The Clatter of Forks and Spoons...

I asked for and got a copy of Richard Corrigan's latest cookbook 'The Clatter of Forks and Spoons' for Christmas. I had bought it for someone else as a pressie, and then realised that I wanted my own copy! Apart from the great recipes that I want to try out, I've been reading the autobiographical bits that intersperse each of the chapters. In a weird way, his upbringing and mine have many things in common. His mother was brought up in Conamara in West Galway, and she moved to Co Meath as part of the experiment with transplanting families from the West to parts of Meath which took place in the 1950s and 1960s, resulting in some strange juxtapositions of cultures.

My grandparents on my mother's side of the family also moved during the early days and settled probably only about 5 or 6 miles away from Richard's family. My parents (and we children of course!) moved to the nearby town of Trim via a 9 month stay with the grandparents in 1970. We used to visit The Kirwan Arms in Athboy for a Sunday lunch treat for a number of years - it isnt clear from Richard's book if he was in the kitchens there during the early to mid 70s, but my father could never resist the brown windsor soup (I couldnt see the attraction of a consomme myself - still cant for that matter!).

His book is full of stories of how life was in his part of Meath in those days, and many of the stories resonate with my visits to my grandparents for holidays, as they were also smallholders. I think that Richard fared better on the food front though - I cant remember any spectacularly interesting meals being served up to me in those days. I do remember the quality of the water fetched from the local well, which was used for drinking and cooking (the house well water not being the most potable!); it was fantastic water! And I remember the lambing season when we would end up minding the occasional orphan lamb indoors at the range for a few weeks - great excitement all round for that.

Of course, we also visited the relations in Conamara - mainly on my father's side of the family - again during the 60s and 70s, during the long summer holidays (my parents being teachers fared well on the holiday front!). I still remember learning to milk a cow, feed chickens and watch with horror when my aunt killed a chicken in honour of our visit! Richard mentions the rosary being said each night in his home - I remember the same ritual in my aunt's house - I can still feel the hard surface of the ground where we knelt, while my aunt would lead the rosary for everyone in the house - adults and children and any visitor who was in the house come 10 o'clock! And all in Irish of course - no English spoken there unless some of the overseas cousins from the UK were over for their summer visits!

In those days, there was a weekly van which was the main grocery shop for the village, and a butchers called once a week, and fish could be bought straight from the boot of the fisherman's car. Everyone grew their own veg and had their own eggs from the 'sicini' (chickens), so the carrots were pulled from the garden and an hour later we were eating them for our dinner - no al dente cooking in those days!

Fuerteventura holiday & rabbit recipes...

Sunsets were pretty spectacular, as can be seen...

Just back from the Canaries - was lucky enough to get 10 days there with family, but unlucky enough that the weather was very variable - we only had a couple of really sunny days and it remained windy until the last day there, which of course was the nicest day weather-wise! As per last year, we stayed in El Caleton, outside El Cotillo on the north-west coast of Fuerteventura - right on the edge of the sea.

There are 11 apartments, which are basic enough in terms of facilities, but make up for any lack by way of the views, and the proximity to the beach. This is the view from the garden.

Food-wise, the general fare is typically Canarian - generally fine, but nothing to write home about - but we found one real gem during our stay. It is a relatively new restaurant called La Higuera in the tiny village of El Roque, and the food is really excellent, alongside a quite interesting wine list. The style of cooking is quite eclectic - definitely in the fusion zone - a great starter we had was cuttlefish (similar to squid or octopus), stir fried with Asian spices, lemongrass, chilli and garlic - served with some mixed leaves and finely sliced stir-fried vegetables. I will definitely be trying that one out in the near future. Main courses were also very varied, and included a great recipe for Rabbit - browned with a little flour in olive oil, then cooked with leeks, garlic, olives, lots of white wine and some thyme and rosemary. The chef told me that he cooked it for about an hour, but if the rabbit was wild, he would double that time. It was quite delicious, and another one to add to the list for experimentation, as I probably left out a few key ingredients due to having imbibed too much wine during the evening! We were made most welcome by the restaurant, and we made a return visit just to confirm our initial impressions!
Photos taken by my husband!

