We Love Cooking!:
dressing

One of the most exciting things about Foodstock was getting to show of some really fantastic quality Irish products, and it wasn’t really until I actually arrived in Paris that I realised the importance of this. Myself and Raphael spoke about organising what he called a “Dégustation” so that everybody at Le Fooding could sample the dishes we would be serving up. When we arrived at the hotel we met with the lovely Constance who would be tasting the dishes along with two of her colleagues from the magazine to give us the green light. It was only after I served up the Kelly’s of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese salad that I realised how specifically Irish these products really are and just how distinctive the flavours were. I have to say with the initial reaction I was really proud, not just to be serving up a salad that went down well, but also to a certain extent that I could claim these fantastic ingredients as my own!

On the night when we served up the salad, I’m pretty sure people were a little bit apprehensive about trying the black pud but when they did the reaction was really great and we had people coming back for seconds! Louise a lovely Danish girl who is living in Paris and working for Le Fooding was overseeing the serving of the food and was on the tables with me all night. There was a system they were using where you could only get a portion in exchange for a coloured ticket. Now anyone who knows me will know that I am colourblind and have trouble differentiating similar colours or different shades which made it extremely hard to be strict with the tickets when it came to serving in the dark! However Louise was on hand with a fantastic sense of Scandinavian organisation covering up for my shoddy ticket skills and making sure things ran smoothly!

If you are Irish, this is a lovely little salad to show off some of our distinctively Irish produce to foreign visitors and if you're not you can always substitute the cheese and the black pudding for something more regional! Let me know your suggestions! :)

Kelly's Of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese Salad
Make sure to prepare everything ahead of time and only assemble with the dressing when you are ready to serve!

Serves 8
280g of Kelly's of Newport black pudding in 1cm slices
120g of mixed baby leaves
80g of Cashel blue cheese broken into chunks
40ml of balsamic dressing

Balsamic dressing (makes 55ml of dressing)
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of Jameson Whiskey
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Arrange the black pudding slices on a baking tray, and place in an oven at 200oC/Gas Mark 6 for 7-8 minutes.
Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.
Dress the salad leaves lightly with half the dressing and toss to combine.
Arrange the leaves on serving dishes with a slice of black pudding and a little crumbled Cashel blue cheese.
Serve with an extra drizzle of dressing.

I first tried this salad as a kid, and back then I was never really convinced on the addition of pears. Even going as far as insisting on the pears having to be picked out, but then again I was a pretty, particular, little brat! I guess you could say, my palate has slightly expanded since then, and I can truly say that I now appreciate this punchy flavour combination. We had this with barbequed mackerel for dinner on Sunday and I'm not sure about the combination, but this salad really stands strong alongside whatever dish you choose to serve it with.

Rocket, Pear, Parmesan and Pine Nut Salad
Toast the pine nuts in frying pan for a minute or so until they turn a nice golden brown. Make sure to keep your eye on them as nuts cook really quickly, I can't tell you how many times I've burnt a pan of nuts and I still haven't learned my lesson!

Serves 4
120g of rocket
2 pears, peeled, cored and sliced wafer thin.
A good handful of parmesan shavings
50g of pine nuts, toasted

Dressing:
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic, minced
A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

In a large salad bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.
Add the rocket and toss in the dressing until evenly coated.
Scatter the toasted pine nuts, parmesan shavings and pear slices on top of the rocket.
Serve straight away and enjoy!

You know one of those days where everything seems to be a little bit off center? The days where everything just doesn't go as planned? Well yesterday was definitely one of those days, it started off with a phone call from my dear old mammy, claiming she couldn't find her booking on Ryanair and wanted help to locate it. Being the ever accommodating son, I spent the next forty minutes, trying every combination of reference number, credit card number, and email to try and retrieve it from the Ryanair website to absolutely no avail.

I eventually gave up after the website told me I had too many unsuccessful login attempts, and gave her a call to inform her of this. But was she bothered? No! And let me tell you why- during the time I was banging my head against the computer screen, she had gone back too her notes and realised that her booking was with, wait for it.... AER LINGUS!!! You see this is what I have to deal with! Anyone else out there with parents suffering from technical difficulties? I'm sure there are!

(Sorry Mammy...)

As I arrived home, I went to get the lift up to the apartment, but the electricity seemed to be on half voltage, so it wasn't working. Got up to the apartment, NO WATER AND NO ELECTRICITY! That was my grand plan for baked Mackerel in tinfoil out the window. But the panic of the blackout seemed to have gotten to poor little Sofie, who develops a serious problem when she is hungry- she looses the ability to think rationally and until she gets food, goes into severe depression. So we needed food fast, and despite all my cold food suggestions- we had to eat out!

After a lovely meal at the Orangerie in Malahide (always order the specials), we got home and went to get the lift up, which still wasn't working. I had given my security key for the outside doors to our visitor, so I didn't have one on my bunch, which meant disaster struck one more time, when we realised no one else had their keys with them, which resulted in standing outside until someone came out!

It was definitely one of those days...

That's my little rant over for now, sorry to put all of that on you! To make up for it, here is a really handy little dressing to make when you're short on ingredients and time.

Quick Mayo Caesar Style Dressing

1. 2 Tbsp of Mayonnaise.
2. 1 Tsp of English Mustard Powder.
   
3. 1 Tsp of Worcester Sauce.
4. Juice of Half a Lemon.
5. 1 Clove of Garlic Finely Minced.
6. A Good Pinch of Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper.

I would like to blame jet lag as the reason I didn't really post last week, but it was really down to pure laziness! But I'm back and that's what really counts. Saturday gave us the last sun, Ireland will probably see for the next 7 months, so we made the most of it and had a lovely salad on the balcony, which was actually the first time we have used it since we moved in!

I made a lovely salad with a dressing that I just had to share here!

Classic Dijon Balsamic Dressing

1. 1/4 Cup of Olive Oil
2. 3/4 Cup of Balsamic Vinegar
3. 1 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
4. 1 Clove of crushed Garlic
5. A good pinch of Sea Salt and Black Pepper

It can really bring out the flavours in a plain old salad and put a SMILE ON YOUR FACE!

I can't guarantee the smile... but maybe!