Quinces & Aprons!

Last Saturday in my search for the Holy Grail, ahem, the jar of mustard fruits needed for the rabbit recipe I went to a lovely food and wine store here in town - The Kingdom Store. This is a fab shop stocking lots of foodie goodies and great wines. Anyways no sign of the Mustard fruits but from the corner of my eye I spotted what I thought were Capri lemons and made a beeline for them, turned out they were Quinces. Hmmmm... interesting I thought and sur I had to bring a couple home with me.

Quinces have a tough golden skin when ripe with a firm acid flesh that is highly aromatic, generally used for jams and jellies or to flavour pies.

I found a great recipe online - Gordon Ramsay's Pan roasted duck with caramelised quince and pear.

Serves 4

100g caster sugar
100ml cider vinegar
4 star anise
3 cinnamon sticks
1 quince, cored and cut into 2cm-thick wedges
4 duck breasts, about 175g each
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful of thyme sprigs
1 pear, cored
50g butter, cut into cubes
Splash of balsamic vinegar

Put the sugar in a small pan and pour in the vinegar and 200ml water. Dissolve the sugar over a low heat; once the liquid is clear, add 2 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Carefully add the quince to the pan, return to the boil and poach uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove the quince and drain on kitchen paper.

Pat the duck breasts dry with kitchen paper. Score the skin in a crisscross pattern and season generously with salt and pepper. Place the duck breasts skin-side down in a dry, ovenproof pan with the remaining spices and thyme. Cook over a low heat to render down most of the fat. This will take 10-15 minutes. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.

Increase the heat under the duck and fry until the skin is crisp. Turn them over and seal the other side for 1 minute. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 8 minutes for medium-rare – the meat should feel slightly springy when pressed. Rest the duck on a warm plate for 10 minutes.

While the duck rests, cut the pears into 2cm-thick wedges. Pat the quince and pear dry with kitchen paper. Melt the butter in a heavy-based frying pan, then add the fruit. Cook for 5 minutes over a moderate heat, turning halfway and seasoning as it cooks. Once tender and lightly caramelised, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and any juices from the duck. Cook until syrupy.

Carve the duck into thick slices and serve with the caramelised quince and pears, and the pan juices poured over.

We had it with some stirfried cabbage and fondant potatoes.

I will not and cannot cook without wearing an apron and I love them, I have loads - dotty ones, stripey ones, flowery ones, fruity ones, plain ones and last Saturday I got this beaut in Carrig Donn and better again reduced from €15 to €9!

Looking forward to the Dingle Food & Wine Festival at the weekend, we'll be heading over on Sunday.

Saturday night with Bugs Bunny!

Sometimes, just sometimes one gets carried away with oneself ... yes indeedy!!!
Friday night we were watching Australian Masterchef and they were doing a Masterclass. I love Masterchef, whatever nationality it is and I'm so glad it has come to Irish shores - the calibre of cooks on the show is extremely high. I don't watch much TV but I could happily watch cooking programs all day long and in truth often did on a rainy Saturday or Sunday in single days.

On a Saturday Billy and I generally cook something a bit more complex than the usual after work fare and we were contemplating doing Jason Atherton's Eastern Spiced Quail again but nothing had been finalised. So we were relaxing watching the aforementioned Australian Masterchef and George was preparing a rabbit dish with ingredients the contestants had received in a mystery box challenge earlier in the week. We seriously liked the look of the dish and as we had a wee bunny in the freezer courtesy of my last trip to the English Market we decided this would be Saturday night's dindins!

Saturday was one of those days that just didn't go to plan, when Billy got home he had to powerhose the concrete area of the backyard so dinner preparation was left to me for the dish which to give it it's official title is
Cannon of Rabbit, Garlic Custard and Rabbit Consomme

In comparison with George's bunny mine looked like some sort of famine victim, or else George's fellow went on steroids before the show!

First of all Bugs had to be jointed, filletted and his rack had to be french trimmed. The meat had to be removed from his legs. I was like an eejit running from the kitchen to the TV with remote control in hand to make sure I was doing it ala George!

