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3 Cup Chicken

  By Cooking

3 Cup Chicken

Ingredients and Method

            You will need :

  1. 500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
  2. 3cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
  3. 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
  4. 1 green pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
  5. 250g bok choy, halved or quartered
  6. 2 x 250g packets of ready- cooked rice
  7. 1 tbsp cornflour
  8. Salt, to taste
  9. 1 tsp white pepper
  10. 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  11. 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  12. 75ml Chinese rice wine
  13. 75ml reduced salt soy sauce
  14. 3 tbsp sesame oil
  15. 2 tbsp brown sugar

METHOD

  1. Put the cornflour and pepper into a bowl and season with a pinch of salt. Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat them and then set aside.
  2. Place the wok over a medium–high heat and add the oil. Once the pan is smoking, fry the garlic, ginger and chilli for a minute or 2 before adding the chicken and green pepper. Leave for 30 seconds to seal the meat then quickly move around the pan.
  3. Add the rice wine and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
  4. Add the bok choy and cook until it is just tender, about 1–2 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, serve with warmed rice.
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Beef & Broccoli Oyster Sauce Chow Mein

  By Cooking

Beef & Broccoli Oyster Sauce Chow Mein

Ingredients and Method

            You will need :

Ingredients
  • Groundnut oil – 1 tablespoon
  • Garlic – 3 cloves, peeled and finely chopped
  • Ginger – 1 knob, peeled and grated
  • Red cayenne chilli – 1 fresh, sliced
  • Sirloin steak – 1 free range or organic, excess fat trimmed off, slice into 1cm slices
  • Shaosing rice wine – 1 tablespoon dry sherry or
  • Tenderstem Broccoli – 250g, sliced into 1 inch pieces on the angle
  • Dark soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
  • Egg noodles – 400g cooked
  • Bean sprouts – 1 large handful
  • Low sodium light soy sauce – 2 tablespoons
  • Oyster sauce – 2 tablespoons

STEPS

  • Heat a wok over high heat. When the wok is smoking, add the groundnut oil. Give the oil a swirl in the wok and then quickly add in the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir-fry a few seconds. Quickly add the beef and stir-fry together for a few seconds.
  • As the beef starts to brown, add the Shaosing rice wine and follow quickly with the broccoli. Stir-fry together for thirty seconds and then add the dark soy sauce and toss well.
  • Add in the egg noodles and give it a good mix, then add in the beansprouts. Toss together and season with light soy sauce and oyster sauce, cook tossing and stirring for less than a minute then serve immediately.

Lifestyle

  By LIFESTYLE

Lifestyle

jules Verne ParisIn the Lifestyle section feel free to explore by using the menu bar sub categories of Cooking and Travel.

Share your ideas, add your own tips and comments  by clicking on the red comments tab.

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Pope Francis In Ireland

  By Chi, Writing

Reflections on The visit of Pope Francis to Ireland            25th /26th August 2018

During the visit of Pope Francis for the world meeting of families we saw families from all corners of the world. We listened to their stories and also heard of the abuse of children at the hands of the clergy. Amid the media frenzy the overall mood was one of criticism and blame. An important message from the visit of Pope Francis was lost. Religion is simply a way to help us develop our spirituality. It is a human structure and therefore cannot be perfect. We must allow the Pope to reform the church and be held to account, but we should not disregard its teachings.

 

  • Religion and Spirituality

If we accept that Spirituality is a discovery of our own conscious self, recognising that we are more than just a body, but that we are “spirit” with infinite potential, then we can begin to differentiate between spirituality and religion.

 

  • Religion

Religion is a set of rules and explanations that are based on the “spiritual”              experiences of others down through the ages. Spirituality allows us to discover and develop our own “religion” or set of beliefs based on our own life experience.