More market trouble...

I arrived into Temple Bar Market on Saturday and immediately sensed an air of negativity around the place. I wasnt very awake as it was early, so was a bit slow on the uptake. I chatted to Brendan at the Olive stall and then went to Jenny's stall for my usual range of salads and veggies. I overheard her conversation with another regular customer, and picked up that the other mainstay vegetable supplier - Dennis Healy - had been suspended from the market. I had spotted the gap in the stalls, but had assumed that they were just late in getting things set up. While stall-holders have been suspended before, there seemed to be more going on that just that. There was. As it turned out, all the stallholders had been informed over the New Year break period that their rents were going up - in many cases, they were being doubled!! I was astonished, to put it mildly. Given that we are in the midst of the biggest economic downturn in many years in this country, it seems totally unfair to put up rents to that extent. The various local authorities around the country were told in no uncertain terms by business and national politicians to limit their rates increases to marginal increases of below 5%, and here we have a public agency increasing the equivalent of rates by over 100% in most cases! Talk about not having a level playing field. Once more, there is inequity being fostered between big business who can command air-time and influence, and small business, who are too scattered to be able to hope to position themselves in equivalent positions of power.

Back to the problem that led to Denis Healy's stall being conspicuous by its absence... I spotted Denis himself before I left the market, and asked him what the story was. Apparently, his staff had left some empty boxes behind on the last day before Christmas, as one of their vans had broken down and they couldnt pack everything. As a punishment for this, he was being fined almost €1000, and was being suspended until the fine was paid! What an attitude this displays. You need to sell some amount of veggies and fruit to make a profit of €1000. Denis was visibly upset by the whole thing and had come into the market to attempt to meet with the market supervisor directly, as nobody had returned his phone calls earlier in the week.

Maybe the stall-holders should take matters into their own hands and find another location to set up their stalls - if I am anything by way of being a typical regular shopper there - I dont go to savour the early morning smells of Temple Bar en route to the market itself (stale alcohol and worse), but to buy the excellent produce that is available from the stall-holders...

January mid-week supper inspiration...

Yesterday was a very busy day - the first day back syndrome (yes we do take a long break in Ireland around Christmas/New Year!). I knew I would be at a meeting that could stretch right into the evening, so dinner had to be flexible and quick. So, stir fry beckoned as the right way to go. This recipe can be made with almost any meat, but I did it with turkey breast, as I hadnt had turkey at any time over the festive season! It took a total of 20 minutes from start to finish - and the longest time was for the brown rice to cook.

For each large portion of turkey breast (or chicken, pork, lamb or beef) you need approximately
1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes (less or more according to how hot you want the dish!)
1/2 teaspoon of black beans (dont overdo the black beans as it can overpower the other flavours)
1 clove of garlic and
equal quantities of root ginger, both finely chopped
sesame oil
soya sauce (I use Tamari, rather than traditional makes as it is gluten free)
juice of half lemon
teaspoon of cornflour or other thickening agent (Kuzu is great) dissolved in water

Slice the turkey or other meat into bite-sized portions while the wok is heating
Add some oil (approx a tablespoon) - preferably groundnut or sunflower oil - to the wok
When smoking, add the turkey to the oil and stir fry for approximately 1 minute until the turkey pieces are almost cooked through.
Add the black bean and chilli flakes, then almost immediately add the garlic and ginger.
Cook for about 10 seconds, then add a dash of sesame and soya.
Add the lemon juice and then the cornflour mix. Cook for a minute and its done!

Serve with lots of stir-fried vegetables - keep them crunchy! and brown basmati rice.

Enjoy and remember that pretty much all of the ingredients are health-giving. Ginger, garlic, chillies, black beans, brown rice, - lots of goodness - and even some tryptophan in the turkey to help you sleep after a long day!

I also had a glass of wine with this - for once I went away from white-wines-with-Asian theme and plumped for a Southern Rhone Gigondas, packing a fairly powerful punch, but somehow it all worked together.