ITALIAN FOODIES

No, you’re not seeing things, I am doing a post on scrambled eggs. If you’ve come here today for “gourmet cuisine” not that I do gourmet much but today is as simple as you get. I LOVE scrambled eggs, they are so easy,versatile and a little bit healthy depending on what ingredients you are using. Bruno usually works on Saturday so myself and the princess often have a lazy lunch of scrambled egg on toast as we always go to the Piccola for dinner so something fast and light is all we want. I tend to stick to the same recipe all the time but after a quick google search there are so many different variations that I want to try so I’m afraid you’re going to be stuck with me and my scrambled egg recipes for a few weekends - sorry:)

First up is scrambled egg with Parmesan, simple, tasty and so quick to make. There seems to be a science to making scrambled eggs and I’m no expert so I’ll just let you know how I make mine and then I’d love to hear how you make yours and what do you add?? Maybe I’ll start a scramble egg blogging event - ok, I’m getting carried away, maybe not:)

what you need for 2:

 - 6 eggs ( free-range if you can)

 - 1 tsp milk for every egg

 - grated Parmesan cheese, I never measure but i use a good handful.

 - salt and pepper

 - knob of butter

 - Italian bread or country style bread

 - olive oil

what to do:

 - in a bowl mix your eggs, milk, Parmesan with a fork and season.

 - heat a grill pan and cook your bread on both sides until nicely golden and charred.

 - add your knob of butter to a non-stick frying pan, let it melt and add your egg mixture. Using a spatula keep moving the mixture around the pan swiftly, scraping it from the sides and the base.

 - remove the mixture from the heat while still “gloopy” as it continues to cook and I like mine light and fluffy and not overcooked. I do cook them a little bit more for the princess as you can see from the photos.

 -  serve your eggs on your toast and top with shavings of Parmesan cheese and some flat leaf parsley if you’re out to impress, if not just pile it on your toast and eat!!

I have a little confession to make, I LOVE ketchup with my scrambled eggs, please don’t hate me food purists:) Stokes ketchup made with sweet Italian tomatoes is my favourite at the moment.

buon appetito!!
             

I know it’s June and I’m posting a soup recipe but although the sun maybe shining down on the lovely people at Wimbledon it ain’t shining anywhere near Ireland. Once again like last year we have a band of rain just doing a little “jig” over us and having a great time going round and round and round with no signs of heading over to the rest of Europe who deserve it for a while with the beautiful weather they are having at the moment - me bitter??? NEVER!.

As a result we are all sick again with the flu and I had great intentions of making beef stroganoff from the Silver Spoon but 3 sick “italian foodies” put a stop to that so rather than waste my mushrooms and cream I had bought I made a quick soup to warm the bones. Mushroom soup is one of my favourites and if I had known how simple it was to make in my college days of Campbell’s tinned mushroom soup, life would have been a lot different:) There is nothing fancy about this recipe, it’s just a bowl of simple, fresh goodness.

what you need:

 - 500g mushrooms sliced

 - 1 small onion finely diced

 - 1 clove garlic finely chopped

 - 4 tbsp plain flour - I didn’t measure so this is a rough estimate.

 - olive oil

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - 1 litre veg stock

 - double cream  - hey I was sick, I needed cheering up!!

what to do:

 - fill the base of a pot with olive oil and cook your onions and garlic until softened but not coloured.

 - add your mushrooms and cook until soft and season.

 - add your flour to thicken the soup, I love my mushroom soup thick.

 - add your stock and leave to simmer for about 10/15 mins.

 - add some cream and liquidize with a hand blender.

 - serve and enjoy!

buon appetito!!

p.s. I know there is a problem with the comments section, so apologies to all of you out there in your 1000’s who have tried to comment;) and haven’t been able to but I’m harassing blog.com at the moment to fix this blog. An email a day doesn’t seem to be working though:(

I always thought growing up that no mash potato recipe could ever beat my grandmother’s “pandy”, as they call it in Kerry. She always made the best mash and even though my mother copied the recipe to the letter it was never the same. The difference was she used fresh potatoes and spring onions from the garden, loads of kerrygold, salt, pepper and milk - absolutely delicious. I’ve always made my mash this way until I met the “italian” and the “mil” and sorry grandma I’ve found a better recipe:)

On the subject of food memories here are a few of mine

 - Irish stew - YUK, YUK, YUK! I can’t stand it, we ate it so much as children, I haven’t eaten a parsnip since.

