ITALIAN FOODIES

The rugby talk is over and it’s back to recipes and food talk, well kind of!!!! To be honest I’ve been a bit lazy since moving into the new house and the lack of freezer and oven aren’t helping so I haven’t really cooked much so I’m dragging out some oldies I have stored and not used. This has turned into the longest 10 days ever to have my finished kitchen, it’s closer to 30 or 40 at this stage and there is still no end in sight. Now I’m being a bit of moaner to be honest as I still have my FIVE gas rings even though I’ll probably never use them all!

but then I look down and see this

and I get depressed, crack open a bottle of wine to drown my sorrows and ring the MIL to see if she’s cooking anything. I tell myself she loves having us round so I’m really thinking of her plus the wine industry is in crisis so I’m just doing my bit for the world:) I know - a saint!!!!!

This recipe is from way back about a month ago when I was an OO (oven owner), I found it in Delicious mag and loved the result so it’s a keeper. We still eat roast chicken in Ireland in the summer as our weather is so changeable even though we have been quite lucky recently.

what you need:

 - 1 kg potatoes cut into 1cm slices

 - 4 garlic cloves

 - 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked

 - 1 lemon - peel it and chop the skin

 - whole free range/organic chicken

 - 150g pancetta cubes

 - butter - I used about 100g

 - 300ml white wine

 - sea salt and black pepper

what to do:

 - pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees

 - put the potatoes into a pot of water, bring to boil, add some salt and simmer gently for about 5 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.

 - If you have a mini food processor whizz the garlic, butter, lemon peel and rosemary together. If you’re like me and don’t possess one of these most basic kitchen tools, just finely chop the garlic, lemon peel and rosemary and mix together with the butter.

 - starting from the neck of the chicken loosen the skin with your fingers, being careful not to tear it. Spread the paste between the flesh and skin, smoothing it down and around the bird as far as you can go. Cut your peeled lemon in half and stuff into the chicken.

 - layer the potatoes and pancetta in the base of a roasting tin, sit the chicken on top, season and pour over the wine. Roast for 1 and half hours until the chicken is golden and cooked through.

buon appetito

p.s. TK Maxx in Limerick have “Bialetti” frying pans in stock at the moment and “Bodum” knives!!

Once again luck was on our side as the stage was right beside the restaurant so we all headed off to work again;) The security was a lot stricter this time compared to 2 years ago but I got in front for a few pics though, I have loads from the last homecoming too which I must dig out!!

I tried to catch the lads attention so I could take some pics for the blog so I kept telling all the young lads beside me to shout their names so I didn’t look like a right groupie but they wouldn’t turn around. Eventually Paul did and gave me a bit thumbs up and the stupid camera didn’t work - typical!!!

Eventually I caught Alan’s attention and he very kindly posed for me, I will have to make sure his bolognese is extra special this week!!

A huge crowd turned up again to show their support

Until next year!!! FORZA MUNSTER!!

p.s. check out bock’s brilliant pictures “live” from Cardiff and squid’s video of the homecoming!

Firstly apologies to all my international readers who come here for recipes and foodie chat as this blog will be taken over by rugby talk for the next few days, It’s not that I’m a big rugby fan in general but I am one of the members of Munster’s 16th man - the hardcore contingent may call it a fake rugby supporter but who cares we feed the majority of them so I maintain their good Italian diet is partly responsible for their success:) This time I even made the effort and bought the jersey even if it was last minute yesterday morning.

We obviously didn’t make it to Cardiff so we watched it on the screen in the city centre and being the lucky people that we are it was outside the family restaurant La Piccola Italia right beside the VIP area with a bird’s eye view. The gardai were getting a bit suspicious as the 20th staff member turned up at the barriers for work.

There was no beer  in the Piccola so we cracked open a few bottles of the “good stuff” before the match - Stefano the “bil” was barman and then “alfredo the hero” saved the day at half time some beer

In case you think all we did was drink we did actually watch the match and Alfie did a bit of self promotion

All the staff in the restaurant wore t-shirts too

The atmosphere was amazing and the crowd really did the team proud, they estimate that there was over 20,000 people all singing and cheering in unison, it would make one a bit emotional and very proud to be living in Limerick!!

I just wanted to say a big congratulations to the lads as I know some of them read my little blog including “il capitano”, Mr O’C himself!!! It was fantastic winning the first time but winning it a second time is that extra bit special!!

p.s. the “munster wraps” are on me lads;) 

Ok people, Paul O’Connell has promised us himself, the cup and a few of the other lads from the team will be at the opening night of the new place if they win on Saturday so I need you to shout a bit louder, scream a bit higher and show emotion and passion never seen before just for me, oh and the team of course;) Don’t forget it’s red day tommorrow so get your red shirts and munster jersey’s on, I have all the staff ready in their red even our polish contingent who think we’re mad!!!

C’MON MUNSTER!!!!!!!!

