March 2009 Archives

My latest baking project - one that even takes longer than the three-day Sourdough Bread-making event! - is almost completed. All going well, the Husband and I hope to welcome a small new inhabitant to the cottage early next month, to join our family of two humans, three hens and one cat (yes, we're back to one again - sadly the road by the cottage claimed Large, our big tom cat earlier this week).

Things may get slightly sporadic around here over the next while as I try to fill the freezer with easily managable meals, stock up the store cupboard and fill the tins with baking that will keep us going for a while. There's not going to be much time for baking with a new baby in the house! Flapjacks, both Honey and Chocolate versions, and Ballyvoddy Tea Bracks are top of the list, baking-wise, while I have a large ham hock (just €2.49 from James Whelan's Butchers in Clonmel and it will feed us for days) just waiting to be turned into freezable pots of soup and several casseroles in mind for the savoury side of things. Anybody got any other suggestions?

Meanwhile, the Husband - inspired by our weekend course at Glebe Gardens - is concentrating on assembling four handsome raised beds so that we can plant up plenty of vegetables to keep ourselves well stocked for the summer. In preparation for planting, the spare room is playing host to several egg-cartons-worth of potatoes being chitted, or sprouted. This year we're going with Maris Peer (I was seduced by its salad-friendly properties) and, unlike other years, we decided not to plant them on St Patrick's Day after last year's crop rotted in the ground when inclement weather hit during the last half of March.

We were able to get the potato seed from Fruit Hill Farm through the North Cork Organic Group, along with a bag of shallots which I'm looking forward to growing. I rarely buy shallots as they are a little expensive but love to cook with them so it makes perfect sense to grow our own, especially if our one remaining cat can can keep the rabbits away. Otherwise, there just might have to be a few more Rabbit Stews!

It's looking like summer has already arrived in North Cork and the hens, although their numbers were reduced to three of the original four after a run in with a fox during the winter, are thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. No matter what weather we've had, they've still managed to produce a steady source (especially after I found their secret stash!) of dark yellow-yoked eggs for baking and cooking, as well as being entertaining company in the garden.

In honour of St Patrick's Day tomorrow, I'll be putting some of those eggs into an Irish Tea Brack or even, if the Husband hasn't finished off all my Sloe Gin, a Ballyvoddy Tea Brack. If you're looking for something Irish to make for St Patrick's Day, I've a recipe for a Beef and Red Wine Pie which, with a little substitution of alcohol, turns very easily into a Beef and Guinness Pie. Or you could always turn your hand to some Brown Soda Bread.

With this kind of weather, it looks like I won't be long in the kitchen as there is plenty of digging to be done to get the garden ready for the new season's planting. Time to join the hens, methinks.

Enjoy your St Patrick's Day!

If you're in the North Cork area this month, then don't miss the Killavullen Farmers' Market, which takes place on Saturday 14 (tomorrow!) and Saturday 28 March, from 10.30 am to 1pm at the Nano Nagle Centre.

On the other hand, if you're in Dublin next Wednesday, 18 March, sign up for the first Great Irish Foodie Quiz, which chef Ainé Maguire (one of our interviewees for the Foodtalk: Wild radio programme - check out her blog at Drumms) has organised to raise funds for Special Olympics Ireland. It will be taking place at Fallon & Byrne on Exchequer Street from 7.30pm and admission per team of four is €80. You can email irishfoodie@gmail.com to find out if there is still space.

Watch out for new community site Qype, just launched in Ireland, with information on restaurants, pubs and cafés around Dublin. I had to laugh when I saw the reviews of Simon's Place, one of my old favourites when Saturdays always involved coffee and cinnamon buns with a window view, before going around to Road Records to stock up on that week's new releases.

And, to go off-topic for a moment, show your support for independent record shops in general and Road Records in particular by heading along to One For The Road: A Road Records Benefit & Celebration in Andrew's Lane Theatre, Dublin tomorrow night, Saturday 14 March, at 8pm. You can get your tickets - with none of those ridiculous extra charges - on tickets.ie.

Bord Bia are launching a public awareness campaign, encouraging customers to ask where the food on their plate comes from. After all, it's good to know that your dinner hasn't fallen off the back of a truck but be prepared for lots of cluelessness from ill-informed waiting staff.

