CategorySaturday Letter

I’ve only just discovered how Mother’s Day came about.  I’d often wondered but just recently came across a piece about an American lady called Anne Jarvis who conceived the idea of Mother’s Day in the early 1990’s after the death of her own mother. She imagined it as a way of honouring the sacrifices mothers make for their children and how it’s not until we have our own children that we truly begin to appreciate the heroism of our own mothers. We may whinge and argue and at times be totally unaware of how unreasonable and obnoxious we are particularly during those tumultuous teenage years but the penny drops pretty quickly during those first days when you bring home a new born babe and struggle to snatch a few hours sleep not to speak of keeping all the balls in the air.

I can’t imagine how young mothers (and fathers) manage to juggle as the responsibilities of motherhood and a job nowadays – heroic ‘is truly’ an understatement and if ever a celebration was justified its Mother’s Day.

Anna battled for a number of years to get Mother’s Day officially recognised and in 1914 her persistence paid off when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the 2^nd Sunday in May as Mother’s Day in the US.

What originally started as a personal celebration quickly became highly commercialised much to the disappointment and disgust of its originator who disowned the festival altogether and actually lobbied the US government to remove the holiday from the American calendar without success.

Of course a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates or some perfume and a hand-made card are always greeted with delight but how about the gift of a few hours off. Maybe a couple of gift tokens to do the ironing, wash the dishes or cook the supper even  breakfast in bed with a little posy of flowers on the tray.

Here are a couple of delicious one pot dishes that would make an easy family supper or Sunday lunch and our absolute favourite chocolate cake from 30 years at Ballymaloe.

Shermin’s Thai Chicken Curry

 

Arjard would be a nice accompaniment.

 

Your Mum and all the family will love this recipe which Shermin Mustafa Thompson shared with us.

 

 

Serves 4-6

 

350g (12oz) chicken thighs free range and organic

400ml (14fl oz/1 3/4 cups) coconut milk

1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) green curry paste

1 Thai green chilli, pounded (optional – if you like a hotter curry)

175ml (6fl oz/3/4 cup) chicken stock

1/2 aubergine, cut into 1cm (1/2inch) cubes or 20-24 pea aubergines

2 kaffir lime leaves

1/2 tablespoon (1/2 American tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon) palm sugar or a little less of soft brown sugar

2 tablespoons (2 American tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) fish sauce (Nam Pla)

20 basil leaves

1 large red chilli, pounded

1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) soya sauce (optional)

 

Remove the skin and bone from the chicken thighs, cut into very thin strips.

 

Heat the wok on a low heat. Pour 110ml (4fl oz/1/2 cup) coconut milk into the wok. Add the green curry paste and a pounded green chilli, and mix well. Add the chicken strips, increase the heat to medium. Cook until the chicken changes colour, then add the stock, remainder of the coconut milk, aubergine dice, kaffir lime leaves, palm sugar and fish sauce, half the basil leaves and pounded red chilli.

 

Stir constantly on a medium heat until the curry boils and foams up.  Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly, otherwise the sauce may separate – it should be cooked in about 10 minutes. Add the remainder of the basil leaves.  Taste for seasoning, add a dash of soya sauce if necessary.  There should be lots of sauce in proportion to the meat.  Serve hot with steamed rice.

 

Note: If using pea aubergines, add 1-2 minutes before end of cooking.

 

Arjard (Cucumber salad)

 

Serves 4-6

 

1 cucumber, quartered and sliced thinly

2 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly, lengthwise

1 red chilli, seeded and sliced in rings

1 green chilli, seeded and sliced in rings

 

Marinade

4 tablespoons (4 American tablespoons + 4 teaspoons) sugar

6 tablespoons (6 American tablespoons + 6 teaspoons) water

6 tablespoons (6 American tablespoons + 6 teaspoons) white malt vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Mix the ingredients for the marinade together in a saucepan.  Bring to the boil. Simmer for 3-5 minutes. When cool, pour the marinade over the cucumber.

 

Baked Hake with Smokey Maple Baked Beans and Aioli – Paul Flynn

Everyone loved this dish which Paul cooked at a recent class at the Ballymaloe Cookery School.

 

Serves 4

 

4 fillets of hake (1 per person)

1 glug of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic sliced

1 knob of butter

4 thick slices of smoked bacon diced

1 large onion diced

1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) tomato purée

1 teaspoons of smoked paprika

300ml (10fl oz/1 1/4 cups) of chicken stock

1 tin (400g/14oz) butterbeans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) of maple syrup

salt and pepper

 

Heat the oil over a gentle heat and add the garlic.  Carefully cook until golden, but no more, this will give you a roasted garlic oil, if you take it too far the garlic will burn.

 

Add the butter, bacon, and onions.  Cook slowly for 15 minutes and add the tomato purée, smoked paprika and the chicken stock.  Finally add the beans and cook for 5 more minutes, stir in the maple syrup, salt and pepper and serve.

 

Pan-fry the hake for 5-7 minutes, it may need more time depending on thickness.

 

Aioli

 

Aioli is essentially a posh garlic mayonnaise.  The flavours are made more subtle and rounded by the blanching of the garlic.  The addition of olive oil gives it authenticity and an extra dimension.  We use this with any Mediterranean style dishes i.e. anything with olives, red peppers or basil.

 

This will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.

 

8 garlic cloves, blanched (cooked vigorously for three to four minutes in boiling water, then cooked for another three to four minutes in fresh water)

1 teaspoon English mustard

2 egg yolks plus one whole egg

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

juice half a lemon

275ml (9 1/2fl oz/generous 1 cup) groundnut oil

50ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) crème fraiche

salt and pepper

 

To make the aioli, whizz the garlic cloves, mustard and egg yolks and whole egg in a food processor until smooth. Add the vinegar and lemon juice and whizz briefly to combine. With the machine running, gradually trickle in the groundnut oil and then the olive oil to form a smooth rich mayonnaise. Fold in the crème fraiche, season and set aside.

 

Blathnaid’s Chocolate Cake

 

We have numerous chocolate cake recipes but this one given to me by my sister Blathnaid Bergin after much persuasion is our absolute favourite – it’s quite a mission to make but well worth the effort.

 

 

Serves 10 – 12

 

225g (8ozs) plain white flour

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon bread soda

2 level teaspoons baking power

225ml (8fl ozs/1 cup) milk

75g (3ozs) chocolate – we use 52%

150g (5ozs/1 1/4 sticks) butter

275g (10ozs/1 1/4 cups) soft light brown sugar

3 eggs, organic and free-range

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Filling

200g (7ozs) plain chocolate – we use 52%

250g (9ozs/2 1/4 sticks) butter

4 egg yolks

150g (5ozs/generous 1 cup) icing sugar, sifted

 

Chocolate Ganache

150g (5ozs) plain chocolate, chopped – we use 52%

300ml (10fl ozs/1 1/4 cups) cream

 

2 x 9 inch (23cm) tins

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

 

Grease the tine with melted butter, dust with flour and line the base of each with a round of greaseproof paper.

 

Put the milk and chopped chocolate into a saucepan, warm gently until the chocolate melts, allow to cool. Sieve the flour, salt, bread soda and baking power into a bowl.    Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, whisk the eggs with the vanilla extract, add to the creamed mixture bit by bit alternating with flour.  Add the cool milk and chocolate and fold in the remaining flour.  Divide between the two prepared tins.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes approximately.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, turn out carefully and cool on a wire rack.

 

Meanwhile make the filling.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a Pyrex bowl over a saucepan of hot water.  Allow to cool slightly

 

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter in a bowl for at least ten minutes at the highest setting until it is white and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks and icing sugar. Beat vigorously for a further five minutes.

 

When the butter mixture is thoroughly mixed, take 2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) of it and add slowly to the melted chocolate. Then slowly pour the melted chocolate down the side of the mixing bowl and fold in quickly and gently until fully combined and smooth.

 

To make the chocolate ganache

Put the chocolate in a large bowl. Bring the cream to the boil, pour over the chocolate and leave for 8-10 minutes or until cool. Then whisk the chocolate and cream gently until it reaches soft peaks – careful not to overwhisk or it will be too stiff to spread and may turn into chocolate butter. (Use as soon as possible otherwise it will become too stiff to spread).

 

To Assemble the Cake

Split the cakes in half with a sharp serrated knife. Spread a little of the chocolate filling onto each cake and sandwich the base of the cakes together. Ice the cake with the soft chocolate ganache and decorate as desired.  We use chocolate curls and dredge them with unsweetened cocoa and icing sugar.

 

Hot Tips

Seaweed Sprinkles – If you can’t make it down to the beach anytime soon then Seaweed sprinkles from Wild Irish Sea Veg are a brilliant condiment to use – you can sprinkle them over salads, or stir into soup, sauces …..

For more information: www.wildirishseaveg.com

 

Cookery Demonstration – Darina and Rachel Allen will do a fundraising demonstration in aid of East Cork Rapid Response at Garryvoe Hotel on Thursday, 10th April 2014 at 8.00pm.

Tickets €25 per person are available from the following:

John: (083) 179 5945 or Eoghan: (087) 706 1727

 

Date for your Diary

West Waterford Festival of Food, 10^th – 13^th April 2014 – a Celebration of Local Produce and Culinary Excellence!

www.westwaterfordfestivaloffood.com

 

 

What a surprise Lucknow was, even though it is famous for its Awadhi food, sophisticated culture, gastronomic etiquette  and  Chickan embroidery,  it’s not really on the main tourist trail despite its fascinating history and memorable monuments.  We spent three days there and loved it. The city was founded by the Nawads who came from Persia at the invitation of the Mogul king Mohammed Shah in 1725.

I only knew one person in Lucknow, a lady called Vijay Khan whom I’d met briefly in Udaipur a couple of years ago and had promised to visit if I ever came to that city. She’d invited us to dinner at her home and a trip to their house in the country the following day. Well, it turns out that she is the wife of the Raja of Mahmudabad no less.

What a lovely surprise, we were collected from our hotel and brought to their residence in Lucknow. After lots of riveting conversation, we went down stairs to what appeared to be a family dining room with book lined walls, simple furniture, fascinating black and white photos on the wall and intriguing memorabilia.  The round table was groaning with some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten anywhere, several mutton (goat) dishes including Raan and Biryani, an aubergine raita, an intriguing sweet dish called Mutanjan with rice, mutton, yoghurt and spices apparently this was a favourite of the old Nawads, but few cooks know how to prepare it nowadays.  For dessert there was Royal toast, light fluffy balai ke tukre topped with silver leaf – all totally memorable.

Our gracious host Sulaiman Khan, is a great scholar and a graduate of Imperial College Cambridge with degrees in astro physics and theology. A native Urdu speaker who bursts into poetry every now and then to illustrate a point. It was a memorable evening in so many ways – The servants and cooks, Bawarchis (cooks), Rakabdars (mastercooks), stood around in a semi circle silently watching while we enjoyed the delicious food they had cooked for us.

Lucknow has many spectacular buildings and historical monuments but as ever food was my focus so I arranged to have a cookery class. My teacher Cyrus turned out to be a great fan of Rachel’s so I promised to send a signed copy of her latest book. He taught me how to make a Lucknow chicken korma and the mutton kebabs that Lucknow is so famous for.

