CategorySaturday Letter

I’ve had Barrafina Tapas Bar on my London list for ages, but somehow didn’t manage to make it until recently. Everyone I know tells me it’s possibly the best in London – Giles Coran, not given to unbridled praise, wrote in The Times ‘Barrafina is a tapas bar and the best of its kind, the food is fantastic. When they opened in Soho four years ago Sam and Eddie could scarcely have predicted how successful their no-reservations tapas bar and restaurant would be – it’s packed and buzzing all the time, always stylish and lively.’

Having failed to get in a couple of times, I arrived at noon and just managed to ‘bag’ two stools at the bar counter with a perfect view of the busy ‘scene’  and the tiny kitchen at the end.

Basque born Nieves Barragan Mohacho is the head chef of both Barrafina and Fino (another gem just off Charlotte Street in the West End of London) She and her team work magic in this tiny space, this is not complicated restaurant food its gutsy fresh, sometimes delicate, sometimes hearty food that comforts and appeals – I loved it. All round me were regulars some of whom had been eating at Barrafina a couple of times a week for several years – everyone was eager to suggest their favourite menu item that I shouldn’t miss.

First there’s food to eat with your fingers, pimentos de Padron, salt cod fritters delicas, the Spanish equivalent of Devils on Horseback and croquettes.

Then there’s cold meats, fish and shellfish – if you’re lucky there might even be my favourite, razor clams and I had an exquisite sea-bream carpaccio with rosemary oil – a ‘don’t miss’ tip from’ my new best friend’ on my left. The problem is choice, of course there are tortillas, cocos, (little Spanish pizza with spinach, pine kernels and raisins) but then there could be suckling pig or rabbit, a roast cumin rubbed pork with quince. Go with several people so you can share tastes and then you might even have room for pudding – maybe a pot of their classic crema catalona.

I so love living in the country but I found myself envying the guys at either side of me who worked in the high rise offices close by who could look forward to popping in every couple of days – I’ve decided I’m going to try and lure Nieves over to teach a Tapas class at the Ballymaloe Cookery School next year.

Meanwhile Sam and Eddie have decided to share some of their secrets in Barrafina – A Spanish Cookbook published by Fig Tree. Here are some of my favourites.

 

Delicias

 

Delicias by name, delicious by nature! These are the Spanish equivalent of the 1970s English classic ‘Devils on Horseback’, and traditionally come from the town of Elche, inland from Alicante. They differ from their British cousins in being stuffed with almonds and fried until crisp. At Barrafina they serve them with a little watercress salad.

 

Serves 4 as a tapa

 

12 Marcona almonds

12 large pitted dates

6 thin slices of smoked pancetta

1 small shallot, finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons Moscatel vinegar

a bunch of watercress

Maldon salt

Stuff an almond into the centre of each date. Cut each slice of pancetta in half, then wrap each date with a piece of pancetta and secure with a toothpick. Repeat with the rest of the dates. In a bowl whisk together the chopped shallot, olive oil and vinegar. Add the watercress, season with salt and mix well. Heat about 1cm of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and fry the dates on all sides, until the pancetta is brown and crisp. Alternatively you can heat oil to 180°C in a deep-fryer and deep-fry the dates for 30 seconds.

Serve at once, with the watercress salad.

 

Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce

 

At Barrafina they use deepwater mussels from theDorset coast. Lightly cooked in this piquant sauce they make a delicious starter, or, with lots of good bread and a little salad, a more substantial meal.

Serves 4 as a tapa

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

500ml tomate frito or passata

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika

600g mussels, cleaned

4 tablespoons manzanilla sherry

4 tablespoons chopped fresh

flat-leaf parsley

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small, heavy bottomed frying pan. Add the onions and thyme and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Put the tomate frito into a medium pan and heat gently until it comes to the boil. Add the cayenne pepper and paprika, season with salt and pepper and set aside. Heat the remaining olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan until it is smoking. Throw in the mussels, discarding any that are not tightly shut or that refuse to close when you tap them. Cook for 30 seconds, then add the sherry, cover the pan, and cook until the mussels have opened. Discard any that remain shut. Add the tomato sauce and cook over a high heat for another minute to thicken the sauce.  Put the mussels and sauce into a serving dish, spoon over the onions and the chopped parsley and serve with good bread.

 

Chicken with Romesco Sauce

 

Barrafina’s most regular customer, Mike ‘Mustachio’ Goldman, has eaten there over 500 times over the last three years. He often requests that they feature this dish as one of their specials, as it is a particular favourite of his. Needless to say they often oblige.

Serves 4 as a main

4 x 150g chicken drumsticks

4 x 160g chicken thighs

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

½  recipe quantity of Romesco Sauce (see recipe)

 

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put the chicken into a roasting tray. Drizzle it with olive oil, season it with salt and pepper and cook in the oven for 30–40 minutes, until cooked through and golden brown.

Gently warm the romesco sauce in a small pan and serve with the chicken.

 

Romesco Sauce

 

Romesco sauce is extremely versatile and can accompany fish, meat and vegetable dishes. It comes from Catalunia, and there are many different recipes and variations. Romesco keeps well in the fridge.

Makes enough for 6-8 generous portions

(about 650g)

 

1 dried red chilli, soaked in

warm water for 2 hours

4 dried choricero peppers (see page 000),

soaked in warm water for 2 hours

5 plum tomatoes

100ml olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 whole head of garlic, halved horizontally

100g blanched almonds

1 slice of good-quality

white bread, about 2cm thick

50ml sherry vinegar

 

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Drain the soaked chilli and choricero peppers, then remove the seeds and set aside. Put the tomatoes into a roasting dish. Drizzle them with a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap the two halves of garlic in foil and add to the roasting dish. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. When cool enough, pop the garlic cloves out of their skins and set aside. Meanwhile, in a separate smaller roasting dish, toast the almonds in the same oven for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly browned. Be careful – they burn fast! Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan and fry the bread on both sides until golden brown. Put the chillies, choriceros, roasted tomatoes, garlic, almonds, bread and vinegar into a blender or food processor. Add 100ml of olive oil and blitz until smooth. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and keep in the fridge until needed.

 

Chorizo, Potato and Watercress Salad

 

Chorizo is one of those things that while very delicious by itself is best appreciated when combined with something else. This recipe has been on the menu at Barrafina ever since it opened. Indeed, a small riot might ensue on Frith Street if they ever left it out!

 

Serves 4 as a light main

5 tablespoons olive oil

400g new potatoes, cooked

and halved lengthways

salt and freshly ground black pepper

240g small cooking chorizos

40g butter

4 tablespoons chopped shallots

4 tablespoons chopped fresh

flat-leaf parsley

60g watercress

 

Heat an overhead grill to medium high. In a heavy bottomed frying pan, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil until beginning to smoke. Add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook until nicely golden brown. While the potatoes are browning, split the chorizos in half lengthways and score the cut side with a crosshatch about 1mm deep. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Add the butter and shallots to the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and remove from the heat. Drizzle the watercress with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and serve with the potatoes and the grilled chorizo. You can spoon a little of the oil from the chorizo on to the potatoes for a little extra oomph if you like.

 

Recipes extracted fromThe Barrafina Cookbook, Published by Fig Tree

 

Hottips

Pop-up Tapas. Contact Sinead at Stephen Pearce Pottery in Shanagarry, East Cork to find out when the next Tapas night is scheduled – great vibe and delicious little bites – €2 – €3 each. Bring your own wine – telephone:  021 4646807 – facebook: Sineads at Stephen Pearce.

 

Exciting workshops and Courses at Seedsavers in Scarif, Co Clare

Sunday 9^th October – Fruit Trees – How to Plant and Maintain – half day course

Sunday 16^th October – Vegetarian Cookery Soups and Stews

Saturday 22^nd October – Cider Making

Saturday 29^th October – Full day cheese-making course

Phone: +353 61 921866   Email: info@irishseedsavers.ie  /  www.irishseedsavers.ie

Cork Free Choice Consumer Group Event – ‘The Global Food System’ – Modern food production and trade and its consequences for health and the environment with Dr Colin Sage, Department of Geography, UCC. Crawford Art Gallery Café on Thursday 27th Oct at 7.30pm. Entrance 6 euro including tea/coffee.

 

Butchery & Small Scale Meat Production Workshop – Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, in association with the Rural Food Skillnet is offering a two day course demonstrating the butchering of a side of beef, a lamb and a pig into retail cuts for people who are already selling or considering processing and / or selling meat from their own herd. Wednesday 26th & Thursday 27th October 2011 at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15. Phone 01 8059592 – 087 2243712 www.teagasc.ie

 

Congratulations to Ballymaloe House who have won a number of Georgina Campbell Awards for 2012.

