Welcome to March and the return of Picture of the Day.
This is my lunch today at Camden Kitchen–Butternut Squash Risotto with parmesan, spinach, pine nuts and micro greens. The spinach and greens balanced out the rich parmesany risotto. Yum.
Friday I had a craving for French potato salad–the kind with a mustardy vinaigrette instead of a mayo-based dressing. I also wanted something smoked. I hedged and bought both smoked mackerel and some Polish smoked sausage. The sausage won.
I boiled a kilo of small waxy potatoes in salted water with a couple bay leaves until they were almost tender, about 10 minutes. It’s important to start potatoes in cold water and bring them up to a boil rather than starting with boiling water. Potatoes contain an enzyme that will firm up the flesh but it is deactivated above 70C. So, if you put your potatoes into boiling water the outside will fall apart before the inside is done. Thanks, Harold McGee! I drained them and let them finish cooking in their residual heat and cool down a bit while I prepped the rest of the ingredients. I sautéed three minced shallots and two minced cloves of garlic in some olive oil for a few minutes, just until tender, and set it aside. Then I diced a stalk of celery, snipped some chives, chopped some flat-leaf parsley and diced some smoked sausage and comtè cheese. By this time the potatoes were cool enough to slice. No need to peel them. To the bowl of sliced potatoes I added a few tablespoons of white wine vinegar and folded it in. This helps the flavor of potato salads immensely. I then added the shallot/garlic mixture and the veg, meat and cheese. Finally, I made a vinaigrette with both regular and grainy Dijon mustard and folded it in. The key to an unbroken vinaigrette (and mayonnaise) is whisking the oil into the mustard and vinegar a few drops at a time. After the emulsion starts forming you can add the oil faster.
I served it over French salad greens tossed with the remaining vinaigrette. Tesco sells a mix with very pretty lettuces that is my favorite bagged salad. The sausage added a faint smokiness to the entire salad and the little bites of comtè were nutty surprises. It brought back great memories of our trip to Provence last year.
At some point in our culinary history bread was invented, and then humankind finally found its calling–eating things on bread. Grilled cheese, peanut butter toast, shrimp toast, bruschetta, pinxtos, pan con tomate, english muffin pizzas, beans on toast, lardo melted on crostini, Brie de Meaux smeared on baguette. People + bread + all other ingredients = a whole lot of deliciousness.
In pursuit of this destiny, Bill recently made two dinners featuring things on bread.
Cannellini Crostini
One day Bill was dreaming of cannellini beans and found a recipe to serve them on crostini with feta salsa verde. I was working late that evening and viewed a picture of my impending dinner on twitter. I was so happy to come home and find the components waiting on the kitchen counter, even though my husband had already gone off to whichever thing we do that night that I didn’t do because I worked late.
This dish is hugely flavorful. The bright flavors of the salsa sing out over the luscious, comfort-food feel of the beans and the crostini’s welcome crunch. Cannellini beans are so versatile and this recipe highlights how easy and tasty they are. Bill used the leftover smashed beans to make soup the next evening.
Comté, lardon and olives
Another evening, having just read about calzone-ish fougasse and finding some Comté in the fridge, Bill melted the cheese over olives and crisped lardon on our friend baguette. Served with some dressed greens, this was a how-can-melted-cheese-on-bread-be-so-amazing moment. The olives were key here and provided a necessary saltiness to balance the rich Comté and lardon.
I like Comté, Gruyere and all of their brethren. –Bill Gunter
I was in work both days this weekend, and expect the coming week to be mental as the project I’ve been working on for the last year reaches its furious end. So, it’s good to set my mind on pleasant things, like the next time Bill and I can have a leisurely lunch at the Winding Stair.
Or maybe our upcoming trip to Rome.
It’s true that we don’t eat out as much as we did in Austin. Before we moved to Texas in 1998, we read that Austin had one of the highest restaurants per capita in the U.S. We certainly lived as though that were true–and Austin’s cuisine offerings continue to grow. Raheny’s restaurants per capita is a bit on the low side, but Dublin city centre has plenty of dining options and we recently tried a couple new places.
