For gardeners who grow vegetables and fruit, this is the time of abundance, a period of joy and frustration in equal measure. At last the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of all that digging and hoeing but often there are simply not enough meal times to use up every last scrap.

I feel horribly guilty if any gets wasted, although inevitably despite my best efforts some of the produce goes over the top. It cheers me up to know that at least it ends up on the compost heap and eventually goes back on to the earth to make the soil even more fertile  for next year’s crops.

I keep adding to my store of preserving recipes, jams, pickles, chutneys, jellies, cordials, alcohols, flavoured vinegars, fruit cheeses…..

So many exciting options, our repertoire of basic recipes are fine but the fun begins when one starts to experiment by adding spices, fresh herbs and chillies and playing around with flavour combinations.

I recently across came across Diana Henry’s book Salt, Sugar, Smoke – it’s really good, fab photos and lots of irresistible recipes using salt, sugar and smoke. So as the title promises there are lots of salted cured and potted dishes, jellies and jams of course but there are also cordials, fruit and chilli alcohols, lemonades and sherbets as well as chutneys, relishes and pickles and simple smoked foods.

Diana has a growing fan base from her earlier books, Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, Cook Simple and Food From Plenty. She was named cookery writer of the year by the UK Guild of Food Writers on two occasions for her column in the Sunday Telegraph Stella Magazine.

Try the Moroccan spiced chutney or the Apple and Lavender Jelly with the first of the windfall apples.  Anyone who grows gorgeous white peaches in a green house or tunnel knows how difficult it is to pick them without bruising. It’s usually a feast or a famine but if you have a surplus you can discard the bruised bits and try the white peach and raspberry jam recipe. I loved it and added some fresh mint but it’s delicious on its own.

White peach and raspberry jam

Lovely to look at as it’s being made and, of course, fragrant as the scent of raspberries and white peaches blend. You can make it with yellow peaches, but it’s not as good. This jam has less sugar than is traditional, so is fresh, fruity and tart. You can add a sprig of lavender or lemon thyme.

Fills 9 x 225g (8oz) jars

900g (2lb) white peaches

600g (1lb 5oz) raspberries]

1kg (2lb 4oz) granulated sugar with pectin

(‘jam sugar’)

juice of 2 lemons

Plunge the peaches, in batches, into a pan of boiling water for one minute. Quickly remove them, run cold water over and peel off the skins. Halve, stone and cut each half into slices.

Put the peaches into a preserving pan with the raspberries, sugar and lemon juice. Gently heat, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Once it has dissolved, whack the heat up and bring to a boil. Boil steadily until the setting point is reached (check on a sugar thermometer and do the wrinkle test as

well, skimming off any scum that rises.

Leave to cool for about 10 minutes, so the seeds end up well distributed, then pot in warm, dry sterilized jars, cover with waxed paper discs and seal. This keeps for a year; refrigerate once opened.

Apple and lavender jelly

Apple acts as the basis for many flavoured jellies, both sweet and savoury. They are so high in pectin that they produce a jelly that is easy to set, and their flavour doesn’t dominate when you mix it with other things. You can make plain apple jelly, but herbs and spices mean you have a whole array of flavours to use with different meats: lavender and rosemary for lamb, sage for

pork, for example. I prefer savoury apple jellies made with cider vinegar (so they have a sweet acid tang) but some people prefer them sweet. Properly sweet ones to be served with muffins and scones (like the Fireside Apple Jelly below and the Rose Jelly, see page 54) are made with water (add enough just to cover the apples) rather than vinegar.

Fills 7 x 500g (1lb 2oz) jars

2.5kg (5lb 8oz) cooking apples

3 sprigs of fresh lavender, plus small sprigs

for each pot

1.3 litres (2¼ pints) cider vinegar

about 1.3kg (3lb) granulated sugar

1 Cut the apples into chunks – no need to peel or core them, though remove any bruised bits – and cover with 1.5 litres (2 pints 13fl oz) of water. Add the lavender. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the apples are completely soft (about 45 minutes).

2 Add the vinegar and cook for another five minutes. Pour the mixture into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl, and leave overnight. Do not press the apples or you’ll get a cloudy jelly.

3 Measure the liquid. For every 600ml (1 pint), you will need 450g (1lb) of sugar. Put the liquid into a preserving pan with the sugar and heat gently, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Bring to a boil and boil until the setting point is reached on a thermometer (and do the wrinkle test, see page 11).

Skim off any scum.

4 Ladle into warm, dry sterilized jars. Put a sprig of lavender in each. Cover with waxed paper discs and seal. While it is setting, shake it so the lavender doesn’t stay at the top. This keeps for a year; refrigerate once opened.

Moroccan-spiced apricot chutney

For years I’ve made a chicken dish with apricots, honey and orange flower water. This is that sauce as a chutney. You can omit the flower water, but it lends a touch of the voluptuous east…

Fills 2 x 500g (1lb 2oz) jars

 

500g (1lb 2oz) dried apricots, chopped

500g (1lb 2oz) cooking apples, peeled,

cored and finely chopped

250g (9oz) tomatoes, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

300ml (½ pint) white wine vinegar

100g (3½oz) sultanas

juice of 1 lemon

juice of 1 orange

3 tsp ground ginger

1 cinnamon stick, halved

3/4 tbsp cayenne pepper

250g (9oz) golden granulated sugar

7 tbsp runny honey (preferably orange blossom)

1 tsp orange flower water, or to taste

1 Put everything except the honey and flower water into a pan and bring to a boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Reduce the heat and cook gently for one and a half hours, stirring so it does not catch.

2 Stir in the honey and cook gently for 15 minutes. Add the flower water, then taste. You might want more but don’t go mad, it should be just a fragrant whiff. Pot in warm, sterilized jars, cover with waxed paper discs and seal with vinegar-proof lids. This keeps for a year.

 

Loganberry or Raspberry Cordial

 

 

1½lb (700g) loganberries or raspberries

10oz (300g) castor sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

1¾ pints (1litre) water

Put the fruit, sugar and water into a stainless steel saucepan over a medium heat, add the freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-6 minutes or until the loganberries soften and disintegrate.   Remove from the heat, cool.

Pour through a nylon sieve.   Rub the pulp through and discard the pips.   Pour into sterilized bottles.   Seal and store in the fridge.

 

 

Hot Tip

Revelation of the Week

Guess what I discovered this week – dahlias are edible.

At Glebe restaurant in Baltimore, my green salad was scattered with bright orange and wine coloured flower petals. The lovely waitress confided that they were dahlias and Jean Perry – gardener extraordinaire shared a further nugget of information – apparently the Mexicans grew them originally for their tubers – can’t wait to taste some when my dahlias stop flowering.

The Holistic Gardener:

This book is a little gem with tons of tips on how to stay safe and deal with accidents in the garden. It is published by Mercier Press and comes from the knowledgeable and witty co-presenter of Dermot’s Secret Garden on RTE 1, Fiann O’ Nuallain,  Watch out for Fiann O Nuallain speaking at the Ballymaloe Garden Festival, August 30^th  – http://gardenfestival.ballymaloe.ie/

Every year we have a thanksgiving feast in the greenhouses towards the end of July – A Long Table dinner for 100 people in the midst of the tomato vines and scarlet runner beans. Virtually all the food comes from the farm and gardens,   the floury British Queen potatoes from Willie Scannell’s farm in Ballyandreen and the fish comes from nearby Ballycotton. It’s a magical evening – a celebration of the work of the gardeners  and farm lads and an opportunity for the guests to get a glimpse behind the scenes of a 100 acre organic farm and gardens, which grows a wide variety of crops –  fruit, veg and fresh herbs. We also have lots of hens, several sows, heritage breeds that snuffle about outdoors all their happy lives. The home-made butter, cheese, yoghurt and buttermilk is made from the milk of our Jersey cows and the beef from the Aberdeen Angus, Kerry and Dexter cattle.

This was the third year . People came from Alabama, Arkasas, Los Angeles, North Carolina, Copenhagen, UK and Ireland, many were return guests who joined us in former years. The event raises money to support the East Cork Slow Food Educational project which links in with nine local schools to teach children how to grow and cook. We deliver a chicken coop to each school with two hens so the children can learn how to look after poultry, you can’t imagine the excitement when the hens lay their first eggs. The chicken manure goes onto the compost heap in the school which helps to enrich the soil so the children can grow more beautiful fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit in the school gardens.

Rory O Connell, my brother and co-founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School devised the menu, planned the event, cooked the meal with Ballymaloe Cookery School team of teachers and full supporting cast who wouldn’t miss the buzz for anything.

This year we had the first fresh figs and grapes from the greenhouse as well as sweet heritage cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers for our guests to taste.

It’s a big operation which takes several months to plan. After the crop of early potatoes come out of the ground in April,  Haulie sows ‘lawn seed’ in one of the bays to provide a green carpet for the long table. The one acre green house is a legacy of an earlier horticultural enterprise originally created by my father-in-law Ivan Allen in the 1940’s. The greenhouse provides us with a one acre protected garden that enables us to grow a myriad of crops from tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers, chillis, beans, sweetcorn, salad leaves, herbs, beetroot, chard, kale, even peaches, nectarines, grapes, kiwi and pomegranates.  Lemon grass, lime leaves and epasote grown in a dry corner at the nursery end so we can have fun with Asian and Mexican dishes.

So there’s lots of beautiful produce to choose from. The gardeners plant some tall flowers between the dollies to frame the green lawn and a day or two before the event screens are erected to screen the field kitchen from which all the food emerges.

Guests arrive at the cookery school around four o clock in the afternoon, Sommeliers Colm McCann and Fionn Little are waiting with a bio dynamic fizz and several cordials. This year had lots of fizz of fresh mint, so we also served Syrian lemonade, a recipe I brought back from a visit to Damascus in 2009.

The starters are served family style , guests help themselves and each other, Jack Mc Carthy from Kanturk cured the hams from, our own Saddlepork pigs, Rory served them with Ballyhoura mushrooms which Lucy Creegan herself delivered earlier in the day. Anna Leveque’s beautiful handmade Triscal goat cheese was served with Rory’s plum membrillo and summer purslane. Emer Fitzgerald had foraged earlier on Shanagarry strand for the sea lettuce, marsh samphire, sea rosemary and sea purslane that embellished the starters.

After the guests have enjoyed an aperitif, we walk them through the farm, gardens and dairy past the hens, Saddleback pigs and heritage cattle grazing in the fields. Eventually we pass the herbaceous border and the shell house, and wend our way through the wildflower meadow under Dusto’s butterfly graffiti arch into the field vegetables. Here guests can see Jerusalem and globe artichokes, seakale, asparagus, rhubarb, runner beans, several types of brassicas, beets and potatoes. There’s also a strip of wheat destined for milling into flour for the Autumn 12 week course students to experiment with. Eventually we arrive at the greenhouse which resembles the Garden of Eden at this time of year. The Gardeners are playing music, Rupert Hugh Jones on the tin whistle, Sean Kelleher on guitar & vocals, Eileen Healy on fiddle and Coleman Kelleher on drums.

The Long Table has been covered with a white linen cloth and there’s a marigold peeping out of the top of each starched napkin. It all looks so beautiful in the midst of the vegetables and fruit and the feast begins.

The Gardeners play a tantalising mix of compositions and traditional a totally enchanting event raising money for an incredibly important cause – East Cork Slow Food Educational Project teaching local children how to cook and grow some of their own food.

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Melon and Verbena

 

Serves 8-10

1 large cucumber organic if possible

8 fl ozs (225ml) light cream

4 fl ozs (110ml) natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar

1/2 or 1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon finely chopped gherkins, optional

1 tablespoons finely chopped mint

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon very finely chopped verbena

Garnish

1 Charentais or Ogen melon

Fresh verbena leaves

Grate the cucumber on the coarsest part of the grater. Stir in all the other ingredients. Season well. Taste and correct the seasoning.  Serve chilled in shot glasses or small bowls garnished with a few balls of ripe Charentais or Ogen melon and fresh verbena leaves.

