Strawberry Sponge with Homemade Vanilla Custard

This is a really great, light and tasty dessert that’s really easy to prepare and is sure to impress. The main stars of this dish are the strawberries which are still in season and are sweet and delicious right now so it’s best to use them while they are so good. This dessert doesn’t keep very well so it’s advisable to prepare it when you’re expecting guests or feeling especially gluttonous! There are only two elements to this dish that require some bit of effort: the sponge and the custard and it’s the simple combination of the two, plus the strawberries that makes this dish so successful. Here’s the recipe!

For the Sponge:

4 Eggs: whites and yolks separated (you will need the yolks later)

100g Caster Sugar

100g Flour (plain in fine but for extra insurance use self-raising)

1 punnet of Irish Strawberries

1.    Add the egg whites and caster sugar to a mixing bowl.

2.    Using an electric whisk/mixer beat the mixture until it is light, airy and has at least doubled in size.

3.    Next, sift the flour onto the surface of the mixture.

4.    Fold the flour into the mixture using a steel spoon or spatula as a wooden spoon will knock out the air and you will end up with a very flat, dense sponge and no one wants that!

5.    Spoon your mixture into a cake tin that has been greased and floured.

6.    Take your strawberries and halve any that are quite big. Arrange them on top of the sponge mixture any way you like. You will probably have a few left over so these can be saved as a garnish for later.

7.    Place the sponge into an oven, on the middle shelf at 180°C for about 30-35 minutes. (For fan-assisted ovens 160°C should be fine)  

8.     The sponge is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

For the Custard:

3-4 Egg Yolks

75-100g Caster Sugar (depending on how sweet or not you like it)

½ a Vanilla Pod

1 Small tub of double cream (fresh is fine too)

Some Milk

1.     While the sponge is cooking you can prepare the vanilla custard. Pour the cream into a saucepan with roughly half its amount of milk.

2.     Split the vanilla pod in half using a sharp knife and scrape out the shiny black seeds. Place these, along with the split pod into the milk and cream mixture. Heat gently until the mixture just starts to steam at the surface, but not boil.

3.     You can remove the vanilla pod at this point.

4.     In a small bowl mix the sugar and egg yolks together.

5.     Add a small amount of the hot milk and cream mixture to the sugar and egg yolks. Mix vigorously to warm the eggs. This is called tempering and prevents the eggs from scrambling when added to the pot.

6.     Add the tempered mixture to the pot and heat gently until thickened to a lovely, silky, custardy texture.

By the time the custard is ready the sponge will more than likely be ready to come out of the oven. Remove the sponge and let it rest for a few minutes before removing from the cake tin. This is best eaten while still slightly warm from the oven with the freshly made vanilla custard smothered on top. Garnish with a fresh strawberry, serve and enjoy!

Autumn, What's in Season!

 

Well, autumn is finally here! That means winter is coming next and as many people often say, “sher lads, we won’t feel Christmas now.” Autumn is the time where the leaves on the trees start to change colour, the breeze gets colder and stronger and food becomes heartier and more comforting. This is when people start to wander the country roads and fields to forage for nuts, berries and other autumnal treats. This particular image takes me back to my childhood when I used to pick wild gooseberries and more carefully, blackberries. A happy time it was! 

Traditionally this was the time where the art of preserving really came into action, but with the advent of the supermarket and the lack of its necessity for sustenance, preservation has unfortunately fallen out of favour with the masses. This is a great shame as preserving is such an enjoyable and rewarding activity and there is nothing like the anticipation for say a ripened blackberry jam or a fruit liqueur. It really makes you feel like a kid again and in this fast-moving world there is certainly nothing wrong with that. 

Here, I am providing you with a list of what’s in season in autumn. These are foods that are best now and in the coming few months, berries will be at their sweetest and vegetables will be at their most flavoursome. Keep your eyes open for the foods mentioned below, both in the wild and in your local supermarket, your taste buds will truly thank you!