The Green Hen
On a recent unassuming Monday night, Bill and I met for dinner at The Green Hen, a French bistro on Exchequer Street. I liked this restaurant 
immediately–the walls covered with French movie posters, shelves full of wine bottles reflecting glowing candles, and a lovely iron stair railing. We settled into our table and started on a tasty bottle of Aranleón Crianza, a youngish wine from Spain, which happened to be organic. Bill started with a rabbit terrine and I had the Pickled Pear and Walnut salad. The rabbit terrine was served with a plum relish that was a perfect match with the wine. I was quite happy with my salad–I’m a sucker for blue cheese, pear and walnuts and even more so when pomegranate jewels are thrown in. I pondered my entree choice for a long time and finally settled on the Plat de Jour, a Navarin stew of lamb. I thought I should get something with a longer description, like Bill’s Roast rump of lamb with boudin noir, rosti potato spinach, parsnip pureÌe and jus, but I could not have chosen better. The rich tomato flavor of this stew continued to delight until the very last bite. It was delicious. Bill’s lamb with boudin was lovely as well; he particularly liked the boudin, but thought the rosti was perhaps a bit too much extra flavor. Mash would have worked fine. A shared cheese plate was the perfect ending for the meal.
The Hen was hopping on a Monday night, so much so that our server apologized several times for slow service. “It’s busier than we expected,” she said. “Well, that’s a good problem to have.” “I hope the customers think so!” I did notice a dip in the happy diner buzz when I accidentally swiped the metal dish containing our bill onto the floor, producing an amazing, resounding gong, which I stopped with my foot. Well, Goodnight, I said in the silence.
I look forward to returning, and also would like to try a couple other places I noticed on Exchequer. Has anyone eaten at Cornucopia or Gibson’s?
L. Mulligan. Grocer.
When my parents were here and we were on our way to the Cobblestone, I called a friend for suggestions for a place to grab dinner nearby. He directed us to Mulligan’s on Stoneybatter, which unfortunately was fully booked when we arrived. While standing on the sidewalk considering our options, some helpful smokers from the pub next door asked if we were lost. No, I replied. We know exactly where we are. We chatted with these fellows for a bit and one of them said, You know, you’re in one of the worst parts of Dublin. I really don’t think so, I replied. We’re outside a gastro pub, not a crack house. But his comment did add some spice to the evening.
We were eager to return to Mulligans, so last weekend I booked a table for Saturday. After seeing an amazing movie with friends at The Lighthouse in Smithfield–Of Gods and Men, a beautiful and affecting film about French monks–we made our way back to Stoneybatter. Lots of fun touches at Mulligan’s–the menus are slipped into hardback books, the chocolate mousse served in a teacup. I loved that every menu item had a beer or cider pairing. Bill’s scotch egg starter stood out as the most amazing dish of the evening, decadent and delicious–a creamy egg surrounded by pork with Dijon mayonnaise and salsa-like relish. The flavor combo is a bit reminiscent of aioli and spicy tomato sauce served with patatas bravas and worked with the scotch egg. I think we’ve had Leffe Blonde before but I don’t remember it tasting so spicy. I had an India Pale Ale with my blue-cheesy mushrooms on sourdough toast. We shared a bottle of Galician cider with our entrees. Bill enjoyed his pork belly with lovely cracklins. I love moules frites and Mulligan’s version served with Hoegaarden mayonnaise did not disappoint, and again the mussels were charmingly served in a sauce pan accompanied by a paper cone of chips. These touches work because they are supporting good
food, not trying to outshine it. A sea salt ice cream was a happy surprise with apple crumble.
L. Mulligan. Grocer. opened in July and is part of the growing focus on Irish ingredients. (And they really like beer and whiskey.) On Mondays and Tuesdays Mulligan’s serves a Bangers and Mash menu featuring sausages from Irish artisan producers. The menu changes every week. Last week I saw this delectable post in my Facebook newsfeed:
Bangers and Mash Menu for this week: Ardrahan Cheese and Smokey Bacon with Mossfield Cheddar Mash; Glamorgan Vegetarian Sausages with Mustard Champ; Black Pudding and Apple with ‘heaven and earth’ mash; Garlic Italian sausages with herby mash.
Bill I decided that Bangers and Mash Monday would make the perfect Valentine’s dinner, so we’re headed there tomorrow night.
We’re really excited that places like Mulligan’s are focusing on Irish ingredients. Ireland is really waking up to its culinary identity and many farmers, food producers and chefs are working to make Ireland a cuisine destination. Bring it on!