Tuesday, October 30, 2007

POLLO ALLA MILANESE!!

 

Milanese is one of those dishes we often have when we want something quick, easy and tasty!! We usually have it with fillet or dare I say it “veal”and a bit of salad on the side. Even when I was in hospital with the princess “The MIL” sent it into me a couple of times, I’m afraid I just cannot do hospital food!!! I love the way they offer you a fry or salad for your tea - what a choice, I can’t imagine a fry is going to help you recover faster;) I was there for 2 weeks and never ate the lunch or tea once, Bru used to arrive in twice a day laden down with foil containers full of minestrone soup and the likes. I think they thought I was some snobby “yung wan” but I brought them in a huge cake before I left and I was forgiven - I did eat my porridge every morning though:)

I’ve mentioned before that Panini Pollo is one of our most popular sandwiches, it’s a toasted ciabatta with mayo, lettuce, tomato and this chicken recipe - definately not “authentic Italian”. We make 20 of these fillets every 2 days much to the delight of the kitchen staff! We also use this recipe for our party chicken goujons, we just cut up the chicken into goujons first and then bread them and serve them with a pesto mayo and sun-dried mayo dip. There are a few variations of this recipe, you can check out Gino di Campo’s recipe here, he serves it with a nice tomato & olive salad. He mentions about black olives, for a while we had a really nice Italian black olive in La Cucina but it didn’t sell because of the colour, it was more of a purple colour than black but customers seemed to want the really black ones, he says the best olives are the aubergine coloured as the really black ones are dyed with squid ink - I never knew this and I prefer the purple ones as they have a lot more flavour so I might get them back and do some educating!!

Did anyone see Gino on Tubridy on Saturday night (I know the boring life I lead), I like him, I know he plays on the charming Italian a bit but it works and he’s very entertaining! I loved his quote:
 
“Italian food is like Italian men - minimum effort and maximum satisfaction” and Ryan’s response “with Irish men it’s the other way round”. - NO COMMENT;)

WHAT YOU NEED FOR BASIC RECIPE:

 - 2 chicken breasts - buy the biggest you can find

 - 2 eggs beaten

 - plain flour

 - 8 tbsp breadcrumbs - you can make your own or just use the fresh breadcrumbs available in most of the supermarkets. We make our own in La Cucina.

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - olive oil - we still have the olive oil for frying in La Cucina.

WHAT TO DO:

 - open out your chicken breasts like a butterfly and pound until quite thin and season. This is important because if the chicken is too thick your breadcrumbs will burn and the chicken will be raw in the middle. 

 - dip your chicken into the egg and then into breadcrumbs. Some recipes use flour before the egg, we don’t but it’s up to you.

 - fill the base of a pan with olive oil and add your chicken. The key to getting the golden colour is to cook it over a low heat.

I find this recipe fine with fillet or veal but with chicken I think it needs a little more so you can add some chopped flat leaf parsley or rosemary and Parmesan to the breadcrumbs and it makes it much tastier.

serve with any of these or all if you want:)

 french bean salad
 potato salad
 cherry tomato salad

 

BUON APPETITO!!
 
p.s here are a few new blogs I have found recently

proud Italian cook - Marie always leaves lovely comments on my blog and she cooks fab Italian food on hers especially the Limoncello Tart mmmmmm!!

2 new Irish blogs which is great to see - little bird eats and fruity cook. Check them all out and leave a comment or 2:)

Posted by LOR&BRU at 20:31:11 | Permalink | Comments (9)

Saturday, October 27, 2007

PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE!!

 

Our new chef Alessandro is working out really well and is making really authentic Italian dishes that even Paulo would be proud of:). He made soup yesterday with eggs, potatoes and tomato and although a few people did turn their nose up including one rather “nice” lady who made her thoughts on it very clear by telling us that it couldn’t be soup with eggs in it and that there was no way she was having it but if we had chicken and mushroom soup she would have it???we just smile and continue on but everyone else has been really positive so fingers crossed it continues. I have a good feeling about trying the more authentic Italian dishes as there seems to be such great interest and buzz around food in Ireland at the moment especially in relation to local producers, Farmer’s Markets, home-made food etc.