Fruit

Apples

Blueberries

Blackberries

Plums

Cranberries

Quince

Nectarines

Elderberries

Sloes

Figs

Pears

Raspberries

Gooseberries

Chestnuts

Hazelnuts

Vegetables

Aubergine

Butternut Squash

Leek

Swede

Carrots

Celeriac

Celery

Pumpkin

Courgette

Mushrooms (wild)

Brussels Sprouts

Fennell

Parsnips

Cabbages

Radishes

Rocket

Potatoes

Onions

Turnips

Beetroot

Meat

Venison

Game Birds

Fish

Pollack

Haddock

Whiting

Mackerel

Coley

Sea Bass

The English Market

What a place! The atmosphere there was electric and one full of trade and enjoyment. The stallholders dealt with their many customers with a genuine smile and deftness that I am sure was honed over many years of hard work and skillful handling of goods. What impressed me the most was the emphasis on local, home-grown produce and the pride stallholders had for it. Everyone I spoke to was very knowledgeable about their food and were more than happy to give me advice on how best to prepare or eat it.

It is easy to say that the market is dominated by Irish producers and craftsmen but it has also given way to some foreign influence. This is not necessarily a bad thing however, as the dialogue between both Irish recipes and produce and that of other countries is what keeps gastronomy bright and interesting. Influences can be seen from France, the Mediterranean, India and Eastern Europe both in separate stalls and in the Irish ones too.

In terms of space the market was quite labyrinthine with one spacious double-height foyer and small crowded ‘streets’ off of that. The only word I could possible use to describe the place was medieval. The narrow busy streets were crowded enough and it was almost like a fight to get served at a stall. This really added to the experience as there was a bit of chat and banter amongst customers and stallholders alike and it reflected just how much in demand this great produce was.

How was the food you ask? Silly question really, this is the English Market we are talking about here. Amazing is your answer, in short. You could really tell how much these producers cared about their goods. Take for example the food from Frank Hederman’s smokehouse based in Cork. His stall sold the most wonderful smoked salmon, mussels in a kind of vinaigrette, smoked mackerel and various other delicious smoked goods.

What hooked me was his technique of using beech smoke to flavour the fish. The smoke had a delicious, heady aroma and added a wonderful, distinct smoky taste to the food. This truly was someone who knew how to smoke their fish!

The English Market is probably so successful because of a happy meeting of several positive factors.  First opened at the end of the 1700s, it mainly served the wealthy of Cork. As time passed and economics began to change, it has become the market we have today that serves everyone who has an appreciation of great food. Having established itself as a beacon of quality food, the English Market has created a unique tradition in the city for the appreciation of wonderful produce. Perhaps it is its long historical presence in the city that has conditioned people there to know about and want good quality, local produce. As this type of food has become more and more in demand, it has forced stallholders to raise their standards to cater for the dining public’s ever growing tastes. This has encouraged a healthy competition amongst stallholders as an attempt to grab the customers’ attention and of course, money! The competition between stallholders has really raised the standards of the food being produced, far higher than I’ve ever seen elsewhere and has resulted in the beautiful displays we see today.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the English Market. The atmosphere of trade and banter was great. You really got a sense that the people here really knew about and appreciated their food. The well-stocked stalls provided me with endless inspiration for dishes to come and the great advice from stallholders would easily encourage you to get cooking! The English Market truly is a great place for the foodie and I would encourage you to visit it if ever you were in the city.

Spring's Seasonal Treats

 Wondering what’s great to buy in terms of food this spring? Here’s the answer, well answers to be more specific! Although developments in farming methods have made all kinds of produce available year round, there is nothing better than cooking with food that is in season naturally at that specific time of year. I feel it is important that we understand where our food comes from and when it is best to eat it.

There is something really great about being in touch with nature rather than blindly relying on those well tidied supermarket aisles as a guide. An appreciation of the food we eat makes it taste than much sweeter, I think.

Now this is just a rough guide to what is great this season, if I discover anything else to add to the list I will put it up as an aside to a new recipe/post.

After much research I have made a list of foods that are great to eat in spring, just as nature intended! No recipes here I’m afraid. This time I’ll leave it up to your own creativity to see what you can make! I love making lists so here’s a few to get your creative juices flowing.

