Curried Watermelon

This is an easy to do and complex in flavour watermelon curry from Rajasthan.
The flavour is earthy due to the cumin and coriander, with a hint of heat from the chilli - but once you bite into the melon chunks there is this great burst of sweetness and juiciness - a great combo and a real surprise.

The colour is spectacular, I wish the photos reflected it.

Above, served with a Goan Pork curry with a simple lentil dahl.

This is a great dish, in particular a great, unusual and interesting side for big BBQ's.
It only takes about 20 minutes to do.

Inspired again by the great Camellia Panjabi whose inspiring and definitive  book  '50 great curries of India' introduces accessible Indian food in all its glorious regional variety. 

What also surprised me was how easy it is to reheat - and if done gently the watermelon will retain its bite and form without turning into mush. Harder than you think!

Pretty straight forward - this will easily yield 8 large portions
You will need
 --------------------
1/4 of a water melon
1&1/2 teaspoons of chilli powder
Pinch Turmeric powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Coriander powder
Crushed and pureed Garlic - good Teaspoon.
Salt 

Teaspoon of Cumin seeds
Ghee, Coconut oil or oil (I used coconut for this - made it vegan)
2 - 3 teaspoons lime juice

-----------------------------
De-seed the melon as best as you can
Chop up the flesh of the watermelon into good sized chunks - about 4cm/1.5 inch chunks.

Take about a cup of the chunks and blend them  to a liquid with the chilli, turmeric, garlic and salt to taste.

Now heat the oil in a wok or pan, when its hot chuck in the cumin seeds and sizzle them for about 20 seconds. It gives the oil the earthy flavour.
Add the blended watermelon and spice mix - bring to a simmer and leave sit for about 5 minutes.

Then reduce heat, add the watermelon chunks, spooning over or tossing the chunks gently in the juice.

Add the lime juice about 2 minutes from the end.

Serve and enjoy.

Please feel free to comment or leave feedback - I really appreciate the effort.

Just for fun - how to open a coconut, first take (more about that later)
Thanks to Brian for the camera work
                     

Simons Super Simple Irish Fish Stew

Cabbage and fish are not exactly a combo that spring to mind, but there are a couple of examples that might surprise. Chinese cuisine uses a lot of delicate fish like sea bass, carp or shrimp flavors which are steamed with pak choy.

In Ireland we do not have the great food culture of, say, Spain, Italy or France - and because of the emphasis on those we tend to copy or adapt them.
But I have often argued that we have left a lot behind - and if seeking inspiration as to how to prepare what we can produce in an innovative, attractive, simple and delicious way we really need to look North and East.

Because of our climate and our produce - or food stock - I look to Normandy with its dairy, fruits like apples and pears and its meats - pork, beef and lamb.

But where we outstrip them with our massive coastline is in the sheer availability and diversity of fish and seafood. Normandy as the name implies has a Nordic heritage - as do we - the wandering Vikings from Norway and Denmark left their mark in both Ireland and that region of France.

The inspiration for this dish is sort of Norway - New England - Newfoundland where they have a similar food stock to us here in Ireland, and a lot of cod.
Fish Chowder is a staple in the North East of the Americas, why we fill it with smoked fish here in Ireland I don't know, I find it overpowering.
In this recipe as well, I avoid using cream - I use a flour and milk mixture instead which I feel gives a better texture in a stew.

Like us, the further north you get the harder it is to grow crops, so like them we need to look at what is available both on and off the shore.

What is easy for any gardener in Ireland to grow are potatoes and cabbage.

I have developed two dishes using whitefish and cabbage.
The cabbage I used in this dish is one of my favorites - bloemendaalse gele - a very mild Dutch heritage variety, but any mild summer cabbage like Greyhound will do.

This is a very simple and hearty fish stew, a one pot meal which I love because I hate washing dishes
Any firm whitefish will do, I used some locally line caught Ling, purchased from Moycullen Seafoods who have a travelling shop.
That way if I'm not fishing myself I get locally sourced, sustainable and fresh fish.
Ling is very popular in Norway when processed into Lutefisk

INGREDIENTS

Some diced bacon - I like to use a slice off a joint, but 4 rashers would do

1 onion, sliced

500ml fish or veg stock - ideally any liquid used to cook shellfish, reduced

1 large potato, cut into chunky cubes

About a third of a small cabbage - sliced into ribbons

250 grams pin boned white fish - I used ling, but any meaty firm whitefish like coley, cod, pollock or haddock are good. So are some frozen sustainable types like Alaskan pollock, but I always try to buy local

150ml milk

2 tablespoons chives, chopped

1 tablespoon flour

salt and white pepper to taste - be generous with the pepper with this one, it really adds to the dish - and because of the stock and bacon, go easy on the salt.

