Thought for Food

Sunday, April 30, 2006

T-Bone Steak

Lofty and I rarely buy steak. I don't like it at all - it has decidedly too much meat for an ex-veggie and does not leave enough to the imagination. You simply fry it. You can do a good job or a poor one and you might change the sauce you serve with it, but there is nothing creative about a steak. And yet that's exactly what was on the menu tonight. The butcher I went to yesterday had one lonely t-bone steak left in the window, so I decided to try my luck on making Lofty a perfect blue steak. I should have known from the beginning that I was bound to fail because the meat was sliced too thin to ever come out blue. But I tried it anyway and literally only gave it a few seconds on each side in a smoking hot pan. The result was a steak that was slightly less browned than I had wished for and slightly more well done than Lofty prefers, but in all it could be classed a success.
Especially if you take the side dishes into account. I was going to do something posh - béarnaise sauce or spicy grilled tomato catsup - but Lofty favoured the more traditional English approach: Grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms and chips. The first two I could provide, the chips, however, posed a bigger problem. We simply did not have enough oil left for properly deep-frying the spuds. So I made crispy potato wedges instead. Actually, I made new and improved wedges. Do you remember me telling you about Kitchen Chemistry? On one edition last week Mr. Blumenthal was discussing the properties of starch and giving tips on how to cook the perfect potato dishes. In his opinion the perfect chip is not cooked twice as I had know it, but three times: Parboil, cool, fry once until cooked, cool again and then fry again until golden. This was supposed to make the outside go nice and crispy while keeping the inside light and fluffy. "What's good for the chip has to be good for the wedge," I thought and pre-boiled the potatoes before I cut them. The results were quite striking. Never have my wedges been so yummy! So, next time you make spud wedges, go about it like this:

large floury potatoes (about 1 per person)
oil (enough to cover the base of a baking tray big enough to take a single layer of wedges)
spices (your favourite mix; I generally use paprika, chilli, garlic powder and cumin with the occasional addition of oregano, thyme, powdered ginger or turmeric, but as I said before, this is the perfect time for experimenting and getting rid of those spice mixes so many of us have lingering in the back of the cupboard)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Put the potatoes in a saucepan, add enough water to just cover and bring to the boil. Cook until the outside is just beginning to soften, just over 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to let some of the steam escape. If your potatoes have a tough skin, peel them; if you are using new potatoes you can leave the skin on. Cut the potatoes into thick wedges.
Pour enough oil in a baking tray to cover the bottom. Briefly heat the oil in the oven. Add the potato wedges and toss to coat well with the oil. Sprinkle with the herbs and spices and toss again to evenly distribute the spices. Arrange in a single layer and place in the oven. Bake until crispy, about 35 to 40 minutes.

And as I was in the mood for experiments, I decided to be a bit more creative with the other side dishes too. Rather than serving simple fried button mushrooms, I stuffed two big portabellas with garlic and parsley butter and grilled them, basting occasionally with medium sherry, for about 15 minutes until tender. Also, as a replacement for the steak I wasn't having and an accompaniment for Lofty's I grilled half a butternut squash with lots of garlic butter. We used to have butternut a lot in South Africa to accompany the many braais (barbecues) on our balcony overlooking the harbour, but virtually stopped eating it here in Europe. It just takes too long to cook. But in my Saturday daze I had turned nostalgic and bought a butternut squash from Dennis. And much to my surprise, cut into wedges and cooked at the top of the oven it really only takes 40 to 45 minutes.
And while I was in the process of rediscovering traditional ingredients, I decided to also try my luck with caramelised onion rings. I must admit I wasn't very hopeful when I started. I had bought the onions in Marino the week before and they were lacking in punch even served raw in a salad that day. So how good would they be cooked a week later? Surprisingly, very good. They went golden brown, sweet and incredibly aromatic. And all I did was cook them over medium low heat in a mixture of butter and oil for about 15 to 20 minutes. No sugar, no salt, nothing. Just onion. Yum.
The tomatoes were the easiest of all experiments. I was doing a straight forward tomato test: I had an Italian heirloom tomato, a Spanish plum tomato and a little cherry tomato on the vine - all organic - which I grilled in the oven (45 minutes for the heirloom tomato, 25 minutes for the plum tomato and 15 minutes for the cherry tomato) seasoned only with a bit of sea salt and drizzled with olive oil. Surprisingly enough the nicest and most flavoursome was the plum tomato.
So was I wrong about my harsh judgment at the beginning of this post? I guess so. It is not the steak that needs creativity. It's the cook!

Christine at 9:39 pm

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Saturday, April 29, 2006

Lamb Chops with Lemon and Mint

It's been a while since I felt so lost while food shopping. I was wandering around Dublin today like a child looking for her mother. I circled the market twice and came away with only a few bits and pieces that didn't really combine to make anything. Jenny was nearly sold out of cooking vegetables and Lofty and I are just not ready yet for salads. Too wet, too cold. I walked away with some herbs, some lettuce and a few greens, but somehow I still managed to spend €12. Must have been the jam I couldn't resist. My visit to Dennis's stall went similarly badly and the fishmonger was even worse. He only had plaice left and that just didn't appeal to me at the time. So, let me recap, I've just run around in circles for an hour and in the process exchanged €25 for a bagful of vegetables that together don't even make one dinner, let alone four.
I was going to go to Marks & Spencer as well, but somehow I now lack the drive to cycle (is that really the right expression?) to Grafton Street. I think it was really the thought of a packed city centre and a shop full of young, stylish career people on the lookout for ready meals that put me off the trip. Instead, I went down Georges Street and stopped into Dunnes. There, I picked up more stuff I didn't even know I needed (cream, yoghurt, mascarpone cheese, a few jam doughnuts), and then, desperate for some dinner, continued on towards Liston's.
On the way I passed a butcher's shop that had caught my eye before. "Free Range Lamb and Beef" reads the sign outside. Inside, I found a totally unexciting tiled room, the focus of which was a well-worn solid wood butcher's table. On the side was a small display counter with some meat that did not look like stopping was worth my while. But the window was packed full with very nice looking chunks of beef and lamb as well as free range chickens, sausages and pork chops, so I decided to stay and watch as the little old lady in front of me did her shopping. I think she's been coming here for years, for the butcher knew her well. And she knew what she wanted. Whether it was on display or not, she read of one thing after the next sending him running between the back room and the table with large slabs of meat. And that's when I realised what his strength was. It's not the beautiful display or the stylish interior, it is the quality and selection (albeit hidden) of locally farmed meats and his expertise in cutting them right in front of the customers' eyes. You get exactly what you want in the quantity you need. And the price is definitely right too. So, if you're ever near Wexford Street pop into the little butcher's on the east side of the street just north of Whelan's. It's well worth a trip.
After having spent more than the allowance I give myself every week, I decided to skip Liston's and headed straight home. A wise choice, I had been out for nearly 2 hours and Lofty was starting to get worried. I was really going to make another rhubarb crumble today, but we're out of thick cream and I didn't feel like going all the way to Marks & Spencer to get some. Instead I spent some extra time looking for ideas for the beautiful little lamb chops I had bought. After the mess I made of the roast at Easter, I think I owe Lofty a good lamb dish for a change. And, of course, there was my hurt pride. I needed to prove to myself that I was not to be beaten by any food. I think I achieved both with my Lamb Chops with Lemon and Mint accompanied by boiled new potatoes and baby spinach.

For the lamb:
4 lamb chops
4 tbsp olive oil
½ lemon, zest and juice
10 to 15 mint leaves
salt and pepper to taste
For the spinach:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, halved and then sliced
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
250 g baby spinach
a pinch sea salt
For the potatoes:
10 small new potatoes
a small knob of butter

Strange as it may sound, you should start with the spinach. Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. When the mixture is bubbling, add the onion. Stir and reduce the heat to low. Sauté uncovered until the onion is golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the onion from burning.
Put the potatoes into a saucepan and add enough water to just cover them. Bring to the boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Season the chops on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix the olive oil with the lemon zest, the mint and a little salt and pepper.
About 10 minutes before the potatoes are cooked, warm the olive oil and lemon mixture in a shallow, heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. As it starts to sizzle, add the lamb chops and allow them to colour for a couple of minutes.
In the meantime finish off the spinach. Add the garlic to the browned onion, stir once, then add the spinach. Cover and cook until wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add a few drops of water or white wine if the spinach appears dry, but do not overdo it. Season to taste with the sea salt.
Once the spinach has gone into the pot, turn the lamb chops over and cook the other side until browned, making sure that the lemon and mint aren't burning. The meat should remain juicy and pink within and go golden brown on the surface. Lift the chops on to 2 warm plates.
Pour the lemon juice into the pan that the lamb was cooked in and let it bubble for a few seconds, scraping at the gooey sediment left behind by the chops and stirring it in. Drain the potatoes and arrange them on the plate with the chops. Pour the lemon sauce over them and serve with the spinach on the side.

