The Rocket Man’s Beetroot and Farro Salad with Caramelised Onion
The three decades since we first opened our doors in 1983 seem to have whizzed by in a blur.
My brother Rory O’Connell and I started the cookery school together and welcomed the first certificate course students in September of that year. Since then students from over 40 countries have joined us and many of those returned from far and wide to celebrate the Ballymaloe Cookery School Gathering with us.
We started with one employee in 1983 and now 30 years later the enterprise in the midst of our organic farm and gardens employs more than 50 people.
It was a joy to welcome so many past students from all over the world, some of whom hadn’t been back to the school for over 25 years.
They were gobsmacked by the changes not just in the school which moved into the old Apple Barn in 1989 from the initial farm building in the courtyard but also the farm and gardens.
It was a wonderful day with much reminiscing and catching up on the fascinating stories of how each student has used their cooking skills since they graduated.
There were hundreds of extraordinary tales, Siv Svolsbru from Norway told us about her bakery in Porsgrunn where people queue around the corner for her breads. She brought one of her delicious Nordic loaves for us to taste.
Susan Leigh from Chicago told us about the impact of her project Fox Valley Food for Health which teaches troubled and disadvantaged teenagers how to cook delicious nourishing food which is then delivered to cancer patients in the area.
We set up seven stalls on the lawn and many of our past students and teachers who do farmers markets or food trucks catered the event.
Rupert Hugh-Jones, Geoff Irwin and brothers, Sean and Col Kelleher sat on straw bales under the sycamore tree and played wonderful traditional and hip-hop music — it was all magical.
The local GAA lent us their huge marquee to shelter the tables from the wind and rain that was forecast but somehow managed to avoid Shanagarry all afternoon. The long tables were decorated by Rory O’Connell and his team with apple branches, rosehips, pots of lavender and grapes.
The uralies were filled with huge organic cabbages which have since been made into sauerkraut and graffiti artist Adam O’Connor painted a huge cockerel onto the door of the chicken shed.
Many past students stayed over for the weekend. The Blackbird Pub in Ballycotton arranged a welcome back party for the students and we all joined up for a farewell breakfast on Sunday morning. A weekend full of happy memories to cherish.
Grilled bread can be a revelation.
Sourdough bread, olive oil, garlic and sea salt are all that are needed for the simplest version of this dish. However, the quality of each of these four ingredients must be beyond reproach if you are to have one of “those” food moments.
Add fresh ripe tomatoes and basil and it’s delicious.
Serves 4
4 slices of best quality sourdough bread
Extra virgin olive oil, best quality
1 clove of peeled garlic, cut in half
Sea salt
1 tomato, cut in half
2 ripe tomatoes chopped
A little lemon juice
Freshly cracked black pepper
Fresh basil leaves
Choose a heavy cast-iron grill pan to cook the bread on. Heat the grill pan until very hot and grill the bread on both sides, allowing lots of richly toasted colour to develop.
Remove the bread from the pan and rub one side with the garlic, no more than a couple of gentle swipes. Season with a little Maldon sea salt. Rub the halved tomato onto the bread, squeezing gently to release the tomato juice to be soaked into the bread.
Chop the remaining two tomatoes and add extra virgin olive oil, Maldon sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice and torn pieces of fresh basil. Taste and correct seasoning, spoon the tomato mixture onto each slice of grilled bread.
Drizzle generously with olive oil and cut the bread into manageable-sized pieces, making sure each piece of bread has a generous piece of the crust attached. Serve immediately.
Past student Jack Crotty shared this recipe with us.
1kg (2 ½ lbs) fresh raw beetroot
For the caramelised red onion:
2 red onions — peeled and sliced into ½mm rings
100mls (3fl oz) balsamic vinegar
40g (1½ oz) sugar
50mls (2floz) olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g (18oz) farro (pearled spelt) preferably Irish. We use Dunany Farro.
