Bibliocook: All About Food

For the last round of European Blogging by Post, I decided to make some Dukkah to include in my parcel for Petula in Italy. An Egyptian blend of coarsely ground nuts, spices and salt that you eat with pieces of crusty bread dipped in olive oil, I had never come across Dukkah before going to live in New Zealand last year. There it is often available at the many weekend markets dotted around the South Island and many food producers - Wild Country, elgani, Attitude Foods - make their own particular variation.

Back in Ireland, I was suffering from Dukkah deprivation so, inspired by Claudia Roden (again!), I used her recipe to make this version. Rather than dig my weighing scales out of the press, I used a normal teacup to measure the ingredients in the proportions that Claudia suggested.

You can make Dukkah in a food processor but, if so, be careful that it doesn't turn into a moist paste. What you're looking for is a rough texture so you don't have to grind the hazelnuts, in particular, too finely. I made good use of the Boyfriend's skill with a pestle and mortar, him grinding as I closely watched the nuts, seeds and spices roasting in the frying pan. It's much too easy to walk away, just at the wrong moment, and end up with a burnt mess.

The proportions below make about six cups of Dukkah but it keeps well in an air-tight jar and is really good tossed with green leafy salads, sprinkled over melted cheese on toast, on roasted vegetables or with dips like hummus or yoghurt. I've also used it a few times to revitalise sad-looking pita breads. Just cut the breads into strips, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with liberal amounts of Dukkah before crisping up in a warm oven. These don't take long so be careful when you're cooking them.

We've been eating the Dukkah with the remnants of the wonderfully nutty argan oil that we brought back from Morocco but avocado oil is also great with it (I've been able to find the Olivado brand in my local, normally ill-stocked Tesco) or, of course, some decent olive oil. It's a great snack or nibble with drinks. Just grab some crusty bread - sourdough, ciabatta or a baguette - cut into cubes, dip in the oil, then into the Dukkah and savour.

Continue reading "Dukkah by post" »

Congratulations to New York-based blogger Julie Powell whose book, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, has just been nominated for two Quill Book Awards. The book - based on the online diary that Powell wrote, documenting her attempts to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking - is in competition in both the Debut Author of the Year and the Cooking categories.

Strangely enough, one of her fellow shortlisted authors in the Cooking section is none other than Julia Child (with Alex Prud'homme) for her memoir, My Life In France. Other nominees in that category are the much-hyped Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by The New Yorker's Bill Buford; home cooking from the Food Network's Rachael Ray in 365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners; and last year's default Christmas present for the cook in your life, Italian cookbook bible The Silver Spoon.

These awards are chosen by the public so you can vote for your favourite nominees at www.quillsvote.com and the winners will be announced on 10 October. Go Julie!

Life - in the form of friends' weddings, new babies and house buying - has gotten in the way of updates here in the last while but, even though I haven't been cooking or baking very much recently, it hasn't stopped me from either eating or investigating interesting new food products. While the Boyfriend and I were down at home in County Cork last weekend, I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to my beloved English Market and Quay Co-op in Cork city and these are a few of the things that I'm trying at the moment:

- Sowan's Organic Bread Mixes. Super Spelt bread for lunch today. Yum!
- Lovingly made and beautifully wrapped farmhouse butter from Glenilen Farm, who also make picnic-perfect gorgeous little yoghurt/fruit compote pots.
- Some cheese-encrusted baps and sourdough bread from the Quay Co-op bakery.
- A bag of the Ballymaloe-recommended oatmeal from Macroom Mills and a bag of their new wholemeal flour for when I get back to my porridge and brown bread-making.
- Govender's Mango and Almond Chutney for the aforementioned lunchtime sandwiches.
- A pack of Ummera Smoked Dry Cured Bacon which contains both back bacon and my favourite streaky rashers.
- Some spicy nut and seed Mexican Mix from The Organic Garden.

Things I didn't bring back - but should have - include feta, olives and pesto from The Real Olive Company, some of On the Pig's Back's terrines, cheese and membrillo (quince paste) from Iago and some ciabatta rolls from the ABC bread company but my bags were already full - and my pockets empty. The English Market's Farmgate Café was tempting and there were good smells coming from Joup but my custom was already promised to the small, but perfectly formed, Idaho Café on Caroline Street, and I wasn't disappointed.

You can read more about the English Market in Darina Allen's piece for the Examiner here - she also mentions the innovative Café Paradiso - and there are also some great photos of the market on Donncha O Caoimh's blog.

As a child, I was an avid cookbook reader and collector. Of course, growing up in a small town in the middle of the countryside, there weren't too many opportunities to actually buy many new cookbooks so the few that I did have were well-treasured. One of my most loved books, judging by the ingredient-encrusted pages, was a cookbook devoted to chocolate. Although the book itself has long since disappeared, it did leave a legacy behind - my beloved Chocolate Brownies recipe.