Veg

Artichokes

Asparagus

Beetroot

Broad Beans

Broccoli

Cabbage (generally all types)

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celeriac

Celery

Chicory

Morels

Parsnips

Peas

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Radishes

Rocket

Salsify

Shallots

Spinach

Spring Greens

Spring Onions

Sprouts

Swede

Turnips

Fruit

Apricots

Blood Orange

Elderflowers

Gooseberries

Mango (alphonse)

Rhubarb (forced)

Meat

Spring Lamb

Fish

Crab

Haddock

Mackerel

Pollack

Sea Bass

Whiting

Herbs

Basil

Bay

Chervil

Chives

Coriander

Dill

Flat-Leaf Parsley

Marjoram

Oregano

Rosemary

Porter Cake

Like Guinness? Like cake? If so, then this is the recipe for you! A classic teatime recipe for the Irish, this cake is rich, unctuous and filling. I like it cut thick and soaked in fresh cream. It is comfort food at its best, perfect for those nights in on the couch..

An unusual feature of this recipe is that, just like a newborn baby, it needs to be fed regularly! Roughly a tablespoonful or two of Guinness poured over it over the course of 7 days gives this cake a wonderful moistness and a great background flavour of the black stuff.

Like all slow food, patience results in something truly special. However, there is of course, nothing wrong with slicing into it straight after baking or even a day or two afterwards. The optimum time to serve this cake is exactly 17:59 so plan ahead! Little Guinness joke there, haw haw haw..

Great tasting, keeps well and satisfies your hunger cravings. All set? Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

100g butter                                                     1 teaspoon mixed spice

100g Demerara sugar                                    ½ pint Guinness

2 eggs                                                              300g raisins

200g flour                                                       100g mixed peel

½ teaspoon baking powder                           50g glace cherries

grated zest of 1 lemon

Method

1.       Set your oven to 170°C.

2.       Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time.

3.       Sift together the flour, baking powder and mixed spice and add to the mixture.

4.       Add the Guinness and beat well into the mixture. Stir in the raisins, mixed peel and lemon zest.

5.       Line a loaf tin with baking parchment. Pour in the mixture and cover loosely (don’t make a seal) with tinfoil to stop the cake from browning too much on the top.

6.       Bake for 1½ hours. Allow to cool completely in the tin. Turn out and eat.

OR

7.       Keep in the tin and pierce holes in the top with a skewer. Everyday for seven days, pour over one to two tablespoons of Guinness for a richer, moister, more developed flavour. The wait is well worth it!

      Enjoy spread with butter, warm with fresh cream or heated and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Boxty

This is a recipe for the ladies! As the old rhyme goes: “Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan; if you can’t make boxty, you’ll never get a man”. Single? Are you looking for someone to keep you company on those lonely nights? Once you’ve mastered this recipe your only chat-up line should be along the lines of “well... Have you tasted my boxty?”. Any self-respecting countrywoman could whip up a batch of boxty no bother at the request of her loved one! So, to entice that special someone or to keep them by your side all you need do is follow this recipe!

It is one of the traditional Irish recipes that nearly everyone knows of or at least has heard of in some shape of form. It consists of two of the main staples of Irish cuisine: potatoes and flour. Translated from the Irish to mean ‘poor house bread’, like all peasant food it has naturally become a favourite amongst the working class and has even crept onto the palates of the more privileged.

What I like most about this recipe is its versatility. Once the mix is made, it is entirely up to you how you want to cook it. Personally I like it rolled out to about one centimetre thick and pan fried for a few minutes on either side until crisp and brown. It goes down great when smothered in butter! You can also roll it out to about 1-1½ inches thick and bake it in the oven at 200°C for 20-30 minutes for something more bread-like. Another way of doing it is to use a good bit of milk to make the mixture more like a batter and pour it into a greased frying pan to make potato pancakes. Delicious! Without further ado, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

1 lb Potatoes                                  10 oz. Self-Raising Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder            2 oz. Melted butter

Milk to mix                                     Salt and Pepper

Method

1.       Divide the potatoes in half. Boil one half until tender. Grate the other half and wring out the water through a paper towel into a bowl. Reserve this liquid as it will be needed later.

2.       Drain the boiled potatoes. Mash and season to taste.

3.       Mix the grated and mashed potato together. Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix into the potato mixture.

4.       Go back to the liquid drained from the grated potato. By now the starch will have separated from the liquid. Drain off the liquid and add the left-over starch to the potato mixture.

5.       Melt the butter and add to the mixture to enrich it. Add enough milk to create a soft dough. What you want is something that holds together well and isn’t too runny.

6.       Shape into rounds about 8-10 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick.

7.       Cook in a buttered pan on a medium heat for a few minutes each side until golden brown.

Simple and delicious!

