Friday, July 21, 2006
Prawn Quesadillas with Roast Potatoes
The day was long, so dinner had to be simple - We still had some flour tortillas in the freezer
(they're a great freezer staple: quickly frozen, quickly defrosted and they come out exactly as they went in), so quesadillas instantly came to mind. There really isn't much cooking involved in preparing them. If you've got oil, tortillas and cheese and can flip a pancake that gives you none of the usual trouble, such as folding over in the process, your already there. Add some spinach (as in the recipe linked to above), fried onions, prawns (these two were my choice tonight), chopped tomato or sweetcorn, you actually have a very nice dinner.It can be served with a variety of accompaniments. Last time I stayed true to the Mexican origins of the dish and made salsa and guacamole. Tonight I was just as short of ingredients as yesterday, so we had the remaining hummus and some more green salad as well as the last of the baby potatoes that I roasted in the oven with a generous helping of Mexican spices.
Christine at 10:04 pm
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Lemon & Herb Chicken with Hummus
We have a big meeting at work tomorrow and I put myself in charge of catering. I love cake and I
have actually gone so far as to suggest a company-wide cake day, not surprisingly so far without success. Oh well, if they won't do it for me, I'll just have to take matters into my own hands and bring some goodies in myself. Today I opted for brownies because they are quick and relatively easy to make - I say relatively because they ended up too gooey again -, I can make it spontaneously because I generally have the ingredients at home and one portion is enough for a group of people.Tonight, the baking
gods had a bit of a surprise for me in store - apart from slightly burning the top while leaving the middle under-cooked that is. One of the eggs I was using was less than ordinary in shape. Rather than being pointy, as they usually are, this egg was perfectly oval. I don't envy the poor chicken that had to lay this one. Ouch!But let's not worry too much about eggs and chickens and get back to the real issue: tonight's dinner. What can you make on a hot (ok, it was only about 25 degrees today, but I've got so used to Irish temperatures that this seems incredibly warm now) summer's night if you don't really have the vegetables for a real salad, but can't even bear the thought of a hot dinner? Hmm... think light, think Mediterranean... How about some grilled chicken with a lemon and herb marinade accompanied by a light potato salad (as in greens, onions, potatoes and a vinaigrette dressing) and some freshly made hummus?
For the chicken:
2 single portion chicken bits (I had two free range chicken wings with some breast meat attached left in the freezer, so that's what I used, but any part of the bird works fine here)
½ lemon, cut into wedges
a good measure of fresh or dried herbs (such as thyme, oregano, basil or parsley)
salt and pepper to taste
For the salad:
enough lettuce for 2 people, torn into rough bits
½ onion, sliced
6 to 8 baby potatoes
some grilled, sliced zucchini (optional)
the dressing of your choice
For the hummus:
200g tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sesame seeds
½ lemon, juice only
salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil to serve
a pinch of paprika
To make the marinade for the chicken, squeeze some of the juice from the lemons into a medium bowl (don't squeeze them out completely), mix in the herbs and then add the chicken pieces and remaining lemon wedges. Leave to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Tip the chicken along with the lemons and the marinade into a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and bake in the oven, basting occasionally, until cooked. This takes 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the pieces.
In the meantime prepare the hummus. Place all of the ingredients apart from the salt and the last 2 tablespoons of oil into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Add a little extra oil or a few drops of water if it appears dry. Season to taste with salt.
Boil the potatoes in enough water to just cover until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool slightly. Toss with the lettuce and onions and add the dressing of your choice.
If you want to add grilled zucchini, heat some olive oil in a shallow frying pan over medium heat. Add the zucchini and fry for about 2 minutes on each side until golden and tender.
To serve, place a heap of hummus on each plate, make a dip in the middle and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. Scatter a bit of paprika over the top. Divide the salad between the plates and top with the zucchini if you are using it. Serve alongside the chicken.
Christine at 10:02 pm
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Tom Yum Soup with Noodles
I'm not so sure this new budgeting thing really works for me. It used to be fine when either Lofty or I were able to shop for food during our lunch breaks or on our way home, but now that we both work longer, we can no longer get the bits and pieces that are missing for any specific dinner. As a result, tonight we only had greens left, but no other vegetables that would really be good for a salad. And as all shops were shut when I realised this, we had to make due with what I found. "Pasta or risotto?" I hear you ask. No, tonight I was being adventurous and made my version of a Thai Tom Yum soup, enhanced with noodles, what vegetables I had and the leftover pork.1 heaping tbsp tom yum paste (more if you like ithot, less if you aren't keen on spicy food; only follow the instructions on the jar if you think that Vindaloo is a mild curry! Mine requested 3 tbsp to 1 litre of water and no coconut milk to mellow it out.)
1 litre boiling water
1 small can (165ml) coconut milk
a handful of long, thin noodles (I used spaghetti, but you could be more authentic and go for Asian noodles)
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 stock cube
a good dash of soy sauce
a good dash of fish sauce
1 stick of lemon grass, roughly chopped (alternatively a little powdered lemon grass)
1 tsp Thai basil leaves, roughly chopped
¼ lemon, cut into wedges
salt and pepper to taste
all the vegetables you like (I used a mixture of sliced carrots, sliced onion and runner beans)
cooked prawns, fish or meat (or, of course, a mixture of all of them)
Place a large saucepan on the hob over medium heat. When the pan is starting to get hot, add the tom yum paste and fry until sizzling and fragrant. Slowly pour in the water, stirring to mix. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for a few minutes before adding the noodles and lemon grass. If you are using very thin noodles or rice noodles, which take very little time to cook, add them with the vegetables. Cook until the noodles are about 5 minutes away from being tender.
Now pour in the coconut milk, crumble in the stock cube and add the palm sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce. Return to the boil and add the vegetables (and any raw meat you might be using). Also squeeze in some of the juice from the lemon wedges and then throw the whole wedges into the pan. Boil until the vegetables are tender, then add the cooked fish or meat. Allow to heat through, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Finally, stir in the Thai basil and serve hot in large bowls.