 - stewed apple sandwiches for school, yes they did go in the bin along with the banana sandwiches.

 - hot scones and home-made bread fresh from the range on a Sunday night while watching the most gripping drama on t.v. “GLENROE”!

 - eating hot sausages wrapped in tissue on the way to school to keep us warm.

 - fry-ups, this was a major staple in our house and still is to this day even though denny sausages were a lot better back then.

 - bacon and cabbage, this is still one of my favourite Irish dishes and my parents always cook it for us when we go  home.

 - Soda stream, ki-ora, TK lemonade, cherry cola, ritz in a can;)

 - 10p bars - highland toffee, wham, desperate dan, macaroon, kalipso, chomp. I lost a tooth to a highland toffee bar.

 - frosties, pear drops, milk teeth, flying saucers, apple drops, black jacks, fruit salads, apple jacks, gob stoppers.

 - catch bars “catch em if you can” - it was scary how much I loved these.

 - salads on a hot day which always consisted of:
                sliced tomato
                cooked ham
                iceberg lettuce
                sliced cheese
                miracle whip or salad cream

 - the day that cuisine de france baguettes came to our local shop, it was the start of a new life:)

 - king crisps, tayto sour cream & onion, cheezles, johnny onion rings(not the same today)

 - fat frogs, JR’s, mr freeze, chunky choc, freaky feet.

 - the day we got a toasted sandwich maker, I died and went to heaven.

I use this recipe for shepherd’s pie so I always make a big batch and normally have it with steak that night and make the shepherd’s pie the next day and freeze it, this recipe is just for 2. 

what you need:

 - 4/5 potatoes

 - 25g butter

 - 1 egg yolk

 - 4 tbsp milk

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - olive oil

 - loads of grated parmesan

 - chives or spring onions(optional)

what to do:

 - peel and wash your potatoes, put in a pot of cold water, add salt and bring to the boil and cook until soft. 

 - drain and return to the pot.

 - add your milk, butter, parmesan, egg yolk, a drizzle of olive oil, season and mash.

 - serve with some grated parmesan on top, chopped chives and a knob of butter.

buon appetito!

p.s. what are your food memories??

p.p.s I have to say a big congrats to Tony who has just become the new Munster manager, congrats Tony and Libby:)

I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of our family “adyburd” who has taken up residence in our flower pot outside the front door. We spend all day in and out checking on her to make sure she is still there. The innocence of an 18 month old, they are just too cute at this age:)

Ciao!!

p.s. I really just wanted to show off my new camera;)

                        Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye - THE KITCHEN IS FINISHED almost!!

Everything is in it’s place but nothing is working, I have to wait for an electrician to change all the Italian electrics and that electrician would be my father but he is off in Chicago on a 3 week holiday so it’s going to be another couple of weeks before it is operational but at least it looks good and all the boxes are gone so it looks more like a house now.
I’ve learnt a few things in this house purchase that I thought I would share with you:

1. never try to be a property developer and buy a house at the height of a property boom(sept 2006 off the plan) as you then end up living on a building site while the builders have downed tools waiting for the bubble to return and your view to the front is scaffolding and to the side is the builder’s own unfinished house but it’s all going to be OK by 2010, I believe everything I read, I have to:)

2. never buy off the plan UNLESS you understand them, I had notions of putting an island cooker in the middle of the kitchen, you would see how funny this is if you saw the size of my kitchen.

3. to avoid unnecessary stress do not decide to open a 3000sq ft restaurant the week you are trying to move house.

4. never believe a chain smoking Italian when he says he will be back in 10 days, multiply that by four.

5. DO NOT put solid walnut floors in the hall when above chain smoking Italian is using it as his base for putting your kitchen together. Hiding the scratches under a rug does not hide them from your mind.

6. re the walnut, there are many shades of this colour. Just because the Italian bedroom suite says walnut in the brochure don’t be surprised when it arrives from Italy and it is more like cherry and soooooo does not match the walnut wooden floors you paid a fortune for and now you have to think about putting down a cream carpet in the future because nothing matches AT ALL!