The famous Awadi food of Lucknow evolved under the patronage of the Nawads and aristocrats who treated it almost like an art form but when time and history wrought havoc on the fortunes of the noble families, their ‘out of work’ cooks and chefs continued the gastronomic tradition on the streets and the secret recipes were passed down in families from generation to generation.

Cyrus also took us on a ‘culinary tour’ of the Chowk Bazzar in the heart of the old city. The frenzied atmosphere was similar to Old Delhi.

We ate some amazing street food in surroundings that were challenging even for me!

We started with Kebabs at Tundys, a 108 year old kebab house in the Chowk which originally made its name catering for the Nawabs of Awadh. Kebabs in Lucknow aren’t remotely like kebabs as we know them, Tunday is famous for little tender spicy mutton patties cooked on an enormous pan to a secret recipe. They are now cooked by the great grandson of the original owner sitting there with a little white crochet cap.

We tasted another Lucknow delicacy at Museem’s, another ‘hole in the wall’ place famous for pasanda, a spicy barbecued meat dish marinated in yoghurt and spices and cooked over a charcoal grill.

Locals also queue up at Raheem’s for a spicy, oily dish called nigiri. The sealed pot of mutton is cooked  slowly overnight with lots of spices. In the morning, it’s opened and each diner gets just one piece of mutton with lots of really flavoursome gravy which is eaten with a stack of fluffy flat breads called Kulchas, heart stopping but delicious…

Lucknow is also famous for its sweets, Rehmat sweets have some of the very best Jauzi Habshi and Halwa, all tooth achingly sweet but very typical.

As we wound your way along the lanes, we came to the Parathi wali gali where one shop and stall after the other turned out to be serving a  mesmerising selection of freshly cooked breads from fluffy Rulchas and bakarkhani to paper thin romali roti and spongy sheruals  kneaded in milk – the skills are simply mind boggling.

Shammi Kebab

Mutton Kebabs from Lucknow

These mutton kebabs for which Lucknow is famous are like no kebabs you’ve encountered before in fact they are much more like little spiced meat patties – delicious. In India the word mutton often means goat and very delicious it is too but of course we can use lamb over here if goat is unavailable.

 

Serves 4

 

1 kg (2¼ lbs) mutton, boneless

150 g (5 ozs) split bengal (channa dal), lentils

50 g (2 ozs) onions

Salt, to taste

1 teaspoon cumin seed

3 whole red chillies

seeds from 5 small green cardamom

seeds from 3 big black cardamom

2 inch (5 cm) piece cinnamon

6-8 black peppercorns

2 inch (5 cm) piece fresh ginger

5 allspice berries

20 g (¾ oz) garlic

3 bay leaves

 

1 green chilli

2-3 tablespoons onion

2-3 tablespoons green coriander

 

Pass the boneless mutton through a mincer and make a fine paste.

Soak the channa dal (split lentils) in water and keep aside for 1 hour.

Chop the green chillies, green coriander and onion. Keep aside to be added later.

 

Take a deep saucepan; put the mutton mince and all the ingredients into it. Add a little water  (approx. 5 fl ozs) enough to almost cover the ingredients.

Put on a medium heat and cook until all the water has evaporated and meat is cooked through. Cyrus cooked this in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes.

Add a little fat to the mixture and stir so that the moisture evaporates and the mixture firms up. Remove from the saucepan and allow to cool and make a fine puree in a food processor.

Add the chopped chillies, coriander and onions to the meat and mix in well.

Divide the mixture into equal portions.

Make round patties of 2.5 inches (6 cm) diameter and shallow fry on heated  tawa, griddle or frying pan on both sides till golden brown and serve hot.

We ate these delicious kebabs with sheermal an Indian flatbread with freshly chopped coriander and mint or naan would be good too.

Note: If the mixture is not firm enough to shape into balls or cracks on the outer side when rounded add 1 beaten egg to bind.

 

Lucknow Chicken Korma

Cyrus introduced me to Screw Pine Essence of course  it’s not essential but it really enhanced the flavour of this korma which was delicious anyway.

 

Serves 6

 

1 kg (2¼ lbs) chicken breast

3 onions, peeled and finely crushed

6 garlic cloves, crushed

¼ teaspoon white peppercorns

½ teaspoon black cumin

2 inch (5cm) piece cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

6 green cardamom, seeded

1 blade mace

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 black cardamom

2-3 dried chillies or ¼ teaspoon dry chilli powder

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

50 g (2 ozs) cashew nuts, coarsely ground

200 g (7 ozs) natural yoghurt

Salt

Few drops of screw pine essence (Kewra) optional

 

Cut the chicken breast into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes, approximately.

Whizz the onions and garlic with all the spices. Cook in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes to dry stirring to prevent sticking. Add about 3-4 tablespoons of oil or ghee.

Add the ground cashew nuts and allow to cook until pink in colour, 5-6 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces and sauté. When all the liquid has evaporated, add the yoghurt stirring in a little at a time. Add salt to taste.

Cover and cook on a gentle heat until the chicken is tender – about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and add a few drops of Screw Pine Essence if available. Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary.

Serve hot with rotis, (Indian flat breads) or basmati rice.

 

Mangoes and Bananas in Lime Syrup

 

Serves 4

 

1 ripe mango

1-2 bananas

2 ozs (50g/1/4 cup) sugar

4 fl ozs (110ml/1/2 cup) water

1 lime

 

Put the sugar and water into a saucepan, stir over a gentle heat until the sugar dissolves, bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, allow to cool.

 

Peel the mango and slice quite thinly down to the stone. Peel the banana into cut rounds.  Put the slices into a bowl and cover with cold syrup.

 

Meanwhile remove the zest from the lime either with a zester or a fine stainless steel grater and add to the syrup with the juice of the lime.  Leave to macerate for at least an hour. Serve chilled.

Hot Tips

Let’s get Kids into the Kitchen, there’s a  half day cookery course coming up at the Ballymaloe Cookery School on Monday April 14^th from 9.30am-2.00pm. We’ll teach your children  how  to proudly cook a range of simply delicious food for friends and family. They will learn how to cook some of their favourite dishes from scratch – juicy home-made beef burgers in home-made buns, a seasonal salad, oriental chicken stir fry and rice and a whole host of sweet treats including a Swiss roll from scratch – even the raspberry jam, cupcakes and lovely ways to decorate them and home-made strawberry popsicles – www.cookingisfun.ie

The Irish Seed Savers need your help!

They have been saving rare and heritage seeds and preserving our precious biodiversity since 1991. Like so many other organisations there funding has been severely reduced – send what you can even a letter of support to Lisa Duncan, Manager, Irish Seed Savers Association, Capparoe, Scariff, Co Clare. They are my heroes.

I popped into Hassetts Bakery in Carrigaline last week – it wasn’t even 10am and the display cabinet was packed with tempting cakes, biscuits and cookies of all kinds – someone must have been up all night baking – loved my cup of freshly ground coffee and my first hot cross bun of the year. www.hassettsbakery.ie or phone 021 4371534

 

The iconic site of Petra in Jordan, Niagara Falls, the Tower of Piza, the Sydney Opera House, the Pyramids in Egypt – these and scores of other iconic buildings and monuments across the world will be illuminated bright green on St Patrick’s Day. A simple, inspired and fun idea which immediately focusses attention on Ireland

The global greening is indicative of the relationship our little island has built up with our diaspora and the new partnerships Ireland has forged around the globe. The whole world celebrates with the Irish on St Patricks day. It’s a brilliant opportunity for Tourism Ireland to promote Ireland worldwide and to encourage people to study and invest in Ireland and to showcase Irish companies.

The word about the Irish food scene is spreading fast. Last week-end, the legendary Murray’s Cheese Shop in New York hosted a high profile event with Ballymaloe Relish “To celebrate the Irish food Renaissance.” and it caused a mighty stir among the media and food cognigency.

The latest book on Irish food to be launched in the US to considerable fanfare is Cathal Armstrong’s, My Irish Table, published by Ten Speed Press.  Dublin born, Cathal is now an internationally renowned chef with seven restaurants to his name in the Washington DC area. Food and Wine magazine called him a “one man urban-renewal engine” who kicked off a dining revival in Old Town using French techniques and local produce. Armstrong is a multi-award winning chef and the White House have honoured him as a “Champion of Change” for his work on ending childhood obesity and his involvement in improving the school lunch system.

Here are some of the recipes from Cathal Armstrong’s book – co-written with David Hagedorn.

Let’s celebrate St Patricks Day proudly ourselves by inviting our family and friends to a traditional Irish feast.

 

Irish Caesar Salad

 

Serves 4

 

In this recipe we use Cashel Blue Cheese and brown bread as a riff on what has become an American classic. Feel free to make the brown bread topping crouton size. At the restaurant, we use fine bread crumbs.

 

Dressing

 

1 large egg

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 anchovy fillets

½ cup canola oil

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

 

Salad

 

2 small slices brown soda bread

2 large heads romaine lettuce, dark outer leaves discarded, cleaned and cut crosswise into 2 inch pieces

4 ounces Cashel Blue cheese, crumbled

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

 

Make the dressing: Combine the egg, garlic, lemon juice and anchovies in the bowl of a food processor. With the machine running, add the oils in a thin stream through the small tube in the bowl’s lid to create an emulsion. Add the salt to taste.

 

Make the bread crumbs: Preheat the toaster or conventional oven to 180°C/350°F/Mark 4. Crumble the bread into fine crumbs and place them on a small baking sheet. Bake them lightly for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are crunchy.

 

Assemble the salad: In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, cheese and 1 cup of the dressing tossing to coat the leaves well. Mound the salad on 4 plates and sprinkle them with the bread crumbs and ground pepper. (Leftover dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

 

Dublin Coddle

 

Serves 6

 

This is a classic Dublin peasant dish that we all hated growing up. It wasn’t anything more than breakfast sausage and bacon cooked with milk. So my version is more like a French blanquette, a rich and elegant cream-based stew, with potatoes added, of course. This recipe doesn’t call for salt because the bacon we use supplies all this is necessary. If yours doesn’t, taste and add ½ teaspoon salt if needed.

 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 yellow onion diced

8 (1/4 inch thick) slices streaky (American) bacon cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

8 Breakfast Sausages, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup homemade chicken stock

2 cups heavy cream

3 large fresh bay leaves

½ cup coarsely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

 

Crusty bread for serving

Cracked black pepper for garnish

 

Sweat the onion: in a medium flame proof casserole over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion to the pot and let it sweat for about 8 minutes, until soft but not browned at all (this is a white stew, you don’t want the onion to take on any colour.)

 

Cook the coddle: One the onion is translucent add the bacon and continue to cook over a low heat until the bacon in pale pink and a few tablespoons of the fat have been rendered, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, sausage, chicken stock, cream and bay leaves. Raise the heat to medium-high and bring liquid to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook slowly until the potatoes are cooked through about 30 minutes.

 

Add the herbs and serve: Remove the coddle from the heat, stir in the parsley and thyme and serve immediately with lots of crusty bread. If you wish, sprinkle a little bit of cracked black pepper on top. The coddle can be made a day ahead and gently reheated on the stove for in a 150°C/300°F/mark 2    oven for 30 minutes.

 

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

 

Serves 8 – 10

 

1 pineapple, peeled

3 cups sugar1 pound unsalted butter at room temperature

8 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

 

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

 

Cut the pineapple: Quarter the pineapple length-wise. Remove and discard the core form the quarters, halve them lengthwise, and then cut each eighth crosswise into ½ inch slices.

