Clare, if you would like to talk to me about your recent visit my number is xxxxxxxxxx. Regards, Ross.

Gulp. It was a direct message to my Twitter account from Ross Lewis, exec chef and co-owner of Chapter One. I’d tweeted a few very positive messages about my recent (and first ever) dining experience at his renowned restaurant, plus one tweet expressing [slight] disappointment with my steak. Could he really be upset about an honest tweet regarding sinew?

Far from it. Ross was upset about my disappointment, not that I tweeted about it. He told me the particular cut of steak on the menu that night is a “heartbreak” for him because while it’s the most flavourful cut it has potential to have sinew hidden deep inside the meat. Upon delivery he can cut the meat to check for sinew and see nothing; but later a steak sliced from that bigger cut could have a bit of the stringy white tissue that’s not visible on the surface but reveals itself only when the diner cuts into it. So the majority of people who order it will get the most savoury, beautiful steak they’ve ever had but a few might get a bit of tough sinew in their meat.

I could hear his genuine frustration that I ended up being one of those few; for the next 20 minutes we talked candidly about food and cooking like two people who spend breakfast talking about lunch and who eat lunch whilst talking about what to cook for dinner (read: obsessed!). It was a proper chat between two food enthusiasts and for that 20 minutes I forgot I was talking to a Michelin-starred chef. He was down-to-earth and sincere, and his passion and dedication to his craft was obvious. This is one chef who doesn’t rest on his laurels.

Though I really enjoy a beautiful steak or burger once in a while, I tend to eat mostly vegetarian and even vegan during the week. So I was thrilled when I won a hamper through an Irish Food Bloggers competition from Mash Direct, a company that makes farm-fresh potato & vegetable mash.

Mash Direct was founded by Martin and Tracy Hamilton, who own and run a veg farm in County Down. Tired of the preservative-filled mash that featured on most store shelves, they decided to create lovely and healthy mashes from their own potatoes. They now make a variety of mash, like champ and colcannon, as well as potato cakes, roasted potatoes, croquettes and vegetable sides. My favourite is their Red Cabbage & Beetroot, which I could eat just on its own. Mountaineering Man raved about the champ and the Chilli Baby Bakes, which are baby potatoes with a proper spicy sauce.

It was a bit embarrassing how quickly we ate through the 9 mashes/veg in our hamper, but we’re not the only ones obsessed with the products. I went to Superquinn to restock and found the store had only one of the Red Cabbage & Beet Root left and only two mashes! Needless to say, I cleaned them out!

When I lived in San Francisco several years ago I fell in love with the French 75, an old-school cocktail made with gin and champagne. It was served to me for the first time at Absinthe, a bar & grill down the street from my house in the Hayes Valley district, and they served it in a tall, chilled glass and topped it off with a spear of three, brandied cherries.

I was recently transported back to that time when I had a French 75 at the newly revamped Odeon in Dublin. The cocktail was just as I remember; the clean bite of gin, the effervescent hit of bubbles and a hint of sour lemon – so good. The drinks menu features several old-school cocktails like a proper Mojito, Mint Julep and an Old Fashioned among others. Combined with the rich décor, muted lighting and big, luxurious booths, it was the perfect mid-week escape with a couple of friends.

The restaurant offers a great tapas menu, perfect for snacking between fab cocktails and wine. Or make a meal out of it; the Odeon offers a wonderful weekday special: 3 tasting plates and a bottle of wine for €35. The place turns out a more clubby vibe on weekends and that’s great for some. For me, it’s really the ideal after-work venue for catching up with girlfriends and having a few bites and great drinks. I also think the Odeon would make the perfect venue for an urban, evening wedding, which I hear they can do.

Tasty Morsels is a round-up of product reviews, restaurant news and foodie bits & bobs that I’ll feature here on the blog at least once every month. If you’d like something featured, drop me an email at clare@anamericaninireland.com.

Even on the sunniest of days, when the sky and the ocean simultaneously reflect the most radiant shades of blue and the birds chirp away in the full, lush trees and everyone’s showing off their stems in rarely-worn shorts and exposing their bashful big toes in sandals; even on those rare, beautiful Spring days in Dublin, there’s something missing.

It was one of those days yesterday, and while Mountaineering Man toiled away at the office I decided to head out into town and get some much-needed Vitamin D, plus a few other things I’ve been meaning to purchase. My first stop was Fallon & Byrne, a place that has become almost a sacred place for me. Some people have churches; I have gourmet food shops and farmers’ markets. Even if I only need one item, I amble down every aisle and rest my eyes for at least a few seconds on every single item on every single shelf. From smoked salted almonds and squid ink lasagna sheets to sweet-smelling star fruit and whole wild rabbits, the selection is comprised of the most wonderful, mysterious things that never fail to inspire.

I then poked my head into the Secret Book and Record Store, to check on the new Bowie CD – MM s request. After spotting a few copies I went straight to the books section, eyeing the used cookery books before selecting one called Food & Wine of France for a closer look. It was only €1, but a quick thumb-through revealed its contents were outdated and blandly written. It wasn’t an entirely unsuccessful visit. The creaky floors and musty smell always give me fond memories of my early dates with MM, when we’d duck into this hole-in-the-wall shop looking for buried treasure on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Next it was a quick jaunt up three flights on the escalators at Brown Thomas for my Nespresso capsules, which are sold in the kitchen and home décor floor – my favourite area of the store. Gleaming copper soufflé pots, wobbly silicon whisks and delicate wine goblets sit beautifully arranged on white display counters…all things I hope one day will have a permanent home in my dream kitchen. On the way down I spy an exquisite dress on the 2nd floor and a few stunning handbags at ground level. Oh what fun it is to be a girl, I think. If only my sister was here to share this day with me.

