Category: food

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Magill’s

thanks to lolaclickclack on flickr

 

I was just thinking about this shop in Dublin, there’s a particular sausage I get in there called Calabrese, a dry & spicy Italian sausage from suppliers like DCW Casing which I’m very fond of. Anyhow, just go there and buy one for a tenner.

I imagine Magill’s is the type of shop that is suffering in the downturn but I’m hoping it’ll endure because Magill’s is an institution. It has been around for 90 years or so and every, olive, spice, sausage, cheese and paté has left a few of their mollycules flying around. So if I can steal from Flann O’Brien’s Mollycule Theory in “The Third Policeman”, this institution is now part shop, part fondu:

People who spend most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of the parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycles as a result of the interchanging of mollycules of each of them.

And:

The last hanging we had in this parish was thirty years ago. It was a very famous man call MacDadd. He held the record for the one hundred miles on a solid tyre. I need to tell you what the solid tyre did for him. We had to hang the bicycle.

Now I’m not suggesting you’ll get hung if you go into Magill’s, unlike their sausages which are, um, well hung, but I’m imploring you, cajoling you, pleading with you to go there and buy something small. It’s a fabulous place, all dark and mysterious with rows and rows of exotic-looking spices, pepper, anise, cardamom, cinnamon – you name it, they have it. Great desserts, breads, preserves and the like bedeck their shelves. Hams the colour of gold and dripping with artery clogging fat, eggs, anchovies.

Just go there, you don’t need an excuse, just indulge your palate.

14 Clarendon Street  Dublin, Co. Dublin, 01 6713830

I have no interest in Magill’s other than being a lover of food. And Calabrese.

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food: codology

At the risk of exposing myself as an eater of a non-sustainable resource, I bought some cod today from a stall on Moore Street in the heart of Dublin. Four pounds for twelve euro with the head and bones thrown in for good measure to make stock. This works out at €6.67/kg being all metric in our house an’ all. Just for gas I nipped into the local supermarket afterwards for comparison, the same piece of fish was priced €20.95/kg. That’s more than three times the price. Granted, it was in a nice display on a bed of ice and I didn’t have to watch it getting its head cut off, but three times the price? C’mon lads.

There was bonus value down Moore Street as well with filleting lessons from the woman behind the stall and repartee from her son who claimed to be a piano player so he couldn’t risk his fingers with the knife. And Dublin City Council wanted to shut these traders down?

I know where I’ll be getting my fish …

And I’ve been waiting ages to actually use codology in a post, so there it was …

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codology

At the risk of exposing myself as an eater of a non-sustainable resource, I bought some cod today from a stall on Moore Street in the heart of Dublin. Four pounds for twelve euro with the head and bones thrown in for good measure to make stock. This works out at €6.67/kg being all metric in our house an’ all. Just for gas I nipped into the local supermarket afterwards for comparison, the same piece of fish was priced €20.95/kg. That’s more than three times the price. Granted, it was in a nice display on a bed of ice and I didn’t have to watch it getting its head cut off, but three times the price? C’mon lads.

There was bonus value down Moore Street as well with filleting lessons from the woman behind the stall and repartee from her son who claimed to be a piano player so he couldn’t risk his fingers with the knife. And Dublin City Council wanted to shut these traders down?

I know where I’ll be getting my fish … but need to have a good fishing device

And I’ve been waiting ages to actually use codology in a post, so there it was …

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spicy tomato soup

Ingredients:
1 large red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers
3x400g cans tomato
3x400g tins of water / stock
salt’n’peppa
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp caraway seed

Method:
Chop the onion finely, along with the garlic and rashers and sauté in a deep pot over a low heat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cans of tomatoes and bring to a slow boil. Add the water & stock to the 3 empty cans and add to the pot. Chuck in the rest of the ingredients and allow to come back to a slow boil. Let it cook away for about 15 minutes and then blend to your desired consistency.

Delicious!

If you’d prefer a vegetarian version, just omit the rashers and use vegetable stock instead.

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food: spicy tomato soup

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Ingredients:
1 large red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers
3x400g cans tomato
3x400g tins of water / chicken stock
salt’n’peppa
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp caraway seed

Method:
Chop the onion finely, along with the garlic and rashers and sauté in a deep pot over a low heat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cans of tomatoes and bring to a slow boil. Add the water & stock to the 3 empty cans and add to the pot. Chuck in the rest of the ingredients and allow to come back to a slow boil. Let ot cook away for about 15 minutes and then blend to your desired consistency.

Delicious!

