Weekend food with Darina Allen
In a quick vox pop around here nine out of 10 licked their lips at the mention of a juicy roast beef with all the trimmings — lots of crispy roast potatoes and gravy.
Several asked for a bubbly cauliflower cheese or French fried onions and surprise, surprise, apple tart was the top favourite pudding! It even beat lemon meringue pie into second place. Also mushroom soup which several people said they’d like to start with.
If little ones would like to help how about some choccies. These fruit and nuts are made in minutes provided you can resist eating them yourself — a little added crystallised ginger makes them even more delicious — Happy Father’s Day.
You will find a delicious Apple Tart recipe on the Ballymaloe Cookery School website.
Serves 8-10
Few people can resist a roast rib of beef with Horseradish sauce, Yorkshire pudding, lots of gravy and crusty roast potatoes. Always buy beef on the bone for roasting, it will have much more flavour and it isn’t difficult to carve.
Prime rib or wing Rib of Beef on the bone (well hung)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Gravy
1 pint (600ml) stock (preferably homemade beef stock)
Roux (optional)
Yorkshire Pudding (see recipe)
Ask your butcher to saw through the upper chine bone so that the ‘feather bones’ will be easy to remove before carving. Weigh the joint and calculate the cooking time (see below). Preheat the oven to 240C/475F/regulo 9. Score the fat and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place the meat in a roasting tin, with the fat side uppermost. As the fat renders down in the heat of the oven, it will baste the meat. The bones provide a natural rack to hold the meat clear of the fat in the roasting pan. Put the meat into a fully preheated oven, after 15 minutes turn down the heat to moderate 180C/350F/regulo 4 until the meat is cooked to your taste.
There are various ways of checking. I usually put a skewer into the thickest part of the joint, leave it there for about 30-45 seconds and then put it against the back of my hand, if it still feels cool, the meat is rare, if it is warm it is medium rare, if it’s hotter it’s medium, and if you can’t keep the skewer against your hand for more than a second then you can bet it’s well done. Also, if you check the colour of the juices you will find they are clear as opposed to red or pink for rare or medium.
If you own a meat thermometer that will eliminate guesswork altogether, but make sure the thermometer is not touching a bone when you are testing.
Beef is rare at an internal temperature of 60C/140F; medium — 70C/155F and well-done — 75C/165F
When the meat is cooked it should be allowed to rest on a plate in a warm oven for 15-30 minutes before carving, depending on the size of the roast. The internal temperature will continue to rise by as much as 2-3C/5F, so remove the roast from the oven while it is still slightly underdone.
Meanwhile, make the gravy. Spoon the fat off the roasting tin. Pour the stock into the cooking juices remaining in the tin. Boil for a few minutes, stirring and scraping the pan well, to dissolve the caramelised meat juices (I find a small whisk ideal for this). Thicken very slightly with a little roux if you like. Taste and add salt and freshly ground pepper if necessary. Strain and serve in a warm gravy boat.
Carve the beef at the table and serve with Horseradish sauce, Yorkshire pudding, gravy and lots of crusty roast potatoes.
Serves 8-9
Mushroom soup is the fastest of all soups to make and surely everyone’s favourite. It is best made with flat mushrooms or button mushrooms a few days old, which have developed a slightly stronger flavour.
450g (1 lb) mushrooms (flat mushrooms are best)
110g (4 ozs) onions
25g (1oz) butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
25g (1oz) flour
600ml (1 pint) milk
600ml (1 pint) homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock
Rinse the mushrooms quickly under cold running water. Chop the onion finely. Melt the butter in a saucepan on a gentle heat. Toss the onions in the butter. Cover and sweat until soft and completely cooked. Meanwhile, chop up the mushrooms very finely. (see tip below) Add to the saucepan and cook on a high heat for 4 or 5 minutes. Meanwhile, bring the stock and milk to the boil in a separate pan. Stir the flour into the onions and mushroom mixture and cook on a low heat for two to three minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, then add the hot stock and milk gradually, stirring all the time. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Taste and add a dash of cream if necessary. Serve immediately or cool & reheat later.
Tip: If you can’t be bothered to chop the mushrooms finely, just slice and then whizz in a liquidiser for a few seconds when the soup is cooked. Be careful not to overdo it — this soup should still have a coarse texture. Stalks may also be used. Mushroom soup freezes perfectly.
Watchpoint: Bring the milk to the boil otherwise it may curdle if added to the soup cold.
