Rose Cottage Strawberry Ice Cream

Saturday, July 28, 2012

GASTRONOMIC science students doing a Masters in marketing now have a list of evocative terms guaranteed to resonate with consumers who are seeking a more authentic wholesome product or eating experience — local artisan handmade, farmhouse, traditional and hand crafted.

As a result there’s an epidemic of chefs and producers who are talking the talk, but often with little understanding or respect for the real meaning of the word.

Evocative labels use the clever images and the jargon but often completely fail to deliver what that image promises.

There are ‘artisan’ restaurants and cafes without a single artisan item on the menu, artisan sweets and chocolates where as far as I can gather the only artisan element in the entire production system is to put the chocolates by hand into the moulded plastic trays in the slick packaging.

This ‘passing off’ is grossly unfair to the growing number of real artisan producers who have done so much to offer an alternative to mass produced option and to change the image of Irish food both at home and abroad.

Watertight definitions are notoriously difficult to nail down.

I asked John McKenna (Bridgestone Guides) what his definition of artisan might be.

“A person who makes a product form beginning to end, and who makes it by hand, it’s easy to mechanise food production.

“Artisans originate the product, produce it, and ideally sell it at market.

“Twenty years ago we came up with ‘The four ‘P’s’ — person, place, (sense of place), product (original start from scratch) and passion and have found that has stood the test of time.”

Gennaro’s Crespelle con Ricotta e Rucola

Crespelle are the Italian equivalent of pancakes. Everything sounds better in Italian – a recipe from Gennaro Contaldo’s Easy Italian cookery book, published by Headline UK.

250g (9oz) plain flour
4 eggs
500ml (18fl oz)
40g (1½ oz) butter melted, plus extra for greasing and dotting
20g (¾ oz) Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
½ quantity of Tomato sauce, using onion (see recipe)
Salt

For the filling:

300g (10½ oz) ricotta – we use Toonsbridge Ricotta
100g (3½ oz) rocket, finely chopped, plus some un-chopped for garnishing
50g (1¾ oz) Parmesan cheese freshly grated
Salt and pepper
1 x 16cm (6¼ inch) non-stick frying pan

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl, add the eggs and stir.

Gradually whisk in the milk, ensuring no lumps are formed, until you obtain a smooth runny batter, then stir in the melted butter.

Place the frying pan on the heat, grease with a little butter, then add a ladleful of the mixture in the centre of the pan.

Swirl the pan around so that the mixture runs to all sides.

Fry until the bottom is golden, then flip over to cook on the other side.

Remove and set aside. Continue to do this until your mixture has finished – you should be able to make 8 pancakes.

To make the filling on to each pancake, then fold each one in half and half again, ending up with a triangle.

Place on a greased ovenproof dish so that they slightly overlap each other, dot with knobs of butter and sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove and top with a spoonful of tomato sauce on each pancake. Garnish with some rocket and serve.

Gennaro’s Salsa di Pomodoro – Tomato Sauce

4 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, or ½ medium onion, finely chopped
2 x 410g tins plum tomatoes, chopped
Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and sweat the garlic or onion over a medium heat.

Add the tomatoes and basil, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 25 minutes.

Remove from the heat and use immediately, or leave to cool and place in the fridge or freezer for later use.

A Plate of McGeough’s Cured Meats
Serves 4

James McGeough is a second-generation master butcher in Galway.

For the past number of years, he’s been experimenting with curing and drying meats using traditional meats to produce dried, smoked meats and salami.

I tasted them at the Food Village during the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway and was mightily impressed. Tel: 091-552351 for stockists.

8 slices each of air-dried beef, pork, lamb and ham
Cucumber pickle
Horseradish crème fraiche (see recipe)
A salad of rocket leaves and fresh herbs

Arrange 2 ruffled slices of each cured meat on each serving plate, add some cucumber pickle, horseradish crème fraiche, and a little bouquet of rocket leaves and fresh herbs.

Horseradish Crème Fraiche

Horseradish grows wild in many parts of Ireland and looks like giant dock leaves.

If you can’t find it near you, plant some in your garden.

It is very prolific and the root, which you grate, can be dug up at any time of the year.

Serve with roast beef, smoked venison or smoked mackerel.

Serves 8-10

1½-3 tbsp grated horseradish
2 tsp wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ teaspoon mustard
¼ tsp salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper
1-2 tsp sugar
8 fl oz (250ml) crème fraiche

Scrub the horseradish root well, peel and grate on a ‘slivery grater’.

Put the grated horseradish into a bowl with the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, salt, freshly ground pepper, and sugar.

Fold in the crème fraiche but do not overmix or the sauce will curdle.

It keeps for 2-3 days. Cover so that it doesn’t pick up flavours in the fridge.

This is a fairly mild horseradish sauce. If you want to really clear the sinuses increase the amount of horseradish.

Rose Cottage Strawberry Ice Cream

Rose Cottage Fruit Farm in Co Laois grows a variety of soft fruits and sells at Midleton, Mahon Point, Coal Quay, and Douglas Farmers Markets — 057-8732666

Serves 6-8

2lb (900g) very ripe strawberries
Freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon
Freshly squeezed juice of ½ orange
8ozs (225g) castor sugar
300ml (300ml) water
150ml (5floz) whipped cream

Dissolve the sugar in the water; boil for 7-10 minutes, leave to cool.

Purée the strawberries in a food processor or blender, sieve.

Add the freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice to the cold syrup.

Stir into the purée, fold in the whipped cream. Freeze immediately, preferably in a sorbetière.

Store in a covered plastic box in the freezer. Store in a fridge.

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

400g (14oz) strawberries
50g (2oz) icing sugar
Lemon juice

Garnish

Fresh mint leaves

To make the strawberry sauce, clean and hull the strawberries, add to the blender with sugar and blend.

Strain, taste, and add lemon juice if necessary.

Pour over scoops of strawberry gelato and garnish with some fresh mint leaves.

Darina’s Book of the Week

Picnics and Other Outdoor Feasts by Claudia Roden

The new edition of Picnics reveals a whole world of simply prepared delicious foods and whets our appetites and the imagination with tales from far and near.

From the street food of the Middle East and Mediterranean, the festivals of the high grassy plains of Mexico, to the English traditions of picnicing in parks, at Glyndebourne and shooting-lunches on the grouse moors. Something for every season and any climate, perfect for our Irish summer. Published by Grubb Street Press.

Hot tips

The Slow Food Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto in Italy is a life-changing event.

This year’s theme is ‘The future of food is the future of the planet’.

Five days of extraordinary diversity of food across all continents will be held in Turin from Thursday Oct 25 to Monday Oct 29 October 2012 — for full details of the rich program http://www.slowfood.com

The Village Greengrocer Food Festival is preparing for its second annual festival in Castlemartyr, east Cork.

There will be lots of food stalls, a pig on the spit and live music on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 August — 021-4667655.

A great new food magazine ‘West Fork’ celebrates the wonderful diversity of food production and food culture in West Cork.

Look out for it. www.westfork.ie

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