That famous quip attributed to the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, “qu’ils mangent de la brioche,” is most often translated to great dramatic effect as “let them eat cake.”

Brioche - is it bread or is it cake?

It seems that the Revenue Commissioners, in what they are calling a ‘clarification’ of the current VAT rules, have decided that brioche might as well be cake, because it will now attract VAT, as cakes do, at 13.5%, whereas previously it would have been classified along with bread, which escapes the VAT net. And it’s not just brioche: other items, such as croissants, bagels and even garlic bread are no longer sufficiently bread-like to qualify for zero VAT status. Really.

This came to my attention as I was leaving the hallowed halls of Trinity College, which had been the venue for the Bord Bia Irish Food & Drink Industry Awards last week. I happened upon Suzanne Campbell, who was discussing the issue and how it would hit small bakery businesses, with William Despard of the Bretzel Bakery (he who had made such an impression at the recent Savour Kilkenny Foodcamp). William was understandably exercised about the VAT hike.

In the midst of the discussion, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, who had been speaking earlier at the event, came walking past. “Now that’s who you need to talk to,” said Suzanne. William wasted no time in letting his opinions be known, but the Minister, it seems, was already on the case. After a brief exchange, Minister Coveney passed on his way and you felt that the will, at least, was there to make this particular problem go away. Only time, of course, would tell.

It was a stark reminder of the challenges that food producers, especially those operating on a small scale, contend with all the time. The evening as a whole, however, had been one of positivity. Achievements in innovation, export performance, sustainability, domestic success, entrepreneurship and branding by companies, some large and some small, were all acknowledged on the night. It was a pleasure to see a list of winners which included Flahavan’s, who received the award for domestic success, Natasha’s Living Foods whose kale crunchies merited the innovation award, while Largo Foods, home of that über-Irish brand Tayto crisps, were acknowledged for their excellence in branding. All play a part in the good news story that is the Irish food and drink industry.

As the text on the back of the evening’s menu had indicated, Ireland will export almost €9 billion worth of food and drink to over 170 countries in 2011, which is an increase of 25% in what have been two of the most difficult years in our country’s finances. Austerity bedamned, this was something positive to tweet about:

It only occurred to me later that I might equally have revised that aforementioned French phrase of old and proclaimed – in a far more practical and positive sense than the original – “Let us eat Irish food.”

What I can tell you, however, is that today is World Food Day, a day for focusing attention on the sombre matter of people not having enough to eat. Not the cheeriest of topics, I’ll grant you, but not one to be ignored easily either.

Now, would that I could blithely say that spuds were the answer to world hunger but, even though you can feed more people more easily from an acre of potatoes than you can, say, from an acre of wheat, and historically, potatoes have been a great sustainer of the poor, the issues surrounding global food insecurity are damnably complex.

The core of the problem can be stated plainly enough, however. For all sorts of reasons, from increasing oil prices to climate change, food prices have been on the rise and people are spending more and more of their incomes on simply trying to feed themselves. The Global Hunger Index (see the interactive map below, from the International Food Policy Research Institute) identifies the areas where the hunger levels are most severe, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

While the issues may be many and difficult, however, that’s not to say that the potato, one of the world’s major staple food crops, doesn’t have a role to play. The UN International Year of the Potato in 2008 was all about spotlighting the role that the potato can play in providing food security and eradicating poverty. Perhaps regarding today as World Spud Day wouldn’t be such an outrageous notion after all.

Four pounds of cheese.

No, despite my near addiction to all things dairy, I am not actually referring to the amount of cheese that I am likely to consume in a single sitting. What that weighty amount of dairy goodness does represent is the amount of cheese thrown out by the average American over the course of a year, according to an article in the July, 2011 issue of National Geographic, entitled How to Feed A Growing Planet. That article, in turn, inspired my friend Jenni to start the Four Pounds of Cheese project – an experiment where participants would document, for a week, just what it was they were wasting, food-wise. Having been brought up to the tune of my mother’s “waste not, want not” mantra, I am programmed to abhor waste. That doesn’t mean that I’m not capable of wasting food with the best of them. It does, however, mean that I’ll feel dreadfully guilty when I do. Needless, to remark, I was keen to join in.

