CategorySaturday Letter

All over the world, there are food festivals, some principally focus on food and invite guest chefs from across the globe to share their creativity and skills Others like MAD in Copenhagen (coming up in May) focus on food, farming and environmental issues and try to come up with solutions to remedy your deeply flawed food system.

JR Ryall, pastry chef at Ballymaloe House and I recently travelled to Sri Lanka to participate in the Gourmet Galle festival which is now in its second year. It was originally created by the legendary Geoffrey Dobbs who also initiated the Galle Literary Festival which commenced in 2005. This was my second time participating.

We created a Taste of Ballymaloe Dinner at the chic Charleston Hotel one night. The menu was a fusion of Sri Lankan and Irish ingredients. We brought a beautiful side of Belvelly Smoked Salmon from artisan fish smoker, Frank Hederman all the way from Ireland and served it with a fresh cucumber pickle, devilled eggs and freshly baked, Ballymaloe brown yeast bread. 

Lots of beets in season at the moment so we made a chilled beetroot soup drizzled with Sri Lankan buffalo curd and fresh coriander, very welcome in the sweltering Sri Lankan heat. Main course was roast free-range Sri Lankan pork with crackling, aubergines in the pickling style and rustic roast potatoes sprinkled with fresh rosemary.

Guests particularly loved JR’s sweet trolley and each and every one of the beautiful people tucked into a taste of absolutely everything on offer. Sri Lanka grows wonderful cashew nuts, so the praline ice cream was made with cashew nuts instead of almonds. JR layered up the panna cotta with a Sri Lankan espresso coffee jelly, a huge success. Little coconut meringues were topped with the sweetest Alfonso mango and a spoonful of tangy passion fruit and finally there was a wobbly, gooey chocolate tart. 

All the recipes came from JR‘s Ballymaloe Desserts Cookbook, which we later found on the shelves of a fantastic independent bookshop in Unawatuna called Wild and Sage. It’s also got a sweet little café so put it on your Sri Lankan list if you’re planning to head that way. 

We stayed in The Charleston in Galle Fort for several days, so we had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. Of course, we visited the fish market on the edge of the lagoon plus the fruit and veg markets and lots of spice shops in the Muslim quarter where we learned how to source the very best Sri Lankan cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamon, nutmeg and mace. 

Out in Tagalle, I watched the fishermen laboriously hauling in their horseshoe nets and sharing the catch. One of the traditional Sri Lankan Orrou boats sustains 8 to 10 families, it was truly an honour to observe this time honoured practice, most of the catch was whitebait and another slightly bigger but still tiny fish. Occasionally, they caught a couple of sear fish which was like winning the lotto for them. 

Food is our subject, so we’re continually researching to add to our depth of knowledge. There are of course many tea gardens, young leaves from the top of the tea plant are handpicked and cured. Tea from Ceylon, now Sri Lanka has been sought after for hundreds of years and at last conditions for the pickers and farm workers are improving. Organic tea leaves from the Diyanillakelle Tea Garden in Lindula within the Nuwara Eliya District of Sri Lanka are included in the special Ballymaloe Tea blend created for us by Henrietta Lovell, The Rare Tea Lady.

We went on several foodie adventures including a visit to the Gradely Cinnamon Estate which was less than an hour from Galle to get a full understanding of the fascinating process from start to finish. Our guide, Hasita, was a brilliant communicator and gave us an in-depth tour, literally from the red earth to the curled up cinnamon bark. We watched a cinnamon peeler sitting, cross legged on the floor, expertly peeling and rolling the bark with the skill passed down to him from his father and grandfather. All Sri Lankan cinnamon is still meticulously hand peeled and rolled, think about that…

We learned the crucially important skill of how to tell the difference between cassia (false cinnamon) and true cinnamon which is regularly passed off as cinnamon. Ground cinnamon, which is regularly cut with cassia, a cheaper and more acrid spice. True cinnamon is sweet and flaky, cassia is a much firmer texture, considerably cheaper, darker in colour and more acrid in flavour. If you have a choice, look for the Alba grade, it’s mostly considered to be the finest. Because of its quality, it’s mostly exported from Sri Lanka. 

All parts of the cinnamon bush are valuable, the leaves are distilled and used to make cinnamon leaf oil, it’s got a high percentage of eugenol, also used in the fragrance industry and is a highly effective antibacterial cleaning agent but NOT for human consumption. Cinnamon oil on the other hand is mainly used to flavour cakes, biscuits, desserts, drinks.

Cinnamon is known to be antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and is a natural cholesterol buster. The trimmings of the quills are used to make cinnamon tea, and the peeled branches are used for barbecue fuel. It’s the plant that keeps on giving…

Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms

This recipe uses a piece of cinnamon rather than powder.

Beans are an almost perfect food, they are high in protein and fibre and they don’t contain a scrap of fat or dreaded cholesterol.  They are also cheap and highly versatile, they can however be deadly dull but livened up with fresh herbs and spices the possibilities are endless.

This is a recipe high on my list of favourite vegetarian recipes, basically it is another gem from Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘A Taste of India’ but I have adapted the recipe slightly. Fresh coriander makes a tremendous difference to the flavour. If you have any space now that Spring is on the way, why not buy a packet of seeds, it is really easy to grow and you’ll soon become addicted.

Serves 6

Ingredients

225g dried black-eyed beans

225g fresh mushrooms

6 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

2.5cm piece of cinnamon bark

150g onion, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped

400g fresh or tinned tomatoes, peeled and chopped

2 tsp ground coriander seeds

1 tsp ground cumin seeds

½ tsp ground turmeric

pinch of sugar

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 good tsp salt, (it needs it so don’t cut down)

freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (fresh parsley may be substituted though the flavour is not at all the same)

Method

Soak the beans in plenty of cold water overnight. Next day cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes approx. or until just cooked.

Cut the mushrooms into 3mm thick slices. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium-high flame. When hot, put in the whole cumin seeds and the cinnamon stick. Let them sizzle for 5-6 seconds. Now put in the onions and garlic. Stir and fry until the onion is just beginning to colour at the edges. Put in the mushrooms. Stir and fry until the mushrooms wilt. Now put in the tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, pinch of sugar and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute. Cover, and let this mixture cook on a gentle heat in its own juices for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat under the sauté pan. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and add to the mushroom base mixture, add salt and freshly ground pepper, 2 tablespoons of fresh coriander and 150ml of bean cooking liquid.

Bring the beans to the boil again. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the beans are tender.  Stir occasionally. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of fresh coriander. Serve with boiled rice or as an accompaniment to a rack of lamb.

Spiced Pan Roasted Pear Cake

Use freshly ground cinnamon here but if you buy the already ground product, it should be pale in colour and sweet to taste.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

110g soft light or dark brown sugar

110g unsalted butter, cut in cubes

175g plain flour

110g caster sugar

2 tsp freshly ground cinnamon

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 large eggs

150ml sunflower oil

1 pear, coarsely grated

1 tbsp grated ginger

4 pears, peeled, cored and cut into 6

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Method

Sprinkle brown sugar over the bottom of a heavy 25cm sauté pan or frying pan or a heavy cake tin with 6.5cm deep sides. Add the butter to the pan.  Place the sauté pan on a low heat until butter melts.

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together.  Whisk in the eggs and oil.  Mix in the grated pear and ginger.

 Remove the pan or tin from the heat.   Whisk the butter and sugar until the sugar dissolves.  Arrange the pear slices in the frying pan or tin.  Pour the batter over the pears and bake until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean (approximately 1 hour).

Allow to cool slightly (10 minutes approximately); loosen the edges of the cake with a knife and turn out onto a hot plate.

Serve warm with softly whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream.

Marzipan Apples

Sweet apples are rolled in butter and then crusted with freshly ground cinnamon and sugar – so delicious!

Serves 12, 1 per person

Ingredients

12 medium eating apples, e.g. Worcester Pearmain, Golden Delicious or Cox’s Orange Pippin. Marzipan will keep for 2-3 months in a fridge. 

Marzipan

Makes 300g 

175g ground almonds

110g sugar

62ml water

1 small egg white

natural almond extract to taste (do not use more than 4 drops)

Coating

110g melted butter

225g caster sugar mixed with 4 rounded teaspoons ground cinnamon. (This is approximate: the amount of the mixture depends on the size of the apples.)

Method

To Make the Marzipan.

Put the sugar and water into a deep saucepan.  Stir over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar in the water.  Bring to the boil.  Cover the pan for 2 minutes to steam any sugar from the saucepan sides.   Remove cover and boil rapidly just to thread stage: 106-113°C.

Remove from the heat.  Stir the syrup for a second or two until cloudy.  Stir in the ground almonds.  Set aside to cool briefly.

Lightly whisk the egg white, add the almond extract and stir into the almond mixture.  Transfer the paste from the saucepan to a bowl.  Cool.  Knead the cool marzipan, it should feel like moulding clay.  Put in a bowl or jar, cover and use as required. 

Meanwhile, peel and core the apples.  Stuff the cavities with the marzipan filling.  Roll the apples first in melted butter and then in the castor sugar and cinnamon.  Place in an ovenproof dish and bake in a moderate oven 180°C/Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour approx.  The apple needs to be very soft.

Serve warm with a bowl of softly-whipped cream.

Note

Apples may take less/more time to cook depending on the variety and time of the year.