Christine at 10:54 pm

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Friday, April 28, 2006

Tortellini with Mixed Leftovers

Imagine you had spent months fearing an event and when you're finally guaranteed that it won't happen, you are not relieved, but feel guilty and sad as if your thoughts had actually prevented it. You never thought that you could be this powerful so you never thought of the consequences of it not happening. The consequences for all parties involved that is. No, you spent all this time thinking only of yourself and completely forgot others and their feelings in the process. And now that you've realised what you may have innocently wished for yourself is actually quite nasty towards others. That's exactly how I felt today when I realised a colossal bit of misjudgement on my part. I won't dwell on the issue any further because other people concerned might not want to share their story online, but I felt that I needed to explain the frame of mind I was in when I started cooking dinner. While on the one hand I desperately needed to relax, somehow I felt that everything I were to do today would go wrong.
This apprehension was confirmed when, at 7 p.m. I realised that I had missed the judgement day episode of Great British Menus. So much for relaxing, now I was really enraged. My first reaction was to simply cancel dinner. Like an angry child throwing its toys about I decided that I was a good-for-nothing loser who should not be allowed inside a kitchen ever again. I sat down at my PC and started a game of solitaire and had a cigarette. I agree that the latter is something neither cooks nor non-smokers should do and I take myself to belong to both groups. But occasionally I just feel like having a smoke. In my humble opinion, cigarettes are better than espresso if you have eaten too much (for best results I take both together) and they definitely help me relax when I'm nervous (I know it's just an oral thing and a lollipop would work just as well). I just don't like other people's smoke in my face when I'm eating. I am strongly opposed to Ireland's smoking ban indoors because all that does is make outside areas inaccessible to non-smokers. I would much prefer smoking rooms in bars and a ban everywhere else. If you want to protect non-smoking staff, make these areas self-serve only, but at least you would be able to go to the beer garden with your kids again. And anyone who now protests that traffic fumes are much worse than cigarette smoke, please have a hard think when you last enjoyed a meal sitting in the centre of a busy intersection with busses and trucks coming close enough to blow their exhaust fumes straight in your face. Never? I rest my case. I do not dislike smokers, I just don't like the mix of food and smoke.
But where was I? Yes, a game and a smoke... That calmed me down sufficiently to realise that I was being childish and to look for a repeat of today's show. Much to my surprise I actually found one tomorrow afternoon. All happy again I bookmarked it on my telly and ended my self-imposed exile from the kitchen.
Unfortunately, I still wasn't able to cook anything overly exciting. It's Friday and we haven't shopped in a week again. I found some spinach in the back of the fridge that still looked surprisingly edible. The leaves had gone slightly limp, but they were not rotting or going brown. There was some leftover broccoli that was in roughly the same state, a few asparagus spears, a handful of mushrooms and a few spring onions. Looks like the beginning of a pasta sauce, doesn't it? Add to that a few sliced sausages and a packet of shop-bought tortellini with smoked chicken and sun-dried tomatoes that I found in the freezer and some chopped herbs, a drop of balsamic vinegar and a few sun dried tomatoes and you actually have a fairly good end of the week dinner. And just in case you don't have any of the above ingredients, here is a quick guide to making the perfect pasta dish from leftovers and cupboard staples:

1. The first rule is simple: Make sure to use good quality pasta. Some people prefer fresh egg noodles, others go for dried pasta. I personally have no overall preference. I like to keep a few packets of dried spaghetti in the cupboard. I also buy fresh pasta occasionally and freeze whatever I don't use. I used to have a pasta maker before I moved to Ireland, but could never get my hands on the right ingredients in Prague. And this is where the key lies. Pasta doesn't have to be expensive to be good (I get Tesco's own), but whatever you buy, make sure they are made with durum wheat flour. Only those noodles will cook al dente; everything else turns into a gooey mess.
   
2. Rule number two is equally simple: Make sure you cook the pasta right. Fresh pasta really only wants 2 to 3 minutes after that it turns into pudding. Dried pasta can go a similar way, but more often people undercook it. Al dente does not mean inedible for people with dentures! Your pasta is supposed to retain a bit of bite, not be hard to chew.
   
3. Role number three is simple: Contrary to what you may have heard, you do not want to refresh your pasta in cold water after cooking or add olive oil before the sauce. Both are meant to prevent the noodles from sticking together, the former by washing away the starch they release during cooking, the latter by lubricating the pasta. However, an unwanted side effect of both practices is that the sauce will glide off the pasta and the dish will be less tasty.
   
4. Rule number four has, at first glance, more to do with presentation than taste, but don't forget that the two are intimately linked: Forget the old idea of a pile of noodles on a plate with some sauce on the top. Pasta actually tastes better if you mix the sauce in before dishing up. This way the noodles are nicely coated in the sauce, which not only means that every bite you take is a perfect mix of the two, but also that the pasta will not stick together. For the same reason you should always pick the appropriate pasta shape for your sauce (for more information on this topic check out ilovepasta.org).
   
5. And finally, let's leave the rules behind and move on to what you can or should do:
   
• Let your imagination run wild, pasta can take just about everything! If it sounds good in a salad or as a sandwich, it probably tastes good with pasta. (OK, maybe with the exception of Thousand Island dressing, but I think you get what I mean.)
• Forget low fat and low salt. If you want flavour, you need these two elements. It is better to eat less overall and have a side salad or some fruit for desert to fill you up than to skip corners and have a large plateful of tasteless gunk for dinner.
• If you are making a tomato-based sauce, a dash of balsamic vinegar or red wine will help to bring out the flavours.
• If your tomato sauce is too sour, add a bit of brown sugar, a pinch of salt and a dash of cream to mellow it down.
• Tomato sauce goes particularly well with strong flavours and hard vegetables (such as but not exclusively beef, lamb or game, carrots, celery, parsnips and, the exception that proves the rule, aubergines).
• Creamy sauces prefer mellow flavours and soft textures (such as chicken, pork, white fish or prawns, mushrooms, peas, spinach or broccoli).
• Certain ingredients don't need any 'sauce' as such at all. Garlic, onions, spinach, asparagus, bacon, sausages, salmon, peas and many, many more can simply be fried in butter or olive oil until tender (blanch your vegetables beforehand) and added directly to the pasta.
• Got something slightly odd to use up? Eggs make a carbonara, beetroot is great with creamy mushroom sauce (do not cook in the sauce! just top the pasta with little cubes of beetroot when you dish up) and truffle oil. Be creative and think of what you might put in a salad.
• Got nothing at all? That can't happen. Garlic and olive oil (aglio e olio) should always be in the house. No? How about some anchovies or some other fish in olive oil? Octopus is particularly nice. Alternatively, vegetables in garlic oil (home-made or store bought) work very well too. Or blue cheese just crumbled into the noodles. Or mix your cooked pasta with some condensed creamy soup, top with grated cheese and bake it in the oven.
• Before I end today's lesson in pasta, just one more remark about herbs and spices. Some things seem to be predestined for pasta. Basil for example is lovely just on its own with olive oil and Parmesan (or, better yet, in a freshly made pesto). Other things are nice in combinations. Mint and peas, caraway seeds and mushrooms, fennel seeds and fennel bulbs, sun-dried tomatoes and tomato sauce. And then there are those things that go with everything: Garlic, onion, pepper, parsley, chilli powder and, I'm sure, a few more that I can't think of just now.

I hope I haven't confused you too much with this jumble of amateur cooking tips, but somehow they just came out. They were a great stress reliever too, because now I am barely worrying about anything anymore. And I hope that they actually help someone in need of an easy dinner.

Christine at 10:40 pm

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Thursday, April 27, 2006

Cheesy Pork Parcels with Bubble and Squeak

Leftovers are a strange thing. What yesterday was a yummy meal, today turns into a pile of used stuff that is hard work to cook. Or so it often seems from afar. While I was at the office, I dreaded going home to half a cooked pork roast and the empty fridge characteristic of the end of the week. My colleagues tried to help me by pointing out that having a ploughman's or sandwiches every once in a while was quite normal, but that didn't really help. I know that I overdo the dinner-thing, but I really enjoy the whole procedure of shopping, planning and preparing, and cooking really relaxes me. Even if I do panic beforehand or even during the process every once in a while.
Today's panic came to an end when I went to check out Great British menus on the BBC website. Just like last week, I had missed the starters on Monday because I had to attend an office due after work. Browsing the two chefs' starters I had an idea. How about thick slices of pork, some tomato and herbs all wrapped in cheesy pastry to form hot steaming parcels? Sounds like just the thing to serve with leftover vegetable 'bubble and squeak' and the remaining mushroom cream sauce.

