Weekend food with Darina Allen
For almost 40 years its simple menu of local, seasonal and organic food has been an inspiration to chefs and cooks, not just in America but across the world.
The founder Alice Waters is a hero, not only to farmers and producers for the network she set up and encouraged others to do the same but, also to parents and teachers because of her Edible Schoolyard project which she started way back in 1995.
Alice has been a hero of mine since I first met her in the mid-eighties, so you can imagine just how thrilled I was when she invited me go to Chez Panisse to do a book signing and a dinner to celebrate the American edition of my Forgotten Skills book.
Better still, Chez Panisse featured recipes from my book on their menu all week long and the books sold out on the first evening.
It says a lot about what’s happening at grassroots level in the US, that a book which features chapters on foraging in the wild, sausage making, curing your own meat, butter-making, preserving and instructions on how to use left-overs and inexpensive cuts of meat and offal was nominated for an IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) cookbook award.
There is a food revolution brewing in the US. All over the country, people from every age-group, race and background are getting involved in initiatives to improve the quality of food in schools.
Troops are mobilising to demand reform of the Farm Bill which like European CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) comes up for renewal in 2013.
One man I met started a vegetable garden in the grounds of a local hospital; the produce is used by the catering team with very little food waste because it is so appreciated.
All over the country there is a frenzy of growing, in response to the fast food culture of mass-produced denatured food. The change is coming from the ground up, not from the top down.
Everywhere I went I met people who told me the safest food is what you grow in your own backyard.
8 fresh apricots cut in small wedges or 150-175g (5-6oz) dried apricots, sliced
1¼ cups of sugar
7 egg yolks
75g (3oz) sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
450ml (16fl oz) half-and-half or whole milk
450ml (16fl oz) cream
grated zest of 1 orange
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp kirsch
110g (4 oz) good quality almond paste, cut in pea-size pieces
About 450g (1 lb) brioche, pain-de-mie, or good day-old homemade white bread, cut into ½-inch cubes.
In a small saucepan simmer the apricots in 225ml (8fl oz) and 60g (2½oz) of the sugar.
Poach the fruit until tender, five minutes for fresh or about 12 for dried.
Drain the fruit, saving the liquid, and set the fruit aside to cool.
Return the poaching liquid to the saucepan and add the remaining 225g (8oz) and 112mls (4floz) water.
Boil this mixture, and when it begins to brown, swirl the pan so that it caramelises evenly.
Cook to a medium amber colour.
Very carefully pour the hot caramel into a two-quart gratin dish or divide it evenly among six ramekins. Cool.
Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl.
Slowly add 75g (3oz) sugar and mix well.
Whisk in the half and half or milk and cream. Add the orange zest, salt, vanilla and almond extracts, nutmeg, and kirsch.
Gently fold in the poached apricots, the almond paste, if using and the bread cubes.
Transfer the pudding mixture to the gratin dish or ramekins. Let rest at least an hour or refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Mark 5.
Sprinkle a little sugar over the top of the pudding.
Place the gratin dish or ramekins on a baking sheet to catch any overflow. Bake until nicely browned, about 35 minutes.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Variation: Substitute prunes for the apricots and Armagnac for the kirsch.
450g (1lb) garganelli pasta (or penne pasta)
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
900g (2lbs) fava beans in the pod — to be parboiled and peeled (see note)
165g (6oz) thinly sliced spring onions
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp chopped fresh savoury (herb)
Freshly ground black pepper
A few drops of lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped parsley
110g (4oz) ricotta salata cheese
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta in the salted water until it is al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the fava bean ragout. Heat three tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over a moderate heat.
Add the fava beans, onion, garlic, rosemary and savoury and season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Gently cook the mixture until the onions are soft and the fava beans are tender — about five minutes.
Do not let the vegetable brown much; add a splash of water as needed. The ragout should be a bit moist by the end of cooking.
Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot and add the fava bean ragout.
Stir over a low heat until the pasta is thoroughly coated, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water if the mixture seems dry.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the mixture and taste of seasoning.
Transfer the pasta to a warmed bowl. Sprinkle the top with chopped parsley.
Use a sharp vegetable peeler to cut shavings of the ricotta salata over the top. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve.
Note: To prepare the fava beans (broadbeans), shell them and parboil very briefly in boiling water (30 seconds to one minute).
Plunge the beans into cold water to stop the cooking.
Pop each bean out of its pale green outer skin by pinching with thumb and forefingers.
This is the perfect recipe in which to enjoy Toby Simmonds Irish mozzarella.
As in all simple recipes, success here lies in the quality of the ingredients.
You must begin with very fresh mozzarella, the kind still floating in its milky whey. For this reason, locally make cheese is preferable. At Chez Panisse they make their own mozzarella and serve it within hours while it is still soft and creamy.
225g (8oz) fresh mozzarella
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh basil, marjoram, parsley, mint or thyme
Vine-ripened cherry tomatoes,
sliced prosciutto,
olive
Have the mozzarella at room temperature.
Cut it into the ¼ inch slices and arrange on a platter.
Season very lightly with sea salt and generously with freshly ground pepper.
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Roughly chop the herbs (one herb or a combination) and scatter them over the cheese.
Serve the cheese salad very plain, or add an assortment of different coloured cherry tomatoes, sliced in half and salted; surround with prosciutto slices and decorate with black olives.
Toby Simmonds has twice imported buffaloes from Italy and now has a 46 strong herd of buffalo.
He followed his dream to make an Irish mozzarella and now if you rush the tender hand rolled result can be found on the olive stall at the Midleton and Mahon Point Farmers Markets.
Mark Hosford is making a mozzarella but this time from the beautiful milk of the Kerry cow.
He too sells at Mahon Point, Mallow, Douglas and Emmet Place in Cork City.
Both are well worth seeking out. Toby Simmonds, www.therealoliveco.com, 087-6351954. Mark Hosford, markscheese@yahoo.ie, 086-6351954
When Madeleine Murray and Maire Carney returned to Ireland after their travels they racked their brains to think of how to make a living in a different way — Madeline learned how to make a variety of sushi and taught her pal.
This is traditional sushi, but with an Irish twist. Find them at Kinsale Farmers Market every Tuesday and Mahon Point Farmers Market every Thursday. www.puresushi.ie, 086-6620801.
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