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, Tourism Ireland and Bord Fáilte have been in overdrive throughout the past few months, working to make the very best use of this annual holiday to promote Ireland and all things Irish around the globe.
This year there is a palpable air of anxiety in diplomatic circles as our Taoiseach, Micheál Martin heads to Washington once again to wish the unpredictable President Trump, Happy St. Patrick’s Day and present him with the traditional bowl of Shamrock. Much rests on the outcome, so we all keep our fingers crossed and hope that the luck of the Irish holds true and that Micheál’s charm will save the day for the sake of US /Irish relations, not to mention the Irish economy.
I loved how up to recently, Tourism Ireland illuminated iconic buildings around the world in green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It was a brilliant ploy to focus attention on Ireland from the Sydney Opera House to the Colosseum, Wat Arun in Bangkok to the gateway of India…Sadly, however, this has now been discontinued for a variety of reasons.
I’m in India as I write and the Irish community here are much like Irish communities around the world, planning a variety of celebrations to make St. Patrick’s Day special, an excuse to get together, to party and reminisce.
I love an excuse to celebrate, St. Patrick’s Day brings memories flooding back of when I was little, attending the National School in Cullohill in Co Laois. We looked forward to every feast day and searched around the edge of the playground for little rosettes of shamrock to give to our Mums and Dads and grandparents to pin on the lapels of their coats. Us young ones preferred to wear St. Patrick’s Day badges with kelly green ribbons and glitzy gold shamrocks from the village shop. Mum always made a cake for tea.
This year we are told that the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin will be bigger and better than ever. It’s all about inclusivity and will also celebrate the cultures of the Irish travellers and the Roma community showcasing their heritage, through storytelling and forgotten skills like the iconic wagon wheel.
I’m often in America over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday, spreading the word about the creative and vibrant Irish food scene, but despite what they may have been led to believe over there, we don’t live on corned beef and cabbage and many, many Irish people have never tasted that combination, delicious as it is.
Closer to home, how about having a few friends and family around for a  St. Patrick’s Day lunch or supper? Check out your local butcher, many still make corned beef and those who live in Cork, need to go no further than the English Market to pick up a fine piece from several of the traditional butchers. Cook it with lots of carrots, cabbage quarters and potatoes and of course, some parsley sauce.
I’m often asked what’s the best known traditional Irish dish, most people have just heard of Irish Stew but my favourite is bacon cabbage and parsley sauce with some scallion champ and lots of butter, a really comforting feast and who doesn’t love it, a trip down memory lane for many people.
Seek out a nice piece of bacon with a generous layer of fat either streaky or back bacon and a fresh head of Spring cabbage, makes me hungry to even write about it.
Many would argue that the US is the very best place to be to celebrate and embrace the spirit, I love the way everybody wants to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. The Americans take the wearing of the green really seriously, nothing is too wild or naff, it’s all about fun and the craic. I love the riffs on the badges that almost everyone seems to wear, that say RIP – real Irish person, HIP – honorary Irish person, JIP – jolly Irish person, FIP – fake Irish person, WIP – wanna be Irish person…..
At the Ballymaloe Cooking School, we share the story of St. Patrick with our students from around the world and tell them how he banished snakes from Ireland and used the three leaves of shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity.
We encourage our students to search their wardrobes for a splash of green, to dress up, even a green ribbon in their hair to get into the Paddy’s Day vibe and have fun in the kitchen, the possibilities are endless. Shamrock shaped bread and scones. How about sprinkling crunchy green crystallised sugar on top of cupcakes or a cake. If you want some lessons in Paddy’s Day bling, there are a myriad of ideas online, forget about ‘good’ taste, just have fun!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and all your family.

Shamrock Bread with Wild Garlic for St. Patrick’s Day

Soda breads are the traditional breads of our country. How about shaping it into a shamrock shape for a bit of gas on St. Patrick’s Day.

Soda bread only takes a few minutes to make and 30-40 minutes to bake, the possibilities are endless for the hitherto humble soda bread.

Wild Garlic season is in full swing now so keep an eye out for clumps of the three cornered lily along the roadside in your local area. 

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

450g plain white flour

1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 level tsp salt

3-4 tbsp chopped wild garlic, (allium triquetrum)

350-400ml sour milk or buttermilk (the quantity depends on the thickness of the milk)

Method

Preheat the oven to 230°C/Gas Mark 8.

Soda bread is best cooked in a conventional oven rather than a fan or convection oven.

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl, add the chopped wild garlic. Make a well in the centre and pour most of the milk in at once. Using one hand with the fingers stiff and outstretched, mix in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl, gradually drawing in the flour from the sides.  Add a little more milk if necessary – shop bought buttermilk is thinner than farm-fresh, so you will need less rather than more. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky. The trick with all soda breads is not to overmix the dough – mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy.  When it all comes together, a matter of seconds – turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. 

WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS, then dust them with flour.

 Tidy up the dough and flip it over gently.  Divide into three equal pieces and pull off a tiny bit for the stem. Pat each into rounds, about 4cm deep. Transfer to a lightly floured baking tray, use a little buttermilk to attach the leaves of the shamrock to each other. Add a little stem at the base, make a little indent at the top of each leaf to imitate the shamrock shape. With the tip of a sharp knife, prick in the centre of each leaf to let the fairies out otherwise they will jinx your bread!

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for 30 minutes more, until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread – if it’s fully cooked, it will sound hollow. Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve. 

Bacon and Cabbage  

Without question Ireland’s national dish – less widely known abroad, but much more widely eaten, particularly in rural Ireland, than the legendary Irish stew.  Nowadays, bacon is far less salty than in the 1980’s so may not need to be blanched before cooking. 

Serves 12-15

Ingredients

1.8-2.25kg loin or shoulder of bacon with a nice covering of fat

1 head of cabbage: Savoy, Greyhound or spring cabbage, depending on the time of year

butter

white pepper

To Serve

Parsley Sauce (see recipe)

Method

If the bacon is too salty, cover in cold water and bring slowly to the boil (uncovered), white froth will rise to the top.  Pour off the water. Cover with hot water and simmer until nearly cooked through, allowing at least 20 minutes per 450g.

Meanwhile, remove the outer leaves from the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters, discarding the centre core. Cut each quarter into thin strips across the grain. About 30 minutes before the bacon is cooked, add the cabbage. Continue to cook until the cabbage is soft and tender, and the bacon is fully cooked through. Remove the bacon to a hot plate and strain the water off the cabbage. Return the cabbage to the pan with a lump of butter, season with white pepper. Serve with the bacon and, traditionally, boiled potatoes and Parsley Sauce.

Parsley Sauce

Unquestionably our favourite traditional Irish sauce but a must with bacon and cabbage…

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

4-6 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley leaves (retain the stalks)

600ml fresh whole milk

30-45g roux (equal quantities of plain flour and butter cooked for 2 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally)

salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Put the parsley stalks into a saucepan with the cold milk, bring slowly to the boil, then remove the stalks. Whisk the roux into the boiling milk until thickened and add the chopped parsley. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Simmer for 5-10 minutes on a very low heat, then taste and correct the seasoning before serving. 

Pamela Black’s St. Patrick’s Day Cake

A scary green cake but delicious and fun and just happens to be green, white and gold….

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

175g butter

175g caster sugar

¼ tsp green food gel colouring

1 tsp of vanilla extract

3 eggs, preferably free range

175g self-raising flour

3 tbsp kumquat compote (see recipe)

300ml cream, stiffly whipped

icing sugar

fresh marigolds to decorate

2 x 18cm cake tins

Method

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

Grease the tins with a little melted butter and put a round of greaseproof paper on the bottom of the tins.

Cream the butter, add sugar, green colouring and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time, each time with a tablespoon of flour. Beat very well and then fold in the remaining flour gently. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes are well risen, golden and feel spongy to the fingertips.

Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the tins and then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Next make the kumquat compote.

Ingredients

235g kumquats

200ml water

110g sugar

Method

Slice the kumquats into four or five rounds depending on size, remove the seeds.  Put the kumquats into a saucepan with the water and sugar and let them cook very gently, covered, for half an hour or until tender.

Note: This compote keeps for weeks in the fridge.

To Assemble the cake.

Spread the compote over the bottom of each sponge. Fill a piping bag, fitted with a plain éclair nozzle, with the whipped cream. Pipe the cream evenly over one base, starting at the outside edge of the sponge, working inwards. Place the remaining sponge on top and dust with icing sugar. Garnish with Marigold Flowers.

The Curragh in Co Kildare is usually associated with the Irish army barracks or a fine days horse racing at the Irish Derby, Oaks, Irish Guineas, St. Ledge…but recently butchers from all over the country, north and south converged on the Curragh clutching boxes of precious homemade sausages, black puddings and their finest steaks.
They were there to compete in the National Irish Steak Challenge and I was invited to be a judge along with 30 others including master butchers, meat scientists, industry professionals and chefs. What a day, we tasted and judged over 25 sirloin, rump, and fillet steaks. Other teams of judges tasted the sausages and the black and white puddings.
Chefs Dolan Heaney, Sean Owens and their team, laboured non-stop all day cooking the steaks in the kitchen of the Curragh restaurant normally frequented by hungry racegoers.
The awards are a serious business, we worked in threes, examining, first the raw steaks then tasting mostly juicy morsels of the cooked meat. We each marked them for appearance, flavour and tenderness then we tasted.
Finally it was narrowed down to six finalists to ascertain the winners. We tasted and pondered over 100 steaks in total.
I know you have no sympathy for me, but by the end I wasn’t craving a juicy steak any time soon but I have to say I was mightily impressed and heartened by the standard.
Here in Ireland, despite the fact that we’ve lost quite a number of butchers, we are fortunate to still have many local butchers, this is not the case in many countries where the meat business has been lost to the big meat plants and supermarkets. Animals are slaughtered and butchered in large meat factories. They can undoubtedly be traced back to the farm or increasingly feedlot where they are reared but the skill and knowledge of being able to choose an animal at its optimum stage of maturity is not needed. Nor are the butchering skills or the in-depth knowledge of the carcass and how to utilise every scrap of the animal.
However, here in Ireland, we are still beyond fortunate to have a number of butchers who still have to have their own abattoirs so they can humanely kill the animals they have purchased at local marts or have carefully chosen from local beef farmers who proudly rear their animals on rich pasture to produce the very best quality meat.
Many of these butchers are second and third generation and in some cases even fifth generation so you can imagine how the skill and knowledge has been passed down from father to son through the years although there are indeed some talented women butchers also.
Those who are still fortunate enough to have butchers with their own abattoirs close by are fortunate indeed, for me they are the ultimate craft butchers. They know the story of the animals from the farm to the fork, how to dry age and are in total control of the quality. They are deeply knowledgeable about the different cuts of meat and how to cook them.
An animal is made up of many different cuts, some muscular, others like the fillet are super tender. Some can be flashed on a hot pan or grill for a few minutes while others need to be coaxed to melting tenderness by slow, gentle cooking.
Ironically the more muscular, less expensive cuts usually have far superior flavour but need more care and a different type of cooking.
If you are fortunate to have such a butcher in your local area, go out of your way to raise awareness and support them, otherwise they will be lost in the struggle to compete with supermarket prices.
Most people don’t realise that we are not comparing like with like. Dry aged meat is quite different to meat that is vac packed and aged in plastic, more economical and convenient of course, but less succulent and for me, often less flavoursome.
Skills are being lost for a variety of reasons, regrettable but understandable, economics and convenience are major factors. All the more reason to value and  show our appreciation for the dwindling number of family butchers throughout Ireland, both north and south who continue to hone their craft and are anxious and determined to pass on the skills to future generations.
For a list of the winners in the Irish Craft  Butchers Association Awards go to www.craftbutchers.ie
I will mention just two, the overall winner of several awards was Millar Meats (fillet and striploin steak category), a passionate family butcher for the past 20 years in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh who finishes the animals he buys from local farmers on his own land.
Winner of the ribeye steak with a Kingsbory Irish Wagyu ribeye was Kerrigan’s butchers from north County Dublin founded in 1973.
Just to be clear, not all butchers are members of the Craft Butcher Association. Some exemplars understandably just want to be independent; others are not joiners. If you have such a butcher close to you, celebrate and enjoy every morsel of their carefully chosen product on your plate. Chefs too can raise awareness by identifying the butcher and the farmer who raised the premium animal on their restaurant menus.
So this week, here are some steak recipes for you to enjoy.

