My friend and fellow potato enthusiast, Dave Langford, is in the habit of sending potato-related snippets my way. The latest to hit my inbox was this little snapshot which, needless to remark, brought a smile to my face:

It also prompted the creation of a suitably spudly breakfast dish (because I am, in matters potato, nothing if not predictable).

My Indian potato pancake, otherwise known as breakfast

1. some honest-to-goodness porridge, breakfast of champions – I have Flahavan’s to thank for what seems to be a never-ending supply of same

Flahavan's latest: their multi-seed porridge with pumpkin and hemp seeds, among others

2. a destination promising significantly more than porridge – with the reward for my early rise being a visit to Wales and a place at the table for their True Taste national food awards

Naturally, I will report back in due course – I don’t doubt but that it will turn out to be one of those things that was well worth getting out of bed for.

“Will I bring you Mum’s copy of Full and Plenty?” big sis #1 had asked.

There was only one possible answer to that question, and that was a resounding yes please.

Maura Laverty’s book, a classic of Irish cooking, was one I remembered clearly from childhood, both at home in my mother’s kitchen and, later, in my sister’s house, the book having been passed on to her when she got married.

My Ma's well-worn copy of Maura Laverty's Full and Plenty

As a child, I has read and re-read the book. Maura Laverty prefaced each chapter with wonderfully written stories from her home place of Ballyderrig that revolved around food, cooking and its place in the lives of her family and community. Whether it was the story of Statia Dunne’s “monarch among stews” that had won her a husband (and – take note ladies – “at an age when she had almost given up hope”) or the love of cowslips that allowed the author to become acquainted with Mrs. McKey’s fruit roll, I drank it all in. I also exercised my early baking muscles on the book’s substantial store of recipes.

Originally published in 1960, the inscription on the inside of the book’s front cover shows that my mother received it as a present from her parents in the Christmas of that year. Now, over 50 years later, it is well-thumbed, liberally sellotaped and mine.

The inscription reads: To Dearest Angela, from Daddy & Mammy, Xmas 1960

With copious recipes either pasted in or hand-written onto the available blank pages, having the book is a wonderful record of some of the food that my mother cooked over the years. More than that, though, it’s also a window onto what Ireland, in general, was eating 50 years ago and a reflection of our attitudes to food at the time.

The book undoubtedly has a plain, wholesome feel to it, and there is a greater consciousness of thrift, with recipes for both “everyday” and “Sunday” gingerbread (the latter calling for more sugar, an extra egg and butter instead of margarine). It also displays a matter-of-factness about nose-to-tail eating, with recipes included for everything from boiled ox tongue and baked sheep’s heart to fried tripe, something you’re much less likely to find in more modern cookbooks. The author also shows, however, that there are some things about the quality of ingredients produced in this country that, thankfully, haven’t changed: “…we enjoy better-flavoured meat, … creamier milk, richer butter and cheese …” – words we would do well to remember.

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Potato Drop Scones

As I leafed through Full And Plenty once again (parts of which were, by the by, re-issued as a slimmer volume a couple of years ago), I was drawn to the recipe for drop scones, because it was something I remember my mother making from time to time.

Sweet, squat and cooked on a well-worn cast-iron frying pan, the drop scones were really just a kind of thick pancake – a treat that could be made without having to turn on the oven. The book includes a variation which adds grated potato to the basic drop scone recipe and that, of course, is the version I include below. I didn’t feel the need to mess with the recipe particularly – sometimes you just want the comfort of the plain, the simple and the straightforward. The recipe is easily halved if you don’t feel the need to make such a big batch.

