Blessington baked beans

This is how baked beans really, the original American style.
On occasion, a tin of baked beans is alright, but it cannot be confused with the real McCoy - those are just a facsimile of this American classic.

It is very adaptable, chilli can spice it up - chorizo or other dried spicy sausage can be worked in - but this is just a simple, straight forward variant that is great with a dash of Tabasco after serving.

You are using a very economical cut of meat, a few bits and pieces from the cupboard and a jar of beans - hopefully ones you've grown and dried yourself. Most people grow beans as a part of crop rotation in their kitchen gardens.
A dutch oven or heavy casserole pot are ideal for making this dish - it would have been cooked out of a chuck wagon or over a camp fire back in the day.
Potatoes have become the Irish staple in a meal, but the cultivation of beans and the curing of pork predate the spuds introduction to Ireland, so this is really looking back in a way.

There was a poem the - Chisholm Trail - from a Time life book about cowboys that I loved as a kid from which I've always remembered a few lines, about bacon and beans.

I'm up in the momin' afore daylight
And afore I sleep the moon shines bright. 

No chaps and no slicker, and it's pouring down rain,
And I swear, by God, that I'll never night-herd again. 

 

Oh, it's bacon and beans most every day
I'd as soon be a-eatin' prairie hay. 

I went to the boss to draw my roll,
He had it figured out I was nine dollars in the hole.

I'll sell my horse and I'll sell my saddle;
You can go to hell with your longhhorn cattle.

This recipe is based on one best known as Boston Baked Beans - but this is a time reduced version I threw together in Blessington - easily feeds 4 hungry hearty lads.

The Boston classic uses belly of pork - I went for a mild cure bacon.

If you are using bacon don't add salt,more than enough will come off the meat and infuse into the beans.

The meal is salt and sweet - you could almost call it an American style cassoulet -beans and pork from an oven

INGREDIENTS

450 grams dried white haricot beans, dried.

1.7 litres water

Cannellini and other dried white beans are also excellent in this.

Teaspoon Mustard powder 

2 tablespoons honey or treackle

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons tomato puree

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

1 bay leaf

teaspoon ground Allspice

Lump of mild cure Irish bacon - like McGeoughs Coburger ham - pork belly is also great.

Pour the water into a heavy based saucepan - oven suitable if you have one.

Add the beans and bring to the boil for about 5 minutes

Remove the heat to a simmer and stir in the bay leaf, honey, tomato puree, mustard powder, garlic and onions

Put the bacon or ham into the pot and ensure it is near the bottom - covered with the beans.

Leave at a steady simmer for 45 minutes or until beans are fairly soft and bursting from their skin

After 45 minutes to an hour the liquid should be well reduced.

Lift the meat out of the pot and cut slashes into the rind. 

Smear on the brown sugar, the wetness of the rind should make it melt a fair bit - smear it well.

Sprinkle over the allspice at this stage.

Return the meat to the pot or oven dish buried into the beans but with the rind just clear of the liquid.

There should be enough liquid to just cover the beans - top up with a little water if needed.

Transfer the covered pot or oven dish to a pre-heated oven  on a moderate heat, about 120 degrees centigrade for 50 minutes.

Uncover the pot after 50 minutes and leave the dish in the oven for around another 20.

Serve very hot with a good larger, hotsauce and some crusty bread - and enjoy.

Beans and cured pork were staples in the wild west - as shown in a notorious scene in Blazing Saddles, a movie made in the worst possible taste - and one of my favorites. 

Frog in the Bog! - Bangers, beans and mash

So its harvest time in Ireland and most recipes I produce should be a celebration of new potato's etc. but with the miserable summer we have had and the low yields I felt this might be quite apt.

This is a really nice traditional English dish based on one by Marie Rayner - but more about that later.
Toad in the Hole is normally served with mashed spud's and onion gravy.
This is my Irish take on it - Frog in the Bog, or Loscann sa bPortach .

I wanted to do something a little different from the normal mashed spuds. Besides, new potato's are not really suited to mashing.
Colcannon, a mixture of milk, mashed potato and shredded cabbage is about as traditional as Irish food gets.
I have noticed on some UK foodie shows that crushed root veg are becoming very fashionable, so the mash I came up with is sort of a new amalgam.

When the English cook toad in the hole, they tend to use herbed sausage like Cumberland, and if you wish to use them or other herbed bangers that's great.
I just went for my favorite prize winning pork banger from McGeoughs in Oughterard as I use herbs in the buttermilk batter.
I don't know if this would work with vegetarian sausages, if anyone does try please let me know how it went. 