Pan-grilled Steak with French Fried Onions and Béarnaise Sauce

Sirloin is more textural than fillet, with lots of flavour, but you can use either here or indeed a juicy ribeye either.

Of all the sauces to serve with steak, Béarnaise sauce is the classic combination and my absolute favourite. We find a heavy-ridged cast-iron grill pan best for cooking steaks when you don’t need to make a sauce in the pan. If the weight of these steaks sounds small by your standards, the portion size can be increased and the cooking times adjusted accordingly.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 x 175g sirloin or fillet steaks

1 garlic clove

salt and freshly ground pepper

a little olive oil

To Serve

Béarnaise Sauce (see recipe)

French Fried Onions (see recipe)

fresh watercress (optional)

Method

To prepare the steaks, about 1 hour before cooking, if time allows, cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it on both sides of each steak. This simple step intensifies the beefy flavour. Then grind some black pepper over the steaks and sprinkle on a few drops of olive oil. Turn the steaks in the oil and leave aside. If using sirloin steaks, score the fat at 2.5cm intervals.

Make the Béarnaise sauce and keep it warm (see recipe).

Heat the grill pan on a high heat, season the steaks with a little salt and put them down onto the hot pan.

The cooking times for each side of the steaks are roughly as follows:

                              Sirloin        Fillet

rare                       2 mins        5 mins

medium-rare      3 mins        6 mins

medium               4 mins        7 mins

well-done            5 mins        8-9 mins

When cooking a sirloin steak, also turn it over onto the fat side and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the fat crisps up nicely. Put the steaks onto an upturned plate resting on another plate and leave them for a few minutes in a warm place while you make the French fried onions.

Transfer the steaks to hot serving plates.

Serve with French fried onions, béarnaise sauce, some homemade chips and a sprig of fresh watercress if available.

French Fried Onions

The mere mention of French fried onions put fear and dread into those watching their figures, but these involve only a little milk and seasoned flour, so they have a delicious crisp coating. Recently, my nephew Ivan Whelan gave me a great tip. He found that when he added a lightly whisked egg white to the milk it made the onion ring even crispier. The watch point here is not to cut the onion rings thicker than the recipe calls for, or else the coating will be overcooked while the onions are still raw. French fried onions are wonderful with beef, but we pile them up on salads and pan-fried venison, too. Paprika, Sichuan pepper, cumin and coriander can all be added to the flour to ring the changes.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 egg white

300ml milk

2 large onions, peeled

225g seasoned flour

good-quality oil or beef dripping for deep-frying

Method

Whisk the egg white lightly and add it to the milk. Slice the onion into 5mm rings.

Separate the rings and cover with the milk mixture until needed. (The leftover milk may be boiled up, thickened with roux and used for a white or parsley sauce).

Just before serving, heat the oil or beef dripping to 180°C.

Toss the rings a few at a time in well-seasoned flour. Deep-fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden in the hot oil.

Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.

Béarnaise Sauce

The consistency of Béarnaise sauce should be considerably thicker than that of Hollandaise or beurre blanc, both of which ought to be a light coating consistency. If you do not have tarragon vinegar to hand, use a wine vinegar and add some extra chopped fresh French tarragon.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

4 tbsp tarragon vinegar

4 tbsp dry white wine

2 tsp finely chopped shallots

pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 organic egg yolks

110g butter

1 tbsp freshly chopped French tarragon leaves

Method

Boil the first 4 ingredients together in a low, heavy-bottomed, stainless-steel saucepan until completely reduced and the pan is almost dry but not browned. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water immediately. Pull the pan off the heat and leave to cool for 1 or 2 minutes.

Using a coil whisk, whisk in the egg yolks and add the butter bit by bit over a very low heat, whisking all the time. As soon as one piece melts, add the next piece; it will gradually thicken. If it shows signs of becoming too thick or slightly scrambling, remove from the heat immediately and add a little cold water. Do not leave the pan or stop whisking until the sauce is made. Finally, add 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped French tarragon and taste for seasoning.

If the sauce is slow to thicken, it may be because you are excessively cautious, and the heat is too low. Increase the heat slightly and continue to whisk until all the butter is added and the sauce is a thick coating consistency. It is important to remember, however, that if you are making Béarnaise sauce in a saucepan directly over the heat, it should be possible to put your hand on the side of the saucepan at any stage. If the saucepan feels too hot for your hand it is also too hot for the sauce!

Another good tip if you are making Béarnaise sauce for the first time is to keep a bowl of cold water close by so that you can plunge the bottom of the saucepan into it if it becomes too hot.

Keep the sauce warm in a Pyrex bowl over hot but not simmering water or in a Thermos flask until you want to serve it.

Mushroom and Ginger Sauce

This sauce will keep deliciously in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Serves 4

Ingredients

15-25g butter

75g onion, finely chopped

1-2 tsp freshly grated ginger

225g mushrooms, sliced

salt and freshly ground pepper

a squeeze of lemon juice

110ml cream

2 tsp freshly chopped chives

roux (equal quantities of plain flour and soft butter cooked on a low heat for 2 minutes stirring regularly)

Method

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan until it foams.  Add the chopped onions, cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 5-10 minutes or until quite soft but not coloured. Add the ginger.

Meanwhile, cook the sliced mushrooms in a little butter, in a hot frying pan in batches if necessary.  Season each batch with salt, freshly ground pepper and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice.  Add the mushrooms to the onions in the saucepan, then add the cream and chives, allow to bubble for a few minutes.  Thicken with a little roux to a light coating consistency.  Taste and correct the seasoning,

Pan-grilled Steak with Roast Red Peppers, Anchoïade and Rocket Leaves

I love this combination, the sweetness of the peppers, salty anchovy and peppery rocket leaves, a perfect accompaniment to a juicy steak.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 x 175g sirloin or fillet steaks

1 garlic clove

salt and freshly ground pepper

a little olive oil

3 plump red peppers

To Serve

Anchoïade (see recipe)

Method

To prepare the steaks, about 1 hour before cooking cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it on both sides of each steak. This simple step intensifies the beefy flavour. Then grind some black pepper over the steaks and sprinkle on a few drops of olive oil. Turn the steaks in the oil and leave aside. If using sirloin steaks, score the fat at 2.5cm intervals.

Next, roast the red peppers.

Preheat the grill or better still use a charcoal grill or barbecue.  Grill the peppers on all sides, turning them when necessary – they can be quite charred.  Alternatively, preheat the oven to 250°C/Gas Mark 9.  Put the peppers on a baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes until the skin blisters and the flesh is soft.

Put them into a bowl and cover for a few minutes, this will make them much easier to peel. 

Pull the skin off the peppers, remove the stalks and seeds. Do not wash or you will lose the precious sweet juices.  Divide each into 2 or 3 pieces along the natural divisions. 

To cook the steaks.

Heat the grill pan, season the steaks with a little salt and put them down onto the hot pan.

Cook to your preference – rare, medium rare, medium or well done (see Pan-grilled Steak with Béarnaise Sauce for timings).

Allow to rest.

Transfer the steaks onto hot plates.

Serve with roast red peppers, rocket leaves and a little blob of anchoïade.

Anchoïade

Makes 450ml approximately

Ingredients

110g tinned anchovy fillets (weigh out of tin)

300ml olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

½ tsp thyme leaves

1 tbsp chopped basil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

lots of freshly ground pepper

Method

Whizz all ingredients together except the oil in a food processor. Add the oil gradually. Taste and add a little more oil if necessary.  (The anchovies act in the same way as egg yolks in mayonnaise and as a protein, will emulsify the oil). Be careful and keep a close eye as the oil starts to emulsify. If you feel it becomes too thick, add a little water. This will do two things; it will thin the anchoïade and will also stabilise the emulsion too which will stop it from splitting.

When all the oil is incorporated and you have a lovely thick garlicky, anchovy emulsion, store in a covered jar in the fridge.  Serve with crudités or just slathered on toast, bruschetta, or warm pitta bread.

The Sunday Times best seller One Pot One Portion arrived on my desk last week. The quote from Nigella on the front cover ‘A brilliant, beyond brilliant idea’ made me curious. It’s written by Eleanor Wilkinson, a viral social media sensation @eleanorgwilkinson on Instagram.

When Eleanor Wilkinson’s long term relationship ended, she quit her job and began to live alone once more.  Eleanor loved to cook but found it difficult to gather the enthusiasm to cook yummy food just for herself. It took a while to adjust but gradually she ventured back into the kitchen and started sharing the recipes online. The response was truly overwhelming, she suddenly realised how many others were in the same predicament and everyone yearned to eat really well.

People of all ages, in a wide variety of situations, young and old, eagerly tuned in awaiting the next creation.

From 20 somethings to parents whose children had flown the nest, single parents, older people, widows and widowers. All craving delicious food and wanting to find the joy in cooking something comforting for themselves.

Eleanor spent hours pouring over cookbooks for added inspirations. She developed her own recipes. Some are made in minutes, others take several hours and many ingredients to make. She had already started her book when she joined us in Ballymaloe Cookery School for the 12 Week course in 2023. One Pot One Portion was published by Ebury Press in 2024, to immediate acclaim.

Eleonor divided the chapters of the cookbook into:

Comfort: recipes to bring you ultimate warmth, for days when you need to feel cosy and homely.

Fresh: food packed with colour and vibrancy, for times when you want your food to energise you and bring a little zing to your day.

Simple: for when you have enough on your plate, and you’d like your food to require little time or fresh ingredients. Satisfaction without stress.

Special: When you want to show yourself a little extra love. Recipes that take more time or money but bring another level of joy.