Salt Hake with Spiced Aubergines and Rocket Leaves

 

Serves 8

1 x 1-1 1/2lbs (450g – 675g) hake

1 1/2oz – 2oz (40 – 50g) salt

3 fl ozs (75ml) cream

2 fl oz (50ml) olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Spiced Aubergines

500g (1 lb 2 ozs) Slim Jim aubergines

250ml (8 fl ozs/1 cup) approximate extra virgin olive oil

2 inches (5cm) cube of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

12 large cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely crushed

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

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) cumin seeds

700g (1 1/2lbs) very ripe tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped or 2 x 400g (14ozs) tin tomatoes + 1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoon) freshly ground coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if you like)

sea salt

Rocket

First make the spiced aubergines.

Cut the aubergine into 3/4 inch (2cm) thick slices.  Heat 175ml (6 fl ozs/3/4 cup) of oil in a deep 10-12 inch (25-30cm) frying pan.  When hot, almost smoking, add a few aubergine slices and cook until golden and tender on both sides.  Remove and drain on a wire rack over a baking sheet.  Repeat with the remainder of the aubergines, adding more oil if necessary.  Alternatively brush generously with extra virgin olive oil and cook on a hot pan-grill.

Put the ginger, garlic and water into a blender.  Blend until fairly smooth.

Heat 3 tablespoons (4 American tablespoons) of oil in the frying pan.  When hot, add the fennel and cumin seeds, (careful not to let them burn).  Stir for just a few seconds then put in the chopped tomato, the ginger-garlic mixture, coriander, turmeric, cayenne and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the spice mixture thickens slightly, 5-6 minutes.

Add the fried aubergine slices and raisins, and coat gently with the spicy sauce.  Cover the pan, turn the heat to very low and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Keep aside.

Next, salt the hake.

Nowadays we salt to preserve fish in the short-term or to enhance flavour so there’s no need to use so much salt or salt for so long as years ago.

dairy or sea salt

thick, unskinned cod, hake, haddock or ling fillet

Sprinkle a thin layer of dairy or sea salt over the base of a lasagne dish or plastic box.  Put the fish fillet on top. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into pieces, cook in boiling water for 3-4 minutes depending on thickness, lift out carefully and drain.

It is now ready to be cooked.  Salt cod can keep for up to a month if heavily salted, but we normally lightly salt it and use it within a couple of days or a week.

Put the fish into simmering water for 4-5 minutes depending on the thickness.

To Serve

Bring cream, olive oil and garlic to the boil. Drain the fish and remove the skin. Put a portion on a warm  plate, spoon a couple of tablespoons of garlic cream over the fish. Top with some warm spiced aubergine and garnish with a few rocket leaves.

Smoked Pollock with Marsh Samphire

 

Serves 8 as a starter

1-11/2lbs (450g- 700g) warm smoked Pollock

4-5ozs (110g- 160g) marsh samphire

2 red and yellow peppers

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Roast the peppers in a hot oven, 250C/475F/gas mark 9. Put the peppers on a baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes until the skin blisters and the flesh is soft.

Put a wire rack over a mild gas jet, roast the pepper on all sides. When they are charred,  remove.  When roasted, put pepper into a bowl, cover tightly with cling film for a few minutes, this will make them much easier to peel. Peel and deseed and cut into strips. Next cook the samphire. Put the samphire into a saucepan of boiling water (not salted), bring back to the boil and simmer for about 3-4 minutes or until tender. Drain off the water (refresh in cold water if serving later).Toss in extra virgin olive – no salt because samphire has a natural salty tang.

To serve:

Divide the smoked Pollock into nice pieces, arrange on a serving platter with strips of red and yellow pepper and sprigs of samphire on top. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and freshly ground pepper and a few flakes of sea salt.

How to hot smoke fish

 

You don’t need any special equipment – even a biscuit tin will do.

Lay the fish fillets flesh side up on a tray, sprinkle the unskinned Pollock with salt as though you were seasoning generously.

Leave for at least an hour but not more than 3 hours. Dry the fillets with kitchen paper, place on a wire rack and allow to dry in a cool, airy place for 30 minutes approx.. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sawdust (we use apple wood)  on the base of a rectangular biscuit tin or smoking box (www.nesbits.ie) . Put a wire rack into the tin and lay the fish, flesh side up on top. Put the box on a gas jet over a high heat for a minute or so until the sawdust starts to smoulder. Cover the box. Reduce the heat and smoke for 6-7 minutes, turn off the heat and allow to sit unopened for 8-10 minutes.

Remove from the box and serve as you like.

Syrian Laymoun bi-na na – Fresh Lemon Juice with Mint

Freshly squeezed juices were widely available everywhere in Damascus and Aleppo – in restaurants and on street stalls, lots of orange and pomegranate of course, but we particularly enjoyed this refreshing lemon and mint drink.

Serves 6

juice of six lemons
300ml/10fl oz/ (½ pint) stock syrup
300ml/10fl oz/ (½ pint) cold water
2 fistfuls of fresh mint leaves

Squeeze the lemons, pour the juice into a liquidiser, add the syrup, fresh mint leaves and iced water. Whizz until mint is fine and the drink is frothy. Pour into a tall glass, drink through a straw while still fresh, divine.

 

Summer Bombe with Fresh Strawberry Coulis

 

J. R. Ryall, pastry chef at Ballymaloe House decorated the Bombe with fresh cherries from Tourin Farm and mint leaves.

Serves 12 – 16

1 x stainless steel or enamel pudding bowl, 4 pints (2.L/10 cups) capacity

Vanilla Ice Cream

4 ozs (110g/1/2 cup) sugar

8 fl ozs (250ml/1 cup) water

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence

2 pints (1.1L/5 cups) whipped cream

Blackcurrant Ice Cream

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons (2 American tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) sugar

4 fl ozs (120ml/1/2 cup) water

1/2 pint (300ml/1 1/2 cups) blackcurrant, puree

1 pint (600ml/2 1/2 cups) whipped cream

Strawberry Ice Cream

2 lbs (900g) very ripe strawberries

1/2 lb (225g/1 cup) castor sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon

juice of 1/2 orange

1/2 pint (300ml/1 1/4 cups) water

1/4 pint (150ml/generous 1/2 cup) whipped cream

 

Decoration

1/2 lb (225g) whole strawberries

whipped cream and fresh mint leaves

First make the vanilla ice cream. Put the egg yolks into a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy (keep the white for meringues). Combine the sugar and water in a small heavy bottomed saucepan, stir over heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, then remove the spoon and boil the syrup until it reaches the ‘thread’ stage, 106-113°C (223-226°F). It will look thick and syrupy, when a metal spoon is dipped in, the last drops of syrup will form thin threads. Pour this boiling syrup in a steady stream onto the egg yolks, whisking all the time. Add vanilla essence and continue to whisk until it becomes a thick creamy white mousse. Softly whip the cream – it should just hold the print of the whisk. Measure and make sure you have 2 pints (600ml/2 1/2 cups) of whipped cream. Fold the softly whipped cream into the mousse. Put the pudding bowl into the freezer for about 10 minutes, so that it will be icy cold. Line a bowl with the vanilla ice cream in an even layer, put it into the freezer and after about 1 hour take it out and improve the shape if necessary.

Meanwhile make the blackcurrant and strawberry ice cream.

First make the blackcurrant ice cream. Make as the previous recipe to the mousse stage. Add to it a semi-sweet blackcurrant puree. This fruit can be raw and sweetened with a thick syrup or cooked in a syrup. Taste for sweetness after adding to the mousse adding more syrup if necessary. Fold in the cream. Set to freeze.

Next make the strawberry ice cream.

Dissolve the sugar in the water, boil for 7-10 minutes, leave to cool. Puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender, sieve. Add orange and lemon juice to the cold syrup. Stir into the puree, fold the whipped cream into the puree. Freeze in an ice-cream machine or alternatively freeze in a freezer until slushy. Fill the strawberry ice cream into the middle of the bombe, cover the bowl with a plastic clip on lid or cling film and freeze sold, Leave overnight if possible.

To Serve

Unmould the bombe and decorate with fresh strawberries, rosettes of whipped cream and fresh mint leaves. Serve with a strawberry coulis.

Strawberry Coulis

16 ozs (450g) fresh strawberries

2 1/2 ozs (70g/1/2 cup) icing sugar

lemon juice

Clean and hull the strawberries, add to the blender with sugar and blend. Strain, taste and add lemon juice if necessary. Store in a fridge.

Hot Tips

The Wild Atlantic Way

John & Sally Mc Kenna were quick to support the brilliant marketing strategy . The Wild Atlantic Way which highlights the myriad of attractions from Donegal to Kinsale. The new Mc Kenna Guide on where to eat and stay on the Wild Atlantic Way is so full of gems that it was all I could do to resist the temptation to jump into the car and head for Innishowen. I thought I might start at Harry’s restaurant to get a taste of Innishowen and if I made it for Saturday morning I could taste the Slow Food Co breads fresh from the woodfired oven at Harry’s Saturday market – tempted …..

It’s a long while since I came across a cook book where I wanted to cook virtually everything in the book and it didn’t even belong to me, I  borrowed the new Morito cookbook from my daughter’s kitchen three weeks ago and I still haven’t given it back, I even ordered my very own copy. Morita is the baby sister of Moro, Sam & Samantha’s Clarke’s restaurant in Exmouth Market in London. If you haven’t eaten at Moro put it on your London list right away.

Sam and his lovely wife spent several years cooking in the kitchens at the River Café. In 1997 they opened Moro to cook the food they loved  and to introduce their guests to the lesser known flavours of the Mediterranean.  They were newly married and had returned from a camper van research trip through Spain, Morocco and the Sahara, – an enthusiastic young couple on a mission to discover the tiny details that make food taste authentic and not appear to be cooked by an Anglo Saxon.

They also wanted to demonstrate  how the different combination of spices one chooses can add the magical flavours of different continents. They installed a wood burning oven, made their own sour dough bread and yoghurt, set up an allotment, forged links with farmers and producers and built up a super loyal following. They continue to explore,  experiment and play.  In 2010  Morito was opened next door, Sam and Sam describe it as the little noisier more rebellious sibling of Moro, it was greeted with joy and anticipation by their many devotees.

Morito serves a wide selection of tapas and mezze and little plates to nibble and share. The secrets are in Morita cookbook published by Ebury Press. Here is a tantalizing taste of some of their summer salads.

Radish and Pomegranate Salad

This pretty, peppery salad gives sweetness to your table and is excellent alongside fish, chicken or a rich vegetable dish. We slice the vegetables on a mandoline, the thinner they are, the better they absorb the dressing.

Serves 4

Pomegranate Dressing

Freshly squeezed juice of 1 large pomegranate

1 tablespoon Forum Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar or a good quality aged red wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

Salad

150-200g long white daikon (mooli) or black radish, thinly sliced

5 red radishes, sliced into very thin rounds

1 golden beetroot, peeled and very thinly sliced (optional)

1 small kohlrabi, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced

1 bunch of mint, finely shredded

3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds

The make the fresh pomegranate juice, cut the pomegranate in half and take out the seeds, discarding any bitter skin or white pith. Put the seeds in a sieve and press them with the back of spoon to extract all the juice, discarding any skin or hard seeds. Put all the dressing ingredients into a jam jar with a lid, season with salt and pepper and shake well.

To make the salad, put the radishes, beetroot, if using, and kohlrabi in a bowl, add the mint and pomegranate seeds and pour over the dressing. Mix everything together and serve immediately.

From Morito, Sam & Sam Clarke

 

Cauliflower, Pine Nuts, Raisins and Saffron

The cauliflower becomes soft and rich from absorbing the flavoursome oil.

Serves 4

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 Spanish onion, sliced

1 small cauliflower, leaves and stalk discarded, separated into florets

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

A large pinch of ground turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted and roughly ground

½ teaspoon coriander seeds, roughly ground

4 tablespoons pine nuts

3 tablespoons raisins, soaked in hot water till plump, drained

15 threads of saffron, steeped in 100ml hot water

1 small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a large, wide saucepan over a medium heat, add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft, golden and sweet.  Add the cauliflower florets, garlic, spices and another pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat for 10 -1 5 minutes, stirring often.

