Theres fashion in food just like everything else. Foodies are always intrigued by the latest trends on the gastronomic circuit, so every year we offer a New Trends Course for those who like to keep up to date with the culinary scene. How does one get the inside track on the hottest food trends from all over the world.

Well, I keep my ear to the ground when I travel and of course I eat in a variety of restaurants. I’m also a member of the IACP, the International Association of Culinary Professionals so I’m fortunate to have a network of people around the world from Sydney to LA and from Mexico to Capetown to tap into when I need to find out what’s happening. Spain is leading the avant garde food movement with Ferran Adria of El Bulli and his acolytes pushing the culinary boundaries. His influence is growing among chefs like Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck in Bray in the UK.

What was interesting this year was the similarity – the words organic, local and sustainable kept coming up. The Slow Food Movement continues to gather momentum worldwide. Retro food is back so we’re seeing favourites from the seventies on many trendy restaurant menus – Prawn cocktail, Chicken Maryland, Scampi, Steak with Bearnaise, even Trifle, but usually with a twist.

As ever the top innovative chefs are creating food their own style, from the elaborate and intricate multi-course tasting menus of Thomas Keller in the French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per se in New York, to the exquisitely simple fresh seasonal menus created by Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Both have their devotees – the former is an eating experience, the latter type of food is definitely a trend. Belly of Pork and offal are everywhere, I ate beef cheek and meltingly tender belly of pork at the ultra hip Gray Café in the Time Warner building in New York. It was fatter than anything even I would dare serve over here and was completely delicious. This new restaurant is much talked about not only for its food but because the kitchen has the best view in New York – some guests were peeved that the chefs have a better view than them.

Cherry Ripe from Melbourne tells me that that Wagyu beef is on every menu in Australia. Translated literally, “Wa” means Japanese, and “gyu” means cattle. The meat is deliciously marbled with fat. Wagyu is not one breed but actually four: Black, Brown, Shorthorn and polled. For a breed of cattle that didn’t exist twenty years ago, it’s becoming ubiquitous – muscling its way on to upmarket menus all over Australia. It costs 150 Australian dollars a kilo as opposed to 35 for purebred Angus. After a decade of being encouraged to think ‘lean’, chefs are in revolt. Better still, research is on their side. It now appears that while external meat fat is largely saturated, research is now showing that the internal, intramuscular fat is proportionately much more mono-unsaturated, a beneficial fat. Fifty per cent of the marbling in Wagyu beef is comprised of oleic acid, a mono-unsaturated fat. This helps explain the meat’s perceived greater “juiciness”. Wagyu are normally killed around 24-26 months (although some are kept up to 32-34 months), resulting in a ‘beefier’ taste.

Retro is also all the rage in Australia, Brunswick Street is famous for their veteran retro food, they serve 2,200 of their ‘retro brekkies’ a week at present – Bacon, Mushrooms, Tomato and Poached egg on toast with Hollandaise Sauce. Australia is also the home of Asian fusion.

Duck in any guise is very popular – braised, or with lentils….and slow roasted pork belly is also all the rage.

Zanne Stewart Food Editor of Gourmet Magazine in New York, said that when they asked about two dozen chefs around the US to send them their favourite recipes, the majority sent recipes for seafood. This would not have happened even 5 years ago, she feels its another facet of people wanting to cook things quickly. Street foods are cropping up in restaurants – sates, dosas, grilled panini sandwiches. Spanish food continues to grow in popularity – especially bocadillos and tapas, New Yorkers like small bites.

Cheese, particularly farmhouse cheese, which most Americans would scarcely let past their lips a few years ago, is now a cult food. Picholine Restaurant, Rob Kaufelt at Murray’s Cheese Shop and Steve Jenkins at Fairway are leading the way, Tom Colicchio at Craft and Craftwich has been serving family style food to packed houses for some time now.

Earlier this year April Bloomfield, formerly of the River Café, opened New York’s first gastro pub in the Village – a huge hit. New York chefs and foodies are also talking about Fergus Henderson, whose London restaurant St John, serves everything from the nose to the tail to committed foodies – this is a fascinating turn around for a country like the US, where it is rare for people eat ‘variety meats’. Maria Battali and his team continue to expand their empire of neighbourhood restaurants, Babbo, Lupa, Ino, Inoteca……Simple gutsy food, great ingredients – they have been leading the way curing their own meat, salami, prosciutto, sopressatta etc.

California used to set the food trends in the US, but according to Mary Risley of Tante Marie’s cooking school in San Francisco, after the dot.com bust and 9/11, neither the money nor the will was there any longer, people now want to go to neighbourhood restaurants or local French brasseries where they can walk to eat. Steak with bearnaise, simple pangrilled fish with lemon or beurre blanc and more recently marrow bones with parsley salad, a definite Fergus Henderson influence. Mary Risley also stressed that simplicity is the new buzzword, chefs have to be more conscious of where food is coming from and where its grown – they are increasingly linking directly with farmers and artisan producers. So chefs are talking about sustainability and Fair Trade, middle class are talking about foam.

Serious food issues are being discussed in the papers every day in the US, how pigs and chickens are being reared, conditions in the feed lots, wild salmon versus farmed salmon- this is definitely a new development, influenced no doubt by books and films such as Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me. Grass fed beef is a must – grain fed gets the thumbs down from serious chefs and foodies.

Bonnie Stern, Cooking School owner and food writer from Toronto says that big chefs are opening tapis style restaurants featuring small plates, Japanese pub style restaurants- no sushi, people want casual restaurants, more organic foods and better quality ingredients.

Alicia Wilkinson of Silwood Kitchen Cooking School in Capetown again reiterated that simplicity and organic are buzz words in South Africa’s emerging cuisine.

London is really on the cutting edge of the global food scene, some of the very best food is in gastro pubs like the Eagle and Anchor and Hope, and Borough Market is a mecca for foodies.

Other Trends –

Tea is the new coffee.

Cocktails – a huge revival

Hippest cooking method –braising meat, anything slow cooked sells – daube of beef is a best seller.

Food issues are the topic being discussed at trendy dinner parties – obesity, seed saving and loss of bio-diversity, children’s food.

Craving for forgotten flavours and skills – keeping a few chickens in your garden is the fastest growing hobby in the UK. Big demand for courses on keeping chickens, pigs and how to make your own bacon, sausage etc.

Chefs on this side of the world are following the example of their US colleagues and are employing foragers on their team so they can incorporate wild foods into their menus.

Roast Chinese Belly of Pork with Five Spice Powder and Chinese Greens

Serves 6-8

3lbs/1.3kg belly of free-range pork with rind attached
1 tbsp Szechwan peppercorns
1 tbsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp Maldon or Halen Mon sea salt
2 tsp five spice powder
2 tsp castor sugar

Chinese Greens, Broccoli or Pak Choi with Oyster Sauce
1½lbs/700g sprouting broccoli, small Pak Choi or Chinese greens
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

The day before cooking, bring a kettle of water to the boil, meanwhile pierce the skin with a skewer all over the surface, try not to penetrate the flesh. Put the pork on a wire rack on the draining board, pour the boiling water over the skin side, allow to drain, dry well.

Put the Szechwan and black peppercorns into a hot frying pan, stir around for a minute or two until they begin to smell aromatic.

Pour into a pestle and mortar or spice grinder, cool for a few minutes then grind to a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl, add the salt, five spice powder and sugar. Put onto a small tray. Rub the spice mixture well into the flesh of the pork and keep refrigerated over-night.

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

Put a wire rack on top of a roasting tin. Half fill with water. Lay the pork skin side up on top of the wire rack. Cook for 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 180°C/350°F/Mark 4 and continue to roast for 1½ to 2 hours. When cooked through, increase the heat to 230°C/450°/Mark 8 for 15 minutes. The rind will bubble and crisp.

Remove to a warm serving plate. Meanwhile cook the vegetable. Boil or steam the sprouting broccoli, Calabreze or Pak Choi (use 3 tbsp salt to every 2 pints water) for 4-5 minutes depending on size. Mix the oils, oyster sauce and soy sauce together in a little saucepan, warm gently.
Meanwhile, slice the pork into 1½ inch square chunks, you’ll need a serrated knife. Drizzle the well-drained vegetable with the dressing. Taste, correct the seasoning. Serve the pork in deep Asian bowls with rice and vegetables.

Goat’s Cheese in Olive Oil (Queso de Cabra en Aceite)

Shepherds have traditionally made delicious mild and cured cheeses from goat’s milk. The wild herbs which the animals feed on as they ramble over the mountainside during the seasonal migrations give the cheese a slightly spicy flavour, which is accentuated by the olive oil, also seasoned with herbs. The oil keeps these small cheeses fresh and can afterward be filtered and used as a dressing or eaten with bread.

8 small goat’s cheese, with a diameter of about 2 inches (5cm)
4 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary
1tbsp fennel seeds
1tbsp black peppercorns
16fl oz (500ml) olive oil

Put the goat’s cheese in a sterilised, sealable glass jar with the herbs and peppercorns in between. Add enough oil to cover completely. Seal and leave for 1 month before eating. The oil can be used afterward to dress salads.

Spatchcock Chicken

Serves 6-8

1 free-range organic chicken
Extra virgin olive oil or butter
Chopped rosemary or thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A few cloves of garlic

Insert a heavy chopping knife into the centre of the chicken from the back end to the neck. Press down sharply to cut through the backbone. Alternatively place the chicken breast side down on the chopping board, using a poultry shears cut along the outer length of the backbone as close to the centre as possible. Open the bird out as much as possible. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, sprinkle with chopped rosemary or thyme and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Transfer to a roasting tin. Turn skin side upwards and tuck the whole garlic cloves underneath. Roast in a preheated oven 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 for 40 minutes approximately.

Note: cook the chicken on a wire rack over a roasting tin of roast potatoes or vegetables. Carve and serve hot with a good salad of organic leaves.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

Jeannie Chesterton gave me this interesting recipe when we spent a few blissful days at her tiny guest house in the middle of the chestnut forest near Aracena in Andalucia.

7oz (200g) castor sugar
4fl oz (125ml) water
4 eggs free-range and organic if possible 
1 glass of pale extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt
8fl ozs (225ml) of milk
7oz (200g) blood orange segments
Maldon Sea Salt

Put the sugar and the water into a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar before the water comes to the boil. Continues to boil for about 5 minutes or until the syrup reaches the thread stage. Whisk the eggs in a Magimix, add the oil gradually while still running. Add the cool syrup next in a very thin stream. Finally add the salt and the milk. It’s best frozen in a sorbetiere otherwise just freeze in a covered plastic box.

Serve with blood orange segments and a few flakes of Maldon sea salt.

Foolproof food
Fruit Kebabs 

Next time you have the barbecue out try these with whatever fruit you have to hand.

Makes 16 kebabs approx.

8 Peaches or Nectarines
4 Bananas (sprinkled with fresh lemon juice)
8 Apricots
24 Cherries
16 Strawberries
Orange liqueur, Cointreau or Grand Marnier
6 - 8 ozs (170-225g) castor sugar
Whipping cream.

Cut the peaches or nectarines and apricots in halves, keep 

strawberries whole. Peel the bananas and cut into large chunks, cut each chunk into about 3 pieces and sprinkle with a little lemon juice. Mix the fruit in a bowl, sprinkle with orange liqueur, macerate for about 15 minutes. Thread the fruit on to skewers. Roll in castor sugar and barbecue for 5 - 8 minutes or until they start to caramelize. Serve immediately with a little softly whipped cream. For real excitement pour some of the liqueur over each set it alight and serve immediately. Otherwise just drink the marinade with the kebabs later on!

Variations
Cut Apple kebabs
Dessert apples cut into large chunks, or quarters 
sprinkle with lemon juice 

Just before cooking toss in or paint with melted butter sprinkle with castor sugar and thread on skewers and grill for 5 - 8 minutes or until golden and caramelized.

Note: The fruit can also be cooked in tin foil parcels over the barbecue if you wish.

Hot Tips

The spirit of innovation and diversity is alive and well in the craft butcher sector.
The annual competition to find Ireland’s best butchers’ sausages got underway in recent weeks with regional competitions in Mallow, Nenagh, Carrick-on-Suir and Kill, Co Kildare – there was a wide range of innovative speciality sausages, traditional ‘breakfast sausages’, black and white puddings and drisheen –judging by members of the Irish Guild of Foodwriters - full results on www.craftbutchers.ie ACBI Chief Executive Pat Brady said that entries in the competition were up this year reflecting recognition of increased demand by consumers for something ‘that little bit different’.

National Finals will be held at the Retail Foodshow (incorporating Butchershow) at City West Hotel on 6th November – 

Growing Awareness – Sunday 3rd July – Manch Demesne, Dunmanway, Co Cork
At Manch The Irish Natural Forestry Foundation has established, in conjunction with the owner, a centre of excellence to demonstrate and promote Irish natural forestry that is economically as well as socially and environmentally beneficial. Manch Demesne lies three miles east of Dunmanway on the R586 road. Watch for INFF signs on the left when you reach the wooded tunnel. From Bandon, the Demesne lies half a mile beyond the Carbery milk factory on the right in the wood tunnel. Contact Ian Wright on 028-21889

Vermilion, an Indian-Fusion restaurant in the heart of Terenure Village in Dublin launched the annual Vermilion Indian Summer Festival on Mid-Summer’s Day. The festival takes place every Tuesday and Wednesday until 14th September. A new menu is introduced every four weeks in which Vermilion samples the diverse dishes from India’s five regions each week. At €38 for four courses and a half bottle of wine, this is expected to be popular with fusion fans this summer – to reserve a table call 01-499 1400 or email:
mail@vermilion.ie  www.vermilion.ie  

Union Hall Vintage Festival, West Cork, 7th August
On Sunday August 7th Union Hall will have a Vintage Day with music and stalls selling various products including food. Any small food producer interested in setting up a stand should contact Con Hurley at 028 34820/33088 cohurley@eircom.net

I have just eaten a wonderful bowl of lightly mashed new season strawberries sprinkled liberally with castor sugar and anointed with cream.
So what’s remarkable about that?
Well, for a start I ‘don’t do strawberries’! I’m thoroughly bored of huge tasteless berries from January to December, so I manage to avoid them virtually the whole year, apart from a few weeks in summer. Even then they are rarely worth getting excited about, unless one can find some of the older varieties that haven’t been irrigated on a daily basis, they are scarcely worth bothering about.

