Weekend food with Darina Allen

I RECENTLY received a copy of a three page letter that 13-year-old Fiadh Little had written to the Minister of Education Ruairí Quinn.

Fiadh takes issue with the Food Pyramid — the model used by teachers and nutritionists to encourage healthy eating.

Fiadh makes well reasoned arguments why the food pyramid can be misleading in its generality and needs to be far more specific if it is to be accurate and meaningful.

From the base of the pyramid we are encouraged to eat a generous amount of cereals, bread and potatoes, but Fiadh quite rightly argues cereal to most people conjures up images of cornflakes or coco pops.

Many of the best known are high in sugar and salt with lots of flavour enhancers.

Fiadh stated “when these types of cereals were placed on the table my grandfather would say to me you would be better off eating the box”.

On the other hand, a fine bowl of porridge or a good nut and grain muesli or granola would indeed nourish and sustain a student or hard working chap throughout the morning.

Fiadh also takes issue with cereal bars which many nutritionists would agree are high in sugar and artificial additives.

There’s also bread on that shelf — for many households the word bread simply means squishy sliced pan, a fast food produced in record time with the aid of an increasing number of improvers, undocumented enzymes, and in many cases genetically modified yeast. Fiadh points out that a fine loaf of soda or yeast bread (homemade or from a good baker) is indeed nourishing and wholesome.

Moving on to the fruit and vegetable shelf which contains the famous five a day option — fine, but Fiadh also asks how vegetables and fruit that are heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides can possibly be doing us good — should we not highlight the importance of sourcing chemical-free fruit and vegetables and also encourage people to grow at least some of their own fresh vegetables and fruit?

Next is the Dairy shelf: we are urged to eat less of this food group, which Fiadh has no problem with, but feels that people should try to find raw or unpasteurised milk rather than pasteurised and homogenised which, she argues, delivers less nutrients, minerals and trace elements to the body.

The next shelf as we go towards the top of the pyramid is meat, fish and eggs.

Again, Fiadh points out the nutritional difference between mass produced eggs from a battery system and the eggs she gets from her six chickens which are fed on household food scraps and organic meal.

Similar arguments about meat and day-boat fish versus farmed fish, or fish from a trawler that has been at sea for 5-6 days — a more regular occurrence nowadays as fish becomes scarcer in inland waters. And finally we get to the tip of the pyramid — fats, oils and sweets.

Fiadh is 100% behind people being discouraged from eating too many sweets and sugary foods but is puzzled by butter and oil being discouraged.

Fiadh has heard from the minister’s secretary, but hopes to have a detailed response before she does her Junior Cert.

Roast Potatoes

There are two kinds of roast potatoes — those cooked on their own and those cooked around the joint of meat.

The latter cook more slowly, don’t look quite so perfect but have a delicious soggy bottom, rich with the flavour of the roast meat juices.

Old potatoes such as Golden Wonder, Kerrs Pinks or Skerry Champions

Salt

Peel the potatoes.

If they are enormous cut in half or quarters — don’t attempt to wash or, worse still, soak them in water, or they will be wet and soapy when cooked.

If you must, prepare them ahead then put them into a bowl lined with damp kitchen paper. Cover the top with more wet paper and store in the fridge.

They will keep perfectly well this way for several hours.

Dry well, otherwise they will stick to the tin and you’ll loose the lovely crusty bit on the base.

Tuck the potatoes around the roast in the roasting tin, toss them in the rendered fat, sprinkle with salt, baste and turn occasionally as they cook — they will take about an hour depending on the size.

Cook lots and serve very hot.

Granola with Cinnamon and Coconut

Serves 10-12

450g (1 lb/4 cups) organic rolled oats (porridge oats)

110g (4oz/1 cup) flaked almonds

55g (2oz/½ cup) unsweetened coconut

55g (2oz/½ cup) sunflower seeds

30g (1oz) linseed

55g (2oz/½ cup) bran

½ tsp cinnamon, freshly ground

2fl oz (50ml) sunflower or grapeseed oil

110g (4oz/½ cup) brown sugar

150ml (5fl oz/ ½ gen. cup) honey

125g (4oz/1 cup) dried apricots, chopped

125g (4 oz/1 cup) raisins

2 large baking trays

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

Mix grains, seeds and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Put the oil, honey and brown sugar into a saucepan, stir and heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the honey over the oat mixture.