It’s amazing how much the food scene has changed in the last 4 years, it’s great to see the Farmer’s Market packed every Saturday morning and people just taking more interest in what they eat. There is talks of a permanent Market being set up in the city centre operating 6 days a week which would be great for Limerick and all the small producers that can’t afford to set up in business in a stand alone unit. I read in Food and Wine Magazine today that a special retail centre is being set up in Leitrim just for food producers that can’t afford to start their own business, I think this should become a focus everywhere in Ireland so that people have access to fresh, natural food. We wanted to make a fruit tart today but hadn’t ordered any fruit from our supplier so to buy fruit locally I had to go to a Supermarket and buy everything pre-packed. We have no local greengrocer which is such a shame but it is just not economically feasible to operate a little shop selling fruit and veg in a local area as the cost of running a small business in Ireland is just too high. Even take the restaurant and cafe scene in Limerick, every new restaurant I have been to lately has been part of a hotel - Hilton, The George, Marriott and The Absolute, very few family run restaurants open!! I think food centres or permanent Farmer’s markets are the way forward in order to change the eating habits of the majority. I think if there is access to fresh, home-made produce all under one roof more people might ditch the microwave dinners and fast food in place of local produce - it all comes down to time, access and education!!!

Alessandro decided to make this dish the other day to take home and pop in the oven and after 20 mins and no preparation you have a healthy, tasty nutritious dinner. He has loads of ideas for the take home dinners which we are starting once he has settled in, I’m going to try it out on a couple of people first just to see how it all works. I think this is one of the most popular dishes in Italian cuisine and Bru’s mom often makes it, I’ve helped her a couple of times but have never actually made it at home as it does take a little time.

WHAT YOU NEED FOR 4:

 - 2-3 large aubergines cut length ways into 5mm thick slices
 - 1 small onion chopped
 - 1 garlic clove chopped
 - 1 x 400g tin Italian plum tomatoes
 - 1 ball buffalo mozzarella sliced
 - fresh basil
 - 100g Parmesan cheese freshly grated
 - 4 tbsp olive oil
 - salt and pepper
 - 1 egg lightly beaten (optional)

WHAT TO DO:

 - place the aubergine slices in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain for about 1 hour.

 - fill the base of a frying pan with olive oil and heat over a low heat, add the garlic and onion for a few minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the tomatoes and basil, season and leave to simmer for 20-25 mins until you have a thick sauce. Remove and pass through a sieve and discard the pulp. You could just make extra tomato sauce and use it for this recipe too!

 - rinse the aubergine slices and pat dry. Heat the remaining olive oil in a pan, add the slices and fry until golden brown on each side. Remove with a fish slice and drain on kitchen paper.

 - pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

 - spoon a little of the tomato sauce into an ovenproof dish and arrange a layer of slightly overlapping aubergine slices on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan, cover with a few slices of mozzarella, sprinkle a few leaves of basil on top and some of the beaten egg if you are using it.

 - repeat this process until you have used all the ingredients and you should finish with a layer of aubergine with tomato sauce on top and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. 

 - bake in the oven for 30 mins and enjoy!!

BUON APPETITO!!

Posted by LOR&BRU at 21:54:29 | Permalink | Comments (15)

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

MINESTRONE CON RISO!!

