Tempting tipples...

Several of my work colleagues, it seems, are off the jar for January (meaning, for those unfamiliar with that particular turn of phrase, that they are giving alcohol a miss for the month). One did confess, though, to having fallen off the wagon the other day by way of a mid-week glass of wine and, like any forbidden fruit, it was all the sweeter for that. Now, several days later, I can’t say if that conversation was what prompted me to (a) buy a bottle of white wine or (b) add a glass of same to these potatoes, but it might just have been a factor. What I can tell you is that the potatoes are, without doubt, all the better for the addition.

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Potatoes with Leeks and White Wine

This is an utterly simple preparation – potatoes cooked in a pan with some leeks, garlic, thyme, olives and of course that white wine. If you’re like me, you’ll just eat these on their own for lunch, or they would make a nice accompaniment to a plain omelette, some baked mushrooms or a piece of grilled white fish, along with a glass of that white wine you had to open…

You’ll need:

• olive oil for frying
• butter for frying
• one large leek, white and light green parts finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 medium-sized potatoes (about 600g total), peeled and cut into approx. 2cm cubes
• 0.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 0.5 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 150ml dry white wine (one you’d like to drink yourself)
• 150ml hot water
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3-4 tblsp green olives, sliced
• 1 tblsp brine from the olives (optional)

You’ll also need:

• A good-sized frying pan – mine was around 26cm diameter – with a lid

The Steps:

• Place your frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add about 0.5 tblsp butter and 0.5 tblsp olive oil. When the butter has melted, add the leeks. Stir and fry for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and stir for about a minute more.
• Add the chunks of potato, mustard, salt and pepper and stir briefly, then add the white wine, hot water, thyme, olives and, if the olives have been stored in brine, add about a tblsp of the olive brine. Stir again and bring the potatoes to the boil, then cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer gently until the potatoes are cooked through and the liquid had reduced considerably – this will take around 30 minutes or so.
• Enjoy these potatoes on their or with eggs or fish or whatever else you fancy.

The Variations:

• You could certainly add some parsley to good effect here or some parmesan cheese if you felt like it. A few capers wouldn’t go astray either.

The Results:

• Makes 2-3 servings

]]> http://www.thedailyspud.com/2012/01/22/potatoes-leeks-white-wine/feed/ 12 http://www.thedailyspud.com/2012/01/08/potato-celeriac-cauliflower-soup/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=potato-celeriac-cauliflower-soup http://www.thedailyspud.com/2012/01/08/potato-celeriac-cauliflower-soup/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:26:30 +0000 Daily Spud http://www.thedailyspud.com/?p=33879

White winter vegetable soup: potato, celeriac, cauliflower and roasted garlic

Ah yes, it’s that time of year where we resolve to swap the excesses of Christmas eating for regimes that are altogether more virtuous. Quite how many of us manage to stick to those resolutions for any length of time is another matter entirely (and far be it from me to judge – I have left a trail of failed resolutions in my wake over the years).

Still, I can do my little bit and, this year, it starts with this white winter vegetable soup.

Inspired by Danish butter cookies, made with Irish butter

I’m not exactly sure when it was that Danish butter cookies became a feature of Christmas in our house, but feature they did for several years, with their round, swirled and pretzel shapes and their always-buttery taste.

It seems to me that it must have coincided with the family’s Danish phase (yes, we actually had one of those), which started when a few unsuspecting Danes attended a folk festival in Donegal and resulted (among other things) in one of my brothers living in Copenhagen for several years and in assorted other family members (myself included) spending time in that city. At Christmas and at other times when folks were visiting from Denmark, it often meant that we ended up, not with butter cookies, but with a jar of pickled herring in the fridge and a bottle of Gammel Dansk in the cupboard.

Still, I imagine that our various Danish connections were as good a selling point as any when Danish butter cookies started making an appearance in the local supermarket. A tin or two of same would appear over Christmas, and be consumed, inevitably, with gallons of tea and far more gusto than their pickled herring kin.

