Caitríona Redmond: Is it worth the trip to Northern Ireland to buy your groceries?

Caitríona Redmond: recipes, Easter and the trip to Northern Ireland. Pic: Moya Nolan

We are all chasing down value. Sometimes it feels like the stretchy elastic of our budgets has become a bit too worn and it might be prone to snapping and sagging. Just like the knee-high socks I had to wear with my school uniform which have been washed too many times.

Readers often ask me where the best supermarket is to shop in and I am always hesitant to answer this question. I might have my own preferences based on my household needs but these might not fit readers' needs so instead, I always advise people to chase value rather than select a store of choice.

This past week I’ve been comparing prices North and South of the border to see if it is really worth the trip for groceries. The answer is complicated.

Firstly, remember that the closer you are to the border the more economically viable a shopping trip to Northern Ireland is. There is no point in making the journey unless you can definitely save yourself money. Do your research in advance and make the most of all the information available online to do price comparisons.

While Newry is a great location to go because it’s so close to the border, if you can afford a few extra miles in the tank I recommend Lisburn because the supermarkets there are larger. Banbridge on the way back between Lisburn and Newry is well known for a giant Tesco, B&M and many outlet stores which do over decent value.

If you are regularly exceeding the €80 per month drugs payment scheme limit or you have a prescription that is not covered by the scheme, it may be cheaper to have it filled in Northern Ireland. It’s worth calling a pharmacy or chemist in your chosen shopping location in advance to get a quote, and yes, they do fill prescriptions from the Republic.

Magazines, comics, and collectors cards (Match Attax and Pokémon cards) are close to 35% cheaper, if not more, than in my local shop. This is great news for my younger fella, because he loves collector cards, and his pocket money would stretch twice as far anytime we make a trip.

Wines and alcohol may be cheaper thanks to a difference in duty rates. However, this is not a certainty because often wines are on special offer in supermarkets and the price is only slightly cheaper in Northern Ireland. Remember, if you have to pay for fuel to get there you’re looking for the trip to be cost-neutral or ideally money-saving!

For me, the value is to be had in bulk ambient items such as cereals, rice, pasta, and tinned goods. It’s not worth my while making the trip any more than once every two months, provided I have the space to store the shopping when I get back home.

Easter Sunday memories - and my Simnel Cupcakes recipe

Simnel Cupcakes

My family's Easter celebrations have centred around food for as long as I can remember. When I was very little, Easter Sunday was more formal and definitely involved roast lamb with all the trimmings, we sat down at the giant table that my grandfather had made and the extended family all tucked in.

It was a borderline Christmas-style feast crowned not with a flaming pudding but instead with a toasted simnel cake. Apparently, simnel cake is traditionally eaten on Mothering Sunday. I have to say I never remember eating simnel cake then, but it always featured on our Easter table as I was growing up.

Technically simnel cake is a similar mixture to a Christmas cake and has some of the same flavours. However unlike Christmas cake, you won't find any sickly sweet white icing (be it fondant or royal), and the almond paste is baked into the cake, with a thin layer on top that's caramelised under the grill before serving.

The thing is though, simnel cake is beautiful but a flipping heavy cake to make. It is prone to collapsing in the middle because it's so heavy. For one of this week’s recipes, I’m cheating with these simnel cupcakes because they are so darn easy to make, bake, and then even freeze if you want to. I have cheated twice I'm afraid (sorry), because I used some ready-to-roll marzipan to make life even easier on myself.

I’m reminded of how family celebrations that centre around food create such special memories. There was the year that the simnel cake was excessively scorched; we were not able to say it was burned. Never tell your grandmother that a cake is burned, take my sage advice on this. That was a memorable experience!

As I grew older and my father spent more time overseas he brought back a love of Middle Eastern food that has endured to this day. Thanks in part to living over there for a spell when he was stationed close to the Lebanese border. Since then, our Easter celebrations took on a more small plates/mezze approach.

The table now heaves with plates of carrot batons doused in freshly squeezed lemon juice and seasoned with salt and a little paprika. There are bowls of hummus that we all fight over, tabbouleh (recipe below) which is something that really needs to be made fresh at home. Warm roasted pink-skinned peanuts with just a little salt, and oodles of pita to use as a vehicle for slow-cooked garlic lamb with roasted vegetables.

Thinking about the evolution of our Easter table it’s easy to see how our lives have influenced what is served. We are constantly improving upon what we serve to our families. We’ve embraced these changes and that has made life all the better.

The memories endure.

Simnel Cupcakes

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

An Easter classic - traditionally associated with Mothering Sunday in the UK

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 40 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 English

Ingredients

• 165g butter (unsalted)

• 110g Light brown demerara sugar

• 2 tablespoons black Tteacle

• 3 medium free-range eggs

• 165g plain flour

• 50ml freshly squeezed orange juice

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 400g mixed fruit presoaked (at least overnight) in 100ml orange juice

• 50g finely chopped crystallised ginger

• 200g of marzipan rolled out to 5mm thickness (or a pre-rolled piece bought from the shop)

Method

1. Preheat your (fan) oven to 170°C and line a cupcake tray with 12 cases.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together then add the treacle and mix in well. Beat the eggs into the mixture one by one until the batter is smooth and not lumpy. If it is lumpy then add a small spoon of the flour. Slowly beat in the flour, orange juice, baking powder, cinnamon and ground ginger. The batter will become thick. Stir in the soaked mixed fruit and crystallised ginger.

3. Place a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into each case. Next, cut out a round circle from the rolled marzipan to fit on top of each spoon of mixture. The easiest way to do this is to use a small glass or cookie cutter. Gently press the circle of paste on top of the mixture until it lies flat. Add a second heaped teaspoon of mixture on top so that you have a marzipan "sandwich".

4. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely before decorating as you choose Here I used a little warm honey to stick more marzipan on top of the cupcakes before toasting them in the oven.

Tabbouleh

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

The first time I ate this salad I was sitting in a restaurant in the south of Lebanon. Time spent in the Middle East as a child changed my tastes forever.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Side

Cuisine

 Middle-Eastern

Ingredients

• 1 cupful parsley

• ½ cup of mint

• 3 fresh tomatoes

• ½ white onion (note must be white)

• 1 tsp salt (I know it sounds like a lot but it aids the fermentation process)

• ½ cup bulgar wheat

• ½ cup hot water

• ¼ cup lemon juice

• ¼ cup olive oil

Method

1. Chop the parsley and mint finely. Tumble into a large bowl. Halve the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds. You can use these later in a tomato sauce, so freeze them if you’re not going to use them immediately. Cut the tomatoes finely and add to the bowl.

2. Peel and chop the onion (if you want to save time you can grate it using a coarse grater straight into the bowl). Pour in the salt and stir well.

3. Take a cereal bowl, pour in the bulgar wheat and cover with hot water. Leave to sit for 20 minutes. Strain off any excess water and add the bulgar into the salad ingredients. It will not be completely cooked at this stage but the fermentation process overnight aids the cooking and the bulgar will soak up any juices that come out of the vegetables.

4. To serve, mix the fresh lemon juice and olive oil together then pour over the salad. Eat with freshly toasted pitta bread or flat bread.