• Good Housekeeping Award.
• Good Cooking Award
• Country House Breakfast Award
• Irish Breakfast Award

We had another terrific guest chef at the cookery school recently, Sunil Ghai is a tall handsome chef from Gwalior but he is firmly established on the Irish Restaurant scene. He was chosen as Chef of the Year in Ireland in August 2009 by Food and Wine Magazine– no easy task at the best of times but even more difficult for a non-Irish chef. It was a very popular choice, he is widely respected and admired by his fellow chefs for his knowledge, affable personality and the food served in the Indian restaurants he is associated with in Dublin.  Some may have seen him on Masterchef Ireland last week.
As you all know I have a deep affection for Indian food, in all its extraordinary diversity, I enjoyed the food at Ananda so much that I invited Sunil to come and teach at the cookery school.
His food is simple and delicious, the recipes work and we can now easily source the Asian ingredients and the fresh spices, tamarind, Kashmiri chilli powder, kolonji seeds, chatt masala and ghee are available in most supermarkets and the growing number of Asian shops.
In Cork city it’s still so worth a visit to Mr Bell in the English market from whom I’ve been buying ‘ethnic’ ingredients for over 30 years.
For fresh spices, it’s difficult to beat Green Saffron for freshness – Arun Kapil now has a mail order list, check out www.greensaffron.com  or seek him out at Mahon Point, Midleton or Douglas Farmers Markets. We all loved the dishes that Sunil cooked for us and I’ve done several since. Aloo Tikka are delicious little potato cakes with a secret filling of peas, fresh ginger and spices, we love them as a starter or they could be a vegetarian main course. Sunil’s version of the classic Rogan Josh is particularly delicious and we absolutely loved the easy peasy Lahsooni Patta spinach with cherry tomatoes and spices and the rice pudding is like none other you’ll ever taste but definitely exotic enough to serve for a dinner party.
Here are some for you to try and if you want to taste the original check out Ananda Restaurant http://anandarestaurant.ie/

Sunil Ghai’s Aloo Tikka with Spiced Peas and Sweet and Sour Yoghurt

Serves 4-6

2-3 large potatoes, boiled in their skins
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
1 tablespoon gram flour (optional)

Stuffing
2 tablespoons of oil
1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 green chilli, chopped
110g (4 ozs) green peas, cooked or frozen peas defrosted
20g (3/4oz) chopped raisins (golden)
1/4 teaspoon salt
red chilli powder, to taste (optional)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground dry-roasted cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ghee (or oil),  for pan-frying.

To Serve
250g (9oz) yoghurt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of salt

Peel the potatoes and once they are cool enough to handle, grate them very finely. Add salt and ghee and knead until properly mixed, add 1 tablespoon of gram flour if too soft and starchy.  Divide it into 12 equal portions and roll each into a small ball.

To make the stuffing.
Heat the pan and add the oil, then add ginger and green chilli and sauté for 1 or 2 minutes. Add the green peas and raisins and all the spices and check the seasoning.

Taking one at a time, gently flatten each ball into a round patty of about 1cm (1/2 inch) thick and place a portion of stuffing in the centre. Fold the edges together very carefully so that mixture does not come out.

Now very gently flatten it into a 5cm (2 inch) patty. Repeat the procedure for all potato balls.

To make the stirred yoghurt.
Heat a pan over a medium heat.  Roast the cumin until really quite dark, grind in a pestle and mortar.  Add 1 teaspoon to the yoghurt with the sugar and a pinch of salt.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Heat the ghee or oil in a non-stick pan over a low heat. Slip in the patties, not too many at a time, into the pan. Fry on both sides until crisp and golden brown, over a low heat, adding ghee if required.

Serve aloo tikka hot with stirred yoghurt.

Sunil Ghai’s Kashmiri Lamb Curry
Rogan Josh
There are various stories attached to this controversial recipe –
Roganjosh is a classical preparation traditionally with lamb but it has versions into chicken, seafood and even vegetables!!   There are various stories about the name of Roganjosh.   Some claim “Rogan” is the red colored chilli oil that floats on the curry gives the name, some has it that violet bark of a Kashmiri tree called “Ratanjog” should be boiled in oil to prepare “Rogan” and then lamb curry made with this oil is called Roganjosh.   Recently, I met up with my Kashmiri friends, I went to school with – there version was – Cocks comb flower (Marwal ka Phool) extract should be used to give characteristic color to this classic preparation.   So, there are numerous stories – to keep it simple, I use a recipe and extract the colour from red chillies & tomato paste to get the right looks for this preparation.

Serves 4

Soak 2 almonds over night

1 kg 2¼ lb) leg of lamb
150 g (5 oz) natural yoghurt – tenderises, gives a sourness
½ g saffron
30 g (1½ oz) almonds, peeled and crushed
100 ml (3½ fl oz) sunflower oil
Whole garam masala
1½ tsp cumin seeds
6 green cardamom
2 black cardamom
1 inch (2.5 cm) cinnamon
8 cloves
1 star anise
2 blades mace
1 tsp black pepper
350 g (12 ozs) onions
50 g (2 ozs) ginger-garlic paste – (2 ½ teaspoons)
10 g (½ oz) red chilli powder – Kashmiri chilli powder
10 g (½ oz) coriander
3 g garam masala
5 g turmeric
Salt
60 g (2½ oz) tomato paste
1 bunch coriander leaves
10 g (½ oz) ginger – peeled and cut into fine julienne

Trim the fat from the lamb, remove the bones and cut into 1 inch (2.5cm) cubes.   Whisk the yogurt, add almonds, saffron, salt & half the ginger garlic paste, add the lamb, toss and marinade for 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Meanwhile pound the whole spices roughly in a mortar and pestle. Peel and slice the onions thinly. Wash & finely chop the coriander leaves, peel the ginger and cut into fine julienne.
Heat the sunflower oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the pounded spices, and stir while the  spices start to crackle. Cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the sliced onions, add 2½ teaspoons ginger garlic paste, stir and cook for about 5 minutes until golden brown .  Add the lamb and all the marinade. Stir and cook on a high heat until the oil separates and the meat is browned & 3/4 cooked. Add the dry spices and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the tomato paste.  Add ½ pint water and salt, bring back to the boil and simmer covered until the lamb is cooked.

* When the lamb is added, lamb will shed the excess of moisture and will cook in its own stock, if there isn’t much liquid in the pan, some water or lamb stock may be added.   Once the meat is browned, it will tend to get stuck at the bottom, one has to keep stirring and scrape the bottom. This is important for the characteristic development of the flavors.
Serve in a warm bowl, garnished with coriander & ginger julienne.
Roganjosh can be served with saffron rice or an Indian bread

Sunil Ghai’s Tadka Dal

Home style lentil preparation
(North India)

Serves 3

This lentil preparation is famous for its unique spicing.   It is highly seasoned perked up with chilli and garlic.   A really easy preparation that needs no forward planning.

300 g (11 ozs) yellow pea split peas or toor / chana lentils
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chopped coriander leaves

Seasoning
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 medium tomatoes, chopped but not peeled
Coriander leaves

In a heavy bottomed pan, cook the lentils with salt, turmeric and 1litre (1¾ pints) of water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are soft and cooked.
In a sauté pan, heat the oil and stir fry the garlic to light brown colour, add red chilli powder, sauté for a minute.   Add tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes and add cooked lentils.   Simmer the lentils for 10-15 minutes and sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Lahsooni Patta – Baby Spinach Tossed with Tomatoes, Garlic and Fennel.

Serves 4

2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 teaspoon freshly ground fennel powder
salt to taste
400g (14ozs) baby spinach or destalked spinach leaves
1 teaspoon butter

Heat the oil in the wok over a medium heat.  Add the chopped garlic, sauté for 1 minute, add the tomato halves, then freshly ground fennel, butter and salt. Add the baby spinach leaves and toss quickly for a minute or two – just until they wilt. Serve hot.

Saffron Pear with Saffron Jelly

Serves 10

2 litres (3½ pints/8½ cups) water
750 ml (27 fl oz) sugar
6 green cardamom
1 bay leaf
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise
10 g (½ oz) fennel seeds
10 pears
Thinly pared rind of 1 orange
4 g (¼ oz) saffron

Boil the water, sugar and thinly pared rind of 1 orange, add the spices and saffron and boil for at least 20 minutes to get the spice flavour in the syrup. Peel the pears, remove the seeds. Add the pear to the syrup and let it boil until the pear gets the saffron coating and the pear is cooked in they syrup but still holds its shape.
Saffron Jelly
1 cooked pear
4 g (¼ oz/1½ leaves) gelatine
150 g (5 oz) pear syrup

Soak 1½ leaves of gelatine in a bowl of cold water.  Use the pear syrup, strain it and puree one cooked pear and add to the syrup bring it to the boil and add the gelatine and set aside for 3 hours until it forms a jelly.