Now add the pine nuts, raisins and the saffron-infused water. Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for a further 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender. Stir in half of the chopped coriander and remove from the heat. Serve with the remaining coriander scattered on top.

From Morito, Sam & Sam Clarke

 

Grilled Onion Salad, Pomegranates and Mint

 

If we are proud of anything in our books, it is making people think about vegetables in different ways and all their possibilities. This recipe is a good example of that. Charred onions have a beautifully smoky taste and a wonderful velvety texture. Please do try this dish.

Serves 4

4-6 red or white onions

12 quantity of Pomegranate Dressing

Seeds of 1 large pomegranate

2 tablespoons shredded mint

Grill the onions whole and unpeeled over a hot barbecue for 20-30 minutes, until black and charred all over. This method will impart an aromatic smokiness to the dish. Cook slightly, peel and cut into halves or quarters.

Alternatively, if roasting in the oven, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Place the whole onions on a baking ray and cook for 35-40 minutes or until  they have some give but are still slightly firm. You don’t want them to become mushy and lose their colour. Remove from the oven and cool a little. Peel and cut the onions as before and place on a baking tray under a hot grill or on a hot griddle pan and leave until lightly charred.

To serve, transfer the onions whilst still warm to a bowl, pour over the dressing, season with a little salt and pepper and mix gently but make sure the onions are well coated. Sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds and mint.

From Morito – Sam & Sam Clarke

Beetroot, Almonds and Mint

 

At Morito we often serve this salad with a few think slices of cecina (Spainish cured beef) or Pastirma. However, it’s so delicious on its own that it is difficult to stop eating.

 

Serves 4

3 tablespoons blanched almonds or roasted Marcona

700g raw bunched beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated

1 quantity of Pomegranate dressing

2 tablespoons shredded mint

2 tablespoons fresh pomegranate seeds

If using blanched almonds, roast them in the oven at 150C/300F/gas 2, until golden brown. Cool and roughly chop.

Place the grated beetroot in a bowl. Pour the dressing over, then add the almonds, mint and pomegranate seeds. Mix well, taste and serve.

From Morito – Sam & Sam Clarke

Steamed Aubergines with a Peanut Dressing

Serves 4-6

Madhur Jaffrey introduced us to this delectable aubergine recipe from Northern China. It can be served as a starter or as an accompanying vegetable or as a salad. It goes particularly well with cold meats. Madhur urged us to seek out long slim variety of aubergines rather than the larger seedy ones.  We’ve been growing them ever since – the variety is Slim Jim – Look out for them at the Midleton Farmers Market.

560g (1¼ lb) aubergines

50g (2oz) raw peanuts, roasted and ground to a paste in a clean coffee-grinder or 3 tablespoons freshly made peanut butter from a health food shop

50 ml (2fl oz) Chinese light soy sauce

25 ml (1fl oz) Chinese red vinegar (use red wine vinegar as a substitute

15 ml (1fl oz) sugar (use a bit more, if needed)

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine

15 ml (1fl oz) sesame oil

15 ml (1fl oz) garlic, peeled and very finely chopped

15 ml (1fl oz) fresh ginger, peeled and very finely chopped

2 tablespoons green coriander, very finely chopped, both leaves and stems, plus a few extra green coriander sprigs for garnishing

If the aubergines are the long, slim variety, quarter them lengthways, and then cut them into 7.5cm (3inch) long fingers.  If using the more common, fat aubergine, cut it into fingers that are 7.5 x 2.5cm (3inch x 1inch).  Steam over a high heat for 15-20 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile, combine all the remaining ingredients except the green coriander in a bowl and mix well.  This is the sauce.

When the aubergine pieces are tender, lift them out carefully and arrange them neatly in a single layer in a large platter.  Stir the sauce.  Add the green coriander to it and mix again.  Pour the sauce evenly over the aubergines.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.  This dish may be prepared ahead of time, covered and refrigerated.  Garnish with the green coriander sprigs just before serving.

Rachel’s Raspberry Upside-Down Cake

Rachel makes this upside-down cake at least every couple of weeks. I love the way the dish starts off as a delicious dessert, ideal for rounding off a family meal. Then the next day (if there’s any leftover!) it turns into the perfect coffee-time treat, to be enjoyed in company or just on your own.

Serves 6–8

50g (2oz/1/2 stick) butter

125g (4 1/2oz/generous 1/2 cup) caster sugar

250g (9oz) fresh or frozen raspberries

 

For the sponge

150g (5oz/1 1/4 sticks) butter, softened

150g (5oz/generous 1/2 cup) caster sugar

3 eggs

200g (7oz/scant 2 cups) self-raising flour, sifted

 

25cm (10 inch) diameter ovenproof frying pan (diameter measured at the top)

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

Place the butter in the frying pan and melt over a medium–high heat. Add the caster sugar, stirring to mix, and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, then scatter the raspberries into the pan so that they cover the base in a single layer. Leave to sit while you make the sponge.

In a large bowl, beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the flour. Alternatively, place all the ingredients in a food processor and whiz together briefly until they come together.

Spoon the sponge mixture over the raspberries in blobs, then carefully spread it out to cover the fruit in the pan.

Place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the sponge feels set in the centre – a skewer inserted into the middle will come out clean. Allow to sit for 2 minutes, then place a serving plate on top of the pan and, clasping the plate firmly against the pan, carefully flip it over. Lift off the pan to reveal the pudding – now upside down on the plate, with the raspberries on top. Serve warm or at room temperature with perhaps a little cream.

Note

Any leftover cake will keep (covered with a cake cover or an upturned bowl so as not to squash the raspberries) for up to two days

 

Hot Tips

Clotilde’s Fruit Compotes –

fruit purees in tiny pots from Ballyhoura are worth knowing about – my little grand-daughter Tilly Bird ate a whole pot with her fingers recently. You can buy them at Douglas Farmers Market and some supermarkets  www.atasteofballyhouracountry.com

Seek  out the Rocket Man HQ.

Jack Crottys many fans from Mahon Point, Douglas and Wilton Farmers Markets will be delighted to know about his new enterprise – a salad and juice bar in Princes Street, Cork (alongside the English Market) . www.therocketman.ie

Kids in the kitchen –

there was a terrific response to last year’s classes so we are offering another whole series of hands-on cooking courses for kids. They have brilliant fun rustling the pots and pots while they learn a whole repertoire of yummy dishes. For dates and details see – www.cookingisfun.ie

The Oxford Food Symposium is a weekend long conference held as one would expect in Oxford. It brings together over 200 international scholars, journalists, chefs, scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and enthusiastic amateurs for serious discussions on food, its culture and its history. This year the theme was Food and Markets, papers presented were asked to examine “the historical, sociological and practical aspects of the economic exchange between producer and consumer through which food arrives on our tables. Not forgetting the pleasure of marketing: the excitement of discovering new ingredients, watching the skill of a market cook preparing a dish to order; the sheer enjoyment to be found in the peace, charm and sunshine of wandering around an open air market in an unfamiliar (or familiar) part of the world and learning how people live”.

The first Oxford Symposium  was held in 1981, the brainchild of Alan Davidson and Theodore Zeldin, chaired by food writer and journalist Paul Levy and Claudia Roden.

34 years later Paul and Claudia and many of the original symposiasts are still in the helm, I hadn’t been for many years because the dates clashed with exams here at the Ballymaloe Cookery School but this year, I was invited to give the Jane Grigson Memorial lecture – for me who so loved and admired Jane Grigson, a joyful honour. I spoke on the revival of the markets in Ireland from the original farmers market in the Cork Quay started in 1996 to the 160+ farmers markets around the country today.

The latest Farmers Market to open to queues on the first day is held at Wilton Shopping Centre in Cork on Tuesdays from 10am to 2.30pm.

The whole weekend was wonderfully convivial with a variety of intriguing presentations on markets and market related issues including a fascinating insight into the behind the scenes in food markets in Russia, by Anya von Bremzen, author of six books including her latest one “Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing.

Other papers explored World Street market food in India and Mexico, San Francisco and Southern Vietnam.  Doug Duda, from the US explored Why markets are booming while cooking crashes.

At the market was Renee Martous subject What does ‘fresh’ mean at the market was Noehal Bursa painted a vivid picture of the powerful scents at The Egyptian Bazaar in Istabul, the pilgrimage to El Balour. Others explored left overs and waste from the markets while Janet Beizer gave a fascinating insight into The Emperors Plate: Marketing leftovers in 19^th century Paris.

Sadly I missed Samantha Martin McAuliffe’s from Wicklow presentation on Feeding Dublin but this  paper and all the others will be up on the Oxford Food Symposium website (www.oxfordfoodsymposium.org.uk) for everyone to access before too long.

The weekend was hugely enjoyable, informative and convivial, the food completely delicious. Gastronomic dynamo, Allegra McEvedy cooked a Market Dinner on Friday – the starter was a celebration of the fresh produce from the market, peas and broad peas in the pod, radishes, sweet and delicious tomatoes,  cured black olives, sheep’s cheese, fresh herbs, dukkah and manaqush flatbreads. The main course was porchetta rolls with salsa verde with crispy pig ears and crackling and dessert was summer strawberry, nut and hibiscus jelly cups.

Karina Baldry and Katrina Kollegaeva, Russian Street Food,  was equally intriquing, they shared their cold beetroot soup recipe. On Saturday night Trine Hahnemann cooked a Nordic Summer Banquet of Danish home cooking yet another feast of Danish home cooking – loved the lamb stew with fennel and fennel seed, white wine and elderflower cordial.

I’ve already popped the dates for next years, July 3^rd-5^th 2015 Oxford Food Symposium in my diary.

Hope I’ve whetted your appetite. Had to rush to catch my plane so I sadly missed Joseph Pepe Patricio Market Leftovers Lunch on Sunday.

Katrina & Karina’s Cold beetroot Okroshka soup

Serves 8-10 portions

Soups to Russians is like a good Sunday roast to Brits – part of our cultural dna. We wither away without a daily helping of a soup of some kind.  Mothers tell their offspring that without the soup they won’t grow healthy and strong!

In summer cold soups make appearance on tables across the whole of Eastern Europe. Okroshka (from a Russian verb kroshyt’, or chop finely) can be made with kefir (fermented, yoghurt like, dairy drink) or kvass (non-alcoholic beverage made with rye) with addition of potatoes, peas, and even ham. But I prefer this version – impossibly pretty and zingy. And converts those who don’t like either kefir or beetroot in an instant.

Note on kefir – we use organic kefir made by Bio-tiful dairy in the west of the country.  But you can buy kefir in many Eastern-European shops or substitute for natural yoghurt and add a little bit of sourcream.

3 small beetroots, each about the size of a tennis ball (around 400 gr)
4 eggs

2 tsp of Dijon mustard

2 tbsp grated horseradish (if using creamed variety,  use more)
about 80 gr mayonnaise

1 tsp of sugar

a good pinch of salt

1 small cucumber

500 ml of kefir

about 200 ml of ice-cold water (optional)

2 chopped spring onions

2-3 tbs of dill/parsley

lemon, to taste

salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

optional sumac  for serving
1. Wash the beets, boil for about 45 minutes, until cooked through (test for doneness by piercing with a sharp knife). Cool completely, then peel and puree.
2. In the meantime hard-boil the eggs, then cool under cold water and peel.

3. Mash the yolks of one half of the eggs with mustard and horseradish, then add mayo, sugar and salt. Mix well.

4. Dine finely the remaining yolks and egg whites and put aside for decoration.

3. Wash the cucumbers, cut into small dice. Chop spring onions and herbs (keep some dill aside for decoration).

4. Take a large bowl, slowly add kefir to the egg and mustard mixture, whisking. If you prefer to soup to be less thick, then add water and whisk until frothy.