If you require a vegetarian version, just omit the rashers and use vegetable stock instead.

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chargrilled broccoli


Ubiquitous broccoli has the habit of ending up in the bottom of our fridge, neglected, unwanted, unloved and uneaten. Here’s a way to freshen it up (with thanks to Domini Kemp).

Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli broken up into florets
100 ml olive oil (maybe too generous)
2 cloves of garlic sliced thinly lengthways
1 hot red chilli de-seeded & sliced
the juice of a lemon
salt’n’peppa

Method:
In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, cook the broccoli florets for about ONE minute only and then plunge them into cold water to cool them very rapidly. Make sure they’re completely cold, then drain and pat dry. Put ’em in the fridge for a bit.

Meanwhile, get your skillet and heat to smoking. In a separate small pot, use half the olive oil to cook the chilli and sliced garlic, and then set aside. When you’re satisfied the broccoli is chilled, combine it in a bowl with the rest of the olive oil and season well.

Then chargrill the broccoli until blackened sporadically, combine with the garlic and chilli oil and add the lemon juice. Serve with pasta (or noodles or whatever).

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food: chargrilled broccoli


Ubiquitous broccoli has the habit of ending up in the bottom of our fridge, neglected, unwanted, unloved and uneaten. Here’s a way to freshen it up (with thanks to Domini Kemp).

Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli broken up into florets
100 ml olive oil (maybe too generous)
2 cloves of garlic sliced thinly lengthways
1 hot red chilli de-seeded & sliced
the juice of a lemon
salt’n’peppa

Method:
In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, cook the broccoli florets for about ONE minute only and then plunge them into cold water to cool them very rapidly. Make sure they’re completely cold, then drain and pat dry. Put ’em in the fridge for a bit.

Meanwhile, get your skillet and heat to smoking. In a separate small pot, use half the olive oil to cook the chilli and sliced garlic, and then set aside. When you’re satisfied the broccoli is chilled, combine it in a bowl with the rest of the olive oil and season well.

Then chargrill the broccoli until blackened sporadically, combine with the garlic and chilli oil and add the lemon juice. Serve with pasta (or noodles or whatever).

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food: yellow savoury rice

This rice dish has a sort of Indian theme, using turmeric, curry leaves and cumin for flavour and colour. Instead of beans, you could substitute peas or soya beans. Great with baked or grilled chicken, maybe some meaty white fish. And green tabasco. Enjoy …

Serves six.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 red onion
1 white onion
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp turmeric
12 frozen curry leaves
2 cups basmati rice
4 cups boiling chicken stock
17 string beans

Method:
The turmeric stains pretty much everything it comes into contact with, so be warned.

Peel and chop the onions and garlic, fry in a heavy pot in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the cumin seed, rice and turmeric and coat everything. Then add the 4 cups of hot stock, add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook very gently for about 20 minutes until all the stock is absorbed.

I suppose if you wanted to make a meal of it, you could add in some finely cut carrots at the onion stage or maybe some courgette. And a few cardamom pods or cloves.

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yellow savoury rice

This rice dish has a sort of Indian theme, using turmeric, curry leaves and cumin for flavour and colour. Instead of beans, you could substitute peas or soya beans. Great with baked or grilled chicken, maybe some meaty white fish. And green tabasco. Enjoy …

Serves six.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 red onion
1 white onion
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp turmeric
12 frozen curry leaves
2 cups basmati rice
4 cups boiling chicken stock
17 string beans

Method:
The turmeric stains pretty much everything it comes into contact with, so be warned.

Peel and chop the onions and garlic, fry in a heavy pot in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the cumin seed, rice and turmeric and coat everything. Then add the 4 cups of hot stock, add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook very gently for about 20 minutes until all the stock is absorbed.

I suppose if you wanted to make a meal of it, you could add in some finely cut carrots at the onion stage or maybe some courgette. And a few cardamom pods or cloves.

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Hoisin Pork

Hoisin Pork, Linda Reid stylee.

Ingredients:
2 x pork fillet steaks
5 cm fresh ginger, chopped very finely, pulped even
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp light soft brown sugar
1 tsp five spice powder
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp honey

Method:
Trim any fat off the pork, leave them whole but flatten them a little. Place the pork and marinade ingredients in a plastic bag or sealable box and make sure everything is completely mixed and covered. Leave in the fridge for at least two hours or preferably overnight. Remove from marinade and cook over a medium heat until cooked through. Don’t pierce the meat unless you want to lose your juices.

If there’s marinade left over, I stick it in a pot and cook it up, possibly adding a little chopped tomato to make a pouring sauce.