We Love Cooking! [Search results for dinner] 

As I mentioned over on twitter the Swedes celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December and Santa Claus personally delivers all the presents in person which was a very strange experience altogether! When I was living in Sweden a few years ago I worked briefly as a chef at a Christmas buffet which is more commonly known over here as a Julbord, so I have my fair share of knowledge when it comes to traditional Swedish Christmas food. However having never actually experienced a Swedish Christmas I was totally unprepared for the non food traditions!

When we arrived at Sofie's grandparents house on the big day, we got straight to work on a red cabbage carrot salad we had promised to make, to add to the table. There was 14 people for dinner so the kitchen was already a hive of activity by the time we arrived. Halfway through preparing the salad, we were whisked into the sitting room to sit and watch "Kalle Anka" which is a collection of Disney cartoons, shown at the same time every year! I was informed that across the country every other family would be doing exactly the same thing! So we all sat and watched Donald Duck wish us a happy Christmas and waited anxiously for dinner to be served and for a visit from Santa!

After the cartoons ended, we all headed towards the kitchen where the whole table had been set out with a huge spread of delicious Christmas food. The Christmas ham which had been boiled and baked with a mustard topping, boiled eggs with caviar, good old Swedish meatballs, Brussel sprouts, beetroot salad, boiled potatoes, and a selection of Swedish cheeses with Knackebrod all made an appearance on the huge table of food! One of the dishes which is a little strange for foreign visitors is Jansson, which is like a shredded version of potato gratin with anchovies, it's really delicious! Unlike Christmas dinner at home, we all served ourselves buffet style, and then sat down to eat.

When everyone had helped themselves to seconds and were finally finished them, we all sat back on the sofa and waited for the big fella to arrive! Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE!) was excited, as Sofie's youngest cousins who were stuck to window, managed to peel themselves off the glass in time to shout to the rest of us, that Santa was here! He clumped into the room and sat down, Sofie's grandad served him a big glass of schnapps and he got straight down to business giving out the presents! Sofie told me that this was the first year he had ever spoken English so he must have known I was there! :) His English was so good that he even managed to sing a verse of "We wish you a merry Christmas" every time he gave out a present. The only problem was that when he gave out a present you had to go up to him and sit on his knee, where he bounced you up and down while singing the song! Even the grandparents weren't left out!

After Santa left, we all sat around the sitting room and everyone opened their presents one by one, another Swedish Christmas tradition! While this is a lovely thought, in theory, and everyone gets to see each others gifts, it took us two hours to get through everyone's presents! I suppose it's much more pleasant than the Irish tradition of everyone ripping into their presents as quick as possible!

When the presents were all opened and thoroughly appreciated we were served the final meal of the day, Ris A La Malta, which is like a rice pudding with cream and vanilla sugar served with orange segments. I have a particular fondness for this dessert as it was always my job to make it at the Julbord! Overall my first Christmas away from home was great fun and it was brilliant to experience something new but I have to say it was really strange to celebrate the big day before the big day!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present to you, the world's first...

Twinnerparty!

What, I hear you ask is a twinnerparty, well put simply, it is a dinner party via social network, twitter. The aim is to get people connecting via the magic of the social networking through cooking and eating together. It also gives people who haven't cooked for guests before, the support and advice of others who have! A big supportive cooking community so to speak!
The idea is that everyone who decides to take part shops together, cooks together, and eats together all via the magic of tweeting!
A set 3 course menu for six people will be decided upon and I will post the recipes and a simple shopping list here on the blog before the big day.

What you have to do!
- Invite 5 guests to eat your dishes, preferably ones who tweet!
- Tweet while you shop!
- Tweet while you cook!
- Tweet photos of your finished dishes if you can!

The first event will take place next Saturday the 23rd of January and everyone is invited!
I will post the set dinner menu next week with recipes and a shopping list. Throughout the big day I will be on hand to help with any cooking emergencies that may arise and to offer advice if it's needed!
Tweet me to let me know if you want to take part or leave a comment below! Looking forward to tweating with you! ;)

Thankfully work is that little bit less busy this week, which has given us time not only to play in the snow, but also to spend some more time in our new little house. It's not there just yet, but it's really starting to take shape and after numerous trips to IKEA we finally have enough furniture to fill the place! I wasn't feeling very at home in the house, mainly because the last three weeks had been so jam packed, dinner was eaten out and breakfast was bought on the way. I know I know, not exactly the perfect routine, but there had been no time to set up the kitchen just the way I like it. So the last few days we've been making big breakfasts and enjoying really tasty dinners using up the ridiculous amount of food I've left over from all the cooking we've been doing. Ireland, for my foreign visitors, at the moment is experiencing probably the most snow that I can even remember, so I think it's definitely time for some comfort food. This recipe was from a piece I wrote on comfort food for the Irish Independent. I suggest using ready to go gnocchi, but if you are lucky enough to be snowed in, it's all the more comforting to make them yourself!