Christine at 8:20 pm
Monday, July 17, 2006
Salad with Grilled Chicken Livers
Temperatures are on the rise again and no one really feels like doing anything. I certainly didn't feel like cycling across the hot, stuffy, filthy city
twice today, and I definitely did not want to have a hot dinner once I got home. Luckily, I didn't have to. The fridge was packed with salad vegetables: Several kinds of lettuce, mushrooms, corn, carrots, beetroot, radishes, onion, and, just in case Lofty wanted more than veg, I had some chicken livers to fry up.Dinner was quickly prepared. Simply follow my recipe for chicken livers and while the onions and livers are in the pan, chop your salad. Stick to a light dressing of oil and a slightly sweet vinegar, such as a fruity balsamic, so as to not overpower the flavour of the livers. Serve either together, as I did, or on separate plates, but definitely accompanied by thick slices of crusty bread.
Christine at 9:50 pm
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Roast Leg of Pork with Crackling
We were going to go to Howth today to look for some seafood, but then we changed our food budget and our plans went right out of the window. This worked in favour of tonight's dinner, though. I had planned on making roast pork with crackling, but changed my mind when I realised that we would not make it back in time to get the joint in the oven. I could have left it roasting at a very low temperature while we were out, but somehow I don't feel good leaving such a powerful appliance running when I'm not there to supervise it. I don't know if this need for safety has anything to do with me being German, but I just can't shed it. So we stayed in on a beautiful summer's day and I spent the afternoon minding the oven.I would like to think that my supervision also helped me produce the perfect crackling without the addition of such things as beer or cider, something that Lofty does not like. Roasting pork is not complicated, nor is it as hard to make great crackling as some people think. But it does take time and a bit of knowledge of the meat.
1 leg of pork, about 800g
sea salt
1 large onion, thickly sliced
250ml water (plus a few spoonfuls extra)
1 vegetable Oxo cube
1 tbsp butter (optional)
1 tbsp flour (optional)
salt and pepper so season the gravy
boiled or mashed potatoes to serve (or, obviously, the traditional German side dish of dumplings)
the vegetables of your choice (in our case green beans with onions and butter-stewed carrots)
Before you begin, the pork must be well chilled, as cold rind and fat is firm and easier to cut. Using a very sharp knife, make vertical incisions into the skin approximately 2cm apart. Be careful not to cut into the meat.
Half an hour before roasting, rub a good measure of salt into the rind, pushing it through the incisions into the fat with your fingers. This will draw out any water from the skin to leave a very crisp finish.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Put the onion slices in a small heap in the middle of a roasting tin and drizzle with a few drops of water. These are meant to enhance the flavour of the gravy. Place a rack over the top, and position the pork directly above the onion.
Roast in the hot oven for 20 minutes to get the fat bubbling under the skin, then open the door for a few minutes and reduce the heat 170 degrees Celsius. Close the door again and roast for 2½ hours, basting occasionally. This long time in a relatively low oven with make the meat soft and tender, while leaving it nice and juicy. Remove the pork and turn up the oven to the initial temperature. Put the joint into a clean tin and roast for a final 20 minutes. This final blast will produce the most incredible crackling. (But do keep an eye on the roast, it may be done quicker, or it may take a little longer.)
In the meantime, tip off the fat and juices from the first roasting tin into a small bowl and leave to settle. Put the tin with the shrivelled bits of onion in it over a medium heat and add the water. Bring to a fast boil, scraping up the brown caramelised pan juices into the liquid. Strain through a sieve into a small saucepan. (If you want a thicker gravy, make a roux in that pan from 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp four before adding the liquid) Return to the stove and reduce the heat to medium low. When the mixture is back to a slow simmer, crumble in the Oxo cube. Allow to simmer until lightly thickened.
When the pork is cooked, leave it to rest in a warm place for about 10 to 15 minutes to allow the juices to be reabsorbed into the meat. Carefully spoon off the fat from the small bowl of juices until all that is left is the delicious brown liquid beneath. Add this to the simmering gravy. Check the seasoning and keep hot.
Using a sharp, flexible knife, neatly detach the crackling from the meat, then carve the roast into thick slices. Scrape up any juices that drip out and put them in the gravy. Serve immediately with the side dishes of your choice.
Christine at 10:35 pm
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Trifle - This time with Pictures
After this morning's limited shopping trip, I felt deprived of nice food. So I decided to make
something special for desert. Unfortunately, this desire only hit me after I had come home and it did not bring with it the least inkling to go back out again. I had to make due with what I had. The result was a quickly improvised trifle made of the strawberries I had left over from last week, some dried berries and a Swiss roll I kept in the cupboard for just this occasion.The procedure was incredibly simple. The basic recipe was the same as the one I gave last time (which you can find here). Except that this time the raspberry jam was replaced by a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of dried blueberries cooked in a syrup made of 75ml of water and 4 to 5 tbsp sugar for about 5 to 7
minutes. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the sliced strawberries and proceed with the trifle as usual.And in case you are wondering why I am giving you half a recipe again here, here's the speech again. This is meant to inspire anyone who thinks that they do not have anything at home to cook. Dried, frozen or canned fruit, a frozen loaf of bread, tea biscuits, butter, milk or tinned condensed milk, they all are perfect cupboard staples that are quickly turned into great deserts. Bread and butter pudding, summer pudding, eggy bread, tarte tatin, charlotte and, of course, trifle come to mind. I used to make deserts almost every night before I started working. These days they are a rare treat. But I promise, one by one I will make all of the above and then you will get the recipes.
Christine at 11:42 pm
Pan-Fried Baby Scallops
We've done it, we've finally booked a holiday!
