ArchiveSeptember 29, 2014

Back to school, a busy and expensive time for so many families around the country and now there’s the challenge of school lunches. This week I’ll concentrate on packed lunches and in future columns I’ll have suggestions for college students. Meanwhile invest in a copy book or folder and gradually compile a collection of your kids favourite comforting recipes so they can leave home armed with a useful ‘survival kit’.

But back to school lunches, the bane of so many parents lives, yet phenomenally important not only to nourish our kids physically but to feed their brains and to help with concentration. Most school lunches seem to be bread based so if we agree with the fundamental fact that our food should be our medicine rather than doing us damage then we need to ditch the squishy sliced pan entirely out of our shopping basket. One of the very best things nowadays that one can do for our families is to make a daily loaf of bread. There are masses of easy ‘stir and pour’ recipes to make a grand little loaf that can be sliced easily and topped with many good things.  I know sandwiches are a relatively easy option but try to keep bread to the minimum. I did a quick whizz around my grandchildren to get an idea of what they like to find in their lunch boxes.

A flask of hot soup in chilly weather or a chilled smoothie in warm weather is definitely a favourite. One grandchild, loves to have a gluten free wrap with lots of salad leaves and some scraps of chicken, bacon or smoked fish with a creamy yoghurt dressing and maybe some slices of ripe tomato.  Chicken and cranberry sauce is also a favourite.  Several of our grandchildren love brown meat so roast drum sticks or chicken wings are easy to munch and are great with a little garlic mayo or Ballymaloe Country relish as a dip.  Raw batons of fresh cucumber or carrot (not those little pre-washed packs) with a little tub of hummus also got the thumbs up. Pickled carrot and pickled cucumber have also become favourites. Home-made potato crisps as an occasional treat score high on the ‘yum-yum’ scale.

Water, apple juice or fruit kefirs seem to be the drinks of choice, a piece of quiche or frittata also goes down well and some fruit is obligatory – banana, apple, peach, nectarines, a few cherries ….. whatever is in season. Dried fruit, peaches, figs, dates, prunes, cranberries or even a raisin, nut mixture, that’s if you school isn’t a nut free zone which many now are. A little tub of salad, lentils, cous cous, quinoa, chick peas, pearl barley or freekah, was surprisingly popular with dried cranberries, fresh herbs and maybe some diced cheese added. Understandably variety is important – cheese croquettes or cheddar chunks with whole cherry tomatoes, another favourite combo and half an avocado with a little sea salt to scatter over the top is an easy peasy option full of nourishment that will provide lots of energy.

Our grandchildren love Ballycotton shrimps in the shell with homemade mayo to dip but not having anything that your friends consider weird in your lunch box is also a consideration!

Keep the sweet things to a once or twice a week treat if at all possible. Here’s a recipes for Penny’s Coconut and Chocolate Bars      and lots of other simple wholesome suggestions.

 

  A little White Soda Bread Loaf

 

You can make it in the round traditional way or like this in a loaf tin which is more convenient for slicing or sandwiches

 

1 lb (450g/4 cups) white flour, preferably unbleached

1 level teaspoon/1/2 American teaspoon salt

1 level teaspoon/1/2 American teaspoon breadsoda

sour milk or buttermilk to mix – 15 fl ozs (425 ml) approx

oatmeal, sesame seeds or kibbled wheat (optional)

 

First fully preheat your oven to 230ºC/450ºF/regulo 8.

 

Sieve the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre.  Pour most of the milk in at once. Using one hand, mix in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, but not too wet. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a well floured worked surface.  Scoop it into the oiled tin, sprinkle with oatmeal and sesame or kibbled wheat seeds if you enjoy them. Place in the hot oven immediately turning down the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/regulo 6 for 45 minutes. Remove from the tin and return the bread to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes or until fully cooked.  If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread: if it is cooked it will sound hollow.