You’ll need:

• 350g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 425ml milk
• 50g butter, melted
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, approx. 400g
• butter for frying

You’ll also need:

• A heavy frying pan or griddle

The Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Beat the egg well and combine with the milk.
• Add the egg and milk mixture to the flour and whisk together until you have a smooth, fairly thick batter, then stir in the melted butter.
• You can use the batter straight away if need be or, better still, refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes or leave it overnight if you like.
• When you’re ready to cook, place your pan over a medium-high heat. If you want to keep your pancakes warm while you cook the full batch, turn your oven onto a low heat, around 120C.
• Peel and grate the potato. At this point I wrap the grated potato in a tea-towel and squeeze out most of the excess liquid, the only change I make to the original recipe. Stir the grated potato into your batter.
• Add some butter to your hot pan and, once melted, drop heaped tablespoonfuls of batter onto the pan. Spread the batter a little using the back of a spoon so that you have squat, thick-ish pancakes, around 7-8cm across.
• Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and burst (around 3-4 minutes), then turn and cook on the other side for another 3 minutes or so, until golden. Repeat until the batter is used up, either serving the pancakes as you go or keeping them hot in the oven until you’re done.
• As with any plain potato pancakes, you can serve these equally well with sweet or savoury accompaniments – they go just as well with some butter and honey or golden syrup as with a fried egg and bacon.

The Variations:

• Endless variations are possible here – you could add some cooked onion to the mix and whatever herbs or spices take your fancy, or leave out the potato, reduce the salt and add a little sugar for simple sweet drop scones.

The Results:

• This makes around 30 drop scones / pancakes, enough for 4-6 people, depending entirely, of course, on what else you’re having to eat with them.

In some ways, it was as if a country field day had come to the city.

At least that’s what I thought when I saw the kiddies crazy golf with the Mayo landmarks. A holy water bottle represented the Marian Shrine at Knock and a toy aeroplane the international airport nearby, and knocked they both were with great regularity by the junior would-be golfers.

Knock, knock...

But while these may have stood (or sometimes not, depending on the golfer’s aim) for two of the things that we most know the county of Mayo for, last Sunday’s Mayo Alive event, held in the Dublin City Council Amphitheatre, was all about bringing Mayo’s other attractions, from outdoor adventuring to fine local food, to the attention of the wider Dublin public.

Attractions like the Gourmet Greenway of Mayo, which highlights the great selection of food producers near to and along the route of the ruggedly scenic Great Western Greenway, the longest off-road walking and cycling trail in Ireland. The Greenway follows the route of the old Westport to Achill railway and visitors can sample and purchase the fare of the producers along the trail, including Mulranny Park breads and jams, the much lauded black and white pudding of Kelly’s Butchers in Newport and native Clew Bay oysters, clams and mussels from Croagh Patrick Seafoods.

While any those foods might be reason enough to visit Mayo, the star attraction for me, however, was my first encounter with Mayo boxty.

Martina's boxty - gotta love an ingredients list that reads simply: potatoes, flour & salt

Martina McGuire’s boxty – both the original potatoes-flour-and-salt version and one with added garlic and herbs – was well worth sampling. Unlike other boxty recipes of my acquaintance, Martina’s boxty does not include either milk or buttermilk, nor does it make use of any cooked, mashed potato. Instead it is made simply from raw potatoes, flour and salt, which she told me was a Mayo way of making it.

If you want to sample it for yourself, you’ll find Martina’s boxty on sale, not just in retail outlets in Mayo, but in other western counties throughout Connaught. Failing that, you can try the recipe below, which I hope comes close.

Martina's boxty on the pan

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Mayo Boxty

This, then, is my interpretation of Mayo boxty à la Martina McGuire, using just raw potatoes, flour and salt. It’s a dense, chewy pancake that’s almost pure potato. For the record, Martina’s preferred potato for boxty is Maris Piper.

