Letters on Lunches

This One's For You, Paulo

Well if you hadn’t guessed it, the dish I was referring to in my previous post was of course a carbonara less the cream. I often make it as a quick supper as it takes about two minutes plus the time to cook the spaghetti. If you buy the pre-cut pancetta, there isn’t even anything to chop, so easy! The key to carbonara is that you get the best ingredients possible, there’s only a few so go all out. This recipe is adapted from the version Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers of The River Cafe did on Saturday Kitchen last year and it’s a triumph. I must warn you, it tastes of more and more and more….

            On to a separate topic for a minute or two, we treated ourselves to dinner in Los Amigos on Georges Quay on Saturday night. I wasn’t going to bother booking but decided at 3pm on Saturday I would and they were completely booked out from 7-9! I thought to myself, jeez, isn’t everyone supposed to be broke in January? (Myself & himself pretty much stayed in for the month with the exception of a few dinners out). Anyway, we got a table at 6.30 which suited fine as we weren’t staying out and there were a few other diners there when we arrived so weren’t forced to eat in a soulless empty restaurant. The décor is simple, white walls, wooden floors and a wooden bar set up to the back of the restaurant with fresh white linen on the tables.

            The menu had a good selection for both veggies & carnivores; tacos, fajitas, Argentinean steaks, fish, pork, chicken and a selection of tapas as appetisers. I went for the pollo con mole (pronounced mole-ay) and himself opted for pork-steak and we ordered nachos between us to start. The bread came out first which was like the Mexican version of crostini; re-fried beans & cheese on toasts with assorted condiments – sour cream, jalapenos, spicy onions & relish – on the side. Very tasty bites to get us started. Then the nachos arrived which were devoured. They were served with a savoury mince and two types of cheese oozing over the top, delicious.

            The first time I ever saw a mole was on an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (remember that?) a few years ago. The straight guy was a good cook so they got him to cook outside of his comfort zone and make something pretty difficult – a mole. I’ve never seen it on a menu here so had to try it out. It’s a pretty complex sauce with 10 different chillis and chocolate added to thicken it. It was quite sweet bordering on sickly but was given more bite with the spicy onions (the waiter’s suggestion) & sour cream from the condiment tray.

            We really enjoyed the meal and with coffees, the total came to €50 which ain’t bad for a Saturday night. I’d definitely recommend it and will be back for sure. It’s a great place for a gang as they have an extensive cocktail menu and offer a bucket (5) of

Corona

’s for €18. I’ll have an update on the cocktails very soon.

            Now, back to business, here’s the recipe for the carbonara as promised. I’m off to

Paris

pour le weekend avec mon amour so won’t have any recipes for you on Monday but may have an anecdote about a fondue restaurant that serves it’s wine in baby’s bottles. You’ve been warned!

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Serves 2

What You Need

Some good dried spaghetti (I usually use de Cecco but tried out Bunalun for this)

2 best quality egg yolks (I always allow one per person)

2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan

A glass of white wine

Some pancetta or really good bacon

Pepper and maybe salt

Olive oil

What You Do

• Get your spaghetti cooking and once it’s in the water, start on the sauce.
• Mix the egg yolks with the parmesan, a little olive oil & pepper in a bowl.
• Sautee the pancetta with the oil in a pan and once cooked, add the wine and reduce.
• Once the pasta is cooked, drain off the water (reserve some in a bowl in case the sauce is too thick) and add the egg mix and pancetta (not the wine) to the pasta. Mix this around and if you find it’s too thick add a tablespoon of the reduced wine until you get a nice ‘creamy’ consistency. If you use up all the wine, you may need to add some of the pasta water which as been reserved in a bowl.

NB: make sure the heat on the hob is OFF as the residual heat from the pot and the spaghetti will cook the egg.

• TASTE the spaghetti for seasoning. I used a salty bacon and parmesan is salty so didn’t need to add any salt, this may also be the case for you.
• Plate up, enjoy and try to stop yourself from making it again straight away!!!