Sunil Ghai’s Marwadi Kheer

Serves 4

Cooking time: 1 hour – this dessert can be made ahead and served warm or cold

50 g (2 ozs) basmati rice, soaked for an hour and drained
1.5 litres (2½ pints) milk
3 tbs whole peeled almonds ground to a paste
2 tablespoons water
100 g (3½ ozs) sugar
50 g (2 ozs) fresh coconut, grated
25 g (1 oz) raisins
50 g (2 ozs) Chironji nuts (optional)
50 g (2 ozs) pistachio nuts cut into slivers
50 g (2 ozs) blanched almonds cut in to slivers
½ tsp ground green cardamom seeds
2 tsp Kewra essence – keeps indefinitely, use Rosewater instead
Ghee
To decorate:  silver or gold leaf.

Heat the ghee in a pan  Add the soaked rice and cook, stirring all the time for 2 or 3 minutes.  Add the milk and cook over a low heat for an hour until the rice absorbs the milk and the kheer thickens
Stir in the almond paste, sugar, coconut, raisins, chironji, 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 essence.  Cool and chill.
Serve in individual dishes.
Rice Brulee: Put the rice into ramekins, sprinkle about a generous tablespoon of demerara sugar on top, caramelize with a blow torch.

Hottips
Piemontese cattle are from the mountainous region of Piedmont in Italy and have less fat, cholesterol and calories than chicken. For those who like really lean meat you can now order Irish Purebred Piemontese Beef from Michael and Mary Fennelly’s farm in Stradbally Co Laois, they will courier it to you. www.irishpiemontesebeef.ie for an order form.

Home Butchery, Charcuterie and Sausage Making. There’s a growing interest among chefs and enthusiastic amateurs for home-curing and sausage making if you’d like to try your hand Philip Dennhardt will take the mystery out of it when he teaches a one day course at Ballymaloe Cookery School on Saturday 15th October, Phone 021 4646785 or book online www.cookingisfun.ie

Irish Farmhouse Cheese maker wins Supreme Champion at UK Cheese Awards
Kilree goat’s cheese made by Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese was crowned Supreme Champion at this year’s British Cheese Awards.  A record total of 905 cheeses were entered so Ireland has much to celebrate – a further 30 additional Irish cheeses enjoyed success at what is commonly known as the “Oscars” of the dairy world Irish farmhouse cheese plays a fundamental role in the growth and development of Ireland’s artisan dairy sector.  From its beginnings, only 30 years ago, the sector has grown to encompass 47 producers and over 127 individual cheese types.  The sheer breadth of cheese produced reflects the innovation and ingenuity these entrepreneurs offer. www.foodmatters.co.uk

On a recent visit to Dublin I ate at a gastro pub in Stoneybatter called L Mulligan’s Grocer. Kish Fish text them every day to tell them what is fresh and all beef on the menu is grass fed and Irish, their sausages are from TJ Crowe in Tipperary and Jack McCarthy in Cork. Their pork, eggs and chickens are free-range and Irish. They set up a tasting panel of their best customers to decide on the ultimate Irish coffee they plumbed for Bailies Roastery in Belfast and Kilbeggan whiskey from Cooley distillery. They also serve a selection of Irish craft beers and cider. See the menu on their website www.lmulligangrocer.com.

The whole gastro pub scene hasn’t quite taken off in Ireland in quite the same way as in the UK where some of the very best food is to be found in comfy grungy pubs often with mismatched wooden furniture and crockery, serving gorgeous non fussy seasonal food. There are many good ones now vying for my few precious meal slots when I’m in London. The Eagle, The Canton Arms, The Earl Spencer, Magdalen Arms, The Anchor and Hope…seven years after it first opened I still totally love the latter.

Jonathon Jones would probably blush to hear himself referred to as the most famous and successful gastropub chef in the British Isles but if anything the description is an understatement. His restaurant the Anchor and Hope pub in South London has won six major awards in as many years and is the darling of every restaurant critic who eats there. In the Times, Giles Coren said: ‘it is the most exciting new restaurant I have been to since I started writing this column.’ In the Sunday Times (the difficult to please) AA Gill raved, calling it: a brilliant restaurant…what you’ve been waiting for. In the Independent Tracey Macleod was no less than enthusiastic pointing out that a succession of amazing looking meals emerged from the tiny, two person kitchen, and nothing we tried fell short of first rate. Matthew Fort also gave it a rave review in the Guardian and on and on.

 

In his teens, Jonathon Jones hated school and plotted and schemed incessantly to get out. His dad wouldn’t allow him to leave until he came up with an alternative so he decided on the spur of the moment that he wanted to be a chef. His dad thought he’d ‘fix him’ by getting him a job in a tough hotel kitchen in Edinburgh. He hated it but determinedly hung on and insisting he loved every minute! As luck would have it his sister saw a brilliant article in the Financial Times about a restaurant called La Mimosa in the South of France. The owner said her greatest challenge was getting staff to settle out in the wilds coupled with the fact that the French find it challenging to work for a woman. Jonathon loved the sound of what she was doing – beautiful, fresh food simply cooked. He applied for and got the job and was hooked, the rest is history.

So I decided that if we were to offer a gastro pub course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, there probably wasn’t a better chap to teach it than Jonathon Jones.

He came on Sunday 11^th September with none of the cheffy airs and graces that are all too characteristic of many of the new breed of celebrity chefs. Jonathon was really keen to see the gardens and greenhouses and was genuinely excited by the beautiful fresh produce. It’s a great time of the year, the summer vegetables and fruit are properly tasty by now.

The Anchor and Hope menu chalked up on a blackboard in the open kitchen in Waterloo changes twice a day, so naturally reflects the wild food in season. You can’t book but its cosmopolitan clientele are perfectly happy to queue for a sometimes over an hour in the convivial atmosphere. Great beers, fantastic sherry and a cracking wine list help to pass the time.

They’ve built up their reputation for ‘properly good food’ on several fronts, their sharing dishes served family style in the middle of the table are much loved and bring back memories of a time when people sat down around the kitchen table with family and friends to share a simple meal – it might be a shoulder or neck of lamb, a whole duck with peas with a fine potato gratin and a bowl of salad leaves.

Jonathon charmed us all by his love of real food and his effortless skill in transforming cheaper cuts of meat and offal into the sort of gorgeous comforting food that you fight over.

The kitchen at Anchor and Hope is tiny yet every week they buy in whole animals, butcher them themselves and use very last morsel in a delicious way. Jonathon quoted Fergus Henderson of St John “it’s disingenuous to the animal not to value and use every scrap” Sadly these skills are lost in some restaurant kitchens nowadays where many who call themselves chefs do little more than slit the top of a packet or pop a prepared meal into a microwave to reheat. Here are some Anchor and Hope favourites which Jonathon shared with us.

 

Anchor and Hope’s Beetroot, Horseradish and Watercress Salad

 

Serves 6-8 as a starter

 

• 900g (2lb) small beetroot
• 4 eggs – soft boiled (cook for 5 minutes, cool and peel)
• 2 bunches of watercress

 

Horseradish Dressing

• ·about 2 tablespoon freshly grated horseradish
• ·salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ·a little freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ·about 225g (8oz) crème fraíche (we use Glenilen)

 

For horseradish dressing:

Put the grated horseradish into a bowl.  Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice; add the crème fraîche and mix to combine.

 

Take 900g (2lb) even sized beetroots, wash well but do not damage the root, leave about 4cm (1 1/2 inch) of leaf on top.  Cook with a little salt and vinegar in the water, (30 minutes to 2 hours depending on age).  When tender, peel and cut into chunky bite sized pieces.  Dress rigorously with as much of the horseradish as you like, then gently, fold in a bunch or two of washed watercress.  Divide between the plates.  Decorate with soft boiled eggs, peeled and halved.  Serve with crusty bread.

 

Anchor and Hope’s Slow Cooked Lamb Neck and Gratin of Potatoes with Rosemary and Bay Leaves

Serves 9-10

 

• 3 whole lamb necks, usually on the bone – trim off excess fat
• 4 medium onions chopped coarsely
• 2 large carrots, cut in chunks
• 1/2 head celery, coarsely chopped
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 x 400g (14oz) tin of tomatoes
• 8-10 cloves of garlic
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 500ml (18fl oz) lamb stock or water
• 62ml (2 1/2fl oz) white wine

 

To Serve

Gratin of Potatoes with Rosemary and Bay Leaves (see recipe)

 

Heat a little sunflower oil in a suitable sized casserole.  Season the neck with salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook in the oil until nicely browned, remove from the casserole.  Add the peeled and chopped root vegetables. Nestle the lamb neck back in, add the herbs, white wine and tomatoes and enough stock to come 2/3  up the neck. Bring to a boil on top of the stove and put into the preheated oven at 250°C/500°F/Gas Mark 10 to start with and when it’s simmering gently, cover lamb loosely with the lid or parchment paper, reduce the heat to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and cook until completely tender – 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  The meat should be almost falling off the bones.

 

Cool until next day, remove fat and warm through in a hot oven uncovered before serving.

Serve with gratin of potatoes with rosemary and bay leaves.

