The Daily Spud » Gluten-free

Last Of The Summer Rhubarb

Daily Spud — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:01:29 +0000

Exotic: (adjective)

1. From another part of the world; foreign;
2. Intriguingly unusual or different; excitingly strange;

There will, no doubt, be much that fits those descriptions at this weekend’s Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire. A gloriously bubbling stew of music, dance, crafts and food from the far flung reaches of the globe. Even if food were your only interest – and who would I be to judge you for that – the festival’s International Food Traders would surely warrant a visit, as would the Global Village and the South Asian Mela Market.

All told, not a bad way to spend a few days. However, as luck and my projected geographical location for the weekend would have it, I will miss the entire thing. Clearly I will have to compensate by cooking something with a suitably international pedigree. Like ketchup. And if you suppose that such a ubiquitous sauce is too familiar to be exotic, you might have to revise your thinking when you meet the variety made from rhubarb.

Rhubarb ketchup - yes, such a thing exists

See, the first thing you need to know is that, while tomato ketchup might hold a rather dominant position in the global condiment market, it isn’t even the original of the ketchup species.

What were called catsups originated in China and were discovered there by East India merchants sometime in the 17th century, who then introduced them to other parts of Asia and thence to Britain and beyond. Most early catsups were based on mushrooms and it was only when the tomato become more popular in the 19th century that tomato catsup start to emerge.

The chief virtue of early catsups was that they kept for a very long time and were thus popular on long sea voyages. In her book Curry, Lizzie Collingham reports on a recipe that Hannah Glasse provided in the 1748 edition of The Art of Cookery. The recipe, addressed to the “Captains of Ships”, called for stale beer, anchovies, mace, cloves, pepper, ginger and mushrooms in order to make a “Catchup to keep Twenty Years”.

Now, while I do expect this rhubarb ketchup to mature nicely over time, I can’t really guarantee that it will keep for 20 years. I, for one, could not restrain myself from eating such a tangy, fruity concoction for anything like that long.

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Rhubarb Ketchup

I was casting around for something to do with the rhubarb from my garden, which is rapidly approaching the end of its season, when my beady eyes lit upon a recipe for rhubarb ketchup in Pam Corbin’s lovely book Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2 .

I would have to say, however, that my efforts at making this did not go according to the recipe plan – a plan which involved roasting rhubarb, onion and garlic, pushing the results through a sieve and then combining with vinegar, sugar and spices. My vegetable charges were nearly roasted into oblivion after the suggested roasting time, and pushing the results through a sieve would have yielded a miniscule amount of pulp. So I just took my roasted results, blended them with the other ingredients and adjusted amounts and the recipe accordingly.

Fortunately, I don’t think the result suffered. In fact, having opened the first batch after 3 weeks, I feel a distinct urge to make more so that I can eat it with Indian-style curries, mix with yoghurt for a tangy dip or just dollop onto the nearest plate of chips.

A word of warning: Do watch out for splashes as the ketchup simmers. My mixture was very thick and given to dangerous little eruptions, so it was important to keep it covered while simmering and to remove from the heat before checking progress.

You’ll need:

1 kg rhubarb, chopped into approx. 2cm lengths
125g red onion, roughly chopped
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
150ml cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger
0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
150g demerara sugar

You’ll also need:

Baking trays for roasting the vegetables.
A blender or food processor for blending the ketchup.
Jars, wax seals and preferably non-metallic lids for approx. 600ml worth of ketchup (or more if you like a thinner consistency).

The Steps:

Preheat your oven to 150C.
Spread the rhubarb in a single layer on one or more baking trays, preferably lined with parchment paper. Spread the onion and garlic on a separate tray.
Roast until the rhubarb, onion and garlic are completely soft and the onion is a little charred around the edges. Depending on your oven and on the thickness of the rhubarb stems, this may take from 20 to 40 minutes or so, so check periodically.
While the vegetables are roasting, wash your jars in hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly, and sterilise by boiling in water for 10 minutes and (once the vegetables are out of the oven), reduce the oven temperature to 140C and keep the jars there until ready to fill with ketchup.
Using a food processor or blender, blend together the roasted rhubarb, onion and garlic with the cider vinegar, salt, cumin, coriander, ginger, cayenne and approx 400ml water. The mixture will be thick and pulpy.
Place a large, non-reactive saucepan (aluminium, stainless steel or enamelled) over a medium heat. Add the blended rhubarb mixture and the sugar to the saucepan and stir to mix. If you want a thinner consistency for your ketchup, you can add a little more water if you like. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 25 to 35 minutes. The mixture will reduce a little and darken.
Carefully pour the ketchup into your hot, sterilised jars, to within 3mm of the tops. Seal with a wax disc and cover with lids which have been dipped in boiling water.
Leave in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks or more before using.

