Try out Darina Allen's fresh and summery recipes to brighten up your day
Invite house guests who love to cook and want to cook for you and lots of your friends as a thank you for their stay.
Bliss!
My friend Camilla Plum from Copenhagen and her lovely daughter Asta stayed with us recently, Camilla is both a gardener and a cook, in fact a very well-known one and the author of very many successful cook books.
She also presents TV programmes and cooking shows both on growing and cooking food, a subject on which she is deeply knowledgeable.
They live on a small farm about 35 acres called Fuglebjerggaard about an hour north of Copenhagen.
It’s an oasis of chic and cool, but more importantly it is a glowing example of the variety and biodiversity that can be produced on a small acreage, with about 200 food crops, orchards, many heirloom varieties of barley for homemade beer and wheat to dry and grind for sourdough bread which is then baked in the woodburning oven.
Camilla also has about 200 sheep; she saves the wool and cures the skins to make the sheepskin rugs we remember.
Sadly, nowadays sheep’s wool is worth virtually nothing in this era of synthetic fibres that can be thrown into washing machine without ill effect but Camilla sometimes uses the wool as mulch for her vegetable crops.
I’m really looking forward to trying that in the garden this year.
She also saves seeds of a wide variety of heirloom vegetables, over 100 types of chilli alone and keen gardeners from far and wide seek her out to find rare and super flavourful food (www.fuglebjerggaard.dk).
Back to the dinner party, Camilla and Asta raided the pantry and winter garden and spent the afternoon chopping and snipping and marinating.
When I arrived in from the school, tantalising smells pervaded the house, the fire was lighting, the table was laid, the candles were lit and there was a veritable feast for all of us to enjoy… can you imagine?
Blood Orange and Scallion Salad, Salmon with Chermoula, Date and Green Raisin Chutney, Neck of lamb with Fennel and Yoghurt, Roast Potato wedges with lots of bayleaves, Cherry Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Salad and a big bowl of green salad, Basmati Rice with Almonds and lots of Dill, followed by Apricots with Ginger, Avocado Cream with Dried Rose Petals, Prunes with Tea and Vanilla, and Danish Red Berry Compote with Jersey Cream.
The food looked fresh and beautiful and tasted so summery in the midst of our depressing winter weather.
Try some of these recipes for yourself.
A much loved Danish summer classic — this version is super delicious, even though we made it with frozen berries.
375g (13oz) black currants
250g (9oz) white currants
250g (9oz) raspberries
375g (13oz) red currants
1 tsp cornflour
375g - 400g (13 – 14oz) white sugar
200g (7oz) whole almonds, blanched
The amount of sugar will vary between a ¼ or ½ of the weight of the berries depending on the sourness.
Put all the berries except the raspberries in a heavy bottomed saucepan with 2 cm (1 inch/30 ml) of water, on a high heat, for 3 minutes.
Just before they burst, put two tablespoons of the compote into a little bowl, mix with the cornflour until there is a smooth paste.
Whisk the paste back into the berries; continue to cook until the mixture thickens slightly, 1-2 minutes.
When the berries burst take them off the heat and stir in the sugar and fresh raspberries.
Serve the compote warm in individual glasses or at room temperature with some Jersey cream and a scattering of whole blanched almonds.
We use homemade Jersey yoghurt
7 lamb necks, each cut into 3 ‘chops’ – 3.2 kg
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 whole head of garlic, split in half horizontally
1½ tbsp cumin seeds, slightly crushed
1½ tbsp coriander seeds, slightly crushed
800 ml (27 fl oz) pots of homemade natural yoghurt
7 fennel bulbs, quartered
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 3 lemons
Salt
Garnish
Fresh spinach or chard
Toasted whole almonds
100g (3½oz) fennel fronds
Lots of fresh mint
In two roasting tins, mix the lamb chops with the chopped onion, garlic and spices. Marinate the lamb necks in the spices, lemon zest and enough olive oil to coat the meat.
Sprinkle with two teaspoons of salt and cook uncovered in the preheated oven at 230C/450F/gas mark 8.
Turn regularly to make sure the spices don’t burn.