And, lastly, but by no means least, if you're planning a party at home, talk to local caterer Jane Clarke who is offering a special price of €18 per person for two main dishes, three salads and two desserts. Like myself, Jane is Ballymaloe-trained, so you know you're going to be getting high quality fresh food, prepared with local ingredients. Her website is at www.janeclarke.ie

No longer having the easy access to Arbutus Bread that was one of the perks of my job in Urru Mallow, I've gone back to baking my own. At the moment I'm on rotation between three different breads - the Seedy Spelt Bread that I mentioned a few weeks ago, a Brown Yeast Loaf that still needs a bit of work and my old favourite, the Sourdough that I mastered while in Ballymaloe.

My starter is still alive and kicking, despite having most of a year sitting and doing very little in the fridge. Luckily, I fed it during the demo I did for the Conversations on a Farmers' Market in Urru so it didn't get totally neglected.

Before I started using it again this year, I gave it a few feeds of flour and (non-chlorinated) water and it wasn't long before it was bubbling up and over the jar. Now, as you can see, it's totally back to life, producing two gorgeous loaves of Sourdough Bread from each baking.

But time's running out - lacking a fridge of sufficient size to slowly rise the dough overnight, I've been putting it into our spare room, window left open, so that it can take it's time. Now, with the onset of milder weather, I'm wondering if my sourdough window of opportunity is closing. There's no way that little fridge is going to fit two baskets of dough and it's just not worth doing one at a time. I'm just going to have to figure out another way of managing it.

A quick trip to Clonmel today led to lunch with the Clonmel-Based Cousin, who said that she'd book us into Befani's Mediterranean & Tapas Restaurant. Never being one to turn down a recommendation from a local, especially one who loves food as much as I do, I was more than happy to meet her there.

From a short (at least it shows that the kitchen knows what it's doing) but well-chosen menu we both went for beef. Hers was a long-cooked beef stew with tomatoes and green peppers, with plenty of tasty gravy for mopping with the homecut fries that accompanied my beef ciabatta. Lubricated with basil pesto and given zest with rocket, mine didn't wait around for long.

Servings were generous but we still managed to try a desert between two, a chocolate attempt at the Arctic Roll that had dominated Sunday lunchtimes when we were both children. It wasn't quite successful but that still didn't stop us from polishing it off, along with a large pot of peppermint tea. These days, for both of us, lunch out is a rare treat - Befani's was definitely worth it.

Befani's Mediterranean & Tapas Restaurant, 6 Sarsfield Street, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Tel: 052 77893. Web: www.befani.com Email: info@befani.com

With meat so easily available from the supermarket in bloodless plastic packs, we seem to be moving further and further away from knowing where our food is coming from. Going to the butcher as a child - I always loved the queues so I could watch the butchers at work for a few minutes - at least I got to see the carcasses hanging up and the hard physical work that goes into preparing them. When the Little Sister (I predate supermarkets, she's rarely been near a butcher) caught sight of sides of beef hanging in a truck recently she almost got sick.

After the pork scare before Christmas, there's a new interest in traceability and - with purse strings tightening by the day - in making the most from cheaper cuts of meat, something your butcher is particularly well placed to help you with. When I worked in Mallow, Lucey's Butchers was where I always went. Now, finding myself nearer to Mitchelstown, Hanley's is my first port of call, especially for their superb black pudding - and, in an eco-friendly manner, all their packages come expertly wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string so your supper of lambs' kidneys looks like a mysteriously shaped gift.

If you're interested in learning more about meat, Urru in Bandon is hosting a series of Slow Food Master Classes all about meat, starting tonight. The Slow Food West Cork Convivium, Urru Culinary Store, Dan Maloney Meat Centre and Martin Carey Butchers have got together to facilitate the classes, which will start in Urru, moving onwards to the butchers' shops for butchering demonstrations, instruction on identifying cuts, characteristics, matching cuts to cooking methods and budgeting. The evenings will end with refreshments in Urru, combined with discussion on meat issues, traceability, food chain, organic, free range, freezing and recipes.

The classes will be running for the next four Tuesdays, apart from St Patrick's Day (3 March, 10 March, 24 March and 31 March), from 7.30pm to 9pm. Each class, including refreshments, recipes and special offers, costs €25 per night (€20 for Slow Food Members) or €80 for all four Master Classes. For more information and to reserve your place call Urru, Bandon on 023 8854731 or email slowfoodwestcork@gmail.com.

Maman Poulet, Damien Mulley and Val from Val's Kitchen all popped up on this morning's Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio One talking about blogs, bloggers and blogging. You can find a link to today's show here and the podcast should be downloadable from here.