Sweet: for when you need extra sweetness in your day, food that is impossible not to enjoy, and not just for dessert.

In Eleanor’s words, ‘hopefully, across the capers in this book, you’ll find everything you need to fulfil all requirements. So have fun, eat well, and enjoy it as much as possible’.

There’s also an emphasis on zero waste, lots of recipes have partner recipes to use up one or more of the same ingredients and suggestions for using the freezer cleverly.

Here are a few recipes for you to try – so many delectable recipes, it was difficult to choose just a few to tempt you…

All recipes are from One Pot One Portion by Eleanor Wilkinson published by Ebury Press

Spiced Lamb and Aubergine with Pitta

This recipe is based on the Middle Eastern dish, fatteh, which is made for sharing but this version is a feast for one. A plate piled high with the most delicious flavours – we start with a garlicky yoghurt which cools and warms all at once. Then it’s onto a layer of lamb mince and soft aubergine fried in olive oil and spiced with cumin, coriander and cinnamon. Next, spoonfuls of the most luxurious toasted pine nut butter, finished with pops of sweet pomegranate seeds and all scooped up with toasted pitta bread. You’ll be glad you’re not sharing this one.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

½ large aubergine (approx. 125g), sliced into 1cm batons

5 tbsp natural yoghurt

1 garlic clove, grated

125g lamb mince

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

5g fresh coriander, finely chopped

knob of butter

1 ½ tbsp pine nuts

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

salt and black pepper

To serve:

pitta bread

Method

Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium-high heat, add the aubergine, season with salt and fry for 8-10 minutes until golden and mostly soft.

While that’s frying, spoon the yoghurt onto your serving plate and add the garlic. Mix together and spread over the bottom of the plate.

Once the aubergine batons are golden, add in the lamb mince and fry for 4-5 minutes until brown and starting to crisp slightly. Add the spices and season with salt and pepper, then fry for 2-3 minutes. Toast the pitta bread while this is cooking. Add in the fresh coriander and mix everything together, then spoon the lamb and aubergine mixture over the yoghurt.

Place the pan back on the heat and add a knob of butter and the pine nuts. Let the nuts toast in the butter for 3-4 minutes until golden, then spoon them over the lamb/aubergine layer.

Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds, then cut the pitta into triangles to serve alongside.

Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl

Usually, I would consider a brothy meal that you eat with a bowl and a spoon a form of comfort food, however, the flavours in this dish are so fresh and vibrant that it has to go in this chapter. I love the fiery freshness of ginger and it’s the predominant flavour in this rich chicken broth. The finished dish isn’t a soup as such but there is just enough broth to make every mouthful deliciously juicy. It also takes minimal time to make so it’s a useful recipe to have on hand for days when you’re short of time.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp sesame oil, plus extra to serve

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

10g fresh ginger, chopped into matchsticks

300ml water

½ chicken stock pot

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

55g basmati rice

1 chicken breast, cut into 2cm thick slices

55g broccoli (regular or tenderstem), chopped into small pieces

5g fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 spring onion, thinly sliced at an angle

salt (optional)

Method

In a pan, heat the sesame oil over a medium heat. Fry the garlic and ginger until they have softened slightly and smell fragrant but haven’t coloured too much.

Add in the water, stock pot, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Bring to a simmer and taste – if needed, add a little salt. Bring to the boil, then add in the basmati rice and cook for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and add in the chicken and broccoli (tenderstem broccoli will take slightly less time, so add this in when you only have 4-5 minutes left). Put a lid on and cook for 8 minutes. You want it to stay at a gentle simmer, so the chicken poaches but doesn’t toughen.

Place the coriander and spring onion slices in your serving bowl. Once the chicken and rice are cooked, spoon into the bowl with the coriander and spring onion and mix together. Finish with a final drizzle of sesame oil to serve.

Cinnamon Bun

This is the easiest cinnamon bun recipe you may ever find, relying on no dough, no yeast, no kneading and no proving time. I use ready-made puff pastry here to make the bun and, whilst usually you want to keep puff pastry as flaky and delicate as possible, for this recipe you’re actually looking for the centre of this pastry to melt together to create a consistency more akin to a yeasted dough. It stays crisp on top too, which I love.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

80-85g ready-rolled puff pastry

10g softened butter, plus extra for greasing

3 tsp soft light brown sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)/Gas Mark 4.

Unroll the puff pastry and cut off a long strip that is 5cm in width. Spread the butter on top of the pastry, then sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the top

Fold the pastry over so it halves in length, then press together to seal slightly. Cut into three strips. At one end, press the three strips together, then plait the strips, taking one outside strip and bringing it into the middle, then bring the other outside strip into the middle, repeating until the end.

Lightly butter one hole of a muffin tin, or a small ovenproof ramekin, then roll the plait up and place it in the tin/ramekin with the loose end at the bottom of the tin/ramekin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

Mary Jo McMillin, our lovely American friend from Chicago returned again this year to spend a few weeks here with us in Ireland. She has been coming for over 40 years. It’s scarcely the best time of the year to holiday in Ireland but she loves this country in hail, rain or snow, even during the crazy storms. 

Mary Jo loves to cook and came originally to learn from Myrtle Allen at Ballymaloe House. She loved Myrtle and her philosophy of writing a menu everyday depending on what food was in season and at its best in the walled garden and local area.

Later, she started her own restaurant ‘Mary Jo’s Cuisine’ in the University town of Oxford in Ohio. Now in her 80s, she still loves to cook, continues to test and develop recipes and is an example to all of us in how she can create so many utterly delicious dishes from bits and bobs from the fridge and sometimes a selection of leftovers. We look forward to every bite she cooks and there’s zero waste.

She’s an example to all of us in how she thinks of ways to use up scraps of this and that.

This Boston baked beans and the choucroute garni were cooked in the time-honoured way in the bread oven as it gradually cooled down after the morning bake, maximising the heat. You can’t imagine how unctuous and delicious they tasted.

The Egyptian recipe for Mujadarah was also a gem but I’ll share that another time. Both these comforting Winter dishes reheat brilliantly and are perfect to share with friends for a kitchen supper.

The tuiles were made from leftover egg whites – you absolutely must make them, they keep well and are irresistible,

The redcurrant panna cotta was made from the end of a bag of last season’s redcurrants from the freezer.

Mary Jo also tested this recipe with blackcurrants, it too was delicious, but we liked this redcurrant version best and it can of course be made a day or two ahead if you are having friends around. Thank you, Mary Jo, for the joy you bring to all of us by sharing your recipes.

Mary Jo’s Choucroute Garni

A whole meal in a pot, one of the most comforting and delicious cold weather recipes

Serves 4

450g fresh sauerkraut

2 thick strips bacon, smoked if possible

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled and diced

1 stick celery, diced

1 small cooking apple, peeled and diced

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

branch thyme

bay leaf

110ml white wine

225ml chicken stock as needed

Assorted chunky sausages, perhaps saucisse de Toulouse or Tuscan sausages, even a little scrap of chorizo and a piece of smoked pork or a pork shoulder chop if available.

Drain the sauerkraut and rinse only if very salty. 

Dice the bacon into 1cm pieces and melt off the fat in a heavy Le Creuset dish. Remove the bacon and in the pork fat, sauté the onion, carrot, celery, apple and garlic until softened. Stir in the sauerkraut, add wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the smoked pork, shoulder chop; cover with parchment paper and lid and gently simmer or bake in a slow oven at 170°C/Gas Mark 3 for an hour.

Brown the sausages and add to the dish and continue to slowly cook covered for another 25-60 minutes.  Serve with boiled potatoes.

Mary Jo’s Boston Baked Beans

THE very best baked beans you’ll ever taste and such a joy to tuck into on a chilly day.

Serves 6-8

225g haricot or other small white beans

1 clove garlic

¼ tbsp olive oil

110-150g streaky bacon, smoked if possible and diced into 1cm pieces

1 small onion chopped 

1 clove garlic chopped

25g dark brown sugar

¾ tbsp molasses OR 2 teaspoons of treacle

¾ tbsp cider vinegar

pinch cayenne

1 tsp dry mustard

110g tomato purée (blitzed tinned tomatoes may be used if you don’t have tomato purée in your freezer)

salt

Wash and soak the beans overnight. Drain and discard the soaking water, place in a saucepan or pressure cooker with fresh water, add the garlic and olive oil. Cook until almost tender, 10-15 minutes. Reserve the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, gently sauté the bacon; add the onion, garlic and sauté until tender.

Combine the bacon, onion, garlic, brown sugar, molasses or treacle, cider vinegar, cayenne, mustard and tomato purée plus salt. This should be a soupy mixture. Place all in a deep baking dish. Cover and slowly cook in the oven at 150°C/Gas Mark 2 for 3-4 hours. Uncover for the final hour. (Mark sure the beans are meltingly tender before removing the cover). 

Mary Jo’s Redcurrant Panna Cotta

Mary Jo made this for a little bag of frozen redcurrants she retrieved in the freezer, but of course fresh redcurrants would be delicious even if they have come from as far away as South America at this time of the year!

Serves 6 small portions

225g redcurrants or blackcurrants (may use frozen)

80g caster sugar

225g cream

1 ½ gelatine sheets softened in cold water

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp kirsch (optional)

Combine the currants and sugar in a bowl and allow to macerate for 30 minutes. 

In a medium saucepan. Add the cream and macerated currants and heat to the ‘shivery’ stage or until the mixture feels hot to your little finger (60°C) – crush a little with a potato masher.   Add the strained, softened gelatine leaves, stir and set aside for 30 minutes. 

Press through a sieve pushing through most of the berries. Stir in the vanilla extract and optional teaspoon of Kirsch and chill in a glass bowl. Serve with Almond Tuiles (see recipe).

Mary Jo’s Almond Tuiles

Makes 120-140 approx. depending on size

110g butter

110ml egg whites

375g caster sugar

75g plain flour

225g sliced almonds (flaked almonds)

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)/Gas Mark 6.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Cool slightly. Stir in the egg whites, sugar and flour, add the sliced almonds and fold in to combine.

Drop by half teaspoons onto Silpat mats or parchment lined baking sheets.

Make sure the cookies are well separated. Bake in the preheated oven (180°C fan preferably) for 8-10 minutes or until golden. The cookies will be very thin and crisp.