And even now, though the Danish phase may be long past, butter cookies will always speak to me of Christmas (pickled herrings, on the other hand, not so much). When asked recently by Kerrygold to come up with a buttery Christmas recipe, there was only ever one thing I was going to make.

Flying the flag for Wales

We were all packed up and in the van, ferry bound.

There was just one last mission to complete before leaving Wales – to secure some creamy blue Perl Lâs cheese. We swooped with singular focus on several of the better supermarkets en route – Morrison’s in Caenarfon, Waitrose in Menai Bridge, even a supermarket in that town with the impossibly lengthy name – but Welsh artisan cheeses of any description were thin on the ground. In the end, I had to board my ferry cheeseless and (not for the first time) found myself pondering the harsh realities of modern food retailing, which mean that truly local food can often be one of the hardest things to find in your local shop.

The hills of North Wales: it could be Ireland, y'know...

The failure of that last minute cheese mission speaks of a situation that is by no means unique to Wales – visit any of the big supermarkets here in Ireland and chances are that you’ll find precious few of our fabulous farmhouse cheeses. That doesn’t mean to say that efforts aren’t being made on both sides of the Irish Sea to develop and promote good, locally produced foods. On the Welsh side, their True Taste national food awards, now in their tenth year, are very much part of that process, with the best of Welsh meats, cheeses, seafood, craft beers, ciders, baked goods and more being acknowledged at last month’s event in Llandudno, which I was lucky enough to attend. To my surprise, it was even possible to toast the winners on the night with local Welsh wines, as some white and sparkling wines made by Ancre Hill Estates were served.

Bodysgallen Hall and Gardens:
a Welsh gem, with a restaurant that boasts some great examples of Welsh food done well

The applause at the True Taste event was especially warm and the cheers rousing for local-food-hero-done-good, the Anglesey Sea Salt Company, who were double gold winners on the night. Their Halen Môn salt – harvested off the coast of the Isle of Anglesey – is prized by some of the top chefs in the world and you’ll find it proudly incorporated into other Welsh products, including the excellent Jones’ Crisps with Anglesey Sea Salt (and yes, if there’s a potato involved, you can always trust me to find it). The company also produces a range of flavoured salts, including an intriguing vanilla salt and one with organic spices which they recommend as accompaniment to roast potatoes. Needless to remark, I scored me some of that one.

Halen Môn salts

The other local hero in evidence was Rachel’s Organic, maker of organic yoghurts and dairy products which are now widely distributed in the UK. Founder Rachel Rowlands was named True Taste Ambassador of the Year at the first Welsh national food awards ten years ago and returned this year as a sponsor.

There was, of course, much more besides, as I discovered both at the event and over several days of eating my way through picturesque North Wales. Landscape, climate and food-wise, it was, in a lot of ways, not that terribly different to Ireland. As I wandered around hill farms on the fringes of Snowdonia in the misty late autumn rain, I might just as easily have been directly across the sea in Wicklow, but for the lilt of Welsh accents and the fact that there are rather more sheep. For the record, Wales boasts the highest density of those woolly mammals in Europe, and the locals are justifiably proud of their Welsh lamb.

Dishing up Conwy mussels at last month's Conwy Feast Food Festival

And in a country that is famously fond of cheese (especially in cooked form), it wasn’t surprising to find that they have cheesemakers who excel at more than just caerphilly (even if, as I discovered, the cheeses themselves are occasionally tricky to find). The immediately surrounding waters, meanwhile, are the source of some top notch seafood – Conwy mussels are a case in point – while I will leave it to Keith Floyd below to elaborate, in his own inimitable way, on the Welsh seaweed classic that is laver bread.

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Welsh Cakes

Nigella Lawson includes a recipe for Welsh cakes in her book How to be a Domestic Goddess. However, I was familiar with these simple, sweet griddle breads long before I ever got my hands on that book – having first eaten versions of them as a child. They were one of only two Welsh dishes that I was aware of from an early age (the other, of course, being Welsh rarebit).

