AuthorDarina Allen

Safefood Ireland, recently commissioned a report on The Cost of Overweight and Obesity on the Island of Ireland. The report which was compiled with the help of the HSE (Health Service Executive) and NUI (National University of Ireland) Galway, DCU (Dublin City University), IPH (Institute of Public Health Ireland), National Cancer Registry Ireland, Queens University Belfast and Safe Food highlighted the lack of information to date. This comprehensive assessment of the cost of overweight and obesity in Ireland began in 2012 – the findings are quite simply shocking, 60% of Irish people are now overweight or obese and the cost to the exchequer read taxpayer is between 1 – 9 % of total healthcare.  That’s bad enough but indirect costs maybe as much again or even more.

Direct costs include In-Patient, Out-Patient, General Practice – drugs and prescription costs.

Indirect costs include lost productivity in the work place due to overweight and obesity related illness, premature mortality.

The list of chronic conditions associated with overweight and obesity is long and scary, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, clot on lung, back pain, osteoarthritis, diabetes, asthma, gout, gallbladder disease, colon cancer, oesophageal cancer…

The chance of getting Type 2 diabetes increased by 140% in overweight men and 574% in men who are obese.

In women, it’s significantly higher 292% when overweight but a shocking increase of 1141% when obese. To see the whole report go to http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/The-cost-of-overweight-and-obesity-on-the-Island

So what to do, well I don’t have a magic bullet but this much I do know – we’ll all feel much better if we eliminate all processed foods from our diets.

1. Buy only or mostly fresh food, in season with the exception of bananas and citrus and avoid anything that makes health claims.
2. Find a butcher you can trust, learn about inexpensive cuts of meat and offal and find out how to cook them.
3. Eliminate all fizzy drinks totally from your diet and all breakfast cereals, with the exception of porridge, muesli and granola.
4. Eat lots of peas, beans, pulses and good grains – they are an easy inexpensive form of protein and are endlessly versatile.
5. Don’t eat between meals, standing up or on the run. Sit down around a table, eat slowly, you’ll find that you are eating less and enjoying your food more.
6. Grow some of your own food, something, anything, anywhere, in any container you can find – on the windowsill, balcony, back yard, haggard field, just do it.
7. Get a few hens, you don’t need much space, if you put them in a roomy chicken coop and move them around your lawn. They must have fresh grass to healthy, otherwise forget about it and source the best you can from a local farmer country market or local shop. What kind of a country do live in where it is illegal for your local shop to sell local farmers eggs, unless they are registered (quite a mission)
8. Mothers and fathers of Ireland rise up and insist that the supermarkets remove all sweets and bars away from the tills where you queue with your children and while you are at it ask for a crèche so you don’t have to bring your child into the supermarket at all. Don’t underestimate the effect of pester power.
9. Whenever possible, support small local shops, it’s a different kind of shopping, more personal and you’ll find dirty carrots and potatoes, yippee!
10. Avoid all light, low fat and diet foods and lets cut our sugar intake by half immediately.

Buy Michael Pollan’s book ‘Food Rules’ it only costs about €6.00 and it could change your life!

 

Potato and Wild Garlic Soup

 

There are two types, Wild garlic (Allium ursinum), which grows in shady places along the banks of streams and in undisturbed mossy woodland, and Snowbells (Allium triquetrum), these resemble white bluebells and usually grow along the sides of country lanes. It’s delicious in salads, pasta, sauces, soups and stews.

Serves 6

 

45g (1 1/2oz) butter

150g (5oz) peeled and chopped potatoes

110g (4oz) peeled and chopped onion

salt and freshly ground pepper

900ml (1 1/2 pint) water or home-made chicken stock or vegetable stock

300ml (1/2 pint) creamy milk

150g (5oz) chopped wild garlic leaves (Allium Ursinum)

 

Garnish

wild garlic flowers

 

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 wild garlic leaves. 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 wild garlic and boil with the lid off for 4-5 minutes with the lid off approximately until the wild garlic 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.  Serve sprinkled with a few wild garlic flowers.

 

West Cork Cheddar Cheese ‘Foccacia’

 

 

Soda Bread only takes 2 or 3 minutes to make and 20-30 minutes to bake.  It is best eaten on the day it is made but is still perfectly edible next day and is also very good toasted.  It is certainly another of the great convertibles.  We’ve had the greatest fun experimenting with different variations and uses and now the possibilities are endless for the hitherto humble Soda Bread.   Here we bake it flat with a bubbly Cheddar cheese topping.

 

1 lb (450g) plain white flour, preferably unbleached

1 level teaspoon salt

1 level teaspoon bread soda (Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda)

sour milk or buttermilk to mix – 14 fl.ozs (400ml) approx.

4-6 ozs (110-175g) Irish mature Cheddar cheese

 

1 Swiss Roll tin 12 x 9 inches (31 x 23cm)

 

First fully preheat your oven to 230°C/450°F/regulo 8.

 

Sieve all the dry ingredients.   Make a well in the centre.  Pour all of the milk in at once.  Using one hand, mix in the flour from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.  When it all comes together, turn it out onto a floured board.  Tidy it up, flip over and roll the dough into a rectangle, approx.12x 9 inches (31 x 23cm).   Brush the tin with extra virgin olive oil. Press the dough gently into the tin. Scatter the grated cheese evenly over the top.

 

Bake in a hot oven for 5 minutes, then turn down the oven to 200°C/400°F/regulo 6 for about 20-25 minutes or until just cooked. The cheese should be bubbly and golden on top.

 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Cut into squares and serve.

 

Other yummy toppings:

Tomato Fondue and Cheddar cheese

Piperonata and Pepperoni

 

Gratin of Cod with Leeks and Crunchy Buttered Crumbs

 

 

Fresh fish with a crunchy topping in a creamy sauce is always tempting. There is an added bonus with this recipe because one can do many variations, all of which are delicious.

Even without the leeks this is delicious.

 

Serves 6-8

 

2 1/4 lbs (1.1kg) hake, cod, ling, haddock, grey sea mullet or pollock

salt and freshly ground pepper

1lb (450g) leeks

1 oz (25g) butter

 

Mornay Sauce

 

1 pint (600ml) milk

a few slices of carrot and onion

3 or 4 peppercorns

a sprig of thyme and parsley

2 ozs (55g) approx. roux (1oz (25g) butter and 1oz (25g) flour)

5-6 ozs (140-170g) grated Cheddar or 3 ozs (75g) grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon mustard preferably Dijon

salt and freshly ground pepper

 

1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley (optional)

1/2 oz (15g) butter

salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Buttered Crumbs

 

1 ozs (25g) butter

2 ozs (50g) soft, white breadcrumbs

 

1 3/4 lbs (790g) Duchesse Potato

 

First make the Mornay sauce. Put the cold milk into a saucepan with a few slices of carrot and onion, 3 or 4 peppercorns and a sprig of thyme and parsley. Bring to the boil, simmer for 4-5 minutes, and remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes if you have enough time.

 

Strain out the vegetables, bring the milk back to the boil and thicken with roux to a coating consistency.  Take off the heat, allow to cool for 1 minute then add the mustard and two thirds of the grated cheese, keep the remainder of the cheese for sprinkling over the top. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, taste and correct the seasoning if necessary. Add the parsley if using.

 

Next make the buttered crumbs. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the breadcrumbs. Remove from the heat immediately and allow to cool.

 

Sweat 1lb (450g) finely sliced leeks in 1oz (25g) butter in a covered casserole over a gently heat – 5 – 6 minutes should be enough, they don’t need to be fully cooked.

 

Skin the fish and cut into portions: 6 ozs (175g) is good for a main course, 3 ozs (75g) for a starter. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Lightly butter the ovenproof dish, sprinkle the cooked leeks on the bottom, lay the fish on top and coat with the Mornay sauce. Mix the remaining grated cheese with the buttered crumbs and sprinkle over the top. Pipe a ruff of fluffy Duchesse Potato around the edge if you want to have a whole meal in one dish.

 

Cook in a moderate oven, 180ºC/350°F/gas mark 4, for 25-30 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and the top is golden brown and crispy. If necessary flash under the grill for a minute or two before you serve, to brown the edges of the potato.

 

 

Blood Orange Tart

 

Blood Oranges appear in our shops for just about 4 weeks from the end of January, so we use them in juices and cocktails, fruit salad and tarts.

 

Serves 8

 

175g (6ozs) white flour

1 tablespoon castor sugar

75g (3ozs) butter

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons orange juice or water approx.

 

Filling

1 whole egg and 2 egg yolks

100g (3 1/2ozs) castor sugar

75g (3ozs) butter

75g (3ozs) ground almonds

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier

 

6 blood oranges

4-6 tablespoons apricot glaze

 

10 inch (25.5cm) tart tin with removable base

 

Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the castor sugar.  Cut the cold butter into cubes, rub into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Mix the orange juice or water with the egg yolk and use to bind the pastry.  Add a little more water if necessary but don’t make it too sticky.  Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so.

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/regulo 4.  Roll out the pastry, line the tart tin. Fill with baking beans and bake blind for 20 – 25 minutes.

 

Meanwhile cream the butter, add the castor sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beat well and then stir in the ground almonds and the liqueur.

 

When the tart is par-baked, allow to cool. Brush the base with apricot glaze and fill with the almond mixture, return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes approx. or until cooked and firm to the touch both in the centre as well as at the sides.  Meanwhile remove the peel and pith from the blood oranges and segment, drain and arrange in a pattern on top of the warm tart.  Alternatively slice the peeled oranges into thin rounds and arrange slightly over-lapping on top of the warm tart.  This looks prettiest but is slightly trickier to slice.  Either way paint evenly with apricot glaze.  Serve warm with a bowl of softly whipped cream.

 

Citrus Fruit Salad

 

In the winter when many fruits have abysmal flavour the citrus fruit are at their best, this delicious fresh tasting salad uses a wide variety of that ever expanding family.   It’s particularly good with blood oranges which appear in the shops for only a few weeks, so make the most of them.   Ugli fruit, Pomelo, Tangelos, Sweeties or any other members of the citrus family may be used in season.

 

Serves 6 approx.

 

1/2 lb (225g) Kumquats

12 fl ozs (350ml) water

7 ozs (200g) sugar

1 lime

1/2 lb (225g) Clementines

1/4-1/2 lb (110g-225g) Tangerines or Mandarins

2 blood oranges

1 pink grapefruit

lemon juice to taste if necessary

 

Slice the kumquats into 1/4 inch (5mm) rounds, remove pips. Dissolve the sugar in the water over a low heat, add the sliced kumquats. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool. Remove the zest from the lime with a zester and add with the juice to the kumquats.  Meanwhile peel the tangerines and clementines and remove as much of the white pith and strings as possible. Slice into rounds of 1/4 inch (5mm) thickness, add to the syrup. Segment the pink grapefruit and blood oranges and add to the syrup also. Leave to macerate for at least an hour. Taste and add a squeeze of lemon juice if necessary. Serve chilled.

 

Almond and Orange Florentines

 

Makes about 20

 

vegetable oil for brushing

2 organic egg whites

100g (3 1/2oz) icing sugar

260g (9 1/2oz) flaked almonds

grated zest of 1 orange

 

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas Mark 2.

 

Line a heavy baking tray with greaseproof paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil. Next to you have a small bowl with some cold water.

 

In a mixing bowl place together the whites, sugar, almonds and zest. Mix them gently until blended. Dip your hand in the bowl of water and pick up portions of the mix to make little mounds on the lined tray, well-spaced apart.

 

Dip a fork in the water and flatten each biscuit very thinly. You want to make the biscuits as thin as possible without creating many gaps between the almond flakes.

Place the baking tray in the oven and bake approximately 12 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown. Check underneath one biscuit to make sure they are cooked through.

 

Allow to cool down well. Gently, using a palette knife, remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and into a sealed jar.

 

Hot Tips

We picked the first of the wild garlic (Allium ursinum) leaves or ransoms this week and added them to salads, soups, sauces…Wild garlic butter is delicious with a piece of pan grilled fish. The first wild garlic grows in slightly shaded places, in woods and on the edges of fields. Allium Triquetrum looks more like a whote blue bell and more likely to be found on roadsides but a little later. Make the most of wild garlic while it’s in season for the next month or so.

 

Alicia Joy O’Sullivan had her first outing of the Skibbereen Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago.  She was inspired to bake by Rachel’s TV program ‘Bake!’ A beautiful little array of buns, cake and tarts. Let’s support and encourage our young food entrepreneurs. When we met Alicia she sweetly gave me a slice of her special cake to bring home to Rachel, her food hero.

The Dublin food scene is really hopping seems a new restaurant or café is opening every couple of weeks; I still haven’t got to Dylan McGrath Fade St Social in Dublin 2, which I hear is an exciting edition to the Dublin dining scene www.fadestreetsocial.com  I did however get to Hatch and Son beside the Little Museum of Dublin on Stephens Green (not to be missed) by 7pm on Thursday evening they’d had such a busy day that they’d almost run out of food!  Find them at 15 St Stephen’s Green Dublin 2. Telephone +353 1 6610075 – hatchandson1@gmail.com Hugo Arnold and the Dominic and Peaches Kemp are behind this enterprise, cool space and a real emphasis on Irish artisan ingredients, what Hugo describes as ‘No fuss, just good, honest Irish food.’

The demand for places on the Transition Year Work Experience Program at Ballymaloe Cookery School  in recent years has been phenomenal. In response, three new One Week Transition Year Cookery Courses before Easter 2013, have been added to the course schedule. TY Students will learn a variety of skills and cover a range of topics both in demonstration and Hands-On sessions. In one busy week students will learn how to make homemade bread, jam, soups, yummy starters, main courses, desserts, biscuits and even a cake or two plus how to make butter and yoghurt from our own Jersey cow’s milk and cream. Please phone 021 4646785 to book. Dates of courses are 25th February  – 1st March and  4th to 8th March and 11th to 15th March 2013.