You’ll need:

• approx. 500g potatoes (2 largish potatoes), preferably a floury variety
• 0.75tsp fine salt
• 2-3 tblsp plain flour
• butter for frying

You’ll also need:

• A grater, a clean tea towel and a large frying pan

The Steps:

• Peel the potatoes, grate them very finely and, wrapping the grated potato in a clean tea towel, squeeze out as much liquid as you can into a bowl and set the bowl aside. At this point (and partly because I did not have as fine a grater as I would have liked) I chopped the squeezed, grated potato finely.
• In a medium-sized bowl, toss the grated potatoes with the salt and about 2 tblsp of flour. You want the mixture to come together enough so that you can shape it into little patties. If the mixture is very wet, add a little more flour. If it’s a bit dry, add some of the starch that will have collected at the bottom of the bowl of squeezed potato liquid.
• Place your frying pan over a medium heat and add about 1 tblsp of butter. Shape the potato mixture into small patties, around 7-8cm across and 5mm thick, and add to the pan once it’s hot and the butter has melted. Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to fry the boxty in batches. Fry for around 6-8 minutes before turning the pancakes over and adding a bit more butter to the pan. Fry for another 5-7 minutes or until golden on both sides.
• Serve hot with additional butter, on their own, as part of a fry-up, as a base for any number of savoury toppings or have them sweet with honey.

The Variations:

• There are any number of things that you could add to the basic boxty mixture: garlic, chives, spring onions, parsley, coriander, dill and much more besides.

The Results:

• Makes around 8 small boxty pancakes, enough for 2-3 people

You: So, what’s for breakfast, then?
Me: Bacon & eggs.

To be fair, you would be well within your rights to storm off, but perhaps you should have a looksee at what you’re missing first:

Baconesque Eggs
a.k.a.
When The Shiitake Hit The Pan

Though it may not have bacon, this dish has crisped, smoky shiitake mushrooms and much else to recommend it, so you might care to reconsider and stick around for breakfast, while I explain all.

hosted by 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro Cooks!

It came about simply enough when I was asked by Natasha from Five Star Foodie to participate in her latest five star makeover series, devising gourmet, creative twists on familiar food themes. First up was the aforementioned bacon and eggs, and, given that I’m not big on bacon, I was a bit stumped as to what kind of makeover to do.

Cue much scratching of head, followed by a thorough scouring of the interweb and the discovery of something called shiitake “bacon”. The blog post I found described crisped shiitake mushrooms, with their strong, meaty flavour, as an alternative to our most familiar of breakfast meats. Worth a shot, I thought. I tried it and was hooked. Throw in some smoked paprika, and I figured I had something which could play a kind of smoky bacon role.

As for the eggs, the use of shiitake seem to lead the flavours in an Asian direction. The result was a gingery frittata, topped with crispy shiitake, accompanied by a pile of Asian greens and a generous squirt of sriracha. True to form, I could not resist including a spud or two, so the whole thing perched grandly on a potato farl, and, with that, the makeover was over and breakfast, finally, was had. All that remained was for me to loosen my belt by a notch or two, and get ready for lots more egg and baconry when Natasha and Lazaro host round-ups of all the makeover dishes on their blogs this Friday 25th.

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Gingered Frittata with Shiitake “Bacon”

Despite the fancy presentation (well, fancy for me, at any rate), this isn’t a complicated dish. I did, for presentation purposes, cook portions of the egg in individual egg rings, but you can equally (and more easily) cook the frittata as a whole and slice into wedges afterward. It’s served with some quickly stir-fried asian greens and, because I am who I am, some potato farls, but you could equally serve on English muffins or crusty bread.

For the eggs:

• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp fish sauce (optional)
• Peanut oil or other vegetable oil for frying
• 8 spring onions, white and green parts finely sliced
• pinch salt
• 2 small cloves garlic
• 2 tsp finely chopped root ginger
• approx. 25g shiitake “bacon” (see below), roughly chopped

For the greens:

• Peanut oil or other vegetable oil for frying
• 300g pak choi, stalks & leaves sliced into approx 0.5cm strips (or substitute young spinach)
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

To serve:

• Potato farls (recipe here, but substitute 1 tsp smoked paprika for the cumin + cayenne) or use english muffins or some crusty bread
• Sriracha or other chilli-garlic sauce

You’ll also need:

• A small frying pan, around 20cm diameter, for the eggs and a larger frying pan (or a wok) for the greens.

