The Daily Spud » Vegan

The Pickle Of The Crop

Daily Spud — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:23:03 +0000

This year's redcurrants, all three of 'em

This time last year, I was awash with redcurrants. It was all redcurrant shortbread bars, redcurrant and lemon drizzle cake, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with redcurrants, not to mention redcurrant chutney, redcurrant jam and redcurrant and port jelly.

This year, however, I am without my prolific redcurrant bush and slew of redcurrant treats, having moved house and, sadly, left my garden behind. I did bring cuttings with me though, and these, still in their infancy, have produced a small but perfectly formed crop of three. Alas, ’tis not exactly enough to be making cakes with, but no doubt the plants will get into their fruiting stride in years to come. Meanwhile, thanks to the ancient art of pickling, I still have some of last year’s redcurrants to enjoy.

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Pickled Redcurrants

These are slightly sweet pickles, but still with the inherent tartness of redcurrants. I like to have them ploughman’s style with some mature cheddar, though you could also try adding a few of these to mashed potato or even (as I did last year) make them part of an epic Irish-themed meal. The quantities here can easily be doubled or more if you are blessed with a wealth of redcurrants.

You’ll need:

150ml rice vinegar
75g sugar
2 allspice berries
3-4cm piece cinnamon stick
1 clove
275g redcurrants, washed

You’ll also need:

One or more jars, enough to hold 300ml of pickle, plus non-corrosive, screw-top lids

The Steps:

First, prepare your jar(s). Turn your oven on to 140C. Wash the jar(s) in hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly, and sterilise, either by boiling in water for 10 minutes and then drying in the oven or just by keeping the jar(s) in the oven for at least 30 minutes. Allow the jar(s) to cool before using. To sterilise the lid(s), dip in boiling water and leave to dry.
Prepare the pickling liquid by placing the rice vinegar, sugar, allspice, cinnamon and clove in a small, non-reactive saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat slightly and boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
When the pickling liquid had cooled, pack the redcurrants into your jar(s) and strain the liquid over them, to within about 3mm of the top of the jar(s). Seal and store in a cool, dark place for about 4 weeks. Properly sealed, they should keep for up to a year. Enjoy ploughman’s style with mature cheeses or try adding to mashed potato. I suspect these would also be a nice complement to pork or ham.

The Variations:

You could perhaps try adding some ginger to the pickling spices.

The Results:

Enough to fill one 300ml capacity jar

Dishing It Up For Ireland

Daily Spud — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:15:03 +0000

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.

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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

Before I go, here’s one for the road…

If there’s a signature dish for Ireland, then, surely, there should also be a signature drink.

To that end, the good folks at L Mulligan Grocer have set out to develop an Irish coffee that brings together the best Irish produce available made by people who are passionate about what they do.

Throughout February and March, they have been serving Irish coffees made with hand roasted coffee supplied by three different roasteries, Ariosa, Hasbean (supplied and chosen by 3FE) and Bailie’s in conjunction with Coffee Angel. The coffees were chosen to complement the selected whiskey, Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, distilled by Ireland’s only Irish owned distillery Cooley. The cream is being supplied by Glenisk, a collective passionate about Irish organic dairy farming.

They are looking for people interested in being part of a blind tasting panel on the evening of 15th March 2011 where the ‘Ultimate Irish Coffee’ will be crowned. The event shall be attended by representatives of each of the three roasteries, distillery and creamery. There is no charge for the event but places are limited and booking is essential. To book, email: irishcoffee@lmulligangrocer.com

Once Upon A Mustard

Daily Spud — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:04:42 +0000

Picture the scene.

You crack open the fridge, fumble past the leftovers and (hurrah!) locate that jar of mustard that you could have sworn was half-full. Only those deceptive splodges clinging to the sides of the jar are little more than a masquerade of thin smears and (boo!) the jar is, in fact, devoid of any appreciable content.

Where once there was mustard, now there is only disappointment.

Curses! Empty jar syndrome strikes again...

It’s made worse by the fact that, in my case, I have only myself to blame. I really shouldn’t leave as-good-as-empty jars in the fridge, for they do not a good recipe nor a happy camper make. The only consolation is that I am in possession of several not-so-empty jars of mustard seeds. Homemade mustard it is, then.

Mustard stocks restored, relief all 'round

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Homemade Beer Mustard

It’s episodes like this that serve as a reminder that it is, in fact, very easy to make your own mustard – once you have mustard seeds and/or dry mustard powder to hand, that is. There’s a useful general guide to doing so over here.