The Variations:

I could certainly imagine adding some apples to this. If it were the right season for apples, that is.

The Results:

600ml of thick, tasty ketchup.

Spud Sunday: Smoky And The Salad

Daily Spud — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:46:32 +0000

It was one of those moments when you try something new and you know what the joy of good food is.

So said resident sis after we had practically inhaled a lunch of mildly sweet and delicate gravad lax from Kinvara Smoked Salmon (proving that you don’t have to be famous to get quoted on this blog, but it does help if you’re related).

She’s in good company as far as her opinion of Kinvara’s smoked salmon goes. Nigel Slater and Jeffrey Steingarten are among the noteworthy food writers who have had kind words to say on that particular subject. Having worked my way through the samples very kindly sent to me, I can’t say that I would object to finding any of them on my plate (though the gravad lax remains a particular favourite).

Pressies from Kinvara Smoked Salmon

And though it is fair to say that you should do very little to good smoked salmon except eat it, I think that there’s nothing wrong with using some classic potato salad to provide a soft, creamy filling around which to wrap a slice of perfectly smoked salmon. But there again, I would say that. You can quote me if you like.

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Smoked Salmon Stuffed with Potato Salad

This part hardly needs a formal recipe – just wrap your slices of salmon around a dollop of potato salad, serve with a wedge of lemon and some dill and you’re done. Apart from eating the end result, that is, but I was taking that part as read.

The amount of filling you can add to a slice of salmon will naturally depend on the size of the slices you have. The slices of Kinvara smoked salmon were around 15cm long and between 5cm and 8cm wide and I filled them with 2 heaped tablespoons of the salad. Adjust according to the size of slices you have.

You could serve a couple of these as a starter, say, or for a lunch serving, have two or three of these with an additional helping of the salad on the side, along with some brown soda bread.

You’ll need:

Smoked salmon, sliced fairly thinly, with individual slices large enough to be formed into a small filled roll
Potato and egg salad (see below)
Lemon wedges to serve
Chopped dill to garnish

The Steps:

Scoop around 2 heaped tblsp of potato salad onto the centre of each slice of smoked salmon and form into a roll.
Garnished with chopped dill and serve with a lemon wedge.

The Results:

As many filled smoked salmon rolls as you have slices of salmon.

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Potato And Egg Salad

This is really a fairly classic potato salad, though it does use cream cheese in place of the usual mayonnaise and generally involves lots of things that are happy, not just in the company of potatoes, but in the company of smoked salmon too.

You’ll need:

800g new potatoes (or waxy salad potatoes)
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 tsp salt, for boiling the potatoes
4 eggs, hard-boiled
120g cream cheese, softened
2 tsp dijon mustard
3 tblsp lemon juice
30 drops tabasco
4 tblsp capers
8 spring onions, white and green parts finely sliced
100g celery, finely diced (2-4 sticks, depending on size)
4 tblsp finely chopped dill
1 tsp coarse salt or to taste
freshly ground black pepper

The Steps:

Scrub the potatoes and halve or quarter any larger potatoes so that you have roughly even-sized pieces, then bring about 1.5l of water to the boil in a saucepan, add about 2 tsp salt, the pieces of crushed garlic and the potatoes.
Bring the potatoes back to the boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer gently, covered, for around 15-20 minutes or until just fork-tender, then drain well, return them to the saucepan and allow them to cool, covered by a tea-towel.
Once cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes or not as you prefer, and chop into approx. 0.5cm chunks.
In a large bowl, mash together the hard-boiled eggs, cream cheese, mustard, lemon juice, tabasco and capers.
Stir in the chopped potato, spring onions, celery and dill. Add salt and black pepper to taste and more tabasco if you like.

The Variations:

You could certainly replace some or all of the spring onions with chives or add some horseradish for a bit of extra bite.

The Results:

Salad servings for 4-6 or enough to fill around 25 to 30 slices of smoked salmon as above.

The Cheese Formerly Known As Feta

Daily Spud — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:55:44 +0000

My First Feta Cheese

There I was, proud as punch, admiring my first batch of feta cheese.