 

WOW, how cold was it today?? It’s always a shock to the system when the temperature drops so fast even though 12 degrees is hot compared to Russia and the likes but it’s cold for us Irish where the temp stays in the same range for the majority of the time!! I love this weather, bright blue skies and crisp fresh air!! You may sense I’m in a better mood after all my moaning for the past couple of posts, it’s finished I promise!! That’s the thing with a blog, well mine anyway as I tend to write as I think so I’m afraid my mood will be reflected in my writing or whining as some of you may say;) Everything is great on the staff front, it has worked itself out and the new Italian chef is fantastic!! He just does his own thing - today he made Parmigiana to take home and bake in the oven, Salame al Cioccolato(Italian chocolate biscuit cake which everybody said looked like black pudding(AGHHHH) and he made a delicious Sausage and Cannellini Bean soup, we asked him to make mushroom soup and he told us it was too boring HALLELUJIA!!!!:) This guy works for the owner of DIESEL (our favourite brand of clothing in the world), he works on his boat - we are not worthy!! We have an Italian girl starting tomorrow on the counter so all is good!!!

On the subject of Italians I was reading in the paper the other day that the Italian government have introduced a new tax incentive to encourage Italian boys/men to leave their “Mamma”. It is estimated that 8 out of 10 Italians aged under 30 still live at home and the average age for moving out is 36!! I’d believe it as most of Bruno’s cousins and friends live at home. Italian men make up the bulk of those staying at home - 67% and they have even come up with a name for them “Mammoni” or “big mummy’s boys”. They plan to offer the under 30’s earning less than €15,000 -  €1000 in tax relief in next year’s budget. Some economists are saying that Italy’s bad economy is causing this problem as the average wage in Italy is half or less than what we earn here but somehow I think a lot of them just like their home comforts, Italian mammies are very good to their sons - BELIEVE ME I KNOW!!!;)

So to keep my “Italian Amore” happy I decided to cook a nice traditional, hearty soup perfect for this weather for lunch today!! This recipe is really simple, there is a little preparation involved as there are a few vegetables to be chopped but once that is done it’s really fast and absolutely delicious! We have a new range of De Cecco pasta for soups in La Cucina, we have Riso and Alfabeto which are great for babies and toddlers too as they are tiny. I used the riso in this soup and it really adds substance and makes it really filling. this recipe is from Aldo Zilli’s book, I’m slowly getting through it!!

I have not forgotten about the online shop either but besides our staffing problem we are moving house, looking at premises in the city centre and my sister is getting married in March so it has been put on hold for the minute but if anyone needs anything just send me an email and I will pop it in the post!

WHAT YOU NEED FOR 2/4 PEOPLE - DOUBLE THE QUANTITIES FOR 6:

 - 4 tbsp olive oil
 - 25g pancetta - available in Superquin, Dunnes, Aldi and Lidl
 - 1 small onion
 - 1 garlic clove crushed or finely chopped
 - 1 carrot diced
 - 1 courgette diced
 - 1 celery stalk diced
 - 50g broccoli - trimmed and stalks diced
 - 2 plum tomatoes skinned, seeded and diced
 - 1 litre of veg stock - I used Italian stock cubes available in LC
 - 250g broad beans - I couldn’t find any so you can do it without.
 - 75g Riso or long grain rice
 - pecorino cheese
 - salt and pepper

WHAT TO DO:

 - bring a small pot of water to the boil and cook your full tomatoes for a couple of mins until skin starts to peel off. Drain and let cool and peel off skin and de-seed and chop.

 - heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pot, add the pancetta and onion and cook over a gentle heat until onions are soft. This takes about 10 mins.

 - add the garlic, carrots, celery, courgettes, broccoli stalks but not florets(heads), season and cook for about 10 mins until the veg has softened but not coloured.

 - Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Stir in the broad beans and rice and season and simmer for 10 mins or until rice is tender.

- add the broccoli florets and simmer for a further 5-10 mins until all the veg is cooked but not too soft, they should still have a little bite to them. Stir in the remaining olive oil and pecorino cheese and stir!!

 - serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!! It warms the bones, this one!!:)

BUON APPETITO!!

p.s. to make it vegetarian just leave out the pancetta.

p.p.s. - the Parmigiana is available to buy in La Cucina at the moment so Limerick readers hmm hmm:) I will be posting the recipe soon!!

