AuthorDarina Allen

Where you see weeds, I see dinner!

Spring is truly in the air, most of the trees are bursting into leaf and the crows are making a terrific racket in the trees behind the house. They have been stealing the sheep’s wool I have been using to mulch around the currant and berry bushes to line their nests, so the chicks are super cozy.  

There’s so much to choose from at this time of the year, but this week’s column celebrates the humble nettle. It’s a food as well as a medicine, wild, free and bursting with vitamins. The young tender leaves are deliciously mild and abundant in both the countryside and urban areas.

We’ve started a batch of nettle beer; this much loved recipe comes from my Forgotten Skills book. It’ll be ready to drink in 5-6 weeks and you can’t imagine how delicious it is.

The much maligned nettle is truly a super food. Our ancestors were well aware of their medicinal properties. My grandfather used to insist that it was of the utmost importance to eat four ‘feeds’ of nettles during the month of May, to clear the blood after winter. We now know that they are indeed rich in vitamins and minerals from calcium, magnesium to potassium.

They are also loaded with Vitamin A, C, K and B and the leaves are high in protein.

There are many references in indigenous folklore. Manuscripts of the early monks referred to nettles and perennial leeks being added to pottages, so we’ve somehow known from time began how nutritious and beneficial this prolific weed is to both human and animal health.

A common saying was ‘a pot of nettles in May is health for a year and a day’. They were commonly used in folk medicine to treat various ailments, arthritis, rheumatism and hay fever and were believed to promote lactation in nursing mothers.

Have you heard of Nettlemas? This was a tradition in parts of County Cork, a particularly fun custom where the boys chased each other and sometimes the girls with nettles on ‘Nettlemas night’ (30^th April) – the night before May Day. Similar traditions existed in parts of the UK, Scotland and Europe.

We have several nettle varieties here in Ireland, red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum), white dead-nettle (Lamium album), and cut-leaved dead-nettle (Lamium galeopsifolia) but the specific variety I’m referring to in this column is the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). We’ve all been stung by nettles in the past but since childhood, we’ve known to seek out the trusty dock leaf that will always be growing close by as an antidote to the burning sting.

It goes without saying that it’s necessary to wear rubber gloves when picking. Nettles cannot be eaten raw, but they lose their sting when cooked, dried or blended.

If you just brush lightly against a nettle, they sting but if you grasp them firmly, they won’t sting.

They’re also a brilliant addition to poultry food and the compost heap. They decompose quickly, provide a rich source of nitrogen and are increasingly used for cordage, dying and weaving a natural fabric, similar to linen.

Who knew that the often despised nettle could have so many attributes, one of nature’s most versatile and beneficial plants.

So, once again, a few suggestions for ways to enjoy them in the kitchen – potato and nettle soup, nettle tea, nettle pesto, nettle champ or colcannon, nettle smoothies, nettle and ricotta pizza…

Sneak a few into greens, check out my recipes in earlier columns and here are a few more…

Indian Spiced Stinging Nettle Soup

This is an Indian spiced lentil soup (dal) that tastes brilliantly with the addition of nettles which can of course be swapped out with any seasonal leafy green vegetable e.g., spinach or chard.

Serves 4

Ingredients

50ml extra virgin olive oil

200g onion, diced

3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tsp freshly roasted and ground cumin

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp black mustard seed

185g red lentils

1 litre homemade chicken stock

150g washed nettle leaves, roughly chopped

1 tsp salt and a pinch of sugar to taste

Garnish

natural yoghurt

fresh coriander leaves

Method

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onion and sweat until lightly browned. Add the garlic and all of the spices and fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant and aromatic. Next, add the lentils, chicken stock and washed nettles. Simmer until the lentils are cooked, 10-15 minutes approx.

Add salt and a pinch of sugar to taste.

Delicious served with naan bread and a dollop of natural yoghurt and a sprinkle of coriander leaves.

Spanakopita with Nettles and Spinach

Spanakopita can also be made in individual ‘snails’, but this delicious flaky version comes in a sauté pan. This version is good for a feast as it serves 12-15 people. You can halve the recipe if you’re serving smaller numbers.

Serves 12-15

Ingredients

150g butter

900g leeks, sliced and washed really well

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

500g onions, finely chopped

8 spring onions (both white and green parts), finely sliced

450g nettles, washed and blanched

450g fresh spinach, weighed after the stalks have been removed, washed really well

6 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

6 tbsp chopped dill

350g feta cheese, crumbled

125g Parmesan cheese, grated

4 organic, free-range eggs, beaten

9 sheets of filo pastry, 30 x 43cm (about one packet)

15g melted butter, for brushing

egg wash, made by beating 1 organic, free-range egg with 2-3 tablespoons whole milk

flaky sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and nutmeg

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Melt the butter in a 26cm ovenproof sauté pan and cook the sliced leeks with 2-3 tablespoons of water for 4-5 minutes until tender (older leeks may take slightly longer). Scoop the leeks out of the pan and set aside on a plate while you cook the spinach and blanch the nettles in boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in the sauté pan, add the onions and spring onions, and sweat over a low heat for 3-4 minutes, covered, until soft but not coloured. Increase the heat to medium, add the blanched nettles and the spinach and toss well to coat it in the oil. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the chopped parsley and dill, and continue to cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring, until the greens have wilted. Turn out the spinach mixture into a colander and set aside to drain and cool.

Combine the crumbled feta and 100g of the grated Parmesan in a medium bowl and beat in the egg. Add the nettles, well-drained spinach, the leeks and season to taste.

Brushing each sheet of filo with melted butter as you go, layer up the pastry in the base of the sauté pan or roasting dish so that it comes up the sides, leaving enough pastry hanging over the sides to fold over and encase the filling.

Spread the filling evenly over the pastry and bring up the sides of the filo to enclose the filling. Score the top of the pie into a diamond or square pattern and brush all over with the egg wash.  Sprinkle the surface with the remaining 25g grated Parmesan.

Put the sauté pan onto a gas jet at medium, cook for 3-4 minutes or until the pan heats and the base starts to brown.  Transfer to the oven and bake for about 45 minutes until puffed up and golden.

Serve, cut into wedges, while still warm and fluffy.

Roger’s Nettle Beer

A gem from Roger Phillips’ book, Wild Food. It made delicious beer – sweet, fizzy, perfect for summertime.

Makes 12 litres

Ingredients

100 nettle stalks, with leaves

11 litres water

1.3kg granulated sugar

50g cream of tartar

10g live yeast

Method

Boil the nettles in the water for 10 minutes. Strain and add the sugar and the cream of tartar. Heat and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave until tepid, then add the yeast and stir well. Cover with muslin and leave for several days.

Remove the scum and decant without disturbing the sediment. Bottle, cork and tie down.

It’s a super exciting time of the year for cooks and gardeners.

The hungry gap is almost over. We’ve been rewarded with a bumper garden rhubarb harvest this year after we piled on a generous mulch of compost last autumn. 

The soil has warmed up so we’re sowing seeds as fast as we possibly can. The ground needs to be between 6-10C before seeds will germinate but of course you can scatter salad leaf seeds into a seed tray on your windowsills or radish seeds into a mushroom chip. (The latter need a greater depth of soil) and will be ready to enjoy, 3-4 weeks from now depending on whether they are grown inside or outside. Make sure to enjoy the fresh leaves also, just add them to a salad of fresh spring greens.

It’s also a terrific time of the year for foraging for ‘weeds’ and edible flowers. We’ve been adding the tender, young leaves of hawthorn into our green salads too. That may sound crazy, but they are scientifically proven to be hugely beneficial to our cardiovascular system, so go and have a nibble, check it out…

Both hawthorn and blackthorn are Irish natives, the leaves come first on the May bush (hawthorn) and the flowers come later and the haw fruits ripen in autumn to the delight of the birds.

The fruit of the blackthorn on the other hand are sloes. The fluffy white flowers come before the leaves in May so make a mental note of where you spot a shrub so you can harvest sloes in early September in time to make a batch of sloe gin for Christmas. 

Asparagus spears are loving this warm, sunny weather, they’ve been popping out of the ground with gay abandon for the past few weeks. Enjoy the Irish crop while it’s in season, Bradley Putz’s asparagus from Lisheen Greens can be found at his stall at Skibbereen Farmers’ Market. Get there early on Saturday morning before it’s all snapped up. It’ll be quite different from the Italian or French asparagus on the supermarket shelves.  

My most recent discovery at our local fish shop is monkfish cheeks. They are about the size of a ‘half-crown’ if that rings bells and can of course be poached, fried in a little sizzling butter or grilled. They are exquisite served with sea kale, asparagus and a buttery sauce – a feast. 

Rhubarb, sea kale and asparagus are really worth growing in your garden. Rhubarb is relatively easy to buy during the season. Irish asparagus is difficult enough to find whereas sea kale is virtually never sold in shops or supermarkets so it’s essential to put the effort into growing your own for its delicate, exquisite taste. It’s even more rare and delicious than Irish asparagus, you’ll need to cover the crowns to protect them from January until April. Traditionally, with terracotta pots which look beautiful in your garden. Apart from costing an arm and a leg, they are really difficult to source but black plastic bins weighted down with a brick or heavy stone works perfectly even though they look far from photogenic.

There are also lots and lots of young spring nettles ready for the picking so next week, I’ll devote an entire column to them.

Meanwhile, try this new recipe for Monkfish cheeks with asparagus and butter sauce.

Sea Kale on Toast

We grow sea kale both in the herb garden and the kitchen garden – it really is the most exquisite vegetable – delicate and precious.  It’s rarely found in the shops so for that reason alone it’s really worth trying to find a space in your garden or flower bed.  You’ll need chimney liners, or plastic buckets or in an ideal world terracotta sea kale pots to blanch the sea kale from November to April.  I’ve got lots of wonderful frost proof pots made by the Whichford Pottery in Warwickshire. The sea kale pots are not exactly ‘given away’ but I was unbearably tempted when I saw them at the Chelsea Flower Show, so I went on a mighty spree and had to hide the evidence for ages. The special sea kale pots with the little lids to enable one to peep into the pots to check the growth, are best.  Even if you don’t grow sea kale, they look great in the garden all year round.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

450g sea kale

50-75g butter

salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Wash the sea kale gently and trim into manageable lengths – about 10cm.  Bring about 600ml water to a fast rolling boil, add one teaspoon of salt.  Pop in the sea kale, cover and boil until tender – 5 to 15 minutes depending on thickness. 