Can’t talk, too busy getting a tan so I can look like an Italian:) Just a quick salad recipe for this lovely weather we are having, I love this salad with fish or meat or simply on it’s own with some crusty bread!!!

what you need:

 - fine green beans I used a 250g pack from Superquinn (surprise, surprise)

 - 3 hard boiled eggs

 - 2 boiled potatoes cut into cubes

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - 8 tbsp olive oil

 - 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

what to do:

 - bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and cook your beans until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water and leave to cool down.

 - cut your eggs into quarters and scatter over the beans.

 - add your potatoes, season and dress with olive oil and vinegar.

 - serve and enjoy the sunshine!!!!:)

buon appetito!!!

p.s I got my new camera last week and it’s still in the box, I haven’t even used it yet it’s been so busy:(

p.p.s. the princess is with the grandparents so mama and papa’ are off on the town - yahooooooo!!! Bring on the hangover!!

Ciao!!

How nice has this weather been and it’s coming back on Sunday - yahoooo!! It’s been a pretty hectic week here, we are finally moving in to our new house next week so it’s all about the final touches now, going accessory shopping the weekend, Bru is very excited as you can imagine - cushions and candles are his favourites;) I will probably have to watch extra football as punishment:)

The new place is also keeping us busy, how nice to be moving house and opening a new business and running the old business at the same time, I’d recommend it to anyone, no stress involved at all - I DON’T THINK SO!!:) I think there is so much going on that I actually am not getting stressed at all but then me and Bru are pretty laid back, probably a bit too much sometimes but it helps in times like this!! I hate this stage of the new business as it’s all the legal and engineering stuff which I’m a bit allergic to, I prefer the nicer stage of doing the menu, design, PR, sourcing wine etc etc but it has to be done! We met with the engineer last week and one thing I’m really bad at is reading a plan so I was so confused by the end!! The thing is they think you understand all the architect and engineering jargon so I had to tell him to stop him at one stage and explain what the hell ME was as he kept saying it, for anyone who doesn’t know it’s Mechanical Engineering. He thought it was funny so I asked him what were the ingredients of pesto????? he got the message:) They are doing the plans for the layout of the kitchen, toilets etc and the main specs for the fire cert!! When opening a new restaurant the Fire Cert is the most important part in the initial stages and it takes 2 months so the pressure is on!!

We also met with the solicitor yesterday for the initial reading of the contracts so that’s all been sorted out next week, once that’s through I’ll start posting some pics so you can get an idea of the place. We also met an Interior Architect yesterday as we are going to need some help with the design as it is such a big space, we will bring all the furniture and bar from Italy but we need someone to put it altogether and make it look good and not something we threw together ourselves!!

With the busy week we’ve had and the lovely weather there hasn’t been a huge amount of cooking but we had this bruschetta the other day as I got some lovely bread at the french market and really good sliced gourmet mushrooms in Superquinn.

what you need:

 - 400g mushrooms - sliced

 - 250g sliced gourmet mushrooms(optional)

 - crusty bread

 - 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley finely chopped

 - juice of half lemon(optional)

 - 2 garlic cloves finely chopped

 - half white onion finely chopped(optional)

 - olive oil

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - 50g unsalted butter (about 2 tbsp)

 
what to do:

 - toast your bread under the grill on both sides.

 - melt your butter over a low heat, add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add your mushrooms and cook for about 10 mins. If you like cream you can add some here if you like but I’m watching the hips;)

 - add your lemon juice and parsley and season well. 
 
 - serve the mushroom mix on your toasted bread and dine “al fresco” with a glass of “vino bianco”!!!

You can vary this recipe by adding some pancetta, parma ham or a poached egg on top!!

buon appetito!!!

p.s. there is something wrong with blog.com so apologies for the layout and to anyone trying to use the tag list or read older posts!! I have to move but I don’t even know where to start, a friend of mine has promised he’s going to move me to wordpress so hopefully it will happen soon!!

Here are a few pics of the fabulous Riverfest which takes place every year on the May Bank holiday weekend!  The weather was so nice which made it even better if not a bit too busy as I think the whole of Limerick city and county turned out, but it was a great success and really enjoyable, I think we need more festivals like this on an ongoing basis in the summer!! 

The world BBQ cook off was held on Saturday and the chef’s BBQ competition was held on Sunday!! We were actually supposed to enter this year but with everything that’s going on at the moment we didn’t have time in the end but maybe next year.

The main sponsor was Complete Cuisine which is the company I worked for as a Sales Manager for 4 years before venturing out on my own, this is my former boss Dermot above on the left!! I’ve mentioned my local butcher Jim Flavin before on this blog and himself and his crew were busy cooking their award winning sausages on the right!!

The famous “pig on the spit” from the Milk Market was there, supplying their tasty pork sandwiches to the hungry public!!

The French market was back too with a huge selection of hot food, cheeses, olives and some really nice bread which I used for “bruschetta di funghi” today which I will post later in the week!!

There were 2 fondue stands and of course I couldn’t leave without having a taste so I got this little beauty below BUT some stooopid man pushed me and it fell:( I didn’t even get a bite, probably better for my hips anyway!!

Till Riverfest ‘09!!

Ciao!