When the lamb necks are browned, approximately 30 minutes, dollop on half the yoghurt and add the quartered fennel bulbs. Mix it around until everything is coated with the yoghurt. The lamb necks can now fit into one deep roasting tin.
Put about 300 ml/10 fl oz of water in the bottom of a deep roasting tin, add the lamb and fennel. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/gas mark 3.
When the meat is cooked, about 2½ to 3 hours, remove the lamb and fennel to a serving dish and keep warm.
Transfer all of the remaining juices into a pan, degrease and reduce a little if necessary. The sauce should be thickish. Taste and correct seasoning.
Bit by bit, stir in the rest of the yoghurt, pour over the lamb.
Garnish the dish with toasted whole almonds, lots of fennel fronds, fresh mint and serve with fresh chard or spinach.
Another delicious winter dessert, a terrific standby to keep in a kilner jar in the fridge.
250g (9oz) Agen prunes
1 litre (1¾ pints) of very strong black tea
1 vanilla pod, chopped
Zest of 2 lemons
150g-200 g (5-7oz) palm sugar, grated
Cover the prunes with tea and allow to soak for several hours or better still overnight.
Next day put everything into a saucepan and simmer uncovered for an hour or so.
Make sure that the prunes are soft and tender and the liquid is reduced to thick syrup.
Serve smothered in cream.
Leftovers can be mixed with softly whipped cream to make an exquisite fool.
Also gorgeous with chocolate cake or ice cream.
350g (12oz) apricots
100g (4oz) ginger, finely sliced with peel
Thinly sliced peel of 1 lemon
110 g (4oz) granulated sugar
275ml (11fl oz) sweet white wine (we use Jurançou)
5 cardamom pods
150ml (5fl oz) water
Juice of 1 lemon
300ml (½pint) water
1-2 tsp orange blossom water, depending on strength of orange blossom
1 mild red chilli, sliced, optional
Put the apricots in a saucepan, cover with cold water and leave to soak overnight.
Next day, strain the apricots and put in a saucepan with the ginger, lemon peel, sugar, wine, cardamom and enough water to cover.
Simmer gently with the saucepan lid on for at least an hour.
Remove the lid and gently simmer until the liquid is reduced to a thick syrup, 5-10 minutes.
Stir in the lemon juice and orange blossom water.
Make sure you don’t break up the apricots while stirring.
Garnish with sliced red chilli, if using.
Eat with chocolate cake, ice cream or just whipped cream.
Chermoula is a wonderfully versatile fresh herb and spicy sauce from Morocco and Tunisia.
There are many versions, some include saffron but we love this one which Asta and Camilla Plum cooked for us recently.
It’s fantastically versatile.
We also slather it over a sptachcock chicken, a shoulder of lamb or even chicken breasts. It uses both the stalks and leaves of coriander.
One medium fish (2kg/4½lb), preferably salmon
280g (10oz) bunches of fresh coriander with stalks, chopped
200ml (7fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
2 red chillies, roughly chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted
2 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted
1 tbsp caraway seeds, toasted
1 tbsp paprika
Zest of three organic lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
Whole bulb of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp Maldon sea salt
Arrange the fish in a roasting tin, cut deep slashes on each side of the fish.
Whiz the ingredients for the chermoula to a fine paste in a food processor with 200 ml olive oil. Smother the fish in the mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160C/325F/gas mark 3 for about 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 30 minutes or until just cooked.
Serve warm or at room temperature with green salad.
The spices are toasted separately, then ground in mortar and pestle or spice grinder together.
Creating a Soft Fruit Garden with Susan Turner: On Monday March 7, Susan Turner will teach an intensive half day course covering topics such as selecting fruit varieties, designing the fruit garden layout, looking at aspect spacing and plant training structures, creating fans, cordons and bushes with gooseberries, red currants, white currants and much more.
Coffee on arrival and light lunch included. www.cookingisfun.ie
Wine Tasting in the Grainstore at Ballymaloe: California Wines tasting in The Grainstore at Ballymaloe House on Wednesday March 9 at 7pm.
Tickets for the event are €10 and includes talk, wine tasting and canapés.
Tel 021-4652531 or email colm@ballymaloe.ie ; www.ballymaloegrainstore.com/portfolio/california-wines-less-more
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