Mozzarella, Tomato and Gnocchi Bake
Gnocchi in Italian translates as ‘lumps’, and it goes way beyond pasta as my ultimate bowl of indulgence. You can make the gnocchi yourself, but you should be able to pick up packs of the ready-made stuff quite easily. This dish combines the classic Italian flavours of tomato, mozzarella and basil, all baked together for a fantastic comforting dinner.

Serves 4
500g fresh gnocchi
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2x400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
2x125g mozzarella balls, sliced
1 tsp sugar
Handful of basil leaves
Sea salt and black pepper, to season

Cook the gnocchi according to the instructions on the packet, then drain and set aside. Heat the olive oil over a high heat and sauté the garlic and onion until soft. Add in the chopped tomatoes and chilli flakes and bring the sauce to the boil.
Lower the heat and cook at a steady simmer for 15 minutes until it has reduced. Add in the sugar and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Tumble the gnocchi into the pan and stir through with the tomato sauce until each piece is nicely coated.
Pour into a highsided baking dish (9in x 9in) and top with the mozzarella slices and torn basil leaves. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and bubbling. Serve straight away in deep bowls with a little grated Parmesan.

Below is a piece about cookclubs I wrote for the Irish Independent from the week before last. I know there are quite a few of you out there who are already running cook clubs quite successfully and if you are, I would love to hear from you. Starting next month the Irish Independent will be featuring different cookclubs with their stories and recipes from around Ireland. If you would like to get involved and potentially be featured in the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine email weekendcookclub@independent.ie telling them about your cookclub, new or old, the food you like to cook, your style of entertaining and any tips you have to share!

Cook clubs are fast becoming the hottest way to dine. With regular nights out becoming few and far between, people are looking for cost-effective ways of socialising. The cook club is an alternative to the book club and shakes up the regular home-cooked dinner party format. Although there are many home cooks out there who have started clubs with friends and family, I've discovered that they come in many different formats.

Generally, a guest list of six to eight people is agreed upon and, each week, a different person takes it upon themselves to cook a meal for their guests, but formats vary, with some clubs bringing different courses for each dinner.

"Come Dine With Me" has a lot to answer for in terms of introducing a competitive streak to the table. The show invites strangers to cook for each other over the period of a week and the person with the highest scoring meal walks away with a cash sum.

TV hype aside, cook clubs can be used to discover new ingredients. Myself and my friends ran one where we decided to try a different meat each. A lot of effort went into sourcing the likes of rabbit, ostrich and venison, not to mention the time it took to figure out how to cook them! But the result was a fantastic meal each week, which we all looked forward to.

Whatever you decide on for your cook club, make sure you keep things interesting. Some people like to plan a year in advance and commit to cooking certain dishes; some people mark each other out of 10. The most important things to remember, of course, are to enjoy the food, your company and yourself! I absolutely love entertaining at home and, although there may be a little extra pressure to ensure that you pull the whole night off, it is worth the effort.

No matter how adventurous you may be in the kitchen, cooking for guests is a whole different ball game. While you might want to wrestle a lobster, your guests will appreciate your company far more than any extravagant dish. Delicious recipes which can be made ahead of time will save your bacon, and you'll be able to enjoy the night far more than if you were stuck in the kitchen sweating! After all this is a social event, so keep it simple. Choose recipes that can be kept in the fridge the night before or even thrown in the freezer to be pulled out effortlessly when required.

Photos: Aoife Nathan

For the August bank holiday weekend, myself and Sofie decided, very last minute, that we'd spend our three, free days in the lovely, little harbour town of Carlingford, which is just under two hours, north of Dublin. I had visited Carlingford before on a family holiday, but I had forgotten how peaceful it is.

We stayed in a really nice newly refurbished stone cottage just outside the town, on the grounds of an old farmhouse. Now we were all set for a relaxing couple of days, but there is one thing that gets to me when I stay away from home and that is DRIPPING TOILETS! I cannot sleep if all I can hear through the silence is a slow drip. So of course, what did we end up with? A dripping toilet! So at about 1am the first night we arrived, I was lying in bed when it was decided enough was enough, I was going to take matters into my own hands. I went into the bathroom and ripped the lid off the cistern to see if I could fix it, unfortunately it was a dual flush toilet so when I pulled at the lid, I broke the seal and water came flooding out! Panic stations! It was too late to ring the owners and the water kept spilling out, so I got to work effin and blinding, in true blue peter style and tried to seal it back up with cling film and tin foil. If you are ever in the future trying to seal a toilet, let me be the one to break it to you gently that, the combination of cling film and tin foil does NOT work. To cut a long story short, I manned up, inspected the broken part, turned the seal inside out and fixed the problem! Phew!