Just as soon as a knife will pierce the sea kale easily, drain it and then serve on hot plates with a little melted butter and perhaps a few small triangles of toast.  At the beginning of its short season in April, we serve it as a first course on hot toast with melted butter or Hollandaise sauce.  When it becomes more abundant it makes a wonderful accompaniment to fish, particularly poached Wild Irish Salmon or Sea Trout.

Poached Monkfish Cheeks with Asparagus Butter Sauce

This is by far the most popular monkfish dish in our restaurant.  Serve it sparingly for a special occasion and don’t compromise the recipe!

Serves 6 as a main course

Ingredients

675g fresh monkfish cheeks

1.2 litres water

1 tsp salt

Asparagus Butter

6-12 spears of asparagus, depending on length

150g butter (preferably unsalted)

225ml cream

Garnish

sprigs of chervil

Method

Trim the monkfish cheeks if necessary. Sprinkle lightly with salt and refrigerate until needed. 

To prepare and cook the asparagus.

Hold each spear of asparagus over your index finger down near the root end, it will snap at the point where it begins to get tough (use the woody ends for asparagus stock for soup). Some people like to peel the asparagus, but we rarely do.

Tie similar-sized asparagus in bundles with raffia.  Choose a tall saucepan – one can buy specially designed tall asparagus pots with baskets.

Alternatively, cook in about 2.5cm of boiling salted water (1 teaspoon salt to every 600ml) in an oval cast-iron casserole. It’s really easy to overcook because it’ll go on cooking after you remove it from the heat.  or until a knife tip will pierce the root end easily. Cook for 3-4 minutes until al dente and drain.

Put the cream into a heavy bottomed saucepan and gently reduce to about 3 tablespoons or until it is in danger of burning, then whisk in the butter bit by bit as though you were making a Hollandaise sauce. 

Trim off the tips of the asparagus, then slice the stalks. Gently fold both into the butter.  Thin the sauce with a very little of the warm asparagus cooking water if necessary and keep warm. 

Bring the water to the boil and add the salt.  Add the monkfish cheeks and simmer for 4-5 minutes or until completely white and no longer opaque.  Drain well.  Arrange in a warm serving dish or on individual plates. 

Coat the monkfish cheeks with the asparagus butter.  Garnish with sprigs of chervil and serve immediately. 

Myrtle’s Almond Tart with Roast Rhubarb, Strawberries and Sweet Cicely

This was one of the first recipes I learned from Myrtle when I came to Ballymaloe House in the late 1960’s – still a top favourite. I love the contrast of the bittersweet rhubarb and strawberries with the crunchy almond base. Raspberries can also be used or even a blob of homemade raspberry jam and softly whipped cream in a tartlet – irresistible for afternoon tea.

Serves 12, makes 24 shallow tartlets or 2 x 18cm tarts

Ingredients

110g soft butter

110g caster sugar

110g ground almonds

300ml whipped cream

Filling

roast rhubarb (see recipe from my column on March 29^th 2025)

early Irish strawberries (or raspberries in season)

Redcurrant Glaze (optional)

Garnish

sweet cicely

2 x 18cm sandwich tins or 24 tartlet tins

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4

Cream the butter and sugar together, stir in the ground almonds together. Divide the mixture between the two tins. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes approx., or until golden brown. The tarts will be too soft to turn out immediately, so cool for about 5 minutes before removing from tins. Do not allow to set hard or the butter will solidify, and they will stick to the tins. If this happens, pop the tins back into the oven for a few minutes so the butter melts, they will then come out easily. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Just before serving, arrange the roast rhubarb on the base, top with raspberries. Glaze with red currant glaze. Decorate with rosettes of whipped cream. Garnish with sweet cicely.

Red Currant Glaze

Ingredients

350g red currant jelly

1 tbsp water approx. (optional)

Method

In a small stainless steel saucepan melt the red currant jelly, add 1 tablespoon of water if necessary. Stir gently, but do not whisk or it will become cloudy. Cook it for just 1-2 minutes longer or the jelly will darken. Store any leftover glaze in an airtight jar and reheat gently to melt it before use. The quantities given above make a generous 300ml of glaze.

* If you are using yellow or green fruit, use apricot glaze instead of red currant jelly.

The Americans are ‘shell shocked’ in a myriad of ways at present.

‘Liberation’ Day and its fallout has left them and us reeling with no idea of how the wind will blow next. Ironically, something more mundane has also been causing huge anxiety.

For the past few months, the price of eggs has become a major American obsession. The price has soared, largely due to a bird flu outbreak. Since the beginning of the year, about 30 million birds have been culled and authorities are battling the thriving egg smuggling market which has developed across the border from Mexico where eggs cost $2 per dozen as opposed to $10 dollars per dozen in California…

Who knew that eggs could cause such disruption? For me, though, it’s not surprising. They are by far the cheapest protein, enormously versatile, super easy to cook, can be used in sweet or savoury dishes and there are so many delicious ways to create a nourishing meal in minutes from a couple of eggs.

At present, our flocks of hens are also locked in as a precaution against bird flu. They hate being cooped up, is it my imagination or are the eggs less delicious and nutrient dense?

Here’s hoping, we’ll get the go-ahead, very soon to release them out onto the rich pasture that they love.

Easter and chicks are synonymous in my mind, we’ve been hatching out a variety of traditional breeds in time for the holiday. Such joy and excitement on the children’s faces when they see the newborn chicks pecking their way out of their shells in the Palais des Poulets.

Aficionados of this column will be well aware of how much I love hens and regularly urge readers to think about having even three or four hens in a movable chicken coop on their lawn. Win, win all the way, your food scraps get fed to the hens and come back as eggs a few days later.

The ‘poo’ goes into the compost and back onto the garden to make the soil more fertile to grow even more nutritious vegetables plus you don’t have to pay the council to take away your food waste.

All super important but this is a food column, so we’ll concentrate on the bonus for the cook of having beautiful, fresh eggs to add magic to your cooking, instead of weeks old eggs to cook with. It makes a phenomenal difference to the flavour of dishes; you probably won’t believe me until you taste the difference.

Easter is all about eggs, there’s always lots of fun on Easter Sunday when the children discover that our clever hens have laid eggs with their names when they collect the eggs from the nests before going for an Easter bunny hunt around the garden – this time for chocolate eggs.

At Easter, it’s good to remember that eggs represent and celebrate new life and rebirth, mirroring the resurrection of Jesus in Christianity. During the medieval period, it was forbidden to eat eggs during the forty days of Lent, so everyone enthusiastically tucked into an egg feast on Easter Sunday.

If you haven’t had time to make the traditional Simnel Cake, it’s a bit late now but how about the delicious Easter Egg Cake (see my Easter column published on 9th April 2023), super easy, made in minutes in a food processor. Decorate with Easter bunnies or Easter egg nests or how about this Lemon Meringue Roulade to round off Easter Sunday lunch.

Happy Easter to you all.

Eggs Bhurji

Delicious spicy scrambled eggs from the Sun House in Galle on the South Coast of Sri Lanka.

Serves 2

Ingredients

25g butter

1 tsp mustard seeds

a few small fresh curry leaves

2 spring onions, finely chopped

½ tsp grated ginger

½ hot green chilli pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced

pinch of turmeric

½ tsp cumin

1 ripe tomato, skinned and diced

4 free-range eggs

toast, grilled bread or flatbread

Method

Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat.  Add the mustard seeds, stir once then add the curry leaves and spring onion, stir and cook on a low to medium heat until the onions are soft.  Add the ginger, chilli, turmeric, cumin powder and diced tomato, stir and fry gently for a couple of minutes stirring regularly. 

Add the beaten eggs and continue to stir over a low heat until the eggs are softly scrambled. 

Serve on warm plates with hot toast, grilled bread or flatbread. 

Hot Lemon Soufflé

A tangy melt in the mouth flourless soufflé.  This feather light dessert will knock the socks off your friends and astound you by how easy it is to make something so delicious and impressive. 

For best flavour, use organic or unwaxed lemons if at all possible.  Best to cook in a conventional rather than a fan oven.

Serves 8

Ingredients

50g butter

110g caster sugar – use half with the egg whites

3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)

4 organic egg yolks

grated zest from 2 organic lemons

5 organic egg whites

icing sugar (for sprinkling)

For the Dishes

25g butter

25g caster sugar to line the soufflé dishes

8 individual soufflé dishes (9cm diameter/100ml)

Method

Brush the inside of the soufflé dishes with melted butter, sprinkle with caster sugar and shake out the excess.

First make the lemon curd base.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter with half the sugar and all the lemon juice over a low heat.  When all the butter and sugar are melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks one by one. Add the lemon zest. Heat very gently, stirring constantly with a straight ended wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens to coat the back of the spoon. This is lemon curd, so be careful to not let it get too hot or it will curdle.

The soufflé can be prepared to this point, 3-4 hours ahead. Keep the mixture covered at room temperature.

20-30 minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff, preferably in a large stainless-steel or copper bowl. Add the remaining caster sugar and beat for 20 seconds longer or until glossy.  Gently reheat the lemon mixture until hot to the touch, then stir in about a quarter of the egg whites. Add this mixture to the remaining egg whites and fold them together as lightly as possible.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared soufflé dishes, smooth the surface of each with a palette knife.  Bake at once in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes or until the soufflés are puffed and golden brown on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve at once on hot plates.

Top Tip

This soufflé can be prepared ahead in individual soufflé dishes and frozen overnight or for a few days. Cook straight from the freezer, they will take about 12-15 minutes.

