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I GUESS NOW that it’s December, we’re clear to say the word… Christmas! I absolutely love this time of year… the buzz, the lights, the music, the eyes of children looking at Christmas trees and shining ornaments, the aromas of warm winter drinks filling the dark streets. And, obviously, the food.
Christmas is my favourite time of the year in the kitchens of The Metropole Hotel and Cork International Hotel as there is always a great atmosphere and diners love our local seasonal food.
It’s the time of year when we can indulge in the good things, go the extra mile to try new recipes at home, and try to impress our family and friends with new flavours. Deep and rich flavours that require time to cook, lip-smacking braised meats, golden roasted winter vegetables that melt in the mouth, seasonal fruits poached in sweet and festive spiced syrup.
For us, home cooking is a family affair and there is not one meal that two of my children don’t join in to give a hand. Adding a bit of spice, chopping the vegetables, whisk some eggs into a cake mix or simply spill more flour outside the mixing bowl than in.
For those of you who want to entertain at home, here are three dinner party recipes that will impress your guests that we serve in our restaurants. As December begins, take your time and enjoy building these tasty dishes so that when the sparkly season is fully in swing, you’ll be an expert.
Ingredients for 4 people:
5 large eggs
300g venison mince
100g black pudding
1 tsp chopped sage
1 tsp chopped thyme
1 tsp chopped parsley
100g plain flour, seasoned
100g dried breadcrumbs
¼ head celeriac, peeled and grated finely
2 apples, peeled and grated finely
4 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Method:
Start off with boiling 4 eggs for 7 minutes (soft boil) and cool immediately in iced water.
Once peeled, peel the eggs carefully and place onto a kitchen towel to dry.
Proceed with the venison mix by carefully incorporating the black pudding into the venison mix.
Add the chopped fresh herbs, salt and pepper and mix again, trying to get a smooth mixture and divide into 4 equal bowls.
Flatten one of the balls of meat onto a piece of cling film, it should be wide enough to cover a full egg.
Place an egg on top and using the corners of the cling film, wrap the mince around the egg and press gently.
Repeat with the other 3 eggs.
In a large bowl, beat the remaining egg, in another large bowl add the flour & in another large bowl, add the breadcrumb.
Remove the cling film from the eggs and dip the egg in the flour first, then the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumb.
Repeat this step for the 3 remaining eggs.
For the rémoulade salad, mix the grated celeriac and apple with the mayonnaise and mustard.
Add a pinch of ground nutmeg, season with salt and mix thoroughly.
In a large saucepan, skillet, add enough oil to get a 4 cm layer and bring to 160 degree Celsius.
Add the 4 eggs and cook into the oil for 8 to 10 minutes, until the eggs are crispy and golden brown.
Keep turning them throughout the cooking process to prevent them from burning.
Drain on a kitchen towel and serve on top of the celeriac remoulade.
Ingredients for 4 people:
50g red quinoa
50g black quinoa
100g white quinoa
50ml white wine
0.5l vegetable bouillon
5 g natural yeast
3 shallots, peeled and diced.
1 bay leaves
20 Prawns
2 tbsp cajun spice mix
20 ml olive oil
1 head fennel, shaved finely
1 lemon, zest and juice
8 radishes, shaved finely
25 ml orange juice
25 ml white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
75ml olive oil
1 bunch dill
Method:
In a large mixing bowl, mix the prawns with the Cajun spice and a little olive oil.
In a large saucepan, sweat off the shallots in little olive oil, add the quinoa and fold into the oil.
Add the white wine and cook for 5 minutes, add the stock, bay leaves and cook slowly until the liquid has evaporated.
Check for tenderness, if needed add more stock and cook a bit more.
Remove from the heat and add the nutritional yeast, lemon zest, check for seasoning.
In a hot frying pan, cook off the prawns marinated in the Cajun spice and olive oil.
Cook fully and add a little lemon juice at the end.
Shave the fennel finely and add the rest of the lemon juice to avoid getting brown.
Shave the radishes and place them into iced water to keep them crispy.
