Lunch At Uncle Pete's, Paul Street

This is one of the best salads in Cork. I challenge you to find a better one. Uncle Pete's is kind of a hidden gem of Cork, they do some incredible pizzas and pasta, but they also do amazing salads. When I worked in the city centre, I was in there at least a couple of times a week.

This Warm Chicken Salad With Bacon is just delightful. Generous pieces of chicken fillet in their own coating, tasty pieces of bacon, tomato, red onion, fresh lettuce leaves and a huge amount of paremesan shavings covered with a delicous fresh, caesar dressing.

I'll be honest, when I'm feeling naughty or taking a break from being a carb-conscious individual- Uncle Pete's Pizzas* are one of my top choices, but you know what? Ordering their salads for delivery is pretty awesome, if you can't be arsed to cook. Low carb food for delivery is a pretty rare thing here.

The food is tasty, the staff are friendly and helpful. Follow them on Facebook or order from Just Eat.

*My jam is a margherita pizza with pepperoni, onions and Italian sausage.

Nando's Coming To Cork City Centre

While wandering around town recently, I was sad to see that Meadows and Byrne on Academy Street had closed. It was a great resource for those odd kitchenware items you couldn't get anywhere else.

On passing the other day, I noticed that a planning permission sign had gone up outside and I couldn't resist being nosey. I was absolutely delighted to see that Nando's was named as the tenant and they were going to create a new restaurant there!

You may have read about my experience in Nando's Mahon Point a while back (where I intelligently forgot to take food pictures- doh!) and while it was a tasty, low-carb friendly meal, it's just too far to trek to. Now, I'm delighted to have this restaurant come to the city centre, and I'm hoping to make a lot more visits for their tasty chicken and low-carb friendly sides!

You can take a look at their menu here.

Quick & Easy Chicken Skewers with Homemade Tzatziki

The weather is starting to warm up here in Cork, which always makes me crave light, spicy dinners.

These skewers are so easy to make- easier (and tastier) still if you can marinade the chicken the night before. And chop the veggies. There's nothing like coming home to a fully-prepped meal you can put together without much concentration.

We make this kind of meal a lot, so metal skewers are an economical choice. Using metal skewers also helps the meat cook quickly from the inside out. If you're using disposable wooden ones, don't forget to wet them under cold water before use to avoid burning.

For The Skewers (Makes 6)

6 Chicken Fillets
4 Capsicum Peppers, Various Colours
1 Courgette
1 Onion
Chop All Of The Above Into Large Chunks Which Wont Break On The Skewer

For The Chicken Marinade

Here's the list of spices I used, you can of course add/remove/adjust to fit your personal taste. These are listed in order of most to least used:

Paprika

Cumin

Salt

Black Pepper

Fennel Seed

Cinnamon

Ground Cardamom

Ground Ginger

Ground Nutmeg

Ground Cloves

Crushed Coriander Seed

Crushed Star Anise

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/ 375F.

2. Combine all your spices in a bowl with a few glugs of olive oil. Add your chicken chunks and mix to coat well. 

Ideally, cover and let the chicken sit overnight in the fridge. An hour or so will do too, but overnight is definitely tastier!

3. The rest is pretty self-explainatory! Build your skewers alternating chicken and vegetables.

4. Lay out on a wire tray and pop in the oven for 30 minutes, turning once during cooking.

While the skewers are in the oven, I like to knock together an awesome homemade tzatziki which compliments the spices perfectly. 

For The Tzatziki

200g Greek Yoghurt

1 Cucumber

Juice of Half A Lemon

1 Clove of Garlic, Crushed

Pinch Of Salt

Pinch Of Black Pepper

Handful Of Fresh Dill, Finely Chopped

1. Cut your cucumber in half and carefully remove all the green skin.

2. Using a cheese grater or similar, grate the cucumber onto a sheet of strong kitchen paper. (It's important to use a strong paper so you don't end up with chunks in your tzatziki!) When you're done grating, fold all the cucumber up into the paper towel and squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible.

3. In a bowl, combine the yoghurt, grated cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt and pepper. Mix Well and chill slightly before serving. Sprinkle with a few springs of dill if desired.

Chicken, Pancetta & Mushroom 'Pasta'

I love pasta dishes. When I went to college I could whip up a surprisingly good pasta bake with pretty much anything I found in the cupboard. Lasagne, ravioli, tagliatelle... I love it all and it's been one of the hardest things to cut out.

I've been making this chicken & pancetta dish for years and with the recent cold weather I seriously needed some familiar comfort food. This time, instead of pasta, I used thinly sliced and boiled celeriac to hold onto the sauce and bulk up the dish.