Months ago, we decided that we missed South Africa and our friends there so much that we had to go back for Christmas. But then we realised just how much a trip to Cape Town would be during December and changed our minds. A nice, relaxed 3-week trip in September seemed a lot more reasonable. We were going to keep it all cheap and cheerful - a hiking trip to Greece or Bulgaria for example or backpacking in Morocco. But then we realised just how much we missed Cape Town and our friends and changed our minds again. And in order to stop us ever changing our minds again, we went right ahead and booked, albeit for January when the prices aren't quite as high, but the weather is equally gorgeous.As a result of this rash action we're as broke as we were when we first
came to Dublin and I'm back to shopping on Meath Street for most food essentials. This is rather unpleasant from a foodie perspective, for the emphasis here is on price and mass, not quality and appearance, but it yields very nice food nonetheless. Today's lute were some lovely looking baby scallops (a steal at €1 for 10), some chicken livers, a pork leg and 
a bunch of vegetables. I also went to the market to get my usual supplies from Jenny: Lots of salad, baby potatoes, zucchini, green beans, runner beans and two different kinds of radishes. I did skip the luxury, such as fish, vegetables from Dennis or freshly baked loaves from Fallon & Byrne, though. My loaf was good enough for lunchtime sandwiches and with all the meat I had bought there was really no need for fish. It's probably good to take some time out from it. If you have something too often, you can no longer appreciate it. We noticed this when Lofty was over the moon when he saw the pork I had paid all of €1 for, but did not moan the missing fish. Luxury is what you rarely get, and crackling is definitely more rare in Lofty's life than seafood.This is not to say that he wasn't happy when he
got tonight's dinner - Pan-fried baby scallops on a huge salad. I was a bit unsure how to tackle these tiny morsels that came out of the shell. Full sized scallops only take about two minutes on each side, so these would be done in no time. This, however, meant that by the time I had turned the last one over, the first one would be burnt or tough or both. I took my clue from a Chinese recipe that suggested stir-frying baby scallops over very high heat for a minute. I used as little oil as possible and, once they were nice and brown, pulled the wok off the heat and added a knob of butter and two finely chopped cloves of garlic. The result was perfect. So, if you ever get your hands on baby scallops, don't be afraid to buy them. Just make sure they're not cooked for more than 2 minutes.Christine at 10:03 pm
Friday, July 14, 2006
More Salad and Home-Baked Bread
Finally Friday and I am ready to collapse on the
sofa and forget that there even is a world out there. So that's exactly what I did when I got home. I sat down with a tall glass of ice cold cranberry and blackberry juice, grabbed a cookbook and dreamt of a world where I have a big kitchen that magically cleans itself and all the time in the world to use it.Not surprisingly I woke up all keen to go out there and get messy. The problem was, there was nothing in the house to cook. I had planned for freshly grilled pork sausages - Marks & Spencer's outdoor-bred Lincolnshire sausages, which I thought were too heavy on the sage. To read what sausagelinks had to say, click here - with a big mixed salad. So I used up all my
creativity on testing Jamie Oliver's recipe for Sweet Roasted Red Onion And Garlic Bread. It wasn't bad, but I think I accidentally added too much yeast (I had dried yeast, but from a big tub, so measuring was a bit hard), because it did taste very dough-ey. Also, the filling reminded both of us of picked onions - not exactly what we had wanted with the rest of the dinner. So, while I see the potential of the recipe, I will have to do a bit of ingredient juggling before we will be entirely satisfied with the result. But I'm sure that's exactly what any chef who puts recipes online for us to use wants. To inspire and get us interested in food. And despite everything one can say against celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver, if they are getting ordinary people like my mum to love food and care about what they eat, they have my support. After all, it's something I never managed to achieve while I was living with her.Christine at 9:38 pm
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tortellini with Zucchini, Corn and Bacon
I can't believe it is only Thursday today. Our fridge looks like it's Friday or even Saturday
before I go shopping. It is absolutely empty. Well, that's not entirely true. There was nothing there that looked like a real meal, but lots of stuff that was left over from real meals. But, as we all know, this is the perfect start for a very tasty pasta dish. Simply throw it all into a saucepan and add cream or tinned tomatoes, season with herbs and spices, salt and pepper and add the pasta of your choice and you have a quick, easy, cheap dinner that can be made from anything, but the leftovers of the most ardent of fast food addicts.Today I took the remaining bacon lardons (I had a mix of different kinds of bacon from Gubbeen Smokehouse, which are sold in handy little packs at Liston's) and fried them in some olive oil until crispy. Then I added some oyster mushrooms I found in the vegetable compartment and the zucchini blossoms
that I had bought from Dennis and forgot I even had. I had to remove the flowers, they had gone soft, but as much as I regretted missing that treat, I was very happy to have them as a refreshing addition to tonight's dinner. Finally, I threw in some of the leftover corn from last night and a packet of green tortellini with ricotta filling. I finished the dish with a dollop of crème fraîche and lots of freshly chopped herbs, crumbled in a vegetable Oxo cube (that wonderful cure all against bland sauces) and seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper.Sounds good? Yes, it was. And believe me, it is easier and cheaper than ordering takeout and unless you come up with a mix of leftover fish and chips in cheesy tomato sauce or baked beans in creamy vinaigrette, you've got a winner every time. What are you waiting for? Ready, steady, enjoy!
Christine at 9:15 pm
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Grilled Mackerel
Dinner today had to be prepared quickly. I've started staying at work a little longer than I
would like to and hence have less time in the evening to do everything else. I don't really work overtime as such, I just can't get myself off my backside and on the bike. This is a relatively old problem of mine. My mum used to call me "antriebsschwach", lacking impetus. And while I do not identify with this clearly negative description, I do admit that it takes forever to get me to do something. On the other hand, once I'm on it, I have a hard time stopping. This rule applies equally for work and play. For example, if I start a book, I want to read it cover to cover, but Lofty also had to drag me away from my PC at 2 a.m. some days when I was working on my dissertation. I was just too much into it to find the strength to quit on my own. Similarly now, in the mornings I really don't want to get up and go to the office, but once I am sat at my desk, it is not hard to convince me to stay. Silly really. And definitely something I will have to work on. But that's just the way it is at the moment.And tonight dinner was the victim of my strange opposition to change. But quick in my house still does not mean open the freezer, open the microwave, wait 3 minutes and serve some lukewarm muck. Nor does it mean going to a posh deli and getting good fast food - unfortunately we don't have the money for that. I see nothing wrong with getting help every once in a while as long as you don't compromise on quality. I can't say it often enough: Life is too short to waste it on bad food.