For the pastry:
55g flour, plus a little extra for dusting
85g mature cheddar, finely grated
55g salted butter
a pinch cayenne pepper
a bit of beaten egg to egg wash the parcels
1 small egg yolk
For the pork:
200g roast pork fillet cut into 4 thick slices
1 tomato, halved
4 tbsp olive oil
2 halves of sun-dried tomato, finely chopped
4 to 6 basil leaves (depending on the size), chopped
For the bubble and squeak:
2 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut in half
2 handfuls of mixed spring vegetables (I used carrots, green asparagus and cauliflower)
3 tbsp butter
½ onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 large handfuls of baby kale, stalks removed and leaves roughly chopped (any other type of cabbage will do here, but make sure its you and tender)
the leftover egg white
a bit of flour to bind the mix, it should take no more than 1 tbsp
3 tbsp oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the tomato halves cut side up in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle with the oil and bake in the oven until golden brown and soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool and cut each half in half again.
To make the pastry, place all ingredients except the egg yolk in a food processor. Blitz quickly to combine. Add the egg yolk and process again until the pastry comes together. Shape into a ball, flatten and wrap in cling film. Leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
In the meantime make a start on the bubble and squeak. Bring the potatoes to the boil in a medium sized saucepan with just enough water to cover. Simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash.
Bring a medium saucepan full of water to the boil. Add the vegetables and cook until tender. Drain and roughly mash or chop. Mix with the potatoes. Melt the butter in a saucepan (you can recycle the one used for the vegetables here) over medium heat. Fry the onion and garlic until translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the kale and a drop of water if the pot appears dry. Cover and allow to collapse, about 3 minutes. Add to the potato-vegetable-mix and set aside.
Re-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. To make the parcels, roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm. Using a palette knife, cut it into 4 neat squares, making sure they don't stick to the countertop. Place a slice of pork in the middle of each square. Scatter with the sun-dried tomatoes and basil and top with the tomato quarters. Fold up the corners and seal all edges.
Transfer the parcels to a baking tray lined with baking parchment, leaving some space between them. Brush with the beaten egg. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, for the bubble and squeak, heat the oil in a shallow frying pan. Add the egg white to the potato-vegetable-mix followed by just enough flour to hold the dough together. Lightly season with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot, add large spoonfuls of the bubble and squeak mix to form 4 patties. Fry until golden, about 4 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, 3 to 4 more minutes.
To serve, place two vegetable patties on a plate, top with two pork parcels and drizzle with the reheated sauce.

I you like the idea of this dish, but don't have all the ingredients, don't despair. I was using up leftovers here, so my hands were kind of tied as far as flavours went. The parcel concept lends itself to experiments though. For example, you could try some other meat, such as chicken, turkey, duck or even fish. Just remember to stay away from meat that you like rare, this is not a Wellington, it needs heat to cook. Also, feel free to play with the flavours. Use spinach and mint instead of the tomato and basil or just substitute the basil with sage. There are hundreds of possible combinations, just be creative.

Christine at 10:40 pm

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Pork Fillet Stuffed with Speck and Cheese

Have you noticed that I haven't bitched about traffic for a while? It has only just occurred to me, but somehow I must have got used to the smog, the rain, the mud, the crazy drivers and the congestion. I still get into the odd conflict with people on the road - pedestrians who step out onto the road even when they see you coming still manage to arouse my passions - but I have learned to leave all that behind when I reach the door to our apartment. Nowadays I just sit down and start thinking about dinner, watch Great British Menus on the BBC and then cook.
In between, I do spend a bit of time complaining - At my poker performance. For some strange reason my luck has gone down the drains a few weeks ago and stayed there ever since. Maybe I'm paying too much attention to food these days and care too little about winning. But as long as I'm happy at the end of the day, everything is fine. And I am, so I really shouldn't complain. Especially not today. We had another beautiful day (in fact, at the moment it seems that spring will never end) and with the sun shining through the office window work seemingly did itself.
I got home as relaxed and happy as I sound now with as little to talk about as I have now, so I got straight on with dinner. That'll at least give me something to bother you with. I still had the pork fillet in the fridge that I had bought at the market and immediately attacked it with a knife and a load of stuff I found around the kitchen: Basil, speck, cheese, mustard... The outcome was a fairly pleasant mustard-crusted pork fillet stuffed with speck and mountain cheese. I served it with grilled tomatoes and creamy mushroom sauce, both of which serve to underline the northern Italian feel of the dish.

For the pork:
300 g pork fillet
a few thin slices of speck (alternatively Parma or Serrano ham or some other type of dry-cured smoked ham)
a few slices strongly flavoured mountain cheese
2 to 3 basil leaves, cut into thin stripes
1 to 2 tbsp mild whole grain mustard
5 tbsp olive oil
cocktail sticks or string to hold the pork together
2 tomatoes, halved horizontally
For the sauce:
1½ tbsp butter
1 shallot or ½ onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
2 handfuls of mixed wild mushrooms, sliced (or a mix of button mushrooms and dried wild mushrooms)
a pinch of ground caraway
50 ml medium dry sherry
100 to 125 ml chicken stock (if you are a vegetarian, you can use vegetable stock here)
1 to 2 tbsp thick cream (if you do not have thick cream, use double or whipping cream instead, but adjust for the difference in the fat/liquid ratio by using more cream and less stock; in this case, you might want to add an extra pinch of stock granules to the water though)
salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
mashed potatoes
butter stewed spring vegetables
sautéed morel mushrooms
a few drops of truffle oil

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the tomato halves in a roasting tin large enough to hold them and the pork with enough room to let the steam escape. Drizzle with 3 to 4 tablespoons of the olive oil and place in the oven as soon as it's hot.
In the meantime start on the sauce (see recipe below) and prepare the meat. Place the pork on a board. Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket along the middle of the fillet. Stuff the cheese into the pocket, top with the basil and speck and seal tightly with cocktail sticks or tie into a parcel with a piece of string.
Heat the remaining oil in a large, shallow frying pan. Fry the pork for about a minute on each side to lightly brown*. Transfer the meat to the baking dish with the tomatoes and spread enough mustard over the top to form a thin cover. Return to the oven until cooked through, about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.
For the sauce, heat the butter in the frying pan used to brown the pork (or a medium sized saucepan if you are using the sauce for some other purpose) over medium low heat. Add the onions and fry uncovered until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, reduce the heat to low, cover and continue sweating until golden and soft, about 10 minutes. If you do not have a lid for the large pan, transfer the onions to a medium saucepan before adding the garlic. When the onions are soft, increase the heat to medium and add the mushrooms. Fry uncovered until the mushrooms have released their liquid and are going brown. Now add the caraway seeds and briefly continue frying. If you are still using the frying pan at this point, transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan, then add the sherry. Bring to the boil and gently pour in the stock. Bring to the boil again, reduce the temperature and allow to simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cream and allow to heat through. However, make sure not to boil the sauce from now on. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, slice the pork into 2 cm thick slices. Place a big spoonful of mash on a plate, drizzle with a good amount of mushroom sauce and top with the pork. Arrange the tomatoes and vegetables around it. Scatter with sautéed morel mushrooms and drizzle with truffle oil.

Just in case you had noticed the *asterisk in the recipe above, let me share a bit of useless information with you. The other day I watched a very interesting program on the Discovery Channel called "Kitchen Chemistry". It's hosted by Heston Blumenthal, owner of Britain's much-acclaimed Fat Duck restaurant. This is not you ordinary cooking show where you can get recipes and ideas. Instead, Mr. Blumenthal looks at the chemical processes that go on while we are preparing food and tries to show to viewers how the science behind the cooking affects such thing as texture and flavour. I've never tasted his cooking, but he seems to know a fair bit about chemistry. Just looking at the menu of his restaurant you can tell that he likes to experiment - a bit too much for my taste, but that is not really the issue here. Nor is the fact that I learned a lot about ice cream and mashed potatoes that day and can recommend the show to anyone who wants to know why certain things tend to go wrong so easily.
What the asterisk was meant to indicate is that, on program's website, Mr. Blumenthal has a thing or two to say about frying meat before you roast it. Many cookbooks tell you that the reason for this is to "seal in the juices", but Mr. Blumenthal calls this an "amazing piece of kitchen nonsense". In the section on kitchen myths he tells us:

"It never fails to amaze me when chefs talk about "sealing" meat. You only have to look at the pan to see the juices pouring out of the meat as it is heated above about 60°C. The muscle fibres contract and literally squeeze the water out of the meat. What actually happens when you put a piece of meat in a hot pan is that chemical reactions (known as the Maillard reactions) start. Proteins and sugars react together once the temperature is above about 140C to produce a wealth of new molecules which provide the typical "meaty" aromas. In short we cook meat at high temperatures to generate flavour - not to seal juices in."

This seems to make sense, don't you think? That brown crust that forms when meat reacts with fat and heat is one of the yummiest parts of a roast. Why else would we deglaze roasting tins once the meat has been removed? So I will leave you with a quick remark about tonight's dinner. I have not deglazed the pan. Instead, I kept it in the fridge to make a sauce for the leftovers tomorrow.

Christine at 10:44 pm

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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Waterless Dinner

When I got home this evening Lofty greeted me with a very annoyed look on his face and the phone right next to him on the table. What had happened? Nothing. But that exactly was the problem. After I left this morning, he had gone to the bathroom to get ready for work himself, turned on the tap and, well, nothing happened. There was no water. Nor was there any obvious reason why it would have stopped. The neighbours were fine, I had had all the water I needed only 20 minutes earlier and there was no discernable leak in the pipe or some such thing. It just wanted a break and thought now was a good time to stop working.
This not only meant that we had to resort to manual flushing, but also that I had to be creative with dinner. How do you cook a tasty dinner without a single drop of water (or rather, with only sparkling mineral water)? Let's see... grilling, frying, roasting, baking and stewing in butter or wine are all good ways of avoiding water. Our fridge and cupboards soon revealed the way to go: Grilled cod fillet with roast root vegetables and more vignole. Not the most exciting dinner I've ever cooked, but still. It was tasty, what more could I ask for from a bunch of leftovers without water?

