I made a three course meal!

A couple Saturdays ago myself and Mark decided to stay in and watch the UFC. Afterwards, sticking with the fighting theme, we watched The Raid: Redemption. It’s a really good movie with very impressive fight scenes! Oh wait, this is a food blog, my bad! Where was I?

I can’t just sit in doing nothing on a Saturday so I decided to make an occasion out of it and make Mark a three course meal. I enjoy cooking and have been trying to learn and improve my skills since moving out. Being the fantastic  girlfriend that I am I made all of Mark’s favourite foods – tomato bruschetta, spicy meatball pasta and eton mess. All pretty simple really!

For the bruschetta I put an onion and a large clove of garlic into a blender to chop them very finely.  You can rub the garlic on the bread instead if you prefer. Then I quartered 3 tomatoes, took out the seeds and juice and chopped them into small pieces. If you read my Review of Stoop Your Head you will understand why the centre had to be removed – I just don’t trust it!

Mix everything together with a little olive oil and a good shake of salt, pepper and basil. Drizzle your bread with olive oil (I used a ciabatta bought in super value) and toast on both sides. Simply pour your tomato mixture on top of the bread, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve!  This starter is great because it’s so easy and you can prepare it in advance to avoid getting frazzled if you have guests over!

I followed the recipe below for my main course –
http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2011/1011/2700-meatballs-in-spicy-tomato-sauce/

I prepared the meatballs, fried them, added the sauce and then set it aside.  Once we finished our starter I just had to cook the pasta and reheat the sauce so there was only a ten or fifteen minute gap. Don’t forget the parmesan on top and for the table!

The one thing I’ll say about this recipe is that the meatballs were quite soft and fell apart. I think they should have been fried longer than the recipe states before adding the sauce and the sauce should simmer a bit longer. It could also be due to fact I forgot to soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and just threw both in separately. I just got so excited about using my new blender to make the breadcrumbs and I got lost in the moment! I never said I was an expert…

Finally – desert! Eton mess is perhaps the easiest desert ever and it’s soooo good! Crush up a meringue nest, add a dollop cream (or ice cream) and then throw loads of freshly chopped strawberries on top! Perfection! You can add other berries and drizzle with chocolate sauce if you like. You could even garnish with a sprig of mint if you’re feeling fancy, the possibilities are endless!

So why not try making these dishes yourself and let me know how you get on! Find me on Facebook and instagram – @lovefoodbaby. Oh! I did notice that all the food I made was red, the colour or LOVE! This was not intentional, I’m afraid I’m just not that smooth!

LoveArrabiattaBaby

Arrabiatta has to be my favourite Italian dish. I love spicy tomato sauces and arrabiatta literally means fiery sauce! I always have arrabiatta sauce in the freezer ready for when I need my favourite dinner. It’s really easy to make but after a long day in work why make it yourself when you can get someone to make it for you?

When I moved out it wasn’t long before I was sick of hearing “but I can’t cook, you’re so much better at it!” Sometimes, after a long day of work, when you have to go home and wash your hair (ugh, effort!), you just want to get out of the shower and see your dinner on the table. So I decided to write out some of my easy recipes which I cook in bulk. No more excuses for dear Marky.

Teaching him how to chop and make the meal was pretty funny. He was so proud of his efforts!  The pictures in these posts are of his arrabiatta sauce, not mine. It’s kind of a spin on Jamie Oliver’s recipe as I like to get more vegetables into me. I also use passata sauce rather than tins of chopped tomatoes as I think they can make the sauce a bit watery but you can use either.

Find my Arrabiatta recipe in my previous post!!

