AuthorDarina Allen

Yesterday evening, just as I was about to tuck into supper, I had a moment …Suddenly I thought of the incredible amount of work that actually went into growing and rearing the produce on my plate, not to mention cooking it.
Silently, I gave thanks for my nephew Darren who had put so much work into rearing the free range heritage pigs on his farm at Ballymaloe House.
For our local butcher, Frank Murphy and his son Brian in Midleton who cured the bacon for the succulent slice of glazed bacon on my plate (see recipe in my Examiner Column of June 28^th on Summer Picnics).
For the team of gardeners on the farm who had sown the seeds for the juicy roast tomatoes back in February, transplanted them at the end of March, tended and watered them for over four months for me to enjoy. The deep red tomatoes were ripened fully on the vine for maximum flavour, packed with lycopene, lots of other minerals and vitamins and super tasty.
Remember, scientists now understand that flavour equates to nutrient intensity – nature’s way of tempting us to eat healthy wholesome food. The tomatoes were halved, seasoned with flaky sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, a good sprinkling of sugar and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Fifteen minutes or so in a good hot oven and then a scattering of fresh herbs while still warm. You can’t imagine how delicious it was because the tomatoes were so good to start with.

The red and yellow peppers for the piperonata came from Caitriona Daunt at Organic Republic but the new season’s onion, tomatoes and basil were also from here.
The colcannon made from freshly dug potatoes, new season onions and cabbage took close to five months to grow too, a blight resistant variety called Kelly cultivated organically without a spec of glyphosate, just rich fertile soil enriched with compost and seaweed from the local strand.
Once again, special thanks to the gardeners for those and for the flat pod French beans. This is a brilliant variety called Hilda, they crop and crop and when the beans swell in the pods at the end of the season, they can be dried for winter soups and stews.
I also need to thank Billy for looking after the cows who produce the rich Jersey milk, the basis for the simple parsley sauce, a favourite from my childhood, soooo unctuous and delicious.
Next,  I thought of Maria, our Dairy Queen or was it Tiffin and gave thanks for the dollop of homemade butter melting over the beans and into my colcannon.
So much work and love went into producing the simple feast on my plate. Once again, in the Quaker tradition, I silently gave thanks to Mother Nature et al for every nourishing bite.
I don’t hanker after an expensive Prada handbag or a pair of Gucci shoes…For me to sit down to a plate of food where everything on the plate comes from the farm, gardens or local area is luxury indeed. How blessed am I.
Afterwards a bowl of Loganberry fool, accompanied by a couple of Jane’s biscuits, the name that Myrtle Allen gave these delicious little shortbread biscuits that the children made over and over again on wet afternoons.
Every bite has a story, that’s what memories are made of…

Colcannon

Songs have been sung, and poems have been written about Colcannon – one of our most traditional potato dishes. This comfort food at its very best has now been ‘discovered’ and is often a feature on chic restaurant menus in London and New York.

Did you ever eat colcannon

When ’twas made with yellow cream

And the kale and praties blended

Like a picture in a dream?

Did you ever scoop a hole on top

To hold the melting lake

Of the clover-flavoured butter

Which your mother used to make?

Serves 8-10 approximately

Ingredients

1.8kg ‘old’ potatoes, e.g. Golden Wonders or Kerr’s Pinks

700g Savoy or spring cabbage

450ml approximately boiling milk or more if needed

salt and freshly ground pepper

50g approximately butter

Method

Scrub the potatoes, put them in a saucepan of cold water, add a good pinch of salt and bring to the boil. When the potatoes are about half cooked, 15 minutes approx. for ‘old’ potatoes, strain off two-thirds of the water, replace the lid on the saucepan, put onto a gentle heat and allow the potatoes to steam until they are cooked.

Remove the dark outer leaves from the cabbage. Wash the rest and cut into quarters, remove the core and cut finely across the grain. Boil in a little boiling water or bacon cooking water until soft. Drain, season with salt, freshly ground pepper and a little butter.

When the potatoes are just cooked, bring the milk to the boil. Pull the peel off the potatoes and discard, mash quickly while they are still warm and beat in enough boiling milk to make a fluffy purée. Then stir in the cooked cabbage and taste for seasoning.  For perfection, serve immediately in a hot dish with a lump of butter melting in the centre – the texture should be soft but not quite flowing.

Colcannon may be prepared ahead up to this point, covered and reheated later in a moderate oven 180°C/Gas Mark 4, for 20-25 minutes approx. Add the butter just before serving

Note

Cover closely while reheating so it doesn’t get too crusty on top.

Piperonata

This is one of the indispensable trio of vegetable stews that we always reckon to have to hand. We use it not only as a vegetable but also as a topping for pizzas, as a sauce for pasta, grilled fish or meat and as a filling for omelettes and pancakes.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

225g onion, sliced

a clove of garlic, crushed

2 organic red peppers

2 organic green peppers

6 large organic or chemical-free tomatoes (dark red and very ripe)

salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

a few leaves of fresh basil

Method

Heat the olive oil in a casserole, add the onion and garlic, toss in the oil and allow to soften over a gentle heat in a covered casserole while the peppers are being prepared. Halve the peppers, remove the seeds carefully, cut into quarters and then cut the pepper flesh into 2-2 ½cm squares.  Add to the onion and toss in the oil; replace the lid and continue to cook for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile peel the tomatoes (scald in boiling water for 10 seconds, pour off the water and peel immediately). Slice the tomatoes and add to the casserole, season with salt, freshly ground pepper, sugar and a few leaves of fresh basil if available. Cook until the vegetables are just soft, 30 minutes approx.

Variations

Spicy Piperonata

Add 1 tsp smoked paprika and a pinch of chilli flakes (the quantity will depend on aroma and pungency of spices – add more to taste if you like it a little spicier) to the onions and garlic and proceed as in the master recipe. 

Piperonata, Bean and Chorizo Stew

Add a can of rinsed haricot beans, black-eyed beans or chickpeas to the piperonata, with 110g sliced chorizo sausage, continue to cook for about 10 minutes or until the chorizo is fully cooked.

Loganberry Fool with Jane’s Biscuits

If you can’t lay your hands on loganberries, raspberries are pretty delicious too – so easy.

Serves 6

Ingredients

450g loganberries

175-225g caster sugar

25-600ml softly whipped cream

Method

If the loganberries are fresh just whizz the berries in a blender with the sugar.  Push the purée through a nylon sieve, fold in the softly whipped cream to taste.  Serve with shortbread biscuits. 

Should the fruit be frozen just scatter the berries in a single layer on a plate.  Sprinkle with the sugar and allow to come back to room temperature.  When almost defrosted, liquidise and proceed as above.

Jane’s Biscuits – Shortbread Biscuits

*This recipe was originally in imperial measurements, to get best results, weigh in oz.

Makes 25

Ingredients

6oz white flour or Spelt

4oz butter

2oz castor sugar

Method

Put the flour and sugar into a bowl, rub in the butter as for shortcrust pastry. Gather the mixture together and knead lightly. Roll out to 7mm thick.  Cut into rounds with a 6cm cutter or into heart shapes.  Bake in a moderate oven 180°C/Gas Mark 4 to pale brown, 8-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the biscuits. Remove immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Delicious biscuits to nibble but we also serve with fruit fools, compotes and ice cream.

Note: Watch these biscuits really carefully in the oven. Because of the high sugar content, they burn easily. They should be a pale golden – darker will be more bitter.

However, if they are too pale, they will be undercooked and doughy.  Cool on a wire rack.

Gluten Free: Swap the flour for Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour for a delicious gluten-free alternative

The word JIBRIN may not mean anything to you but mention Izz Café on George Quay in Cork city and people’s eyes light up.

This little café, serving traditional Palestinian food was originally opened in 2019 by Izzeddeen Alkarajeh and Ema Aburabi.

They sought asylum in Ireland from a variety of challenging situations. After a spell in Direct Provision, they eventually got their papers processed and were determined to contribute to the country that gave them refuge.

Through the Society of Friends in Cork, they were introduced to Rupert Hugh-Jones who operates Farmers’ Markets in both Mahon Point and Douglas. With much encouragement and goodwill, they eventually set up a stall selling manaeesh za’atar (flatbread), hummus and moutabal. The response was overwhelmingly positive. On the first day, they sold out in just 2 hours.

This encouraged them to follow their dream of opening a café.

Izz, who has a bachelor’s degree in computer science, is particularly passionate about coffee. He longed to roast and blend and introduce customers to the Palestinian coffee they are now famous for. Izz Café was opened a year to the day later on George’s Quay in Cork city.

Eman, who holds a diploma in interior design, cooked from scratch, the hauntingly delicious traditional Palestinian dishes that she had learned from her mother and grandmother’s kitchen.

Word spread, Corkonians flocked to get a taste of Eman’s rich and comforting food, perfumed with fresh spices – za’atar, sumac, citrus and extra virgin olive oil. Both they and Izz Café have become a beloved part of the Cork restaurant scene. They have since expanded their space in response to the growing demand. Such a lovely story and now Habib, a talented, young refugee from Gaza who loves to cook has also joined Izz Café.

They are actively involved in community driven initiatives including fundraisers such as ‘Coffee for Palestine’ and ‘One Plate for Palestine.’

But the most recent excitement is the publication of their first cookbook in which they share many of the Izz Café favourites. It’s published by Blasta Books (#15 in the series) and entitled ‘JIBRIN’ named for both Izz and Eman’s now abandoned family homeland, Beit Jibrin in Palestine, how poignant is that…

I’m hoping to do an East Cork Slow Food event here at the Ballymaloe Cookery School with Izz Café in the near future (they have recently been awarded the Best Middle Eastern in Ireland), I’ll keep you posted but meanwhile, seek out the original. Izz Café on George’s Quay in Cork city.

