Music added to menu of supper club

Music has been added to the menu

A music quiz has been added to the menu of the supper club on Saturday 13 March.

Booking essential. SupperClubDublin.gmail.com

€25 membership includes three-course dinner followed by tea and coffee. Tips welcome.

See blog. http://supperclubdublin.wordpress.com/

Yorkshire pudding recipe – all recipes and food-related items have moved

I have just published a recipe for quick and easy Yorkshire pudding – as a replacement for mashed potato – on the DublinSupperClub blog http://wp.me/pOyfZ-y

This is where all future recipes and food-related blogs will be.

Thanks for reading!

The underground restaurant has moved!

The underground restaurant has changed to the SupperClubDublin and moved to its own blog http://supperclubdublin.wordpress.com

Hope to see you there!

Underground restaurant tomorrow!

At first it looked like I wouldn’t get enough people to make it worthwhile holding the underground restaurant, but on Monday this week the bookings started coming very quickly. The 20 places are now fully booked and I am squeezing in one more too.

Spent last weekend spring cleaning in preparation and yesterday sorting out glasses, crockery, tablecloths, cutlery, napkins etc. I had to take a trip out to Ikea to get extra glasses and cutlery – so it looks like I will be doing this again.

Apart from the spring cleaning, I am really enjoying it all and the food is all coming together.

Thankfully made double batch of chilli last night for ourselves – sneaked a bit of it for my lunch which has kept me going.

I spent today in the kitchen cooking and listening to repeats of Smiley’s People on the BBC listen again website.

Better head back to the kitchen and get some of the bread started.

To see the menu and how it all goes, watch this space!

Underground restaurant Feb 13: Menu takes shape

I have four bookings for my Saturday 13 February underground restaurant and now the menu is beginning to take shape.
It will be a three-course (minimum) meal – and the choice will be vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Everything, including bread, will be homemade.
The menu is not set in stone yet but the main courses may be Boeuf Bourguignon; and vegetarian chilli with guacamole and tacos.
The idea is to have really good food – not necessarily really out there food.
I will have at least one starter – at the moment I’m thinking of chicken liver pate or hummous with homemade oatcakes.
Or perhaps mini croque monseurs with green salad – inspired by Meryl Streep in ‘It’s complicated’.
The main course will be followed by cheese and several desserts.
I may also have some ‘amuse bouche’ at the beginning and various little cookies at the end.
And there’ll be a selection of different breads.

I can cater for up to 20 and it will be €25 a head – bring your own wine or whatever you like to drink.

If you’re interested, email sokedit@eircom.net and I’ll give you any other information you need.

Underground restaurant, Dublin, Saturday 13 February

Well I’m finally doing it – holding an underground restaurant in my home. I live in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

The concept is good food, all homemade, relaxed atmosphere and reasonable prices.

There will be at least three courses and I can fit 20 people. I have set the price at €25 – bring your own wine. Filtered water supplied.

I can fit 20 people and you can book in advance by emailing me at sokedit@eircom.net

Each course will have vegetarian options.

If you need any more info at this stage, please leave a comment or email me.

Cheers!

Dodder river, and Dodder Road diary December 2009-January 2010

A view of the last four weeks

Daughter put her take on 'Scream' on the Christmas cake icing!

My Florida niece and my sister enjoying the snow

As the thaw finally set in.

Sun sets on the river raging as melting snow makes it angry

Gulls gather around lake formed over grass in flooded park

Ray of hope for warmer days

Herby, easy, tasty, vegetarian turkey stuffing

I wasn’t working today so had lovely time in kitchen getting ahead for Christmas. I put on a beef pot roast this morning in the slow cooker – Marks and Spencer has half-price beef joints and legs of lamb at the moment.

I also put on vegetarian chilli for various non-red meat eaters who will be here over Christmas – it freezes very well. You can see this chilli on the blog under ‘Main courses’.

And then I made the stuffing. I always make it a bit before Christmas and freeze it. It’s a godsend on Christmas week when so much is happening. This recipe is inspired by the one in Darina Allen’s ‘A Simply Delicious Christmas’. I still put stuffing into the turkey. It keeps it nice and moist – the stuffing must be completely cold before you stuff the bird.

Smoked salmon was half-price in SuperValu so I bought two sides, cut each into three and froze them. I will use them in a pasta sauce with cream and lemon for a quick dinner – or as substitutes for vegetarians.

I made double the quantity of stuffing that I give here. I divided the stuffing in two: to one half I added a little flour and an egg and mixed it thoroughly. Then I made it into small patties and put them on greaseproof paper on a tin and open froze them. Tomorrow I will put them in polythene bags. I will use these for the vegetarians when I am making meatballs. I also had a bit of salmon and mashed potato left over from last night; and made and froze fish cakes for the vegetarians.

Ingredients for herby stuffing (for a 10-12lb bird)

• 170g butter
• 340g chopped onions
• 800g fresh, white breadcrumbs
• 55g chopped, curly parsley
• Thyme leaves stripped from the twigs (about 1/2 a cup of stripped leaves).