Tonight's quick solution came in the shape of the pre-filleted mackerels and Jenny's ready mixed salad greens and some boiled sweetcorn to liven it all up a bit. It was actually too simple for a recipe, but just in case anyone has never fried mackerel before (I hadn't, so don't feel bad!), here is a brief description on how I went about it - surprisingly, with great success, despite this being my first fresh mackerels.
a bit of oil
2 mackerel fillets, picked over for bones
Let me start with a word of caution: Mackerels are incredibly bony, which is why many people will refuse to eat them. This is a rather foolish attitude, though, for mackerels are actually very tasty, very healthy and one of the few commonly available and easily affordable kinds of fish that you can eat without feeling bad about the environmental impact of your meal (for more information on the issue of sustainable fishing check out the website of Britain's Marine Conservation Society). But if you do make mackerel, either buy fillets or fillet it before serving. Whole fish, freshly grilled on a barbecue are great, but a pain to eat. Also, do take the time to run your fingers across the whole fillet removing any bones you find along the way with a pair of tweezers.
Now, after this long lecture, simply heat some oil (not too much, mackerel is a fairly fatty fish) in a shallow non-stick frying pan over high heat. Put in the fish fillets skin side down and fry without disturbing until lightly browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Turn them over and continue cooking on the other side until the skin is crispy, about 2 more minutes. Serve immediately accompanied with something to soak up or at least complement the oily juices, such as a vinegary salad, some bread or boiled potatoes.
Christine at 10:32 pm
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Breaded Hake with Peas and Beans
Sid Barret is dead. I know, this is not exactly food related news, but I still felt I had to say it. As one of the founding members of Pink Floyd he has had a surprising influence on today's culture even though few people actually know or recognise his name. I knew nothing of the man who inspired a generation of musicians until a few months ago when I developed a strange, albeit short lived, fascination with the man. So, despite the irrelevance of the event to my personal life, I was quite sad when I heard the news.Now, with this off my chest, let's return to dinner. It is actually last night's dinner that I want to turn to, for, unlike today's salad, it was rather interesting. I still had that lovely hake in the fridge, which, smothered in a crust made from the remaining half loaf and served alongside a mixture of peas and broad beans with bacon and onion, made a very nice dinner for a slightly cooler summer evening.
For the fish:
½ loaf of white bread, crust removed
2 tbsp mixed fresh herbs (I used oregano, basil, and chives, but dill, thyme or tarragon along with many others would work too)
salt and pepper to taste (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1 large hake fillet (about 400 to 500g) (obviously, any white fish or flat fish can be substituted, just adjust the cooking time)
For the peas:
1 tbsp olive oil
75g unsmoked bacon lardons
50g small onions (such as pearl onions or small shallots)
few sprigs of thyme, leaves only
100g peas (weighed without the shell and defrosted if frozen)
100g fresh broad beans (weighed without the shell. If you can't get fresh beans, don't use canned ones, as the texture is wrong for this dish. Substitute more peas, or thinly sliced runner beans, sugar snaps or green beans and adjust the cooking time accordingly)
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Put the bread into a food processor and blend into crumbs. Add the herbs along with some salt and pepper (if you like) and pulse again. Add the olive oil and eggs and blend to form a smooth paste.
Bring a medium saucepan full of water to the boil. Add the beans and blanch until just tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain again and set aside.
Heat the olive oil for the peas in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the bacon until golden brown and crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Add the onions and thyme to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender, about 10 minutes.
Lay the fish fillet onto a non-stick baking sheet. Spread the herb and bread mixture onto the fish to cover. Place in the oven and bake until golden and cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes.
In the meantime finish off the pea and bean mix. Add the peas, beans and crispy bacon to the onions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the peas are tender, adding a few spoonfuls of water id the pan appears dry. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Christine at 11:05 pm
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Steamed Mussels the Dutch Way
A friend of mine and I went on a mission today: Find the best possible mussels in Dublin. Our quest took us to Howth, a sleepy little
town northeast of Dublin. My friend had been there before and saw nice-looking mussels in one of the fish shops. Being from the Netherlands she had instantly spotted their potential, but at the time had neither the right ingredients to prepare them nor the people to cook them for. All this changed when her mum visited a few weeks ago and brought all herbs from Amsterdam (no, not of that kind!) that were still missing. So she invited Lofty and me over for dinner this Sunday to test the local shellfish. We gladly accepted - Lofty especially loves mussels and we both agree that the Dutch way of preparing them - steamed quite simply in a mix of wine, herbs and vegetables - is one of the best in the world. And I've never been able to get them quite right. I guess you have to be Dutch to make proper Dutch mussels.Unfortunately, Lofty hurt his back yesterday and could not move all weekend, so my friend and I had to have our little dinner party alone. Never mind, more for us! We started the day with a cup of coffee in her place and then braved the wind and the rain to get to Howth market. Sadly, the market was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe the weather played a part and maybe I expected too much, comparing it in my mind with what is going on in Temple Bar on Saturdays, but the small gathering of stalls selling relatively un-exciting wares would probably disappoint anyone: A few traders of handcrafted jewellery that did not appeal to me, a number of fruit and veg stalls that look no different than what I have on Thomas Street on a daily basis, a guy selling plastic toys, some sweets and cakes, two highly overpriced and understocked (compared to Temple Bar, Liston's or Fallon & Byrne) Mediterranean traders, Dennis Healy with a stall that looks like Temple Bar's poor cousin, a very nice looking, but very expensive baker (up to €5 for a loaf!) and a coffee roaster who tried to convince me that all coffee sold in shops in the EU these days is Fair Trade.
But where the market was lacking, the two fish shops were over-performing. I have not seen such a great selection of gorgeous looking seafood in a long, long time. I would list everything I saw, but the blog would run out of space. They simply had everything: Clams, mussels, cockles, whelks, razor clams (I will have to go back for some of these soon), oysters, prawns of all shapes and sizes, crab, lobster, salmon, tuna, cod, hake, mackerel, shark, swordfish, whole fish, fish fillets, frozen fish, ready-prepared seafood, prawn cocktail... You get the picture. Besides, you could get just about everything you might want to prepare these goodies from oil and vinegar, sauces, dips and mayo to herbs and spices, wine, even a few fine chocolates and the like to complete your meal. I was not sure if I should be happy or sad that I had forgot my wallet at home. I think I should be happy, I would seriously have over-shopped. Instead, we just grabbed some wild mussels and headed home again.