Problem is, I can vividly remember what strawberries used to taste like. I remember the agonising wait for them to ripen in the little strawberry patch in our garden. There were never enough to have even a little feast. I remember my friend Bernie and I desperately trying to work out some diversionary tactics to distract Mrs Cody in Tubberloe so she wouldn’t spot us through the back kitchen window as we tried to sneak into her vegetable garden. Of course she caught us and ‘put the run on us’ as the expression went.

Other wonderful memories of summer holidays come flooding back, on my great uncle’s farm in Tipperary Aunt Lil would send us off up the bog lane with little tin ‘ponnies’ to collect wild strawberries to sprinkle over a sheet of tender sponge. The intense flavour of those tiny berries still lingers in my taste memory.

The strawberries I have just eaten were unusually flavoursome, I bought them in Lynda O’Neill’s shop in Leap. There they were sitting beside the till so I succumbed to temptation. They were local strawberries grown commercially by David Busby at Inchinatin near Rosscarbery. 

The strawberries themselves were good but it was the cream that really turned them into a feast, gorgeous thick rich Glenilen cream. This is cream like it used to taste, luxurious artisan double cream produced by Alan and Valerie Kingston on their family farm in Drimoleague. I was blown away by the flavour and texture – this is cream like I remember, rich cream that would whip up in seconds, but so thick that I usually prefer to serve it in a little jug so I can pour it slowly over my berries, rice pudding or pinhead oatmeal porridge.

This is quality cream that has now almost become a forgotten flavour – shame on us in a country that has the capacity to produce the very best dairy products in the world from our lush green grass, yet so often by the time the cream gets on the shelves of our shops its thin and flavourless.

I feel deeply grateful to the Kingstons for giving us an alternative, it costs more because it is better – real food with a story.

Aunt Lil’s Wild Strawberry Sponge
Serves 8

5 eggs, preferably free range
5 ozs (140g) castor sugar
5 ozs (140g) plain white flour
12 fl ozs (350ml) cream
¾ -1 lb (350-450g) wild strawberries or Fraises du Bois
castor sugar

1 Swiss roll tin 9 inches x 12 inches (23cm x 30.5cm)

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/regulo 5.

Line the bottom and sides of the Swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper. Brush the paper with melted butter, dust with a little extra flour and castor sugar.

Sieve the flour. Put the eggs and castor sugar into a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Take it off the heat and continue to whisk until the mixture is cool again. (If using an electric mixer, no heat is required). Sieve in about one-third of the flour at a time and fold it into the mixture using a large spatula or metal spoon.

Pour the mixture gently into the tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. It is cooked when it feels firm to the touch in the centre. The edges will have shrunk in slightly from the sides of the tin. Lay a piece of greaseproof paper on the work top and sprinkle it evenly with castor sugar. Turn the sponge onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Remove the tin and greaseproof paper from the bottom of the cake, allow to cool. 

Meanwhile whisk the cold cream until softly whipped. When the cake is cold, spread whipped cream over the top, cover with wild strawberries, sprinkle with castor sugar and serve.

Coeur a la Creme with Summer Fruits

A most exquisite summer pudding. You may use one large mould or individual moulds. In France they are traditionally heart-shaped. The moulds must be well perforated to allow the cheese to drain. Also delicious with a Compote of Blackcurrants or Green Gooseberry and Elderflower Compote.

Serves 4

225g (8oz) unsalted cream cheese or home made cottage cheese
300ml (½pint) softly whipped thick double cream
2 tablespoons castor sugar
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Accompaniment
Summer berries, frais du bois, strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, redcurrants, blueberries……

300ml (½pint) cream, softly whipped
castor sugar

Garnish
mint leaves

Press the cheese through a fine meshed nylon sieve and blend it gently with the double cream. Stir in the sugar and lightly but thoroughly fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Turn the mixture into muslin lined heart shaped moulds. Stand them on a wide plate, cover with a large plastic bag and leave in the refrigerator overnight to drain. 

Just before serving, turn the moulded cheese hearts out on to white plates. Scatter a selection of summer fruits around the cheese hearts.

Serve with a Strawberry, Raspberry or Blackcurrant Coulis, (see Foolproof Food) softly whipped cream and castor sugar.

Note: If you have not got the traditional heart shaped moulds, one can make Coeur a la Creme in a muslin lined bread basket or even a sieve.

Poached Blackcurrants with Icy Cold Cream

12oz ( 340g) blackcurrants, strings removed

Stock Syrup
2oz (55g) sugar
2floz (55 ml) water

Icy cold cream

To make the stock syrup: dissolve the sugar in the water over a gentle heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 2 minutes and allow to cool. May be stored in the fridge until needed.

Cover the blackcurrants with stock syrup. Bring to the boil and cook until the fruit bursts - this will take about 4 to 5 minutes. Serve with warm shortbread biscuits and icy cold cream.

Shortbread Biscuits

Just three ingredients – 2-4-6, sugar, butter and flour, but so versatile. Serve with fruit fools, compotes and ice creams. Or use to make an instead of pudding by sandwiching together with fruit or berries and sweetened cream. Strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, boysenberries, peaches, nectarines or kiwi. Even bananas would be delicious drizzled with Toffee Sauce.

Makes 25

6 ozs (170g) white flour
4 ozs (110g) butter
2 ozs (55g) castor sugar

Put the flour and sugar into a bowl, rub in the butter as for shortcrust pastry. Gather the mixture together and knead lightly. Roll out to ¼ inch (7mm) thick. Cut into rounds with a 2½ inch (6cm) cutter or into heart shapes. Bake in a moderate oven 180C/350F/regulo 4 to pale brown, 8-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the biscuits. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Note: Watch these biscuits really carefully in the oven. Because of the high sugar content they burn easily. They should be a pale golden colour - darker will be more bitter.

Strawberry Shortbreads
Makes 8-10

Ingredients as above
1lb (450g) fresh strawberries
whipped cream, sweetened

Stamp the shortbread dough into 2½ inch (6cm) rounds or heart-shapes.
Bake as above

When cool, sandwich two biscuits together with sliced strawberries and sweetened cream.
Dust with icing sugar and decorate with whole strawberries and a sprig of sweet cicely.
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Raspberry, Nectarine and Melon Salad
Serves 6

2 ripe nectarines or peaches
4-6 oz (110-170 g) fresh raspberries
½ Ogen melon or 2 bananas
Castor sugar
Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Slice the peaches into ¼ inch (5 mm) thick slices (peel the peaches first if using). Put into a bowl with the raspberries. Scoop the melon flesh into balls or ½ inch (1 cm) dice and add a good sprinkling of castor sugar and the juice of 1 or 2 lemons. If using bananas slice and add to the salad just before serving. A little freshly chopped mint would be delicious too.

Variations:
Raspberry, Nectarine, Melon and Blueberry Salad
Add 4ozs of fresh blueberries to the above recipe

Raspberry, Nectarine and Blueberry Salad
Omit melon and add 8ozs of blueberries instead

Summer Fruit Jelly with Sweet Geranium Cream

Makes 9-10 ramekins

450g (1lb) summer fruit eg.
225g (2lb) fresh raspberries
110g (3lb) fraises du bois or tiny strawberries
110g (3lb) blueberries or blackcurrants 

Syrup
225ml (8fl oz) water
225g (8oz) sugar
4 sweet geranium leaves (Pelargonium Graveolens)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 rounded teaspoons gelatine
3 tablespoons water

Sweet Geranium Cream

4-5 sweet geranium leaves approx.

1 tablespoon lemon juice
150ml (6fl oz) cream
sugar to taste, optional

ramekins, 255-285ml (9-10fl oz) capacity

Put the cold water, sugar and sweet geranium leaves into a stainless steel saucepan, bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes, allow to cool, add freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Brush the moulds lightly with non-scented vegetable oil. Alternatively line the moulds with cling film. Sponge the gelatine in two tablespoons of water, then place the bowl in a saucepan of simmering water until the gelatine is completely dissolved. Remove the sweet geranium leaves from the syrup, pour the syrup onto the gelatine and then add the fruit, stir gently. Fill into the lined moulds. Put into the fridge and leave to set for 3-4 hours.

Meanwhile make the sweet geranium cream.

Crush the leaves in a pestle and mortar with the lemon juice, add the cream and stir, (the lemon juice will thicken the cream, if the cream becomes too thick add a little water.)

Taste, if too bitter add a little sugar, remember the sauce should be tart.

To assemble:

Spread a little sweet geranium cream onto a white plate, turn out a jelly and place in the centre. Place 3-5 tiny sweet geranium leaves on the cream. Decorate with a few perfect raspberries, serve chilled.

Raspberry Jelly with Mint
Substitute raspberries for the mixture of summer fruit, add a teaspoon of framboises liqueur to the syrup if available. Substitute mint for sweet geranium in both the syrup and cream.

Loganberreis are exquisite used in the same way.

Strawberry and redcurrant tart

Serves 6

Shortcrust pastry:

4 ozs (110g) flour
3 ozs (85g) butter
1 dessertsp. icing sugar
pinch of salt
1 small egg, preferably free range, beaten

7 inch (18cm) flan ring or tart tin with removable base

Filling

12-15 ozs (340-450g) Strawberries,(eg. El Santa), (Raspberries, Loganberries, Blueberries, Blackberries or a mixture could also be used.)

4-6 tablesp. redcurrant jelly

Decoration:

3 pint (150ml) cream, whipped
fresh mint or lemon balm leaves

Make the shortcrust pastry. Line the flan ring and decorate the edges. Line the pastry with kitchen paper and fill with dried beans. Bake blind in a moderate oven 180C/350F/regulo 4 for 20-25 minutes.

Remove paper and beans, paint the base of the tart with a little beaten egg and replace in the oven until completely cooked - 5-8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

To finish: Warm the redcurrant jelly. Paint the base of the tart with the jelly and arrange the strawberries on top, either whole or in slices. Paint the fruit so that it all looks beautifully shiny. The jelly not only glazes the fruit but also adds a delicious bitter-sweet flavour.

Decorate with tiny rosettes of cream and mint or lemon balm leaves.

Note: This tart shell can be used for many other types of fruit, eg. kiwi fruit, peeled and pipped grapes, bananas, plums, peaches or nectarines. Brush with apricot glaze if yellow or green fruit is used.

Raspberry and Rose Blossom Fool

Serves 8

Strawberries can also be substituted here.

1lb (450g) fresh raspberries
castor sugar
½ pint (300ml) softly whipped cream
¼ pint (150ml) natural yoghurt
1 -2 teaspoons rose blossom water
a few extra raspberries
Lady Finger (Boudoir) biscuits, optional

Whizz the raspberries in a food processor with the sugar and rose blossom water. Sieve if the pips bother you – I usually do.

Fold in most of the cream and yoghurt. Taste and add a little more sugar, and cream or yoghurt if necessary. The texture should be soft, like barely whipped cream.

Serve in chilled glasses with a few fresh raspberries and rose petals scattered over the top.

Foolproof Food

Fruit Coulis

Delicious with ice-cream

Raspberry Coulis

8 ozs (225 g) Raspberries

3-6 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons water
Lemon juice - optional

Make a syrup with sugar and water, cool and add to the raspberries. Liquidise and sieve, taste, sharpen with lemon juice if necessary. Store in a fridge.

Strawberry Coulis

Serves 8

14 ozs (400 g) Strawberries
2 ozs (55 g) 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.
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Hot Tips

Glenilen make double cream, clotted cream, country butter, cheesecake, yogurt with fruit compote in a glass, all from the milk of their own Friesian dairy herd, they are also introducing some Jersey cows to the herd to increase the butter fat. Valerie says the name comes from the River Ilen which runs through the farm, they started making these delicious value-added products to enable them to stay farming viably on their own land. 

Glenilen products are available from the following outlets in the Cork area – O’Herlihy’s on Wellington Road, Food Fair in Douglas, O’Donovans in Wilton, O’Driscolls in Ballinglough and Super-Valu in Carrigaline and Midleton. www.glenilen.com  Tel. 028-31179

Summer Fruit - Raspberries, boysenberries, loganberries, tayberries are now coming into season also so plan to enjoy them as often as possible during the true berry season.

David Busby, Rosscarbery 023-38140. John Howard, Sunnyside Fruit Farm, Rathcormac, 025-36253

Cork Summer Show – June 18/19 Cork Showgrounds, Ballintemple
Farmers Market, Traditional Crafts Hall and much, much more….

Pasture to Plate – The Art of Cheesemaking – Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont, USA 5-7 September.
For budding cheese makers, enthusiasts and food lovers – an in depth introduction to the world of artisan cheese – 3 day course – for details contact Hilary Sunderland or Caitlin Fay at 00 82 985 8498

100% Health Weekend with Patrick Holford June 25 & 26, 9.30-5.30
Transform your diet, your health, your life! At the Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre, 15-19 Essex St West, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. Details from 01-6745773 or john@sustainable.ie

The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 26 December 2004 was an unprecedented, global, catastrophe, the largest natural disaster to which the United Nations has had to respond in 60 years.

It affected millions of people in 12 countries, spanning two continents and tens of thousands of visitors from forty nations around the world.

We will never know the exact magnitude of how many men, women and children perished on 26 December, but the figure is likely to exceed two hundred and twenty thousand.

As time passes, it is easy to forget that millions in Asia, Africa, and India, are still suffering unimaginable trauma and psychological wounds. Families have been torn apart. Whole communities have disappeared. Places of worship have been wiped out. People’s anchors and values have been swept away – so many people are still desperate for help.

Last week I was reminded of this when I was present at the launch of a celebrity charity cookbook East Meets West, compiled by two remarkable women, Barbara Jayson and Jenny de Montfort. 

Barbara trained as a nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. She lived for many years in South East Asia and whilst living in Indonesia started a charity: ‘The Foundation for Mother and Child Health’. Her long term ambition is to grow the Foundation into a sustainable network using the same transparent and measurable business model that proved so successful in Indonesia. Barbara was awarded an MBE for her work in Indonesia in 2004.

Jenny’s family come from Guernsey, but she was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Nigeria and Cameroon. After university she worked in the wine trade in Bordeaux and London. She married her husband Roger in 1992 and after starting a family spent a happy year marketing fine chocolate, to taste in the same way as a fine wine.

Her husband’s job then took the family to South Africa, Indonesia, Singapore and now back to London. Whilst in Indonesia she and a friend compiled a successful cookbook for charity which inspired this book.

All the profits from the sale of the book will go to charities in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the two countries most affected by the tsunami of 26 December 2004, and with which the producers of the book, Barbara Jayson and Jenny de Montfort, have close personal links.