Jez Felwick, lives my dream job I so want to have a food truck…ever since I saw the first food truck in California about 10 years ago I have longed to be 40 maybe 45 years younger and head off into the sunset with my Airstream, setting up here and there on street corners, at markets and festivals doing great food with local produce, pickles, relishes and crusty artisan bread. Who would have thought it!

Since it doesn’t look like it will become a reality for this aged hippie, I’ve been encouraging my students to consider it as an option and several have with considerable success.

The aforementioned, Jez Felwick AKA The Bowler – a spirited student who did the 12 Week Certificate Course at Ballymaloe Cookery School in April 2006 – has a food truck that has created a street food sensation in London.

 

The ‘Lawn Ranger’ – his grass covered street food van has been rolling out meat ball classics at various markets, Summer festivals and music events all over the UK. Classic combinations include Pork and Fennel Meatballs, Sweaty Balls – so hot they make you sweat – and the Popeye – packed with spinach and beef chuck. Jez has great fun creating unusual and pun-laden recipes, such as Bjorn Balls (a Scandinavian take on a classic meatball) and Balls Games – Game Balls (made with pheasant and bacon). And it’s not all meat; fish lovers adore Jez’s recipes for Wasabi Salmon & Sesame Seed Balls and Tuna and Ginger Balls, and veggies queue up for Brown Rice and Lentil Balls and Bean Balls.

 

So meatballs are all the rage. Grazia Magazine recently wrote ‘Who knew meatballs could be so hip?’ and meatballs have been buzzing on the US street food scene for a few years now – so it was only a matter of time before they reached our shores. Meatballs – whether they are made from meat, fish or veggies – are really good for and are also deeply comforting. They’re easy and fun to make whether you’re 8 or 80 and they’re also brilliant for using up ‘fridge odds and sods’.

 

I can’t image how Jez got time to write his first cook book – The Bowlers Meat Ball Cookbook published by Mitchell Beazley but he did and it’s full of great advice and exciting recipes for meatballs, fish balls and veggie balls, inexpensive comforting food. Who knew that meat balls could be so popular and that truck food could be such an exciting scene.

 

Vietnamese Noodle Soup with Pork Balls

 

Preparation time 40 minutes Cooking time 1 hour

 

Serves 4-6

 

Whenever I travel abroad now, I always try to factor in a visit to a local cooking class. It’s a great way to get an insight into the food culture of a country, find out about new ingredients and come away with a few handy tips. I went to Vietnam on my honeymoon and couldn’t move for pork balls, especially in soups, skewers and grilled. Here I have dropped some into a fairly traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that would be eaten day, night and even for breakfast.

 

The balls

 

1 large free-range egg

2 tablespoons plain flour

500g (18oz) pork shoulder, minced

2 spring onions, finely sliced

1 tablespoon chopped coriander

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

3 tablespoons Nuoc Cham (see recipe)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2.5 litres chicken stock

1 stick of cinnamon

4 spring onions, sliced lengthways

1 x 5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 star anise

200–300g (70z – 10 ½ oz) rice vermicelli noodles (allow 50g (2oz) dried weight per person)

1 red Thai chilli, seeds removed and sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

3 shallots, thinly sliced

150g (5oz) beansprouts, blanched

 

Beat the egg with the plain flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the minced pork, spring onions, coriander, ginger and Nuoc Cham and mix with your hands until well combined.

Heat a small frying pan over a high heat. Break off a small amount of the mixture, flatten between your fingers and fry until cooked. Taste to check the seasoning and add more if necessary. Form the mixture into 16–18 balls each 4cm in diameter, packing each one firmly.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan and add the balls in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Brown the balls for 3 minutes on each side then remove them from the pan and set aside. In a large pan, add the Chicken Stock, cinnamon, spring onions, fresh ginger, sugar, salt, fish sauce and star anise, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes to let the flavours infuse. Strain the broth into another pan and taste for flavour – you can add a little Nuoc Cham if it needs a boost. Turn the heat back on, drop in the pork balls and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the balls are cooked through. Meanwhile, drop the noodles into a pan of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, then drain, refresh under cold water and drain again. Pour the soy sauce into a little dish and add the sliced chilli.

Drop the beansprouts into a saucepan of boiling water. Return to the boil and cook for 1 minute, then drain. Refresh in ice cold water and drain again.

Divide the noodles, shallots and beansprouts between your serving bowls, then pour over the broth and balls and garnish with coriander, basil and a wedge of lime. Serve the chilli soy sauce on the side to mix in if you require an extra flavour kick.

 

Nuoc Cham

 

Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time none

 

Makes 200 ml (7fl oz)

 

This sauce is a staple in Vietnam. Primarily a dipping sauce for just about everything,

it balances the sweet, sour, salty and spicy elements that make Asian cooking so good

and gives a nice flavour to the pork balls used in Vietnamese Noodle Soup.

 

125ml (4floz) water

50g (2oz) granulated sugar

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 small garlic cloves

2 red Thai chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons fish sauce

 

Put the water, sugar, lime juice and vinegar into a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar. Taste to check the balance of sweet and sour, making adjustments if necessary. Combine the garlic, chillies and salt, using a pestle and mortar to create a smooth paste. Mix the garlic paste with the liquid in the bowl and add the fish sauce. Stir and taste again, checking the balance of sour, sweet, salt and spice.

 

 

Beef & Chorizo Balls

 

Preparation time 20 minutes Cooking time 30 minutes

 

Serves 6–8

 

Chorizo is one of my favourite ingredients. I love it. Sweet, spicy and smoky. I will keep a cooking chorizo on hand to add to just about anything, in order to take it to the next level. A starter for ten is to finely slice or dice it, fry it until crispy and use it like a crouton on soups, salads and in sandwiches. It makes a great partner to beef, so it was thrown into the mixer for this recipe early on.

 

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 large free-range egg

500g (18oz) beef chuck steak, minced

200g (7oz) cooking chorizo, sweet or spicy, finely diced

400g (14oz) white rice, cooked weight (100g uncooked)

200g (7oz) Manchego cheese, coarsely grated

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

100g (3 ½ oz) breadcrumbs

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

 

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425ºF), Gas Mark 7 and line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking parchment.

Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan. Add the shallots and cook on a low heat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the shallots are soft and translucent. Beat the egg in a large bowl. Add the minced beef, shallots, garlic, chorizo, rice, cheese, smoked paprika, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, salt and parsley and mix with your hands until well combined.

 

Heat a small frying pan over a high heat. Break off a small amount of the mixture, flatten between your fingers and fry until cooked. Taste to check the seasoning and add more if necessary. Form the mixture into 28–30 balls each about 5cm in diameter, packing each one firmly, and place them on the prepared baking trays.

 

Bake for 18–20 minutes, turning the trays halfway through – the balls should begin to brown on the top. Keep an eye on them to make sure that they don’t get burnt underneath. I often serve these Bap ’n’ Ball style. Choose a bread roll of your choosing (I like a toasted ciabatta or brioche burger bun).

 

Great Balls of Fire

 

Preparation time 20 minutes Cooking time 35 minutes

 

Serves 4–6

 

This is the first ball I developed, and the first ball that I served to a member of the paying public. That was the moment when things really started to roll, with my cooking truly exposed and the adrenaline pumping. It felt good. This is a ball with plenty of flavour and texture, and I like to load up the chilli to increase the fire. The balls can take a good braise in any sauce, but I serve them in my spiced red onion and tomato version.

 

100g (3 ½ oz) ricotta cheese

2 free-range eggs

400g (14oz) pork shoulder, finely minced

200g (7oz) beef chuck steak, finely minced

100g (3 ½ oz) Japanese panko breadcrumbs or fresh breadcrumbs

2 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander stems, leaves reserved

2 teaspoons sea salt

½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 x recipe Spiced Red Onion & Tomato Sauce (see recipe)

 

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425ºF), Gas Mark 7 and line a large baking tray with non-stick baking parchment. Put the ricotta into a large bowl and fork through to break it up. Add the eggs and whisk together. Add the minced pork and beef, panko crumbs (or breadcrumbs), garlic, coriander stems, salt and chilli flakes, and mix with your hands until well combined. Heat a small frying pan over a high heat. Break off a small amount of the mixture, flatten between your fingers and fry until cooked. Taste to check the seasoning and spice levels and add more salt and chilli flakes if necessary. Form the mixture into about 18 balls each 4–5cm in diameter, packing each one firmly, and place them on the prepared baking tray. Bake in the oven for 15–18 minutes, turning the tray round halfway through – the balls should begin to brown on the top. Keep an eye on them to make sure that they don’t get burnt underneath. Meanwhile, heat the sauce in a large pan over a medium heat. When the balls are cooked, add them to the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with soured cream on the side and a few leaves of coriander scattered on top, and a baby spinach and rocket salad.

 

Spiced Red Onion & Tomato Sauce

 

Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 1 hour

 

Serves 4–6

 

When I’m asked what gives this sauce its flavour, I simply say, ‘I just get all the spices you can buy whole, toast them, grind them and put them into the sauce.’ Although this is a slight exaggeration, it’s pretty much the case. Be sure to take your time with this sauce, making sure the onions cook down slowly, then let the sauce reduce for a rich flavour.

 

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 onions, thinly sliced

1 x 5cm piece of fresh root ginger,

peeled and finely chopped

3 medium red chillies, seeds removed, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander stalks

2 tablespoons Bowler’s Dry Spice Blend (see recipe)

1 tablespoon tomato purée

2 x 400g (14oz) tins of Italian/quality chopped tomatoes

400ml (14fl oz) Chicken Stock

25g (1oz) soft light brown sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

75g (3oz) dried cranberries or sultanas/raisins

juice of 1 lime

salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep pan over a low-medium heat. Add the onions, stir, then cover the pan and leave to cook gently for 10 minutes, or until very soft, but not browned. At this stage, I would always add a few pinches of salt and several grinds of pepper so that the onions are seasoned from the start, meaning that you won’t have to add so much later in the recipe.

Add the ginger, chillies, garlic, coriander stalks and Bowler’s Dry Spice. Blend and stir for 4 minutes, or until the chillies start to soften, making sure nothing catches on the base of the pan and burns. Then stir in the tomato purée and cook for 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock and a few pinches of salt and bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking. Add three-quarters of the sugar, the soy sauce and the dried fruit. Stir and simmer for a further 15 minutes, then taste. The sweetness of the sauce can vary depending on the flavour of the tomatoes, so add more sugar or soy sauce if necessary. Taste again and add some or all of the lime juice. You should now have a thick, rich sauce that has a deep, sweet and sour flavour with warmth from the chillies and spices. Best served with Great Balls of Fire.

 

The Bowler’s Dry Spice Blend

 

Preparation time 5 minutes Cooking time 10 minutes

 

Makes approximately 135g (5oz)

 

This is a great way to add some deep spice to your sauces and other cooking. It really pays to buy all these spices whole and toast them in a dry non-stick heavy-based pan. Once toasted, the spices can be ground in a pestle and mortar, coffee grinder or food processor. The flavour you get from whole spices is much more intense and fresh than that of their ready-ground brothers, which will lose flavour once they hit the packet and certainly once opened. Heat a heavy-based non-stick frying pan over a medium heat until it starts to smoke.

 

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds

½ a star anise

1 whole cardamom pod

1 dried bay leaf

1 x 4cm stick of cinnamon, broken

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon black or yellow mustard seeds

½ teaspoon nigella seeds

 

Add all the ingredients to the dry pan except the mustard seeds and nigella seeds, and shake the pan every few seconds to keep the spices moving. After 1 minute add the mustard seeds and nigella seeds. After a further minute there will be a nutty, fragrant aroma coming off the pan and the coriander seeds and fennel seeds will start to turn a red-brown colour. Once this happens and the seeds begin to pop, remove the pan from the heat and tip the spices on to a plate to cool down. (If you leave them in the pan they will continue to cook and will quickly burn.) If using an electric grinder or processor, make sure the spices are cool to the touch before grinding in batches – if they are still hot they can give off a bit of moisture and stick to the sides of the machine. Alternatively use a pestle and mortar and grind the spices to a fine powder by hand. Once ground, you can keep this spice mix in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.

 

Green Chilli Chicken Balls

 

Preparation time 20 minutes Cooking time 25 minutes

 

Serves 4–6

 

I love these balls because you can really taste the green chilli in them – it adds a great freshness. I use chicken thighs here because they have much more flavour and the result is a lot moister compared to using breast meat, which can sometimes dry out too quickly.

 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

8 fresh green chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped

1 x 4cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

20 cashew nuts

3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander, plus extra leaves to garnish

2 free-range eggs

2 tablespoons milk

750g (1 ½ lbs + 2oz) boneless chicken thighs, minced

2 teaspoons Garam Masala

150g (5oz) breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons salt freshly ground black pepper

 

lime wedges, to serve

 

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425ºF), Gas Mark 7 and line a large baking tray with non-stick baking parchment. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan. Add the onion and cook on a low heat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, chillies, ginger and cashew nuts and cook on a low heat for 3 more minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Remove from the heat, allow to cool a little, then put into a food processor with the coriander and blitz to a rough paste. You might have to add a splash of olive oil or water to help it blend properly. Beat the eggs with the milk in a large bowl, then add the paste, minced chicken, garam masala, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, and mix well. Heat a small frying pan over a high heat. Break off a small amount of the mixture, flatten between your fingers and fry until cooked. Taste to check the seasoning and add more salt and spices if necessary. Form the mixture into 20–22 meatballs about 5cm in diameter, packing each one firmly, and place them on the prepared baking tray. Bake for 15–18 minutes, turning the tray halfway through – the balls should begin to brown on the top. Keep an eye on them to make sure that they don’t get burnt underneath.