Christine at 10:43 pm

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Sunday, April 23, 2006

Stuffed Mushrooms with Spring Vegetables

It was a nice Sunday today and our guest was keen on going out to explore the world. I would in theory have been happy to join him, but in practice he made it all so awkward, I backed out and stayed at home. He insisted that he wanted to get out of the city - a very German request, I think; never mind that St. Stephen's Green is beautiful and accessible, let's travel further afield to Bray only to find out that there is nothing there! I tried to tell him that beforehand and suggested Dun Laoghaire or Howth instead. But there was no convincing him. The further, the better, he said and headed off alone.
I stayed behind in my kitchen and got busy with some more of the things I bought yesterday. I took it slowly and had a good tidy first, reorganised the freezer and got some of the cupboards back in order (and found some interesting relics from my trip to Germany in December - I may have to make a gingerbread mousse in the near future to use up some of the dried up Christmas stuff). Once all was neat and clean, I got on with the cooking. First I made that pear sorbet I told you about yesterday. It seemed to go fine, but I won't post the recipe until I'm sure the experiment was successful. As soon as we've tasted it frozen, I'll share the results.
Something that I'm more than happy to boast about right now is dinner. I wasn't sure when our guest would return from his day out, so it had to be something that could be prepared quickly. I opted for stuffed mushrooms because my experience has shown that, once assembled, they can be cooked in as little as 15 minutes. If you follow the link above you will find that I suggested serving the mushrooms with potato wedges and baked leeks. This was not feasible today because of my time constraints. Spud wedges take much too long to cook and you really can't pre-prepare them because the potatoes go brown if they are cut and left out. But the mixture of crispy potatoes, soft vegetables and baked mushrooms was definitely a winner. I had a quick recipe search and a long think and in the end came up with a seasonal version of my winter dish: Stuffed mushrooms with roast potato hash (parboiled chopped potatoes baked in the oven for 20 minutes to crisp up) and Vignole, a spring vegetable stew from Rome. And as I have already posted the mushroom recipe before, I will spare you the repetition and just share my version of vignole, which is a great way of welcoming spring.

1 tbsp olive oil
a knob of butter
1 onion, finely chopped
3 baby leeks, washed and cut into 2 cm chunks
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 large handfuls of baby kale (or some other green leaf vegetable such as spinach or chard)
half a can of butter beans (better would be 225 g fresh podded baby broad beans, but I did not have any)
75 g shelled peas (thawed if you are using frozen)
a small handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
a few handfuls of parsley, finely chopped
a splash of white wine
50 ml water
1 vegetable Oxo cube
salt and pepper to taste
(this recipe can be expanded using a number of spring vegetables such as green asparagus, artichokes, broccoli and more)

Heat the oil and butter a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and gently fry until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the leek and garlic and continue frying for a minute or two. Now add the leaves and wine, cover and simmer until tender, about 5 to 8 more minutes. Finally, stir in the peas and beans followed by the water. Crumble in the Oxo cube and stir well. Finally, stir in the chopped herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ok, I admit, I had been a bit optimistic with my time estimates and it took half an hour from our guest's return to dinner being served, but I think that this was a small price to pay for a great dinner.

Christine at 9:54 pm

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Saturday, April 22, 2006

Rhubarb Crumble

Welcome to my rhubarb crumble post. "Why does it exist?" you may ask. The reasons are manifold. For one, Lofty and I really like it, so I felt that it warranted its own entry in the archive. Secondly, I think one recipe per post is enough. And last, but not least, there is a fun story behind it that is definitely worth telling. Remember, my lunchtime excursion to Marino yesterday? Well, I did not just buy the fish and leave. I also stopped at the small greengrocer's at the bottom of Malahide Road. I'd cycled past there several times curiously looking at their wares, but somehow the occasion was always wrong to shop: Once I was on my way to a company conference, once I was heading to a friend's place for dinner, once I was on lunch with a group of colleagues and a few times I was on my way to work and already quite late. Several people told me that I was really missing out on something by not stopping, so I've been quite keen to give them a try.
The opportunity came during my trip over there yesterday. I don't know if I caught them on a bad day or if my expectations were simply so high they were bound to be disappointed, but I do not understand what the hype is all about. What I found was an ordinary Dublin fruit and veg shop: The choice was pretty much the same as on Meath Street around the corner from home. But unlike at my greengrocer's, while some things looked quite good, others were well past their best. Why, for example, would I buy expensive asparagus that had mould growing on the end? I wouldn't and I didn't. I nearly left again empty handed and slightly frustrated when I discovered something outside that I could not just walk past: A big bunch of Irish rhubarb for €1. It was the last one, so I grabbed the whole plastic sack it was in, stuck it in my backpack and (after paying, don't worry!) headed off.
When I got back to the office I found that the rhubarb was much too long for my bag and was beginning to bend where it was overhanging. If they were already suffering on the short way to work, there was no way I was going to get them home intact. I left them out on my desk while I was musing over the problem in the afternoon - much to the amusement of anyone who walked past. In the end I decided that it was safest to just tightly wrap the rhubarb and balance it home lying across my handlebar. Well, safest for the rhubarb at least. I somewhat doubt that the Guardai would have agreed with me riding across town in Friday rush hour traffic with a pound of rhubarb balancing loosely on my bicycle and my attention keenly focussed on holding on to it. But I made it home without incident and today can reap the fruit of my success: Delicious rhubarb crumble.

10 sticks of rhubarb
4 tbsp water
8 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp powdered ginger
220g plain white flour, sifted
170g butter
55g chopped almonds, roughly crushed
80g Demerara sugar
to serve:
ice cream or double cream

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cut the rhubarb into 2 cm long chunks. Place in a single layer on an oven tray, sprinkle with the water and caster sugar and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven, sprinkle over the ginger and mix well. Fill an ovenproof dish about 4 cm deep with the rhubarb.
For the topping, in a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the almonds and sugar, incorporating well. Make sure that you do not have any lumps of butter or loose flour in the mix; they will cause the fruit to turn into a sticky paste and the topping to melt rather than go crunchy. Also, if your topping mix gets too warm, put it in the fridge to rest for a bit, but do not allow to harden. Scatter over the filling.
Place in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until the topping is golden and crunchy. Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving with ice cream or double cream.

Christine at 10:23 pm

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Poached Smoked Cod with Creamy Potatoes

Spring has sprung, the grass is ris and I know where the birdies is! They is right here in Dublin. And Dublin is beautiful again today. After the glorious day we had yesterday I had very much expected rain for today, but that did not materialise. Instead, our visitor and I had a glorious morning at the market. He has returned from Cork slightly more relaxed and happy to run around town with me looking for dinner. Good, because that is exactly what I was planning on doing today.
Our first stop was as usual Jenny's stall at Temple Bar market. It is really starting to reflect the emerging new season with young cauliflower, crisp salad leaves, radishes, baby spinach, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, spring onions and fresh herbs. The remains of winter are still lingering in the shape of carrots, parsnips, swede and old potatoes. But the Brussel tops and cabbage of the past few months are gone for good. Inspired by the sun, last week's cooking programme and life in general, I basically bought one of each - and later wondered how in the world we were supposed to eat it all. But never mind, it made me happy and will hopefully force me to be inventive in finding new ways of preserving fresh veg. I see soups, ice cream, quiche and many more things in my future.
The near future, however, was occupied by thought for fish. I had pre-ordered cockles last week and Lofty was really looking forward to that very British snack. Well, he'll have to be patient for another week. The fishmonger had forgotten who had ordered them and sold them to a lucky customer in Leopardstown yesterday. Oh well, I'll just get mine next week, it's always good to have something to look forward to. I still wanted to give our guest another taste of Ireland's great seafood so I bought a large piece of smoked cod - enough to serve two ways, a carpaccio with tomato salsa as a starter (click here for my recipe) and a more traditional poached cod with creamed potatoes as a main course.
This meant that I had to go see Dennis for some more ingredients. I haven't bought anything from him for a few weeks now, mainly because Jenny had all the winter vegetables I needed. But now that the sun has re-emerged and what I like to call the "dry season" between the holiday season in December and the emergence of spring is finally over, Lofty and I are craving something new, something more, and most of all some fruit. And Dennis is the man to satisfy all of these wishes. Today, he had - among many other things - beautiful garden tomatoes that, although imported from Italy, smelled (and tasted) delicious. I got a few along with some crisp green asparagus, a handful of morel mushrooms, a bag of overripe pears (the sweet smell was incredible and I've got a recipe for pear sorbet that I've been dying to test) two little yellow mangoes, some shallots and some new potatoes - all organic of course - and wandered off with a smile.
We had a few more stops - some meat, some wine, a little snack - but all in all, my visitor was done with the market again and wanted a coffee. I suggested Queen of Tarts on Dame Street and, surprisingly, he agreed. I think the old fashioned look and feel of the place convinced him of the authenticity of the food sold within. And he was not disappointed. But then, how could anyone be? Not just the outside is beautifully old fashioned; their homemade cakes, crumbles, scones and tarts are too. They also have a surprisingly wide selection of goodies for breakfast and lunch, so no matter when you need some traditional home-cooked food, you will find it there. Just be warned, during peak times the place gets incredibly busy. But if the sun is shining you always have the option to get a savoury tart to go and eat it sitting in the gardens of Christ Church Cathedral reading a good book.
After we had dropped off our shopping, all three of us headed out again for a walk around town in the afternoon sunshine. Our guest also stopped at the National Museum of Ireland, but Lofty and I were put off by the speed at which he had raced through the Chester Beatty Library last week, so we opted for a wander around Grafton Street instead. We met up again in the evening to enjoy the rewards of a hard day's shopping: Smoked Cod Carpaccio with Tomato Salsa to start, Poached Cod on Creamy Potatoes as a main course and some Rhubarb Crumble with Channel Island thick cream for desert. The recipe for the starter can be found via the link above and the desert warranted its post (which will come next). So here is my recipe for the main course (which I served without vegetables because of the very green starter, but I'm sure it would be excellent with some mildly flavoured spring veg, such as asparagus, spinach or peas):

