easter in Connemara

..hey hello there,

I am for a few days here in Connemara,
weather is fantastic and the whole place around the Old Monastery Hostel is covered in Wild Garlic

a gift from mother Nature

you can use it like spinach, doing a pesto, like fresh herb in a salad or soup
or mixed with sea salt,
like in the following recipe

blend 100g wild garlic and mix it well with 100g of the sea salt, you get a quite liquid  paste than mix it with the rest of the sea salt.
Lay out a backing tray with kitchen tissue and dry the salt /wild garlic mix on it outside.
Takes about 8 hours on a sunny day. Don't dry indoor, cause it smells really strong!!

or how about Jamie Olivers wonderful wild garlic& sausage fusilli???

 http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/wonderful-wild-garlic-and-sausage-fusilli???


Happy Easter wishes

Silvana

romesco sauce for BBQ

BBQ is such a nice food experience, whether you do it meaty or you go vegetarian.

it´s easy to prep and if you have guests and they join in with a salad or the desert, than there is hardly no kitchen work involved....

....so there is no excuse not to do some little extra effort and get one of the bests sauces done..




"the Romesco sauce" originates from Tarragona, Catalonia and contains only goodness



here my recipe:

• 100g roasted almonds and hazelnuts
• 1 head garlic
• 1 slice stale bread soaked in red vine vinegar
• 6 sun ripe medium size tomatoes
• 2 large red peppers
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
•  3 dried Nora peppers soaked in hot water or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or small hot pepper
•  salt and pepper

• Roast garlic, red peppers and tomatoes on a baking sheet with a bit of olive oil for about half an hour at 180ºC.
• skin tomatoes and red peppers and squeeze out the soft garlic from it's skins
• put the roasted almonds and hazelnuts (I don't bother to peal the dry skin off), the tomatoes, red pepper and garlic pulp together with bread I previously had soaked in vinegar (make sure not to take to much - especially if you use Spanish vine vinegar!!) in a food processor or use a large bowl and a blender
• ground, mix and drizzle the olive oil into it, than add salt and pepper and the scratched out pulp from the Nora peppers.

i.... ja esta!  Bon profit!!

Silvana

Me and Kirsty McGee

when I am diving into my "just me weekends" and I create the chaotic set up for my crafting,

- meaning that I spread out good part of my materials to see what triggers me on this time-

and I turn on the music
full volume
no teens around complaining "Mamahhh!!!"
not for the noice of cause, but for my music preferences

and there they are, strong female voices:

Nina Simone, Amy Macdonald, Katie Malua, Melissa Etheridge, Marla Glenn, Lhasa de dSela,
Alanis Morissette, Aretha Franklin..

but there is one I favour at the moment and her name is Kirsty McGee

here a taste

Silvana