 

Prepare the caramel: Spread 1 cup of the sugar on the bottom of a well-seasoned 9 inch cast iron skillet and place it over a medium heat. Let the sugar cook for a few minutes, until you see a ring of clear syrup around the edge of the pan. Stir the sugar until it begins to caramelize (take on a golden hue,) breaking up any clumps of sugar crystals that may form. Continue stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved and the caramel is deep brown.

Cook the pineapple: Stir the pineapple into the skillet. The caramel will come together in a mass, but will turn to liquid again as the water in the pineapple boils and melts it. Continue cooking the pineapple, stirring occasionally, until most of its water evaporates and the caramel becomes a thin syrup, about 10 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside to cool.

Prepare the batter: Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Mark 4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the remaining 2 cups of sugar on a high speed until white, light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Lower the speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, completely incorporating each one before adding the next and scraping the bowl from the mixer and using a rubber spatula, fold the flour into the batter by hand.

 

Bake the cake: Spoon the batter into the skillet, spreading it over the pineapple. Bake the cake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove the skillet from the oven and immediately invert the cake onto a cake plate. Use a rubber spatula to scrape off any caramel or pineapple left in the pan and spread them onto the top of the cake. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

 

Wild and Free food

 

Wild garlic or ramps are in season again. There are two types, Wild garlic or ransoms (Allium ursinum), which grow in shady places along the banks of streams and in undisturbed mossy woodland. They have broad leaves and white star like flowers later in the season.

Snowbells (Allium triquetrum), resemble white bluebells and usually grow along the roadside or edges of country lanes. The leaves and flowers of both are delicious in salad, pasta, sauces, soups, stews and pesto.

Hottips

Cork Food Policy Council brings the FEED THE CITY initiative to Cork today 10am – 4pm. There will be talks on growing your own veg, composting, managing waste and cookery demonstrations. A new urban dining initiative, “Feed the City” aims to feed 5,000 people a tasty and nutritious vegetarian curry absolutely free at 1pm.The initiative will highlight the issues of food waste and sustainability, and will only use vegetables that have been deemed surplus or otherwise going to waste.

Another postcard from India…

1.5 billion people live in India, a country of extremes which is truly intriguing to visit.

Delhi is now one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world with a kilometre long mall, a burgeoning restaurant scene, glitzy designer shops, art galleries pop up supper clubs…

Much of New Delhi was designed by Lutyens, a thoroughly modern metropolis where one encounters the 21st century and the medieval side by side. Cows still nonchalantly roam the streets, bicycles, rickshaws and tuc tucs weave in and out of the crazy traffic in a noisy melee of beeping horns.

Old Delhi, is a city within a city, covering 1,500 acres and home to approximately 22 million people.  It includes the biggest wholesale spice market in Asia established in 1850. We met our guide beside the Metro station at the Chawri Bazaar  It was literally like being dropped into a time warp of India in the 1800s but with mobile phones and of course electricity which is transmitted through a  crazy mass of tangled overhead wires, it all seems to work but is enough to render a Health and Safety inspector apoplectic! Ancient haveli with exquisite plaster work and carvings stand side by side with soulless new flat concrete structures emblazoned with signs.

Everywhere there are eye catching ads, mostly in Hindi but a few also in English, and a particularly prominent one for the rather grand sounding Oriental Bank of Commerce on the front of a totally crumbling old Haveli. There is a frenzy of activity, the noise level is deafening, porters pulling trolleys, bearers with huge loads perched precariously on their heads, motor bikes and tuc tuc’s crammed with more people and /or produce than you could possibly imagine, cycle rickshaws groaning under the weight of  passengers of every age and size or a load of assorted merchandise , could be loos, cooking pots, newspapers, spices…

To an outsider there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the traffic, Indians tell you over and over, to survive you need “good brake, good horn, good luck”

I’m particularly interested in the street food, the myriad of little chaat shops and street stalls and occasional restaurants that feed the 22 million people estimated to live in Old Delhi.

Much of the food is deep fried in large iron woks called karhi, It is cooked in front of you so I reckon it’s perfectly safe to eat, little vegetables and occasionally meat filled pastries, mutton katchori, samosas, pakoras, bahji,  lots of little fritters, sometimes made with gram (chickpea) flour, spices, fresh coriander and turmeric. Occasionally fresh corn is added, it’s such a pity to miss out on these quintessential flavours of India.

Flat breads like roti and naan are cooked in deep clay tandoor ovens, others like poori and bhatura are deep fried in oil.  Rumali roti or handkerchief bread and flaky paratha are cooked on an upturned wok shaped iron karhi over the open fire.

There are lots of peanut roasters, the whole nuts are roasted in sand and the shelled peanuts in salt once again in the multipurpose karhi.

They are sold for a couple of rupees in recycled newspaper bags with a little portion of salt.

Further down the street I had one of the most delicious confections I’ve ever tasted, Daulat ki Chaat, made from the lathered up froth of boiling milk which is left outside overnight in a wide pan – the next day blobs of a saffron flavoured fluff are laid on top. The dish is lightly covered with muslin and kept over ice on the little street stalls It is served in little dried leaf bowls with grated jaggery (cane sugar) and chopped pistachios on top, exquisitely light and delicious, only available for 3 or 4 months in the year.

Naan – Kharai are yet another speciality of Old Delhi – these sweet crumbly cookies are cooked ingeniously in a khari with another khari with hot embers on top.

I am endlessly in awe of the resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian people.  Another vendor was cooking diced chilli potatoes on a huge heavy concave griddle pan; they had been baked in sand for two hours first and then served with various chutneys, again completely delicious.

Every couple of hundred yards there were chai wallahs boiling up milky tea or chai masala flavoured with spices and served in glasses or earthenware pots. Kulfi and the chilled sweet lassi (yoghurt drink flavoured with rosewater) was also served in earthenware beakers that were thrown into a bin and returned to the earth after use.

We also visited Standard Sweets whose specialities apart from a selection of Indian sweets all made from milk was Bhatura, a puffy deep fried bread with chole and aloo (potato) curry, served in a little stainless steel plates on chipped Formica tables.

It was sooo good, I followed this with another of their specialities carrot halva garnished with almonds and cashew nuts. In India, it is the custom to eat with the fingers of your right hand although of course cutlery is provided in more up market restaurants. We also ferreted out a famous Kheer (rice pudding) maker whose family have made Bade Miyan ki Kheer for the last 135 years in the same spot in Old Delhi. It’s sold warm, once again in little dry leaf bowls and is usually sold out by 2pm.

Karin’s established in 1913 is  famous for its Moghul food, it’s actually a little collection of tiny restaurants, the mutton biryani and the  mutton stew are not to be missed eaten with the paper thin rumali roti, the seekh kebabs were also super delicious.

I could go on and on, of course food is just one tiny aspect of Old Delhi, there’s alley after alley of different products, utensils, sanitary ware, textiles, diamonds, shoes, saris – there are 1,500 wedding card shops alone…

Every possible service is also provided, tailoring, ironing, mending, deed reading – a lucrative business seeing as most Havali are owned by 10 – 12 families and even a man who cleans wax from people’s ears.

We saw skilled labourers, carpenters and plumbers, queuing up to be hired and labourers fighting to be given one more heavy load of bricks to carry on their heads, most work 8 – 10 hours a day and earn maybe 600-800 rupees, 1,000 if they are really lucky

We were taken up onto the roof tops to see the frenzy of old Delhi from above, and to see the pet pigeons and kites flying in the breeze favourite recreational activities for many.

Everyone also seemed incredibly devout and there are little shrines and temples at frequent intervals where people stop to pray and worship regularly.

There’s so much more – Old Delhi is a powerful experience, an assault on the senses – a humbling and in many ways inspirational experience.

To be continued…

 

Onion Bhajis with Tomato and Chilli Sauce

 

There are so many interpretations of onion bhajis, they are usually served hot, straight from the karhi as street food in little newspaper bags or dried leaf bowls both of which can be recycled. We serve them as a starter with the spicy tomato and chilli sauce.

Onions are a powerful source of quercetin, a plant compound that reduces inflammation. They also have powerful antiseptic and antibacterial properties.

 

Serves 4 as a starter

 

4 onions, thinly sliced in rings

4 ozs (110g) plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon chilli powder

2 eggs, beaten

5fl oz (150ml) water

2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives

oil, for deep frying

 

Tomato and Chilli Sauce

 

1oz (25g) green chillies, deseeded and chopped, or 2-3 depending on size

1 red pepper, deseeded and cut in 1/4 inch (5mm) dice.

1/2 x 14oz (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 dessertspoon castor sugar

1 dessertspoon soft brown sugar

1 tablespoons white wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons water

 

First make the sauce.  Put the chillies, pepper, tomatoes and garlic into a stainless steel saucepan with the sugar, vinegar and water.  Season and simmer for 10 minutes until reduced by half.

 

Sieve the flour, baking powder and chilli powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the eggs, gradually add in the water, mix to make a smooth batter.  Stir in the thinly sliced onions and chives.  Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper.

 

Just before serving heat the oil to 170°C/325°F approx.  Fry dessertspoons of the batter for 5 minutes approx. on each side until crisp and golden, drain on kitchen paper.  Serve hot or cold with the tomato and chilli sauce.

 

Madhur Jaffrey’s Carrot Halva – Gajar ka halva

Serves 4

 

1lb (450g) carrots

1 ¼ pints (700ml) milk

8 whole cardamom pods

5 tablespoons vegetable oil or ghee

5 tablespoons castor sugar

1 – 2 tablespoons sultanas

1 tablespoons shelled unsalted pistachios, lightly crushed

10 fl oz (275ml) clotted or double cream, optional

 

Peel the carrots and grate them either by hand or in a food processor. Put the grated carrots, milk and cardamom pods in a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat to meadium and cook, stirring now and then, until there is no liquid left. Adjust the heat, if you need to. The boiling down of the milk will take you at least half an hour or longer, depending upon the width of your pot.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium low flame. When hot, put in the carrot mixture. Stir and fry until the carrots no longer have a rich reddish colour. This can take 10 – 15 minutes.

Add the sugar, sultanas, and pistachios. Stir and fry another 2 minutes.

This halva may be served warm or at room temperature. Serve the cream on the side, for those who want it.

 

Kheer Marwadi – Indian Rice Pudding

 

Serves 4

 

Rosewater varies in strength so be careful to add gradually and taste. This dessert can be made ahead and may be served warm or cold.

 

50g (2 ozs) Basmati rice, soaked for an hour and drained

1.5 litres (2 1/2 pints) milk

3 tablespoons whole almonds, peeled and ground to a paste

2 tablespoons water

100g (3 1/2ozs) sugar

50g (2ozs) fresh coconut, grated

25g (1oz) raisins

50g (2ozs) pistachio nuts, cut into slivers

50g (2ozs) blanched almonds, cut in to slivers

1/2 teaspoon ground green cardamom seeds

2 teaspoons Kewra essence (screw pine essence which keeps indefinitely) or use Rosewater instead but be careful – add 1/2 teaspoon first and then taste.

 

Heat the ghee in a pan.  Add the soaked rice, stir for 2 or 3 minutes then add the milk and cook over a low heat for an hour until the rice absorbs the milk and the pudding thickens.

 

Stir in the almond paste, sugar, coconut, raisins, pistachios and almond slivers.  Cook for a final couple of minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the ground cardamom and kewra or rosewater.  Cool and chill.