Recently I was invited to speak at an event called ‘Mother Earth: A Food Symposium’. The panel included chair Ali Dunworth, Cass McCarthy of Lúnasa Farm, Laurann O’Reilly (nutritionist) and Maggie Roche of the Little Acorn Cafe and was entitled ‘Fab Food and Nourishing Nutrition’, but the main focus was how to encourage children to eat and enjoy nourishing wholesome food. The session was held at the Kildare Innovation Campus to celebrate St. Brigid’s Day was well attended. It was followed by a session on Caring for your Pets which ironically had a much larger audience.

Several speakers on my panel highlighted the challenges faced by young parents who have to try to juggle all the balls in the air. Both parents working full time to pay for childcare and the mortgage. The reality of darting into the supermarket on the way home from work to grab some ingredients or a ready meal. Then dashing home to cook something for the family more often than not with few cooking skills, doing their very best but endlessly feeling guilty.

We talked about the importance of sitting down around the kitchen table and the family eating together and the thorny issue of phones or no phones.

Cass stressed and others agreed that sourcing real food, not ultra-processed food must be a priority. But the reality is that for many, sourcing cheap food is the main priority and cooking chemical-free food is a long way down our list of priorities. Coincidentally, the following session about feeding dogs nutritious food had almost twice the audience. I rest my case!

Here in Ireland, we spend less of our income than ever before on healthy wholesome food.

Many people argue they can’t afford to spend more for fresh food every week, yet we have no qualms about spending lavishly on our nails, mobile phones, magazines…According to EU research, the reality is, that here in Ireland, we spend the highest percentage of our weekly food budget (46.9% as opposed to 10% in Portugal) on ultra-processed food. This is worrying to say the very least, a growing body of research confirms that UPF causes obesity and is connected to an increasing number of health conditions. So, it is undeniably a question of priorities.

Several of the panel stressed that parents need to start as they mean to continue, no cereals, snacks or sliced pan in the house, no phones or other devices during meals at the table.

Family meals at the kitchen table are not just about eating, we learn social skills, table manners, how to lay a table, share, how to chat to each other, even if we are arguing, it keeps the lines of communication open.

Mothers are worried about picky children and what to do but I remembered my father-in-law saying, ‘children will not starve as long as there’s food in the house, but we need to make sure that it’s nourishing, wholesome real food not addictive edible food like substances’.

There is undoubtedly a crisis. Parents are doing their best, but the odds are stacked against them as long as ultra-processed foods are cheaper and addictive and the constant advertising to children continues. I don’t know the answer, but we have an epidemic of obesity and health issues amongst children. Japan is making children’s health a priority…Ireland please follow. 

A comforting Roast Chicken Dinner with Gravy and Julia’s Roasties

A traditional roast stuffed chicken with lots of gravy, a roast dinner is always a family favourite…. a forgotten flavour for many people, partly because unless you have access to a really good bird the smell and flavour will be quite different to one’s childhood memory.  People often feel that making stuffing is too bothersome but if you keep some breadcrumbs in the freezer, it can literally be made in minutes.  Should I cook the stuffing inside the bird or separately?  The best place for the stuffing is inside the bird where it absorbs lots of delicious juices as it cooks.  Do not overfill the bird otherwise the heat may not penetrate fully.  This is particularly important if you are using an intensively reared bird which may be infected with salmonella and/or campylobacter.

Serves 6

1.5 – 2.3kg free range chicken, preferably organic

Giblet Stock (optional)

giblets (keep the liver for a chicken liver pâté), and wishbone

1 thickly sliced carrot

1 thickly sliced onion

1 stick celery, sliced

a few parsley stalks and a sprig of thyme

Stuffing

45g butter

75g chopped onion

75-100g soft white breadcrumbs

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh herbs e.g., parsley, thyme, chives and annual marjoram

salt and freshly ground pepper

a little soft butter

Gravy

600-900ml of stock from giblets or chicken stock

Garnish

sprigs of flat parsley

To Serve

Julia’s Roasties (see recipe)

First, sprinkle the chicken lightly all over with pure dairy salt (2 rounded teaspoons) for 20 minutes approx.

This seasons the meat, enhances the flavour and firms the texture of the flesh.

Next, prepare the chicken.

Remove the wishbone from the neck end of the chicken, this is easily done by lifting back the loose neck, skin and cutting around the wishbone with a small knife – tug to remove, this isn’t at all essential, but it does make carving much easier later on. Tuck the wing tips underneath the chicken to make a neat shape. Put the wishbone, giblets, carrot, onions, celery and herbs into a saucepan. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, skin and simmer gently while the chicken is roasting.  This is the basis of the gravy. Alternatively, use homemade chicken stock.

To make the stuffing, sweat the onions gently in the butter in a covered saucepan until soft, 10 minutes approx. then stir in the white breadcrumbs, the freshly chopped herbs, a little salt and pepper to taste. Allow it to get quite cold unless you are going to cook the chicken immediately. Fill the cavity with stuffing but not too tightly. Dry the chicken with kitchen paper. Smear the breast and legs with a little soft butter.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Weigh the chicken and allow about 20 minutes to 450g (1lb) and 20 minutes over – put on middle shelf in oven. Baste a couple of times during the cooking with the buttery juices. The chicken is done when the juices are running clear.

To test, prick the thickest part at the base of the thigh, hold a spoon underneath to collect the liquid, examine the juices – they should be clear.

Remove the chicken to a carving dish, keep it warm and allow to rest while you make the gravy.

To make the gravy, tilt the roasting tin to one corner and spoon off the surplus fat from the juices and return the roasting pan to the stove. Alternatively, use a maigret to degrease*. Deglaze the pan juices with the fat free stock from the giblets and bones (you will need 600 – 900ml) depending on the size of the chicken). Using a whisk, stir and scrape well to dissolve the caramelized meat juices in the roasting pan. Boil it up well, season and thicken with a little roux if you like (the gravy should not be thick). Taste and correct seasoning, serve in a hot gravy boat.

If possible, serve the chicken on a nice carving dish surrounded by crispy roast potatoes and some sprigs of flat parsley then arm yourself with a sharp knife and bring it to the table. Carve as best you can and ignore rude remarks if you are still practicing but do try to organise it so that each person gets some brown and some white meat. Serve with gravy and Julia’s roasties (see recipe).

*Use the cooked carcass for stock. 

Note

*A maigret, though not essential, is a very useful piece of kitchen equipment – it simplifies the task of separating the fat from juices.

Julia’s Roasties

8 potatoes, unwashed Golden Wonders or Kerr’s Pinks

Choose medium to large potatoes of even size. Scrub and peel. Put into a saucepan, cover with cold salted water and bring to the boil. Drain thoroughly. Lightly scratch the surface with a fork and season with salt.

Put the potatoes into smoking hot fat or olive oil. Baste occasionally. Cook until soft in a hot oven 230°C/Gas Mark 8 for 30-45 minutes depending on the size. Drain well on kitchen paper. Serve immediately.

Alternatively, put the potatoes into smoking hot fat in the same tin as the meat, 40-45 minutes before the meat is fully cooked and baste well. Cook until soft. (Baste the potatoes when you baste the meat and turn them over after 25 minutes). Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately.

Carrot and Parsnip Mash

Sunshine and Green, White and Gold are some of the evocative names given to this popular vegetable combination, still widely made in Ireland.

Serves 4-6

225g carrots

350g parsnips

50g butter

salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

Garnish

chopped parsley

Wash and peel the carrots and parsnips. Slice the carrot into 5mm slices. Cook in a little boiled salted water with a pinch of sugar until soft.

Cook the parsnips separately in boiling salted water.

Strain both, mash or purée together and add butter, salt and freshly ground pepper.

Country Rhubarb Cake 

This traditional rhubarb cake, based on an enriched bread dough, was made all over Ireland and is a treasured memory from my childhood. It would have originally been baked in the bastible or ‘baker’ over the open fire. My mother, who taught me this recipe, varied the filling with the seasons – first rhubarb, then gooseberries, later in the autumn, apples and plums.

Serves 8

340g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

pinch of salt

½ tsp bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)

55g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

85g butter

1 organic, free-range egg, if possible

165ml milk, buttermilk or sour milk

680g rhubarb, finely chopped

170-225g granulated sugar

beaten organic, free-range egg, to glaze

softly whipped cream and soft brown sugar, to serve

1 x 25cm enamel or Pyrex pie plate

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4

Sieve the flour, salt, bread soda and caster sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter. Whisk the egg and mix with the milk, buttermilk or sour milk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in most of the liquid and mix to a soft dough, add the remaining liquid if necessary.

Sprinkle a little flour on the work surface. Turn out the soft dough and pat gently into a round. Divide into two pieces: one should be slightly larger than the other; keep the larger one for the lid.

Dip your fingers in flour. Roll out the smaller piece of pastry to fit the enamel or Pyrex pie plate. Scatter the rhubarb all over the base and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg. Roll out the other piece of dough until it is exactly the size to cover the plate, lift it on and press the edges gently to seal them. Don’t worry if you have to patch the soft dough.  Make a hole in the centre for the steam to escape. Brush again with beaten egg and sprinkle with a very small amount of caster sugar.

Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour or until the rhubarb is soft and the crust is golden. Leave it to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving so that the juice can soak into the crust. Sprinkle with caster sugar. Serve while still warm, with a bowl of softly whipped cream and some moist, brown sugar.

The London food scene is ‘insane’ at present. Despite the challenging climate over there as well as here in Ireland for the restaurant industry, new places continue to open, the choice is mesmerising, and the standards seem to continue to rise and rise.

I spent a couple of days whizzing around London recently and didn’t miss a meal slot. The raison d’etre for the trip was to attend a lunch to celebrate 10 years of Portland on Great Portland Street, co-owned by a past student, Daniel Morgenthau. The original chef, Merlin Le Bron Johnson of Michelin starred Osip in Bruton (Somerset) came back for the day to cook up a super delicious lunch for a group of invited guests and friends of the ‘farm to table’ restaurant which now also has a Michelin star.

We were treated to the most delicious lunch. We started with six ‘Nibbles’ including macaron of mushroom and Parmesan; crispy chicken skin, liver parfait, candied walnuts, Muscat grapes; sausage roll and clementine; smoked cods roe and crudités; Flourish Farm brassicas, smoked egg yolk emulsion, black winter truffle; heritage carrots, salsify, tunworth custard and carrot brioche, one more delicious than the next.

The main course was a game pithivier of layers of wild duck and guinea fowl encased in puff pastry crust with a delicious green pepper gravy and a salad of winter leaves including my favourite speckled Castelfranco and several types of radicchio.

