Freddies Bistro

It was my work night out on Friday and before the carnage, we had booked an early bird meal at Freddie's Bistro in Limerick city. Its been a long time since I was Freddies and to be very honest it'll be a long while before I go back. Loads of people rave about this restaurant being the best in the city but I found it disappointing on Friday. Now I grant you it was pre-Christmas party night combined with a Heineken cup match in Thomond park so it was going to be busy.

There was at least 35 people scrunched into the tables upstairs, all big groups and it was stuffy, noisy and slightly uncomfortable. We were ordering from the set Christmas menu (available until 6.30) priced at €26.95 and €3.95 extra for steak. We weren't offered the A La Carte as a choice. There's plenty to choose from, I went for the garlic mushrooms, I felt risotto would be too filling; I'm allergic to mussels; Caesar salad you can have any time; I don't consider garlic bread with cheese a proper starter; the wings would ruin my manicure (!) and soup is too heavy. The garlic mushrooms are stuffed with garlicky breadcrumbs, served with a few salad leaves and drizzle of mayo and pesto. They were nice but nothing exciting.

For main, I was in the mood for something meaty so I opted for the medallions of fillet steak with perigourdine sauce (peppery mushroom). There's also a choice of chicken with peppercorn sauce, baked salmon, pasta carbonara, fish with lime & coriander and Thai red veg curry. Two thickish medallions arrived, one was just over medium and the other was as I asked for: medium rare. Nice meat but the dish was nothing special. I'd asked for the sauce on the side and I got a tiny little bowl of it. The usual sides arrived: baton carrots with brussel sprouts, mashed potato, chipped baby potatoes (with skins still on and not crispy enough), boiled baby potatoes with butter and chives I think, and roasted halved baby potatoes with garlic.

While I can't fault the food or the price, it didn't really excite me and it didn't feel special if you know what I mean. It was like decent pub grub.

But the desserts were amazing, I went for the chocolate pudding and all I left on the plate was the sprig of mint!! The staff were also brilliant, attentive but unobstrusive. Maybe on a quieter night it's a special place and more deserving of its reputation, but I did feel disappointed and let down.

Thoughts are turning to Christmas

Only 10 days to big celebration and there's been a change of plans this year, Mammy Chops is joining us. My ma was going on about spending the day alone and we decided to invite her being the nice people we are! Anyway, now its got me thinking what will I cook? Being an elderly lady of 79 its not everything she can eat. So the recipe testing has started. Tonight I decided to try a carrot soup. I finely chopped garlic clove, 3 medium sized carrots, an onion, a small potato, good pinch of ground coriander and plenty of seasoning. I gently fried them off in oil and real butter until the onion was soft and translucent. Then added approx a litre of stock with a big splash of orange juice, you need to cover the veg completely. I let that bubble away gently for around three quarters of an hour, then blitzed it up with my hand held! It should be a nice smooth soup and you know what, it turned out quite nice, if I say so myself. So it looks like a runner for Christmas day.

There might be a few additions on the day itself - I was thinking finely chopped crispy chorizo sprinkled on, or finely chopped red chilli, red pepper & spring onion as a garnish. For the Mammy it'll be plain soup with some warm bread.

Now onto the dessert.....

Meatball Sunday

Its been a lazy day today. Even Doggie Chops lazed out. This was the position he was in most of day, be it on the floor, the couch or his personal favourite: the arm of the couch.

Maybe its the weather. Its freezing here so staying inside relaxing is his favourite thing at the moment. Thankfully, the rain has abated and we're in no danger of getting flooded anymore.

Minced beef was taken out of the freezer last night with the intention of having Spaghetti Bolognaise today; stew was then mentioned; then Cottage Pie; then burgers (but we had them earlier in the week); we finally settled on Meatballs with Spicy Tomato sauce and once again cubed roasted potatoes. This form of potato cooking has become an obsession in this house. The spicy tomato sauce is another fall back for us. Its so easy, its just tinned tomatoes, chopped onion, chopped red chilli or dried chilli flakes and garlic. You let it bubble away for a while, probably half hour or so and blend it down to a smooth sauce. If you've any parmesan rind floating around you can throw it in too, they add a nice background flavour but don't forget to take it out before you blend the sauce.

The meatballs are your standard beef, finely diced chopped onion, little bit of garlic, seasoning and some Italian herbs such as dried oregano and basil. Pour the cooked sauce over the cooked meatballs and enjoy. The picture quality isn't great, took it on my phone as my camera is dead! But you get the idea.

Now a slew of cookery programmes awaits us. There's Saturday Kitchen, Kitchen Meltdown and Come Dine With Me. Oh and maybe a glass of wine to accompany the relaxation.

This week, we've been mostly eating nice dinners!

Its been a week of comfort food and grub hugs. Mr Chops was getting in on the cooking this week practically shoving me out of the kitchen so he could take over...so I let him. Thursday it was homemade burgers, mash and onion gravy. Friday, he did full chicken roast, yummy. Well it was the supreme of chicken with the usual extras of roasted potatoes, stuffing, gravy & veg. One of his favourite things to do in the kitchen is to joint a chicken so we got two decent dinners out of a small chicken that was on offer in the butchers the other evening. Tonight it was one of our fall-back favourites: Spanish style stew. My recipe but his execution! He served it with roasted cubes of potatoes, very delish.

Its a simple dinner. Roughly chop up some chorizo and fry it off gently until it releases its oils, set aside. You the sear off chicken pieces, we used legs and thighs, dusted with flour and smoked paprika. Remove the skin. Then you add tinned tomatoes, chopped red chilli, sliced red pepper, sliced onion, garlic, good pinch of oregano, squeeze of tomato puree, pinch of sugar, good pinch of smoked Spanish paprika and plenty of seasoning. It should be a wet stew but thick if you follow me. Add the chorizo for the last half hour of cooking. It should take an hour in total to cook. The chicken should be loose from the bone. The heat from the chilli should be a background hint and not blow your head off! Its the perfect dinner for a cold winter's night.

The weather outside is frightful

Well it has been raining quite a lot where I am; the flood warning has been given; and we've to hope high tide later goes well for the area or we'll be sandbagging the doors. The Chops family took a stroll in the local area earlier this evening and I have to say that some people haven't gotten off so well and there's a few feet of water in their houses.

The bad weather has put me in the mind of comfort food and what works really well on an evening like this. I'd decided I was definitely having some kind of mashed potato. Mr. Chops wasn't feeling great so it was a one-woman dindins. I decided that as it was a solo effort that I was gonna roast up some garlic and add it to the mash. I consider it a guilty pleasure.

So I roasted the garlic (as much or as little as you want) with the skin left on the cloves, in a little drop of olive oil, wrapped in tin foil for around 30mins at 160C (fan). Let it cool down and then squeeze it from the skins into the mashed spuds. Needless to say, you have to add loads of butter and seasoning to the mash. I like it nice and buttery and when feeling really decadent I add a little drop of cream. I actually got a present of a potato ricer last Christmas and it has changed the way we eat mash in this house. It keeps the potato fluffy and soft. This is the model Mr. Chops got me, now there's a man who knows what his woman wants!!!

I ate my mash with sirloin steak, steamed broccoli and sautéed mushrooms. Now the steak wasn't great, it was a last-minute supermarket buy and was a little bit tough and chewy and Doggie Chops did get some leftovers today. Compared to the aged steaks we've been getting at our local butchers recently it was a definite let down so therein is the lesson: butcher bought is definitely best.

Now back to my studies, which I should have been doing while adding to this little blogeen.