I knew that, before long, I would be all “feta this” and “feta that”, a salad here and a spanakopita there, and still enough feta left over to impress friends and family. It was a big, cheesy win.

Until I remembered that technically I’m not allowed to call it feta.

Not according to the European Union at any rate.

To make real feta cheese, I would need to move my operation to Greece, employ their traditional methods of cheese making and use the local sheep’s milk. Cheese made in a Dublin suburb from the milk of Irish cows doesn’t really cut it.

But who cares?

As long as I keep my faux feta to myself.

And you agree not to shop me to the Greek authorities. Ok?

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Greek-style Cheese (Feta)

This recipe for a basic feta-ish cheese was part of what I took away from the excellent cheese making course at the Organic Centre.

The timings here (particularly with respect to the length of time it will take the curds to set once rennet has been added) are guidelines – the behaviour of your milk may vary considerably from mine. I would advise starting this feta cheese early in the day so that you will either be finished or at least have a batch of curds ready to drain by the end of the day.
As for cutting the curds (a feature of all cheese making) I will freely admit that this is an art that I need to perfect. The individual pieces here should have been around the size of a kidney bean but, by the time I was finished cutting my first batch, my pieces were much smaller than that. On the plus side, it didn’t seem to adversely affect the end result – it may, in fact, have been better, with a slightly drier and more crumbly result.
The recipe calls for the cheese to be aged for 5 to 30 days in a brine solution. Try it after 5 days and see what you think (it should get crumblier the longer it is aged). The cheese is meant to be salty but if it’s too salty for your taste, reduce the concentration of the brine.

You’ll need:

4 litres milk
40 ml cheese culture (or 60 ml buttermilk)
4 drops rennet
brine solution (see below)

You’ll also need:

A thermometer
A whisk
A long, sharp knife or blade
Some muslin or cheesecloth
A colander
One or more lidded plastic containers into which to press the cheese and to hold it while brining (I used a container that was approx. 20cm x 30cm x 5cm deep)

The Steps:

Warm the milk to 29.5C, then remove from the heat and add the culture, whisking thoroughly to distribute.
Leave to ripen for 2 hours.
Add the rennet and stir for 3-4 minutes.
Leave to set until you can achieve a clean break in the curd. The original recipe suggests you may need 1-2 hours to get to this stage, whereas I needed about 6 hours.
Using your blade, cut the curds, first into cuboids by making a series of cuts top to bottom and then left to right across the curd mass at intervals of about 1.5cm. Then cut into the curds along the existing cuts at about a 45 degree angle to slice up the cuboids. The goal is to end up with roughly even-sized pieces, around the size of a kidney bean.
Leave for 10 minutes to allow the curds to firm up.
Stir the curds gently and cut any pieces that are larger than bean-sized.
Allow to sit for 30 mins, stirring occasionally
Line a colander with your muslin or cheesecloth and pour in the curd, draining off the whey. Tie the corners of the cloth together and allow to drain for about 5 hours (though I have left it for about 10 hours overnight, with a slightly drier, firmer result).
Remove the cheese from the cloth and stuff it into one or more rectangular containers, such that it is about 2.5cm thick.
Chill in the fridge for about 90 minutes (though I have also left it overnight at this stage).
Remove and cut into approx. 2.5cm cubes
To age the cheese, place the cubes in a cold brine solution for 5-30 days and store in the fridge. It should get crumblier the longer it is aged.
After aging, remove and pat dry and store in an air tight container (or you can leave it in the brine solution and it should keep for longer).

The Variations:

In time, I’d like to try this with goat’s milk or even sheep’s milk (though the chances of getting my hands on the latter are admittedly slim).

The Results:

This yielded around 725g cheese

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Brine Solution

You’ll need:

125-150g salt
approx 750ml water

The Steps:

Dissolve the salt in warm water – a fresh egg should float in the solution.
Cool the brine in your freezer.
Place cheese in brine solution as needed.
After you’re done with the brine, you can freeze it for reuse (though you’ll need to top it up with additional salt before using it again).

The Variations:

I have used smoked salt to give a slightly smoky brine with interesting results.

The Results:

Enough brine to float a single batch of feta as above.

Spud Sunday: New Spuds On The Block

Daily Spud — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:30:42 +0000

I have doubts on sprouts
But peas they please
And parsnips give me pleasure.
But of all the veg
I give this pledge
Potatoes are my treasure.