Play, rewind and pause....

His bones went to make a stock.

Veggies had to be turned, carrots and turnips, I also threw in a couple of spuds to keep himself happy.

A "raft" (WTF!!!) had to be made to add to the stock to clarify it.

A paste of olives and mustard fruits had to be made - could NOT find mustard fruits in Tralee so decided to make my own version of same with limes, sugar, white wine vinegar, water and pears and English mustard powder, I kinda threw together elements from a couple of online recipes I found. No idea if the end result was remotely like what mustard fruits are supposed to taste like but it served my purpose well enough.

The paste was used for the rabbit cannon and back straps and these were wrapped in pancetta and rolled into a cylinder and cooked in the oven.

A garlic custard had to be made.

At this stage I was contemplating giving it all to the dog and ordering from Domino's Pizza!

The rabbit belly had to be cut into pieces, coated in semolina and fried twice - but I forgot that part!!!!

The french trimmed rack of rabbit, his liver and kidneys were fried.

And then it was time to plate up....

This is what emerged having taken a lot of my sanity with it!

By the way this took me all of about 3 and a half hours!


(A note - my late mother often told us she regularly ate rabbit as a child - I'm damn sure her Stepmother who reared 5 stepkids and 9 of her own didn't spend 3 1/2 hours making dinner, even for all of them!)

In fairness it was delicious, the consomme was full of flavour and absolutely clear. The garlic custard tasted ok, but I think the consistency was wrong. Obviously my veg turning skills are a bit slack!! The french trimmed rack of rabbit was nice - stayed succulent. The star of the show for me was the cannon of lamb with olive and mustard fruits stuffing wrapped in pancetta - worth all the prep and cooking time!

If anyone wants the link to the recipe and the way it should look have a gander here

Treyvaud's Restaurant, Killarney

A couple of weeks ago we had tickets for Riverdance at the INEC in Killarney so we decided to have dinner beforehand in Treyvaud'sRestaurant. I had lunch there ages and ages ago and had eaten THE most amazing mushroom soup, really really good.

We arrived early around 6.15p.m. so we'd have time to spend some time over the meal before heading down to the INEC. It's a pretty place from the outside, painted timber panels with an old shop front type of feel. The restaurant decor itself just feels a bit jaded but it was quite busy even for such an early dinner time. We were seated beside the front window which was nice.

I had of course perused the online menu beforehand and had already picked out what I was having, these being Warm salad of duck confit with wild rocket, walnut and beetroot salsa to start and Grilled fresh Ray wings with lemon and caper butter for mains. Neither were on the menu :-( but nonetheless I ploughed on bravely and made second choices!

For starters I had the Deep Fried calamari with a saffron and citrus roille. They came in a lovely stack of calamari rings, beautifully crispy and not greasy, and the roille was really flavoursome - €8.50

Billy had the Treyvaud's fishcakes with wholegrain mustard and chives with garlic aioli - 2 massive fishcakes with a fabulous garliccy aioli. I'd have been happy with the aioli on it's own! - €8.95

To follow I had the duck with a red wine jus, red cabbage and a potato rosti - €25.95
The duck was nicely succulent but the rosti was soggy.

Billy had the  half roast guinea fowl with a wild mushroom cream sauce - €24.75.
It was fabulous!!! Neither of us had eaten Guinea fowl before and we were both quite pleasantly surprised, it tastes like a really chickeny chicken! I had thought it would be quite gamey but not at all. The wild mushroom cream sauce was really earthy and creamy and a perfect complement to the guinea fowl.

All main courses have a choice of salad, vegetables, fries or potatoes - we both opted for the spuds and veg.
I had a glass of house white - a very generous measure for €5.95 and Billy had a bottle of the house red - €21.75.

Because we're greedy piggy's we both decided on dessert, a chocolate fudge cake for me and a pannacotta for Billy - both €6.95, and 2 coffees at €2.50 each.

By the time we had got to main course the restaurant had really filled up as they had a large tour group of American's in but service was excellent, very attentive without being overly so.

I had read on their web site that they do a Wild Game night annually in November and we inquired about it and we hope to be there for it!