Dinner was great: Mussels, steamed to perfection in that secret Dutch herb mix and a vegetable mix of carrots, onions, leeks and celery, served with freshly baked baguette (ok, we cheated and bought Tesco's part baked) and home-made garlic butter. Unfortunately, I can't share any recipes with you today, because I had the privilege of being waited on. I did not have to lift a finger. But, in case you are interested in it, here is my recipe for steamed mussels, and my recipe for garlic butter can be found here.
Christine at 11:40 pm
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Paella
After I've bragged about my shopping for a
whole post, I will no longer keep you waiting and shall quickly show off my lute: Fresh peas, spicy chorizo, chicken, shellfish, tomatoes... Looks like the perfect paella mix, doesn't it?The best part about this mix was that, apart from the peas, it was all ready cleaned and chopped, so it needed no preparation at all. So I could take a long, lazy afternoon break on the sofa, reading recipes and trying to get my thoughts in order to continue writing my dissertation.
I didn't manage the latter, but I did get myself all worked up and ready to get cooking again. Paella was just the thing for that. You spend a lot of time with food, but it's all relaxed and stress-free. No juggling multiple pans, no calculating cooking times, just good, simple fun.
4 tbsp olive oil (a little more if necessary)
5 bits of chicken (such as wings, legs or thighs; as I said, I used some pre-marinated hot wings with surprisingly good results)
100g mussels, cleaned
100g clams, cleaned
2 large prawns, left whole (feel free to use more if you like than and can afford it)
600g fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or 1 can chopped plum tomatoes)
1 large onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g peas (feel free to use frozen)
50g chorizo, sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
a good pinch of saffron
1½ tsp mild paprika
1 bay leaf
750ml hot chicken stock (a little more if needed)
250g paella rice (alternatively use risotto rice; try to stay away from long grain rice, the texture does not really work with the cooking method)
salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges to serve (optional)
Heat the oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and fry on all sides until they are lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes total. Remove from the pan, season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
Now add the prawns to the hot pan and seal. This should not take long, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Set aside.
Add the mussels and clams and cook, stirring occasionally, until they have opened. Take care not to overcook them. They will later get some time in the oven and the last thing you want is for them to dry out. Remove from the pan and set aside.
If the pan appears dry, add a few more drops of oil. When this is back up to temperature, add the garlic and onion and fry until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Now add the chorizo, followed a minute or two later by the chopped tomatoes and peas. Fry for a few minutes, adding the saffron, bay leaf and paprika along the way.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius. When the tomato sauce in the pan is hot and fragrant, add the rice. Stir well and pour in enough hot stock to cover the mixture. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally and adding more stock, one ladle at a time, allowing each to be absorbed before adding the next. Cook, uncovered, until the rice is almost tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from the stove and lay the chicken pieces out across the top of the rice. Cover with a sheet of tin foil and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 more minutes. Now it's time to reheat your shellfish. Remove the pan from the oven and lay the mussels, clams and prawns out around the chicken. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through before adding the seafood. You don't want to be faced with the choice of rare chicken versus dry mussels. Cover again and cook for about 3 more minutes to heat through. Serve with lemon wedges and plenty of napkins.
Paella is not just a great summer dish perfect for entertaining guests (use a deep dish baking tray to finish it off if you have more diners than space in your biggest pan), much like risotto it is also very versatile and therefore great for people of all tastes and for using up all kinds of ingredients. Are you cooking for vegetarians? No problem. Substitute veggie stock for the chicken stock and such goodies as roast bell peppers, zucchini and aubergines for the meat and fish. You don't like chicken? Use pork cubes or firm white fish fillet instead. Just remember to adjust the cooking times. No chorizo in the house? Add a pinch of chilli and, if you have it, some Spanish smoked paprika. Got no real fresh ingredients? Even that is OK. Paella tastes great even with tinned tomatoes, sardines and mussels, packet sausages (but remember what Sausagelinks says about them...), bacon bits, sweetcorn. The possibilities are endless. Be creative and enjoy!
Christine at 11:02 pm
Lots of Vegetables and Some Fish
Revived and rested I got up fairly early this morning and
headed straight down to the market. Jenny told me last Saturday that she was going to have broad beans this week and as I have never tasted them fresh I was determined to get my hands on a bagful. Apart from them there was nothing new to be had today, so I stocked up on the summer essentials - lettuce, lettuce and lettuce ... oh, and a few baby potatoes - and moved on to the fishmonger.Here, being early was a definite advantage. There was so much choice, I really didn't know what to buy. In the end I settled for a small selection of prawns, hake fillet and two mackerels. The prawns especially made me happy. It's been a while since I've seen such gorgeous shellfish. They were just shouting out: "Make us into a paella!" So what could I do? I had to go get the rest of the ingredients.
First came a quick stop at Denis' stall, though, for some
sweetcorn, mushrooms and, much to my delight, zucchini blossoms. I've read and heard a lot about them but have never actually eaten any myself. I can't wait to try them. I also grabbed a few more tomatoes to try - among them a bright yellow one - and then moved on to Fallon & Byrne.My mission here, apart from stocking up on the tomato test winners, was to get the remaining fresh ingredients for the paella. This was accomplished quickly and to my complete satisfaction. I had a few mussels, a few clams, some free range chicken wings (they only had pre-marinated 'hot wings', but I'm sure I'll be all right) and a great conversation with the French lady behind the fish counter. Then I was off to my final stop: Liston's. I could probably have got everything I wanted there from Fallon & Byrne, but apart from the fact that I want to support smaller local shops that surely get a lot less walk-in customers than big market halls in the city centre, I have no plans to abandon my old foodie refuge. Firstly, the service there is excellent, the people friendly and you get a personal touch that no large shop can provide. Where else would you get the phone number of the shop owner's acupuncturist along with your chorizo? Secondly, in certain areas, such as wines, tea and coffee, their choice is simply better. Thirdly, most things are more reasonably priced there. I got a bottle of Italian olive oil that is perfectly suitable for salads for nearly half the price of the cheapest they had in the city centre. Fourthly, they give good advice on what to expect from your purchases and actually let you taste quite a few things. And then there is the relaxed atmosphere that revives the spirit, and the great deals if things are getting close to the sell-by date, and the fact that every time I go I discover something new. I'm sure I could come up with an even longer list, but I'm sure you get the picture.