Extract from “King Spud” © 2010 Nick Balmforth

Mr. Balmforth, author of those lines, is clearly a man after my own heart – a heart that fairly swells with pride when my little potato treasures start to blossom, signalling to the world that new potatoes are not far behind.

The sign that says new spuds are a comin'

At the head of my new potato posse are a few mavericks – the offspring of stray spuds that have lingered long enough to produce roots and shoots of their own. Having had a head start on the seeds planted this year, the next generation of last year’s Shetland Blacks and Colleens are all ready for me to meet and eat.

First new potatoes of the year, Shetland Black and Colleen

And when presented with a crop of small, firm new potatoes, it is the most natural thing in the world to want to turn them into potato salad.

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Potato Salad with Feta Cheese

When it comes to making potato salad, the possibilities are, of course, endless. If, however, you had just made feta cheese for the first time, then into that potato salad the feta cheese would go. (There will be a full report on the feta cheese making in due course, though I hasten to add that making your own feta cheese is not a requirement for this!)

If you don’t have small, new potatoes, you can really use any waxy potato here – just halve or quarter larger potatoes before boiling so that you end up with roughly even-sized pieces.

The recipe also calls for roasting a head of garlic, with around 6 cloves of roasted garlic used in the dressing – if you roast more than than that, you can always just eat the leftover cloves of roasted garlic as is or spread them on toast.

You’ll need:

1 small head garlic
olive oil for roasting garlic
75g walnut halves
800g new potatoes
salt for boiling the potatoes
8-10cm sprig of rosemary
3 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1.5 tblsp lemon juice
Zest of half a lemon (about 2 tsp zest)
1 tsp dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper to taste
150g feta cheese, crumbled
4 spring onions, finely sliced
4 tblsp mint, finely chopped
4 tblsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

The Steps:

Preheat the oven to 200C
Separate 2 cloves from the head of garlic and reserve. Remove the outer layer of papery skin from the rest of the head and slice off the top, just to expose the cloves. Wrap the head of garlic in foil and pour a tsp or two of olive oil over the exposed cloves. Roast for around 35 minutes or until the cloves are completely soft. Meanwhile, prepare the walnuts and potatoes:
Spread the walnuts on a baking tray and place in your hot oven for around 5 minutes or so, until lightly toasted (they will burn easily, so keep an eye on them). Remove, allow to cool a little and chop roughly.
Scrub the potatoes and peel and lightly crush the 2 reserved cloves of garlic. Bring about 1.5l of water to the boil in a saucepan, add about 2 tsp salt, a sprig of rosemary, the pieces of crushed garlic and the potatoes. Bring back to the boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer gently, covered, for around 15-20 minutes or until just fork-tender.
When the potatoes are done, drain well and return them to the saucepan. Let them sit, covered by a tea-towel, for 5-10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
To make the dressing, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, dijon mustard and black pepper. Mash about 6 cloves of the roasted garlic and mix with the dressing.
Roughly chop the potatoes into bite-sized chunks and toss with the dressing. Add the crumbled feta, spring onions, walnuts, mint and parsley and stir to mix. Taste and add more of whatever you think it may need.
Eat.

The Variations:

If I’d had kalamata olives, I would have added some. You could also add capers if you like.

The Results:

Potato salad servings for around 4.

Happy Tummy, Happy Heart

Daily Spud — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:58:47 +0000

“We need to tighten our belts.”

Just how often have we heard that one lately?

The fact is, however, that when it comes to our national diet, belt loosening is the order of the day. As a nation, it seems we’re getting a little chubby around the middle, with 60% of us overweight or obese according to this report. And Michael O’Shea, CEO of the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) reckons that obesity levels in Ireland are rising at the rate of around 1% per year. Yikes.

Given that about one third of premature heart disease relates to poor diet and that about 10,000 Irish people die each year from heart disease and stroke, the IHF, whose mission it is to reduce cases of preventable heart disease, have a vested interest in what we eat. In fact, whatever it is we’re eating, they’d like us to eat less of it.

That, at least, is the focus of their Happy Heart Eat Out campaign, which runs for the month of June. Given that many of us are prone to dining out, they are encouraging us to show a little restraint when we do so. They have the help of 500+ restaurants and catering establishments, who will be offering healthier, right-sized options on their menus.