The Steps:

• If serving with potato farls, keep them warm in a low oven while you cook the eggs and greens.
• Beat the eggs together with the fish sauce and a splash of water.
• Place the small frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add a splash of oil. Add the spring onions and a pinch of salt. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes until softened and the white part of the onions have turned translucent.
• Add the garlic and ginger and stir and fry for another minute or so.
• Add the contents of the pan to the beaten egg and stir to mix, then return the entire mixture to the pan. Cook for several minutes, until the egg has mostly set and just a small amount of liquid egg remains on top. Sprinkle over the shiitake mushrooms and place the pan under a hot grill (broiler) for a minute or so to allow the top to set.
• Remove the frittata to a plate, cover with tin foil and keep warm in a low oven.
• Place your large frying pan over a medium-high heat. When hot add a swirl of oil. Add the sliced pak choi and the soy sauce. Stir and fry for about a minute or so, until the greens have wilted. Remove from the heat and drizzle over the toasted sesame oil.
• To serve, top potato farls (or split, toasted English muffins or some crusty bread) with the greens, then the eggs and anoint with sriracha or another chili sauce of your choice.

The Variations:

• Clearly, you can use real smoky bacon here if you like, I won’t mind.

The Results:

• An eggy, faux-bacony breakfast or brunch for 2

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Shiitake “Bacon”

This is adapted from a recipe found over at La Phemme Phoodie. The original calls for fresh shiitake mushrooms but I started with the dried version, because that’s what I had. I added some soy sauce to the soaking liquid and then, for roasting, tossed them in some oil and smoked paprika. It creates something a little reminiscent of crispy, smoky bacon, and which, in any case, works as a tasty addition to salads, sandwiches or eggs, as above.

You can easily double, triple or quadruple the amounts below as you see fit – you’ll need about half of the amount specified below for the frittata. Also, if starting with fresh mushrooms, you’ll probably need around 150g of those in place of 50g dried, and just add a little salt when tossing with the oil and smoked paprika.

You’ll need:

• 50g dried shiitake mushrooms
• 3 tblsp soy sauce (I used Kikkoman)
• 2 tsp peanut oil or olive oil
• 0.5 tsp hot smoked paprika

You’ll also need:

• A baking tray – one that’s around 20cm x 30cm should do the trick. Line the tray with baking parchment if you want to save on washing up.

The Steps:

• Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms to remove any dust. Add them to a bowl with about 375ml cold water and the soy sauce. Leave to soak for several hours or overnight in the fridge, until fully softened. Alternatively, use lukewarm water and soak for at least an hour.
• When the mushrooms have finished soaking and you’re ready to roast, preheat the oven to 160C.
• Remove the mushrooms from the bowl and squeeze gently to remove excess liquid. Keep the soaking liquid to use as vegetable stock.
• Remove and discard the mushroom stalks and slice the caps into strips appox 1cm wide. Toss the strips in the oil and smoked paprika and spread on the baking tray.
• Roast the mushrooms until they are crisped to your liking. Ovens vary, so this may take 35-45 minutes or more. Start checking once they’ve been in for a half and hour to see if they are done enough for you (I like them to retain a little bit of moisture, so that you get some crispiness and some chewiness).

The Variations:

• Omit the smoked paprika if you like.

The Results:

• Yields around 50g crisped shiitake mushrooms.

I love my oats, I really do, but sometimes, folks, enough is enough.

After a long winter of oaty breakfasts, I have begun to stray. At first it was just the occasional round of coffee and toast or the irresistible draw of a pancake, then last week – in what I can only describe as a moment of wheatness – I found myself buying weetabix, despite the rather large quantity of porridge oats still in my possession.