As Jenny had experience of the wine and food trade in the UK, Barbara suggested that they should team up to produce a book using recipes from a wide range of leading Asian and Western cooks and chefs.

The first person Barbara called was Nigella Lawson, and, though she does not know it, Nigella became the lynch pin of the whole project. Using her contacts in the wine trade Jenny got in touch with a number of leading wine writers and again the response was positive. In addition, photographers, agents, PA’s and publishers all donated freely of their time, material and knowledge. In the end well over a hundred people from around the UK, France, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Australia worked together to produce the book in record time.

East meets West – Celebrity charity cookbook, compiled by Barbara Jayson and Jenny de Montfort, published by Accent Press Ltd. 2005.

www.tsunami-charitybook.com  www.motherandchildhealth.org  

Grapefruit and Prawn Salad – Bill Granger – from East Meets West

Serves 4

2 ruby grapefruit or 2 grapefruit and 1 pomelo
40g (¼ cup) cashews
20 cooked prawns, peeled and deveined
20g (1 cup) mint leaves
1 small butter lettuce, washed and dried
dressing – see below

To serve – steamed rice

Peel the grapefruit by slicing off both ends. Stand the end of the fruit on a board, and following the curves of the grapefruit, slice off all the peel with a sharp knife. Make sure the pith is also removed. Set aside. Place a frying pan over a high heat and when hot, add the cashews. Cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes, or until lightly roasted. Remove from the heat and roughly chop. Set aside.

Place the grapefruit, prawns and mint in a bowl. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large serving plate, or divide between four plates. Top with the salad and sprinkle with the roasted cashews. Serve with steamed rice.

Dressing
60ml (¼ cup) fish sauce
60ml (¼ cup) lime juice
2 tbsp. brown sugar
3 red Asian shallots, or ½ rd onion, finely sliced
2 small red chillies, finely chopped

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Take from Bill’s Open Kitchen published by Murdoch Books 2003.

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

– Caroline Waldegrave

We made this soup today with some aged butternut squash and it was still absolutely delicious.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp Thai green curry paste
2 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
500ml/17½ fl.oz good quality chicken stock
1 x 400ml/14 fl.oz can coconut milk
2 tbsp. Thai basil, shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish
Crème fraîche
Chopped fried pancetta

Sweat the onion slowly in the oil for 10 minutes.
Add the Thai curry paste and continue to cook over a low heat for 2 minutes.
Add the butternut squash, chicken stock and coconut milk, bring up to the boil, season with salt and pepper and simmer until the squash is soft. This may well take up to 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and whiz in batches, and return to the rinsed out saucepan. Taste and season as required.
Reheat the soup and add the basil just before serving.
Pour into warmed soup bowls and serve with a spoonful of crème fraîche and the chopped pancetta.

Thai-style Chicken and Mango Salad

- Diana Henry

To be strictly Thai you can leave out the watercress and increase the quantity of herbs. If you can’t find green mangoes, or prefer to eat ripe ones, you can use 1 ripe mango and 1 tart green apple (core removed). As well as sourness the green mangoes provide crunch so an apple is a fine substitute
Serves 4

4 chicken fillets (skinned)
salt and pepper
groundnut oil
6 spring onions, sliced
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 medium-sized unripe mangoes
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp castor sugar
juice of 1½ limes
3 long red chillies
50g fresh coriander
40g fresh mint leaves
50g watercress leaves
1½ tbsp roughly chopped roasted peanuts

Lightly season the chicken breasts and saute them in 2 tbsp groundnut oil until cooked through. Leave to cool.

Saute the spring onions, using a little more oil if you need to, in the same pan and put them in a broad flat bowl. Quickly fry the slices of garlic until golden – be really careful not to burn them. Add these to the bowl as well.

Cut the flesh from the mangoes – there is no need to peel it – and cut into lengths about the thickness of two matchsticks. Put these in the bowl along with the fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Halve and deseed the chillies and slice them finely. Add to the bowl.

Finally cut the chicken into strips and add to the bowl with the herbs, watercress and 3½ tbsp of groundnut oil. Mix everything together. Scatter the roasted peanuts over the top and serve.

Green Thai Fish Curry

– Sonia Stevenson

Thai curries are incredibly easy to make, very quick to cook and totally delicious. The secret is in the mixture of spices and the freshness of the pastes which are traditionally made with a pestle and mortar. Alternatively make the paste in a food processor using ground spices.
Serves 4

Spice Paste

1 onion sliced
3 garlic cloves cut up
6 small hot green chilli deseeded and sliced
5cm fresh ginger scraped and sliced
1 tsp white pepper ground
1 tsp coriander ground
½ tsp cumin ground
1 tsp shrimp paste (belacan)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 stalk of lemon grass peeled and sliced thinly
750g fish fillets, such as cod, haddock, John Dory or other firm fish
1 tbsp of peanut oil
400ml coconut milk
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

To serve

Sprigs of Thai basil
2 limes, quartered
fragrant Thai rice or noodles

Place all the spice paste ingredients in the food processor and work them into a fine puree. Set aside.

Put the oil into a wok and heat well. Add the spice paste and stir fry for a few seconds to release the aromas. Add the thick portion from the top of the coconut milk, stir well and boil to thicken a little.

Add the fish and turn the pieces over in the sauce until they are well coated. Reheat to simmering point and cook until they start to become opaque. About two minutes.

Add the remaining coconut milk and chopped coriander and continue cooking until the fish is ready. Serve topped with Thai basil plus the halved limes and fragrant Thai rice or noodles.

Taken from ‘Casseroles’ published by Ryland Peters and Small 2001

Chilli Jam Beef Stir-fry

– Donna Hay

Serves 4

6 large mild red chillies, seeds removed
1 tbsp roughly chopped ginger
1 onion, quartered
3 tsp shrimp paste
â…“ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
650g (21oz) beef strips
4 green onions (scallions), sliced
200g (7oz) green beans, trimmed

Place the chillies, ginger, onion, shrimp paste, sugar and oil in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and add the chilli paste. Cook, stirring, for 5-7 minutes or until the mixture is thick and fragrant. Add the beef to the pan and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the green onions and beans, cover and cook for a further 3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Taken from The Instant Cook published by Harper Collins 2004

Oriental Style Sticky Lamb Chops

– Gary Rhodes

Serves 4

8 chump lamb chops
320g (11oz) jar plum sauce
4 tsp clear honey
4 tsp dark soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm (1 inch) ginger, chopped
2 spring onions, cut into 2.5cm long pieces
2 red chillies, finely chopped
250g (9oz) packet egg noodles
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 spring onions for curling
227g (8oz) can water chestnuts , drained and roughly chopped
227g (8oz) can bamboo shoots, drained
1 red chilli, finely sliced

Pre heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7
Mix half the plum sauce with the honey, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, spring onions and half the chopped chillies.

Place the chops in a roasting tin and coat with the sauce. Marinate for 3-4 minutes.
Roast in the oven for 12-15 minutes, turning once.

Drop the noodles into boiling water and cook until tender. Then toss them in sesame oil with spring onion curls, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.
Serve the lamb on the noodles with the sauce spooned over the top. 
Garnish with chilli slices.

Note: to make spring onion curls, soak shredded spring onions in iced water
Taken from Great Fast Food published by Ebury Press 2000

Winter Charlotte with Rhubarb and Raspberries

– Rose Prince

Serves 6

about 8 slices of day-old white bread, crusts removed (save them for breadcrumbs)
softened unsalted butter
ground cinnamon
700g/1½ lb forced rhubarb, cut into 2cm/¾ inch lengths
400g/14oz frozen raspberries
golden caster sugar

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

Butter the bread slices and sprinkle with a little cinnamon. Cut each slice into quarters, then into 8 small triangles.

Put the rhubarb and raspberries into a pan, cover and cook over a low heat until the rhubarb is just soft. Add enough sugar to sweeten to your taste, then pour into a shallow ovenproof dish. Arrange the triangles of bread on top, buttered side up, working in a fish scale pattern. Bake the charlotte for about half an hour until the surface of the bread is golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle caster sugar on top. Serve with fresh custard or thick double cream.
© Rose Prince 2005

Warm Banana Tarte Tatin

– James Martin

Serves 6-8

500g (1lb 2oz) bought puff pastry, thawed if frozen
250g (9oz) caster sugar
25g (1oz) butter, softened
leaves stripped from 1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
8 ripe bananas

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut into a 25cm (10 inch) round. Prick all over with a fork, then leave to rest in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Place the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and melt slowly over a very low heat until it turns a mid-caramel colour. You might like to add 1 tbsp. of water to help it on its way, but most chefs don’t. It is vital not to allow the syrup to bubble even around the edge until all the sugar grains have dissolved, otherwise the mixture will become grainy.

It can help to brush the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water, to prevent any stray sugar grains from causing the syrup to crystallize.

As soon as the sugar turns a mid-caramel colour, plunge the pan base into a sink of cold water to halt the browning. It will spit alarmingly, so make sure that your arm is well covered. Beat in the butter until the mixture turns to a buttery caramel. Pour the caramel into an oven-proof frying pan, or 23cm (9inch) shallow cake tin, turn and evenly coat the bottom and sides with the caramel.

Heat the oven to 190C (375F) gas mark 5.

Sprinkle the chopped rosemary over the surface of the caramel, then slice the bananas on top. Finally, place the pastry round over the sliced bananas, pressing the edges down the sides of the filling all the way round.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove carefully from the oven to prevent spilling the hot caramel.

Allow to stand for a few minutes before carefully inverting on to a serving plate.
Cut into wedges to serve.

Foolproof Food

Spring Cabbage Soup

Its worth taking care to preserve the bright green colour of green soups like this. First, remember not to overcook the green vegetables, many greens – lettuce, kale, cabbage, spinach, watercress for instance, cook very quickly, so they should not be added until the base vegetables are fully cooked in the stock. The boil the soup rapidly without the lid on for only a few minutes until the greens are just cooked. Whizz in a blender and serve immediately or cook quickly and reheat just before serving. Green soups lose their fresh colour if they are kept hot indefinitely.
Serves 6 

55g (2ozs) butter
115g (4ozs) onions, chopped 
130g (5ozs) chopped potatoes
250g (9ozs ) chopped spring cabbage leaves (stalks removed)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
900 ml (1½ pints) light chicken stock
50-125ml (2-4 fl ozs) cream or creamy milk

First prepare all the vegetables, then melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. When it foams, add the potatoes and onions and turn them in the butter until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the stock (heat it if you want to speed things up) and boil until the potatoes are soft. Add the cabbage and cook with the lid off until the cabbage is just cooked - a matter of 4 or 5 minutes. Keep the lid off to retain the green colour. Do not overcook or the vegetables will lose both their fresh flavour and colour. Puree the soup in a liquidiser or blender. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add the cream or creamy milk before serving. 

If this soup is to be reheated, just bring it to the boil and serve. Prolonged boiling will spoil the colour and flavour.
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Hot Tips 

Silke Cropp who makes the sublime Corleggy Cheese in Belturbet, Co Cavan, introduced us to the new farmhouse cheese Wicklow Blue, made by John Hempenstall in Curranstown, near Arklow. 

It’s a soft blue Brie cheese with a downy rind, made with vegetarian rennet from pasteurised milk from his own Friesian herd. John has 55 cows and milks all year round so has a continuous supply of cheese. Great to have a new farmhouse cheese to enjoy at a time when Bord Bia are also crying out for new specialist products to fill the demand for artisan foods. Available from Sheridans, Horgans, Urru in Bandon, Classical Taste in Carrigaline. John also supplies some of Ireland’s top restaurants. Tel. 0402-91713

Grow your own Vegetables – well known gardening writer Joy Larkcom will teach a course on Creative Vegetable Gardening at the Ballymaloe Cookery School on Saturday 25th June – 9.30-5pm Tel 021-4646785

Growing Awareness – walk on Sam Sweetnam’s farm at Clohane Skibbereen on Sunday 19th June at 3pm. 
Extensive areas of ancient oak and beech woodland on a dairy farm and productive orchard , with a range of apple varieties. The walk includes the neighbouring woodland, 9 year old broadleaf plantation and vegetable garden. Contact Paul McCormick at 028 23742. www.growingawareness.org 

Hope you’ve been enjoying the feature on healthy food in the Examiner this week – lots of thought provoking articles which make us further realise the crisis that’s looming as a result of the deterioration of our national diet.
The statistics on obesity, diabetes and other diet related diseases are there for all of us to see – now its time for action. Time for all of us to rattle the pots and pans and make a difference in our own homes. A growing body of research is linking an impoverished diet with behavioural problems, unruly children, uncontrollable and aggressive teenagers, and indeed adults. It sounds simplistic to suggest that changing one’s diet can have such a dramatic effect – well why not try it.

Let’s throw out all the junk - packets, cans, processed food and sugary breakfast cereals and start from scratch.

Porridge is unquestionably the best and most nutritious breakfast cereal, I regularly tuck into a large bowl with dark brown sugar and Jersey milk, it’s a brilliant Glycaemic Index food which keeps you buzzing along until lunch time. If porridge seems a little heavy in May, why not start the day with a bowl of nut and grain muesli or crunchy granola topped with slices of organic banana – there’s even a better feel good factor if its also ‘fair trade’. 

How about getting a discussion going at home about the whole obesity issue and how much depends on the food we eat, get the whole family involved, let’s have some suggestions – do we need to review our eating habits, do we even want to bother? Is it worth the effort, are we piling on the pounds, feeling ratty, constipated, suffering from indigestion, low sex drive, low energy. Do we have unexplained lumps, bumps or rashes, regular headaches, heartburn…. Could it be that we need to review that diet after all. Problem is – we’re all too busy. Rush out to work, grab a breakfast at the nearest petrol station, maybe a Danish and a can of diet soda to give us our sugar fix. Several snacks and cups coffee between there and lunch, which will often be a sandwich made with sliced bread, heavily processed meat and cheese, maybe some coleslaw where the cabbage and carrots have been sterilised in Milton before being combined in the salad.