 

  • Religous leaders

All of the great religious leaders, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad etc., began with deep personal spiritual journeys which empowered them before embarking on their spiritual teaching. It therefore must follow that all genuine Religions are signposts to truth and the one constant is love. Therefore religion should lead to a spiritual journey of joy, self enlightenment and self fulfilment. Most importantly we must only use Religion as a method of discovering our own Spirituality and Truth.

 

  • World Religions

Since all world religions have been set up by others and formulated as a result of human experience, they eventually become structured political institutions and are vulnerable to the imperfections and weaknesses of such human organizations. We therefore should assess the teaching of these religions relative to our own situation.

 

  • Spirituality and the Human Mind

Is a belief in God and an afterlife simply a prerequisite of the human condition or are we all a part of a much bigger reality?.  Exploring our spirituality within our life experience and using the experiences of others through religion we can arrive at our own conclusions. The danger is, by simply living our daily lives controlled by the norms of a material world, that we may miss out on so much of our potential to achieve true fulfilment and happiness.

 

  • Developing Spirituality

Many of us are conditioned by our career paths, our families or our relationships. We can become trapped by the expectations of society and drift away from that which brings true fulfilment and inner peace. To develop spiritually we must regularly take time out to re examine and evaluate our life. We also need time to be quiet and at peace, this allows us to explore the world in all its magnificence and diversity. It will also bring us closer to understanding how special we really are.

 

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Special Beef Wellington

  By Cooking, Uncategorized

Beef Wellington

We’ve just cooked a wonderful special Beef Wellington that you might want to try. The beef fillet was for 3 to 4 people and cost about €25. The butcher cut the centre piece about  6 inches long and 21/2 inches thick from the full fillet.

To avoid the pastry going soggy when cooking..we wrapped the fillet  in prosciutto and  lined it with a sheet of filo pastry before covering with the puff pastry. .

 

 

Ingredients you will need:

  • 1 centre-cut beef fillet,
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil,
  • 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon or English mustard
  • 1 pound mushrooms (button, cremini, shiitake, portabello, or a mix from Tesco)
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 medium onions, finely sliced (about 1/2 cup)
  • 2 teaspoons finely minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 1/2 cup cognac or other brandy
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 4 ounces fresh Pate
  • 1 sheet fillo dough
  • 1/4 pound prosciutto, sliced paper thin (Aldi or Tesco)
  • Flour for dusting
  • 14 ounces frozen puff pastry, thawed
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 bunch finely minced chives

 

Method:

  1. Using butcher’s ties, tie tenderloin at 1-inch intervals to keep it together and season liberally with salt and pepper.

 

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan over high heat until smoking. Add meat and cook without moving until well-browned on all sides,.Transfer to a large plate.

 

  1. If you like your beef medium to well done then place it in a covered ovendish for 15 minutes in a pre heated oven at 180c

 

 

  1. Combine the horseradish, mustard, and 1 teaspoon black pepper in a small bowl. When tenderloin is cool enough to handle, cut off the twine
  2. Place the mushrooms in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped

 

  1. Heat butter in a pan over medium-high heat until melted. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have exuded all their liquid and start to sizzle,

 

  1. . Continue cooking until mushrooms begin to brown and leave browned bits stuck to bottom of pan, about 4 minutes longer. Add shallots and thyme and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 2 minutes.

 

 

  1. Add brandy. Scrape bottom of skillet with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon to release browned bits. Continue to cook until brandy is nearly dry, about 4 minutes.

 

  1. Add double cream and soy sauce and continue to cook, stirring frequently until mixture is thick and collects in one large mass when you shake the pan.

 

  1. Lay a double layer of plastic wrap on your cutting board. Lay fillo pastry sheet on top of plastic wrap.layer the prosciutto on top of fillo to create a thin, even, overlapping layer,

 

  1. . Spread mushroom mixture evenly over ham layer.

 

  1. Place tenderloin along the very bottom edge of the ham/mushroom layer. Spread the pate over the meat. Carefully roll tenderloin in mushrooms, ham, and filo, using the plastic wrap to help tighten it as you roll.