Our total bill was €103.25.

Food for friends...

We had a couple of friends round for dinner on Saturday night - the craic was great, great food, great wine, great Coke for Fergus (of the liquid variety!) and most of all great company!

It was the aforementioned Finicky Jules and Fergus so I couldn't serve any of Neptune's bounty - blame apportioned to Jules here and not Fergus!!!.

Above we have Moi, Jules and Fergus.


I give ye the one photo taken that was in anyway food related...

I made an amuse bouche of Gazpacho which was served in a shot glass.

Followed by Black Pudding and apple stack with my cider, honey and chili dressing served on baby salad leaves.

For mains we had individual Beef wellingtons, served with a port and red wine jus, twice baked leek and cheese souffle, green beans and superb fondant potatoes - I used the oil from Friday's confit duck legs for these and believe me it's as good a reason as ny to confit a duck leg!

Dessert was Billy's chocolate fondants which turned out just right, served with my Rum & raisin Ice cream.

Nom, nom, nom!!!

I saw this downtown in Carrig Donn on Saturday and had to have it - we're not huge into cupcakes - see previous entries on Weightwatchers but I was thinking how cute it would be to serve a cheese course on this.

Jamie's Confit Duck with Lentils

A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment with a periodontist in Cork - wasn't looking forward to that but I certainly salivated at the prospect of visiting the English Market. As Billy said I'm one of the few women he knows who doesn't go clothes/shoe/bag shopping when I get a couple of spare hours in the Big Smoke, nope I head for Cork Art Supplies and the English Market and I'm as happy as a pig in poop for ages afterwards.

I always stock up on the things that aren't easily available here - bloody impossible to get!. Plump little Quails, Skeaghamore Duck legs and breasts, fresh rabbit and beautifully creamy Mozarella from Toonsbridge dairy in Macroom, usually some delicious cheeses and a nice crusty bread or two also.

So yesterday I was in Tesco's and I picked up the latest Jamie (Oliver) magazine. Now I have to admit he wouldn't be one of my hero chefs but glancing thru the magazine I noticed a recipe for Duck confit and the duck legs that were in my freezer called to me and said "Confit me, confit me". Now, I have never confit-ed anything before - is confit-ed a real verb????? But jamie's recipe sounded ok, apart from calling for duck fat - didn't have any so I checked out another couple of duck confit recipes when I got home and The Cliff House cookbook had confit duck legs but confit-ed in sunflower oil so I subbed the sunflower oil for the duck fat.

Here's what's needed:

Recipe is not strictly true to Jamie's one and has been altered a little.
Serves 2

2 Duck legs
A few Juniper berries
A few allspice berries
A couple cloves garlic peeled and crushed.
A sprig of rosemary.
A leafy sprig of thyme.
About a tablespoon of coarse sea salt. Next time I might reduce this as himself thought it was a tad too salty and truth be told he wasn't wrong.

Here's what you'll need to do:

Put duck in a flat dish.
Bash the juniper, allspice, garlic together in a pestle and mortar. Mix with the salt and scatter over the duck. Tear the herbs over the duck and rub all into the duck.
Cover with clingfilm and leave to marinate in fridge for about 12 hours or overnight.

Next day, rinse the duck under cold water and pat dry with kitchen towel.
Place a large heavy deep pan over a low heat and place the duck legs in, cover with sunflower oil. Bring to a soft boil and then simmer on the very lowest heat for 2 to 2 and half hours.
When the time is up take the pan off the heat and leave the duck to cool. The meat should pull apart easily.

Keep the remaining oil for roasties etc.

The duck legs can now be preserved but I used mine for dinner tonight so when I needed them I just fried them in a hot dry pan till the skin got crispy and the meat was heated through.

Jamie's mag recommended serving them with Lentils and red onion gravy.
The lentils were fab, unctuous even - though i did read somewhere lately that one should not use the term "unctuous" in food blogging, well whether or not they were flippin' unctuous so the unctuous stays!!!!

THE LENTIL RECIPE!