Sunny Days Are Back

I think my rant last week may have paid off as whoever was reading by blog ‘upstairs’ switched the lights back on and we had the loveliest weekend so far this year. To make the most of it, we headed out to Curragh Chase with the dog on Sunday with a stop made to Caroline Rigney’s on the way home. I picked up some home cured bacon & 6 eggs from some of her rare breed pigs & hens. I was trying to think of what to do to celebrate such good produce on the way home when the proverbial light-bulb went off and I knew what to make… I’ll give you a hint, it’s a ‘creamy’ dish but certain critics freak out when it’s served to them with cream added; any guesses??? Check back later in the week for the recipe.

            Back to today’s recipe; I picked this thai curry out of the Channel 4 website during the week for something nice to use up some of the squash from the market. It was delicious but if I was to do it again (and I will) I’d probably add another chilli, a red pepper and some sugar snap peas for some variety of texture. I also added a small bag of salted peanuts for extra crunch. It was nice and light and I’d enough to freeze an extra portion for another day so can’t complain about that. And here it is…

Pumpkin & Peanut Curry

Serves 2

What You Need

400g of pumpkin, peeled & deseeded

1 red onion sliced

1 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter

100ml hot water

1 Tbsp soy or fish sauce

1 tsp tomato puree

Zest & juice of a lime

1 tsp sugar

A handful of coriander with the stalks (could also add a pepper & sugar snap peas at the end also)

2 cloves of garlic

1cm piece of fresh ginger

1 chilli (I’ll add an extra one next time)

1 can of coconut milk

2 tbsp sunflower oil

Rice to serve

What You Do

• Dissolve the peanut butter in the hot water and add the tomato puree, lime juice & zest, soy sauce and sugar.
• Finely chop the chilli, garlic, ginger and coriander stalks and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a wok and add the red onion, cook briskly for a few minutes before adding the pumpkin. After a minute or two, add the garlic, coriander, chilli, ginger mix and cook for another minute before adding the peanut butter liquid & coconut milk.
• Cook for 20 / 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the pumpkin is tender.
• Add the coriander and other veggies if you wish and plate up with the rice.

Hairy Bikers Update – My boyfriend made the Dulce de Leche cheesecake from the Hairy Bikers cookbook at the weekend. It was ridiculous it was so good. We donated some to my parents, some to his and kept two slices each for ourselves. There are two more slices in the fridge which I’ve been warned to donate to one of my friends & her boyfriend. I guess I’d better do as I’m told…. Hadn’t I???

Meatball Monday

As you can gather from my previous post,

Limerick

was miserable at the weekend - even the market, which is usually full of happy people enjoying their Saturday morning, was miserable. Many of the regular stalls were absent (probably due to some variation of SAD syndrome) and it wasn’t fun queuing in the rain so I took refuge in the organic fruit & veg shop by Lazio’s and the Adare Farm Products Shop.

            I picked up a nice squash and some lovely swedes in the fruit & veg shop. The swedes were fantastic so I decided to do a variation on The Wild Onion’s hash browns with them to try and maintain as much of the flavour as possible and I’m going to make a spiced pumpkin soup with the squash. I’ve one swede left so I think I’m going to try some healthy wedges with it – I’ll let you know how that goes.

            We picked up the meat for the ‘blind finches’ in Relihans Farm Shop which is newly located in the market square beside Marie’s Cheeses. The meat there is really fantastic, real gutsy flavours and the staff are very friendly and accommodating. They also do a range of ice-creams which I have yet to try but I believe the vodka & red bull sorbet is a winner!

            There was enough pork stuffing left over from the ‘blind finches’ for two meatballs for dinner on Monday night accompanied with swede & potato hash browns and beer gravy. It was soooo goooood…. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Pork Meatballs

with farm shop hash browns & beer gravy

Serves 2

What You Need

½ lb pork mince

A small handful of breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk

1 Tbsp

Dijon

mustard

1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

1 Tbsp finely chopped sage

1 Tbsp finely chopped shallots

Sea salt & pepper

1 Tbsp flour

½ bottle of Belgian beer

2 small swedes cut in 1” dice

6 baby potatoes cut in 1” dice

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

A dash of

Tabasco

What You Do

·        First, mix the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl and shape into meatballs.

·        Heat some olive oil in two frying pans, one small & one large.

·        Gently place the meatballs in the small pan and brown the meatballs on all sides.

·        Gently fry the onion & garlic in the large pan.

·        Par-boil the potatoes & Swedes for about 8 minutes & transfer to the onion / garlic pan when ready. Cook on a medium heat, tossing constantly until cooked.