 

Hottips

 

Find of the Week – The Courgette and Ginger Jam I found in the Skibbereen Farmers Market is made on Loughbeg Farm near Schull in West Cork by Walter and Josphine Ryan-Purcell  – a completely delicious spread that was so good slathered on my morning toast. It’s also yummy with goat’s cheese, with black pudding, in a sponge cake…

Walter and Josephine Ryan-Purcell also run a residential course in April ‘The Good Life’ at Loughbeg Farm. Live for a week on a small working farm in West Cork. Learn how to grow vegetables, milk goats, make cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, chutneys, jams, and raise pigs, sheep, cattle, poultry, and look after horses. See www.loughbegfarm.com for details – sounds idyllic. 00 353 (0) 86 819 7188 – walter@localcampus.com

 

Food Writing Course with Clarissa Hyman – 1 Day Course on Saturday 23rd February 9:30am to 5:00pm – at Ballymaloe Cookery School – €175.00 lunch included. Clarissa Hyman is a multi-award winning writer and author. She writes for a wide range of newspapers, magazines and guides, and has published three books on food, cookery and culture: The Spanish Kitchen (2005), Cucina Siciliana (2002) and The Jewish Kitchen (2003). She also contributed to “How the British Fell   in Love with Food” (2010), and wrote a highly acclaimed column in Country Living magazine about British food. Phone 021 4646785 or online www.cookingisfun.ie

 

Valentine’s Day is coming up so if you haven’t popped a card into the post get onto it right away, all the youngsters are agog with excitement and don’t we all love a little romance in our lives.

Many restaurants are already booked out of ‘tables for two’ on the 14^th  February but there is always the 13^th and the 15^th or you could cook a sizzling supper at home on St Valentine’s Day and really clock up brownie points. Try to ‘suss out’ favourite dishes ahead of time it’ll probably be comfort food maybe even the rice pudding Mummy used to make. Well if it is, so be it. The golden skin, an irresistible blob of softly whipped cream and some soft Barbados sugar on top transforms this simple pud into a feast. However if you wanted to make it more edgy, how about scattering a few pomegranate seeds and coarsely chopped pistachio nuts on top – or maybe add a few cardamom pods to the milk while cooking.

Blood oranges are in season just now, this little salad is fresh tasting and will flit across the lips and wake up the palette. I also love dips; they’re good for sharing and can be made well ahead. We love this new puréed beetroot and yoghurt with za’atar from Ottolenghi’ s last book Jerusalem. Serve it with some flat bread or toast.

A warm and comforting soup can also do the trick, we have tons of kale in the garden at present so we’ve been eating it in every possible way, this kale soup got an enthusiastic response recently but if you don’t love the sound of that substitute watercress or cabbage for the kale – still great but Curly Kale Soup really hits the spot.

I chose a tagine for main course, a Moroccan stew so easy to serve with couscous and a dollop of yogurt.

Follow it with a salad of winter leaves and whatever pud you fancy – it’s hard to beat a little choccie mousse and you could always put it in a heart shape dish – absolutely always a hit! And it might just bring on a proposal!

Curly Kale Soup

If you have curly kale, you usually have lots of it. One way to use it up is in this delicious soup. When I eat this, I feel like every mouthful is doing me good. Note that if this soup is to be reheated, just bring it to the boil and serve. Prolonged boiling spoils the colour and flavour of green soups.

Serves 6 

50g (2oz) butter

140g (5oz) potatoes, peeled and diced (7mm/1/3in)

110g (4oz) onions, peeled and diced (7mm/1/3in)

salt and freshly ground pepper

1.2 litres (2 pints) chicken stock or vegetable stock

250g (9oz) curly kale leaves, stalks removed and chopped

50–125ml (2 – 4fl oz) cream or full-cream milk

 

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 grind on some fresh black pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the stock and boil gently, covered, until the potatoes are soft. Add the chopped kale and cook with the lid off, until the kale is cooked, about 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. Purée the soup in a liquidiser or food processor. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the cream or creamy milk just before serving.

 

Ottolenghi’s Beetroot with Yoghurt and Za’atar

 

Serves 6

 

900g (2lb) medium beetroots – (500g (18oz) after cooking and peeling)

2 garlic cloves – crushed

1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

250g (9oz) Greek yoghurt

1 ½ tablespoon olive oil, plus extra to finish the dish

1 tablespoon za’atar

salt

 

To Garnish

 

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

15g (3 /4 oz) toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed

60g (2 ½ oz) soft goats cheese, crumbled

 

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Mark 6. Wash the beetroot and place in a roasting tin. Put them in the oven and cook, uncovered, until a knife slices easily into the centre, approximately 1 hour. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel and cut each into about 6 pieces. Allow to cool down.

Place the beetroot, garlic, chilli and yoghurt in a food processor bowl and blend to a smooth paste. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in the date syrup, olive oil, za’atar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Taste and add more salt if you like.

Transfer the mash onto a flat serving plate and use the back of a spoon to spread the mixture around the plate. Scatter the spring onion, hazelnut and cheese on top and finally drizzle with a bit of oil Serve at room temperature.

 

If the beetroot is watery and the dip ends up runny and doesn’t hold its shape, consider adding a little mashed potato to help thicken it.

 

Lamb Tagine with Jewelled Couscous with Pomegranates and Pistachio Nuts

 

Serves 4

 

1 kg lamb shoulder diced

2 tablespoons oil

30g (1 1/4 oz) butter

4 onions, chopped

2 celery stalks, sliced

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon chilli powder

2 bay leaves

350g (12oz) stoned prunes, soaked in lots of water for at least an hour or overnight

175g (6oz) dried apricots

hot stock or water

chopped fresh coriander to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on a high heat, brown the lamb on all sides in batches.

Heat another few tablespoons of olive oil in the pan, add the onions and celery and stir and cook on a medium heat until soft and lightly coloured, about 8 -10 minutes.  Sprinkle in the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Add the spices begin to stir for 2 – 3 minutes until they release their aromas.

Add the bay leaves and dried fruit and pour over enough hot liquid to just cover.  Bring to the boil, then simmer very gently over a low heat until very tender – 1 ½ hours. Sprinkle with plenty of chopped coriander and serve with couscous.

 

Jewelled Couscous

 

Serves 8

 

350g (12oz) couscous, precooked

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

50g (2ozs) dried apricots, soaked in cold water

50g (2ozs) raisins

450ml (16fl oz) homemade chicken stock or water

salt and freshly ground pepper

pomegranate seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

50g (2oz) pistachio nuts (or toasted almonds) halved

2 tablespoons flat parsley leaves

2 tablespoons coriander leaves

 

Freshly squeezed lemon juice, if necessary

 

Put the couscous into a Pyrex bowl.  Drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over the couscous and rub with your hands.  Drain and chop the apricots and add with the raisins to the couscous.  Bring the stock to the boil, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, pour over the couscous and dried fruit.  Allow to soak for 15 minutes, stir every now and then.  Cover the bowl, heat through in a moderate oven 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for about 10 minutes.   We usually put the bowl into a Bain-Marie.  Taste and correct the seasoning.  Add the pomegranate seeds, pistachio nuts and fresh herbs just before serving, taste and add a little freshly squeezed lemon juice if necessary.

 

 

Valentine’s Day Rice Pudding

 

A creamy rice pudding is one of the most nostalgic comfort foods. You need to use short-grain rice, which plumps up as it cooks. This is definitely a forgotten pudding and it gets an unbelievable reaction every time!

 

Serves 6–8

 

100g (31⁄2oz) pearl rice (short-grain rice)

50g (2oz) sugar

small knob of butter

1. 2 litres (2 pints) milk

 

1 x 1. 2 litre (2 pint) capacity pie dish

 

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

 

Put the rice, sugar and butter into a pie dish. Bring the milk to the boil and pour over. Bake for 1–1 1⁄2 hours. The skin should be golden; the rice underneath should be cooked through and have soaked up the milk, but still be soft and creamy. Time it so that it’s ready just in time for pudding. If it has to wait in the oven for ages it will be dry and dull and you’ll wonder why you bothered.

 

Three good things to serve with rice pudding:

•           Softly whipped cream and soft brown sugar (make a heart stencil to sprinkle the sugar over)

•           Compote of apricots and cardamom

•           Compote of sweet apples and rose geranium

 

Hottips

Seems like it’s all happening in Ringsend and Stoneybatter – the Shoreditch and Hackney of Dublin. Recently I popped into Food Game on Lotts Road near the Aviva Stadium, a tiny, cute little café and foodstore with a signal red awning and a couple of tables on the pavement. The interior is hip and cool, the menu is short, simple and well-chosen and the home baking pretty damn delicious, try their choccie dipped oatcakes or bacon and egg pies. Bring along your special pet. www.foodgame.ie

Winter Suppers – Michelle Darmody’s Cake Café in Dublin is offering another treat this year – Giles Clark whose impressive CV includes stints at Noma in Copenhagen, Alinea in Chicago and St Johns Bread and Wine in London – will cook a series of Winter Suppers on 13^th, 14^th, 15^th and 16^th February. Tickets cost €35.00 which includes a four course meal – you’ll need to book fast – 01- 4789394.

The buffaloes at Toonsbridge Dairy near Macroom, West Cork are milking again so we can look forward to Irish Mozzarella within the next few weeks. I recently picked up some plump Turkish figs and unsulphured apricots as well as olives from the Olive Stall close to the Midleton Farmers Market – 026 41471.

Come and make some noise at Ballymaloe Cookery School! East Cork Slow Food are having a Wassailing ceremony of eating, drinking and singing to scare away evil spirits and ensure a bountiful harvest of apples in the Autumn – today at 5.30pm in the orchard near the Shell House. Delicious free range pig on a spit and mulled apple juice with lots of dancing and singing around the bonfire, bring something to make music and noise and wear your wellies! Slow Food Members – €4.00 – Non Slow Food Members – €5.00. Pulled free range pork sandwich €10.000. Proceeds to the East Cork Slow Food Educational Project. Enquiries 085-2295237.

Marmalade seems to be a very personal taste. More than any other preserve it seems to evoke real passion. You don’t find people getting enthused in the same way about how they like their blackcurrant or raspberry jam. On the other hand a discussion on marmalade often elicits very firmly held view points and definite preferences. For some it must be totally traditional, made with Seville oranges and be dark and bitter. Others opt for fresh and fruity, some of us favour chunky peel, for others its slivery shreds. Another whole group hate any peel at all and just want bitter/sweet orange jelly to slather on their morning toast.

Marmalade is after all, mostly a breakfast thing – so it must be quite right at the time of the day when we are doing our best to wake up and come to terms with the world – one wrong note can upskuttle the whole day!

Marmalade making like barbequing and grilling, also appeals to guys, maybe it’s something to do with all that chopping, for some it brings back memories of childhood.

For whatever reason, marmalade definitely presses buttons for many, which may help to explain the extraordinary success of the annual Marmalade Festival launched in 2005 in Cumbria. The first Amateur Award had just 60 entries, in 2012, 1,800 jars were entered! The precious jars were posted from all over the world, including The British Virgin Islands, Japan, America, Canada, Spain, France, Gibraltar, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, Alaska, Austria and South Africa.

This year there are eleven categories in the Amateur Awards and five in The Artisans’ Category – commercial marmalade makers who use the traditional open-pan method. There’s even a children’s competition and for home-bakers there is a new marmalade cake category.

This year for the first time there is a Marmalade Literary Competition so if you’d rather wield a pen than a chopping knife or wooden spoon that category might well appeal to you – you never know you might win a signed copy of a Paddington Bear book, children may also enter.

A few months ago I got a review copy of Marmalade – Sweet and Savoury Spreads for a Sophisticated Taste by Elizabeth Field published by Running Press.

I’ve been saving it until the marmalade oranges came into the shop so I could test some of the recipes.

 

Darina Allen’s Old Fashioned Seville Orange Marmalade

 

For those of you who are too busy to make marmalade at present, just buy the fruit and pop it in the freezer until you can snatch a few spare moments.

This is my classic marmalade recipe which I people repeatedly ask me for and the Seville Whole Orange Marmalade below. Seville and Malaga oranges come into the shops after Christmas and are around for 4-5 weeks, these bitter oranges are traditionally used for marmalade.

 

Makes approx. 7 lbs (3.2kg)

 

2 lbs (900g) Seville Oranges

4 pints (2.3L) water

1 lemon

4 lbs (1.8kg) granulated sugar

 

Wash the fruit, cut in half and squeeze out the juice. Remove the membrane with a spoon, put with the pips and tie them in a piece of muslin. Slice the peel finely or coarsely, depending on how you like your marmalade. Put the peel, orange and lemon juice, bag of pips and water into a non-reactive bowl or saucepan overnight.

 

Next day, bring everything to the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours until the peel is really soft and the liquid is reduced by half. Squeeze all the liquid from the bag of pips and remove it.

 

Add the warmed sugar and stir until all the sugar has been dissolved. Increase the heat and bring to a full rolling boil rapidly until setting point is reached 5-10 minutes approx. Test for a set, either with a sugar thermometer (it should register 220F), or with a saucer. Put a little marmalade on a cold saucer and cool for a few minutes. If it wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it’s done.

 

Allow marmalade to sit in the saucepan for 15 minutes before bottling to prevent the peel from floating.   Pot into hot sterilized jars. Cover immediately and store in a cool dry dark place.

 

N.B. The peel must be absolutely soft before the sugar is added, otherwise when the sugar is added it will become very hard and no amount of boiling will soften it.