Last Monday, the week of waste watching began and it didn’t get off to a great start.

I ate out for lunch and the salmon I ordered was served in the classic Irish manner, meaning it came with two kinds of potato (mashed and roasted, in this case). Despite a valiant effort, I didn’t manage to clear my plate, so, to my shame, the very first thing I managed to waste were some of those selfsame spuds. And then I did what I suspect many of us do: I ordered dessert anyway. Different compartment, right? Surprise, surprise, I couldn’t finish that either. Sheesh. Waste 1, Spud 0.

Too many potatoes, even for me

Tuesday, for a while, looked like it might go the same way. In a clear case of trying to do too many things at once, I managed to burn what would otherwise have been a perfectly good batch of biscotti. After much cursing, followed by a bout of mature consideration, I decided that, though not my best work, they were still ok to eat. Waste 0, Spud 1.

My batting average for the rest of the week did improve greatly, but only because the exercise forced me to do more forward planning in terms of my food purchases, especially anything perishable. I am often guilty of buying the equivalent of my own bodyweight in fruit and vegetables, some of which are inevitably past their best before they get used, if they get used at all.

I also thought twice about other items that might more usually get thrown down the sink, so I found myself using milk that had soured to make scones, saving vegetable cooking liquid for stock and freezing the undrunk remains of a bottle of red to use for sauces. I also took to exploring the far reaches of my cupboards to see what might lurk therein. Thank goodness for the long shelf life of dried beans and pulses, because several not-quite-empty bags of lentils made for large batch of dinner-time dal.

All in all, then, not a great deal went to waste over the course of the week, so bully for me. I am, however, acutely aware of the fact that I’ll have wasted my time if I don’t try to keep it up.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Cheesy Cauliflower Pie

Don’t panic, this recipe does not contain four pounds of cheese – four ounces, more like – but I wanted to include it, as it’s really a template for a pie to which you could add whatever cheese and vegetables you have on hand.

It’s based on a recipe I found in Eveleen Coyle’s Irish Potato Cookbook and it was the potato crust that caught my eye. No pastry here, but a crust composed of grated potato, grated onion and egg – an excellent gluten-free alternative for any savoury pie.

I have jazzed the original recipe up by roasting the cauliflower and adding gorgonzola and walnuts, though vary it with whatever vegetables and cheese you have around.

You’ll need:

• 1 potato crust (see recipe below) or use a shortcrust pastry lining, baked blind for about 10-15 minutes before filling
• 500g cauliflower, washed and separated into small florets
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• 50g walnuts
• butter for frying
• 1 small onion, about 100g, finely chopped
• pinch of salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 50g mature cheddar, grated
• 50g gorgonzola
• 4 large eggs
• 100ml milk
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tblsp grated parmesan

You’ll also need:

• A 24cm round ovenproof dish, about 4cm deep, and a couple of baking trays (mine were about 20cm x 30cm)

The Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 200C, prepare and bake the potato crust as below.
• While the potato crust is baking, toss the cauliflower florets with the olive oil, spread them out on a baking tray, place in the oven and roast for about 15 minutes, until starting to soften and char very slightly.
• Spread the walnuts out on another baking tray and place in the oven for 5 minutes to lightly toast. Remove and chop roughly.
• Once the pie crust, cauliflower and walnuts are done, turn the oven down to 180C.
• Place a small frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add about a teaspoon of butter. When the butter has melted, add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the chopped garlic and thyme, stir and fry for about a minute more, then remove from the heat.
• To assemble the pie, add the grated cheddar to the baked crust, followed by the cauliflower, fried onions and chopped walnuts. Crumble over the gorgonzola. Beat together the eggs and milk and pour over the vegetables and cheese. Add a few twists of black pepper and sprinkle over the grated parmesan.
• Return to the oven for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are set. If the edges of the crust are browning too much, cover with foil while cooking.
• Slice and serve warm with a green salad and perhaps a glass of wine.

