ITALIAN FOODIES

Big news, the princess has the start of her first tooth, never thought I'd be so excited over a little tooth, it's amazing how things change!!!Now I know this recipe isn't Italian but we ate a lot at Bru's house last week as I was working loads as one of our staff was on holidays so I was back full-time with a bang! After being on holidays, sorry maternity leave for 5 months I was absolutely wrecked and in no mood for cooking. Anyway it worked out great because Bru's mom was on culinary fire, we had roast chicken, pasta with gorgonzola sauce, rabbit in white wine sauce, procuitto melone, home-made pasta with home-made tomato sauce, today was the icing on the cake with lobster salad and involtini which is veal stuffed with ham and egg. I know, we're spoilt and we love it!! 

After this selection of food we decided to go traditional for 1 night, I had actually bought all the ingredients last Saturday at the Farmer's Market. My find of the week last week was definitely cumberland sausage, I find it very difficult to get flavoured sausages anywhere in Limerick. I even travelled to Gareth's in Raheen where I was sure I would find a good selection of sausages, they had a great selection of every type of meat except sausages. I was very excited to read in the Leader last week that a farm shop has opened in Curraghchase producing all their own pork, I'm going to try and get out there in the next couple of weeks and check it out, if anyone has been there let us know what you thought!!

 Anyway the stall in the market that sells the hot dogs also sells different types of sausages even though he was a bit reluctant to give them to me as he was running low, but I kind of begged him so he gave up and gave me 4. He then forgot to keep me my Italian sausage hot dog and gave it to someone else, we got off to a bad start but I forgave him when we had our bangers and mash. This recipe is based on a Jamie Oliver sausage and mash recipe.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 4 large cumberland sausage
• potatoes  - enough for 2
• 2 medium red onion sliced 
• rosemary  - leaves picked
• 1 clove garlic sliced thinly
• grated parmesan
• butter
• salt  and black pepper
• 1 beef stock cube
• 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

WHAT TO DO:

 - peel your potatoes and cut into large chunks and boil in salted water until cooked.

 - while they are cooking you can make your gravy

fry your onions in a little olive oil in a pot with the lid on for about 15 mins over a very low heat

remove the lid, turn the heat up and cook the onions until brown. Add your vinegar and boil until it disapears.

turn the heat down, add a knob of butter, stock cube and 1/2 pint of water, season with salt and pepper and let simmer.

I let the gravy simmer for about 20-25 mins until it was quite thick.

 - while this is simmering cook your sausages on a grill pan in a little olive oil, a few leaves of rosemary and your sliced garlic.

 - when your potatoes are boiled add a large knob of butter, salt, a glug of olive oil and 3 good handfuls of grated parmesan cheese. Taste and add more salt and parmesan if it is not the tastiest mash you've ever had!.

 - place your mash on a plate and make a tower with your sausages and pour your onion gravy over the top.

Serve once again with a bottle of chilled Peroni beer.

Buon Appetito!! 

I think everyone in the Western world owns a George Forman grill or something similar, in Ireland I thing most people probably use it for the traditional "toastie". Our relationship with the toastie goes way back to the little plastic bag days when you had a choice of ham & cheese or ham cheese and onion.  Bruno can't understand my need for mustard with my toastie, it's obviously an Irish thing.

I still have my toastie with mustard on the odd occasion but I have upgraded it to gourmet status and now use red onion. I have to say I have welcomed the Italian version of the toasted sandwich with open arms. We have a huge range of panini in La Cucina and I'm delighted to say the staples of the Irish diet - chicken, bacon, garlic mayo have been replaced by the finer Italian fillings. Our fascination with garlic mayo in this country still amazes me everyday. Our best sellers now are:

• Italia - parma ham, rocket, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and pesto.
• Grigliatta - roasted aubergines, roasted peppers, rocket, mozzarella and pesto.
• Tonno - tuna, brie, rocket and sun-dried tomato mayo.
• Pollo - breaded chicken fillet, lettuce, tomato and mayo.

In Italy you would never find these combinations as they tend to eat their panini quite simple with just meat and cheese and absolutely no dressing. In Ireland pesto has become the new mayo, we make it every second day. My staff curse me when they are plucking the leaves off 1kg of basil for about an hour. We eat ours the Italian way and most of the time we just have a toasted ciabatta with parma ham and buffalo mozzarella but every now and again we go crazy and add rocket!! " crazy kids"

What you need:

• ciabatta - Dunnes do a really good ciabatta, it even has the grill lines on it.
• good quality parma ham
• buffalo mozzarella - we have a really good one in La Cucina and Olio e Farina on little Catherine St now stock organic buffalo for anyone that can't get to Castletroy!! Just ask for Susan and tell her Lor&Bru sent you!!!
• rocket
• olive oil

How to make it:

 - I'm not going to insult you by telling you how to make a sandwich, I'm sure you know how. One tip though, pour a little olive oil on your machine before grilling.

 - on a sunny day serve with a "Peroni" beer  while dining "al fresco".

Buon Appetito!!

We go to Bruno's family home every Sunday without fail for the big Sunday lunch which is a big loud boisterous family affair with lots of shouting, laughing and some good vino. It always amazes me as the whole family are there every Sunday and they wouldn't miss it for the world, they're never even tempted to go to a restaurant for a change because it wouldn't be as good as "mamma" makes.  There's probably about 13 to 16 of us every week. On Christmas day there was 20 of us!! My mother in law prepares the whole lot single handily after putting down a tough week working in the family restaurant La Piccola Italia and Saturday night is their busiest night, it's booked out about 2 weeks in advance these days.

 This is no ordinary lunch either, we always have pasta(sometimes home-made) with home-made tomato sauce followed by Italian sausage and veal meatballs, roast lamb and fillet of beef with roast potatoes and either broccoli or french bean salad on the side. Dessert is usually fresh strawberries and ice-cream and bruno's 7 year old nephew always makes the espresso after. Now I'm able to cook but if I had to cook for 16 people I think I might be just a little stressed, but it doesn't phase her one bit. That's the thing about Italian mammas it's all so natural to them, they don't need scales or cook books and they make it look so easy.

I mentioned this french bean salad in my spring lamb post, it's really good as a "contorno" to meat dishes.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• french green beans - I usually buy 2 packets in the supermarket
• 2 cloves garlic peeled
• salt
• red wine vinegar
• olive oil
• salt

WHAT TO DO:

 In Ireland we tend to eat our vegetables al dente (crunchy) and our pasta soft. It's the opposite in Italy, they eat their vegetables quite soft and their pasta with a bite to it.

 - bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and your beans

 - cook for 20-25 mins until soft

 - drain and put in a large bowl.

 - add your garlic cloves and dress with salt, vinegar and olive oil to taste.  You can add black pepper if you like!

 - serve with lamb, beef or any meat dish.

 - for a really nice salad in the summer we add diced boiled potatoes and boiled eggs and eat it with some crunchy baguettes "Buonissimo"

Buon Appetito!!