 

Whiskey Marmalade

 

Add 6 tablespoons of whiskey to the cooking marmalade just before potting.

 

Seville Whole Orange Marmalade 

 

Most recipes require you to slice the orange peel first, but with this one you boil the oranges whole and then slice the cooked peel later. With any marmalade it is vital that the original liquid has reduced by half or, better still, two-thirds before the sugar is added; otherwise it takes ages to reach a set and both the flavour and colour will be spoiled. A wide, low-sided stainless-steel saucepan is best for this recipe, about 35.5cm (14 inches) deep and 40.5cm (16 inches) in diameter. If you don’t have one that big, then cook the marmalade in two batches.

 

Makes about 5.8–6.75kg (13–15lb)

 

2.25kg (4 1⁄2lb) Seville or Malaga oranges (organic if possible)

4kg (9lb/8 cups) sugar, warmed

 

Wash the oranges and put them in a stainless-steel saucepan with 5.2 litres (9 pints/22 1/2 cups) of water. Put a plate on top of the oranges to keep them under the surface of the water. Cover the saucepan, then simmer gently until the oranges are soft, about 2 hours. Cool and drain, reserving the water. (If more convenient, leave overnight and continue next day.)

 

Put a chopping board onto a large baking tray with sides so you won’t lose any juice. Then cut the oranges in half and scoop out the soft centre. Slice the peel finely and put the pips into a muslin bag.

 

Put the escaped juice, sliced oranges and the muslin bag of pips into a large, wide stainless-steel saucepan with the reserved cooking liquid. Bring to the boil, reduce by half or, better still, two-thirds. Add the warmed sugar and stir over a brisk heat until dissolved. Boil fast until setting point is reached. Pot in sterilised jars and cover immediately. Store in a dark, airy cupboard.

Bitter Orange, Rose Water and Almond Marmalade

 

Rose water varies in intensity; we found 2 tablespoons ample here and reduce the sugar by half or even one cup for a less sweet result.

 

 

Makes 5 jars

 

 

3 Seville oranges (about 675 g (1 ½ lbs) thinly sliced with seeds reserved

1 lemon, thinly sliced with seeds reserved

900g (2lb) granulated sugar

30ml (1 fl oz) rose water

35g (1 ½ oz) slivered almonds, toasted in a dry skillet until lightly golden

 

 

Put the orange and lemon slices in a medium bowl and cover with 1.5 litres of cold water. Put the seeds in a small bowl and cover with 237mls of water. Leave both to soak at room temperature overnight.

 

Transfer the citrus slices and their soaking water into a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan. Strain the soaking water from the seeds and add to the saucepan. Place the seeds on a 12 inch (30cm) square of double thickness cheesecloth. Gather up the corners and tie them shut with kitchen string. Add the bag to the saucepan.

 

Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and gently simmer the mixture for 1 ½ hours or until the citrus peel is tender when pierced with a fork. Turn off the heat. Remove the bag of seeds and when cool enough to handle, squeeze to extract as much pectin into the saucepan as possible. Discard the bag.

 

Add the sugar and stir over a low heat to dissolve. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a candy thermometer reads 104°C220°F. Use the ‘wrinkle test’ to double check for set. Skim off any scum or floating seeds. Stir in the rose water and almonds. Let stand in the saucepan for 5 minutes before ladling into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 6mm (1/4 inch) of headspace. Turn the jars upside down for a few minutes to ensure even distribution of the fruit. Process the jars in a hot water bath for 5 minutes. When thoroughly cool, label the jars. Store in a cool, dry place.

 

Blood Orange Marmalade

 

This recipe comes from the Marmalade Book by Elizabeth Field. We used 2 teaspoons of Campari which we felt was adequate, but you will want to add the liquor to taste or omit altogether.

 

Makes 4 jars

 

675g (1lb 6oz) blood oranges approximately, we used two

finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime – we used 2

720g (1 1/2lbs/4 cups) granulated sugar, or more to taste

3-4 teaspoons Campari, Cointreau or Grand Marnier (optional) (we used two teaspoons Campari)

 

Slice the tops and bottoms off each orange and discard.  Slice the oranges crosswise as thinly as possible, then cut each slice into four or six wedges.  Discard the seeds.  Place the orange wedges and 1.2 litres/5 cups  of water in a medium mixing bowl, cover, and let stand for 12-24 hours.

 

Transfer the mixture to a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Bring quickly to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the peel is tender when pierced with a fork.  Stir in the lime juice and zest.

 

Measure out the cooked citrus and liquid: to every cup – measure 150g (3/4 cup) – 175g (1 cup) sugar, according to your preference of sweetness.  Transfer the mixture to a clean, heavy-bottomed saucepan, and add the sugar.  Over a low heat, stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Increase the heat to medium-high and boil for 15-30 minutes or the mixture has thickened and a sugar thermometer reads 220°F/104°C.  Use the ‘wrinkle test’ to double-check for a firm set.  Stir in the Campari, Cointreau or Grand Marnier if you are using it.

 

Allow stand in the saucepan for 5 minutes before ladling into hot, sterilized jam jars leaving 5mm (1/4 inch) of headspace.  Seal.  Store in a cool, dark place.

 

Marmalade Cake with Honeycombed Filling

 

How delicious does this cake sound it comes from The Duchy Originals Cookbook by Johnny Acton and Nick Sandler published by Kyle Books.

 

Makes a large cake – 16 slices approx.

 

 

Equipment

Silicone sheet or baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

4 litre (7 pint) thick-bottomed saucepan

Sugar thermometer

Round Cake tin with removable base, 24 x 8cm (10x 3in)

 

For the honeycomb

75g (3oz) Duchy (or good quality local) honey

150ml (¼ pint) liquid glucose

400g (14oz) castor sugar

100ml (3½ fl.oz) water

15g (¾oz) bicarbonate of soda

 

For the Cake

250g (9oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

250g (9oz) caster sugar

3 large eggs and 1 extra yolk (about 250g/9oz in total)

250g (9oz) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

50g (2oz) ground almonds

150g (5½oz) Duchy Originals (or home-made) Seville orange marmalade, plus 2 extra tablespoons

100ml (3½ fl.oz) double cream

50ml (2fl.oz) crème fráiche or sour cream

 

Start with the honeycomb.  First loosen the honey and glucose syrup by dipping their containers in warm water, then weigh out into your saucepan.  Then add the sugar and water and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.   Gradually raise the temperature of the pan’s contents to 150C (300F).  Something dramatic is about to happen.

Carefully sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda into the pan.  The contents will fizz up like lava from the underworld, but don’t be alarmed; this is what puts the tiny air bubbles into the honeycomb.  Stir the mixture to make sure all the powder is incorporated, then pour it out onto your silicone sheet (or baking tray).  Leave to set for at least 30 minutes, then break the brittle mass into small pieces.

Then take 100g (3½ oz) of the honeycomb and blend it in a food processor.  Stir the remainder in an airtight jar – you will have more than you need  – and you are unlikely to regret it.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350G/gas mark 4.  Grease the cake tin with butter, and then shake a little flour over it to form a non-stick barrier.  Turn the tin upside down and pat it so that any excess flour falls off.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl for 3-5 minutes until pale, light and fluffy.   Lightly beat the eggs, and slowly add them to the butter and sugar, mixing them as you go.   If the mixture starts to curdle, beat a little flour into it to bring it back.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and add the almonds.  Mix until the contents are smooth.  Fold in the marmalade with 4 swirls of the spoon to ensure that the cake is marbled.  Then gently pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven until cooked and firm (about 50 minutes).

Turn the cake onto a wire rack.  When it has cooled, cut it through the middle with a long serrated knife and lift off the top half.

Spread the bottom half of the cake with the 2 extra tablespoons of marmalade.  Then whip up the honeycomb with the cream and crème fraîche until stiff, and blob it over the marmalade.   Replace the top of the cake and leave it to set in a cool place for an hour.

 

 

Hottips

 

Date for your diary

The Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine – Friday 3^rd to Monday 6^th May 2013 will bring some of the world’s best known chefs, critics, commentators, kitchen gardeners, foragers and wine experts to East Cork – Ballymaloe House and Ballymaloe Cookery School. The objective of the Festival of Food and Wine is to bring together a wide, varied and international group of cookery writers, journalists, bloggers and critics including Alice Waters, Stephanie Alexander, Claudia Roden, Matthew Fort, David Thompson, Ruth Rodgers, Madhur Jaffrey , Jancis Robinson, Nick Landers, Klaus Meyer… www.litfest.ie

 

Want to write a blog but don’t know where to start? Join Lucy Pearce at Ballymaloe Cookery School Saturday 2nd February 2013 from 9:30am to 1:00pm for ‘Get Blogging’ a fast-paced, information-rich course, in just 3 hours you’ll be fired up and ready to go. Take a whistle-stop tour of the food blogging world and see what’s hot and what’s not. Learn just how diverse food blogging is. www.cookingisfun.ie or phone 021 4646785

 

O’Connells in Donnybrook – winners of the Best Casual Dining, Irish Restaurant Awards  2012 – News Years resolution for 2013 is to set themselves a mission to buy at least 65% of their core food produce from small Irish Artisan Food Producers. From Skeaganore West Cork Duck to Wexford Lamb and Sally Barnes Smoked Pollock to Free-Range Eggs from The Bergins in Co Laois… and lots of other delicious local food products on their menu. There is also an extensive coeliac menu. Tel (01) 269 6116 & 269 6125 www.oconnellsdonnybrook.com

 

I have to say my heart sinks when I consider the potential damage to the reputation of Ireland the green, clean, food island by the recent betrayal of trust

Unfortunately it is unlikely to be the last such incident now that we have virtually handed over control of what we eat to the multinationals. Understandably their primary concern is to their shareholders rather than the health of the nation, so the downward pressure on prices continues.

Food could be as cheap as would like it to be if there wasn’t such ludicrous amount of waste  in very stage from the field to the fork.

 

Everyone, every single citizen, doesn’t matter what the circumstances deserves to have access to nourishing wholesome food. We are not talking fancy food. I’m talking simple fresh food that is health giving food that satisfies and energises rather that empty nutritionally deficient food that leaves us with a perpetual craving and in some cases actually damages our health.

 

This challenge creates a terrible dilemma; food must be affordable for everyone so the downward pressure on prices is relentless.

Animals, plants even fish and shellfish are being produced ever more intensively. Processors are being challenged to produce ‘food’ ever more cheaply but beyond a certain point it simply cannot be done without  resorting to totally unacceptable  practices.

Whether we are prepared to admit it or not ‘cheap food is a myth’, the cost in health terms and socio –  economic terms is incalculable.

Take for example the 20 cent burger so much in recent news. Out of that 20 cents, 30+% goes to the retailer, 20% goes to the distributor, now we are down to 10 cents. The manufacturer’s costs must come of that, food cost, labour, packaging, insurance……………so we’re lucky if the value of the meat in the burger is as much as 5 cents –you might ask,  how can it be done?  Well now you know!

 

In the midst of all the furore, I telephoned my  local butcher and asked how much a kilo of mince from the cheapest cuts, say brisket, beef cheek, maybe shin, would cost with a nice proportion of beef fat to make it succulent and juicy – the answer €7.50 a kilo.

 

Out of that, I could make 10 tasty wholesome burgers but the meat cost alone would be 75 cents each. Of course I could spin that out by adding bread crumbs, a bit of sweated onion, some seasoning, some fresh  herbs and or spices to make them extra delicious – maybe get another 4 but we’re still talking 50 cents plus. The price of one good burger and there are some good burgers would realistically be about €1.50, so how can one possibly produce 8 burgers for €1.50 – well now we know – the answer is loud and clear.

 

There’s a huge difference in price and one that impacts significantly on a cash strapped family doing their utmost to stretch their food euros.

So what to do – I certainly don’t have a magic bullet but this much I do know – it’s a damn site easier if you are fortunate enough to be able to cookand have the almost forgotten skills of how to turn fresh inexpensive ingredients into a decent nourishing meal.

A fundamental change in our attitude to education is hugely needed, it’s not enough to teach our kids reading, writing and basic maths – we must teach them basic life skills of which cooking is the most important. We have failed to prepare the next generation by not giving them the simple skills to feed themselves properly and we are paying a very high price. Practical cookery classes and food education need to be embedded in the school curriculum as a fundamental of a rounded education. As in other countries references to food can be included in almost every subjects, history, geography, languages, maths (the recipe measurements)…..

Every week from now on I will do a recipe to feed four for max €5.50. Vegetables were never so cheap I saw a 10 kilo bag of rooster potatoes for €7.99 in a shop inWaterford,  the same quality of Kerrs Pinks was €8.95.

Cabbage is a nutritional marvel – a full head costs 50 cents, four parsnips 89 cents….our bodies are designed to eat a lot more vegetables and fruit, we can do with less meat but let’s make sure it’s the real thing, doesn’t have to be prime cuts, many of the tastiest and must succulent joints like shin of beef, lamb shanks, cheek oxtail, neck of lamb, shortribs, streaky bacon, ham hocks, pigs head are cheap and flavoursome of which more anon

 

Gratin of Potato Cheddar Cheese, Spring Onion and Bacon

 

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

Streaky bacon either smoked or unsmoked is always good value and a terrific store cupboard staple.

 

Serves 4 as a main course

Serves 6 as an accompaniment if you omit the bacon.

 

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

4-6ozs streaky bacon, cut into 1/2 inch lardons, strips.

