Simple Summer Entertaining…

My garden at home is finally bursting with colour and lots of things to keep me interested. This year my main aim was to have an abundance of different varieties of salad leaves. I have staples like rocket and cos but the most exciting leaf this year has been grown from a packet I bought from Brown Envelope Seeds (brownenvelopeseeds.com) in Skibbereen. The very dramatically named Oak Fire Mustard leaves look wonderful and have a deep purple colour with a fiery coloured stem and an incredibly strong mustard taste!

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Quick and Zingy Supper and Storecupboard Stockup!

This week we were in dire need of a serious food shop, to stock up the fridge, freezer and kitchen presses. It's probably one of the most important things a home cook can do because with a little bit of imagination and some simple ingredients on hand, wonders can be created! For me it's the little star ingredients that will sit happily waiting for until you're inspired. Things like halloumi, feta and goats cheese, different cuts of pasta, tinned beans, tomatoes, chickpeas and store cupboard stars like anchovies, olives, and capers, can really make a dish sing.

Summer Berry Sweet Pizza and a change of seasons…

At the moment life is sitting quite happily in limbo, as we fall between the seasons of late Summer and early Autumn.  There is still warmth in the air, yet I'm beginning to be drawn back to the more heavy and slow cooked dishes.  While it can easily be argued that Ireland got a fairly awful Summer this year, I haven't been left short on Summer produce.  My tomatoes, while slightly late are starting to turn a rich red and my proud pumpkin patch which has long been developing a personality of its own, now sits watching our living room overlooking slightly ominously, ready to engulf the house with ever expanding tendrils, the moment we turn our backs.  While everything is in full bloom and plants are still growing, said pumpkin patch is a great reminder that, it won't be more that a month or two, before I will be cutting the stalks of what I hope will be heavy orange fruits, reminding me further of the fact that the days are getting shorter and colder.

There’s Something About Salads…

I've always had a love of salads ever since I was in my teens.  I spent a summer in the south of France with French family friends who made it obligatory to eat a big bowl of fresh, crisp salad leaves tossed gently in a light dressing.  I remember avoiding it for the first two days being there until the lack of greenery on my plate was made the main topic of conversation, which forced me into salad submission!  Not completely sold on it after my first few trys, helping out in the kitchen to prepare it was what actually converted me!  I loved the process of washing and drying the leaves and then making the dressing by mixing a few drops of white wine vinegar, with a little Dijon mustard, crushed garlic and whisked together with some extra virgin olive oil.

To Spatchcock Or Not To Spatchcock That Is The Question!

As I have probably mentioned a million times before, I grew up eating a roast chicken every Sunday and it has since become my favourite way to cook the bird! However during the summer months, when I just feel I can't bring myself to eating it alongside roast potatoes I like to mix it up and cook it just a little bit differently. Technically speaking I think the term spatchcocking specifically refers to flatten poussins but basically for me it's the process in which you remove the back bone of a chicken and flatten it out, which makes it easy to cook on the BBQ and to cut into portions once it's cooked.

Alfresco Eating Inspiration: Mediterranean Mackerel with a Tomato Panzanella Salad…

The Irish summer is well underway, and despite the rain-cloud dodging most of us are forced to do, we still tend to get a nice stretch of sun that shows our fine country in its most beautiful light. Which leads me quite nicely to the subject of al fresco eating. While the opportunities might be limited, when the sun eventually decides to shine an Irish summer can be magical.

Asian Pork Lettuce Cups

The Method

Ever Been A Tourist In Your Own Town?

It's not often you get to feel like a tourist in your own town, following a tour guide blindly, but that's what I was last weekend and I loved every minute of it.  A few weeks ago I got a lovely email from the ladies who run Dublin's Fab Food Trails asking if I might join them on one of their guided food tours around Dublin.  Intrigued by the idea, I gladly accepted with the promise of lots of foodie treats and tasters along the way.  So early on Saturday we marched along to the top secret meeting place from where the tour would begin.  We were greeted by the extremely welcoming Eveleen who has an extensive background in food and has even written her own cookbook, The Irish Potato Cookbook.

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Swedish Gooey Chocolate Cake

The Method