Lemon Meringue Roulade

Making a roulade is another fun thing to do with meringue – cook the meringue lightly so it’s still soft enough to roll. Fill it with lots of lemon curd and softly whipped cream and whatever else you fancy.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

4 organic, free-range egg whites

225g caster sugar

sunflower oil, for greasing

300ml whipped cream

For the Lemon Curd

50g butter

100g caster sugar

zest and juice of 2 lemons

2 organic, free-range eggs and 1 egg yolk, beaten

For the Crystallized Lemon Peel

2 lemons

150ml stock syrup (see recipe)

caster sugar, for sprinkling

sprigs of mint, lemon balm or sweet cicely to garnish

Method

If making the crystallized lemon peel, peel the lemons very thinly with a swivel-top peeler, being careful not to include the white pith, and cut the strips into fine julienne. Put in a saucepan with 450ml water and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan, refresh in cold water and repeat the process again. Put the lemon julienne in a saucepan with the stock syrup and cook gently until they look translucent or opaque. Remove with a slotted spoon and leave to cool on baking parchment paper or a wire rack. When cold, sprinkle with caster sugar. The crystallized lemon peel can be stored in a jar or airtight tin for weeks or sometimes months.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Put the egg whites into the spotlessly clean bowl of a food mixer. Break up with the whisk attachment and then add all the caster sugar in one go. Whisk at full speed for 10-15 minutes until stiff peaks form.

Meanwhile, line a 30.5 x 20.5cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment and brush lightly with sunflower oil.

Spread the meringue gently over the tin with a palette knife – it ought to be quite thick and bouncy. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Put a sheet of baking parchment on a worktop, turn the roulade out onto it, remove the parchment from the base of the meringue and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, make the lemon curd.

Melt the butter over a very low heat, add the sugar, lemon zest and juice and then stir in the well-beaten eggs. Stir carefully over a gentle heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pour into a bowl (it will thicken as it cools).

To assemble the roulade, spread most of the whipped cream and lemon curd (as much as you like) over the meringue, keeping it 1cm in from the edge. Roll up from the long side and carefully ease on to a serving plate. Decorate with the reserved cream, crystallized lemon peel and fresh mint, lemon balm or sweet cicely leaves, if using. Serve cut into 2.5cm thick slices and drizzle with a little more lemon curd if desired.

Stock Syrup

Makes 825ml

450g sugar

600ml water

To make the stock syrup: Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to the boil.  Boil for 2 minutes then allow it to cool.  Store in the fridge until needed.

The Happy Pear Boys ‘powered by veg’, are celebrating 20 years in business.

Twin brothers David and Stephen Flynn were just 24 years old when they decided to open a little veg shop in Greystones in Co. Wicklow.

It soon morphed into a café, supper club, a coffee roastery and a production facility for their products. Next step was to buy two farms…

Meanwhile in their ‘spare time’, they gave cooking courses, wrote six best-selling cookbooks, lots of TV programmes, set up a YouTube channel while encouraging everyone they came in contact with to eat more veg and look after our planet. There’s no stopping these lads!

A recent crowd funder raised 2.5 million in less than 24 hours; such is the influence of these supercharged boys.

At first, they were vehement vegans, embracing a strict wholefood plant based diet. Striving for what they felt was dietary perfection. They meticulously followed the advice of every health guru pushing themselves to the extreme. On their own admission, ‘we were annoyingly preachy, those vegans who always turned every meal into a discussion about food and why what was on our plate was better than what was on yours!’

However, when they had children, their food philosophy gradually evolved and can now be summed up in their words – ‘eat more veg and keep well away from UPF’s (ultra processed foods)’.

They are very hot on the need for extra fibre in our diet and the importance of each of us doing our bit to look after the environment and the soil that feeds us.

Their latest book includes a collection of the tried and tested, Flynn Family Favourites, the cafés most beloved and economic dishes and lots of top 20 lists.

20 ways to eat more veg (and to get your kids to eat more veg!).

20 ways to pick yourself up when feeling down

20 things we’ve learned after 20 years

20 learnings from our podcasts

20 dreams we have…

A few recipes to whet your appetite but lots more excitement between the covers of The Happy Pear 20.

*All recipes from The Happy Pear 20 published by Gill Books.

The Creamiest Hummus Ever!

We make literally tons of hummus every week in our factory in Pearville! Over the years, we have explored every trick and hack in search of the perfect hummus. Here are three simple tips to take your hummus to the next level:

1. Boil your tinned chickpeas with baking soda for a few minutes,

then remove the skins – this makes the hummus creamier.

2. Use ice instead of water – it will help make the hummus lighter

and fluffier.

3. Blend for longer – our friend from the Middle East blends his

hummus for 30 minutes in his food processor!

Makes about 800g

Ingredients

2 × 400g tins of cooked chickpeas

½ tsp baking soda

2-3 cloves of garlic, depending on your preference

4 tbsp lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

4 tbsp tahini

3-4 ice cubes

4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to garnish

1½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

pinch of sumac or sweet paprika, to garnish

1 tbsp sesame seeds, to garnish

Method

Prepare the chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add to a pot. Add the baking soda, cover the chickpeas with just-boiled water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove the chickpea skins: Drain and rinse the cooked chickpeas. Set a small handful aside for garnish (if you’d like), then soak the rest in a large bowl filled with cold water. Try to get rid of the chickpea skins that came loose during the cooking by rubbing them together, or use a small sieve to help with this. Discard the skins.

Blend: Peel the garlic cloves. Add all ingredients for the hummus, except the sumac or sweet paprika and the sesame seeds, to a food processor and blend till super smooth – we recommend blending for 2–5 minutes, depending on your patience! Taste and adjust the seasoning to your palate. If it’s too strong or too thick, add a little water to thin it out.

Serve: Serve with a glug of olive oil and a pinch of sumac or sweet

paprika and a light dusting of sesame seeds.

Easy 10-Minute Indian Dhal

We have cooked this dish hundreds of times, and it is always well received. It’s richly flavoured and deeply nourishing and ready in just 10 minutes. Here, we serve it with toasted wholemeal pitta bread, but it’s also perfect with wholemeal couscous or a pack of pre-cooked brown rice.

Serves 2 on its own, or 4 with an accompanying grain

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic

thumb-sized piece of ginger

bunch of scallions

1 × 400g tin of chickpeas

1 × 400g tin of lentils

10 cherry tomatoes

3 wholemeal pitta breads

1 tbsp oil

1 handful of baby spinach

1 × 400g tin of coconut milk

1 × 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

To serve

1 lime

1 fresh red chilli (optional)

small bunch of fresh coriander or other fresh herb of choice

Method

Preparation: Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Finely chop the scallions, removing any limp outer leaves. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and lentils. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

Toast the pittas: Put the pitta breads in the toaster at max heat.

Cook the dhal: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil for 1 minute in a large saucepan over a high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and cook for 1 minute. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients: Add the chickpeas, lentils, baby

spinach, coconut milk, chopped tomatoes, curry powder, tamari or

soy sauce and salt and black pepper. Stir well and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat.

Garnish and serve: Finely chop the fresh coriander (including the stalks). Squeeze the juice of the lime over the dhal and add the coriander. Stir to combine. If desired, finely slice the chilli and sprinkle on top for added heat. Cut the toasted pitta breads into soldiers (strips) and serve them on the side of your easy dhal. Enjoy!

Easy Sesame and Coriander Flatbreads

These are surprisingly simple to make, and you can adapt this

basic recipe to virtually any flavour you like. Here we’ve gone

with sesame and coriander, but you could leave those out to

make plain flatbreads.

Makes 4

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

150ml natural soy yoghurt or coconut yoghurt

flour for dusting

3 tbsp black sesame seeds

1 tbsp oil, plus extra for brushing

10g fresh coriander

salt

Method

Make the dough: In a mixing bowl, add the flour and a teaspoon of

salt and stir together. Add the yoghurt and mix well until it’s uniform in consistency. In the bowl, knead the mixture for 5 minutes till you get a soft dough.

Divide and roll out: Cut your dough into 4 equal pieces. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out each piece of dough to about ½cm thick.

Cook: Put a large pan on a high heat. Once it’s hot, reduce the heat to medium. Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds and 1 tablespoon of oil (use sesame oil if you want to increase the sesame flavour) then one of the rolled-out flatbreads. Cook till it starts to turn golden underneath, it may also start to form air pockets. Turn and cook on the other side till golden too. Repeat with the remaining flatbreads.

Serve: Brush with a little oil, then sprinkle with some freshly chopped

coriander and coarse sea salt for one of our favourite types of flatbreads!

All over the world, there are food festivals, some principally focus on food and invite guest chefs from across the globe to share their creativity and skills Others like MAD in Copenhagen (coming up in May) focus on food, farming and environmental issues and try to come up with solutions to remedy your deeply flawed food system.

JR Ryall, pastry chef at Ballymaloe House and I recently travelled to Sri Lanka to participate in the Gourmet Galle festival which is now in its second year. It was originally created by the legendary Geoffrey Dobbs who also initiated the Galle Literary Festival in 2005, so this was my second time to make a guest appearance.

We created a Taste of Ballymaloe Dinner at the chic Charleston Hotel. The menu was a fusion of Sri Lankan and Irish ingredients. A beautiful side of Belvelly Smoked Salmon from artisan fish smoker, Frank Hederman came all the way from Ireland, we served it with a fresh cucumber pickle, devilled eggs and freshly baked, Ballymaloe brown yeast bread. 

There were lots of beets in season, so we made a chilled beetroot soup drizzled with Sri Lankan buffalo curd and fresh coriander, very welcome in the Sri Lankan heat. Main course was roast free-range Sri Lankan pork with crackling, aubergines in the pickling style and rustic roast potatoes sprinkled with fresh rosemary.

Guests particularly loved JR’s sweet trolley and each and every one of the beautiful people tucked into a taste of absolutely everything on offer. Sri Lanka grows wonderful cashew nuts, so the praline ice cream was made with cashew nuts instead of almonds. JR layered up the panna cotta with a Sri Lankan espresso coffee jelly, a huge success. Little coconut meringues were topped with the sweetest Alfonso mango and a spoonful of tangy passion fruit and finally there was a wobbly, gooey chocolate tart. 

All the recipes came from JR‘s Ballymaloe Desserts Cookbook, which we later found on the shelves of a fantastic independent bookshop in Unawatuna called Wild and Sage. It’s also got a sweet little café so put it on your Sri Lankan list if you’re planning to head that way. 

We stayed in The Charleston in Galle Fort for several days, so we had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. Of course, we visited the fish market on the edge of the lagoon plus the fruit and veg markets and lots of spice shops in the Muslim quarter where we learned how to source the very best Sri Lankan cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamon, nutmeg and mace. 