FOR THE COLCANNON ROOT MASH
Don't be afraid to play around with this, try turnips, suede's, carrots, parsnips and other root veg you might be growing or that are in season. 

Enough for two people-
Half a celeriac
Half a gourd pumpkin
Half a small head of white or green cabbage, very finely shredded - Blomendaalse Gele or greyhound are ideal.
Good bunch of chives and parsley, finely chopped.
150ml Fresh milk
Knob of a good quality butter like Cuinneog
Salt and White pepper to taste

Take your parsley, chives, milk and butter and place in a small saucepan (retain some herbs to garnish)

Bring to a rolling boil, remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

Peel and dice to about 2" cubes the celeriac and gourd pumpkin.
Place the celeriac in salted boiling water for around 10 minutes, then add the pumpkin.
Cook for another 10 minutes or so until the roots are softening.
Place the finely shredded cabbage in a metal sieve or steamer over the roots for about 5 minutes or until cooked - don't overcook.
Strain the veg well and press excess liquid out of the cabbage - these veg retain more water than spuds and you don't want a soggy mash.

Mix all the veg together and mash with a knob of butter, adding the herbed milk until you get the desired texture.
Season with salt and white pepper to taste

FOR THE FROG IN THE BOG
You can do this while the root veg are cooking. Toad in the Hole is basically herbed sausage cooked in a Yorkshire pudding. I have gone about this in another way, giving the batter a lot more flavour and depth.

I don't at all mind when other bloggers use my recipes or varients on them, but it is unfair when people simply copy and paste without accreditiation. The basic batter recipe this Irish twist developed from is from a great blog - The English Kitchen -run by Canadian Marie Rayner now living in England.

As I have said before, I try to buy as much local produce and support local producers as much as possible, the closer the better.
One of the reasons I started my garden was concern over food miles, and starting the blog was to look at Irish food in a different way - adapting home produce to expand a cuisine repertoire.
McGeoughs in Oughterard, Galway are without doubt one of the best Butchers in the country.
Their puddings and sausages would give any Clonakilty produce a run for its money.
McGeoughs now offer delivery accross the island with their online shop.

So, on with the food.
For the batter you will need:
2 large Eggs
4 oz (125g) Plain Flour
1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 Pint (150ml) Cuinneog Buttermilk and a 1/4 Pint (150ml) Cold Water mixed
Salt & Pepper
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional - but this underused seed is great with pork)
2 or 3 teaspoons of very finely chopped rosemary, sage and thyme.

Just a note on chopping herbs, one of the best investments I ever made was a demi-luna, shown above, from Joyces craft shop in Recess, on the road to Clifden from Galway.

As many good quality link sausage as you are going to use, the quantity above is enough for about 6, I just used 3.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/420F.
Slip the cuinneog butter into a deep sided baking dish or tin with the sausages and place just this in the oven.
Allow the sausages to brown on all sides, just give the baking tin the odd shake Do not prick the skins.

While the bangers are browning off make up your batter.

Crack the eggs into a  mixing bowl and beat well. Add the chopped herbs, caraway seed and the buttermilk - water mixture, whisking it all together really well.

Sift the the flour and baking powder into the bowl and season with a sprinkling of salt & pepper.
Whisk the batter - what you want is a stiff but smooth batter with no lumps.

Once the sausages are browned you can add the batter and herb mix.
You want the cooking dish or tin quite hot with the fat and butter sizzling.

Quickly arrange the Sausages, parallel to each other.
Then pour in the batter mix while the oil is still sizzling.
Place back into the oven and bake for around half an hour until the batter is puffed up, golden brown and crispy.

Serve cut into squares with the root colcannon or mashed potato with a gravy of your own choosing.
I did a wine and onion gravy and served with broad beans from the garden.

The gravy was very simple, just 2 medium onions very finely sliced and a clove of garlic, sweated off with a knob of butter and some salt. Once they started to caramelise I added about 100ml red wine and 400 ml water with 3 teaspoons of Bisto gravy granules and left simmering while everything else was being prepped or cooked.

The beans were shelled, I don't bother peeling them. They went into a small pot with about 200 ml of boiling water and a good knob of cuinneog butter for 5 minutes, strained off, another little bit of butter and herbs, tossed and served on the side.

This meal only takes about 45 minutes, handy and very economical.

If you like it or find it of use, please take the time to comment - I really appreciate the feedback received.

Pollack poached in milk and fennel.

Fennel is a great Italian staple, cooked on its own its wonderful. If you visit an Italian market you're likely to see them in carefully stacked pyramids of fennel, fronds trimmed and the blemished outer layer removed.