And that’s the hardest part of all this…the part where my sister and my best girlfriends are all still in Los Angeles or San Francisco. Too far to swing over for a day in the Dublin sun, too far to pop by for a coffee and a chat and too far to share in these little, every-day things that are part of my life here. As much as I love Ireland the fact that my family and closest friends aren’t here is – and will always be – the rub.

Days when I feel the distance more than usual are difficult. But the positive side is that it drives me to realise our dream of splitting time between two places, or of having a more flexible work schedule so we can spend a chunk of time over there…or over here if we decide to move away. I haven’t quite landed on how we’d do this, but for now the thought provides me with some much-needed cheering up on days like yesterday.

Beet Greens Tart

My sister is as obsessed with food and wine as I am; we can spend hours talking about chefs, restaurants, farmers’ markets and recipes. She made a tart similar to this some time ago, and I bookmarked the recipe for future use. Instead of using turnip tops, which the original recipe calls for, I used beet root tops – something that many people just throw away. It’s full of nutrients and can be cooked just like kale or spinach. Just cut out the thick part of the stems, wash and cook with a touch of olive oil and garlic for a great side dish. Or, make this tart.

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 spelt & olive oil crust (recipe here) – no need to blind bake, filling goes into raw crust

1/4 lb. / 4 oz beet root tops, or spinach greens, de-stemmed
1 small clove of garlic
2 large eggs + 1 yolk
3/4 cup veg. broth
1/4 cup greek style natural (plain) yogurt
scant 1/4 teaspoon salt (more if broth unsalted)
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons herbs de Provence (opt.)
A bit of crushed red chilli flakes, for topping

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Put the washed and dried beet tops and garlic into the food processor and pulse into finely minced. You can also do this with a very sharp knife on chopping board if you don’t have a food processor. Add in the eggs and yolk, and pulse. Then add in the vegetable broth and yogurt, salt, mustard and herbs and pulse until mixed. Fill the tart shell and bake for 30 minutes, or until the center is set. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with red chilli flakes (if using) – this way they will stick to the hot tart. Let cool for 5 minutes, and then serve.

For the first year after I moved to Ireland, I lived alone in a lovely upper-floor apartment in Drogheda. And for several years prior to my move to Ireland, I lived alone without any live-in beaus or roommates to speak of.

I don’t look back on this with any sadness or regret; in fact, when I finally decided to ditch the roommate situation and branch out on my own, I was beyond ready to go solo. My last roommate (in Los Angeles, where I lived at the time) was an actress who didn’t have a day-job, which meant she was in our apartment all the time. It got to the point where I’d pull into our driveway after a long day at work and groan when I saw her car there – just once I wanted it and her NOT to be there, laying about on the couch and nagging me about everything from whether I’d read her magazines without asking to when I’d planned to move the unwashed fork from the sink into the dishwasher.

Though for the first few weeks I was a bit chicken (one unfamiliar noise in the dark would almost make pine for the company of that lay-about actress) I settled into bachelorette living and embraced having my own space. It was nice to come home from work, fix myself dinner and not have to worry about whether someone else had already tuned the television to some stupid show I had no desire to watch. I could literally kick off my shoes, flip on the telly and eat cereal out of the box if I so pleased.

It was a liberating time where I further developed my already well-cultured independence, though it wasn’t always easy. One time there was a massive flying cockroach in my tiny bathroom, and it took me about an hour of self-motivating inner monologues (he’s just a bug, you are a huge human!) before I finally went in with a can of bug spray in one hand and a plastic spatula in the other. I sprayed so much bug poison in the bathroom I nearly choked to death myself, but when the mist had settled and I peered through the tiny crack of the open door, I saw the intruder was legs-up and off to that roach motel in the sky. Hard-won, but victory nonetheless!

I also developed some single-girl behaviours during this time – things I would never do around a boyfriend or maybe even a best friend. If I was feeling particularly lazy on a Saturday morning, I’d grab the duvet off my bed, curl up on the couch and watch some super cheeseball television show whilst munching on an odd but appealing snack like melted American cheese on crackers with salsa on top. I might even stay in my pajamas all day, chatting with a friend on the telephone whilst lying on the floor with my feet up on the coffee table, followed by Indian takeaway eaten straight from the paper container and a solo screening of The Holiday.

While these weren’t necessarily healthy behaviours, they were good for the soul. There’s something cathartic about having the space to do whatever you want, without company or judgment. These days I’m happily married to and cohabitating with Mountaineering Man, but I still have my me time (and so does he – though his ideal solo time involves climbing a mountain!). If MM is working on a Sunday, as he sometimes does,  I may veg out on the sofa with a mindless television program (don’t ask me why but I actually recorded and watched every episode of Chasing the Saturdays on E!) or spend far too much time on Pinterest, looking for home decorating ideas or the perfect holiday destination. Being able to indulge in these single-girl behaviours makes me a better wife, partner and friend and helps ease the stress of work and life in general. I highly recommend it!