Out in Tagalle, I watched the fishermen laboriously hauling in their horseshoe nets and sharing the catch. One of the traditional Sri Lankan Orrou boats sustains 8 to 10 families, it was really an honour to observe this time-honoured sustainable practice, most of the catch was whitebait. Occasionally, they caught a couple of sear fish which was like winning the lotto for them – l long to return to Sri Lanka, loved the food, the traditions, the countryside and the warm and friendly people.

A special thank you to Ivo Richli at The Charleston in Galle Fort for sharing these recipes for this week’s column.

Sri Lankan Potato Curry

Curry leaves particularly are an essential ingredient in Sri Lankan cooking. Neither fresh pandan or curry leaves, as yet are available in supermarkets but are now widely accessible in Asian shops. Buy extra and freeze a few.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 medium potatoes – 600g approx.

3 tbsp onions or shallots, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove minced

3 pieces of pandan leaves (about 10cm each)

1 sprig of fresh curry leaves

1 green chili sliced

¹⁄₄ tsp turmeric powder

¹⁄₂ tsp curry powder * (see recipe)

⁄₈ tsp fenugreek seeds

³⁄₄ tsp salt (adjust to your taste)

225ml water (you may need more or less)

350ml thick coconut milk

3 drops of freshly squeezed lime juice (optional)

Method

Wash and peel the medium size potatoes (a waxy type like Yukon gold potatoes is preferred). Cut them into quarters or to 6 pieces of your potatoes are on the bigger side. Make sure all the potatoes are roughly equal in size. Then put them into a deep saucepan.

Add all the ingredients except the water, thick coconut milk, and lime juice. Then add your water and mix well. You might want to adjust the amount of water depending on the vessel and the number of potatoes you use.

Cook covered until the potatoes are fork-tender. This means you should be able to poke the potatoes with a fork without much resistance. It’s okay to have about 50ml of water left. If you have more water than that then increase the heat and leave the pot uncovered and let the water evaporate. If your potatoes are still not cooked and all your water has evaporated then add some water, cover the pot, and cook until potatoes are tender. Do not overcook your potatoes otherwise, they will become mush. So, keep an eye on them and check the doneness of your potatoes from time to time.

Now lower the heat and add your thick coconut milk. 

Mix gently without breaking your potatoes. Bring the coconut milk to simmer. And then keep gently mixing the curry continuously for about 5 mins without breaking the potatoes so your coconut milk wouldn’t curdle. Make sure you taste the curry and adjust the salt too.

Turn off the heat and keep stirring it gently until the curry cools down a little bit.

Then squeeze a few drops of lime juice. (this step is totally optional) it thickens up the curry just a little bit more, helps to cut through the creaminess.

Sri Lankan Curry Powder

It’s worth making your own batch of Sri Lankan curry powder. It takes ten minutes and will keep in the fridge in a jar for three months.

30g coriander seeds

15g cumin seeds

15g fennel seeds

15g black peppercorns

2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil

8-10 fresh curry leaves

70g dried Kashmiri or medium hot red chillies

¼ tsp ground turmeric

In a dry pan over a low-medium heat, roast the coriander, cumin, fennel and black peppercorns for 1-2 minutes, stirring regularly, until they begin to be really fragrant, then pour them into a bowl. Add the oil to the pan and cook the curry leaves and dried chillies for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and when cool, blitz in a spice grinder or food processor until fine – blitz in batches if needs be. Stir in the turmeric and store in a jam jar.

Ceylon Chicken Curry

Curry leaves are an essential ingredient in many Sri Lankan dishes. Fresh are best but if you don’t have an Asian shop close by, use frozen or dried. In both Sri Lanka and India, sauce is referred to as gravy.

Serves 8

Ingredients

900g whole chicken, cut into small portions

2-3 tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil

½ onion, diced or sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2.5cm piece of ginger, finely chopped

2 ½ tbsp roasted Sri Lankan curry powder (available in Asian shops)

1 tsp chili powder

1 cinnamon stick (preferably Ceylon cinnamon)

6-7 fresh curry leaves

2 serrano green chili

½ tsp salt plus more to taste

2 medium-sized tomatoes

110ml full-fat coconut milk

110ml water

Prepare the bone-in chicken by cutting it into smaller pieces. Each piece should be fairly small but not bite-sized. The larger the chicken piece, the longer it will take to cook through, so it’s important to keep the pieces fairly similar in size.

Add the coconut oil into a large saucepan and heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to soften. Add the garlic and ginger to the softened onions, and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. Make sure it doesn’t burn.

Add the curry powder, chili powder, cinnamon, curry leaves, and mix to combine. Cook for a few minutes until you start to smell the spices.

Add the chicken, green chili, salt, tomatoes, and mix to coat. Cook for 10 minutes with the lid off, on medium high heat. Frequently stir to make sure the chicken or the spices don’t burn.

Add coconut milk, water, and bring the curry to a boil. If you want less gravy, add less liquid.

Lower the heat and let it simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Leave the lid off if you want to reduce the liquid content in the curry.

The chicken should be completely cooked by this point. This will depend on the size of the chicken pieces and the stove you use.

Taste the curry and season with more salt to taste if needed.

If the chicken curry gravy is too thin, or there’s too much of it, uncover and simmer the curry for a further 10 minutes or longer. This step is optional, but it allows the water to evaporate and for the gravy to thicken. If you want more gravy, you can add more water or coconut milk, but you will need to adjust the flavour accordingly.

Turn off the heat and let the chicken cool down slightly. Serve with rice or roti.

Sawborow

These delicious crunchy biscuits were in our room as a welcome treat on our arrival at The Charleston in Galle Fort. Remember sago? It gives a delicious crunchy texture to the Sawborow. Sawborow keep really well in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Makes 100 approx.

Ingredients

1kg sago

1.4kg freshly grated coconut

1kg sugar                                    

40g breadcrumbs

20g fennel seed

50g coconut butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 120°C

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Combine all ingredients and mix with your hands until the mixture sticks together, adding 1-2 tablespoons of water if necessary. The moisture in the coconut will determine if you need the additional water.

Place a cookie/biscuit cutter (7.5cm approx.) on the baking sheet. Add a few tablespoons of the mixture and using the back of a spoon, press down until tight and compact. Carefully remove the cookie/biscuit cutter.

Repeat until all of the mixture has been used.

Bake for 45 minutes until pale golden, turn over and bake the other side for 15 minutes.

Note: When you remove the sawborow from the oven, they will appear to be soft, but they become very crispy as they cool.

Concern continues to gather momentum about the Irish National Free School Meals programme which was welcomed with enthusiasm at first. After all, what’s not to like about this progressive initiative, universal hot school meals for our Primary School children. Free for all, no stigma, no worries about school lunches.

Initially, the children were super excited, but for many enthusiasm soon waned and from my research, a growing number no longer enjoy or eat the food. Many meals come home, half-eaten or untouched in school satchels. Teachers and parents are understandably concerned about the quality, the food waste and the single-use packaging, much of which is not recyclable.

But my primary concern, of which there are many, is the nutritional quality of

the food. Much is ultra-processed, which includes flavourings, artificial colourings, stabilisers….

How much more research do we need to convince us of the negative impacts of these additives and processing aids on our health?

I have just returned from a few weeks in India, where government schools have had a free, Midday Meal programme since 1995.

I visited several schools in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where local women were cooking a midday meal of dahl and rice and chapatis from scratch for the children which they happily shared with me. One was a small village school, others had over 200 pupils. An inexpensive, but deeply nourishing meal, the children loved it and were visibly healthy with beautiful skin and teeth.

Once again at the Ahilya Fort School in Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, several hundred children, eagerly tucked

into a simple meal of ancestral food which their teachers

also shared, a chickpea dahl with nutrient dense drumstick

greens and freshly cooked flatbread. 

The children sit cross-legged on mats on the ground. They also bring in a little tiffin-box and a water bottle, no fizz or pop. I noticed one lunch-box with crispy, deep-fried okra, none had UPS/ultra-processed food.

Not only were the children well fed, but the ingredients were sourced from local farmers with full traceability, the money goes back directly into the surrounding community and also creates local employment.

Back here in Ireland, I spoke to many parents and teachers. All of whom were positive initially but are now deeply concerned about many aspects of the program. However, it has to be said that one parent whose children are attending St Luke’s School in Glanmire, Cork City said she found it brilliant and that her children loved the food. Another parent whose children attend a different school, pulled no punches and her response was ‘it’s s***e, a disgrace’.

It is obvious that there is considerable variation between schools depending on the food provider and the facilities.

My greatest concern of many, is the nutritional value of the food. It’s absolutely vital that we feed our children wholesome, good healthy food, not UPF.

Study after study has shown that the quality of the food impacts positively or negatively on behaviour, attendance, academic achievement and overall health.

The scheme is estimated to cost in the region of €300 million when rolled out across the country. Surely this is not the best use of the tax-payers money. 

Many feel that the model urgently needs to be reevaluated and go back to the drawing board. Is €3.20 per child a realistic amount to provide real health giving food. We must not confuse feeding with nourishing…

I do not underestimate the challenge for the Department of Social Protection, but change is undoubtedly necessary.

At present we are missing many opportunities, not just to nourish but to further educate our children but to give good example.

Use the budget to commission and source chemical-free produce from local farmers, poultry producers, and artisans at a fair price and provide complete traceability of ingredients. 

Practice what we preach about recycling and single use plastic.

Provide real food, not USP/ultra-processed food and artificial additives which many of the meals seem to include thus far.

Educate our children on where our food comes from, seasonal food, the importance of sourcing….

Emphasise that food should be our medicine and not create potential health and obesity problems.

At present 1 in 5 children here in Ireland are overweight or obese. Diabetes, initially a disease of older-people, is now manifesting in young children.

We’re sleepwalking into a health crisis of monumental proportions. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, look at Alice Waters Edible Schoolyard Project in Berkeley, California and the MAD model in Copenhagen where over 70% of food served in schools, hospitals and prisons must be organically produced. The initiative has already delivered remarkable outcomes and benefited the public purse.

Japan’s national school lunch program, where the government prioritises children’s health, is another example of good practice.

After all, the wealth of a nation depends on the health of the nation and the health of the nation depends to a great extent on the food we eat.

