Well book 3 has finally arrived! After months and months of work, last night we launched Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less in Dubray Books on Grafton St.  It was the same venue Good Mood Food was launched in back in 2009, which at this point feels like an eternity ago, but it was a really nice feeling to be back where it all began.

I’m incredibly proud of this book as I really feel the message is a strong one and particularly timely considering people are seeking ways to spend less money.  My main aim with the book is to prove that home cooking really is one of those invaluable skills which anyone can gain and as a result cook delicious food while also saving money.

It was wonderful to see so many people turn out for the event, from family to friends, fellow bloggers and a good few familiar faces from twitter and facebook.  Many thanks to everyone who came to the event and it was great to see so many friendly faces in the crowd!  Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less is in all good bookshops now, so please spread the word and get cooking!

This Wednesday 16th of May, I’m launching my brand new book “Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less” in Dubray Books on Grafton Street in Dublin at 6.30pm. Books will be on sale on the night and I’ll be there signing copies of the book and giving a very quick chat about the background of the book and how it all came together, plus there’ll be a glass of wine and a sweet treat to nibble on.

The book features 100 delicious money saving recipes with chapters including, Cheap and Healthy, Everyday Suppers, Desserts, Baking, Slow Cooked, Soups and Stews.  We have a limit of 50 places so if you’d like to come along to the event be the first to leave your name and email address below and we will try and accommodate as many as possible. Best of luck and hopefully see you on Wednesday!

I hope you’re enjoying the new series of Kitchen Hero so far!  There’s been a great reaction so far and it seems that frugal food is still a popular topic.  In this weeks episode I cook up great food for less for a three course dinner party for just some of my lovely food blogger friends.  Unfortunately for the show I was limited to inviting only six food bloggers to come, I would have loved to have many more!  I was thrilled that for this episode we got to feature the wonderful world of Irish food blogging, a medium which has been widely covered in magazines and newspapers but never on television in Ireland.

It’s from a food blog my journey started so it was super to have the opportunity to highlight this increasingly popular platform.  If you are considering starting a food blog, now is the time to do it, you become instantly a member of a worldwide community, and especially in Ireland food bloggers are incredibly supportive of each other and we regularly meet up and foodie excursions are continuously encouraged!  The lovely ladies who came along to my food blogger supperclub were, Roseanne from LikeMamUsedToBake, Imen from ModernFarmette, Caroline from Bibliocook, Lilly from MakeBakeLove, Aoife from ICanHasCook and Kristen from EdibleIreland.  You can see a full list of fantastic Irish food bloggers over at the Irish Food Blogger Association (setup by Caroline and Kristen) with lots of great details on how to join.

For the dinner party and as part of the show I cook up a delicious Roast Squash, Coconut and Chilli Soup for starters, Porchetta, a slow roasted shoulder of pork with root vegetable mash and spinach for a very filling main course, and finally, currently my favorite dessert of all time ever, Sticky Toffee Banana Puddings with Salted Caramel Sauce for dessert.  The recipes are all from my new book which is now available in all bookshops and all the details are over here.

Make sure to tune in tonight to Kitchen Hero at 8.30pm on RTÉ One!

One of the highlights of my trip to Louisiana last week was a visit to the New Orleans Cooking Experience, a cooking class presented by Janice B. Macomber or “Boo” as she is affectionately referred to. Boo is an advocate of real Southern home cooking and proper hearty food so it was wonderful to see her speak so passionately about the dishes she grew up eating. The demonstration was peppered with some unbelievable tall tales and stories about living on the bayou – we could have listened to her all day!

We cooked southern classics like gumbo, a deep smoky soup made with a roux and spicy bourbon pecan bread pudding (with a splash of Tabasco sauce for good measure), a really sweet and fluffy dessert typical of the region. It was a wonderful way to get an introduction to some classic New Orleans dishes. Boo was also kind enough to give me a copy of her cookbook, which is full of her wonderful stories and make her recipes extra special. This is one of my favourites and it’s extremely simple to recreate for a taste of the deep south at home!

Continue to the recipe for Boo’s Bar-B-Que Shrimp…

Place a large pot over a medium heat and add in the oil, butter, rosemary and bay leaves.

When the butter is melted and hot, add in the garlic cloves until tender. Add in the cayenne pepper, worcestershire sauce and lemon juice and bring to a simmer.

Raise the heat and add in the prawns, tossing to coat. Cover and allow to cook for a few minutes until they are cooked through, tossing every now and then.

Just before the shrimp are ready, pour in the wine and bring to a steady boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes and then finally stir through the Tabasco and season to taste.

Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes for the juices to be soaked up.

Serve with hot French bread, angel hair pasta, and a simply dressed salad for an unbelievably delicious little dinner.

In the word’s of Boo, “Mama Mia!”.

KITCHEN HERO IS BACK! Tonight Monday the 30th of April the second series of Kitchen Hero hits Irish screens on RTÉ One and on RTÉ Player online for international viewers. I can’t believe it has flown around so quickly this year- it feels like the last series only ended a couple of weeks ago!  However it’s been a busy few months, with filming and finalising the new book which accompanies the series.  In the last series my aim was to encourage and inspire home cooks and get people cooking, we got a great reaction to the show and it was great to see people were cooking the recipes which were featured.  That has to be the best part of what I do!