7. do believe your house will look nice painted “country white” inside and smugly smile at the non-believers when the oohs and ahhs are being delivered and saying “wow the white is really nice, I thought it was going to look like a hospital”!

8. NEVER think you will have enough money for everything, be happy to have the basics, the toilet roll holders and bathroom mirrors can come at a later stage, be happy you have your 42″ t.v. even if the man of the house is using your bronzing compact mirror to shave, hey he wanted the big t.v!

9. do not believe the gardener when he says 2 weeks and “don’t worry the summer hasn’t started yet” when you are looking out at a jungle dreaming of drinking a glass of wine on the deck and admiring your Italian themed haven.

10. lastly enjoy your new “casa” as it’s not long before it becomes old and the smell of new is gone and the novelty of keeping it perfectly organised and clean will wear off and it becomes “home”:)

Back to the food and this month’s special in La Cucina is one of my favourite recipes from the Amalfi coast in the south of Italy. It is so quick and easy to make and bursting with flavour. I have to come clean and say we don’t make our own gnocchi all the time in La Cucina but we use a really good brand called Cordelia which is a small family company who are actually based in the next village to Atina where the FIL is from. If you don’t live in Limerick and can’t make it to La Cucina, here’s the recipe.

what you need

 - tomato sauce or passata. If you are using passata you will need one onion finely chopped and olive oil.

 - 1 buffalo mozzarella ball

 - handful basil leaves

 - grated parmesan cheese

 - 250g gnocchi

what to do

 - if you are using passata, fry your onion in some olive oil until soft, add the passata, some basil leaves, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 mins.

 - bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and your gnocchi and cook until they rise to the top. Drain and add to your sauce.

 - add some parmesan and tear up your mozzarella and add to the pan, leave to cook for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese.

 - serve with some parmesan and basil on top. You can also finish this off in the oven for about 20 mins which is even more delicious.

buon appetito!!

p.s. my “lil sis” in the UK has branched out on her own and started a company specialising in wedding chair covers, stationary etc, check her site out here

I have spoken briefly about the princess’s entry into the awkward food stage, she has become so fussy I can’t believe it, she refuses to eat vegetables referring to them all as “cacka”, she is so independently minded at 18 months, I thought this didn’t happen until she was 18 years:) The only things she will eat is “pita”, “pata” and “stik”, fillet steak is her new love. We went to Gallagher’s in Bunratty for dinner the other evening and the only baby options they had were the baby bowl(mash & veg) or fresh fish goujons, I ordered both in the hope she would eat something. She didn’t touch the baby bowl of mash and carrot but devoured the fish goujons and then promptly ordered “drawbies” a.k.a. strawberries (the only fruit she will eat) from the waitress who very kindly provided her with a big bowl of fresh juicy strawberries with chocolate ice-cream.
 
I have to say we had a really nice meal in Gallaghers, they have a lovely outside area where you can dine “al fresco” and a garden full of roses, well, it was full until the princess arrived but the staff were very nice about it, they were so friendly and professional. The food was excellent, I had the fresh mussels to start and then the hake with lobster sauce for main which was delicious but Bruno picked the best as usual, he chose fresh oysters with a glass of Guinness to start and then the full sea bass for main course which was outstanding, it was so fresh and very simply cooked so the flavour was amazing.

Due to the success of the fish goujons I decided to try her with some chicken goujons served with Parmesan mash and she absolutely loved it. I’m not a big lover of chicken breast, I find it quite dry so I made some sun-dried tomato mayo to dip them in and it was really delicious. 

what you need for 2 adults and 1 fussy toddler

 - 4 chicken breasts, I used organic free range.

 - breadcrumbs, I used the pre-made bag from Superquinn. You can make your own with left-over bread but I’m too lazy:)

 - 2 beaten eggs

 - 2 sprigs rosemary, picked and finely chopped

 - 100g grated parmesan

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - olive oil

 - sun-dried tomato tapenade, Superquinn stock a fresh version or you can make your own. I’ll post the recipe later.

 - mayo, I use a really good brand called Stokes which uses free range eggs etc etc ……… Hellman’s is fine too though!

what to do:

 - cut your chicken breasts into goujons and season with salt and pepper

 - fill a frying pan with lots of oil and heat

 - mix your breadcrumbs, Parmesan and rosemary together and season.

