Weekend food with Darina Allen

CHRISTMAS for many people this year is something to be dreaded rather than looked forward to with the usual joy and anticipation.

Everywhere one turns, there are myriad reminders of out-of-reach temptations.

The Christmas lights have been twinkling for several weeks now and this year I saw the first Christmas tree already bedecked with baubles and bows in mid-November.

There’s an understandable desperation in the retail world as they try to tempt us all to buy but if the money isn’t there, Christmas with all the glamour and glitz turns to torment.

A cook will always welcome a rosemary bush, plant it for remembrance.

The aromatic spears can be plucked in every season to flavour lamb, chicken, pork, roast vegetables and jellies and sorbets.

Choose a favourite farmhouse cheese and arrange for one to be sent by mail or courier once every two to three months.

Alternatively choose a little hamper of Irish Farmhouse Cheese from Iago or On the Pig’s Back in the English Market in Cork, Sheridans in Galway or Dublin, or Peter Ward from Country Choice in Nenagh.

A gift token for the Midleton Farmers Market or tempting food and wine shops like Urru in Bandon or The Butlers Pantry in Dublin, or one of the Avoca Shops is bound to be a hit.

However, there are many alternative ways to give a present, pledges on homemade little ‘gift vouchers’ cost nothing and give double pleasure, a gift of babysitting, cook dinner for the family, wash the car, walk the dog, Hoover the house… Gifts that involve your time seem to have a different dimension and meaning.

Edible presents are also doubly welcome so this week and next, I’ll suggest lots of easy and delicious homemade gifts — not just fancy bottles that can sometimes sit on a kitchen shelf for years.

A few cartons of frozen homemade soup, a tagine or a gorgeous pot of comforting stew will be welcomed with open arms and greatly enjoyed at a later stage.

So it doesn’t have to be fancy, just delicious and after all, the way to everyone’s heart is through their tummy at Christmas and throughout the year.

Winter Root Vegetable Soup

Serves 12 approx

A mixture of carrot and parsnip would also make a delicious soup if you can’t find celeriac and Jerusalem artichokes. Easy, cool and fill into the carton, cover and freeze and label.

125g/ 4½oz celeriac

250g/9oz parsnips

250g/9oz Jerusalem artichokes or whatever combination of vegetables you fancy or have to hand

1.1kg (2 1/2lb) carrots, preferably organic, chopped

90g (3oz) butter

225g (8oz) onion, chopped

275g (10oz) potatoes, chopped

Salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar

Sprig of spearmint

2.4l (4 pints) homemade light chicken or vegetable stock

124ml (5 fl ozs) creamy milk, (optional)

6 tsp freshly chopped spearmint

1 tsp thyme leaves

Garnish

A little lightly whipped cream or crème frâiche

Parsley springs

Melt the butter and when it foams add the peeled and chopped vegetables, season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Add thyme leaves, cover with a butter paper (to retain the steam) and a place with a tight fitting lid.

Leave to sweat gently on a low heat for about 10 minutes approx.

Remove the lid, add the boiling stock and cook until the vegetables are soft, alternatively add three tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley.

Taste and correct the seasoning.

Alternatively, purée the soup until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add a little creamy milk if necessary.

If serving immediately, garnish with a swirl of lightly whipped cream or crème frâiche and some parsley sprigs.

Ballymaloe Mincemeat

Makes 3.2 kilos approx. Makes 8-9 pots.

This mincemeat is the most delicious I know, add a few recipe suggestions to the basket, it’s great in pies, tarts, ice-cream…

2 cooking apples, eg. Bramley Seedling

2 organic lemons

450g (1lb) beef suet

Pinch of salt

110g (4oz) mixed peel (preferably homemade)

2 tbsp orange marmalade

225g (8oz) currants

450g (1lb) sultanas

900g (2lbs) Barbados sugar (moist, soft, dark-brown)

62ml (2½ fl oz) Irish whiskey

Core and bake the whole apples in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/gas mark 4, for 30 minutes approx.

Allow to cool.

When they are soft, remove the skin and mash the flesh into pulp.

Grate the rind from the lemons on the finest part of a stainless steel grater and squeeze out the juice and stir into the pulp.

Add the other ingredients one by one, and as they are added, mix everything thoroughly.

Put into sterilised jars, cover and leave to mature for two weeks before using.

This mincemeat will keep for a year in a cool, airy place.

Blood Plum and Apple Chutney

Makes 7 x 200ml (7fl oz) small jars

Particularly delicious with cold ham, pot in small jars.

110ml (4 fl ozs) cider or wine vinegar

175g (6ozs) caster sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

½ tsp peeled and grated ginger

900g (2lb) blood red plums, stoned and chopped

900g (2lb) Bramley apples, peeled and chopped

Put the vinegar and sugar in a stainless steel saucepan with the cinnamon, star anise and ginger.

Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add the chopped plums and apples, simmer gently for about 40 minutes until the plums and apples are tender and the liquid is thick.

Pour into jars. Cover and keep in the fridge.

Beetroot and Ginger Relish

This sweet sour relish is particularly good with cold meats and coarse country terrines and keeps for ages, pretty labels and ribbons and maybe a sprig of holly will make it all the more festive.

1½ ozs (45g) butter

8 ozs (225g) onion, chopped

3 tbsp sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lb (450g) raw beetroot, peeled and grated

1 fl oz (25ml) sherry vinegar

4 fl ozs (120ml) red wine

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Sweat the onions slowly in butter, they should be very soft, add sugar and seasoning and allow to brown slightly.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook gently for 30 minutes.

Serve cold.

This relish keeps for ages.

Hot tips

IF you haven’t already ordered your turkey or goose, East Ferry Free Range deliver fresh, free range, oven ready white and bronze turkeys and geese all over Ireland. Robbie Fitzsimmons can do last minute deliveries. 086-2056020 or email [e-mail]

Philip Monks from Monksfarm, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare delivers fresh free-range bronze turkeys and Legarth geese (traditional white geese) to the Dublin, Limerick and Galway areas. Order online www.monksfarm.wordpress.com or phone Philip direct 086-8735565

Seek out Riverlane Panforte — a small Italian cake with an intense flavour made from Irish honey, home-made candied peel, Bandon Creamery butter and nuts — available in Urru Bndon, the ABC stall (Alternative Bread Company) in the English Market and Riverlane Café in Ballineen, Co Cork; 023-8847173 or email [e-mail].

I’ve just discovered Highbank Organic Orchard Syrup “Ireland’s answer to maple syrup” it’s a sweet and delicious, pouring syrup, the first of its kind. The organic apples are grown and produced by Highbank Orchards, Kilkenny. Available at Ballymaloe Cookery School Farm Shop; 021-4646785 — www.highbankorchards.com