The Variations:

• Really, you can vary the filling freely according to the vegetables and cheese that you have on hand.

The Results:

• Pie for 4-6 people

The latest wave of anti-spuddism arises from a study carried out by Harvard researchers into the dietary habits of around 120,000 health professionals from around the U.S. over a period of 12+ years and published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The aspect of the research which has gained most attention is the finger of blame that is pointed towards potato products when it comes to potential for weight gain. On the basis of increased daily servings, the study finds that people who were in the habit of eating French fries gained, on average, 3.35 lb after four years, while those with a predilection for potato chips (or crisps, in Irish-speak) averaged a 1.69 lb increase. If your extra helpings came in the form of boiled, baked, or mashed potatoes, the increase was a more modest 0.57 lb over the four year period.

Cue articles, such as this one, which tell you the frightening amounts of calories, fats and carbs in your average spud meal and warn that “potatoes are calorie dense, very calorie dense“. Clearly, the article implies, when it comes to spuds and my waistline, I should be afraid, very afraid. The premise and the conclusion are simplistic, to say the least. While potatoes are certainly calorie dense if you douse them in fat, a plain boiled potato (as I have mentioned on these pages before) actually has less calories than the equivalent weight of plain boiled rice, pasta or bread. Nutritionally, too, it has plenty to shout about.

These, my friends, are not the problem

Other quotes such as this found here are also, I think, unhelpful.

The problem, said study co-author Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, is that “we don’t eat potatoes raw, so it’s easier [for the body] to transform the starch to glucose.”

With the greatest of respect Dr. Willett, the problem is not that we don’t eat potatoes raw, it’s that we’re probably eating a sizable burger and a sugary drink along with that order of fries. This is a view that would fit with Marion Nestle’s much more reasoned assessment of the study. The professor of nutrition and public health at New York University suspects that “people who eat potato chips and fries also tend to eat too much in general, making these foods markers for a diet leading to weight gain“.

The fact is that we are very fond of finding villains for the western disease that is obesity. We like to consign blame to, say, sugar one week and potatoes the next, culprits that allow us to abdicate responsibility for our own dietary actions (“’twas the spuds that did it, your honour”). The simple, uncomplicated truth is that a balanced, varied diet (spuds included), which avoids lots of heavily processed foods and includes a moderate amount of exercise will, in the general run of things, help to keep our waistlines on the straight and narrow(-ish). I know that I, for one, will be making no plans to steer clear of spuds and, fortunately, it looks like I’m not alone.

As my new twitter friend, Nancy, informed me, spuds have at least one avid fan stateside. She sent me this picture of the t-shirt that her ten year old son custom-made for himself. Now there’s a boy who has the right idea.

That's my kind of t-shirt

In France and in French cuisine, Parmentier is code for potatoes.

Find a dish adorned with that name and it’s bound to feature potatoes as its main ingredient. Antoine Augustin Parmentier, after whom such dishes are named, is somewhat of a hero when it comes to the potato in France. He was the man who, back in the late 18th century, was chiefly responsible for popularising the consumption of potatoes in that country. These days in Paris you’ll find an avenue and a metro stop which also bear his name. What’s more, if you’re a potato head like me, you’ll skip the Eiffel Tower and pay them a visit instead.

Avenue Parmentier, 11th Arrondissement, Paris

Taken prisoner by the Prussians for several years during the Seven Years War, Parmentier was fed almost exclusively on potatoes during his captivity. Far from being thoroughly sick of spuds by the time of his release in 1763, he took the fact that he was in very good health as a sign that potatoes weren’t half bad as foodstuffs go. A clever man and one of clearly excellent taste.

A pharmacist by trade, he later published several papers on the nutritional value of potatoes, including one entitled “Inquiry into Nourishing Vegetables That In Times Of Necessity Could Be Substituted For Ordinary Food”, which demonstrated that (a) he was not a man for short snappy titles and (b) spuds, at the time, were not considered ordinary food in France (and, in fact, by most of the French populus, not considered as food at all).

