Ready to Roast Chicken Part 2

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mushrooms pak choi and chilli

Oyster mushrooms.  Bleedin’ weird looking yokes.

So…this meal was a little bit better than Part 1.  I would recommend using this recipe as a leftover dish when you’ve made your own roast chicken on a Sunday because it was really very good.  It was totally easy to make and, provided you have the pre-cooked shredded chicken ready, it only took around 20 minutes, chopping and stuff included.  Perfect for a Monday night after a Sunday Roast, in fact.

As I said in my previous post, I had bought the pre-roasted free range chicken from M&S to give it a go.  It turned out to be very dry but passable.  This recipe was a lot better at hiding the dryness, seeing as it was served swimming in a load of chiken stock, noodles and veg!

I was inspired by this recipe over here but my variation of it is as below.

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Ready to Roast Chicken Part 1

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veg uncooked

Oh hello, vegetables, it’s been a while…

After a weekend of a Super Extra Bonus Party gig in Andrew’s Lane Theatre and a cackle-and-dirty-joke filled hen party, plus a massive and rather delicious Indian meal on Monday (too dark to take photos!), vegetables were most certainly needed by Tuesday in icanhascook HQ.

I also thought I’d try out a pre-roasted free-range chicken from M&S.  Just to see if it was any cop.  This was to be in no way a substitute for proper roast chickens at home, but I thought it would be handy to know if a pre-roasted chicken was decent enough should one want an easy option mid-week.

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Want!

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Woahhh…!!  A Super Mario Bento Box!!

For now, that’s all I have to say.  There was a lot more drinking than eating over last weekend and, although I made a fairly decent dinner tonight, I burned the bejaysus* out of my hand in the process and don’t think I can type about it at great length…for now!

*It should be noted that I’m a supreme babby and that my hand is not badly burned at all so please…I don’t deserve any sympathy.

Hope everyone’s doing well anyway.  Just wanted to say hello.

No bones about it…

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fish skins up

The yummiest and most simple dinner we’ve had in ages.

Step one: Head to M&S and pick up a two of their sustainably sourced Mediterranean Sea Bass Fillets (€8.99 for two, a bit pricey but sooo worth it).  Pick up some of their Tenderstem Broccolli on the way out.  And a sneaky bottle of white wine if you wish.

Step two: Get home, put the bottle of wine in the fridge.  Get a pot of lightly salted water boiling, quick like.  Heat a pan with a swig of oil over a medium to high heat.

Step three: Season the sea bass fillets with salt and peppa.

Step four: Throw the broccoli in to the pot of boiling water.  Add the fillets to the heated pan.

Step five: Cook it all for about 6 minutes, turning the fish after three minutes.

Step six: Cut some lemon wedges, drain your broccoli and toss them in butter and then serve up, my friends.

Step seven: Enjoy.  Absolutely bleedin’ delicious.

finished fish

MP3

No time for mp3, too busy eating.

Another May Day in Dublin…

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aoife in the rain

Well, at least I have an unstoppable umbrella…

Ah no, in fairness, it’s actually been lovely here for the last three days.  And I thank you weathermen-and-ladies for that.  But today was the type of day in which the mother of all comfort food, Cottage Pie, could really shine.

Niall’s lovely granny Carmel gave me a little Jamie Oliver Red Nose Day Recipes cookbook that she had picked up a while back.  This had coincided with Niall and I paying a visit to the Kildare Village Shopping Outlet place, just off the M7 about 40 minutes outside Dublin.  This is where Le Creuset have an outlet shop.  You can imagine my absolute glee spending half an hour perusing the shop.  If you want to buy some Le Creuset gear, this is where to go.  Everything is around 20% to 30% cheaper than in normal shops.

I got these two little beauties for €20 each.

le creuset stuff

The pie dish was marked down from €33 and the souffle dish was marked down from €31.50 I think.  So, pretty good value.  If you’re around the Kildare area, pop in and have a look yourself.  The other shops there were of no interest to me but that’s just how I roll.  As I’ve said before, Le Creuset pots are my version of a Ralph Lauren cashmere jumper.  There you are now.

What you need for Jamie Oliver’s Cottage Pie for 4
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Jane Russells Sausages & Mash

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ingredients

Last night, myself and Niall went to a sausage launch.  Really!  We were invited by the very lovely Darragh on behalf of Jane Russell, who was throwing a BBQ party on the roof of The Odessa Club off George’s Street in Dublin.  Never ones to say no to free food and beer on a Monday night, off we hopped after I had finished work late.

Alas, we were just too late for the sausages (but in time for a few free beers on an empty stomach which inevitably led to a Monday night session, yippeee!) but we were sent away with some of Jane’s lovely Irish handmade sausages in our bags.

So it had to be sausage and mash, didn’t it?

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A sneaky snack at Cornucopia

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cornucopia lunch

I was shopping in town for a dress for my good friend Lydia’s up-coming wedding in France in June (found one in Monsoon, go team!) and snuck into Cornucopia on Wicklow Street for a delicious nutritious salad.

I got the small plate which is two salads for €4.50.  I went for the Panzanella (looks soggy and should be yuk but it was gorgeous) and a nice sprouty bean salad too.  Just reminded me what a wonderful little place it is.

Have you bought the Cornucopia at Home Cookbook yet?  It’s for sale in the cafe as well as a few good bookshops around Ireland and it’s on-line here.  Check it out.

Cork, boy!!

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salad

A lovely salad, flower and all, that I picked up last Saturday in Cork’s amazing English Market. Twere the tastiest leaves I ever did eat.

Cork is lovely.  Really lovely.  But you knew this already.

Got to use twitter to its full potential before we travelled to Cork by sending out a message of ‘Know any good restaurants in Cork?’  Got loads of replies and ended up going with Cafe Paradiso in the end.  So glad we did.  But thanks to Sweet Oblivion, Essentially England, @ClaireFeely, @Euphiophone, Eat Like A Girl, Mick Adebisi, City Local Cork, The Daily Spud and Italian Foodies for all the suggestions.

We went to wonderful Cafe Paradiso for the pre-theatre deal which is two courses for €24 and three for €30.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

asparagus salad

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FAIL!

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quiche-ingredients

It would have been such a beautiful quiche *sob*!

Wow.  Just had an hilarious food fail.  About an hour ago I wasn’t seeing the hilarity of it so much but I’m over it, mainly thanks to a carrot cupcake.

Basically, about three hours ago, I decided to tackle my first home-made pastry.  I know you can buy it pre-rolled in the shop but I had spotted a very easy looking recipe for an asparagus and tarragon tart by Nigel Slater in last Sunday’s Observer Magazine.

In the recipe he said to mix 90g of butter with 150g plain flour softly with your fingertrips.  I did that and it all looked like it was going spiffingly.  Then, as Nigel had advised, I added an egg yolk to the mixture followed by about a teaspoon of really cold water.  I mooshed it about with my hands a bit and got really excited because it actually looked like dough!  I floured up my kitchen surface and put my ball of pastry there.  Then I started to roll.

rolled-pastry

So far, so good.  Or so I thought.

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