Now I hope that didn't put you off the food because that's coming next. Dripping toilets aside, we had a truly relaxing, enjoyable and romantic little break. We woke up to the view of a field full of horses, ate outside for breakfast, cooked some great meals and even climbed a mountain!

We also popped up to Sainsbury's to have a quick nose around and I picked up two great little ingredients which I used while we were away. The first being Maldon smoked sea salt, which I think is new in their range, it smells great, and a bottle of Avocado oil which is apparently extremely healthy and has a very high burning point, making it great for cooking!

Easy Quick Roast Chicken Dinner
I can make a roast chicken in my sleep at this stage, so when it gets to that stage with a recipe, I tend to start experimenting. This is my solution to making a roast chicken even easier than it already is. By cutting the whole chicken into seperate portions, you do all the hard work before the cooking, which means when it comes to serving, all have to do is plonk it on a plate! No worries!

Serves 4
1 whole chicken cut into portions.
A good handful of rosemary sprigs.
5 carrots, cut into rough chunks.
2 red onions, chopped in rough chunks.
4 cloves of garlic.
2 tablespoons of olive oil.
1 tablespoon of sea salt (smoked, if possible)
1 tablespoon of ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.
Pinch off the leaves of half the rosemary and chop finely with the garlic, sea salt and black pepper.
Place the chicken portions on a large baking tray, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil and toss to coat.
Add the carrots and red onions to the tray.
Rub the garlic and rosemary onto all the ingredients on the tray until they are all coated.
Push the remaining rosemary sprigs onto the chicken portions and place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Enjoy with a tasty salad.

It's definitely a sign you had a fairly packed weekend when you only start to relax on a Monday morning! I was working on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but Saturday night was the big occasion, 25 family members, young and old packed into my parents front room to eat their way through a three course meal and celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

They are my grandparents on my moms side of the family, they married in 1950 and made a living as sculptors, all the while raising my mom and her 3 brothers and 3 sisters. My grandmother has a fantastic knowledge of food and I can talk with her for hours about her delicious rich recipes (if we can steal a moment away from my granddad's well trained 3rd degree questioning skills!) which always seem to transform some extremely unique off cut of meat into a melt in your mouth, one pot wonder. I love how she can tell me she had nothing in the house, yet then go into intricate detail of how she whipped up an old French recipe so delicious it would put the great Elizabeth David to shame. Needless to say that love of food has been passed down the line, so the food at gathering such as this are normally of a certain standard! Anything less of course and you can expect a full critique by the time the coffee and teas are served!

On the menu was a delicious crab salad with lemon zest, for mains we had hefty portions of slow roasted lamb shanks in red wine with a tomato and white bean stew, and to wrap things up we had the delicious mocha meringues with whiskey cream, chocolate sauce and toasted hazelnuts which we cooked for the event in Paris during the spring. All this was followed by an amazing cheeseboard from Sheridans Cheesemongers which despite the big helpings for dinner was devoured!
So things are back to normality this week thankfully so here's today's recipe, enjoy!

Whoohaa Chorizo Bean Pasta!
Pasta is definitely a super-cheap store cupboard ingredient which can easily be transformed into hundreds of delicious dishes. This is one of my favourite ways of making the most of it. When making a tomato sauce, the key to getting the best flavour out of it is to cook it slowly. I love to add a good glug of red wine while it reduces to bring out a really great richness. The chorizo gives the dish a kick of heat and will leave you feeling full.

Serves four
150g chorizo, sliced in thick discs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season
400g tin cannellini beans
250g penne pasta
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and throw in the sliced chorizo. Fry on both sides until roaring red and sizzling. Remove from the pan and set aside. You should be left with a rich red oil in the pan.
Place the pan back over the heat, add the garlic and onions and fry for two to three minutes until the onions are soft.
Add the chopped tomatoes and dried oregano, then half fill the empty chopped tomatoes tin with warm water and stir into the pan (if you have red wine it would be great here instead of the water). Bring the sauce to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until it has reduced a little.
While the sauce is reducing, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, drain and set aside.
Stir the chorizo and cannellini beans into the tomato sauce until everything is warmed through.
Add the sauce to the cooked pasta and stir through.
Serve with a good grating of Parmesan cheese.

Thank you so much for all the entries, some really delicious steak ideas kept me entertained for the last week, and I will have no shortage of ideas the next time it comes to cooking up a few steaks for dinner!