 

Gratin of Potatoes with Rosemary and Bay Leaves

 

Serves 4

 

• about 300ml (10fl oz) each of single cream and milk
• 2 sprigs rosemary and a couple of crushed bay leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and fairly thinly sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

 

• a gratin dish
• butter for greasing
• parchment paper

 

Then pour into a buttered gratin dish, cover with parchment paper.

 

Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes. Uncover and brown before serving in a hot oven or under the grill.

 

Anchor and Hope’s Queen of Puddings with Raspberries or Blackberries

 

Stewed plums, greengages, apricots or Bramley apples are also good.  Jonathon uses a big dish when making this recipe as individual ones don’t work in his opinion.  Brown bread may be used – it tastes a bit more virtuous!

 

Serves 8-10

 

• 450g (1lb) fresh raspberries or blackberries or a mixture
• 1.2l (2 pints) full fat milk
• zest of 1/2 an orange and 1/2 a lemon
• 1 vanilla pod
• 200g (7oz) soft white breadcrumbs, preferably sour dough (Jonathon uses St. John bread)
• 100g (3 1/2oz) ground almonds
• 6 egg yolks

 

Meringue

• 6 egg whites
• 250g (9oz) caster sugar

 

To Serve

pouring cream to serve

 

gratin dish

 

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.

 

Put the milk in a heavy stainless steel saucepan; add the orange and lemon zest.  Add 1 vanilla pod, split and with the seeds scraped out well and included.  Bring to a simmer, add the bread chunks and ground almonds and allow to sit for 5 minutes – it should be the consistency of softish porridge.  Add a little more ground almonds if necessary.

 

Separate the eggs save the whites in a spotlessly clean bowl.  Whisk the egg yolks into the base and pour into a gratin dish.

 

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until just set.    Allow to cool (can be cooked ahead and used next day but not ideal).  Spread the fruit on top.

(Raspberry jam is also good and can be used in the traditional way if no fresh fruit is available)

 

Whisk the egg whites in a spotlessly clean dry bowl, free of grease and any residue of detergent.  Whisk until stiff, fold in the caster sugar.  Dollop the meringue roughly over the top and spread so it covers the fruit to an even thickness – return to the oven and cook at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes approximately.  It should be crisp on the outside and be marshmallowy in the inside.   Serve with pouring cream.

 

Hottips

 

As anyone who is coeliac, or who cooks for someone who is coeliac, will testify it is challenging producing really delicious, balanced meals. Now help is to hand in the form of an intensive half-day course led by Rosemary Kearney on Saturday 8^th October from 2pm to 5pm at Ballymaloe Cookery School – phone 0214646785 to book or online www.cookingisfun.ie

 

Rosie’s Farmshop was opened by Rosie Casey last June on her family farm at Poulmucka, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. She sells her own certified organic beef, pork and vegetables. Don’t miss the little teashop where Rosie bakes fresh scones daily and serves teas and Ponaire coffee. Contact 052 6137764 www.rosiesfarmshop.ie

 

Euro-toques have opened their 21st Young Chef of the Year competition, in association with BIM and Failte Ireland. This competition is open to any chef under the age of 25 who has industry experience. They must be nominated by their head chef or a senior industry chef. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, 12th of October at 3pm. For all the details go to www.euro-toques.ie/youngchef.php or phone 01 6779995/085 8520760 or email ruth@euro-toques.ie

 

 A new Urru Greengrocer will open on Saturday 7th October 2011 in Mc Swiney Quay, Bandon, Co. Cork. Nutritionist Lucy Hyland will deliver a “Shop Well, Cook Well, Eat Well – Be Well” nutrition program for Urru shoppers, workshops run at 7.00pm on Tuesday 4^th, 11^th, 18^th and 25^th October and cost €80 for all four. To book phone 023-8854731 / 086-8372138, ruthhealy@urru.ie www.urru.ie  www.foodforliving.com

 

Our recent event with Outstanding in the field, was covered by some food bloggers.

http://marmitelover.blogspot.com/2011/09/outstanding-in-field-at-ballymaloe.html

Alys Fowler dedicated her book The Thrifty Forager “to my mother – thank you for teaching me to eat my weeds” – how cool is that!

It’s a terrific book; Alys’s mum taught her how to forage when she was just a tot, the first thing she distinctly remembers is sucking nectar from clover flowers.

Foraging, or searching for food ‘in the wild’ brings out the latent hunter-gatherer that exists deep in many of our physic. Nowadays it’s as likely to be in towns and cities as in the country side.

Ever since I was a child when I picked watercress from the edge of the stream by the Chapel Meadows, I have always loved foraging, except we didn’t call it that back then. Throughout the year we had little expeditions, to find wild strawberries down the bog lane, bilberry or fraughans on Cullohill mountains around Lunaghsa (the first week of August.) Later there were damsons around the old castle and wild hazelnuts, rowans and elderberries in the hedgerows.

Where others see weeds or nothing at all I can see dinner, not just fruit, berries and nuts. There are all those greens and leaves that feed and nourish and heal.

Early in the year, young hawthorn leaves are known to be excellent for your cardiovascular system. Young nettles have long been incorporated into our diet, their value as a blood cleanser is well known and the knowledge has been passed from generation to generation. Chickweed, sorrel, ground elder, sweet woodruff, bittercress, garlic mustard, oraches, daisy, borage, shepherds purse, ladies smock, mallow, ransomes and on and on.

Fowler writes “It’s true; I’ve been less than truthful to my husband for the last couple of years about where our dinners have come from. I can see his point, it is a little weird to go out and forage when there’s a supermarket at the bottom of our road. But I gain so much pleasure from foraging; every leaf, seed and berry that I pick somehow seems to connect me both to my past and my future. I think about what my mother has taught me about the outdoors. I think of the many women over the millennia that have done this.”

Flowers are also edible – violets, pansies, roses (wild and old varieties are best, avoid heavily sprayed flowers from the florists) daisies, clover, field poppy, dandelion, day lily, mallow, marigolds, nasturtiums and many many more.

Guess what, as local has become the sexiest word in food and not only over here but also in the United States and Australia where local is more valued and evocative than organic, foraging has now become so hip you can’t imagine, if you happen to wander through a park in London on a week-end you’re bound to encounter lots of foragers with bags and baskets eagerly gathering weeds, berries, fruit plants and leaves, depending on the season. And not just in the parks, there are also rich pickings on common areas, railway embankments, playing fields, along the seashore…

Once you start to think foraging you’ll see the bounty of nature in a new light when you go for a walk you’ll see delicious pickings to incorporate into your menu, even more importantly many wild foods are as nature intended and their full compliment of vitamins, minerals and trace elements to supplement what can nowadays be a diet of seriously denatured food.

So if you’d like to join the new movement, arm yourself with a good book – my Forgotten Skills book has an extensive chapter on foraging – but I totally love Alys Fowlers The Thrifty Forager published by Kyle Books and even though I reckon to be an old hand, I have discovered many new finds which I can’t wait to taste.

Birgit’s Stone Soup

Stone soup comes from an old folk story found in many parts of the world about making something out of nothing. Birgit is quite used to me turning up at her house with a handful of this or that and staying long enough for them to be whipped into something nourishing for lunch. Her version of the soup is excellent for instant positive results after foraging, and ideal when coming back cold from a long foraging walk. This is a warming soup that takes just 30 minutes from bag to bowl.

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course

2 medium onions

Garlic (2 cloves or more to taste)

3 big potatoes

2 big handfuls of mixed foraged herbs: stinging nettles, wild garlic, chickweed, lemon balm, sow thistles,

ground elder, bladder campion, three-cornered leeks, herb bennet leaves, sorrel, dandelions, dead nettles, mallows (though these make for a mucilaginous soup if you include too many), fat hen, oraches or borage.

Or just a single green, such as sorrel or stinging nettles

Butter or good frying oil, such as rapeseed oil

Good-quality vegetable stock cube or powder

Good-quality salt (such as Himalayan rock salt or sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Bread of your choice, to serve

Chop the onions and garlic finely.

Peel and chop the potatoes into fairly small cubes.

Roughly chop the herbs.

Heat the fat in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the finely chopped onions and stir until they start to glaze, then add the garlic and fry until just golden. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring to stop them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cover with boiling water, add a little vegetable stock (cube or powder) and cook for a further 7–10 minutes. Add the roughly chopped herbs and cook until just tender (say another 4 minutes) – do not overboil the herbs or they’ll lose their goodness. Season to taste. Serve with chunky bread.

If you prefer a smooth-textured soup, whizz it through a blender. This will also fuse the flavours together, particularly if you’ve used a lot of bitter herbs, and make it more palatable to those who may be a little wary of wild things.

 

 

 

Roast Rack of Spring Lamb with Membrillo

 

 

 

Serves 4-6

 

 

 

Many butchers will prepare a rack of lamb for you.