Mix thoroughly.

Spread evenly onto the baking trays.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes so that all the pieces turn evenly golden.

Allow to cool. Mix in chopped apricots and raisins.

Store in an airtight jar.

Serve with sliced organic bananas and good milk.

Spelt Soda Bread

1 lb (450 g) brown or white spelt flour

1 generous level tsp of salt

1 level tsp (½ American tsp) bread soda

12-14 fl ozs (350 -415ml) buttermilk or sour milk

Sesame seeds (optional)

1 loaf tin (5x8 inches/13 x 20 cm) brushed with tasteless oil

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8.

Sieve all the dry ingredients into a large wide bowl.

Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk in at once.

Using one hand mix the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary.

The dough should be quite soft.

Put the dough into the prepared tin, sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.

Place in the preheated oven.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn down the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for a further 30 minutes or until cooked.

The bread should sound hollow when tapped.

We usually remove the loaf from the tin about 5 minutes before the end of cooking time and put back in the oven to crisp all round.

Cool on a wire rack.

Roast Irish Chicken with Fresh Herb Stuffing and Roast Potatoes

Serves 6

4½—5 lbs (1.5 — 2.3kg) free range chicken, preferably organic

Giblet Stock

Giblets (keep the liver for a chicken liver pate), and wish bone

1 thickly sliced carrot

1 thickly sliced onion

1 stick celery, sliced

A few parsley stalks and a sprig of thyme

Stuffing

1½ ozs (45g stick) butter

3 ozs (75g) chopped onion

3-3½ ozs (75-95g/1½-1¾ cups) soft white breadcrumbs

2 tbsp (2 American tbsp + 2 tsp) finely chopped fresh herbs eg. parsley, thyme, chives and annual marjoram

Salt and freshly ground pepper

A little soft butter

Gravy

1 — 1½ pints (600-900mls/2½ — 3¾ cups) of stock from giblets or chicken stock

Garnish

Sprigs of flat parsley

Remove the wish bone from the neck end of the chicken by lifting back the loose neck, skin and cutting around the wish bone with a small knife — tug to remove. Tuck the wing tips underneath the chicken to make a neat shape. Put the wish bone, 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.

Next make the stuffing, sweat the onions gently in the butter in a covered saucepan until soft, 10 minutes approx.

Then stir in the white bread crumbs, 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. If necessary wash and dry the cavity of the bird, then season and half fill with stuffing. Season the breast and legs, smear with a little soft butter.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/regulo4.

Weight the chicken and allow about 20 minutes to the lb and 20 minutes over — put on middle shelf in oven.

Baste a couple of times during 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.

De glaze the pan juices with the fat free stock from the giblets and bones (you will need 1-1½ pints depending on the size of the chicken).

Using a whisk, stir and scrape well to dissolve the caramelised meat juices in the roasting pan.

Boil it up well, season and thicken with a little roux if you like.

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.

Serve with gravy and bread sauce.

Hot Tips

Campaign for Raw Milk: Should the Irish Government Ban the Sale of Raw Milk?

A panellist debate with Ella McSweeney, Darina Allen and many others takes place on Tuesday next at The Sugar Club, Leeson Street, Dublin.

Doors open at 7pm with €5 admission. Email confirmation of attendance to Elisabeth Ryan [e-mail] and www.rawmilkireland.com for further information

Henry Hegarty from Bantry started Wokabout recently — a modern Irish company producing delicious artisan Thai and Vietnamese dishes and sauces.

Henry is at the Bantry market every Friday. Contact: 086-0234788 or email [e-mail]; www.wokabout.ie

Island Cottage Restaurant, Hare Island is open from June to September.

Tel: [phone]; Email: [e-mail]; Web: www.islandcottage.com