Classical Technique: Consommé

Consommé is defined as a clear broth made from meat, poultry or fish served as a soup course at the start of a meal. It is full of flavour yet is very light on the palate. It is a great way for chefs to show off their skill as the technique is very specific. A perfect consommé should be crystal clear, amber to light brown in colour and be full of flavour.

My first experience of consommé was in Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London. It was a roasted vegetable consommé and was a delight. It was beautifully flavoured and was so clear it sparkled.

The method isn’t really as complicated as the hype would suggest and the original technique can be adapted by the home chef. Purists would probably scoff at the idea of veering slightly to the left of the original method but why should we deny ourselves of this delicious dish at home? In the old French style restaurants there was a specially designated position such as the ‘saucier’ who was in charge of making stocks, soups and broths. This person, when making consommé, had a specially designed vessel for making consommé. This was a large pot with a tap at the base which allowed the chef to drain the crystal clear liquid while leaving the sediment soaked egg white at the top. It’s easy to do, I swear!

You can garnish the consommé with various things such as a chiffonnade of herbs etc. but I prefer it as it is in its pure simplicity.

Ingredients

500g lean beef (any cut really)                               1 stick of celery

500g beef shank (with the bone)                            1 medium sized onion

1½ litres water                                                         1 sprig of fresh thyme

3 carrots                                                                    1 bay leaf

½ parsnip                                                                ½ garlic clove

2 egg whites                                                             3-4 whole peppercorns

Method

1.       Fill a large stock pot with the water.

2.       Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs. Discard the yolks and lightly whisk the whites just until bubbles begin to form. Add to the pot of cold water.

3.       Next, prepare the stock vegetables. Peel and dice the carrots and parsnip. Dice the onion and peel and slice the half clove of garlic. Add to the pot of water.

4.        Trim the beef as much as possible, getting rid of anything that isn’t muscle so as to obtain a clear, and honest meat flavour.

5.       Add the vegetables, trimmed meat, herbs and spices to the stock pot and slowly bring it close to boiling point.

6.       Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 1½ to 2 hours maximum.

7.       At the end of the cooking time an egg ‘raft’ should have floated to the top of the pot. This will contain the majority of sediment, herbs, spices and fat. Remove this and discard along with the meat.

8.       Finally, line a sieve with a coffee filter and pass the liquid through it. You should now have a crystal clear consommé that is ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Limerick's Packet and Tripe

Recently, I finally decided to try the famous Limerick dish called Packet and Tripe. I could not avoid the signs selling it in the windows of the many family owned butcher shops that occupy the city centre. This great presence of family owned butchers reflects the city’s past as a hub of the meat industry (that was dominated by bacon curing which gave forth to the well known Limerick Ham).

It has been called a working class dish but having spoken to a wide range of people, its mere mention gave the same mouth watering, nostalgic reaction across the social spectrum. It was very much a dish from peoples’ childhoods that their “mammy used to make”, usually of a weekend.

So, what is Packet and Tripe you ask? For those that didn’t grow up with it, it is quite a challenge to try first time but once you taste it you grow to like it. It is a sheep dish, the tripe being the sheep’s belly and the ‘packet’ being a blood pudding made from that of the sheep and its intestines forming the casing for the sausage shaped pudding. It does, to a degree sound a bit off putting to some but if you consider how widely black pudding (made from pigs’ blood) is enjoyed, the concept of the ‘packet’ doesn’t seem so bad.

Having tasted it I have to say it is rather delicious. Once you put behind you what it is, getting it down you isn’t difficult. The tripe has a unique, soft texture that when cooked right still has a small bit of bite to it. The ‘packet’ has a small bit more of an acquired flavour. It is incredibly soft and is relatively bland but has a slight metallic finish at the end. Cooking in milk and onion gives the dish a comforting taste that is certainly perfect for a cold day. The addition of breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce lends it a silky, unctuous quality that no doubt gets people salivating when they think about it.