Here are three recipes from the JIBRIN cookbook to whet your appetite.

Nabulsi Knafeh

Nabulsi knafeh is a sweet, cheesy pastry layered with kataifi pastry, then soaked in aromatic sugar syrup. This dessert is from Nablus in Palestine and is a festive favourite for special occasions. The story goes that one of the caliphs was depressed and asked his chef to come up with something to impress him, and this was the result.

Serves 10

Ingredients

200g Nabulsi or Akkawi cheese, diced small, or grated mozzarella

500g frozen kataifi pastry

225g ghee or unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

2 tsp caster sugar

FOR THE SYRUP:

400g caster sugar

240ml water

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp rosewater or orange blossom water (optional)

TO DECORATE:

finely chopped pistachios

Method

The Nabulsi or Akkawi cheese needs to have the salt removed, so put the diced cheese in a bowl, cover with cold water and soak for 15 minutes, then drain. Repeat this process every 15 minutes for 4 hours to remove the salt. Squeeze the diced cheese into even smaller pieces and set aside. Skip these steps if you’re using grated mozzarella.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. This works best in a conventional oven, using the top and bottom heat. Grease a 30.5cm cake tin generously with melted ghee or butter. Knafeh is traditionally made in a copper tray because it conducts the heat so well, but this will work too.

Chop the frozen kataifi pastry into small pieces to make it easier to blend. Add it in batches to a food processor and pulse until it’s a fine powder.

Put the pastry in a large bowl with most of the melted ghee or butter and the sugar. Use your hands to combine into a dough. Add more ghee or butter if needed to bring it together – it should hold together when you squeeze it.

Spread half of the dough over the base of the greased tin, making sure there are no gaps and pressing it down in a firm, even layer.

Scatter the cheese over the pastry base, keeping the edges clear. Scatter the rest of the dough on top, pressing it gently to flatten the surface.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the top is golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, to make the syrup, put the sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring to dissolve the sugar, until thickened. Stir in the

rosewater or orange blossom water (if using). Set aside to cool.

Remove the knafeh from the oven and immediately pour the cooled syrup over it, then scatter over the pistachios to decorate. Let it soak for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Sumagiyya (Palestinian Sumac Stew)

Sumagiyya is a tangy Palestinian stew from Gaza, featuring slow-cooked meat with Swiss chard, tahini and subtle spices in a sumac-infused broth, which is what gives the stew its signature tartness. Especially popular in Gaza City, sumagiyya is often served during festivities.

Serves 6

Ingredients

FOR THE SUMAC WATER:

100g whole dried sumac berries

720ml cold water

FOR BOILING THE MEAT:

500g stewing beef or lamb, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 onion, quartered

2 bay leaves

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE STEW:

120ml olive oil, plus extra to serve

3 medium onions, finely diced

500g Swiss chard, finely chopped

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp mixed spice

60g plain flour

120ml tahini

FOR THE DAQQA

(SPICE MIX):

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp dried dill

1 tsp salt

TO SERVE:

warm pitta

Method

Put the sumac berries in a bowl, cover with the cold water and soak for 2 hours.

Put the meat, onion and bay leaves in a large pot and cover with plenty of cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and skim off any foam that appears on the surface. Add a little salt and pepper and simmer for 40 minutes, until the meat is cooked. Strain the broth into a bowl, then set the meat aside and keep the broth.

Pour the sumac berries and their soaking water into a separate saucepan and bring to a boil, then cook for 15 minutes. Strain the berries through a fine mesh sieve. Discard the berries and keep the sumac-infused water.

For the stew, heat the olive oil in a large pot on a medium heat. Add the diced onions and cook for 10 minutes, until completely soft.

To make the daqqa (spice mix) while the onions are cooking, crush the garlic, chilli flakes, dill and salt together until smooth. Stir the daqqa into the onions and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.

Add the Swiss chard and stir until wilted, then add the boiled meat, chickpeas and mixed spice. Pour over the strained sumac water, making sure all the ingredients are fully covered. Stir well and simmer on a medium heat for 10 minutes.

Gradually add the flour while stirring continuously until the mixture thickens, then stir in the tahini. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To serve, ladle the sumagiyya into serving bowls and let it cool completely. We leave it in the fridge overnight and eat it cold the next day, but it’s often served at room temperature.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the top of each bowl and serve with warm pitta.

Basbousa (Middle Eastern Semolina Cake)

Basbousa is a semolina cake drenched in sweet syrup, commonly infused with rosewater or orange blossom water and topped with almonds. Originating from the Eastern Mediterranean, basbousa is cherished in Palestine, Egypt and beyond. The subtle floral notes honour a tradition of incorporating aromatic essences into Middle Eastern sweets.

Makes 15 pieces

Ingredients

tahini or butter, for greasing the tin

200g caster sugar

240ml sunflower oil

240ml natural yogurt or sour cream

3 large eggs

1 tsp rosewater, orange blossom water or vanilla

extract

360g medium semolina

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

a small pinch of salt

270g desiccated coconut

FOR THE SYRUP:

300g caster sugar

240ml water

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp rosewater or orange blossom water (optional)

TO DECORATE:

15 blanched almonds or desiccated coconut, dried

rose petals, flaked almonds and finely chopped pistachios

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Brush the base and sides of a 23cm x 33cm baking tin with tahini (or grease with butter if you don’t have tahini).

Put the sugar, oil, yogurt and eggs in a large bowl with the orange blossom water, rosewater or vanilla and whisk to combine.

Add the semolina, baking powder, baking soda and a small pinch of salt and whisk again. Finally, add the coconut. I like to use my hands to mix in the coconut to make sure it’s really well combined.

Transfer to the prepared tin, then tap the tin on the counter a few times to make sure the batter is evenly distributed. Let it sit for 15 minutes to allow the semolina to absorb the moisture, which will help to firm up the cake.

Using the tip of a sharp knife, score the top of the batter into 15 diamond or square shapes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until the cake has risen and turned golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, to make the syrup, put the sugar and water in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil and add the lemon juice. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Remove the pan from the heat and add the rosewater or orange blossom water (if using). Set aside and keep warm – you don’t want it to thicken as it cools.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, cut it all the way through along the score lines, then pour the syrup all over the top. Let it sit for 30 minutes to soak up the syrup.

It’s traditional to put a whole almond in the middle of each portion of cake, but in the café, we omit this and instead decorate each slice with desiccated coconut, dried rose petals, flaked almonds and finely chopped pistachios.

The Ballymaloe Cookery School was rocking last week, with great excitement when the 12 Week students cooked their Pop-Up Dinner.
This is a highlight on every term, they plot and plan and have many get-togethers to choose a theme, this year it was Ambrosia. They divide responsibilities, create a menu, allocate different jobs and do everything from scratch.
It’s a brilliant learning experience for them, they have so much fun planning every single aspect of the event from the welcome cocktails to the little goodie bags of homemade treats for guests to take home. We’ve been doing these pop-ups for a number of years now. They sell out like a U2 concert. It’s a fantastic learning experience for the students and gives them an understanding of just how much thought and hard work goes into planning an event.
Tabby from London, took on the role of head chef. Five canapés were chosen to reflect what was in season in the gardens and on the farm and the produce they could source in the local area.
Sorrel and mead glazed pork meatballs; using mead from the Fermentation HQ made from a recipe in the Forgotten Skills book. Crunchy new season cucumber coins with fresh herb labneh, hot smoked mackerel and pickle sea fennel. The wild fennel was foraged along the seashore in Shanagarry, then pickled for the perky garnish. Nettle, green onion and goat’s cheese croquettes with saffron honey and whipped lemon ricotta and a sedum leaf with ricotta, mint and peas.
The succulent sedum leaves came from the borders in the flower garden. Ricotta was made in the dairy from the milk of the little Jersey herd on the farm.  In the interest of full disclosure, the peas were the well-known frozen brand, but the end result was absolutely delicious and has become one of our favourites bites. They had hoped to catch the mackerel themselves but there has scarcely been a mackerel caught in Ballycotton so far this summer so they bought the fish from Ballycotton Seafood and hot smoked it themselves.
The students absolutely love making bread and of the many types they learn, they chose to make little loaves of Guinness bread and sourdough focaccia from the organic heirloom wheat variety grown on the farm last year, to serve with the hand churned Jersey butter.
I adore crudo, but one must have super fresh fish which it has to be said is more and more of a challenge these days, but Lucca managed to get some spanking fresh haddock to make the whitefish crudo with golden beetroot, nasturtium and a lemon honey reduction. He put little dots of homemade nasturtium oil from the herb garden on top, a deliciously fresh tasting combination.
Eve butchered and boned the lamb for the roast loin of lamb with saffron mashed potatoes, salsa verde, dukkah and roast vegetable crisps.
The vegetarian option was spiced aubergines with st. tola goat’s cheese, rocket and dukkah and of course there was a Ballymaloe Cookery School garden salad with lots of edible flower petals sprinkled on top.
They had fun digging the potatoes, picking and harvesting the organic vegetables from the kitchen garden and tunnel.
For dessert, there was cultured panna cotta, nougatine, poached apricots, lemon verbena and a little glass of Sauternes.
For those who had a little space left, a whole array of delicious, irresistible petit fours.
Honey-soaked vanilla sponge with Jersey yoghurt and honeycomb, every element lovingly homemade. Raspberry pistachio macarons, whiskey ganache millionaire’s shortbread, chocolate dipped shards of honeycomb and as if that wasn’t enough, a rosewater infused chocolate strawberry.
A phenomenal amount of work went into the meal and the guests seemed to love every mouthful. The students were thrilled with the response and gained considerable experience and confidence from the exercise.
Rory O’Connell, guided the kitchen on the night, while senior tutor Richard Healy headed up the ace team in the dining room.
Money raised was divided between three charities, The Slow Food educational project. Mustard Seed Communities Ireland, a charity dedicated to caring for the most vulnerable members of society in Jamaica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Ripple Effect, an inspirational NGO working with subsistence farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Ethiopia and Burundi.
Special thanks to the students for sharing their recipes. Hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we did.