It’s Organic Week in Ireland this week, check out Amanda’s site for her recipe of the month event!! I actually used all organic veg in this recipe so I unintentionally took part:)

Posted by LOR&BRU at 20:12:03 | Permalink | Comments (12)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

MACCHERONI GRATINATI A.K.A. MACARONI & CHEESE!!!

So that new girl started last Wednesday and she was fantastic, I couldn’t believe it!! At long last everything seemed like it was falling into place but alas on Thursday she called in to say she was after getting another job so it was back to the drawing board!! The worst part was that I had put an ad in the paper that day and had gotten so many phonecalls in relation to it I just said that the job was gone!! We were just going to have to cover it ourselves until we found the right person but alas that wasn’t going to happen either because Bru went and sprained his ankle really bad on Thursday night and is now on crutches for a week so he can’t work or mind the princess - but don’t you be feeling sorry for him as he had a great weekend in front of the T.V watching sport and sipping on a few Peroni!!! So as usual nothing goes to plan but all is not lost!!

To cut a long story short, an Italian chef called in on Thursday with a CV that reads like a dream, he is here until March and is looking to learn English!! This guy has so much experience and is completely over qualified for our place but has no English so he hasn’t been able to get a job which is great for us as he is looking for anything at this stage, he even did wash-up in another restaurant last week, this guy was involved in an “Olympic” competition for pastry in Italy!!! Our main girl in the kitchen who has been with us for 4 years is actually looking for a change of scenery so she’s going to do the counter this week and see if she likes it and meanwhile we are going to try the new Italian guy in the kitchen!! Now, it all sounds too perfect so I’m not getting too excited even though I can’t wait to see what this guy is like especially as we are starting the take-home meals once everything is organised and if he makes Italian cakes I will be in heaven - I’ll post pics for all of you not from Limerick - I know, I know I’m just too nice:)

We never have any Italians looking for work so we were surprised to see someone with so much experience and then the next day a pizza chef from Sicily called in looking for work but we have nothing at the moment in that area. I’ve noticed a few Italians eating in recently too and after talking to them they have moved here to get jobs as there are very few in Italy at the moment as the economy is pretty bad!! Is it wrong to be secretly happy that the bad economy is good for us???

This is another “pasta al forno” dish that we have started doing in La Cucina. They are going ok but we won’t be retiring early from them by any means, lots of people ask about them as they are in the display counter but when I tell them they have to heat them at home in the oven they change their minds and order a take-away pasta instead but we will continue on with them for a while, as they say “Rome wasn’t built in a day”!!

       

WHAT YOU NEED:

 - 25g butter, plus extra for greasing.

 - besciamella sauce

 - 50g Parmesan cheese

 - 1 mozzarella cheese ball diced

 - 2 egg yolks

 - 350g macaroni or tube pasta like rigatoni or tortiglioni

 - salt

WHAT TO DO:

 - preheat the oven to 240 degrees.

 - grease an ovenproof dish with butter.

 - mix together the besciamella sauce, Parmesan, butter and egg yolks.

 - cook the macaroni in a large pan of salted, boiling water until al dente, drain and tip into a bowl.

 - Gently stir in most of the sauce and leave some to the side.

 - place a layer of pasta in your oven dish and top with mozzarella cheese, then add another layer, pour the remainder of the sauce over the top and add the remaining mozzarella. We add a little extra Parmesan too!! You can sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top too if you like!!

 - Bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown and bubbling and then fight over the crispy bits on top:)

BUON APPETITO!!

p.s. - there are many variations of this recipe so feel free to leave your version in the comments!!

Posted by LOR&BRU at 21:59:29 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

UN ESPRESSO PER FAVORE!!!

OK I know I’ve talked a lot about coffee on this blog but it as important in our lives as our food!! What prompted me to do this post was an article in the Indo a couple of weeks back by my “amico” Paulo about coffee machines and the perfect espresso machine. Coffee machines seem to be the new must have item these days and most of them are not cheap!! A trip to BT’s one day opened my eyes to how much a Gaggia machine will put you back these days. I decided to this post to show you our coffee making facilities at home.