Christine at 4:50 pm
Friday, July 07, 2006
Risotto with Salmon and Lemon
The week is over, the stress is fading and I am keen to get cooking again. I stand by what I said yesterday - my self-imposed exile from the kitchen was a well needed one - but I also missed the relaxing effect that cooking has on me. I
know, many people see it as a chore, but I find that there is nothing more revitalising than chopping vegetables, kneading dough or stirring soups. Stress only enters my kitchen as a companion to poor planning. So, if I remember to think things through before I start (something I often forget) and get my ingredients out in time, I'm ok. Nigel Slater said in one of his cookbooks that you should never pre-prepare your ingredients because that takes the spontaneity out of cooking turning it into a chore. I only partly agree with that. There are certain things that I know will go into a dish and I therefore like to have them ready for when I need them - chopped onion or garlic, meat, vegetables. Other ingredients are more a matter of taste and gut feeling, so they are kept aside and added as I think of them. This is my version of organised spontaneity that lends itself much better to the levels of skill of a home cook. And it's a lot less prone to disaster.Tonight I was definitely not up for handling catastrophes, so I took it easy with a simple risotto. There is something very meditative about making risotto. The chopping and stirring is calming and leaves you a lot of time to reflect on things. This was just what I needed, to get the events and feelings of the past week sorted in my head, get it all out of my system, draw a line under it so to speak. Now my soul is nicely cleansed in time for the weekend.
Christine at 10:12 pm
Thursday, July 06, 2006
A Week of Salads
I'm stressed, no worse, I'm terribly stressed at the moment. I have no idea why. Thing have not really changed much at work, nor is traffic any worse than it has been during the past year. My private life is completely in order and we have more money now than we have had in years. But still I feel worn out most of the time. As if there was a little leech attached to me that was draining my energy without me noticing. This state of mind has had a serious impact on my cooking this week, namely I didn't feel like doing anything.The result was a series of salads enriched with all
kinds of goodies - crumbled vintage cheddar cheese, anchovies, sun blushed tomatoes, roast garlic or a few thin slices of a lovely Tyrolian speck that that I had brought back from Munich (don't worry, this is not the speck from Alto Adige that I brought home at Christmas; I got two new kinds, both from the Austrian part of Tyrol, in March). And strangely enough, I not only enjoyed the food, but also the time out from cooking. A bit of a creative break that revitalised me.We also continued the tomato test throughout the week. It confirmed many things we had, but also brought a few surprises. So here are the results:
- The vegetables man's tomatoes came last
in all categories. - Still, money is not everything. The most expensive tomatoes were not always the best.
- Size matters. The cherry tomatoes were better than any others, so in a way, the most expensive tomatoes won. For salads it's worth paying a little extra.
- Vines don't necessarily mean quality. A good tomato off the vine is better than a bad one on the vine.
- Quality can be determined by smell. If they smell of nothing, they will be tasteless. If they smell only of the vine, they might still not be too clever, so smell them without the greenery.
- Sadly, organic does not mean tastier. Dennis came second in all categories even though all his tomatoes are organic. Apparently, they are picked green in Spain and then ripened indoors. Fallon & Byrne's non-organic tomatoes were much tastier by comparison.
- Fallon & Byrne cherry tomatoes (€3.50/kg)
- Fallon & Byrne tiger tomatoes (€3.99/kg)
- Fallon & Byrne plum tomatoes (€2.99/kg)
- The vegetable man's ordinary tomatoes (€1.50/kg)
- The vegetable man's vine tomatoes (price unknown)
- Dennis' ordinary tomato (€3/kg)
Christine at 9:48 pm
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Baked Cheesecake
After days of dragging my feet I finally got round to baking my cheesecake tonight. This was not so
much because I really felt that we needed a cake a 11 o'clock at night, but because at about 9.30 I realised that we were expecting a Tesco delivery for tomorrow, so it was time to get the fridge sorted out. And part of that sorting out was to find a way of using up a 500g tub of low fat frommage frais they had delivered last time in the place of my ultra-high fat Greek yoghurt.At the time I was not amused. There aren't many dairy products that I dislike, but as far as I'm concerned low fat yoghurt might as well not exist. It's a total con job. They take milk in its natural state, remove the element that gives it most taste, add a bunch of stabilisers so people don't run away when they see the mess you're trying to sell them, then they throw a bunch of E numbers into the mix to give you the illusion that the bright red stuff you're eating really contains strawberries and then they sell it to you as health food. What???
But I'm losing myself in a rant again. I don't have to buy the stuff, so I should leave people who do alone. And when this frommage frais ended up with me by accident, Tesco immediately reimbursed me the money. I must say their service is impeccable. I've been ordering from them for a year now and although they sometimes do not deliver everything I ordered (any shop can run out of anything, so that's not really a problem unique to the delivery service) and I occasionally get stuff I didn't want, they have never been late, are always polite and all queries are dealt with quickly and have always been resolved to my satisfaction. Two thumbs up here. And in this case, I must admit, I wasn't even too disappointed with what I'd received. It was not low fat yoghurt (which I have had once before), but frommage frais, which needs no artificial additions to be low fat. It's just an accident of nature that it is. I had tried to order frommage frais from them before to test my cheesecake recipe, but they were sold out. But this time they had it and decided to give it to me for free, so all was perfect in the end.
For the base:
100g flour
a pinch of baking powder
40g sugar
a small pinch of salt
75g butter
½ egg, beaten
For the filling:
500g frommage frais
3 heaped tbsp thick cream
180g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
40g flour
Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, then kneed in the butter and egg to make a smooth dough. Roll it into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and refregirate for at least 1 hour.
Butter a 26cm cake tin. Roll the dough out into a large disk and line the tin. Allow the pastry to come up about 4 to 5cm up the side of the tin. Prick the base a few times with a fork. Return to the refrigerator while you are making the filling.