One such participant is Saba, the popular Thai and Vietnamese eatery in Dublin, which was the venue for the launch of the campaign. And the launch, well, that involved lunch…

Lunch at Saba, clockwise from bottom left:
seared yellow fin tuna with wasabi coriander mayonnaise; steamed seabass fillets with Xao Shing wine sauce; hot and sour prawn soup; fruit platter with passion fruit and mango sorbet

Ok, I grant you, that does look like a lot of food but, truth be told, the individual courses were light, and I skipped the rice offered (because, let’s face it, rice is not potatoes) – so I didn’t need to engage in any belt adjustment afterward. Result? One happy Spud. So happy, in fact, that I went straight home and made some hot, sour and heart happy soup for you all to enjoy too.

Even if you’re not eating out this month, the IHF have produced a lovely booklet with recipes for some of the dishes available during the campaign. I daresay these might be worth looking at for anybody involved in the Good4U Smartchef Competition being run in schools across the country at the moment, where the aim is for students to cook up a storm but make it healthy too. With alarming rates being reported for childhood obesity here, it seems like a timely initiative.

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Thai Hot And Sour Soup

The IHF recipe booklet mentioned above includes Tom Yum Goong, the hot and sour prawn soup we had at Saba. The recipe here, though similar, is not Saba’s version, but is adapted from a recipe resident sis learned while staying at Eagle House in Chiang Mai in Thailand, a place that will be familiar to many Irish backpackers.

It’s a firm favourite Chez Spud and, though classically made using prawns, we have always just made it using veggies. The formula is simple: heat the water or stock with flavourings for a few minutes to infuse, then add the rest of the vegetables/seafood/meat, the order determined by how long each takes to heat through or cook, followed by some final seasonings.

You can use a vegetable or chicken stock if you like, though we generally just use water as the base – it’s still plenty flavoursome and (not that I worry about these things overly), low in fat and (yes) a good heart healthy option. The only trouble with keeping portions small here is that its more-ish nature will mean that you inevitably want second helpings.

You’ll need:

800ml light vegetable stock or water (or use chicken stock if you like)
1 stick lemongrass, cut into 2cm pieces
50g galangal or root ginger, peeled and cut into 0.5cm slices
4 dried kaffir lime leaves
2-3 dried red chillies, crushed
0.5 tsp shrimp paste (optional)
1×400g tin straw mushrooms (about 240g drained weight), or substitute button or oyster mushrooms
1×400g tin baby corn (about 240g drained weight), sliced into 1cm widths
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
4 spring onions, finely sliced
4 tblsp lime juice
1 tblsp soy sauce or more to taste
3 tblsp Thai fish sauce (or substitute with additional soy sauce)
0.5-1 tsp sugar

To serve:

fresh coriander
steamed rice (optional)

The Steps:

Bring the water or stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Add the lemongrass, galangal or ginger, kaffir lime leaves and chillies. Return to a simmer and cook for around 3 minutes.
Add the shrimp paste (if using) and stir to mix, then add the mushrooms and corn and simmer for about another 3 minutes.
Add the cherry tomatoes and simmer for 1-2 minutes, then add the spring onions, lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce (if using) and sugar. Stir to mix, taste and check seasoning, adding more of whatever you think it might need.
You can serve this on its own as a broth or spoon some steamed rice into a bowl and then ladle the soup over it. Garnish generously with sprigs of fresh coriander and remember that the pieces of lemongrass, galangal or ginger and kaffir lime leaves are for flavouring only and not actually for eating.

The Variations:

Prawns, of course, are a classic inclusion in this soup, though I don’t see why you couldn’t try other seafood or meats here too. Change the vegetables to suit what you have – anything that doesn’t need long to cook or heat through is fair game. You can try bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, mange tout and french beans to name but a few.

The Results:

3 dinner servings, along with rice, or 4 smaller servings.

Spud Sunday: Matters Of Import

Daily Spud — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:57:00 +0000

I doubt that I will ever become a true locavore.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the principles of eating (and drinking) locally, when and where possible, but I am ever appreciative of the ease with which we can import that which is neither cultivated nor produced here. Potato-heavy though my diet (naturally) is, I think that I would find it impossible to confine myself solely to the food and drink which emanates from within our Irish borders. Or would I?

For starters, wine would be a no-no. Especially the far away new world kind.

World Cup Wines from South Africa's Nederburg: creamy sauvignon blanc, crisp, dry, rosé (dangerously drinkable, like an adult raspberry cordial) and fruity cabernet sauvignon

Take these limited edition South African World Cup wines from Nederburg that came my way recently. While I won’t be overly concerned with the World Cup itself (the less said about us not being in it, the better), I am nevertheless thankful for the opportunity to indulge in the associated wines.