Of course, I should really address the situation by shaking up my daily porridge routine (though not literally you understand, as that could get quite messy). But the fact is that I’m not ready to fall back into those oaten arms just yet. I’m sorry oats, but I’m about to go a bit wild, and make my porridge with rice.

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Mahnomin Porridge

I must confess that I have a long standing abhorrence of sweet rice dishes, borne of some bad childhood experiences with sickly rice puddings. Nevertheless, I was instantly intrigued by the idea of wild rice porridge when Tangled Noodle (she-who-is-to-rice-what-I-am-to-potatoes) wrote all about it here.

The idea for wild rice (a.k.a. manoomin or mahnomin) porridge originated with Chef Mitch Omer at Hell’s Kitchen in Minneapolis. The original involves wild rice, cream, maple syrup, dried blueberries, dried cranberries and toasted hazelnuts. The version below retains only the wild rice from the original. The rest came about after a quick rifle through my cupboards to see what I had that might work – and this little lot, I think, does.

You’ll need:

• 4 prunes (about 50g, once soaked and destoned, or use ready-to-eat prunes)
• 1 large-ish banana (about 100g, once peeled)
• 200g cooked wild rice (you’ll need about 75g uncooked)
• approx. 8 tblsp natural yoghurt (or more, to taste)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tblsp chopped toasted almonds, optional

The Steps:

• Chop the prunes finely and mash together with the banana.
• Add the wild rice, yoghurt, lemon juice, mashed banana and prunes to a small saucepan and warm through over a medium-low heat.
• Serve as is or garnish with almonds if you like.

The Variations:

• I reckon that some fresh blueberries would go nicely with this. You could also add a splash of cognac for some added inner warmth.

The Results:

• Porridge (but not as you know it) for two

]]> http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/02/17/porridge-wild-rice-mahnomin/feed/ 17 http://www.thedailyspud.com/2010/10/10/boxty-boiled/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=boxty-boiled http://www.thedailyspud.com/2010/10/10/boxty-boiled/#comments Sun, 10 Oct 2010 21:55:16 +0000 Daily Spud http://www.thedailyspud.com/?p=23620

For a start, I’ll bet you didn’t know that there was even such a thing as a world potato dumpling record.

Or that a new such record was set just this past week in Ireland. Fact.

Pádraic Óg Gallagher and his world record 82.5kg boxty dumpling

I watched as the hefty 82.5kg record-breaking dumpling was unveiled.

“Y’know, this kind of thing could inspire a boiled boxty craze,” I thought to my spud-self.

“And when that craze hits, I want to be right up there.”

Truly my ambitions know no bounds when it comes to spuds.

There was just one teeny problem, though…

…I had never actually made boiled boxty.

Damn.

Those boiled boxty crazies would find me in their google search results but discover that, while I had made such things as pan boxty and loaf boxty, I had never made the boiled kind. Hmph.

There was only one thing for it – I needed to get my boiled boxty skates on and fast.

So, before long, I was mashing and grating, kneading and shaping, boiling and frying, and generally channeling my inner dumpling. The happy result is that I can now present, for your delectation and the delectation of crazed boxty lovers everywhere, boiled boxty à la Spud.

This is what you're aiming for:
Boiled boxty, sliced, fried and eaten (among other things) with a nicely fried egg.
You like?

Do please keep the image above in mind as you read this, because I warn you, boiled boxty goes through an ugly phase. The thing is, boiled dough is never pretty, but it is thoroughly redeemed by a visit to the frying pan in the company of butter (which makes everything better). And of course it tastes good (as if you needed to ask).

The Cast:
You'll need spuds, flour, salt and butter, no more, no less.
The spuds do need to be floury - the higher starch content will help to hold the dumplings together.

The Crew:
A ricer, a grater, a frying pan.
I'm also going to assume that you have a pot, a bowl and a knife or two, 'k?

