We Love Cooking!:
fish sauce

This was the piece I wrote for my feature in the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine, about the fantastic cookclub I attended recently:

Bright and bubbly Sadhbh McCarthy hosted one of her regular dinner parties as part of her cook club with a celebration of some of her favourite recipes for pals, Brid, Fiona, Karen, Peter and Colm. Sadhbh who works as a European policy advisor, chose her menu which was a hearty mix of cultures, based around a refreshing and aromatic starter of Vietnamese beef and noodle soup, Beef Pho. A dish which she fell in love with on a trip travelling from Ho Chi Minh City to Shanghai and was determined to recreate it when she came home. The soup caused a friendly heated debate as some of the more apprehensive guests were unsure about the addition of red chilli. However the debate quickly dissipated when Sadhbh helped by Peter, presented a glowing platter of hot sizzling Thai Fish Cakes straight from the pan. Originally a Rick Stein recipe, Sadhbh adapted it using her own blend of curry paste and spoke encouragingly about being flexible when cooking Asian dishes as long as you keep the base flavours.

All the ingredients used for the recipes were sourced from the indoor Honest2Goodness farmers market in Glasnevin, run by Sadhbh’s friend Brid Carter. The pair met through a combined love of good food and Brid provided the secret ingredient for a wonderfully tender pork belly and added an extra zing to the dish by using her own blend of 5 spice powder sourced from the market.

Dessert was provided by Sadhbh’s son Jamie, who is training to become a chef in DIT, he made a mouth-watering cheesecake topped with summer berries adapted from a Bill Granger recipe which was accompanied by a smooth berry coulis which cut through the creaminess to add another dimension to the dish. It was a unanimous decision around the table that the addition of Moonshine Organic Cream Cheese from artisan producers Gerry and Mary Kelly in Mullingar set the standard when it came to adding an extra creaminess to the dessert.

Wines were carefully selected by trained sommelier and wine obsessive Colm Carter who works alongside Brid at the market every Saturday. He chose Domaine de l'Amandine Cotes du Rhone 2007 for the starter, a Vina Marro, Crianza 2006 Rioja Doca for the rich pork belly and a fruity Oddero Moscato d'Asti 2007 to go with the cheesecake.

I hadn't intended on interrupting by staying the whole evening, but Sadhbh and her friends fully welcomed me with a glass of wine and in a true case of Irish hospitality I found myself polishing off dessert with a full belly! Sadhbh summed up the fantastic evening by sharing her ethos on her cook club which was to “Cook with love and a desire to share and enjoy the experience”.

Pho Bo – Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup
(from Annabel Jackson’s Street Café Vietnam)

To serve 4
450g fresh flat rice noodles or rice sticks
225g beansprouts (blanched briefly to soften slightly)
8 shallots, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander
225g beef fillet, thinly sliced

For the broth
1.7 litres beef stock or canned beef consommé
115g piece fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
2 sticks cinnamon bark
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
3 pieces star anise
1 teaspoon each caster sugar, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons nuoc mam (Vietnamese equivalent of nam pla (fish sauce)

To serve:
Hoi sin sauce and chilli sauce
2 limes, cut in half
2 fresh red chillies, thinly sliced
Bunch of fresh ngo gai (if available) – this is a Vietnamese herb
Bunch of fresh Thai Basil

To make the broth: bring the stock to boiling point. Add the ginger, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds and star anise. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the sugar, salt, pepper and fish sauce. Strain the broth and return to the pan. Keep hot over a low heat.
Bring a pan of water to the boil, and warn through fresh noodles or cook rice sticks until al dente. Drain and divide among individual bowls. Add a handful of blanched beansprouts and some shallots and coriander to each bowl and top with the beef (still raw). Ladle the hot broth over the food in the bowl (this will cook the beef slightly).
At the table, each diner can add hoi sin, chilli sauce, lime juice, fresh chilli ngo gai and basil leaves to taste.

- I will be posting the rest of the delicious recipes from the dinner party this week!

As you might have guessed, if you are a regular reader of the blog, I have a major thing for zingy Asian food! It all started when I was a lot younger, when my grandmother bought me a simple Chinese cookbook. At that stage I had already worked my way through most of the cookbooks in our house but had never tried to cook any sort of Asian food. Ingredients like ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, and the rather peculiar looking star anise were all foreign to me, as a curious youngster. I took it upon myself to become immersed in this little book, being brave and cooking the most strange sounding dishes first, in order to get a taste for the vast landscape of this cuisine. From fortune cookies to spring rolls, from Thai green curry to sushi, I really gave everything a go and even though they may not have all turned out quite to plan, the process in itself was totally enjoyable and left me with a fascination for Asian culture and recipes.

I have still never been anywhere in Asia and it is my absolute dream to travel, eat and photograph my way across the continent, well maybe that's a little ambitious, maybe just the main places to start with. I don't know when it's going to happen, but it will, and when it does I want to be ready for it so, I'm putting together a hit list of places to visit, people to see, and food to eat. If you have any good suggestions for recipes, stunning places to visit, interesting stories, photos or all of the above, let me know in the comment section or drop me a mail.