Around the Parmentier Metro Stop on Avenue Parmentier in Paris

At a time when food shortages were rife in Paris, Parmentier dedicated much time and effort to promoting the value of the potato as food, obtaining a royal seal of approval for the tuber in 1785 from the ill-fated Louis XVI. Potatoes were later declared to be the food of the French Revolution, available in quantity when all else was in short supply. For this, Parmentier was honoured by Napoleon, who made him one of the first members of his Legion d’Honneur.

Today he is still honoured, not just by the many places and foods which are named for him, but by the visitors to his grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Look to the ledges of the tomb and you’re always likely to find some potatoes. Small but appropriate tokens of appreciation for the efforts of a true spud legend.

Parmentier's grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, complete with spuds

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Potatoes Parmentier

In a way, Potatoes Parmentier is almost like saying ‘Potatoes Potatoes’. The name typically refers to a dish consisting of small cubes of potato, fried or otherwise cooked in butter, with parsley and/or other herbs added. Bacon, onions or, really, whatever else you fancy, may be added too. This is fairly straightforward rendition of the dish, with plenty of fresh herbs and a bit of lemony zing.

You’ll need:

• 800g potatoes
• salt for parboiling the potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 3 tblsp melted clarified butter, divided
• 2 tblsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 tblsp chopped coriander
• 2 tblsp chopped mint
• 0.5 tsp lemon zest
• squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
• coarse salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

You’ll also need:

• One or more baking trays, large enough to hold the cubed potatoes in a single layer.

The Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Scrub the potatoes and, leaving them unpeeled, chop into approx. 1cm cubes. Rinse well in cold water.
• Add the potato cubes to a saucepan, along with about 1.25l water, 1.5 tsp salt and the garlic cloves. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat and, once boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about 2 minutes. Drain, removing the cloves of garlic, and return to the saucepan. Then either let them sit, covered by a tea-towel, for about 5 minutes or place the pan over a low heat and stir the potatoes gently for a minute or so while they dry out.
• Toss the potato cubes using about 2 tblsp of the melted clarified butter (reserving the rest of the butter for later). Spread the potato cubes onto baking trays and roast in the oven until lightly golden and crispy, around 30 minutes or so, giving the trays a good shake midway through cooking.
• When the potatoes are done, mix the chopped parsley, coriander and mint with the remaining melted butter and lemon zest and toss with the potatoes. Add coarse salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of lemon juice to taste and serve.

The Variations:

• Of course you can use olive or other vegetable oil in place of the clarified butter and add other mediterranean touches if you like.

The Results:

• Serves 3-4 as a side dish

Another week, another Spud Sunday…

If you’ve ever wondered why I do what I do – and I have, occasionally, wondered about it myself – you might like to have a listen to a real, live interview with yours truly, as conducted recently by Bridget Nicholas, in association with Radio Kerry Training. Fancy or what?

Spud takes to the airwaves

As I got home, I pulled a Tesco receipt from my wallet.

All I could do was laugh. A kind of resigned, shake of the head laugh, as opposed to the belly kind of laugh, though, in point of fact, it was bellies and the filling thereof that had me shaking my head in the first place.

I was just back from the inaugural For Food’s Sake event which took place earlier this month in Dublin’s Sugar Club. Organised by, among others, Aoife Carrigy, late of Food and Wine magazine, it was a panel discussion on the future of our indigenous Irish food industry, with Pat Smith, General Secretary of the Irish Farmer’s Association, Una Fitzgibbon, Director of Marketing Services with Bord Bia, journalist Suzanne Campbell and Graham Roberts of Connemera Smokehouse all participating. To remind us of what it was all really about, samples of Graham’s fine smoked fish were available for sampling, along with excellent relishes and sauces from Janet’s Country Fayre, beautiful cheeses from Mary and Gerry Kelly of Moonshine Organic Dairy and lovely breads from Le Levain bakery.