Serves 8-10 approx
4 ozs (110g) flour
2 eggs, preferably free range
½ pint (300ml) milk
½ oz (15g) butter, melted
Sieve the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre of the flour, drop in the eggs. Using a small whisk or wooden spoon, stir continuously, gradually drawing in flour from the sides, adding the milk in a steady stream at the same time. When all the flour has been mixed in, whisk in the remainder of the milk and the cool melted butter. Allow to stand for 1 hour. Grease hot deep patty tins with pure beef dripping or oil and fill half full. Bake in a hot oven 230C/450F/regulo 8, for 20 minutes approx.
Serves 6
This is the yummiest lemon meringue pie I have tasted.
4 ozs (110g) white flour
2-3 ozs (50-75g) butter
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk (keep white aside for meringue)
2 tbsp cold water approx.
4 ozs (110g) castor sugar
2 ozs (50g) butter
Finely grated rind and juice of 2 good lemons
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk (keep white aside for meringue)
2 egg whites, preferably free range
4 ozs (110g) castor sugar
7 inch (18cm) round tin preferably with a pop-up base
First make the pastry.
Sieve the flour with the salt, cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour with the fingertips. Keep everything as cool as possible; if the fat is allowed to melt the finished pastry may be tough. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, stop.
Whisk the egg and add the water. Take a fork or knife, (whichever you feel most comfortable with) and add just enough liquid to bring the pastry together, then discard the fork and collect it into a ball with your hands. This way you can judge more accurately if you need a few more drops of liquid. The drier and more difficult-to-handle pastry will give a crisper shorter crust.
Cover with cling film and chill for half an hour if possible. Line the flan ring and chill again for 15-20 minutes, line with paper and fill with dried beans. Bake blind for 25 minutes, 180C\350F\regulo 4. The pastry case must be almost fully cooked. Remove paper and beans, paint with a little lightly beaten egg white and put back into the oven for 5 minutes approx.
Meanwhile, make the lemon curd.
On a very low heat melt the butter, add castor sugar, lemon juice and rind and then stir in well beaten eggs. Stir carefully over a gentle heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Draw off the heat and pour into a bowl. Fill the pastry case with the lemon curd mixture.
To make the meringue whisk the egg whites in a perfectly clean dry bowl, until they begin to get fluffy, then add 2 ozs (50g) castor sugar and continue to whisk until they form stiff peaks, fold in the last 2 ozs (50g) castor sugar and then either pipe or spread over the lemon mixture with a spoon. Turn the oven down to 130C/250F/Gas Mark ½ and bake for about 1 hour until the mixture is crisp on the outside. Serve warm or cold. Alternatively cook at 210C/410F for 7 minutes.
Note: Do not whip the egg whites and make the meringue until you are ready to use otherwise if it sits around it will lose volume.
- The Avoca Garden Café in Wicklow was awarded Bord Bia’s Just Ask! Restaurant of the Month, June 2011. Visit Avoca Garden Café this month and catch the end of Wicklow’s Garden Festival from Saturday, June 11 to Sunday, 19. It features 32 beautiful, private gardens, each with their own unique theme and design. www.wicklowgardens.com
- Stephen Pearce recently opened a tea-room at his pottery workshop in Shanagarry, Co Cork. They have installed an Astoria espresso machine and make the best cup of coffee I have had in ages. Colleen Curtis from California bakes gorgeous fresh cookies, brownies, muffins… The caramelised apple muffins and lemon curd muffins are to die for! Colleen also makes a fresh pot of soup daily that they serve with homemade focaccia. Open seven days a week, 10am–6pm Monday through Saturday and 12pm-6pm Sunday. Tel: 021-4646807 www.stephenpearce.com
- The Naked Table project comes to Ireland — on Saturday, June 25, people will make a Charles Shackleton designed table from locally harvested Irish Oak during a day-long event at the Fruitlawn Garden, Abbeyleix, Co Laois. This is part of the Fruitlawn Garden Open Weekend on Saturday/Sunday, June 25-26. www.nakedtable.com
- Sushi gets the ‘thumbs up’ from cardiologists and nutritionists — not least because it is based mainly on fresh fish, seaweed, vegetables and rice, but it is also low in fat and high in minerals. Learn how to make Sushi with Shermin Mustafa at Ballymaloe Cookery School on Wednesday, July 6, from 1pm to 5pm. Tel: 021-4646785.
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