Dressing:
3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sherry vinegar (optional)
1 tbsp of chopped preserved lemon
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
Sea salt and pepper
2 large handfuls of red veined sorrel or any other salad leaves with punch, like rocket or mizuna.
Tabasco and Lime Yoghurt (Optional)
500mls (18fl oz) natural Greek style yoghurt
2 limes — zest and juice
2 splashes of tabasco to taste
A dash of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Mark 4. Roast onions with balsamic vinegar, sugar and a generous pinch of sea salt and pepper for 40 minutes or until they taste sweet and glisten.
Wash and roast beets in tin foil until they fall off a skewer. Peel by rubbing skins. Wear gloves to avoid stained hands. Chop and while warm add to roasted onions.
Wash farro well and bring to the boil in plenty of cold water. Cook for 30-40 minutes until the grain swells and retains a bite. Strain.
Combine dressing ingredients and pulse to emulsify. Add to warm farro. Once beets and farro are cool, combine and add dressed greens to garnish.
Drizzle the tabasco and lime yoghurt over the salad and serve.
2.2-2.6kg (5-6lbs) shoulder of free-range pork
Sea salt
A little fennel seed, lightly crushed
To serve:
Fresh baps
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rocket leaves
Cucumber Pickle
Bramley Apple Sauce (see recipe opposite)
Score the skin of a shoulder of free range, preferably heritage pork, rub lots of salt and a little crushed fennel seed into the cuts. Roast for 18 hours at 90C/194F, the meat should be almost falling off the bones and the skin crackly.
Remove the crackling, preheat the oven to 250C/500F, put the crackling on a tray and cook for a few minutes until bubbly and crisp.
To serve:
Split the fresh baps, pull the warm meat off the bone, season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, add any meat juices, maybe a few chilli flakes, taste.
Fill the warm baps with a few rocket leaves or a mixture of salad leaves, some pulled pork, and a few pieces of crunchy crackling, cucumber pickle, and a dollop of Bramley sauce.
Serve immediately.
The secret of really good apple sauce is to use a heavy-based saucepan and very little water.
The apples should break down into a fluff during the cooking.
450g (1lb) Bramley cooking apples
2 tsp water
50g (2oz) sugar, or more, depending on tartness of the apples
Peel, quarter and core the apples, then cut the quarters in two and put in a small stainless steel or cast-iron saucepan.
Add the sugar and water, cover and cook over a low heat.
As soon as the apple has broken down, stir so it’s a uniform texture and taste for sweetness. Serve warm.
Urru Culinary Store in Bandon, Co Cork, celebrates its 10th Anniversary with their Irish Food Producers’ Limited Edition Food Hamper.
It is a celebration of 10 years of food collaboration between Urru and Irish food producers, emerging and award-winning producers including Patisserie Regale Crackers (Clonakilty), Seymour’s Fine Foods Cookies (Bandon), Big Red Kitchen Preserves & Chutneys (Meath), Lorge Chocolates (Kenmare), Green Saffron Spices (Midleton), Ballyhoura Apple Farm (Ballyhoura), Peppermint Farm Tea (Bantry), Mc Cabes Coffee (Wicklow), Ummera Smoked West Cork Garlic (Timoleague/ Dunmanway) and more.
Available to order from Oct 1 and for collection/ delivery between Oct 21 and Dec 20, 2013. www.urru.ie
Highbank Orchard Harvest Picnic and Artisan Food Market is on tomorrow, pack a picnic lunch or graze your way through the artisan food stalls, enjoy a butter and jam-making demonstration and witness the first ever National Onion Hanking Competition — Sun, Sept 29, from 10am to 6pm at Highbank Organic Farm, Cuffesgrange, Kilkenny. 056-7729918
Coinciding with UK Fungus Day, the International Mushroom Festival will bring together mushroom experts and mushroom lovers from all over the world to the beautiful, centuries-old, Killegar Estate in Co Leitrim to exchange scientific knowledge and celebrate our natural environment. Phone: 049-4334309. www.internationalmushroomfestival.com
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