In the evening, we’re whacked after a hard day’s work with the minimum of nutrients to sustain the body, so we plump for the easy option – grab a burger, pizza, or tuck into a feed of steak and chips. Maybe stick a TV dinner into the microwave. A few glasses of wine or a beer to help us to relax – no energy to go for a walk, not to speak of a run, so we flop into bed and the vicious circle continues. If this sounds a teensy bit familiar, its definitely time for reappraisal but hang on, who is going to do all the work?. Many mums have full time jobs as well as their other full time job as mum, so despite the talent of keeping a million balls in the air, help is needed and corny as it may sound, cooking is actually fun. In fact it can be terrifically relaxing and rewarding if everyone, children included, gets involved in planning the menus, sharing the shopping and peeling, chopping, mixing, baking and then most importantly of all, sitting down together around the kitchen table to enjoy the fruits of your labour – that’s what memories are made of. Most importantly, if you have been able to get involved in the shopping and preparation, and you are fortunate enough to come home to a delicious meal, don’t forget to hug the cook and offer help with the washing-up. For far too many it’s a thankless task – so no wonder they opt for a ready meal. Remember, cooking yummy food is fun, try it, you’ll be blown away!

Vegetable Stir-Fry with Cashew Nuts

Olive Oil

Garlic crushed or chopped
Ginger, shredded
Spring Onions, cut at an angle
Chillies, sliced
A selection of 5 or 6 of the following:

Bean sprouts
Tomatoes, cut into quarters
Mange Tout, whole or cut in two at an angle
Spring Cabbage, shredded
French Beans, cut in ½ or sliced at an angle
Celery, sliced at an angle
Red/Green/Yellow Peppers, cut into strips at an angle
Shitake Mushrooms, sliced
Celeriac, cut into julienne strips
Broccoli, small florets
Leeks, cut at an angle
Carrots, cut in ½ inch and sliced at an angle
Cauliflower, florets
Peas
Sugar Peas or Snaps, whole or cut in half at an angle
Asparagus, cut at an angle
Baby Sprouts, quartered
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
Toasted sesame oil or oyster sauce
Freshly chopped herbs
Cashew nuts

Heat the wok, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, when almost smoking add in the crushed or chopped garlic, spring onion, chilli and ginger, toss for a few seconds, then add the vegetables, salt and freshly ground pepper and continue to toss for a minute or two. Sprinkle with sesame oil or oyster sauce. Taste and correct seasoning. Scatter with lots of freshly chopped herbs.
Turn into a hot dish and serve immediately.

Basic Frittata

Serves 2-4

In season: all year 

A frittata is an Italian omelette. Unlike its soft and creamy French cousin, a frittata is cooked slowly over a very low heat during which time you can be whipping up a delicious salad to accompany it! It is cooked on both sides and cut into wedges like a piece of cake. This basic recipe, flavoured with grated cheese and a generous sprinkling of herbs. Like the omelette, though, you may add almost anything that takes your fancy.

8 large eggs, preferably free range organic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
85g (3oz) Gruyére cheese, grated
30g (1oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
30g (1oz) butter
1 dessertspoon basil or marjoram

Non stick pan - 19cm (72inch) bottom, 23cm (9inch) top rim

Whisk the eggs in a bowl, add the salt, freshly ground pepper, fresh herbs, grated cheese into the eggs. Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan. When the butter starts to foam, tip in the eggs. Turn down the heat, as low as it will go. Leave the eggs to cook gently for 12 minutes on a heat diffuser mat, or until the underneath is set. The top should still be slightly runny.
Preheat a grill. Pop the pan under the grill for 1 minute to set but not brown the surface. 
Slide a palette knife under the frittata to free it from the pan. Slide onto a warm plate. 
Serve cut in wedges with a good green salad and perhaps a Tomato salad.

Mushroom Frittata

Serves 6-8

In season: all year 

Frittata is an Italian omelette. Kuku and Tortilla all sound much more exciting than a flat omelette although that’s basically what they are. Unlike their soft and creamy French cousin, these omelettes are cooked slowly over a very low heat during which time you can be whipping up a delicious salad to accompany it! A frittata is cooked gently on both sides and cut into wedges like a piece of cake. Omit the tomato and you have a basic recipe, flavoured with grated cheese and a generous sprinkling of herbs. Like the omelette, though, you’ll occasionally want to add some tasty morsels, to ring the changes perhaps some Spinach, Ruby Chard, Calabreze, Asparagus, Smoked Mackerel etc... the list is endless but be careful don’t use it as a dust bin - think about the combination of flavours before you empty your fridge.

450g (1lb) flat mushrooms - washed and sliced
8 large eggs, preferably free range organic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
125g (4½oz) Gruyére cheese, freshly grated
40g (1oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
25g (1oz) butter
1 tablespoon basil or marjoram

non stick pan - 19cm (7½ inch) bottom, 23cm (9 inch) top rim
a heat diffuser mat, optional

Heat some olive oil in a hot pan, add the sliced mushrooms. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and cook over a high heat until just wilted, cool.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl, add the salt, freshly ground pepper, chopped herbs, mushrooms and grated cheese into the egg mixture. 
Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan. When the butter starts to foam, tip in the egg mixture. Turn down the heat as low as it will go, use a heat diffuser mat if necessary. Leave the eggs to cook gently for 15 minutes, or until the underneath is set. The top should still be slightly runny. Preheat a grill. Pop the pan under the grill for 1 minute to set and barely brown the surface.
Alternatively after an initial 4 or 5 minutes on the stove one can transfer the pan to a preheated oven 180C/350F/regulo 4 until just set 15-20 minutes.
Slide a palette knife under the frittata to free it from the pan. Slide onto a warm plate. 
Serve cut in wedges with a good green salad and perhaps a vine-ripened Tomato Salad (see page 00) and a few olives. 

Tip: Slice the mushroom stalk into thin rounds up to the cap, then lay the 
mushroom-gills down on the chopping board and slice. Use both stalk and caps for extra flavour and less waste. Alternatively put the stalks into a vegetable stock.

Gratin of Haddock with Imokilly Cheddar and Mustard with Piquant Beetroot

This is one of the simplest and most delicious fish dishes we know. If haddock is unavailable, cod, hake or grey sea mullet are also great. We use Imokilly mature Cheddar from our local creamery at Mogeely.

Serves 6 as a main course

175g (6 x 6oz) pieces of haddock
Salt and freshly ground pepper
225g (8ozs/2 cups) Irish mature Cheddar cheese, grated
1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) Dijon mustard
4 tablespoon (5 American tablespoon approx.) cream

Piquant Beetroot

1½ lbs/675 g beetroot cooked

½ oz15 g/¼-½ stick butter 
Salt and freshly ground pepper 
A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
A sprinkling of sugar (if necessary)
5-6 fl ozs/140-175ml/generous : cup cream 
1-2 tsp finely chopped chives.

Peel the beetroot, use rubber gloves for this operation if you are vain!. Chop the beetroot flesh into cubes. Melt the butter in a saute pan, add the beetroot toss, add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and cream, allow to bubble for a few minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and sugar. Taste and add a little more lemon juice if necessary. Serve immediately. 

Ovenproof dish 8½ x 10 inches (21.5 x 25.5cm)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/regulo 4. Season the fish with salt and freshly ground pepper. Arrange the fillets in a single layer in an ovenproof dish (it should be posh enough to bring to the table.) Mix the grated cheese with the mustard and cream and spread carefully over the fish. It can be prepared ahead and refrigerated at this point. Cook in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the top is golden and bubbly. Flash under the grill if necessary. Serve with hot Piquant Beetroot. 

Pangrilled Fish with Flavoured Butters

Pangrilling is one of my favourite ways to cook fish, meat and vegetables. Square or oblong cast-iron pangrills can be bought in virtually all good kitchen shops and are a ‘must have’ as far as I am concerned. In this recipe you can use almost any fish - mackerel, grey sea mullet, cod, sea bass, haddock - provided it is very fresh.

8 x 6 ozs (170 g) of very fresh fish fillets
Seasoned flour
Small knob of butter

Garnish
Segment of lemon
Sprigs of Parsley

Accompaniment
Flavoured butter (see below) or Tomato Fondue (see recipe) 

Heat the pan grill. Dip the fish fillets in flour which has been well 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 (time depends on the thickness of the fish). Turn over and cook on the other side until crisp and golden. Serve on a hot plate with a segment of lemon and some slices of flavoured butter or a Salsa. 

Some good things to serve with pan-grilled fish

Parsley or Herb Butter 
4ozs (110 g/1 stick) butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley or a mixture of chopped fresh herbs - parsley, chives, thyme, fennel, lemon balm
A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cream the butter and add in the parsley or mixed herbs and a few drops of lemon juice. Roll into butter pats or form into a roll and wrap in greaseproof paper or tinfoil, screwing each end so that it looks like a cracker. Refrigerate to harden.

Watercress Butter
Substitute fresh watercress leaves for parsley in the recipe above. Delicious served with salmon or john dory.

Dill or Fennel Butter
Substitute dill or fennel for parsley in the recipe above. Also delicious served with pan-grilled fish.

Mint or Rosemary Butter
Substitute 2 tablespoons of finely chopped mint or 1-2 tablespoons of rosemary for the parsley in the recipe above.

Wild Garlic Butter
Substitute wild garlic leaves for parsley in the recipe above. Garnish the fish with wild garlic leaves and flowers.

Nasturtium Butter
Substitute 3 tablespoons of chopped nasturtium flowers (red, yellow and orange) for the parsley in the recipe above.

Garlic Butter
Add 3-5 crushed garlic cloves to the parsley butter.

Grainy Mustard Butter 
This is particularly good with mackerel or herring

4ozs (110g/1 stick) butter
1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons approx. grainy mustard
Cream the butter, add the mustards, put into a bowl and cover or form into a roll and refrigerate until needed.

Olive and Anchovy butter 
4 ozs (110g/1 stick) butter
1-2 anchovies
4 black olives, stoned
2 teaspoons approx. freshly chopped parsley

Whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor or chop ingredients finely and mix with the butter. Put in a bowl and cover or form into a roll and refrigerate until needed.

Chilli and Coriander Butter 
4 ozs (110 g/1 stick) butter
1 chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (1 American tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) chopped fresh coriander or marjoram
Freshly ground pepper
A few drops of lime or lemon juice

Cream the butter, then add the chilli and fresh herbs. Season with freshly ground pepper and lime or lemon juice. Put in a bowl and cover or form into a roll and refrigerate until needed.

Poached Whole Salmon or Sea Trout to be served Cold

1 whole salmon or sea trout

Water 
Salt 

Garnish 
Crisp lettuce leaves
Sprigs of watercress, lemon balm, fennel and fennel flowers if available 
A segment of lemon for each person 
Home-made Mayonnaise 

Special Equipment 
Fish Kettle 

Clean and gut the salmon carefully; do not remove the head, tail or scales. Carefully measure the water and half fill the fish kettle, adding 1 rounded tablespoon of salt to every 40 fl ozs/2 imperial pints. Cover the fish kettle and bring the water to the boil. Add the salmon or sea trout and allow the water to come back to the boil. Simmer for just 2 minutes and then turn off the heat. Keep the lid on and allow the fish to cool completely in the water (the fish should be just barely covered in the water). 
To serve: When the fish is barely cold, remove from the fish kettle and drain for a few minutes. Line a large board or serving dish with fresh crisp lettuce leaves, top with sprigs of watercress, lemon balm and fennel and fennel flowers if available. Carefully slide the salmon onto the board. Just before serving, peel off the top skin, leave the tail and head intact. (We don’t scrape off the brown flesh in the centre because it tastes good.) Pipe a line of home-make Mayonnaise along the centre of the salmon lengthways, garnish with tiny sprigs of fennel and fennel flowers or very thin twists of cucumber. Put some segments of lemons around the dish between the lettuces and herbs. Resist the temptation to use any tomato or - horror of horrors - to put a slice of stuffed olive over the eye! The pale pink of the salmon flesh with the crisp lettuces and fresh herbs seems just perfect. Serve with a bowl of good home-make Mayonnaise. 

Whole Salmon or Sea Trout cooked in Foil

1 salmon or sea trout, 3.4-4kg/8-9lbs approx.

Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
110g/4ozs/1 stick butter approx. 
Sprig of fennel 
Garnish 
Segments of lemon and sprigs of parsley or fennel 
A large sheet of good quality tin foil 

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

Clean and gut the fish if necessary, dry carefully. Put the sheet of tin foil on a large baking sheet, preferably with edges. Place the salmon in the centre of the sheet of tin foil. Smear butter on both sides and put a few lumps in the centre. Season with salt and freshly-ground pepper and put a sprig of fennel in the centre if you have it. Be generous with the butter, it will mix with the juices to make a delicious sauce to spoon over your cooked fish. Bring the tin foil together loosely and seal the edges well. 
Bake for 90 minutes approx. (allow 10 minutes per 450g/1lb). Open the package, be careful of the steam. Test by lifting the flesh off the backbone just at the thickest point where the flesh meets the head. The fish should lift off the bone easily and there should be no trace of blood; if there is, seal again and pop back in the oven for 5 or 10 minutes, but be careful not to overcook it. 
Serve hot or cold. If you are serving it hot, spoon the juices over each helping, or use the butter and juice to make a Hollandaise-type sauce by whisking the hot melted butter and salmon juice gradually into 2 cold, serve with some freshly-made salads and a bowl of home-made mayonnaise. Garnish with parsley and fennel.

Poached Whole Salmon or Sea Trout to be served Hot or Cold 

A whole poached salmon served hot or cold is always a dish for a very special occasion. Long gone are the days when the servants in great houses complained bitterly if they had to eat salmon more than twice a week! 
If you want to poach a salmon or sea trout whole with the head and tail on, then you really need to have access to a ‘fish kettle’. This is a long narrow saucepan which will hold a fish of 3.9-4kg/8½-9lbs weight. Most people would not have a fish kettle 

in their houses, so if you want to keep the fish whole then the best solution would be to bake it in the oven wrapped in tin-foil.
Alternatively, you could cut the salmon into three pieces, and cook them separately in the way I describe for cooking a piece of salmon. Later, you could arrange the salmon on a board or serving dish, skin it and do a cosmetic job with rosettes of mayonnaise and lots of fresh herbs. 
A 3.4kg/8lbs salmon will feed 16 people very generously and it could quite easily be enough for 20. 125-140g/4½-5ozs cooked salmon is generally plenty to allow per person as salmon is very rich. Use any left-over bits for salmon Mousse or Salmon Rillettes. 