2 bunches of spring onions, use both white and green parts, OR

I large onion, chopped

A knob of  butter, maybe 1 oz or so,

4-6 ozs (75-175g) Irish mature Cheddar cheese, grated

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 – 3/4 pint (300-450ml/1 1/4 – 2 cups) homemade chicken, beef or vegetable stock

 

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

 

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

Slice the peeled potatoes thinly, about 1/4 thick. Put into a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil for a minute or two, drain, refresh with cold water and drain well. (This removes the starch)

Trim the spring onions and chop both the green and white parts into approx. 1/4 inch (5mm) slices with a scissors or a knife. If you decide to use an ordinary onion, cook it in a little melted butter for a few mins until it softens

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

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

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

 

Basic Beefburgers

 

Serves 4-6

 

After the recent revelations we scarcely need to be reminded that the secret of really good beefburgers is the quality of the mince, Find a local butcher that you can trust. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, after all its your health and the nourishment of your family thats at stake here. It doesn’t need to be an expensive cut but it is essential to use the beef on the day it is minced. A small percentage of fat in the mince will make the hamburgers sweet and juicy. The egg is not essential although it helps to bind the burgers and increases the food value. Fresh herbs are a delicious addition but not essential but seasoning is .

 

15g (½ oz) butter

 

55g (2oz) onion, chopped

 

450g (1 lb) freshly minced beef – flank, chump or shin would be perfect

 

½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

 

½ teaspoon finely chopped parsley

 

1 small egg, beaten, free-range and organic, optional

 

salt and freshly

 

oil or dripping

 

Melt the butter in a saucepan and toss in the chopped onion, sweat until soft but not coloured, allow to get cold. Meanwhile mix the mince with the herbs and beaten egg, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, add the onions and mix well. Fry off a tiny bit on the pan to check the seasoning, correct if necessary.  Then shape into hamburgers, 4-6 depending on the size you require. Cook to your taste on a medium-hot pan or grill pan in a little oil, turning once.

Serve on or off a bun or a Bla or even on toast  with or without chips and your favourite accompaniment, slices of cheese,  maybe tomato sauce , how about making that yourself .

 

 

Tip If the hamburgers are being cooked in batches make sure to wash and dry the pan between batches.

Home-made hamburgers are a vast improvement on most mass produced burgers.  There are endless ways to serve them – cheese burgers, bacon burgers, chilli burgers, blue-cheese burgers, mushroom burgers.  The following are a few of our favourites, always served with lots of crispy Frites

crispy chips.

 

Tomato and Chilli Fondue

 

Reduce it a little more for pizza topping or to serve with burgers or it may be too sloppy.

 

4 ozs (110g/1 cup) sliced onions

A clove of garlic, crushed (optional)

1-2 chopped fresh chillies Jalapeno or less of Thai

1 dessertspoon (2 American teaspoons)  olive oil

2 lbs (900g) very ripe tomatoes, or  ½ fresh and ½ tinned

1-2 tablespoon (1-2 American tablespoons + 1-2 teaspoons) of any of the following chopped, thyme, parsley, mint, basil, lemon balm, marjoram

Salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste

 

Sweat the sliced onions and garlic and chilli (if used) in oil on a gentle heat. It is vital for the success of this dish that the onions are completely soft before the tomatoes are added. Remove the hard core from the tomatoes. Put them into a deep bowl and cover them with boiling water. Count to 10 and then pour off the water immediately; peel off the skins, slice and add to the onions. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar and add a generous sprinkling of chopped basil. Cook for just 10-20 minutes more, or until the tomato softens.  Taste, correct seasoning.  May be served immediately or reheated later.

 

Tomato Fondue VVC

Omit the chilli from the above recipe.

Tomato Fondue with Chilli and Basil   VVC

Add torn basil instead of mixed herbs to the Tomato Fondue.

 

 

 

 

American Popovers

 

This is a gem of a recipe which can be made in seconds and used for breakfast or as a pudding or just to go with a cup of tea.  There are many variations on the theme, they can have sweet or savoury fillings and the ingredients for the batter only cost a few cents. Popovers can also be cooked in a 6 or 7 inch sponge cake tin until crisp and bubbly, then filled with a salad or anything you fancy…..

 

Makes 14 popovers

 

4 ozs (110g flour

2 free range eggs

10 fl ozs (1/2 pint/300ml )whole milk

1/2 ozs (15g/1/8 stick) butter, melted

Filling

1/2 pot homemade raspberry or blackcurrant jam

5 fl ozs (1/4 pint/150ml/generous 1/2 cup) cream, whipped

icing sugar, to dust

 

Sieve the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre of the flour, drop in eggs.  Using a small whisk or wooden spoon, stir continuously, gradually drawing in flour from the sides and, add the milk in a steady stream at the same time.  When all the flour has been mixed in, whisk in the remainder of the milk and cool melted butter.  Allow to stand for one hour.  Grease Hot Deep Patty Tins with pure beef dripping or oil and fill half full.  Bake in a hot oven 230°C/450°F/regulo 8, for 20 minutes approx.

Remove from the tins.  Cool and fill with a blob of homemade raspberry jam and whipped cream.

Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

 

Note: If serving for breakfast fill with a spoon full of homemade marmalade, omit the cream.

 

Yorkshire Pudding: Follow the above recipe, use beef dripping or olive oil to grease the tins.  I sometimes put 2 or 3 stoned olives into each one.

 

Cheese Popovers: Add 2 ozs (50g) grated cheddar cheese and 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard and a good pinch of salt to the mixture, season well and proceed as above, omit the jam and cream!

 

Hot Tips

 

I found myself in Dalkey recently in need of a cup of tea and stumbled upon the Tramyard – apart from really good cup of tea in the cute café and a slice of barmbrack (we fought over the crumbs) There were several other little shops in individual timber beach huts across the cobbled yard and a BBgrill which seems to be swinging into action.

 

Knockdrinna Farm Shop

– not sure if you know about this little gem in the littlevillageofStoneyfordin Co Kilkenny. Coming fromDublinyou’ll need to swing off the road at Junction 9.  It’s on the main street a little farm shop with a tiny café behind. Here  multi award winning cheesemaker, Helen Finnegan makes cows, goats and sheeps milk cheese, I bought a deliciously oozing Knockadrinna Snow a piece of Abbot, a washed rind cheese only made around Christmas , a Lavistown and a ewe and goats milk both surface ripened for my students  to taste plus some of Helens rare breed dry cured rashers. There are homemade cakes, good chocolates, Paddy’s Granola, free range eggs and a range of local produce in season.

Tel: 056 7728 446

Sandbrook House Bed & Breakfast inCountyCarlowis close by, just the kind of comfy country house where you can curl up in a deep sofa in front of a roaring fire to read a good book and forget about the winter blues. Most country houses are quiet at the moment so you may even have the house to yourself and enjoy Sophia’s suppers.

Tel: 059 915 9247 or www.sandbrook.ie

www.irelands-blue-book.com

www.hiddenireland.com

 

The Coal Quay Farmers Market on Saturday morning is one ofCork’s best kept secrets, check it out once and I guarantee it’ll become a weekly habit, check out  Caroline Robinson ‘s stall

Country Markets – weekly all around the country, another place to find food of consistently good quality that you really can trust – Find out where your nearest country market is, the money goes directly to the producer or home baker and the high standard is rigorously adhered to. You’ll find excellent value for money

 

A date for your diary: Tues March 5^th. Neven Maguire one of the nicest guys on the whole Irish food scene is coming to Trabolgan to do a cookery demonstration in aid of the Aghada GAA. Doors open at 8pm. Cheese and Wine reception, craft and artisan food producer stalls. Tickets €20 per person

Tel: 021 4661223 Day’s Spar Whitegate

Farm Shops, we need many more all around the country so farmers can sell and add value to their produce and local people can buy directly from the farm. It’s a whole other shopping experience and reconnects children with how their food is produced.

There are already several brilliant examples; Tinahely farm Shop on the Shilleagh road in Co Wicklow is enchanting. It is owned and run by ex-dairy farmers Philip and Rebecca Hadden. A couple of years ago the cows were not paying their way so they needed to use their combined talents and resources to think of another way to earn a living. They set about converting their sheds into a farm shop and cute little cafe where customers can now enjoy their really delicious home made cakes and snacks of local food. Recently we tasted Clarkes smoked Salmon from Ballina on Jo Allen’s Harvest loaf made from Uncle Aidan’s stone ground wholemeal, so delicious. That wheat is grown and stone ground in a special French mill on their farm in Ballindaggin, Co Wexford.

Rebecca had made a silky Jerusalem artichoke soup which people loved when they tasted and then rushed to buy some of the fresh tubers to have a go at making their own.

There are some ducks and a lovely flock of happy lazy hens ranging freely so customers can add freshly laid eggs to their basket. The Big Barn now houses an eclectic collection of animals, a couple of llamas, both Saddleback and Mangagalese pigs, several goats and donkeys and ponies, Kerry cattle and Dorset Horn sheep that were brought into Ireland by Rebecca’s grandfather Maurice Allen for the first time in 1933. All warm and comfy in deep beds of straw in the frosty weather. Kids of course love all that and there are plans for a self-guided farm walk in the New Year. Contact Philip Hadden 087 8168457 – http://tinahelyfarmshop.com/ . Tinahely Farm Shop, Coolruss, Tinahely, Co Wicklow, – on the Shillelagh road – Open – Tuesday – Friday 10am – 5pm – Saturday 10am – 4pm.

Olivia and John Hallahan opened a farm shop on their farm at Castlemary near Cloyne, East Cork every Saturday from 10am to 4pm – selling homemade goat cheese, yogurt, goats milk, goats meat (delicious) and some of Olive’s fresh baking 021 4652832 – Turn at L36511 – brave new world!

Castlefarm Shop in Narraghmore in Co Kildare also has a loyal following – Jenny and Peter Young sell organic beef, vegetables, pork, eggs, honey, apple juice and cheese, home baking, ice cream and preserves from their organic farm and operate an honesty box system for their free range eggs. The shop opens the last weekend of every month and  visitors can enjoy monthly complimentary food talks, farm walks, help collect eggs and watch the cows being milked – 0876785269 – www.castlefarmshop.ie

 

Chilled Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Avocado and Roast Hazelnuts

 

Serves 5

50g (2oz) butter

560g (1 1/4 lb) onions, peeled and chopped

1.15kg (2 1/2 lbs) Jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed, peeled and chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

1.1L (2 pints) light chicken stock

600ml (1 pint) creamy milk approx.

 

Garnish

 

2 avocados

4 tablespoons of chopped roast hazelnuts

4 tablespoons of hazelnut oil

4 tablespoons of chopped chives

 

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the onions and artichokes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, cover and sweat gently for 10 minutes approx.  Add the stock and cook until the vegetables are soft. Liquidise and return to the heat. Thin to the required flavour and consistency with creamy milk, and adjust the seasoning.

 

Note

This soup may need more stock depending on thickness required.

 

To Serve

Peel and dice the avocados.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the avocado and chopped roasted hazelnuts over the soup, drizzle with a little hazelnut oil and chopped chives.

 

Uncle Aidan’s Harvest Loaf

 

Makes 2 loaves

 

This simple and delicious recipe was given to me by Jo Allen.

 

700g (1.5lb) Uncle Aidan’s Authentic Stone Ground Flour

2 tablespoons oat bran

2 teaspoons bread soda

2 teaspoons salt

1 litre (1 1/3 pints) buttermilk

2 tablespoons oil

2 free range eggs

 

2 x 2lb loaf tins – greased.

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Mark 4.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix buttermilk, oil and eggs in a separate bowl, then add to the dry ingredients.

Put the mixture (it will be very sloppy at this stage) into the greased loaf tins

Cook in the pre-heated oven 180°C/350°F/Mark 4 for just over one hour or until fully cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.

Uncle Aidan’s Authentic Stone Ground Flour – Ballyminane Mills, Co. Wexford – 0539255162 – www.ballyminanemills.com

 

Smoked Salmon, Tomato and Leek Tart or Tartlets

 

Fresh salmon or smoked mackerel may be substituted to delicious effect.

 

Makes 10-12 tartlets or 1 tart (approx.)

 

Shortcrust Pastry

 

4ozs (110g) flour

2 ozs (55g) butter

1 beaten egg

 

5 ozs (140g) smoked salmon or fresh salmon, diced 1/3 inch (5mm)

½ lb (225g) very ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and the flesh cut into ½ inch (1cm) dice

1 oz (30g) butter

½ lb (225g) finely sliced leeks

Salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

 

8 fl ozs (225m) cream or 4 fl ozs (100m) cream

4 fl ozs (100m) milk

2 eggs and 1 egg yolk

Pinch of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped

 

1 x 7 inch (18cm) flan ring OR 10 tartlet tins (the ones we use measure 3 inches (7.5cm) at the bottom, 4 inches (10cm) at the top and are 1 inch (2.5cm) deep.

First make the shortcrust pastry.

 

Sieve the flour into a bowl, cut the butter into ½ inch (1cm) dice, rub into the flour with the tip of your fingers, and bind with the beaten egg, tossing lightly with a fork. (Add it gradually, just enough to make a dough).

Cover with Clingfilm or waxed paper and rest for ½ hour in the fridge before use.

Preheat the oven 180°/350°F/regulo 4

Roll the pastry out thinly and line the tart or individual tartlet tins with pastry, then line with kitchen paper and dried beans.   Bake blind for 20-25 minutes approx. until par-cooked (the tartlets will take 8-10 minutes).

Meanwhile melt the butter in a saucepan, add the leeks, season with salt, & pepper, cover. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until the leeks are almost soft, keep aside. Add the chopped tomatoes, toss and cook for 1-2 minutes , add a little sugar if the tomatoes are not very ripe. Transfer to a plate and  allow to cool.

 

In a bowl, whisk together the cream, milk, eggs and egg yolk. Season with paprika, salt and freshly ground pepper, add the cooked leeks and tomatoes, diced smoked or fresh salmon, stir gently. Add the dill.