600 ml milk
1 onion halved
1 bay leaf
450 g undyed smoked cod, cut into 3 portions
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 spring onions, sliced (plus some extra for decoration)
1 sprig of thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
225 g unpeeled new potatoes, diced
25 g strongly flavoured cheese (I used Appenzeller, but Gruyère, Emmenthal or another kind of hard alpine cheese will work just as well), grated
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the milk in a saucepan with the onion and bay leaf. Remove from the heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Return to the heat. When simmering, add the cod, cover and cook for 8 minutes. Remove the fish and keep warm in a low oven, then strain the cooking fluid.
Heat the olive oil in another medium sized saucepan. Cook the garlic, spring onions and thyme for 5 minutes, then add the potatoes and poaching milk and cook uncovered until the potatoes are tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Reduce the temperature to low and add the cheese. Slowly cook until the cheese is melted and the mix is heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon the potato onto three warm plates, top each with a piece of poached cod and scatter with sliced spring onion.

Christine at 10:19 pm

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Friday, April 21, 2006

Sea Trout with Citrus Vinaigrette

Oh what a beautiful day! After the fall yesterday came the sky-high rise today. It is Friday, which is always a good day, the sun was shining all day and I got to make up for all the food mess of the last couple of days. This morning I was fit as a fiddle, as if yesterday's little episode had never happened, just a happy little cyclist on a beautiful sunny spring morning in Dublin.
I didn't have any lunch packed, but for reasons still unknown even to myself, rather than going to the pub with my colleagues, I cycled to nearby Marino to do some food shopping. And guess what...? The fishmonger there had seat trout! So, for dinner, I finally got to try my version of Paul Rankin's wild trout with citrus butter vinaigrette. You will find the original recipe here. And this is what I made of it (for 3 people):

For the fish:
1 large fillet of wild salmon trout, about 450 g
2 tbsp light olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
spring onion rings to serve
For the kale:
3 big handfuls of red kale
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
½ tbsp butter (optional)
3 tbsp white wine
For the creamed potatoes:
3 large floury potatoes
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp thick cream
salt and freshly ground white pepper
For the citrus butter vinaigrette:
2 tbsp finely chopped shallots
150 ml white wine
1 tsp grated lemon zest
150 g unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Scale and thoroughly de-bone the fish. Rinse and pat dry. Cut into three portions and carefully make 2 or 3 shallow incisions in the skin of each portion using a very sharp knife. Brush liberally with light olive oil and place skin-side down on a baking sheet. Set aside.
To make the creamed potatoes, peel the potatoes and cut them into large chunks. Bring them to the boil in a large saucepan with just enough water to cover them. When hot, add a pinch of salt, cover and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
In the meantime make the vinaigrette. Boil the shallots with the wine in a small saucepan until reduced by half. Add the lemon zest and allow to infuse while you clarify the butter.
Melt the butter in another saucepan (one large enough to hold the kale) and bring to a gentle boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to settle, then skim off any foam or scum from the top. Pour the clear butter into the shallot reduction, leaving any milky residue behind in the pan (discard the milky residue). Season the vinaigrette with salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.
Now finish off the fish. Preheat the grill to its highest setting. Season the trout with salt and pepper and place skin-side down under the grill. Cook for a minute or two to seal, then turn. Continue grilling until the skin is nicely crisp and the fish is just cooked. This should take 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill and the thickness of the fillets.
While the fish is grilling, cook the kale. Reheat the saucepan used for clarifying the butter over medium heat. Fry the garlic until translucent, about 1 minute. Add the kale and the wine, cover and steam until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain thoroughly and mash with the butter and cream. Warm the vinaigrette through. To serve, spoon the creamed potatoes into the centre of a plate. Top with the trout filet and surround with garlic kale. Spoon over the warm butter vinaigrette, and scatter with spring onion rings.

Now that we've tasted the dish, Lofty and I have decided that Richard Corrigan's turbot must either have been very, very good or the judges got something very, very wrong. Even my faulty re-interpretation of Paul's recipe was terribly more-ish. And not what asparagus is coming into season, I might have to try to copy the original line for line. Maybe I will try to do my own little weekend cook-off and prepare both dishes side by side. Maybe that'll help me understand why the judges gave preference to Richard's dish. Great British menus à la Christine anyone?

Christine at 11:13 pm

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Thursday, April 20, 2006

Meat Lovers Pizza with Avocado

Oh my, I felt rough today. I had nightmares all night, woke up feeling as if I'd just been hit by a freight train and on my way to work I was slower on my bicycle than the little old ladies on the sidewalk. One of my colleagues who normally gets to the office much later than me passed me half way there and was comfortably sat at his desk, coffee in hand, computer started and mailbox open, when I finally staggered in. Needless to say, work wasn't progressing at quite the speed it is supposed to.
Most worryingly, though I could barely get myself to eat anything. I had a bowl of porridge for breakfast, which was so filling I skipped lunch. I had no coffee instead drinking unsweetened mint tea and water all day and still felt like dying in front of my screen.
The ride home was, shall I say, less than safe (imagine a drunk 12-year-old on a bike in rush hour traffic, that's what I must have looked like) and when I finally got there I had such a bad head rush, I nearly passed out on the sofa. Needless to say, I didn't do much else all evening. I made a quick meat lover's pizza for Lofty and then went to lay down feeling sorry for myself. I hope this passes soon.

Christine at 8:23 pm

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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Bratwurst with Potato Gratin and Garlic Reduction

Today was a good day again. Work time was filled with food, which always fills me with joy. I got to review a very nice Austrian website selling wine, spirits and fine foods. Normally, I'm supposed to finish these jobs within an hour, but as there wasn't too much to do, I took my time and studied everything quite closely. Very nice, very nice indeed.
I must admit, at times like these I regret that Irish drinking habits have led to alcohol being very expensive. I can understand the reasoning behind the laws and taxes and I do believe the government that some stupid young men would drink themselves to death. But I also think that the majority of people are quite capable of drinking responsibly and find it hard to accept that the bad behaviour of the few should spoil the enjoyment of the many. It is like this attitude that alcohol should be expensive to prevent drunk driving. No, the police should be active to prevent drunk driving. Breathalysers, publicity campaigns and tough sentences work elsewhere; why don't we have them here? I am all for respecting people's privacy, but to me privacy stops where the next person's liberty begins. And my liberty as a cyclist is definitely restricted by people who risk killing me just so they can have a drink. But enough of the unpleasantness, let's get back to why today was a good day.
In the evening I decided to have a look what's on the telly and only just caught a show that I had not seen before - Great British menus on BBC2. The program is all about finding the one great British chef who will cook for the Queen's 80th birthday celebration banquet in June. Every week, two chefs from the same region of Britain compete for a place in the national final, the winner of which will be chosen by the British public. This week, it was Northern Ireland's turn with Richard Corrigan battling one of my favourite cooks, Paul Rankin. I missed Monday's starters, but the repeat made it sound like I could definitely learn a thing or two from those two. The ingredients had to be sourced locally as far as possible and therefore were really similar to what I get here in Dublin: Smoked salmon with soda bread and Dublin bay prawn cocktail. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it. Well, except those guys gave it a bit of a Michelin Star twist that I will definitely have to try to copy.
I felt similarly inspired by yesterday's fish course. Paul made wild trout with citrus vinaigrette, a combination that made our mouths water. I felt so inspired I wanted to imitate, or rather re-interpret, the recipe right away. So off I went to the freezer and pulled out a bag of monkfish I had frozen a few weeks earlier. While that was defrosting, I got busy with the side dishes. Potato gratin, purple sprouting broccoli and fried mushrooms looked like a good idea. I started with the spuds and when they were in the oven, I went back and checked on the fish -- which had caught such bad frostbite it had to be thrown away. What now? Yes, you guessed it. First, I got angry, then I panicked, then I was deeply saddened and then I went back to the fridge to sort the mess out. I found a packet of Bratwurst and lots of garlic. This is how the strange combination of potato gratin and sausages came about, which, much to my surprise, actually tasted quite nice.

