Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Posted by WiseMóna    16 Comments    Posted under: The Snug

I have come to realise that I am wordless without photos.

I went to Dublin last week (Thursday) to compete in the Bord Bia and Irish Food Bloggers ‘Plate to Page’ competition.

If you recall, in March I competed in the SoSligo food festival competition and it was a total disaster. Well, maybe not a total disaster, but I was in waaaaay over my head and all the Chef’s were toque-wearing professionals. It was my first and last (I thought) competition.

The carrot that was dangled in front of my nose was difficult to pass up. A long weekend in Weimar, Germany to take part in a photography/food styling/writing workshop with the amazing and talented people from Plate-to-Page. Click on this link here to see the itinerary for the grand prize.

I put my apron on, and started plotting. First I had to ask Mammy if she would help the Chef take care of the kids if I ended up winning, because he might just deeevorce me if I left him home-alone-for four days with the kids and no other grown ups to talk to.

Although she grumbled a little (another competition? Won’t you be devastated if you don’t win) and she even chimed in when I started menu planning (ya can’t use mince/ground beef. You need to showcase a premium piece of beef). Yes Mother. Were you not the same Mammy that told me ‘it is not all about winning. Just as long as you have fun, that is all that matters’.

Of course, she agreed to aid in the care of my wee ones (were I to win) and even drove me to Dublin on the night of the competition.

I am a firm believer in trusting my gut. I have never been let down by my intuitiveness about one thing or another and I had to give it a whirl.

I arrived at Cooks Academy in Dublin just after 5:30pm and was greeted by the lovely and talented Vanessa Greenwood (also one of the judges!) who runs Cooks Academy Cookery School and one of ‘the competition’ Joanna Schaffalitzky from Smörgåsblog who was already unloading her basket of goodies and rearing to go; and our guide-to-everything-in-the-kitchen Louise from LolaLu’s Kitchen Blog.

A quick cuppa tea later and the other two competitors arrived David from Kitchen 72 and Catherine from The Runcible Spoon.

Then the rest of judges arrived Maeve from Bord Bia and Caroline and Kristin from the Irish Food Bloggers Association and gave us a quick little pep-talk and the competition kicked off.

May the best man or woman win!

I had chosen to cook one of our very favourite pieces of beef. Ribeye to die for on the bone. It is one of those very easy and fast pieces of steak to cook and is certainly the best value for money in my book.

With an hour and a half to get everything cooked and ready to plate up for the judges, I was a little worried about the timing of everything especially the finishing off of the beef in the oven. But, instead of getting stressed, I, and the other cooks, were able to enjoy the process, and even chat with each other throughout the evening. Cooks Academy in Dublin is an amazing place, so much ventilation and natural light. If you are interested in taking a few cooking classes, I would say that you will not be disappointed!

When we make this for dinner at home we usually top the beef with deep-fried saucy shallots.

Wise Hot Shallots

(You can shallow fry these but I recommend you use the deep fryer)

6 shallots
4 cups of flour
3 cups Franks Red Hot Sauce

Cut the shallots into small onion rings. Not too thin or they will disappear when you fry them.

Soak for a good forty minutes in Franks Red Hot Sauce.

Put the flour in a ziplock bag then add a handful of shallots and dredge them in flour.
Leave them on a baking sheet tray/pan for as long as you can to dry out. This is important because the drier they are the crunchier they will be when you cook ‘em. We like ‘em crunchy!

Once they are all dried out, pop them into a very hot deep fryer for four minutes and mix them up with a wooden spoon so they do not clump together in the oil.

Lift the fryer basket out of the oil, let the oil heat up to the highest setting again for a few minutes and once it has reached its setting, drop the onions for a last blast of frying.

You can top any dinner with these little gems. I know the judges liked my Ribeye beef, but in all honesty, I think it was the onions that clinched the deal.

Of to Germany in a month I am!

I.Can’t.WAIT!

On a side note, the other winner of the evening David from Kitchen 72 did something amazing with Beef Cheeks and we are going to try that next week once our butchers get it in. You should try this too!

Although everyone could not win, the other two lassies and their dishes were winners all round. Their plates were licked clean by the end of the night! The stuffing Catherine used in her dish was so flavourful I can see us borrowing the recipe and trying it out soon and Joanna’s clever ‘Surf agus Turf’ on a spring salad with pea shoot tendrils is something we are having for lunch today!

This was one of the most fun experiences I have had with food blogging/writing and cooking since my journey with WiseWords began.

Last year in college one of the visiting writers (Nuala Ní Chonchúir) encouraged us to put ourselves out there, to enter competitions and to keep at it, even if our entries were not recognised. I am so glad that her message lingered in my mind for so long and that I took the plunge.

Now, what about that lunch!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

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From The Kitchen