Bread Making Part 3 – Pizza

I’ve been a little slow to update on my bread making skills project , however over the past few weeks I’ve been working on my bread making skills & techniques. I decided to make some yeast dough & use it in probably the quickest method of cooking possible, making a tasty pizza.

Pizza is such an easy super to make, and of any toppings that you have in your fridge can be used as a topping, eggs, bacon, cheese, ham, tomatoes, mushrooms.

I used Catherine Fulvio pizza recipe for the base of my pizza, then made a simple tomato sauce.

http://www.rte.ie/food/2010/0903/pizzamargherita.html

Happy Baking Vickx

Girlie day & lunch in Avoca…

Avoca is prob my fav shop, the Boyfriend loves the food there but hates all the house stuff, my idea of heaven!! Can you believe I’ve only just found them on facebook! Last weekend saw a leisurely Monday browsing around Dublin with my sister & cousin, we had a great day browsing through little vintage shops in temple bar, to rhinestone jewellery store (another favourite) and we ended up going to lunch in Avoca. They have done up the cafe in the Suffolk Street, it’s so cute now, antique tea & coffee pots lined up on shelf, old chairs re-upholstered and fantastic lampshades…luv it..

How cute is this little King & Queen Table.. perfect for a romantic dinner for two!!

I had this yummy spiced lamb mince with hummus & pitta breads.

Avoca Beef Curry & Naan bread was absolutely gorgeous and massive portion.

Burger & Chips…

And finally a browse around the fantastic finds from silver teapots, to china cups and saucers and gorgeous silver cutlery!!

 Happy Browsing , Vick

Waterford Tall Ships Race 2011

What an amazing weekend of both nautical & culinary in Waterford this weekend. It saw the Tall Ships Race return to Waterford from 30th June to 3rd July where they start their journey of the first stage of the race out of Dunmore East , around west of Ireland and continue up to Greenock in Scotland. The sight of such large magnificent sailing boats in Waterford port really brought a great enthusiasm and buzz to the city with hundreds of thousands visiting.

The Festival opened on Thursday with the Captain’s Dinner serving 300 people, with local & Irish produce being served on the Menu.

Nettle & Creme Fraiche dip

Crab Creme Brulee

Lamb with wild garlic puree and asparagus and peas

Berries with a Rosemary jelly, lemon curd cream & brown bread crackling

Cheese with Stout cake made with stout from Dungarvan Brewery

Doesn’t that sound like an amazing menu, however all of the local artisian producers made a great show in the Food Village, with que’s at all the stalls… here are just a few…

Azzuro Paella went down a storm!

Knocklara Cheese

The Most amazing chocolate cupcake EVER from Cupcake Heaven…yummm…

Paul Flynn – Irish Foods TV Show

If you are a follower of my blog you’ll definitely be aware of the fact that I’m from Dungarvan & greatly admire what Paul Flynn has done for both the South East Food Industry & Irish Cuisine. I have to admit that I was disappointed that RTE aired the TV series on in the height of  the summer season (which is probably debatable if you look at the window in this country!) and also the on air slot of 7pm & not primetime viewing of 8.30pm which it deserves!

As a lover of all things foodie, I do watch out for up and coming chefs and they deserve their spot on TV as with Donal Skehan, a self thought cook & blogger who is a great energy & enthusiasm for young budding cooks, who got prime time TV airing at 8.30pm, subsequently it was a great success. It is such a disgrace to have such an accomplished chef like Paul Flynn fall into the time bracket of mum’s dishing up dinner, people only coming in the door from work or others enjoying what is left of the long summers evenings.

Enough of a rant!! The first episode in Paul Flynn Irish Food definitely showed his flair & passion for Irish food that doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Having been lucky enough to have attended the Tannery Cookery School on two occasions for demonstrations, it really is great benefit to watch such a professional at work & learn new tricks of the trade.  It was great to show such simple economic yet tasty recipes – Apple Puff Squares, Roast Rack of Pork, Potato & Sweet Potato Gratin. All of which could easily be served up at dinner party or sunday lunch , not to mention be on the menu in The Tannery Restaurant.  I definitely will have to try the Roast Pork as the crackling looked amazingly crunchy & the pork still so tenderly cooked. Check out the recipes online:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/paulflynnirishfood/recipes.html

Anyway will have to dash home early the next few weeks to make sure that I don’t miss the new TV series.

Happy Viewing!  Vick x

The Winding Stairs – Review

A few weeks ago saw a rare weekend in Dublin it has to be said, living here mid-week i lead a second life in the country at the weekends, it seems like i’m like a turtle with all my belongs on my back!!

For many years i’ve been trying to convince my Mum to come up to Dublin to visit The Winding Stairs restaurant, it’s been a while since i’ve been there myself, but it definitely isn’t a let down. Located above a bookshop, if this restaurant had a cookbook it would be up there on the top of my list, its kinda that River Cottage meets Nigel Slater feel to the menu!

The vast menu has a mixture of traditional Irish with a twist, black pudding, chorizo, cockles & musells and pork.

I choose the Rhubarb stuffed Black pig pork fillet with roasted cube potatoes,  warm mixed bean and spinach salad and pear soured cream- it was beautiful the pork fillet was very tender, with very mild pork flavour, the contrast between the sharp rhubarb, tender pork and sour cream was amazing. The beans salad was great combination and light side dish.

Rhubarb stuffed Black Pig Pork Fillet with roasted cubed potatoes, warm mixed bean and spinach salad and pear soured cream.

Potted Dingle Bay Crab

Ted Browne’s Kerry Prawns with garlic and lemon

I would highly recommend a visit to the winding stairs, great atmosphere, amazing Irish food in a fab old building and of course a winding staircase , they do offer lunch and evening menus, do book ahead if you don’t want to be disappointed.

