It also compliments home-made soda bread very well, and you normally use buttermilk for that - so its a great way to use up buttermilk.
Food is only as good as the ingredients used, and I would not hesitate to recommend Cuinneog buttermilk.
It works well with chicken, but is particularly good with rabbit as it stops the game drying out.
Perfectly tender, well flavored, crunchy - just what one wants in fried rabbit or chicken.
With the crunchy, fun texture it is an easy way to introduce more squeamish kids to rabbit.
Its also so much healthier than chicken nuggets, which are packed with preservatives, salt and re-constituted meat which is pretty gross - Mechanically separated meat, a chemically treated slurry - may not be described simply as "meat" on food labels, but must be labeled as "mechanically separated". Most chicken nuggets are made from this.
I had some belly and shoulder off-cuts left over from the Dublin Bay Paella so this is a very handy way to use them up - as I find the fore quarters of a rabbit too finicky to cook in any other way - like chicken wings.
Its also a great way to prevent waste and save some money.
For chicken wings this makes a great, and I believe healthier choice than the usual preservative sugar salt packed off the shelf mix that people normally use.
You need a lot of oil for this, as with Spanish omelette's - but you can reuse it a few times.
When you’re done, let the oil cool and then pour it through a fine-mesh strainer with a piece of paper towel set inside it that has been set over a bowl.
The paper towel will filter the brown bits and you can just pour the strained oil back into the container
INGREDIENTS
SOAKING
350 ml - about 2 cups - of cuinneog buttermilk
1 large onion, sliced
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (parsley, tarragon, thyme) or a teaspoon each of the dried herbs.
Clove garlic, minced or grated
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
I really like to add a 1/4 cup coriander or cilantro in this recipe as well - but only if fresh.
Recently in the centre of Galway I found an absolutely brilliant fruit and veg shop in the Eyre Square shopping centre called Mister Beans
It's run by a very helpful, nice guy called Paul Bradly. Great range of products, especially the harder to find herbs and veg - with a far better range than the nearby supermarkets.
Its well worth a visit - probably the closest thing Galway has to what you can find in Corks English Market, and I always try to support the smaller outlets against the retail giants.
COATING
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
As a highly recommended optional extra 1/2 cup rolled porridge oatlets - I just use Flahavans.
The idea is actually Scottish, they fry herring in rolled oats and it gives real extra crunch in this recipe
METHOD
1 Soak rabbit or chicken overnight (at least 8 hours and up to two days) in buttermilk with onions, herbs, paprika, and cayenne pepper.
2 Drain in colander, leaving some herbs on chicken. In a plastic bag, mix flour and oats with seasonings.
Meanwhile, heat 2 cups of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet on medium high heat until a pinch of flour starts to sizzle when dropped in the hot oil (but not so hot that the pan is smoking)
3 Place rabbit or chicken pieces in bag with the oat and flour mix - shake until thoroughly coated.
Add the meat to hot pan and fry on 1 side for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown, and then turn the pieces over and fry for another 10-12 minutes, again until golden brown.
Be careful to keep the oil hot enough to fry the meat, but not so high as to burn, and a lid on the side just in case.
As always, I hope you find this post of use - please take time to comment or make other suggestions, and feel free to let others know about the blog.
UPDATE
Same marinade and batter recipe shown here using chicken - served with creamed potatos and collard greens
I don't want to be like Pvt. Bubba from Forrest Gump and his shrimp - but its another turnip leaf recipe.
Its a very economical way of using something we Irish would normally throw away.
Anyone with a kitchen garden will need to thin plants out, and that includes turnip.
The main leaves I used were from Milan Purple top, but cabbage leaf, beetroot leaf and mustard greens can all be used. Kale is ideal for this recipe.
We have great bacon and cabbage in this country, but as a change from the usual ham and parsley sauce all the cabbage and bacon recipes on this blog are variations on that tradition, its nothing unusual, just a way at looking at things a little differently.
In the states this is made a lot with ham hocks or salted smoked meats like turkey leg - the main idea is to get as much flavour into the stock as is possible.
Collard greens are a staple of the southern States of the US, served with the cheaper preserved cuts of meat like smoked pork collar is obviously based on what would be a poor mans food, but it is full if taste and flavour.
This, along with corn bread and gumbo, is the taste of the south.
I just fiddled around with it a little to suit the ingredients more to Ireland.
Anyway - these are the ingredients I used
3 rashers
1 pint chicken stock
Tabasco
balsamic vinegar
Chili powder
3 full onions - including leaf
Clove of garlic
Mixed leaves, about 2 Ibs mostly turnip with some beetroot leaf and Mustard greens
Salt and pepper
Butter
Method
Prepare the greens by washing well. Remove large stems and fairly finely shred the leaves, just grab a bunch, ball 'em up fairly tight and slice into them
Melt butter in a heavy based pot
Put in chopped bacon (or other strong flavoured meat) diced onions, garlic and a good belt of Tabasco, a little vinegar and a good pinch of chili powder. Salt and Pepper to taste.