 

Pickled Carrots

Raw carrots are of course brilliant but for a change – these carrots are deliciously tangy and crunchy. We also pickle fennel and beets so good – don’t automatically assume your kids won’t like these, remember they learn their eating habits and prejudices from our reaction!

 

Makes 1 quart

 

Pickled Carrots

2lbs (900g) baby carrots, well-scrubbed, peeled and trimmed or long batons.

 

Pickling Solution

16fl ozs (450ml/2 cup) hot water

8fl ozs (225ml/1 cup) rice vinegar

9 tablespoons (11 American tablespoons) sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons dairy salt

 

First make the pickling solution. Put all the ingredients into a bowl. Stir until the sugar and salt is dissolved.  To pickle vegetables: choose quart size pickling jars, with sealable lids, wash, dry and sterilize. Pack the whole carrots or batons into the jar tightly. Cover with the brine. Refrigerate and mature for 2-3 days before eating. They will keep for about a month.

 

 

Homemade Potato Crisps

 

Making crisps at home is definitely worthwhile – a few potatoes produce

a ton of crisps and nothing you buy in any shop will be even half as delicious. A mandolin is well worth buying for making crisps – but mind your fingers!  Just in case of any misunderstanding these are very nutritious as well as delicious and can also be used with a dip.

 

 

Serves 4

 

450g (1lb) large, even-sized potatoes

extra virgin olive oil or beef dripping for deep-fat frying

salt

 

Wash and peel the potatoes. For even-sized crisps, trim each potato with a swivel-top peeler until smooth. Slice them very finely, preferably with a mandolin. Soak in cold water to remove the excess starch (this will also prevent them from discolouring or sticking together). Drain off the water and dry well.

 

In a deep-fat fryer, heat the oil or dripping to 180ºC/350ºF. Drop in the dry potato slices a few at a time and fry until golden and completely crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat until they are all cooked.

 

Hummus

 

Hummus has become a new basic – inexpensive to make and bursting with goodness. If you are pressed for time, it’s best to start with tinned dried chickpeas and cook them yourself. I often cook 2 or 3 times what I need ‘cos they freeze perfectly and can be used for salad or soups as well as a dip.

 

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

 

170g (6oz) chickpeas, cooked, save the cooking liquid or 1 x 14 oz can

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

 

Accompaniment

pitta bread or any crusty white bread

 

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.

Willow’s Cous Cous Salad

 

 

Willow, loves to discover little cubes of diced cucumber, tomato and feta as well as freshly chopped herbs in her cous cous salad. The basic cooked cous cous can be kept in a sealed box in the fridge for several days.

 

Serves 8

 

12 ozs (340g) couscous

16 fl ozs (450ml/2 cups) homemade chicken stock or water

2 ozs (50g) dried apricots cut into 5mm (1/4 inch) dice (optional)

2 ozs (50g) pistachio nuts (or toasted almonds) halved, optional

 

Dressing

salt and freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

 

 

Put the couscous, apricots and pistachio nuts into a Pyrex bowl.  Pour over the boiling water or stock, cover with clingfilm and allow to soak for 15 minutes. Stir with a fork and season with salt and freshly ground pepper and add some olive oil.

 

Additions & Variations

Instead of apricots and pistachio nuts stir in 2 tablespoons (2 American tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) of freshly chopped fresh herbs just before serving, eg. mint or coriander, parsley and chives, dried cherries, cranberries, raisins….

 

A little grated orange rind or lemon rind and freshly squeezed juice is also delicious.

 

 

Penny’s Coconut and Chocolate Health Bars

 

Makes 12 – 16 bars

 

8 ozs  (250g) dessicated coconut

1 heaped tablespoon tahini (optional)

5 ozs (150g) dried dates

2 ozs  (50g) butter or coconut oil

1 teaspoon good vanilla extract

2 rounded tablespoon cocoa powder

2 large free-range eggs

3 tablespoon water

 

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

8 inch (20.5cm) square tin, lined with parchment paper

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz until the mixture comes together. Put into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Leave to cool slightly and then cut into bars.

