AuthorDarina Allen

Darjeeling Express has been on my wish list for several years, but on my last trip to London, I finally managed to get a table there. Its owner, the wonderfully feisty Indian cook Asma Khan has intrigued and inspired me for several years.

Asma, has for some time now, been one of the brightest stars on the London restaurant scene. Despite being proudly Indian, she was the first British chef to be featured on Netflix Chef’s Table.

Asma was born in Calcutta, the second daughter of Royal parentage, that may not seem significant but although attitudes are changing somewhat nowadays, in India daughters are often seen as a burden for various reasons not least because families need to provide a dowry to pay for them to marry. ‘A first born girl is sad, a second daughter is a disaster’, so from the beginning, they feel of lesser value with far fewer opportunities open to them than their brothers.

It’s rare in India for people to marry outside their own region. Asma however, is descended from a warrior tribe, her father was a Muslim Rajput, her mother a Muslim Bengali, so it could be said that she inherited genes from two powerful traditions.

So, from childhood Asma made a habit of rejecting expectations of a ‘second daughter’. Most girls were in arranged marriages by the time they were eighteen. She loved cricket and played in the streets with the boys and her friend from the slums – at that time considered scandalous. Later she became the first member of her family to attend college, qualified as a lawyer and completed a doctorate in British Constitutional Law.

She left home without ever learning to cook, when she moved to Cambridge to join her graduate tutor husband in 1991, she could scarcely make toast. She was in culture shock, frozen cold, incredibly lonely and unable to recreate the food of her country that she craved so badly. She resolved to learn how to cook so she returned to India for a few months to learn from her mother, mother-in-law and the cooks in her house. When she returned to the UK, she yearned to feed others who were going through the same loneliness and yearning that she experienced. When her husband was away on his travels. She invited other immigrants, housewives and second daughters whom she met at the children’s school to dinner in her house. Eventually they became ‘supper clubs’. Her home cooked Mughlai dinners became legendary.  

Vivek Singh of the Cinnamon Club in Westminster tasted her food and invited Asma to host lunch, the beginning of a new chapter.

Asma’s rise to the top had many, many challenging twists and turns and there was much racial and gender discrimination before she eventually managed to open her first restaurant, Darjeeling Express. Her female kitchen team was and is still made up of immigrants and ‘second daughters’ who cook Asma’s dishes with love and pride.

Asma is a force of nature, a relentless campaigner for social change, unstoppable in her mission to change attitudes to women in all areas of life. If you can get to her restaurant, brilliant, but otherwise seek out her books. She has written two, ‘Asma’s Indian Kitchen’ which won a Word Gourmand Award for best Indian cookbook in 2018 or her last cookbook ‘Monsoon: Delicious Indian Recipes for Every Day and Season’ published by DK London (Penguin Random House) which these recipes come from.

Omelette Curry

In Bengal, eggs are not just a breakfast item – they are served as a main course in a family meal. In my family, we ate eggs in every season, especially in monsoon when the bazaar was closed due to floods and the eggs would be delivered to our house. We usually ate this omelette-based curry with toast or bread rolls with lavish amounts of Amul butter. (Amul butter is still my all-time favourite butter. Introduced by the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union in 1946, this iconic dairy co-operative is still a household favourite in India.) As a variation, poached or fried eggs can be added to the gravy (sauce) instead.

Serves 4

Ingredients

FOR THE GRAVY (SAUCE)

100ml vegetable oil

2.5cm cassia bark (or cinnamon stick)

2 bay leaves

150g brown onions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

250g fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp sugar (any type)

120ml water

1 tbsp lemon juice

FOR THE OMELETTE

6 medium/large eggs

2 tbsp vegetable oil

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground

black pepper

3 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves

Method

Start by preparing the gravy. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the cassia bark and bay leaves, followed by the sliced onions. Stir the onions until they start to turn dark brown, ensuring they cook evenly. Add the ginger and garlic paste and stir for a minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes and stir for a few minutes before adding the chilli powder, salt, and sugar. Add the measured water and bring to the boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer.

While the gravy is simmering, prepare the omelette. It may be easier to make two omelettes if you have a small or medium frying pan. Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the salt and pepper to the eggs and whisk again before pouring into the pan. Sprinkle over the green chillies and coriander and cook until the eggs are set. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

When cool to the touch, cut the omelette into thick strips. Ideally you want to have six thick strips. If you cut the strips too thin, they will break up and disintegrate in the gravy.