Ballymaloe Poached Whole Salmon or Sea Trout to be served Hot

1 whole salmon or sea trout

Water 
Salt 
Garnish 
Sprigs of fresh parsley, lemon balm and fennel 
Hollandaise Sauce
A segment of lemon for each person 
Special Equipment 
Fish kettle 

Clean and gut the salmon carefully; do not remove the head, tail or scales. Carefully measure the water and half fill the fish kettle, add 1 rounded tablespoon of salt to every 40 fl ozs/2 imperial pints. Cover the fish kettle and bring the water to the boil. Add the salmon or sea trout and allow the water to come back to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave the salmon in the water for a few minutes (4-5) to settle. Then remove from water. It will keep hot for 20-30 minutes. 
To serve: Carefully lift the whole fish out of the fish kettle and leave to drain on the rack for a few minutes. Then slide onto a large hot serving dish, preferably a beautiful long white china dish, but failing that, whatever it will fit on! Garnish with lots of parsley, lemon balm and fennel and 10-12 segments of lemon. I don’t remove the skin until I am serving it at the table, then I peel it back gradually as I serve; however, if you prefer, remove the skin just at the last second before bringing it to the table. When you have served all the fish from the top, remove the bone as delicately as possible, put it aside and continue as before. Serve with Hollandaise Sauce. 

Hot Tips

Garryvoe Hotel have recently opened their very stylish new extension – reception area, bar and restaurant – wishing them continued success.

Farming, food and health – an indivisible chain – Soil Association Scotland Conference, Battleby, Perthshire, Scotland – Wednesday 25th May.

A 1-day Conference presented by the Soil Association Scotland, Scottish Agricultural College and Scottish Natural Heritage. For further information tel 0044 117 314 5000 www.soilassociation.org  

Ballymaloe House has just won the Restaurant of the Year Award, sponsored by Bushmills – congratulations to all concerned.

Fabulous Food Fair in Co Tipperary Sunday 3rd July 12-6– Tipp FM is delighted to offer all quality food providers a unique forum in which to display and sell their quality food. To book a stand contact Noreen Condon 087-2795900 or Geraldine Henchion 087-2523215.

Watercress is the ‘new rocket’. After decades of being pushed to the edge of the plate as nothing more than a decorative garnish, watercress is suddenly the hippest ‘new’ ingredient, enjoying a huge renaissance as diners discover its not ‘just a bit on the side’. Chefs can’t get enough of it and they are using their creativity to use the peppery little salad leaf in a myriad of ways.

Watercress is bursting with goodness, its health benefits have been known since ancient times. Greek general Xenophon insisted that his soldiers ate it as a tonic and Hippocrates, the father of medicine, chose the location of his first hospital because of its proximity to a stream so he could use only the freshest watercress to treat his patients.

Gram for gram, watercress is a better source of vitamins C, B1, B6, K and E, iron, calcium magnesium manganese and zinc than apples, tomatoes and cooked broccoli. Its got more iron than spinach and more Vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than whole milk.

Its also a brilliant detox ingredient, the peppery mustard oils boost and regulate the activity of the liver’s enzymes. Watercress is packed with beta-carotene and Vitamin A equivalents, which are great for healthy skin and eyes. It provides iodine and most B vitamins, including folic acid which is important for a healthy pregnancy. 

Watercress is naturally low in calories and fat. Apparently, Liz Hurley drinks up to six cups of watercress soup a day when she’s on one of her famous diets, so how about that for a recommendation!.

The reality is I don’t need any convincing, ever since I was a child I’ve loved the delicious peppery flavour of watercress. Every Spring we used to pick it from the stream in the chapel meadows on the outskirts of the little village of Cullohill in Co Laois.

We ate it in sandwiches and salads with tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, scallions and lots of Chef salad cream.

Old people always spoke about watercress in the same reverential tone that they used for nettles, the other wild green which ‘purifies the blood and keeps away the rheumatics for a year’ according to ancient lore. What makes watercress unique is its high levels of a compound called phenylethl isothiocyanate, or PEITC. This gives the plant its unique peppery flavour and in scientific studies has been shown to increase the body’s potential to resist certain carcinogenic (cancer causing agents.)

The UK National Watercress week runs from 15-21 May with a myriad of events.

The week kicks off on Sunday 15 May with a Watercress Festival in the beautiful Georgian town of Alresford in Hampshire, the UK’s capital of watercress farming. Cookery demos from celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson, street theatre, music, children’s cookery classes, a watercress healthy quiz and a watercress food market selling a delicious range of watercress fare from smoked Hampshire trout, watercress and horseradish soup, watercress crêpes, watercress sausages, watercress scones, watercress ice cream, watercress chocolates and even watercress beer. Alresford has some great pubs and restaurants and their chefs plan to offer on an amazing range of watercress dishes to compete for the prize of Best Watercress Restaurant and Pub menu. For those who have a budding Nigella or Jamie in the family, there will be kids’ watercress Cookery workshops.

The watercress farmers will be out in force so people can find out the fascinating story behind watercress production . Seventy eight year old Bill Jesty, whose family has grown watercress in Hampshire and Dorset for six generations, has built a model watercress farm to show how gravity and a series of valves are used to channel spring water through the watercress beds, handling up to an incredible 5,000 gallons of water per acre per hour.

The Watercress Line heritage railway, so named because of the vast quantities of watercress it used to transport up to Covent Garden Market, will also be in operation.

Watercress is a classic ingredient in salads and sandwiches and of course it makes a delicious soup, but here are 12 suggestions for terrific ways to use this classic little salad leaf.

1. Make a delicious watercress pesto.

2. Stir chopped watercress into hot pasta with plenty of grated parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

3. Use it to fill a classic omelette with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese or stir into softly scrambled eggs just before serving.

4. To make a delicious simple salad, drain a can of cannellini beans and tuna, chop up half a cucumber and three tomatoes and mix together. Drizzle over some good vinaigrette and then toss with a bag of watercress.

5. If you are fed up with plain old mashed potato, for an extra injection of flavour, add a few peeled cloves of garlic to the potatoes whilst they boil. Drain and mash with a knob of butter and a tablespoonful or two of wholegrain mustard, then stir through a bag of roughly chopped watercress. Season with plenty of ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Great with sausages or most meat dishes.

6. Fold chopped watercress into cottage cheese or ricotta and use as a filling for baked potatoes.

7. For a tasty lunch, cut a small ciabatta loaf lengthways. Pile with creamy Cashel Blue, Crozier Blue or Gorgonzola and slices of pear and grill until just bubbling. Scatter with a large handful of watercress and sprinkle with black pepper.

8. Watercress perks up any sandwich, adding flavour and crunch. A favourite combination with marmite, or try smoked salmon topped with a mixture of crème fraiche and horseradish.

9. Watercress is a staple food among the Chinese, who believe it brings the body back into balance, both nutritionally and holistically. It’s a particular favourite in stir fries, thrown in at the last minute and cooked until just wilted.

10. Watercress mayonnaise is delicious served cold with poached salmon., asparagus or simply as a dip.

11. For a variation on salsa verde, blitz a bag of watercress, a handful of basil leaves, 1 clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a food processor until just smooth. Season and serve – tastes great with chargrilled tuna.

12. Finally, one of my favourite ways to eat watercress and so simple. Serve a roast on a bed of watercress on the serving dish. It is completely delicious combined with the meat juices and some crusty roast potatoes.

Pickled Beetroot

Leave 2 inch (5cm) of leaf stalks on top and the whole root on the beet. Hold it under a running tap and wash off the mud with the palms of your hands, so that you don't damage the skin; otherwise the beetroot will bleed during cooking. Cover with cold water and add a little salt and sugar. Cover the pot bring to the boil and simmer on top, or in an oven, for 1-2 hours depending on size. Beetroot are usually cooked easily and if they dent when pressed with a finger. If in doubt test with a skewer or the tip of a knife.

Watercress Soup

There are references to watercress in many early Irish manuscripts. It formed part of the diet of hermits and holy men who valued its special properties. Legend has it that it was watercress that enabled St. Brendan to live to the ripe old age of 180! In Birr Castle in Co. Offaly, Lord and Lady Rosse still serve soup of watercress gathered from around St. Brendan's well, just below the castle walls.

Serves 6-8

12 ozs (45g) butter
5 ozs (140g) peeled and chopped potatoes
4 ozs (110g) peeled and chopped onion
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pint (600ml) water or home-made chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 pint (600ml) creamy milk
8 ozs (225g) chopped watercress (remove the coarse stalks first)

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. Meanwhile prepare the watercress. 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 watercress and boil with the lid off for 4-5 minutes approx. until the watercress is 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.

Watercress Pesto

Serves 4

Bag of watercress
Handful of basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
handful of toasted pine nuts
5 tablesp olive oil
squeeze of lemon juice
generous shavings of Parmesan
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Put all the ingredients into a blender, season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Whizz everything together, then stir into a bowl of pasta.

Here are some of the recipes prepared specially by Antony Worrall Thompson for Watercress Week.

WATERCRESS AND MUSHROOM PANCAKES

Prep: 25mins

Cook: 10 mins
Serves 6

For the pancakes:

15ml/1tbsp olive oil
1 small shallot, finely chopped
25g/1oz mushrooms, sliced
1 egg
100ml/4 fl oz milk
25g/1oz watercress leaves
25g/1oz plain flour
pinch of salt and a little freshly ground black pepper
pinch of ground allspice

For the filling:

225g/8 oz soured cream, plus extra for garnish
1 tablespoon lemon juice
85g/3 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 roasted peppers, peeled and diced * 
55g/2 oz watercress leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the pancake batter: Heat the oil in a small pan, add the shallot and mushrooms and sauté for 2 mins until golden. Cool slightly. Place the egg, milk, watercress, flour, salt and pepper and allspice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a jug and leave to stand for 10 minutes. 
To cook the pancakes, line a plate with two sheets of kitchen paper and set it aside. Lightly brush a small frying pan with a little of the oil. Then place the pan on a medium heat until hot. Remove the pan from the heat and pour about 45ml/3 tbsp of the batter into the centre of the pan. Quickly tilt the pan in all directions to evenly coat the base of the pan. Cook over a medium heat for 1-2 mins or until the base is golden. Flip onto the other side and continue to cook until golden. Flip out onto kitchen paper. Cover with another kitchen paper. Repeat to make about 6 pancakes in total. 
To make the filling, beat the sour cream with the lemon juice until light. Add the mushrooms, peppers and watercress and lightly mix. Season to taste. Lay the cooked pancakes out on the work surface. Divide the filling between the pancakes, spooning it down the centre of each. Roll up and place in a lightly buttered shallow dish. 
Before serving bake the crepes in preheated oven 190C/Gas mark 5 for about 10 minutes. Serve hot with watercress salad. 

* Roasted peppers are available in cans or jars from supermarkets. They have all the skin and seeds removed, ready for us

GRILLED BUTTERY CHICKEN ON A BED OF WATERCRESS MASH

Prep: 10mins

Cook: 30-35mins
Serves 4 

675g/11/2 lb old potatoes, peeled
2 (85g) bags watercress, roughly chopped
90ml/6tbsp 0% fat Greek Yoghurt or milk
25g/1 oz unsalted butter, diced
pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
75g/3oz watercress butter (see recipe below)
4 x 175g/6oz chicken breast fillets
15ml/1tbsp olive oil

For the watercress butter* : - 

1 (85g) bag watercress, finely chopped 
75g/ 3oz unsalted butter, softened 
1 shallot, very finely chopped
5ml/1tsp English mustard

To prepare the watercress butter: in a bowl, mix the watercress, butter, shallot and mustard together with a fork, season well with freshly ground black pepper. Keep in the fridge. 
Cut the potatoes into large chunks, place in a large pan, cover with cold water and season with salt. Cover and bring to the boil, simmer for 10-15 mins or until tender. Drain, return to the pan, tip in the chopped watercress and re-cover. Leave to stand for 1-2 mins or until the watercress has wilted. 
Mash the potatoes and watercress then add the yoghurt or milk and butter. Fluff up with a fork, add the nutmeg and season to taste with ground black pepper. Keep warm. 
Meanwhile, gently push a little of the watercress butter under the skin of the chicken breast fillets. Preheat a non-stick frying pan. When hot, add the oil, then place the chicken breasts skin-side down and cook for 10-15 mins, turning once until the chicken is golden brown on both sides and cooked through. 
To serve, heap the watercress mash in the centre of four warmed plates and top with the chicken. Spoon the pan juices around the chicken and serve, garnished with a sprig of watercress and a wedge of lemon. 

* Watercress butter – you do not need to use all of this – you could dab a little on fish or a steak or baked potatoes. It will keep in the fridge

WATERCRESS, BACON AND EGG WRAP

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: none
Serves 2

2 x 23cm/9in soft flour tortillas

For the watercress butter* : - 

See previous recipe
For the filling: 
4 hardboiled free-range eggs, roughly chopped 
1 gherkin, chopped 
100g/2oz ready-made potato salad
2 rashers of crispy bacon, crumbled 
50g/2 oz watercress
freshly ground black pepper

1. To prepare the watercress butter: in a bowl, mix the watercress, butter, shallot and mustard together with a fork, season well with freshly ground black pepper. Keep at room temperature.

2. To make the filling: in a bowl mix the eggs together with the potato salad, gherkin and bacon.

3. Lay the two tortillas out on the work surface and dab with a little watercress butter. Top with the filling, leaving 2.5 cm/1 inch border at the two side. Top the mix with watercress.

4. Roll up the tortillas, folding over the borders as you do so; either cut in half or leave whole. Wrap tightly in cling-film ready for the lunchbox.

Foolproof Food

Traditional salad with watercress and Shanagarry Cream Dressing

This simple old fashioned salad can be quite delicious when it's made with a crisp lettuce, good home-grown tomatoes and cucumbers, free-range eggs and home preserved beetroot. If on the other hand you make it with pale battery eggs, watery tomatoes, tired lettuce and cucumber - and worst of all- vinegary beetroot from a jar, you'll wonder why you bothered.

We serve this traditional salad in Ballymaloe as a starter, with an old-fashioned salad dressing which would have been popular before the days of mayonnaise. Our recipe came from Lydia Strangman, the last occupant of our house.

Serves 4

Fresh watercress or butterhead lettuce
2 hard-boiled eggs, preferably free-range, quartered
2-4 tomatoes, quartered
16 slices of cucumber
4 slices of home-made pickled beetroot (see below)
4 tiny scallions or spring onions
2-4 sliced radishes
Chopped parsley

Shanagarry Cream Dressing

2 hard-boiled eggs
1 level teasp. dry mustard
Pinch of salt
1 tablesp.(15g) dark soft brown sugar
1 tablesp. (15ml) brown malt vinegar
2-4 fl.ozs. (56-130ml) cream
Garnish 
Spring Onion
Watercress
Chopped parsley

Hard-boil the eggs for the salad and the dressing: bring a small saucepan of water to the boil, gently slide in the eggs, boil for 10 minutes (12 if they are very fresh), strain off the hot water and cover with cold water. Peel when cold.