METHOD

Fry bacon in a heavy based sauce pan until crisp.

Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels

Add onion to drippings and sautee until golden

Add the stock and potato, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until potato is tender

In the meantime, mix the milk, chives, flour and seasoning - don't heat it, just whip well.

When the potato is just cooked, but still fairly firm, add the cabbage, and simmer 2 minutes.

Add fish and simmer until fish turns opaque.

Add the bacon and milk mixture and simmer 1 minute before serving.

It really is a simple and delicious dish.

Please feel free to leave a comment or suggestion - I really appreciate the feedback

Nettle and Nori Omelet

This very quick, tasty and nutritious meal is a very good way of introducing seaweed products into a diet.
The flavour is distinctive but not overly strong.
It is very easy, if you can cook an omelet, you can cook this simple but impressive meal.

If you don't have access to or want to use nettles you can substitute spinach or chard leaf.

Nori is probably the most well known Japanese seaweed, famously used to wrap sushi rolls.
Nori is made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles Japanese paper making.
It is the same seaweed that we would call Sleabhac in Irish  - of which we have a long tradition of eating.
Laver in Wales is the same thing - one of Wales national dishes.

Nori sheets are easily available in most health stores.

Cooking this meal could not be easier. The Japanese have special square omelet plans but you just trim to size from a normal European pan.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 eggs

• 100ml milk

• Couple of handfuls of greens 

I normally use a mix of perpetual chard leaf, spinach (beet spinach) and nettles - whatever is at hand really, pak choi leaf would be suitable.

If you are using nettles, blanch them quickly, press in a cloth or strainer to remove excess water and leave aside and keep warm, with spinach just steam or put in boiling water to cook quickly, drain, leave aside and keep warm.

• Salt and pepper to taste 

One special item that is very useful for this meal is a sushi mat, very cheap and generally available from most health stores and Asian supermarkets.

Beat the eggs with the milk and fry an omelet as normal.
Lay over a sheet of Nori - no special preparation is needed for the nori sheet - it is super simple.

Lay the greens over the sheet and spread - to about the same thickness as your omelet - and trim off excess omelet from around the Nori sheet - this really is a square meal :-)
Then using the rolling / sushi mat or a clean dishcloth roll the omelet.
Slice the roll carefully with a sharp knife and serve as a starter or a side dish.

Served with a Smoked Coley Brioche/Escabeche type recipe I'm working

 I love using flowers in cooking so chive flowers are used here.

Using nettles and seaweed, this simple dish is packed with iron, minerals and vitamins, tastes great, uses unusual ingredients and is just plain fun to make.

Sea coriander I find works brilliantly with this recipe - as an ingredient it really compliments nettles,
I also use it in nettle soup

If you are interested in cooking with seaweed I cannot recommend Dr Prannie Rhattigans book - Irish Seaweed Kitchen - which is available online, a great read - not just a great cook book. 
If you buy 2 shipping is the same as just one, and it makes a wonderful present.

I hope you try it, enjoy it and share it, if you do like the recipe please let others know about it and the blog -
Comments and critique as always welcome and appreciated please take the time to do so.

April fool surprise!

Being the fool I am, some Nicola were left in the ground last year and with the mild winter had even started to crop!
Turning up the new brassica bed this year for rotation, my work was rewarded with a nice little surprise, a box of lovely earlies. It was great to be able to share them with friends this early in the year.

Also growing is Cardoon, cooked it - not all that mad about the favour but will experiment further. It is a perennial so that means I have years.

Also, a nice find was some small but sweet parsnips

Still coming from the garden are winter and spring cabbage, leeks, scorzanera, salsify and endive chicons, or witloof.
Radar winter onions planted during the winter seem to be doing well.
Goes to show, a bit of planning and a lot of luck gives food from the garden all year round.