To make the lemon dressing, mix the lemon juice, vinegar, honey and olive oil together, check for seasoning.
Add some freshly chopped dill to the dressing.
Using a pastry ring cutter, place some quinoa in a ring shape.
Place 5 prawns per person on the quinoa and garnish with the shaved vegetables.
Finish the dish with the lemon dressing and some fresh dill sprigs.
Ingredients for 4 people:
2 heads chicory, leaves separated and washed
50g lettuce leaves, washed
4 ripe pears, peeled
100 ml white wine
2 sprig thyme
1 star anise
100 g Cashel blue cheese, crumbed
50 g walnuts
50 g sugar
30 ml water
1 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
50 ml orange juice
10 ml balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
100ml olive oil
Method:
For the candied walnuts, place the sugar and water in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil.
Add the walnuts and cook for 2 minutes until they are coated.
Drain the liquid and roast it at 170 degrees for 10 minutes on a lined oven proof tray.
For the orange dressing, combine the last 4 ingredients together and whisk vigorously.
For the poached pears, place the pears into a saucepan that just fits the pears side by side.
Add the white wine, star anise and thyme cook for 10 minutes or until tender.
Cool the pears in the liquid.
To finish the dish, add the chicory and lettuce leaves to a mixing bowl.
Add the dressing and gently fold over the lettuce.
Divide equally into 4 salad bowls, add some crumbed blue cheese and sliced red onions.
Slice the pears thinly and place them gently onto the salad.
Finish with the candied walnuts and another bit of dressing.
Enjoy the fun in the kitchen and feeding your guests!
Alex Petit is Group Executive Chef of Trigon Hotels, which includes The Metropole Hotel in Cork City and the Cork International Hotel.
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A lot of people in rented accommodation are often only weeks away from homelessness. Going out on sick leave from work can be enough to tip you over. Properties with rent allowance guidelines can be hard to come by and the wait for rent allowance approval can sometimes be lengthy. Domestic abuse victims can also be at a higher risk of homelessness if they need to leave in a crisis situation. Mental illness is also a big factor. Mental illness is often masked by alcohol or drug use because those with mental illness often self medicate with both. I have been lucky enough to hang on to my home and keep my mortgage going throughout many crisis situations in my life and I had no support from anywhere . Homelessness is a huge bugbear of mine. Everyone should have a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in. Homelessness has many causes and it seems anyone can become homeless in the wrong circumstances. Any spare cash I have always goes to places like Focus.
Very well put Catherine. Keep strong.
100% Agree though I will say, as someone who’s been in Private Rented Accommodation & now is on R/A (not happily, I’d rather have the savings & wherewithal to be back in the Private Rental Sector), I think the “Only 2 Paychecks away from homelessness” is as applicable if on R/A too.
R/A Limits were cut in 2011 if I remember correctly.
For a Single Person, it went from €82 from a €108 a Week Rent to €76 & then a huge cut to €48.80 out of a Maximum Rent of €80.77 (The .77c bit is baffling! Show me the Landlord that charges that for a 1 Bed Flat/Apartment! Shows the bean crunchers in the DSP are living in La La Land!).
That rate applies to South-East (think Carlow/Kilkenny/Wexford/Waterford/Tipperary) and is for Rural and Urban areas in the region which means some get better value than others.
Having looked on DAFT & in my Local Papers, I have yet to find a Landlord who’ll take €80.77 as Rent for a 1 Bed Flat/Apartament.
It just proves how out of touch the DSP are.
Well said
Good for you Catherine!
And BTW, who are the IDIOTS who red thumbed your comment?
(The question is obviously rhetorical – no one expects the spineless little sh1ts to admit to it )
How does one become homeless – with all the rent allowances and social welfare ? Not trying to be smart – I honestly can’t figure it out.
Generally addiction or some other mental illness is involved.
Heres how. My mate was told to leave his home as he caused trouble . So he is homeless. Sleeping in my house now. Its great fun :’( . Kill me now
Rent allowance is not exactly easy to get, I know loads of people that have be refused it from the welfare, even though they really, really needed to get it (luckily these people have now found employment and can afforded something).