Saute in the pot on a low to medium heat until onion opaque and soft
Add 1 pint chicken stock, raise heat and bring to the boil
Reduce heat to a simmer - pile in the greens (I filled the pot)
Cover and allow greens to reduce
After about 20 minutes give them a stir, get the broth all over the greens - taste now to adjust seasoning, you can even add more greens if you like.
Allow to cook for a further 10 minutes
Serves about 3 people.
That's it - I served it with a simple champ potato's (mashed with some butter, milk and Shallots) and some spiced up pork that was diced and dusted with a flour/paprika/chili powder mix and fried with a little chorizo.
Simple, cheap southern staple, strong tasting - more an autumn or spring meal.
Goes very well with light, fruity whites - I had it with a Besthelm 2006 Muscat from Alsace, no great fan of whites but this was good - so I guess any Reisling type white would work well.
I'd also reccommend getting some Polsh sour dough bread to go with this - really sets it off well.
It freezes very well so if you have a lot of leaves, eat what you can and save the rest
Well, I figured it was finally time to get some fresh food out of the Garden. That's tricky considering none of the veg have yet grown.
With my work I have seen a lot of the world, and eaten some fairly unusual and varied things, so I'm pretty omnivorous and open to new ideas when it comes to food. So, that and five years in a boarding school must be taken into account considering none of the vegetables are yet ready to eat, but you gotta eat something.
The Corn Wolf - there is a reason for the picture, all will be revealed
In the onion and carrot bed there were also turnips. After a false start due to frost, the surviving Purple Top Milan were transplanted.
They have done very well and got very leafy in recent weeks.
Because of limited space and to ensure sunlight to the Rocket and Kohlrabi I decided to trim back some of the Milan leaves. I am not overly concerned about taking the Milan's leaves as they have proved themselves very hardy, and are meant to be a small turnip.
They are not a heritage variety, which get priority in my garden.
I was removing some leaves for space and sunlight, but most people harvesting turnip in my experience throw away the turnip leaves, as with cauliflower.
I feel I am getting twice the value from the crop, that was grown from seed anyway.
Rather than discard or compost the leaves I started looking at recipes on the Internet.
Turnip leaves are quite a common ingredient in several countries, and using that in combination with other tastes and flavours I have come across with my work overseas, I decided to give it a go.
Fresh from the fields
Turnip leaves are a staple of the southern states in the US, where - along with Kale, Mustard Greens and other brassica leaves - where they are known as Collard greens.
This came as a bit of a surprise, although I had wondered what collard greens were, we hear the term so often in films.
Biting into a raw turnip leaf is quite a bitter, unpleasant taste, but after cooking I found them surprisingly mild, milder than cabbage, and less bitter than spinach.
Collards is a corruption of the word Coleworts, Anglo-Saxon literally meaning cabbage plants.
The origin of the word explains why Kool is the Dutch for Cabbage, Kool Wort in Dutch would translate as Cabbage root.
Dutch is quite an onomatopoeic language, a Dutch staple, Stamppot, literally means Stamp pot or mash pot, not unlike the Irish Colcannon which is normally served with bacon or corned beef, or Scottish Neaps and Tatties traditionally served with haggis.
Stamppot in Holland is normally boiled potato mashed with finely shredded endive served with Rookwurst, a delicate, delicious smoked sausage
Sometimes diced bacon or apple is mixed through the veg mix.
The meal is sometimes served with zuurkool - the Dutch version of Germany's sauerkraut or French choucroute, and my favorite type - a red cabbage zuurkool with apples.
Another influence are Russian potato Blini - a type of potato pancake served with smoked fish, caviar, Blutwurst type sausage, salami and other strong flavours.
With the combinations of dry, strong, spiced, salty type meats, I went for the mild spiciness of Black Pudding offset by the sweetness an apple and leek sauce.
In my honest opinion, the very best Black pudding you can get in Ireland is, without a doubt, from McGeoughs of Oughterard, Connemara, Galway.
Its real artisan food, its not for nothing they have won, among other things, the Checkout Magazine Award for Best Specialist Offering, Artisan of the Year Award from Bridgestone Food Guide, Supreme Champion of Ireland for their Sausage and Ballygowan Awards from the Food Writers Guild, Ireland - and the list goes on.
Failing that, the mass produced Clonakilty types and Shaws are both, quite a distant, second choice.
Then the mild, creamy mixed veg mash contrast with the crisp, salty smoky bacon bits
And so, inspired by the words origin and familiarity, I believe I have created the first Dutch - Irish cullnary fusion, I am certainly claiming I have from this day forth.
Sounds like Basil Fawltys' Finno Japanese veal, but we will give it a shot.
That ain't bad considering neither nation is particularly renowned for cuisine.
Basically its a kind of Irish themed version of a Dutch staple, and its a very economical dish as well.