Paulo says the perfect espresso is achieved by putting the hot water through six grammes of grounds at 16 atmospheres of pressure. This releases the oils from the grounds and these oils make the head or the crema which we all know at this stage is the most important part of an espresso. The way to test a good crema is if it is thick enough a spoonful of Castor sugar ,no sugar lumps please;) will sit up to 10 seconds on the head before sinking into the coffee below. He says he has yet to get one like this in Dublin but if he came to Limerick he is guaranteed one if Bru’s dad makes it!! Alfredo definitely knows his coffee and he makes the best espresso I have ever had in Ireland and it ALWAYS passes the sugar test, mine is pretty good in La Cucina but not as good as his, an Italian even told me recently at the top of his voice in the shop that it was better than most he has had in Italy!! I didn’t tell him I had to make it 4 times before the bloody thing came out right but everyone looked so impressed I didn’t want to ruin the moment so I just basked in the glory;)

There is so much involved in coffee making and I always say it’s a “science”, I think people think I’m mad but it’s true, even the weather affects the quality!! I personally don’t know enough about it and would love to learn a lot more, Alfredo calls into the shop regularly to check the coffee grind, the water etc and spends a good hour at it!! So, this lack of knowledge on my part brings me back to coffee machines at home, if you don’t know anything about coffee there really is no point in buying a beautiful Gaggia machine for €1000 to make a cup of black coffee that you could make with a percolator!! This is where the ESE(Easy Serving Espresso) systems come in and these are the machines that Paulo tested and this is what we have and every member of the family has at home even Bruno’s dad. In Italy everyone has these machines, I have never seen a real coffee machine in an Italian household it is always an ESE or the little espresso pot that you heat up on the gas!!

                                   

The great thing about these little machines is that you are guaranteed an espresso with a good crema every time, the coffee comes in small pods, like a teabag which means no measuring and a consistent espresso!
                                 
So if you are planning on buying a machine and are confused about what to buy, go with the ESE system!! I’m afraid I don’t know much about prices or anything, I know we can get them from one of our suppliers for about €350 but I don’t know if that’s expensive?? and the pods are more expensive than using regular coffee but for the quality aspect alone they are worth it. Our little machine was so cheap €100 I think,  I could probably start a business importing them;) and we have it 5 years and have never had a problem! The only thing we don’t have is a frother so we do it the old fashioned way every morning by heating the milk on the gas and frothing with one of those little handheld frothers that cost €3 and a perfect cappucino is had every time:)

                               

Posted by LOR&BRU at 23:41:17 | Permalink | Comments (13)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

PASTA AL FORNO!!

I’m still working like a mad woman as you may have noticed from lack of posts and cooking but I think I may have found staff at long last, I have a girl starting tomorrow and she seems OK so fingers crossed. The main problem in finding someone for the counter is lack of food knowledge, especially about Italian food. A lot of our customers like to ask questions about different foods, recipes etc and to be honest I spend most of my day talking about food with them. That is the kind of place La Cucina is, it’s very relaxed and everybody likes to come in and have a chat so I really need someone very friendly who will get to know all of our regular customers and hopefully be a foodie too!!Believe me this is no easy task!! It always works out in the end but it’s just taking a little longer this time.

There has been little time for cooking so we’ve been mainly eating from La Cucina or else Bru and the princess have been eating at the “The Mil’s” when I’m working - I don’t hear Bru complaining but the princess is starting to experience ice-cream and white chocolate a little too much for my liking;) Bru’s sister has just built a new house and is waiting for her Italian kitchen so she’s down there every evening with her 2 kids for dinner too. The “MIL” rarely gets a break, she works all day and then comes home to cook for all the family and grandchildren but she wouldn’t have it any other way, Italians are so good like that, family comes before everything no matter how tired you are!! Even when we go there on a Sunday, she has been cooking and preparing all morning, barely eats herself and then cleans up everything after and she won’t even let me help as she wants to let us relax so all the boys end up on the couch watching Italian soccer for the evening and I usually head home for a while and get a bit of ironing done and she minds the princess!!! Even today we had planned on making Gnocchi alla Sorrentina and she rang this morning to see if we wanted to come down for dinner this evening and of course being the lazy lumps we are we accepted, I’m so glad we did as we had pasta with peas and pancetta and then BOTH monkfish and seabass done in the oven!!!Thank god for Italian “MILS”.