Really Good Ketchup from Janet's Country Fayre:
just what a spud needs

Mostly, though, there was talk. The dominant and domineering position in the food industry of supermarkets, such as the aforementioned Tesco, was a recurring theme on the night, as was the merit of supporting small, local producers through more direct routes. Pat Smith related the story of a potato grower who was offered, by a supermarket buyer, €150/tonne for potatoes which cost him €250/tonne to grow. These would be sold by the supermarket (and perhaps bought by you or me) for the equivalent of €725/tonne. The problem, as Pat saw it, was that the supermarket, in offering such a low rate to the grower, had respect for neither him nor his product.

The system works, though, because so many of us buy our food in supermarkets on the basis of convenience and price. It often takes a conscious, concerted effort to do otherwise. The question was asked, though perhaps not answered in any kind of definitive way, as to how we could change consumer habits. The truth is that no one thing or person is going to change the system that leads consumers to buy where and what they buy, though perhaps a raising of awareness as to the implications of those choices is a start. And that, I suppose, is what events like this may achieve, but only if talking leads to doing.

And so I got to doing a little something by finally planting this year’s potato crop and perhaps redeeming, in some small way, my many supermarket spud purchases. My future crop, comprising a (modest for me) 10 varieties this year, have been committed to bags in my small backyard. And knowing what goes into growing my own brings with it a healthy reminder of the thought and respect that I should try to apply when buying foods carefully cultivated and created by others.

The spud bag: it's what's underneath that counts

“I’ve never had a good mushroom soup,” said Kev.

Bejaysus but it was quite the statement with which to launch into a lunchtime conversation at work.

It turns out that most of the people around the table had rather definite opinions on mushroom soup. While I would not, myself, have gone as far as to say that I had never had a good mushroom soup, I’ve certainly had my fair share of bad ones. Brian volunteered that he had once had a good mushroom soup from a packet, Dave that he once had a good mushroom soup experience, but it was somewhere exotic like Thailand. From the point of view of those seeking mushroom soup nirvana, it all sounded pretty grim, frankly. Except for the bit about being in Thailand. It also had the distinct whiff of a challenge, one that would more than likely find me whipping mushrooms and spuds into some kind of soupy frenzy.

Cue the return of Gorta’s Soup For Life campaign – where, for one week starting this coming Friday, April 8th, a range of restaurateurs in Dublin and Cork will be donating €1 per bowl of soup sold to fund Gorta’s work in Africa. The making of some decent mushroom soup seemed an appropriate way to follow on from my last year’s soupy contribution to their campaign.

Healing properties:
even more reasons to make mushroom soup

Not only that, but my newly acquired Everything Guide to Food Remedies informed me that mushrooms are a good source of anti-cancer compounds. The book is written by Lori Rice, a trained nutritionist whom I’ve gotten to know through her blog Fake Food Free. She has a practical and pragmatic approach to eating and wellness, and the book steps through the foods that can help to address and alleviate specific ailments, along with clear and accessible recipes. I was thrilled to receive a copy from Lori, it’s a worthy addition to my bookshelf.

What ails me right now, though? The fact that I am still lacking some quality mushroom soup. Fortunately, I have a remedy at hand.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Mushroom, Celeriac and Potato Soup

So, the secret a good mushroom soup?

Well, you’d do well to start by using some tasty mushrooms. There are many wonderful varieties of wild mushroom that would do wonders to any soup but, unless you’re given to foraging, these can be expensive and difficult to come by. My solution to making more of an everyday mushroom soup was two-fold (1) use dried shiitake mushrooms, which I find reasonably priced if sourced from an Asian shop (2) use regular white mushrooms or their slightly more flavourful brown cousins (chestnut mushrooms), but concentrate their flavour by frying them in butter until well browned and add them to the soup at the end of cooking.

I will also say that this soup isn’t all about the mushrooms, as there’s plenty of body from the potatoes and celeriac, which is, I think, how I prefer it.

For the soup:

• 75g dried shiitake mushrooms
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 smallish onion, about 125g, finely chopped
• salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 0.25 tsp dried thyme
• approx. 300g potato, peeled and chopped into approx 0.5cm dice
• approx. 300g celeriac, skin sliced off and chopped into approx 0.5cm dice
• 150ml dry white wine (one you’d drink yourself)
• 200g chestnut or white button mushrooms, wiped clean and finely sliced
• butter for frying
• 2 tsp lemon juice or to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

To garnish (optional):

• fresh sage leaves, fried in butter until browned and crispy
• chopped flat leaf parsley
• grated parmesan

You’ll also need:

• A blender or food processor for blending the soup – an immersion blender is handiest.