 

  1. . Spread puff pastry sheet on a board and, using a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle at least 4-inches wider than the beef roll on its shorter side.

 

 

  1. Remove the cling film from the rolled beef and place along very bottom edge of puff pastry with the pate side facing up. Brush 6 inches of puff pastry just above beef roll with beaten egg.
  2. Carefully roll the beef in the puff pastry until it is completely wrapped. You should end up with the pate facing up again, with the puff pastry seam meeting on the bottom. Trim pastry with a sharp knife.

 

  1. Roll entire beef roll over so that the bottom is facing up, the fold up the end flaps to seal completely. Roll beef back right-side up.

 

  1. Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 425°F. Transfer Wellington to a foil-lined baking sheet and brush all over with beaten egg. Use a sharp paring knife to score a decorative pattern in the pastry. Sprinkle liberally with coarse sea salt.

 

  1. Bake until pastry is golden brown and center of roast registers 45c for rare or 50c for medium-rare on an instant read thermometer, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for ten minutes.
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Creamy Prawn Pasta

  By Cooking

Ingredients

  • 8 oz / 250g of long strand pasta of choice
  • 30 g / 2 tbsp butter , separated
  • 300 g / 10 oz small peeled prawns / shrimp
  • 200 g sliced button mushrooms
  • 3 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1/4 cup / 65 ml dry white wine  pref. chardonnay
  • 1 cup / 250 ml Double Cream
  • 1/2 cup / 125 ml fish stock)
  • 3/4 cup / 50 g finely grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
  • ½ teasp cayenne chilly pepper
  • Black pepper
  • Parmesan , for serving

Instructions

  1. Bring to boil a large pot of water. Add pasta and cook per packet MINUS 1 minute.
  2. Meanwhile, melt 1 tbsp of butter in a large non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add prawns and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side until just cooked through. Remove prawns.
  3. If using cooked frozen prawns use the large size ( jucier) and place in a bowl of boiled water to defrost and set aside
  4. In a saucepan add 1 tbsp butter. Once melted, add garlic. Stir for 20 seconds until fragrant then add the cayenne chilly pepper.
  5. Add wine and stir. Simmer for 1 minute and add the fish stock
  6. Add parmesan and stir until melted, then leave to simmer for 1 1/2 minutes until it thickens slightly
  7. Separately for 2 min fry sliced mushrooms in butter and set aside
  8. Add prawns,mushrooms and cream to sauce, stir, and remove from the heat
  9. Sprinkle with most of the parsley and chives and black pepper,
  10. Serve immediately on a bed of pasta garnished with remaining parsley and parmesan if desired.
  11. To insure pasta is not sticky drizzle with a little olive oil

 Recipe Tips

  1. This recipe will work fine with any full fat cream, but the sauce thickens faster / better with heavy / thickened cream. If you use light cream, the sauce will be thinner but it will still work.

    2. PARMESAN: Must use freshly grated! Store bought won’t melt smoothly and weigh before grating

    .

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2017 Season at Dundalk FC

  By Soccer

Where do Dundalk FC go from here? …

The 2017 season in Oriel Park was one of  “could have been”. Some really great performances especially at the end of the season left us regretting some of the easy points dropped in the early season when we were still shell shocked with our European run and player transfers both in and out of the club at the end of 2016.

Special mention has to be given to Stephen Kenny and Vinnie Perth for the great job they have done this year in building another great squad. They are to be admired for their dignity in disappointment in defeat, which cannot always be said of  some other L.O.I. managers.   Lets all hope they both stay around for a long time, but just as important in my opinion is the attention to detail by all the backroom staff and also their love and commitment to the club , to the supporters and to the youth of the town.