enough sausages for two people (Lofty normally has four, I prefer 2½ to 3)
2 tbsp oil
2 handfuls of mushrooms (I used a mix of button mushrooms and shiitakes, but obviously wild mushrooms are nice while they are in season), sliced
2 handfuls of purple sprouting broccoli
a pinch of salt
For the white wine and garlic reduction:
1½ tbsp butter
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
200 ml white wine
1 oxo cube
For the potatoes:
a small knob of butter
150 ml cream
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
2 large floury potatoes, sliced as thinly as you can (I use a little spiral cutter that I highly recommend)
4 tbsp grated cheese (I used cheddar, but a mix of mozzarella and Parmesan would be better)
salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease two little soufflé dishes generously with butter. Lay half of the potatoes into the dishes, scatter with garlic and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and pour in the cream. It should reach about 2/3 of the way up the dish. Scatter with cheese and bake in the middle of the oven until the potatoes are tender and the cheese is golden, about 1 hour.
About 20 minutes before the potatoes are done, get the Bratwurst on the go. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sausages and gently fry until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. They don't have to be cooked through, they will get more cooking time. During this initial phase, disturb them as little as possible; just turn them whenever the underside is golden.
At the same time, start the reduction. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add the garlic and cook until translucent, about 1 minute. Increase the heat to medium and add the wine. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat again and allow to simmer until reduced by half, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and crumble in the oxo cube, stirring constantly.
When the sausages are browned add the mushrooms to the pan and continue frying until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are going brown as well. Again disturb the contents of the pan only to prevent them from burning otherwise the mushrooms will not brown properly.
When you start on the mushrooms, also bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt followed by the broccoli. Blanch until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and refresh briefly in cold water to stop the cooking process and drain completely.

Not quite a dinner fit to serve to the queen, but maybe one the queen wishes she could have rather than all the poncy palace food. Yeah, right, dream on Christine!

Christine at 8:50 am

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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Creamy Oysters on Garlic Toast

Monday was supposed to be a day of rest and relaxation. I was off work and our visitor was leaving for Cork, so Lofty and I had the whole day to ourselves and I had a fridge full of food to waste the day on. But then I fell ill and the day of cooking turned into a day of watching Star Trek movies on the Sci Fi Channel. Not exactly what I had planned, but definitely not a bad day either.
By Tuesday morning I was well enough to go to work and by the time I got back home (and hadn't eaten in nearly 48 hours) I was hungry enough to eat a scabby horse. Luckily, I didn't have to. On the contrary, the choice of food that was best eaten fresh was overwhelming: spinach, oysters, strawberries, broccoli, mushrooms, spring onions... I decided on a slightly unusual combination of oysters, lightly poached in a creamy garlic sauce served on top of toasted rye bread with garlic butter (a specialty of my mum's native Czech Republic which also tastes excellent with steak tartare or just as a snack with a pint of beer) and some spinach.

For the oysters:
½ tbsp butter
1 shallot or ½ onion, finely chopped
2 thin slices of black forest ham or speck Alto Adige (alternatively streaky bacon or pancetta)
2 big handfuls of mushrooms, sliced
½ lemon, grated zest only
a pinch of chilli powder
2 tbsp dry white wine
4 tbsp milk
75 ml thick cream
salt and pepper to taste
12 shucked oysters, juice reserved
For the spinach:
4 handfuls of baby spinach, washed
1 handful of watercress (you don't have to use it, but the peppery flavour complements the creamy sauce and gives the dish a bit of springtime feel)
salt and pepper to taste
For the toast:
4 medium slices rye bread (alternatively, white bread or ciabatta will do)
enough butter to thinly cover the surface of the bread
2 to 3 cloves of garlic (depending on you love/tolerance for it), finely chopped
To serve:
Spring onion rings
freshly grated Parmesan

Melt the butter in a high-walled frying pan over medium heat. Fry the shallot until translucent, then add the mushrooms, lemon zest and chillies and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid the mushrooms give off is evaporated and they are golden. Add wine and bring to a boil. Then add the milk and oyster juice. Simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it is creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Finally, add the oysters and cream and allow to heat through. Leave on the stove long enough to just cook the oysters, but make sure not to overdo it, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
For the spinach, heat a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add the spinach while it is still wet, cover and heat through. When the spinach is beginning to collapse, add the watercress, cover again and leave to steam in its own juice for about 4 minutes. Add a few drops of water if the pan appears dry.
For the toast, spread the butter on the bread followed by the garlic. Toast under a preheated grill until golden brown and crispy.
Arrange toast on 2 plates, cover with spinach and spoon creamed oysters on top. Sprinkle with spring onions and Parmesan and serve immediately.

Christine at 8:59 pm

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Monday, April 17, 2006

Easter Lamb

It's Easter Sunday and we decided to be all boringly traditional and have roast lamb for dinner. I had bought a smallish shoulder of lamb yesterday, which I was planning on roasting with some potatoes (our guest had never had roast spuds) and serving with some of Jenny's vegetables (thoroughly washed to ease our guest's mind) and homemade mint sauce (but I forgot to buy vinegar, so that didn't happen). But as per usual with me, life threw a spanner in the wheels of this well-laid plan.
It all started in the morning when our guest decided that he wanted to see the "famous Dublin doors" around Marrion Square. There was no convincing him that a) there were similarly nice examples of these colourfully painted doors much closer to here and that b) going into the city centre was a bad idea on the day Ireland was to celebrate the anniversary of its Easter Rising against British rule with a military parade - the first since 1969. On the contrary, we found ourselves at the receiving end of a speech about all the nasty things Britain had done to Ireland, which he saw as a clear explanation and sufficient excuse for today's potholes in Dame Street and the lack of a proper bus system. As you can tell, by now the bloke was getting seriously on my nerves. His mixture of self-righteousness, esoteric preaching and uneducated comments about everything and anything are really testing the boundaries of my tolerance. Especially when he starts bitching at me that I bitch too much. Why can't he just shut up and perform some Feng Shui ritual in a corner of the next room?
One of his other negative character traits - an incredibly short attention span - came to our rescue this morning, though. I think he wants to go places just so he can say that he's been there. When we got to Marrion Square he only looked at one door before he was ready to go home again. He was not interested in the artists who sell their paintings around the park in the centre and he certainly no longer wanted to hear anything about the history of Irish protest against British rule. Good, because that meant that, despite seeing helicopters fly above, he had forgotten about the parade and we could walk right around it all.
Our next stop was the Chester Beatty Library inside the castle. We started with lunch at the café, which unlike many museum restaurants is not all touristy and serving bad food, but is in fact a very nice Mediterranean/Middle Eastern/South Asian café serving such delights as moussaka, falafel and lamb curry as well as a number of Middle Eastern sweets, Turkish delight and huge dried dates. It was just the right introduction to the exhibit of religious texts and artefacts of mostly Middle Eastern and African origin we were about to see.
Unfortunately, we spent so much time there, we came home too late for me to prepare the lamb the way I had intended to, roasted slowly in a low oven for several hours. Instead, I used a recipe I found on the BBC website, which suggested a roasting time of 30 minutes in a hot oven. This was a mistake. Lofty and my intuition warned me that there was no way the lamb would be done in such a short time, but I didn't listen. I timed everything else by the time I thought the lamb would be ready and ended up with perfect roast spuds and a selection of vegetables stir-fried until just tender, a red wine sauce and a roast that looked like it had never been inside an oven. So I went through my usual cycle of despair, anger and panic before Lofty suggested just eating veg and gravy now followed by the meat later. If the men were happy with that, so was I; I hadn't intended eating any meat to begin with. I did try a bit when it was finally done, but I must say much to my shame that it was a failure. It was very tasty and perfectly seasoned, but because of the awkward way of roasting the meat had gone tough. I should have just listened to Lofty and made it tomorrow. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes. And just in case you dare approach it using my advice, this is how I would have made the lamb had I had the time (and how I did season it even now):

half a shoulder of lamb (approx. 1 to 1½ kg)
2 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic, halved
1 long sprig of rosemary
½ tbsp soft butter
crushed sea salt
150 ml red wine
1 tbsp flour
200 ml water
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Heat the oil in a roasting tray. Seal the shoulder of lamb until it has become a light brown colour all over. Remove the lamb from the tray and allow to cool slightly.
Make 1½ cm deep incisions in the lamb, into each incision insert half a garlic clove and a few rosemary needles. Rub it with the butter and lightly with salt. Add half the wine to the roasting tray and put a rack over it. Put the lamb on top and tightly wrap tin foil around it. Place in the oven and roast for approximately 2 hours turning over half way through. Increase oven temperature to 220 degrees Celsius and remove the foil from the lamb. Return to the oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove the lamb from the oven and transfer to a tray to rest.
To make the gravy, place the roasting tray over a moderate heat to caramelise the lamb juices, about 2 to 3 minutes. Strain of any excess fat. Add the flour in continue frying for about 2 minutes. Pour in the other half of the wine and the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the lamb with the gravy, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Christine at 2:07 pm