It's always the mark of a good recipe when you forget about it for a while, only to be reminded by a friend, family member or an event that it's time to dig it out again and these Chocolate Brownies have been part of my life for nearly twenty years now. While in college, my housemates and I occasionally used to have groups of up to 20 people over for dinner. For those nights, the brownies were a great prepare-ahead desert for lots of people, delicious served with whipped cream or, like Ice Cream Ireland, with a ball of vanilla ice cream and some chocolate sauce drizzled over.

These are not brownies for purists, the ones on the outside of the tin being rather more cakey than many Americans would like - although do make sure that you don't overcook them. Every oven is different (the temperature I give below is for a fan oven) so use your own judgement as to whether they are cooked or not. I use cocoa instead of chocolate and, although you may balk at first, these brownies are not complete without the nutty textural contrast that you get from the walnuts. Do use real butter, there's just no point in substituting anything else, and try to get your hands on good quality real vanilla extract instead of the horrible stuff that passes itself off as "vanilla essence" in the supermarkets. Apologies for the old imperial measurements but I've never made these in metric!

The night before the Boyfriends' birthday last week, I made up a double batch - it's the reason why I always have two swiss roll tins in every kitchen I put together - which, when piled high and with stuck liberally with candles, made an easily transportable and servable pub birthday cake. Any leftovers keep happily for a few days in an air-tight tin but they don't normally get to stay there for too long!

Continue reading "Birthday brownies" »

Things have been a bit mad around here lately so I unfortunately haven't been able to participate in last two Hay Hay, It's Donna Day events - Snap Cookies and Brilliant Bruschetta, hosted by Clare at eatstuff.net and Bron Marshall respectively.

Due to a traffic accident, Clare hasn't been able to do the round up so Barbara, the HHIDD instigator, with Bron's help, has put together a round up of the imaginative cookies that emerged from that challenge at Winos and Foodies. Barbara also met Ms Hay in person at the recent Auckland Food Show and you can read all about that on the same post here. The Brilliant Bruschetta roundup is now online and, if you hurry, you can also vote for the winner of the event until 5pm New Zealand Time (5am GMT) on 11 August.

Being the last day at work before a Bank Holiday weekend, Friday was terribly busy - but considerably brightened up by the arrival of my Euro Blogging By Post parcel from Sweden! Once goods inwards got round to delivering it to my desk, I resisted the temptation to open it immediately and tucked it safely under my desk (sneaking looks at it all the time!) until it was home-going time...only to discover that it was too heavy to carry for 30 minutes on a too-warm summer's evening. Luckily, the Boyfriend and I were able to call into the office on Saturday morning before we headed down the country for the weekend. I ended up opening it at home with the Little Sister, who got me out of my digital camera-not-working dilemma by using her phone to take the photo of "Swedish summer treats" illustrating this post.

The first thing that I came across in Alexandra's well-packed box was a bulging tin of Surströmming Fileer marked with a warning! A Swedish delicacy, it apparently smells so much that she strongly recommends that I "open it outside and far away from people...It will leave an unforgettable memory." Seeing as I live surrounded by people in an apartment block in Dublin at the moment, I'm going to have to wait for an appropriate moment to try it. Perhaps I'll wait until a weekend after we move into our country cottage in the middle of nowhere, Co Cork.

Also tucked into Alexandra's box were Matjesfiléer and Loksill, two different kinds of pickled herring - just as well I've started eating fish in the last few years! She tells me that these are eaten with new potatoes or are "delicious in sandwiches." I don't think it will take as much courage to eat these as the Surströmming but, between being at home with my family, travelling and having my Vegetarian Cousin for dinner, they remain in the fridge for the moment.

I couldn't resist opening the jar of Hjortronsylt (cloudberry jam) immediately. I've read lots about these berries - most recently (albeit briefly, despite the name) in Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries - and the jam is delicious, with a flavour somewhat like honeyed apples. They are related to raspberries and, like that fruit's jam, the Hjortronsylt is packed full of crunchy seeds that give it a wonderful texture. Looking for information on them, I came across Pille's nami-nami blog and her recipe for Rye Bread Canapes with Blue Cheese and Cloudberry Jam. First I'll try out Alexandra's suggestion of serving the jam on top of ice cream and then, if there's any left, will use it to top some of the Cashel Blue and Crozier Blue cheeses that Mum packed for me when I was leaving after the weekend.

A bottle of Pippi Longstocking's beloved Sockerdricka (sugar soda), some great Krafthattar - party hats for traditional crawfish parties which are held in August - and a tin-foil wrapped package of sweet and short homemade sugar cookies completed the parcel. Unfortunately, while packing to return to Dublin, our dogs at home got their noses into the box of goodies and ran away with the cookies, leaving behind nothing but a well-licked piece of Swedish tinfoil. I did a search on Alexandra's blog, Catching Points, and discovered Alexandra's recipe for these Sugar Cookies so I'll have to make them for myself and, this time, make sure they're nowhere accessible to a naughty Labrador and terrier combination. I think those cookies would make a great combination with some warmed cloudberry jam and ice cream...hmmm...how far can one jar of cloudberry jam go, I wonder?