Sedum Leaf with Whipped Lemon Ricotta and Peas

70 fresh sedum leaves – makes 70 canapés

Whipped Ricotta

Ingredients

450g approx. of ricotta cheese

4 – 5 tbsp cream

drizzle of olive oil

zest of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Peas

Ingredients

a whole bag of frozen petit pois

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

rind and a little freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1 lemon

a few fresh mint leaves, finely sliced

flaky sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Method

Whip ricotta in food processor with cream and a little olive oil. Season with flaky sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Fold in the lemon zest. Fill the mixture into a piping bag.

Cook the peas in boiling water for 45 seconds. Take out and plunge into ice cold water.

Dress the peas with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice and season to taste. Careful not to put lemon juice on too early or the peas will discolour.

Pipe the ricotta onto sedum leaves. Spoon 6-8 peas on top of each and garnish with mint and sprinkle with a few flakes of sea salt.

White Fish and Golden Beet Crudo with Nasturtium, Lemon Vinaigrette and Honey Drizzle

Crudo

Ingredients

1 whole spanking fresh white fish (haddock or pollock Preferred)

1 fillet yields 20 slices

Serves 4 with 5 slices per serving

Method

Keep the fish as chilled as possible and descale if necessary.

Filet the fish keeping skin attached, place skin side down on a chopping board.

Cut 1cm thick slices straight down until you are about to touch the skin, slide the slice off the skin towards the tail.  Continue until there is no fish left on the skin.

Arrange slices on parchment paper on a tray in the fridge till ready to serve.

Golden Beet

Ingredients

2 Golden beetroot (possibly 4 depending on size)

Method

Boil the beets in boiling water from 30-50 minutes (small beets 3 minutes) (medium 40 minutes) (large 50 minutes) – reserve the cooking water for the reduction.  Remove the beetroot from the water, allow to cool and rub off the skin.

Allow to come to room temp then chill. On a mandolin, cut to a 3mm thickness.

Lay out on a tray and refrigerate until ready to serve

Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

6 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice

a generous pinch of caster sugar

a generous pinch of salt

a generous pinch of chilli powder

In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients until combined.

Golden Beet Water and Honey Reduction

Ingredients

100ml of reserved golden beet cooking water

1 dsp of honey

zest of ½ lemon

2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

Combine the beet water with honey then reduce on a high heat until it becomes syrupy, 8-15 minutes approx.

Add the lemon zest and juice to the reduction.

Nasturtium Oil

Ingredients

150g of nasturtium leaves

325ml of a neutral oil such as sunflower

2 level tsp of salt

muslin cloth

Method

In a blender add 150g of Nasturtium and add three-quarters of oil, blitz till combined. if it is not running fluidly add the rest of oil till it is running without interruption.

Blend until fully combined (1-2 minutes).

Line a glass bowl with muslin.

Pour the oil mixture into the muslin/bowl.

Pull four corners together and tie then hang muslin over the glass bowl in a fridge for at least 3 hours (best overnight).

Put the strained mixture into the freezer and freeze until the water has separated from the oil.

Pour this mixture into a container and refrigerate until you are ready to garnish.

To plate.

Place five slices of beetroot on the serving plate.

Place five slices of fish on top of each beetroot slice.

Pour 1 tablespoon of the lemon vinaigrette on top of the plate (avoiding covering the fish so that it doesn’t cook).

Drizzle the honey reduction around the plate, a dab near each piece.

To garnish the dish.

Green Oil – dot the green oil around the plate making sure to put some near the fish.

Leaves – take 3 small Nasturtium leaves and scatter around the plate.

Flowers – take 3 petals off a flower and scatter on top of the plate.

Maldon salt – sprinkle a sparse amount of Maldon salt on top of each fish (around 3 flakes of possible).

Serve immediately once plated.

Raspberry Pistachio Macarons

Makes 30

Ingredients

175g icing sugar

115g ground almonds

60g green pistachios

50g egg whites

100g egg white at room temperature

200g caster sugar

Buttercream Filling

Ingredients

110g butter

225g icing sugar

¼ tsp pure vanilla extract

2 punnets of raspberries

Method

Draw 5cm circles on the back of the baking parchment. 

Mix the icing sugar, ground almonds and pistachios in the Magimix until fully blended, add to a bowl with the 50g egg white and mix completely.

Using an electric hand mixer, whisk the 100g egg whites until soft peaks form.  Place this over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the bottom, add the caster sugar, and whisk continuously until the mixture thickens and almost doubles in volume.  Remove from the heat and whisk until cool.

Mix one quarter of this meringue mixture into the ground almond paste, folding until it is completely mixed.  Then add the remaining meringue, folding gently until combined.  DO NOT overmix at this stage.

Put half the mixture into the piping bag and quickly pipe onto the prepared baking trays keeping within the 5cm outlines.  Repeat with the rest of the mixture onto the other tray. 

Leave at room temperature (not too hot as heat is the enemy) to form a skin for 30-60 minutes depending on temperature.

Preheat the oven to a fan 150^oC/Gas Mark 2.

Bake the macarons for 11 minutes.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray.

Next, make the buttercream filling.

In a bowl, cream the soft butter and icing sugar together, add a very small drop of pure vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

To Finish

Spread a little buttercream on each macaron, pop 1-2 fresh raspberries on top and sandwich together.

Enjoy!

Tasmanian food activist Matthew Evans from The Fat Pig Farm has been on my radar for a very long time but until recently our paths had never crossed. Well, blow me away, if he didn’t walk into the hall of the Ballymaloe Cookery School the other day. I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was over this side of the world to attend Groundswell, the regenerative farming conference in Hertfordshire in the UK and decided to swing by Ireland where some of his ancestors hailed from.
Matthew has had a fascinating life, originally the restaurant critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, he became a chef, restaurateur, food writer, TV broadcaster and now is also a farmer.
His seventy acre mixed farm is in the beautiful Huon Valley, south of Hobart, right down on the southern end of Tasmania.
He grows vegetables and fruit, makes cider, fattens a few heritage pigs and milks a couple of house cows to have beautiful fresh milk, the subject of MILK, one of his fifteen books. Another simply entitled SOIL is a hymn to the underappreciated three or four inches of earth below our feet on which our very existence depends.
He, just like me, is passionate about the importance of rich fertile soil. After all, the only reason we have life on earth is topsoil, crucial for the health of the planet and our ability to grow food.
Matthew came to farming from the kitchen. As a chef, he became intrigued by flavour and super curious about why some vegetables and fruits and herbs were so much more delicious than others. What was it that made a simple ingredient like carrots for example, taste so much more intensely sweet than others?
This inevitably led him to the soil. Richer, more fertile organic soil, usually produces better tasting and more nutrient dense food – Surprise, surprise!
And so he has become a feisty advocate for regenerative, ecological farming – growing food in a way that replenishes the soil and ecosystems and keeps us healthy.
Groundswell on Lannock Farm, now in its tenth year, creates a forum for farmers, growers, anyone interested in food production and the environment to come together to share ideas and learn about the theory of practical applications of regenerative farming systems.
A series of brilliant speakers entice thousands of people from all over the world. www.groundswellag.com
(There was quite a contingent from Ireland and NOTS – National Organic Training Skillnet). www.nots.ie  
There is a consensus that we urgently need a global metric to measure outcomes on our farms. Polluters need to pay for the damage to the environment and farmers who deliver positive climate, nature and social outcomes, should be rewarded financially. These actions would be a game changer…
One of the many inspirational sessions I attended was entitled, Farming: Our Health Service. There is a growing concern that our current food system is broken but farming has the potential to be our natural health service so what do we need from food production to regenerate public health?
They explored how whole health agriculture is needed to realign farming with both human and environmental health and wellbeing.
Regenerative Farming or ‘Regen’ is the great new buzzword, but it is already being commandeered by the multinational food companies in their marketing and labelling.
Thus far, however there is no definition so there is considerable confusion amongst the general public and a definite possibility of greenwashing….
Regen is an admirable way to embark on a journey towards less artificial inputs, pesticides, herbicides and ultimately organic farming, however many ‘regen ‘ farmers are still using glyphosate, albeit less, to kill weeds but it also damages life in the soil. Without a strict definition this inspirational movement runs the risk of being discredited.
Matthew Evans gave me a present of his latest book, ‘The Real Food Companion’ published by Murdoch Books, a lifetime’s worth of food knowledge, from the soil (where it all begins) to the table.
Difficult to pick just three recipes from the hundreds in this inspirational tome, but enjoy these to get started.

All recipes are from ‘The Real Food Companion’ by Matthew Evans published by Murdoch Books.

Crab and Chilli Omelette

Rich egg, sweet crab and the spice of chilli combine to make this one hell of an omelette.

Ingredients

100g cooked crab meat

2 small red chillies, seeded and finely sliced

3 tbsp chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves

1 tsp fish sauce

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tbsp peanut oil

1 large garlic clove, crushed

Serves 1-2

Method

Mix the crabmeat in a bowl with the chilli, coriander, and fish sauce, then add the remaining sauce to the eggs.

Heat the peanut oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat and quickly fry the garlic until starting to colour. Add the egg and stir until it is half cooked. Scatter the crab mixture over the top and press gently into the egg. When the egg is nearly cooked, fold the omelette over, and tip onto a plate.

Halve the omelette and serve with steamed rice.

Wild Strawberry Salad with Vanilla Drained Yoghurt

I love strawberries as much as I love Hobart on a sunny Sunday afternoon. And that’s a lot. Unlike Hobart, however, I only love fresh strawberries in summer.