Pudding was Portland Trifle sprinkled with frosted pistachios made with the first of the new season’s forced rhubarb directly from the growers in the famous Yorkshire triangle. Daniel served it with one of my favourite ‘stickies’ – a sweet Chateau de Chantegrive, Cerons, France (from 2015, the year Portland opened). It was so, so good. I had several helpings. 

Can you imagine that I went for dinner after that to another restaurant you need to know about – Mountain located at 16-18 Beak Street. Welsh Tomos Parry and his team cook up delicious simple dishes with superb ingredients. I loved having a table near the open kitchen where I could watch the chefs cooking over fire in the wood burning oven and conventionally, it’s just like having a personal cooking class.

We loved the crunchy pumpkin and sage leaf fritters in the lightest tempura batter, all were delicious, but the mutton chops blew me away. An almost forgotten flavour – go there especially to taste them.

A variety of unusual homemade ice creams including Jalapeño and honey to clear the palette or artisan cheeses in perfect condition if you’d rather. 

My non-foodie highlight was a trip to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to see the Vincent van Gogh exhibition, I made sure to arrive early, I was third in the queue so managed to get close to the extraordinary paintings, so grateful and moving to see his ‘Self portrait’, Starry Night over the Rhône, ‘Irises’, ‘Sunflowers’, ‘The Poets Garden’ in real life. 

Lunch that day was at Canteen, located at 310 Portobello Road which opened its doors in November last. They don’t take bookings, but it was packed on a grey and drizzly Wednesday. The vibrant young team with no one looking a day over 25 were properly impressive, the menu was hopelessly tempting.

Once again, the food was super fresh and super delicious.

We loved the starter salad of radicchio (two types), slivers of Pecorino and toasted walnuts, pomegranate seeds and another of shaved fennel, blood orange and mint. 

We also had to taste the gutsy ribollita drizzled with Fèlsina extra virgin olive oil, a meal in itself and the fettuccini ragu dusted with Parmesan.

For the main course, we shared a butterflied mackerel with agretti (monk’s beard) and anchoïade – a delicious combination.

Can’t wait to get some Ballycotton summer mackerel to try that inspired dish.

Despite being totally full, I had to taste a quenelle of the lightest and most exquisite chocolate mousse I’ve ever tasted – you might have to make a detour to taste that too. Also very good wine choices including a selection of low and alcohol-free beverages and cocktails.

While I was there, I met five past students, two of whom Beth O’Brien and George Williams are planning to open a restaurant The Fat Badger upstairs over Canteen in a few weeks’ time, so watch that space too. Apparently, they’re planning to do lots of pies and baked Alaska – a blast from the past, how cool does that sound?

A special thank you to Daniel Morgenthau of Portland (www.portlandrestaurant.co.uk) and Jessica Filbey of Canteen (Instagram: @canteen.310) who shared recipes for our Examiner readers to enjoy.

Portland’s Whipped Cods Roe

Silky and morish, eat as a dip or as part of a mezze…

Serves 8 approx.

Ingredients

2 slices white bread (crusts removed and soaked in milk)

200g smoked cods roe

2 garlic cloves

35g lemon juice

100g extra virgin olive oil

100g water

10g rapeseed oil

Method

In a food processor blend together the bread, cods roe, garlic and lemon juice until smooth.

With the food processor running firstly add the water followed by the oils in a slow steady stream as if making mayonnaise. Season with salt to taste.

Portland’s Rhubarb Trifle

Oh, my good goodness, this was so irresistible, I couldn’t help myself, I had three helpings…it takes time to make but is so worth it!

Serves 8 approx.

Components

Rhubarb Jelly

Genoise Sponge Discs

Grand Marnier Syrup

Vanilla Custard

Rhubarb Compote

Syllabub

Frosted Pistachios

orange zest

For the rhubarb jelly

Ingredients

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

1 vanilla pod, scraped

120g strawberries, chopped

600g rhubarb, chopped

75g elderflower cordial, diluted

120ml dessert/sweet wine

120ml water

15g grenadine

150g caster sugar

Method

Place all the ingredients in a metal bowl and cover with a lid. Place the bowl on top of a pan of gently simmering water and cook for around 1 hour until all the liquids have been released and the rhubarb is very soft. Strain off the liquid by pushing through a fine sieve. Measure the liquid and add 4 leaves of bloomed gelatine per 1 litre of boiled liquid to set the jelly.

For the genoise sponge

Ingredients

20g milk

40g butter

6 eggs

180g caster sugar

180g plain flour (sieved)

Method

Firstly, gently melt the milk and butter together. Meanwhile whip together the eggs and sugar (ideally in a stand mixer) until light and fluffy. Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture bit by bit, followed by the milk/butter. Transfer the mixture to a baking parchment lined baking tray and spread out evenly to around 2cm thick. Bake at 170°C/Gas Mark 3 for around 14 minutes until cooked through.

For the Grand Marnier syrup

Ingredients

50g grand Marnier

100g water

75g sugar

Method

Place all the above into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Chill

For the vanilla custard

Ingredients

750g double cream

2 vanilla pods

225g egg yolk

130g caster sugar

15g cornflour

Method

Place the cream in a saucepan, scrape out the vanilla seeds and add to the pan along with the pods. Bring to the boil. Separately whisk together the egg yolk, sugar and corn flour until light in colour. Once the cream has boiled pour over the egg yolks and whisk well together. Return to the pan and cook out to 83°C whilst whisking constantly. Once cooked pass through a fine sieve and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours and then whisk again.

For the rhubarb compote

Ingredients

325g roughly chopped rhubarb

50g butter

75g sugar

1 x vanilla pods

400g nicely diced rhubarb

Method

Place everything except the diced rhubarb into a saucepan, cook until soft and blend in a blender until smooth.

Place the purée into a pan and add the diced rhubarb, cook gently on a low heat until the diced rhubarb is just cooked. Chill

For the syllabub

Ingredients

325g cream

juice of ½ orange

75g sherry

30g Grand Marnier

75g sugar

Method

Whisk the cream to a stiff peak and gently fold in the remaining ingredients.

For the frosted pistachios

Ingredients

300g caster sugar

75g water

2g ground cardamom

175g green pistachio

Method

Place the sugar and water into a saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by half until just starting to change colour. Take off the heat and throw in the ground cardamom and pistachios and keep stirring until the sugar crystalises. Scrape out the pan onto baking paper and let cool.

To build the trifle

Take your preferred trifle bowl and pour in a layer of the rhubarb jelly until it comes one-fifth of the way up the side of the glass. Place in the fridge until completely set (ideally overnight).

Cut out the genoise sponge into discs the same circumference as your trifle bowl. Place this on top of the set sponge (it should be the same thickness as the jelly). Generously spoon over the Grand Marnier syrup until the sponge is thoroughly soaked. Now spoon over the custard and spread out, again it should be the same thickness as the previous two layers. You may not need it all. Next repeat the process with the rhubarb compote and then add a generous dollop of the syllabub. Lastly, sprinkle over a liberal amount of frosted pistachios and finish with a few gratings of orange zest.

 Enjoy… 

Canteen’s Ribollita

A delicious, comforting meal in a bowl, make a big pot as it reheats brilliantly.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 carrots, 180g approx.

1 heart of celery, 80g approx.

1 red onion, 175g approx.

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic

a few sprigs rosemary

a few sprigs sage

a few sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

400g tinned tomatoes

1 big bunch Cavolo Nero (kale)

800g cooked borlotti beans

500ml chicken stock

½ sourdough loaf

extra virgin olive oil

Parmesan to finish

Method

Chop the carrots, celery heart and red onions finely and fry in a heavy based pan with a good glug of olive oil until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Chop the garlic and herbs and add this to the sofrito mixture and fry for another 2 minutes.

Break up the tinned tomatoes with your hands and add to the base, cooking for a further 5 minutes.

Shred the Cavolo Nero from its stalks, roughly chop and add to the base, fry for a further 4 minutes.

Take half the borlotti and blitz in a food processor until smooth. Add the blitzed beans and the whole borlotti beans to the base.

Heat the chicken stock and add to the vegetables, add the bay leaf and season again to taste with salt and pepper.

Take the crusts off the sourdough loaf and slice.

Place the slices over the top of the soup, add a good glug of oil all over and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t catch on the bottom, until the cavolo is soft and the bread has soaked up the soup.

Stir the bread through the soup until it is broken up.

Serve with another good glug of oil and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.

Canteen’s Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

This was truly the lightest, silkiest and most delicious chocolate mousse I ever ate, thank you to Jessica Filbey at Canteen for sharing the recipe but do go and taste the original.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

400g good quality dark chocolate (Callebaut 54%)

210g good quality extra virgin olive oil

230g egg yolks with 90g caster sugar

200g cream

360g egg whites with 60g caster sugar

pinch Maldon sea salt

Method

Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie and stir in the olive oil.

Whisk the egg yolks and 90g caster sugar until pale and very thick.

While this is happening, whisk the double cream by hand until very soft peaks form.

Carefully fold the whisked egg yolks into the chocolate and oil mixture in three increments, until incorporated.

Take two large spoons of the chocolate mixture and fold it into the whipped double cream. Set this aside.

Whisk the egg whites, 60g caster sugar and the salt, until firm peaks form. In thee increments, fold in the whipped egg whites to the chocolatey, egg yolk mixture until incorporated. Finally fold in the double cream. Pour into a large serving bowl and put in the fridge to set for a few hours.

Scoop and serve with a drizzle of your finest olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

As promised, this week’s column is completely devoted to what is probably my favourite but most underrated winter vegetable – Jerusalem artichokes. Despite their name, they’ve got nothing to do with Jerusalem and aren’t even related to artichokes. The flavour is reminiscent of globe artichoke hearts – sweet and nutty. The name appears to be an adaptation of girasole, the Italian word for sunflowers.

They wouldn’t win any prizes in a veggie beauty contest. They resemble misshapen, knobbly potatoes and can be white, pale purple or yellow depending on the strain.

The variety we grow has been passed down from generation to generation in the Allen family. They are ridiculously easy to cultivate, just pop into the soil like potatoes once the weather is dry from the end of February/early March, allowing about 9-12cm between each one. Next winter, you’ll be rewarded with at least 8 or 10 plump rhizomes where you planted a single Jerusalem artichoke.

In the US, they are called Sunchokes, they are in fact a species of the sunflower family. The foliage grows about 8-10 feet tall and the yellow flowers in August resemble small sunflowers and are loved by bees. You could plant them at the back of an herbaceous flower bed to give height and colour. Some folks have had fun creating an annual maze with them – how fun is that?