·        Transfer the meatballs to a pre-heated oven at 200C for 10 minutes.

·        To make the gravy, add the flour to the pan which contained the meatballs & stir in using a wooden spoon. Slowly add the beer and incorporate fully before adding the next dash – this ensures lump free gravy.

·        Plate up & enjoy!

Weekend Under Water

Talk about washed out of it… The weekend was just horrible weatherwise. Foodwise and rugbywise, not so bad due to a smashing win for Munster and lots of great meals enjoyed. I’ve no recipes for you as the recipe that I wanted to try out was a complete disaster and made way for one of my blondest moments so far – more to follow. 

            We began on Friday night with an Indian meal in Mayur Tandori on Steamboat Quay. Talk about delicious; I had spicy crab claws to start followed by a fish curry served with lemon rice. It was so light and the rice was perfect with the delicate fish; I’m usually too full to finish off an Indian meal but this was devoured. The service was excellent, the staff were so friendly and brought out poppadums on the house with some really tasty chutneys & dips. We didn’t order dessert and they still offered us a drink on the house which was a really nice touch.

It’s unfortunate but a lot of people still think that Indian food is heavy but it really isn’t. There are so many really light tomato based dishes available with subtle flavours. Start with something like a jalfrezi, a bhuna or a balti and ask the chef to make it mild to medium if you’re not used to chilli and you’ll be a convert like me before you know it!

We have a bit of a Saturday morning ritual when we’re in Limerick. We get up, go out for breakfast and head to the market. Last Saturday was miserable but we made it into The Sage Café for brekkie before the market. I’m so predictable when I go there; poached eggs with brown bread & peppermint tea (it’s usually earl grey but I’m a bit addicted to peppermint at the moment). I love it there, it’s friendly, the food is always spot on, everything is fresh, the décor is inviting and, best of all, there’s a fair chance that you can nudge whoever is beside you and whisper “there’s Mike Hogan from The Cranberries” which leaves you with a real sense of smugness if you’re entertaining someone from outside Limerick! I left fed, happy and with a loaf of their homemade brown bread (which I think is the best around) under my arm.

The new recipe I was attempting at the weekend was Kieran Murphy’s banana / choc ice cream which was to be made to follow a Sunday lunch that the boyf was cooking. I followed the recipe to a T and had a lovely, rich, creamy mixture to go into the ice cream machine which I procured from my mother’s kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn’t procure the instructions which meant that I didn’t put the bowl of the ice cream machine into the freezer over night so the churn did nothing but leave me with a banana sorbet that had horrible creamy lumps going through it! It was very disappointing but I made a mammoth pavlova with the egg whites not used in the ice cream instead. I don’t think I’ll let the banana ice cream beat me, might try it again this weekend and see what happens.

The boyf cooked a fab dinner on Sunday; Blind Finches in beer gravy… Don’t be alarmed and don’t go calling animal welfare just yet! It’s a Belgian dish and it isn’t made with blind finches – just battered out steaks wrapped around a minced pork stuffing. It was really delicious and there wasn’t a scrap left on any of the plates. I made spicy potato wedges & peas to go with it which were perfect as the spiciness of the wedges cut the richness of the gravy. The recipe was taken from our book of the moment – The Hairy Bikers Ride Again. Have a look here if you’d like to try it out.

Spanish Sunday

The boyfriend & I went to Spain for a holiday in the Summer – it was his idea really, he was mad to go to La Tomatina (tomato fight) so we decided to Ryanair it to Barcelona for three days, then head to Valencia for the festival and then to Madrid for two days sight-seeing.

            The festival was, well, different - I’ll try and set the scene. According to the guide books, La Tomatina kicks off in a quaint town called Bunol about 40km’s from Valencia at 11am on the last Wednesday in August. Tomatoes are released into the streets after the hooter sounds, which marks the start of the tomato fight and ends with the second hooter about 40 minutes later. All the revellers then descend on the local river to clean off and party into the night. Within 2 hours, you wouldn’t know La Tomatina even took place and the only rule is that the tomato is crushed before it is thrown.