For 2 generous servings

125g puy lentils
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon
Olive oil
Small red onion, finely chopped
Small carrot finely chopped
1 celery stick finely chopped
A bouquet garni
About 1/2 litre hot chicken stock
100g baby spinach
Red wine vinegar

Soak the lentils in cold water for about 10 mins, then drain well.
Add a little oil to a large pan and fry the bacon till golden.
Add the veg and cook over a medium heat till softened, but not coloured.
Add the bouquet garni, lentils and stock.
Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 45 mins till lentils are soft. Add some extra stock if too dry.
remove the bouquet garni from the lentils and stir in the spinach. Cook for a few more mins, taste and season with some salt, pepper, a dash of olive oil and the red vinegar.

Absolutely scrummylicious!!!!

Love and hate and Roasted Red Pepper Soup!

OK as this blog testifies I LOVE food , but there's a bit of love and hate thing involved in our relationship - I am an overweight Type 2 diabetic who was diagnosed some 6 years or so ago when I very brilliantly failed the medical for a job I had just been offered! Times I have said "Feck it" and muddled along as normal, but having had a very sick January and the threat of insulin shots loomimg I headed to Weightwatchers the Thursday before Easter henceforth known as the feast of chocolate!

To date I am pleased to report I have lost 25 1/2 pounds and it hasn't been that much hardship. (Tip of the iceberg though and only about half way there!)

OK the weight loss is fantastic but the health benefits have been enormous - my blood sugars are now NORMAL and I no longer have the threat of insulin shots looming, my tablets have been reduced from 11 per day to 5 now and my blood pressure has gone from a very high to normal. And I have done it WITHOUT resorting to WW or other brand ready meals -Most days I have porridge with fresh berries for breakfast, maybe a slice of brown soda bread with a banana round 11a.m., lunch could be some homemade soup or a sandwich or a salad. Dinner is mostly always homemade and never just "rabbit" food - I eat out regularly and successfully fit it into my weight loss program.

We eat well and enjoy what we eat!

This is a fabulous soup which I have put together from a few recipes to get one I liked. And for someone like myself battling the bulge very low on calories - if you're doing Weightwatchers it works out about 1 Propoint per serving if you use Low cal spray oil or give it 2 pp's if you use REAL OIL (my preference!)

What you'll need:

4 red peppers, deseeded and cut in half.
Either a sprinkle Olive oil or Low cal spray oil
1 large onion, diced.
2 to 3 Garlic cloves, crushed.
1 chilli, chopped. I use whatever colour I have be it red or green.
300mls Passata.
600 mls vegetable stock.
2 tablespoons chopped basil.
Few basil sprigs for garnishing.

What you'll need to do:

Preheat oven to 180C Fan.
Rub the skin of the peppers with a dash of olive oil and place skin side up on a baking tray.
Place in the oven for about 15 mins till the skin is charred.
Remove and place in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave for about 10 mins.
The skins can now easily be peeled from the peppers. Chop into smaller pieces.

Fry off the onion, garli and chilli in a little oil till softened but not coloured. Add the peppers, the passata, vegetable stock and bring to the boil stirring well.

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 to 15 mins, adding the basil for the last couple of mins.

Puree in a food processor or with a stick blender till smooth.

Garnish with basil sprigs.

Absolutely delish!!!!

Fruity Pork

Tore the recipe for this from a newspaper a thousand years ago.This is one of those staple dinners in No 77, can be made for a quickie dinner a deux or will usually satisfy the fish/lamb hating dinner guest and can be dressed up for the occasion - the plate of food that is not the dinner guest!
This even passed muster with my friend Jules whose middle name is finicky!!!

What you'll need :


One average sized pork steak will generally do 3 to 4 people. trim it of fat and cut into 2 inch rounds.
2 teaspoons Chinese 5 spice powder
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 large red onion cut into wedges thru the root.
2 red apples cored and cut into lengths.
2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly.
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar.
200 mls chicken stock.