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g Greek-style yoghurt

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

500g strawberries

3 peaches or nectarines, stones removed, cut into chunks

2 bananas, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

1 tbsp lemon juice

5 basil leaves, finely sliced

Method

Place the yoghurt in a strainer lined with muslin (cheesecloth) or strong, clean, absorbent paper. Cover the yoghurt, place
a bowl underneath the strainer, and place the whole lot into the refrigerator to let the whey drain out overnight. The next day, put the thickish yoghurt into a bowl and stir in the vanilla extract.

In a large frying pan, heat the honey and zest over medium heat. Add the strawberries, peaches and bananas and toss to warm through. Add the lemon juice and basil and serve warm with the yoghurt.

Honeyed Anzac Biscuits  

I like my Anzac biscuits (cookies) chewy, and it may take a couple of attempts to get them just right. Honey makes a nice change from the golden syrup that is used in most traditional recipes.

Makes 25

Ingredients

100g rolled (porridge) oats

135g plain flour, sifted

200g caster sugar

70g shredded coconut

125g butter, cubed

2 tbsp honey

1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Mix the oats, flour, sugar and coconut together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.

Heat the butter and honey in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted and combined. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda to combine (it will foam up, this is normal).

Pour the honey mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. If it seems too stiff, add 1-2 teaspoons of water. Place dessertspoon-sized blobs about 5cm
apart on the prepared trays, allowing room for them to spread.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden. They will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

At last, the conversation around the impact of ultra-processed foods on the health of the nation is gathering momentum. I’ve written before about how we are sleepwalking into a health crisis of gargantuan proportions. It has crept up on us so rapidly and stealthily that it has almost gone unnoticed.
Ultra-processed foods now make up over half of the average diet in Ireland. To be precise, 54.9% according to research published in The Journal of Public Health Nutrition. Ireland tops the poll in 19 EU countries, contrast that percentage with 10.2% in Portugal. Ireland is now the second most obese country in Europe with more than a quarter of the adult population classified as obese.

For some time now, it has been altogether easier to find what used to be called fake or junk food now called UPF’s, than real food…
Plus there’s huge confusion amongst the general public about what exactly constitutes UPF’s, ultra-processed food.
These are foods that are mass produced in industrial systems,  purposely engineered to be irresistible and hyper palatable, cheap with a long shelf life.
Foods that you couldn’t be made in your home kitchen with ingredients you would never find in your pantry.
Packed with artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives, emulsifiers, stabilisers, flavour enhancers… Often with a long list of ingredients, many unrecognisable to the general public. A chicken curry on the recently introduced Free School Meals menu had over 50 ingredients – where are our priorities…?

These foods are highly profitable and are aggressively marketed to both children and grown-up’s. In the UK, only 2% of advertising is on real food, 98% is spent on ultra-processed food. I’ve no doubt it’s similar over here.
The reality is, our food system is built for profit not to nourish the population. New research links harmful ultra-processed foods to the alarming rise in obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic and inflammatory diseases, cancers, even early death….

So why, knowing what we know is it legal to sell these foods? What will it take to reverse this trend and break free but reverse it we must.
We may think we actually have a choice in what we eat, but the reality is an immense amount of money, thought and research goes into making these foods utterly irresistible and addictive and super cheap. UPF’s have quietly taken over the food system and they are unquestionably making us sick. Is it possible that the manufacturers are unaware of this? 

About 10 major food corporations control 80% of the food supply on our supermarket shelves. Meal Deals, Takeaways, Grab, Gobble and Go, Deliveroo and its many incarnations have become a way of life…

So, what to do?

In the words of Michael Pollan, “Eat nothing your grandmother wouldn’t recognise as Food”. kind of sums it up simply… 

Chris Van Tulleken’s excellent book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ published by Cornerstone Press draws a direct correlation between high levels of ultra-processed food consumption and the rise in both physical and mental health issues.

Should the production companies not be required to pay for the ill health they are causing?

How long before the Irish government will no longer be able to fund the health service? 

So, what to do? Time for bold and coordinated action and a huge rethink about how to tackle the decline in national health.

This will not be an easy matter, many of the major food corporations are wealthier and more powerful than governments.

As the grandmother of 11 grandchildren, the UPF food situation is keeping me awake at night. We need a coalition of parents, teachers and citizens to demand action. 

We urgently need to reexamine our priorities – after all, what could be more important than the future health of the nation, our children and grandchildren. This is no easy task to tackle. but what could be more important, what could be more urgent? After all, the wealth of the nation depends on the health of a nation and the health of a nation depends on the food we eat…time for action!

Many of the foods we take for granted are ultra-processed. Here is an alternative to the bottled tomato sauce which has become a staple for so many. Avoid the majority of breakfast cereals, with a few very rare exceptions like real porridge, most are ultra-processed…Here too is a super simple recipe for homemade fish fingers, make a little homemade garlic mayo to go with them and whizz up a few homemade breadcrumbs, they take just a couple of seconds to make, a brilliant way to use up leftover stale bread.

Win, win all the way… 

Two Breakfast Cereals:

Apple, Blackberry, Strawberry, or Raspberry Muesli

This is right up there with porridge as the best and most nourishing breakfast ever. It’s also super delicious, can be made in minutes, even when you are semi-comatose in the morning. Choose ripe eating apples for this recipe. The proportion of apple to oatmeal should be equal, taste and adjust as you wish. During the soft fruit season, we crush strawberries, raspberries, loganberries or tayberries and fold into the oatmeal instead of almonds. A few blackberries are delicious added to the muesli in Autumn.

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 heaped tbsp organic rolled oatmeal

110g dessert apples, preferably Worcester Pearmain or Cox’s Orange Pippin

approx. 1 tsp honey, depending on the tartness of the fruit

single cream and soft brown sugar, to serve

Method

Measure out 6 tablespoons of water into a bowl and sprinkle the oatmeal on top.  Let the oatmeal soak up the water while you grate the apple. A stainless-steel grater is best for this job; use the largest side and grate the apple coarsely, skin and all. I grate through the core but watch your fingers when you are coming close to the end. Pick out the dark pips and discard.

Stir the honey into the oatmeal and then stir in the grated apple, taste and add a little more honey if necessary. This will depend on how much you heaped up the spoon earlier on and how sweet the fruit is. Serve with cream and soft brown sugar.

Ballymaloe Crunchy Granola

A toasted grain cereal. Use organic ingredients where possible to really nourish your family.

Serves 20

Ingredients

350g local runny honey

225g light olive oil

470g oat flakes

200g barley flakes

200g wheat flakes

100g rye flakes

150g seedless raisins or sultanas

150g peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds or cashew nuts split and roasted

70g wheatgerm and /or millet flakes

50g chopped apricots or75g chopped dates are nice too

toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds are also delicious

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Method

Mix oil and honey together in a saucepan, heat just enough to melt the honey.  Mix well into the mixed flakes. Spread thinly on two baking sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, turning frequently, making sure the edges don’t burn. It should be just golden and toasted, not roasted!

Allow to get cold.  Mix in the raisins or sultanas, roasted nuts, toasted seeds, chopped dates, apricots and wheatgerm.  Store in a screw top jar or a plastic box, keeps for 1-2 weeks.

Serve with sliced banana, berries in season, milk or yoghurt.

Tomato Fondue

One of our favourite recipes and  one of our great convertibles, it has a number of uses, we serve it as a vegetable or a sauce for pasta, filling for omelettes, topping for pizza…It will keep for four or five days in the fridge and freezes perfectly. It will be particularly delicious at this time from now on made with Irish summer tomatoes.

Serves 6 approx.

Ingredients 

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

110g sliced onions

1 clove of garlic, crushed

900g very ripe tomatoes in summer, or 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes in winter, but peel before using

salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste

1 tbsp of any of the following: freshly chopped mint, thyme, parsley, lemon balm, marjoram or torn basil

Method

Heat the oil in a stainless steel sauté pan or casserole.  Add the sliced onions and garlic toss until coated, cover and sweat on a gentle heat until soft but not coloured – about 10 minutes. It is vital for the success of this dish that the onions are completely soft before the tomatoes are added.  Slice the peeled fresh tomatoes or chopped tinned tomatoes and add with all the juice to the onions.  Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar (tinned tomatoes need lots of sugar because of their high acidity).  Add a generous sprinkling of herbs. Cover and cook for just 10-20 minutes more, or until the tomato softens, uncover and reduce a little.  Cook fresh tomatoes for a shorter time to preserve the lively fresh flavour. 

Tinned tomatoes need to be cooked for longer depending on whether one wants to use the fondue as a vegetable, sauce or filling.

Variations

Tomato Fondue with Chilli

Add 1-2 chopped fresh chillies to the onions when sweating.

Penne with Tomato Fondue

Toss 450g of cooked penne or spaghetti with Tomato and Chilli Fondue.

Tomato and Chorizo Fondue 

Add ½-1 sliced or diced chorizo to the tomato fondue five minutes before the end of cooking, great with pasta.

Tomato, Bean and Rosemary Stew

Add 1 x 400g can of haricot beans or black-eyed beans and 1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary to the above.

Yummy Fish Fingers with Garlic Mayo

The hake stocks are in good shape, fresh hake is a superb fish, sweet and flaky.

Serves 8

Ingredients

8 pieces fresh haddock, hake or pollock cut into fingers 11.5 x 3cm approximately

salt and freshly ground black pepper

white flour, seasoned well with salt, freshly ground and pepper and a

a little cayenne or smoked paprika (optional)

egg wash

2-3 beaten free-range, organic eggs and a little milk

panko or dried white breadcrumbs

To Serve

crunchy Little Gem lettuce leaves

Garlic Mayo (Aioli)

225g homemade mayonnaise (see recipe)

Add 1-4 crushed garlic cloves (depending on size) to the egg yolks as you start to make the mayonnaise.  Add 2 tsp of chopped flat-leaf parsley at the end and season to taste.