5. Throw in the beets. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for diced eggs. Mix well.

6. Taste again for seasoning – you may want to add more salt or pepper, or lemon juice.

7. Chill for at least two hours but best overnight. Serve very cold in chilled bowls. Sprinkle a line of chopped egg whites, another line of chopped yolks,  a line of chopped dill and sumac over the top of each soup.

Trine Hahnemann’s Lamb stew with fennel, fennel seeds, white wine and elderflower cordial

 

Serves 6

 

1 kg lamb cut in cubes from lamb shoulder or leg

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

3 leeks

2 fennels

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp fennel seeds

2 bay leaves

10 sprigs of tarragon

50 ml elderflower cordial

500 ml white wine

salt and freshly ground pepper

Serving

2 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves

Heat butter and olive oil in a big sauté-pan and brown the meat on all sides. Do in two batches if necessary. So you make sure to brown the meat and not boil it.

Chop the leeks into slices in 2 centimeter, cut the fennel to slices of 1 centimeter.

Add the garlic, fennel seeds, bay leaves and tarragon to the sauté-pan and mix well, now add 2/3 of the leeks and fennel, leave the rest for later. Mix into the meat, let it sauté for a few minutes, then pour over the elderflower cordial and white wine, sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir well together and bring to a boil and skim any froth that rises to the surface, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for 45-55 minutes.

When the lamb is tender, add the rest of the leeks and fennel and let simmer for 5 minutes more, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Before serving sprinkle the fresh tarragon leaves over.

Serve with boiled pearl barley, boiled potatoes or mash.

Allegra’s Orange Blossom, cashew and semolina cake

 

 

I have to say this is my favourite: a truly stunning cake with the most incredible,

crumbly texture. All the ingredients bring something to the party – semolina

for colour and consistency, cashews for moistness and all their good oils, and

orange flower water to keep the whole thing fragrant and light. Really stunning

on its own, or makes a fab pud with a bit of fruit and a blob of crème fraîche.

Yellow cake like you’ve never had it before.

serves 6+

for the cake

200g butter (at room temperature)

250g golden demerara sugar

250g ground cashew nuts,

raw and unsalted

3 eggs

zest and juice of 2 oranges

110g fine semolina

1 level teaspoon baking powder

a good splash of orange

blossom water (about 2 tablespoons)

salt

for the rosemary syrup

15g rosemary, in little sprigs

2 tablespoons caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/gas 3.

Cream the butter and the sugar together with a mixer until light and pale. Mix in

the ground cashews. Add the eggs, one by one, waiting until each is fully incorporated

before adding the next. Stir in the orange zest and juice, followed by the semolina,

baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Grease a 25cm cake tin with a little butter, then dust lightly with flour. Shake the

flour all round the inside so that there is a fine dusting, and then tip out the excess.

Spoon the cake mix into the tin and then put into the oven on a tray to bake for

around 11/2 hours. (The reason for the tray is that when I did it some of the mixture

oozed out of the bottom of the tin – it could just be that my tin was broken, though it

didn’t look it, but it’s better to be safe than on your knees scrubbing the oven.)

When the time is up, do the skewer test to check it’s cooked through. If a little bit of

the cake mixture sticks to the skewer, pop the cake back in for another 10–15 minutes.

When it is done, cool in the tin while you get on with the rosemary syrup.

Put the rosemary sprigs in a small pan with the sugar and 5 tablespoons of water.

Cook over a very low flame for 5–10 minutes until the rosemary has softened and the

sugar has turned into a thick, clear syrup.

Now sprinkle the orange blossom water over the cake. Then loosen it around the

edges of the tin with a knife and transfer it to a wire rack. Wait 5 minutes and then brush the rosemary syrup over the cake and dot the candied rosemary sprigs across the top.

Shelf Life: Up to a week and, believe me, it just keeps on getting better.

Best Kept: Uncovered, at room temperature.

 

From Allegra Mc Evedy’s Colour Cookbook

Allegra’s strawberry VESUVIUS

A gorgeous summer drink.

 

To drink the right thing at the right time is just as important as the eating side

of things. Here are three tastes of summer, all swirling around together with

the express mission of making you feel lovely and drunk. Just a little

something to liven up your party – sunshine in a glass.

serves 6

300g strawberries, hulled

70g caster sugar

300ml Pimms N°1

1 bottle chilled Prosecco/

Champagne/Cava/

sparkling wine

Triple Sec (optional)

Put the strawberries, sugar and 300ml water in a saucepan and gently cook down to a compote for about 10–15 minutes.

Once the strawberries have cooled, pour into a blender, add the Pimms and blitz. Pour the thin purée into the bottom of your champagne flutes – about 60ml in each.

Gently top up with the fizz of whatever kind, going nice and slow to avoid a messy pink eruption, or fast if you want to see how this cocktail got it’s name. I recommend Prosecco, but of course Champagne is the winner, but a little redundant with all that other gear in it; Cava is fine too; and then there’s always good old sparkling wine to fall back on.

Serve with a swizzle stick.

Shelf Life: Purée in the fridge 5 days; freezer 1 month. Best Kept: Purée in

the fridge, or freeze in ice-cube trays…

From Allegra Mc Evedy’s Colour Cookbook

Hot Tips

Have fun in the kitchen – We’ve some brilliant short courses coming up at the Ballymaloe Cookery School  during the Summer, 1 day, 2 1/5 days, week-long … The afternoon cookery demonstrations are open to the public every day – check out a Weeks Worth of Menus, a super course from 28^th – 30^th July. www.cookingisfun.ie

Burrata, a beautifully tender Mozzarella infused with cream – used to be impossible to get it in Ireland but IAGO in Paul Street in Cork now imports it freshly every week. Sublime with some heirloom tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil leaves or baby broad beans and rocket leaves.

Taste of  Cavan – August 8 – 9^th  in Cavan Town. Now, in its third year, the two-day festival of food has more than 60 exhibitors, from artisan cheesemakers to ice-cream producers. Visiting chefs include Neven Maguire and Richard Corrigan.   www.thisiscavan.ie

Date for your Diary:

East Cork Slow Food Event –  Have fun and learn how to Forage for Edible Wild Foods with Emer Fitzgerald at the Ballymaloe Cookery School on Wednesday July 30th at 7pm.

Slow Food Members €6.00

Non Slow Food Members €8.00

Enquiries to 021 4646785 or email slowfoodeastcork@gmail.com

The ever more alarming obesity figures are spooking governments all over Europe, the US, India, China…..

As yet experts can’t seem to agree about the root cause or indeed the remedy. Meanwhile, the public are completely bamboozled by conflicting messages but even more serious is the situation that many busy people find themselves where they cannot access nourishing food easily. The Americans have long ago coined a phrase – food desserts, the definition of which is a geographic area where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain, particularly for those without access to a car or local transport.

Desperation forces us to think outside the box and the results can be encouraging. When the bread in the US because so mass produced that it was virtually inedible,  artisan bakeries bubbled up . When food became so processed and ultra fresh nourishing food was virtually unavailable a few ‘desperately seeking’ souls started the first farmers market.

The same with beer and cider, as those drinks became increasingly chemical laden and mundane, a demand for craft beer and cider was created.

So what to do if you live in an area with no choice but to buy your food from a multinational discounter which offers no fresh produce?

Well faced with a crisis the human spirit tends to come up with a variety of mini solutions,  Guerrilla gardening allotments and urban farming are at an all-time high in cities from, LA to Shanghai.

There’s yet another initiative that has really caught peoples imagination particularly in the US, Grow Food not Lawns.

This movement was started in 1999 in Eugene, Oregon by a group of avant  – gardeners including Heather Flores who wrote “Grow food not lawns – how to turn your yard into a garden and your neighbourhood into a community” in 2006.  This initiative gradually inspired a global community  www.foodnotlawns.com.

There are many related initiatives here in Ireland – GIY and OOBY  has caught the imagination and enhanced the life style not to mention the nourishment of many. www.giy.ie

Growing some of our own food gives us an appreciation of the work that goes into producing beautiful nourishing  food and one rarely complains about the price of food again, not only is the food fresher but it tastes so much better when one has tended the garden for months on end – enough to savour every delicious mouthful.

The simple message from the Food Safety Promotions Board for children to drink water rather than juice is brilliant and empowers parents.

Radish Leaf Soup

Most people are unaware that radish leaves are edible and delicious. They need to be fresh or course.

Serves 4

11/2 ozs (45g/generous 1/4 stick) butter

5 ozs (140g/1 cup) peeled and chopped potatoes

4 ozs (110g/1 cup) peeled and chopped onion

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 pint (900ml/3 3/4 cups) water or homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock

1/2 pint (300ml/1 1/4 cups) creamy milk

5 ozs (150g/3 cups) fresh radish leaves, chopped

Melt the butter in heavy bottomed saucepan, when it foams, add the potatoes and onions and toss them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes.

When the vegetables are almost soft but not coloured add the stock and milk, bring to the boil and cook until the potatoes and onions are fully cooked. Add the radish leaves and boil with the lid off for 4-5 minutes approx. until the radish leaves are cooked. Do not overcook or the soup will lose its fresh green colour. Puree the soup in a liquidiser or food processor. Taste and correct seasoning.

Variation

Radish Soup with Chervil Cream

Make the soup as above.  Serve with a blob of chervil cream on top of each bowl just before it goes to the table (see recipe below).

 

Chervil Cream

Serves 6

large bunch of chervil

250ml (9fl oz/generous 1 cup) full-fat crème fraîche

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the crème fraîche into a bowl.  Simply chop a large bunch of chervil very finely and mix with the crème fraîche. Season with some salt and a little freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

Smoked Mackerel Salad with Beetroot and Horseradish Sauce

 

Serves 8

4-6 fillets of smoked mackerel

a selection of baby salad leaves

pickled beetroot

horseradish sauce

sprigs of dill

Cut the smoked mackerel into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces and the pickled beetroot into 1cm ( ½ inch) dice.

To serve

Strew the base of a white plate with a mixture of salad leaves.  Put 5 or 6 pieces of mackerel on top.  Scatter with some diced beetroot and top with a few little blobs of horseradish sauce.  A few sprigs of dill add to the deliciousness.

Serve with Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread.

Pickled Beetroot

Serves 5-6

1 lb (450 g) cooked beetroot

8 oz (225g/1 cup) sugar

16 fl oz (475 ml/2 cup) water

1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced (optional)

8 fl oz (250 ml/1 cup) white wine vinegar

Dissolve the sugar in water and bring to the boil.  Add the sliced onion and simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Add the vinegar, pour over the peeled beetroot and leave to cool.

Note: The onion may be omitted if desired.

Beetroot Tops

Young beetroot tops are full of flavour and are often unnecessarily discarded; but if you grow your own beetroots, remember to cook the stalks as well. When the leaves are tiny they make a really worthwhile addition to the salad bowl, both in terms of nutrition and flavour. This isn’t worth doing unless you have lovely young leaves. When they become old and slightly wilted, feed them to the hens or add them to the compost.

Serves 4

450g (1lb) fresh beetroot tops

salt and freshly ground pepper

butter or olive oil

Keeping them separate, cut the beetroot stalks and leaves into rough 5cm (2in) pieces. First cook the stalks in boiling salted water (1.8 litres/3 pints water to 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt) for 3–4 minutes or until tender. Then add the leaves and cook for a further 2–3 minutes. Drain, season and toss in a little butter or olive oil. Serve immediately.

Variation

Beetroot Tops with Cream

Substitute 75–125ml (3–4fl oz) cream for olive oil in the recipe above. A little freshly grated nutmeg is also delicious.

Strawberry Soup with Mint Chantilly

A simple and absolutely delicious Summer dessert.

Serves 8-10

Strawberry Soup

450g (1lb) ripe strawberries

225ml (8fl oz/1 cup) syrup (see recipe)

1 lemon

1 orange

Mint Chantilly

15 mint leaves approximate

1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) lemon juice

150ml (5 fl ozs/generous 1/2 cup) cream

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

icing sugar to taste

Garnish

mint leaves

Macaroons (optional)

Hull the strawberries, purée with the syrup, freshly squeezed orange juice and lemon juice. Put through a nylon sieve. Taste. Cover and chill well.