Surprise, surprise, you'll need to wash and peel your spuds first

Half of your potatoes need to be boiled and mashed:
slice them thickly and evenly; bring your water to the boil, add some salt and plop in the spuds;
when just tender, drain and dry the spuds off by stirring gently over a low heat; rice them while still warm;

The remaining potatoes are grated raw.
Once that's done, you put the grated potatoes in a clean tea towel and squeeze for dear life - you really need to remove as much liquid as you can from the spuds.
Oh, and potatoes and their liquid do discolour, don't worry about it.

It's dough time!
To your raw and mashed potatoes, add salt and enough flour to form a dough. Knead for a good 3-4 minutes - this is important for the future coherence of your dumplings.

Shape your dough into dumplings, roughly the size of a tennis ball.
Compact each dumpling by throwing it forcefully from one hand to the other a few times.
Add to boiling water, simmer for about an hour and 10 minutes, then allow to cool and chill overnight

The next day, slice your dumplings, fry in butter and eat.
The fried egg is optional but highly recommended.

“But I’m not a paper-thin dough kind of girl…”, I protested.

Not that anybody was listening. I was just having one of those internal wrangles with my blog-self.

Still. There it was in 140 characters. A request from Imen for lefse.

Of course I knew about lefse – the Norwegian potato flatbread – though I’d never eaten it. No great surprise there, given that I’d never been to either Norway or Minnesota, the two places it seemed you were most likely to find it. And I really did want to make lefse – it had been on my list for a long time. Long before Imen had asked.

Longed-for Lefse

Except…

…managing the paper thin lefse dough seemed tricky. There was equipment involved. Pastry cloths and grooved rolling pins, lefse turning sticks and griddles, not to mention talk of a pastry sock. Pfft. The only socks I had were the ones I put on my feet.

I got the distinct feeling that it was the kind of thing you needed to learn by watching your Norwegian grandmother. And whaddya know, I didn’t have one of those either.

When I saw the process described as “chaos incarnated“, that had put the final nail in my lefse coffin. Until now, that is.

With a Project Food Blog challenge on my hands, it seemed as good a time as any to resurrect my lefse ambitions.

First, though, I was going to need a good long talk with my blog-self.

“Forget the equipment. The first lefse-makers didn’t have any special equipment”. True enough. I would do what I could with a rolling pin and pancake pan.

“It’s just a mashed potato dough. You’ve made gnocchi, you can make this.”

And, yes, as I set about making the lefse dough, it seemed to have much in common with gnocchi: with less flour better than more; soggy mash a friend to neither; and a grandmother of the appropriate nationality an advantage for both.

Lefse dough, ready to roll

But making dough is one thing. Rolling it out and cooking it quite another. And in my quest for paper-thinness, the lefse stuck and they tore (and I cursed and I swore). They crumpled. I cried. They burned. I sighed.

But while paper-thin perfection proved elusive, it didn’t matter in the end. My lefse were just as thin as something spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon needed to be.

Practice makes... a lot of lefse

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Lefse

This formula for lefse is based, among others, on the recipe found here, which seemed particularly helpful.

You’ll need:

• 1kg potatoes, preferably a floury variety (I used Irish Queens, in the U.S. try Russets)
• 50g butter (approx. 3 tblsp)
• 0.5 tsp salt (plus more for boiling the potatoes)
• 100ml whipping cream
• approx. 175g – 300g plain flour

You’ll also need:

• I’d strongly recommend having a ricer for the potatoes. If you have lefse-making equipment, then use it, though you can use your regular rolling pin to roll the lefse out, use a ruler or other long, slim implement to lift and turn the lefse and, if you don’t have a griddle, then a cast iron frying pan or pancake pan will do the job.