In this series the theme is frugal home cooking or great food for less.  Now that everyone has become a little more cost conscious, home cooking is an invaluable skill to have and this series aims to provide recipes which are cheap in cost but rich in tastes and flavours.  In the first episode which airs tonight, the theme is healthy food for less.  I visit the students of DIT Cathal Brugha Street to check out the fantastic Green Room restaurant (Where by the way you can get a three course lunch for under €15!) they run and to cook them up a healthy Lemon and Poppyseed Loaf.  I was so inspired by my visit to the college, everyone was so passionate about what they were doing and the lecturers really encouraged the students to develop their own style.  In the rest of the show I also demonstrate how to make one of my favourite recipes, Roast Beetroot, Feta and Lentil Salad, and some very delicious Chickpea Burgers.

Pulses and legumes are incredibly cheap storecupboard ingredients which every kitchen should have stockpiled!  Make sure to tune in tonight to the first episode and of course let me know what you think in the comments below!  There is lots more to come in the following six episodes, so keep on cooking!

Champion of the home cook, Donal Skehan, is back with a collection of tasty, easy-to-make dishes that cost less..

We all want to cook and eat great food, but without making a hefty dent in our wallets. In this, Donal’s third cookbook, he takes on the challenge of showing how easy and straightforward it is to enjoy delicious home-cooked food and spend less. Whether you a hungry student, are feeding a growing family or simple wish to save some money for a treat, Donal’s recipes will encourage everyone to enjoy satisfying yet affordable dishes.

Donal’s personality shines through on every page and he also draws on the knowledge and experience of others. Past generations were often adept at using cheaper cuts of meat, turning leftovers into tasty meals and planning ahead to avoid expensive last-minute shops. So Donal turns to his own family and grandparents, plus a range of experts such as butchers, fishmongers and grocers, to offer straightforward advice and inspired recipes.

Divided into 7 chapters, Donal covers everything from everyday suppers, soups, stews and pots, baking and desserts, roasts, healthy dishes and more.

Recipes include:

• Coq Au Vin Blanc
• Ham Hock, Spinach and Cheese Crepes
• Cauliflower and Broccoli Mac N’ Cheese
• Asian Steam Baked Mackerel
• Morrocan Chickpea Burgers
• Creamy Spinach Gnocchi
• Sticky Toffee Banana Puddings with Salted Caramel Sauce
• Dad’s Braised Oxtail
• Chilli Jam Chicken
• Squash and Spinach and Lentil Curry
• Boxty Colcannon Pancakes
• Cheesy Ham Hock Spinach Crepes
• Avocado & Garden Pea Mint Salad
• Cheat’s Hot Smoked Mackerel Salad
• Jam Jumble Crumble Tart
• Carrot and Cardamom Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
• Swedish Gingerbread
• Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

Order from below:

My earliest memories of wild garlic are from school, where it used to grow along the pathway covered by trees. We used to pick the leaves and flowers and bring them into class, only to be told off because of the unbelievably pungent smell. While we never ate it back then, little did I realise that this wonderful free food could be transformed into so many delicious dishes.  Wild garlic has been used in Irish cooking for hundreds of years.

Known as ‘creamh’ as Gaeilge, it grows in covered forest areas and now is the perfect time to go out and pick some, the woodland floors are completely covered in it and it’s incredibly hard to miss with it’s broad green leaves and pretty white flowers. The key way to identify it is by smell, pick one of the leaves and you will immediately notice a distinct garlic scent.  Use a scissors and pick the leaves and flowers at their stems. You should need no more than a basket full, and they can be used in salads as you would chives or made into marinades. Even the flowers can be eaten so they make a wonderful garnish.

I wandered into the woods close to our house, on Wednesday evening just as the sun was going down and got a big basket full which I proudly carried home to be transformed into pesto! A few spoonfuls mixed through steaming hot pasta is total heaven on a plate!  Now is the time to pick it, so head out this weekend and get your wild garlic on!

Continue to the recipe for Wild Garlic Pesto…

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Add a little more oil if you prefer a looser consistency.

Season with sea salt and ground black pepper and taste.

Transfer to clean jars and top with an extra drizzle of oil to create a seal.

The jars will keep in the fridge for at least one week.

I’m always on the lookout for vintage and retro cookbooks, and over the last few years I’ve amassed quite a collection. Not only are they wonderfully nostalgic, there are plenty of delicious recipes which are still bang up-to-date. Of course there are also plenty of recipes for aspics and animal innards, things which most people these days would turn their noses up at.

Some of the old American baking cookbooks are the most exciting and last weekend I spent the afternoon going through one of them. The oddest thing I came across was a recipe for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake and a spiced confection which uses a tin of condensed tomato soup. I’ll have to give them a go first before I subject you to them!

In amongst all the quirky ones I came across this fantastic recipe for Oat and Raisin Cookies. I’ve adapted them and added chocolate chips for an extra sweet hit, but you could also add any extras to the basic mix you wish.

Continue to the recipe for Chocolate Chip, Oat and Raisin Cookies…