            Now for what really happened. We arrived at Valencia train station at approx 7am along with about 5000 other people who had the same idea and managed to squeeze on to a train to Bunol. Talk about the longest journey of my life – not because of the duration, because of the drunken MEATHEADS we had to endure on the trip. I won’t say what nationality they were as we met some other lads of the same nationality on the way home who were lovely.

Anyway, we arrived in Bunol and there was a brilliant party atmosphere, music pumping out of cars, loads of stalls selling cheap beer and good fun all round. We made our way down to the main street which is a narrow street with old flats lining the sides. There was a real air of anticipation all around with everyone waiting for the hooter to sound. There were a few tv cameras up high and all sorts of things were being thrown, flip-flops, t-shirts, shorts, cans, etc. The locals were throwing buckets of water on the crowd from high which was quite nice and refreshing in the heat, it helped to add to the excitement.

Then the hooter sounded; and nothing happened. A few minutes later, the stench of over ripe tomatoes hit us and a dump truck slowly made its way though the crowd & dumped it’s load at the end of the street. The truck drove up past us and everyone had to push in against the wall (think Heysel stadium), then the next truck arrived up and released it’s load by us.

Now, remember back to the rule – you must crush the tomato before you throw it. That rule applies for the first 3 minutes, after that, all tomatoes are reduced to a river of sludge on the ground, handfuls of which are dumped on your head (most people wear goggles). By the time the fifth truck began to make its way through the street, I’d had enough. I was beginning to panic (I’m a little claustrophobic as it turns out) and needed to get to a quiet side-street. I saw the opening, grabbed the boyfriend & went for it. Not my finest idea I have to say as we got caught in a scrum and were hauled from side to side by the crowd, and then, thankfully, the hooter sounded and everything calmed.

We all walked to the “river” to wash off the sludge. The "river" was basically the run off from a pipe in the side of a wall perforated with holes which became a make shift shower so we gave the river a skip & managed to get a hole in the pipe to clean ourselves under. We binned our t-shirts, bought new ones and went for a drink while drying out in the sun.

Bunol isn’t really quaint, it’s just a small town with a lot of flats and doesn’t really have a whole pile to offer in the form of bars / restaurants. Once we dried off, we made our way to the train station to scrummage on to the next train out of there. Once back in the hotel, I hopped into the shower and stayed there for at least 40 minutes but the stench of tomatoes didn’t leave my memory for weeks – shudder.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with my Sunday lunch? Well it’s my blog & I’ll write what I want to, only kidding, I thought it was a good holiday story and leads to my love of tapas.

While in Barcelona, we had some of the best food I’ve ever had (maybe second to Cinque Terre in Italy). We had the most delicious tapas every day and even ate in a restaurant that Picasso & Gaudi used to frequent in their hay day so since then, any excuse and I’m doing tapas for dinner. It doesn’t have to be difficult, just use up what you have. I used up some leftover mash potatoes for cheesy croquettes, ham & peas and cod fritters. I usually cook patates bravas (brave potatoes) but that recipe wouldn’t have used up the mash so you’ll have to wait for next time.

Spanish Tapas

What You Need

Cheesy Croquettes

Mash potato

Cheddar cheese

Breadcrumbs

2 eggs, 1 separated & 1 beaten with the leftover egg white

Flour

Ham & Peas

Some pancetta, bacon of Serrano ham chopped up

Some shallots or an onion finely sliced

Peas

Salt

Cod Goujons

A piece of cod cut into strips

What You Do

Cheesy Croquettes

• Mix the mash with the yolk from the separated egg, add the cheese and season if not already done (if using leftovers, the mash will be seasoned).
• Take a spoonful of mixture & shape into a croquette.
• First, dip the croquette in the flour, then the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs.
• Gently fry in a pan until golden on all sides.

Ham & Peas

·        Sweat the onion in a pan for about 5 minutes and add the pancetta.

·        When the pancetta is cooked, add the peas and salt.

·        Stir until the peas are cooked & ready to serve.

Cod Fritters

• Dip the cod in the flour, egg & breadcrumbs.
• Gently fry until golden brown.
• Serve with aioli (I’ll give the recipe for this another time)

Just so you know…. I’ve used red onion with the peas – they looked burned in the pic but they’re not. My pics need a lot of work!!!!