Arrabiatta Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 regular or 4 large chicken breasts
• 3 onions
• 3 peppers
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 litre of Passata Sauce
• 1.5-2 teaspoons of chilli flakes
• A pinch of sugar
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

1. Chop up all the vegetables and crush the garlic. I tend to use red peppers but you can use any colour and even add courgette and black olives if you like.
2. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces.
3. Heat a drop of oil in a large pot or frying pan. Add the onions and garlic and quickly fry for one or two minutes.
4. Add the raw chicken (yes raw!), remaining vegetables and passata sauce to the pot and stirr well.
5. Add in your chilli flakes (more or less depending on how hot you like it), pinch of sugar and a good dose of salt and pepper. Stir well.
6. Leave to simmer for about 35 minutes. Cook your pasta while you wait and serve!

Note: You can allow the sauce to cool down and then freeze it in portions. 

Find me on Facebook and instagram – @lovefoodbaby.

Review of Stoop Your Head, Skerries

After a rare Saturday night in last week I woke up on Sunday feeling fantastic so myself and Mark decided to go for lunch in Stoop your Head on the harbour in Skerries. I love Stoops, the food is always perfection and the view out to sea is so impressive!

We treated ourselves to a bottle of wine and had a long lazy lunch together. For starters Mark had the soup of the day – vegetable (surprise, surprise!) – It was fine, a little salty perhaps.  I had focaccia with a flat cap mushroom and salad, drizzled with garlic and thyme butter and topped with parmesan shavings. I hadn’t tried this before and I was not disappointed! The focaccia was crispy and hadn’t become soggy at all. The mushroom was cooked to perfection  with just a little bite to it and the combination of garlic butter, parmesan  and balsamic vinegar was ‘melt in your mouth’ amazing! I highly recommend this dish!

For mains we both had the Asian chicken salad. This is the second time I have ordered this salad because it is REALLY good! It is unlike other Asian salads you may have had before which generally have a dark hoi-sin sauce. The chicken is marinated in Asian spices and placed on top of a salad of leaves, red onion, roast red peppers, shoots and cherry tomatoes.  The dressing is a light, slightly creamy mustard seed sauce which complements the chicken perfectly. Incase this all sounds too healthy for you, it is served with a choice of chips, baked potato, baby boils, mash or savoury potatoes. I opted for the savoury potatoes.

Of course it is typical that the one Sunday I decide to make the effort, curl my hair and wear my new white top I would put my knife to a cherry tomato and shoot the tomato juice all over my lovely top and ends of my hair. This could only happen to me!

Ruined outfit aside, I cannot compliment Stoops enough for their food. It never disappoints and at €65 for two starters, two mains and a bottle of wine it is amazing value. When compared to other restaurants in Skerries it is far superior in every way!

Find me on Facebook and instagram – @lovefoodbaby.

Summer BBQ’s and Bootcamp

A few weeks back I made the crazy decision to buy a Living Social deal for myself and Mark – 4 week bootcamp! I won’t lie and pretend that to offset my love of food I have an intense workout regime. I used to work in a cafe so 50 hours a week on my feet was my  workout. Since starting my office job I find I really don’t do much. I go for a half hour walk around Merrion square most days but it’s more of a stroll really. So, with five weeks to go until our holiday in Croatia we started the bootcamp and healthy eating on Tuesday.

 

To start off, I’m fairly impressed with my ability to avoid temptations around me with food. There’s always chocolates in the office or biscuits at home but I really haven’t had any difficulty saying no. I know it’s only day 2 but when I compare myself with Mark I’m doing fantastic. First off, on Tuesday we watched some ‘Come Dine With Me’ before bed and he was moaning about how hungry he was the whole time!

We went to his parents house for a barbeque last night and he had a serious problem saying no to the cornetto offered afterward. I had felt bad enough about having the bun with my burger so there was not a hope of me having dessert but poor Mark was giving me puppy dog eyes trying to convince me it was ok to eat it. Eventually he saw sense and went without. His second problem came when his mam handed him the end of the cone (the part with all that chocolate and still some icecream) to put in the bin and he sat there with it in his hands for a good two minutes like a deer in headlights, his eyes darting from the cone to me trying to avoid temptation until his dad took it from his hand and threw it in the bin. It was actually quite comical to watch!

