“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations,” Oscar Wilde couldn’t have predicted how apt his maxim would become in lockdown times! In part two of our series celebrating comfort eating, Taryn de Vere, Jen O’Dwyer, Fionnuala Jones and Liadán Hynes share their favourite recipes
Taryn de Vere’s Comfort Cupcakes
These are my failsafe cupcakes, sometimes I make them just so I can eat the batter as the batter is super yum, but the cupcakes themselves are the best I’ve ever eaten.
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Photo by Marta Muñoz on Unsplash
Taryn de Vere’s Comfort Cupcakes
Makes 12-24 depending on the size of cupcake tray used
You will need:
200g butter
200g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
50g cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 medium eggs, beaten
Bit of milk to loosen.
For optimum icing experience, you will need:
100g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
150g high quality white chocolate
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180℃. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in sifted flour, cocoa and baking powder then add the eggs. Mix and add milk as needed to loosen the mixture.
Step 2
Put paper patty pans in the cupcake tray and pour the batter in, filling about ¾ of each. Make sure you leave some raw batter to eat! Bake for around 15mins — you may need a few more mins depending on your oven. You’ll know they are ready when the cake bounces back into shape when you gently depress with your finger. Put on cooling rack.
Step 3 (making the icing)
Beat butter until it goes a pale colour. Add sifted icing sugar (you might need to add a splash of milk too). Melt chocolate in the microwave on a low heat. Add melted chocolate to the icing mixture. You’ll need to ice the cakes really quickly as the chocolate in the icing will start to set.
These are unbelievably yummy!
Liadán Hynes’ Chickpeas and Chorizo
I am lucky enough to be staying in a house (my parents’) where all my meals are being cooked for me — I’m working full time and parenting, in case that sounds incredibly slothful! Of all the dishes that are currently being served up by the restaurant that is my mum and dad, this one is my absolute favourite. I think my dad, who is a truly great cook, invented it.
Photo by Delaney Van on Unsplash
Liadán Hynes’ Chickpeas and chorizo
Serves 4
You will need:
Olive oil
2 red or yellow peppers, sliced
100g chorizo, sliced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 can of chickpeas
1-2 cans chopped tomatoes
200g feta
4 eggs (optional)
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C, heat olive oil in an oven-proof pot over a low heat and add the peppers. Sauté covered for about 10 minutes. Then add the chorizo and spices along with the chickpeas and cook for a further five minutes.
Step 2
Add the tomatoes — should be enough to cover mix, if not, add more from second can but not too much. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes but make sure it doesn’t get too dry. Then crumble feta over the top and place in the oven, uncovered for 10 minutes then serve.
A variation:
Before crumbling the feta over the mix, form shallow dips in the top of mix and break in an egg per person then bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the eggs are set but the yolks are not hard.
Fionnuala Jones’ cheesy bean-y omelette
This recipe belongs to the shrine of my mother. I don’t remember what prompted me to ask my mam for one — I spent a large part of my life thinking I didn’t like eggs — but I’m glad I did. The cheesy bean-y omelette is now sacred in my house and is the ultimate can’t-be-bothered-making-dinner-but-still-absolutely-need-to-eat-dinner dinner.
This is not a fancy delicate French thing.
This is a burly boi.
Fionnuala Jones’ cheesy bean-y omelette
Serves 1
You will need:
3 large eggs
Oil or butter
As much cheddar cheese as you want
1/2 tin of mixed beans
Salt and pepper to taste
Step 1
Crack your eggs in a bowl and beat together. In a separate bowl, grate as much cheese as you want. Add a splash of oil or a knob of butter, depending on what you’re using, to a frying pan and set to a medium heat.
Step 2
Pour the eggs into the pan, tilt the pan ever so slightly from one side to another to allow the eggs to swirl and cover the surface of the pan completely.
Step 3
Once the egg starts to set, you can add your cheese and your beans, though leave some cheese aside for later.
Step 4
Don’t even BOTHER trying to flip the thing, life’s too short. Turn your grill on to the highest setting, add your grated cheese finale and throw the pan under there for 5 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn. Make sure you don’t shove the pan all the way – melted plastic is not delicious.
Step 5
Remove from pan as elegantly as possible on to a plate — if it’s stuck a little bit, and it doesn’t come out in a perfect circle, genuinely, who cares? Serve with a side salad or ketchup if you are a complete heathen like me.
Jen O’Dwyer’s Sourdough
My husband makes sour dough bread compulsively.
I’ve been eating bread day and night, our house is now a sandwich factory. No one is wearing a hair net.
Sometimes I secret globs of “starter” into small disposable cups and leave outside our door for our neighbours to collect. Please see below and admire the loaves.
Photos courtesy of Jen O’Dwyer
Main image by Dane Deaner on Unsplash
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