the above pic was taken) Rachel is always warm, friendly and genuinely happy to see me.  Though I suspect a lot of people get the feeling that they are her best friend too.  She has that ability. It seems like you’re the only one in the room when she talks to you.  It is quite endearing.  And you feel so included when she is there with the likes of Donal Skehan and makes it a point to introduce you.  I’m sure with her kitchen skills along with her people skills she will have continued success for many years to come.   And it couldn’t happen to a nicer person!

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for, the famous Broccoli Soup Recipe!

Broccoli Soup

 Serves 6

25 g (1 oz) butter

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes (1/2 in.)

salt and pepper

1 head of broccoli, with stalk

800 ml/ 1 liter (2 pints) vegetable or chicken stock

175 ml (6 oz) double cream (called heavy cream in the US)

crème fraiche or natural Greek Yogurt and sprig of herb for garnish

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. When it foams add the potatoes and onions, season with the salt and pepper. Cover with a butter paper lid (to retain steam) and a tight fitting lid. Leave to sweat on low heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut the broccoli florets from the stalk. Using a small knife, removed the outer layer of skin from the stalk and discard. Then chop the stalk into 1 cm cubes and add to the onion and potato and sweat for a further 5 mins.
3. Remove the lid, add the stock, bring to the boil then add the florets. Boil without the lid until the vegetables are soft (5-8 mins). Add the cream.
4. Pour the soup into a liquidizer (or use a hand held). Puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Garnish with a swirl of crème fraiche and sprig of herb. Serve with Cheese Toasts.

This photo was taken the night of the Ballymaloe Cookery School graduation.  It was one of the most fun nights of my life and much of that is due to the fact that all of the teachers, not just Rachel, but Darina, Rory and all the instructors and staff from the school were there for the celebration.  It literally takes an army to keep the school going and yet they still know how to throw a party!  It was fab to hang out without our chef’s whites on and share a glass of wine.  And Rachel’s arm around my shoulder felt more symbolic to me than anything.  Once you have been fortunate enough to grace the halls of the school, cook in its kitchens and sit in the hallowed seats of the demonstration room, you are one of the family forever more!

Big love and thanks to you Rachel!

YDP (aka Karen, the ‘American Lady from the Winter 2007 Course’)

P.S. I have indeed been happy cooking!