To serve divide the strawberry pureé between 6 soup plates or glass bowls.  Add a blob of mint Chantilly and some shredded mint leaves – serve immediately.

To make the mint chantilly.

Crush the mint leaves in a pestle and mortar with the granulated sugar and lemon juice, add the cream and stir, the lemon juice will thicken the cream.  If the cream becomes too thick, fluff a little with a whisk, taste and add a little more icing sugar if necessary.

Hot Tips

The Cottage Market, Ladysbridge, 10.30am – 12.30am – at the old cottage on the corner of Knockgloss Hill. Have a cup of tea or coffee while you chat and browse through the stalls – fruit, veg, salad, eggs, flowers, cakes and bread, jewellery, cards etc….   for details – Karen 086 2312899

Achill Island Festival of the Sea 18^th – 20^th July

While you are there on the Island check out Achill Island Lamb and Achill Island Sea Salt. The Atlantic Ocean’s rich harvest means fish has been a staple of the island’s  dining experience for thousands of years. Foraging sessions, boat trips, seafood tastings, seaweed safaris and a harbour market ensure a strong maritime theme.  www.Feilenamara.com

Thai By Night  – what a delicious surprise – The West Cork Gourmet Store in Ballydehob turns into a Thai restaurant in the evenings from Wednesday – Saturday.  Joanne Cassidy cooks and her lovely daughter Sophia  brings the food to the table . Joanna loves Asian food and it shows she lived in Hong Kong and Bangkok and makes regular visits to catch up. We loved the Thai fish cakes with sambal oleck and cucumber pickle, Skewered prawn sate with lime, Fragrant Thai green curry and Creamy chicken massaman curry with coconut milk, potato, onion, cinnamon and bay and Pan fried , marinated pork chop with lemongrass and coriander pesto,  and much, much more…….   Telephone: Joanne  087 9263255

Theodora Fitzgibbon was a beautiful elegant erudite lady, well travelled. Born in London in 1918 of Irish parents, Theodora was educated in England and France and travelled widely with her father and husband, the writer Constantine FitzGibbon, living in India, the United States and in many countries on the Continent. Her travels gave her the opportunity to investigate first-hand the food mores of many diverse cultures and she developed an extensive knowledge of both Irish and worldwide cuisine. It was her ability to bring social and historical context to food for her readers for the first time that marked her out as a game-changer when she began writing for the Irish Times in the 1970’s.

Theodora was also deeply interested in theatre and worked as an actress both in London and Rome.

She wrote over 30 books most of which were about food.  However, the books she will be most remembered for are her “Taste of ” serves, particularly A Taste of Ireland and A Taste of Scotland.

Her autobiographies  give us a glimpse into her eccentric family and upbringing and chronicle what life was like in wartime Paris and London and recalls her bohemian existence living in Bermuda, Capri and Rome where she moved in the literary and artistic circles with Salvador Dali, Picasso, Dylan Thomas, Graeme Greene, Greta Garbo and James Thurber.

Food is a constant thread in her memoirs. There are many mouth-watering recollections of how she managed to create meals from nothing during the ration years and how she got to grips with new ingredients for her many dinner parties as she moved from country to country.

More recently Donal Skehan, one of Ireland’s most exciting young food writers has linked up with Gill and MacMillan to publish a new collection in which he selects her very best dishes and photographs them beautifully.

Theodora’s fans will be delighted to be able to replace their dog-eared cookery books and collection of newspaper clippings with his beautiful new volume. Don’t miss the accompanying TV series – Rediscovering the Irish Kitchen (which started on 24^th June) at 8.30 pm on Tuesday nights on RTE 1.

Theodora Fitzgibbon’s Convent Eggs

 

This recipe, which I have adapted very slightly for modern use, comes from Soyer’s A Shilling Cookery for the People of 1859, a book that circulated in many parts of Ireland after Soyer came over to help provide edible food for the famine victims. My copy originally belonged to my aunt in Co. Clare and was much used by her.

Serves 4

4 eggs

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium-sized onion, sliced

1 tablespoon flour

300 ml (½ pint) milk

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

grated cheese or chopped

herbs, optional

Put the eggs into cold water, bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes, then put the eggs into cold water again. When cool, peel and cut across into six pieces each. Heat the butter and lightly fry the onion in it until soft but not coloured. Add the flour and mix well, then add the milk, stirring until it forms a nice white sauce; add the salt and pepper. Add the eggs, toss, and when they are hot through, serve on toast. Grated cheese or chopped herbs can also be added.

 

 

Theodora Fitzgibbon’s Plaice Lahori

 

Serves 4

4 large plaice fillets

oil or melted butter

lemon wedges, to garnish

Marinade

2 tablespoons onion,

finely minced

juice of 1 lemon

¼ teaspoon ground coriander or 2 teaspoons fresh

pinch each powdered garlic and turmeric

stem chopped green ginger or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

pulp of 2 ripe tomatoes, no skin

salt and pepper

A great favourite of mine, but you do need large plaice, not those wafer-thin, tasteless little things you see most often. Actually, I have also made it with dogfish and monkfish fillets, and it was delicious, but it was cooked longer.

Take the 4 large fish fillets and score with a sharp knife if very thick. Mix the marinade ingredients together, pounding well, then pour over the fish and leave for about 2 hours. Line a grilling pan with foil and brush over with oil or melted

butter and turn on the grill. Let it get quite hot with the pan underneath so that the foil gets hot, but do not let the oil brown.

Lift the fish and marinade gently on and grill at medium level for about 7 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. The heat of the foil at the bottom will cook the underneath. Serve with brown rice and green beans.

Theodora Fitzgibbon’s Café Liegeois

 

Serves 4

6 tablespoons vanilla or coffee

ice-cream

4 coffee cups strong,

sweetened black coffee

150 ml (¼ pint) whipped cream

4 teaspoons crushed ice

Put all ingredients, except the whipped cream, into a bowl and stir well, or liquidise until the mixture is thick and creamy. Pour into 4 tall glasses and top with whipped cream.

Chill so that it is semi-frozen and serve with sponge fingers.

Theodora Fitzgibbon’s  Melting Moments

 

These very light, little cakes of Scottish origin (but now firmly established in Ireland) live up to their name.

Makes about 30 ‘sandwiches ’

275 g (10 oz) butter

50 g (2 oz) icing sugar

225 g (8 oz) sifted flour

50 g (2 oz) cornflour

lemon curd or thick honey

Cream the butter and sugar until very light. Add both flours gradually, mixing well. Put small spoonfuls onto greased baking trays and bake for about 15 minutes in the oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Cool on a rack, and when cool, sandwich together with a little lemon curd or thick honey in between.

All recipes are taken from The Pleasures of the Table – Donal Skehan

Published by Gill & MacMillan.

Hot Tips

Wild and Free

The Organic Centre Garden Party

Sunday 13^th July from 11am -5pm

Entrance free!

Gardening and organic growing can be so much more than just producing food. Wild life, wild patches, hedgerows with wild plants and food and wild flower meadows all add enjoyment, health and natural wealth to our lives and families and help to protect our natural environment. This year’s event features activities for all the family:

How to create a wildflower meadow and make wildflower seed balls.

The top 10 edible weeds and the best flowers and shrubs for bees and butterflies.

How to grow unusual vegetables and find wild mushrooms.

There will be a masterclass in watering plants indoors and outdoors.

The Pop-up Hedgerow bar will serve wild fermented drinks and The Grass Roof Café will be serving the most wonderful wild dishes. We will bake pizza in our outdoor clay oven.

Special guest are “Eagles Flying” and we have local farm animals.

Music, drumming and tai-chi and displays of local tourism providers will be ongoing throughout the day.

Raffle and fundraising for The Organic Centre.

For more information call 071-9854338 or visit www.theorganiccentre.ie

Achill Mountain Lamb

I’ve just tasted the first of the seasons new Achill Mountain lamb, opens on July 5^th – The Calvey family have been rearing lambs on Achill for over 50 years,they feed on the bladder wrack on the coastline and the grass on the cliffs. The herbs and heather seem to give the meat a delicious sweetness and the salt deposits from the sea breeze enhance the flavour further, chefs like J.P. Mc Mahon,  Aniar in Galway and  Derry Clarke from Ecrivain have already discovered it but you can order over the phone and have it delivered.

Grainne Calvey -  phone: 098 43158  -  www.calveysofachill.com

Don’t miss the Achill Island Festival of the Sea, 18^th – 20^th July – for more information www.feilenamara.com

 

Fab Food Trails

Do you know about these food tasting trails, Eveleen Coyle and her niece Alice Coyle had this brilliant concept in 2009.

They started in Dublin but have extended to Cork and more recently to Kilkenny. A wonderful way to explore a city, learn about its history and food culture in a fun and light hearted way. Visit and learn in markets, food halls, cheesemongers, butchers, fruit and flower stalls, fish mongers, bakers and have regular tastings.   www.fabfoodtrails.ie

Ireland has gone wild about food .Two festivals, not to be missed this weekend

Valentia Ireland King Scallop Festival 12^th – 13^th July – www.valentiaisland.ie

Kenmare Food Carnival – as well as food markets, cookery demos, food trails there will be Samba dancers and a jazz band to ensure a Mardi Gras-style atmosphere – I had lots of fun and loved the vibe last year – www.kenmarefoodcarnival.com

The recent cover story on Time magazine was that butter is better so surprise surprise its official after all. Only two vitamins are water soluble, all the rest are fat soluble, so what does that mean? Well the reality is that unless you eat a little fat with the rest of your food the body can’t absorb all the nutrients from the food – that’s why, many people on a strictly low fat diet find themselves under nourished and often overweight.

Lovely Julia Child, the goddess of butter, cream and a good pinch of salt must be smiling wryly in his heavenly home. Butter is high in a compound CLA that protects us from tumour growth and cancer and provides omega 3 fatty acids. Recently a team of international scientists have completed an exhaustive new analysis of the research to date, drawing on 80 studies involving more than half a million people. They found NO evidence to support the theory that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease. They did however find a link between trans fats and coronary problems
This meta analysis (basically a study of other studies) was published in the Journal Analysis of International Medicine.

More studies are underway but it does sound as though the days of – “I can’t believe its not butter” and the myriad of low fat products are numbered.
Its seems utterly incredible that the dietary advice that was stated with absolute certainly by the governments, Departments of Health, doctors and dieticians for over four decades was erroneous. Not only was it not based on fact but it now appears that a lack of saturated fat may in fact be damaging to our health. Why was it so easy to persuade not only the medical profession but the greater general public that butter, a totally natural product was less good than margarine and other highly processed low fat products.

Entire industries are now based on whipping up paranoia and demonizing fat. The war on fat is far from over, after years of conditioning, consumer habits are deeply formed and some people are actually nauseated by fat.

Interesting to be a fly on the wall in the marketing departments in some of those multi national company boardrooms these days. Flora have already launched a new “irresistible blend of butter and Flora” called GOLD. There is no doubt the real problem in our diet is an excess of sugar and ultra processed food – we can no longer say we don’t know.
We need to ditch fake food for real food and not just embrace any old fat, it needs to come from a pure and natural source.
Everyone agrees that people would be healthier if more of their diet was made up of what Michael Pollen aptly calls “Real Food”.

Pan grilled Mackerel with Parsley and Lemon Butter

The new seasons mackerel are in – such joy – fresh mackerel are my absolute favourite sea fish. This is a master recipe for pan grilling fish.
The simplest and possibly the most delicious way to cook really fresh mackerel.

Serves 1 or 2

2-4 fillets of very fresh mackerel (allow 6 ozs (170g) fish form main course, 3 ozs (85g) for a starter)
seasoned flour
small knob of butter

Parsley Butter
2 ozs (50g/1/2 stick) butter
4 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Garnish
segment of lemon
parsley

First make the Parsley Butter.
Cream the butter, stir in the parsley and a few drops of lemon juice at a time. Roll into butter pats or form into a roll and wrap in greaseproof paper or tin foil, screwing each end so that it looks like a cracker. Refrigerate to harden.
Heat the grill pan.