Serve in individual dishes.

 

Indian Baked Yoghurt

 

This is often cooked and served in unglazed earthenware bowls which are broken and returned to the land later. A few drops of vanilla extract may also be added.

 

Serves 8

 

400g (14oz) thick natural yoghurt,

400ml (14fl oz) cream

400ml (14fl oz) condensed milk,

 

8 x 225ml (8fl oz) dishes

 

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 3

 

Whisk all the ingredients together, strain if necessary. Divide the mixture evenly between the bowls.  Arrange in a bain-marie. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until the top seems firm to the touch.  Cool, cover, refrigerate and serve chilled with a compote of fruit or fresh berries.

 

Hot Tips

Date for the Diary

West Waterford Festival of Food Dungarvan – Thursday 10^th to Sunday 13^th April 2014.

http://www.waterfordfestivaloffood.com/

Galway Food Festival – 17^th – 21^st April – Easter Weekend. http://www.galwayfoodfestival.com/

The Business of Food with Blathnaid Bergin – The vital information needed to set up a viable, enjoyable Food Service Business on this intensive 10 day course from 9.00am-5.00pm, Monday 31st to Friday 11th April at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. The course format will be workshop, discussion, case studies, practical sessions and presentations. Up to 25% funding may be available for this course for Irish Residents.  If you would like to avail of this funding, see www.cookingisfun.ie for further details.

 

 

Shrove Tuesday reminds us all of pancakes, almost the world’s most versatile recipe with a myriad of interpretations. For many, pancakes were the thin crêpes that, if we were lucky, our Mam’s rustled up on Shrove Tuesday and we then forgot about for the rest of the year.

Made in minutes from a simple batter it’s amazing that they were often just an annual treat.

In our house however they were my perennial standby, when I needed to feed tired and grouchy children in a hurry, put the pan on the Aga, shoot a mug of flour into a bowl, add caster sugar and a pinch of salt, crack a few eggs into the centre, whisk in some milk to make a thin batter. Melt some butter in a saucepan, grab a lemon and a bowl of caster sugar, by then the pan would be hot so I’d whisk a little melted butter into batter (that stops the batter sticking) and pour in a small ladle of batter into the very hot pan. Within seconds, it will have set on one side, flip it over when it’s speckled and golden a few seconds later. Turn it onto a plate, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with caster sugar and squeeze on a little fresh lemon juice, roll or fold into a fan shape and enjoy. Within a few minutes, as one child after another got a pancake, calm was restored. Nowadays my grandchildren love pancakes, they also slather them with chocolate spread with or without toasted hazelnuts and sliced banana. They also love savoury pancakes, particularly with mushrooms or ham and cheese in the French style. They are quintessential fast food but don’t just stop with crêpes. Remember virtually every culture around the world has at least one pancake recipe. Think Moroccan Baghrir, Chinese thin white flour pancakes called Moo shoo row, Vietnamese Banh xeo and Korean Pa ‘chon- both semolina flour pancakes made from a similar type batter but served with different accompaniments.
In India pancakes are made not just from wheat flour but also rice flour, split peas, mung beans, chickpea flour depending on the region and with names like Utthappam, Dosa, Cheela and Poora.  Mexican pancakes, Lithuanian pancakes, Russian pancakes, Italian Fazzoletti and Crespelle. Scotch pancakes, American pancakes…and that’s just the beginning.

The simple little crumpets or drop scones are another little gem of a recipe. Again the batter is made in virtually the length of time it takes to heat a cast iron pan.

Spoonfuls of batter are dropped onto the pan on a medium heat, I love to watch and as soon as the bubbles rise and burst, I flip them over to cook on the other side. Eat them warm with butter and honey or apple jelly.

 

Basic Pancake Batter and Good Things to Serve with It

 

Pancakes are far too simple and delicious to be served only on Shrove Tuesday. Whip up a batter with flour and milk and in a matter of minutes you will be flipping delicious speckled pancakes.

 

A Basic Pancake Batter

 

6 ozs (170g) plain white flour, preferably unbleached

a good pinch of salt

1 dessert spoon caster sugar, (omit for savoury pancakes)

2 large eggs and 1 or 2 egg yolks, preferably free range

scant : pint (450ml) milk, or for very crisp, light delicate pancakes, milk and water mixed

3-4 dessert spoon melted butter

 

Serves 6 – makes 12 approx.

 

Sieve the flour, salt, and sugar into a bowl, make a well in the centre and drop in the lightly beaten eggs. With a whisk or wooden spoon, starting in the centre, mix the egg and gradually bring in the flour. Add the liquid slowly and beat until the batter is covered with bubbles. (If they are to be served with sugar and lemon juice, stir in an extra tablespoon of caster sugar and the finely grated rind of half a lemon).

Let the batter stand in a cold place if you have time. Just before you cook the pancakes stir in 3-4 dessertspoons melted butter. This will make all the difference to the flavour and texture of the pancakes and will make it possible to cook them without greasing the pan each time.

Heat a non-stick pan over a high heat, pour in a small ladleful of batter or just enough to film the base of the pan. The batter should cook immediately, loosen around the edges with a rubber slice, flip over and cook for a few seconds on the other side. Slide onto a plate, serve with your chosen filling either sweet or savoury.

 

Good Things to Serve with Pancakes

 

Savoury Pancakes

Stir a few tablespoons of freshly chopped herbs into the batter, well-seasoned mushrooms or Mushroom á la crème, bacon, crispy pieces of chicken, mussels, shrimps or whatever tasty bits you come across in the fridge, added to mushroom á la crème, goat cheese, tomato fondue and pesto.

 

Sweet Pancakes

Butter, freshly squeezed lemon juice and sugar

Bananas and butterscotch sauce

Butter apples laced with mixed spices

Cinnamon butter

Chocolate Spread and Toasted Hazelnuts

Home-made jam and cream

Honey and chopped walnuts

 

Madhur Jaffrey’s Savoury Mung Bean Pancakes (Cheela).

 

 

Makes about 9 pancakes

 

a 225ml (8fl oz) measure hulled and split mung dal, picked over, washed and drained

1cm (3/4 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 fresh, hot green chilies, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons finely minced green coriander

1 smallish onion, peeled and finely minced

about 110ml (4fl oz) olive oil

 

Put the dal in a bowl. Add 1 litre (32fl oz) water and soak for 5 hours. Drain.

 

Start your food processor with the metal blade in place. (An electric blender will also do.) Through the funnel, drop in the ginger, garlic and green chilies. When they are minced, stop the machine and put in all the drained mung dal. Start the machine again and let the dal turn paste-like. Stop the machine and add 110ml (4fl oz) water, the salt, baking soda and turmeric. Run the machine for another 2 minutes to make a thick batter. Empty the batter into a bowl and mix in the green coriander and the onion thoroughly.

 

Now see that you have everything near you that you will need to make the pancakes. You need an 18 – 20.5cm (7-8-inch) non-stick frying pan. Near it on your counter place a small bowl of oil with a teaspoon, a rounded ladle for spreading out the batter, your bowl of batter, a cup or ladle to hold about 70ml (2 3/4fl oz), and a plastic spatula. You will also need a plate lined with a long piece of foil that both lines and covers the pancakes as they get made plus another plate to upturn and cover the foil package.

 

Pour 1 teaspoon of oil into the non-stick frying pan. Spread the oil around by tilting the pan. Set the pan on medium-low heat. Wait for the oil to heat up. When the oil is hot, stir the batter well and remove 70ml (2 3/4fl oz) from the bowl. Plop it down in the center of your heated pan. Let it sit for 3-4 seconds. Now place the rounded bottom of your ladle very gently on the blob of batter. Using a slow, gentle and continuous spiral motion, spread the batter outwards with the back of the ladle. Make a pancake that is about 15cm (6 inches) in diameter. Dribble 1/2 teaspoon oil over the pancake and another 1/2 teaspoon just outside its edges. Using the plastic spatula, spread out the oil and also smooth out the ridges on the pancake. Cover the pan and let the pancake cook for about 2 minutes or until the underside turns a nice reddish colour. Uncover and turn the pancake over. Cook the second side for about 1 1/2 minutes or until it develops small red spots. Remove the pancake and put it on the foil-lined plate. Cover, first with the extra foil and then with the second upturned plate. Make all the pancakes this way, making sure to stir the batter each time. Stack the pancakes on top of each other, covering the stack each time. If not eating immediately the entire foil packet could be heated in a medium oven for 15 minutes. Or you can heat up a pancake at a time in the microwave oven for about 20-30 seconds.
Julija Makejeva  Oladushki (Russian Fluffy Pancakes) with Sour Cream and Raspberry Jam

 

Julija  – known to many from our stall at the Midleton Farmers Market has worked with us for nine years. She’s a super cook and here is her recipe.

 

Serves 4

 

250g (9 ozs) white flour

225 ml (8fl ozs) buttermilk

2 free-range organic eggs, whisked

1 level teaspoon bread soda

scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, for pan frying

 

First, measure the buttermilk into a bowl and sprinkle the baking soda on top and leave for 3 to 4 minutes to allow the mixture bubble.   Whisk the egg, salt, and sugar into the buttermilk mixture.   Next, slowly add the flour to the batter by whisking all the time until mixture appears to have an even consistency, set aside.  The batter should be thick and fall very reluctantly off the spoon.

 

Heat a frying pan on a medium high heat. Add a little vegetable oil. Fill the pan with 5-6 tablespoonfuls of batter spaced evenly apart. Fry until golden brown, flip once bubbles have appeared on the surface and popped (if the pan is too hot, turn down the heat). Repeat frying process until all of the batter is used. Serve with dips (see below).

 

Serving Suggestions

 

Make several dips

 

Mix 2 tablespoons sour cream (crème fraiche) with 2 tablespoons raspberry jam

sour cream with brown sugar sprinkled on top

honey

 

 

Hottips
Slow Food Event - Ballymaloe Cookery School on Thursday 6th March at 7pm. Sally McKenna author of Extreme Greens: Understanding Seaweed will talk about this unique and ancient food, she’ll tell you how to find and harvest it and how to use it in the kitchen. There will be a tasting of different types of seaweed and some recipe suggestions. Ireland is rich in seaweed and macroalgae has been part of the Irish diet going right back to prehistoric times. It was valued in pre-famine times as a medicine, fertiliser and a food. Nowadays research into seaweed has shown us scientifically what our forebears understood culturally through experience, and the facts about seaweed are amazing. – Slow Food/Non Slow Food Members €6.00/€8.00 – Coffee and homemade biscuits on arrival  – Proceeds to the East Cork Education Project – 021 4646785.

 

Cooking for Baby Natural and Wholesome Recipes – Ballymaloe Cookery School

Friday 7th March - 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm - €50. Phone 021 4646785 or www.cookingisfun.ie

 

Darina’s Book of the Week

 

Noel McMeel grew up on a farm in Toomebridge, County Antrim. According to Marie Hulsman – his American co-author – Noel’s mother’s kitchen pantry had a cooling marble workshop and sighing shelves laden with delicious traditional treats. His childhood was steeped in the food culture of Ireland and of Ulster in particular.

Noel is now Executive Head Chef at Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh and the recipes in his first book Irish Pantry reflects his philosophy and unique food style. He urges us to “find the very best local ingredients. Support farms and grocers that respect the earth. Prepare meals that delight and excite the senses, but don’t get seduced into overcomplicating. Above all else let the natural flavour of good food shine out”

Irish Pantry – Traditional Breads, Preserves and Goodies by Noel McMeel published by Running Press 2014.

