Gunternation

New Orleans royalty, the King Cake!

One day every year, if it’s a good year, my husband calls upon the power of yeast and cinnamon to create…King Cake! Who cares if Mardi Gras was technically a few weeks ago. In our apartment, Saturday was the day for King Cake, and all the Cajun goodness that goes along with. This year’s menu included the following starters:

• Boudin Rolls with Remoulade
• French Onion dip with Potato crisps

Preparing Cajun food in Ireland requires a bit of extra effort and invention, but when the result is homemade boudin served with homemade remoulade along with made-from-scratch French Onion dip, you really can’t complain. Bill was happy with his sophomore attempt at boudin; he felt it was better seasoned than last (but still using only half the cayenne than the recipe for Irish palate), but may reduce the liver component next year. Wrapped in wonton wrappers, deep fried and dipped in remoulade, the boudin rolls were delish.

The remoulade is a bit of food processor magic where whole grain mustard, yellow mustard, prepared horseradish, ketchup, oil, onion, celery, garlic and lemon juice turn into the loveliest of condiments. The prepared horseradish could have been tricky as we’ve yet to find it in Ireland, but we happened to have some as a souvenir of our January trip to London.

Kielbasa masquerading as Cajun

Without access to typical cajun meats like andouille and tasso, Bill had to look to our Eastern European friends and use all-pork kielbasa. For mains this year Bill prepared Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and Red Beans and Rice. The kielbasa performed very well in the jambalaya. With a slightly different seasoning accent, the smoked sausage could have been andouille.

Pot of red beans

Bill brined the kidney beans for the red beans and rice, and they turned out perfect: wonderfully creamy and tender but not disintegrated.

Making pralines is fun!

I made some pralines for the party, and as you can see it is quite fun! They turned out really well. I posted on twitter that I was making pralines and got a response saying, “Oh, your kitchen must smell like New Orleans!” I hope so.

Pralines, a Southern sweetheart

Of course, a Mardi Gras party wouldn’t be a party without revelers. Thanks for coming!

Revelers

I mentioned catching a Nanci Griffith show in Kilkenny. The concert was Feb 13, so we decided to make a weekend of it.  A two-hour drive from Dublin, Kilkenny is a handy weekend destination. As matter of fact, this was our third weekend trip (1st, 2nd)  to this medieval city.

As we’ve already seen the Kilkenny sights, we focused on eating tasty breakfasts, walking the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, and eating a lovely Valentine’s Dinner at Rinuccini.

On the way home on Monday, we ate lunch in Thomastown, and spied this little guy waiting for his people.

The Temple Bar Trad Festival comes round every January, and 2010 was our year to finally attend an event. We have a couple CDs from Beoga, a fivesome comprised of keyboard, fiddle, guitar, button accordion and guitar. We caught their show at the Project Arts Centre and they rocked the house. In addition to rocking, Beoga is at any given moment jazzy, bluesy, riotous, beautiful and always exuberant. Beoga’s rollicking repertoire includes original compositions, arrangements of traditional Irish tunes and a sampling of songs from the past century, such as the swing song “Don’t talk about me when I’m gone,” a 1940s gospel-soul tune “Strange Things,” and a traditional American song “Factory Girl,” which you can listen to below. One outcome of the evening is that after a transfixing drum solo, we now know how a bodhrán is truly to be played.

On a recent night out with some girls from work, I saw these guys at a club. Mutefish busk around Dublin playing trad rock. The flute player is awesome.

Last week was a big week for Texas music in Ireland. Nanci Griffith is touring Ireland, and we decided to catch her in a smaller venue in Kilkenny.  She performed with her percussionist and a guitar player. Nanci may have brought down some of the high notes, but her voice is still strong and she owns those tunes. She sang some new songs, some favorites, and of course left us wanting more.

On Wednesday we saw Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt at the Olympia. The seats at the Olympia are far from comfortable, but I would have perched on a milk bucket to watch these two guys trade songs and stories for two and a half hours. We weren’t very familiar with John Hiatt–he’s quite entertaining. A coworker was also at the show, and she told me the next day that she thought Hiatt was the better musician. Well, John is quite a showman, but Lyle doesn’t have to play fancy guitar and wail to win my heart–he just plays it cool. This was the most intimate venue in which we’ve seen Lyle, and it was great to hang out with him for a while.

It’s official: We have a Saturday routine.

After a bit of a lie in, Bill gets up around 10:00 to watch Saturday Kitchen. I usually wander into the living room by 11:00. Saturday Kitchen is a bit of an institution, which is evident by the number of mentions in the twitterstream during the broadcast. The show features in-studio cooking demonstrations by visiting chefs, as well as dishes prepared by the host James Martin. James is a polarizing force in the world of television hosting, with distinct pro and anti camps. We’re both pro. I think he’s an excellent host, very adept at describing what he’s cooking and chatting up the celebrity guest* at the same time.  Saturday Kitchen also includes clips from a variety of other BBC cookery** shows by the likes of Rick Stein, Keith Floyd, the Hairy Bikers and sometimes even our old Fat Lady friends, Clarrissa and Jennifer. The Omlette Challenge which pits guest chefs in a timed egg match is surprisingly entertaining. One benefit of watching Saturday Kitchen is that we’re now familiar with many of the British chefs of the moment.

After watching 90 minutes of food being prepared, Bill makes his way to the kitchen to produce some kind of amazing brunch. Recent creations are pictured below.

Most Saturdays Bill pays a visit to the Red Stables Market*** in St. Anne’s park.  I frequently accompany him. The market is one of the reasons we love our proximity to St. Anne’s. It’s a small market, but contains all the major tasty groups: organic meats, cheeses from Sheridan’s, various ethnic foods, tempting breads from Soul bakery, and organic fruit and veg from Duncan at Organic Delights. Sometimes Duncan has amazing surprises like tomatillos or white onions.

Bill comes back from the market inspired to cook wonderful things. For example, the cavolo nero in this photo (above) was featured in pasta along with garlic, pancetta,  and cherry tomatoes.

Recently Bill has been keeping an eye on the wild garlic growing by the river.

I guess it makes sense that our Saturdays, like our holidays, revolve around food. Happy Saturday everyone!

Hey, Bill just came back from the Market with Scallops! Yum. 

* Guests are of some noteriety in Britain, which means we often have no idea who they are. My favorite guest: Len Goodman.
** They say cookery here.
*** If you have four minutes, watch this video I found with scenes of Red Stables market, with a few misspellings, set to a slightly annoying soundtrack.

Hooray!  Carluccio’s has reopened after negotiating reduced rent. This tasty turn in events is due in part–I have no doubt–to Bill’s passionate Internet Campaign!

I’m very happy to have our go-to place back, and must visit soon for that amazing caponata.

So, I say to all three of our Dublin-based readers, get thee to Carluccio’s!