And what about this little lot, eh?

Several continents' worth of salts and spices

Salts and spices from no less that 4 different continents – from delicately pink and flaky Murray River salt crystals to small, dense crystals of black lava salt from Hawaii – all very kindly sent to me by Chef E. I’m quite sure that I could survive (and well) without any of these things, but I love the foreign accent that they bring to our native staples. Like the African potato stew I made yesterday. The vegetables are decidedly local (the chard, from my own garden, especially so) but not one of the spices used originates here. Could I give up the flavours that they bring? Yes. Would I want to? No, not ever.

An Irish tricolour of veggies: swiss chard, potatoes and carrots

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African Potato Stew

After a little blast of sunshine and warmth last week, yesterday was dull and wet and much more appropriate to this kind of wintry fare. Welcome to the Irish summer.

This stew is based on a recipe found in The Potato: Around The World In 200 recipes, which was published in 2008 as an initiative to promote the then United Nations Year of the Potato. The recipes were collected by Florence Lebras.

The original uses potato, sweet potato and cauliflower, whereas I’ve used my tricolour of chard, potatoes and carrots, and have also added allspice berries to the original spice mix.

As for the raisins or sultanas, when it comes to using dried fruit in a stew, I reckon that you either love it or hate it. If you are in the love it camp, then add them in, but if it’s not your thing, then by all means leave them out.

You’ll need:

750g potato (3-4 medium sized potatoes)
250g carrot (2 large-ish carrots)
300g swiss chard (or substitute spinach)
1 tblsp coriander seeds
4 cloves
6 allspice berries
2 tblsp olive oil
300g onion (2 medium onions), finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3cm piece root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp poppy seeds
1.5 tsp fine salt
3-4 tblsp raisins or sultanas (optional)
freshly ground black pepper
1 tblsp cider vinegar

You’ll need:

Spice grinder or mortar and pestle for grinding spices.

The Steps:

Scrub the potatoes and, leaving the skin on, chop into 1cm cubes. Peel and slice the carrots, around 0.5cm thick or less.
Wash the swiss chard and separate the thick centre veins and stalks from the green leafy parts. Slice the leaves into 0.5cm strips, chop the stalks into approx 0.5cm dice.
Place a small frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add the coriander seeds, cloves and allspice berries and toast, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and then grind in a spice grinder or using a mortar and pestle.
Place a large heavy saucepan over a medium heat. When hot, add the oil, followed by the onion and garlic. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes or until the onion has softened.
Add the chopped ginger, mustard seeds, poppy seeds and ground spices to the saucepan and stir briefly.
Add the potatoes, carrots and chard stalks, stir to mix and then add the salt and about 750ml water (enough to barely cover the vegetables). Bring to the boil, then cover, reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add the chard greens and raisins (if using), stir to incorporate, return to a simmer and simmer for about another 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the cider vinegar, ladle into bowls and serve on its own or with some crusty bread.

The Variations:

I would certainly consider adding chickpeas to this next time round, and, if so, would use the chickpea cooking liquid in place of the water.

The Results:

About 4-5 helpings

Spud Sunday: On The Wild Side

Daily Spud — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:27:17 +0000

Sometimes, I wish Mother Nature would do labels.

A little sign, saying “makes great pesto” and pointing towards that untended clump of leaves at the bottom of the garden would have been really helpful. Instead, for years, I had supposed that this plant’s only part of edible interest was the flowers. Oops.

Thanks to a little research, I now know better.

Wild garlic - not just about the flowers, you know

The narrow leaves of the plant in question – Allium triquetrum, one of a number of plants referred to as wild garlic – do indeed make the most fabulous pesto. More than that, it is a pesto that is made for use with potatoes. I would quite happily eat gobs of this with roast spuds, oven baked chips or fried potato cakes, mix it with mashed potato, stir it through a plate of gnocchi, swirl it into a bowl of potato soup, dollop it onto a baked spud, or serve alongside some steamed new potatoes.

Hello, my young spuds

And new potatoes is what I hope to have, oh, sometime next month, if my bagged up potato seedlings continue to make steady progress. I just hope I have some wild garlic left by then – I’d love for them to meet.

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Wild Garlic Pesto (for spuds and other things)

I made this pesto with narrow-leafed wild garlic or Allium triquetrum (also known as three cornered leek or three cornered garlic). You can, however, also use the wider leaves of that other wild garlic found here, Allium ursinum (also known as ramsons) or in North America, try Allium tricoccum (aka ramps).