Spoon into the pre-baked tart or tartlets and bake in a preheated moderate oven 180C\350F\regulo 4 for 2 minutes approx. or until just set and golden on top. The tartlets will take 30-35 minutes. Remove from the tin.  Serve warm or cold.

 

Raspberry and Coconut Slice

 

So simple but terrifically good.

 

Makes 24

 

6 ozs (175g) soft butter

6 ozs (175g) castor sugar

2 eggs, preferably organic and free-range

6 ozs (175g) self-raising flour

 

Icing

homemade raspberry jam

unsweetened desiccated coconut

 

10 x 7 inch (25.5 x 18 cm) Swiss roll tin, well-greased

 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/regulo 4.

 

Put the butter, castor sugar, eggs and self-raising flour into a food processor. Whizz for a few seconds to amalgamate. Spread evenly over the base of the well-buttered tin.

 

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes approx. or until golden brown and well risen. Allow to cool.

 

Spread the surface with the raspberry jam and sprinkle with desiccated or shaved coconut. Cut into squares.  Remove the biscuits from the tin if keeping for a few days unless the tin is coated with Teflon.  Store in an airtight cake tin interleaved with silicone paper.

 

Hot Tips

Schipol Airport in Amsterdam is one of the most fun places to be delayed. Brilliant facilities, apart from the Rijcs Museum, the library, massage, rest rooms, meditation area… Don’t miss Dutch herrings, smoked eel, and my favourite teeny Dutch pancakes called poffertjes.

 

Wendy’s Festive Marmalade – I found a pot of Wendy’s marmalade in my pantry after Christmas – slathered it on my toast before realizing it belonged to my son-in-law, it was so good, made with oranges, mandarins, lime and gin. To restore harmony in the household, I rang Wendy to replace it, she tells me there are still a few pots left and if you rush you can find them at her stall at Mahon Point Farmers Market next Thursday or at the Natural Foods Bakery in Blackrock, Co Cork – worth making a detour for www.mahonpointfarmersmarket.com and www.thenaturalfoodsbakery.com

 

Irresistible Breakfasts and Brunch – half day cookery course at Ballymaloe Cookery School on Monday 4th February – 1.00pm-5.00pm.  Learn how to introduce a variety and fresh tastes on the breakfast menu with lots of advice on finding the best quality ingredients – especially those in the guesthouse/bed and breakfast business. Sizzling rashers, juicy sausages, free range eggs, flavoursome mushrooms, fruit compotes, mueslis, freshly squeezed juices, homemade breads, jams, preserves, marmalades, muffins… Booking Essential 021 4646785 or www.cookingisfun.ie

 

I find myself dreaming of Mexican breakfasts weeks before I travel. On my last trip, without even trying, we ate a different dish for breakfast every day for two whole weeks and I have a feeling we only barely scratched the surface, not a bowl of cereal in sight.

There was always freshly squeezed juices, orange, mandarin, pineapple or watermelon to wake one up. And then Mexican hot chocolate or freshly ground coffee maybe from Chiapas or Oaxaca.

Next a plate of succulent, juicy, fruit with the sort of ripe flavours we can only dream of, mango, papaya, melon with a little segment of lime to make it really sizzle.

On day one, at a little hotel called Rancho San Cayetano near the Monarch butterfly preserve in Michaocan, we had Huevos Rancheros and Mexican beans with queso fresco crumbled on top. There were also delicious little rolls called bolillos to slather the local honey or guava and passion fruit jam onto. Sadly the hotel was very empty because of the drug situation in the area.

Next morning, it was a little cazeula with a layer of beans on the base then some scrambled eggs with chilli, coriander and chorizo, topped with a layer of melted queso fresco and a sprinkle of chopped parsley, unbelievably delicious and sustaining.

In Oaxaca, a city about one hour south of Mexico City,  Cholita Diaz, our Mexican friend’s cook , served us her spicier version of Huevos Rancheros  passed down in her family for many generations, This is how indigenous Mexican women learn how to cook, helping to slice and chop from the time they are tiny children. No written recipes just effortlessly learning the techniques and quantities by watching and tasting.

Next we flew down to Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast in a tiny 12 seater Aero Toucan plane, a bird’s eye view of the remote villages tucked into the mountains and rocky hillsides.

Here Angelina Martinez Perez was waiting, putting the finishing touches to the sopes that she had hand formed from the fresh masa brought in the Mercado that morning.  While we are slowly savouring our plates of freshly cut fruit, Angelina cooked the sopes on the metal comal, (griddle), spooned some refried beans into each one and sprinkled it with crumbled queso fresco.  We ate several of these still warm from the comal, each with slivers of ripe avocado. A quintessential taste of Mexico.

Angelina has a myriad of dishes, many pre-hispanic, in her repertoire. Next morning, it was Divorced Eggs (Huevos divorciados), two crispy fried eggs on a warm tortilla, tomatillo salsa on one and a spicy salsa roja enveloping the other.  The tomatilla salsa was made earlier by boiling the green tomatoes with several serrano chillies until soft and then pounding them with a little chopped onion in a molcajete  – a pestle and mortar made of volcanic rock – with a small clove of garlic and a little salt. This and salsa roja with a base of tomatoes roasted on the comal are ever present on Mexican tables.

For our next breakfast we had quesadillas, but not just any quesadillas, these were made with Hoja Santa (piper sanctum), a large aromatic leaf which grows on a smallish bush all over Mexico these came fresh from Angelina’s garden. Again they were easy to make, she just tears a few pieces of the fresh leaf over a fresh corn tortilla, scatters it with some strips of Oaxacan string cheese, then slides it on to a hot comal. As soon as the cheese starts to melt, Angelina folds the tortilla to make a half moon shape, flips it over and cooks for a few more minutes until slightly crisp on both sides. Once again these quesadillas are served with a salsa verde and a salsa roja.

And there’s still lots more, next day its Huevos con Hoja Santa. First the fresh leaves are well washed, then fried in a little vegetable oil on a hot pan until crisp on both sides, then dried on kitchen paper.

Just before serving they are returned to the pan, one at a time, Angelina cracks two fresh eggs carefully on top and sprinkles each with a little salt, they are cooked sunny side up and transferred onto a plate as soon as the white sets, again served with spicy salsas.

Hoja Santa (piper sactum) is not something you’ll find in every supermarket in Ireland, but it is certainly available from your local garden centre and worth acquiring if you have a yen for Mexican food like me.

My morning cookery lessons continued, next it was chilaquiles con polo.

In common with many others cultures, Mexicans believe it is unlucky to waste even a scrap of tortilla, (their bread), so there are countless ways to use up stale pieces, in soups, salads and of course chilaquiles, here the crisp corn tortillas are layered with shredded chicken, cheese and covered with hot salsa verde or roja. They are eaten hot with a dollop of crema (sour cream) and crumbled queso fresco on top and of course Mexican beans.

I’ll mention just two more because as you can see I could go on and on.

Entomatadas con enfrigolada , yet another of my favourites and one that we  could easily reproduce here, Angelina first cooks a large pot of salsa roja and then purees it to make a silky sauce. White corn tortillas are then heated on both sides in a little oil on a hot pan, folded in half or quarters if the tortillas are very large. Just when you are ready to eat, dip the tortillas into the hot sauce and arrange overlapping on a serving dish, spoon a little more sauce over them and sprinkle some queso fresco and chopped parsley over the top.  We ate them with chopped onion, crema and chopped parsley. You can’t imagine how moreish these are!

On our last morning as an extra special treat, our Mexican friends asked Angelina to make a special type of tamale wrapped in banana leaves called Tamales Amarillia de pollo for our farewell breakfast, the mole sauce had 32 roasted guajillo and 7 costeño chillies (the latter is a rare chilli only found in a small area of Oaxaca) It was fantastically delicious but surprisingly not too hot.

No hope of making this here so I just have to return to Oaxaca to recapture the flavour as soon as possible, oh how I wish!

 

Mexican Scrambled Eggs – Huevos a la Mexicana

 

Cholita Diaz, a wonderful Mexican cook showed me how to make this favourite Mexican breakfast dish. One mouthful transports me back to Mexico – one of the most magical places in the entire world.

 

Serves 4

 

45g (1 1/2oz) butter (in Mexico they would use lard)

1 small onion, finely chopped

1-3 chillies – de-seeded and finely chopped (the amount depends on how much excitement you would like in your life!)

2 very ripe tomatoes, chopped

8 eggs, free-range if possible

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat, cook the onion and chillies until the onion is soft but not coloured, add the tomato and cook gently for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and salt well; add them to the saucepan and scramble, stirring all the time until cooked to your taste. Serve immediately on warm plates, preferably with Tortillas.

 

Tomatilla Salsa

 

Salsa Verde is always a surprise and varies with each cook’s interpretation – this one is quite hot but of course you could reduce the number of chillies.

 

6 tomatillas – (green tomatoes, covered with a papery husk)  approx. ½ kg

4 Serrano chillies

1 heaped tablespoon chopped onion

1 small clove garlic

a loose fistful of fresh coriander leaves and soft stem

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water

 

Peel the husk off the tomatillas and discard. Put them into a saucepan with the chillies. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil and cook for approximately ten minutes until both are soft. Drain and put into a food processor, add the chopped onion, garlic, coarsely chopped coriander, salt and water whizz for several minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning. Serve with everything!

 

Salsa Roja

 

Angelina uses plum tomatoes for all her recipes, which are considerably larger than our standard sized tomatoes. It’s also worth noting that Mexican garlic cloves are about half the size of ours and this salsa is also quite hot but you can adjust the number of chillies as you please.

 

Makes about ¼ pint

4 large ripe plum tomatoes quartered or 6 – 7 of our tomatoes

4 Serrano chillies

1 small clove garlic

scant teaspoon salt

 

Wrap the tomatoes in tin foil and roast on the comal turning occasionally until soft – 20 minutes approximately. Alternatively pre-heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Mark 7 and roast for similar length of time until soft.

Put the tomatoes and the juices, roasted chillies, crushed clove of garlic and the scant teaspoon of salt into a blender and whizz for about 30 seconds. Taste and correct the seasoning.  Put into a bowl and serve as an accompaniment.

 

Chilaquiles Verdes con Rojos

 

Serves 4

 

6 –8 corn tortillas (stale is fine)

12 fl ozs (350ml) Tomatilla Salsa (see recipe)

8 fl ozs (250 ml) chicken broth approx

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded with fingers

1 large sprig epazote (optional)

salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Accompaniment

2-4 tablespoons sour cream

4-8 tablespoons crumbled Queso fresco or Mozzarella and Cheddar mixed

1 onion, thinly sliced (optional)

fresh coriander leaves

 

Ovenproof dish 8 x 5 inches (20 x 10 cm)

 

Cut the tortillas into eights.  Dry them out in a moderate oven if they are moist, they are best stale and leathery for this dish.

 

Heat oil in a deep fry and cook the tortilla pieces in batches until crisp and light golden.  Drain on paper towels.

Just before serving, spread half the tortillas over the base of a deep sided serving dish.  Cover with shredded chicken, season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

 

Thin out the sauce with a little chicken broth if too thick.  Put another layer of tortillas on top. Cover with the hot sauce and a sprinkling of cheese.

 

Heat through in a preheated oven 230°C/450°F/regulo 8 for 5-10 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

 

Serve immediately with sour cream, more grated cheese for sprinkling and fresh coriander leaves.

 

Hoja Santa Quesadilla

 

Serves One

 

2 – 3 white corn tortillas

1 Hoja Santa leaf (Piper sanctum) about 8 inches across

Oaxacan string cheese or a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar

Pinch of salt

 

Salsa Verde

 

Lay a tortilla on a chopping board, tear a few pieces of fresh Hoja Santa onto the tortilla then scatter some Oaxcan string cheese on top (we would use mozzarella mixed with a little Cheddar). Heat a comal (griddle) or frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the tortilla for a couple of minutes. As soon as the cheese starts to melt, fold over and cook the other side until slightly crisp on both sides.  Serve 2 -3 quesadillas per person with Salsa Verde.

 

Hoja Santa con Huevos

 

Serves one

 

a fresh Hoja Santa leaf  (Piper sanctum) about 8 inches across

a little vegetable or extra virgin olive oil

2 fresh eggs

a little salt

 

Salsa Roja

 

Wash the leaf well on both sides and shake off the excess water. Heat a little vegetable or olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the hoja santa leaf, it will splutter a bit, cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side until the leaf becomes crisp. Dry on kitchen paper.

Just before serving, put the leaf back into a hot pan, crack two eggs gently onto the leaf, and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook sunny side up until the white sets. Then slide onto a warm plate. Spoon a little salsa roja around the yolks and serve immediately.

 

Hot tips

Butter and cheese making is definitely one of those simple but deeply satisfying kitchen crafts that not only deserves to be resurrected but can also provide additional income or a vibrant business.  Learn how to make a long list of delicious dairy products including homemade butter, yoghurt, cottage cheese, coeur a la crème, labneh, paneer, and a simple farmhouse cheese on the half day Homemade Butter, Yogurt and Several Cheeses course on Wednesday 16th January at Ballymaloe Cookery School – from 9:30am to 2:00pm – phone 021 4646785 or book online www.cookingisfun.ie

The Standing Stone Garden Centre near Schull stocks Hoja Santa (Piper Sanctum) plants, or ask your local garden centre to order it for you.