The recipe here is fairly similar to the one you’ll find in Nigella’s book. There’s not much more to it than flour, butter, sugar, eggs, dried fruit, a bit of warm spice and a hot griddle. The key to good Welsh cakes (apart from the use of butter, naturally) is a light touch when it comes to handling the dough (and I’d have to say that I enjoyed some wonderful light and buttery examples while I was in Wales). It’s a satisfyingly simple classic.

You’ll need:

• 250g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp allspice (or try cinnamon or a smaller amount of either nutmeg or cloves)
• pinch of salt
• 125g cold butter
• 100g dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants or a mixture)
• 75g sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• demerara (or other) sugar for sprinkling (optional)

You’ll also need:

• A smooth griddle or cast iron pan

The Steps:

• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, spice and salt.
• Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the dried fruit and sugar, then add the beaten egg and mix to a soft (but not sticky) dough.
• Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
• When ready to cook, place your griddle or pan over a medium heat.
• Roll out the dough to a thickness of around 1cm or a little less. Cut out rounds using a cookie cutter or glass – make the cakes big or small as you fancy and cook on the heated, unoiled pan for around 3-4 minutes each side or until golden.
• Sprinkle with a little demerara (or other) sugar if you like and serve warm (with butter, even better) or at room temperature with a nice cuppa.

The Variations:

• You can vary the fruit and spice as the mood takes you and there’s nothing (bar tradition) to say that you couldn’t add the likes of a little lemon zest or vanilla to these.

The Results:

• Makes around 25 x 6cm round Welsh cakes

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

So why, exactly, do we buy cookbooks?

The simplistic answer, of course, is that we buy them for the recipes, but in reality, it’s almost never that simple.

We may buy a cookbook because we’ve seen the corresponding series on TV. We may have come to like or, even better, to trust the chef-author based on past cookbooks, through a blog or by way of an associated food business. We may want to try our hand at a particular cuisine or we may want to learn the basics. We may be dedicated followers of foodie fashion or we may just like the pictures, and there’s no doubt but that good photography and styling helps to sell.

Increasingly, photography in cookbooks is used, not only to show what the food should, in theory, look like but also to convey a representation of the lifestyle associated with eating that food. Whether we are subsequently disappointed when our dishes (or our lifestyle) do not turn out “like in the pictures” is another matter entirely. And while it can be helpful to see what a dish may look like at the end of our endeavours, some of my most trusted and well-used cookbooks (take a bow, Madhur Jaffrey) have little in the way of glossy pictures and are no less loved by me for that.

In the end, while the pictures are nice, it is the words that count. My favourite cookbooks are the ones that are worth reading not just for the recipes. Give me Elizabeth David’s English Bread and Yeast Cookery and an armchair and I will curl up happily. Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater I like as much for their writing as for the style of their recipes. It’s important too, though, that the recipes work.

The Pieminister Cookbook

All of which brings me, somewhat circuitously, to the new Pieminister cookbook. Now, I have to admit that I wasn’t especially familiar with Pieminister, it being a UK-based pie-making enterprise without any permanent outlets here in Ireland. Still, when I was asked if I’d like a review copy of their new book, I took a look at the previews online, decided I liked the look of it (I mean, who doesn’t love pies, eh?), and said yes.

It’s a nicely produced book with (yes) plenty of attractive pictures, cute illustrations and seasonally arranged pie recipes, both savoury and sweet, as well as words to the wise on pie crusts, on tipples to match your pies and other pie lore. What made me smile was the wordplay at work in the recipes, from the fish pie named ‘Pietantic’ and the crumble of mulled wine and plum called ‘Plumble’ to the triangular ‘Chilli Pie-angles’. Puns aside, though, would the recipes work? The proof of the pudding, it seems, would be in the pie.

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Potato, Cheese and Mushroom Pie

Having looked through the Pieminister book, it was almost inevitable that I would choose to make their cheese and potato pie. A simple recipe, with lots of sliced potato, flavoursome cheese, mushrooms and cream all under a puff pastry hood. In other words, there was a lot to like, in both potato and pie terms, so I got to it.