 

Hot Tips

Both the Midleton Food & Drink Festival and the Waterford Harvest Festival are on Saturday 13^th September.

In Midleton there will be over 60 stalls this year in the open air food and drink market. Enjoy the carnival atmosphere with street performance artists, craft exhibitions, whiskey and wine tastings and a full programme of food and cookery demonstrations. www.midletonfoodfestival.ie/

Visit the Waterford Harvest Festival at www.waterfordharvestfestival.ie to see the incredible line up of events. Rory O’ Connell and I are both doing a cookery dem on the Saturday at Grow HQ in the Blackfriars Ruins in Waterford City Centre.

Game -the game season will open again in September, Premier Game Limited in Cahir, Co Tipperary have a pretty amazing selection of game from September to February. Tel: 052 67501/086 838 4700.

Wild Food – this is a fantastic year for damsons and sloes, go foraging in the countryside, then have fun making damson or sloe gin, jam, jellies or tarts. Check out Forgotten Skills of Cooking for lots of recipes.

 

I’m just back from the MAD Food Symposium in Copenhagen, one of the craziest and most influential food events on the planet. It’s held in a circus tent in a wild flower meadow in Refshaleoum close to the centre of Copenhagen.

The audience are a cosmopolitan mix, varying from chefs to scientists, social activists to food writers and journalists, farmers and food producers to foragers, brewers and baristas.The event was founded by Rene Redzepi from Noma and co-curated this year by Alex Atala of D.O.M. in San Poalo in Brazil.

The first MAD was held in 2011, the theme was VEGETATION , in 2012 the theme was APPETITE.  In 2013, it was GUTS which could be interpreted in a variety of ways, Guts as intestines, guts as in courage – speakers were invited to approach the subject from every angle, to explore it in all its forms and they did.

2013 was my first MAD experience and I was blown away. This year, we were invited as speakers to tell the story of Myrtle Allen, now in her 90th year, the farmer’s wife who in the early 1960s unwittingly started a food revolution in Ireland by opening a restaurant in her rambling old house deep in the countryside in East Cork. She wrote the menu every day depending on what was fresh and in season on the farm and in the gardens and local area which of course was unheard of then but for many is now the norm.

This year’s theme was another complex question, What’s Cooking? Gosh, how cooking and the perception of cooking have changed in my lifetime from the everyday norm of my Mum cheerfully cooking three meals a day from scratch at home to a fast food, ready meal culture where many of us unwittingly handed the power over our food choices to multi-national food companies who can scarcely be expected to have our best interests at heart.

Restaurant food too has changed and evolved from haute cuisine to nouvelle cuisine to molecular gastronomy and more recently swung back again to a much greater appreciation of vegetables, wild plants and foraged foods.

In many ways it’s a fantastic time to be a cook. The public in general are taking a much greater interest in what was traditionally a blue collar trade. Food festivals, carnivals, conferences are so numerous that one is forced to choose between various options almost every weekend.

Yet ironically, the more attention that’s focused on the industry from tv, film, newspapers, magazines and the internet, the fewer people are cooking and the less obvious it becomes what it means ‘to cook’.

For some people cooking is a path to fame and fortune but the last decade has given rise to a great many innovations that deep down we know cooking is certainly not.

There were a great many inspirational and thought provoking speakers at MAD. The symposium opened to the throbbing music of a Scandinavian rock band, then a dramatic hush as Japanese chef and soba noodle master Tatsuru Rai and his wife Midori took the stage. The owner of Sobatai in Hokkaido silently mixed, kneaded and cooked the buckwheat noodles from scratch. The audience was transfixed for the entire wordless, 15 minute demonstration. Midori served the bowls of prepared noodles to the front row with a gentle little bow. A beautiful humbling experience, a reminder of the artistry, craftsmanship and tradition of good cooking.