All you can get (if lucky) is a horrible bed sit, I applied while on jobbridge but they were so horrible/dangerous that I just paid €100 a week out of my dole, (plus 50 for jobridge) instead, twas a bit of a struggle. So unless you have sound friends and some help, I can see how you could end up homeless. I’d imagine addiction has a big part to play.
I’d love if a study was done to see exactly what the reality and the myths are regarding are social welfare system. Some people seem to think it is easy to get stuff, where as my limited experience on it, I had to wait ages, couldn’t get rent allowance, just got my dole and 50 quid for jobbridge. Thankfully, I have a job now but when I hear people talk about how great are benefits are, it begs the question, have ye lived on them?? It’s very difficult. Is there any evidence that some people get loads or it is a myth.
I am genuinely curious!
Wow, that was offensive on so many levels.
@The Deise Bull – thanks, that’s very informative .
@Leonard – why? and to whom?
Because when people lose their jobs and are in private rental landlord kicks them out and the social welfare have waiting lists. They don’t know how the system works so believe it or not people in poverty can very easy end up on the streets.
Plus the vast majority of landlords won’t accept rent allowance at all, no matter what the circumstances.
What do you mean about who and where I have a lot of experience here ?
While I wasn’t necessarily kicked out, when I did lose my job after getting made redundant my Landlord of 8 years standing whose house I shared with him & others, wouldn’t take R/A when I requested permission.
I had no choice as such then but to move as it made more sense financially than to stick around watching my savings/pay-off dwindle.
I fail to understand why Landlords won’t accept R/A. It means they’ll still get their’ Rent be it for a room or Apartment/Flat/House etc.
What I will say is the paying of R/A to the Renter is crazy. It should be paid into the Landlords account as it can be, and is, abused occasionally.
Lads why can’t you upload high res images to these posts it’s very hard read blurred charts
I would be nice if you could click on the images in Journal articles so that you could read them!
Quick, get one of the women who are constantly on here writing ‘opinion pieces’ on gender imbalance. We need to make some women homeless to even this up!
Hahaha that’s brilliant
A lot of people coming out of institutions become homeless.
Most of the time, being homeless is completely out of the hands of the victim. But i know people who insist on being a bit reckless on where theyre going. I know where theyre going to end up, and so do they.
Shame on the government, we have so many buildings that the state own that they could be turned into shelters.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=301539063245180&set=a.301538736578546.70763.296057273793359&type=3&theater
There is an empty flat complex called cannon troy court in ballyfermot, why cant homeless people live there, its a waste
I’m sure the locals would be delighted.
What is your issue Killjoy with your “I’m sure the locals would be delighted”, stated more than once, blahblahblah, nonsensical rubbish that spills from your mind on a regular basis because you simply lack the basic ability to put forward a more viable response. Your a muppett. Troll or not.
Maybe a bit off the point, but: It seems to me that jailed criminals are in a way better environment than these homeless and than the thousands who are depriving themselves of the basic necessities in order to keep the roof over their heads. Good food, heat, light, cable TV, excellent healthcare etc. Would there be any votes out there for a party which adopts ‘Tom’s Programme’ for the next election: Money should be diverted from our prisons and channeled into improving the environment of our most needy law abiding citizens unless or until the standard of living of the worst off of such law citizens is raised above that provided in our prisons. ?
We have enough money. It’s just going to pay bankers and the likes. I’d rather live in a country where those coming out of prison are more likely to be integrated back into normal society. Take funding from prisons and you increase the chances of homelessness for those who are released, along with a list of other problems.
It wouldn’t cost much to take better care of our homeless. I don’t see why we should take that money out of one important area for funding instead of maybe saving a few quid elsewhere. If TDs were payed half the amount I’m sure that would be a healthy amount of funding towards helping the homeless.