The Steps:

• Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms to remove any dust, then soak in approx. 750ml cold water for several hours or overnight in the fridge, until softened. Alternatively, soak in warm water for 45 minutes to an hour. When softened, remove the stalks from the mushrooms and chop the mushroom caps finely. Reserve the soaking liquid.
• Place a large, heavy saucepan over a medium heat. When hot, add enough oil to coat the pan. Add the chopped onions and a pinch of salt. Stir and fry for 4-5 minutes, until they have turned translucent.
• Add the chopped garlic and the thyme and stir and fry for another minute or so.
• Stir in the chopped potato and celeriac, and add the white wine. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and let the wine simmer for a few minutes to reduce a little.
• Add the chopped shiitake mushrooms and the reserved soaking liquid and about 1 tsp salt. Top up with a little water, if needed, to just cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for around 25 minutes or until the vegetables have softened.
• While the soup is simmering, fry the chestnut mushrooms. Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. You don’t want to crowd the mushrooms too much, so you’ll need to fry them in 2-3 batches, depending on the size of your pan. When hot, add about 0.5 tblsp butter to the pan. When that has melted add a layer of mushrooms. Fry for around 8-10 minutes, without stirring, until well browned on the pan-side. Stir and flip the mushrooms over to fry on the other side for a few more minutes, then remove to some kitchen paper and repeat for the next batch(es).
• When the vegetables in the soup have softened, remove from the heat and blend. The soup will be quite thick, so thin with additional boiling water as desired. Add the lemon juice, black pepper and additional salt to your taste.
• Roughly chop the fried chestnut mushrooms and stir into the soup.
• Ladle into bowls and garnish with some crumbled fried sage leaves or chopped flat leaf parsley and a little bit of grated parmesan if you like. Enjoy along with the rest of that bottle of wine you had to open. You know you want to.

The Variations:

• If you want a soup that’s more overtly mushroomy, then you could add more shiitake mushrooms here or perhaps some dried and soaked porcini. You could also add a little dried sage along with the dried thyme.

The Results:

• Makes around 4 hearty servings of soup

If it was your mission to design a new signature dish for Ireland, suitable for service in the finest restaurants, then just what would that dish be?

That’s the question being asked of chefs and cooks, professional and amateur alike, in a competition being run as part of the Só Sligo Food Festival. The festival, one of an increasing number of food-centric events to be found gracing the Irish calendar, will see that particular corner of the north west awash with edible possibilities from the 16th to the 20th of this month.

As to the question of the signature dish, well, I don’t suppose a bowl of coleslaw would cut it?

An Irish coleslaw: it's certainly got the national colours going for it

And yet this slaw is, in its own little way, an ode to the possibilities of Irish food; a demonstration of what you can do even if native Irish fruit and vegetables are thin on the ground (as they were on my last trip to the supermarket). On that trip, I did, however, manage to find natively-grown savoy cabbage, carrots and bramley apples and introduced them to some Donegal rapeseed oil and a splash of David Llewellyn’s cider vinegar for what was a satisfyingly Irish (and Paddy’s-Day-worthy) slaw.

For all its merits though, I doubt that the restaurants of Ireland will be falling over themselves in the race to serve up a new national coleslaw. As an emblematic Irish dish, it falls down on one point above all else: there are no spuds. Personal bias aside, there is no other food so closely bound to the Irish psyche, so a national dish must, of necessity, have potatoes. That doesn’t mean that they can’t cut a dash, though – might I suggest some individual potato cups as just one way to spruce up the spud.