What you'll need to do:

Dust pork with 5 spice powder.
Heat half the oil in a frying pan and fry pork for 3 minutes on each side till browned and cooked thru.
Transfer to warm plate and keep hot.
Add remaining oil to pan, reduce heat slightly, fry onion wedges for 2 minutes.
Add apples and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add redcurrant jelly, the vinegar and the stock.
Bring to the boil, simmer rapidly uncovered for approx 8 to 10 minutes till the sauce is slightly syrupy and the apples tender.
Gently reheat the pork in the sauce, turning to glaze each side.

Served as in the pic above with some mashed potato, asparagus and baby carrots, also damn good with buttered savoy cabbage.

Scallops ...

I can never resist a gorgeous plump scallop, so beautiful fried with a wee bit of butter or served with a rasher - oh yumminess!!! Unfortunately the days of heading to the strand at home to fill up a bag with them for free are gone but I do nab them when I see really nice ones at the fish shop with their lovely orange corals attached.

Scallops with potato pancakes, shallot purée and salsa verde


- It's a recipe from Masterchef the Professionals that I tweaked a bit to use ingredients I could locate. Pea shoots in Tralee - ya right! Though actually I did find a bag of pea shoots and watercress one day in Dunnes! I bought them though I didn't have anything scheduled for them cos I reckoned if they were selling they'd be inclined to stock them regularly - an advertiser's dream I am!

Recipe serves 4 as a very substansial starter, but I make the full lot up for the two of us as a main course. (Truth be told would be very adequate for 4 people as a main course if having another couple of courses!)

My photography will have to be excused cos I'm a lazy git and instead of getting out my canon SLR for food photography I usually use the mobile!

For the salsa verde dressing

A punnet of pea shoots - if you can find them!
Large handful flat leaf parsley
100g/4oz capers, rinsed
50g/2oz cornichons or gherkins, drained
1-2 tsp English mustard (or to taste)
75ml/3fl oz-100ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil, as necessary
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salsa verde, put punnet of pea shoots and all of the parsley, capers, cornichons (or gherkins) and mustard into a food processor. With the motor running, gradually trickle in the olive oil to form a smooth, thick sauce. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

For the golden crumbs

4 slices white bread, crusts removed, cut into small dice
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place the bread cubes onto a baking sheet. Drizzle over the olive oil and, using your hands, mix together until coated evenly. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.
Remove the bread cubes from the oven and drizzle again with olive oil. Mix again using tongs or a wooden spoon. Bake for a further 4-5 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Transfer to a food processor and pulse to coarse crumbs.

For the shallot purée

large knob of butter
10 shallots, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed and chopped
300ml/½ pint chicken stock
splash red wine vinegar

Heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and celery and fry for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.
Pour in the stock and red wine vinegar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. Strain, reserving the cooking liquuid.
Purée the strained shallots and celery in a food processor until smooth, adding a little of the reserved cooking liquid to loosen the mixture if necessary. Keep warm.

For the potato pancakes

4 floury potatoes
2 free-range eggs, separated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g/2oz plain flour
knob of butter
vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. Mash with the egg yolks until smooth, then season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed.
Beat the flour into the mashed potatoes, then fold in the egg whites. Divide mixture into 8-12 equal-sized patties.
Heat the butter and oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium to high heat until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns golden-brown when dropped into it. Fry the potato pancakes, in batches, for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until golden-brown. Keep warm. Repeat the process with the remaining potato pancakes.

For the bacon, peas and lettuce
4 slices dry-cured pancetta - I used rashers of dry cured streaky bacon.
225g/8oz frozen peas
150ml/¼ pint dark chicken stock (simmered in a saucepan until well reduced)
2 Little Gem lettuces, trimmed and cut into quarters.

Preheat oven to its highest setting. Sandwich the pancetta between 2 heavy baking sheets and cook in oven for 8-10 minutes, or until crisp.
Meanwhile, boil the peas in the reduced chicken stock for 3-4 minutes, or until the peas are tender and the volume of stock has reduced further. Add the lettuce and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until just wilted.

For the scallops
25g/1oz butter
1 tbsp olive oil
12-16 scallops, depending on size, meat only

Melt butter with the olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Fry the scallops for just a few seconds on each side, or until just cooked through.