Line a sieve with a cloth or some kitchen roll and place over a bowl. Pour in the frommage frais and allow to drain for at least 1 hour. When the frommage frais has dried out, mix all filling ingredients in a large bowl. Combine well.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Pour the filling mixture into the base and place in the middle of the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes. If the top looks like it may be tearing, turn off the heat and open the oven door, but leave the cake in the oven to continue baking. If all goes well, simply turn the heat off when the cake is done and leave the cake sitting in the oven with the door open for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving. (If you cut the cheesecake while it is still hot, you run a risk of it crumbling to bits.)
Christine at 10:20 pm
Monday, July 03, 2006
Ricotta and Spinach Tortellini with Salmon
I can't believe it's only Monday, I'm so worn out I'm ready for another weekend right away. This morning I had a bit of a running in with a bus. It all started - as so many conflicts do - with hurt pride. Traffic was an absolute nightmare this morning. It was one of these days when I wondered if someone was paying idiots without a driving license to go out and have a bit of fun on the roads of central Dublin. You had people trying to change lanes in bumper-to-bumper traffic, running red lights and steaming up bus lanes. Everyone was tense and I should have known that it was only a matter of time before someone in a motorised vehicle would get annoyed with being passed by a bicycle. Today's candidate was a young bus driver whom I passed at a red light just outside the central bus station. Unfortunately, rather than just verbally abusing me as they normally do, this one decided to try to run me off the road. I managed to brake just in time before his rear wheels got precariously close to my bike. My reaction was the usual one - a hard slap with my flat hand on his side window. It might sound a bit extreme, but it works to stop any sensible driver. From the inside of a vehicle the sound is quite dramatic and you generally think you've just been in an accident. This gives me time enough to manoeuvre out of the tight spot and get on my way. But this driver was not taking the challenge lightly and followed me. I'm a good cyclist and wear a lot of protective gear, but let me tell you, being chased down the road by a bus trying to push you off the road is not a nice experience. So I slammed on the brake again and let him pass. At the next light, I was ahead again and finally got the usual abuse. In the end I both gave in and won by simply jumping a red light and speeding away. He never caught me again, but I arrived at the office exhausted and shaking.The rest of the day turned out to be just as stressful as the beginning, albeit less dangerous. When I finally got home - an hour later than usual because I wanted to get a job finished - I was ready to just collapse on the sofa and order takeout. But then I remembered that we had plenty of ingredients to make a quick tasty dinner for less money at home and got my act together and my backside into the kitchen. The result was a dish of tortellini in a creamy tomato sauce with hot smoked salmon - nothing special, but definitely better than stale, lukewarm pizza. And the recipe is so simple, it's just what you need on a tired evening.
a packet of fresh spinach tortellini filled with ricotta
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
50ml white wine
75ml cream (or, if you prefer, a few spoonfuls of crème fraîche and a drop of milk)
1 vegetable Oxo cube (or enough stock granules for 150ml of liquid)
1 ball of mozzarella, torn or cut into chunks
2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
100g hot smoked salmon, sliced (cold smoked works fine here, I just didn't have any)
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan to serve
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, drain, cover and set aside. Don't add any oil or anything else to prevent them from sticking together! They will come apart in the sauce later and if you grease them now the sauce will simply roll off them making the dish much harder and less nice to eat.
In the meantime heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium low heat. Add the onions, cover and sweat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Increase the temperature to medium and add the garlic and tomato. Cook, uncovered, until the tomatoes are beginning to fall apart, about 5 more minutes. Pour in the wine and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Pour in the cream and crumble in the Oxo cube. When the mixture has reheated, add the cheese and basil. When the cheese is beginning to melt, throw in the drained tortellini and stir to coat with the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve garnished with the salmon and sprinkled with grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
Christine at 8:35 pm
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Grilled Plaice with Roast Garlic
Today was probably the most uneventful day since we
came to Ireland last May. Absolutely nothing happened. We did not leave the apartment nor did anyone come to us. There was nothing on telly and we seemed to go out of the free poker tourneys quicker than we could register for them. I tried to save the day by cooking an extra-nice dinner, but was only partly successful. The main course - grilled plaice with roast garlic and wild mushrooms - was definitely a worthy attempt. The desert, however, - my sad attempt at making a banoffee soufflé - was not. But more about that disaster after the recipe for the fish.For the plaice:Dinner had turned out so nice that I fancied myself as a bit of a chef again, something I came to regret rather quickly when I tried my hand on the ultimate challenge for any hobby cook - a soufflé. It all starte
3 olive oil
2 plaice fillets
2 tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
For the garlic:
4 small young heads of garlic, trimmed and outer skin removed, but otherwise left intact
3 tbsp olive oil
To serve:
pan fried mushrooms
boiled baby potatoes
garlic butter (just mix a crushed garlic clove, 2 tbsp of you favourite herbs (I used chives and lemon verbena) and 4 tbsp butter and chill for at least 30 minutes)
I also fried a few scallops that I had left over from yesterday, but this is purely optional
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the garlic in a small baking dish and drizzle with the oil. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden and fragrant, about 40 minutes.
In the meantime make the butter, cook the potatoes and fry the mushrooms.
About 10 minutes before everything else is done, heat the olive oil in a large shallow frying pan over medium heat. Coat the plaice fillets in the flour and season with a little salt and black pepper. Fry them in the hot oil for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. If you are making scallops, turn up the heat to medium high and fry them in the same pan as the fish while you are dishing up the other ingredients.