Everyone’s Favourite Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is a bit like apple crumble, simple fare but everyone loves it, plus you can add lots of tasty bits to change it up. Macaroni cheese was

and still is one of my children’s favourite supper dishes. I often add some

cubes of cooked bacon or ham to the sauce.

Serves 6

Ingredients

225g macaroni or ditalini

50g butter

150g onion, finely chopped

50g plain flour

850ml boiling whole milk

¼ tsp Dijon or English mustard

1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)

225g freshly grated mature Cheddar cheese or a mix of Cheddar, Gruyère and Parmesan

25g freshly grated Cheddar or Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling on top (optional)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Bring 3.4 litres water to the boil in a large saucepan and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Sprinkle in the macaroni and stir to make sure it doesn’t stick together. Cook according to the packet instructions until just soft. Drain well.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over a gentle heat, add the chopped onion, stir to coat, cover and sweat over a gentle heat for 6-8 minutes. Add the flour and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk the milk in gradually, season well with salt and pepper, then return to the boil, stirring constantly. Add the mustard, parsley, if using, and cheese. Add the well-drained macaroni and return to the boil. Season to taste and serve immediately.

Alternatively, turn into a 1.2 litre pie dish and sprinkle the extra grated cheese over the top. Bake at 180°C/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes.

Spaghetti and Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Meatballs are a universal comfort food, nourishing and delicious right up there with burgers.  One can do tons of variations on the theme. Use freshly minced meat and include at least 20% fat for extra sustenance.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Meatballs

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

900g freshly minced beef (80% lean) OR 700g beef/225g pork

50g soft white breadcrumbs

50ml milk

2-4 tbsp chopped fresh herbs, such as marjoram, or a mixture of parsley, chives and thyme leaves

1 organic egg, beaten

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tomato Sauce

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

225g onion, peeled and sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

900g ripe, peeled and chopped tomatoes or 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

good pinch of crushed chilli flakes (optional)

salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar

120ml rich cream, optional

To Serve

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

150g Mozzarella and Parmesan, grated & mixed

450g spaghetti

rocket leaves (optional)

Garnish

parsley leaves

Method

First make the meatballs, heat the olive oil in a heavy, stainless-steel saucepan over a gentle heat and add the chopped onions and garlic.  Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 8-10 minutes until soft and slightly golden. Allow to cool.

Soak the breadcrumbs in milk.

Put the freshly minced beef and breadcrumbs into a bowl with the cold sweated onion, garlic, chopped herbs (and chilli flakes if using) and the beaten egg.  Season the mixture to taste and mix really well.  Fry a tiny bit to check the seasoning, adjust if necessary.  Divide the mixture and roll into about 24 meatballs. Cover and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce.  Heat the oil in a casserole or a stainless-steel saucepan.  Add the sliced onion and crushed garlic, toss until coated, cover and sweat over a gentle heat until soft.  Add the peeled and chopped tomatoes and chilli flakes, mix and season with salt, freshly ground pepper and a pinch of sugar (tinned tomatoes take more sweetening) add 120ml rich cream and allow to bubble, optional.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, uncover and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes or until thick and unctuous.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a pan of boiling water.  Drain and turn into a hot serving dish.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Cook the meatballs for 8-10 minutes, turning from time to time.  When they are cooked, transfer to an ovenproof serving dish. Add to the hot tomato sauce, turn gently to cover.  Pop into a preheated oven at 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Serve immediately. Alternatively serve the meatballs in tomato sauce with crusty bread and/or just a green salad.

Spoon the meatballs and tomato sauce over the top of the spaghetti, sprinkle with grated Mozzarella and Parmesan on top or place under a preheated grill to let the cheese melt.  Sprinkle with lots of flat parsley leaves.

Rice Pudding with Roast Rhubarb

Roasting seems to intensify the flavour, and it pairs deliciously with a creamy rice pudding.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients 

100g pearl rice (short-grain rice)

40g sugar

small knob of butter

850ml milk

1 x 1. 2 litre capacity pie dish

Roast Rhubarb (see recipe)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Put the rice, sugar and butter into a pie dish. Bring the milk to the boil and pour over. Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours. The skin should be golden, the rice underneath should be cooked through and have soaked up the milk but still be soft and creamy. Calculate the time so that it’s ready for pudding. If it has to wait in the oven for ages, it will be dry and dull, and you’ll wonder why you bothered.

Roast Rhubarb

Ingredients

900g garden rhubarb

200-250g sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 200˚C/Gas Mark 6.

Wipe the rhubarb but do not peel, slice into 2 1/2cm pieces and arrange in a single layer in a medium size oven proof dish.  Scatter the sugar over the rhubarb and allow to macerate for 30 minutes.  Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes approximately depending on size, until the rhubarb is just tender.  Serve alone with softly whipped cream or with a bubbly rice pudding. (Keeps in a fridge for 4-5 days).

All over the world, there are food festivals, some principally focus on food and invite guest chefs from across the globe to share their creativity and skills Others like MAD in Copenhagen (coming up in May) focus on food, farming and environmental issues and try to come up with solutions to remedy your deeply flawed food system.

JR Ryall, pastry chef at Ballymaloe House and I recently travelled to Sri Lanka to participate in the Gourmet Galle festival which is now in its second year. It was originally created by the legendary Geoffrey Dobbs who also initiated the Galle Literary Festival which commenced in 2005. This was my second time participating.

We created a Taste of Ballymaloe Dinner at the chic Charleston Hotel one night. The menu was a fusion of Sri Lankan and Irish ingredients. We brought a beautiful side of Belvelly Smoked Salmon from artisan fish smoker, Frank Hederman all the way from Ireland and served it with a fresh cucumber pickle, devilled eggs and freshly baked, Ballymaloe brown yeast bread. 

Lots of beets in season at the moment so we made a chilled beetroot soup drizzled with Sri Lankan buffalo curd and fresh coriander, very welcome in the sweltering Sri Lankan heat. Main course was roast free-range Sri Lankan pork with crackling, aubergines in the pickling style and rustic roast potatoes sprinkled with fresh rosemary.

Guests particularly loved JR’s sweet trolley and each and every one of the beautiful people tucked into a taste of absolutely everything on offer. Sri Lanka grows wonderful cashew nuts, so the praline ice cream was made with cashew nuts instead of almonds. JR layered up the panna cotta with a Sri Lankan espresso coffee jelly, a huge success. Little coconut meringues were topped with the sweetest Alfonso mango and a spoonful of tangy passion fruit and finally there was a wobbly, gooey chocolate tart. 

All the recipes came from JR‘s Ballymaloe Desserts Cookbook, which we later found on the shelves of a fantastic independent bookshop in Unawatuna called Wild and Sage. It’s also got a sweet little café so put it on your Sri Lankan list if you’re planning to head that way. 

We stayed in The Charleston in Galle Fort for several days, so we had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. Of course, we visited the fish market on the edge of the lagoon plus the fruit and veg markets and lots of spice shops in the Muslim quarter where we learned how to source the very best Sri Lankan cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamon, nutmeg and mace. 

Out in Tagalle, I watched the fishermen laboriously hauling in their horseshoe nets and sharing the catch. One of the traditional Sri Lankan Orrou boats sustains 8 to 10 families, it was truly an honour to observe this time honoured practice, most of the catch was whitebait and another slightly bigger but still tiny fish. Occasionally, they caught a couple of sear fish which was like winning the lotto for them. 

Food is our subject, so we’re continually researching to add to our depth of knowledge. There are of course many tea gardens, young leaves from the top of the tea plant are handpicked and cured. Tea from Ceylon, now Sri Lanka has been sought after for hundreds of years and at last conditions for the pickers and farm workers are improving. Organic tea leaves from the Diyanillakelle Tea Garden in Lindula within the Nuwara Eliya District of Sri Lanka are included in the special Ballymaloe Tea blend created for us by Henrietta Lovell, The Rare Tea Lady.

We went on several foodie adventures including a visit to the Gradely Cinnamon Estate which was less than an hour from Galle to get a full understanding of the fascinating process from start to finish. Our guide, Hasita, was a brilliant communicator and gave us an in-depth tour, literally from the red earth to the curled up cinnamon bark. We watched a cinnamon peeler sitting, cross legged on the floor, expertly peeling and rolling the bark with the skill passed down to him from his father and grandfather. All Sri Lankan cinnamon is still meticulously hand peeled and rolled, think about that…

We learned the crucially important skill of how to tell the difference between cassia (false cinnamon) and true cinnamon which is regularly passed off as cinnamon. Ground cinnamon, which is regularly cut with cassia, a cheaper and more acrid spice. True cinnamon is sweet and flaky, cassia is a much firmer texture, considerably cheaper, darker in colour and more acrid in flavour. If you have a choice, look for the Alba grade, it’s mostly considered to be the finest. Because of its quality, it’s mostly exported from Sri Lanka. 

All parts of the cinnamon bush are valuable, the leaves are distilled and used to make cinnamon leaf oil, it’s got a high percentage of eugenol, also used in the fragrance industry and is a highly effective antibacterial cleaning agent but NOT for human consumption. Cinnamon oil on the other hand is mainly used to flavour cakes, biscuits, desserts, drinks.

Cinnamon is known to be antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and is a natural cholesterol buster. The trimmings of the quills are used to make cinnamon tea, and the peeled branches are used for barbecue fuel. It’s the plant that keeps on giving…

Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms

This recipe uses a piece of cinnamon rather than powder.

Beans are an almost perfect food, they are high in protein and fibre and they don’t contain a scrap of fat or dreaded cholesterol.  They are also cheap and highly versatile, they can however be deadly dull but livened up with fresh herbs and spices the possibilities are endless.

This is a recipe high on my list of favourite vegetarian recipes, basically it is another gem from Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘A Taste of India’ but I have adapted the recipe slightly. Fresh coriander makes a tremendous difference to the flavour. If you have any space now that Spring is on the way, why not buy a packet of seeds, it is really easy to grow and you’ll soon become addicted.