Wash and dry the lettuce and scallions.

Next make the Dressing. Cut 2 eggs in half, sieve the yolks into a bowl, add the sugar, a pinch of salt and the mustard. Blend in the vinegar and cream. Chop the egg whites and add some to the sauce. Keep the rest to scatter over the salad. Cover the dressing until needed.

To assemble the salads: Arrange a few lettuce leaves on each of 4 plates. Scatter a few quartered tomatoes and 2 hard-boiled egg quarters, a few slices of cucumber and 1 radish or 2 slices of beetroot on each plate. Garnish with spring onion and watercress, scatter the remaining egg white (from the dressing) over the salad and some chopped parsley.

Put a tiny bowl of Shanagarry Cream Dressing in the centre of each plate and serve immediately while the salad is crisp and before the beetroot starts to run. Alternatively, the dressing may be served from one large bowl.

Hot Tips 

Food Active Summer Camp – attention all 11-17 year olds
Food active summer camp returns this June for the third year to run one and two week camps at St Conleth’s College, Ballsbridge, Dublin. With healthy eating for children now gaining increased recognition as an issue, FoodActive Summer Camp offers a practical and fun environment in which to discover food and be active.
info@foodactive.ie  www.foodactive.ie  Tel Eve Rowan 086 806 6111

Growing Awareness - the Skibbereen based food and farming group
Sunday 5th June, visit Andy Ra’s beautiful example of living using local resources: local timber frame eco-house, organic vegetables, chickens, milking goats – by living as close as possible to the eco-system and using local resources, Andy has minimal impact on the earth. Contact Andy Ra 027-66436 Latest details and news -www.growingawareness.org     email: walks@growingawareness.org  

Pig Party at Otto’s Restaurant, Dunworley, Butlerstown, Bandon, Co Cork
On 26th June – Buffet and Barbecue from 14.00- 18.00
Laoise O’Brien and friends will entertain with Renaissance music,
€50 per person, children half price, Slow Food Members €40. Book before 16th June with cheque made out to OCC, name and phone number. Tel 023-40461, email:ottokunze@eircom.net  www.ottoscreativecatering.com 

Can a house change one’s life? I wouldn’t have believed it. But almost from the day Patricia and Walter Wells first saw Chanteduc – their 18th Century farmhouse in northern Provence – their future was altered forever. Ever since the wooded ten acres on top of a stony hill in Vaison–la–Romaine became theirs in 1984, Patricia says that she and her husband Walter have looked differently at the world.
Chanteduc – a tumble-down mas whose name poetically translates as ‘song of the owl’ – turned what was to have been a Paris interlude into a permanent sejour in France. And what was to have been a weekend house became a home, a lifestyle, an obsession, an extension of their very personalities.
Almost before they’d unpacked their bags in Provence, they had more French friends than they had made in all their time in Paris. Within a year, they could no longer even remember life before Provence. For them, it symbolised all the essential elements of happiness they sought in life – friends, family, food and feasts. It opened their eyes, their ears, their sensibilities to the rituals of French daily life in the countryside. Before, they had only read about this life , and finally they were witnesses, participants; they were making it happen. Was it just the sun, or did this place have a magic way of magnifying ordinary pleasures?
Before long, they could not go to town for a morsel of goat cheese or a sack of nails without the errand turning into a social event. Conversation is central to a Provencal’s life: so there was always talk of the sun (or lack of it); talk of the raging local wind known as the mistral, talk of the tourists (or lack of them); talk of the latest scandal or outrage in faraway Paris.
Weather – be it sunshine, rain, or drought – became a preoccupation, for whatever happened in the sky affected their day, their garden, their crops, and the moods of the farmers and merchants around them. When the half–dozen gnarled old cherry trees in the orchard began to bear fruit, they dropped everything to pick the shiny, purple-red fruits and set about putting that bounty to work, making clafoutis, ice creams, confitures, and homemade liqueurs. The unfurling of every leaf – lettuce, grapes, figs, and irises – became the object of their weekly attention. They eagerly turned their attention to a fledgling vegetable garden, only to find that about all this parched, chalky soil could promise were vegetables that tasted of struggle. The growth of nearly every olive in their small grove of trees was followed throughout the season, though more than once they arrived at harvest time to find the trees picked nearly bare by passersby. Thankfully, the village farmers’ market is overflowing with baskets of ripe, uncured olives at Christmas time, so their home-cured olives were generally of mixed origins!
They learned about spotting the property’s edible wild mushrooms, but only after years of listening to the neighbours boast of discoveries on their land. An invitation to join them for a hunt, with the promise of a multi-mushroom feast to follow, was the key to uncovering the secret gardens hidden amid the pines. They also learned about unearthing the rare black truffles that hid beneath the soil of their vines, not far from the rows of scrub oak that enclosed their vineyards, but knew secretly that, most years, the poachers’ bounty far exceeded their meagre findings.
And sometimes they came closer to certain flora and fauna than one would desire. They’ve fled wild boar at the compost pile, chased wild pheasant and quail in the vegetable garden, and know more about the night habits of the loir – a squirrel-like rodent that loves the proximity of humans and their central heating system – than could fill a book.
Patricia and her husband Walter spent most of their adult lives working in cities like Washington, DC, New York, and Paris, and now, as country folk, they found that their lives were curiously affected by the phases of the moon, the colour of the sky, the moistness of the earth, the presence (or lack of) bees, salamanders, rabbits, or butterflies. Soon, like all the locals, they followed the rhythms of the moon, learning that if they planted parsley just after the new moon, the herb would flourish, and if they picked flowers with the full moon, they would last longer.
I first met Patricia Wells in Italy in 1980 when we were both in Bologna to take a cooking course from the doyenne of Italian cooking Marcella Hazan – she had to leave before the end of the week and I remember hoping that our paths would cross again – she is now a renowned international food writer who has sold over 750,000 copies of her books worldwide. She is the author of the best-selling Bistro, Trattoria and The Paris Cookbook. Patricia is a restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune and the first female restaurant critic for the French newsweekly L’Express. In 1989, the French government honoured Patricia Wells for her contributions to French culture, awarding her the coveted Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
The new edition of Patricia Wells at home in Provence is one of my favourites, packed with really tempting recipes – delicious comfort food to transport us to Provence.

Patricia Wells at home in Provence, published by Kyle Cathie, May 2005, £14.99 stg.
Buy this Book at Amazon
Here are some recipes from the book.

Gratin Dauphinois

Patricia uses the Charlotte potato in France, just be sure that the potatoes are nice and firm-fleshed and make sure the cheese is a good Gruyere.

Serves 4-6

1 plump fresh garlic clove, peeled and halved.
1kg (2lb) firm-fleshed potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly.
125g (4oz) freshly grated Gruyere cheese
500ml (16fl.oz) whole milk
125ml (4 fl.oz) crème fraiche or double cream
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

One 2- litre (3½ pint) ovenproof dish

Preheat the oven to 190c/375F/gas mark 5

Rub the inside of the baking dish with garlic.
In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, three-quarters of the cheese, the milk, crème fraiche, salt and pepper. Mix well. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish, pouring the liquid over the potatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Place in the centre of the oven and bake until the potatoes are cooked through and the top is crisp and golden, about 1¼ hours.

French Country Guinea Fowl and Cabbage

Serves 4-6

1 guinea fowl (about 1kg/2lb) or substitute chicken
2 shallots, peeled and halved
1 thin slice of smoked ham, finely chopped
Bouquet garni: a generous bunch of flat-leaf parsley, celery leaves, fresh bay leaves and sprigs of thyme, tied in a bundle with string
90g (3oz) unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
500ml (16 fl.oz) chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 large green cabbage, quartered lengthwise
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Season the exterior and cavity of the bird with salt and pepper. Place the shallots, ham and bouquet garni inside the cavity and sew up the opening. Set aside.
In a large covered casserole, melt 15g (½ oz) butter with the oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Add the guinea fowl and brown it carefully on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the bird to a platter and discard the fat in the pan. Season the exterior generously with salt and pepper. Still over moderate heat, add another 15g (½ oz) butter to the casserole, scraping up the browned bits that cling to the bottom of the pan. Add the onion and carrot and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Return the bird to the pan, add the stock, cover and simmer over a low heat until the chicken is cooked, about 50 minutes.
In a large pan, bring 6 litres (10 pints) of water to a rolling boil. Add 3 tablespoons of salt and the cabbage, and blanch, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large frying pan, melt the remaining butter over moderate heat. Add the vinegar, cabbage, seasoning, and cook, trying to keep the pieces of cabbage intact and well coated with sauce. Cover and cook over low heat until soft, about 20 minutes. Season to taste.
Meanwhile, carve the guinea fowl and arrange the pieces on a warmed serving platter. Spoon the stuffing, sauce and warmed cabbage over the sliced poultry and serve at once.

Eli’s Apple Crisp

Prepare this with a good tangy cooking apple, and if possible, combine several varieties such as Granny Smith, McIntosh, and Fuji – for a more complex depth of flavour and texture. This is a quick easy appealing and inexpensive dessert, and you don’t have to make pastry!

Serves 8

Unsalted butter for preparing the baking dish
45g (1½ oz) unsalted butter
1kg (2lb) cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut lengthwise into 8 even wedges
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
75g (2½ oz) sugar
250ml (8 fl.ozs ) crème fraîche or double cream

1 x 27cm (10½ inch) baking dish

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6

Generously butter the bottom and sides of the baking dish, set aside.
In a large frying pan, combine the butter, apples, lemon juice and ¼ teasp. cinnamon and cook until just soft, about 7 minutes. Stir in ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Transfer the apples to the baking dish, evening them into a single layer with a spatula.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar and whisk until well blended. Add the cream, the remaining vanilla extract and cinnamon. Whisk to blend and pour over the apples in the baking dish.
Place the baking dish in the centre of the oven and bake until the top is a deep golden brown, 30-45 minutes. Do not underbake, or the results will be soggy, rather than crisp.
Serve cut into wedges, accompanied by a dollop of crème fraîche. The dessert is best served the day it is made, as the delicate flavours will fade.

Fresh Lemon Verbena Ice-Cream

Throughout the spring and summer, Patricia uses lemon verbena leaves liberally, preparing refreshing and lightly sedative herbal teas, or infusions, as well as this popular summer ice cream. It is also delicious prepared with fresh mint, or with less traditional ‘sweet’ herbs, such as thyme or rosemary.

Serves 4

500ml (16 fl.oz) double cream
250ml (8fl.oz) whole milk
125g (4oz) sugar
60 fresh lemon verbena leaves

In a large saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar and verbena leaves and place over moderate heat just until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from the heat, cover and let steep for 1 hour.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the verbena. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Serve with Provencal Almond cookies or other crisp biscuits.


Schaum Torte : Meringues for the month of May
Patricia Wells has fond memories of Schaum Torte in her childhood home of Wisconsin where it is a Memorial Day speciality created to greet the season’s first crop of strawberries. 

4 large egg whites, at room temperature
½ teaspoon cream of tartar, (optional)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
200g (7oz) castor sugar
1 kg (2lb) fresh strawberries (or mixed berries)
1 tablesp. sugar
175ml (6fl.oz) double cream

Preheat the oven to 110C/230F/gas mark ¼. Line a baking sheet with foil or a non-stick liner. 
In a heavy-duty mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, if using, and vanilla extract at medium-low speed until small bubbles appear and the surface is frothy, about 45 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and gradually add half of the caster sugar, whisking until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes more. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sprinkle the rest of the castor sugar over the mixture and, with a large spatula, quickly and gently fold it in, working the egg whites as little as possible.
Using a large serving spoon, ladle six large round dollops of meringue on the prepared baking sheet. Work as quickly as possible so as not to deflate the whites. Place the baking sheet in the centre of the oven and bake until crisp and dry but not yet beginning to colour, about 2 hours.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and, with a spatula carefully transfer the meringues to a wire rack to cool. If they stick to the foil, they haven’t sufficiently dried out: If this happens, return them to the oven to dry thoroughly. (The meringues can be prepared several days in advance; if so. Store fully cooled meringues in a dry, airtight container.)
About 2 hours before serving the meringues, rinse and stem the strawberries. Cut lengthwise into thin slices. Toss with the sugar and set aside at room temperature.
In a heavy duty mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks.
Using a sharp, serrated knife, slice the top quarter from each meringue. (The meringues may chip or break off, but try to avoid transforming them to bits). Place each meringue on a dessert plate. Spoon the strawberries into the shell, allowing the fruit to overflow on to the plate. Top the berries with the whipped cream. Place the meringue caps on top of the cream and serve immediately. 

Foolproof food

Fork Biscuits

Makes 45-50 biscuits approx.

8 ozs (225g) soft butter
4 ozs (110g) castor sugar
10 ozs (275g) self raising flour
Grated rind of one lemon or orange

Cream the butter, add in the castor sugar, sifted flour and grated lemon or orange rind and mix just until it all comes together. Alternatively, place all four ingredients in the bowl of a food mixer and mix slowly until all the ingredients come together. At this stage the dough can either be used right away or put in the deep freeze or kept in the fridge for up to a week. 
When required, bring up to room temperature and form into small balls the size of a walnut. Flatten them out onto a baking sheet using the back of a fork dipped in cold water. Allow plenty of room for expansion. 

Bake in a preheated oven - 180C/350F/regulo 4 for 10 minutes approx. Sprinkle with Vanilla sugar. When cold, store in air tight containers.
Variations: Freshly ground cinnamon, ginger or chocolate chips can be a delicious addition to these biscuits.

Hot Tips

Euro-toques Small Food Initiative – Producer Showcase Events
Monday 23rd May 2005 – Castle Leslie, Glaslough, Co Monaghan
Chefs/Restaurateurs – book today €20 – Spit Roast Pig BBQ, Gastro-Goody Bag. 
Chat with chefs and producers, sample best of local fare and enjoy a glass of wine in the sun or mingle in the marquee. Producers secure your place at the showcase. Contact Abigail or Ruth at Euro-Toques, 11 Bridge Court, City Gate, St Augustine St. Dublin 8. Tel 01-6753837, email: Abigail@goodfood.ie  Funded through EU Interreg 111A programme, Ireland/Northern Ireland.