 But the great thing about it is that it is delicate, and can be used to enhance a meal without overpowering it, and can be used raw or cooked.

I just got home from Naples to a very overgrown garden, but not all the fennel had bolted.

All homegrown and sustainable

I love fennel when added to pinzimonio (raw vegetables), and in winter salads. The best examples of this that use the sweetness of Fennel against sharper flavours come from southern Italy, like in Sicily where it is served with blood orange and olives, or Finocchi del Sud - a warmed fennel salad with anchovies, olives and nutmeg.

Fennel is great in mixed salads, with other vegetables including celery or tomatoes, cheeses, or finely chopped walnuts. 

As a general rule, the Italians do not use vinegar in fennel salads.

The leafy fronds are a nice addition to any salad and as a veg itself, braised, it has a unique and delicious flavour.

A neighbour of mine, Con, very kindly dropped off a few pollack fillets, pin boned and cleaned caught the day before. He has always done this, but in keeping the garden it's nice that I can finally return his generosity with homegrown veg. I really do have too much, particularly when one has a glut.

We had a very pleasant young French couple, Thomas and Estelle, visiting, so it was a real pleasure to be able to cook a meal like this using all local produce.It's quite a small world - I met Thomas and Estelle at the Pony show, they had no real plans of where to stay so they camped on the croft. 
The meal was put together with available produce, and the fact I have just got back from the Italian Maritime Academy has my cooking brain on one track, so thats where the meal came from.

But as it turned out later, Thomas has worked with Catherine Fulvio - Ireland's leading expert in Italian cuisine - hows that for serendipity!!!!

Whitefish poached with milk and fennel

This dish is very simple, using Irish dairy produce to enrich an Italian style flavour. 

Using milk to cook fish is not something I found in Italy, but in more Northern countries it's quite common.

The poaching in milk process enriches the fish, and gives it a more creamy texture.

Fish poached in milk is actually quite a regular Scottish way of preparing whitefish like haddock, whiting, pollack and on occasion even herring. The Scottish will also cook smoked fish like haddock or kippers in milk. 

In Nordic cuisine, the Finns soak salted or sometimes even fresh herring in milk before cooking.

You will need:

Filleted and pin boned pollack - enough for each person. Another sustainable white fish like whiting is also good.

1 fennel bulb - trimmed and finely sliced

2 small shallots

knob of cuinneog butter

enough milk to barely cover fish

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180 deg centigrade

Grease the dish with a little butter

Arrange the fish fillets in a single layer

Sprinkle over the finely chopped fennel and shallot

Add salt and pepper

Pour over milk until the fish is barely covered

Cook for 20-25 minutes at 180

When the fish is done, the liquid can be strained off to make the base of a parsley sauce.

I tried to use sorrel instead, but it is tricky because the milk can curdle a little, so I would advise sticking to a parsley sauce only. It was my first time using sorrel, so there is more I need to learn about it.

Spuds, peas, carrots and local fish - a little confused perhaps, but still good.

Served with new potato's (different varieties, Orla, Nicola, Kerr pink and Mr.Littles) and a quick Moroccan carrot mix.

The potato's were buttered and garnished with samphire and salsola, pretty much everything on the plate came from within 5 miles.

The samphire really adds to the meal, that nice crispy, salty bite makes it more than just a decoration.

The poaching process takes about 20 minutes, so timing wise, get the potato's and other veg down first.

In hindsight however, I think in future when doing this, I would cook the fish and potato's - but rather than have cooked carrots, I'd go for a carrot and fennel salad with a lemon based dressing as the veg.

Thanks for reading and please take the time to comment

Eggs Errislannan - Connemara style Benedict eggs

For anyone who keeps chickens and has a run on eggs, this is a great brunch or Sunday Breakfast.
A few years back I was working in Australia, where I was introduced to Eggs Benedict. A variation that is common in Australia is more properly known as Eggs Montreal or Eggs Royale which substitutes smoked salmon for the ham in the classic dish.
After that I toured New Zealand, and ordered Eggs Royale in the So Hotel in Christchurch, near Tuam street and on Cashel street!
I think my favorite hotel in the world, with a great story behind it and fantastic staff.
It has gone into receivership, but has new management and has been renamed the All Seasons hotel.
I really hope they kept the same ethos and staff.
They served their Eggs Royale with a small fillet of smoked salmon cut thickly rather than the usual slices, and I loved it.