 

 

 

2 racks of lamb (6 cutlets each)

 

salt and freshly ground pepper

 

 

 

Accompaniment

 

Membrillo (see recipe)

 

 

 

Garnish

 

sprigs of fresh mint

 

 

 

Prepare the racks of lamb as in diagram.

 

 

 

Score the fat. Refrigerate until needed.

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 220°C\425°F\gas mark 7.

 

 

 

Sprinkle the racks of lamb with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast fat side upwards for 25-30 minutes depending on the age of lamb and degree of doneness required. When cooked, remove lamb to a warm serving dish. Turn off the oven and allow the lamb to rest for 5-10 minutes before carving to allow the juices to re distribute evenly through the meat.

 

 

 

Carve the lamb and serve 2-3 cutlets per person depending on size. Serve with membrillo.

 

 

 

　

 

Alys Fowler’s Membrillo

 

Quinces or flowering quinces, japonica

 

Water

 

1 vanilla pod, split

 

Lemon juice and rind of 1 lemon,

 

cut into strips

 

Granulated sugar

 

Wash the quinces well, as they have a sticky coating that attracts all sorts of dirt, then chop them into quarters and remove all their pips – like many other rose family plants, the seeds contain nitrites that are converted into hydrogen cyanide in your stomach. Too many seeds can be toxic and result in death.

 

Place fruit in a large pan, adding just enough water to cover the fruit. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer until tender. This takes 20–30 minutes.

 

Strain the juice overnight to use for jelly (see opposite) and put the remaining pulp through a sieve or mouli, then add the vanilla, lemon juice, rind and sugar (the same weight of sugar as pulp). Return the pan to the heat and bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly so that the sugar melts. Bring this to a rapid boil until it reaches setting point, when the paste will feel thick and scrape clean away from the sides of the pan. This takes between 30–45 minutes. Then take the pan off the heat and pour the paste onto greaseproof paper on baking trays to air-dry. If you have a dehydrator, use it at this stage.

 

The paste should be about 2cm thick. After several days, it should be slightly shiny and sticky to touch, but not moist. Wrap the paste in greaseproof paper and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It will last many months kept like this.

 

Perrine Puyberthier’s Plum Tarte

 

For the pastry

 

300g (10 ½ oz) flour

 

150g (5oz) butter

 

50g (2oz) caster sugar

 

2 egg yolks

 

1 glass of milk

 

Mix the flour with the butter and sugar until it becomes sandy textured. Add the egg yolks and milk and mix together into a ball. Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge to stand for 1 hour. After an hour roll out the pastry to fit a 23cm (9in) tart case. Line the pastry with baking powder and baking beans or dried pulses and bake blind at 180ºC/gas mark 4 until it turns pale brown.

 

Let it cool. (obviously get rid of the paper and beans first!)

 

Meanwhile prepare the crème patissiere:

 

500ml (18floz) milk

 

1 vanilla pod

 

100g (3 ½ oz) caster sugar

 

2 egg yolks

 

50g (2oz) cornflour

 

Heat the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla pod. Do not let it boil.

 

In a bowl, mix the sugar with the two yolks until it becomes smooth and shiny.

 

Add the cornflour and stir well.

 

Take the hot milk off the stove and remove the vanilla pod.

 

Put it back on a low heat and add the sugary egg mixture, stirring constantly. It usually takes about 15 minutes for the crème to cook. It should become stiff and come away from the sides of the pan, but it can take a little longer.

 

The plum filling

 

1kg (approx 2lb) plums

 

Wash the plums, halve them and take out the stones. Spread the crème patissiere on the pastry and cover neatly with the plums. You can spread a layer of plum jam between the crème and the plums to add a touch of sweetness. The greatest joy about this tarte was its delicious tartness.

 

Bake the tart at 180ºC/gas mark 4 for 15 to 20 minutes – the plums will become soft and slightly caramelised.

 

Alys Fowler’s Rose Petal Jam

 

250g (9oz) rose petals (that’s roughly a quarter of a standard carrier bag of petals). I mix pink dog rose with a creamy yellow, highly scented rose from my garden.

 

1.1 litres (2 pints) water

 

Juice of 2 lemons

 

450g (1lb) granulated sugar

 

The petals may have a few bugs on them, so gently shake them free of any intruders, place in a bowl, add half the sugar and leave for several hours or overnight. This infuses the rose flavour into the sugar and darkens the petals.

 

In a heavy-based pan, add the water, lemon juice and remaining sugar, then gently heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the rose petals and simmer for 20 minutes or until the rose petals look as if they are melting and have softened – pull a few out and chew if necessary, they should melt in your mouth but have a slight bite. Turn the heat up and bring to a rapid boil for 5 minutes or until setting point is reached. Remove any scum that may have risen to the top and allow to cool slightly, stirring gently so that the petals are evenly distributed. Cover and bottle as usual.

 

Alys Fowler’s Rose Petal Vinegar

 

Fill a bottle or jar with rose petals, then add very good-quality white vine vinegar and seal with a cork. If you use deep pink petals, the vinegar will go a lovely colour. Keep out of direct sunlight and the vinegar will be ready after two months.

 

Alys Fowler’s Raspberry Vodka

 

A bottle of vodka

 

As many raspberries as you can pick

 

A tablespoon of sugar (white or light brown so as not to colour the vodka)

 

Drink a little neat vodka so that there is space in the bottle to fill with wild raspberries. Add the sugar, but do not shake, as this will destroy all the raspberries. Instead, keep the bottle on its side or at an angle and turn every few days till the sugar is dissolved. After a couple of months, strain the contents and store in suitable bottles. This is a subtle flavour with none of the chemical taste of commercial raspberry vodkas and needs to be treated accordingly in cocktails. It is particularly good with soda water and lime.

 

Hot Tips

 

A feast of Irish food from artisan producers matched with award winning wines at O’Connell’s in Donnybrook is on Tuesday, 27th September 2011 from 7.00pm.

 

Donal O’Sullivan, Shellfish de la Mer, West Cork. Bill Casey, Organic Smoked Salmon, East Cork. Alan Pierce, Gold River Farm, Co Wicklow, Mary O’Regan, Organic Chicken, Co Wexford, Irish Hereford Prime Society and Gubbeen Chorizo, Salamis and Cheeses will be matched with wines from Bodegas Valdemar

from the Rioja Region in Spain. To book phone 01 2696116 tom@oconnellsdonnybrook.com.

Darina Allen

 

cookery demonstration at The Irish Seed Savers Apple Weekend on Sunday 25^{th September the Apple Weekend starts on Saturday 24th September at 12 noon at Capparoe Scarriff, Co Clare. Park at Scarriff National School and take the free shuttle bus to the Irish Seed Savers site. For more information 061 921866 –}

^{http://irishseedsavers.ie/}

Debbie Shaw (Naturopathic Nutritionist)^{is back on Saturday 1st October 2011 to teach Feel Good Food for Winter – a day course from 9:30am to 5:00pm at Ballymaloe Cookery School – learn how to make really delicious healthy recipes for energy, vitality and optimal health. 021 4646785.}

Shanagarry GIY Group
Monthly Meeting at Ballymaloe Cookery School

Heirloom Potato Event

Lissadell Estate in Co Sligo has the largest private collection of potatoes in Ireland. Dermot Carey and David Langford will give a talk on the collection from the Victoria Walled Garden on Lissadell Estate at Ballymaloe Cookery School. They will show us over 60 distinct varieties they have saved.

Tuesday 27th September, 2011 at 7:00pm
All Welcome – Admission Free
Contact 021 4646785
www.giyireland.com

We had a terrific day last Saturday, the winners of the Slow Food Grandmothers Day Examiner Competition arrived to enjoy their prize – a day at the Ballymaloe Cookery School and Gardens –  six grandchildren, four grannies and a couple of mums.

They had sent in their favourite recipes that Gran or Nana cooked. We had a lovely response and the usual challenge to choose the winners. We did well.

First we had a cookery demonstration where we shared a few simple recipes and examples of deep pan soda bread pizza with tomato, chorizo and bubbly cheese. Then everyone donned their aprons and went into the kitchen where grannies taught their precious little grandchildren how to cook their favourite recipe – passing on the skills from one generation to the other in the time honoured way and nurturing the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren.

Maeve Falvey had chosen her Nana’s beef and carrot pie. Maeve’s beloved Nana has passed away so she came with her mum who explained which cut of beef to buy and how to cut and prepare the vegetables. Her mum reminded her, “don’t forget to season and do it with your fingers and not a spoon”

Then we all gathered around to watch how Maeve and her mum made them, folded and rolled the rough puff pastry to achieve a flaky texture. Maeve covered the pie with pastry, tucked in the edges, brushed it with egg wash and popped it into the oven. Meanwhile Gillian McCarthy from Dungarvan was making a porter cake, a traditional favourite. Her Nan Peg McCarthy showed her first how to line the cake tin, then they creamed the butter and sugar and folded in the fruit and flour carefully before baking in a round tin.