Shockingly for me, though, I found that the amount of potato in the original recipe was too much relative to the rest of the ingredients. The mixture lacked moisture and turned out to be quite a dry pie, so in my adaptation below, I have reduced the quantity of potato by a third and added more liquid. And though the original recipe recommended floury potatoes, really, I would suggest that waxy potatoes, which are not as dry and which retain their shape and bite, are better for this.

I have also reduced the amount of pastry, as I only needed around half of the original quantity specified. I added thyme, rosemary and some extra parsley simply because I felt like it, used onion instead of shallots because that’s what I had to hand and used some dried porcini mushrooms because they were lying about in the cupboard. If you don’t have dried mushrooms, you can simply use some extra fresh mushrooms and substitute vegetable stock or water for the mushroom soaking liquid. For the cheese part, there are lots of great Irish cheeses to choose from and I went with a good vintage cheddar for this. I’ve also modified the steps a little to something that made a bit more sense to me having worked through the recipe – one which, truth be told, needed a bit of work to make it work but worked out in the end.

You’ll need:

• 250g puff pastry
• 25g dried porcini mushrooms
• 500ml water
• 1kg potatoes, preferably a waxy variety
• salt
• 50g butter, divided
• 400g mixed fresh mushrooms (field, oyster, chestnut), halved or quartered if large
• 1 medium onion, about 175g, thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary needles
• 100ml cream
• 200g cheese (fontina, gruyère, taleggio or vintage cheddar), chopped into approx. 1cm cubes
• 4 tblsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
• beaten egg for glazing (optional)

You’ll also need:

• A large frying pan, a large saucepan and an ovenproof dish (mine was about 28cm x 21cm x 5cm deep)

The Steps:

• If you’re using frozen puff pastry, remove it from the freezer in advance, so that it has enough time to defrost properly.
• Soak the porcini mushrooms in about 500ml water and set aside.
• Preheat your oven to 180C.
• Scrub the potatoes and, leaving them unpeeled, cut into slices about 0.5cm thick and rinse well under cold water.
• Bring a pan of about 1.5l water to the boil, add 2 tsp salt and the potato slices. Return to the boil, then simmer gently, covered, for 6-8 minutes or until just fork tender. Drain well and then cover with a tea-towel to absorb excess steam.
• Meanwhile, place a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add about half of the butter and, when melted, add the fresh mushrooms. Fry, without stirring too much, until they have released their juices and have started to brown, 10-12 minutes.
• Remove the mushrooms from the pan, add the other half of the butter and, when melted, add the sliced onion. Fry for around 7 or 8 minutes or until well softened.
• Add the chopped garlic, thyme and rosemary to the onions and stir and fry for another minute or so.
• Add the porcini mushrooms and their soaking liquid to the onions. Allow this to come to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and simmer for a minute more.
• Remove from the heat and add the fried mushrooms, cheese and parsley along with black pepper to taste. Check for salt and add more if it needs it (but remember that the cheese will add some saltiness too). Add a squeeze or two of lemon juice to taste.
• Add the cheese, onion and mushroom mix to the cooked potato slices and stir to combine. Check seasoning again before pouring the contents into your ovenproof dish.
• Top the dish with a sheet of puff pastry and trim to the edges of the dish. Cut a small opening in the centre of the pastry to allow steam to escape. Brush the pastry with beaten egg if you like and place in the oven for around 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is nicely golden. Dish this up along with salads or perhaps as a side-dish to some pork.

The Variations:

• If you wanted to make this even more substantial, you could, say, add some cooked ham to the pie just before baking

The Results:

• Serves around 4 people

So, what exactly does one do with a load of Turkish pepper?

I’ve been wondering about that for past few weeks, ever since my brother, who’d been travelling in the Turkish neck of the woods, brought me a collection of randomly chosen local spices, most of which turned out to be pepper of some kind. There were small, maroon-coloured chilli flakes called isot biber or urfa biber (and not one, but two packets thereof), bright red chilli flakes labelled pul kirmizi biber, and karabiber, which I took to be ground white pepper but which I now suspect is more black peppery.

