Just browsing recently, weather in the Baltic means a bit of downtime. I am looking at a new property, I am hopeful, but nothing is certain yet - the mortgage still needs to be applied for, engineers need to be consulted etc. Early days but fingers crossed. When one is daydreaming, the internet can be a disaster - but sometimes it helps.
CHICKENS
One thing I would like to do is keep chickens. When I was a child in Connemara, my grandmother kept them - as did my friend Sean in Roundstone, with whom I spent many happy days.
Chickens Rock.
Chickens provide food
Chickens provide pest control
Chickens provide a great deal of entertainment
- especially for children (if you meet me in a pub ask me about chicken dominoes) There are several companies in Ireland who provide chickens commercially. Two I have seen are: henpecked based in Galway, and present at the Connemara Pony Show (see pics) & chique-hen with whom a schoolfriend of mine was involved - Both these companies also provide coops, equipment etc.
I remember as a child, a box of chicks being delivered to my Grandmother by Bus Eireann.
That'll teach him to stick his fingers into the cage!!
But in getting chickens, I saw something recently that I thought was a cool way of getting chickens and doing something compassionate. A quick internet search will give quick results - but essentially it is re-homing rescue birds from battery chicken farms.
Here's some advice from gardenplansireland.com They may go off-lay for a couple of months when you get them but should start laying again. Afterwards, treat them as other hens by worming and mite prevention. You will probably find the eggs are larger than you will get in the shops as well once they have moved back into full-lay. They can be great for double yokers. Give battery hens a chance in life, treat them with respect and you won't be sorry. The main psychological problem is feather plucking, it can be stressful for the bird on the receiving end of this habit, identify the bird responsible and the vet can snip his beak in the appropriate place to stop this. It does no harm to the bird and doesn't prevent her eating etc, just makes it difficult to get a hold of the feather, they usually stop once they go free range though, although sometimes one can persist. Please don't get a "I-can-do-that-for-you" person to do it, if it goes wrong, you can end up with another stressed hen.
AFTER
From www.ex-battery-hens.com
You will get eggs from the ex-battery-hens, but just take your time with them. They should be quite quiet as they are used to close proximity of humans and handling. Due to the amount of antibiotics etc they have been given, they would do better in a large run initially until their immune systems get back to what it should be like, then allowed to roam free range, if that's your wish.
I think its a bloody great idea. Rescue chickens, give them dignified and decent conditions - and you get fresh eggs, virtue IS its own reward.
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
Gougere is a specialty of the Burgundy region. Traditionally, gougere's are made with gruyere, the well known swiss cheese with the holes - but other cheeses are sometimes used.
With recent cheese give-aways** in Ireland, perhaps I should start concentrating on recipes of this nature!!
This recipe is a real recession buster - This recipe is a great way to use up left over chicken, and makes a change from the normal chicken leek or mushroom pie. With Christmas coming, I think it is also a way of using up turkey next month.
Its a lovely warm velvety oven dish for the winter, and with the oven on the go you may as well take advantage of that to roast or bake veg to accompany the meal.
Its what I'd call 2nd or 3rd phase chicken, first you have the roast, then you strip the carcass for this or a pie - then you have the carcass for stock, soup and not forgetting some of the other croft residents - cat food.
Essentially it is a rich, flavoured crust made from Choux pastry, used either for savory wraps or open pies.
Very easy to make, especially with the assistance of a blender on slow speed.
With this recipe, as always, I have incorporated Irish flavours and aspects to it like cheddar, and in this case the use of buttermilk does add a lot to the final dish.
If you use this recipe, or adjust it to suit your own tastes, please take the time to leave comments and thoughts here, I do appreciate the time and effort
I used Cuinneog buttermilk and butter. For me it is supporting a small family company from our next door county, and as I have said before - I always try to support small Irish companies.
More importantly, for me, the flavour and the product are simply far superior to other mass produced brands on the market - fermented longer than usual and free from preservatives etc.
The main flavours to the filling of this dish are lemon and French tarragon.
I grew tarragon in the garden herb patch, and it is an underused herb in Ireland.
French tarragon is grown from root divisions, just like horseradish - whereas Russian tarragon is apparently grown from seed
Tarragon is easy to grow in any sunny spot well drained spot. It can be grown with other plants in a flower bed or border, given a little room to itself as it is not a great competitor.
INGREDIENTS For the Choux Pastry:
300ml - ½ Pint Cuinneog buttermilk
(traditionally the French use water, but the buttermilk makes it a richer pastry)
175 gm - 6 oz plain flour
100 gm - 4 oz Cuinneog butter or margarine
50 gm - 2 oz Finely grated cheese
(I used cheddar, but gruyere is the traditional type)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Pinch of salt.
For the filling:
225 gm cooked chicken, diced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh Tarragon (or 2 tsp dried)
1 tsp mustard - or ½ tsp mustard powder
1 pint white sauce* - easy to make yourself yourself
1 tsp paprika to garnish
METHOD
CHOUX PASTRY
Place the buttermilk in a pan with the butter and heat gently until the butter melts,.
Bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, add the flour and salt.
Beat in the flour quickly to produce a smooth paste which comes away from the sides of the pan to form a smooth ball as shown in photo above.
Set aside to cool slightly.
Personally, I remove it from the pot to the blender and then use the pot to make the filling - saves on washing up.
The following can be done by hand, but I just use a blender on slow speed.
Gradually beat in the eggs to give a smooth glossy finish.
Fold in the grated cheese.
This mixture is spooned or piped around the side of a greased ovenproof dish, an oval dish is easiest.
FILLING
Make up the white sauce*
Add tarragon, mustard, lemon and chicken, stir in
Simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes (while piping/spooning in pastry to dish)
Pour into the centre of the dish.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes
Sprinkle with paprika - serve hot.
The Gougere is shown here served with baked garden veg, Very simple and energy saving recipe.
I just sliced some parsnip and carrot - roughly chopped an onion, two cloves of garlic crushed and herbs (root parsley, thyme, fair whack of salt and some pepper)
Chuck them in a shallow oven dish with some olive oil, cover with tinfoil and put into the oven when you start to preheat it for the gougere, the cooking time for the entire meal takes about 50 minutes that way.
*White Sauce Ingredients to make white sauce
50 gm/2 oz Cuinneog butter or margarine
50 gm/2 oz plain flour
600ml/1 pint milk
Melt butter on a low heat in a pan
Add flour and blend in with butter
Add milk, whisk.
=============
**I cook in part to relax, and I do try to keep politics and recreation apart.
However, with recent developments and the great cheese give-away in Ireland following cuts in social welfare and the public services, an ITF / EU intervention we were told was not happening or going to happen. That was until we saw talks were taking place on BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, Sky news et al.
Then RTE mentioned talks a day later, and despite denials it looks as if a massive bailout will go ahead, one for the banks that is that will cost us, and the next two generations.
Further cuts due on December 7th there may be more cheese payouts to the general public in lieu of money and services, so I figured it was time to use cheese in something.
As with the foot note on sugar in a previous posting in August, sometimes its only after you write about something that the full truth comes out, as it did recently with Tainaiste Mary Caughlan and the debacle she oversaw that was the sale of our sugar industry.
