Recipe ideas from Michelle Darmody

Spices have been the backbone of many cuisines for as long as history has been recorded. 

On a cold winter’s evening in Ireland they evoke far off lands with hot and dusty bazaars teaming with people, noises and the smells of exotic ingredients.

I like to imagine mountains of brightly coloured powders piled high, all with their own magical properties, tastes and appeals. Spices have been the cause of wars and have enticed men to trek to the furthest ends of the earth.

They provide our tastes buds with a warmth, comfort and flavour.

It is reported that when Henry II arrived in Ireland in 1171, he brought with him a large amount of spices for use by his court.

The sons of many wealthy Irish families travelled with the British army and brought back spices from their journeys.

In Ireland we tended to use spices for special occasions, at Christmas we can see a huge variety of spices being used to make our traditional cakes, puddings and mince for pies.

Now that all spices are far more readily available it is worth buying them as fresh as possible.

There is very little comparison between a jar of dusty grey powder that has sat at the back of a cupboard for two years and the aromas and flavours of a freshly crushed cardamom pod.

It is worth seeking out a good place to buy your spices and pick them up, give them a smell and feel before buying.

Making a spice rub that you can keep in the cupboard and use as you need it is a very handy way of quickly adding some depth and flavour to a dish.

It can be used to rub onto meat and chicken or fish to give a nice coating to the skin as well as allowing the flavours to seep in to the flesh.

Michelle owns the award-winning Cake Cafe and Slice in Dublin.

Spice salmon with olive mash

SPICE RUB

10g of mustard seeds

10g of coriander seeds

10g of cumin seeds

10g of fennel seeds

6 cardamom pods

2 star anise

2 cinnamon sticks

Add all of the spices to a dry pan and fry them until they are giving off an aroma. Blitz them in a blender until they are a rough powder and store in an airtight jar.

THE SALMON

potatoes for four

4 fillets of salmon

4 tsp of spice rub

olive oil

1 small lemon, sliced

spring onions, finely chopped

Put the potatoes on to boil in lightly salted water and drain when cooked.

Rub the spice mix into the salmon and sprinkle with seasoning. Drizzle with olive oil then lay the lemon slices along the flesh side of the fish. Bake in the oven skin side down at 180 degrees until the fish is cooked through but still pink in the centre. Mash the potatoes with a generous plug of olive oil and stir in the finely chopped spring onion.

Serve the fish with the mash.

Spice chicken and squash bake

6 shallots, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, lightly crushed

1 large butternut squash, sliced

a dash of olive oil

4 chicken legs

spice rub (see recipe, below)

brown rice for four

2 tbs of stock

Lay the shallots and garlic into an oven proof dish

Toss the squash and chicken in the oil, seasoning and three teaspoons of the spice rub. Place on top of the shallots. Bake in an oven heated to 180 degrees until the chicken is cooked through and the squash is soft.

In the meantime put the rice on to boil and drain when cooked.

Serve the chicken and squash on the rice. Add the stock to the hot dish and use it to remove any of the juices, pour it over the chicken.

Spice gingerbread cookies

2 egg yolks

450g of plain flour

10g of baking soda

15g of ground ginger

15g of cake spice

50g of treacle

150g of golden syrup

80g of butter and 80g of brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees. Mix the egg yolks, flour, bread soda, ginger and cake spice together. Melt the treacle, golden syrup, butter and sugar together in a saucepan. Pour the egg mixture into the slightly cooled treacle mixture. Beat until it forms a ball. It needs to be used quickly or else it crumbles. So roll it straight away to 4 – 5 mm thick and cut to what ever shape you wish.

Bake for eight to nine minutes in the oven.

Apricot and tumeric compote

This is a turmeric and apricot compote to serve on porridge or with pancakes for a late lazy weekend breakfast.

Turmeric is excellent for a large number of ailments and adds an extra orange hint to this compote.

500g of dried apricots, halved

3 tbs of caster sugar

250mls of orange juice and the zest of 1

3 pieces of crystallised ginger, about a thumb size in total

1 tsp of ground turmeric

250 mls of water

Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. It will last about a week in the fridge. I like to have some spooned into porridge in the mornings but it works equally well with yogurt or spooned onto pancakes.