BIM have just launched the 2005 edition of the 2005 Seafood Circle Pub Lunch Guide. 
The aim of the programme which was initiated in 2001 by BIM in association with the Licensed Vintners Association and the Vintners Federation of Ireland, is to support and encourage pubs to improve the quality, range and understanding of seafood dishes on their lunchtime menus. The Guide is available in members’ premises, on www.seafoodcirclepubs.com  or by order on 01-2144250

Cork Farmers Market in conjunction with Munster Agricultural Society, will open at Cork Showgrounds on Saturday 14th May and will run every Saturday from 10-2
- Featuring an array of organic and fresh produce to tempt the palate of Corkonians. Only 10 minutes walk from city centre. All stalls will be indoor and parking is free.
corkfarmersmarket@eircom.net  www.corkshowgrounds.com  

Garryvoe Hotel – Wonderful new reception area, bar & lounge just opened – a really stylish addition to East Cork – wishing them continued success.

Congratulations to Hurleys Super-Valu in Midleton – Winners of the Super-Valu store of the year 2005.

Recently I’ve had several requests from readers of this column who are deep in preparation for their children’s Holy Communion or Confirmation Day. Could I please suggest some delicious easy recipes that can be prepared ahead and easily reheated on the special day? Must be a combination of treats that will tempt and be relished by all ages, in one case four generations! No problem, there are lots of options.

Soup, and or a simple pâte, are a really good basis. Its probably best to choose comforting favourites like Tomato and Basil or a slightly chunky Mushroom Soup. Have lots of good bread or maybe cheddar cheese scones. The soup can be made weeks ahead and frozen. The pâte will also keep in the fridge for several days. When the party return from the church those who are peckish can tuck into pate immediately to take the edge off their hunger, while the soup reheats. I suggest fresh and smoked Salmon Rillettes with cucumber salad. If you’d rather some shellfish, Dublin Bay Prawns with homemade mayonnaise are always a treat.

Chicken with Mushrooms is a safe bet for any age group, if you want to add a little extra pzazz one could add a little rosemary or freshly grated ginger to the sauce.

One could of course serve some fluffy mashed potato, but rice would be even easier. Piperonata or Tomato Fondue complement the chicken perfectly and don’t forget a lovely big bowl of green salad to aid digestion.

A gorgeous Mango and Passion Fruit Meringue Roulade, a Spring Fruit Salad, or a juicy Rhubarb & Strawberry Tart for pudding with soft brown sugar and cream should bring in the compliments. 

Tomato and Basil Soup

We worked for a long time to try and make this soup reasonably fool-proof. Good quality tinned tomatoes (a must for your store cupboard) give a really good result. Homemade tomato purée although delicious can give a more variable result depending on the quality of the tomatoes. Careful seasoning is crucial so continue to season and taste until you are happy with the result.

Serves 6

1¾ pints (750 ml) homemade tomato purée or 2 x 14 oz (400 g) tins of tomatoes, liquidized and sieved
1 small onion, finely chopped
½ oz (15 g) butter
8 fl ozs (250 ml) Béchamel sauce (white) (see recipe)
8 fl ozs (250 ml) homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil
Salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar
4 fl ozs (120 ml) cream

Garnish
Whipped cream
Fresh basil leaves

Sweat the onion in the butter on a gentle heat until soft but not coloured. Add the tomato purée (or chopped tinned tomatoes plus juice), Béchamel sauce and homemade chicken stock. Add the chopped basil, season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.

Liquidize, taste and dilute further if necessary. Bring back to the boil, correct seasoning and serve with the addition of a little cream if necessary. Garnish with a tiny blob of whipped cream and some basil.

*Tinned tomatoes need a surprising amount of sugar to counteract the acidity.
* Fresh milk cannot be added to the soup – the acidity in the tomatoes will cause it to curdle
Note: This soup needs to be tasted carefully as the final result depends on the quality of the homemade purée, stock etc.

Tomato and Mint Soup

Substitute Spearmint or Bowles mint for basil in the above recipe.

Béchamel Sauce

1 pint (300 ml) milk
Few slices of carrot
Few slices of onion
3 peppercorns
Small sprig of thyme
Small sprig of parsley
1½ozs (45 g) roux (see recipe)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

This is a wonderfully quick way of making Béchamel Sauce if you have roux already made. Put the cold milk into a saucepan with the carrot, onion, peppercorns, thyme and parsley. Bring to the boil, simmer for 4-5 minutes, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Strain out the vegetables, bring the milk back to the boil and thicken to a light coating consistency by whisking in roux. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, taste and correct seasoning if necessary.

Tomato and Coconut Soup

Substitute Coconut milk for béchamel in the above recipe

Roux 

4 ozs (110 g) butter
4 ozs (110 g) flour

Melt the butter and cook the flour in it for 2 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Use as required. Roux can be stored in a cool place and used as required or it can be made up on the spot if preferred. It will keep at least a fortnight in a refrigerator.

Rillettes of Fresh and Smoked Salmon

The texture of this pate should resemble that of pork rillettes, where the meat is torn into shreds rather than blended.

Serves 12-16

340 g/: lb freshly-cooked salmon
340 g/: lb smoked wild or organic Irish salmon
340 g/: lb softened butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Lemon juice to taste
For the Smoked Salmon
30 g/1 oz butter
28 ml/2 fl oz water

Melt 30 g/1 oz butter in a low saucepan; add the smoked salmon and 1 tablespoon of water. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes or until it no longer looks opaque. Allow it to get quite cold. 

Cream the butter in a bowl. With two forks, shred the fresh and smoked salmon and mix well together. Add to the soft butter still using a fork (do not use a food processor). Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and nutmeg. Taste and add lemon juice as necessary, and some freshly chopped fennel if you have it.

Serve in individual pots or in a pottery terrine. Cover with a layer of clarified butter. Serve with hot toast or hot crusty white bread. Salmon rillettes will keep perfectly in the refrigerator for 5 or 6 days provided they are sealed with clarified butter.

Salmon Rilettes on Cucumber Slices

2 cucumbers

Salmon rillettes as above 
Cut the cucumber into ¼ slices. Pipe or spoon a blob of pâté onto the cucumber slices. Garnish with sprigs of chervil and chive or white garlic flowers.
Clarified Butter

Melt 8 ozs (225g/1 cup) butter gently in a saucepan or in the oven. Allow it to stand for a few minutes, and then spoon the crusty white layer of salt particles off the top of the melted butter. Underneath this crust there is clear liquid butter, which is called clarified butter. The milky liquid at the bottom can be discarded or used in a white sauce.

Clarified butter is excellent for cooking because it can withstand a higher temperature when the salt and milk particles are removed. It will keep covered in a refrigerator for several weeks.

Melba Toast

Serves 4

2 thin slices of white bread (sliced pan will do as long as it's not too thick)
Toast the bread on both sides. Cut the crusts off immediately and then split the slice in half. Scrape off any soft crumb, cut into triangles and put back under the grill, untoasted side up for a few seconds until the edges curl up.

Serve with pates.

Salmon Rillettes on Sour Dough
Toast or char grill a slice of sour dough bread, spread with some rillett mixture. Top with a few tiny Rocket leaves and some Chive or wild Garlic flowers.

Extra Posh Salmon Rillettes
12 – 16 very thin slices of smoked Salmon
12 – 16 moulds 5cm (2ins) diameter, 2.5cm (1in) deep 2½ fl oz capacity

Line the moulds with cling film. Put a slice of smoked salmon into each mould. Fill the moulds with the rilletts; fold the ends of the smoked salmon over the rilletts to cover. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least one hour. 

Serve with Cucumber salad

Ballymaloe Sweet Cucumber Salad

½ cucumber, very thinly sliced

2 ozs (55g) onion, cut into fine rings
2 ozs (55g) castor sugar
1¼ teasp. salt
1½ fl ozs (40ml) wine vinegar or 2 tablesp. cider vinegar

Mix the cucumber with the onion, castor sugar, salt and wine vinegar. Leave to marinate for about 1 hour.

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms

Soaking the chicken breasts in milk gives them a tender and moist texture but it is not essential to this dish.

Serves 4 

4 chicken breasts, free range and organic 
milk, optional
salt and freshly ground pepper
15g (½oz) butter
2 tablespoons shallot or spring onion, chopped
110g (4oz) mushrooms, sliced
150ml (¼ pint) Chicken Stock - preferably homemade
150ml (¼ pint) cream
1 tablespoon chopped parsley or marjoram

Garnish
sprigs of flat parsley

Soak the chicken breasts in milk, just enough to cover them, 1 hour approx. Discard the milk, dry with kitchen paper. Season with salt and pepper (this step is not essential).

Choose a saute pan just large enough to take the chicken breasts in a single layer.

Heat the butter in the sauté pan until foaming, put in the chicken breasts and turn them in the butter; (do not brown). Cover with a round of greaseproof paper and the lid. Cook on a gentle heat for 5-7 minutes or until just barely cooked. 

Meanwhile sweat the shallots gently in a pan in a little butter, increase the heat, add the sliced mushrooms, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes. They should be slightly golden. Keep aside.

When the chicken breasts are cooked remove to a plate. Add the chicken stock and cream to the saucepan . Reduce the liquid by one-third over a medium heat, this will thicken the sauce slightly and intensify the flavour otherwise thicken with a little roux (see recipe). When you are happy with the flavour and texture of the sauce, add the chicken breasts and mushroom mixture back in with the parsley or marjoram. Simmer for a 1-2 minutes, taste and correct the seasoning. * Scatter some sprigs of flat parsley over the top. 

Serve with freshly cooked Orzo or rice.

* may be prepared ahead to this point, cool quickly, cover and refrigerate and reheat later.

Chicken with Mushroom and Ginger

Add 1-2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger to the mushrooms in the pan.

Chicken with Mushroom and Rosemary
Tuck a sprig of rosemary in between the chicken breasts as they cook, discard later. 
Substitute 1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary for ginger in the above recipe. Garnish with sprigs of rosemary. Serve with Penne or Orzo.

Plain Boiled Rice

I find this way of cooking rice in what we call ‘unlimited water’ to be very satisfactory for plain boiled rice. The grains stay separate and it will keep happily covered in the oven for up to half an hour.

Serves 8

400g (14oz) best quality long-grain rice, eg. Basmati rice 
8 pints of water
2 teaspoons salt
a large pot of cold water
a few little knobs of butter (optional)

Bring 8 pints of water to a fast boil in a large saucepan. Add salt. Sprinkle in the rice and stir at once to ensure that the grains don’t stick. Boil rapidly, uncovered. After 4 or 5 minutes (depending on the type of rice), test by biting a few grains between your teeth - it should still have a slightly resistant core. If it overcooks at this stage the grains will stick together later.

Strain well through a sieve or fine strainer. Put into a warm serving dish, dot with a few knobs of butter, cover with tin foil or a lid and leave in a low oven, 140ºC/275ºF/regulo 1, for a minimum of 15 minutes. Remove the lid, fluff up with a fork and serve.

Meringue Roulade with Passion Fruit and Mango

Serves 10

4 egg whites
225g (8oz) castor sugar

Mango and passion fruit Sauce
1 large ripe mango 
4 passion fruit 
1-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1-2 tablespoons castor sugar

Filling
1 large ripe mango peeled and thinly sliced
2 passion fruit
300ml (½ pint) whipped cream

Garnish
Sweet Cicely
Swiss roll tin 12 x 8 inch (30.5 x 20.5cm)

First make the roulade
Preheat the oven to 180C\350F\regulo 4. 

Put the egg whites into the spotlessly clean bowl of a food mixer. Break up with the whisk and then add all the castor sugar in one go. Whisk at full speed until the meringue holds a stiff peak 4 - 5 minutes approx. 

Meanwhile, line a swiss roll tin with tin foil. Brush lightly with a non scented oil (eg. sunflower or arachide). Spread the meringue gently over the tin with a palette knife, it should be quite thick and bouncy. 
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. 
Put a sheet of tin foil on the work top and turn the roulade onto it. Remove the base tin foil and allow the meringue to cool. 

Meanwhile make the Mango and Passionfruit sauce.

Peel the mango, chop the flesh and puree in a food processor. Put into a bowl, add the passion fruit seeds and juice, add freshly squeezed lime juice and sugar to taste. Cover and chill. Slice the mango for the filling into a bowl, add the passion fruit seeds and juice, toss gently.

To assemble 
Turn the roulade out onto a sheet of silicone paper dredged with icing sugar. Spread two thirds of the cream over the roulade, cover with a layer of fruit keep a little for decoration. 
Transfer carefully onto a serving dish. Pipe some rosettes of cream onto the top, decorate with some of the reserved fruit. 
Garnish with Sweet Cicely, dredge with icing sugar and serve.
If you prefer you could fill the roulade with lemon curd – see recipe March 26th.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Tart

This 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

Break all the rules

Pastry
8 ozs (225g) butter
2 ozs (55g) castor sugar
2 eggs, preferably free range
12 ozs (340g) white flour, preferably unbleached

Filling
1½lbs (700g) sliced red rhubarb (about ½ inch thick) 
½lb 225g) strawberries, sliced 
13 ozs (370g) granulated sugar, approx..
Castor sugar for sprinkling

To Serve
Softly whipped cream
Barbados sugar

tin, 7 inches (18cm) x 12 inches (30.5cm) x 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 a minute or two. Reduce speed to lowest setting 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 1 hour otherwise it is difficult to handle. 

To make the tart
Roll out the pastry 1/8 inch (3mm) thick approx., and use about 2/3 of it to line a suitable tin. Put the sliced rhubarb and strawberries into the tart, sprinkle with sugar. Cover with a lid of pastry, seal edges, decorate with pastry leaves, egg wash and bake in the preheated oven until the rhubarb is tender, approx. 45 minutes to 1 hour. When cooked cut into squares, sprinkle lightly with castor sugar and serve with softly whipped cream and Barbados sugar. 

Foolproof Food

Mushroom Soup

Serves 8-9

Mushroom soup is the fastest of all soups to make and surely everyone's favourite. It is best made with flat mushrooms or button mushrooms a few days old, which have developed a slightly stronger flavour.

450g (1 lb) mushrooms (flat mushrooms are best)
110g (4 oz) onions 
25g (1oz) butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
30g (1oz) flour
600ml (1 pint) milk
600ml (1 pint) homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock 

Rinse the mushrooms quickly under cold running water. Chop the onion finely. Melt the butter in a saucepan on a gentle heat. Toss the onions in the butter. Cover and sweat until soft and completely cooked. Meanwhile, chop up the mushrooms very finely.* Add to the saucepan and cook on a high heat for 4 or 5 minutes. Bring the stock & milk to the boil. Stir the flour into the onions, cook on a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, then add the stock and milk gradually, stirring all the time. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Taste and add a dash of cream if necessary. Serve immediately or cool & reheat later.