Serve the plaice topped with the roast garlic, fried mushrooms and scallops with the potatoes and herb butter on the side.
d when I spotted an overripe banana in my fruit bowl that I really wanted to use up. My first idea was banana bread, a simple, tried and tested treat. But we didn't have enough cooking oil left. So I scoured my cookbooks looking for an inspiration and somehow came up with fruit soufflés. Unfortunately, not content with simply following a recipe, I decided to mess with it without first finding out more about the chemistry behind successful soufflés. The result were a couple of uneven, dark brown fluffy things that shrunk from 6 inches to about ½ inch within seconds of coming out of the oven.I should have known that my first soufflé would be a gamble at
the best of times. A completely mis-planned attempt at creating my first soufflé from my own recipe was doomed to failure before I even started, but my pride was still hurt a bit. So, like a belligerent little child, I plated one of them up anyway and actually ate a bit of it - Yuck! The taste was actually fine, but the texture was indescribably nasty. I'll spare you any more details and leave you to join Lofty in laughter at the thought of me eating this stuff to save face. But I will also say that I've spent the past few hours researching the subject of scientific soufflé making and that I am determined to give it another go. I will not be beaten by an egg!Christine at 11:37 pm
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Country Life Comes to the City
As expected, I was a tad late for the market and
Jenny had nothing left but some salad greens and fresh garlic. Luckily, I've given up on getting this dissertation of mine ready for publication on the weekends and therefore had all the time in the world. I had a leisurely stroll across the whole market in an attempt to make myself believe that I was somewhere far, far away in some farming village stocking up on food for a day or two, not a whole week. I got two plaice fillets from the fishmonger and some mushrooms, asparagus and herbs from Dennis... Oh, and tomatoes for my test: A vine tomato, a regular tomato and a small handful of cherry tomatoes on the vine.Next I headed off to Fallon & Byrne. Besides more tomatoes - little tiger tomato with green
and red stripes, some more cherry tomatoes, a beef tomato, a vine tomato, a regular tomato, a plum tomato and a plum tomato on the vine - I got a beautiful loaf of bread that I felt would be the perfect accompaniment for my testing tomatoes, some clotted cream for no particular reason other than the fact that it called out to me to buy it and some more mushrooms.Next stop was Liston's. I didn't really need any more food, but one can never stop in there more often. As I have said many times before, Liston's to me is more than a shop. It's an oasis of peace and quiet and an inspiration for my cooking. This time I really didn't need anything, so it remained just that and I left without having spent a cent. Wow, that was definitely a first. I've gone there not needing anything before, but I've never come out completely empty handed. Oh well, there's a first time for everything.
And while I was at it, I decided to add another first to my list: A visit to Dublin's kosher bakery, The Brezel. It's been hyped up by everyone
I know as the best thing since sliced bread (excuse the pun), so I was bound to experience either a heavenly revelation or a sobering disappointment. Unfortunately, the experience came closer to the latter than the former. The biggest problem was not the quality, selection or kinds of the bread and cake on display, but the fact that most products were also available at Fallon & Byrne. I had basically spoiled the experience by visiting one of their big corporate customers before coming straight to the source. Although, on second thought, the inattentive service from the two young ladies in the shop who were more interested in
their little private chat than in serving their only customer. Oh well, another myth busted and another load of money saved. I was going to invest that in some goodies at La Boulangerie, but then I remembered the cheesecake that I've been meaning to make for a week and headed straight home.Dinner was a simple, but exquisite affair: A mixed salad with blanched asparagus spears, freshly grilled scallops in garlic butter and lots of fresh crusty bread. The only thing missing to make the evening perfect were a couple of comfy chairs on a balcony for the two of us to watch the summer sunset from.
Christine at 10:13 pm
An Eventful Morning
Germany was playing Argentina last night in the world cup and my whole team went to the pub straight from work. I'm not normally one to go along to these social events on Fridays, especially not to the pub. It's not that I don't like the people I work with, but most Fridays I'm too tired to do anything after work. And the pubs here in Dublin - or at least the ones my colleagues go to - tend to be anything but relaxing. Noisy, packed with people and short of seats, they honestly only serve one purpose: To get people drunk as quickly as possible. Anyone who manages to sit in a quiet corner with a pint for hours chatting to friends or reading a newspaper has my deepest respect. In any case, I don't drink alcohol (apart from the occasional quarter glass of wine when I'm invited to someone's house) and I hate noise ("What is this person doing in Dublin?" I hear you ask...), so dragging my tired self to one of these events is just not worthwhile. But tonight was different. For one, I must admit, I have started to follow the world cup and am actually enjoying the games. Secondly, though, the sun was shining and the place we went to has a large terrace with plenty of seats that largely remained empty as everyone tried to huddle around the screens. So I had a glass of chilled Fanta and a chat with a group of girls interspersed with the occasional glance at the telly and really, thoroughly enjoyed myself. I wish days like these came about more often.In all my sun and footie enthusiasm, however, I forgot to get anything for dinner, and when I finally got home after the game a bag of Hoola Hoops was the only thing I was not too tired to dish up. Not exactly dinner, but somehow appropriate to finish an evening of shallow entertainment. No, let me correct that, it was the perfect finish to a great night out at the pub - even if most pub-goers would not call it that.
This morning I woke up well rested and determined to get all foodie again on the weekend. My first excursion took me no further than Meath Street. My formerly beloved fish shop had finally returned to its old glory again tempting me with organic salmon, scallops, Bonne Maman chocolate mousse and Ocean Spray cranberry juice, all for € 1 per pack/piece. I used to do a lot of my shopping at this bargain hunters' paradise, but then they stopped selling good food and turned to the likes of mass produced black pudding and ready made stuffing to subsidise their fish sales, so they lost me as a customer. I like to save money, but I would rather pay more and get good quality food than waste small amounts on rubbish.
But today I barely had enough room left in my bag for the ingredients for my next project that I went to get at the greengrocer's: Two experimental tomatoes. I have noticed that there are many different varieties of tomatoes on sale at a number of outlets across town and that their looks and prices vary greatly. I really wanted to find out, firstly, if there is any relationship between the three elements of taste, looks and price, and, secondly, where the best tomatoes are to be had. My little local greengrocer hat two different kinds - pale reddish-green ones for € 1 per kilo and deep red vine tomatoes, the price of which remains a mystery for he keeps them hidden behind the counter and makes you ask for them - that Lofty and I will later compare with those tomatoes that I can find at Temple Bar market and Fallon & Byrne. I can't wait to see what the result will be.
But before I can head out to the market I had to come back home to drop off not only my fish and veg, but also a box of Walker's crisps that I had picked up from one of the many Everything-You-Never-Needed-Shops for € 3. I don't know where these things come from. Some are out of date, but often they have things that are perfectly all right at a fraction of their original price. It's probably best not to ask. And now it's probably best to get down to Temple Bar before Jenny is sold out.
Christine at 12:23 pm