Close by Siofra and Sadhbh Mcelhinney were plumping up the fruit to make theirNan’s favourite Cider Cake. This versatile cake is used for birthdays, christenings, weddings, Easter and Christmas in the McElhinney household. It makes a moist and delicious cake which keeps brilliantly for several weeks in a tin if you can manage to hide it.

Clodagh Tanner’s Granny Noni has a terrific recipe for Biscuit cakes. This little gem makes about 48 discs which she sandwiches together with homemade raspberry jam. Then they made a white glace icing for the top. We rooted out some hundreds and thousands to sprinkle over the icing for the finishing touch.

Megan Lawton came with her mother and made some delicious raspberry jam and mummy’s sweet white scones. Megan won first prize in the local schools Slow Food Grandmother’s Poetry Competition. While the cakes and pies were in the oven, the cooks of all ages made scones and pizza, homemade lemonade and raspberry jam.

Eventually we sat down to enjoy lunch together and what a feast it was. Afterwards we had a walk through the garden, farm and greenhouse and saw the pigs, chickens and the Jerseycows. We tasted tomatoes and cucumbers straight from the vine and marvelled at the flavour. It was a wonderful day and I greatly enjoyed chatting to the spirited grannies and their much loved grandchildren. Look out for Slow Food International Grandmothers Day in April 2012 – www.slowfoodireland.com

 

Nan Peg’s Meat Pie

 

This is so delicious and really easy and filling – a perfect family dish.

Serves 6 – 8

 

10 ozs (275 g) plain flour

6 ozs (175 g) butter

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 pint (500 ml) beef stock

2 lbs (900 g) round steak

Salt and pepper

 

Oven proof dish 12 x 9 inches (30.5cm x 23 cm)

 

Preheat the oven 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6

 

Mix the flour with ¼ tsp of salt and pepper. Cut the butter into cubes and mix into the flour. Don’t over mix just enough so that you can still see the butter cubes. Add 1 mug of water to the flour and butter mix and knead lightly. Wrap pastry in cling film and put into fridge for 15 minutes.

Cut steak into cubes and roll in seasoned flour then put them into the oven proof dish. Put the chopped onions and carrots over the meat. Pour the beef stock over the meat and vegetables, not above the level of the meat. Take out the pastry and then roll in out to fit the dish, then lay it over the meat and have some pastry left over so that you can roll it and put around the side. Put into the preheated oven and after 10 minutes take it out and cover with tin foil, reduce the temperature to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4  and cook for approximately 1 hour. Take the meat pie out of the oven and remove the tin foil, put back into the oven for approximately 10 minutes to brown.

 

 

 

Nana Noni’s Biscuit Cake

 

14½ ozs (410 g) plain flour

1½ oz (35 g) corn flour

8 ozs (225 g) butter

1 egg, preferably free range

3 ozs (75 g) castor sugar

3 tablespoons milk

 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4.

Put the castor sugar, butter, flour and cornflour into a bowl and crumb them together. Add the egg and milk. Roll out and cut into shapes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. When cool sandwich together with raspberry jam, ice the top and cover with sprinkles

 

 

Nana Peg McCarthy’s Porter Cake

 

1 lb 8 ozs (675 g) flour

1 tsp bread soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cake spice

8 ozs (225 g) butter

8 ozs (225 g) brown sugar

1 lb (450 g) fruit – raisins, sultanas, mixed peel and cherries

3 eggs, preferably free range

1 small bottle stout

 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4.

 

9in x 3in round tin

 

Sieve the flour, bread soda and spices together. Rub in the butter and add the brown sugar and fruit, some cherries and mixed peel as desired. Mix the eggs together with the stout; you may not need all the stout so keep some back. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, mix together well and put into the tin. Bake for about 1 ½ hours or hours in the oven or until a skewer comes out clean, cool in the tin. Nanny’s porter cake is always served with plenty of butter.

 

 

Granny McElhinney’s Cider Cake

 

1½ lbs (900 g) mixed dried fruit

1 heaped tsp mixed spice

500 ml(18 fl ozs) cider

Finely grated rind of 1 orange

1 rounded tsp baking powder

8 ozs (225 g) soft brown sugar

4 ozs (100 g) cherries, halved

4 ozs (100 g) mixed peel

4 eggs, preferably free range

8 ozs (225 g) butter

1 lb (450 g) plain flour

Pinch salt

 

9in x 2.5in pop-up tin

 

Put the dried fruit in a saucepan and cover with the cider. Over a gentle heat, bring slowly to just below boiling point and leave for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (to allow the fruit to absorb the cider). Remove from the heat, then leave to cool or leave overnight.

 

Preheat the oven 160ºC/325ºF/gas mark 3. Grease and line a 9 inch (23 cm) round or 8 inch (20.5 cm) square deep tin.

Sieve the flour, salt, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl. Rub in the butter. Stir in the sugar, mixed peel, cherries and orange rind. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and set aside.

When the fruit is cold, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the beaten eggs and fruit. Stir well.

Place mixture in the prepared tin and level the top with the back of a wet spoon. Sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, then reduce the temperature to 150ºC/300ºF/gas mark 2 and cook for a further 90 minutes approximately. Leave the cake in the tin to cool.
Note: This cake will improve in flavour if left for a few days before cutting. It also freezes well

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Tips

 

Budding chefs will want to know that Chef Factor is back with the most sought after cookery prize in Ireland, a place on the 12 Week Certificate Course at Ballymaloe Cookery School including accommodation. Cully and Sully say ‘You don’t have to be a whizz in the kitchen, this is about the opportunity to become one!’ Enter online www.cheffactor.ie

 

Autumn Gardening Seminar ‘Dermot’s Secret Garden’ will be presented by RTE broadcaster and author Dermot O’Neill and Brian Cross at Fota House on Saturday 24^th September from 9am to 4pm. Tickets are €60.00 including lunch – www.fota.ie

 

Ella McSweeney (Ear to the Ground RTE) has been working on a brilliant online project to link people to Irish farmers who sell direct. It’s a not-for-profit website called Your Field My Fork – it’s free for farmers to use – all they need to do is list the food they rear or grow themselves www.yourfieldmyfork.com

 

Karen Austin from Lettercollum has some exciting autumn cookery courses lined up, visit www.lettercollum.ie to see her schedule or call into the shop, Lettercollum Kitchen Project 22, Connolly Street, Clonakilty or email karen@lettercollum.ie

 

Did we ever think we would hear a discussion on the RTE airwaves about people choosing to go hungry rather than default on their mortgage for fear of loosing their house – the reality has stunned the Irish nation.

One can just imagine how paralysed with fear many must be by the situation they find themselves in. The problem is further exacerbated when people can’t cook or have few practical life skills.

Many nutritious ingredients are inexpensive but one needs to know how to turn them into a delicious nourishing meal.

For those who have a little land, a front or back garden can produce a prodigious amount of food. Beautiful flower beds and a manicured lawn and are all very well, but a well tended vegetable patch will nourish the family and can also be a thing of beauty. A few edible flowers like nasturtiums and marigolds scattered around add colour and are also very high in antioxidants. Even a few pots on a balcony or in a paved or concrete yard can produce a surprising quantity of salad, fresh herbs, spinach, chard… It’s a bit late this year to plant most things but one can still plant winter lettuces, spring cabbages. Autumn onion sets and winter garlic will be soon available, you can even sow broad beans as late as November.

Everyone should have a few hens! Even though the number of households who now have a chicken coop has increased dramatically, many people are still unaware how easy it is to keep a few hens and the enormous rewards for so little effort, it’s win win all the way.

You need to move the chicken-coop around the lawn every couple of days and four or five hens will provide enough eggs for most families. The leftover household scraps supplemented with a little meal can be fed to the hens on a daily basis. Your reward will be beautiful fresh eggs plus you can save money by not having to pay your local council to dispose of the food waste.

The hen manure activates compost and the well rotted result can be dug into the vegetable patch to make the soil more fertile to produce healthy nourishing vegetables for the family.

GIY (Grow it Yourself) Ireland is a brilliant grass roots organisation where members help and support each other in their efforts to learn how to grow vegetables. There are branches in many Irish towns, villages and urban areas, see www.giyireland.com

Members meet regularly, swap and share seeds, plants, surplus vegetables and fruit and are often happy to come and get you started if you don’t know where to begin.

Those of you who are desperate to learn how to cook, you are unlikely to learn practical skills from the celebrity chefs, what is needed are simple dishes that fill and nourish the family. Look out for cooking classes in your local vocational school the new term has started already.

Let those of us who are fortunate enough to have learned the skills of gardening, cooking and foraging pass on the skills at every opportunity to our neighbours, friends and the young people around us.

There are loads of blackberries dripping off the bushes all over the country. There’s a terrific apple crop this year, lets share if we have a surplus and look out for a crab apple tree, and they make a fantastic jelly that will delight your family and friends. Here are a few simple recipes.

Carrot and Cumin Soup

Carrots are inexpensive and nutritious and help you to see in the dark so you save on your electricity bill!