Serves 6

Ingredients

225g dried black-eyed beans

225g fresh mushrooms

6 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

2.5cm piece of cinnamon bark

150g onion, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped

400g fresh or tinned tomatoes, peeled and chopped

2 tsp ground coriander seeds

1 tsp ground cumin seeds

½ tsp ground turmeric

pinch of sugar

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 good tsp salt, (it needs it so don’t cut down)

freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (fresh parsley may be substituted though the flavour is not at all the same)

Method

Soak the beans in plenty of cold water overnight. Next day cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes approx. or until just cooked.

Cut the mushrooms into 3mm thick slices. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium-high flame. When hot, put in the whole cumin seeds and the cinnamon stick. Let them sizzle for 5-6 seconds. Now put in the onions and garlic. Stir and fry until the onion is just beginning to colour at the edges. Put in the mushrooms. Stir and fry until the mushrooms wilt. Now put in the tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, pinch of sugar and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute. Cover, and let this mixture cook on a gentle heat in its own juices for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat under the sauté pan. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and add to the mushroom base mixture, add salt and freshly ground pepper, 2 tablespoons of fresh coriander and 150ml of bean cooking liquid.

Bring the beans to the boil again. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the beans are tender.  Stir occasionally. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of fresh coriander. Serve with boiled rice or as an accompaniment to a rack of lamb.

Spiced Pan Roasted Pear Cake

Use freshly ground cinnamon here but if you buy the already ground product, it should be pale in colour and sweet to taste.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

110g soft light or dark brown sugar

110g unsalted butter, cut in cubes

175g plain flour

110g caster sugar

2 tsp freshly ground cinnamon

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 large eggs

150ml sunflower oil

1 pear, coarsely grated

1 tbsp grated ginger

4 pears, peeled, cored and cut into 6

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Method

Sprinkle brown sugar over the bottom of a heavy 25cm sauté pan or frying pan or a heavy cake tin with 6.5cm deep sides. Add the butter to the pan.  Place the sauté pan on a low heat until butter melts.

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together.  Whisk in the eggs and oil.  Mix in the grated pear and ginger.

 Remove the pan or tin from the heat.   Whisk the butter and sugar until the sugar dissolves.  Arrange the pear slices in the frying pan or tin.  Pour the batter over the pears and bake until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean (approximately 1 hour).

Allow to cool slightly (10 minutes approximately); loosen the edges of the cake with a knife and turn out onto a hot plate.

Serve warm with softly whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream.

Marzipan Apples

Sweet apples are rolled in butter and then crusted with freshly ground cinnamon and sugar – so delicious!

Serves 12, 1 per person

Ingredients

12 medium eating apples, e.g. Worcester Pearmain, Golden Delicious or Cox’s Orange Pippin. Marzipan will keep for 2-3 months in a fridge. 

Marzipan

Makes 300g 

175g ground almonds

110g sugar

62ml water

1 small egg white

natural almond extract to taste (do not use more than 4 drops)

Coating

110g melted butter

225g caster sugar mixed with 4 rounded teaspoons ground cinnamon. (This is approximate: the amount of the mixture depends on the size of the apples.)

Method

To Make the Marzipan.

Put the sugar and water into a deep saucepan.  Stir over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar in the water.  Bring to the boil.  Cover the pan for 2 minutes to steam any sugar from the saucepan sides.   Remove cover and boil rapidly just to thread stage: 106-113°C.

Remove from the heat.  Stir the syrup for a second or two until cloudy.  Stir in the ground almonds.  Set aside to cool briefly.

Lightly whisk the egg white, add the almond extract and stir into the almond mixture.  Transfer the paste from the saucepan to a bowl.  Cool.  Knead the cool marzipan, it should feel like moulding clay.  Put in a bowl or jar, cover and use as required. 

Meanwhile, peel and core the apples.  Stuff the cavities with the marzipan filling.  Roll the apples first in melted butter and then in the castor sugar and cinnamon.  Place in an ovenproof dish and bake in a moderate oven 180°C/Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour approx.  The apple needs to be very soft.

Serve warm with a bowl of softly-whipped cream.

Note

Apples may take less/more time to cook depending on the variety and time of the year.

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, Tourism Ireland and Bord Fáilte have been in overdrive throughout the past few months, working to make the very best use of this annual holiday to promote Ireland and all things Irish around the globe.
This year there is a palpable air of anxiety in diplomatic circles as our Taoiseach, Micheál Martin heads to Washington once again to wish the unpredictable President Trump, Happy St. Patrick’s Day and present him with the traditional bowl of Shamrock. Much rests on the outcome, so we all keep our fingers crossed and hope that the luck of the Irish holds true and that Micheál’s charm will save the day for the sake of US /Irish relations, not to mention the Irish economy.
I loved how up to recently, Tourism Ireland illuminated iconic buildings around the world in green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It was a brilliant ploy to focus attention on Ireland from the Sydney Opera House to the Colosseum, Wat Arun in Bangkok to the gateway of India…Sadly, however, this has now been discontinued for a variety of reasons.
I’m in India as I write and the Irish community here are much like Irish communities around the world, planning a variety of celebrations to make St. Patrick’s Day special, an excuse to get together, to party and reminisce.
I love an excuse to celebrate, St. Patrick’s Day brings memories flooding back of when I was little, attending the National School in Cullohill in Co Laois. We looked forward to every feast day and searched around the edge of the playground for little rosettes of shamrock to give to our Mums and Dads and grandparents to pin on the lapels of their coats. Us young ones preferred to wear St. Patrick’s Day badges with kelly green ribbons and glitzy gold shamrocks from the village shop. Mum always made a cake for tea.
This year we are told that the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin will be bigger and better than ever. It’s all about inclusivity and will also celebrate the cultures of the Irish travellers and the Roma community showcasing their heritage, through storytelling and forgotten skills like the iconic wagon wheel.
I’m often in America over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday, spreading the word about the creative and vibrant Irish food scene, but despite what they may have been led to believe over there, we don’t live on corned beef and cabbage and many, many Irish people have never tasted that combination, delicious as it is.
Closer to home, how about having a few friends and family around for a  St. Patrick’s Day lunch or supper? Check out your local butcher, many still make corned beef and those who live in Cork, need to go no further than the English Market to pick up a fine piece from several of the traditional butchers. Cook it with lots of carrots, cabbage quarters and potatoes and of course, some parsley sauce.
I’m often asked what’s the best known traditional Irish dish, most people have just heard of Irish Stew but my favourite is bacon cabbage and parsley sauce with some scallion champ and lots of butter, a really comforting feast and who doesn’t love it, a trip down memory lane for many people.
Seek out a nice piece of bacon with a generous layer of fat either streaky or back bacon and a fresh head of Spring cabbage, makes me hungry to even write about it.
Many would argue that the US is the very best place to be to celebrate and embrace the spirit, I love the way everybody wants to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. The Americans take the wearing of the green really seriously, nothing is too wild or naff, it’s all about fun and the craic. I love the riffs on the badges that almost everyone seems to wear, that say RIP – real Irish person, HIP – honorary Irish person, JIP – jolly Irish person, FIP – fake Irish person, WIP – wanna be Irish person…..
At the Ballymaloe Cooking School, we share the story of St. Patrick with our students from around the world and tell them how he banished snakes from Ireland and used the three leaves of shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity.
We encourage our students to search their wardrobes for a splash of green, to dress up, even a green ribbon in their hair to get into the Paddy’s Day vibe and have fun in the kitchen, the possibilities are endless. Shamrock shaped bread and scones. How about sprinkling crunchy green crystallised sugar on top of cupcakes or a cake. If you want some lessons in Paddy’s Day bling, there are a myriad of ideas online, forget about ‘good’ taste, just have fun!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and all your family.

Shamrock Bread with Wild Garlic for St. Patrick’s Day

Soda breads are the traditional breads of our country. How about shaping it into a shamrock shape for a bit of gas on St. Patrick’s Day.

Soda bread only takes a few minutes to make and 30-40 minutes to bake, the possibilities are endless for the hitherto humble soda bread.

Wild Garlic season is in full swing now so keep an eye out for clumps of the three cornered lily along the roadside in your local area. 

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

450g plain white flour

1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 level tsp salt

3-4 tbsp chopped wild garlic, (allium triquetrum)

350-400ml sour milk or buttermilk (the quantity depends on the thickness of the milk)

Method

Preheat the oven to 230°C/Gas Mark 8.

Soda bread is best cooked in a conventional oven rather than a fan or convection oven.

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl, add the chopped wild garlic. Make a well in the centre and pour most of the milk in at once. Using one hand with the fingers stiff and outstretched, mix in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl, gradually drawing in the flour from the sides.  Add a little more milk if necessary – shop bought buttermilk is thinner than farm-fresh, so you will need less rather than more. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky. The trick with all soda breads is not to overmix the dough – mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy.  When it all comes together, a matter of seconds – turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. 

WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS, then dust them with flour.

 Tidy up the dough and flip it over gently.  Divide into three equal pieces and pull off a tiny bit for the stem. Pat each into rounds, about 4cm deep. Transfer to a lightly floured baking tray, use a little buttermilk to attach the leaves of the shamrock to each other. Add a little stem at the base, make a little indent at the top of each leaf to imitate the shamrock shape. With the tip of a sharp knife, prick in the centre of each leaf to let the fairies out otherwise they will jinx your bread!

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for 30 minutes more, until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread – if it’s fully cooked, it will sound hollow. Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve. 

Bacon and Cabbage  

Without question Ireland’s national dish – less widely known abroad, but much more widely eaten, particularly in rural Ireland, than the legendary Irish stew.  Nowadays, bacon is far less salty than in the 1980’s so may not need to be blanched before cooking. 

Serves 12-15

Ingredients

1.8-2.25kg loin or shoulder of bacon with a nice covering of fat

1 head of cabbage: Savoy, Greyhound or spring cabbage, depending on the time of year

butter

white pepper

To Serve

Parsley Sauce (see recipe)

Method

If the bacon is too salty, cover in cold water and bring slowly to the boil (uncovered), white froth will rise to the top.  Pour off the water. Cover with hot water and simmer until nearly cooked through, allowing at least 20 minutes per 450g.

Meanwhile, remove the outer leaves from the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters, discarding the centre core. Cut each quarter into thin strips across the grain. About 30 minutes before the bacon is cooked, add the cabbage. Continue to cook until the cabbage is soft and tender, and the bacon is fully cooked through. Remove the bacon to a hot plate and strain the water off the cabbage. Return the cabbage to the pan with a lump of butter, season with white pepper. Serve with the bacon and, traditionally, boiled potatoes and Parsley Sauce.

