Beetroot Fittata; Mini Hot Dogs, Baked - Baked Beans

Sometimes, life is all about compromise - or in my case, perhaps letting friends down occasionally. One recent occasion comes to mind - Tapas Friday just gone. We were supposed to join a friend at the launch of her exhibition. Sadly, tapas took over and we never made it - it just shows how much we care about our blog, right? It was a shame and with perhaps better time management we should have made it. So in an attempt to buy her love back, the mentioned artist is having an amazing exhibition on in Bernard Shaw on South Richmond Street (http://www.treesforthewoods.blogspot.com) for the next few weeks. You should go AND if you mention Salty Squid you will get a free strange look from the barman. So Denise, we are so sorry, however, our legion of fan(s) will take comfort knowing, that while we could have been looking at art, we were busy making our own form of art, we like to call 'a mess'.


Thank god for leftovers! Like this time, I felt really lucky to be able to recycle some fantastic Toulouse sausages we had left from the week's saucy dinners. So, the concept of mini-hotdogs was quickly created, with an enrichment of home baked sourdough rolls. Yes sir, I can do sourdough, well, at least since I brought a couple of mysterious sachets from my last visit to Germany. 'Sourdough extract' doesn't really sound trustful, even if it's manifesting itself as 'organic' of origin. All you can do is to give it a shot. And earn the fruits of the reward!

Combine 400 g whole wheat flour with 200 g normal flour, make a mould in the middle and pour in half a cup lukewarm milk, including 1 packed of dissolved dried, active yeast. Add a good pinch of salt, 1 Tbs of honey, a packet of 'Sourdough extract', 25 g melted butter and another cup of lukewarm milk. Knead well until you get a smooth ball of dough. Leave it to prove in a warm place for 45 mins. When it has doubled in size, take it out, punch it in the middle and give it another workout. Then leave it to prove for the second time, another 45 mins. Again, it should double its size, and this is when you knead it again, shape into a roll and cut to 3-4 cm pieces, which will be shaped individually into small rolls. Place into a buttered oven tray, brush the rolls with cold milk, and sprinkle half of them with sesame seeds (or poppy seeds if available). Place an additional oven dish with some hot water to create steam,into the preheated oven at 180 degrees. Bake for 30-40 mins, until the crust is dark and golden.

Now it's time for the sausages. Fry them up in a bit of oil ( I used 2 sausages for 6-7 mini-hotdogs). Cut the rolls in half and butter them slightly (feel free to use mayonnaise, or whatever yummy spread you fancy). Then simply place some green leaves, tomato, onion, piece of sausage and a slash of ketchup on top of each other, and cover with the top of the bun. Regarding some moans about the raw onions, coming from Mr Salty Squid, feel free to fry the onions before building those miniature Leaning Towers of ... eehm Ranelagh.




From the moment I saw this recipe in an amazing cookbook called "Falling Cloudberries" by Tessa Kiros, borrowed from a friend, hoping she already forgot about it ;). A truly finger licking journey through a world of family recipes from at least 5 different countries of origin. Beautiful photography goes along with some of the finest recipes. When I came across the recipe for baked butter beans, there was no way back, and a second dish for tapas Friday made it to the menu!


I got some dried butter beans, which I soaked in water overnight. Then all you have to do is place the beans in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to boil and cook for 1,5 hours, until beans are soft. Under NO circumstances add any salt to it, as you will end up with some hard-like-stone-like beans if you do. Only towards the end of cooking you can allow yourself to season a little bit. Meanwhile, chop a good bunch of flat parsley, 2-3 cloves garlic, 2-3 celery stalks and combine with 2 tins of tomatoes. Chop 1-2 onions and fry them in 4 Tbs olive oil, until golden, soft and not burnt. Add the onions plus oil to the tomato mix together with another 4 Tbs olive oil. Season slightly. Drain the beans, reserving the water they were cooked in. Place the beans in a buttered oven dish, add the reserved bean water to the tomato mix and pour it all over the beans, mixing all throughout well. Cover with tinfoil, bake in preheated oven (180 degrees) for 45 mins, then remove the foil and add some water if you feel the beans are getting dry. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and return to the oven for another 30 mins.



For this beautiful summer frittata, I simply roasted 4-5 beetroots with fresh thyme leaves, garlic, pinch of sea salt and olive oil. When cooled down, peel the roots and slice in thin slices. Wash 2 hand fulls of fresh watercress, drain and de-stalk. Place 3-4 potatoes in sauce pan with cold water, add salt and bring to boil. Cook until soft (but not falling apart!). Take out the potatoes, drain and leave to cool down. Then you can peel them (I personally always prefer to leave the skin on) and cut into slices, as thin as you can get. Fry a finely chopped onion in a pan with hot oil, add 2-3 chopped garlic cloves, let it simmer, but watch the garlic does not to burn. Add the potatoes, beetroot and the watercress, reduce the heat, leaving it simmer together for couple of minutes. Break 6-7 eggs, and beat with some milk and good bit of freshly ground nutmeg. Pour over the veggies in the pan, season with salt & black pepper. Leave it cook for 5 mins without stirring, but carefully shake the pan from time to time. Before the eggs set, place some soft goat cheese ( I used the beautiful Irish Ryefield goat log) on top of everything, leaving it there for another couple of minutes. Instead of turning the pan, place into a preheated oven (200 degrees) and grill for about 5-10 mins. Take out and enjoy this yummy pan of goodness!


Shopping List:
Water cress €3.00
Dried butter beans €2.95
Goat cheese € 2.00
Veggies € 7.00
.........................................................
Total €14.95

Drinks:
Cusumano, Insolia, Sicilia, 2007, 13%

On the stereo:
Postal Service, Angus and Julia Stone