Method

Heat the oil in a deep fry to 180˚C.

Season the fingers of fish with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then, dip the fish, first into the well-seasoned flour and then into the beaten egg and finally coat evenly all over with the crumbs of your choice.  Pat gently to firm up…!

Heat some olive oil or clarified butter in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the fish fingers until golden and crispy on the outside and cooked through into the centre. Drain on kitchen paper.

I love to wrap them in crunchy Little Gem lettuce leaves, add a dollop of garlic mayo (aioli)/mayo of choice and enjoy.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Ingredients

2 egg yolks, preferably free range

¼ tsp salt

pinch of English mustardor ¼ tsp French mustard

1 dsp white wine vinegar

225ml oil (sunflower or olive oil or a mixture) – We use 175ml sunflower oil and 50ml olive oil, alternatively use 7/1

Method

Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the salt, mustard and the white wine vinegar (keep the whites to make meringues). Put the oil into a measure. Take a whisk in one hand and the oil in the other and drip the oil onto the egg yolks, drop by drop whisking at the same time to create an emulsion. Within a minute you will notice that the mixture is beginning to thicken. When this happens, you can add the oil a little faster, but don’t get too complacent or it will suddenly curdle because the egg yolks can only absorb the oil at a certain pace. Taste and add a little more seasoning and vinegar if necessary.

If the Mayonnaise curdles (splits), it will suddenly become quite thin, and if left sitting the oil will start to float to the top of the sauce. If this happens, you can quite easily rectify the situation by putting another egg yolk into a clean bowl, then whisk in the curdled Mayonnaise, a half teaspoon at a time until it emulsifies again.  Alternatively, if you catch it just as it begins to curdle, you can sometimes rescue the situation by whisking in 1-2 tablespoons of hot water.

If you’re longing for a bit of peace and quiet, it’s super difficult these days to find a place for a family holiday away from the madding crowd, yet with enough activities within reasonable driving distance to keep several generations occupied and amused. Recently, we managed to find just that almost by accident. We found ourselves in an agricultural area in the southwest of France that I’d never even heard of before called Gers, sometimes Gascony. Apparently, it’s one of, if not the most rural part of France, internationally renowned for its fine gastronomy, how about that for a find! 
It’s also famous for its many bastides, beautiful fortified medieval towns and villages. There are no motorways in Gers, no high-speed trains though you can get a train to the capital Auch or ‘Ouch’ as I mistakenly pronounced it. Best of all there is no mass tourism, and the locals seemed genuinely delighted to see us. We drove for miles through rolling countryside, undulating fields of sunflowers and sweet corn, grazing pastures with bales of hay and occasional Blond Aquitaine cattle. Beautiful allés of plane trees originally commissioned by Napoleon to provide shade for his marching troops. Hedges bursting with yellow broom and honeysuckle, perennial sweet pea and purple vetch…sounds like I’m writing tourist blurb, but I kid you not, this is exactly what it’s like! How come, I never knew about it before.
There were 18 of us, so we had rented a restored 17^th century château just outside the little village of Seissan called Château Labarthe. As was the custom, it had its own chapel close by where the bells rang out both morning and evening, so, so beautiful and tranquil.
On the first evening, we went to a little restaurant called CRU – Cave et Repas à l’Unisson that we had pre-booked in the city of Auch. Tables outside under a spreading Judas tree, we ordered everything on the little blackboard menu, typical French bourgeois food and delicious.

Every village has a market day, most  start early in the morning and finish at noon-ish, but in the Armagnac and  d’Artagnan area, they often start in the late afternoon and continue on into the night, finishing circa 11pm.
On Sunday we headed for the market in the medieval village of Bassoues, dating back to 1016 and happily coincided with their annual fiesta to celebrate the feast of their patron Saint Fris. The whole community were out in their Sunday best and the village brass band played merry tunes with gusto before the long table feast under the village square. Lots of little shops, another impressive chateau and a beautiful church dedicated to the Saint.
On Monday, we drove 45 minutes to Samatan, a much bigger market, spread over many of the streets in centre ville, apart from stalls piled high with seasonal vegetables and fruit, ripe nectarines, peregrine and doughnut peaches, apricots, and a bounty of summer produce. Many stalls selling green Moroccan pottery, candles, wispy cane lampshades and tajines. Among many things, this area seems to be famous for its foie gras and ducks, so we made a pilgrimage to the Halle de Gras which literally translates to the Hall of Fat. Local farmers were proudly selling their prize produce, whole ducks, magret de canards, ducks hearts, and of course beautiful fresh foie gras. Close by, other farmers were proudly selling a selection of live poultry, chickens, fine cockerels, ducks, quail, geese, a turkey, rabbits, pigeons, even canaries and budgies.
My favourite section is where small farmers and their wives were selling their small harvest of homegrown produce, often organic or chemical-free on simple stalls. Little bunches of the rich and spicy local white garlic, dried Tarbais beans, new season onions, tiny Gariguette and Charlotte strawberries, state of the art Boucherie and Charcuterie vans were selling artfully butchered meat, charcuterie and coils of Saucisse de Toulouse and the local Noir de Bigorre pork. Others had a fantastic array of cheeses. We ate steak frites at one of the little cafés on the edge of the market soaking up the atmosphere. The steak was rare and juicy and delicious, possibly from the local Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle, famous for their delicious beefy flavour.
We filled our bags and baskets with beautiful produce, some of the famous prunes from Agen and a fine bottle of Armagnac for which the area is also justifiably famous.
Home again with my head swirling with memories of an area that I long to explore further. Here are some recipes to remind me of the week.

Salad of Heritage Tomatoes, Peaches and Mozzarella

We used huge heritage tomatoes, super ripe peaches and tender buffalo mozzarella – a delicious combination.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2-3 ripe peaches depending on size

4-8 heritage tomatoes depending on size

2 balls of buffalo mozzarella

8-12 leaves of basil or mint

flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dressing

2 tbsp of lemon juice or mild white wine vinegar such as Forum

8 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp honey

salt and pepper

Method

Slice the peaches off the stone – you will get 8 pieces approx. from each fruit and place in a large low sided bowl. Cut the heritage tomatoes into similar chunky pieces as the nectarines and add to the bowl. Tear each piece of buffalo mozzarella into 4 pieces and add to the bowl. Season with flaky salt and freshly ground pepper.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together, taste and correct the seasoning.

Tear the herbs on to the fruit and cheese and add the dressing. Stir and mix gently, being careful not to break up the fruit.

Place on a large platter or individual plates and serve immediately garnishing with a few more mint or basil leaves if you have them to spare.

Agen Prunes in Armagnac

Super easy to make, serve as a delicious dessert with vanilla bean ice cream or just a blob of whipped cream if you will…also delicious served as an accompaniment to roast duck, goose or pork.

Ingredients

225g Agen prunes with stone in (20 prunes approx.)

grated rind of 1 organic lemon

150ml Armagnac

150ml sugar syrup (*equal quantities of sugar and water – dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to the boil for 2 minutes then allow it to cool. Use any leftover sugar syrup to make lemonade, fruit compotes…) 

1 Kilner jar

Method

Fill a sterilised Kilner jar with Agen prunes, add the freshly grated lemon rind. Half cover with Armagnac, then top up with the sugar syrup. Seal and allow to macerate for at least ten days.

Tarte aux Pomme from Gers

Use freshly ground cinnamon or mixed spice or sprinkle generously with Armagnac, the local spirit.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 packet of filo pastry (you may not need it all)

50g butter, melted

3-4 dessert apples, e.g., Cox’s Pippins

110g caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice or 1 tablespoon of Armagnac (optional)

icing sugar

1 x 23-25.5cm round tart tin, preferably with a pop-up base.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Brush the tin with melted butter, cut 3 sheets of filo in half widthways, brush with melted butter, fold in half and arrange overlapping in the tin. Peel and cut the apples into chunks, sprinkle with plenty of sugar (plus cinnamon or mixed spice or Armagnac if using) and toss. The tin should be generously filled with fruit. Fold the edges of the filo back into the tart.

Divide another 3 sheets of filo into 4 pieces each. Brush generously with melted butter.  Scrunch up each piece and arrange on top.  Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour approx. or until the apple is cooked and the pastry crisp and golden.

Pop the tart out of the tin onto a serving plate.

Dredge with icing sugar, serve warm with softly whipped cream.

Note: The apple may be par cooked ahead in which case it will take a shorter time to cook.

Hooray, July is officially National Picnic Month but why confine it to July. I’m a perennial picnicker, I virtually never leave home without a picnic.
My tin box, full of goodies, comes with me on the train, on a plane, up the hills, onto the beach or the cliffs…

I’ve got several picnic baskets, they are best for the beach, they fit several small frying pans so I can cook sausages over a little fire. I make a circle of stones on the sand, send the kids off to collect driftwood, scrunch up the sports pages and sizzle the sausages. What could be better after a swim, Colemans mustard made from the powder is an obligatory accompaniment for me and thick slices of fresh soda bread slathered with butter.
You’ll never be short of friends when you arrive with a picnic!
I’ve got lots of hand woven willow baskets. Some are relatively new, others are old and wonky but all much loved and full of memories. Childhood memories of picnics by the sea on the cliffs near the Metal Man in Tramore. Mummy would always roast a fat cockerel just before we left and bake several loaves of brown soda bread and a spotted dog. Always a pot of raspberry jam.