Dip the fish fillets in flour which has been seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper. Shake off the excess flour and then spread a little butter with a knife on the flesh side, as though you were buttering a slice of bread rather meanly. When the grill is quite hot but not smoking, place the fish fillets butter side down on the grill; the fish should sizzle as soon as they touch the pan. Turn down the heat slightly and let them cook for 4 or 5 minutes on that side before you turn them over. Continue to cook on the other side until crisp and golden. Serve on a hot plate with some slices of Parsley Butter and a segment of lemon.

Parsley Butter may be served directly on the fish, or if you have a pretty shell, place it at the side of the plate as a container for the butter. Garnish with parsley and a segment of lemon.

Madhur Jaffreys Chicken in a Butter Sauce

From Indian Cookery

The Indians too love butter – The sauce in this dish should be folded into butter at the very last minute as it tends to separate otherwise. However, you can combine all the ingredients except the butter up to a day ahead of time and refrigerate them until they are needed.
This is a wonderfully simple but spectacular dish in which the Tandoori chicken is transformed with a sauce.

Serves 4-6

4 tablespoons tomato puree
Water to mix
A 1 inch (2.5cm) cube of fresh ginger, peeled and grated very finely to a pulp
½ pint (275ml) single cream
1 teaspoon garam masala
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 fresh, hot green chilli, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon very finely chopped fresh green coriander
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground roasted cumin seeds
4 oz (110g) unsalted butter
Tandoori-style chicken

Put the tomato paste in a clear measuring jug. Add water slowly, mixing as you go, to make up 8 fl oz (225ml) of tomato sauce. Add the ginger, cream, garam masala, salt, sugar, green chilli, cayenne, green coriander, lemon juice, and ground roasted cumin seeds. Mix well.
Heat the butter in a wide sauté pan or a large frying pan, When the butter has melted, add all the ingredients in the measuring jug. Bring to a simmer and cook on medium heat for a minute, mixing in the butter as you do so. Add the chicken pieces (but not their accumulated juices). Stir once and put chicken pieces on a warm serving platter. Extra sauce should be spooned over the top.

Ballymaloe Green Gooseberry Tartlets

Use the last of the green gooseberries for these delectable tartlets, the butter pastry is rich, flakey and delicious.

Makes 36 tartlets approximately

1 quantity cold cream pastry
450g (1lb) green gooseberries (topped and tailed)
caster sugar

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

Using plenty of flour roll the cold pastry to a thickness of 2mm (1/8 inch). Cut the pastry with a 7.5cm (3 inch) round cutter and use the disks of pastry to line a standard flat based bun tray.

Cut the gooseberries in half and arrange 6-7 halves on each disk of pastry. Place a rounded teaspoon of caster sugar on top of the fruit in each tartlet. Bake the tartlets for 15-20 minutes or until the sugar begins to caramelise and the pastry is a golden brown colour. Remove the tartlets from the bun tray while still hot – use a palette knife for this – and place on parchment paper which has been sprinkled with caster sugar.

These tartlets are best served warm.

Variations
Open Apple Tartlets: Replace the gooseberries with thinly sliced eating apple.
Open Rhubarb Tartlets: Replace the gooseberries with thinly sliced pink rhubarb.

Cream Pastry

This superb pastry keeps in the fridge for up to 6 days.

110g (4oz/1 stick) cold salted butter
110g (4oz/1 cup) plain flour
150ml (5fl oz/generous 1/2 cup) cold cream

Sieve the flour into the bowl of an electric food mixer. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour using the paddle attachment until the mixture forms a coarse texture (slow speed and then a little faster). (DO NOT over mix, if you do the mixture will form a shortbread like ball! Pour the cold cream into the coarse mixture and mix on a low speed until a smooth pastry forms. Wrap the pastry in parchment paper and chill overnight.
Always roll cream pastry straight from the fridge. If the pastry comes to room temperature it will be too soft to handle!

Hot Tips

New Seasons Marsh Samphire has just arrived. This is also called Glasswort and is quite different to rock samphire but equally easy to cook in boiling water (not salted) for about 3 or 4 minutes. Toss in melted butter and serve with fish and salad. Available from the Ballymaloe Cookery School stall in Midleton.

My latest find was at the in Skibbereen Farmers Market in West Cork a vibrant melange of stalls selling not just beautiful local and artisan produce fresh fish and shellfish, it also has bric a brac, organic seeds, hand-woven rugs and fancy poultry…. Look out for one the newest stands Bantry Bay chocolates was selling little cellophane bags of crunchy toffees with a hint of sea salt – so good we fought over the last one. bantrybaychocolates@gmail.com

Ballymaloe Cookery School Gardens are open to the public at present, the finest vegetable and herb gardens are bursting with produce as is the greenhouse. We even have peaches, apricots and a pomegranate. Don’t miss the shellhouse and maize and check out the fancy fowl and fat pigs. Gardens open daily from 11am – 5.30pm.

The OOBY Food Market which caused such a stir in East Cork reopens and will be operating from the wall outside Shanagarry Church from 10am – 12 noon every Sunday for the Summer – not to be missed….. Telephone: Olivia Connolly 021 4646041

No mistaking where I was – Bordeaux airport has grape vines planted close to Arrivals with a red rose at the end of each row to encourage bees to help with pollination. Even thought Bordeaux is all about wine, that wasn’t the primary purpose of our trip. We had been invited to the wedding of the granddaughter of Andre Lourton, the patriarch of one of the most famous wine families in Bordeaux. The young bride and groom looked radiant, the sun shone, the wine flowed, the food was delicious, lots of oysters, crepinettes, foie gras, duck in every possible way, exquisite cheese in sublime condition and molten chocolate pudding with pistachio ice cream.
Fireworks lit up the starlit sky over the vineyards and chateau, guests from all over the world danced till the early hours.
It’s an ill wind that doesn’t benefit someone – the Aer Lingus strike meant we had to leave a day early so we had an unexpected mini break. The countryside was so beautiful, lush and green, and well wooded in areas not suitable for vines. The names of some of the most famous wines in the world leap off the road signs, wild flowers grow in the hedges, poppies here and there, frequent war memorials a poignant reminder of the devastation in this area during the first and second world war.
There are markets virtually in every town Lilbourne was recently voted the best in France, an appealing melange of beautiful fresh vegetables, fruit and Summer truffles, farmhouse cheeses, Agen prunes, oysters, kitchen utensils, plants, live poultry, espadrilles and some of the best charcuterie I’ve ever seen in France .
We stayed in the most charming bed and breakfast called the Forge owned by Carol de Montrichard, a beautifully restored French farmhouse in the middle of almost a hectare of gardens, wild flower meadow and fruit orchards. The house was packed with antiques and chic finds, comfy chintsy sofas, French tapestry chairs, a baby grand piano and rows and rows of interesting books and old New Yorker magazines to browse through. The bed sheets were old French linen and bliss to sleep in and the breakfast table was laden with pretty china and silver and a bowl of freshly picked cherries still warm from the tree. Carol who has an art and culture background also does week long culinary cooking tours for small groups of 6-8 friends. There’s hands-on cooking in private houses with talented young chefs, trips to local markets, vineyards and artisan producers with lots of little surprises thrown in. Her bed and breakfast can also be let to a family for a week or more and sleeps up to 11. The garden is a haven for all the song birds as well as hoopoe, storks, eagles, frogs and crickets. Guests can help themselves to ripe cherries from the trees et al.
A real find close to Branne and St Emillion, with its cobbled streets and myriad of wine shops, don’t miss the canelles and macaroons for which the area is so famous. Lots of gardens open to the public including Etamines a rambling garden with fish ponds and avaries and the Jardin des Legumes in Oublies www.ohlegumesoublies.com , we had a particularly delicious lunch at La Poudette in Puzoles. Langoustine bisque with savoury Chantilly with Espelette pepper, carpaccio of duck breast with roasted peanuts, parsley, shallot and extra virgin olive oil with a quail egg on top and some wild rocket leaves. The chef was Frederick Jombart, his partner Sophie Bantous was the maître d. Their son Martin played the clarinet for us as we drank our coffee – utterly charming.
A dish made from the black pig of the area was also delicious and I loved the cherries with pistachio ice cream and with a filo cigarette sitting on top.
La Caffe Cuisine in Branne was also highly recommended but we didn’t make it. www.cuisinecafe.

Morello Cherry Pie

The pastry is made by the creaming method so people who are convinced that they suffer from ‘hot hands’ don’t have to worry about rubbing in the butter.

Serves 8-12

Pastry
8 ozs (225g/2 sticks) butter
2 ozs (50g/1/3 cup) castor sugar
2 eggs, preferably free range
12 ozs (300g/2 1/2 cups) white flour, preferably unbleached

Filling
2lbs (900g) fresh cherries
1 – 2 tablespoons Kirsch (optional)
5 ozs (150g/2/3 cup) sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon ground almonds
egg wash-made with one beaten egg and a dash of milk
castor sugar for sprinkling

To Serve
softly whipped cream

1 x round tin, 9 inches (23cm) by 1 inch (2.5cm deep)

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

First make the pastry. Cream the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food mixer (no need to over cream). Add the eggs and beat for several minutes. Reduce speed and mix in the flour. Turn out onto a piece of floured greaseproof paper, flatten into a round wrap and chill. This pastry needs to be chilled for at least 2 hours otherwise it is difficult to handle.

To make the tart
Roll out the pastry 1/8 inch (3mm) thick approx., and use about a little more than half of it to line the tin. Destalk the cherries and fill the tart tin. Sprinkle with Kirsch if using. Then cover with a mixture of sugar, ground almonds and cornflour. Cover with a lid of pastry, seal edges, decorate with cherry shapes and pastry leaves. Egg wash and bake in the preheated oven until the cherries are tender – 45 minutes to 1 hour. When cooked, sprinkle lightly with castor sugar and serve with softly whipped cream.

Agen Prune and Armagnac Tart

We love this delicious version which comes from The River Café Cook Book by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

Serves 10-12

Pastry
225g (8ozs/generous 1 cup) flour
25g (1oz/1/8 cup) castor sugar
110g (4ozs/1 stick) unsalted butter
1 egg

Filling
400 g (14oz) Agen prunes
425ml (15fl oz/scant 2 cups) strong breakfast tea, leaves strained
4 tablespoons (60ml/2 1/2fl oz/generous 1/4 cup) Armagnac
300g (11oz/scant 3 sticks) unsalted butter
300g (11oz/scant 1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
300g (11oz) peeled, blanched whole almonds, ground to a sandy consistency in a food processor
3 large eggs, free range if possible
1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) of flour (optional)

To Serve
crème fraîche

1 x 30.5cm (12 inch) tart tin with ‘pop-up base

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

Remove the stones from the prunes and soak in strong breakfast tea for 30 minutes. Remove the prunes from the tea and drizzle with 4 tablespoons of Armagnac.

Next make the pastry.
Sieve the flour and sugar into a large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes, toss in the flour and then rub in with your fingertips. Keep everything as cool as possible; if the fat is allowed to melt, the finished pastry may be tough. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, stop.

Whisk the egg. Using a fork to stir, add just enough liquid to bring the pastry together, then discard the fork and collect it into a ball with your hands, this way you can judge more accurately if you need a few more drops of liquid. Although rather damp pastry is easier to handle and roll out, the resulting crust can be tough and may well shrink out of shape as the water evaporates in the oven. The drier and more difficult-to-handle pastry will give a crisper, shorter crust.

Flatten into a round, cover the pastry with clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will make the pastry much less elastic and easier to roll.
Line the flan ring and bake blind for 20-25 minutes. Blind bake the pastry for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
Reduce the temperature to 160°C/315°F/Gas mark 2 1/2.

Meanwhile make the almond filling.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and light. Add the almonds and combine. Stir in the eggs one by one, carefully stir in the flour. Arrange the prunes on the base of pastry shell. Pour any juices from the prunes into the almond mixture then spoon the filling on top of the prunes. Lift the prunes up out through the frangipane a little so they peep out. Bake in a preheated at 160°C/315°F/Gas Mark 2 1/2 oven for about 40 minutes – 1 hour. Serve with a dollop crème fraîche.