East Cork Slow Food Event – Kathe Burt O’Dea will give a talk on her research project SPUDS (Sustainable Potato United Development Study) www.spuds.ie at Ballymaloe Cookery School on Tuesday January 15th 2013 7pm. Slow Food Members €6.00 Non Slow Food Members €8.00. Booking essential 021 4646785 or slowfoodeastcork@gmail.com. Proceeds to the East Cork Slow Food Educational Project. www.slowfoodireland.com

Midleton Farmers Market reopens today after the Christmas break from 9:00am to 2:00pm on the Fair Green. Lots of Jerusalem Artichokes, kale, Vacherin Mont d’or cheese, Golden Wonders, local honey and gluten free baking to die for…. www.midletonfarmersmarket.com

 

If by any chance you have a few book tokens left over from Christmas presents, I’ve got some brilliant suggestions for worthwhile cookbooks to track down. For the growing number of cake-makers, Annie Bells Baking Bible published by Kyle books is a real gem. The recipes are triple tested so really work which can’t be said for every cook book by a long way.

April Bloomfield is the toast of New York at present. In London she worked at Kensington Place, the River Café and with Simon Hopkinson at Bibendum. Her initial venture in the US – the Spotted Pig in Greenwich – was the first real gastro pub in New York. She’s gone on to open the highly acclaimed Breslin and John Dory. I love her simple food, so I was thrilled to learn some of the secrets from her recent book – A Girl and Her Pig published by Harper Collins.

Any of Aussie chef’s Bill Granger’s books are worth having on your shelf; Bill’s Everyday Asian is full of tempting easy recipes like Vietnamese Rice Noodles and Sticky Prawns

Fermentation is the new big craze; it’s well known that we don’t have enough fermented foods in our Western diet so there is a huge revival of interest in foods like Kim Chi, sauerkraut, kefir, pickles…

Sander Katz is the king of fermentation, who by the way will be coming to Ballymaloe to do a session at the inaugural Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine over the May Bank holiday week-end.

Sander Katz’s book the Art of Fermentation is a modern classic and a ‘must have’ for those who are experimenting with fermentation.  It costs around €40.00 but it’s worth every penny.

Finally, a little paper-back, ‘Cook on a Shoestring’ by Sophie Wright published by Kyle- an exciting new voice in food. This book is choc-a-bloc with easy, inspiring, straight forward recipes that you can even imagine trying out after a 9 – 5 slog.

 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year, may 2013 bring the blessing of many delicious meals around the kitchen table with family and friends.

 

 

Sophie Wright’s Barley and Curried Squash Soup

 

Serves 6 – 8

 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 celery stick, roughly chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cm piece of fresh ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1 large butternut squash, chopped into small dice (seeds removed)

1 litre vegetable stock

125g pearly barley

A squeeze of lemon juice

 

To Serve (optional)

 

crumbled feta or goat’s cheese

pumpkin seeds

 

Put a large flameproof casserole on the hob and add the oil. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook for 6 – 8 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper before adding the grated ginger and garlic along with the curry powder. Cook the spices for a few minutes before adding the butternut squash and the stock. Put the lid back on a simmer for 25 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, boil the pearly barley in a separate saucepan of boiling water until tender. The should take about 16 minutes.

Once the vegetables are tender purée the soup using a hand held blender, or by transferring the contents of the pan to a food processor. Ensure you don’t get splashed by any of the hot soup. Blitz the soup until it is completely smooth.

Drain the pearl barley and add it to the puréed soup. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and check again for seasoning.

If you have any feta or goat’s cheese, crumble a little over each serving and sprinkle over a few pumpkin seeds for extra texture and little bit of creaminess.

 

Sophie Wright’s Tray Baked Ginger-glazed Salmon

 

Serves 4 – 6

 

600 – 800g (1 ¼ to 1 ¾ lb) fillet or supreme of salmon, skin on or off

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons stem ginger syrup

2 pieces stem ginger, cut into fine strips

juice and zest of 1 lime

 

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas 5. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and lay the salmon fillet or supremes on top.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour or brush onto the salmon fillets on the fish side only. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes in you have a whole large piece of fish or 8 – 10 minutes for smaller pieces. You will know that the fish is cooked when you can easily flake the flesh using a fork.

Remove from the oven and flake the fish, if you wish, before serving with either steamed rice, stir-fried vegetables or noodles.

 

Bill Granger’s Vietnamese Rice Noodles and Sticky Prawns

 

Serves 4

 

250g (9oz) vermicelli

2 tablespoons light flavoured oil

16 large prawns, peeled and de-veined, tails intact

1 red onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves – crushed with the flat of a knife

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

4 tablespoons lime juice

small handful coriander leaves

1 cucumber, sliced

2 limes cut into wedges

 

Place the rice vermicelli in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 6 – 7 minutes, then drain and rinse under cold water.

Place a wok or frying pan over a high heat and add 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the prawns and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Remove from the wok. Heat the remaining oil, then add the onion, garlic and chilli and stir-fry for one minute. Add the lime juice and remove from the heat.

Divide the noodles between four bowls. Top with the prawns, coriander and cucumber.

Serve with lime wedges.

 

 

April Bloomfield’s Lamb Meatballs with Yogurt, Eggs and Mint

 

These are not straight up Italian meatballs. The sauce has a bit of North Africa as well as the Mediterranean in it, so the dish is exotic and comforting at once. The sauce has a whiff of cumin and mint, both good friends to minced lamb. Just before I serve the meatballs, I add little blobs of yogurt, crack a few eggs into the pot and let them poach.

 

Serves 4

I.1kg boneless lamb shoulder cut into 2.5cm pieces

2 ½ tablespoons Maldon or another flaky sea salt

225g fine bread crumbs

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

 

For the Sauce

 

1 large Spanish onion, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon Maldon or another flaky sea salt

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted and ground

1 ½ teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground

2 Dutch or other spicy long red chillies, pierced with a sharp knife

1 800g tin peeled whole tomatoes, drained, trimmed and squished with your hands

about 125ml (4fl oz) whole milk Greek style yogurt

4 large eggs

 

For Finishing

 

a small handful of mint leaves, a small handful of small, delicate coriander sprigs

extra virgin olive oil

 

Special Equipment

 

Meat mincer or meat mincing attachment of a stand mixer. Make the meatballs: Put the lamb in a large mixing bowl, cover the bowl with Clingfilm and pop it into the freezer until the edges get crunchy, about 1 hour.

Toss the lamb well with the salt, then add the breadcrumbs and toss again. Use a meat mincer (or the mincing attachment of a stand mixer) to mince the mixture into a bowl. Put the mixture through the mincer once more.

Take a bit of the mixture in your hand, give it a few firm but still rather gentle squeezes, and roll it into a ball (you’re shooting for each one to be a little bigger than a golf ball) Over working the mixture is bad leads to tough meatballs, but this warning often makes cooks too timid when they form the balls: the outside of each ball should be smooth, with no big cracks or crags. Gently pinch any cracks closed so the ball doesn’t fall apart in the pan. Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Add the oil to a 8 to 9 litre casserole with a lid, set the pan over high heat and swirl the oil in the pan. When it just begins to smoke, cook the meatballs in batches to avoid crowding, turning them occasionally with tongs, so they develop a beautiful shiny, deep-brown crust on all sides. You don’t want to cook them too fast. If you see any black spots, turn your heat down a little. Keep at it until you’re happy with the colour of each one, transferring them to a plate when they finish browning. It’ll take 12 to 15 minutes per batch. Drain half the fat remaining in the pot.

Make the Sauce: Lower the heat to medium high, add the onion, garlic and salt and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft and lightly browned and the garlic smells toasty and is a deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin and chillies and cook for a minute, stirring constantly.  Turn the heat to low, add the tomatoes and simmer gently until the tomatoes begin to stick to the bottom of the pot, about 10 minutes. Add 1 litre water and raise the heat to bring the sauce to the boil, and then turn it down to maintain a gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes more. Transfer 500ml of the sauce to a blender; give it a whiz until its smooth and airy, stir in back into the sauce in the pot.

Return the meatballs and their juices to the pot and stir gently to coat them in the sauce. Cover the pot, tweak the heat if need be to maintain a gentle simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes to let the flavours come together.

Finish the dish: Turn the heat to low, add blobs of the yogurt and crack the eggs here and there into the sauce. Tear and sprinkle in the mint leaves and coriander and add a good drizzle of olive oil. Cover the pot and turn the heat to mediu, Cook until the egg whites have just set (I like my yolks a little runny) 10 to 15 minutes.

Eat it right away from the pot or divided among shallow, bowls, making sure everyone gets an egg and some yogurt.

 

Homemade butter adds a little je ne sais quoi to your table, look out for Cuinneog and Glenilen Butter, a taste of the past and the future. Each one has a distinctly different flavour, a taste of the lush green grass on that farm. www.cuinneag.com and www.glenilen.com

 

Floury Irish potatoes: If you hanker for a floury Golden Wonder or a few Kerrs Pinks get to the Midleton Farmer’s Market good and early on a Saturday morning and head for Willie Scannell’s stall.  The Market re-opens on Saturday 12^th January, 2013.

 

Trout Caviar from Goastbridge Farm in Co Kilkenny – you’ll find a myriad of ways to use it, we love it on a tiny potato cakes with sour cream, on scrambled eggs, atop a baked potato. www.goatsbridgetrout.ie

Don’t forget Penny Dinners, St Vincent de Paul and Shelter et al in the New Year. People were very generous around Christmas but there’s a long year ahead.

Phew! That’s Christmas over again for another year. We’re all settling back into a routine and there’s a palpable sigh of relief in many houses, no unrealistic expectations, no feelings of guilt, just settle down and maybe re-evaluate our life style and plan to plant a few vegetables maybe an apple tree…

Or maybe build a little chicken coop, and get a few hens. The wholesome left over household scraps of food can be fed to your hens who will reward you with the most delicious eggs a few days later. They must have grass otherwise the eggs will be not be anything like as good or as nourishing. The chicken coop can be moved around your lawn every few days so they have fresh grass and the manure will benefit your lawn so its ‘win win’ all the way.

My New Year resolution is to learn how to type – just as much of a mystery to me as cooking is to many others. What’s your challenging resolution? Could it be in the kitchen?  If you can’t cook, just learn how to cook, somehow, somewhere, it’s the easiest way to be happy, save money, keep healthy, endear you to your family and friends and cut down on garbage. The latter is because when you can cook there’s no need for cans and packets, plastic wrap or polystyrene trays. Just buy beautiful fresh ingredients when they are least expensive and in season and give the trimmings to your hens.

Take one step at a time – one practical suggestion to improve the family diet. Ban breakfast cereals, virtually without exception they are full of sugar and salt, empty calories and despite what it says on the packet are far from nourishing.

Much better to follow Michael Pollen’s advice – ‘Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.’ So let’s start with breakfast – the only food your great grandmother might recognise is porridge and its every bit as nourishing now as it was then, particularly if you buy Macroom stone-ground oatmeal. I’m also a big fan of Kilbeggan organic porridge, and of course Flahavans oatmeal is a wonderfully nutritious and satisfying food. Eat it as porridge with soft dark brown sugar and whole milk or incorporate it into a muesli or granola – so easy to make yourself. The second little decision that can have a major influence on the family diet is to eliminate squishy sliced pan totally from your diet.

Make it your total priority for 2013, ask a friend or neighbour to teach you just one dish at a time, maybe barter babysitting, mending, dog walking in exchange – no money need change hands.

Cooking really isn’t ‘rocket science’, like so many other skills in life its all about confidence and the quality of the raw materials and you do need some basic kitchen kit.  You simply can’t cook without a few basic utensils. Buy them one at a time and the very best you can afford – they should be good enough to last a lifetime.  I often give a present of ICM Pentole saucepan as a wedding present to young couples – not very romantic you might say – well I disagree, they will bless me every day when they cook in a beautiful stainless steel saucepan with 5 layers in the base so its almost impossible to burn something and if you do, it can be cleaned easily plus you will pass the saucepan on to grandchildren.

Happy cooking, may 2013 bring the blessing of many delicious meals around the kitchen table with family and friends.

 

Toasted Granola with Coconut and Cinnamon

 

This nourishing breakfast cereal, will keep several weeks in a Kilner Jar. Serve with sliced banana and whole milk or scatter over a bowl of natural yogurt.

 

Serves 10-12

 

450g (1 lb) organic rolled oats (porridge oats)

110g (4ozs) flaked almonds

55g (2ozs) unsweetened coconut

55g (2ozs) sunflower seeds

30g (1oz) linseed

55g (2oz) bran

½ teaspoon cinnamon, freshly ground

2fl oz (50ml) sunflower or grape seed oil

110g (4oz) brown sugar

150ml (5fl oz) honey

125g (4ozs) dried apricots, chopped

125g (4 ozs) raisins

 

2 large baking trays

 

Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C /Gas mark 3

Mix grains, seeds and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Put the oil, honey and brown sugar into a saucepan, stir and bring to boil.  Stir the honey mixture into the oat mixture.  Mix carefully.

Divide evenly between the baking trays.  Bake in the oven for 20 -  30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until evenly golden.

Allow to cool.  Mix in chopped apricots and raisins.  Store in an airtight jar.

 

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. Lecithin comes from soya beans, it is rich in phosphatidyl Choline – an important nutrient in the control of dietary fat, and it helps the body to convert fats into energy rather than storing them as body fat.

 

8 Weetabix bars

7 ozs (200g/2 cups) oatmeal (Quaker oats or Speedicook oatflakes)

1 1/2 ozs (45g/1/2 cup) bran

2 1/4 ozs (62g/3/4 cup) fresh wheat germ

2 1/4 ozs (62g/1/2 cup) raisins

2 1/2 ozs (62g/1/2 cup) sliced hazelnuts or a mixture of cashews and hazelnuts

2 1/2 ozs (62g/1/2 cup) soft brown sugar – Barbados sugar

2 tablespoons Lecithin – optional

 

Serves 12

 

Crumble the 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 it with a sliced banana and whole milk.

 

Fresh Apple Muesli

 

This fruit muesli is served for breakfast right through the year at Ballymaloe House the fruit varies with the season.