Studying this dish has reminded me of the strength of character of regional food. When people outside of Limerick try to think of food associated with the city, Limerick Ham springs to mind. Those more familiar with the place do often times mention Packet and Tripe. Placenames can become synonymous with culinary specialities, for example Clonakilty and its Black Pudding, Clarenbridge for its Oysters and Waterford and its famous bread, the Blaa. What I am trying to stress here is the importance of keeping these regional specialities lasting well into the future. If we choose to ignore these foods, they will fade into history and the delightful diversity of Irish Cuisine will slowly diminish and give way to burgers and pizza and all those other things that we are becoming so easily accustomed to. Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

Ask the butcher for Packet and Tripe (specify the amount of people you are serving)

Milk

About 2 small to medium Onions per person

Breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper

Boiled Potatoes or Crusty Bread

Method*

1.       Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.

2.       Wash the tripe in cold water. If it wasn’t cut by the butcher cut it into small cubes.

3.       Add the tripe to the pan of water. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

4.       While the tripe is cooking chop the onions into a medium dice.

5.       Drain off the water and add enough milk to cover the tripe and add roughly one third to a half more of that if you want a generous helping of sauce. Add the onions and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

6.       Halfway through the final cooking process add the breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce. Five minutes before the tripe is ready add the sliced ‘packet’ as this only needs to be warmed through.

7.       Adjust the seasoning and it is now ready to serve.

8.       Serve with boiled potatoes or ‘Cottage Loaf’.

*I have come across many recipes for this dish but this one proves to be the most popular. Some people suggest a much longer cooking time but both the majority and I (having tested both this and the longer cooking time version) prefer the method given here. Enjoy!

My Irish Stew

And so it begins...

I want to start my blog with a recipe that’s true to the place where I am working, that’s simple yet versatile because that is how I would like to work. I want to create food that represents its context and celebrates our local producers. This is the food of the people and as chefs it is our job to interpret these dishes and hopefully herald a revival of Irish cuisine. As a culture we are inclined to emphasise the liquid aspect of socialising and have slowly begun to forget our culinary heritage. Brought about by the ease of travel and transportation of goods, the dialogue between our native ingredients and those of other countries is something to be praised, however, I believe it is our own ingredients and dishes that should be pushed to the forefront.

Looking outside I think that the current weather situation warrants a dish like this, something comforting, something warming. This serves 2-3 people depending on how hungry you are, so adjust the measurements to suit your needs.

However cliché you might think it is to start a food blog based in Ireland on Irish stew, this truly is one of our national dishes but many people actually don’t know how to make it. It must be made with lamb and must include potatoes and onions. Anything else you add afterwards makes this dish your own. Here I’ve added carrots for their wonderful sweetness and pearl barley which helps enrich the liquid and adds a nice textural quality to the dish.

Enjoy making this dish! After all, cooking is an essential life skill. If you can’t feed yourself, well then, you’re kind of screwed! Having to resort to eating fast and convenient food the whole time will no doubt lead to you becoming a fat homogeneous mess and nobody wants that! So all I can say is get cooking and enjoy the learning process as it will stand to you in years to come!

My Irish Stew

You will need:

1-1½ Lbs of lamb chops                                        ½ pint water                      

4 carrots                                                           1 fresh sprig of thyme

4-5 medium to large potatoes                               2-3 tablespoons of pearl barley

4 medium sized onions                                         salt and pepper to taste

1½ pints chicken stock                                         chopped chive to garnish

Method:

1.    Skin the potatoes. If they are large, cut them in half. If not, keep them whole. Set aside.

2.    Peel and roughly chop the carrots. You want them nice and chunky as this is supposed to be quite a rustic dish. Set aside.

3.    Once peeled, remove the rootlets from the bases of the onions. Next, quarter the onions from the base so as to keep all the layers together. Set aside.

4.     Prepare the stock. If using stock cubes use 1 cube per ¾ pint.

5.    Next, trip the chops of their fat. Keep this fat though as it will be used in the next step. Chop the lamb into bite size pieces.

6.    In a frying pan render the fat to make the cooking ‘oil’ for the meat.

7.    On a high heat brown off the lamb pieces in the pan of fat. Allow the juices to caramelise on the meat as this adds a lot of flavour.

8.     Now add the stock, lamb, vegetables and thyme sprig to a casserole dish and simmer for 1½ hours. About half way through the cooking add the pearl barley. This helps thicken the liquid and adding the barley half way through ensures they still have a bit of texture when served. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

9.     To serve, spoon the stew into a deep bowl. If you wish, garnish with chopped chives. Serve with soda bread spread thick with butter.

Simples!