I find it hard to believe that having it ‘relatively’ cushy inside would encourage released prisoners to integrate back into society – in some cases it may encourage racidivism. I am sure the errant bankers and other white collar criminals, if ever the courts get around to dealing with them, would be discouraged from repeat offending if they find conditions inside worse than those suffered by the homeless and the ‘new’ poor.
It seems to me that most people think that having a TV makes life in prison easy. I’d say the hardest part is the isolation, knowing that your family, friends and the whole rest of the world are still living their lives on the outside.
I’m sure the prison budget isn’t topped with TVs or whatever othet luxury items you might be referring too. Most of the spending would go on classes, education and those kind of projects. By simply removing television I doubt we would make any significant savings.
I heard a figure of something like 70k per year to house a prisoner. Let’s say a €150 TV in a 2 person cell that would last maybe 4 years costs under €20 for each prisoner every year.
And I think most sane people would rather freedom whether there is a TV or not.
I too would prefer freedom with or without TV. While you have latched onto the TV issue, a roof to protect from the elements, food to eat, some kind of heating, medical care etc. are obviously much more important and an increasing number of our law abiding citizens are finding such things hard or impossible to provide for themselves and their families.
Yes, the Irish Penal Reform Trust say the cost per prisoner is €65,404 in 2012, not including education spend.
Not wishing to dwell on it, but TV: most cost much more than €150, add to this the annual TV license and the regular cost of cable or satellite channels (I understand from comments on The Journal our prisoners have multi channel TV, games consoles etc.) – I guess an increasing number of households have to forego TV these days.
I don’t believe prisoners should have to go without a roof, food, or medicine. I believe everyone deserves that. What I don’t believe is that it should or needs to be taken away from prisoners to give to homeless. There is plenty of shelter, food and medicine for everyone. The problem is politics and how the money is spent.
And with the TV issue, games consoles and other media players are not provided by the state, you have to get your own if you want one. And they only require one connection for cable TV. There is no way the state pays whatever the going rate is for each to have their own connection.
Daniel, it is very difficult to be eligible for rent allowance. You can see the criteria on the threshold website. It’s not all as easy as it might seem.
The poor white male, the least looked after in our society, we have women’s groups looking out and fighting for womens rights , immigrant groups doing something the same, the gay community get together and fight for equal rights, female drug addicts the state take them in and stabilise them if there pregnant, white men with money look after themselves. The poor white male are left to rot,
What are you talking about ye headcase!!!!!
There is so many houses in Ireland that are not being used by anyone, it would be a good idea to let these houses out to homeless people and in turn they could be paid to do community work as a means of breaking the cycle that they find themselves in.
When it comes to drug addicts they should enrol in some form of rehabilitation as a deal in order for them to be given the house. And lastly to ensure the house is kept in good condition, there should be a weekly inspection of the house by the local council. Nobody chooses to be homeless, there is no reason why it should continue.
And they all lived happily ever after!! ….
So liam I assume you won’t gave in issue if they move next door?
Just putting it out there, most homeless people lining the alleys of Dublin are severe drug addicts, trust me I’ve been surveying alleys in the city the last week.
I feel bad for the productive people in society who can’t get a break and find themselves homeless, but they only account for a small proportion of this demographic.
Did somebody just say that they choose to be homeless by the life that they lead, or did I see it on a different post.
Just watched “how to get a council house” on 4OD. It’s about the UK system, but very interesting. The 3rd episode focuses on homelessness.
If you are a refugee no issues getting a place and a very nice place too if you are homeless irish person and accommodation no help is given
Classic Ireland.
This is not true….
You are racist
To get a bit of perspective, take a little trip to California… The streets are covered by people pushing grocery trolleys carrying all their worldly possessions. You see, in America, you either make it big, or fall bad. That is just the ” free” world though. I am sure Ireland has less homeless per capita than all the other European countries. T
I notice gender inequality. There should be a quota………
Dont wirry folks.
The stats will improve soon.
2013-14 will see a lot of homeless & those in emergency accomodation moved down to Wicklow Town.
All courtesy of the Simon Community.
…Your welcome.
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