Serves 6 approximately

 

A little freshly toasted and ground cumin adds a Moroccan flavour to carrot soup. If you prefer a plain soup then leave the cumin out.

 

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds

45g (1 3/4oz) butter

110g (4oz) onion, chopped

140g (5oz) potatoes, chopped

560g (11/4lb) carrots, preferably organic, chopped

salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

1.1l (2 pints) homemade chicken or vegetable stock

150ml (1/4 pint) creamy milk, (optional)

Garnish

a little whipped cream or yoghurt

freshly ground cumin

coriander leaves 

Heat the cumin seed on a frying pan, just for a minute or two until it smells rich and spicy. Grind in a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan, when it foams add the chopped vegetables and cumin seed. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar and toss until coated. Cover with a butter paper and a tight fitting lid. Allow to sweat gently on a low heat for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables have softened slightly. Remove the lid. Add the boiling stock, increase the heat and boil until the vegetables are soft. Pour into a liquidiser add and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add a little creamy milk if necessary.

Garnish with a blob of whipped cream, natural yoghurt, crème frâiche or sprinkle with a little ground cumin and coriander leaf.

Note : If you would like a more pronounced cumin flavour, increase the amount of cumin seeds to three teaspoons.

Croutons

A delicious way to use up stale bread.

Croutons can be made several hours or even a day ahead with oil flavoured by sprigs of rosemary, thyme or onion. Cut into cubes or stamp out into various shapes – hearts, stars, clubs, diamonds or whatever else takes your fancy – and sprinkle over salads or serve with soups. Serves 4

2 slices of slightly stale white bread, 5mm (1⁄4in) thick

sunflower or olive oil

First cut the crusts off the bread, then cut into 5mm (1⁄4in) strips and finally exact cubes.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. It should be at least 2cm (3⁄4in) deep and almost smoking. Put a tin sieve over a Pyrex or stainless-steel bowl.

Add the croutons to the hot oil. Stir once or twice; they will colour almost immediately. When the croutons are golden brown in colour, pour the oil and croutons into the sieve and drain on kitchen paper. Reheat the oil to cook another batch or use for another purpose.

Gratin of Potato, Spring Onion and Bacon

Potatoes are filling and inexpensive.

Potato gratins are a tasty, nourishing and economical way to feed lots of hungry people on a chilly evening, this recipe could also include little pieces of bacon or a lamb chop cut into dice, so it can be a sustaining main course or a delicious accompaniment.

Serves 4 as a main course

Serves 6 as an accompaniment

4oz (110g) to 8oz (225g) of streaky bacon

3 lbs (1.5kg) ‘old’ potatoes, eg. Golden Wonders or Kerrs Pinks

2 bunches of spring onions

1 oz (25g) butter

3-6 ozs (75-175g) Irish mature Cheddar cheese, grated

salt and freshly ground pepper

 (300-450ml) homemade chicken, beef or vegetable stock

Oval ovenproof gratin dish – 12 1/2 inch (31.5cm) long x 2 inch (5cm) high

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

Heat a little oil in a frying pan, add the bacon and cook on medium heat until the fat runs and the bacon is crispy.

Slice the peeled potatoes thinly, blanch and refresh. Trim the spring onions and chop both the green and white parts into approx. 1/4 inch (5mm) slices with a scissors or a knife.

Rub an oven proof dish thickly with half the butter, scatter with some of the spring onions, and half the bacon then a layer of potatoes and then some grated cheese. Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Continue to build up the layers finishing with an overlapping layer of potatoes, neatly arranged. Pour in the boiling stock, scatter with the remaining cheese and dot with butter.

Bake in a preheated oven for 1-1 1/4 hours or until the potatoes and bacon are tender and the top is brown and crispy.

 

Note:

It may be necessary to cover the potatoes with a paper lid for the first half of the cooking.

Blackberry, Apple and Sweet Geranium Crumble

 

Serves 6-8

Crumbles are comfort food; vary the fruit according to the season.

1 1/2 lbs (675g) Bramley Seedling cooking apples

4oz (110g) blackberries

1 1/2-2 ozs (45-50g) sugar

1-2 tablespoons water

2 chopped sweet geranium leaves (pelargonium graveolens)

Crumble

4 ozs (110g) white flour, preferably unbleached

2 ozs (50g) cold butter

2 ozs (50g) castor sugar

1 oz (25g) chopped almonds or hazelnuts (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

 

2 pint (1.1L) capacity pie dish

 

Peel the apples, cut into quarters, remove the core and cut into large cubes.

Turn into a pie dish, scatter the blackberries and chopped sweet geranium leaves over the top. Sprinkle with sugar.

 

Rub the butter into the flour just until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, add the sugar and cinnamon and chopped nuts if using. Sprinkle this mixture over the apple in the pie dish. Bake in a preheated moderate oven 180°C/350°F/regulo 4, for 30-45 minutes or until the topping is cooked and golden. Serve with whipped cream and soft brown sugar.

Crab Apple or Bramley Apple Jelly

This makes lots and will see you through the winter – also a handy and welcome present.

Makes 2.7-3kg (6-7 lb)

2.7kg (6 lb) crab apples or wind fall cooking apples

2.7L (4 3/4 pints) water

2 unwaxed lemons

sugar

Wash the apples and cut into quarters, do not remove either peel or core. Windfalls may be used, but make sure to cut out the bruised parts. Put the apples into a large saucepan with the water and the thinly pared rind of the lemons, cook until reduced to a pulp, approx. 3/4 hour.

Turn the pulp into a jelly bag* and allow to drip until all the juice has been extracted – usually overnight. Measure the juice into a preserving pan and allow 450g (1lb/2 cups) sugar to each 600ml (1pint/2 1/2 cups) of juice. Warm the sugar in a low oven.

Squeeze the lemons, strain the juice and add to the preserving pan. Bring to the boil and add the warm sugar. Stir over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and boil rapidly uncovered without stirring for about 8-10 minutes. Skim, test and pot immediately.

　

Hot Tips

National Organic Week is on from Monday 12^{th to Sunday 18th September. www.bordbia.ie.　for events and try to link into your local organic farmer to buy direct.}

For brilliant chemical free vegetables, seek out Caroline Robinson’s stall on the Coal Quay Farmers Market in Cork every Saturday from 9am to 4:30pm.

Learn how to make your own cheese –

on Corleggy Farm in Belturbet, Co Cavan, with Silke Cropp on a one day cheese making course on Sunday 18th September and take home your very own kilo of cows milk cheese. €150.00 for the full day including lunch, to book email ^{corleggy@gmail.com}

Calling all pub owners!

If you’d like to learn some really great gastropub cooking don’t miss Jonathan Jones who owns the hugely successful Anchor and Hope pub in London. He will teach a practical two and half day course at Ballymaloe Cookery School from Monday 12th to Wednesday 15th September. Book online at

^{www.cookingisfun.ie or phone 021 4646785.}

The School of Restaurant and Kitchen Management

^{Pub Food Management course is 12 days spread out over September, October and November –giving participants the opportunity to put into practice what they learn as the course progresses – the first day is on Tuesday 13th September visit www.restaurantmanagement.ie/courses}

Every year I take the Ballymaloe Cookery School teachers on a skite toLondon to eat, drink and be very merry all in the way of research. We keep our eyes and ears open for new trends and tasty bites to incorporate into our repertoire and pass on to the students who come to the school.

On Friday afternoon I arrived a little earlier than some of the others and headed for Shoreditch, a really happening area in East Londonto check out the uber cool Rochelle Canteen, a quirky gem in the converted bike shed of a Victorian school. Just missed lunch, but picked up some tantalisingly delicious sounding menus. Like Brooklyn and Harlem inNew York, the Shoreditch/Whitechapel area is all about galvanize and graffiti, recycled building materials, distressed furniture, old china and dynamic street art, all impossibly chic. Just around the corner on Calvert Avenue, I found Leila’s  one of my favourite cafes and grocery shops with an achingly stylish semi open kitchen, a wooden plate rack, rusty galvanise counter, zinc topped tables, old French terracotta bowls and a blackboard. The menu is short and minimalist – toast and jam, fried eggs with sage leaves, puy lentil and courgette soup… I had a little feast – an eclectic mix, a terracotta bowl of Salmorejo with chopped hard boiled egg, strips of Serrano ham and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a bowl of fresh cherries, a gorgeous brownie on a board with a knife so I could cut it into a million little pieces and nibble it in guilty bites with a cup of Robert Wilson Ceylon tea. Sated, I then wandered into the beautiful grocery shop next door and bought some of the tea, a bag of squashed peaches and fantastic cheese. My next stop was Labor and Wait – a shop that is unquestionably my favourite retail experience, no it doesn’t sell clothes or sexy lingerie, it sells the sort of merchandise that you haven’t seen for years, Stanley Flasks, Guernsey Jumpers, vintage kitchen ware, Sussex trugs, enamel pie dishes, zinc dustpans, heavy drill aprons… and they ship…