Remove the lid from the gravy and stir. If there is still a lot of liquid, increase the heat and let it evaporate. The gravy should have the consistency of thick soup. Add the omelette strips and stir to cover all the strips with the gravy. Add the lemon juice, taste for seasoning, and serve warm.

Achari Murgh (Chicken Cooked in Pickling Spices and Yogurt)

This dish is a family favourite in my home in India. The use of pickling spices has been linked to the royal family of Bhopal, where some say the dish originated. The spices in this dish are the same as the combination of five seed spices that make up panch phoran, a mix that was heavily used in eastern India. Traditionally, panch phoran featured radhuni seeds (similar to celery seed), but they are hard to source outside Bengal. If you can source radhuni, use them to replace the black mustard seeds in the recipe below. You can also swap the chicken for red meat, if you prefer. You may need to tweak the seasoning and, of course, the cooking time. I prefer to cook this dish with chicken thighs on the bone as the bone adds flavour. If you want to make this dish with boneless chicken, please do not use chicken breast! Boneless chicken thighs will absorb the spices better and will not dry out.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, halved and sliced into thin half-moons

¼ tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp black mustard seeds

¼ tsp nigella seeds

⅛ tsp fenugreek seeds

¼ tsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1kg skinless chicken thighs on the bone

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

1kg plain yogurt

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1 fresh green chilli, slit open lengthways; plus extra, chopped, to garnish

handful of coriander leaves, chopped, to garnish

Method

Heat the oil in a deep, heavy-based saucepan that has a lid over a high heat. Take one tip of sliced onion and dip it into the edge of the oil. The oil is hot enough when the onion starts to sizzle immediately. If the onion does not sizzle immediately, wait for a minute and try with another slice

of onion. Do not use the previous onion slice for the test, add that slice to the pan with the rest of the sliced onions when the oil is at temperature. Fry the onions until golden brown and caramelized, then remove with a slotted spoon and spread over a plate so they don’t become soggy.

To the same oil, add all the seed spices at the same time. Wait until you hear the mustard seeds pop, then add the garlic and ginger pastes and stir until fragrant. If the paste is sticking to the pan, add a splash of water to deglaze the pan. Add the chicken thighs and seal the meat all over, then add the ground turmeric, coriander, and chilli powder.

Crush the caramelized onions in a pestle and mortar (or in a bowl with the end of a rolling pin) and mix them with the yogurt, then add the mixture to the pan along with the salt and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid, add the slit chilli and continue to cook uncovered for a further 30 minutes, stirring the chicken until the sauce clings to the meat. Taste for seasoning and adjust if required. Garnish with chopped green chillies and coriander and serve with rice and salad.

Shadha Bamdhakopi (White Cabbage with Tomatoes and Cashew Nuts)

My first encounter with white cabbage in England was at a college meal in Cambridge University – it was a shock! I was trying to make sense of the overcooked sloppy vegetable in front of me. I just presumed cabbages in England were super soggy as it rained so much. I later learned it was just overenthusiastic boiling of the cabbage by the chef! The cabbage in this recipe should still have a bit of a crunch in it and the addition of cashew nuts gives the dish a lovely texture.

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 tbsp vegetable oil

150g raw cashew nuts

2 dried red chillies

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground turmeric

400g canned chopped tomatoes (or 3-4 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped)

½ tsp chilli powder

1 ½ tsp salt

750g white cabbage, shredded

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or any fresh herbs you have available), to garnish

Method

Heat the oil in a karai, wok, or deep saucepan over a medium heat until shimmering. Add the cashew nuts and stir to ensure all sides are cooked. As they will continue to cook in the residual heat, do not wait until the nuts turn dark brown – turn the heat off and use a slotted spoon to remove

them to a plate. Remove and discard any burnt cashews as they will make your dish bitter. Try to leave as much of the oil behind in the pan.

Check there are no cashew pieces left in the oil and set the pan back over a medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the whole dried chillies and cumin seeds, and stir until the chillies darken. Add the turmeric, then immediately add the chopped tomatoes followed by the chilli powder and salt. Reduce the heat and keep stirring at regular intervals until the oil comes to the edges of the spiced tomato mix. With

the heat on low, add the shredded cabbage and coat with the tomato mix. Increase the heat to medium-high. If the slices of cabbage are thin, stir-fry for 4-5 minutes. Thicker slices will need 6-8 minutes, covered, and a further 2 minutes of stir-frying uncovered.