Good bread and jam tastes so good outdoors. And a cake, an old-fashioned coffee cake is my favourite.
You could of course make or bake something exotic for your picnic, though gorgeous, it’s definitely not essential. You’ll probably have lots of delicious store cupboard stables ready for a spontaneous picnic. I love to have good sardines or mackerel, a tin or two of really good anchovies. The latter will be delicious on thick slices of crisp cucumber (a delicious bite that Rory O’Connell introduced me to), and big juicy red and yellow tomatoes…

Make a batch of mayo and divide it in half, add some crushed garlic and chopped parsley to one lot and you’ve got a delicious aioli or garlic mayo.
I usually bring a few hardish boiled eggs too and a couple of ripe avocados. You’ll need some flaky sea salt for the avocados, and I love a little dollop of mayo, a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper and flaky sea salt over the hard boiled eggs – that simple treatment transforms them into a little gourmet picnic bite.

Don’t forget a hunk of cheese, or something soft and gooey and some water biscuits, a bottle of rosé and/or fizz and some elderflower cordial.
Depends where you’re off to, but one could call to a local shop to pick up a bag or two of ice, bring an ice bucket with you, use it as a container to fill it with picnic goodies on the way and for garbage on the way home.
Happy Picnicking…

Very Best Anchovies on Crisp Cucumber

Rory O’ Connell introduced me to this delicious little bite and so simple to make, they are also great for canapés.

Ingredients

1 crisp Irish new season cucumber
1 tin of the very best anchovies
a little lemon thyme if available

Method
Slice the cucumber into 2cm thick slices, lay a piece of anchovy on top. A little sprinkling of lemon thyme enhances the magic.
The contrast of the crisp texture of the cucumber and briny anchovy makes for a truly WOW bite.

Glazed Loin of Bacon

Best still warm – everyone will be licking their lips!

Serves 12-15

Ingredients

1.8-2.25kg loin of bacon, either smoked or unsmoked (streaky may also be used)

400g/1 small tin of pineapple, use 3-4 tbsp approx. of the juice

350g brown Demerara sugar (crunchy not soft brown sugar)

whole cloves, 20-30 approx.

Method

Cover the bacon in cold water and bring slowly to the boil, if the bacon is very salty there will be a white froth on top of the water, in this case it is preferable to discard this water. It may be necessary to change the water several times depending on how salty the bacon is, finally cover with hot water and simmer until almost cooked, allow 25-30 minutes approx. for every 450g.  Remove the rind, score the fat into a diamond pattern, and stud with cloves.  Blend brown sugar to a thick paste with a little pineapple juice, 3-4 tablespoons approx., be careful not to make it too liquid.  Spread this over the bacon.  Choose a small low sided gratin dish or roasting pan that barely fits the joint, otherwise the glaze will just burn on the tin.    Bake in a fully preheated hot oven 250°C/Gas Mark 9 until the top has caramelised – baste the bacon three or four times during this time. It will take approx. 10-15 minutes to caramelise.  Remove to a carving dish.  Carve in thin slices lengthwise so each slice includes some of the eye of the loin and streaky bacon.

Note: We use loin of bacon off the bone.

Classic Coffee Cake (Loaf)

This is a splendid recipe for an old-fashioned coffee cake – the sort Mummy made – and we still make it regularly. Everyone loves it. I’m a real purist about using extract rather than essence in the case of vanilla, but in this cake, I prefer coffee essence (which is actually mostly chicory) to real coffee.

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

225g soft butter

225g caster sugar

4 organic eggs

225g plain white flour, preferably unbleached

1 tsp baking powder

scant 2 tbsp Irel or Camp coffee essence

Coffee Butter Cream

150g butter

330g icing sugar, sieved

5-6 tsp Irel or Camp coffee essence

Coffee Glacé Icing

450g icing sugar

scant 2 tbsp Irel or Camp coffee essence

about 4 tbsp boiling water

To Decorate

Caramelised Walnuts or just use walnut halves (see recipe)

1 x 20cm square cake tin

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Line the base and sides of the tin with greaseproof or silicone paper. Brush the bottom and sides with melted butter and dust lightly with flour.

Beat the soft butter with a wooden spoon, add the caster sugar and beat until pale in colour and light in texture. Whisk the eggs. Add to the mixture, bit by bit, whisking well between each addition.

Sieve the flour with the baking powder and stir gently into the cake mixture. Finally, add in the coffee essence and mix thoroughly.

Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. When the cake is cooked, the centre will be firm and springy, and the edges will have shrunk from the sides of the tins. Leave to rest in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Remove the greaseproof paper from the base, then flip over so the top of the cake doesn’t get marked by the wire rack. Leave the cake to cool on the wire rack.

To make the coffee butter cream, whisk the butter with the sieved icing sugar and add the coffee essence. Continue to whisk until light and fluffy.

When cold, cut the cake in half lengthwise, then cut each half horizontally creating rectangular layers, 4 in total. Sandwich each sponge layer together with half of the coffee butter cream, forming a loaf shaped cake. Place half of the remaining buttercream into a piping bag, fitted with a medium star shaped nozzle. Spread the sides and top of the cake thinly with the last of the butter cream and place into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to chill. This technique is called crumb coating.

Next make the Coffee Glacé Icing. 

Sieve the icing sugar and put into a bowl. Add coffee essence and enough boiling water to make it the consistency of a thick cream.

To Decorate

Remove the cake from the fridge. Pour the glacé icing evenly over the top of the cake, gently spreading it down the sides with a palette knife. Allow to set, 30 minutes approx. Decorate with piped rosettes of buttercream and garnish with the caramelized walnuts or walnut halves if preferred.

Caramelised Walnuts

100g sugar

50ml cold water

20 walnut halves

225ml hot water

Dissolve the sugar in the cold water over a gentle heat.  Stir until all the sugar has dissolved, then remove the spoon and continue to simmer until the syrup caramelises to a chestnut colour.  Remove from the heat, dip the walnuts into the hot caramel, and coat each one completely using a fork. Remove to a silicone baking mat, or oiled cake tin, and allow to cool. Once all the walnuts have been coated, pour the hot water into the saucepan and continue to cook until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is quite smooth. Reduce until it starts to thicken slightly.  Allow to get cold.  This sauce can be used for serving with ice cream.

Quick, the ‘catch it if you can’ gooseberry and elderflower season is here, but it’ll be gone in a flash.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the fluffy white blossoms on the elder trees not just in the hedgerows around the countryside, but there are plenty in the cities too. Elder is one of our native Irish trees. The flowers have a musky smell which isn’t exactly enticing, so some think it’s reminiscent of cat urine. But don’t let that put you off, both the flavour and aroma are transformed to a wonderfully muscat richness during cooking. Furthermore, the combination of green gooseberry and elderflowers is a marriage made in heaven.

Nature has cleverly arranged for the gooseberry and elderflower to be in season at the same time.

Wonder who first discovered the combination. I first read about this magical combo of flavours in the late Jane Grigson’s ‘Good Things’- one of my most treasured cookbooks, the fourth edition has just been republished by Grub Street, bang on time for the gooseberry season. Jane devoted a whole chapter in ‘Good Things’ to gooseberries.

At present, gooseberries are hard and green, the recent rain helped them to swell on the bushes, but they are still super tart. They will soften and ripen to a rich red colour later in the summer.

Certainly not for nibbling raw but perfect for tarts, compotes, crumbles, jellies, fools and fritters.

I was thrilled when it landed on my desk a few weeks ago, it brought childhood memories flooding back of picking the green gooseberries off the prickly branches with the promise of gooseberry pie for supper. Something I am perfectly happy to do because the reward is so delicious. However, a few years ago, one of the gardeners showed me how to strip the berries from the bush without getting scratched, so here’s the tip, let’s see if I can describe it accurately. Cup your hand over the leaves on the branch close to the main stem, then pull your hand firmly towards you. The leaves cover the thorns, protecting your hands.

Otherwise, you’ll need to wear a leather glove to protect your hand from the spikes, a much slower method.

You’ll need to top and tail each gooseberry before cooking. A zen activity provided you’re not in a hurry – lean into it and enjoy.

By the way, gooseberries freeze brilliantly. Just fill them into strong zip-lock plastic bags, they won’t adhere to each other and are easy to top and tail while frozen. For best results, use within 6 months. Gooseberries are also super nutritious

Elderflowers too are not just a pretty flower, they have many essential vitamins, including vitamins E, B1, B2, and B3 complex and a little vitamin C. It’s known for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant properties. All very important.

Later in the year, elderberries have a whole other set of nutrients and a much higher vitamin C content to help protect against winter colds and flu. The substantial amount of fibre helps to prevent constipation but they’re not around until Autumn so let’s enjoy the elderflowers and gooseberries while they last.

Roast Pork with Crackling and Green Gooseberry Sauce

You will need to order the joint ahead to ensure that the rind is still on – no rind means no crackling! Ask your butcher to cut the loin as long as possible so that you have enough of a surface to spread the herbs over. Your butcher should also be able to advise you on stringing.  We brine the pork ahead for extra flavour.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2.25kg loin of organic free-range pork with the skin rind intact

coarse salt or Maldon sea salt

2 tbsp chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, chives, marjoram, savoury, perhaps very little sage or rosemary)

salt and freshly ground pepper

Green Gooseberry Sauce (see recipe)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.

Score the skin at 5mm intervals running with the grain – let your butcher do this if possible because the skin, particularly of free-range pork, can be quite tough. This is to give you really good crackling and make it easier to carve later.

Dry brine the pork.

Put the pork skin-side down on a chopping board, season well with crunchy sea salt and black pepper and sprinkle with freshly chopped herbs. Allow to dry brine for several hours or overnight.

Dab off with kitchen paper.

Roll the joint tightly and secure with a slipknot, then repeat at the other end of the loin.

Work your way towards the centre, tying the joint at about 4cm intervals.

Sprinkle some salt over the rind and roast the joint on a wire rack in a roasting tin. Allow 25-28 minutes per 450g. Baste here and there with the rendered pork fat.