Putting it all together -

To serve, divide the lettuce and peas among the serving plates. Arrange the potato pancakes and scallops on top. Spoon the salsa verde over the top. Drizzle a little shallot purée around the edge of the plate. Pile a slice of crispy bacon alongside, sprinkled with the golden crumbs. Garnish with the pea shoots unless you're in Tralee and haven't been able to find any!

Enjoy with a crisp glass of white wine!

Parcels and presents!

'Twas great to answer the door to the postman this morning and get a package from him. Our copy of the Cliff House Hotel cook book, sat down with my porridge with raspberries and blueberries and drooled over the pages with their gorgeous recipes, I have earmarked a few already for our culinary delectation and delight!

I am delighted to say Billy and I are going to the Cliff House in October, a great little plan by yours truly! Our birthdays are 8 days apart in October and to be honest there's not much we need in the way of stuff for birthday pressies - ask Billy what he wants and the reply is "get me a book please" - you should see the amount already in his to read pile! Anyway last month I had just got the new copy of Food and Wine magazine and it had their annual awards in it and the winner of the restaurants category was Gregan's Castle so the typical light bulb moment ensued - for OUR birthday we would go and stay and dine in Gregan's in Co Clare, the following night pay a return visit to The Old Convent in Tipperary and round it off with a night in Cliff House. I am salivating already at the thoughts of our birthday present, 'twill be one of the best yet!!!

An end to procrastination....

Long threatening comes at last and today I start my food blog where I hope to record some of the recipes we try, the food we eat, the books we read about it, the places we eat it in.

I love food and have done so for a very long time now, from being a child - one of my earliest memories is of my mother giving me delicious fresh from the farmyard eggs in a cup mixed with a bit of butter when I was a very wee toddler, to being a bit older and giving the siblings Galtee cheese with blackcurrant jam sandwiches when I was left in charge of them and their lunch for the day - funnily enough I don't recall them being too impressed with my culinary prowess!

I remember, with love and longing, the crab claws Dad would bring home that would be roasted on top of the range in the kitchen and cracked open and eaten - in those dark and distant days there was no "meas" (respect) for crab claws and they only sold the bodies. As for the scallops - oh my oh my - down to the strand we'd go when there was low tide and fill our bags, huge juicy scallops fried in a bit of butter - heaven on earth! Getting up at 6a.m. to go foraging for field mushrooms and frying them with a bit of butter, making homemade mushroom soup - the likes of which I've never tasted since! Unfortunately wild mushrooms are harder to be got in that neck of the woods nowadays with fertiliser being liberally applied to the fields.

When there was work going on in the farm, hay making, cutting the turf etc., I wouldn't go and dirty my hands with that, nope, I'd stay home and do the dinner and the tea for the men instead and maybe squeeze in a chapter or two of my current book along the way. Then at the age of 16 I decided to make a special meal for my parents, myself and my 3 siblings for the parent's 20th anniversary and I got a duck , yes one ickle duck for all 6 of us and my father a farming man with a farming man's appetite, needless to say a pan of sausages and rashers went on shortly afterwards!

So over the years I've dibbled and dabbled in food, at one stage I supplied a fish shop with salads, seafood vol au vents, dressed salmons and the like. I did bed and breakfast in my home for 12 years and provided the guests with a beautiful breakfast menu at a time when the standard fare would have been the full Irish - take it or leave it! Also made evening meals for them using simple local produce - local lamb and spanking fresh seafood.

Life moves on and 2 and 2/3 years ago I met Billy, our first conversation was about the merits of wine - said conversation washed down with copious quantities of Jack Daniels by yours truly! Turned out Billy is a bit of a foodie too. One of the highlights of our time together has been a visit to a Michelin Star restaurant -Il Buco - in Sorrento, foodgasmic! Our "together time" on a Saturday night is spent cooking and eating. During the week we plan what's going on the menu, going thru our large collection of cookery books, then Saturday afternoon we gather together our ingredients and cook and eat and wash it down with some vino! It has resulted in some fantastic food, a lot of which has been photographed for the food blog.... so here we are food blogging!