Mini Aromatic Duck Salad
This a slightly adapted version of one of my favourite recipes from my cookbook. It's fairly similar, the only difference really being that, I serve the salad in mouthful portions on baby gem lettuce leaves here. Apart from the duck don't be too concerned about the salad ingredients, anything goes here really, things like bean sprouts, shredded Chinese cabbage, finely sliced snow peas are all perfect also. You can get amazing aromatic duck breasts in the frozen section at good Chinese supermarkets, which only require roasting time in the oven for delicious results.

Serves 4
2 aromatic duck breasts, cooked and shredded
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
Baby gem lettuce leaves, to serve

Dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Add all the ingredients for the dressing to a bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the duck, carrots, spring onions, and red pepper to the bowl and toss with the dressing to combine.
Arrange baby gem lettuce leaves on a serving platter and add spoonfuls of the duck salad to them.
Serve straight away, or refrigerate the duck salad and assemble when required.

As a food blogger, it's quite often that you get sent offers and promotions by new companies or event organisers on a weekly basis, asking for promotion on the blog. If the product or event is something that catches my attention, I do generally give it a mention or ask for a sample so that I can use it in a recipe for the blog. This was the case when I received an email two weeks ago, from Nigel Cobbe, the owner of the brand new company, Simply Sourced which is a home delivery service throughout Dublin and Wicklow for top quality free range and totally traceable meat. It's a really great concept and having sampled the product it offers a really reliable alternative to butchers and supermarkets. I like the idea that they have a set price and you know the quality of produce to expect!

Nigel told me that their pork is from rare breed of Saddlebacks which have fabulous depth of flavour whilst their beef is from a rare ancient pedigree called the Long Horn -Heston Blumenthal's source for his ultimate steak! Orders are individually butchered to customer's requirements with free delivery throughout Dublin & Wicklow with orders above 50 euro.

Simply Sourced prices are close to and often less than supermarket / butcher prices yet bear no comparison in terms of quality and taste i.e. Denny Rashers are 21 euro/kg, ours are 19 euro/kg.
Their handmade sausages are the same price as Tesco Finest and contain over 92% shoulder and belly meat, Tesco's are just over 70% meat content. They also have a gluten free range at no extra cost.
All the meat is delivered chilled, fresh and vacuum packed for immediate enjoyment or for freezing for up to 6 months.

I tried the fillet steak in the recipe below and I can honestly say it was one of the best cuts of meat I have ever tasted. The steaks are really velvety and full of flavour, you really don't have to work too hard to make cuts of meat like this tasty. I also sampled the breakfast gammon which was equally tasty and I will definitely be ordering that again! With plans to expand this home delivery service across the country, I expect this will not be the last you have heard from Simply Sourced!

Oriental Steak Salad
You can add as many other ingredients to the salad as you want, beansprouts, or snow peas all work great in this. I used fillet steak here, but as this can be quite expensive, other cuts will work just as nicely, try sirloin or a good quality shoulder steak. This recipe can also be made ahead of time, marinade the meat in the fridge, prepare the veg beforehand and only toss with the dressing when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4
4 x 120g fillet steak
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
Small handful of chopped coriander to serve

For the marinade and dressing:
1 chilli, deseeded and minced
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely minced
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil

Place the steaks on a plate.
Mix all the ingredients for dressing/marinade together and pour 1/4 of the mixture over the steaks.
Toss all the veg together in salad bowl and set aside.
Heat a large griddle pan and fry the steaks for 3-5 minutes on either side depending on their size.
Remove the steaks and allow to rest on a chopping board for a few minutes.
Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine.
Slice the steak thinly, sprinkle with a little chopped coriander and serve with the zingy salad.

I got this recipe from my auntie Annie who originally used Delia Smith’s. It’s a really tasty little relish which goes great with burgers, fish or in a tasty sandwich. It also makes a super Christmas present- make a big batch and decant to interesting jars, label them and hey presto a cheap a cheerful Christmas gift any foodie would love!

Chilli Jam
The original quantities are doubled here, as I prefer to make a larger batch. In this case you really need to sterilise the jars you use in order for the jam to last longer.
To sterilise the jars and lids wash with boiling water, rinse and dry in an oven for 5-10 minutes on a baking tray at 150˚C/300˚F/Gas 2. Be careful the glass gets quite hot!
This recipe makes approximately 1 litre of jam; I distributed this amongst a variety of jars. You can check what fits by filling them before hand with 1 litre of water from a measuring jug.

3 medium red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped.
1kg of tomatoes (I used approximately 16 tomatoes).
4 cloves of garlic, crushed.
2 thumb sized pieces of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped.
2 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (Nam Pla).
450g of Demerara sugar.
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.
100ml of red wine vinegar.

Place half the tomatoes into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Transfer to a medium pot. Place the rest of the tomatoes, red chillies, garlic, ginger and Thai fish sauce into the food processor and blitz until it becomes a smooth paste. Transfer to the pot and place over a medium heat. Stir through the sugar, balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar. Bring to the boil stirring regularly, then reduce the heat and keep at a steady simmer for 35 minutes or until the jam has reduced by half its volume. Stir every 5 minutes. When the jam has cooked allow to cool and then transfer to sterilised jars. Cover and place in the fridge. Enjoy with sandwiches, alongside meat or fish dishes, or as a delicious dipping sauce.