SIMON'S 10 STEP IRISH STAMPPOT
Sorry bout the pic, food stylist I am not
a new respect for that profession
INGREDIENTS
(Serves 3 hungry lads easy, takes about 25 - 30 minutes depending on the potato's)
STAMPPOT
1 KG Peeled Potato, cut into smaller pieces to speed up cooking time
400gm Shredded Turnip Greens (or other greenleaf brassica)
150gm bacon, ham or rashers sliced and diced*
Knob of Butter
Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar (optional)
salt and pepper to taste.
*For a vegetarian version you could substitute some sun dried tomato's, but you would need to adjust the amount.
Again, and I mean this, if your in Galway its worth going to McGeoughs of Oughterard for their smoked hams, dry cure bacon or rashers.
PROCESS
1) Boil Potatoes
2) While these are boiling wash the turnip leaves.
Remove and discard the central spine, very finely chop the turnip greens.
3) Chop smoked rashers or bacon.
4) When the potato's are nearly cooked, strain and set aside, keep warm
5) Return pot to heat, any remaining water will evaporate quickly, add knob of butter.
You can of course use a separate pot, but I don't see the point of the extra washing-up
6) It wont take long to get up to heat, add bacon and stir-fry until slightly crisped, takes about 2-3 minutes
7) Add greens, stir fry until coated with bacon fat - about 2 minutes, strain off excess oil
8) Add balsamic vinegar, this breaks up the fat, stir through for another minute.
Don't overdo the greens, they will wilt, but you want them al dente - to retain some bite to contrast with the potato.
9) Pour off any excess liquid. Return strained potato's to pot, mash up all ingredients.
Add salt and pepper to taste - GO EASY ON THE SALT, its already in the bacon.
10) Serve dressed with grilled slices of black pudding and apple sauce on the side, a little wholegrain mustard and garnish with chives, parsley etc. from garden
SERVE WITH McGeoughs or other good quality Black Pudding, *Apple and Leek Sauce (*see below) on the side and a little wholegrain mustard.
I find this is best as you have the saltiness of the bacon balanced against the sweetness of the sauce, and a good black pudding should be a little spicy.
As an alternative any strong flavor smoked German or Polish Sausage if available, or sliced corned beef.
I would recommend serving with good, strong reds like Merlot from Cimarosa, South Africa or Eaglehawk, Australia which are available and around the €6-8 mark.
Another option is a good Belgian beer like Leffe or La Coufe.
For something fresher and lighter try a Witbier like Hoegarden or - my favorite, if just for the label - the subject of the lead photo, Korenwolf (I told you there was a reason for a worried rodent photo) with a slice of lemon.
This is the same lemon you use to make apple and leek sauce, for which the recipe is further down, so its a good excuse to splash out on a quality beer.
Korenwolf are a tiny rodent in Holland, quite endangered, about the size of our harvest mouse, they climb and eat wheat stalks, so I always found calling something that small a wolf was amusing, I just have a vision in my head of one of them climbing to the top of a blade of wheat, throwing back its head and howling at the moon - lupine fashion, while David Attenborough gives a running commentary.
Enjoy
NO ACTUAL KORENWOLF WAS KILLED, MAIMED, INJURED OR IN ANY OTHER WAY SHAPE OR FORM MOLESTED IN THE COOKING OF THIS MEAL OR THE WRITING OF THIS BLOG
*QUICK APPLE and LEEK SAUCE This can be made in advance and reheated, that gives you about 20 minutes to enjoy a starter with guests.
In the US this is served cold, in Ireland, at least here, we serve it fresh and warm. It is the easiest thing to make, you just need a heavy bottomed pot.
I like a chunky apple sauce, so I just use a whisk to mix the cooked apples.
If you prefer smooth apple sauce, use a food mill, I don't see the point in the extra washing up.
The key is adding a few strips of lemon peel to the apples while cooking.
The lemon heightens the apple flavor.
1 small leek, washed and sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 green cooking apples, peeled cored and chopped
A few strips of lemon rind.
Water to cover.
Knob of butter
1) Add butter to heavy bottomed pan on medium heat
2) Chuck in and saute leek and garlic until leek is soft
3) Add apples and saute until soft (keep stirring)
4) Add sugar, lemon rind and pour in enough water until about 2/3rds the height of the other ingredients
5) Cover on a medium to low heat for 15 minutes, or until apple is about half dissolved
6) Use a whisk to blend ingredients
Serve warm over pork or black pudding (or baked rodent if that's your kind of thing)
MEAL PLANNER
00:00 chopped potato to pot
00:05 Saute leeks & garlic in butter
00:10 Add apple to sauce, saute
00:15 Add sugar, lemon,water to sauce, cover on medium heat
00:20 Drain potato, set aside - keep warm, put pot back on hob, add butter
00:22 Black Pudding to grill
00:23 Stirfry bacon
00:25 Add greens, stirfry
00:27 Add balsamic vinegar if desired, stirfry, turn black pudding
00:28 Pour off any excess liquid. Return potato to pot and mash
00:30 whisk apple and leek sauce -
Plate up, Bed of Stamppot, thin layer of Apple and Leek sauce overlaid with Black Pudding, garnish and mustard to side of plate - serve