 

There’s lots of grizzle about ‘over here’ but we ‘sure as hell’ have a lot to be grateful for too. I recently spent a weekend with friends in the UK in a prosperous part of middle England. The local village had neither pub not local shop and the nearest town (about the size of Midleton) had five supermarkets, two of which were discounters. There was not a single food shop or deli and only one butcher hanging on by his finger nails.

The main street had several estate agents, betting shops, a Spec Savers, a couple of charity shops, several fast food outlets and a Boots.

At one point the conversation at dinner centred around two nearby villages where the local community were desperately trying to save the last local shop. In Dymock in the Forest of Dean the last remaining pub in the village was destined to be a housing development so the locals joined with the parish council to buy the Beauchamp Arms for the community.

Here in Ireland the government made a decision not to allow supermarkets to build in greenfield sites outside towns and villages. Consequently we still have life and livelihoods for our local community in our towns and villages. It’s not easy for small shops to survive especially in the current climate. Low – and below cost -selling makes it impossible to compete on price. However an emerging trend brings a flicker of hope both in the US and in the UK smaller shops are beginning to pop-up again and apparently there is a craving for a more personal type of shopping experience. Mary Portas did a TV Series on Channel 4 – Mary Queen of Shops – about the demise of the high street and small shops which highlighted the problem.

Here are a few new recipes we’ve enjoyed cooking recently.

 

Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts and Candied Bacon

 

Brussels sprouts are the number one most hated vegetable – the poor little sprout has had very bad press – mostly because it can be tough to cook well.  If you follow the conventional wisdom to cut a cross in the base and boil them, you are pretty much guaranteed the result that has condemned the sprout to its appalling reputation.

 

Serves 6

 

500g (18oz) Brussels sprouts

25g (1oz) butter

62ml (2 1/2fl oz) Homemade Chicken Stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

50g (2oz) hazelnuts

6 slices lightly smoked streaky bacon – approximately 110g (4oz)

40g (1 1/2oz) soft pale brown sugar

 

Garnish

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

 

Trim the sprouts, cut in halves and shred thinly.

 

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.

 

Toast the hazelnuts on a baking tray in a preheated at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 15 minutes, shaking regularly until golden and skin.  Allow to cool, then chop coarsely.

 

 

Cover a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper.  Dip the streaky bacon in pale soft brown sugar so both sides are coated.  Cook for 10-15 minutes until the bacon is caramelised on both sides.  Remove from the oven and allow to sit for a minute or two and remove to a wire rack to crisp up.

 

Meanwhile, over a medium high heat, melt the butter in a sauté pan.  When it foams add the shredded sprouts, toss to coat, add the chicken stock, cover and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes tossing regularly.  Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  The sprouts should be still fresh and green.

 

Snip the bacon into uneven pieces with scissors.  Add most of the coarsely chopped hazelnuts and candied bacon. Toss, taste and correct seasoning.

 

Turn into a hot serving dish.  Sprinkle with the remaining hazelnuts, candied bacon and chopped parsley.   Serve immediately.

 

Watercress, Blood Orange and New Seasons Toonsbridge Mozzarella Salad

 

The rich West Cork pasture that the buffalos feed on gives the Toonsbridge Mozzarella its quintessentially Irish taste.

A few beautiful fresh ingredients put together simply make an irresistible starter.

 

Serves 4

 

 

2-3 balls of fresh Toonsbridge Mozzarella

2 blood oranges

a bunch of fresh watercress

2-3 tablespoons Irish honey

a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

some coarsely ground black pepper

 

Just before serving, scatter a few watercress leaves over the base of each plate, slice or tear some mozzarella over the top.  With a sharp knife remove the peel and pith from the blood oranges, cut into ¼ inch (5mm) thick slices, tuck a few here and there in between the watercress and mozzarella.   Drizzle with honey and really good extra virgin olive oil.   Finally add a little coarsely ground fresh black pepper and serve.

 

Kale, Fennel, Radish and Parmesan Salad

 

Serves 4 as a starter

 

150g (5oz) green curly kale, stalks included

110g (4oz) fennel thinly sliced

8 French Breakfast radishes thinly sliced at a long angle

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Keep the sliced fennel and radishes in iced water for at least 5 minutes.

 

To serve

 

Remove the stalks from the kale and shred very finely.

 

Put some kale, drained fennel and radishes into a bowl. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Grate on some Parmesan with a slivery micro plane. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss and taste and serve.

 

Emily’s Poppy Seed and Lemon Scones

 

Emily Johnson from Switzerland recently did this delicious variation on our scone recipe.

 

Makes 18-20 scones, using a 3 inch (71/2 cm) cutter

 

2lb (900g) plain white flour

6ozs (175g) butter

pinch of salt

2oz (50g) castor sugar

3 heaped teaspoons baking powder

rind of one lemon

4 tablespoons of poppy seeds

3 free-range eggs

15fl ozs (450ml) approx. full cream milk to mix (not low fat milk)

 

egg wash (see below)

 

2 ozs (50g) granulated sugar for top of scones

 

Lemon Butter

3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

6 ozs (175g) butter

7 ozs (180g) icing sugar

 

Preheat the oven 250ºC/475ºF/regulo 9.

 

First make the lemon butter.

Cream the butter with the finely grated lemon rind. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat until fluffy.

 

Sieve the flour into a large wide bowl; add a pinch of salt, the baking powder and castor sugar.  Grate the rind of one lemon on the finest part of the grater over the dry ingredients in the bowl.  Add the poppy seeds. Mix the dry ingredients with your hands, lift up to incorporate air and mix thoroughly.

 

Cut the butter into cubes, toss well in the flour and then with the tips of your fingers, rub in the butter until it resembles large flakes.  Make a well in the centre.  Whisk the eggs with the milk; pour all at once into the centre.  With the fingers of your ‘best hand’ outstretched and stiff, mix in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl.  This takes just seconds and hey presto, the scone dough is made.  Sprinkle some flour on the work surface.  Turn out the dough onto the floured board.  Scrape the dough off your fingers and wash and dry your hands at this point.  Tidy around the edges, flip over roll out to about 1inch thick and cut or stamp into scones. Put onto a baking sheet – no need to grease. Alternatively roll out the scone dough or pat gently into a rectangle about 3/4 inch (2cm) thick.  Spread the soft lemon butter over the surface. Roll up lengthwise and cut into pieces about 1 1/4 inch (3cm) thick.

 

Brush the tops with egg wash (see below) and dip the tops only in granulated sugar.  Put onto a baking sheet fairly close together.

 

Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown on top.

If making classic scones, cool on a wire rack. Serve, split in half with lemon butter – delicious.

 

Egg Wash

Whisk one egg thoroughly with about a dessertspoon of milk.  This is brushed over the scones to help them brown in the oven.

 

Practical Tip

Scone mixture may be weighed up ahead – even the day before.  Butter may be rubbed in but do not add raising agent and liquid until just before serving.

 

Hot Tips

Home Butchery, Charcuterie and Sausage Making with Philip Dennhardt at Ballymaloe Cookery School. There’s a growing interest among chefs and enthusiastic amateurs for home-curing and sausage making, a subject we’ve become more and more absorbed by in the past few years as we continue to learn and explore the rich traditions of many countries including – France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland …On this busy one day course Master Butcher Philip Dennhardt will teach you to make a wide variety of lamb, beef and pork sausages and cured meats. This course is also designed for those who would like to explore ways to add value to their meat products, with a view to developing an artisan food business. Ballymaloe Cookery School – Saturday 1st March – 9:30am to 5:00pm – €195.00 – lunch included.

 

Whiskey and Artisan Food – Enjoy a taste of real Irish craft beer, Irish whiskey and artisan food at the Irish Craft Beer Village during the five-day celebration of Irish food at the IFSC inside the CHQ Building, Dublin March 13th – 17th, as part of the St Patrick’s Festival 2014.  http://www.irishfest.ie/

 

Goats Bridge Trout Farm in Thomastown in Co Kilkenny are one of a growing number of food businesses poised to capitalise on the growing interest in food tourism. Meg and Ger Kirwan will open a visitors centre on March 1^st 2014. Guests can see around the trout farm, attend smoking workshops and learn how trout caviar is produced and enjoyed. To book a tour with canapés – €15.00 or a day with lunch – €100.00 – www.goatsbridgetrout.ie

 

Big reaction to my recent sugar article, many readers are making an effort to reduce their overall sugar intake. One reader finds The Honey Diet book published by Mike McInnes tremendously helpful.

 

Two new exciting eateries have opened in Cork in recent months; both are off the beaten track.

I’ve been hearing about Iyers on Popes Quay for several months and at last I managed to pop in. It’s a tiny little restaurant serving South Indian street food. It’s chic, tiny, just five tables and a counter with a large blackboard menu on the wall behind. I love South Indian food and there it was, samosas, dosas, uthappam, Madras thali, mango lassi, chai…

The owner Gautham Iyer comes from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and his wife Caroline hails from Sligo, he’s an aeronautical engineer and she’s a jeweller. They’ve lived in Cork for 14 years and have at last achieved their dream to open a little restaurant serving the sort of Indian food they and their friends love to eat and have been craving. They opened on 17^th January 2013 and the word spread fast, they were often sold out before they closed at 5:30pm. They now stay open on Thursdays until 9pm. However you and a group of friends can book a table of eight or ten on another night by arrangement. The food is simple, delicious and tastes authentic. On a recent visit they also had a couple of tempting cakes, the Pistachio and Rosewater cake had sold out so we enjoyed a slice of freshly made Mango, Banana and Coconut Cake  and a Cashew and Coconut Cookie that had the bonus of being gluten free. Iyers is a vegetarian restaurant and Gautham cooks in the Ayurvedic tradition.

Don’t miss their chai, when I closed my eyes I was sipping the spicy brew in a roadside dhaba in India – Iyers is definitely worth seeking out, they don’t take bookings and by the way it is stunningly good value for money.

Ramen on Angelsea Street is owned by John Downey a Ballymaloe Cookery School graduate, who was a retail manager for Aldi in his last life. He now serves new Asian Street food in a contemporary setting. The open kitchen at the end of the room has five or six bustling Asian chefs in bright orange T shirts. Rustling up the yummy food is head chef Zuul Basir from Kuala Lumpur.

It’s all very convivial, there’s a long timber sharing table down the centre of the restaurant as well as side tables along the wall. The menu is divided into Soups, Salads and Nibbles, and Something for Kids. Dishes from the Wok, Rice dishes, Noodle dishes and there’s strictly no MSG.

Chop sticks, soy sauce and chilli oil are on the table, customers order and pay first. Your choice of dishes arrives on a little metal tray; there will be an empty ice cream cornet for your complimentary whipped ice cream. If the generous helpings defeat you, take home the remainder.

Again it seemed to me to be exceedingly good value for money – tasty delicious food, the word is out so you may have to queue at peak times but the general consensus is that it’s well worth the wait.