But let's get down to business! We have a winner of this meaty prize! I randomly selected a winner from the comment section with thanks to random.org and can now reveal that the winner of the "Pork and Beef Taster Teaser pack" worth €60 is:

Ashling Hayes! Ashling suggested:

Just thought I'd post these pics I took from dinner at my mom and dads on Sunday. I think they were just compensating for all the plants they made me water as a child- see post. :)

The steaks were marinated in a really tasty Argentinian marinade called Chimichurri which was bought at the local Farmers Market in Howth from, Saucy's who actually do a whole range of yummy sauces but unfortunately don't have a website just yet.

It's kind of in the same vein as pesto, texture wise, and is quite simple to make, in a large bowl combine- 1 Cup of chopped fresh parsley, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 4 garlic cloves chopped, one medium onion finely chopped, 125 ml of Olive Oil, 60 ml of red wine vinegar, and a pinch of Cayenne pepper, and Sea Salt. Mix it all together adding more oil if the mixture is too thick. You can use straight away or let the flavour develop by leaving in the fridge few hours or even over night.

The sauce goes great with grilled meat.

The carrots were very tasty, cooked al dente and sauted in cream and smoked garlic with salt and pepper.

Here's the massive bulb of smoked garlic!

Crispy Parsnips:

Crsipy Roast Potatoes:

And Time to eat!

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!

A few weeks ago, I received a lovely email from Monique McQuaid who runs The Cookery School at Donnybrook Fair, inviting me to a cookery demonstration with English chef, Fergus Henderson. To be perfectly honest I had never heard of Fergus before, but after a quick search on Wikipedia, I discovered he is the man behind the highly respected St. John's restaurant in London, which is famous for it's use of off cuts and using the whole body of an animal. Fergus was coming to Dublin to demonstrate cooking a pig from nose to tail, which was enough to grab my attention and I confirmed my attendance!

We arrived slightly late and had to clamber over people to find seats at the back of the room, which wasn't all bad, with the tiered seating, we could still see the whole thing. The cookery school is located above the shop, and is a fantastic set up with plasma screens showing everything going on in the beautiful, modern kitchen which is fully equipped with everything you could imagine! Monique, a graduate of the famous Ballymaloe Cookery school, was dressed in chefs whites and although Fergus was doing all the talking, it was quite clear she was the one keeping things ticking over, pulling things out of ovens and prepping things as she went!

To say Fergus is a slightly off-beat individual is an understatement, but I suppose I should have expected it, from a creative genius who is famous for cooking a pig from nose to tail. Throughout the course of his charming 2 hour long demonstration, amongst the amazing dishes he produced, he left us with with some fantastic uncommonly eccentric quotes, which had us chuckling in our seats, such as:
1. "I spent my wedding night talking to my trotter."
2. "Tripe is sexy, tripe is the way forward."
3. "There is a certain Jedi knight quality to cooking."

Fergus worked his way through the different cuts of pig, cooking up goodies like deep fried crispy pig tails which he suggested were perfect for a child's dinner, braised pig head, crispy pig's ear, and thinly sliced pig heart served in a delicious salad with pickled walnuts. I will leave you with Fergus's recipe below and make sure to check out Monique's website which has details of all the upcoming cookery demonstrations.

Fergus Henderson's Pot-Roast Half Pig's Head
I say only half a head, as it is a perfect romantic supper for two. Imagine gazing into the eyes of your loved one over a golden pig's cheek, ear and snout.

Serves 2
A dollop of duck fat
8 Shallots, peeled and left whole
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
1/2 pigs head (your butcher should have no problems supplying this) - remove any hairs with a razor
A glass of brandy
1 bundle of joy- thyme, parsley and a little rosemary
1/2 bottle of white wine
Chicken stock
A healthy spoonful of Dijon mustard
1 bunch of watercress, trimmed, or other greens- a case of Liberty Hall
Sea salt and black pepper

Dollop the duck fat into an oven tray wide and deep enough to accommodate your half pig's head and put it on the heat. Add the shallots and garlic and leave them to do a little sweating to improve the flavour of the dish. Shuffle the tin occasionally to prevent any burning, but you do want some colour.
When happy with these, cover the ear of your demi-head with foil so that it doesn't frazzle, then rest the head in the tin. To welcome it to its new environment, pour the glass of brandy over it, nustle in your bundle of joy, add the wine and then the chicken stock in a not dissimilar fashion to an alligator in a swamp!
Season with salt and pepper, cover the tin with greaseproof paper, offering some protection but not denying the need for the rigours of the hours to come in the oven- which is where you should now put your tin, in a medium oven for 3 hours, until the head is totally giving. Check it after 2-2 1/2 hours; you could remove the greaseproof paper at this point and get a little colour on your cheek.
When ready, remove the head to a warm place. Whisk the Dijon mustard into the pan liquor, in which you should then wilt the bunch of watercress.
Finally, on the head presentation platter, make a pillow of shallots, garlic and wilted watercress, where you then rest your head.
There you have it- dinner for two; open something red and delicious: Moon, June, Spoon.