The owners of the club have the interest and future progress of Dundalk FC at heart. Now that the long standing issue of the lease to Oriel Park has been resolved and the funds from the European run of matches is in place, we hear of  rumours of a possible interest from an American Consortium to buy a stake in the club similar to the situation in Bournmouth FC…But where do we go from here ? surely a joint Community/ FAI/ Investor/ EUFA  collaboration can bring our new stadium a lot closer.

A new season will bring new challenges. Now that the rebuilding season is behind us, lets hope we can hold on to our players and add some steel in defense. Offers are bound to come in for our best players and we should wish them well, but faraway hills are green and hopefully it will take a tremendous offer ( to include European football and playing in a first team) to entice them away.

Finally, let’s hope that the League of Ireland is structured and financed to cope with the future when teams like Dundalk FC and Cork City FC , shamrock Rovers and Derry City FC continue to make their mark in Europe and that finally in League of Ireland we can have a league that we can be proud of. “Come on the Town !!”

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Mulligan Chowder Receipe

  By Cooking, Uncategorized

 

 

You will need…

  • 2 celery sticks finely diced
  • 1 medium onion finely diced
  • 1 carrot finely diced
  • 1 potatoe cubed (cm cubes)
  • 1tble spoon flour
  • ¼ cup white wine
  • 1 tesp chopped dill
  • 1/2  tsp cayenne chilly  pepper
  • Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
  • Generous ¼ pint fresh cream
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • Generous ½ pint fish stock (from tesco fish stock pots)
  • 500 grms Morgans Fish chowder mix
  • 100 grams cooked prawns (aldi pink pack)
  • Olive oil and knob of butter

 

Method:

Put the celery, carrot and potato in a steamer for 5 mins to soften.

In a thick based saucepan heat the oil and add the butter. Fry the onion and add the cayenne pepper and season with black pepper.

Reduce the heat Add the flour to make a roux and stir quickly.

Now add the steamed vegetables stirring continuosly

Add the wine and allow to simmer a bit… next add the stock.

Bring to a simmer and add the Morgans fish chowder mix. Simmer for 5 mins

Separately defrost the cooked prawns and add to the mix for a further 3 mins

Black pepper Season to taste and remove from heat

Finally stir in the fresh cream and fresh herbs

Serve with mulligan wheaten bread !!

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2016 Season ..Well Done Dundalk FC

  By LIFESTYLE

Thanks to Dundalk FC

Where cacaptainn Dundalk FC go from here? …What a season it’s been.Every secor-finnnd Friday I was entertained by the best football ever seen (so far)  in Oriel Park.

Added on to this was the fabulous run in Europe from Belarus to Amsterdam then on to  Warsaw and Israel. The achievements of this great club is amazing to behold and such a thrill for the people of Dundalk. A huge thanks to all the players for all the great nights you’ve given us.

Where has it all come from?..Well it begins with a great Manager. Lets all hope he stays around for a long time, but just as important in my opinion is the attention to detail by all the backroom staff and also their love and commitment to the club , to the supporters and to the youth of the town.

The owners of the club have the interest and future progress of Dundalk FC at heart. They have resolved, with the help of others, the long standing issue of the lease to Oriel Park and deserve our heartfelt thanks. But where do we go from here ?

A new season will bring new challenges. I remember the glory days of the 70’s and 80’s..and the barren years since.. Offers are bound to come in for our best players and we should wish them well, but faraway hills are green and hopefully it will take a tremendous offer ( to include European football and playing in a first team) to entice them away. Hopefully Richie Towell is a lesson learned.

robbie-benson

22 November 2012; Stephen Kenny pictured after he was introduced as the new Dundalk FC manager. Oriel Park, Dundalk, Co. Louth. Picture credit: Paul Mohan / SPORTSFILE

Finally, let’s hope that the League of Ireland is structured and financed to cope with the future when teams like Dundalk FC and Cork City FC and Derry City FC continue to make their mark in Europe and that finally in League of Ireland we can have a league that we can be proud of. “Come on the Town !!”