 

Gautham Iyer’s Spicy Potato Curry (Urulaikizhangu Kari)

 

500g – ½ kg (18oz) potato (waxy new potatoes are better)

1 1/2 teaspoons red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon gram flour/ rice flour

salt – to taste

for the seasoning you will need

2 teaspoons sunflower oil

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

a very small pinch asafoetida / hing

225ml (8fl oz) water

1 teaspoon urid dhal (optional)

small sprig fresh curry leaves

 

Peel and chop the potato (into small cubes) and leave soaking in a bowl of water.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter add the urid dhal (if using) and curry leaves and fry till the dhal turns golden brown.

Add the asafoetida and turmeric followed immediately by the drained potatoes. Stir for a few seconds.

 

Add 225ml (8fl oz) of water and then add the salt and red chilli powder and let the potatoes cook completely. If necessary add a bit more water.

 

Once the potatoes are cooked, reduce the flame and add 1/2 teaspoon oil and stir the potatoes to fry them.

 

Sprinkle the gram flour/rice flour to help the potatoes brown evenly.

 

Transfer to serving dish and serve hot with rice or bread of your choice.

 

Niloufer’s Cauliflower and Chickpeas

 

Serves 4 – 6

 

2 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter, or canola oil

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

1 small yellow onion finely chopped

2 tablespoons grated, peeled fresh ginger

2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced into a paste

½ teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste

1 teaspoon garam masala

salt

12 oz cooked chickpeas (or 6oz dried – soaked overnight and cooked)

1 head cauliflower, broken in florets

large handful fresh ciltrano (coriander) leaves and stems chopped

juice of 1 lime

 

Heat the ghee in a large skillet over a medium heat and toast the fennel seeds for about 1 minute. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to keep it from sticking, until brown, about 10 minutes.

Add the turmeric, cayenne, garam masala and a big pinch of salt to the skillet and cook, dribbling in a little water as you stir. Add the chickpeas, cauliflower and ½ cup water. Cover and cook until the cauliflower and ½ cup water. Cover and cook until the cauliflower is tender, 15 – 20 minutes. Add the chopped ciltrano (coriander) and lime juice and serve with yoghurt and rice or big floppy flat bread chapatis, if you like.

 

Mekong Duck - Ramen Style 

 

John Downey from Ramen Restaurant in Cork city kindly shared this recipe with us. It’s a firm favourite with his customers.

 

Serves 4

 

2 duck Breasts

 

2 teaspoon garlic, chopped as finely as possible.

2 teaspoons fresh root ginger, minced.

 

Mekong Sauce 

 

1 tablespoon tomato purée

50mls (2fl oz) pineapple juice

50mls (2fl oz) orange juice

2 teaspoons soya sauce

2 teaspoons sweet chilli sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon five spice

 

Vegetables

 

pak Choi

cherry tomatoes (halved)

diced courgette

mangetout

fine beans

carrots (julienned)

 

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Mark 3

Delicately score the fat on the duck breast and roast for 25 minutes. While this is roasting, create your Mekong sauce, by mixing all of the ingredients together with a hand blender. Prepare all of your vegetables and set aside for cooking. Slice the roasted duck breast into bite-size slivers.

Once the duck is cooked (it should still be slightly pink), heat your wok as hot as you possibly can. Add a splash of rapeseed oil, sauté the garlic, add the ginger, the Mekong sauce and the duck and cook on a high heat for 1 minute, until you achieve peak temperature. Add the vegetables; toss for thirty seconds and voila!

 

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

 

Hot Tips

 

Hospitality and business course “Being ‘the best’ takes time, dedication and an absolute commitment to raising standards, every day. It is an infinite journey and it’s what separates the best from the quickly forgotten.” says Georgina Campbell who is teaming up with business mentoring company Conor Kenny and Associates to run the Hospitality Business Development Programme, over a 3 month period from Thursday 13^th March to Thursday 29^th May. The programme was created by people who are immersed in the industry and the practical workshops will drive and accelerate growth. www.georginacampbelllearning.com  or call Linda Halpin – 01 663-3685 for bookings

 

Calso Cooks – Real Food Made Easy– Watch out for the new kid on the Irish food scene, Paul O’Callaghan aka Calso. He came late to the discovery that real food can be produced with very little effort and be tastier and healthier than the fast, convenient foods he’d survived on ’til then. Paul had his own plastering business in his native Armagh but when the recession hit, he lost everything. At first, he struggled with depression and feelings of helplessness but by a quirk of fate, the house he rented had some land attached so he decided to try growing some of his own food. He was soon hooked on cooking (and eating!) the ingredients he produced. In 2001 he started his blog Calso Cooks from the Sustainable Larder. Paul now runs his own food business, has a column in ‘EasyFood’ magazine and contributes to the Breakfast Show on 2fm. Look out for his first cook book Calso Cooks – Real Food Made Easy published in paperback by Mercier Press.

 

e. When the watercress begins to form little white flowers the leaves elongate.

We all love a bit of romance, an unexpected bouquet; a bar of choccie, a spontaneous hug, even a furtive wink can put a skip in your step for the rest of the day.

Valentine’s Day is upon us again where everyone from 9 to 90 gets license to be silly and cutely romantic.

Even my grandchildren are making cards and cupcakes and having fun.

But most of all the way to everyone’s heart is through their tummy, of course you can book a romantic meal for two in a fancy restaurant but how about cooking supper instead of or as well as particularly if your favourite spot is already booked out.

Choose a nice easy menu that can be spirited without too much fuss or bother, a simple starter might me Ardsallagh Goat Cheese with Highbank Orchard syrup with a few rockets leaves or Medjool Dates with Yoghurt, Sumac, Pistachios and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Both are light and easy. A stew or tagine can be made ahead and served with a bowl of mash, a few baked potatoes or a simple cous cous.

Follow this with a salad of winter leaves and a piece of cheese – a heart shaped Neufchâtel would be perfect. You’ll find it in the many specialist cheese shops like Sheridans in Dublin or Galway or On the Pigs Back at the English Market or Iago on 9 Princes Street Cork. It’s a heart shaped Camembert type cheese made in Normandy it has an appealing mushroom taste and is perfect for a Valentines supper.

A light fruity dessert would be good after this comforting stew. Blood oranges are in season at present. A blood orange granita would be perfect or even some thickly sliced blood oranges with a chiffonade of mint.

However I’m tempted to suggest a rice pudding with a little grating of nutmeg over the top. We’ve been having lots of rice puddings recently – and it seems to get a joyous reception from every age group particularly when it’s served with a little Jersey cream and a sprinkling of soft brown sugar.

 

Rory O’Connell’s  Ardsallagh Goats Cheese with Highbank Orchard Syrup

 

 

Serve a crisp cheese biscuit or 2 or some hot bread to accompany this cheese course.

 

Serves 4

 

120-130g (4 1/2oz) fresh soft Ardsallagh Goats Cheese

4-6 tablespoons Highbank Orchard Syrup (available at Ballymaloe Cookery School Farm Shop)

16-20 Rocket leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Divide the leaves between 4 plates.

 

Place a slice of cheese on top of the Rocket leaves.  Drizzle with the syrup.  Season with a pinch of Maldon Sea salt and serve.

 

Lamb, Winter Vegetable and Pearl Barley Stew

Serves 4 – 6

This comforting stew makes more than you’ll need for your romantic supper but it reheats brilliantly.

1kg lamb neck fillets cut into thick chunks

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 onions peeled and quartered

3 carrots peeled and cut in half at an angle

3 leeks trimmed and cut into thick chunks

1 sprig thyme

1 small bay leaf

600ml lamb or chicken stock

100g pearl barley

 

Gremolata

a nice handful of fresh parsley

the same of fresh mint

zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, grated

 

Cut the neck of lamb into chunky pieces, season well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Heat a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a wide pan over a high? heat, brown the meat on all sides, transfer to a casserole. Don’t overcrowd / he pan just do the meat in batches. The toss the vegetables in the olive oil and fat in the pan, add a little more extra virgin olive oil if necessary. Add to the meat in the casserole.

Pour the stock into the pan and stir to dissolve all the meat juices, bring to the boil, pour on the meat and vegetables in the casserole, add the herbs and bring to the boil, simmer on the top of the stove or transfer to a moderate oven 180°C/ 350°F / Mark 4 for 45 minutes, add the pearl barley and continue to cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes or until the grains are plump and the meat and vegetables are meltingly tender. Taste and correct seasoning. Not long before serving make the gremolata, chop the parsley, fresh mint and lemon zest together. Turn the stew into a terracotta serving bowl, sprinkle with gremolata and serve with baked potatoes and a green salad.

 

Jacob Kenedy’s Blood Orange Granita

 

Blood oranges are in season at present so use them in every way you can while they last.

 

blood oranges

caster sugar

 

To Serve

toasted flaked almonds, dusted with icing sugar

a little chopped fresh mint

 

Juice the blood oranges, removing any pips but straining only through a colander or coarse sieve to do so, so some pulp remains. Add 120g (4 1/2oz) caster sugar per litre (1 3/4 pints) of juice and stir to dissolve.

 

Pour the liquid into a deep tray that will fit in your freezer (metal is best, as it will conduct heat from the granita fastest – but this is only a question of time, rather than quality). Place it in your freezer, and check after half an hour. Once ice crystals start to form, stir every
15 minutes or so with a fork or sturdy balloon whisk until you have a satisfyingly thick slush. If it gets too hard, you can always thaw it a little before serving – and it can be stored this way (frozen solid) for weeks.

 

Serve on a hot day, sprinkled with the flaked almonds and mint.

 

Variation

Mixed 2:1 with vodka or Campari, this makes for an excellent cocktail, too.

 

Figs with Yoghurt, Sumac, Pistachio and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

Serves 4 as a starter

 

8 fresh figs in season

 

8 tablespoons Greek style natural yoghurt (the yoghurt should be thick)

2 teaspoons fresh sumac

3 – 4 teaspoons pistachios, halved

extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons honey

a few flakes of sea salt

 

Spoon two – three tablespoons of yoghurt onto each plate. Cut the figs into quarters, push gently down into the yoghurt. Sprinkle with sumac and pistachios, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and honey, serve.

 

Wild and Free Food

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)

 

For those who like to be on the cutting edge, you may be interested to know that watercress is the new rocket! Chefs are going crazy for it and using it in all kinds of recipes. But in reality there’s not much new under the sun. There are references to watercress – the original hydroponic vegetable – in many early Irish manuscripts. It formed part of the diet of hermits and holy men who valued its special properties, which we now know include significant amounts of iron, calcium, folic acid, vitamins A and C. Watercress is brilliant for detox – the mustard oils boost and regulate the liver’s enzymes. Its beta carotene and vitamin A are good for healthy skin and eyes, and watercress is naturally low in calories and fat. Gram for gram, watercress has more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than full-cream milk.

Watercress grows naturally in rivers and drains all around Ireland. When you’re looking for it in the wild, make sure the watercress you pick comes from a pure water source with constantly running water. Avoid water drained from fields that are grazed, especially by sheep, which may infest the plant with the liver fluke parasite. Look for darker leaves, which signify older plants and deliver more peppery flavour. Watercress often grows side by side with a plant called fool’s watercress (Apium nodiflorum), which is sometimes referred to as wild celery but it isn’t, even though it is part of the parsley and celery family. It has small green flowers, whereas watercress has small white flowers. With watercress, the top leaf is the biggest and they decrease in size as you go down the stem; with fools watercress, it’s the reverse. When the watercress begins to form little white flowers the leaves elongate.