How I do it

Cook the 340g onions in the 170g butter gently for about 10 minutes – the mixture will be quite sloppy. When it has cooled slightly, stir in the 55g parsley and half-cup of thyme leaves.

Stir in the 400g breadcrumbs - you may need to move the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Also add a little salt and pepper.

Mix all together well with a wooden spoon.

Put into plastic bags (squeezing all the air out) or put into plastic food boxes and freeze.

Dodder diary 14 December 2009

Setting sun

For a change these pictures were taken in the evening when we went for a walk on Saturday to shake off a Christmas party hangover!

It worked.

The setting sun casts different shadows.

Warming, calming glow of the setting sun.

Setting sun enflames the splashing water.

A familiar Dodder monument - outside the Dropping Well. This rhino seems to survive all flooding.

Multi-purpose tomato sauce for the freezer

Great standby over the holidays

Vegetarian, vegan

Makes 4-5 litres of thickish tomato sauce for pasta, pizza, chicken or wherever your imagination takes you.

Tomato sauce - takes about 30 minutes to get this into the pot. Then you have the basis for about 12 x 4 dinners.

I find this tomato sauce indispensible and I always have it in the freezer. First, you do need to cook it for at least 2 hours. But then you have enough sauce to form the basis of about 12 meals for 4 people (that’s 48 meals!). Frezze it in small quantities in plastic bags, plastic boxes or even glass jars with lids – then it’s easy to defrost. I use organic ingredients for this – I reckon it is still cheap because you get such a lot of sauce.  A food processor is really useful here – especially if you prefer to chop whole tinned tomatoes instead of the ready chopped ones. I use this sauce:

• For a quick dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese;
• To pour over chicken breast fillets and bake for 45 minutes (serve with couscous);
• And most of all as a topping for my homemade pizza (or you could use it over a shop-bought base).

Ingredients

• 500g peeled onions, chopped
• 150g peeled carrots, chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 8 x 400g can chopped tomatoes (or whole tinned tomatoes, chopped)
  
• Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• One bay leaf
• A few sticks of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp crushed chilli
• 1 tsp dried basil
  
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 glass of red wine or a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

The print version of how I cook this sauce is below the photos. Enjoy!

1 Cover the base of the pan with olive oil and heat slowly (there is no other fat in this recipe). I use this Le Creuset pot that I got more than 20 years ago as a wedding present.

2 While the oil is heating, peel the 500g onions and cut in quarters. Chop finely. and add to oil in pot and cook slowly for about 10 minutes stirring.

3 Peel and chop the 150g carrots.

4 Add the 2-3 stalks of celery to the food processor and pulse – you don’t want a mush.

5 The carrots and celery should look like this when chopped.

6 Stir the carrots and celery into the onions and cook for another few minutes.

7 Add the tinned, chopped tomatoes.

8 Stir the tomatoes into the vegetable mixture.

9 Fill one of the cans one third with water. Use this water to rinse out each can passing from one can to the other – okay this is optional!

10 Chop a large handful of parsley, including stalks.

11 Add the parsley, bay leaf and fresh thyme to sauce – stir it in.

12 Add about a teaspoon of dried basil to the sauce.

13 Add a teaspoon of salt to the sauce.

14 Add a good grinding of pepper.

15 Add 1/4 teaspoon of crushed chillies.

16 Add a teaspoon of sugar – this offsets the acidity of the tomatoes.

17 Add a glass of red wine or a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

Tomato sauce – takes about 30 minutes to get this into the pot. Then you have the basis for about 12 x 4 dinners.

How I do it

1. Cover the base of a really large casserole type pan with olive oil and heat slowly (there is no other fat in this recipe). I use a Le Creuset pot that I got as a wedding present (and that’s well over 20 years!).
2. While the oil is heating, peel the 500g onions and cut in quarters. Chop finely. and add to oil in pot and cook slowly for about 10 minutes stirring.
3. Peel and chop the 150g carrots.
4. Add the 2-3 stalks of celery to the food processor and pulse – you don’t want a mush.
5. The carrots and celery should look like this when chopped.
6. Stir the carrots and celery into the onions and cook for another few minutes.
7. Add the tinned, chopped tomatoes.
8. Stir the tomatoes into the vegetable mixture.
9. Fill one of the cans one third with water. Use this water to rinse out each can passing from one can to the other – okay this is optional!
10. Chop a large handful of parsley, including stalks.
11. Add the parsley, bay leaf and fresh thyme to sauce – stir it in.
12. Add about a teaspoon of dried basil to the sauce.
13. Add a teaspoon of salt to the sauce.
14. Add a good grinding of pepper.
15. Add 1/4 teaspoon of crushed chillies.
16. Add a teaspoon of sugar – this offsets the acidity of the tomatoes.
17. Add a glass of red wine or a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.
18. Cook on a very low heat with the lid off for 2-3 hours stirring occasionally.