There are, of course, many other things that can justifiably compete for a spot on the national plate: our grass-fed beef, award-winning black pudding, bacon, whether with or without the cabbage, smoked salmon, trout and mackerel, world-class farmhouse cheeses and, most especially on the western seaboard, our native seaweeds. It is a truly daunting task to decide how best to distill that abundance into a plated essence of Ireland. So much so, that I think, perhaps, I will leave that job to the competitors and stick to the coleslaw after all.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

An Irish Coleslaw

Not having been organised enough to get my greens elsewhere, I found myself in the supermarket skirting past broccoli from Spain, celery from Holland and Chinese cabbage from Turkey (if that’s not a contradiction in terms). Apart from potatoes, other Irish-grown produce was scarce, so this is what I made with the cabbage, carrot and apples that I managed to find. A coleslaw-like dish seemed inevitable.

I opted for a vinaigrette rather than mayonnaise-based dressing and, while you can obviously use the oil and vinegar that you have to hand, it’s good to know that there are native Irish choices available, like Donegal rapeseed oil and David Llewellyn’s cider vinegar. I also used local honey and a homemade Irish beer mustard as part of the recipe.

For the dressing:

• 1 tblsp rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp cider vinegar plus a bit extra for tossing on the apples
• 0.5 tsp mustard or more to taste
• 0.5 tsp honey or to taste
• coarse salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the slaw:

• approx. 125g carrot (about 1 med. sized carrot)
• approx. 125g bramley apple (about ½ a large apple)
• approx. 125g savoy cabbage (about ¼ of a small head of cabbage – any dark, tough, outer leaves removed)
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 2-3 tblsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

You’ll also need:

• A grater or food processor for grating the carrot and apple.

The Steps:

• Make the dressing by whisking together the rapeseed oil, cider vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings if you need to.
• Peel and grate the carrot and apple and sprinkle the apple with a little cider vinegar.
• Shred the cabbage, toss together with the carrot, apple, spring onions, parsley and dressing. Brighten with a squeeze of lemon juice if you like, then eat and enjoy.

The Variations:

• Of course this doesn’t have to be an exclusively Irish affair – you can add whatever else takes your fancy. Personally, I wouldn’t be averse to some added interest from, say, toasted sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts.

The Results:

• Serves 3-4 as a side dish

]]> http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/03/11/coleslaw-recipe-irish/feed/ 19 http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/03/04/chocolate-spread-almond-fairtrade/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chocolate-spread-almond-fairtrade http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/03/04/chocolate-spread-almond-fairtrade/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:47:15 +0000 Daily Spud http://www.thedailyspud.com/?p=26810

Welcome to the world of ethical eating

Time was when being involved in the food chain was a straightforward matter of eat or be eaten.

And while I’m sure none of us want to revert to wandering barefoot across the savannah, life has, in the interim, become quite a complicated business for us homo sapiens. Even the apparently simple act of gathering food into our grocery baskets can lead us to ponder far weightier questions than the one that asks simply “what do I want to eat today”.

For example, should I, when buying my food, spurn the large supermarkets in favour of smaller businesses? Should I use that fiver in my fist to support local economies and local producers? Should I give up buying those exotic items that must travel many air miles to get here or, at the very least, buy items that are ethically produced and for which the farmers have been paid a fair price?

It can, at times, be a bit of a minefield. Take, for instance, tea, coffee and chocolate, the crops for which grow far beyond these shores. For me, not buying them is unthinkable (as is facing the day without a morning brew) but it remains within my power to decide which tea, coffee and chocolate it might be better to buy.

It being Fairtrade Fortnight – supported this year by familiar faces like Catherine Fulvio – we are being reminded of what it is to carry the Fairtrade label. While the Fairtrade system may have its flaws, it does give us, as consumers, some reassurance that Third World producers are being given a fair deal. There are other worthy programs, too, such as the Cup of Excellence, which focuses on finding high quality coffees and ensuring that farmers are recognised and rewarded appropriately. Here in Ireland, you may also find products, such as the excellent chocolate made by Claudio Corallo, which are sourced by Value Added In Africa, an organisation which aims to enable African communities to develop sustainable livelihoods through local enterprise. So while lack of a Fairtrade label doesn’t necessarily imply that producers are being exploited, perhaps it should lead us to at least inquire if that might be the case.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Chocolate Almond Spread

When I saw that Adrienne from Gastronathropology had made some chocolate hazelnut spread, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I gave in to the urge to make something similar. It seemed like a fine way to use some of that good quality (and, better yet, ethically sourced) dark chocolate that was already in my possession.