While the meat is in the oven, follow the recipe to make the gooseberry sauce.

Just before the end of the cooking time, remove the pork to another roasting tin. Increase the oven temperature to 230°C/Gas Mark 8 and return the joint to the oven to further crisp the crackling. When the joint is cooked the juices should run clear.

Put the pork onto a hot carving dish and leave it to rest for 10-15 minutes in a low oven before carving. Serve two slices of pork per person with some gooseberry sauce and garnish with rocket. Rustic roast potatoes and a seasonal green salad would also be great.

Green Gooseberry Sauce

This simple sauce is so much more than the sum of its parts, we love it with roast pork or pan-grilled mackerel and other rich fatty meats.  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall suggests adding a tablespoon of chopped sage, I tried it recently and it was very good.

If you are stuck for a pudding just fold in some softly whipped cream.

Ingredients

275g fresh green gooseberries

stock syrup to cover (see below) – 175ml approximately

a knob of butter (optional)

Method

Top and tail the gooseberries, put into a stainless steel saucepan, barely cover with stock syrup, bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit bursts.  Taste.  Stir in a small knob of butter if you like but it is very good without it.

Stock Syrup

Ingredients

110ml water

75g sugar

Method

Dissolve the sugar in the water and boil together for 2 minutes.  Store in a covered jar in the refrigerator until needed. Stock syrup can also be used for sorbets, fruit salads or as a sweetener in homemade lemonades.

Green Gooseberry Tartlets

From Ballymaloe Desserts by JR Ryall published by Phaidon

This is a terrific recipe to have up your sleeve. These tartlets are ideal to serve after a simple lunch or even a formal dinner.  I always make the cream pastry a day or two in advance.  The tartlets themselves don’t take long to prepare and bake in just twenty minutes. 

Rhubarb, cherries and apples may be substituted in season.

Makes approx. 30 tartlets

Ingredients

1 quantity Cream Pastry (see recipe), chilled

flour, for dusting

700g green gooseberries, topped and tailed

220-290g caster sugar

softly whipped cream, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.

Place the cold pastry on a generously floured work surface. Sprinkle flour over the top and roll to a thickness of 3mm, using a rolling pin. Cut the pastry into disks using a 7.5cm round cutter. Transfer the disks of pastry to a shallow, flat-bottom bun (muffin) pan, lining each well with a circle. Place the lined pan in the refrigerator to rest for 15 minutes. Shake excess flour from the pastry scraps, gather them together, wrap in baking paper and place in the refrigerator. The scraps can be re-rolled again when they are properly chilled and used to make another batch of tartlets.

Cut the gooseberries in half and arrange them cut side up on top of the pastry. It takes 7-8 halves to fill each tartlet depending on the size of the berries. Sprinkle a scant teaspoon of the sugar over the berries in each tartlet and bake straight away for about 20 minutes, until the sugar begins to caramelize and the pastry is a deep golden colour. While the tartlets are baking, line a heatproof tray with parchment paper and sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over the paper. Remove the tartlets from the oven and transfer them from the bun pan to the sugared baking paper while still hot. Arrange on a pretty plate and serve warm with softly whipped cream. 

Cream Pastry

Cream pastry is an incredibly versatile dough. It’s easier to handle when completely chilled and well rested. I make the pastry the day before I plan to use it and roll it straight from the refrigerator. It can be used on top of classic fruit tarts or to cover savoury pies, and it is good for open fruit tartlets. It is flaky, buttery and tender, not firm like a shortcrust and surprisingly light.

Makes 370g pastry

110g plain flour

110g cold salted butter, cut into 5mm cubes

150ml cold fresh cream

Place the flour into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and then add the butter. With the mixer on low speed, rub the butter into the flour. Keep an eye on the mixture as it is being worked by the paddle. If overworked, the mixture will form a shortbread-like ball! Before this happens, when the butter and flour are on the cusp of coming together, pour in all of the cold cream and continue to mix on a low speed until a smooth pastry forms, about 1 minute. Wrap the pastry with baking paper and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Always roll cream pastry straight from the fridge. If the pastry comes to room temperature it will be too soft to handle!

Elderflower Fritters

These are super easy to make, very crispy and once you’ve tasted one, you won’t be able to stop! Serve them with the Gooseberry and Elderflower Compote, below. The latter is delicious on its own served with a drizzle of Jersey cream.

Serves 4

Ingredients

110g plain flour

pinch of salt

1 organic egg

150ml lukewarm water

8-12 elderflower heads

caster sugar

sunflower oil for frying

Method

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and drop in the egg. Using a whisk, bring in the flour gradually from the edges, slowly adding in the water at the same time. Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180°C. Hold the flowers by the stalks and dip into the batter (add a little more water or milk if the batter is too thick). Fry until golden brown in the hot oil. Drain on kitchen paper, toss in caster sugar and serve immediately with gooseberry and elderflower compote.

MAD Food Symposium may just be the most exciting and inspiring avant-garde food event in the world – it’s certainly up there – often dubbed the DAVOS of food.

It brings together a global community, some of the most innovative minds in hospitality to discuss and shape the future of food, explore new ideas and gain new perspectives.

Held on Refshaleøen, an island just off Copenhagen. We jumped on a boat at 8am, arrived to a cheering welcome from the MAD team. Walked over the bridge and onto the island, two huge circus tents, one with long tables piled high with a breakfast feast – flaky breakfast pastries from Hart Bageri, an onion quiche smothered in grated cheese, crispy capers and thyme leaves. A Breakfast bun with slivers of Comté cheese, segments of pomelo and superb, batch brew coffee from Cafeología in Chiapas in Mexico.

And so the two day event began, launched by chef, founder René Redzepi, one inspirational speaker after another interspersed with coffee breaks, artisan beer and tea from Henrietta Lovell’s, The Rare Tea Company sourced from ethical tea gardens around the world. The rooibos tea, not usually my favourite, was a new experience.

Lunch was from Anajak and cooked by the MAD Noma team, dishes from the ever evolving restaurant of the same name in Los Angeles. Chef owner Justin Pichetrungsi gave us delicious tastes of his Thai and Mexican flavours.

The theme of MAD 2025 was ‘Build To Last’. Thomas Keller, chef of The French Laundry and Per Se in New York discussed what our legacy could be.

Roman Krznaric, the philosopher and author, asked, How can we be good ancestors?

Four young Icelandic young – wild salmon guides, spelled out the true cost of the farmed salmon industry on our health and the environment and pleaded with the seven-hundred strong audience not to buy or serve farmed salmon.

Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express in London, whom I wrote about in my column of May 24^th 2025 recounted her incredible story…

The second MAD Food Symposium breakfast was a Mexican array by Rosio Sanchéz, one of the most beloved chefs and restaurateurs in Copenhagen. Lunch was a feast celebrating ‘nose to tail’ eating from the iconic London restaurant St. John established by Fergus Henderson, Trevor Gulliver and Jon Spiteri in 1994. Roast marrow bones, parsley and caper salad and flaky sea salt, a wondrous chicken and ox tongue pie and the legendary Eccles cakes with an aged Lancashire cheese. Go online to see extracts from the speakers – www.madfeed.co

Apart from MAD, there are many other delicious reasons to visit Copenhagen apart from the many Michelin starred restaurants, there are neighbourhood restaurants, cool cafés, wine bars, smorgasbord places. Book ahead to bag a table at Restaurant Schønnemann (Est 1877) I failed to get in despite offering to lay tables and wash up…!

But I did return to Atelier September, a perennial favourite of mine. The bakery scene is amazing, don’t miss Lille Bakery, Alice, Juno and Louise Bannon’s Tír…

My best new find was Bar Vitrine, loved every bit of the small menu and was mesmerised by the selection of natural wines – I also returned to Ved Stranden 10, another timeless, consistent and delicious wine bar – many natural wines by the glass…

We packed all of that into just four days, plus a bit of shopping too in Nørrebro and don’t miss the best cheese shop in the ostehandler (cheesemongers) and the posh Torvehallerne Food Market.

Trine’s Prawns with Dill

My friend Trine Hahnemann shared this recipe for a simple smørrebrød.

‘When I have time, I like to peel the prawns myself. I love to buy several kilos of them, invite people over and have a long lunch, everyone peeling them for their own smørrebrød. Yes, it is a bit fussy, but it tastes so much better!’

Serves 4

40g homemade mayonnaise

½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

300g good-quality cooked peeled prawns

4 large slices of rye bread

1 fat spear of fresh green asparagus

freshly ground black pepper

a handful of fresh dill sprigs

1 lemon, sliced

Mix the mayonnaise and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Place the prawns on the bread, then spoon the lemon mayonnaise. Shave the asparagus into ribbons with a vegetable peeler.

Put a tangle of the asparagus strips on the mayonnaise. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, add the dill sprigs and serve with lemon slices.

Bar Vitrine’s Fermented Chili Salsa with Corn Chips

Bar Vitrine located at Møntergade 5 was my most exciting new find.

Kimchi Base

30g glutinous rice flour

400g water

100g red chilli

100g garlic

250g shallots

30g ginger

10g degi chilli powder (a distinctive Indian spice made from a blend of colourful red capsicums and Kashmiri red chillies)

10g kashmiri chilli

500g pear

100g sugar

37g salt

In a saucepan, combine the rice flour and water and cook into a thick paste. Blend all the remaining ingredients with the rice paste in a Thermomix until smooth. Seal into vacuum bags and ferment for 7-14 days.

Fermented Chili Salsa

20g loquats

20g white peach

20g blood orange

30g datterino tomatoes, peeled

30g kimchi base

Cut the loquats, white peach, blood orange and tomato into 8mm dice approx. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients with the kimchi to make the salsa. Top with crushed roasted corn and chiffonade of fresh coriander. 

Corn and Fenugreek Chips

So delicious to nibble.