That time of the year again!!

Well, just on the way back from East Africa, so will be tearing into the garden during a flying visit.

I'm told the garden will feature on Garrai Glas on TG4 this year so keep an eye out for that if your interested.

Order Super Nemos to start the anti pest program for organic gardens.

Sow most kinds of vegetable seeds, as soon as conditions allow, outdoors, or sow in cell trays if a greenhouse is available.
Space out crops like lettuce so as not to get a glut.

Plan out things like leek and parsnip, get radish as a marker crop for slower growing varieties.

Weed around established herb plants to ensure they are weed-free as new growth begins.

Be sure that the ground is adequately fertile for vegetables - apply some general fertiliser at about 100 grams per square metre.

Or apply plenty of compost to part of the ground each year - but not for the carrots and and parsnip bed

Onion sets and shallots can be put in now too.

Potatoes should be planted as soon as possible, earlies and main.

Apply something like potash to fruit trees or a fruit fertilizer to improve growth and yield - but not rich compost or manure as I'm told this promotes soft growth and diseases.

Pruning of apple and pear trees and blackcurrant bushes should be completed this week because the buds will be already opening.

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Radish Carpaccio salad with anchovy dressing and a steak sarnie

Radish is a very easy to grow crop. I find it most useful as a marker crop for slow growing plants like leek or parsnip.
Quite often radish is thrown into a salad almost as an afterthought. This simple recipe shows off the radishes finer qualities, and that peppery flavour is an ideal accompaniment to beef steak.
Essentially it is a carpaccio of radish

Carpaccio traditionally is meat or fish sliced very thinly and sometimes pounded, but I like to use the term for veg served like this. For the very daring, the beef could also be served raw, very thinly sliced and with a mustard dressing - but I just fancied a warmed salad.

To add to that I use an anchovy and Parmesan based dressing to add a salty tang to the meal.
The recipe itself was influenced by a kohlrabi recipe by Hugh Fernley Whittingstall.

This is a real surf and turf meal, using beef and fish - Anchovy are a member of the herring family and found in the ocean in coastal areas in large shoals all around the world. They are very strong tasting, but more salty than fishy in taste. For a variation on this recipe, capers would be a good alternative.

At the moment I am back at work, sitting in Inebolu port, Northern Turkey, but had enough sense to bring away some photos of meals etc. with me to update the blog now and again.

My radish were quite small, but my mate Damiens were huge, about the size of a small carrot.
I have two types of radish at the moment, a red French Breakfast 3 type that is available in nearly all seed outlets, and a yellow french type called Jaune d'Or Ovale.

Many people don't like large radish, or find them too hot. For this recipe I like that peppery kick, and the large size makes for better presentation.
For 4 people you will need about 4 large or, of the more usual size that you get in the shops, about 16.

INGREDIENTS
SALAD
Enough radishes for people to be fed - 1 large of 4 small per person
50 grammes Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons of Donegal Rapeseed oil.
Tablespoon chopped chives
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4-6 sustainable anchovy fillets, cut into small pieces
For the Anchovy HFW recommends fish-4-ever.com

STEAK
Small steak, 1 for every two people
Onion stem cuttings, sliced
tomato - 1 per person, cut in half
French bread stick or turkish flat white bread, sliced
Mustard, whole grain
Mayonnaise

Wash the radish. Using a veg peeler, slice into thin slivers as long as possible into a bowl.
Make a dressing using the garlic, oil, lemon juice, anchovy and grated Parmesan.
Pour the dressing over the radish and mix well.

Plate up and sprinkle over some chopped chives and a few shavings of Parmesan.

I cooked the beef quickly with some onion greens from the garden, using onion stalks that have gone to flower with some tomato's to add bulk and sweetness.
This was simply cut into strips, places on a slice of crusty white bread with a little mayonnaise and wholegrain mustard and plated with the salad. It is a good way to stretch steak, and I do think we Irish tend to overdo red meat consumption.

The salad takes about 5 minutes to prepare, the steak about 10. The meal has great flavours that compliment each other and I love the texture of the radish, that crispy water chestnut like bite.
With that you have the onion and salt tang, the rich chewy beef, sweet warm tomato and the peppery radish kick.

I hope you like the recipe, and as always please feel free to comment - I really like to hear feedback.