 

Three star Michelin chefs Alain Sendereno and Pierre Koffmann spoke and demonstrated their craft but for me the stand out talk came from guerilla gardener Ron Finley who spoke in punch lines about his experience transforming a food desert into veggie gardens in LA South Central. An area where you could buy any amount of drugs and booze but you couldn’t find a bite of fresh food for love nor money if your life depended on it and guess what, it certainly does!

 

He decided to take action – he and some of his gangland friends cleared all the old sofas, syringes and junk from a patch of ground outside his house and decided to plant some food. He was slapped with an arrest warrant for his efforts and was threatened with jail. Suddenly it was cool for the young gangsters to grow their own food – it was illegal after all!

 

So to cut a long and colourful story short, Ron is the hero who got the Land Use Laws changed and now all over America, people are transforming disused lots into vegetable gardens.

 

According to Ron his inspiration was the phenomenal rise in obesity, diabetes…

“the future is not a revolution, it’s an evolution back to a time when we grew our own food and cooked our own meals, We are what we eat,  we don’t need ‘meds’ we need food gardens. This s–t is being done to us by fast food companies,  more people are being killed by Drive-ins than Drive- by’s!”

Myrtle Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookbook was first published in 1977 . The revised edition was re published  by Gill and Macmillan, a beautiful hard back edition to celebrate Myrtle’s 90th year and 50 years of the restaurant at Ballymaloe House. Here are a few of my favourite recipes for you to recreate at home.

 

www.madfood.co

 

 

PERSIAN COCKTAIL

The effect of climate on food fascinates me. It isn’t just whether you have a

gooseberry bush or a banana tree in the back garden: it is the moisture, the

soil, herbs, winds and indigenous bacteria, which affect not only the kind but

also the quality of food in different places.

 

I loathed yoghurt until I bought a plastic bagful from a nomad in the

mountains north-west of Teheran. This was just something different again.

All the learned men and expensive laboratories of north-west Europe cannot

reproduce this type of yoghurt. No wonder. What it takes is a wild and tough

man, backed by a herd of goats, a tribe of relations, a few earthenware jars

and a vast area of barren mountainside, alternately roasting and freezing.

 

The Iranians know what they have got. They eat and drink it in every

conceivable way. The best I could do when I got home was to take a Persian

idea and adapt it to Irish materials.

 

The new concoction is not Persian and certainly not Irish. It is good in its

own right for starting a gentle summer dinner. Use within 24 hours.

 

SERVES 6–8

225g (8oz) tomatoes,

1 clove garlic,

1 level teaspoon salt,

350ml (12fl oz, 1½ cups) natural yoghurt,

1 teaspoon finely chopped mint.

Scald and peel the tomatoes. Peel the garlic and mash it to a paste with the salt. Purée the tomatoes, garlic and salt together in a blender. Sieve out the pips if you wish. Add the yoghurt. Stir in the mint.

Serve chilled.

 

 

PLAIC E IN HERB BUTTER

 

ALLOW PER PERSON:

 

1 fresh plaice,

salt and pepper,

15–30g (½–1oz, 1–2 tablespoons) butter,

1 teaspoon mixed

finely chopped parsley, chives, fennel, thyme leaves

 

Wash the fish and clean the slit thoroughly. With a very sharp knife, cut through the skin, right round the fish, 1cm (½in) from the edge. Be careful to cut right through and to join the side cuts at the tail or you will be in trouble later on. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper and lay it in 5mm (¼in) water in a shallow baking tin. Bake in a moderately hot oven, 200°C/400°F/gas 6, for 20–30 minutes according to the size of the fish. The water should have just evaporated as the fish is cooked. Meanwhile, melt the butter and stir in the herbs. Just before serving, pull off the skin (it will tear badly if not properly cut) and spoon over the butter.

 

TRADITIONAL SALAD

The traditional salad was and still is standard fare for Sunday evening suppers. It accompanied cold meat, probably left over from the midday joint. No dressing goes better with it than Lydia Strangman’s, sister of my husband’s elderly farming partner, an unmarried Quaker lady of strict principles, who spent her life painting and making a beautiful garden.