Thanks to Alexandra for such a fantastic taste of a Swedish summer and insight into another country's summertime traditions - I'll let you know how I get on with the Surströmming when I muster up enough nerve to finally open the tin! - and also many thanks to Jeanne for doing all the organising and hosting the event. If you're interested, you can track all the other parcels here and even (before 25 August) sign up to international Blogging by Mail at The Happy Sorceress.

One of the (very) many events organised by fellow food bloggers is a series of regular parcel exchanges. Last year in New Zealand I thoroughly enjoyed participating in Blog By Mail 2 and now I've gotten involved in Euro Blogging By Post #5, this round of which is being run by Jeanne over at the London-based Cooksister blog. Jeanne picked "The Taste of Summer" as her theme so I've assembled a parcel along those lines with an emphasis on Irish products.

My digital camera is still flatlining (anyone with any ideas on how to get an Olympus Camedia digital camera C-370 Zoom to realise that it has fresh batteries in its belly please let me know!) so I can't take any photos of the full haul. You'll have to make do with a lovely photo from the Olivado Avocado Oil website instead.

A jar of Homemade Dukkah - an addictive Egyptian blend of spices and nuts, dukkah was everywhere in New Zealand. All the farmers' markets had a stall - sometimes several - which offered samples of dukkah. You dipped a piece of bread into a little dish of olive oil and then into the dukkah before eating. The oil made the crumbly mixture stick to the bread so you got a flavoured mouthful of different textures. It's very morish and was widely available in NZ but I haven't come across it in this angle of the world yet so, with the help of Claudia Roden and her New Book of Middle Eastern Food I made my own. It was difficult but I managed to wrestle enough away to send off to my EBBP partner.
Does it Taste of Summer? Coming from Egypt, how could it taste otherwise? Useful for nibblish picnicing.

Olivado Avocado Oil - We eat the dukkah with Moroccan aragan oil which has a complimentary nutty flavour but it seems to be difficult to find outside Morocco so I picked this avocado oil in homage to where I first discovered dukkah. A glorious green colour, avocado oil tastes - funnily enough! - of rich, nutty avocados. It's considered to be a very healthy oil and is also great as a moisturiser. There are some great uses for avocado oil on the Cuisine magazine website and I was delighted to recently discover NZ's Olivado brand in my local supermarket.
Does it Taste of Summer? Yes, oh yes! Even without dukkah, it is a wonderful dipping oil. Cut some ciabatta or flatbread into chunks, you’re your avocado oil into a plain shallow white or cream bowl to show off the dramatic green colour and dip away. Better than butter for summertime suppers.

Ditty's Irish Oatcakes - the nicest oatcakes I've ever come across are these handmade (they almost look homemade) version from County Armagh company Ditty's Home Bakery. I first tasted them at a Dublin Slow Foods evening devoted to cheese, specifically unpasteurised Irish farmhouse cheeses from Sheridans Cheesemongers, and have bought them many times since.
Does it Taste of Summer? Perfect for picnic-based cheese moments.

Moutarde Verte a L'Estragon - because, even when camping or picnicking, you can't part a girl and her mustard. Particularly when the mustard is such a glorious pale green colour as Edmund Fallot's tarragon-flavoured version. When I saw that it matched the avocado oil, I just couldn't resist getting it!
Does it Taste of Summer? Summer is all about salads and the best salad dressings involve a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (De Cecco is my current brand of choice), a couple of teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and a dab of decent mustard. Good with anything from lentils to butterhead lettuce leaves.

Blakes Organic Milk Chocolate with Coconut Filling - both organic and Fairtrade, (as well as being wrapped in recycled paper!) this chocolate is made in Switzerland for Blakes, a new company in Galway, and I'm all for trying out new Irish products. I had to buy another bar for myself to do extra testing.
Does it Taste of Summer? The smell of coconut in food, drink (or even sunscreen) always makes me think of summertime heat. This is a Very Good Thing if you live somewhere that you don't get much in the way of soaring temperatures, although I don't think that's a problem for my EBBP partner.

Bunalun Organic Caramel Wafers - I was introduced to these on a sun-drenched walk in the mountains surrounding Glendalough and they're now a camping staple. Thick sweet caramel sandwiched between crisp wafers from impeccably designed organic producers Bunalun - what's not to like?
Does it Taste of Summer? Take these with you on a summertime walk and tell me!

To finish off my package, I also included a copy of the July edition of Ireland's Food & Wine Magazine with it's glorious chilli-enhanced colourful cover and the Observer Food Magazine's Taste of summer special (Does it Taste of Summer? Yes it does!) - there's a great article on Morgan Freeman's restaurant in Clarksdale, Mississippi although author John Carlin does gush a bit. Some more bubble wrap and a quick trip down to the post office on Tuesday and my foodie package started winging its way to ...? You can track the parcel progress and arrivals at Cooksister.

Update 27 August 2006: You can see a photo of the contents and read about Petula's reactions to my parcel on her blog la cuoca petulante.