In my case, I decided that I really rather fancied some spicy beer mustard. I found several recipes having similar beer/vinegar/onion/garlic formulae – so I took this one, tweaked it, and this is the result. It’s a reasonably hot mustard, which, while it sat aging on the counter, smelled rather like a good barbecue sauce. I’ve been mixing it with a little mayonnaise and smearing it across cheddar cheese and crackers. I highly recommend you do the same.

You’ll need:

4 tblsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tblsp brown or black mustard seeds
125ml red or dark ale (I used Smithwick’s)
75ml cider vinegar
1 small onion (about 100g), finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tblsp honey
1 tblsp dark muscovado sugar (or other dark brown sugar)
0.25 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp allspice
0.5 tsp fine salt

You’ll also need:

A spice or coffee grinder to grind the mustard seeds and a blender or food processor to blend the mustard fixin’s, plus a jar or jars with non-corrosive lids, sufficient to store about 250g mustard.

The Steps:

Grind half of the yellow mustard seeds to a fine powder. Mix the powder together with the remaining whole yellow mustard seeds and the brown or black mustard seeds in a non-metallic bowl and set aside.
In a small, non-reactive saucepan, mix together the beer, cider vinegar, onion, garlic, honey, sugar, turmeric, allspice and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, uncovered, for about 10-15 minutes, until it reduces by about half.
Remove from the heat and pour the beer/vinegar mixture over the ground and whole mustard seeds. Leave to stand, covered but unrefrigerated, for about 48 hours. Do have a sniff occasionally during this period – ’tis lovely.
When ready for the last step, prepare your jars. Turn your oven on to 140C. Wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly, and sterilise, either by boiling in water for 10 minutes and then drying in the oven or just by keeping the jars in the oven for at least 30 minutes before using. Allow the jars to cool before filling.
Grind the mustard mixture in a food processor for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is creamy but the seeds remain coarse and grainy. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more beer or vinegar.
Bottle the mustard, seal tightly with lids that have been dipped in boiling water, and, ideally, allow it to age for another 2-3 days in the fridge before using. It should keep for several months but it will lose flavour over time, especially once opened, so it’s best to keep it refrigerated.

The Variations:

You can vary the proportion of yellow and brown or black mustard seeds in the recipe according to your tastes – yellow seeds are mild, brown seeds are hot and aromatic, black seeds are strong and pungent.

The Results:

250g of hot mustardy stuff

In other news, the folks at the Temple Bar Cultural Trust have asked me to let the Dublinites among you know that the Temple Bar Food Market is on the move.

The market will be taking to the streets of Temple Bar in order to facilitate the construction of a new retractable canopy over Meeting House Square. From now until works finish in June, ‘Up-Town’ is where you’ll need to go for your fresh fruit and vegetables, for fresh hot food, visit the ‘Mid-Town’ location and  ‘Down-Town’ is where you’ll find fresh Irish meats and freshly baked breads. So don’t say I didn’t tell ya.

Spud Sunday: ‘Twas The Day After Christmas

Daily Spud — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 15:55:19 +0000

For me, there is a reassurance and a comfort that comes with Christmas dinner traditions.

You know that, like them or loathe them, brussels sprouts will be served (and I, for the record, love them), while you will always clear a special spot on your plate for the yuletide favourite that are roasties.

My Da, though, couldn’t help but ask the question as he saw the spuds being peeled yesterday:

“Are ye making roast potatoes?” says he.

As if it would be Christmas dinner without.

But things change, too. In little ways. Every year.

This past summer, as I cooked my way through a bumper redcurrant crop, I made a chutney that seemed destined for the Christmas table. It might have usurped the cranberry sauce, though, in true Christmas spirit, there was room at the inn for both.

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Redcurrant Chutney

This is really a kind of spiced jam, with definite savoury applications – good with the likes of a Christmas ham, but also excellent served ploughman-style with some mature cheddar, goat’s cheese or stilton. I realise that it’s not exactly the season for redcurrants, though you could certainly consider making this if you had a frozen stash of same. Otherwise, file it away for use with next summer’s bounty.

It’s based somewhat on a recipe for pickled redcurrants which I found here, though the spicing is a little different. The amounts I’ve used are small, but you can easily make double or more if you have a lot of redcurrants to use and it will, of course, keep for months.