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Sunday, April 16, 2006

Steamed Mussels

I had raved so much about Temple Bar market, our visitor insisted that we must go there on Saturday. We had a good wander about, so he could look at every stall. But for some strange reason, he wasn't half as interested as he had been before we got there. I think he had expected more. For example, I proudly presented Jenny's stall and told him to take whatever he fancied because all of it is lovely. But the only reaction I got was a comment about the dirt on the carrots. He wasn't really interested in any of the vegetables and nearly pressed me to move on. So I grabbed a few bagfuls of fresh salad greens, leeks, spring onions, carrots and some purple sprouting broccoli and hurried on. I suppose I should have expected that. After all, he is from Munich where people tend to value variety and size rather than fresh seasonal, local produce. My mum is like that as well, happy to buy large Spanish strawberries in December rather than waiting for summer when the smaller local ones come out.
Although, this week I best stay quiet about strawberries. Dennis had Portuguese ones on special - two baskets of organic strawberries for €1 - so I forgot all about my principles and got a couple. I also got a few avocados although this week I did not manage to get my hands on any nice looking prawns, so I'll have to see what I'll do with them. That was my shopping nearly done so it was time for my visitor to do his. Or so I thought. After having seen everything he decided that the market had nothing to offer to him, except a few snacks. So he had a freshly grilled burger (and bitched about it being served on a real burger bun rather than German-style crusty bread) and two oysters (which he claimed to like, but I'm not sure I buy that). I tried a vegetable kofta, which wasn't bad, and the rest of his half dozen oysters, which are always lovely at the market. In fact, I couldn't resist and took a dozen home. At €8 they are a steal. We also got some mussels from the fishmonger, which I cooked for dinner in a tomato sauce. I bought 3 kilos for the three of us, but the mussels were particularly heavy and covered in barnacles, so I needed that many. Normally, I guestimate about 600 to 750 grams per person. If you want to do this dish at home, I recommend you go by volume rather than weight using a good 3 to 4 handfuls of mussels per person.

3 kg mussels, scrubbed, de-barnacled and de-bearded
6 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 leek, sliced
2 small chillis (alternatively a pinch of chilli powder)
2 bay leaves
1 spring of fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)
1 spring of fresh rosemary (or ½ tsp dried)
1 can of tomatoes, including juice
½ litre white wine

Put the mussels in the sink or a large bucket, cover with plenty of cold water and leave to de-sand for at least 20 to 30 minutes. If you are using wild mussels, which tend to be sandier than the farmed kind, drain and repeat the procedure several times. Also make sure to remove any remaining barnacles to prevent them from being crushed in the pot and releasing sand into your dinner.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. The pan should be big enough that the mussels fill it no further than half way and should have a fairly large diameter. Fry the onion, garlic, leek, chillis, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary and fry until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes with their juice, crush and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.
Add the wine and bring to the boil. Finally, add the mussels, cover and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes or until the mussels open. Do not overcook! Discard any mussels that remain closed after cooking.

Before I leave you for tonight, let's briefly return to this afternoon. After our brief excursion into Dublin's culinary underbelly, our guest was too exhausted to stay in town any longer. He plain out refused to do any more of my usual Saturday tour, such as Liston's or Meath Street. Luckily, I did manage to drag him into a wine merchant's that I had spotted the night before. What had originally caught my eye was the sign outside advertising wine for €5.99 per bottle, but it turned out that the price is the least impressive thing about the shop. The selection is incredible too and the owner's knowledge and friendliness were a delight. He claims to have the largest selection of South African wines in Ireland and I don't doubt that he's right. But this does not mean that he is ignoring other wine producing regions. The shop is packed with wines from all over the world. There is something for every taste and budget so if you like a tipple, give Vaughan Johnson's Wine Shop at 11 East Essex Street a try. The Kleindal Sauvignon Blanc we got to accompany the mussels was excellent.

Christine at 11:45 pm

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The Shack

I should have been all over this blog on Wednesday. My Tesco order arrived while I was out on Tuesday and on Wednesday our fridge was full to the brim. The weather was still good, so nothing was dragging me down; and yet, I did not have any ideas what to cook, let alone what to write. So I took the easy route and made some shop bought garlic and herb fettuccini with vegetable carbonara. They're simple to make, but no less tasty for it.
On Thursday, a friend of my mum's came to see us from Germany. He likes his food, but is very hard to please, and wherever he goes he is always looking for this strange concept that tourists call "authentic local cuisine". I remember, years ago in Prague he dragged us into an incredibly run-down, dirty restaurant on the edge of town claiming that this was how the natives liked to dine. There was no convincing him that at least a small section of the Czech population had eyes to see the filth and taste buds to know that what they were being served was not fit for human consumption, so Lofty and I endured one of the worst dinners we had ever eaten. With this in mind, I had prepared a vegetable quiche for dinner, because there are bad restaurants and filthy pubs aplenty in this part of Dublin and we wanted to avoid a repetition of the old experience at all cost. The cost of that, it turned out would be €85 including tip, because surely enough he came and wanted to have dinner at a traditional Irish restaurant. We don't know any, though. Why would I pay over the odds for a stew or a roast if I can make an equally nice one at home at a fraction of the cost? Anyway, we relied on the write-ups from various websites and ended up heading to The Shack in Temple Bar.
At first we had feared that, given the area, we were going to end up in a tourist trap, but that fear did not become reality. Although the decor is slightly cheesy and a small bottle of Guinness costs €5.40, the food was quite good and the service impeccable. Our friend ordered Irish stew, which came with thick slices of walnut bread and, in his opinion was very tasty. I had calamari and chips - very nice, albeit slightly too greasy - and Lofty opted for a sirloin steak that was very tasty and grilled almost to perfection. It was slightly overdone, but in the chef's defence I should mention that Lofty likes his steaks blue, a state that is rarely achieved in a restaurant. We also had two deserts - a cherry tart and a slice of banoffi pie - both of which were quite tasty, although a bit light on the fillings. Including two bottles of beer, the bill came to €75 - very reasonable for the area, the atmosphere and the quality we thought.

Christine at 11:40 pm

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Saturday, April 15, 2006

Chameleon Indonesian Restaurant

"Tonight was a special night," I wrote last Tuesday and have since waited to tell you. "My workmates and I had our half-yearly team dinner at Chameleon, a very nice Indonesian restaurant in Temple Bar. Well, I say very nice. The food was nothing special - not bad, but not really worth the money they ask - but the atmosphere was perfect. We had a large table upstairs...," This is how far I got before I was so tired I gave up on it for nearly another week. But now I'm thinking back at the event, I really think the post would best be skipped. My pictures were too dark to be worth sharing and my opinion of the evening is really rather nondescript. Does anyone care about the colour of the cushions we sat on? Or the fact that you don't get much food for €20? Or my bitching about the unfriendly waiter? No, I didn't think so. So I'll just say that if you have some money to spare and want to spend an evening in nice surroundings, give Chameleon a try. Otherwise, go to the Oriental Emporium on South Georges Street, stock up on Indonesian ingredients and cook yourself, the result will probably taste better.

Christine at 11:39 pm

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Friday, April 14, 2006

Smoked Duck with Warm Potato & Watercress Salad

If you check the food section on the website of the BBC to find out what is in season this month you are told that:
When I read this before after coming home from the market on Saturday, I could have sworn someone had read my thoughts and written them out in front of me. I could not have expressed better how I felt today. The sun was shining the second day in a row, but the wind was still bitterly cold and dark clouds were lurking on the horizon dampening the feeling of anticipation and happiness caused by the advent of brighter days. And yet I could not help but feel good at the sight of purple spouting broccoli, deep green water cress and young carrots glowing colourfully in the mild morning sunshine, crisp salad greens and firm, white cauliflower beckoning you to eat them right there and then and fresh herbs filling the air with the scent of summer. Finally the season of stews and roasts is over!

1 smoked duck breast
200 g waxy new potatoes
20 g watercress sprigs
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 shallot, finely chopped (alternatively ½ mild onion)
a handful of morel mushrooms (alternatively a handful brown button mushrooms and, if available, a few dried morel mushrooms), sliced
a handful of brown button mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Bring the potatoes to the boil in a pan of water add some salt and simmer until just tender, 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.
Meanwhile, wash the watercress, dry well and put it into a large salad bowl. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the vinegar and some salt and freshly ground black pepper, then set aside.
About 10 minutes before the potatoes are cooked, put the duck breast in an ovenproof dish and gently heat through in the oven. You do not want to cook it! Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat, add the brown mushrooms (and dried mushrooms, if using) and fry gently until they have released their liquid. Add the morel mushrooms and continue to cook until brown.
Remove the duck from the oven and allow to rest for a minute or two, then cut into thin slices. Drain the potatoes and cut them in half or slice them (depending on their size) into a second salad bowl and stir in the dressing, and juices from the duck and the chopped shallots. Finally, add the watercress and mix gently.
Arrange the duck slices on two plates, surrounded by the potato salad and topped with the fried mushrooms. Grate some Parmesan over the top and serve immediately.