The leaves are frost tender, but the tubers are hardy and can stay in the ground throughout the winter – we harvest from November right through to the end of February even into March depending on the weather. They begin to sprout if it’s particularly mild.

Choose the largest rhizomes and replant in a different location so the next harvest will be healthy and fulsome too.

Some supermarkets are now selling Jerusalem Artichokes, you’ll also find them at Midleton and Mahon Point Farmers’ Market and the English Market in Cork city.

If you haven’t already got some growing in your garden, jump into the car and make a pilgrimage to our Farm Shop in Shanagarry, I’ll give you a present of a few artichokes. Where you plant one artichoke, you’ll have ten next year – it’s like magic! 

By the way, Jerusalem artichokes have the highest inulin content of any vegetable, super important to stimulate the microbes in your gut biome, so here’s a really valuable hot tip…

If you’ve recently been on a course of antibiotics, go out of your way to get some Jerusalem artichoke, I love the flavour but for some they can be a little difficult to digest, hence the nickname ‘fartichokes’ but that’s just an indication that they are definitely stimulating your gut biome!

So now what to do with this ugly vegetable.

They are wonderfully versatile, of course they make a wonderful soup which I sometimes scatter with chorizo crumbs or add a topping of avocado and hazelnut salsa. We love to roast them until the edges are caramelised, they’re delicious hot or cold, as a side or as a basis for a salad.

Slice them thinly and fry until crisp for artichoke chips, crunchy and gorgeous to nibble with a drink or scattered on salads.

Slice and cook to melting tenderness in butter or extra virgin olive oil, whizz to a purée and mix with mashed potato – so good!

They also work brilliantly in a gratin layered up with potato and maybe celeriac or parsnip. That can be an entire meal, maybe with a few bacon or pancetta lardons added. It’s good to know that they can cook a little unevenly but that’s part of their charm.

Crunchy raw Jerusalem artichokes are also irresistible but if sliced ahead, they need to be kept in acidulated water to prevent them from discolouring. Just put a teaspoon of vinegar into the water, strain and discard the liquid before cooking.

We also love these fermented Jerusalem artichokes with even more nutrients – try these as a nibble or delicious crunchy accompaniment.

A simple purée makes an irresistible accompaniment to scallop, and a dice of caramelised Jerusalem artichoke raises a simple risotto to a new level – try it.

Now you see why I am so passionate about raising awareness of probably the most underrated of all winter vegetables!

Here are a few recipes to whet your appetite.

Roast Jerusalem Artichoke, Avocado and Hazelnut Salad

Everyone loved this delicious combination – a recent addition to our repertoire. The winter salad is particularly good with goose, duck, pheasant or as a starter.

Serves 4-6

450g Jerusalem artichokes, well-scrubbed.

2 tbsp sunflower or extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

Avocado and Roast Hazelnut Salsa

1 ripe avocado, halved, stone removed, peeled and diced into neat scant 1cm dice

3 tbsp of hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and coarsely chopped

3 tbsp of hazelnut or olive oil

1 tbsp of chopped flat parsley

Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

sprigs of flat parsley

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

Leave the artichokes whole or cut in half lengthways, if large. Toss the Jerusalem artichokes with the oil.  Season well with salt.  Bake in a shallow gratin dish or roasting tin for 20 to 30 minutes until soft and caramelized at the edges.  Test with the tip of a knife – they should be mostly tender but offer some resistance.  Season with pepper and serve.

Meanwhile, make the avocado and roast hazelnut salsa.

Mix the ingredients for the avocado and hazelnut garnish. Taste and correct seasoning. This mixture will sit quite happily in your fridge for an hour as the oil coating the avocado will prevent it from discolouring.

To Serve

When the artichokes are cooked, allow to cool, sprinkle with avocado and hazelnut salsa.

Toss gently, taste and tweak the seasoning if necessary.

Scatter with sprigs of flat parsley.

Jerusalem Artichoke Crisps

We serve these delicious crisps on warm salads, as a garnish for Roast pheasant or Guinea fowl and as a topping for Parsnip or root vegetable soup.  Delicious crisps may be made from other vegetables apart from the much loved potato.  Celeriac, beetroot, leek and even carrots are also good.  Careful not to have the oil too hot or the crisps will quickly turn and be bitter.

Serves 6-8

3-4 Jerusalem artichokes

sunflower oil

salt

Heat good quality oil in a deep fryer to 150°C. 

Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes well and peel if necessary. Slice in wafer thin rounds.  Allow to dry out a little on kitchen paper.

Drop a few at a time into the hot oil, they colour and crisp up very quickly.  Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Pan-grilled Scallops with Jerusalem Artichoke Purée and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Serves 8

8 super fresh scallops

sea salt

Jerusalem Artichoke Purée

450g Jerusalem artichokes (weighed after peeling)

450g potatoes, scrubbed clean

4 tbsp cream

25g butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

To Serve

extra virgin olive oil

flakes of sea salt

little sprigs of chervil

First make the artichoke purée.

Cook the artichokes and potatoes separately in boiling salted water until tender and completely cooked through.  Peel the potatoes immediately and place them with the hot artichokes in a food processor.  Add the cream and butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Blend until a silky consistency is achieved.  Taste and correct seasoning.

To serve, reheat the artichoke purée if necessary. Heat the pan on a high heat, dry the scallops well, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with a little salt. Pan-grill for a few minutes on both sides, put a generous tablespoon of artichoke purée on each small plate, top each one with a pan-grilled scallop, drizzle with extra virgin and sprinkle each plate with a few flakes of sea salt.

Top with a little sprig of chervil.

Who doesn’t love a big bowl of chunky soup with a few lardons of pancetta, chorizo or sweet streaky bacon.

A welcome supper to chase away the January blues, a satisfying and comforting meal in a dish.

I love to add some beans and/or chickpeas to add extra oomph, not to mention hearty richness.

A little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, some finely grated cheese and a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley or coriander and there’s a feast in a bowl. 

I’m never without some frozen soup – a brilliant standby, frozen in 520ml tubs that take no more than ten minutes to defrost and are ample for two people.

A few chunks of freshly baked bread or a Cheddar cheese scone and you’re sorted.

Myrtle taught me this brilliant 1,1,3,5 formula that we use in Ballymaloe House and here at the school for many of our soups.

It results in a delicious soup in any season:

1 cup of chopped onion 

1 cup of chopped potato 

3 cups of any vegetable or a mixture of your choice 

5 cups of chicken or vegetable stock or water if all else fails 

I sometimes use 4 cups of stock and 1 cup of creamy milk, particularly for potato and fresh herb or onion and thyme leaf soup.

These soups can be whizzed in a blender for a silky texture or left whole for aficionados of chunky textured soup. 

I love my soups to reflect the season. You might wonder what vegetables are in season while we’re still in the depths of winter. Well, the answer is lots, leeks are great just now, kale and broccoli of course, parsnips and my favourite winter perennials Jerusalem artichokes – the knobbly inulin rich rhizomes that keep on giving until the end of February, sometimes well into March.  Look out for them in the shops and farmers’ market because I will devote my next column to Jerusalem artichokes (I’ll give recipes next week). They also make a delicious soup using the 1,1,3,5 formula.

Kale is another of our brilliant winter vegetables. We plant it at the end of July and start to harvest it around the middle of September and then it will continue to crop until March.

We grow three varieties – green and red and Cavolo Nero also known as black cabbage or Tuscan kale. They are absolutely bursting with flavour and goodness and also make one of my various winter soups, Kale and Lentil. I got this recipe from Rory a few years ago. Rory likes to keep the texture very thick, but I’ve added more stock for a less robust soup – I’ve given you both options, each is delicious, just a different texture.

You can almost feel every mouthful doing you a power of good…

Ballymaloe Basic Soup Technique

Well over half the soups we make at Ballymaloe are made on this simple formula. 1.1.3.5.

Use the same receptacle to measure each ingredient and liquid – a cup, mug, measure, bowl…

Serves 6

1 part chopped onion

1 part chopped potato

3 parts any chopped vegetable of your choice, or a mixture

5 parts stock or stock and milk mixed

seasoning

One can use chicken or vegetable stock or water and season simply with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Complementary fresh herbs or spices may also be added.

So, one can make a myriad of different soups depending on what’s fresh, in season and available.

If potatoes and onions are the only option, one can still make two delicious soups by increasing one or the other and then adding one or several herbs.  We even use broad bean tops; radish leaves and nettles in season.

Serves 6 

Example:

50g butter

150g chopped potatoes, one-third inch dice

110g peeled diced onions, one-third inch dice

340g chopped vegetables of your choice, one-third inch dice

1.2 litres homemade chicken stock or 1 litre stock and 150ml creamy milk

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. When it foams, add potatoes and onions and turn them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Add the vegetables and stock. Boil until soft, taste and serve or liquidise, sieve or put through a mouli. Do not overcook or the vegetables will lose their fresh flavour. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. 

A Green Vegetable Soup 

Ingredients as above… but with green vegetables e.g. spinach, watercress, wild garlic, nettles, chard greens, radish leaves, broad bean shoots, kale, mustard greens, leek greens, foraged greens or a mixture

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

Add the stock and continue to cook until the onion and potato dice is tender… Add the freshly chopped greens, return to the boil, uncovered for 3 or 4 mins or until just cooked. Taste and serve or liquidise for a thick soup. Taste again and correct the seasoning… 

NOTE… If the green vegetables are added at the beginning, they will most likely be over cooked and the soup will lose its fresh taste and bright green colour… 

Vegan Option

For a vegan option, use vegetable stock or water and substitute soya, almond or cashew milk for creamy milk and proceed as in master recipe. 

Chunky Winter Vegetable and Bean Soup with Spicy Sausage

We make huge pots of this in the Winter, I usually keep some in the freezer. Kabanossi is a thin sausage now widely available, it gives a gutsy slightly smoky flavour to the soup which although satisfying is by no means essential. Gubbeen chorizo would be a good substitute for the kabanossi sausage. There’s lots of chopping involved here but the end result is so worth it, how about a ‘chopping fest’ with some of your family or children.

Serves 8-9

225g rindless streaky bacon, cut into 5mm lardons

2 tbsp olive oil

225g onions, chopped

300g carrot, cut into 5mm dice

215g celery, chopped into 5mm dice

125g parsnips, chopped into 5mm dice

200g white part of 1 leek, 5mm slices thick approx.