You’ll need:

400g redcurrants
200g sugar
2 tblsp red wine vinegar
0.5 tsp gnd ginger
0.5 tsp gnd allspice

You’ll also need:

Jars, wax seals and lids for approx. 250ml chutney

The Steps:

Start by preparing the jars. Turn your oven on to 140C. Wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly, and sterilise, either by boiling in water for 10 minutes and then drying in the oven or just by keeping the jars in the oven for at least 30 minutes before using.
In a large saucepan, combine the redcurrants and sugar. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the redcurrants are starting to burst.
Add the red wine vinegar, ginger and allspice. Simmer for around another 30 minutes, the mixture should reduce by about half.
Pour the chutney into the 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. Store for at least a couple of weeks in a cool, dark place before using and do set some aside for Christmas use.

The Variations:

Vary the spices according to your taste – you can try other warm spices like cinnamon and/or cloves here.

The Results:

250ml chutney

Spud Sunday: Star Of The Seaweed

Daily Spud — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:03:16 +0000

Poor Rufus nearly choked when I told him that the ‘secret’ ingredient in the mash was seaweed.

The occasion was that Irish-themed dinner party of mine and the mash in question was a union of three card-carrying Irish ingredients: potatoes, butter and dillisk.

Dillisk, seaweed par excellence

Dillisk (or dulse) is a purple/reddish seaweed found on the shores of the North Atlantic (or, for those further inland, in health food shops, packaged here in Ireland by Carraig Fhada Seaweed, among others). It boasts very high levels of iron and protein and has a wonderfully savoury, spicy flavour.

Now, I will freely admit that, for years, my knowledge of edible Irish seaweed more or less began and ended with carrageen moss. That changed with Prannie Rhatigan and her superbly informative Irish Seaweed Kitchen, which opens wide a door into the edible treasury of the Irish seashore.

Everything you ever wanted to know about cooking with seaweed
...and more

Not only did I become acquainted with dillisk, so eminently edible all by itself, but I discovered a new partner for potatoes. As quoted in Prannie’s book: “Just throw dillisk in with spuds and you can’t go wrong.” Very sound advice, as it turns out, very sound indeed.

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Potato Gratin With Dillisk

As Prannie Rhatigan notes in Irish Seaweed Kitchen, the possibilities for combining potatoes and dillisk are practically endless. Soften some dillisk in a little water, then chop and add to mash or potato salad or any number of other potato dishes. Here, I’ve added it to a garlicky potato gratin.

The recipe is a slight adaptation of Richard Olney’s Potato Daube from his classic book, Simple French Food, and simple this undoubtedly is. Sliced potatoes, seasoned here with dillisk, moistened with salted garlicky water and a drizzling of olive oil, and then baked.

It’s entirely satisfying on its own, though it would reside happily beside a nice piece of fish too. I quite fancy having it with some tuna steak, myself.

You’ll need:

5 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
500ml water
1 tsp salt
approx 4 tblsp olive oil
1kg potatoes, preferably waxy, thinly sliced (peeled or unpeeled as you prefer) and patted dry
small handful of dillisk (about 8g), finely chopped

You’ll also need:

An ovenproof dish – mine was about 30cm x 22cm and 5cm deep.

The Steps:

Preheat your oven to 200C
Add the garlic, water and salt to a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat, scoop out the garlic pieces and rub them through a sieve back into the cooking liquid.
Rub the base of your ovenproof dish with 1 tblsp of the olive oil. Layer about one third of the sliced potatoes into the dish, sprinkle with half of the chopped dillisk, repeat with another layer of potatoes and dillisk and finish with the remaining potato slices.
Pour the garlic water over the potatoes (it should just about cover them) and drizzle over the remaining olive oil
Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until nicely browned on top and the potatoes are tender right through. Enjoy on its own or perhaps along with a nice piece of fish – I quite fancy having it with some tuna steak myself.

The Variations:

To revert to Richard Olney’s original recipe, put 3-4 bay leaves in the middle of the potato layers instead of the dillisk .

The Results:

Around 4-6 servings of gratin (depending on how much, or how little, you are serving with it).

Spud Sunday: The Late Edition

Daily Spud — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:14:16 +0000

The astute among you will have observed that this week’s Spud Sunday is suffering from a mild bout of tardiness. If this were school, I’d have a note from my parents to say that it was their 60th wedding anniversary celebrations that had me otherwise engaged this weekend. Either that or I would be trying to convince someone in authority that the dog had eaten my blog post. Sure by the time I got to it, all that remained were these few potato crumbs, your honour.