 

I may be better at the eating bit but Mark kicks my ass at working out! He’s fit anyway, going for huge runs and cycling regularly. I found myself in a extremely bad mood before our first bootcamp on Tuesday because I was tired, I had a cold and basically I just didn’t want to do it! Once we got going I was surprised at the fact that I could manage it though. We did a quick warm up and then 5 circuits of 4 exercises follow my 3 circuits of another 4 exercises. The time flew and I actually enjoyed it!! I was a little sore yesterday but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. If anything it made me proud to know I had done good work.

 

This morning was a different story. I woke up in bits! My first struggle came when I tried to go to the loo. Girls you will understand this. I had two options, I could do a kind of backwards crab to lower myself down or I could just let myself fall and hope I landed on the bowl. I went for option 2.

Struggle number two came when I had to hop the fence on my way to the train station. My sore legs combined with my choice of a pencil skirt ensured a comical display for anyone who happened to be up at 6.30am. Firstly there just wasn’t enough room to stretch my leg up so I had to hike my skirt RIGHT up! Then I couldn’t really bend my leg properly so I kind of kept my thigh straight and bent first one knee then the other outwards to get over. Classy lady!! I’ll be taking the long way home this evening.

Finally, struggle number 3. I got off the train and walked towards the escalator in Pearse. People were hurrying down the steps and I tried to follow suit but the pain was so immense I had to just stand aside and let everyone pass me as I stood there and let the lovely machine bring me down to the ground. Longest escalator ride ever!!

 

I’m sure there’ll be more struggles throughout the day which is really only increasing my dread for bootcamp tonight. I know working out again is the best way to stop the pain but I’d really rather just stay home and eat a cornetto!

Review Of Kitchen, South Anne Street

On Friday night I met up with some college friends and we went to The Kitchen on South Anne Street. I was really looking forward to trying out their early bird menu – €19.95 for two courses.

We sat upstairs in the restaurant. The interior was really nice, clean and fresh. They also have a gorgeous covered outdoor area, which I definitely recommend requesting when you book during the summer. I have only one complaint about the interior – The ladies bathroom was very dark, with blue lighting, and there wasn’t so much a mirror as a reflective black surface. Not so good for checking for wing sauce on the face.

For starters I had the wings. They were AMAZING! The sauce wasn’t your usual buffalo; it was tangy and light. Bonus points for Kitchen – They served the wings with ranch instead of blue cheese or garlic mayo! It brought me back to my days living in Chicago. Altogether a fantastic starter!! Other starters were the salmon and the soup and my friends enjoyed both.

My experience took a bit of a nosedive when it came to the main course. I ordered the creole Cajun jambalaya with chicken, prawns and chorizo. I love a nice spicy dish but I can only describe this course with one word – BLAND! Even after a generous shake or cracked black pepper it wasn’t great. My friends were in agreement; their food was ok but not amazing, although the presentation was great.

The wine however was fantastic! Service charge was added to the bill so altogether we paid €28 each. I would have been happy to pay this if the main was better but still, it wasn’t bad!

Overall, the wings alone would make me recommend Kitchen. Book a table on the patio, order wings and wine and just sit back and enjoy the people watching!!

We popped into Odessa for some wine on the balcony after our meal which was absolutely gorgeous. I’ve been there for food before but I think I’ll have to go back again and review it!

One final note – I booked the table for Kitchen through Facebook. I think in this day and age most restaurants should have social media presence. If they have a Facebook page, it should be monitored regularly. Kitchen got back to me within an hour of my message which I was impressed with. I know It’s a strange thing for me to judge a restaurant on but I think it’s important that if you have a social media page it should be active and useful for the customers.

