Spreading the word in New York
It was a busy few days, with lots of interviews with food editors and radio and television shows — including CBS on St Patrick’s Day.
In between I was batting for Ireland and spreading the news about the artisan renaissance in food production, farm house cheeses and farmers and country markets.
Many Irish products are now widely available in the US, including Kerrygold butter, Irish cheddar cheese, Odlums flour, Barrys Tea and Kilbeggan porridge.
The prestigious Manhattan store Dean and Deluca has increased its list of Irish products from two in 2011 to 11 in 2012, while I was there I was delighted to see that they were doing a brisk trade in Ballymaloe Country Relish, Dubliner cheese and Burren smoked salmon.
Sarah Grubb was over to promote the launch of Cashel Blue Cheese and Sean Hyde was charming everyone with his irresistible smile and a spoonful of country relish. The head buyer from Dean and Deluca was high in her praise of Bord Bia and the market place event they organised for food buyers last year which she insisted was the best she ever attended.
However, she was quite alarmed to learn that there was a possibility that Ireland was considering doing trials of genetically modified potatoes which, if passed, would mean the loss of Ireland’s GM-free status.
The perception of Irish produce in the US as in many other countries is of wholesome, clean food they can trust. Why would we want to lose our precious clean green image on which so much depends when there are already several varieties of blight resistant potatoes that could be further developed instead?
Spring is here so I’ll include a few more recipes from my new book. We’ve been enjoying the sea kale from the garden for the past few weeks — it’s a deliciously delicate plant that has been growing around our coast for centuries.
The season is almost over so you’ll need to be fast; alternatively plant a few plants for next year.
It’s not easy to find in the shops, but farmers markets occasionally sell it.
* Traditional Irish Cooking by Darina Allen is published by Gill and MacMillan.
Serves 4-6
450g (1lb) seakale
55-75g (2-3oz) butter or Hollandaise sauce. See recipe below
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Wash the seakale gently and trim into manageable lengths — about 10cm (4 inches).
Bring about 600ml (1 pint) water to a fast rolling boil — add one teaspoon salt.
Pop in the seakale, cover and boil until tender, 5 to 15 minutes depending on thickness.
Just as soon as a knife will pierce the seakale easily, drain it and then serve on hot plates with a little melted butter and perhaps a few small triangles of toast.
At the beginning of its short season in April we serve it as a first course on hot toast with melted butter or Hollandaise sauce (see recipe).
2 egg yolks, free-range
1 dstsp cold water
110g (4oz) butter, cut into dice
1 tsp lemon juice (approximately)
Put the egg yolks into a heavy stainless-steel saucepan on a low heat, or in a bowl over hot water.
Add the water and whisk thoroughly. Add the butter bit by bit, whisking all the time. As soon as one piece melts, add the next.
The mixture will gradually thicken, but if it shows signs of becoming too thick or of slightly ‘scrambling’, remove from the heat immediately and add a little cold water if necessary.
Do not leave the pan or stop whisking until the sauce is made.
Finally, add the lemon juice to taste. If the sauce is slow to thicken it may be because you are excessively cautious and the heat is too low.
Increase the heat slightly and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens to a light coating consistency.
Kay Harte, from the much-loved Farmgate Café upstairs in Cork City’s English Market, shared this recipe with us.
Kay constantly features local produce on her menu, if possible from the market downstairs.
The corned mutton is supplied by Paul and Alan from Coughlan’s Butchers in the market.
They bone the leg of lamb and open it out, then corn it for about 36 hours and it is absolutely mouth-watering.
Any leftovers can be converted, very simply, into a mutton pie the next day.
Serves 6–8
1 leg of corned mutton — around
2½kg (5lb 8oz)
2 bay leaves
2 onions, quartered
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 leeks, cut into chunks
900g (2lb) potatoes
Parsley Sauce (recipe opposite)
Put the leg of mutton into a large pot and add enough water to cover.
Add the bay leaves, onions, carrots and leek (Kay says she just chops the onions into quarters and adds them ’skin and all’); these are to flavour the cooking water.
Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer very slowly with the lid on for 1½–2 hours, depending on how big the piece of mutton is.
When cooked, turn off the heat and leave to rest in the cooking liquid until ready to carve.
Put well-scrubbed local potatoes into a steamer; they usually take about 30 minutes, depending on size.
When cooked, remove the lid and put a damp tea towel on top while you are waiting to serve. This helps the ‘floury’ process.
Make the parsley sauce while the potatoes are cooking. Kay says that either mashed turnip or mashed carrot and parsnip are lovely served with this dish.
You can cook the vegetables in the mutton broth for added flavour. Mash them with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of local honey.
Creamy mash or scallion champ are good with this too.
6–8 unpeeled ‘old’ potatoes, eg, Golden Wonders or Kerr’s Pinks
55g (2oz) scallions or spring onions (use the bulb and green stem)
55g (2oz) wild garlic
350ml (12fl oz) full-cream milk
55-110g (2-4oz) approximately, butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Scrub the potatoes and boil them in their jackets. Chop finely the scallions or spring onions and the wild garlic.
Cover the scallions/spring onions and wild garlic with cold milk and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for about 3-4 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse.
Peel and mash the freshly boiled potatoes and, while hot, mix with the boiling milk and onions/wild garlic. Beat in some of the butter. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Serve in one large or 4 individual bowls with a generous knob of butter melting in the centre.
Note: Champ may be put aside and reheated later in a moderate oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Cover with tin foil while it reheats so that it doesn’t get a skin.
900ml (1½ pints) full-cream milk
A few parsley stalks
Sprig of thyme
A few slices of carrot (optional)
A few slices of onion (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper 75g (3oz) roux (see recipe)
About 75g (3oz) curly parsley, freshly chopped
Put the cold milk into a saucepan and add the herbs and vegetables (if using).
Bring the mixture to simmering point, season and simmer for 4–5 minutes. Strain the milk, bring it back to the boil and whisk in the roux until sauce is a light coating consistency.
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Add the chopped parsley and simmer on a very low heat for 4–5 minutes.
Darina Allen will celebrate the launch of her new book with a cookery demonstration of recipes from Irish Traditional Cooking in Arnotts Department Store, Dublin at 1.30pm on Friday, Apr 20. All welcome.
The Café at the End of the Shop at Ballymaloe House is now opening on Friday 7pm to 9.30pm for Spanish-style small plates.
Tel Dervilla O’Flynn on 086-8136928 or 021-4652032.
Handmade knives from Gubbeen — If you have a few bob spare think of investing in one of Fingal Ferguson’s handmade knives.
Tel 028-27824.
Join nutritionists Debbie Shaw and Linn Thorsstenson for their new one-day course “Healthy Eating on a Budget for all Ages” on Saturday Apr 21, Ambassador Hotel, Cork City, from 10am to 4.30pm. www.straightforwardnutrition.com, info@straightforwardnutrition.com, 086-7855868.
Tart Anglo Irish Bakery is a great new little café in Portobello Docks, Kensal Road in London.
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