150g cornmeal

50g cornstarch

7g salt

1000g water

15g fenugreek

Combine the cornmeal, cornstarch, salt and water and cook on medium until thick and cornmeal is completely cooked out. Add the dried fenugreek and spread onto parchment in a thin layer and dehydrate at 65°C overnight. Fry at 220°C until crispy and puffed. Crush a couple to sprinkle over the salad and pop into a serving bowl to serve on the side.

Serve the salsa in a bowl accompanied by the corn and fenugreek chips.

Charlotte’s Nordic Seed Crackers

A brilliant recipe for those seedy crackers we all love.

Delicious just with butter, cheese or smoked salmon.

Makes 2 trays

200g sunflower seeds

130g pumpkin seeds

70g flax seeds

70g sesame seeds

2 tablespoons psyllium husk

2 tablespoons almond flour

1 teaspoon salt

450ml water

poppy seeds and sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 150°C fan (300°F/Gas Mark 2).

Line the two baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together (should be the consistency of watery porridge).  Allow the mixture to sit and thicken for approximately 30 minutes.

Divide in half and spread as thinly as possible on parchment paper.

Sprinkle with sea salt and poppy seeds on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 70 minutes approximately until dry.

Store in pieces in an air-tight tin.  Keep dry, pop into a hot oven for a few minutes before serving to crisp them up.

We had the best weekend a few weeks ago at the Ballymaloe Festival of Food. There was so much going on that it’s taken until now to fully process the talks, demonstrations, dinners, wine tastings, artisan producer stalls…

We were so grateful to the many sponsors including Kerrygold who proudly sponsored the event.

I’ve always been a butter fan. As you may know, I was dubbed ‘The Butter Queen of Ireland’ long before the Simply Delicious series, when the low fat mania was in full swing (hope you know you were duped!).  

I remember getting a letter from a ‘viewer’ during my Simply Delicious series accusing me of having no sense of responsibility – didn’t I know that butter and fat were detrimental to people’s health suggesting that I recommend marge and low fat instead, I don’t think so…Needless to say, I stuck to my guns, butter is a truly natural product, the fat of our land. Whereas olive oil is the fat of the Mediterranean, also a super healthy nourishing product.

But when I say butter, I mean real butter, that comes in a pound block, I don’t think much of the plethora of spreads.

If you want spreadable butter, leave it out of the fridge overnight in the time-honoured way!

One of the many fun events of the Ballymaloe Festival of Food was the Kerrygold Butter Fisco, we handed out little jars of cream to a bunch of eager butter makers. We shook the jars while we danced to the funky music played by the DJ. Within a few minutes the cream. had thickened, then a ball of butter separated from the buttermilk in the jars. Everyone was super excited and amazed – most folks know that butter comes from cream but have no idea how the transformation occurs – pure magic!

Chefs, food writers and activists came from all over these islands and from as far away as New Zealand. Many spoke on the ‘Change We Must’ stage. They came to cook and shared waxed lyrical about the lunches, dinners, chats, exchanging of ideas…

Richard Hart, legendary baker and Henrietta Lovell, the Rare Tea Lady did an afternoon tea with tea pairings in a marquee in the Walled Garden and the sun shone…

Other chefs shared their experience and recipes in the Grainstore Cookery Demonstrations.

Because of space constraints, I can only share three highlights with you but all the recipes are on www.grainstore.com

Try Jay Rayner’s Crispy Duck Salad, Romy Gill’s Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) and Amber Guinness’s Pistachio Panna Cotta – enjoy!

Jay Rayner’s Crispy Duck Salad

From Nights Out At Home, recipes and stories from 25 years as a restaurant critic by Jay Rayner, published by Penguin Fig Tree.

A while after I’d come up with my version of this joyous salad, I found Hix’s original recipe online. It is what you’d expect of a diligent restaurant chef. Fresh duck legs have to be simmered with aromatics for 45 minutes, allowed to dry, cut up into pieces then deep fried. The sauce for the duck has five ingredients. My version, which has been given Hix’s amused approval, cuts out about two hours of work, including the cleaning of a deep fat fryer, by using duck confit, now readily available from many shops and online. It also uses a jar of shop-bought hoisin sauce. What makes it work is the pepperiness of the leaves, which need a sharp dressing, and the sweetness of the duck. It’s both adult and childlike at the same time. 

Serves 4, as a starter

Ingredients

2 confit duck legs.

4 tbsp hoisin sauce

For the salad

100g watercress or rocket, stalks trimmed. (You can also add fresh coriander if you fancy).

6 large radishes, sliced

4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced into batons

1 tbsp sesame seeds

For the salad dressing

2 tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tbsp sherry vinegar. White wine vinegar is a good alternative.

1 tsp sesame oil

sea salt

Method

Gently toast the sesame seeds in a dry cast iron frying pan, over a medium heat. Keep watch.  They burn easily. When most of them are lightly golden brown, remove to a bowl, add a pinch of table salt, and set aside. Wipe down the pan to remove any stray sesame seeds that are hanging about. They don’t taste at all nice when burnt.

Separate out the duck legs and place them skin side down in the frying pan over the lowest heat. Do not add any oil. They’ll produce more than enough fat of their own. Turn every five minutes or so, as they start to colour. After about ten or 15 minutes, take the pan off the heat. Using a fork and a sharp knife you should be able to pull the meat away from the bone. Break it up into smaller pieces, with the skin down. Put back onto the heat. Use a spatula to continue breaking up the meat into smaller pieces. Attend to any pieces of skin that come away from the meat. They may look a bit fatty but gently increase the heat and it will crisp up but do keep an eye on it all, so it doesn’t burn.

Once crisped, remove the leg bones and keep them as a chef’s perk. Stand by the stove, chewing off the last bits of meat while no one else is watching. You’ve earned it. When the duck is broken up and crisped, take the pan off the heat.

Put the ingredients for the salad dressing in the bottom of a bowl, including a good pinch of sea salt. Pile the leaves and sliced radishes on the top and then toss and turn to coat in the dressing using your hands or, if you’re a little uptight, salad servers. Portion out onto four plates or flat bowls.

Put the hoisin sauce in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the duck and mix to coast every piece completely.

Top each portion of the salad with a quarter of the duck. Sprinkle on the toasted sesame seeds and decorate with the batons of spring onion. 

Romy Gill’s Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

There are so many different recipes for butter chicken. This is my take. With its silky smooth, gently spiced tomato, cashew and cream gravy, it’s a comforting, warming dish that feels decadent. Emer Fitzgerald who superbly orchestrated the Grainstore Main stage said that this was the best version of Butter Chicken she ever tasted – high praise indeed.

Serves 4-5

750g skinless, boneless chicken (thighs and breasts), cut into bite-size pieces

For the marinade

10g ginger root, peeled and grated (shredded)

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated (shredded)

2 tsp tandoori masala

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp yoghurt

juice of ½ lemon

30ml sunflower oil

For the sauce

500g tomatoes

50g butter

20g ginger root, peeled and grated (shredded)

6 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated (shredded)

1 tsp tomato purée (paste)

1 tsp tandoori masala

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

30g ground cashew nuts

30ml cream

6-8 green cardamom seeds, crushed

2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

To serve

your choice of Indian flatbreads or rice

To make the marinade, mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Prick the chicken pieces with a fork to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat. Add the chicken to the bowl and stir well to coat thoroughly. Cover the bowl and set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least a couple of hours.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Spread the marinated chicken out on a baking tray and cook in the hot oven for 15 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce. If the chicken finishes cooking before you have finished making the sauce, switch the oven off after the 15 minutes and leave the meat to rest in the oven. Blanch the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes, then remove their skins. Cut into quarters and remove the seeds, then roughly chop and place in a food processor. Blitz to a smooth purée.

Heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the puréed fresh tomatoes as well as the tomato purée and cook for 8-10 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked through, stirring regularly to avoid them sticking and burning. Add all the spices, chilli powder, salt and sugar, mix well and cook for a further 2 minutes until emulsified.

Lower the heat, then add the ground cashew nuts and cream, and stir well. Add 500-600ml water – the quantity you choose to add depends on how runny you want the sauce to be. Bring the mixture to a boil, and when it starts bubbling, add the chicken, lower the heat and cook for a further 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle over the cardamom seeds and dried fenugreek leaves. Stir and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving with rice or any Indian flatbread.

Amber Guinness’s Pistachio Panna Cotta

Pistachio cream is a staple of the Sicilian kitchen and is used in many breakfast pastries. It is similar to chocolate spread but is (unsurprisingly) green and tastes gloriously of pistachios. You can find jars of crema di pistachio in most supermarkets in Italy, or it’s widely available online. Mixing pistachio cream with panna cotta is an indulgent twist on a classic, bringing a nutty sweetness to the cream as well as acting as a second setting agent, meaning you need less gelatine. I serve these in cocktail glasses and never turn them out, mainly because they look as attractive domed on a plate as it does sitting in a glass topped with chopped pistachios or a few fresh raspberries.

Serves 4

handful of unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped

handful of raspberries (optional)

Panna Cotta

2 x 2g gelatine leaves

400ml double cream

30g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

80g pistachio cream

To make the panna cotta, using scissors, cut the gelatine sheets into a small bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 15 minutes or as instructed on the packet.

Meanwhile, pour the cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar, vanilla seeds and pod. Place over a medium heat and gently warm until it almost comes to the boil, then switch off immediately.

Squeeze any excess liquid out of the soaked gelatine and stir into the hot cream until it has completely dissolved. Remove the vanilla pod, then transfer to a large bowl and mix in the pistachio cream until smooth.

Divide the panna cotta evenly among four cocktail glasses, then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or, better still, overnight.

When you’re ready to serve, top each panna cotta with a teaspoon of roughly chopped pistachios and, if you like, a few raspberries. Serve directly from the glass.