Currabinny Cooks: Sticky toffee pudding with sweet Medjool dates
Sticky Toffee Pudding: a lot easier to make than most people might think, especially this version which is as simple as it is delicious
This week, the recipes are inspired by trips to farmers markets. Over the course of various lockdowns and restrictions on our ability to travel around, having access to a farmers market seems like a blissful escape from the realities of life in a pandemic. We tend to pick up a huge variety of things in a market that we otherwise wouldn’t have thought of getting elsewhere. The quality and diversity of produce at farmers markets usually far exceed what we are used to in our regular food shopping experiences. There seems to be a more directness between you as the consumer and the people producing the food you are buying.
We took note recently that there are a few sure things we seem to always pick up at farmers markets, almost without fail. These are good, stone in, marinated olives; beautiful artichoke hearts; and devilishly indulgent Medjool dates. These are things you tend to pick at, snack on and eat, as is. We do not often think of them as ingredients to be added to a dish, or something that can be transformed into another thing.
Indeed, we almost always use them ourselves, just as antipasti or something to nibble on as we are making something else. Recently, however, we have endeavoured to explore what other possibilities these ingredients have beyond habitual snacking.
Good olives are a staple at farmers markets, thanks largely to the efforts of the Real Olive Company which originated in the English Market in Cork in 1993. Over the years, the real olive company has participated in more than 35 different markets across Ireland. They sell a huge array of different types of olives along with caperberries, anchovies, feta, artichokes, lavender and other Mediterranean delights. Our personal favourites are garlic and thyme marinated green olives but we often pick up lovely black kalamatas as well.
We love globe artichokes — boiling them and eating them with butter or a tarragon dip but there is something to be said about marinated artichoke hearts. You get that wonderfully subtle flavour of artichoke without the fiddly process of preparing them and eating them. We had always seen them solely as antipasti, something to nibble on before or after a meal, but they are wonderfully useful ingredients to add to dips, pasta and risotto.
Dates are the edible fruit of the date palm. They are a staple ingredient across the Middle East and North Africa. They are eaten semi-dried and their soft sticky flesh tastes sweet and dark like toffee or caramel. They are also used to make syrup and can be used in desserts such as sticky toffee pudding.
Medjool dates are the variety we always go for. They are known as the 'king of dates' for their plumpness and rich caramel flavour.
Most people will be familiar with this devilishly indulgent, sweet, sticky dessert. It is definitely up there with our all-time favourites.
Sticky toffee pudding is also a lot easier to make than most people might think, especially this version which is as simple as it is delicious. Buy good quality dates for an irresistibly unctuous pudding.
- 200g Medjool dates, pitted and chopped up
- 250ml hot water
- 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 60g butter, softened
- 60g golden caster sugar
- 2 free-range eggs
- 150g self-raising flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 200g butter
- 400g brown sugar
- Vanilla pod, split
- 250ml double cream
- Pinch of sea salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the chopped-up dates and teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and pour the boiled water over. Leave to soak as you prepare the rest.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar by beating it vigorously with a wooden spoon until it turns light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them in well until well incorporated.
Add the flour, mixing it into the batter in three stages along with a small pinch of seasalt.
Pour into a square cake tin or casserole dish and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown.
Make the caramel sauce by heating up the butter, sugar, split vanilla pod and pinch of seasalt in a small pan over a medium heat. When the sugar has melted into the butter, pour in the cream and cook until bubbling gently. Pour over the pudding and serve in bowls with cream or crème fraîche and more toffee sauce spooned over.
Marinated artichokes are a surprising and delicious addition to a classic risotto bianco. This is about the simplest way of pimping up a risotto, elevating the dish to a more elegant and beautifully subtle meal.
- 1.2 litres of hot chicken stock (or vegetable)
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 3 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
- 100g butter
- Olive oil
- 400g risotto rice
- 250ml dry white wine
- 150g parmesan, grated
- Sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- 150g good quality marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons of thyme leaves
Keep the hot stock next on the hob with a ladle handy. Using a large frying pan or casserole, heat the butter with a drizzle of olive oil over a medium-high heat. When the butter is bubbling add the onion with a small pinch of sea salt.
Soften the onions and then add the celery and garlic cooking them for another five minutes. Add the rice to the pan and stir it around until it is well coated in the butter. Add the white wine to the pan and leave it bubble away until the rice soaks it up, after this start ladling in the hot stock, one ladle at a time, stirring the rice around the pan until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through.
Towards the end of cooking add the artichoke hearts to the pan along with the parmesan, thyme leaves and another good crack of black pepper.
A good tapenade recipe should be in every home cook's repertoire. Yes, you could buy tapenade in the supermarket, but it is one of those things that is so easy to make and so much fresher and tasty when you make it yourself. Often tapenades are made with just black olives or sometimes just green, but we like to use both for a more interesting a versatile version.
- 3 anchovy fillets
- 2 heaped tablespoons of capers
- 300g mixed olives, pitted and finely chopped
- 50ml good quality olive oil
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons thyme leaves
On a large chopping board, chop together the olives, anchovies and capers using a large chefs knife.
Chop until everything has been pretty much minced together and scoop into a bowl. stir in the olive oil, red wine vinegar and thyme leaves. Serve on crusty warm bread.