Pat Browne’s Almond Macaroons

We’ve got lots of macaroon recipes, but this one given to us by one of our tutors Pat Browne, is the most foolproof of all. They can be flavoured or coloured as you wish, a few drops of rosewater or orange blossom water, a little crème de menthe…… They are not exactly the same as the St Emilion macaroons but are very close, easy and utterly delicious.

Makes 74 approx of petit four size
4 free range organic egg whites, depending on size
25g (1oz) caster sugar
225g (8oz) icing sugar
115g (4¼oz) ground almonds

Baking tray or trays

No 9 plain piping nozzle

Preheat the oven to 140°C/275°F/Gas Mark 1
Cover the baking tray with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.

Whisk the egg whites and castor sugar until stiff.
Sieve the icing sugar twice into a bowl. Add the ground almonds to the icing sugar.
Mix half the dry ingredients into the egg whites and then fold in the remainder.
Pipe into approx. 2.5cm (1 inch) rounds onto a baking tray. Rest for 30 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes until pale golden. Continue to cook the remainder.
The macaroons are cooked when they lift easily off the paper.
Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin.
If you want an extra treat, sandwich together with chocolate, lemon or coffee butter cream.

Prawn or Lobster Bisque with Chantilly Cream and Espelette Pepper

We can’t bear to waste any scrap of the shellfish. Use leftover prawn or lobster shells to make this delicious bisque – then you get double value from the shellfish. It’s rich so serve it in small bowls.

Serves 8

12 heads and claws of fresh prawn or the cracked claws and body shells of 2-3 lobsters 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
300ml (1/2 pint) fish stock (see recipe)
450g (1lb) fresh tomatoes or 1 x 400g (14oz) tin of tomatoes
2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) brandy
175ml (6fl oz/3/4 cup) cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

Chantilly Cream
110g (4oz) whipped cream
Grated rind of ½ lemon
Pinch salt
Espelette Pepper
Garnish
fresh flat parsley or chervil leaves

Use a hammer to crush the prawns and lobster shells into small pieces. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the shallots and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the bits of prawns and lobster shells and also the fish stock (see recipe). Stir and cook 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, parsley and brandy and cook for 5-10 minutes (the bisque should be just simmering).

Take the bisque of the heat, strain off the big bits, and liquidise. Then strain through a sieve. Return to the saucepan. Stir in the cream, season and taste. The bisque should be light and smooth in texture.

Fold the lemon rind into the softly whipped cream and add a pinch of salt. Top each bowl with a blob of savoury Chantilly, sprinkled with Espelette pepper.

Serve in warm bowls and garnish with a few flat parsley leaves.

Hot Tips
More excitement in Stoneybatter – The lovely Michelle Darmody of the Cake Café has opened a new place called Slice. As with the Cake Café they use local Irish produce to create good quality home style cooking. The salad leaves and most vegetables are sourced from Mc Nallys farm in North County Dublin, all of the milk in organic. Sally Barnes smokes the fish and all of the meat and cheese are from small Irish producers and of courses there are lots of cakes as you would image. Ray O’ Neill is a Ballymaloe Cookery School past student is her Manager in chief. www.asliceofcake.ie

Date for your diary.
A Long Table Dinner at Ballymaloe Cookery School – Tickets have gone on sale for this year’s Long Table Dinner hosted by Darina Allen in the greenhouse in the midst of the tomatoes and scarlet runner beans on Tuesday, 22nd July (it’s been a sell out for the past few years). Rory O’Connell will create the menu – a celebration of the produce of the organic farm and gardens and local area with fish and shellfish from nearby Ballycotton. Dinner is €120 per person Advanced booking essential – proceeds go to East Cork Slow Food Educational Project. Telephone: (021) 4646 785/www.cookingisfun.ie

The Dublin restaurant and café scene is really humming once again. Every now and then the Ballymaloe Cookery School team of teachers go on a research trip to see what is happening on the culinary food scene. Recently we did an intensive trip to the metropolis and tasted some very exciting food in a variety of restaurants and cafés. We began our trip to the Fumbally in Fumbally Lane run by Aisling Rogerson and Luca D’Alfonso and a vibrant young team. The food is simple, delicious, uncomplicated but put together in a chic and edgy way we loved the brunch dishes – the Fumbally take on the Dr Suess green eggs and ham toasted brioche with avocado and scrambled eggs and chorizo. The pulled porchetta with slow roasted shoulder of pork, caper mayo and spiced apple sauce was another great combo. Specials are written on the blackboard above the till. The fresh produce for the kitchen is piled against the wall in wooden crates like a glorious still-life in this airy contemporary space with a cool, retro, comfy, shabby chic feel yet elegant feel.
The GreenHouse on Dawson Street served a totally different style of food. Mickael Viljanen who hales from Finland is one of the most talented young chefs cooking in Ireland at the moment. He and his team cooked us a delicious three course lunch with lots of excitement on each beautifully crafted plate – a carpaccio of scallop, shoulder of suckling pig and apricot tart with elderflower ice cream.
We popped our heads into Murphys Ice cream from Dingle, wandered through the aisles of tempting fresh and delicates a produce in Fallon and Byrne. We found lots of new ingredients – fresh strawrasberries and pineberries (like underripe strawberries), Teff flour which I’d been looking out for to make an Ethopian flat bread and red rice from the Camargue. We also fled past the Pepperpot in the Powerscourt Centre where Marian Kilcoyne’s (a past student) Café Restaurant was throbbing with lots of unhearably tempting treats.
Ananda is the flagship restaurant of Asheesh Dewan’s Indian restaurant empire under the stewardship of Sunil Ghai and his team of Indian chefs certainly live up to its reputation. The Ballymaloe Cookery School tutors were totally wowed by his tasting menu which started with Pan Poori and ended with Gulab Jamun pistachio icecream and caramel mousse. We got another warm welcome from Garett Fitzgerald and James Boland at Brother Hubbards in Capel Street. This café cum deli has built up a fantastic reputation in the less than two years since they opened. The menu is packed with unbearably tempting choices, gorgeous sandwiches, salads, brunch dishes piled high on good bread from Tartine Bakery, virtually the only items that is not made from scratch in house part Garett Fitzgerald and Danielle Beattie who does all the baking are both past students of the Ballymaloe Cookery School. I loved the cannellini beans with tomato sauce and slow roasted pulled pork with a fried egg and a sprinkling of sumac on top but there were appreciative sounds coming from all directions of the table as we tasted our way through the menu.
At Palais des Thés in Wicklow Street Niall did a tutored tasting with us. We tasted a beautiful selection of exquisite teas including Thé du Hammam , Japanse Green Tea, Sencha Ariake.
A light lunch at Cornucopia the long established vegetarian restaurant in Wicklow Street was another enlightening experience.
On the way home they greatly enjoyed a visit to the Avoca shop where Butchers, Erine and Sharon explained the philosophy and skill behind the rearing and butchering and using every scrap of the animal from the nose to the tail.
Altogether a hugely enjoying and enlightening few days.

Cornucopia’s Chilled Carrot and Avocado soup

Makes 8 portions

This soup has become a very popular and everyday menu item in Cornucopia. At first people were often reluctant to try a chilled soup in our temperate climate, as a good warming bowl of soup is our traditional cure for the winter chills. However, as our customers warmed to the idea of a chilled carrot soup, news spread of the velvety smooth concoction and soon we sold out of it everyday.
The main flavours here are carrot, garlic and lemon. Using the carrot juice, avocado and olive oil as a base, try substituting fresh ginger or your fresh herb of choice instead of the garlic and lemon for variety and after a few attempts you may settle on your own personal favourite.

1.5 litre carrot juice (about 2.5 kg Carrots)
2 avocado’s, cut in half, stone removed and peeled (280g when prepped)
100ml lemon juice (about medium 4 lemons)
1 large clove of garlic, peeled
½ teaspoon sea salt
150mls extra virgin olive oil

Use a juicer to make the carrot juice. There are two ways to do this, using peeled or unpeeled carrots and it all depends on the freshness of the vegetables and how much precious time you want to spend peeling them! We have found that very fresh carrots, and taking the time to peel them ensures a brighter coloured soup. If you want to skip the peeling process then by all means do as it won’t affect the taste. To make 1.5 litres of juice, it takes approximately 2.5kgof carrots. Make sure to measure the juice from the carrots as the recipe needs 1.5 litres, if you produce more juice then drink it as a reward for all your hard work!
If you don’t have a juicer, bottled carrot juice can be substituted but as it is likely to have been pasteurized it may not taste as fresh and bright, but is a decent alternative.

Method:

Pour 750ml of the carrot juice into a large jug then add the prepared avocado, lemon juice garlic and sea salt. Pulse with a stick blender to puree then slowly pour in the olive oil and the remaining carrot juice until creamy and well combined. Pour the soup into a lidded container and place in the fridge to chill for at least two hours or more.
To serve, bring the soup to just under room, or desired temperature then stir well and pour into 8 medium bowls.

Brother Hubbard’s Middle Eastern Breakfast Plate

For our menu, I draw from our experiences of travelling around the Middle East – this is what I would have had most mornings before going off to visit the souks and the various ancient wonders.
As we head into summer, it feels like a wonderfully refreshing, light-yet-substantial, and healthy, brunch dish. It is amazingly simple to put together and to make in bigger quantities for entertaining – despite its name, I imagine it would work equally well with a glass of white wine for a refreshing and light summer supper. As with all recipes, the better the quality of your ingredients, the better the outcome!

Brother Hubbards Middle Eastern Breakfast Plate
Serves 4

1 cucumber
2 (or more) good quality tomatoes
1 block Feta Cheese (180-200g) (classic Greek Feta or similar style – white, crumbly, salty)
12 – 16 olives (we use Kalamata)
4 good sprigs of fresh mint
4 hard-boiled free-range and organic eggs (freshly cooked by boiling for 7 minutes, but cooled in cold water and then peeled)
1 quantity of Hummus (have fun with the recipe below, or a very good deli-bought variety)
Pitta Breads (1-2 per person)
Hummus
170g (6oz) chickpeas, cooked, save the cooking liquid, use tinned for easy entertaining
freshly squeezed juice of 2-3 lemons, or to taste
2-3 large or small cloves garlic, crushed
150ml (5fl oz/generous 1/2 cup) tahini paste (available from health food shops and delicatessens)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt

Optional: smoked salmon, cold meats, chorizo, fresh radish cut into chunks

Cut your cucumber in half lengthways and then each half cut diagonally into large bite-size chunks. Cut the ripe plum tomatoes into wedges and break the feta into larger chunks.
Place chunks of cucumber, tomato wedges, feta on large individual plates (or one giant platter to share), add a few big spoons of the hummus in a little bowl, the mint sprigs and 6-8 olives per person (see the end for a hummus recipe). Arrange so it looks like a lovely platter of freshness, colour and flavor. Serve with the egg on the plate.
We usually sprinkle some sumac over the hummus and a little za’atar over the feta – these are spices which we have gone to great trouble to source, but are often difficult to come by in Ireland. Replace with a little sprinkle of cumin or good paprika, a drizzle of lemon juice or just really great olive oil (or all of the above!).
Have this with some warmed pitta bread on the side – splash a little water on the pittas, shake off the excess and just heat under a grill or in a toaster.
If you fancy, you can serve slices of smoked salmon, cold cuts, or even some pan-fried chorizo on the side to make it more substantial.
Drain the chickpeas, save the cooking liquid. Whizz up the remainder in a food processor with the freshly squeezed lemon juice and a little cooking water if necessary. Add the crushed garlic, tahini paste, cumin and salt to taste. Blend to a soft creamy paste. Taste and continue to add lemon juice and salt until you are happy with the flavour.
If you are making the hummus (which I highly recommend), have a go at this method – it is intentionally loose so that you can develop your own approach to hummus: Take some cooked chickpeas (3 large cupfuls, or 2 tin,s drained and rinsed) and put in a food processor/blitzer, with a few dessert spoons of hot water, a few glugs of the best olive oil you have, a dessert spoon of tahini, 1 clove of minced/crushed garlic, a few good pinches of ground cumin, and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Blitz until well pureed (or less so, if you like more texture). Taste and add some salt and pepper – the consistency should be a thick paste, not too runny. Adjust the flavor until it is the way you like it (we like it with a good strong lemon tang, a brave hint of garlic and cumin, and well seasoned) – just add more of any of the ingredients listed and blitz some more to distribute the flavours, until it tastes delicious to you – tweak as you go, this really is worth having fun with and should reflect the type of hummus you like.
When eating, mix and match the flavours and textures– have morsels of the bread, dipped in the hummus, with a little cucumber, mint, feta and the other ingredients. No two mouthfuls will taste the same!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Pedro Ximenza

Really good cream makes really good ice cream. This recipe is made on an egg-mousse base with softly whipped cream. It produces a deliciously rich ice cream with a smooth texture that does not need further whisking during the freezing period. This ice cream should not be served frozen hard; remove it from the freezer at least 10 minutes before serving. You can add other flavourings to the basic recipe: liquid ingredients such as melted chocolate or coffee should be folded into the mousse before adding the cream. For chunkier ingredients such as chocolate chips or muscatel raisins soaked in rum, finish the ice cream, semi-freeze it and then stir them through, otherwise they will sink to the bottom.