I'm packing my bag this weekend so the meals are all a little light on the ground this week. For the next two weeks I will be staying in London to photograph the recipes for my new book which is out next year. It's all getting very exciting and as I am finally putting the finishing touches to the text, the next part is all fun. The photography process will take up most of the days while we're there, but I am hoping to finally get to see a bit of London. I have had loads of recommendations of places to eat, things to see and food markets to shop in so hopefully with a little bit of luck and hard work will we have some free time to see the sights!

Herby Sweet Potato Chips
These sweet and spicy little wedges knock the socks off greasy fast food chips any day. If you haven’t tried sweet potatoes before, this is a great introduction recipe, where you just can’t go wrong. Serve as a nice side dish or a quick and tasty snack!

Serves 4
5 large sweet potatoes
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
A good handful of fresh herbs
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
If I am serving these as a side dish, I generally prepare them first and let
them cook away in the oven while I get on with the rest of the dinner.
In a pestle and mortar, bash together the a little of the olive oil, the herbs, garlic and sea salt until you have a smooth paste.
Peel the sweet potatoes and slice in half lenghtways and then in half again,
then chop into rough chips. Place in a bowl and toss with the herby paste.
Place in a large roasting tin and drizzle with a little extra oil and sprinkle with ground black pepper until all the chips are well coated.
Roast in the oven for about 40–45 minutes, or until the insides are soft and
the edges are slightly charred.

Cookes Restaurant,14 South William Street , Dublin, Ireland

A quality restaurant, very tasty and inventive food.

We went out for dinner in Dublin on Thursday evening, to celebrate Sofie getting a job! We hadn't booked anywhere so we ended up going for a bit of a walk to find a place we both liked!

After a walk down South William St, up Georges St, and through Georges St. Arcade we ended up stumbling into Cookes, who were offering a set menu of, starter and main course for €21.95, probably the best priced set menu for it's class we came across that evening.

Unlike my last meal in town, the waiting staff were extremely professional and very attentive. I was asked three times if I was finished my starter but in general they paced the courses quite well, leaving time to digest and have a good chat!

For a starter I had a Caesar salad, and Sofie ordered a Beef Carpaccio with rocket. The Caesar salad was very tasty but lacked croutons and had just that bit too much cheese. Sofie's Carpaccio was excellent, a perfect balance of taste and texture. For me the perfect dish is one that has a variety flavours that combine to become the perfect mouthful!

For mains, in a bit of turning of the tables Sofie went for the Caesar salad, and I chose the Duck Confit with Beans. The salad was standard again with the same criticism, however the duck was very tasty, I felt that the beans could have been stewed a little longer in the sauce as they were still a bit hard and didn't really compliment the texture of the dish.

All in all the meal was really enjoyable and perfect for an early meal out. I would definitely recommend Cookes, it definitely has a feel for food.

Rated 4/5 on Aug 27 2007

Review Tags: dublin, duck, review, salad

Rate this review or write your own at LouderVoice

After yesterdays quick dip in aid of pancake day, I'm back with another Chinese recipe today! Were doing a bit of filming this week, so the blog is kind of on auto pilot, but I hope you haven't noticed. Just a quick reminder that the plans for the next twitter dinner are well underway so I would love to hear your suggestions for the menu- leave a comment below with your ideas! :)

Ginger and Garlic Braised Bok Choy
I absolutely love Bok Choy, and although a completely foreign vegetable, it takes extremely well to growing in my vegetable garden! There are so many ways to make the best of this great vegetable, and for me, more often than not, it ends up as a regular ingredient to a quick and tasty stir fry, with lots of other fresh veggies. This braised Bok Choy recipe is a fantastic way to enjoy it, making it a perfect side dish to any main Chinese meal.

Serves 2
4 bok choy, sliced in quarters
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly
A thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoons of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

Heat a wok over a high heat, add the oil to coat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds.
Add the bok choy and stir fry for 1 minute. Sprinkle over the sugar, and pour in 60ml of water, toss everything to combine.
Bring the wok to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered for 3 minutes or until the bok choy is tender.
Finally add the sesame oil and oyster sauce, stir it through until everything is coated and serve straight away.