Pear & Pine Nut Spelt Bread

One of my favourite ways to spend my alone time is a) looking at cookbooks; b) looking up recipes on Foodgawker; c) taking all the ideas and creating a new dish. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen during my solo hours, which ironically isn’t something I did much when I was single. Perhaps it’s because I have someone else to cook for now, which is a big motivator. I made this bread recently when I was home alone, as we had some leftover pears and a half-bag of pine nuts in the press. I took a few banana bread recipes and adapted them to create this. Enjoy!

1 1/2 cups spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon all spice

1 cup coconut sugar (or use dark brown sugar; you can find coconut sugar at Nourish or other health food shops)

1/4 cup canola or olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 medium pears, peeled, cored and diced

Handful toasted pine nuts

Preheat oven to 180 C degrees. Grease and flour a loaf tin.

In a bowl, whisk together the first eight ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine coconut sugar, oil and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in flour mixture. Fold in diced pears and pine nuts.

Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until done. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

When I first moved to Ireland just over three years ago, I was a wide-eyed American girl with sense of adventure and an open mind…or so I thought. After the initial excitement of living in a new country wore off, I started to realise that living in Ireland meant I would be getting a lot of practice working on something I wasn’t so good at: Patience.

I recall the first time I strolled down to the post office during lunch, just to find out many post offices are closed during the 1-2 PM lunch break. Seriously? How does this make any sense? Most people use their weekday lunch time to run errands, like go to the bank, drop off the dry cleaning and GO TO THE POST OFFICE. GROAN!

Particularly when I lived in Drogheda, a trip to the grocery store could take twice as long as planned thanks to the chatterboxes that work the cash registers. Oh Mary, you’re looking well! What are ye up to? Aw that’s a lovely restaurant, we love it. Make sure to get the steak and….oh sure treat yourself, you deserve it! This could go on for minutes…tens of minutes. Never mind there’s a half-dozen of us in line behind Mary, waiting to get back to work or back to the car that’s sitting in the pay-by-the-hour car park.

During the really early days, I complained a lot. To the post office worker, to the chatterbox, to the bank lady who told me it would take 30 days to get my laser card in the post. Why? How can this be? What the…? It didn’t go over very well with those on the receiving end of my rants but moreover it was driving me mad. I wanted things to work MY way, which was about as likely to happen as a Dublin bus arriving to a stop on time.

In time I started to accept the fact that an entire country was not going to bend to my will and do things just to suit my standards. Sure, things still irritate me – I recently spent 45 minutes getting a “personalised” assessment from a trainer at my gym, only to find out they give everyone the exact same “personalised” workout afterward – but I’m developing my patience and learning to adjust.

In some ways it’s a lot like baking bread, something I’ve only started doing recently. With cooking you can bend a dish to your taste – add a bit more of this, a little touch of that – and it won’t ruin the final result. But baking really requires strict adherence to the rules (or the recipe, in most cases!) and a helluva lot of patience.

Inspired by my food blogger friends Caroline Bibliocook and Roseanne LikeMamUsedToBake and the incredible Vlad & Peter of Arun Bakery, I recently tried my hand at making my own sourdough starter. Beginning the starter was easy, but the nurturing or feeding process required far more attention. Every 2-3 days I had to take some of the starter out, add in more flour and tepid water and keep watch over the jar. After 12 days, it was bubbling and ready to go. I then tackled my first-ever batch of sourdough bread, which required further diligence. It requires a first rise for 4-5 hours, and then an overnight proofing period which means a lot of planning, patience and timing things just right – a lesson that I’m also learning to apply to life as well.

Sourdough Starter

(This is from Paul Hollywood’s Bread, however I have made a few changes including using whole meal flour and not using an airtight container as he suggests)

1kg strong organic whole meal flour

1 organic apple, grated with skin but not core

360ml tepid water

Large jar with a lid or cover – at least 1.5l

Day 1

Weigh out 500g of the flour and mix with the apple and water. Tip into a container and ensure that the mix comes no more than one-third of the way up (if it exceeds this, tip it out and find another container. You have been warned). Mark the level of the mix on the outside so you can see whether it has risen; cover (my jar has a lid but it is not air-tight, and it worked fine) and leave to ferment for three days.

Day 4

After 3 days the mix should smell a bit sweet, like cider perhaps, and should have darkened somewhat. It should also have started to grow (which you can check by seeing how far above the line on the jar it has risen). Discard half of the mix and tip the rest out into a bowl. Add 250g of flour and 170ml of water and mix thoroughly before returning to the jar. This is called feeding and it happens a lot. Think of your starter like a plant that needs to be cultivated. Leave for a further two days.

Day 6

There should now be plenty of activity in the dough; which is to say that it should be bubbling away.  If your starter is experiencing a post activity slump (characterised by a layer of liquid on the top), it may in fact be over-active and you need to stir in some more flour to return it to a thick consistency and leave it for a day to recover. (This happened to me, and I followed his instructions and it worked beautifully!)

Assuming you have an active starter, discard half of it again and mix in the final 250g flour along  with enough water to return it to the consistency of a very wet, sloppy dough. This may be more, less or the same amount of water as you used before, depending on the temperature where you are cultivating your starter.

Leave it 24hrs. If the starter begins to bubble within this time (and wobbles like jelly when shaken) it is active and ready to use (hurrah!). If not, simply feed it again as from Day 4 and leave for another two days.

Clare’s note: At this stage I was not ready to bake bread yet (no time!) so I continued to feed it every three days using the first round method (throwing out half, then adding more flour/water) until Day 12, when I was ready to  bake).