Serves 12–16

4 organic egg yolks
110g (4oz/1/2 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and seeds from 1/3 vanilla pod
1.2 litres (2 pints/5 cups) softly whipped cream (measured after it is whipped, for accuracy)

Pedro Ximenza

Put the egg yolks into a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy (keep the whites for meringues). Combine the sugar with 200ml (7fl oz/scant 1 cup) of water in a small heavy-based saucepan. Stir over heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, then remove the spoon and boil the syrup until it reaches the ‘thread’ stage, about 106–113°C (223–235°F): it will look thick and syrupy, and when a metal spoon is dipped in the last drops of syrup will form thin threads. Pour this boiling syrup in a steady stream onto the egg yolks, whisking all the time by hand. (If you are whisking the mousse in a food mixer, remove the bowl and whisk the boiling syrup in by hand; otherwise it will solidify on the sides of the bowl.)
Add the vanilla extract and vanilla seeds and continue to whisk the mixture until it becomes a thick, creamy white mousse.
This is the stage at which, if you’re deviating from this recipe, you can add liquid flavourings such as coffee. Fold the softly whipped cream into the mousse, pour into a bowl, cover and freeze.
Scoop the ice-cream into chilled bowls onto plates. Drizzle a little Pedro Ximenez over the ice-cream on the plate just before you tuck in.

 
Hot Tips
Sumac, Za’atar and other Middle Eastern ingredients available from Fallon and Byrne, Asian Shops and from Ottolenghi by mail order – www.ottolenghi.co.uk.

Slow Food
Wild Salmon is now in season for a few short weeks, Slow Food are organising a Celebration of Wild Salmon at Belleek Castle, Ballina on Sunday 22nd June at 1pm. – There will be a Casting Lesson on the Lawn – Wild Salmon Canapes – A Talk on Wild Salmon by Mairin Ui Chomain and A Cookery Demonstration hosted by Chef Stephen Lenahen – phone: Suzanne 087 9170422 – suzanneobrien14@gmail.com

Slow Food Four Rivers in the South East of Ireland have launched a brilliant initiative, a ‘Hens for Schools’ competition
For details and how to enter, see www.slowfoodireland.com/hens-for-schools

Date for your diary
The Westport Festival of Music & Food is back in 2014 . It is a 2 day, multi stage outdoor festival which takes place at Westport House, Westport, Co Mayo, on Sat 28th & Sun 29th June 2014. Rachel & I will be doing cookery demonstrations on Saturday 28th at 4 – 6pm respectively – we’ve so looking forward to being in lovely Mayo once again. http://www.westportfestival.com/

For our May Slow Food East Cork event we returned to Sage Restaurant in Midleton to celebrate the local food of East Cork. Where better to choose than Kevin and Réidín Aherne’s restaurant which over just a few short years has become known for its 12 Mile Ethos..

 
Kevin has carefully created close links with local producers and their photographs take pride of place on the walls of the restaurant. The menu reflected their produce and 7 or 8 joined us for dinner and spoke about their enterprises.

Organic farmers Dan and Anne Aherne from Ballysimon who produce beef, chickens and eggs. James Stafford from Roche’s Point whose longhorn beef provided the main course for the Slow Food dinner. Local butcher Frank Murphy whom so many of us depend on to slaughter our heritage meat breeds.

Retired Derek Taylor, telephone – 087 232 9554 who grows organic vegetables and herbs in quite a small way also near Roches Point in East Cork.
Derek Hannon from Greenfield Farm who grows radishes and salad leaves.

Fish Smoker Bill Casey, telephone 086 6611468 who smokes organic salmon in his smokehouse in Shanagarry.
Beekeeper Charlie Terry and his wife Bridie from Cloyne who have produced raw honey for 25 years on their land near Midleton.
Farmhouse cheesemaker Jane Murphy who produces the beautiful range of Ardsallagh goat cheeses on the family farm near Carrigtwohill.
They all spoke beautifully about their life style choice and their product.

Pat Van de Bake from Slow Food Holland joined us and spoke about the vibrant Slow Food Youth Movement in the Netherlands and the growing interest in growing your own food and food issues.
Martin and Noreen Conroy who rear pure bred Saddleback pigs on their small farm near Leamlara and process it all themselves and sell to an increasingly appreciative public at Midleton and Douglas Farmers Markets. Martin and Noreen’s son has now come into the business with them after an apprenticeship with renowned Massimo Spigaroli near Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy – so watch that space.
Note: Tom & Jacinta Clancy, rear free-range chickens and turkeys in their farm overlooking the sea in Ballycotton – they too have a loyal following. Look out for them at Mahon Point on Thursdays and Douglas Farmers Market on Saturdays.

Kevin was recently awarded the Best Chef in Cork accolade from the Restaurant Association of Ireland.
Kevin’s mission statement “Our menu is based on our 12 mile ethos. We endeavour to create dishes showcasing what is produced, reared or grown within a 12 mile radius of the restaurant”

Slow Food Producer’s Dinner Menu
8th May, 2014
The menu included

12 Mile Sharing Board

Scottish Highland Plate Sirloin, Neck, Rib and Shin

Rhubarb, Jelly, Meringue & Jersey Cream Ice Cream

How fortunate is he to have so many excellent food producers close by and how fortunate are they to have this young talented chef to support them and champion their cause – others please follow.
The hedgerows are brimming with elderflower blossoms and the tart green gooseberries are ready to pick, a marriage made in heaven so here are a few suggestions to use the early summer bounty.

Elderflower Champagne

This magical recipe transforms perfectly ordinary ingredients into a delicious sparkling drink. The children make it religiously every year and then share the bubbly with their friends.

2 heads of elderflowers
560g (11/4lb) sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4.5L (8pints) water
1 lemon

Remove the peel from the lemon with a swivel top peeler. Pick the elderflowers in full bloom. Put into a bowl with the lemon peel, lemon juice, sugar, vinegar and cold water. Leave for 24 hours, then strain into strong screw top bottles. Lay them on their sides in a cool place. After 2 weeks it should be sparkling and ready to drink. Despite the sparkle this drink is non-alcoholic.
Top Tip:
The bottles need to be strong and well sealed, otherwise the Elderflower champagne will pop its cork.

Claire Ptak’s Elderflower Cupcakes

Makes 12

125g (4 1/2oz/generous 1 stick) butter, very soft
200g (7oz/scant 1 cup) caster sugar
3 organic, free-range eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
275g (9oz/generous 2 cups) self-raising flour
1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) lemon zest
75ml (3fl oz/scant 1/2 cup) lemon juice
75ml (3fl oz/scant 1/2 cup) milk

Icing
190g (6 1/2oz/generous 1 3/4 sticks) soft butter
800-1.2kg (1lb 10oz – 2lb 12oz/5 – 9 cups) icing sugar
2 tablespoons (2 1/2 American tablespoons) milk
75ml (3fl oz/scant 1/2 cup) elderflower cordial
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 muffin tray lined with 12 muffin cases.

Preheat the oven to 160°C325°F/Gas Mark 3.

Cream the very soft butter and sugar until almost white and fluffy. Add the eggs and salt and mix until fully incorporated. Add half the flour until just combined.
Add the zest, juice and milk and mix until combined. Finally add the remaining flour.
Scoop into paper lined muffin tins. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.
Remove from the tin and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the icing.

To make the icing.
Cream the soft butter on a low speed in a Kenwood using a k beater, add some sugar and gradually add the milk, elderflower cordial and lemon juice. Then add the remaining sugar. The speed must be kept slow so as to not incorporate too much air into the buttercream.
Beat for about 3 minutes to get to the proper texture and to allow the sugar to dissolve. If necessary add more icing sugar if needed. This varies with the air temperature and the acidity of the juices, etc. Ice each cup cake and decorate with a few elderflower if available.

Note: omit the salt if using salted butter.

 Elderflower Fritters

These are very easy to make, very crispy and once you’ve tasted one, you won’t be able to stop! Serve them with the Gooseberry and Elderflower Compote, below. Serves 4

110g (4oz/1 cup) plain flour
pinch of salt
1 organic egg
150ml (5fl oz/generous 1/2 cup) lukewarm water
8–12 elderflower heads
caster sugar
sunflower oil for frying

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and drop in the egg. Using a whisk, bring in the flour gradually from the edges, slowly adding in the water at the same time. Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180°C/350°F. Hold the flowers by the stalks and dip into the batter (add a little more water or milk if the batter is too thick). Fry until golden brown in the hot oil. Drain on kitchen paper, toss in caster sugar and serve immediately with gooseberry and elderflower compote.

Green Gooseberry and Elderflower Compote

When the elderflowers come into bloom, then I know it’s time to pick green gooseberries. They feel as hard as hailstones, but for cooking it’s the perfect time. Enlist the help of little ones to top and tail the elderflowers.

900g (2lb) green gooseberries
2 or 3 elderflower heads
600ml (1 pint/2 1/2 cups) cold water
450g (1lb/2 cups) sugar

First, top and tail the gooseberries.

Tie the elderflower heads in a little square of muslin, put the bag in a stainless-steel or enameled saucepan, add the sugar and cover with cold water. Bring slowly to the
boil and continue to boil for 2 minutes. Add the gooseberries and simmer just until the fruit bursts. Allow to get cold.

Serve in a pretty bowl and decorate with fresh elderflowers.

Hot Tips
Another exciting date for your diary. A once off opportunity to hear Craig Sams of Carbon Gold speak about the importance of biochar as a soil improver and its importance to the environment and the many opportunities it creates for farmers and food producers. Thursday June 19th at 7pm at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. Tel: 021 4646785 or email slowfoodeastcork@gmail.com . See the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-WnuEnN1s and website www.carbongold.com

Take a break – Drop in to Afternoon Tea at Harvey Nichols in Dublin on Tuesday June 17th 3.30-5.30pm. Darina Allen will host Afternoon Tea at Itsa showcasing some of her delicious recipes from 30 years at Ballymaloe Cookery School followed by a book signing. Tickets €45 – please email HarveyNichols@Itsa.ie to book tickets.

Just heard about a great little place to eat on the end of the Beara Peninsula. Rhonwen Lowes has opened a Bistro in Eyeries serving local artisan foods and freshly made breads. The rosemary bread and three hummous dips are a great success and the buffalo burger from the local buffalo herd is also a winner. Check it out – www.eyeriesbistro.ie or tel: 027 74884.
Where do I get green gooseberries? The English Market in Cork or Rose Cottage Fruit Farm in Co Laois – they have a stall at the Midleton and Mahon Farmers Market. While you are there look out for beautiful fresh lobsters wrapped in seaweed from Michael Barrett 086 6000438, depending on the weather.