The Mash Steps:

• Peel your potatoes and cut into roughly even-sized slices, around 1-2cm thick. Rinse under cold water.
• Bring about 1.25l of water to the boil in a saucepan, add about 1.5 tsp salt and the potato slices.
• Bring the potatoes back to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer gently, covered, for around 12-15 minutes or until just fork-tender.
• Drain the potatoes well 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 gently for a minute or so while they dry out.
• While the potatoes are drying, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
• Put the cooked and still warm potatoes through a potato ricer, then stir in the melted butter. Add the cream and salt and stir to combine.
• Cover the bowl of mashed potatoes with a tea-towel and place in the fridge for several hours or overnight, allowing the potatoes to cool completely.

The Dough Steps:

• When you’re ready to make the lefse dough, get your mashed potatoes and knead in about 175g plain flour, adding more flour if necessary to make a stiff dough that’s just slightly sticky and should hold together if you squeeze it.
• Form the dough into small, evenly sized patties (about 3 tblsp of dough should be enough to make a 20cm wide lefse when it’s rolled out).
• You can get ready to roll your first lefse now (and, meanwhile, keep the rest of the patties covered in the fridge).
• Heat your griddle (to 500F if you have a temperature control) or place your ungreased stove top griddle or pan over a high heat.
• Using a well-floured board, roll the lefse out as thinly as you can. Slide a turning stick or some other long, wide implement under the lefse, lift and transfer to the griddle or pan.
• Cook for about 30 seconds or until the lefse has started to bubble and develop brown spots on the base. Flip the lefse over and cook briefly, just until the other side develops brown spots.
• Remove and keep the lefse warm by covering with a towel while you get on with rolling and cooking the rest.
• Eat warm with butter, sugar and cinnamon or allow to cool completely, fold in quarters and freeze until you’re ready to use them.

The Variations:

• You can add a tsp or two of sugar to the mashed potato – many recipes do – or you can replace the cream with additional butter.

The Results:

• Makes around 30 x 20cm wide lefse

Ireland … isn’t exactly the sexiest country in the world … constant gray skies, cool temperatures and an obsession with one of nature’s homeliest vegetables….

Clare, from An American in Ireland

Ouch. Harsh but true.

By tradition, we, like our food, are more hearty and plain than delicate and fancy. We are bacon and cabbage and boiled potatoes. We are soda bread, apple tart and the ubiquitous cup of tea. We are the food that you go to your Mammy’s house for. But when we eat out, we generally look to foreign cuisines for something a little outside of our Irish selves.

Perhaps, to my shame, that’s the reason why, in all my years of living in Dublin, I had managed, until now, to avoid darkening the door of Gallagher’s Boxty House. With its traditional Irish menu and diddly-eye music, it sat firmly in my “just for tourists” category.

Gallagher's Boxty House, Temple Bar

Yet a restaurant, of whatever type, that has been around for 22 years, has to be doing something right. And as for Pádraic Óg Gallagher, owner and originator of Gallagher’s Boxty House, I can but admire a man who builds an entire menu around boxty, Ireland’s own particular contribution to the pantheon of potato pancakes. The popularity of Gallagher’s boxty is borne out by the restaurant’s one-tonne-a-week potato habit.

The boxty family: boxty pancake, baked boxty loaf and boiled boxty

Whilst most of the boxty served up is in the form of thick, substantial pancakes, you can also sample boiled boxty, which is dense but lovely in a stodgy way, and the lighter textured baked boxty loaf. The boxty pancakes, meanwhile, you will find wrapped around all sorts of things including (yes) bacon and cabbage. All substantial and satisfying stuff.

Boxty pancake with bacon and cabbage

My visit to Gallagher’s Boxty House, though, was more than the sum of the boxties served.

It lived up to its promise of “bia, caint, ceol agus craic” / “food, chat, music and fun”, thanks, at least in part, to a generous helping of boxty and potato lore from Pádraic Óg himself. As we indulged our obsession with that homeliest of vegetables, I realised that sometimes it takes a local to celebrate the truth of what we are.