Personally, I don’t care for pesto that’s too oily, so I’ve only added a small amount here, though you can add more if that’s to your taste. Like any pesto, this is best freshly made, though you can keep it in the fridge covered with a film of olive oil or freeze the freshly made pesto in small containers. If you do want to freeze the pesto, I see that Darina Allen, in Forgotten Skills of Cooking, suggests that it is best to freeze it minus the parmesan, which can be added later, when the pesto has been defrosted.

You’ll need:

40g pine nuts
75g wild garlic leaves
3-4 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
50g parmesan, finely grated
salt to taste

You’ll also need:

A food processor or mortar and pestle.

The Steps:

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until they are browned but not burned, about 4-5 minutes.
Using a food processor, blend together the pine nuts, wild garlic leaves and olive oil. If you don’t have a food processor, chop the pine nuts and garlic leaves first, then mash together using a mortar and pestle.
Stir in the grated parmesan. Taste for salt and add some if it needs it (which it may not, depending on the saltiness of the cheese).
Enjoy with any number of potato dishes or, yes, even with pasta.

The Variations:

You can bump up the garlic flavour by adding a clove of garlic to the blend or make any number of other pesto sauces by using different greens. Basil leaves are, of course, the classic, but rocket also makes for an excellent pesto.

The Results:

Around 200g of pesto, of which I will easily eat half in a single sitting.

Spud Sunday: Soup For Thought

Daily Spud — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:40:52 +0000

Hungry?

I hope so, because I’ve made some soup and it’s got your name written all over it.

In fact there’s enough to feed, oh, you and maybe 4 or 5 friends. And several people in Africa too.

Soup for a good cause

The Overseas Development Agency Gorta contacted me about their SoupForLife campaign, as part of which they are asking people here to gather ’round for a bowl or mug of soup on the 14th of May and make a small donation to their work fighting hunger and malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.
If you don’t want to make the soup yourself, a growing number of restaurants are participating by donating €1 for each bowl of soup purchased on that day (with more information available on that over at the SoupForLife blog).

But why soup?

During that most famous of periods in our history, when the entire country went hungry for lack of potatoes during The Great Famine, it was soup kitchens that fed a great number of the starving, simple as that.

Now, if you want to participate in the whole SoupForLife thing, there’s really no need to emulate famine-era soups. For one thing, it would imply a distinct lack of potatoes, which would put me right out of a soup-making job. No, it’s perfectly ok to fire away with the curried potato and cauliflower soup below or, if not that then perhaps some classic potato and leek soup or maybe some potato and lentil soup like so or like so. Alternatively, there’s Galician potato and bean soup or creamy potato, salmon and cream cheese chowder for you to try. If (gasp!) you’d like a soup that’s not quite so potato-heavy, then there are soups hereabouts made from carrot and ginger, pea and mint and tomato and black beans. And failing that, there’s always minestrone or good old Ukrainian borscht. So you really have no excuses. Go on, get your soup on.

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

Curried Potato And Cauliflower Soup

Call it soup, call it curry. It can be either or both. Despite the long-ish list of spices, it’s really quite gently spiced. And as with many of its curry-style brethren, I think that this may possibly taste better the next day.

You’ll need:

olive or other vegetable oil for frying
2 medium-sized potatoes, about 400g
One small head of cauliflower, about 350g when leaves and stalk removed
1 medium-sized onion, around 150g, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tblsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 small fresh green chili, very finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp turmeric
0.25 tsp ground cardamom
1×400g tin tomatoes
1×400g tin coconut milk
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tblsp lime juice
1 tsp garam masala

To garnish:

50g cashew nuts, roasted and chopped roughly
3-4 tblsp chopped fresh coriander

You’ll also need:

A food processor or blender if you want a puréed soup – an immersion blender is handiest.

The Steps:

If you have raw cashew nuts and need to roast them, then preheat your oven to about 150C, spread the nuts on a baking tray and roast for around 10 minutes or until they have browned lightly.
Scrub the potatoes and, leaving the skin on, chop into approx 1cm cubes. Wash the cauliflower and break into small florets.
Place a large, heavy saucepan over a medium heat, add enough oil to coat the pan. When hot, add the onions and garlic. Stir and fry for around 4 minutes, until softened but not browned.
Add the ginger and green chili and stir and fry for about a minute more.
Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric and cardamom, stir briefly, then add the potatoes, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, salt, sugar and lime juice. Stir to mix, then bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the cauliflower florets and, if necessary, a small amount of water so that the cauliflower is almost covered with liquid, bring back to the boil and simmer for another 20-25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the garam masala and cook for a couple of minutes more.
You can serve as is, as a curry or chunky soup or blend it, using a food processor or blender – it’ll be very thick, so thin it out to your desired consistency with additional boiling water.
Serve topped with chopped, roasted cashews and chopped fresh coriander and along with warm breads.