I mentioned in a recent post that we have started “PASTA AL FORNO” again, this method of cooking pasta isn’t very popular in Ireland as most people do a lasagna when making pasta in the oven but this is a great alternative and you can make it in advance and then just pop it in the oven and you will have a really delicious dish!!

This recipe is with Italian sausage but you can actually make it with anything, bacon, chicken, aubergine, courgette, whatever you prefer. It is actually quite similar to the “al cartoccio” recipe!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

  • 1-2 Italian sausages with skins removed and chopped up.
  • 8-10 mushrooms cut in 1/4’s
  • porcini - about a handful
  • tomato sauce or tin of Italian tomatoes.
  • 1 clove garlic
  • rigatoni or tortiglioni
  • white wine
  • olive oil
  • margarine
  • salt and pepper
  • parmesan cheese
  • 1 ball mozzarella cheese cut into cubes

WHAT TO DO:

 - put your porcini in a bowl of boiling water and leave to soak for about 15 mins.

 - fill the base of your pan with olive oil and cook your garlic clove until brown and remove, let oil cool down for a couple of mins.

 - bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and cook your pasta until al dente and drain.

 - add your mushrooms and sausage to your pan, season and cook.

 - add a splash of white wine and leave to evaporate, add your porcini and some of the juice and leave to simmer for a couple of mins.

 - add your tomato sauce and mix together over a high heat for a couple of mins or add your tin of tomatoes and let simmer for about 15 mins. Check your seasoning!!!

 - add your pasta to your pan and mix together.

- grease your oven dish with margarine and put a layer of pasta on the bottom, top with parmesan and mozzarella, place another layer of pasta over this and top again with parmesan and mozzarella.

 - cook in the oven for about 15-20 mins until the top layer of pasta is golden brown and crispy!!!

 

BUON APPETITO!!!!

p.s. if all else fails Bruno just made them in La Cucina today:)

Posted by LOR&BRU at 13:10:41 | Permalink | Comments (16)

Saturday, October 13, 2007

RADIO GA GA!!!

Here is a little pic of “moi” looking a tad nervous before my radio debut!!!! So, the day finally came and I was perfect that morning, dropped the princess off to her Nonna, scribbled down a few pointers and headed into town and then the panic began. I got really nervous when I arrived in town, I popped into Olio e Farina and Susan just laughed at my white panic stricken face, I stuffed a few Italian grapes into me which she is selling for 2 weeks as it is picking time in Italy and they really are delicious!! I had an hour to kill so I headed into Sage Cafe for a coffee but opted for a big glass of chardonnay instead - who says alcohol doesn’t calm the nerves:) 

The show actually starts at 3pm but they were having a fire drill in the building so all the staff were outside when I arrived, while waiting I met my ex-butcher who has just taken over the shop beside RTE and he started talking to me about buying meat off him again, I don’t think I actually heard a word he said, I probably agreed to take his meat at a premium price, he was probably thinking “wow Lorraine has really mellowed out after the baby”:). The fire drill eventually finished and I headed up to the RTE studios, there was a really cool looking band heading up at the same time and they were actually in the studio next to me playing live!! I was put into the little room that you see above at 3.10pm and left alone with my massive headphones listening to the show. Every couple of minutes someone kept saying “HELLO” and I couldn’t hear the show. I kept thinking would she ever shut up or I won’t be able to hear the segment and I’ll miss my part. Eventually the receptionist came in with the phone to her ear asking me was someone trying to talk to me from Dublin through the headphones and would I please answer back - OOOOOOOPS!!!! 