Celeraic is a great vegetable, mild in taste and low in carbohydrate (there's about 7g net carbs per 100g).  I'm looking forward to figuring out some other uses for it!

Ingredients (Serves 2 Hungry Low Carbers)

4 Diced Chicken Fillets
100g Diced Pancetta (you can use regular bacon rashers if you prefer)
250ml Double Cream
1 Diced White Onion
6 Sliced Mushrooms
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Kallo do a great gluten and lactose free one!)
50g Grated Parmesan
Garlic Granules
Salt & Black Pepper To Taste

100g Celeraic, peeled and sliced into 1cm strips

Method

1. Fry the pancetta in a small amount of oil (I use coconut oil) over a high heat until it's just about to turn crispy, then set aside.

2. Turn down the heat to medium. Using the grease from the pancetta, fry the onion until translucent. Add the mushrooms and fry until slightly soft. You'll be letting the whole dish simmer later so you don't want to overcook at this stage. Set aside.

3. Still using the same frying pan (you might need to add a little more oil at this stage),  add the diced chicken and begin to fry over a medium heat. Crumble in the chicken stock cube and continue to fry until the chicken begins to brown.

4. Add your pancetta, onions and mushrooms back into the pan and fry together for 5 minutes, stirring all the time.

5. Turn the heat down low and pour in the double cream. Mix well and allow to simmer for a minute.

6. Add in the parmesan, garlic granules and salt and black pepper to taste. If you want to use fresh garlic instead of the granules, add half a crushed clove when frying the onion. Stir well so the cheese melts into the cream.

7. Let the whole mixture simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. Now for the 'pasta'. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and add in the celeriac slices. Bring it back up to the boil and allow to simmer. I think it works best when the celeriac is slightly al dente- that takes about 10 minutes.

9. Drain the celeraic slices and toss with the chicken and pancetta so they are well coated with sauce. Serve!

This is a low carb dish, but I'm not your momma- if you're trying to control your net carb count do your own math!

Dinner At CoqBull

Last night I had dinner with my family at Coqbull on French Church Street in the city centre. It's a great place for low carbers to eat because you can easily order without seeming awkward or fussy and the food is really great.

I ordered the half rotisserie chicken, with a caesar salad instead of chips and a side of coleslaw. The meat was really juicy, the skin was crispy and the coleslaw was really tasty.

They also have the option of ordering a burger without the bun (no pics, sorry!), which comes wrapped in a giant lettuce leaf and with a tasty burger sauce. They also ask how you like your burger cooked, which is how it should be.

There is a great list of salads on their menu, I'll have to pop in there for lunch some day and report back.

You can visit their website here, follow them on Facebook here and on Twitter here.

Lunch At Perry Street Market Cafe

I recently had lunch at Perry Street Market Cafe and really enjoyed it. The salads on their menu board all seemed to have potato or some other carbohydrate so I just asked for a mixed plate of meat and salads and the staff were happy to oblige. I got chicken breast and a choice of three salads and everything was delicious and very fresh.

My only complaint would be that the plate was HUGE and there was far too much food- I ended up leaving almost half the salads after me. Including a drink, this lunch was a little on the pricy side at about €12 so it really was a shame to have to leave so much behind.

You can see their TripAdvisor reviews here and follow them on Facebook here.

Dinner At Nando's

So today S and I took the long trek out to Mahon Point cinema and followed up our 3D MAXX experience with a trip to Nando's.

I was ravinous so when the food arrived I tucked in without taking a picture, though for some inexplicable reason I did take a picture of their famous hot sauce:

The chicken arrived quickly and was really tender and juicy. Oftentimes chicken in restaurants can be dry and overcooked, but not here. There are also some great low-carb-friendly sides, including the coleslaw and mixed salad I had tonight. 

You can check out the full menu here and like them on Facebook here.

Chicken Breast On The Bone With Crispy Skin

When did we all start eating boneless chicken fillets? Was it a product of the 'good times'?

Our lives were so busy and important that buying clean-looking, equal-sized, pink chicken portions just became habit. But what were we missing out on? Moisture. Crispy Skin. Flavour.

While they're undeniably useful for certain types of meals, boneless fillets can also be horribly dry and ridiculously over-priced. Most of the time I'll use chicken on the bone, with skin on.
You can pick up five giant portions for just €7 at O'Sullivan's Poultry in The English Market (near the fountain). These chicken pieces have a wing attached, so if you like the dark meat as well as the breast meat you'll love this. The oil and spices make the skin crispy and delicious, and placing just a small knob of butter under the skin keeps the meat incredibly tender.

just look at that juicy meat under the crispy skin! Mmmmm....