Taste for seasoning, then return the cashew nuts to the pan and mix through. Garnish with the chopped herbs before serving.

This goes with any rice dish or bread. It is also the perfect texture to wrap in a chapati or tortilla accompanied with a raita.

This week an update from the London food scene.

I was over for a wedding lunch at Corrigan’s in Grosvenor Street, and chic, delicious and wonderfully convivial it was too. I particularly loved the new seasons’ English asparagus swimming in Nori seaweed butter. They used Yakisushinori roasted Nori seaweed and added a bunch of watercress as a garnish – delicious!

And guess what, I managed to get a table at the Yellow Bittern in Caledonian Road. Felt like winning the Lotto, it’s owned and run by Hugh Corcoran from Belfast and his lovely daughter Frances. Open just for lunch Monday – Friday and closed at the weekend. Two sittings, one at 12pm and the other at 2pm – just twenty people. The food is simple, comforting and delicious. The super fresh ingredients are laid out on the worktop in the tiny kitchen at the end of the restaurant. Hugh and his assistant do their magic on two stove tops and a tiny oven. We ordered radishes with butter and flaky sea salt, brown crab with mayonnaise and freshly baked soda bread. The flavour of the mixed brown and white crab meat reminded me of the flavours of early Ballymaloe. Myrtle always served both brown and white crab meat to encourage the fishermen to catch and sell whole crabs rather than just claws. Many other good things including a succulent beef pie and one of the best crème brûlée I’ve ever tasted. I was so delighted when he showed me his copy of his favourite cookbook Forgotten Skills, held together with Sellotape!

Always fun to catch up with Ballymaloe Cookery School alumni when I’m travelling. George Williams and Beth O’Brien have recently opened the Fat Badger over Canteen on Portobello Road, a super cool bar with live music and a restaurant with an open kitchen on top. It was really rocking, once again a delicious dinner. I particularly loved the intense nettle soup and a dotey little individual soda bread with good butter and a custard tart extraordinaire – Bravo to all again. A tough place to bag a table but definitely worth a try (tell them you read about it in The Examiner!)

So proud of ‘our babies’, next stop Stevie Parle’s Town on Drury Lane. This is a much larger space designed by North End Design. It was absolutely throbbing with enthusiastic diners on its second night. Stevie offered me many tastes from his super creative menu, I particularly loved the deliciously fresh winter tomatoes with cod crudo and tomato water. He’s been experimenting with lots of heritage citrus from Todolli Farm in Spain’s Valencia which provided little bursts of tart flavour.

The Wine-Cured wildfarmed beef with candied walnuts and cheese whizz was another intriguing combination, all the more interesting because the cheese came from his brother, Mike Parle who hand makes several artisan cheeses in The Lost Valley Dairy and Creamery in Inchigeelagh in Co. Cork. He and his partner sell from his stall at the Skibbereen Farmers’ Market every Saturday.

Add these to your London list plus a sweet little place in Hampstead called La Cage Imaginaire, where I had a lovely leisurely lunch with my dear friend of many years Claudia Roden, author of the Middle Eastern cookbook and many others and who introduced us all to hummus et al in the 1990’s.

Devotees will be so happy to hear that Claudia’s now in her late eighties is working on yet another book – her twenty-second…what an icon!

The Cage Imaginaire is the perfect place for a catch up. Cooking is done from scratch and no throbbing music so we could hear each other rather than having to lip read.

Claudia Roden’s Hummus Bi Tahina

Hummus bi Tahina with its rich earthy taste has got quite a cult following originally. Strange to the palate on first encounter it soon becomes addictive. Brilliant as a starter served as a dip with pitta bread. It is also delicious as part of a mezze, with kebabs or as a salad with a main dish. Terrific for school lunches and so easy to make. This recipe is from Claudia’s Middle Eastern Food first published in 1968 by Thomas Nelson.

Serves 4-8 (depending on how it is served)

Ingredients

110-175g cooked chickpeas (see below) or use tinned for meals in minutes

freshly squeezed juice of 2-3 lemons, or to taste

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

salt

150ml tahini paste (available from health food shops)

½ – 1 tsp ground cumin seed

Garnish

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

a few cooked chickpeas

Accompaniment

pitta bread or any crusty white bread

Method

Cover and soak the dried chickpeas overnight in lots of cold water.