 

Serves 4

 

4 heaped tablespoons rolled oatmeal (Quaker Oats)

8 tablespoons water

3 – 4 grated dessert apples (Worcester Permain, Cox’s Orange Pippin or Gala)

1 – 3 teaspoons Irish honey or to taste

 

Soak the oatmeal in the water for 10 or 15 minutes. Meanwhile, grate the apple on the coarse part of a box grater, no need to peel, pick out and discard the seeds, mix with the oatmeal. Sweeten to taste with honey, a scant teaspoon is usually enough but it depends on how sweet the apples are.

Serve with cream and soft brown sugar.

 

Macroom Oatmeal Porridge

 

Serves 4

 

Virtually every morning in Winter I start my day with a bowl of porridge.  Search out Macroom stoneground oatmeal from the last stone grinding mill in Ireland which has the most delicious toasted nutty flavour.  It comes in a lovely old-fashioned red and yellow pack which I hope they never change.

 

5 1/2 ozs (155g) Macroom oatmeal

32 fl ozs (950 ml) water

1 level teaspoon salt

 

Obligatory accompaniment!

 

Soft brown sugar

 

Bring 4 cups of water to the boil, sprinkle in the oatmeal, gradually stirring all the time.  Put on a low heat and stir until the water comes to the boil.

 

Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the salt and stir again.  Serve with single cream or milk and soft brown sugar melting over the top.

Left over porridge can be stored in a covered container in the fridge – it will reheat perfectly the next day.

 

 

 

Shanagarry Soda Bread

 

This is a more modern version of soda bread, couldn’t be simpler, just mix and pour into a well-greased tin – yields about 10 slices.

 

This bread keeps very well for several days and is also great toasted.

 

Makes 1 loaf or 3 small loaves

 

400g (14 oz) stone ground wholemeal flour

55g (3oz) plain white flour, preferably unbleached

1 level teaspoon bread soda, sieved (Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey or soft dark brown sugar

1 egg, preferably free range

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil, unscented

425ml (15fl oz) buttermilk or sour milk approx. (put all the milk in)

Sunflower or sesame seeds optional

 

Loaf tin – 9 inches (23cm) x 5 inches (12.5cm) x 2 inches (5cm)

 

Preheat oven to 2001C/4001F/regulo 6.

 

Put all the dry ingredients including the sieved bread soda into a large bowl, mix well. Whisk the egg, add the oil and honey most of the buttermilk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in all the liquid, mix well and add more buttermilk if necessary. The mixture should be soft and slightly sloppy, pour into an oiled tin or tins and bake for approx. an hour or until the bread is nice and crusty and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

 

Hottips

 

Spanish Point Sea Vegetables

At last we’re waking up to the wealth of sea-weeds and sea vegetables around our coast. Not just carrageen moss and dilisk but kombu, wakame, sea lettuce, kelp, sea spaghetti… all packed with vitamins, minerals and trace elements – great recipes on the website – www.wildirishseaveg.com

 

Irish Honey – I was not convinced about rape seed honey – in fact I was deeply prejudiced until I tasted Ballyvalla Honey from Slieverue in Waterford – phone 086-8168825 – waterfordbees@gmail.com

 

 

There’s lots of excitement about the flavour and health benefits of rape seed oil – only one does it for me – Kitty Colchester’s freshly pressed organic Second Nature Rape Seed oil from Urlingford in Co Kilkenny, look out for new flavours, lemon, mandarin, rosemary, chilli and garlic. www.secondnatureoils.com

 

The Restaurant Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins recently announced that there is a critical shortage of trained chefs – one of the very few areas where there are job opportunities at present – the next intensive 12 Week Certificate Course designed to teach students the skills they need to earn their living from their cooking starts Monday 7th January, 2013 -  www.cookingisfun.ie – watch a short video about the course  http://youtu.be/ZbHDi7SS2hY

By now the Christmas frenzy is building up. Hopefully the cake and plum pudding are made and you’ve decided whether its turkey or goose. Maybe you’ve plumped for a fine roast chicken, maybe a pheasant or a nice glazed ham. One way or the other you’ll probably have some little scraps left over that can be added to salads, a gratin or even a bubbly ‘mac and cheese.’ The latter is delicious cooked in tiny muffin tins lined with parchment till the edges get crispy – serve with drinks.

Fresh Brussels sprouts make delicious salads, peel off the outer leaves and mix with a good dressing and maybe some pumpkin seeds.  The classic Croque Monsieur is a posh cheese and ham sandwich – a real favourite with the French and a brilliant way to use up some thin slices of left over ham, everyone including kids will love it.

Offer to take your friends turkey carcasses, they may pity you but you’ll have the last laugh. The carcass makes a brilliant stock, good enough to sip as a soothing broth but also great as the basis of a light soup embellished with shreds of leftover turkey, pheasant, or chicken.

Left over pannetone or even barmbrack makes a terrific bread and butter pudding, you may want to add a few more sultanas and perhaps a scattering of diced ginger.

Mincemeat keeps well but it can used in so many yummy ways, with apple in tarts or tartlets, in a crumble or tray bake or even as a stuffing for a baked apple. Here’s a few suggestions to use up left overs in dishes I enjoy.

A Happy Christmas and hope 2013 brings much joy and the blessing of many delicious meals with family and friends around the kitchen table.

 

Turkey, Orzo, Pea and Spring Onion Broth

 

Super light and refreshing, a particularly delicious way of using up scraps of cooked turkey or other poultry.

 

Serves 6

 

1 litre (1 ¾ pints) turkey, chicken or pheasant stock

50g (2oz) orzo pasta

2 tender stalks celery, finely sliced at an angle

pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

150 – 175g (5 – 6 oz) shredded cooked turkey, chicken or pheasant

110g (4oz) frozen peas

salt and freshly ground pepper

4 – 6 spring onions, sliced at an angle (depending on size)

lots of fresh coriander and/or fresh mint leaves

 

Bring the stock to the boil; add the orzo, celery and chilli flakes. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the pasta is just cooked, add the peas and shredded chicken. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning. Ladle into soup bowls, sprinkle with spring onions and lots of fresh coriander and/or mint.

 

Brussels Sprout Salad with Avocado and Toasted Pecans

 

Pumpkin seeds or hazelnuts would be good here also. If separating the leaves of the Brussels sprouts is too much of a mission, just shred them finely instead, however the individual leaves look and taste great.

 

 

(450g) 1lb fresh Brussels sprouts, leaves separated

2 ripe but slightly firm avocados

1 – 2 blood oranges (depending on size)

25 – 50g (1 – 2 oz) pecans, toasted

salt and freshly ground pepper

flat leaf parsley sprigs

 

Dressing

 

finely grated zest of 1 preferably organic lemon

2 tablespoons squeezed lemon juice

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon honey

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Whisk all the ingredients for the salad dressing together.

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/Mark 4. Toast the pecans in a single layer for 8 – 10 minutes. Peel the outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts (keep the centres for another dish) Put into a bowl. Segment the blood oranges, add to the bowl. Whisk the dressing, add any spare orange juice and sprinkle some over the salad and toss gently. Turn out onto a wide platter, halve, stone and slice the avocado, arrange haphazardly op top. Sprinkle with warm toasted pecans, hazelnuts or pumpkin seeds and lots of flat parsley sprigs. Taste and correct seasoning.

 

Mac and Cheese

 

Serves 6

 

Macaroni cheese is all over menus in the US, once again, comforting and delicious. We often add some cubes of cooked bacon or ham or a dice of smoked salmon or mackerel to the sauce with the cooked macaroni.

 

8 ozs (225g) macaroni

6 pints (3.4 litres) water

2 teaspoons salt

 

2 ozs (50g) butter

2 ozs (50g) white flour, preferably unbleached

1 1/2 pints (850ml) boiling milk

1/4 teaspoon Dijon or English mustard

1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley, (optional)

salt and freshly ground pepper

5 ozs (150g) grated mature Cheddar cheese

1 oz (25g) grated Cheddar cheese for sprinkling on top

¾ – 1lb (350 – 450g) diced cooked ham, turkey, chicken, pheasant or a mixture

 

1 x 2 pint (1.1 litre) capacity pie dish

 

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the salt. Sprinkle in the macaroni and stir to make sure it doesn’t stick together. Cook until just soft, 10-15 minutes approx. drain well.

 

Meanwhile melt the butter, add in the flour and cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally for 1-2 minutes.  Remove from the heat. Whisk in the milk gradually; bring back to the boil, stirring all the time. Add the diced cooked meat, mustard, parsley if using and cheese, season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Add the cooked macaroni bring back to the boil, taste, correct seasoning and serve immediately.

 

Macaroni cheese reheats very successfully provided the pasta is not overcooked in the first place.  Turn into a pie dish, sprinkle grated cheese over the top.  Reheat in a preheated moderate oven – 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes. It is very good served with cold meat particularly ham.

 

Top Tip: Macaroni soaks up an enormous amount of sauce.  Add more sauce if making ahead to reheat later.

 

Roast Apples with Mincemeat

 

Serves 4

 

Use Irish Bramleys and make sure to cook them until they burst.

 

4 large cooking apples, preferably Crimson Bramleys

4 tablespoons of homemade mince meat

a little water

softly whipped cream or crème fráiche

 

Core the apples and score the skin of each around the ‘equator’. Put the apples onto an ovenproof dish large enough to take them in a single layer without touching. Fill the center of each apple with mincemeat.

 

Pour a little water around and roast in a preheated moderate oven 180ºC/350ºF/regulo 4 for about 1 hour depending on the size. They should be fluffy and burst slightly but still be fat and puffy not collapsed. Serve as soon as possible with softly whipped cream or crème fráiche.

 

Croque-Monsieur

 

 

A croque-monsieur is the quintessential Parisian sandwich.   It’s really no more than a grilled ham sandwich topped with grated cheese, but it appears in many different guises.   Sometimes a croque-monsieur is topped with a thick Mornay sauce, or transformed into a croque-madame with the addition of a fried egg on top.

 

Makes 1

 

a dab of butter

2 thin square slices best quality white bread (pain de mie in France)

1 slice cooked ham, cut to fit bread

1oz (25g) sliced Gruyère cheese

1 beaten egg and some cream or milk

 

Butter the slices of bread on one side.  Place the slices of ham and cheese on one buttered side and cover with the other slice of bread.

Whisk the egg with the cream or milk. Dip both sides of the sandwich into the mixture.

Melt a little butter on a pan over a medium heat, cook first on one side, then on the other until the surface is golden and the cheese is soft and bubbly. Eat immediately while hot. Serve alone or with a good salad – Bon appetit!

 

Pannetone Bread and Butter Pudding

 

Bread and Butter Pudding is a most irresistible way of using up leftover bread, croissants, brioche or barmbrack – this is a particularly delicious recipe made with pannetone.

 

Serves 6-8

 

12 slices Pannetone or good-quality white bread, crusts removed

2 ozs (50g) butter, preferably unsalted

1/2 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg or cinnamon

7 ozs (200g) Lexia raisins or plump sultanas

16 fl ozs (475ml) cream

8 fl ozs (225ml) milk

4 large eggs, beaten lightly

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or a dash of Eau de Vie or brandy

6 ozs (175g) sugar

1 tablespoon sugar for sprinkling on top of the pudding

 

Garnish

softly-whipped cream

1 x 8 inches (20.5cm) square pottery or china dish

 

Butter the pannetone or bread and arrange 4 slices, buttered side down, in one layer in a dish.  Sprinkle with half the nutmeg or cinnamon and half the raisins, arrange another layer of bread, buttered side down, over the raisins, and sprinkle the remaining spice and fruit on top.  Cover the raisins with the remaining pannetone or bread, buttered side down.

 

In a bowl whisk together the cream, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, eau de vie or brandy if using and sugar.  Pour the mixture through a sieve over the pudding.  Sprinkle the sugar over the top and let the mixture stand, covered loosely, at room temperature for at least 1 hour or chill overnight.

 

Bake in a bain-marie – the water should be half way up the sides of the baking dish.  Bake in the middle of a preheated oven, 180ºC/350ºF/regulo 4, for 1 hour approx. or until the top is crisp and golden.  Serve the pudding warm with some softly-whipped cream.

 

Hot Tips

 

Stocking Fillers

Find of the week: I loved the Atlantic Seaweed Salt from the Organic Herb Company that I found on the tables at the glitzy Good Food Ireland Awards at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin recently, a perfect stocking filler.  www.organicherbco.com

 

Rattling your brains for a last minute present? Why not give a gift that will last a lifetime, a Ballymaloe Cookery School gift token, you too will get the benefit!  phone 021 4646785 or purchase online www.cookingisfun.ie

 

The sublime new seasons Capezzana Extra Virgin Olive oil has just arrived from Tuscany, at Ballymaloe Cookery School shop. There is no greater treat for your foodie friend, a drizzle makes everything into a feast! Also at the Ballymaloe stall in the Midleton Farmer’s Market on Saturday 22nd December from 8:30am to 2:00pm www.midletonfarmersmarket.com

 

Bridgestone Guides make a great little gift – 100 Best Places to Stay in Ireland, 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland and The Irish Food Guide – evocative prose, no house should be without one even if it’s only to dream…

 

Five Stocking Fillers for the Wine Buff

Hugh Johnson’s pocket Wine Guide – a little gem for the wine buff in your life.  Vacu-Vin Wine pump is a brilliant toy, you can extract the air from a wine bottle and keep the wine in perfect condition for another night! Drop Stop – non drippers, a brilliant invention – flexible silver discs that be inserted into the neck of the bottle to avoid drips. Screwpull Cork Screw – a very expensive bottle opener but once again it’s a gift for life – I still have one after 20 years, while at least 10 others have come and gone.  Available in all good wine and kitchen shops.