Parsley Sauce

Unquestionably our favourite traditional Irish sauce but a must with bacon and cabbage…

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

4-6 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley leaves (retain the stalks)

600ml fresh whole milk

30-45g roux (equal quantities of plain flour and butter cooked for 2 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally)

salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Put the parsley stalks into a saucepan with the cold milk, bring slowly to the boil, then remove the stalks. Whisk the roux into the boiling milk until thickened and add the chopped parsley. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Simmer for 5-10 minutes on a very low heat, then taste and correct the seasoning before serving. 

Pamela Black’s St. Patrick’s Day Cake

A scary green cake but delicious and fun and just happens to be green, white and gold….

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

175g butter

175g caster sugar

¼ tsp green food gel colouring

1 tsp of vanilla extract

3 eggs, preferably free range

175g self-raising flour

3 tbsp kumquat compote (see recipe)

300ml cream, stiffly whipped

icing sugar

fresh marigolds to decorate

2 x 18cm cake tins

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. 

Grease the tins with a little melted butter and put a round of greaseproof paper on the bottom of the tins.

Cream the butter, add sugar, green colouring and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time, each time with a tablespoon of flour. Beat very well and then fold in the remaining flour gently. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes are well risen, golden and feel spongy to the fingertips.

Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the tins and then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Next make the kumquat compote.

Ingredients

235g kumquats

200ml water

110g sugar

Method

Slice the kumquats into four or five rounds depending on size, remove the seeds.  Put the kumquats into a saucepan with the water and sugar and let them cook very gently, covered, for half an hour or until tender.

Note: This compote keeps for weeks in the fridge.

To Assemble the cake.

Spread the compote over the bottom of each sponge. Fill a piping bag, fitted with a plain éclair nozzle, with the whipped cream. Pipe the cream evenly over one base, starting at the outside edge of the sponge, working inwards. Place the remaining sponge on top and dust with icing sugar. Garnish with Marigold Flowers.

The Curragh in Co Kildare is usually associated with the Irish army barracks or a fine days horse racing at the Irish Derby, Oaks, Irish Guineas, St. Ledge…but recently butchers from all over the country, north and south converged on the Curragh clutching boxes of precious homemade sausages, black puddings and their finest steaks.
They were there to compete in the National Irish Steak Challenge and I was invited to be a judge along with 30 others including master butchers, meat scientists, industry professionals and chefs. What a day, we tasted and judged over 25 sirloin, rump, and fillet steaks. Other teams of judges tasted the sausages and the black and white puddings.
Chefs Dolan Heaney, Sean Owens and their team, laboured non-stop all day cooking the steaks in the kitchen of the Curragh restaurant normally frequented by hungry racegoers.
The awards are a serious business, we worked in threes, examining, first the raw steaks then tasting mostly juicy morsels of the cooked meat. We each marked them for appearance, flavour and tenderness then we tasted.
Finally it was narrowed down to six finalists to ascertain the winners. We tasted and pondered over 100 steaks in total.
I know you have no sympathy for me, but by the end I wasn’t craving a juicy steak any time soon but I have to say I was mightily impressed and heartened by the standard.
Here in Ireland, despite the fact that we’ve lost quite a number of butchers, we are fortunate to still have many local butchers, this is not the case in many countries where the meat business has been lost to the big meat plants and supermarkets. Animals are slaughtered and butchered in large meat factories. They can undoubtedly be traced back to the farm or increasingly feedlot where they are reared but the skill and knowledge of being able to choose an animal at its optimum stage of maturity is not needed. Nor are the butchering skills or the in-depth knowledge of the carcass and how to utilise every scrap of the animal.
However, here in Ireland, we are still beyond fortunate to have a number of butchers who still have to have their own abattoirs so they can humanely kill the animals they have purchased at local marts or have carefully chosen from local beef farmers who proudly rear their animals on rich pasture to produce the very best quality meat.
Many of these butchers are second and third generation and in some cases even fifth generation so you can imagine how the skill and knowledge has been passed down from father to son through the years although there are indeed some talented women butchers also.
Those who are still fortunate enough to have butchers with their own abattoirs close by are fortunate indeed, for me they are the ultimate craft butchers. They know the story of the animals from the farm to the fork, how to dry age and are in total control of the quality. They are deeply knowledgeable about the different cuts of meat and how to cook them.
An animal is made up of many different cuts, some muscular, others like the fillet are super tender. Some can be flashed on a hot pan or grill for a few minutes while others need to be coaxed to melting tenderness by slow, gentle cooking.
Ironically the more muscular, less expensive cuts usually have far superior flavour but need more care and a different type of cooking.
If you are fortunate to have such a butcher in your local area, go out of your way to raise awareness and support them, otherwise they will be lost in the struggle to compete with supermarket prices.
Most people don’t realise that we are not comparing like with like. Dry aged meat is quite different to meat that is vac packed and aged in plastic, more economical and convenient of course, but less succulent and for me, often less flavoursome.
Skills are being lost for a variety of reasons, regrettable but understandable, economics and convenience are major factors. All the more reason to value and  show our appreciation for the dwindling number of family butchers throughout Ireland, both north and south who continue to hone their craft and are anxious and determined to pass on the skills to future generations.
For a list of the winners in the Irish Craft  Butchers Association Awards go to www.craftbutchers.ie
I will mention just two, the overall winner of several awards was Millar Meats (fillet and striploin steak category), a passionate family butcher for the past 20 years in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh who finishes the animals he buys from local farmers on his own land.
Winner of the ribeye steak with a Kingsbory Irish Wagyu ribeye was Kerrigan’s butchers from north County Dublin founded in 1973.
Just to be clear, not all butchers are members of the Craft Butcher Association. Some exemplars understandably just want to be independent; others are not joiners. If you have such a butcher close to you, celebrate and enjoy every morsel of their carefully chosen product on your plate. Chefs too can raise awareness by identifying the butcher and the farmer who raised the premium animal on their restaurant menus.
So this week, here are some steak recipes for you to enjoy.

Pan-grilled Steak with French Fried Onions and Béarnaise Sauce

Sirloin is more textural than fillet, with lots of flavour, but you can use either here or indeed a juicy ribeye either.

Of all the sauces to serve with steak, Béarnaise sauce is the classic combination and my absolute favourite. We find a heavy-ridged cast-iron grill pan best for cooking steaks when you don’t need to make a sauce in the pan. If the weight of these steaks sounds small by your standards, the portion size can be increased and the cooking times adjusted accordingly.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 x 175g sirloin or fillet steaks

1 garlic clove

salt and freshly ground pepper

a little olive oil

To Serve

Béarnaise Sauce (see recipe)

French Fried Onions (see recipe)

fresh watercress (optional)

Method

To prepare the steaks, about 1 hour before cooking, if time allows, cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it on both sides of each steak. This simple step intensifies the beefy flavour. Then grind some black pepper over the steaks and sprinkle on a few drops of olive oil. Turn the steaks in the oil and leave aside. If using sirloin steaks, score the fat at 2.5cm intervals.

Make the Béarnaise sauce and keep it warm (see recipe).

Heat the grill pan on a high heat, season the steaks with a little salt and put them down onto the hot pan.

The cooking times for each side of the steaks are roughly as follows:

                              Sirloin        Fillet

rare                       2 mins        5 mins

medium-rare      3 mins        6 mins

medium               4 mins        7 mins

well-done            5 mins        8-9 mins

When cooking a sirloin steak, also turn it over onto the fat side and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the fat crisps up nicely. Put the steaks onto an upturned plate resting on another plate and leave them for a few minutes in a warm place while you make the French fried onions.

Transfer the steaks to hot serving plates.

Serve with French fried onions, béarnaise sauce, some homemade chips and a sprig of fresh watercress if available.

French Fried Onions

The mere mention of French fried onions put fear and dread into those watching their figures, but these involve only a little milk and seasoned flour, so they have a delicious crisp coating. Recently, my nephew Ivan Whelan gave me a great tip. He found that when he added a lightly whisked egg white to the milk it made the onion ring even crispier. The watch point here is not to cut the onion rings thicker than the recipe calls for, or else the coating will be overcooked while the onions are still raw. French fried onions are wonderful with beef, but we pile them up on salads and pan-fried venison, too. Paprika, Sichuan pepper, cumin and coriander can all be added to the flour to ring the changes.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 egg white

300ml milk

2 large onions, peeled

225g seasoned flour

good-quality oil or beef dripping for deep-frying

Method

Whisk the egg white lightly and add it to the milk. Slice the onion into 5mm rings.

Separate the rings and cover with the milk mixture until needed. (The leftover milk may be boiled up, thickened with roux and used for a white or parsley sauce).

Just before serving, heat the oil or beef dripping to 180°C.

Toss the rings a few at a time in well-seasoned flour. Deep-fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden in the hot oil.

Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.

Béarnaise Sauce

The consistency of Béarnaise sauce should be considerably thicker than that of Hollandaise or beurre blanc, both of which ought to be a light coating consistency. If you do not have tarragon vinegar to hand, use a wine vinegar and add some extra chopped fresh French tarragon.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

4 tbsp tarragon vinegar

4 tbsp dry white wine

2 tsp finely chopped shallots

pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 organic egg yolks

110g butter

1 tbsp freshly chopped French tarragon leaves

Method

Boil the first 4 ingredients together in a low, heavy-bottomed, stainless-steel saucepan until completely reduced and the pan is almost dry but not browned. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water immediately. Pull the pan off the heat and leave to cool for 1 or 2 minutes.

Using a coil whisk, whisk in the egg yolks and add the butter bit by bit over a very low heat, whisking all the time. As soon as one piece melts, add the next piece; it will gradually thicken. If it shows signs of becoming too thick or slightly scrambling, remove from the heat immediately and add a little cold water. Do not leave the pan or stop whisking until the sauce is made. Finally, add 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped French tarragon and taste for seasoning.