 

Garden Workshop at Ballymaloe Cookery School – Learn how to build a Willow Structure with Norbert Platz The Willow Wizard from West Cork. Norbert will show you how to make scarecrows, dragons, willow tunnels, plant covers, baskets… On this intensive course you will learn how to harvest and prepare willows and the basic techniques needed to create a variety of willow structures in your own garden. Monday 17^th February at 9:00am, coffee and homemade biscuits on arrival and light lunch included – €95.00. Phone 021 4646785 to book or www.cookingisfun.ie

 

Cask and Winter Ale Festival at Franciscan Well on 14B North Mall, Cork Festival is on Friday, Saturday & Sunday the 14th, 15th & 16th February. With a selection of casks from a selection of Irelands best craft breweries and some winter specials this festival is growing each year to showcase the real ale culture in Ireland. Talk to some of Irelands newest brewers at the  ‘Meet the Brewer’ section, a new element in this year’s festival. See their FaceBook page – Cask & Winter Ale Festival.

A little of what you fancy does you good. Well, no actually, all evidence points to the fact that sugar is damaging our health in a myriad of ways we are only beginning to understand. Make no mistake about it, sugar is addictive and is set to be the ‘New Tobacco’ as it becomes  abundantly clear that it’s an ingredient we absolutely don’t need, empty calories that pile on the pounds without nourishing us in any way.

Type 2 diabetes and obesity are increasing dramatically around the world but excess sugar is also linked to cancer, heart disease and of course tooth decay.  Ireland’s leading obesity expert Donal O’Shea paints a grim picture, 25% of Irish children are overweight, 25% of adults are obese while a further 40% are considered to be overweight. International doctors, scientists and obesity experts are joining forces to put pressure on governments to force food and drink manufacturers to cut hidden sugar in processed foods by up to 30%.

In the UK, Action on Sugar has launched an initiative chaired by Professor Graham MacGregor – who also heads up CASH which spearheaded the hugely successful campaign on salt reduction. “Provided the sugar reductions are done slowly, people won’t notice. In most products in the supermarkets, the salt has come down by between 25% and 40%. Kellogg’s Cornflakes contain 60% less salt than they used to.”

The panel includes obesity experts, high profile scientists and doctors including Robert Lustig author of Fat Chance – The Bitter Truth about Sugar and Professors John Wass, academic vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians, Philip James of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, Dr Aseem Malhotra cardiologist and Sir Nicholas Wald of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine.

Yoni Freedhoff from the University of Ottowa, Canada is another advisor to the group said   “Not only has added sugar found its way into virtually everything we eat, but worse still, the use of sugar as a means to pacify, entertain and reward children has become normalised to the point that questioning our current sugary status quo often inspires anger and outrage.”

Experts have calculated that reducing sugar in processed foods by between 20 and 30% over the next 3 to 5 years could remove 100 calories a day from diets, enough to reverse the obesity epidemic.

Deep down, we’ve all known this was coming.

People are aware that fizzy drinks, sweets, cakes and biccies are loaded with sugar, but they are often amazed to discover that sugar can also be in many types of bread, soups, sauces…

So what to do?

Labelling can be confusing, low fat does not mean low sugar and labels are often carefully worded to mask the reality. For most people, teaspoons are easier to visualise than grams. We now know that Coca Cola Original, 330ml and Pepsi, regular contain 9 teaspoons of sugar. Mars Bar 51g has 8 teaspoons sugar. Even zero fat yoghurt can contain up to 5 teaspoons of sugar, while a tall Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino with whipped cream and skimmed milk was found to have 11 teaspoons of sugar.

Over the years we’ve noticed many items getting progressively sweeter. In fact, I’m convinced that sugar itself has become more intensely sweet, since we are now using imported sugar now that our domestic sugar beet industry is gone, can this be my imagination – I’m awaiting the results of a scientific analysis. In the meantime we have been systematically reducing sugar in many of our recipes often without a murmur of complaint.

Sugar is unquestionably addictive, so cutting sugar out of our diet altogether is a ‘big ask.’ It can certainly be done but one may have to endure a couple of weeks of ‘cold turkey’ then apparently the craving dissipates. However with a certain resolve it should be possible to cut out sweet fizzy drinks, sugar in tea and coffee, sweetened yoghurt and soups. There are still some supermarkets that have aisles of tempting sweets and bars as one queues for the till, perhaps it’s time for Mammies of the world to unite and demand support to help solve this global problem of obesity.

So what are the alternatives, bananas are naturally sweet and can enable you to reduce or eliminate sugar in banana bread, muffins or buns. Think about eliminating breakfast cereals from your shopping list and replace with porridge, a brilliant food which also includes fibre.

Honey can be substituted for sugar or add a sprinkling of plump raisins or sultanas. Several of my grandchildren love peanut butter on their porridge, sounds very odd but it’s been their winter breakfast of choice for many years and keeps them sated until lunch time.

Completely eliminate sugar sweetened drinks, SSDs as they are called – make no mistake sugar is addictive so if you or your children are used to a couple of these drinks a day – you’ll need to be full of resolve to kick the habit. Substitute real apple juice with sparkling water or just water.  Dried fruit and nuts or blueberries are good for snacks but why are we snacking all the time? A bar of dark chocolate has less sugar but at least has the benefit of antioxidants.

 

Debbie Shaw’s Banana and Pecan Loaf

This is a lovely, moist loaf and a great way to use up over-ripe bananas. See sugar free version of this recipe below.

 

 

Serves 10-12

 

110g (4oz) white spelt flour
110g (4oz) brown spelt flour (Ballybrado)
1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice
1 teaspoon of salt
75g (3oz) Billington’s unrefined caster sugar
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 large egg, beaten
75ml (3fl oz) of sunflower oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
65g (2 1/2oz) pecan nuts or walnuts, chopped
4 large ripe bananas, well mashed

 

Place the flour, salt, finely sieved baking powder and caster sugar into a large bowl. Lightly mix the egg, oil, vanilla and maple syrup together and add to the dry ingredient mixing very gently. Fold the pecan nuts and mashed bananas into t this mixture with a fork being careful not to over beat or mix. Place in a lined and oiled 900g (2lb) loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 1 hour. Allow it to cool in the tin before turning out.

 

For a Sugar Free Version:
You can also make this bread very successfully omitting the 75g (3oz) of caster sugar and ensuring that the bananas are very, very ripe and it’s equally as delicious.

Debbie Shaw’s Figgy Flapjacks

 

It is almost impossible to find a flapjack without tons of butter, golden syrup and sugar in it. This is my healthier version of the flapjack with vastly reduced sugar and butter content but it does need a little golden syrup for binding.

 

Makes 25 bars

 

Tin size – 19cm x 30cm or 11 ½ x 7 ½ inches

175g (6oz) of porridge oats
50g (2oz) butter
2 scant tablespoons of golden syrup
1 ½ oz light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
25g (1oz) sunflower seeds
25g (1oz) pumpkin seeds
25g (1oz) toasted sesame seeds
150g (5oz) of figs, roughly chopped
25g (1oz) apricots, finely diced

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°/Gas Mark 4.

Blend the figs in a food processor with 5 tablespoons boiling water to make a paste. Line the base of the tin with parchment paper and oil the sides with sunflower oil. Heat the butter, brown sugar, honey and golden syrup in a medium-sized pot until melted and add the other ingredients. Mix the fig mixture with the other dry ingredients and add to the melted sugars and butter. Stir thoroughly and place in the lined tin. Press firmly into the tin with a palette knife and bake for 30 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Store in a tin or airtight container.

 

 

Debbie Shaw’s Medjool Date and Coconut Rounds

 

This is a no-cook, egg-free, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan cookie that takes minutes to make.

 

 

Makes 25

 

½ small ripe banana, mashed (optional)
225g (8oz) Medjool dates, stoned
250g (9oz) of whole almonds
1 heaped tablespoon of raw cocoa powder
1/4 scant teaspoon of vanilla extract
110g (4oz) desiccated coconut

 

Whiz the almonds in the food processor until they are the size of breadcrumbs. Add the raw cocoa powder and pulse. Add the banana (if using), vanilla, and dates and blend to a paste. Shape the mixture into a log with your hands and roll in the desiccated coconut. Cut into rounds or roll into truffle-sized balls and roll in desiccated coconut and give them as presents.

 

 

Debbie Shaw’s Kiddies Crispy Party Buns

 

These fun buns are a great way to get essential fats and B-vitamins into kids and they are pretty tasty too. The protein in the seeds prevents a sudden blood sugar rise that some sugary treats cause which make kids hyper!

 

Makes 20-24 depending on size

 

3oz (75g) 60% dark chocolate, melted

2 1/2oz (62g) puffed wholegrain brown rice or puffed quinoa (available from Health Food Shops)
3  1/2oz (82g) pumpkin seeds
1oz (25g) sunflower seeds
1oz (25g) toasted sesame seeds
1oz (25g) flaked almonds, broken up
1 tablespoon maple syrup

 

Melt the chocolate and add all of the other ingredients stirring well to coat. Place in paper cases, press down gently and allow to set. If you are in a hurry, pop them in the freezer for 5 minutes and they set quickly.

 

Wild and Free Food

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)

For those who like to be on the cutting edge, you may be interested to know that watercress is the new rocket! Chefs are going crazy for it and using it in all kinds of recipes. But in reality there’s not much new under the sun. There are references to watercress – the original hydroponic vegetable – in many early Irish manuscripts. It formed part of the diet of hermits and holy men who valued its special properties, which we now know include significant amounts of iron, calcium, folic acid, vitamins A and C. Watercress is brilliant for detox – the mustard oils boost and regulate the liver’s enzymes. Its beta carotene and vitamin A are good for healthy skin and eyes, and watercress is naturally low in calories and fat. Gram for gram, watercress has more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than full-cream milk.

Watercress grows naturally in rivers and drains all around Ireland. When you’re looking for it in the wild, make sure the watercress you pick comes from a pure water source with constantly running water. Avoid water drained from fields that are grazed, especially by sheep, which may infest the plant with the liver fluke parasite. Look for darker leaves, which signify older plants and deliver more peppery flavour. Watercress often grows side by side with a plant called fool’s watercress (Apium nodiflorum), which is sometimes referred to as wild celery but it isn’t, even though it is part of the parsley and celery family. It has small green flowers, whereas watercress has small white flowers. With watercress, the top leaf is the biggest and they decrease in size as you go down the stem; with fools watercress, it’s the reverse. When the watercress begins to form little white flowers the leaves elongate.

Hot Tips

Alternative Sugars from Natural Sources

Brown rice syrup, date syrup, maple syrup, honey and agave syrup are all available from health food stores.  XyloBrit or Xylitol is a refined sugar made using fruit or Birch tree extracts. You can use this as a 1:1 direct replacement for refined white caster sugar in baking. The Tate and Lyle brand, which is a blend of caster sugar and stevia, can be also used as a 1:1 direct substitute for refined caster sugar in baking. This is available in powder, liquid and dried herb form from good health food stores. Another good way to naturally sweeten baked goods without using refined sugar, is to add dried dates, dried figs or overripe bananas, whizzed in a food processor with a little boiling water to make a sweet paste. Other dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, cranberries, apricots etc.) also add sweetness to cakes and muffins.