1 Kabanossi sausage, cut into 3mm thin slices

400g tin of tomatoes

salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

1.7 litres good homemade chicken stock,

225g haricot beans, cooked *

Garnish

2 tbsp parsley, freshly chopped

extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Prepare the vegetables. Put the olive oil in a saucepan, add the bacon* (see note at bottom of recipe) and sauté over a medium heat until it becomes crisp and golden, add the chopped onion, carrots and celery. Cover and sweat for five minutes, next add the parsnip and finely sliced leeks. Cover and sweat for a further 5 minutes. Slice the Kabanossi sausage thinly and add. Chop the tomatoes and add to the rest of the vegetables and the beans. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar, add the chicken stock. Allow to cook until all the vegetables are tender, 20 minutes approx. Taste and correct the seasoning. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, serve with lots of crusty bread.

* Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water.  Next day, strain the beans and cover with fresh cold water, add a bouquet garni, carrot and onion, cover and simmer until the beans are soft but not mushy – anything from 30-60 minutes.  Just before the end of cooking, add salt.  Remove the bouquet garni and vegetables and discard.

Note

If the bacon is very salty, put into a small saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Strain and dry on kitchen paper. 

Rory’s Lentil and Kale Soup

This is a nourishing combination of ingredients that makes a soup that is deeply satisfying to eat. I serve this soup with a very thick consistency in the Italian style. If you prefer the soup thinner, just add more stock to the lentils when cooking. A drizzle of the very best olive oil is the perfect finishing touch, and that last minute addition seems to elevate this really rustic soup to a much more sophisticated plateau.

Serves 6 -8

250g green lentils

1 red chilli

1 bay leaf

3 cloves of unpeeled garlic

branch of thyme

1 onion halved

1.2 litres chicken stock

500g curly kale, weighed after the tough stalks have been removed

150ml cream

salt and freshly ground pepper

Place the lentils, chilli, bay leaf, garlic, thyme, onion and 1 litre of chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook very gently until the lentils are tender. Do not allow the lentils to become overcooked and mushy but at the same time they do need to be completely cooked all the way through. I add a good pinch of salt to the cooking lentils 5 minutes before they are cooked.

 Remove the bay leaf, thyme and onion and discard. Peel the skin off the chilli and discard the skin. Split it in half lengthways and remove and discard the seeds. Chop the chilli flesh finely and add back into the lentils. Press the flesh out of the cooked garlic and discard the skins. Stir the soft garlic into the lentils. Taste and correct seasoning.

Bring 3 litres of water to a boil in a large saucepan and season well with salt. Add the kale leaves and cook uncovered until completely tender. Strain off all of the water and place the leaves in a food processor. Puree briefly, add the cream and continue to puree to a smooth consistency. Taste and correct seasoning making sure to add some freshly ground black pepper. Both elements of the soup can be put aside now for reheating later.

When ready to serve the soup, Heat the lentils and kale in separate saucepans. When both mixtures are simmering, add the kale to the lentil saucepan and gently fold through. The soup can look streaky at this stage and that is the way Rory prefers to serve it. Add more boiling stock to thin to your preferred consistency. Ladle into hot soup bowls and drizzle each serving with new season extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately

Don’t we all need comfort food to ease us gently in the New Year?

I’ve been longing for a bubbly cauliflower cheese or a creamy mac and cheese, flecked and golden on top with crispy bits around the edge of the dish. All that’s needed as an accompaniment is a robust green salad. Some shredded Savoy cabbage, watercress sprigs and whatever winter lettuce I can still forage in the garden.

Keep an eye out for hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) or wintercress too, there will be lots of it growing in little rosettes in your flower or vegetable beds.

Don’t dream of spraying it, eat it – it’s delicious added to salads or a starter as soon as the weather warms a little, it will flower and go to seed. It’s abundant and at its best at present and is packed with Vitamin A and C as well as iron and calcium folinate and it’s free. What’s not to like about that with the added bonus of ‘weeding’ your garden. Let 2025 be the year when you start to eat your ‘weeds’, a very high percentage of what we call weeds are edible and super nutritious. So, instead of trotting off to the health food shop or pharmacist, swot up on the wild food around us.

There are many excellent books on foraging but if your budget has run a bit low after Christmas, just do a GOOGLE search for a ton of information. Careful as once you get started, you’ll become obsessed with nature’s medicine cabinet, and you’ll be a nerd in no time.

Back to a gratin of cauliflower and mac and cheese – both of these dishes are dependent on being able to make a silky béchamel sauce, one of the ‘mother sauces’ in culinary jargon, but don’t let that put you off, it’s super easy to make and can be converted into countless, daughter sauces with fancy names by adding another flavour at the end. For example, lots of grated cheese and it becomes Mornay Sauce. Copious amounts of chopped curly parsley added at the end, make Parsley Sauce, the very best accompaniment to bacon or corned beef and cabbage. Sweat a pan of chopped, Irish grown onions until meltingly tender, add to a basic béchamel with a dollop of cream and hey presto, you have Sauce Soubise, one of the very best accompaniments to serve with a roast shoulder of lamb, as well as redcurrant sauce and fresh mint sauce made with the first of the new season’s mint – watch out, spearmint will make an appearance in a sheltered part of your garden before too long.

Béchamel is also an essential component for a fish pie, another of our all-time favourites. Try this riff, a back to front version with a few crunchy buttered crumbs on top, I think it may become a family favourite. But the fish MUST be fresh – easier said than done. First learn how to recognise fresh fish…your challenge for 2025.

Cod, Hake or Haddock with Buttered Crumbs

Cook and eat as soon as possible.

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.

Serves 6-8

1.1kg hake, cod, ling, haddock, grey sea mullet or pollock

salt and freshly ground pepper

15g butter

Mornay Sauce

600ml milk

a few slices of carrot and onion

3 or 4 peppercorns

a sprig of thyme and parsley

50g approx. roux (equal quantities of softened butter and flour, cooked together for 2 minutes)

150-175g grated cheddar cheese or 75g grated Parmesan cheese

¼ tsp mustard preferably Dijon

salt and freshly ground pepper

225g mushrooms

1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley (optional)

15g butter

salt and freshly ground pepper

Buttered Crumbs

25g butter

50g soft, white breadcrumbs

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, 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.

Slice the mushrooms, melt the butter and sauté them on a very hot pan, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, add the chopped parsley and keep aside.

Skin the fish and cut into portions: 175g for a main course, 75g for a starter. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Lightly butter the ovenproof dish, spread a little mornay sauce on the base, lay the fish on top and coat generously with more sauce. Mix the remaining grated cheese with the buttered crumbs and sprinkle over the top. 

Cook in a moderate oven, 180°C/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.

Darina’s Favourite Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is a bit like apple crumble, simple fare but everyone loves it, plus you can add lots of tasty bits to change it up. Macaroni cheese was and still is one of my children’s favourite supper dishes. I often add some cubes of cooked bacon, guanciale, chorizo or ham to the sauce.

Serves 6

225g macaroni or ditalini

50g butter

150g onion, finely chopped

50g plain flour

1 litre boiling whole milk

¼ tsp Dijon or English mustard

1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)

225g freshly grated mature Cheddar cheese or a mix of Cheddar, Gruyère and Parmesan

25g freshly grated Cheddar or Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling on top (optional)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring 3.4 litres water to the boil in a large saucepan and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Sprinkle in the macaroni and stir to make sure it doesn’t stick together. Cook according to the packet instructions until al dente (a very slight bite). Drain well.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over a gentle heat, add the chopped onion, stir to coat, cover and sweat over a gentle heat for 6-8 minutes. Add the flour and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk the milk in gradually, season well with salt and pepper, then return to the boil, stirring constantly. Add the mustard, parsley, if using, and cheese. Add the well-drained macaroni and return to the boil. Season to taste and serve immediately.

Alternatively, turn into a 1.2 litre pie dish and sprinkle the extra grated cheese over the top. Bake at 180°C/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes.

Good Things with Mac & Cheese

* Smoked Salmon or Smoked Mackerel

Add 225g smoked salmon or smoked mackerel dice to the mac and cheese before serving.

* Chorizo

Add 225g diced chorizo and lots of chopped flat-leaf parsley to the mac and cheese before baking.

Cauliflower Cheese Gratin

Ah, cauliflower cheese, who doesn’t love a big dish of bubbly cauliflower cheese with a layer of golden cheese melting on top? Make more than you need, save the cauliflower cooking water and transform any leftovers into the most delicious soup that will have all the family begging for more. Follow the recipe below but instead of browning in the oven or under the grill, liquidise the lot with any leftover cauliflower cooking water and 850ml light chicken stock to make a nice consistency. Season the soup to taste and serve with croutons, cubes of diced Cheddar cheese and freshly chopped parsley.

Serves 6-8

1 cauliflower with green leaves

pinch of salt

For the Cheese Sauce

600ml whole milk with a dash of cream

½ onion, cut in chunks

1 small carrot, cut in chunks

6 black peppercorns

a sprig of thyme and someparsley stalks

roux (equal quantities of softened butter and plain flour, cooked for 2 minutes)

salt and freshly ground pepper

150g grated cheese, such as Cheddar or better still, a mixture of Gruyére, Parmesan and Cheddar

½ tsp Dijon mustard

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 230°C/Gas Mark 8.

Prepare and cook the cauliflower.

Remove the outer leaves and wash both the cauliflower and the leaves well.  Put no more than 2.5cm of water in a saucepan just large enough to take the cauliflower; add a little salt.  Chop the leaves into small pieces and cut the cauliflower in quarters or eighths; place the cauliflower on top of the green leaves in the saucepan, cover with a lid and simmer for 8-10 minutes until cooked. Test by piercing the stalk with a knife – they should be tender right through. 

Meanwhile make the cheese sauce.

Put the cold milk into a saucepan with the onion, carrot, peppercorns and herbs.  Bring to the boil, simmer for 3-4 minutes, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

Strain out the vegetables, return the milk to the boil and whisk in the roux until it reaches a light coating consistency. Add most of the grated cheese (save enough to sprinkle over the dish) and mustard. Season to taste. Spoon the sauce over the cauliflower and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. The dish may be prepared ahead to this point.

Put into the preheated oven or under the grill to brown. If the cauliflower cheese is allowed to cool completely, it will take 20-25 minutes to reheat in the oven at 180°C/Gas Mark 4.  Serve sprinkled with the coarsely chopped parsley.