If the sauce is slow to thicken, it may be because you are excessively cautious, and the heat is too low. Increase the heat slightly and continue to whisk until all the butter is added and the sauce is a thick coating consistency. It is important to remember, however, that if you are making Béarnaise sauce in a saucepan directly over the heat, it should be possible to put your hand on the side of the saucepan at any stage. If the saucepan feels too hot for your hand it is also too hot for the sauce!

Another good tip if you are making Béarnaise sauce for the first time is to keep a bowl of cold water close by so that you can plunge the bottom of the saucepan into it if it becomes too hot.

Keep the sauce warm in a Pyrex bowl over hot but not simmering water or in a Thermos flask until you want to serve it.

Mushroom and Ginger Sauce

This sauce will keep deliciously in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Serves 4

Ingredients

15-25g butter

75g onion, finely chopped

1-2 tsp freshly grated ginger

225g mushrooms, sliced

salt and freshly ground pepper

a squeeze of lemon juice

110ml cream

2 tsp freshly chopped chives

roux (equal quantities of plain flour and soft butter cooked on a low heat for 2 minutes stirring regularly)

Method

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan until it foams.  Add the chopped onions, cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 5-10 minutes or until quite soft but not coloured. Add the ginger.

Meanwhile, cook the sliced mushrooms in a little butter, in a hot frying pan in batches if necessary.  Season each batch with salt, freshly ground pepper and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice.  Add the mushrooms to the onions in the saucepan, then add the cream and chives, allow to bubble for a few minutes.  Thicken with a little roux to a light coating consistency.  Taste and correct the seasoning,

Pan-grilled Steak with Roast Red Peppers, Anchoïade and Rocket Leaves

I love this combination, the sweetness of the peppers, salty anchovy and peppery rocket leaves, a perfect accompaniment to a juicy steak.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 x 175g sirloin or fillet steaks

1 garlic clove

salt and freshly ground pepper

a little olive oil

3 plump red peppers

To Serve

Anchoïade (see recipe)

Method

To prepare the steaks, about 1 hour before cooking cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it on both sides of each steak. This simple step intensifies the beefy flavour. Then grind some black pepper over the steaks and sprinkle on a few drops of olive oil. Turn the steaks in the oil and leave aside. If using sirloin steaks, score the fat at 2.5cm intervals.

Next, roast the red peppers.

Preheat the grill or better still use a charcoal grill or barbecue.  Grill the peppers on all sides, turning them when necessary – they can be quite charred.  Alternatively, preheat the oven to 250°C/Gas Mark 9.  Put the peppers on a baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes until the skin blisters and the flesh is soft.

Put them into a bowl and cover for a few minutes, this will make them much easier to peel. 

Pull the skin off the peppers, remove the stalks and seeds. Do not wash or you will lose the precious sweet juices.  Divide each into 2 or 3 pieces along the natural divisions. 

To cook the steaks.

Heat the grill pan, season the steaks with a little salt and put them down onto the hot pan.

Cook to your preference – rare, medium rare, medium or well done (see Pan-grilled Steak with Béarnaise Sauce for timings).

Allow to rest.

Transfer the steaks onto hot plates.

Serve with roast red peppers, rocket leaves and a little blob of anchoïade.

Anchoïade

Makes 450ml approximately

Ingredients

110g tinned anchovy fillets (weigh out of tin)

300ml olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

½ tsp thyme leaves

1 tbsp chopped basil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

lots of freshly ground pepper

Method

Whizz all ingredients together except the oil in a food processor. Add the oil gradually. Taste and add a little more oil if necessary.  (The anchovies act in the same way as egg yolks in mayonnaise and as a protein, will emulsify the oil). Be careful and keep a close eye as the oil starts to emulsify. If you feel it becomes too thick, add a little water. This will do two things; it will thin the anchoïade and will also stabilise the emulsion too which will stop it from splitting.

When all the oil is incorporated and you have a lovely thick garlicky, anchovy emulsion, store in a covered jar in the fridge.  Serve with crudités or just slathered on toast, bruschetta, or warm pitta bread.

The Sunday Times best seller One Pot One Portion arrived on my desk last week. The quote from Nigella on the front cover ‘A brilliant, beyond brilliant idea’ made me curious. It’s written by Eleanor Wilkinson, a viral social media sensation @eleanorgwilkinson on Instagram.

When Eleanor Wilkinson’s long term relationship ended, she quit her job and began to live alone once more.  Eleanor loved to cook but found it difficult to gather the enthusiasm to cook yummy food just for herself. It took a while to adjust but gradually she ventured back into the kitchen and started sharing the recipes online. The response was truly overwhelming, she suddenly realised how many others were in the same predicament and everyone yearned to eat really well.

People of all ages, in a wide variety of situations, young and old, eagerly tuned in awaiting the next creation.

From 20 somethings to parents whose children had flown the nest, single parents, older people, widows and widowers. All craving delicious food and wanting to find the joy in cooking something comforting for themselves.

Eleanor spent hours pouring over cookbooks for added inspirations. She developed her own recipes. Some are made in minutes, others take several hours and many ingredients to make. She had already started her book when she joined us in Ballymaloe Cookery School for the 12 Week course in 2023. One Pot One Portion was published by Ebury Press in 2024, to immediate acclaim.

Eleonor divided the chapters of the cookbook into:

Comfort: recipes to bring you ultimate warmth, for days when you need to feel cosy and homely.

Fresh: food packed with colour and vibrancy, for times when you want your food to energise you and bring a little zing to your day.

Simple: for when you have enough on your plate, and you’d like your food to require little time or fresh ingredients. Satisfaction without stress.

Special: When you want to show yourself a little extra love. Recipes that take more time or money but bring another level of joy.

Sweet: for when you need extra sweetness in your day, food that is impossible not to enjoy, and not just for dessert.

In Eleanor’s words, ‘hopefully, across the capers in this book, you’ll find everything you need to fulfil all requirements. So have fun, eat well, and enjoy it as much as possible’.

There’s also an emphasis on zero waste, lots of recipes have partner recipes to use up one or more of the same ingredients and suggestions for using the freezer cleverly.

Here are a few recipes for you to try – so many delectable recipes, it was difficult to choose just a few to tempt you…

All recipes are from One Pot One Portion by Eleanor Wilkinson published by Ebury Press

Spiced Lamb and Aubergine with Pitta

This recipe is based on the Middle Eastern dish, fatteh, which is made for sharing but this version is a feast for one. A plate piled high with the most delicious flavours – we start with a garlicky yoghurt which cools and warms all at once. Then it’s onto a layer of lamb mince and soft aubergine fried in olive oil and spiced with cumin, coriander and cinnamon. Next, spoonfuls of the most luxurious toasted pine nut butter, finished with pops of sweet pomegranate seeds and all scooped up with toasted pitta bread. You’ll be glad you’re not sharing this one.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

½ large aubergine (approx. 125g), sliced into 1cm batons

5 tbsp natural yoghurt

1 garlic clove, grated

125g lamb mince

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

5g fresh coriander, finely chopped

knob of butter

1 ½ tbsp pine nuts

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

salt and black pepper

To serve:

pitta bread

Method

Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium-high heat, add the aubergine, season with salt and fry for 8-10 minutes until golden and mostly soft.

While that’s frying, spoon the yoghurt onto your serving plate and add the garlic. Mix together and spread over the bottom of the plate.

Once the aubergine batons are golden, add in the lamb mince and fry for 4-5 minutes until brown and starting to crisp slightly. Add the spices and season with salt and pepper, then fry for 2-3 minutes. Toast the pitta bread while this is cooking. Add in the fresh coriander and mix everything together, then spoon the lamb and aubergine mixture over the yoghurt.

Place the pan back on the heat and add a knob of butter and the pine nuts. Let the nuts toast in the butter for 3-4 minutes until golden, then spoon them over the lamb/aubergine layer.

Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds, then cut the pitta into triangles to serve alongside.

Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl

Usually, I would consider a brothy meal that you eat with a bowl and a spoon a form of comfort food, however, the flavours in this dish are so fresh and vibrant that it has to go in this chapter. I love the fiery freshness of ginger and it’s the predominant flavour in this rich chicken broth. The finished dish isn’t a soup as such but there is just enough broth to make every mouthful deliciously juicy. It also takes minimal time to make so it’s a useful recipe to have on hand for days when you’re short of time.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp sesame oil, plus extra to serve

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

10g fresh ginger, chopped into matchsticks

300ml water

½ chicken stock pot

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

55g basmati rice

1 chicken breast, cut into 2cm thick slices

55g broccoli (regular or tenderstem), chopped into small pieces

5g fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 spring onion, thinly sliced at an angle

salt (optional)

Method

In a pan, heat the sesame oil over a medium heat. Fry the garlic and ginger until they have softened slightly and smell fragrant but haven’t coloured too much.

Add in the water, stock pot, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Bring to a simmer and taste – if needed, add a little salt. Bring to the boil, then add in the basmati rice and cook for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and add in the chicken and broccoli (tenderstem broccoli will take slightly less time, so add this in when you only have 4-5 minutes left). Put a lid on and cook for 8 minutes. You want it to stay at a gentle simmer, so the chicken poaches but doesn’t toughen.

Place the coriander and spring onion slices in your serving bowl. Once the chicken and rice are cooked, spoon into the bowl with the coriander and spring onion and mix together. Finish with a final drizzle of sesame oil to serve.

Cinnamon Bun

This is the easiest cinnamon bun recipe you may ever find, relying on no dough, no yeast, no kneading and no proving time. I use ready-made puff pastry here to make the bun and, whilst usually you want to keep puff pastry as flaky and delicate as possible, for this recipe you’re actually looking for the centre of this pastry to melt together to create a consistency more akin to a yeasted dough. It stays crisp on top too, which I love.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

80-85g ready-rolled puff pastry

10g softened butter, plus extra for greasing

3 tsp soft light brown sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)/Gas Mark 4.

Unroll the puff pastry and cut off a long strip that is 5cm in width. Spread the butter on top of the pastry, then sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the top

Fold the pastry over so it halves in length, then press together to seal slightly. Cut into three strips. At one end, press the three strips together, then plait the strips, taking one outside strip and bringing it into the middle, then bring the other outside strip into the middle, repeating until the end.

Lightly butter one hole of a muffin tin, or a small ovenproof ramekin, then roll the plait up and place it in the tin/ramekin with the loose end at the bottom of the tin/ramekin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.