If you are using your starter on a very regular basis, say every two to three days, you can leave it at room temperature; feeding it whenever you want to make a loaf.  If, like me, you make sourdough every week or two, then keep it in the fridge, remembering to bring it up to room temperature 24hrs before you intend to use it and, if it seems inactive, feeding it as well.

Dark Chocolate-Studded Sourdough Bread (makes 2 rounds)

(Base bread recipe adapted from Paul Hollywood’s Basic Sourdough recipe)

750g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

500g sourdough starter

15g salt (I used Cornish Sea Salt)

350-450ml tepid water

Olive oil for kneading

400 grams of chopped dark chocolate (I recommend no darker than 70%, you want something with some sweetness to offset the sour of the bread)

Put the flour, starter, and salt into a large bowl.

Add 350ml water and begin mixing with your hands, adding more water if you need to, until you have formed a soft rough dough, and picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl.

Coat the work surface with a little olive oil, then tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5-10 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin.

When your dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel.

Leave to rise at 22-24C (no cooler than 15C and no warmer than 25C) for 5 hours, or until at least doubled in size. (Note: I used my hot press)

Cover two trays with cloths, and dust them heavily with flour.

Tip the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface, and fold it in on itself a few times to knock out some of the air. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, and divide the chopped dark chocolate into two equal piles. Take one of the dough pieces and work it over one pile of chopped chocolate and knead so that the chocolate gets incorporated into the dough. Do this with the second dough piece and second pile of chocolate. Shape them into a ball and place each into prepared proofing baskets or onto parchment-lined & floured baking trays.

Leave to prove at 22-24C for 13 hours, or until the dough is doubled in size and springs back when lightly prodded with your finger.

When the dough is ready, heat your oven to 200C and place a cake tin or roasting tin on the floor of your oven (under the lowest rack). Put the kettle on and boil some water. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Transfer your loaves to the prepared baking trays by tipping them out of the basket onto the trays, or if you just used trays leave them on there – they’re ready for the oven. Place the baking tray or trays into the oven and before you close the door put about a 1/2 of a cup of the boiling water into the bottom roasting tin and then IMMEDIATELY close the oven door. The steam created from doing this will give the bread a nice, crunchy crust.

You may have to bake these in batches depending on your oven size, but bake each round for 30-40  minutes or until it sounds hollow when you take the underside of the bread.

As I sit here typing this blog post, I’m looking outside at the wind and rain and bracing myself for the sleet that is forecasted for this evening. If Irish people are buying that this is Spring, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. The only thing that’s Spring-y about this weather is, well, nothing.

Still, it could be worse. And despite Mountaineering Man’s grumblings about the cruel and unrelenting Irish weather (and financial crisis and corrupt politicians), I still love it here. It’s funny how many times a day I get the OMG WHY DID YOU MOVE HERE FROM LOS ANGELES double-take from stunned Irish people. It’s typically followed by a statement about how bad things are here and how they can’t imagine why anyone would actually want to move to Ireland.

The sentiment I get from blog readers abroad is the complete opposite. I get a dozen emails every week from people all over the world who are dying to live here. They dream of the rolling green hills, the cosy pubs and great Irish craic and they ask me a lot of questions about how they can make that dream a reality. Their love and admiration for the country is palpable; they speak of Ireland with the kind of dreamy enthusiasm that many express about places like Paris, Tuscany and Manhattan.

Sometimes it seems Ireland needs a boost in its self-esteem; it’s a bit like the girl who can’t take a compliment and always retorts with something negative whenever someone says something nice to her. Everyone: “You look amazing today!” Ireland: “No way, I look FAT.” I realise the grass is always greener, and you always want what you don’t have, but Ireland is a very special place and I wish more people here could see that.

Stuffed Curried Irish Potatoes

Ah, the humble potato – I don’t think I’ve ever eaten as many or even thought about potatoes as much as I have since I’ve moved here. It’s one of Ireland’s greatest treasures, despite their unsuspecting appearance. There are waxy ones and floury ones and it seems every Irish person has fifty different ways of preparing this humble tuber. We often cut them into cubes, toss with some olive oil and herbs and bake at a very high temperature, but this week I thought I’d try something different and really make the Irish potato shine. This is a fairy easy recipe and happens to be vegan and very healthy – I hope you enjoy it. I get a lot of potato inspiration from The Daily Spud, a must-read for potato lovers! There are tons of spud-tastic recipes there, so check it out.

4 baking potatoes

1 sweet potato

Olive oil

Sea salt

2 carrots, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

3 teaspoons red curry paste

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1/2 teaspoon all spice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup vegetable stock

Parsley for garnish

Preheat the oven to 190C degrees. Wash and scrub the baking potatoes and sweet potato and pat dry. Rub olive oil on the exterior of all the potatoes and sprinkle with sea sat. Put onto a baking tray and bake for an hour, or until a knife pierced into the center goes in easily. Remove and let cool.

While the potatoes are baking, heat up a teaspoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add in the carrots and onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Toss in the garlic and peas and cook for another 3 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut each in half and scrape out the insides carefully, using a spoon. Put the potato innards into a large bowl and put the skins on a baking tray, except the sweet potato – once you scrape out the insides you can discard the skin. Using a fork, lightly mash the potatoes until combined and then add in the cooked vegetables, curry paste, curry powder and spices. Drizzle in the vegetable stock – you may not need all of it or you may need a bit more – until the mixture is creamy and easy to scoop, but do not overwork it. Season with sea salt to taste.