E is for Easter, E is for Eggs

Spell it with food.

That was the mission for those who chose to accept this year’s Eating Your Words Challenge. I chose, as you may have guessed from the picture above, to spell it with eggs. Bizarrely, I have Yellow Tail wines to thank for the eggy inspiration and you may very well end up with reason to thank them too.

You see, the folks who distribute Yellow Tail here contacted me with an offer of an Easter hamper for a Spud reader, containing several bottles of Yellow Tail shiraz, along with lots of Lindt Chilli Chocolate (worth a try with the spicy shiraz), a Lindt Easter Egg and some Easter bunnies (the chocolate kind).

A little something for you, the reader

They proposed that a little reader competition to win said goodies might involve ideas for eggs, it being an Easter hamper ‘n’ all. The suggestion was enough to get my creative yolks flowing and very soon, I found myself carving out edible eggy words. So I got to complete my mission and one of you readers gets a winey, chocolatey hamper. I’d call that a win-win situation.

So leave a comment below if you want to be in with a shout for the hamper and, to borrow a slogan from a rather well-known brand of chocolate gooey egg, you can tell me how you like to eat yours (your eggs, I mean).

I’ll leave this open until next Tuesday March 30th at 6pm (GMT), which will hopefully allow enough time for the winner to get their delivery in time for Easter. I’ll select the winner as randomly as I can and, yes, you will need an address somewhere in the Republic of Ireland at which to receive the goods.

Update 31/3/10: And the winner of the winey chocolatey hamper is… Yvonne Carty, who says that she likes her eggs scrambled with some chili and served with smoked salmon. Wouldn’t say no to some of that myself! Congratulations Yvonne & Happy Easter.

Now, though, it seems only fair that I show you how I like to eat mine. In fact, let me spell it out for you.

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

Inside-out Eggs

So here it is then, my entry for the Eating Your Words Challenge 2010, hosted by Tangled Noodle and Savor The Thyme.

The idea is simple: cut shapes out of a plain omelette, refill with reserved egg whites et voilà – white and yellow have swapped their usual places. You can, of course, adjust the amounts here to suit the size of pan you want to use. You’re aiming to make a thick-ish omelette, which is easier to work with when it comes to cutting and refilling.

You’ll need:

• 6 medium eggs
• 0.25 tsp fine salt
• oil for frying

You’ll also need:

• A shallow, preferably non-stick frying pan – mine was about 24cm diameter – and a plate that is slightly wider than the pan onto which you can slide the omelette.
• Cutters for whatever shapes you want to cut out. A small sharp knife is also useful for those occasions where the cutter does not cut right the way through.

The Steps:

• Separate 2 of the eggs and keep the whites aside.
• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the 2 egg yolks and remaining 4 eggs. Add the salt and whisk again. You can add other herbs or spices here as the mood takes you.
• Place your pan over a medium heat. When hot, add 1-2 tsp of olive oil (or another vegetable oil if you prefer).
• Pour in the beaten egg and swirl it around to coat the pan. Cook over a medium heat for around 5 minutes or until it is has just about set right through. Note that I didn’t turn the omelette in the pan as I wanted to keep everything nicely yellow on one side.
• Slide the omelette off the pan and onto your plate. Using your cutters, carefully cut out the desired shapes, employing a small sharp knife if necessary to complete the separation. Remove the shapes and set them aside.
• Place your pan back over a medium heat, adding a little more oil if it needs it. Slide the omelette back onto the pan and carefully pour the reserved egg whites into the spaces left by the shapes you have cut out. Depending on the size of the spaces and thickness of the omelette, you may not need all of the whites. Cover with a lid and cook for another minute or two, just until the whites have set.
• Serve up and enjoy!

The Variations:

• The shapes used are up to you, of course, and you can add whatever herbs or spices you like to the eggs before cooking.

The Results:

• Plain omelette for 2-3