 - dip your chicken pieces into the egg and then the breadcrumbs and cook until golden brown, drain on kitchen paper.

 - mix your tapenade with your mayo, you could use pesto if you prefer.

 - serve, dip and enjoy!!!

buon appetito!!

p.s. there is a new Irish food blog which I have been meaning to add a link for ages, check out Sadhbh’s blog and say ciao!

p.p.s Deborah of “humble housewife” fame has moved to a very slick new site called tastie, drop over and say ciao too!

We have recently started selling Gingergirl’s famous brownies, anyone from Limerick would be familiar with her stall at the Sunday market where she sells lots of goodies like jams, chutneys, brownies and her delicious orange and poppy seed cake which we also have in stock. Helen was recently featured in Food & Wine magazine and now has her own food column in the Limerick Leader, it’s great to see local producers getting recognition for what they do as it is definitely a labour of love!!

Laura’s cupcakes and brownies are as popular as ever, as we speak I know she is busy making 150 cupcakes for a wedding tomorrow, I don’t envy her. Good luck Laura!!

We are also stocking a new range of summer tarts - fruit, lemon, chocolate and orange

buon appetito!!

p.s. if you love painting and you love Italy then Julian and Mandy’s new art school in Umbria may be the perfect holiday for you, check them out here

The new place is slowly coming along, we still haven’t signed even though we are nearly there. It’s amazing how much is involved on the legal side and how long it takes. Alessandro is getting impatient as he is dying to get stuck in and get started but it will be another couple of weeks. Once we have signed we are going straight to Rome for 3 or 4 days to meet a couple of wine suppliers and equipment companies. We met with our interior designer and architect last week and they have the restaurant and kitchen layout completed which was really exciting to see. We will be able to seat 80 people inside and about 30 people outside, we want to have an open kitchen and grill so the next step is to meet with the health board and fire chief to see if this is possible. We’ve never used a designer before so it’s really interesting to see how it all works, she had 5 mood boards with different restaurant styles, it’s quite a complicated process and I think we are probably driving her a bit mad as we keep jumping ahead while she is trying to go through the whole process stage by stage, whereas we’re picking chairs off the Internet  etc and we don’t even know what  our theme or style is yet so we’ve calmed down a bit and are leaving it to the experts. This setup is a lot different to La Cucina as it is so big, everyone we have contracted is doing all the work so we are just meeting with them to discuss everything which feels a little strange for us but I’m sure this will all change as we get closer to the time, then the stress begins:)

I have to admit I’m not very adventurous when it comes to salads, I tend to stick to the old reliables likes rocket and Parmesan, french bean & egg, cherry tomato and red onion and Italian green salad. In the summer we rarely cook potatoes and always have a salad with meat or fish so the above can become a bit boring, I recently picked up a copy of Maxine Clark’s “Italian Salads” in Tk Maxx so you’re going to be seeing a lot of salads around here for a while. It’s coming towards the end of the asparagus season so this recipe is great if you are looking for a new way to get your fill before the season ends. I really liked this recipe as it was really simple and I had most of the ingredients in the cupboard already so there is very little involved. This would work great as a starter or just on it’s own with some crusty bread for a light lunch. If you are not a lover of anchovies a simple Italian dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar would work perfectly too!

what you need:

 - 500g asparagus

 - olive oil

 - 4 free range eggs hard-boiled

 anchovy dressing

 - 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

 - 4 anchovy fillets in oil, rinsed and drained.

 - 1 tsp salted capers, rinsed.

 - 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

 - freshly ground pepper

what to do:

 - cook your asparagus until tender, drain and rinse under cold water, mix in a little olive oil and set aside - you might be able to see from my pictures that mine are a bit over-cooked, blame the 18 mth old:)

 - to make the dressing mix all the ingredients in a mini- blender until smooth. Season to taste with black pepper.

 - arrange the asparagus on a serving plate, cut the eggs into quarters and place on top with the dressing drizzled over the top.

 - serve and enjoy:)

buon appetito!! 

“foodie watch”
 Superquinn have fresh oregano plants in stock and they are also stocking fresh marjoram in the pre-packed herb selection. My favourite Italian biscuits have also returned “Tortina” - yummmmmmmm!!

p.s what is your favourite biscuit???