Enjoy Vick x

Kinsale – Fishy Fishy Cafe

Last week we spent a lovely few days down in sunny Kinsale & enjoyed the fine delighted of their local produce. We stayed in the Carlton Hotel, which overlooks Kinsale harbour, it also provides a shuttle bus into the town. On the first night we decided to go to Jim Edwards Bar to get a pint & some food, we had fried mushrooms to start & I had warm goats cheese salad & my other half had steak baguette. The food was really good & very reasonable.

On our second day we went to the renowned Fishy Fishy Restaurant for lunch, luckily enough we went around half past one and there wasn’t any que! We sat outside in the patio on what has to be one of the hottest days so far this year, the atmosphere was great, Martin Shanahan sat outside the restaurant chatting to customers.

I choose the Warm salad of chilli seafood – sautéed monkfish, salmon and shellfish in a sweet chilli sauce served on a bed of mixed leaves. The picture above doesn’t do it justice, it was so tasty & the texture of the crunchy salad against the perfectly cooked monkfish was delicious. The sweet chilli sauce added the perfect punch to the delicate flavours of the salmon and prawns. It was served it potato wedges & parsnip crisps.

The other half choose the Cod & Chips, which was a very generous serving, it was in a very light batter & I believe it was very tasty aswell.

I would highly recommend a visit to Fishy Fishy if you are in the region of Kinsale in the near future. While we got the main meal portions, they also offer smaller “taste” portions which is a great option for a light lunch. The other seafood dishes include Oysters, mussels and all fresh fish caught off the coast of Cork that very morning.

I’ll definitely be purchasing the Fishy Fishy Cookbook soon to try a few fish dishes myself.

Enjoy,

Vick x

Happy Mothers Day…

Happy Mothers day to all those with beautiful children or mum’s to be, hope you all got spoiled today.

I’d a lovely day with my mum shopping yesterday & lunch out. Then today I made yummy courgette carbonara & these cute little rhubarb cheesecakes with afternoon tea! yummy

Rhubarb Cheesecake

 Rhubarb

Sugar

Cream

Digestives

Butter

 Method:

Cut rhubarb into pieces, add a little sugar & drop of water & simmer on low heat until stewed.

Whip cream & set aside, until rhubarb is cool.

Then  break digestive & add little melted butter. mix together & push into base of ramkin.

Fold cool rhubarb & whipped cream together & spoon over the digestive base.

Leave to set for while in fridge.

Enjoy with cuppa tea!

Vick x

Mad as a March hare

March has just disappeared so quickly, I’ve been a little lazy on my blog posts lately, however with the extra hour of springtime, i’ll be back baking & cooking lots more… here’s what i’ve been up to the last few weeks, Christening / Birthday celebrations and yummy mini party merignue’s!!

Christening Cake

Iggle Piggle & Molly’s 2nd Birthday

Perfect meringue’s…

Vick

Alan Dunn 2 Day Workshop -2011

Two years running I spent my Valentines weekend making sugarcraft flowers, I have to say unless I actually came back with some proof the Fiance would be a little be suspicious, as all I talked about what a brilliant weekend I’d had,  an amazingly talented bloke and flowers.. 2 + 2 = 5!!

After doing the Alan Dunn Workshop last year, reviews of  Day 1 & Day 2 here, I just had to attend it this year, especially after getting my copy of Alan’s latest book Christmas  Cakes. On the Friday night demonstration, Alan make the amazing floral bouquet, he did a demo of each of the elements of the bouquet except the rose in about 2 hours.  It’s unbelievable watching him work & making everything look so easy & effortless! The bouquet is made up of Scorpion Orchid, ylang ylang , Proton, Cheese Plant leaves , yam foliage & beautiful deep red rose. Alan mentioned that he did time himself to make a similar bouquet from start to finish – 13 hours.. wow that’s impressive!

The Peony Rose below is also one of Alan’s pieces, its beautiful fully rose, approx the size of palm of hand open. Definitely one that I will have to attempt very soon.

The below is my final piece of work after 2 days, which I was really happy with, it was truly rewarding coming away with such a fanastic bouquet of exotic flowers.

Day One: The first day consisted of the big red passion-flower, which unfortunately had a few fatalities & broke some of the petals (the joys of working in sugar!) , also some hop leaves in different sizes.

Day Two: The second day we made the Fringed Vanda Orchid, yellow & plum colouring and also decorative yam foliage.

This is Alan’s Fringed Orchid in a rich pink dusting – fantastic ! This would be perfect to match up to bridesmaid dresses for a wedding cake.

Alan is so talented & if you ever get the opportunity to go to one of his demo’s or workshops its worth every penny! Am already saving for next years course!

Vick x

The Summerhouse Cafe, Lismore

Lismore has to be one of my favourite spots in Ireland, its such a beautiful historic town with the fantastic landscape of Lismore Castle towering over the town, the locals have won tidy town on numerous occasions, and of course there are great places to eat there and cute little antique shops to browse in.

I previously reviewed O’Briens chophouse in Lismore, however last weekend we went for lunch in The Summerhouse Cafe, a cute little shop at the front selling greengate china, kitchen gadgets & beautiful stationary, however hidden in the back is a wonderful cafe.

I had O’Flynns sausages & mash with onion gravy, while mum had the most amazing Lemon Chicken Stroganoff, it was so lovely & light with fantastic fresh flavour. I did try to recreate it this evening however it was too tangy!! Will post it once i’ve mastered the perfect flavour combo.

To follow I had a yummy raspberry tart …yum