Hunger for Irish cuisine
“I’ve been all over Ireland in recent years, and have found a lot of wonderful places to eat, drink, and/or buy good Irish food products,” says Colman. “Country Choice, though, is something special to me. It was Peter Ward, in fact, who first called my attention to the culinary riches of Ireland. I found his passion for, and knowledge of, traditional Irish cooking, and the country’s impeccable raw materials, to be seductive and inspiring.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that it was because of things I first sampled at Country Choice, or in Peter and Mary Ward’s homey kitchen, nearby, that I fell in love with Irish food and the island’s gastronomic possibilities.”
It was such a joy to browse through this beautifully designed book, to see ourselves as others see us.
It’s full of old favourites, as well as some new: shepherd’s pie; colcannon; black pudding with cabbage and apples… half-forgotten recipes that make your heart sing with memories of childhood meals around the kitchen tabled.
Christopher Hirsheimer’s photographs are beautiful and evocative. This cook book, published in the US by Chronicle Books, will do much to enhance the image of real Irish food and entice, particularly the diaspora, to return for a taste of Ireland.
It also reminds all of us of our traditional food culture, and the value of our beautiful, simple food, at a time when our morale badly needs a boost.
The Country Cooking of Ireland, by Coleman Andrews, published by Chronicle Books.
Serves 4
2lb/1kg corned beef, preferably bottom round (sometimes labelled ‘silverside’ or brisket)
2 carrots
1 onion
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp white flour
175ml/6 fl oz milk
2 tsp minced fresh parsley
½ tsp English mustard
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Put the corned beef, carrots, and all but about one tsp of the onion, into a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and skim the foam from the surface of the water. Cover and simmer for about 2½ hours, or until the corned beef is tender.
Remove from the liquid, wrap in foil, and set aside. Reserve about 175ml of the cooking liquid.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mince the reserved onion and add to the butter. Cook for about 1 minute more. Add the reserved cooking liquid, milk, parsley, mustard, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste, whisking the ingredients together until smooth. Cook for 5 minutes more, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens.
To serve, slice the corned beef and spoon the sauce over it.
Serves 2 to 4
4 tbsp butter or bacon fat
4 to 5 slices bacon, chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
½lb/250g waxy potatoes, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
6oz/175g Irish cheddar, grated
Pre-heat the oven to 350F/175C (gas mark 4).
Melt half the butter or bacon fat in a large, ovenproof skillet, preferably cast-iron, over low heat. Fry the bacon, stirring frequently, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp. Remove the bacon from the skillet with a slotted spoon, and set aside to drain on paper towels.
Cook the onions in the same skillet for six to eight minutes, or until they soften, but don’t brown, then remove them from the skillet and add to bacon, mixing the onions and bacon together.
Remove the pan from the heat, then carefully lay a thin layer of potatoes, about a third of them, on bottom of pan, so that they completely cover it. Season it lightly with salt and pepper. Cover with a layer of onions and bacon, about half of them, then a layer of cheese, about a third of it.
Add a layer of half the remaining potatoes and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover with a layer of all the remaining onions and bacon, then a layer of about half of the remaining cheese.
Finish with a layer of the remaining potatoes, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Dot or drizzle the remaining butter or bacon fat over the final layers of potatoes, and bake for 45 minutes.
When dish is done, top with the reserved cheese and put under the grill for three to four minutes, until the cheese has melted and begun to brown.
Serves 6
330g left over colcannon
65g/2 ½ oz white flour
4 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper
Combine the colcannon and the flour in a medium bowl, mixing together well.
Form the mixture into six cakes of equal size, about ¾in/2 cm thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat, then fry cakes on both sides, turning once and pressing down slightly on them with a spatula, until golden brown, about four minutes per side.
Serves 6-8
2lb/1kg rhubarb stalks cut into 1in/2.5cm pieces
2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
500g/18oz sugar
200g/7oz flour
Pinch of salt
14 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
Pre-heat the oven to 350F/175C (gas mark 4). Combine the rhubarb and ginger in a medium bowl and mix well. Transfer to a large glass or ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle 400g of the sugar over the rhubarb and set aside.
Whisk the flour, salt and the remaining 100g of the sugar together in a medium mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two table knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal flecked with pea size pieces of butter. Scatter the mixture evenly over the rhubarb.
Bake for about 1 hours and 15 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the rhubarb soft. Set aside to cool slightly, and serve warm. Or allow to cool to room temperature before serving.
Serves 4
300g/11oz Irish white flour or unbleached pastry flour, more for dusting
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
175ml/6fl oz plain full-fat yoghurt mixed with 175ml/6 fl oz cold water
4 tbsp butter
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together into a medium bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the ingredients, then slowly pour in about half the mixture, stirring the yoghurt into the flour with a wooden spoon in a spiral motion, working from the centre to the sides of the bowl.
Continue pouring the yoghurt until the dough becomes slightly sticky and elastic.
Turn the dough out into a lightly floured board and knead gently, forming a roundabout ¾ inch/2cm thick.
Cut the dough into wedge-shaped quarters with a wet or floured knife.
Melt two tbsp of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the quarters for seven to eight minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.
Transfer them to a plate, cooked side down. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Melt the remaining two tbsp butter in the skillet, then return the quarters to the skillet, raw side down.
Cook for about 10 minutes more, or until the bottoms are deep golden brown.
Oatcakes
Makes 20-24
110g/¼ lb butter, plus more for greasing
320g/11oz Irish rolled oats
50g/2oz flour, plus more for dusting
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350F/175C (gas mark 4).
Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Melt the butter with two tbsp of water in a small saucepan or skillet over low heat.
Mix the oatmeal, flour, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the mixture, then pour in the hot butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to form a crumbly dough.
THINK Irish, buy Irish, save Irish jobs is a new initiative started by a group of people and simple brilliant concept to keep at the forefront of our minds.
Peter Krussmann, one of the people behind this campaign, tells me that if each and every one of us spent 20 on Irish instead of imported goods each week it would create 20,000 more Irish jobs — Let’s do it. www.thinkirish.ie
THIS year is the centenary of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association, an organisation that has enriched the lives of thousands, maybe millions of Irish women and their families. Their members have an enormous treasury of skills and knowledge, not just in cooking, but a myriad of country crafts, rush work, crochet, knitting, patchwork, embroidery, jewellery making… check out the lists of courses at An Grianan on http://www.an-grianan.ie, a beautiful property in Termonfechin, Co. Louth, which I’m sad to say I only visited for the first time recently but greatly enjoyed.
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