Drain the chickpeas, cover with fresh water. Add a good pinch of bicarbonate of soda, bring to the boil and cook until tender, this can take anything from 30-60 minutes. Drain and reserve the cooking liquid. Remove any loose skins and keep a few whole ones aside for garnish.

Whizz up the remainder in an electric mixer or blender or food processor with the lemon juice and a little cooking water, if necessary, add the crushed garlic, tahini paste, cumin and salt to taste. Blend to a soft creamy paste, add more cooking water if necessary. Taste and continue to add lemon juice and salt until you are happy with the flavour – the texture should be soft and silky. Pour the creamy mixture into a serving dish, mix the paprika with a little extra virgin olive oil, dribble over the surface, do the same with the chopped parsley. Sprinkle with a few cooked chickpeas. Serve as a

dip with pitta bread or as an accompaniment to kebabs.

Pitta Crisps

Ingredients

3 mini pita breads (about 9cm in diameter), halved crosswise

4 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp freshly ground cumin

½ tsp salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6. 

Cut pita into triangles.  Brush evenly with olive oil, sprinkle with cumin and salt.  Spread pita strips in a single layer on a baking tray and bake in the middle of the oven for 3 minutes or until crisp and golden.  Serve immediately to scoop up the hummus.

Stevie Parle’s Cod Crudo with Tomato Water and Basil Oil

Clean, vivid and elegant – this crudo balances the sweetness of tomato, fragrant basil oil, and bright citrus over delicate slices of cured cod. You need to make this with whatever are the best tomatoes you can find — at the moment we’re using a winter variety from Sardinia called Marinda, though we’ve planted a whole tunnel of different tomatoes for the summer. We weigh liquids on a normal digital scale – it’s much easier and more consistent than using spoons or jugs. If you’re eating wild fish raw, it’s advisable to freeze it first to kill any potential parasites.

Serves 4

Method

For the cod cure:

300g caster sugar

600g coarse sea salt

zest of 1 lemon

zest of 1 orange

For the tomato water (yields 400g):

400g Marinda tomatoes

400g vine tomatoes

20g fresh basil

4g fish sauce (we use colatura di alici)

16g sea salt flakes

16g sherry vinegar

16g white wine vinegar

10g caster sugar

4g black peppercorns

For the basil oil (yields more than needed):

228g fresh basil leaves

900g sunflower oil

To serve

1-2 Marinda tomatoes, sliced as thinly as possible with a

sharp knife

180g cured cod (sliced)

100g tomato water

basil oil, to drizzle

a few segments of pomelo or grapefruit (optional)

Method

Cure the cod.

Blitz the sugar, salt, and citrus zests in a food processor. Coat a cod loin evenly in the cure and refrigerate for 4 hours. Rinse well, pat dry, and chill. Slice thinly just before serving.

Make the tomato water.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and combine with the remaining ingredients. Marinate for 20 minutes. Blend everything, then strain through muslin cloth overnight without pressing.

Make the basil oil.

Blend the basil and sunflower oil in a Thermomix at 90°C for 9 minutes (alternatively, heat in a saucepan for a couple of minutes and use a blender to emulsify). Strain through muslin cloth and chill.

To plate

Lay a few very thin slices of Marinda tomato on the base of each chilled plate. Arrange slices of cured cod on top. Spoon over around 25g of tomato water per portion. Finish with basil oil and citrus segments if using.

Fat Badger’s Brown Sugar Custard Tart

Thank you to Beth O’Brien, pastry chef extraordinaire for sharing this delicious recipe, best custard tart I’ve ever tasted…

Ingredients

Pastry
80g butter
80g icing sugar
1 egg
240g plain flour
35g ground almonds
pinch of salt 

1 egg, to egg wash 

Custard 
240g milk
900g cream
200g dark brown sugar 
pinch of salt  
12 egg yolks

caster sugar, Maldon sea salt and crème fraîche, to finish 

Method

For the pastry, cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes until combined but not aerated. Add the egg and mix well, then add the flour, almonds and salt and mix to combine. Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator. Roll out to an even disc around 3mm thick. Line a deep tart tin (25cm in size), pushing the pastry into the corners and pushing against the edges of the tin. Chill for at least 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Trim the edges and line the tart with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans, brush generously with egg wash and bake for a further 7 minutes.

For the custard, heat the milk and cream to just about a simmer while you combine the sugar, salt and egg yolks in a bowl. Pour half the hot milk and cream over the yolks, whisk to combine, then pour this mixture back into the pot and whisk thoroughly. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 155°C/Gas Mark 3. 