Lil' potato bits

Still, crumbs though they may be, they are worthy of mention.

They started out life as leftover riced potatoes, spent a bit of time in a low oven, and emerged dried, golden and crunchy. They could easily take the place of breadcrumbs if you wanted to top a savoury pie in a gluten-free way or, fried briefly in a little oil, you could sprinkle them on soup instead of croutons. You might even find yourself eating them as a snack. They will keep in a sealed container or ziploc bag in the fridge for several weeks or they can hang out in the freezer until you have something for them to do. Not bad for a few old crumbs, all the same.

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Potato Crumbs

So, what we have here is really no more than plain boiled potatoes which have been mashed (or preferably riced) and then dried out in the oven.

Please do remember to salt your water well when boiling spuds (I’d add around a teaspoon of salt for every 750mls of water or so) and, if you like, you can introduce more flavour by adding a couple of crushed garlic cloves and a sprig of rosemary or thyme to your boiling water. You’ll get a better-tasting crumb if you do.

You’ll need:

boiled or steamed potatoes, preferably floury

You’ll also need:

Parchment paper and baking trays on which to spread your mashed potatoes

The Steps:

Preheat your oven to 130C and line your baking trays with parchment paper
Peel your boiled potatoes (if they’re not already peeled), then mash or, if you have a potato ricer, rice them – this is best done while they are still warm.
Spread the mashed or riced potato pieces thinly on one or more lined baking trays – the smaller the individual pieces of potato the better.
Bake the potato until dried out and the pieces have turned a light golden colour (this took around 45 minutes for me). Check after they have been in the oven for about 15 minutes and every 10-15 minutes or so thereafter, breaking any clumps up into smaller crumbs, which is easier to do once the potato has started to dry out.
Use straightaway if you like, or cool and store in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer.

The Variations:

If you want to use the crumbs directly as a garnish for a soup, then you can bake them at a higher temperature, say 150C for about 20 minutes, again checking regularly to break up clumps. The crumbs will brown more when done this way. At the end of baking, you can toss the crumbs in a tiny bit of olive oil, bake for another 5 minutes and then scatter at will.

The Results:

150g of cooked, mashed potato should yield around 40g or so of dried potato crumbs.

Oats, Glorious Oats

Daily Spud — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:50:31 +0000

“That’ll keep you regular,” chuckled the delivery man.

He had just handed me a hamper filled to the brim with oaty products from Flahavan’s, and, as I surveyed the contents, I had to agree that this little lot would probably keep me in good working order for some time to come.

Oats and then some

The occasion that had warranted such a generous oaten influx was Flahavan’s annual Porridge Week, which heralds the onset of those falling temperatures that induce us to both stay under the covers and contemplate porridge when we arise.

And while my winter breakfast needs were now clearly taken care of, I knew that, for variety’s sake, I would have to use some of my oaty spoils for non porridge purposes. With that in mind, I perused the little recipe booklet written by Mary Flahavan that had come with the delivery.

A little bit of oaty inspiraton

And there it was, amongst the flapjacks, crumbles, bakes and pies, nothing less than oatmeal in a soup. Now, while it may not be tremendously fashionable to put oatmeal in a soup these days, it was quite the thing in ancient Ireland. In his book, The Country Cooking of Ireland, Colman Andrews provides a recipe for Brotchán Foltchep (or “the king’s soup”), a leek and oatmeal affair that was apparently a favourite of St. Columkille back in the 6th century. I thought that the least I could do was take that old soup idea and give it a 21st century spin. I reached for some coconut milk and a new soup was born.

Not your average 6th century fare: oatmeal, leek and coconut soup, with broccoli and almonds

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Oatmeal, Leek and Coconut Soup

In Scotland, where they are also fond of their oats, this would be called a ‘brose’, which is a term for anything thickened with oatmeal. The addition of coconut milk, however, sends this soup on a journey far to the east of both Scotland and Ireland. Having previously used coconut milk in porridge, however, I knew how nicely it could work with oats. The pinhead oatmeal, in particular, both thickens and gives a nice bite. It’s Asian flavour meets Irish texture.

You’ll need:

3 tblsp pinhead oatmeal (i.e. steel-cut oats)
25g almonds
1 tblsp vegetable oil
1 medium-sized leek, white and light green parts finely sliced (about 75g sliced leek)
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tblsp finely chopped root ginger
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
1 tblsp lime juice
0.5 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
approx. 100g broccoli florets, sliced
1-2 tblsp freshly chopped coriander

You’ll also need:

A couple of baking trays for toasting the oats and the almonds.