The Porthouse and Yogism

While myself and my friend were waiting for our other friend to get into town we stopped off at the Porthouse on South William street and sat outside to enjoy this good weather.  I had a lovely fruity sauvignon blanc and my friend had a home brewed beer. I wasn’t even going to mention it but I had such a lovely experience I had to! Three members of staff were sitting outside either before or after their shift and, even though they weren’t on duty, they were nice and chatty to the small group of us outside. One of them even came to my rescue when a homeless man came up to our table shouting randomly with a shoulder in one hand and a club orange in the other (we’ve all done it!). The staff member kindly took the abuse and moved him away from me. The joys of sitting outside in Dublin! I also enjoyed smelling their potato bravas! If anyone’s been for food before let me know what it’s like. Should it be added to the list??

After dinner we ran around to Yogism to see if we could catch them before they closed. They were closed but they kindly turned on their machines for us to get a cup of frozen yoghurt. I had natural yoghurt with honeycomb, smarties and raspberries. It was delicious!! The girls got peanutbutter and choclate yoghurt which was really good too! Again the staff were really friendly (it makes such a difference!) They told use we had to come back when they were fully open with all their toppings out and let me tell you,  I will most certainly be back for the full shebang!!

Duck, Fade Street

On wednesday myself and two friends went to Duck on Fade street. It has only recently opened and I was dying to try it. I had liked them on Facebook and liked the look of their menu.

We all ended up going for the same thing – the meat deal – a small box, two duck spring rolls and a drink for €11. My bargain sensors were tingling! You choose one or two meats along with rice, noodles or vegetables. We went for duck and sticky bbq pork. Is everyone drooling yet??

The place is very small and the design is pretty funky. I love the logo and the big bench in the middle as seating was novel. It was much more ‘take away’ then I had thought though. The guy who took our order was nice and we even got some witty banter out of him – always a plus! FYI – One of  the girls needed to use the bathroom but, alas, they do not have one so she had to nip into Market bar!

Anyway, back to the food! The duck spring rolls were gorgeous! I had one dipped Into plum sauce and one dipped into this amazing unmarked bottle of some sort of hot chilli sauce that was on the table.  I won’t lie, I was tempted to rob it 😉 . Be warned though – it’s hot!
The small box was far from small. I only managed half the noodles. The pork was gorgeous and sticky! The problem with the duck was that it was still on the bone! Now when I re-read the menu I saw it was an extra €1 to have it off the bone. I know it was my own fault for not reading the menu right but I think considering they’re giving us plastic knives and forks to eat with they could have cut the meat a bit smaller and maybe double checked we didn’t want the ďuck of the bone when we were ordering.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience.  The place was clean and the staff were friendly. After eating there I think the €11 price for the deal is about right but not the bargain I had originally thought it was. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here but if you’re in the area give it a try!

The beginning of something….

It started with a list. Just a small list of maybe four or five places I wanted to try out this summer. I looked them up, gave them a like on Facebook and started planning who I would drag where.

As I spoke to friends, family and colleagues I was given more and more places I ‘just had to try!’ So the list grew and grew; subheadings formed and suddenly I was worried I was liking so many restaurants and bars on Facebook that I looked like a girl with a serious eating issue. Which may or may not be the case. But that’s a different problem for a different blog altogether.

So here’s the list in all it’s glory as of today –

Places to try this summer

Restaurants

• The Kitchen
• Duck
• The Farm
• Bison
• The Counter
• Slice of Rome
• San lorenzos
• Thai/Indian beside Nando’s on grafton st (I need to find out this name – any ideas)
• Crackbird
• BoBo’s – 2 Burgers + Chips €20 Mon – Thur until the end of July in Dame St.
• Bunsen
• Seagrass restaurant (BYOB)
• Zaragoza
• Las Tapas de lola
• Whitefriar grill
• San Lorenzo’s

Bars

• The liquor rooms
• Dublin Wine Rooms
• Vintage Cocktail Club

Other

• Yogism – frozen yogurt

I’m going to try them all out and write about my experiences. Please continue recommending places for me to try. Why stop at twenty?? But bear in mind I am a 24 year old girl who has just started her first job and moved out of home so I’m looking for BARGAINS people! So, let the eating begin!!