So I'm kinda working backwards a little here, but last week was a busy one so there was a LOT to digest (no pun intended!). After Paris I was back in Dublin before I had time to blink, and just in time to help launch the Stop Food Waste campaign on Tuesday with the lovely Rachel Allen and the incredibly talented Kevin Thornton. The campaign highlights the fact that by using our leftovers we can save money and reduce waste.

All the recipes I demonstrated were based around using the leftovers of a roast chicken, which, as a regular on most Sunday dinner menus, always leaves you with a few bits of leftover meat. I always save the chicken carcass and bones in a large resealable bag in the freezer until I have the remains of about three or four; the perfect amount to make a really good chicken stock. The rest I used for a delicious Chicken Caesar Pasta using mayo, Dijon mustard, parmesan and olive oil to make a simple Caesar dressing. It's dishes like these that really make the most of the ingredients that are close to hand. More often than not, they're even tastier than something you'd spend a lot of money on in the supermarket.

My mom was the queen of leftovers so I was brought up making the most of all the ingredients in the house before heading out to buy more. The veggies in the bottom of fridge were made into tasty soups and the leftover meat into sandwiches for school the next day. This chicken and sweetcorn soup is a zingy little way to make the most of leftover chicken pieces and it's absolutely packed with flavour... perfect for the cold snowy evenings we're having at the moment!

Leftover Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
This super tasty soup has become a classic in our house, it was always requested on sick days home from school. I always find sweetcorn lends a warm and comforting taste to soups and its bright colour puts a smile on my face. Try not to skimp on ingredients for this one, it tastes best when you use the best ingredients – homemade stock and fresh ginger are a must!

Serves 4
Leftovers of half a roast chicken, shredded
1 litre/2 pints of homemade chicken stock
2 x 400g tins sweetcorn
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 large thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
4 spring onions finely sliced diagonally

In a large pot with a little oil, fry the garlic and ginger for about 3 minutes, add the corn and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add a little bit of the chicken stock and, with a hand blender, blitz the mixture until it becomes smooth.
Add the rest of the chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. Bring to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Beat the eggs in a pyrex jug, which will make it easy for you to trickle them into the soup.
Reduce the heat and while the soup is still simmering, stir it continuously in a figure of eight motion and gently trickle in the beaten egg a little bit at a time to form thin strands.
Add the chicken shreds and stir through. Serve with a generous garnish of spring onions.

I don't eat red meat that often but when I do, I always make sure to do it right, it's so worth putting in the extra effort for a really fresh piece of meat. I made these delicious steaks for dinner the other day and they went down an absolute treat. The rich mushroom sauce adds an extra moistness that could save even the driest steak! My dad picked up the steaks while he was passing through Mitchelstown in Cork last week and it was well worth going the distance for a fine auld hunk of country meat.

Simple Steaks with Mixed Forest Mushroom Sauce
Depending on the dried mushrooms you buy, you can use the water you soak them in as part of the stock added in this recipe- Simply substitute half the beef stock with the mushroom water. If you don't have dried mushrooms, they are not essential but give a real depth to the sauce, so feel free to substitute with any fresh mushrooms available to you.

Serves 4 people
40g of dried mixed forest mushrooms.
4 steaks.
1 tablespoon of butter.
1 tablespoon of olive oil (plus a little extra for the steaks)
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped.
1 onion, thinly sliced.
250g of button mushrooms, sliced thinly.
125ml of white wine.
250ml of beef stock.
4 tablespoons of cream.
A good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Rinse the dried mushrooms with water and then submerge in a bowl with warm water and leave for 20 minutes. Prepare the steaks by drizzling them with a little olive oil, sprinkle over a generous amount of ground black pepper, cover and set aside. When the dried mushrooms have finished soaking, heat a large pan over a medium high heat and add the butter and olive oil. Fry the garlic and onion for 2 minutes, then add the mushrooms and continue to cook for 5 minutes or until they become soft. Add the white wine, continue to cook and reduce the liquid by half. Then add the beef stock and simmer for a further 2 minutes or until the liquid begins to thicken slightly. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream until combined. Season with sea salt and black pepper and set aside.
Heat a large griddle pan over a high heat and cook the steaks for 2-3 minutes either side for medium rare steak, depending on thickness. Remove the steaks from the pan and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes. Serve them with the tasty mushroom sauce and some steamed veg.