Pour the custard into the blind baked tin and return to the oven. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until there is only a very slight wobble in the centre when baked. Chill fully before slicing.

To serve, sprinkle a generous amount of caster sugar on top of each slice and use a blowtorch to brûlée. Put a pinch of flaky salt on top and serve with crème fraîche. 

It’s definitely time for a column on baking…it’s been far too long but I’ve been prompted by World Baking Day on May 18^th to share a few of my favourite confections.
For some, baking isn’t just a culinary activity, it’s an art form and a perfect way to show off your artistic talent.
There are countless Instagram and podcasts celebrating bakers creativity. Seems to be  no end to the possibilities, from riffs on brownies and cookies, pies, buns and scones and cakes, roulades.…
Can you think of a more fun way to unwind, polish up your skills and spread joy.
Oh well, Okay, perhaps you’d prefer to play a game of golf or tennis, but I certainly don’t know a better way to bring a smile to someone’s face than to present them with one of your homemade cakes or a little packet of crunchy cookies – much better pressie than a dodgy bottle of wine if you’re going to a supper party.
Last week when I invited some friends to supper, I was presented with some still warm, sweet and nutty white chocolate and tahini cookies. Such a delicious recipe, a new flavour for me.
This is the brilliant thing about baking, there’s always room for a new confection or a riff on a traditional favourite.
Talk about favourites do you know about the Cherry Bombe podcast,  it’s out of the Rockefeller Centre in New York, Kerry Diamond interviews amazing women chefs from all over the world but mostly the North American continent – you might also want to know about the sister podcast, Jesse Sheehan’s ‘She’s my Cherry Pie’, dedicated to bakers.
Recently, she hosted Ballymaloe pastry chef, JR Ryall to talk about the hotels ‘legendary dessert trolley’, her words not mine. They had an in-depth chat about how to make the perfect chocolate éclairs with hot tips on how to achieve crisp choux pastry and the perfect glaze. If you follow this recipe, you’ll definitely have the perfect éclair. Seek out JR’s ‘Ballymaloe Desserts’ for the recipe.
Just one of the many fascinating baking podcasts, check them out.
So, back to basics, baking is an exact science so to get consistently delicious results it’s vital to measure accurately. Invest in a really good scales, perhaps one that can weigh down to a couple of grams.
Buy the finest ingredients and where appropriate use good Irish butter not margarine or any of those other spreads.
If you’re going to invest your precious time and energy baking, it might as well be delicious.
You’ll also need an accurate oven, I find that I get best results in a conventional oven with elements on top as well as underneath. A fan oven is OK (brilliant for meringues and crispbreads) but it’s a more drying heat so I find my cakes tend to stale faster and are often paler in colour.
If you’re not sure about your oven, for the sake of a few euros, it could be worth investing in an oven thermometer for greater accuracy.
So this week, I’ve included a recipe for Choux au Craquelin, Didi’s Tahini and White Chocolate Cookies and a super impressive Chocolate Bubble Cake from my friend Claire Ptak of Violet cakes in London. Have fun and share the joy.

Choux au Craquelin

These delicious choux buns have an irresistible crunchy craquelin top.

Makes 30 small (2.5cm) or 15 large (5cm)

Ingredients

Choux Pastry

75g strong flour (Baker’s)

small pinch of salt

110ml water

50g butter, cut into 1cm cubes

2-3 eggs depending on size (free range if possible)

Craquelin

85g plain flour

65g butter (room temperature)

80g caster or granulated sugar

Chantilly Cream

300ml whipped cream

½ – 1 tbsp icing sugar

2-3 drops pure vanilla extract

Method

First make the choux pastry.

Sieve the flour with the salt onto a piece of silicone paper.  Heat the water and butter in a high-sided saucepan until the butter is melted. Bring to a fast-rolling boil, take from the heat.  (Note: Prolonged boiling evaporates the water and changes the proportions of the dough).  Immediately the pan is taken from the heat, add all the flour at once and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for a few seconds until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan to form a ball. Put the saucepan back on a low heat and stir for 30 seconds – 1 minute or until the mixture starts to furr the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and cool for a few seconds.

Meanwhile set aside one egg, break it and whisk in a bowl.  Add the remaining eggs into the dough, one by one with a wooden spoon, beating thoroughly after each addition.  Make sure the dough comes back to the same texture each time before you add another egg. When it will no longer form a ball in the centre of the saucepan, add the beaten egg little by little. Use just enough to make a mixture that is very shiny and just drops reluctantly from the spoon in a sheet. 