Christine at 11:32 pm

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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Baked Spanish Rice

I don't know if the imaginary weather gods I cursed yesterday really exist and wanted to prove me wrong or if it is simple coincidence that even Ireland is allowed to leave winter behind this year, but as if by a magic hand the clouds were swept away overnight and the sun is finally shining bright and strong. It is still quite cold outside and in the morning I still cycled past cars covered in frost, but none of this matters if the sun is shining. I used to think that my mood was entirely independent of the weather. But since we've moved to Dublin I have learned just how wrong I was; the grey and dark of the Irish winter has really been dragging me down. I sleep-cycled to work, spent most of my days sitting at my desk bitching about everything and anything and then sleep cycled home again where I sat shivering and bitching some more. But today, I was happy to be on my bike, laughed all day - in fact, I laughed so much that my colleagues suspected me of being less than sober - and finally hurried home, all eager to get cooking for my Lofty.
There was just one downer: The contents of my fridge did not really make a meal. I could have made some pasta or a risotto, but I wanted more. A special day called for a special dinner, or rather a sunny day called for a dinner that made me feel as if it were a warm summer evening in southern Spain. A bunch of tapas, a glass of wine, maybe some paella... Dream on with an empty fridge! Fortunately, I still had a very good recipe for baked Spanish rice, which basically is a simple version of paella that can be made almost entirely from cupboard staples. I admit, it's not as good as the original, but still pretty yummy.

150 g cherry tomatoes (alternatively ½ can of plum tomatoes, drained and juice reserved)
½ red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1½ tbsp olive oil
150 g paella or risotto rice (if you are desperate, you can use pudding rice, but try to avoid long grain varieties, they do not cook to the right consistency)
100 g chorizo, thickly sliced (I only had the soft, sausage-like kind, but the salami-like variety would be better; alternatively use salami or even Cumberland sausages)
a handful prawns
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or ½ dried)
1 bay leaf
½ litre hot chicken stock
a pinch of saffron strands
1 can sardines in tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
(this recipe is also great to use up leftovers, things that need to go or cupboard staples, such as bite-size chunks of meat or fish (cooked or raw), bell peppers, peas, carrots or leeks)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the cherry tomatoes in a roasting tin and sprinkle over the red onion, garlic and olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are softened. I you are using uncooked chorizo or sausages (or meat or fish), heat a spoonful of olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and fry just long enough to seal the outside.
When the tomatoes are soft and beginning to brown, stir in the rice, prawns, chorizo, (any other meat or vegetables you are using,) rosemary, bay leaf, chicken stock, tomato sauce from the sardines, saffron and some salt and pepper, mixing well together. Return to the oven for 20 minutes.
When the rice is starting to soften, stir once more and top with the sardines. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the rice is tender and the chorizo (and meat or fish) is cooked through.

I topped the rice with a spoonful of freshly chopped garlic, but you do have to be a garlic lover who has no appointments the next day to really enjoy that. But it suited our mood perfectly and we sat in our living room watching the world music awards on BBC4 dreaming of a great summer holiday somewhere far, far away.

Christine at 11:58 am

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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Garlic Sausages with Beluga Lentils

The gods must really hate me... my knees are really starting to hurt from cycling in the cold and damp every day and spring is still nowhere to be seen. I'm really getting frustrated. And need another winter warmer for dinner. How about tasting those "Beluga" lentils from Munich? Lentil stew with sausage is definitely a good idea.

110 g Beluga lentils (any dark lentils, such as Puy or green lentils, will do here)
3 large garlic sausages
2 tbsp olive oil
150 ml red wine
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ onion, finely chopped
1 sprig of rosemary, chopped
1 spring of thyme, chopped
a few sage leaves, chopped
a pinch of chilli powder
150 ml chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
buttered Brussel tops and boiled potatoes to serve

Drop the lentils into a pan of boiling salted water and cook for about 10 minutes until tender, but still with a little bit of bite left in them. They will be cooked a little more later on. Drain and set aside.
Bring the red wine to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow it to boil vigorously until it has reduced to about 3 tbsp. Pour the reduction into a bowl and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the sausage and fry it for 8 to 10 minutes, turning it over half way through, until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through. Transfer to a baking tray, cover loosely with foil and keep hot in the oven.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, return to the heat and add the garlic, onion, rosemary, thyme, sage and chilli. Fry over a medium-high heat until the onion is soft and lightly browned. Add the lentils, red wine reduction, stock and some salt and pepper and leave to simmer gently until the liquid has reduced slightly and the lentils are tender.
Spoon the lentils onto a warmed plate, add some Brussel tops and put the sausages on top. Serve with the boiled potatoes on the side.

Christine at 11:02 pm

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Sunday, April 09, 2006

Bresaola with Sprouting Broccoli

Is it just my impression or have I lost my way with this blog? Maybe it's just that the novelty has worn off, but looking at my most recent posts I have the feeling that the soul is gone. The recipes are not really different, but the stories around them are getting kind of samey. I'm either tired or not, happy with my job or not, bitch about the weather or not, and really don't say much else. Maybe the problem is that my life is just utterly boring. I personally would disagree with such a verdict though. The weekend with our friends was great fun and the trip to Germany, although hard work, was also quite enjoyable. I even find my normal weeknights quite fun, although most of my friends disagree with me arguing that an evening spent surfing the Internet and playing poker can hardly be classified as fun.
I think that the real reason is fatigue. Not blogging fatigue, but more something along the lines of winter blues. I have had enough of the Irish winter. The sun seems to have forgotten that we exist, the days are grey and cloudy and the atmosphere is such that you can either get depressed or go mental. Or do both, as I am. I go from bitching to crying and back again, give off the occasional tirade of obscenities when cycling to and from work and would really like to blow my neighbours' flat up purely because they like to watch TV. In my defence I should add that the telly is just about loud enough for us to hear it and that they have it turned on from the time I get up at 7.15 a.m. to the time I go to sleep around midnight.
I have felt like this many times before and generally when I was down food used to pull me right back up again. In Munich I used to read cookbooks and dream of what I would do if my kitchen consisted of more than two hobs and a small fridge. In Cape Town we would go out for lunch to one of the many wonderful restaurants or I would drag poor Lofty around Woolworth's, which in South Africa is very much like the UK's Marks & Spencer. In Prague I got over the stress of writing my dissertation by cooking and baking for hours on end. And here in Dublin I combined all of the above and added lots and lots of cookery programmes on TV. But nowadays, I miss most of my favourite TV shows because I'm at work and when I come home I do not have much time and energy left to read recipes or cook elaborate meals. Add to that the depressing monotony of winter produce and you will understand why I'm disheartened.
But I'm trying hard to get a bit of fun back in the kitchen. The trip to Munich has surely helped with that. As I said, I filled our cupboards and fridge with all kinds of goodies that are either very hard to find or incredibly expensive here in Dublin: a selection of biscuits, a smoked duck breast, a bag of sea salt, beluga lentils, a bloc of foie gras, some duck rillettes and some wild boar salami from Käfer's fine food outlet; seven different kinds of Swiss chocolate and a selection of French, Spanish and Austrian cheeses totalling nearly a kilo and some Haribo gummi bears from my mum's wholesaler; three different kinds of Austrian ham from the market; a bottle of Lofty's favourite sherry, a piece of Black Forrest ham, some Serrano ham, a garlic salami and a Mettwurst (a traditional German, cured pork sausage that is eaten raw with lots of onion) from my dad's local supermarket; and two kinds of risotto rice, yet another salami (this time a hard Italian one), a block of Parmesan, a smoked scamorza cheese, truffle oil, truffle butter, and some fresh Bresaola from Spina's Italian delicatessen. Can you believe that I actually managed to get all this, along with the chocolate my dad had bought me for easter, a bottle of wine from Emily, coffee from my friend Rainer, my mum's old laptop computer and a bagful of PC accessories, all of which had a combined weight of over 50 kilos, on the plane with me without having to pay for overweight luggage? I'm still not sure how I did it, nor can I imagine ever having lifted this load. But I must have done because it is here in my fridge now. So let's use it up, starting today with some Bresaola, served carpaccio style with blanched broccoli and roast garlic vinaigrette.

50 to 70 g Breasaola
2 big handfuls of sprouting broccoli (alternatively, you could use ordinary broccoli florets, rocket leaves, green or white asparagus or artichoke hearts)
3 cloves roast garlic (if you don't have any, take a whole head of garlic, chop off the top and roast in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 to 40 minutes until soft and golden)
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan shavings and sliced radishes (optional) to serve

Blanch the broccoli in a large pot of boiling salt water until just starting to go tender, about 3 minutes. Refresh in cold water, drain and cool completely.
Squash the garlic in a bowl, stir in the oil and vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, arrange the Bresaola slices on a plate. Top with the broccoli and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Scatter with Parmesan and radishes and serve immediately, accompanied with some fresh, crusty bread.

After dinner, I enjoyed a nice cup of Espresso, made from the coffee my friend Rainer gave me: Organic, shade grown, fair traded coffee harvested by a group of Zapatistas in Chiapas in southern Mexico. They finance their schools, hospitals and other social institutions as well as their (non-violent) struggle with such projects as growing and exporting such excellent coffee. If you're interested, check out the German importers' website at cafe-libertad.de. They export all over Europe and have information in several European languages.

Christine at 8:08 pm

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