 

Arrange lettuce leaves like a rose in a deep bowl – biggest leaves on the outside, small leaves in the centre. Scatter some or all of the following between the leaves: quartered hard-boiled eggs, quartered tomatoes, slices of cooked beetroot, slices of cucumber, cress, watercress, mustard leaves. Serve with Lydia’s cream dressing (page 33).

LYDIA’S CREAM DRESSING

Oil was not considered as a food in the average Irish household during the first half of the last century. There was always a small glass bottle of rancid olive oil in our house, but it was kept in the medicine cupboard and used for sunburn. Cream dressings were served with salads.

2 eggs,

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar,

1 level teaspoon dry mustard,

pinch of salt,

60–120ml (2–4fl oz, ¼–½ cup) cream,

1 tablespoon brown malt vinegar

 

Hard boil the eggs. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Gently slide in the eggs and boil for 10 minutes (12 if they are very fresh). Strain off the hot water and cover with cold water. Peel when cold.

Cut the eggs in half and sieve the yolks into a bowl. Add the sugar, the mustard and a pinch of salt. Blend the cream and the vinegar. Chop the egg whites and add some to the sauce. Keep the rest to scatter over the salad. Cover the dressing until needed.

 

POTTED SHRIMPS OR LOBSTER

A fish pâté or potted fish makes a wonderfully easy lunch or supper dish.

Packed into tiny individual pots, a selection of any three makes a stunning

dinner party starter. They are not suitable for picnics unless packed in a chilled

container, as the butter goes soft.

SERVES 4 AS A FIRST COURSE

½ clove garlic,

salt and pepper,

60–85g (2–3oz, 4–6 tablespoons) butter,

1 teaspoon thyme leaves,

110g (4oz) shelled shrimps or diced lobster meat,

1–2 teaspoons lemon juice

Crush the garlic to a paste with a little salt. Bring the butter to the boil with the thyme leaves and garlic. Add the shrimps or lobster and simmer together for 3–5 minutes. Season carefully with salt and pepper and 1 or 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Pack into pots and run more melted butter over the top.

 

WALNUT MERINGUE

 

SERVES 4–6

 

2 egg whites, 110g (4oz, ½ cup) caster sugar,

12 chopped walnuts or brazil nuts

For the filling:

250ml (8fl oz, 1 cup) unsweetened whipped cream,

1–2 ripe dessert

pears, peeled and sliced

 

Make as for the meringue gâteau on page 212, folding in the nuts before dividing the mixture between the two circles. To assemble, pipe a layer of whipped cream onto one meringue disc. Carefully arrange slices of pear on top and cover with the second meringue disc.

 

BASIC BALLYMALOE MERINGU E

SERVES 4–6

2 egg whites, 110g (4oz, ½ cup) caster sugar

Beat the egg whites until stiff but not yet dry. Fold in half the sugar. Beat again until the mixture will stand in a firm, dry peak. Fold the remaining sugar in carefully. Pipe into the required shapes or spread onto non-stick baking paper or a silicone baking sheet as required. Bake in a very low oven, 100°C/200°F/gas ¼, for 4 hours approx.

 

Hot Tips

 

Edible Flower

Just discovered recently that dahlias are edible flowers, so I’ve been adding them to lots of salads, they are particularly beautiful sprinkled over a potato salad. The Mexicans apparently grew them originally for their tubers rather than flowers.

Collect Fennell Pollen:

Fancy chefs pay a fortune for fennel pollen but you can harvest your own from fennel flowers.  Allow to dry upside down on a sheet of parchment paper to collect the pollen. Store in a tiny screw top jar. Use to scatter over pangrilled fish or goat cheese.

 

Japonica are the hard green fruit of the Chaenomeles shrub, they are part of the quince family and make a delicious Japonica jelly to serve with game, particularly pheasant or guinea. Use 14ozs sugar with each pint of juice, the juice of a lemon and maybe a few mint or verbena leaves.