Just one of these will do me when having it with cauliflower mash & veg, though S likes to have two with a smaller amount of veg- you can adjust according to your own particular low-carb cravings.

Ingredients
1-2 chicken breasts per person (on the bone, with skin, and with a wing attached- if possible)
Olive oil
Schwartz Chicken Seasoning (paprika, onion, cayenne & parsley)
Butter (real, not the processed crap)
Salt & black pepper

Cooking Time
About 40 Minutes at 180C/360F

Method
1. Lay the chicken breasts out on a baking tray (deep-fill, if possible), with the skin side up.

2. Working from the bottom to the top part of the breast, use your finger or a knife to gently pull the skin out and create a space between it and the flesh.

3. Push a dice-sized cube of butter in between the skin and the flesh, and pull the skin back down around the breast. Placing the butter under the skin will make the chicken lovely and moist.

4. Using a pastry brush (or your fingers) brush the outside of the skin with a little olive oil.
You'll need about a teaspoon per portion, but I'm mad about this Filippo Berio olive oil spray- one pump per portion is all you need.

5. Sprinkle over with a pinch of salt, some black pepper (I like lots of pepper) and about a teaspoon of Schwarz chicken seasoning per breast.
If you can't get your hands on this type of seasoning, follow this link to see the basic ingredients & easily make up your own version.

5a. Massage the spices into the skin. They'll look something like this:

you can see the knobs of butter just under the skin on each breast

6. Pour a small amount (about 20ml) of cold water into the bottom of the baking tray. This will help to keep the chicken moist, and make life easier for you when you come to make the gravy.

6a.  No need to cover the meat, just pop the tray into a pre-heated oven at 180C/360F degrees for about 40 minutes or until the juices run clear. The skin will be dark, and slightly crispy.

If you have a meat thermometer you can stick the probe into the thickest part of the largest breast and then forget about it until it beeps. This is my favourite way to cook. Make sure to do a spot-check on the other breasts too though- salmonella is a nasty illness.

Side Note: A poorly defrosted chicken curry led to salmonella the day before I went to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2005. Six hours on a train and a day in the middle of Phoenix Park at the height of summer probably wasn't the best cure but there was no way I was missing the concert!

7. Once you've taken the meat out of the roasting tray, you can add a little hot water (~100ml) to the juices at the bottom of the tray to make a gravy. Whisk for a couple of minutes over a medium heat until blended.
If your oven tray isn't suitable to sit directly on the hob, scrape the juices into a small saucepan then add the water.

8. If you need to thicken the gravy, add a small amount of low carb-friendly Xanthan Gum while whisking. I'll usually start with a 1/2 teaspoon to begin with, and add more as/if needed.

Serve with Cauliflower Mash and your favourite veggies.

Chargrilled Chicken Skewers

For that barbeque-in-your-kitchen feeling in the middle of January, give these Chargrilled Chicken Skewers a go. They are tasty enough to have on their own, or you can dress them up with coleslaw and mixed leaves. 

You can let the chicken marinade for a while if you like, but it's really not necessary. I made these tonight and it took me a little more than half an hour from start to finish.

I picked up four good size chicken fillets for about a fiver at O'Sullivans in The English Market today. This 4-fillet recipe serves two low-carbers, but you could probably feed four with it if you wanted a carby side dish.

I'll always serve this with a spoonful of soft cream cheese (like philadelphia) and a dash of spicy sriracha sauce- the one from Marks & Spencer's Modern Asian range is gorgeous.

Ingredients

4 Chicken fillets
3 Bell (capsicum) Peppers -three different colours allow for different flavours & great colour
1 Red Onion
Olive Oil
Schwartz Chargrilled Chicken Seasoning (peppers, garlic, parsley)


Method

Preheat the oven to 200/395 degrees.

1. Dice the chicken into slightly larger than bitesize pieces. Place in a bowl and drizzle with about three tablespoons of olive oil. Stir to ensure the chicken is well covered with oil.

2. Sprinkle over with the seasoning mix, and stir to evenly coat the chicken.

3. Let the chicken sit, and get to work chopping your peppers into large chunks. I've written a post about the best way to chop peppers here.

4. Chop the red onion into large chunks by peeling and halving it. Now half both pieces again

5. Start building up your skewers by alternating the veg and chicken- I like to put the piece of red onion in the centre of each skewer, but that's probably just my OCD. Sitting the skewers across a roasting dish is a pertty handy way to neatly put them on the oven.

6. Leave the skewers in for about 25 minutes, until the chicken has slightly browned and the peppers are soft and juicy.

7. Holding one end of the skewer (with a glove/ towel), use a fork to slide the chicken and veg down onto your plate. 

Serve straight away!