Part of my newly-acquired Turkish pepper stash

Whatever the nature of the individual peppers, though, the key point was that I now had rather a large quantity of them languishing in my cupboards. They might have continued that way for some time if not for the spotting, last week, of a potato recipe in the Guardian from Yotam Ottolenghi which called for Turkish chilli flakes or pul biber. Described in the piece as a classic Lebanese and Syrian take on roast potatoes, the recipe for batata harra had my name, and (I hoped) my pepper, written all over it.

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Middle Eastern Roasted Potatoes

The recipe below is an adaptation of Yotam Ottolenghi’s aforementioned formula for batata harra. The original calls for sweet red peppers to be roasted with the potatoes, whilst I have used cherry tomatoes instead – mostly because they were growing right outside my kitchen window. Also, while the recipe features the classic Lebanese trinity of lemon, garlic and olive oil, I’ve included a few other Middle Eastern regulars, in the shape of mint and sesame seeds, along with a helping of spring onions.

The other thing to say, of course, is that you don’t have to use Turkish chilli flakes in this recipe – you can always use other chilli flakes which will bring their own particular heat and flavour. The pul kirmizi biber which I used was like a hot paprika, but Syrian aleppo pepper, for example, would be fruitier and milder. Remember also that chilli flakes will vary in strength, as do people’s tolerances for heat, so adjust according to your taste and the chilli you’re using.

You’ll need:

• 1kg waxy salad potatoes, such as Charlotte, peeled or not as you prefer and chopped into approx. 2cm chunks
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 2 tblsp sunflower or peanut oil
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 500g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed
• approx. 30g fresh coriander (leaves and stems), finely minced
• 1 tsp Turkish or other chilli flakes, or to taste
• 1 tsp sumac or more to taste (optional)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tblsp lemon juice or to taste
• 4-6 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 tblsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional)
• 1 tbslp chopped mint

You’ll also need:

• A large-ish roasting tray, big enough to accommodate the potato chunks in a single layer, or use 2 smaller trays; plus tin foil for lining

The Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 220C and line your roasting tray with foil
• Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil (approx 1.5l water and 2 tsp salt). Add the potato chunks, return to the boil and boil gently for about 3 minutes. Drain well and then either let them sit, covered by a tea-towel, for about 5 minutes or place the saucepan over a low heat and stir the potatoes gently for a minute or so while they dry out.
• Toss the potatoes with the olive and sunflower oils and about 2 tsp coarse salt plus some black pepper.
• Spread the potatoes onto your roasting tray and place in the oven for about 10 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes and garlic, along with half of the coriander, the chilli flakes and the sumac (if using). Roast for another 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are browned and tender.
• Tip the contents of the roasting tray into a large bowl and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, spring onions, toasted sesame seeds (if using) and more salt and pepper if need be. Serve warm or at room temperature on its own or perhaps with some fried fish, such as sea bass, and stir in the remaining coriander, as well as the mint just before serving.

The Variations:

• Of course you can give Ottolenghi’s original version a whirl, using red peppers in place of the cherry tomatoes.

The Results:

• Serves around 4 people as a warm salad or side dish.

It may surprise, or even shock you to learn that, in almost three years of writing this blog, and with its avowed affection for all things potato, that sweet potatoes have never been called for in any of the recipes published herein. Yep, that’s right, not once. Ever. Have a looksee and you’ll find that those other potatoes barely even warrant a mention.

It’s not that I don’t like sweet potatoes – quite the contrary – but, not being a common vegetable in these parts, they tend to be a bit of a rarity in my kitchen. The truth of the matter, frankly, is that I don’t think of them as potatoes at all. That, in turn, may have something to do with the fact that, botanically speaking, the two are not even closely related.

No, not the kind of potato I'm used to...

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) hails from the Convolvulaceae family (now there’s a mouthful) and (if I may refer to it as such) the true potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a member of the family Solanaceae. When Columbus was doing his discovery of the Americas thing in 1492, he and his followers found the sweet potato cultivated as a staple throughout the Caribbean, where it was known as batatas. When the potato (which was known as papa in the Andes) was later brought across to Europe, their similar external appearance and underground nature caused the names of the two vegetables to become confused, and they have been joined in name, if not origin, ever since. It also has to be said that, related or not, they get along quite well on the dinner plate too.