What you see below is Adrienne’s recipe, but with almonds substituted for hazelnuts. I also reduced the amount of condensed milk, as something a little less sweet and more dark-chocolately was to my taste, though you can adjust according to your likes.

Also, and because I was lucky enough to have some, I used some grated tonka bean to flavour the spread. This fabulously scented bean has a flavour reminiscent of vanilla and bitter almonds and works beautifully with chocolate. Unfortunately, it’s off-limits for those of you in the States, where FDA regulations mean that tonka beans cannot be sold (and if you’re curious to read more on that, I highly recommend OysterCulture’s post on tonka beans). Not to worry, though, because a good quality vanilla extract is a fine substitute and a lot easier to get your hands on.

You’ll need:

• 105g whole almonds
• 85g dark chocolate – I used one with 70% cocoa solids
• 175g sweetened condensed milk (or more, to taste)
• pinch of salt
• 0.5 tsp vanilla extract (or a quarter of a tonka bean, finely grated)

You’ll also need:

• A food processor for grinding the almonds

The Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 180C.
• Spread the almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Allow them to cool a little, then grind them finely in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can just chop them finely, in which case, you’ll have a coarser spread.
• Cut the chocolate in pieces and place in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water (or use a double boiler if you have one).
• When the chocolate starts to melt, add the condensed milk and warm until all of the chocolate has melted. Stir in the salt and vanilla (or tonka bean shavings) and remove from the heat.
• Mix the ground, toasted almonds into the chocolate and spread on bread, pancakes, fruit or whatever else takes your fancy. Once it cools, put it in a clean jar. Adrienne says it should keep for up to a week in a cool spot in the kitchen, though chances are it won’t last that long. As it’s a fairly stiff mixture, she also suggests giving it a few seconds in the microwave if you want it to spread more easily.

The Variations:

• Use hazelnuts instead of almonds if you’re in a Nutella kind of mood

The Results:

• Makes around 250g of spread

New potatoes, new party

Now, before you start, I know what you’re thinking. Potatoes seem an odd basis for a political party, right?

Be that as it may, a surprising number of people who expressed a preference when polled, said that they would much rather vote for a sack of potatoes than vote for the current government (or, for that matter, much of the opposition). While this may reflect, less a faith in spuds than a rampant disillusionment borne of cack-handed economic management, we’ll have you know that we in the Potato Party are fully prepared to step up to (and even on to) the political plate.

In offering a real alternative in this forthcoming national election, we need hardly remind you that, as the most widely cultivated vegetable in the world, potatoes have huge international reach and global standing, despite their famously humble demeanour.

At the heart of our election policy is our five point potato plan – viz. 1. Peel 2. Boil 3. Mash 4. Season 5. Eat. For us, this encapsulates exactly what is needed to get this country back on its feet – namely Irish food, and lots of it. Our message to you, the people, is simply thus:

Let’s Get This Country Eating

The truth is that Irish food can play a big part in our economic salvation (and, as the vegetable of choice in Ireland, we feel that spuds are ideally positioned to act as ambassadors for Irish edibles). We know that money spent on locally produced food can boost local economies, and with food exports up, a renewal of interest in traditional Irish food culture and quality producers bucking the general economic trend, Irish food is a good news story (and, let’s be honest, how many of those have you heard lately?). The fact that potatoes are “in” this year, can only help with our role in spearheading the cause of Irish eats.

Moreover, we promise not to pull any fast ones, unlike our soon to be ex-minister for Agriculture, who, in the dying days of government last week, changed Ireland’s EU voting position to support proposals to allow the marketing of genetically modified food, surely a retrograde step when it comes to the image of Irish food abroad.

So what are you waiting for?

Get out there and vote with your forks, today and every day, and give the Irish food around you your no. 1.