Debbie Shaw

Debbie will be presenting more healthy recipes in her “Feel Good Food – Let’s Cook” course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School on Mon 21st July 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. This one day course offers fresh, simple and seasonal recipes for energy, vitality and optimal health. The morning cookery demonstration is followed by an opportunity to cook some of Debbie’s tasty recipes in the kitchens. Debbie Shaw is a chef and Nutritionist and runs “Apple A Day Nutrition” (Mobile tel: +353 (086) 785 5868, email: debbieswellness@gmail.com).

The booking office is now open for the Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine 16th-18th May. There’s an incredible line-up again this year international food heroes such as René Redzepi, Diana Kennedy, Simon Hopkinson, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. There will be a cocktail of wine and drinks experts, Irish participants will include talented chefs Ross Lewis, Paul Flynn and Clodagh McKenna. Some events are already fully subscribed so check out the website www.litfest.ie or call the Box Office (open Monday to Friday 10am-5pm) on 021 4645777.

 

Hospitality and business course “Being ‘the best’ takes time, dedication and an absolute commitment to raising standards, every day. It is an infinite journey and it’s what separates the best from the quickly forgotten.” says Georgina Campbell who is teaming up with business mentoring company Conor Kenny and Associates to run the Hospitality Business Development Programme, over a 4 month period from Tuesday 11^th February to Thursday 29^th May. The programme was created by people who are immersed in the industry and the practical workshops will drive and accelerate growth. www.georginacampbelllearning.com  or call Linda Halpin – 01 663-3685 for bookings.

 

 

 

It’s a hugely exciting time to be in food. Farmers are more optimistic about the future than they have been in years and a high percentage of start-up businesses are food related.

There’s innovation at every level so it’s fun to ponder on emerging food trends in different sectors. For dedicated food trend spotters it’s always worth studying what’s hot in the US and UK because much of that will be coming our way in the not too distant future. It used to take 4 – 5 years but in the current techie age all that has speeded up considerably.

In the US, according to Conagra Foods 62% of consumers want to support companies that have ethical policies and donate to important social causes.

Customers are fast becoming more educated about supermarket practices and products, they want more sustainable packaging and less plastic wrapping, so we’re beginning to see the use of new technology to create edible wrappers.

Online shopping and apps appear to be a strong trend for the future with many consumers, deciding what they will cook for supper by browsing for recipes on their smart phones.

On the other hand there is a definite small shop revival in many cities – a counter reaction to the super convenient increasingly impersonal shopping experience.

There is a growing realisation that the 24/7 snacking habit is here to stay. According to Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert there are lots of opportunities to capitalise on that by supplying ‘better for you’ and ‘on the go’ options.

Food waste continues to be an issue but using up leftovers making the most of lesser known fish and cuts of meat has never been so trendy.

As allergies and food intolerances continue to rise ‘Free From’ foods gain more and more shelf space and create opportunities for food entrepreneurs.

Every year there seems to be a new super food, 2013 it was kale – so what’s coming up? Some predict the humble cauliflower and kohlrabi, I certainly saw lots of cardoons on fancy restaurant menus in the US last year.

Ancient beans and grains like freekeh, faro, teff and the humble pearl barley are definitely causing renewed excitement. We’ll see even more adventurous use of spices, chilli and exotic flavourings in home kitchens not just to jazz up increasingly bland ingredients but for their health benefits – turmeric for example has antibacterial properties and is a powerful antioxidant.

Tea has been predicted to be the new coffee for quite some time now but it’s been slow in coming however things are hotting up. Starbucks have joined forces with Teavana in the US to open the first Tea Bar in New York. Check out The Tea Shop on MacCurtain Street in Cork City which offers Ireland’s biggest selection of loose leaf teas and the Palais des Thés on 31 Wicklow Street in Dublin.

The cronut, Dominique Ansel’s cross between a croissant and a donut was the hottest food item in New York last year and they’re still queuing around the corner of Spring Street.

Ramen Shops popped up everywhere and now at last we have a Ramen restaurant in Cork on 21 Angelsea Street (021) 4317116.

We’re slurping noodles in every shape and form. They are hot and getting hotter.  Check out Koya Udon noodle restaurant on 49 Frith Street in London.

Burgers continue to endure but the ones that are making waves are boasting higher fat and better provenance. 2013 was the year of the innovative bun, lots of new twists and flavours and even brioche. The big success story in the fast food area in the US was Wendys Bacon Cheeseburger on a Pretzel bun.

Our love affair with bacon continues but now for top chefs and cooks it’s about house-cured bacon, hams, sausages and salami.

Fermenting and pickling continues to excite both cooks and diners. Home smoking is a growing trend. Top restaurants are seeking out hand-made, traditional and cultured butter and cream. Artisan and local foods are still very strong, sustainable fish and home-made or as they say in the US house-made ice cream, granitas and sorbets made with seasonal ingredients.

Vegetables are gradually edging their way to the centre stage. Vegan is becoming more main stream and we will see more veggie dishes in non-vegetarian restaurants. The Grain Store in London continues to cause a stir and we’re noticing more salads as an art form.

Small plates, sharing dishes, and small plate desserts are huge hit with restaurant customers.

Top chefs are growing their own on rooftops and balconies and more chefs own their own farms, and are employing foragers and are incorporating seasonal wild foods into their menus. Supermarkets like Wholefoods in the US are putting vegetable gardens and tunnels on their roofs.

The Dim Sum concept is being adapted with considerable success in many restaurants.

The Nordic Food Movement continues to inspire.

One Food Wonders or Single Item restaurants seem to be an enduring trend, not just burgers but chicken, pork, polenta, mozzarella, potatoes…

The interest in hand-made and craft items, farmhouse cheeses and artisan foods endures and there’s a renewed interest in ‘ethnic’ cheeses, queso fresco, halloumi, paneer, heirloom varieties of tomatoes, speciality salt, urban honey, raw honey.  Leaves, banana, taro, kaffir lime leaves. At a recent meal that I enjoyed Fäviken in Sweden Magnus Nielson steamed potatoes in Autumn leaves.

New ethnic flavours continue to excite, the sales of Sriracha, the Thai hot sauce are catching up on ketchup.

There’s also huge excitement in the drinks area – craft brewers and micro distillers are popping up everywhere. Chefs are making house-made lemonade, sodas, bitters, ratafias…Natural wines are exploding – orange wine is a cult. Cocktails and mocktails and liqueurs are ever more exciting and inventive and there’s lots more but I’ve run out of space.

 

Ottolenghi’s Bulgur and Cauliflower Tabouleh with Red Onion, Pomegranate and Sweet Spices

 

Serves 4

 

600g (1 1/4 lb) cauliflower florets (1 large or 2 medium heads)

240g (8 3/4 ozs) fine bulgur, soaked in 500ml (18fl oz) of boiling water for 10 minutes, then squeezed dry

4 celery sticks, finely sliced at an angle

1 red onion, finely sliced

80g (3 ozs) whole almonds, lightly toasted and roughly broken

a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley

seeds from 1 pomegranate

 

Dressing

 

4 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons caster sugar

100ml (3 1/2 fl ozs) olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

salt and black pepper

 

Preheat the oven 190ºC/375ºF/gas mark 5.

 

Place the cauliflower on a baking sheet, lined with greaseproof paper, and roast for 25 minutes, or until lightly golden and just tender; set aside to cool.

To make the dressing, combine the ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk well and set aside for 5 minutes.

Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl and arrange on a plate. Spoon the dressing on top and serve.

 

Rachel Allen’s Roasted Cauliflower with Gremolata

 

Gremolata is an Italian condiment made from a mixture of garlic, parsley and lemon peel that is traditionally served with braised veal but is equally at home sprinkled over fish and provides a lovely tangy foil to roasted cauliflower, as here. By roasting cauliflower the florets take on a charred crispness while the flesh remains soft and yielding.

Serves 4–6

 

2 cauliflowers, cut into florets

110ml (4fl oz) olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

For the Gremolata

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or finely grated

4 tbsp finely chopped parsley

2 tsp olive oil

 

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas mark 6.

Place the cauliflower florets in a large bowl and mix with the olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time, until the cauliflower is tender and just browned at the edges.

While the cauliflower is roasting, make the gremolata by simply mixing all the ingredients together and seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. When the cauliflower is cooked, lightly mix with the gremolata and serve.

Ottolenghi’s Kohlrabi and White Cabbage Slaw with Lemon Zest, Tarragon, Dill and Sesame Seeds

 

Serves 4

 

1 kohlrabi bulb (300g/10 1/2oz)

200g (7 ozs) white cabbage

30g (1 1/4 oz) parsley, chopped

30g (1 1/4 oz) dill, chopped

30g (1 1/4 oz) tarragon, chopped

70g (2 3/4 oz) dried cranberries

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

120ml (3 3/4ml) lemon juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup

60ml (2 1/2 fl ozs) olive oil

2 tablespoons sesame oil

4 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

salt and black pepper

 

Peel the kohlrabi, slice thinly and cut into matchsticks. Slice the cabbage as thinly as possible.

Place together in a mixing bowl all of the ingredient, mix well, taste and add salt and pepper accordingly.

 

Smoked Gubbeen and Pearl Barley Salad with Toasted Almonds, Apple and Pomegranate Seeds

 

Pearl Barley is inexpensive and fantastically nourishing – lots of protein, vitamins, and minerals – some varieties are also high in Lysine.  In tandem with other grains it’s having a revival of interest in gastronomic circles.  We also use it for pilaffs and to add to Winter stews as casserole like our Granny’s did!

 

Serves 4-8

 

6 1/2oz (165g) pearl barley

1.5 litres (2 1/2 pints) water

1 teaspoon salt

2 dessert apples, Cox’s orange or Gala, cored and diced

freshly squeezed lemon juice of 1 lemon

seeds from 1/2-1 pomegranate, depending on size

2 1/2oz (65g) halved toasted almonds

coarsely chopped diced smoked Gubbeen cheese

 

Dressing

125ml (4fl oz) extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons Forum Chardonnay vinegar or cider vinegar

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Flat parsley leaves

 

Put the pearl barley and water into a saucepan and add salt. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

 

Drain very well. Whisk the extra virgin olive oil and vinegar and crushed garlic together, season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss while still warm. Spread out to cool.

 

Meanwhile, quarter and dice the apple. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top, and add the pomegranate seeds, well toasted almonds and diced smoked Gubbeen cheese. Add the remainder of the dressing. Toss gently and combine with the pearl barley. Taste and correct the seasoning. Transfer to a serving dish and allow the flavours to meld for an hour or so. Scatter with flat parsley leaves and serve.

 

Hottips

 

Fermented and Cultured Foods hands-on course on Sunday 23rd February at The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim  with Hans and Gaby Wieland. Cultured foods are “superfoods” celebrated around the world for their health benefits  (digestive tonics, probiotic, antioxidant rich). They are delicious and easy to create.  Among the recipes covered on this course are Kombucha (fermented tea), Sauerkraut (lacto fermented cabbage), Kim-chee (Korean fermented vegetables), Kefir (fermented dairy drink), Rejuvelac (fermented grains). Lots of tastings and sources for the various cultures will be given. €65.00 – www.theorganiccentre.ie

 

East Cork Slow Food event – Celebrate St Brigid, Irish Patron Saint of Dairy on Thursday January 30th 2014. Eileen Cowhig will show us how to make St Brigid’s crosses from local rushes at the Ballymaloe Cookery School at 7pm. Tickets €8.00. €6.00 for Slow Food Members. Coffee and a homemade biscuit from 6.30pm. Enquiries 021 4646785.