My weekend

I think weekends should be at least 3 days long…..correction – at least 4 days long. I planned to take it easy this weekend and I stated quite well. Met John after work and gave him the chocolates – hope he survived them. Traffic was a disaster so I just stopped at ExtraVision to get a dvd (Vantage Point) and was glad when I was finally home. Lit the fire (I know the calender shows July – but my body temperatures haven’t caught up yet with the fact). Opened a bottle of White Zinfandel and moulded myself into the couch and didn’t move from there unless I needed to top up my glass.

Saturday morning, I went to the English Market to get some salmon as I planned to cook the final leg of the Great British Menu. Saw that Kay O’Connels had samphire (although they are selling it as sandfire ??!!) so I got a bag full….and over the joy of getting my hand on the samphire – I completely forgot to get cockles…never mind, the samphire made well up for it. Met then Wendy in town and we headed for Midleton. Our plan was to go to Fire & Ice…..and believe it or not…..it vanished… It is now called Sage. So we gave Sage a try. The same layout as Fire & Ice, the tables had little glass vases with wild flowers decorated with beaded wire and a big pot of sage in the back court yard. The menu for breakfast sounded yum. Wendy opted for the French Toast with banana, local honey and white chocolate while I went for the home baked beans on toast. Both dishes were well worth the trip from Cork to Midleton. Next time we will swap the dishes. We learned that Gary Masterson sold the restaurant recently but after a few moments, he actually turned up in the restaurant which is now run by Kevin Aherne. Of course we also went to the Farmers Market where I got the smoked salmon for my project from Frank Hederman and some fresh Ardsallagh goats’ cheese (having ravioli in mind – bought pasta sheet from Iago earlier on). We then headed slowly towards Cork. Dropped Wendy back to Cork and made my way home where I started to work on my ravioli. I roasted some pinenuts, chopped them coarsely and mixed them with the cheese. Seasoned it with my herbal salt and dried chilli for a kick. For the sauce, I boiled white wine and vegetable stock until reduced by half. Added juice from a lime and cream and let it thickened. Cooked the ravioli in boiling water and served them with the sauce….may I praise myself???? – Simply irresistible and I deserved to crash on the couch afterwards.

Yesterday I knew that my two wonderful nieces were coming up, so I baked chocolate brownies and made a pie from the loganberries I got also in Midleton yesterday and apples. And again…….I think I can clap myself on the shoulder…..both were yum. And then I got serious. I made a mousse out of crabmeat and trimming of the salmon (smoked and plain salmon), processed with cream and put it in a lined terrine tin. Baked it in a bain marie for 15 minutes and left it to chill. As I didn’t have the cockles and didn’t want to serve this as a second starter, I choose to cook pommes dauphinoise as I had a lovely mature cheddar left. Cut the salmons and the terrine into same size portions (okay I still have to practise this a bit) and panfried the slices in olive oil. I heated rapeseed oil, made a tempura batter, dunked the samphire in it and deep fried it in batches. The salmon was lovely, the terrine had a lovely combination of the smoked salmon and the crabmeat. The samphire underline the taste of sea and the potatoes completed a wonderful Sunday lunch.
When I finally cook the whole menu in one go, I will not for all three salmon as it is very filling, considering that it is a four course meal. But as I can prepare the terrine in advance and it is really yummy, I will simply just serve the terrine slices fried in olive oil on a bed of salad.

I completely got my times mixed up when I invited Wendy over for lunch as she arrived together with the two girls. Poor Wendy had to eat at a table that was covered in felt, beads and buttons and was then further punished by helping us to make hand puppets (we are planning a production of Cinderella)
The girls had fun….I am just not sure if Wendy will ever accept an invite to lunch again from me…And after cleaning the mess….and dropping the girls back home…a hot bath and a glass of wine was all I was longing for….and another day to chill out of course.

Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for another week ;-)

P.S. Will post pics from the salmon tomorrow.