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 | Permanent Link | Comments (8) |

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 | Permanent Link | Comments (14) |

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 | Permanent Link | Comments (12) |
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