Paulo came on and I got myself ready and wasn’t nervous at all and I waited and waited and waited!! While I waited he talked about cream in Carbonara and how restaurants use the excuse that customers want it etc etc and I was like “o shxt that’s what I’m going to say”!!! Eventually they brought me in and it was actually fine, they were both very nice, he only asked me half the questions from the brief that I had and I think I answered them OK and didn’t use “like” or “am”!!! After the last question they went to a recording of another Italian restaurant so I just sat and waited for him to say Thanks and Goodbye but nothing happened so I just sat there not knowing what to do!! About 10 mins later the producer came on and thanked me and apologised that they had to finish and I went on my merry way!!

I rang Bru straight away to get the synopsis as I couldn’t even remember a word I said and I got the “thumbs up” so all was good!! I have to say I really enjoyed it and loads of people heard it, even the postman said it to me the next day so there has been great publicity for the shop and that’s the main thing!! Are we still going to serve cream in our carbonara - yep, until the day people start to ask for it without!! We actually had carbonara on Monday and here is a little pic to show that we don’t eat it with cream and the recipe is here!!!

BUON APPETITO!!!

p.s. if you have nothing better to do and want to hear it just go to the Mooney Show and click on Wednesday and fast forward to 1hr 6 mins!!

p.p.s. 2 very good friends of ours have started a financial blog of sorts, does anyone need 10 good reasons to buy property in Dubai???? If I had the money I wouldn’t even need 1!!!! There are some great articles and great advice so check it out here. Watch out Mr Hobbs, Jonsey has arrived:)

Posted by LOR&BRU at 21:07:39 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

THE TIME HAS COME!!!

I’m off into town for my radio slot, bit nervous now!! Wish me luck:)

Posted by LOR&BRU at 13:27:23 | Permalink | Comments (7)

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

PENNE ALL’ARRABBIATA!!

Did any of you watch “Living the Dream” last night on RTE 1, I missed the first half as I was at La Cucina but Bru watched it all. It was about a couple from Nenagh, who went to the Emilia Romagna region to live their dream life for a week. Are they the couple that own the Country Choice Cafe does anyone know?? I love watching these type of programmes as they give a real insight into Italian living from an Irish perspective, they were a really nice couple too, very charming and embraced Italian culture with open arms. I have spoke about the Agriturissmo before and they had to work there for a few days, they are amazing places as they produce everything on their own farms, even one lady brought in her glass milk bottles to the farm shop everyday for her fresh milk.

The most amazing part for me was definitely the Parmesan cheese production, it really is an amazing process and that store room was probably worth millions. The mafia have actually started to rob trucks carrying consignments of Parmesan cheese as they are worth so much. They usually target them at the Autogrill when the driver’s stop for a coffee. In Ireland the Securicor vans are targeted but not in Italy - as always food is a more attractive option, Italians and their bellies:) I loved the way the father and son worked in silence and the father was the “Maestro”, everything had to be passed by him, this is so true of everything in Italy, the elders are really respected members of the community and approval is always sought from the parents no matter what age you are as they know best!!! I have been dreaming of fresh ricotta with some crunchy Italian bread since - mmmmmmm!!!

My 5 minutes of fame has resumed and is scheduled for 3.30-4pm tomorrow on the Derek Mooney show, hopefully it won’t be cancelled again!!

A few people have asked me for this recipe and it is probably one of the simplest sauces you can make but do try and get your hands on an Italian brand of tinned tomatoes or some good quality plum tomatoes.

WHAT YOU NEED FOR 2:

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/2 fresh chilli, seeded and chopped
  • dried chilli flakes
  • 400g tin Italian tomatoes
  • 350g penne - we usually just measure using our pasta plates.
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
  • salt

WHAT TO DO:

 - heat the oil in a frying pan and cook your garlic until brown and remove. Leave the oil to cool for a couple of mins and add your chilli and a sprinkle of dried chilli.

 - cook for a couple of minutes and add your tomatoes, season with salt and cook for 15 mins.