There are things in this world that excite me, things which in many ways do not excite the majority of the rest of world. One of these little things happened the other day while I was on a walk around the cliffs in Howth- I came across a kind of mini crate sitting right in the middle of my path. Now you see to a normal person, this would just be a bit of wood and they would casually pass by without thinking twice. Not me though, I was turning it over inspecting the cracks, the colours and the rusty nails! I'm not crazy I swear! It's just I have a little bit of an obsession with photography props and this perfectly formed little piece wood makes an ideal platform to shoot food pictures upon. I dragged the mini crate home, despite objections from Sofie, and as you can see from the photo's here I think you'll agree it was well worth it- it gives a great rustic feel to the shots!

Warm Chorizo, Red Onion and Baby Potato Salad
I'm totally in love with this dish at the moment, its a perfect summer garden dinner. I normally just serve this as a side dish but you can beef it up by adding a few eggs to the dish and baking them until cooked. I can't tell you tell you just how tasty this little recipe is, you will just have to try it!

Serves 4
Approximately 16 baby potatoes.
300g of chorizo.
2 red onions, finely sliced.
Juice of 1/2 lemon.
A good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the potatoes to a pot and cover with water. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10-12 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft when poked with a fork. Remove from the heat and drain. Place a large frying pan over and medium high heat and add the chorizo, you shouldn't need any oil. Fry the chorizo slices for 2-3 minutes until they are really red and crispy. Remove the pan from the heat and squeeze over the juice of half a lemon. With the back of a fork or a whisk, combine the chorizo and lemon juices. Add the red onion to the pan and stir through. Finally chop the potatoes into bitesize pieces and add to the pan gently tossing so that all the ingredients are combined. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve warm as a tasty side dish.

The Turkey travel log is still coming, my focus was way more on food the second week, so keep on hanging on in there!

Datca
After a somewhat misguided trip to Symi, we had a long and bumpy sail up to the small Turkish town of Datca. It was our first visit of the trip to a Turkish town, so there was a lot on offer to do and see.We arrived into a buzzing little harbour with lots of small restaurants and shops all vying for our attention. On first inspection the waterfront looked very touristy but after we ventured further up the town, there was a lot more to Datca. A long street leading from the harbour front out of the town was packed with little Bazaars, herb shops, bakeries, kebab restaurants, and newsagents which sell their bread in fabulous little cabinets

Just before dinner Sofie and I went for a quick walk into the town and stumbled upon a massive parade taking place down the main street. We followed the people marching into a large square, overlooked by a massive portrait of the first president of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

We later discovered it was a festival of International cultures, and folk dancing groups from Romania, Sierra Leone, Poland, and Turkey were all in attendance fully dressed in traditional folk costume. It was the perfect opportunity to get some really great pictures.

With so many people crowding around the different groups, I was hardly noticed snapping away! The atmosphere was great, everyone including the participants looked like they were enjoying every minute. It was really easy to see why festivals like these, which celebrate different cultures, have become so successful.

As the evening began to close in, the crowd slowly dispersed and disappeared.

Later that evening we followed the noise of loud music across the harbor to where a mass of people were milling around an open air amphitheatre. We went through a large door to discover a massive concert for all the locals. We sat down and from what I could see it appeared the concert was in honour of local dignitaries who were sat right in front of the stage and even joined in the festivities by dancing right in front of the band!

Bozuk Buku
Our next stop was more along the lines of the little bays and ports we were used too, in Turkish waters. The tiny little bay is overlooked by the ruins of a large wall which make for a pretty stunning backdrop right on the mountain.

The water here was really clear and perfect for snorkelling. In most of the smaller bays which have restaurants run by the locals, rickety old jetty’s are built to offer mooring to the passing yachts.

In the afternoon when the sun’s heat had finally reduced, I dragged Sofie on a big trek to the top of the hill to see the ruins of the wall. She wasn’t impressed with both the heat and the fact that I insisted we walk through the campsite the locals lived in.

But I’m glad we did, as you really get a feel for how the people who run these little places live. A couple of goats and chickens roamed their little enclosures, while an old woman slept right under one of the close by trees!

The ruins were really impressive and the views from the top made the long walk very worthwhile.

We were joined only by a cat who seemed to happily have made the old walls its home. The small restaurant onshore had a great selection of Turkish Mezze and fresh fish.

Kumlu Buku
After a long series of stops which were a little on the rustic side, we pulled in to Kumlu Buku, a small bay just outside Marmaris. A small up market restaurant sits right on the shore, and a few really stunning straw huts full of giant cushions sit on the beach. Sofie and I made a beeline for these, and spent most of the day lounging on the comfy cushions.
Hard life right?
We ate in the restaurant on shore and to our surprise it had a fairly extensive Chinese menu! I may have mentioned it here before but I have a big thing for Asian cuisine! After solidly eating turkish mezze and grilled meats for 5 days on trot, it was great to have something different. I’ll be honest I really wasn’t expecting this small restaurant to produce the best of the best, but all the dishes that we ordered were absolutely delicious and really fresh.
As the sun set the staff at the restaurant lit large, open flamed laterns right down the beach. The jetty, we were moored up to, was lit up with under water lights, and the whole place looked really spectactular!
We were leaving the next morning but I could have easily stayed another night there!