Scoop the filling into the skins and place back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes (at the same temp of 190C). Serve with a dollop of natural yogurt if you want, or soya yogurt if you want to keep this vegan. Garnish with parsley.

Every once in a while I like to write a short post on what we’ve been eating lately. We’re always keen to cook our own food versus buying ready-made lunches and we reserve restaurant outings for the weekends, so our kitchen is always bustling with activity.

Though it’s not always easy, it’s worth the effort. We buy 90% of our weekly groceries at the farmers’ market and get staples like ketchup, mayo, etc. at Lidl or SuperValu. This means there’s a whole routine of packaging up our vegetables and bread and fish/chicken/meat when we get home from the farmers’ market, as most of it isn’t in any kind of container or wrapping.

Still, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We eat incredibly well and Sunday through Friday we eat three meals a day that we’ve made ourselves. Our average cost? About €3.80 per person, per meal. Of course we’re not factoring in the effort it takes, but as I love to cook (and as Mountaineering Man is starting to get into cooking himself), we don’t mind it at all.

So here’s a look into an average week for us, many of these dishes don’t have recipes as we kind of throw them together. We focus on using everything we have for the week (I even write a list of what we have in the fridge every Sunday so I can better plan our meals and curb any waste) and with the exception of the weekends cook relatively simple food.

Brown Bag Lunches

MM takes a couple of sandwiches, plus oatmeal with fruit plus an apple every day for his breakfasts and lunches at work. I try to make his sambos interesting, and always use meat from the butcher and fresh bread from either il Valentino or Arun Bakery plus a variety of condiments. Last week he took corned beef with pickles, Edam cheese and a homemade Thousand Island sauce. My breakfast usually consist of a huge Glowing Green Smoothie, which I make at home and bring to work, and lunches are usually vegan or vegetarian. Yesterday I brought some roasted cauliflower and sweet potato topped with baked beans. A bit odd, I know, but filling, easy and tasty.

Weeknight Suppers

MM often cooks himself a dinner of baked fish, roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli for a healthy and quick weeknight dinner. Sometimes if I’m home a bit early and have a bit of time, I’ll throw together a simple spelt spaghetti with pesto (see below for more on this) and frozen peas/spinach, or make a rustic veggie tart. I actually made two of the above veg tarts; one for our dinner, and one to take to work to share with co-workers. I typically make a simple dough from wholemeal flour, olive oil and cold water, roll or even pat it out and then top with whatever veg I have (if it’s root veg like above, I roast them separately first).

Friday Dinners

By Fridays, our fridge is almost empty but we always have a few veggies laying around so I either make a pizza or tart of some sort as both are a great way to use up any leftover vegetables. As I have more time on a Friday, I tend to experiment a bit: the pizza on the left is made with a chickpea flour crust, which is almost like a pancake at first but gets a bit firmer when you bake it. The tart on the right is really my go-to; I roast off whatever veg I have (or sauté if it’s onions/peppers), then toss them into a bowl with a bit of natural yogurt and a couple of eggs and seasoning. I make a simple crust with wholemeal or spelt flour, olive oil and water, and throw it all together and bake. MM loves these tarts and luckily for me, never seems to get tired of them.

Leftover Saviours

As we really hate to waste any food, I always try and come with some creative way of using anything we have left in the fridge at the weekend. Last week I made this pesto as we had a heap of leftover basil, a bit of parmesan cheese and some walnuts. I just blitzed all the ingredients in a food processor with some olive oil and we had pesto all week – some of which I used for the spaghetti above.

Sometimes we’ll have a few bananas or pears left at the end of the week, as we buy loads of fruit for my Glowing Green Smoothies. The bad thing about leftover fruit is that it’s often bruised and blackened; the good thing is that bruised and blackened fruit makes fantastic bread. A couple of weeks ago I took three black bananas and a pear and made this easy banana bread with some wholemeal flour, brown sugar, egg and walnuts. We actually gifted it to MM’s folks as we were staying with them that weekend. Basically beat together 2 tablespoons of softened butter with 3/4 cup of brown sugar until fluffy. Add in one egg and three mashed bananas and mix until smooth. In separate bowl, stir 1.5 cups wholemeal flour and 3 teaspoons of baking powder. Then combine the wet and dry ingredients and add a handful of chopped walnuts and combine. Pour into loaf pan, top with whole walnuts and bake in a pre-heated 200C oven for 40-45 minutes.

Staying In vs. Going Out

Sometimes instead of going out for a Saturday night meal, we’ll treat ourselves to a more elaborate dinner at home. Last weekend we made three dishes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Jerusalem” cookbook, which MM bought me for my birthday. It was so much fun cooking together and creating a gourmet meal out of really simple, inexpensive ingredients. We made the lamb koftas, spinach & date salad and a beautiful beetroot puree with goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts. You can read more about how we worked together on MM’s blog post here.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday dinner varies – sometimes we’ll do a simple Asian stir-fry but last weekend I made this Ottolenghi-inspired pizza, as we had several leftover ingredients from the previous night’s meal. I made the crust from wholemeal flour, yeast, chestnut honey and water, and then topped with the leftover lamb mince, roasted tomatoes, spinach, peppers, onions and goat cheese.