 - cook your penne in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente, drain and add to pan with sauce.

 - toss for a couple of mins over a high heat and serve with  a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

 

BUON APPETITO!!

Posted by LOR&BRU at 12:46:46 | Permalink | Comments (5)

Saturday, October 6, 2007

RISOTTO VERDE!!!

Sorry for my absence but it’s been a crazy week in La Cucina, our main deli assistant Iwona has returned to Poland so I’m trying to find someone to replace her which is proving rather difficult. Normally when we advertise a position we are inundated with C.V’s but not this time so I’m working crazy hours until we do!! There is a positive though as it means I’m there a lot more than usual 11am to 10pm the last 2 days so I get to see what’s going on, the poor staff, they’re probably secretly hoping that I have a baby a year for the next 20 years so that I’m on permanent maternity leave:)

There’s a really great buzz around the place as it’s really busy, the weather has been lovely this week so lot’s of people eating outside drinking cappuccino and eating Laura’s cupcakes. We’ve added a new range of ready to bake “pasta al forno” dishes which are proving really popular, we tried them a couple of years ago but they didn’t sell so I’m really delighted that they have taken off now.

They are really handy as you just pop them into the oven for 30-40 mins at 200 degrees, the trays serve 2 but bigger trays can be ordered in advance.

 The range includes:

  • meat lasagna
  • aubergine and courgette lasagna
  • macaroni and cheese
  • sun-dried tomato, black olive, mozzarella, parmesan and tomato sauce.
  • Italian sausage, porcini, mushrooms, mozzarella, parmesan and tomato sauce.

We’re starting a new range of ready to cook oven meals which I wanted to get your opinion on. I’ve been asking everyone in the shop all week what they think and I’ve received a really positive response. We’ll basically prepare a full meal - meat, potato and vegetables which you basically pop into the oven and cook, we will even provide instructions. We will only have one option to start and this will change weekly e.g.

 - WEEK 1

 - WEEK 2

The list is endless - roast beef, lamb, chicken, shepherd’s pie etc etc. I would love some feedback from my Limerick readers and everyone else, if this service was available in your area  would you avail of it?? I know when I came home from the hospital with the princess I would have been lost without the MIL’s “MEALS ON WHEELS”, she used to send us home dinner every evening and it was so handy. I think they would be great also for a dinner party or just those evenings when you don’t have time to cook and you would like some “real” food!! Let me know what you think!!

Anyway there wasn’t much cooking in the Italian foodie house this week just this tasty risotto on Tuesday night! Everytime we have risotto we wonder why we don’t have it more often as we have pasta a couple of times a week, I know it takes a little longer to prepare but it is SOOOO worth it so people this week get out the arborio or carnaroli rice and get cooking:)

WHAT YOU NEED:

  • 20g butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 75g spinach chopped
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1 celery stick plus leaves chopped
  • 1 litre vegetable stock - we used fresh stock from La Cucina but you can use stock cubes.
  • 200g risotto rice - we used carnaroli
  • salt
  • Parmesan cheese
  • goat’s cheese - we used St Tola
  • nutmeg

WHAT TO DO:

 - melt 10g of the butter with the oil in a large pan, add the spinach, onion and celery and cook over a medium heat for 5 mins, then lower the heat and cook for a further 10 mins.

 - bring the stock to the boil in another saucepan.

 - season the vegetables with salt and add a little freshly grated nutmeg and stir in the rice.

 - Add a ladleful of the hot stock and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed.

 - continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, and stirring until each addition has been absorbed. This will take 18-20 mins.

 - when the rice is tender, stir in the remaining butter and some Parmesan.

 - serve with some goat’s cheese and Parmesan on top!

p.s. we added a “little” olive oil for the picture but we were a little heavy handed;) It is proving rather difficult to take photos with the evenings getting darker:(

BUON APPETITO!!

Posted by LOR&BRU at 21:45:38 | Permalink | Comments (12)