The Steps:

Preheat your oven to 180C
Spread the oats and the almonds on two separate baking trays and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes or until both the oats and the flesh of the almonds have browned lightly. Set aside to cool and crush or finely chop the almonds.
Place a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the vegetable oil and, when hot, add the leeks. Stir and fry for about 3-4 minutes, until the leeks start to soften.
Add the garlic and ginger and stir and fry for another minute or so.
Add the toasted oatmeal, stir briefly, then add the coconut milk, lime juice, salt, a few twists of black pepper and about 250ml water. Bring to the boil then cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until the oats have softened.
Add the sliced broccoli and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes more or until the broccoli is cooked to your liking (I prefer it to retain a little bit of bite). Add more lime juice, salt and/or black pepper to your taste and if the soup is thicker than you’d like, thin with additional hot water.
Serve sprinkled generously with crushed toasted almonds and chopped coriander.

The Variations:

I think you could certainly use french beans in this soup either in place or, or in addition to, the broccoli (and added at the same time).

The Results:

Makes 2 hearty servings of soup

Spud Sunday: Cut And Dried

Daily Spud — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:27:17 +0000

My new favourite potato thing: oven-dried crisps

Fond though I am of a proper bag of crisps, I don’t mind telling you that I am more than a little excited by these.

Paper-thin slices of potato, soaked in salt and vinegar, then dried to a crisp in the oven.

Yep, that’s dried, not fried.

I’ll grant you that these are not likely to usurp their fried-in-oil cousins anytime soon, but they do make a good case for themselves as a light and crispy snack in their own right. And they’re positively healthy to boot.

There’s a lot to like.

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Oven-Dried Salt ‘N’ Vinegar Crisps

These crisps were the very happy combination of ideas from 2 different bloggers.

I was firstly intrigued by a recipe on 101 Cookbooks which involved grilling slices of potato that were first parboiled in vinegar. Then, over In Jennie’s Kitchen, I spotted some oven-dried slivers of potato and, hey presto, these crisps were born.

The idea couldn’t be simpler.

Take paper-thin slices of potato, soak in salted vinegar for 10 minutes and bake in a very low oven until crisp. If you don’t want vinegared crisps, just soak in salted water instead. If you like, you can bake the crisps without soaking and then sprinkle with some coarse salt, but I like the results better when they are soaked in salted liquid first.

You’ll need:

approx. 200g potato (one medium to large spud)
0.75 tsp fine salt
150ml malt or cider vinegar (or use water for plain, salted crisps)

You’ll also need:

A mandoline for cutting paper-thin potato slices, plus a couple of large baking sheets (approx. 40cm x 30cm) and parchment paper to line them.

The Steps:

Preheat your oven to 120C and line your baking sheets with parchment paper (otherwise the crisps may stick to the baking sheets).
Mix the salt with the vinegar (if using) until dissolved or mix with an equivalent amount of water instead.
Scrub your potato(es) well and leave unpeeled. Cut into paper-thin slices using a mandoline or similar implement.
Place the potato slices in a bowl, pour over the liquid and leave to soak for 10 minutes. The liquid should just cover the slices. If you don’t have quite enough liquid, you can try weighting the slices down lightly using a plate or saucer
After soaking, drain the potato slices well and shake off any excess liquid. Lay the slices in a single layer on your baking sheets.
Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the baking sheets around, swap the shelves that they’re on and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes until crisp. Ovens, potatoes and slicing thicknesses vary, so check them periodically.
Eat on their own or with dips.

The Variations:

I have really only begun to experiment with these, so I suspect that the possibilities are endless. Do try varying the liquid you use and the length of time you soak the slices for. Slices soaked for 30 minutes in vinegar were, well, very vinegary, but you might like that. Who knows.

The Results:

Around 25g to 35g of crisps.

Alternatively…

If it’s real crisps you’re after, you could do worse that to seek out a new entrant to the Irish crisp market. I had the opportunity to sample some of Ed O’Donnell’s Tipperary Crisps during the week and, my, but they are worthy of your attention.

They are naturally appealing for the fact that they use fine, locally sourced ingredients, like Mount Callan cheddar and cider vinegar from Tipperary’s Apple Farm, but mostly they just taste good. The cider vinegar and sea salt flavour I thought an especially fine example of the genre. Here in Ireland, look for them in SuperValu or Centra.

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: 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.

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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
1x400g tin tomatoes
1x400g 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