Next make the craquelin.

Combine the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl.  Mix with your fingers to form a dough then knead to a smooth consistency.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Transfer the craquelin dough to a floured sheet of parchment paper and roll out very thin – approx. 2mm.

Pipe the choux and place the discs on top of the craquelin.

Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 35 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Sweeten the whipped cream to taste with icing sugar and a dash of vanilla extract, put into a piping bag with a rose nozzle and pipe into the buns.  Alternatively, split in half across and fill with the sweetened cream or filling of your choice.

Dust with icing sugar.

Serve with hot chocolate sauce or glaze.

Chocolate Sauce

50g plain chocolate

25g unsweetened chocolate

175ml stock syrup, approx. (see below)

rum or pure vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water or in a low heat oven. Gradually stir in the syrup. Flavour with rum or pure vanilla extract.

Stock Syrup

Makes 200ml approx.

110g sugar

150ml 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.

JR Ryall’s Chocolate Glaze

175g dark chocolate (62% cocoa solids)

50g salted butter

2 large eggs

Place the chocolate, 2 tablespoons of water and the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of hot water. Stir as the ingredients melt until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs. The glaze should be smooth and glossy. 

Didi’s Tahini and White Chocolate Cookies

Thank you Didi for sharing the recipe, my new favourite.

Makes 30-36 approx.

Ingredients

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

100g of caster sugar

90g of light brown sugar

120g butter

6 tbsp of good quality tahini (I like the Greek Haitoglou tahini)

150g of flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of Fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt

200g white chocolate chips, Valrhona white chocolate drops if you can get them, coarsely chopped

Method

Combine the eggs and both types of sugar in a bowl and whisk until combined.

Melt the butter. Add to the tahini and eggs, gently whisk to combine. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, mix with a fork till all ingredients are incorporated and the dough is soft yet firm. Add the coarsely chopped white chocolate and incorporate into the dough mix.

Scoop the dough with a generous teaspoonful onto a parchment-covered baking tray.

Alternatively, shape your dough into a roll of 4cm diameter, wrap in parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator or freezer. Cut into approx. 3cm slices.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3.

Just before baking, sprinkle the cookies with sea salt and bake for 10-13 minutes until the centre of the cookie loses its glistening buttery shine. It’s worth rotating the baking tray halfway through.

Cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Bubble Cake

This impressive looking cake is a speciality of Claire Ptak’s of Violet Cakes located at 47 Wilton Way in London.

Makes one layer 20 x 30cm deep rectangular cake tin

Serves 20-24

For the cake

330g plain flour

150g cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp fine sea salt

2 ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

520g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

300g plain yoghurt

150g vegetable oil

340g hot water

For the marshmallow icing

5 egg whites (200g)

340g caster sugar

50g golden syrup

a pinch of fine sea salt

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Decoration

gold leaf (optional)

fresh flower petals for example Marigolds and/or Johnny Jump Ups (little Pansies)

Preheat the oven to 160˚C/Gas Mark 3/ (Fan – 140˚C/Gas Mark 1). Butter and line your cake tin with enough greaseproof paper to come up the sides of the tin, this will help to remove the cake later.

Measure the dry ingredients, including the sugar, into a large mixing bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk to distribute the salt, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder evenly throughout the other the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (except for the hot water).

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Starting in the middle of the bowl, whisk in a clockwise, circular motion. Don’t switch direction or you’ll end up with lumps. Gradually whisk together until you have a smooth but thick batter.

Whisk in the hot water until smooth.

Pour the batter into your pan right away and bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is springy to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin.

Once the cake has cooled, prepare the marshmallow. Have ready your mixer with a whisk attachment.

Measure all of the ingredients into a metal bowl and place over a saucepan of boiling water (do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl or it will cook the egg whites). Whisk continuously until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is very warm to the touch. Use a thermometer and whisk continuously until it reads 72°C or 70°C (162˚F or 158˚F) for two minutes, whichever comes first. Transfer the mix into the bowl of your electric mixer and whisk on high speed until nearly stiff peaks form.

Put the icing into a piping bag with a large round nozzle and pipe 20-24 big bubbles in rows over the top of the cooled cake. Use a tiny sieve to dust a strip of cocoa powder lengthwise across the cake.  Decorate with flakes of gold leaf and a scattering of fresh flower petals.

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.