We arrived in Cannes for a holiday last week, I came armed with a copy of Elizabeth David's French country cooking and Sofie my girlfriend with a copy of "The Notebook" (yes the soppy love story, the big screen version of which she has seen way too many times to count), so as you can imagine we have fairly different agendas on this summer holiday! I think it's always important to have a sniff around the local food market as a way of getting your bearings when you first arrive at a new place. It's been something that is engrained on my mind from an early age after hours of traipsing behind my parents on every family holiday, my dad busy comparing prices to the fruit and veg at home, while my mom being a bit more practical would be eyeing up a nice piece of meat for dinner. Needless to say it didn't take me very long to tire of reading by the pool and after a long drive the wrong way into Cannes and a fight with the GPS who I thought might be more interesting if we changed the language to French, we discovered the most beautiful French food market.

The Marché Forville is a massive covered market specialising in fruit, vegetables, fish and flowers and takes place every day except Monday's when it becomes the home to a spectacular antique market. The place literally crawls with activity. Big beefy stall holders eyeing up potential customers and of course the many well endowed Cote D'azur ladies, savvy French shoppers in the know, picking up up pieces of fish to inspect every inch of it, bronzed grannies beating their way through the crowds filling those distinctly French wheely bags to the brim with the best the market has to offer and then of course the tourists who like ourselves are busy snapping photos and taking it all in. You can't leave a place like this without a paper bag heavy with the summers finest fruit.

Baked Peaches with Vanilla Sugar
Stoned summer fruits are whack bang in season at the moment and there are lots and lots of different recipes you can use to make the most of them, however I think keeping things simple brings out the natural juicy flavours and leaves you with far less washing up to do. A win win situation I think you'll agree! If you can't get vanilla sugar you can quite easily make a homemade batch by popping a vanilla pod in a jar filled with caster sugar. Or alternatively just use caster sugar and a splash of good quality vanilla extract.

Serves 4
8 peaches, halved with stones removed
3 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons of water
Vanilla ice cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 200oC/Gas Mark 6.
Arrange the peaches in a non stick baking tray and sprinkle over the water.
Dust each peach with a little of the vanilla sugar until each one is nicely coated.
Place the peaches into the oven for around an hour or until the fruit is tender when pierced with a knife.
Serve the peaches with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

It's official I have a new favourite recipe, and it has arrived just in time for the summer season! It's a really easy little number which is guaranteed to impress! Now I know the idea of cutting a chicken open, cracking bones, and skewering the flesh is all a little bit Hanibal but this recipe is so tasty and it's well worth the hassle. Though if you really can't handle it, ask your butchers to do it for you and I'm sure they will be happy to help. I served this for a summery Sunday dinner with Red Cabbage Coleslaw and some Spicy Sweet Potato Chips.

Barbeque Cajun Spatchcock Chicken
The combination of spices here are so tasty, but if you are missing some, don't be afraid to use dried herbs or even whatever fresh herbs you have available to you. Barbequing can be a little tricky but the cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken, if you are worried, simple insert a skewer at the thickest part and if the juices run clear, the bird is cooked!

Serves 6-8
2 small chickens.
4 cloves of garlic.
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar.
2 tablespoons of paprika.
2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper.
2 teaspoons of dried oregano.
A small handful of fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped.
A small handful of thyme.
Juice of 1 lemon.
3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
A generous pinch of sea salt and pepper.

To prepare the chicken, place the bird breast down, and using a knife or a sharp scissors, cut along the back bone. Open the bird out and flip it over breast side up and using your fist push down hard on the breast to break the back bone. Thread a skewer diagonally through the bird from the leg to the breast and repeat on the other side. Score the bird on the legs and breasts. Repeat the whole process for the second chicken. Place the chicken in a large roasting tin. See diagram below.

Prepare the marinade. Place the rest of the ingredients in a pestle and mortar or a food processor and break down until you have a rough paste. Spread the paste over the chicken until it is completely covered. Cover the roasting tin in tin foil and place in the fridge to marinate for 30 mins to an hour, if you have time.
Place the birds on the barbeque over a medium heat and cook breast side up for 25-30 minutes. Half-way through give the birds a squeeze of lemon juice. Turn the birds over and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the chickens are cooked through. If you find the chicken is blackening too much, place them on some tinfoil until they are cooked through. Enjoy!