I was reminded of that fact when I was perusing Catherine Fulvio’s new book, Catherine’s Family Kitchen. Included throughout the book (and possibly my favourite part of it) are her ’5 Ways With’ sections – suggestions for five quick and easy ways with things like soup, soda bread, pasta and mash. Unsurprisingly, most of the entries under mash are ones with which I was already familar – such as adding celeriac or roasted garlic, pesto or wasabi – but a mash of potato, sweet potato and lime was one I hadn’t tried, and so, in the interests of finally bringing the two potato worlds together, I thought it was about time that I should.

Hot off the presses: Catherine Fulvio's latest, with TV series to follow, starting September 9th

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Sweet Potato Mash

In Catherine’s book, her instructions are to simply to mix half and half potatoes and sweet potatoes, adding lime zest and juice, plus butter and cream. The recipe below adds little to that, other than to suggest specific quantities and to call for the addition of some cayenne pepper, which I think adds a nice extra dimension to the sweet and tangy whole.

Also, given that the dish combines white(-ish) potatoes, orange sweet potatoes and green lime zest, I didn’t miss the opportunity to give this a somewhat patriotic Irish presentation, by keeping aside some of the plain potato mash and lime zest so that they could be swirled in and sprinkled, respectively, for a bit of green, white and orange action.

To prepare the potatoes and sweet potatoes, you can boil or steam according to your preference – if you have a vegetable steamer that can accommodate multiple tiers, that’s probably the most convenient way to prepare both at the same time and using a single burner.

You’ll need:

• 400g potatoes, preferably a floury variety, boiled or steamed until fork tender
• 50g butter, melted
• 50-100ml milk (or cream if you prefer), warmed
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 400g sweet potatoes, boiled or steamed until fork tender
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1/2 lime or to taste
• cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

You’ll also need:

• A ricer, though not essential, is definitely your friend when it come to mashing potatoes

The Steps:

• Put the cooked and still warm potatoes through a potato ricer, if you have one, or mash with a potato masher or fork.
• Add the melted butter to the potatoes and mix to combine, followed by about 50ml of the warmed milk (or cream), adding more if you prefer a looser consistency. Season to taste with coarse salt and black pepper and, if you like, set aside 4-5 tblsp of the mash to swirl in later.
• Mash the sweet potatoes (again you can use a ricer if you have one) and add to the rest of the potatoes, mixing well.
• Add about half of the lime zest to the potatoes and add lime juice to taste plus more salt if you think it needs it, along with a sprinkling of cayenne pepper if using.
• To serve, swirl in the reserved (white) mash and sprinkle with the remaining lime zest. Serve with roasted poultry, pork or, for an alternative take on bangers and mash, have it with some sausages and perhaps a red onion gravy.

The Variations:

• I think you could probably substitute carrots for the sweet potatoes here, for something that’s even more Irish in nature.

The Results:

• Serves around 4 people as a side dish

The trouble with designing a pizza, or perhaps the beauty of it, is that there’s just so much choice.

Like a painter who has no subject before them to guide their work, the pizza creator is limited only by imagination – and, one hopes, a good sense of taste – in choosing the canvas, colours and textures of their design.

So it was that I found myself pondering endless possibilities for the latest five star makeover mission, to spruce pizza up with our own particular brand of spit and polish. Bewildered somewhat by the choices, I did, in the end, what I often do – I lead my pizza down an Irish road.

hosted by 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro Cooks!

This pizza may look like an Italian favourite, but it's got lots of Irish flavour

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Soda Bread Pizza

I could have called this an Irish four cheese pizza, for it is that, among other things.

It features some of our wonderful Irish farmhouse cheeses: salty, pungent Bellingham Blue, Swiss-style St. Gall, Irish buffalo mozzarella (yes, there is such a thing and it is available in Fallon & Byrne) and the hard, intensely-flavoured Desmond cheese. Somewhat amazingly for an Irish cheese pizza, there is not a lump of cheddar in sight.