The Variations:

If you’re keeping this chunky, curry style, you could certainly throw in some other veg, like fresh or frozen peas or some french beans, towards the end of cooking.

The Results:

Hearty, dinner-sized portions for 4, smaller portions for around 6

Spud Sunday: Of Spice And Spud

Daily Spud — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:52:31 +0000

It’s a conspiracy. No doubt about it. A conspiracy I tell you.

The fact of the matter is that London-based Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar is being thwarted in all of his attempts to meet me.

First, it was the January snow that scuppered travel from the UK and resulted in the cancellation of Atul’s one day course at the Dublin Cookery School, which I was due to attend. Then it was the preponderance of volcanic ash in the airspace hereabouts that meant he was unable to travel for the rescheduled date this weekend.

Much admired for his masterful use of spices, I had really hoped, by now, to be in a position to reveal Atul’s thoughts on the subject of spices for spuds, but there are forces at work that have determined otherwise. Perhaps it is the case that Atul is simply not ready to meet me yet – it’s a naturally big step in any chef’s career – but I rather fancy he can handle it.

And so, while I wait to hear of a new date for my tuition in the ways of Indian spicing, I content myself with using Atul’s rather wonderful book, Indian Essence, as my spicy guide. These potatoes with cashew nuts are a great example of where that can lead.

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

Potatoes Cooked With Cashew Nuts (Aloo Dum)

This is slightly modified from a recipe in Atul Kochhar’s Indian Essence.

The recipe as given in the book is for potatoes cooked with melon seeds. However, not having any melon seeds, I used the suggested alternative of cashew nuts. I have also reduced the amount of oil used and skipped the initial frying of the potatoes. There are a couple of other minor tweaks, based on the ingredients I had to hand, but the essence of this wonderfully aromatic sauce remains.

You’ll need:

2 tblsp cashew nuts
vegetable oil for frying (I used grapeseed oil)
2 medium onions, about 300g, thinly sliced
500-600g baby new potatoes or any waxy variety of potato
375g natural yoghurt
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1.5 tsp chopped ginger root
0.5 tsp ground cumin
0.5 tsp ground coriander
0.25 cayenne pepper
125 ml water
1 tsp salt
5cm cinnamon stick
0.5 tsp fennel seeds
Seeds from 3 green cardamom pods
2 tblsp chopped fresh coriander plus extra for garnish

You’ll also need:

A blender or food processor for blending parts of the sauce plus a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

The Steps:

Soak the cashew nuts in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain and blend to a paste using a blender or mini food processor.
Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add about 2 tblsp of oil. Add the onions and stir and fry until softened and starting to brown, around 10-15 minutes. Remove and leave to drain and cool on a paper towel.
Meanwhile, scrub and peel the potatoes. If using baby new potatoes, you can leave them whole. For larger potatoes, cut into slices around 1cm thick.
In a blender or food processor, blend the fried onions and yoghurt until smooth.
Heat another tblsp of oil in the frying pan and add the garlic and ginger. Stir and fry over a medium heat until golden brown, around 3-4 minutes.
Add the cumin, coriander and cayenne to the pan, stir briefly, then add the yoghurt and onion mix and the cashew nut paste. Bring the sauce to a simmer.
Add the potatoes, water and salt, bring back to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile, toast the cinnamon, fennel and cardamom in a small heavy frying pan over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then grind to a powder using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
When the potatoes are cooked through, add the toasted spice powder and chopped coriander and stir to mix.
You could serve this, garnished with additional fresh coriander, alongside other Indian dishes and breads. I also fancy that this could be used to accompany a simple piece of steamed white fish or chicken.

The Variations:

You could certainly cook other veg or meat in this sauce along with the spuds – chicken, I think, would work well, or chunks of juicy paneer along with some green beans or peas perhaps.

The Results:

Serves 2-3 as side-dish.

A Win-Wine Situation

Daily Spud — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:47:41 +0000

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