Again it takes some work, and as we do not have kids we do have more time than those with little ones running around. But I think everyone can do a version of what we do – if you focus on simple ingredients and like to cook, you can make the time to ensure you’re eating healthy, handmade meals whenever possible.

Exactly three years ago today, I landed in Ireland as a wide-eyed and optimistic American in search of a new adventure. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I’ve found far more than adventure; in Ireland, I’ve found a new life.

It’s fun to look back on old blog posts to see what I went through in the early days. I can recall my surprise when I saw how dressy girls would get for a night out. I was from Los Angeles, where a typical Saturday night out meant a nice pair of jeans and a dressy top, and here girls were putting in hair extensions, spraying on the fake tan and slipping into their best dress for a night out. There were many lessons to be learned in those days…remember how I struggled with understanding the accent (in my case, the not-so-listener-friendly dialect of Drogheda, where I first settled) and how much fun I had upon discovering the charm of the good, old-fashioned country pub?

Like anyone adjusting to living in a new country, I had major moments of frustration; what with the weather, the summer greenfly infestations and major lack of good customer service some days were trying to say the least. And I had some really low points too. I missed my family and friends, felt hopeless about dating here and at times wondered if moving to Ireland was the right decision.

But the good outweighed the bad by overwhelming numbers and that’s what kept me going. Ireland, with all of its quirks and oddities, is an endless source of inspiration and I am always discovering something new and unique. I even learned to cope with the weather, though I will admit I still struggle with it at times. And while many Irish questioned why on earth anyone would want to move to their crippled country, I found many reasons why I wanted to stay and met many locals who felt the same.

In the last 36 months I’ve met so many incredible people, developed some amazing friendships and met & married the love of my life, Mountaineering Man. It’s wild to think that so much can happen in such a short time, but I suppose that’s the magic of Ireland.

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Smoked Mackerel Pizza

This dish is a little Los Angeles and a little Ireland all in one. I discovered it when my sister made it for me on our recent trip to LA, but found it works great with the local smoked mackerel (she used trout in hers). It’s super easy and quick to throw together for a dinner party appetizer and you can find all the ingredients at your local market.

1 large pizza crust, baked & cooled. I found mine at Fresh market in the deli section; there is two per pack and bakes up in about 8 minutes.

5 tablespoons crème fraiche or plain yogurt

3 tablespoons horseradish cream

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Pinch of salt

1 fillet smoked mackerel

3 tablespoons chopped chives

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the crème fraiche (or yogurt), horseradish cream, lemon juice and salt. Using a spoon or spatula, spread evenly over the baked and cooled pizza crust. Using your fingers, take small pieces of mackerel fillet and place the pieces evenly over the crème fraiche on the pizza. Sprinkle on the chives, slice and serve. Goes great with champagne!

Editor’s note: Today’s post is written by my husband Cormac, better known to you blog readers as Mountaineering Man. For my birthday a couple weeks back, he offered to cook me a homemade meal, which was a bit of a surprise; though he has become really good at making baked fish, roasted potatoes and the like he’s never made an entire meal using recipes. Here is his story.

WHAT do you cook the girl who’s eaten everything?

Well, anything.

At least that’s what Clare told me she’d happily have for her birthday meal.

It was a significant birthday so this was going to be a significant meal. So the amount of planning and prep was going to be – you guessed it – significant.

Now we live in a home filled with cook and food books. From the Larousse bible to Bourdain, from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to Julia Child, there was no shortage of ideas on the shelves.

This is the point where I would usually admit my shortcomings, go for the simplest thing possible and pray that enough butter (the chef’s ace in the hole) would carry me through.

Not this time.

Then it struck me. When Clare’s folks visited last year we had spent a night at home sipping wine and watching Two Greedy Italians – the wonderful foodalogue produced by Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo.

The episode that night featured ‘Poor Man’s Food’ and one dish stood out in my memory – a chicken liver and truffle pasta cooked in the evening sun on a Piedmontese terrazza.

Food chosen, the next task began- Finding the ingredients. After sourcing the recipe on the show’s webpage I realised this was no Tesco jaunt.

In fact, I hadn’t cooked with most of the ingredients before. I don’t think I’d ever even seen a chicken liver.

My journalist’s day job, editing to rapidly-encroaching deadlines while juggling lawyers and a million and one other things, can be stressful.

But there’s stress and then there’s blind, flailing panic about where to find a decent bottle of Marsala wine in Dublin city centre at an hour’s notice.

In weather the (sub)polar opposite of a summer in Piedmont I made it to Little Italy, a great little Italian store in Smithfield. Twenty enjoyable minutes later I emerged, bag crammed with pasta, porcini, truffle oil, a very nice Chianti Classico and – per fortuna! – the elusive wine liqueur itself.

I arrived home with less than an hour to spare before Clare arrived hungry, tired and expecting, well, something.

One thing I quickly learned was that – like the sun drenched terrace – the bucolic soft-tones of Carluccio’s cooking aren’t too easy to replicate against time, on a first outing, in an apartment kitchen.

My left hand weighed, my right chopped, any hopes of keeping my shirt clean disappeared in minutes. An hour of straining (the porcini, my nerves), simmering (the pasta, my anger over a snafu with the eggs) and tossing (the salad, caution to the wind) got me there.

Mercifully I had the foresight to lay the table beforehand (and fecklessly spend a chunk of my precious time handwriting a slightly-legible menu).