Tip: If you can't be bothered to chop the mushrooms finely, just slice and then whizz in a liquidizer for a few seconds when the soup is cooked. Stalks may also be used. Mushroom soup freezes perfectly.

Watchpoint: Bring the milk to the boil otherwise it may curdle if added to the soup cold.

Hot Tips

The Apple Farm, Moorstown, Cahir, Co Tipperary www.theapplefarm.com 

Have for sale – Jonagored eating apples and Bramley cookers, apple juice, apple jelly, farm-made cider vinegar and strawberry and plum jams. They also stock Anne Keating’s fine Baylough cheese. Their apple juice is now also for sale in John Griffin’s shop in William St. Listowel and McKeogh’s Londis on the Ballina (Co Tipperary) side of the Shannon at Killaloe, Co Clare. They have recently planted a new orchard which includes a selection of 50 old apple varieties which should produce next year.

Growing Awareness Gardening Workshops
Sunday 15th May – Summer Gardening Workshop- Keep your garden thriving through the summer by learning how to weed, mulch, water and control pests organically. Discover which salad crops to grow for winter use. All gardening workshops are with Jean Perry at Glebe Gardens, Baltimore – 4.5 acres of beautiful organic gardens with garden sculptures and a wildflower meadow. More planned for the summer months.
Contact Jean Perry on 028 20232 Email: glebegardens@eircom.net  only €25 per workshop

Eurotoque Ireland has joined the long list of organisations which support the campaign for a GM-free Ireland.
Eurotoques are the European Association of Chefs who are primarily concerned with supporting the producers of the best foods in Europe and thus maintaining the fine quality and flavour of our ingredients. They wish to maintain the traditional dishes and traditional ways of preparing and cooking foods of the regions of Europe.

Eurotoques as an organisation has taken a vigorous anti-GMO stance. ‘The prospect of genetically modified crops being released into our environment is possibly the most worrying development yet in the agri-food world and one which may have far reaching effects on all aspects of food, health and the environment’.

They have urged their members to take various initiatives to heighten awareness and to support the anti GMO campaign.

So what is a GMO – a genetically modified organism (GMO) is a plant, animal or micro-organism whose genetic code has been altered in order to give it characteristics that it does not naturally have. GMO’s normally include a combination of DNA from viruses and bacteria together with DNA from other plants and/or animals. These infect the modified organism with completely novel combinations of genes, proteins and allergens whose long-term health and ecological impacts are scientifically impossible to predict. Scientific evidence shows that GMO seeds and crops can be genetically unstable, have led to massive crop failures, create superweeds, and can never be recalled after their release. Insurance companies refuse to cover the risks.
GMO seeds and crops are normally patented by transnational agri-biotech corporations which charge farmers an annual licensing fee to grow their GM seeds. Monsanto typically requires farmers to sign onerous contracts which prohibit them from saving and replanting the GM seeds, oblige them to waive their human right to freedom of speech (e.g. by talking to the media) if anything goes wrong, and waive their right to sue the biotech company if the crops fail to perform as expected. Monsanto has filed hundreds of patent infringement lawsuits against farmers whose fields have been contaminated by GMOs.

There are many documented cases of cross contamination of conventional and organic farms as a result of wind-borne pollen drift, seed dispersal by insects, animals and humans, and by the process of horizontal gene transfer through which transgenic DNA is carried across species boundaries by microbial organisms. This, according to Michael O’Callaghan coordinator of GM Free Ireland Network, creates superweeds, reduces biodiversity and threatens human, animal and plant health by releasing new allergens and genes for pesticide production and antibiotic resistance that could spread to humans, crops, livestock and wildlife including bees and other beneficial insects.
The introduction of GMO animal feed, seeds, crops anywhere on the island of Ireland — whether through deliberate legal release or contamination — would give transnational agri-biotech companies like Monsanto patented ownership of Irish farmers’ seeds and crops. It would burden farmers and food producers with more red tape, restrict our access to EU export markets, and ruin our reputation as Ireland - the food island.

Food containing GMO’s has been on the shelves of our shops and supermarkets, some labelled and some not, for over 10 years now.

Farmers confirm that almost all animal feed contains genetically modified soya, organic feed is guaranteed GMO free-. According to the FSAI, meat from animals fed on GMO is not required to be labelled.

In just a decade, agricultural transgenics has been transformed from a fledgling science into a dominant player in the world’s food supply, from almost zero acreage in the early 1990’s to more than 160 million acres worldwide in 2004. Already, 80% of the US soyabean crop is genetically modified and almost 40% of US corn, 25% of the world’s cotton, canola, corn and soyabean is now transgenic. At least 60% of processed food sold in supermarkets contains GM ingredients. Bio-technology allows scientists to cut and paste any gene from any plant or animal into any other plant or animal - this opens up a myriad of possibilities.

Already there are tomatoes with synthetic flounder ‘anti-freeze’ genes, rice with vitamin producing daffodil genes and much more – there are many unanswered questions and unpredicted results. 

In 2000 scientists at Purdue University in the US inserted a salmon growth promoter gene into a fresh water fish called medaka. The fish grew faster, had a mating advantage, but also a must higher mortality rate. Scientists calculated that if a mere 60 of these fish escaped into a wild population of just 60,000 they would result in local extinction in 40 generations – this was just a lab experiment, but it is important to understand the risks stressed Professor of Genetics at Purdue – Bill Muir.

There are many similar stories. Another particularly frightening episode was reported recently by environmental author John Robbins. When students at Oregon State university were testing a transgenic variant of soil bacteria - Klebsiella Planticola, the found that they had accidentally invented a fungus killer that had it escaped into the wild ‘could have ended all plant life on this continent.’

The implications are very simply terrifying. The bio-tech companies argue that GM crops produce higher yields and need less artificial pesticides and so help to feed the world. However, aid agencies have united to refute this claim and to point out that the principal cause of world hunger is distribution difficulties and local politics.

With such an imprecise science, we surely need to evoke the precautionary principle - the reality is that we cannot know what the long term effects of eating food containing GMO’s will be on animals and humans because there is no control group.

In the words of Dr. Ml Antoniou – Clinical Geneticist and senior lecturer in pathology at Guys Teaching Hospital in London - ‘Once released into the environment, unlike a BSE epidemic or chemical spill, genetic mistakes cannot be contained, recalled or cleaned up, but will be passed on to all future generations’.

So once the genie is out of the bottle, there’s no putting him back in. We would be crazy from every point of view to go down this path in Ireland.

If we declare Ireland a GM free zone we will be able to tap into the growing market for certified GM free produce. Ireland the GM Food Island doesn’t quite have the same ring to it somehow.

Many EU Governments still hesitate to ban GMOs due to a US-led WTO dispute with the EC, but 100 regional and 3,500 sub-regional areas in 22 EU countries have already passed legislation which prohibits or restricts the release of GMO seeds and crops. Across the water, Cornwall, the Highlands of Scotland, the whole of Wales, and 22 Councils in the UK now have GM bans in place. The Assembly of European Regions (AER), Friends of the Earth Europe and a wide coalition of EU regional governments, local authorities and NGOs have launched a campaign for EC legislation that clearly recognises the democratic right of Regions (including Irish Counties) to declare themselves GMO-free. 

The GM-free Ireland Network will launch 1,000 local GMO-free zones throughout Ireland at 2pm on Earth Day, 22 April 2005. The objective is for organic and conventional farmers, hotels, restaurants, pubs, retailers, schools and homes North and South of the border to display GMO-free zone signs and simultaneously declare their lands and premises GMO-free. This goal may seem ambitious but already there are over 1,000 organic farmers in Ireland and the network now includes 53 organisations representing over 30,000 conventional and organic farmers, foresters, food producers / distributors / exporters, retailers, chefs, restaurants, Non Governmental Organisation (NGOs), professional associations, doctors, economists, lawyers, journalists, students, and consumers collaborating to keep GM food and farming out of Ireland.

For more information check out www.gmfreeireland.org  and www.eurotoquesirl.org

Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread

When making Ballymaloe brown yeast bread, remember that yeast is a living organism. In order to grow, it requires warmth, moisture and nourishment. The yeast feeds on the sugar and produces bubbles of carbon dioxide which causes the bread to rise. Heat of over 50˚C will kill yeast. Have the ingredients and equipment at blood heat. White or brown sugar, honey golden syrup, treacle or molasses may be used. Each will give a slightly different flavour to the bread. At Ballymaloe we use treacle. The dough rises more rapidly with 30g (1oz) yeast than with 25g (¾oz) yeast.

We use a stone ground wholemeal. Different flours produce breads of different textures and flavour. The amount of natural moisture in the flour varies according to atmospheric conditions. The quantity of water should be altered accordingly. The dough should be just too wet to knead - in fact it does not require kneading. The main ingredients - wholemeal flour, treacle and yeast are highly nutritious. Yeast was one of the first commodities to be genetically modified, so seek out non-GM yeast.

Note: Dried yeast may be used instead of baker's yeast. Follow the same method but use only half the weight given for fresh yeast. Allow longer to rise. Fast acting yeast may also be used, follow the instructions on the packet.

Makes 1 loaf

450g (16oz) wholemeal flour OR
400g (14oz) wholemeal flour plus 50g (2oz) strong white flour
425ml (15floz) water at blood heat (mix yeast with 140ml (5floz) lukewarm water approx.)
1 teaspoon black treacle or molasses
1 teaspoon salt
30g (3/4oz -1oz) fresh non GM yeast
sesame seeds - optional
1 loaf tin 13x20cm (5x 8inch) approx.
sunflower oil

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8.

Mix the flour with the salt. The ingredients should all be at room temperature. In a small bowl or Pyrex jug, mix the treacle with some of the water, 140ml (5floz) for 1 loaf and crumble in the yeast.

Sit the bowl for a few minutes in a warm place to allow the yeast to start to work. Grease the bread tins with sunflower oil. Meanwhile check to see if the yeast is rising. After about 4 or 5 minutes it will have a creamy and slightly frothy appearance on top. 

When ready, stir and pour it, with all the remaining water, into the flour to make a loose-wet dough. The mixture should be too wet to knead. Put the mixture into the greased tin. Sprinkle the top of the loaves with sesame seeds if you like. Put the tin in a warm place somewhere close to the cooker or near a radiator perhaps. Cover the tins with a tea towel to prevent a skin from forming. Just as the bread comes to the top of the tin, remove the tea towel and pop the loaves in the oven 230C/450F/gas mark 8 for 50-60 minutes or until it looks nicely browned and sound hollow when tapped. The bread will rise a little further in the oven. This is called “oven spring”. If however the bread rises to the top of the tin before it goes into the oven it will continue to rise and flow over the edges. 

We usually remove the loaves from the tins about 10 minutes before the end of cooking and put them back into the oven to crisp all round, but if you like a softer crust there's no need to do this.

Tofu in Spicy Coconut Sauce

Serves 4-6

1 tablespoon peanut or sunflower oil
1 small onion (4 oz approx.), thinly sliced
1 small green or red pepper, thinly sliced
2 serrano chiles, chopped
1 to 2 teaspoons Thai curry paste
100ml (4 floz) canned unsweetened coconut milk
100ml (4 floz) water or Vegetable stock, well laced with fresh ginger
½ teaspoon salt
1 lb Chinese-style firm tofu, cut into ¾ inch cubes and fried (see below)
4 tablespoons coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons roasted chopped peanuts

Heat a wok, add the oil. When hot, add the onion, pepper and chiles and stir-fry for 

1-2 minutes. Add the curry paste, stir, then add the coconut milk, stock, salt and tofu. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the tofu is heated through. Serve over rice or noodles garnished with coriander and chopped peanuts.

Golden Tofu

1lb Chinese-style firm tofu, cut into slabs about ¾ inch thick

2 tablespoons peanut or sunflower oil
salt

Drain the tofu with kitchen paper. Cut into ¾ inch cubes. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat. Add the tofu and fry until golden. It will take several minutes to colour, so allow to cook undisturbed. Turn the pieces when golden. Drain briefly on kitchn paper, then transfer to a warm dish and season with salt. 

To simmer Tofu in liquid: cut into cubes, don’t bother to drain, then lower it into a pot of lightly salted simmering water or the vegetable stock Simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove carefully with a slotted spoon, drain briefly on kitchen paper. Serve warm or chilled or use with another recipe.

Foolproof Food

Ballymaloe Nut and Grain Muesli

This muesli bursting with goodness keeps in a screw top jar for several weeks. Measure the ingredients in cups for speed.

Serves 12

8 Weetabix
7 ozs (200g) oatmeal (Quaker oats or Speedicook oatflakes)
1½ ozs (45g) bran
2¼ ozs (62g) fresh wheatgerm
2¼ ozs (62g) raisins
2½ ozs (62g) sliced hazelnuts or a mixture of cashews and hazelnuts
2½ ozs (62g) soft brown sugar - Barbados sugar
2 tablesp. Lecithin* - optional – make sure it is non GM 

Crumble Weetabix in a bowl, add the other ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container. Keeps for 2-3 weeks in a cool place.

Serve with fresh fruit and fresh creamy milk.

*Available from Chemist or Health food shops - Lecithin comes from soya beans, it is rich in phosphatidyl Choline - an important nutrient in the control of dietary fat, it helps the body to convert fats into energy rather than storing them as body fat.
Hot Tips

Food & Wine Magazine –
April issue showcases Cork – Europe’s Capital of Culture – so many terrific places to eat, drink and shop for food.

Farmers Market at Cork Showground, Ballintemple, Cork – opening soon
For further information contact Teresa Murphy, 087-2363536 or email CorkFarmersMarket@eircom.net  

Want to buy some fruit or nut trees –
Woodkerne Nurseries, Gortnamucklagh, Skibbereen, Co Cork. Specialize in fruit and nut trees, grown on their organic farm. Available at Skibbereen Farmers Market on Saturdays 10-1 or by appointment at the nursery. Tel 028-23742 email:woodkernenurseries@eircom.net  

New Aga and Fired Earth Interiors Showroom in Dun Laoghaire has just opened.
Will showcase a comprehensive range of brands from the Aga Group at the Clubhouse, 20 Lr. Georges St. Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

Open Day at the Bog of Allen Nature Centre on Saturday 28th May. Tel Irish Peatland Conservation Council for details 045-860133 www.ipcc.ie