It’s only a couple of minutes walk from The Albion, Terence Conran’s latest venture, a clever combination of hotel, café and food shop. All very ‘Conran’ but somehow very predictable in comparison to the cutting edge urban chic neighbours. Nonetheless the cafe is phenomenally popular especially for breakfast. On a fine day, visit the stylish rooftop bar and grill with views fromCanaryWharfto the Gherkin and Barbican in the distance. Railroad Cafe is another cute little café cum bookshop in Hackney. Here, Lizzie Parle and her partner Matt serve good tea, coffee, artisan beer and dinner three nights a week and hosts some great gigs downstairs at the weekend. They were writing the menu on a Perspex board and it sounded great but I was bound for Brawn on the corner ofColumbia Roadin Bethnal Green to meet the BCS team. We ordered just about everything on the menu – home made Brawn of course with tiny crunchy gherkins,  a dollop of pork rilettes with crusty bread, pork scratchings, plaice with marsh samphire, capers and brown butter, Cornish sardines with spiced aubergines and harissa, hand chopped Tuscan style beef, confit duck leg with barlotti beans and girolles………The menu is divided into Taste Ticklers, Pig , Plancha Cold, Slow Cook, Pudding and Cheese- don’t miss the wobbly Panna Cotta with cherries and the crepes with salted butter caramel. Great atmosphere, lots of sharing plates, very au courant.

 

Caramelized Chicory with Crozier Blue Cheese and Caramelised Walnuts

 

This is my version of one the Tapas we ate at José, they used Picos Blue Cheese.

 

Serves 6

 

6 heads of chicory (tightly closed with no trace of green)

2 pints (1.1L) water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

good squeeze of lemon juice

butter

4-6 ozs (110-175g) Crozier Blue crumbed

3 ½ oz (100g) fresh walnuts, halves

3ozs (75g) sugar

Pinch of salt

First cook the chicory.

Remove a thin slice from the root end of each chicory.  Remove the centre root with the tip of a sharp knife if you find it too bitter.  Bring the water to the boil, add salt, sugar and a good squeeze of lemon juice add the chicory and cook for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until almost or completely tender depending on how you intend to finish the cooking. Remove the chicory when it is tender and a knife tip will pierce the root end without resistance.  Drain well and then squeeze out all excess water (I do this in a clean T- towel).

When cool, cut each chicory into 4 lengthwise. Melt the butter in a sauté pan, cook the chicory in a single layer on a low heat until caramelized on all sides, turning when necessary. Meanwhile, caramelise the walnuts.

Sprinkle the sugar in an even layer on a heavy bottom pan over a medium heat. Spread the walnuts evenly over the sugar, cook over a low heat until the sugar first melts and then caramelises. Tilt the pan to coat the walnuts in caramel, careful not to get burnt. Turn out immediately onto a non stick silpat mat or an oiled baking tray. Separate the caramelised nuts immediately with two oiled forks and allow to get cold.

 

To serve

Arrange three pieces of chicory on a hot plate. Scatter some crumbled Crozier Blue cheese on top.

Pop under the grill for a minute or two, the cheese should be slightly melting, add a few coarsely chopped caramelised walnuts – serve immediately.

 

Salmorejo with Hard-Boiled Egg and Serrano

 

Serves 6

 

1 clove of garlic crushed

800g (1lb 7 ½ oz) ripe red tomatoes cut into quarters

50g (2oz) white bread, crust removed and cut into cubes

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 – 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, we use Forum

salt, pepper, and sugar

 

To Serve

2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped

75g (3oz) strips of Serrano ham cut into slivers

extra virgin olive oil

flat parsley

 

Shallow Terracotta Bowls

 

Place the garlic, tomatoes, bread, olive oil and 1 tablespoon of vinegar in to a food processor – season with salt, pepper and sugar. Whizz until well blended but still slightly coarse.

Taste, you may need to add more vinegar, depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes. Chill well. If the mixture is too thick add a little water but not too much. Serve in chilled shallow terracotta bowls with a couple of tablespoons of chopped hard boiled egg and slivers of Serrano ham in the centre of each.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Eat with lots of fresh crusty bread.

 

 

Baked Plaice or Lemon Sole with Samphire, Capers and Brown Butter

 

Plaice and lemon sole are at their best in Summer and early Autumn.  Make this recipe while Marsh Samphire is in season.

 

Serves 4

 

4 baby plaice in season

110g (4oz) Marsh samphire

75g (3oz) butter

1 – 1 1/2oz (25-35g) capers

 

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.

 

Turn the fish on its side and remove the head.  Wash the fish and clean the slit very thoroughly.  With a sharp knife, cut through the skin right round the fish, just where the ‘fringe’ meets the flesh.  Be careful to cut neatly and to cross the side cuts at the tail or it will be difficult to remove the skin later on.

 

Sprinkle the fish with salt and freshly-ground pepper and lay them in 1cm (1/2 inch) of water in a shallow baking tin.   Bake in a moderately hot oven for 20-30 minutes according to the size of the fish.  The water should have just evaporated as the fish is cooked.  Check to see whether the fish is cooked by lifting the flesh from the bone at the head; it should lift off the bone easily and be quite white with no trace of pink.

 

Meanwhile, wash the samphire under running water.  Cook the samphire in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, drain, keep warm.

 

When the plaice is cooked, transfer to individual hot plates.  Lift off the skin.  Put a few fronds of samphire on top of each fish.  Heat the butter in a saucepan on a high heat, when it foams and turns golden, add the drained capers, allow to sizzle for a minute or two.  Spoon the brown butter and crispy capers over the samphire and fish.  Serve immediately. 

 

Panna Cotta with Grappa and Cherries

 

Inspired by the Rose Gray’s recipe from the River Café.

 

Serves 8-10

 

1.2 litres (2 pints) double cream

2 vanilla pods

Thinly pared rind of 2 lemons

3 gelatine leaves

150 ml (5 fl oz) cold milk

150 g (5 oz) icing sugar

120 ml (4 fl oz) grappa, plus extra to serve

2 punnets of fresh cherries

8-10 moulds, 200 ml (7 fl oz) in size

 

Pour 900 ml (1½ pints) of the cream into a pan; add the vanilla pods and lemon rind bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by one-third. Remove the cooked lemon rind and keep to one side. Remove the vanilla pods and scrape the softened insides into the cream.

 

Soak the gelatine in the milk for about 15 minutes or until soft. Remove the gelatine, heat the milk until boiling, then return the gelatine to the milk and stir until dissolved. Pour the milk and gelatine mixture into the hot cream through a sieve, stir, then leave to cool.

 

Lightly whip the remaining cream with the icing sugar, fold in the cooled, cooked cream, then add the grappa. Place a piece of cooked lemon rind in each of the moulds, pour in the cream mixture to two thirds full and allow to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours

 

Turn out on to dessert plates and serve with fresh cherries and a tablespoon of grappa poured over the top.

 

Hottips

 

LondonFood Market Guide – Flynn Hall is the person to contact if you’d like a brilliant guided tour of the Bermondsey Market – highly recommended 00447772875474.

 

The CliffBarAcademyis Ireland’s only bespoke bartender school of its kind that offers courses to become a professional bartender in a short period of time. They can also tailor make courses for companies. Contact Richard Linden  +353 1 638 3939 info@thecliffbaracademy.com

 

Keep an eye out for damsons, sloes and crab-apples when you walk in the park or through country lanes, they are not ripe yet but will be in mid-September and then you can make Damson and Sloe Gin and Jams and jellies for your winter store cupboard.

 

A Taste of West Cork Food Festival takes place in Skibbereen, West Cork from Saturday 10th to Sunday 18th September. Some of the exciting highlights include… Island Hopping with starters and dinner on Heir and Sherkin Islands on the MV Mystic Water. Then back to Casey’s Baltimore for dessert and music. Very limited numbers so contact 086-3639856. Celtic Cook-off, where chefs from different parts of Britain and Ireland will cook-off against each other, in a time and tasting competition at the West Cork Hotel and “A Taste of West Cork” Local and Artisan Food Producer’s Awards where the West Cork people will get a chance to vote for their favourite foods, producers and marketing. For the full program visit www.atasteofwestcork.com

 

Taste Council – Food Summer School

The Taste Council in association with Bord Bia will host the first national symposium on the current and future contribution of the artisan and the speciality food producer to the Irish Economy.

The ‘Future is Food’ Summer School will bring together stakeholders from the agriculture and food industries in addition to key government departments and media to discuss the best ways to use the potential we are so lucky to have in Ireland.

This is on Tuesday 30th August, 2011 at The Brooklodge Hotel, Macreddin Village, Co. Wicklow .

To book accommodation at the Brook Lodge Hotel please call Orlaith Merrigan or Fiona Kavanagh at Reservations on 0402 36444 or by email at reservations1@brooklodge.com