Sowing the Seeds to a Healthy 2008

I got some nice cookbook gifts this Christmas; Larousse from my auntie which is fantastic as it’s basically an encyclopaedia on mainly French cookery but pretty much every type of cookery gets a mention. I also got Heston Blumenthal’s latest offering which I’m really looking forward to reading (won’t be going near any of the recipes though – I have the fear) and my brother’s girlfriend gave me Rachel Allen’s 2008 diary which is great. There is a recipe for each month so I’ve vowed to try it out going forward.

            This month’s recipe is a lovely seedy, oatey bread with only 3oz of white flour so it’s not the unhealthiest of breads. It was very easy to make; soda bread is actually more difficult to get right as if you mix / knead it too much, the gluten is released which makes the texture very doughy. No such problem with this bread, dry ingredients in a bowl, wet in a jug, pour, stir, rest, cook, easy!

            I had the basics in the press, flours, yeast, honey & salt but my seed stocks were down so I just made do with what I had. I didn’t have poppy or sunflower seeds so used, sesame & pumpkin seeds instead. I didn’t have bran either so just increased the amount of oats (I’ve lovely jumbo oats from Sean Chara) and the bread turned out brilliant. Give it a go!

Wholewheat Loaf

with oats & seeds

What You Need

7oz wholewheat flour

3oz plain flour

3oz mixture of poppy seeds, sesame seeds & sunflower seeds (plus two tablespoons for dusting)

1 Tbsp honey

1 7g sachet yeast

1 tsp salt

2oz oats

1oz bran

1 tbsp sunflower oil

350-400ml warm water

What You Do

·        Pre-heat oven to 200C & grease a 2lb loaf tin.

·        In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients reserving the seeds for the top.

·        Mix 100ml of the water with the yeast and honey and allow it to stand until it turns frothy (takes about 5 minutes).

·        When this happens add another 250ml of water to the jug as well as the oil and pour it into the dry ingredients. The mixture should be runny, if not, add some more water.

·        Pour into the tin and allow to stand in a warm place until the bread mix rises to the top of the tin.

·        Bake in the oven for 1 hour – if it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the loaf, then it’s cooked, otherwise put back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

·        Cool on a wire rack.

·        Enjoy!

The Hairy Bikers Kick off the New Year

I’ve been very lazy getting back into the blogging swing of things this New Year but I was inspired on Thursday last while sat in front of the telly so you’re in for a treat! My two favourite tv cooks, Si & Dave aka The Hairy Bikers were back on the box & this time they were back in their home town of Newcastle. They made gravadlax, visited Si’s mum in the hopes of pinching her secret cookbook (they didn’t get near it) and cooked – what nearly made me fall off the sofa – the most amazing fish pie which I had to try.

            Saturday was to be the day my family would be treated to this so I set about rounding up the ingredients. The recipe is here. I had plenty of fish stock in the freezer which I used up completely – it’s easy to make, just ask your fishmonger for some fish bones (I got sea bass) and boil it up with some parsley, a carrot, a stick of celery and an onion for about 20 minutes; strain the stock into a bowl, skim off any scum from the top and freeze whatever you’re not immediately using. I called to Sadliers and Rene Cusacks for fish but the stocks were very low in both; I did manage to get some salmon, cod, smoked haddock & raw prawns. The recipe calls for vermouth which I replaced with white wine and I forgot completely about the boiled eggs but the pie was a triumph. I also cooked the smoked haddock separately in milk first so the flavour didn't completely take over and used some of the cooking milk in the finished sauce - I love smoked haddock but hate when it takes over a fish pie. The pie was accompanied with peas & petits pois sautéed with shallots & pancetta which were delicious. Just gently fry the shallots & pancetta before adding in the frozen peas and heat through – takes about 5 minutes. Si & Dave used broad beans which would be perfect too. The pic didn’t come out great but I had zero interest in faffing around with photos with my dinner going cold – just had to tuck in…

Si & Dave made such an impact on us at the weekend that my boyfriend bought their cookbook (The Hairy Bikers Ride Again) which is packed full of delicious, hearty, honest recipes. The book follows their travels with hilarious anecdotes and fantastic easy to follow recipes (pretty much everything they cooked was by the side of the road). There’s a salad featured in it that’s “as flash as a tart’s handbag”… Brilliant! I’m looking forward to pinching it for myself so watch this space for many more biker recipes to follow.