My fallback was gift of Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem. I reckoned If Clare couldn’t eat a nice meal at least she could look at pics of one.

So, with candles lit, my wife emerged, and I held my breath. I think she was surprised – and in a good way. So was I.

We ate, drank and ate a little more. The food was – if I say so – good, the company better, of course.

To seal the deal I whipped out a bar of Fondente all‘Albana, a last minute chocolate addition to my basket in the food store hours earlier. We wrapped the night nibbling and sipping. Una grand notte – as they say in Alba…

Postscript – three days later I was gob smacked when my efforts, tweeted by Clare, got a nod from Gennaro Contaldo himself, no less. Which has racheted up the pressure for the next one!

I used two recipes from the Two Greedy Italians’ webpage

The bresaola salad recipe is here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bresaola_salad_04379

The chicken liver pasta here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pasta_ribbons_with_33870

Both recipes serve four – I broadly divided by two. I dropped the truffle slices and used a decent truffle oil instead. The near-impossibility of sourcing unsalted butter meant I went opted for the regular stuff.

The west of Ireland – with all its wind and rain and general bi-polar weather – holds a special place in my heart. It’s where I had my first weekend getaway (a mini-break, as Bridget Jones would say) with Mountaineering Man and where he proposed to me in February of last year.

So to celebrate our engagement anniversary and both of our birthdays (he’s a Valentine’s baby, just like my mom!), we headed west. We first hit Galway, where we strolled around the cobblestone streets, caught an impromptu show by some talented buskers and then feasted on beautiful salads at Kai. MM had a smoked chicken salad, which came with rustic field greens, smoked almonds, red cabbage. I opted for the goat cheese curd salad with blood oranges, toasted hazelnuts and lots of lovely greens. Both came with Kai’s addictive moist-on-the-inside, crusty-on-the-outside brown bread. The food was fresh and innovative and the décor was rustic and charming. We’ll be back!

We then headed to our final destination: Knockranny House Hotel & Spa in Westport. Knockranny, with its expansive rooms & suites, first-class service and award-winning restaurant, is a worlds apart from other hotels in the area, many of which cater to stag and hen party-goers. Everything about the place is relaxing; from the muted, earth tones of the room décor and candle-lit spa to the roaring fireplace in the bar and plush armchairs in the lobby, we feel a million miles from the stresses of life when we’re there. The service is top-notch as well. When I wasn’t feeling well at dinner on our second night our waitress had our dessert and half-finished bottle of wine sent up to our room, and as they knew it was our birthdays there was “Happy Birthday” written out in chocolate on the plate. They think of everything.

Last year when we were here we took an afternoon trip to Leenane, about a 45-minute drive from the hotel. We’d stopped by a cosy little pub there called Gaynors to have a pint and a sandwich for lunch. I wrote in my blog about how an old man named Tom came over and talked to us (he kept referring to me as “Lady”), and how he asked MM if he planned to marry me. Of course at the time I didn’t realise that MM had the ring in his pocket – it was on our way back to Knockranny that he proposed. We laughed and talked fondly about Tom for the rest of the weekend.

Well low and behold, he was there at Gaynors when we walked in on this visit. I went over and told him the story, and he was touched to know he’d been a part of our engagement day. Again Tom sat with us, though this time he treated us like old friends. And by old friends I mean he had no problem asking us to buy him a Lotto scratcher at the bar! We figured it was the least we could do, and MM even offered to buy him a pint before we left but Tom said he’d rather have the money instead, lol. As we headed toward the door, he looked at Cormac and said, “I told you to marry the lady and you did!” He was absolutely pleased with himself!

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the hotel: we had breakfast every morning with a view of Croagh Patrick, got spa treatments, read in the comfort of our beautiful suite and enjoyed some bubbly at the hotel bar. It was a fantastic way to celebrate our birthdays and engagement anniversary at a place that has come to mean so much to us. We’re already planning our trip for next year (and Tom, if you’re reading this we’ll see you at Gaynors!).

*Should be noted that we were paying guests at Knockranny House; this is a strictly voluntary review and I was not paid to promote the hotel. 

Celebration Aperitifs: Crisps, Caviar & Champers!

This may seem like an odd combination, but trust me when I say it’s absolutely fabulous. My sister gave me the idea of pairing good, thick-cut crisps with caviar and champagne and so for MM’s birthday dinner at home I put this together for our aperitif. The key is to use a plain, salted crisp; flavoured ones won’t work here, and neither will the thin variety. I used Burt’s Salted Potato Crisps and they worked beautifully.

Bag of thick-cut, salted crisps

Crème fraiche or natural yogurt

Caviar – it’s up to you what kind! We used Goatsbridge Trout Caviar and it was wonderful (available at Fallon & Byrne)

Chopped chives

Champagne – get a good one! We had Moet & Chandon that my co-workers got us for our wedding

There’s really not much to it – just present all of the above together in a nice arrangement and there you have it! Enjoy, it’s a wonderful pairing!

Yep, you read that right – today, I’m officially 40 years old. (Took the pic this morning, the first of my 40s!).

Gulp.

In all honesty, I’m not embarrassed to admit it. In fact, I’m embracing it. While it would be great to shave a few years off that number for the sake of grey hairs and a few laugh lines, I like myself better now than I did in my 20s.

I feel better about the choices I make – there’s a certain confidence that comes with age and experience. The things I used to obsess over when I was younger don’t even occur to me anymore, maybe because there are a whole slew of NEW things to obsess over now (like grey hairs and laugh lines!).