The base uses a soda bread dough, and, in addition to the cheeses, there are potatoes (naturally) along with leeks and another vegetable familiar to Irish tables, the yellow-fleshed turnip (known as swede in England and rutabaga in the US, its sweetness here contrasts well with the salty blue cheese). I threw in some of my home-grown cherry tomatoes for good measure, and there’s also a kick of garlic and thyme. All in all, I’d say it’s a design I’m pretty happy with.

For the topping:

• 150g potato
• 100g yellow turnip (swede / rutabaga)
• 1 tblsp butter
• 150g leek, white and light green parts finely sliced
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 50g St Gall cheese (or substitute emmental), grated
• 150g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 50g Bellingham Blue cheese (or substitute gorgonzola), crumbled
• 150g fresh buffalo mozzarella, thinly sliced
• 3 tblsp grated Desmond cheese (or substitute parmesan)

For the dough:

• 200g plain flour
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 25g butter, softened
• 100-125ml buttermilk
• a little cornmeal to scatter on the baking tray

You’ll also need:

• A large frying pan plus a large baking sheet, around 30cm x 40cm (or, if you have them, you can use a pizza peel and baking stone)

The Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 200C. If you’re using a baking stone, place it in the oven to heat.
• Scrub the potato and, leaving it unpeeled, slice it as thinly as you can (using a mandoline if you have it). Rinse the sliced potatoes in several changes of cold water, so that most of the cloudy starch is washed off, then drain and pat dry.
• Peel the turnip and slice thinly (again, using a mandoline if available).
• Place your frying pan over a medium heat. Add the butter and, when melted, add the leeks, a pinch of salt and the thyme leaves. Stir and fry for about 4-5 minutes, until just starting to soften. Add the garlic, stir and fry for about a minute more, then remove from the heat.
• Now, to make the dough, in a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk well, then add the butter and rub in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the center and add most of the buttermilk. Mix gently with your hands until it just comes together as a dough, adding a little more buttermilk if necessary.
• Gently roll out the dough into an approx. 30cm round.
• Scatter your baking sheet with some cornmeal and transfer the rolled-out dough to the sheet (or transfer to a pizza peel if you want to use a baking stone).
• Spread the softened leeks over the dough base. Add the turnip slices in a single layer, followed by half of the potato slices. Scatter over the St. Gall cheese (or emmental), followed by the rest of the potato slices. Finish with the cherry tomatoes, blue cheese and sliced mozzarella, then top the lot off with the grated Desmond cheese (or parmesan).
• Place the pizza in the oven (transferring from pizza peel to baking stone if using). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the dough is browned, the cheese is bubbling and golden and the potatoes and turnips are cooked through. Now slice, serve and enjoy

The Variations:

• You could, of course, use a regular pizza crust here and change the selection of cheeses, based on what you have available.

The Results:

• One approx. 30cm round pizza, serves 4-6

]]> http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/08/24/pizza-cheese-potato-irish/feed/ 26 http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/08/14/potato-tomato-bread/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=potato-tomato-bread http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/08/14/potato-tomato-bread/#comments Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:50:56 +0000 Daily Spud http://www.thedailyspud.com/?p=30186

Well, whaddya know, kitchen wishes really can come true. Where once there was a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, there is now, in my kitchen, a shiny new stand mixer. It’s all thanks to some more than generous wand-waving by the Fairy Hobmother.

My new shiny

Er, the Fairy Who?

‘Tis well you might ask.

The Fairy Hobmother has been winging her way around cyberspace of late, granting wishes to bloggers on behalf of the folks at Appliances Online. A few weeks back, I left a comment for her regarding my mixerless state over on Smörgåsblog. Lo and behold, just a little while later, my wish was granted, and then some.

Better again, though, is that it could be you next. Leave a comment on this post describing your kitchen wish and she just might visit you too.

As for the wished-for mixer, it seemed only right and proper to put it straight to work.

Mixer job #1: potato tomato bread