I remember in my 20s and even into my 30s I spent a lot of energy worried I’d miss something. It was hard to say no to invitations – what if something amazing happened and I wasn’t there? It was very important to feel included, whether it be in a club or in the telling of a joke. I hated missing out. You know the saying, “She goes to the opening of an envelope…?” Well, that was me. These days, I miss a lot of things…on purpose. I leave the bar after a couple of drinks. I politely decline invitations on a regular basis; my favourite Friday nights are the ones I stay in with Mountaineering Man with a bottle of wine and some home-cooked food.  If I walk into a room and have no idea what the conversation is about, I’ll leave it.

I’m much kinder to myself today than I was when I was younger; the constant self-loathing and beating myself up…what was that about? I was my own worst critic, even if I didn’t show it to the outside world. Too chubby, fat arms, not smart enough, not interested in the right things, not interesting to the right people, too mainstream…these phrases were a regular part of my internal monologue for many years. It was exhausting.

I was painfully insecure, though I often acted the opposite. When I think about how that lack of confidence manifested itself back then, I cringe. I used to manage a group of designers at a job I had in my late 20s and during my most insecure moments I pulled rank with them. I tried to prove my authority and demand respect rather than earn it, and needless to say it didn’t work. Now I see the people I manage as equals and we work together and help each other out. It’s more productive and frankly, a hell of a lot more fun.

I spent a lot of time fighting: fighting fat, fighting fear, fighting frustration – you name it and I jumped in, [metaphorical] guns blazing. I wanted people to bend to my way, so I fought with them to make it happen. If didn’t like the outcome of a scenario I struggled to change it, despite my inability to turn back time (ha!). Patience was a foreign concept to me and my desire to get things done and get what I wanted when I wanted it usually had me on the defensive.

What changed me over the years is that at some point, I decided to stop talking and start listening (mind you, I still talk a lot!). I can’t tell you how much I’ve benefitted from observing others, the ones who are doing things with patience and kindness and who lead by example. You also realise that the world doesn’t revolve around you, and that if you miss something life goes on. And while you’re fighting fat with yet another diet, someone else is fighting loneliness or fighting to keep their job or fighting for their life. Sure it’s all relative but I’ve learned to pick my battles and understand the problems I have aren’t earth-shattering.

Don’t get me wrong, the road to self discovery is a long one and I’m not even at the half-way point, but the drive is much smoother than it used to be.

Nutty Asian Stir Fry (vegan)

When I was younger I was always on a diet and watching my weight – but my approach was all wrong. I bought a lot of frozen diet meals, like Lean Cuisine, and stocked my larder with low-fat cheese, low-fat bread, diet drinks, sugar-free cookies, baked chips and a million other manufactured “diet” foods. With all the preservatives and chemicals in those foods I clearly didn’t care about being healthy, I just wanted to lose weight! Of course now I embrace unprocessed, natural foods and feel much better (and look better!) than I did back then. These are a couple of my favourite healthy dishes, starting with this quick and easy stir-fry.

Stir-fry

1 teaspoon ground nut oil

1/2 red cabbage, sliced thin

1 red pepper, sliced thin

1 green pepper, sliced thin

1 medium onion, sliced thin

2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin

Handful of toasted whole almonds, chopped

Chopped scallions for garnish

Sauce:

4 tablespoons almond butter

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

Heat the oil in a large wok or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add in the cabbage, peppers, onion and carrots and cook until tender – about 10 minutes. I like a bit of bite to mine so I cook it a little less, but it’s entirely up to you! While the veggies are cooking, put all the sauce ingredients into a jar, put the lid on and shake vigorously. Pour the sauce over the veggies in the wok/pan and coat – then cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve over brown rice and top with chopped almonds and scallions.

Cuban Black Bean Soup (vegan)

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 medium carrots, diced

1 large onion, diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and deveined, diced

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups vegetable broth

2 tins of black beans (420 grams each), drained and rinsed

1 ripe avocado, sliced or cubed

Fresh corriander for garnish

In a large soup pot, heat up the oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic, carrots, onion and jalapeno and cook until the vegetables start to soften – about 7 minutes. Add in the cumin, oregano and cayenne and toss to coat and let cook for another minute. Add in the vegetable broth and turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.

Add in the black beans and stir – now scoop out half of the soup mixture and blend in a blender or food processor. Add that back into the soup pot with the rest of the soup and bring back up to a boil. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Serve topped with avocado. Garnish with corriander. To make a meal of it, pour over brown rice.

Chocolate Tofu Tart (vegan)

12-15 chocolate biscuits of your choice – if you want to stay vegan make sure you read the label first!

2 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted

350 grams of 70% dark chocolate, chopped

400 grams of silken tofu (must be SILKEN – get at Asian market)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Put the chocolate biscuits into a ziplock bag and, using a rolling pin, crush by pounding them through the bag. Put the biscuit crumbs in a large bowl and pour over the melted coconut oil. Mix thoroughly and then press the biscuit crumbs into a 9-inch pie dish. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

In the meantime – over a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate until shiny and smooth. Set aside to cool. Place the tofu into a food processor and blend until very smooth – you will need to scrape down the sides and blend a few times to ensure there are no lumps. Add in the vanilla and salt, and then the melted chocolate and blend until smooth. Pour into the cooled biscuit base and refrigerate for at least three hours. Slice and serve!