While in Malta once I had Sardines that were served with Maltese sauce, a variation on Hollandaise that uses blood orange in place of lemon and duck egg yolk in place of chickens.
Funny thing is, although I had the sauce in Malta - its actually a French Recipe! I guess it's like having french fries instead of fritte in France.

Smoked fish and eggs are a classic combination - salmon and scrambled eggs, kedgeree in Scotland with smoked herring, eggs and rice - there are many examples.
I can't wait until the perennial bed comes up next year so I can use asparagus spears with the mackerel and garnish with samphire - Nevin watch out!!

With that inspiration, I came up with this brunch, with the usual Irish twist - as the mackerel came from Ballyconeeley I'm calling this one Eggs Errislannan

Smoking fish has long been a way of preserving, and here in Connemara we have some of the cleanest water in the world.
We also have a multi award winning smokery in Ballyconeeley, the Connemara Smoke House, producing great salmon, gravlax and mackerel. This is really top end Irish produce, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Mackerel is a great fish which has featured on this blog before and will no doubt again. Its also a sustainable species, and the way Irish fishermen shoot for it commercially is quite specific and environmentally sound. In Connemara, most mackerel is line caught. Smoked mackerel is tasty and filling, packed with Omega oils that are healthy etc etc - but for me the main factor is taste.

My take on Eggs Benedict is simple boxty, smoked mackerel with a poached egg and Maltese sauce.

FOR THE MALTESE SAUCE
The Maltese Sauce is the hardest part of the meal to make, but the great thing about it is that you can make it in advance and re-heat. The Tarragon is not in the classic sauce, but I feel it really does add a lot more to the meal.

80ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tsp orange zest
1 duck egg yolk (you can keep the white or chuck in the boxty mix if you like)
230 grams Cuinneog butter (using Cuinneog really adds to the flavour)
1 Tsp dried Tarragon
Good pinch of Cayenne

Melt the butter at a low temperature and keep warm in a bowl. Keep about 2 tsp in reserve for the boxty.

In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice and orange zest, and place over medium-high heat.
Bring the saucepan to a boil and reduce by 2/3, about 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and strain into a bain marie bowl.

I would like to point out this was my Grandmothers bowl - been in the family since at least the 1920's

Add the duck egg yolk, Cayenne and Tarragon - whisk.

Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and continue to whisk until the egg starts to thicken, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the heat, and slowly drizzle a little of the butter into the egg mixture.
Whisk constantly to incorporate.

Return the bowl to the heat, whisk again, and when the egg starts to thicken again, continue to add more of the butter to the egg.
Remove from the heat periodically to cool the bowl, and return it once it cools slightly.
Continue in this on-the-heat, off-the-heat fashion until all of the clarified butter is incorporated.
The moment the butter is incorporated remove the bowl from the saucepan, transfer the sauce into a cool sauce boat, and season with the salt and pepper.

As a base for the meal I used buttermilk Boxty, I did try buttermilk whey chapatti, but this gives more depth and richness.

FOR THE BOXTY BASE AND EGGS

250g, peeled, grated, squeezed

250g cold mashed potato

100ml Cuinneog buttermilk-  another great product from the Mayo dairy
200g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

1-2 tbsp melted cuinneog butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

If prepping from scratch, you can also add the duck egg white.

Wrap the grated potato in a clean tea towel and wring well to get rid of any excess liquid.

Add the grated potato to a mixing bowl with the cold mashed potato and mix until well combined.

Add the flour and baking powder to the potato mixture and mix until well combined.
Stir in the melted butter and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.

Add the buttermilk, a little at a time, to the potato mixture, beating after each addition until the buttermilk has been fullyworked into the mixture. When all of the buttermilk has been added to the potato mixture it should resemble a thick, heavy batter. If the mixture is too sticky, add more milk as necessary. Set aside.

Heat some oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat.

Around this time its a good time to start poaching the eggs.

Add spoonfuls of the boxty batter to the pan, leaving enough space around each spoonful for the mixture to spread. Fry the boxties on a medium to high heat for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the boxties are golden-brown and the grated potato is cooked through. Remove the boxties from the pan using a slotted spoon, set aside to drain on kitchen paper and keep warm.

PREPPING THE MACKEREL AND PLATING UP

The fillets from the Connemara Smoke House have a beautiful and natural colour, particularly on the skin - but dont be tempted to leave it on, its best to remove it.

Place the smoked Connemara mackerel fillet, skin side up, on the warm boxty base. Remove skin and any excess bones.
For a brunch serve with some lightly dressed sliced tomatos - I just use salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice - or a micro salad.What works especially well is radishes - but I ate all mine yesterday :-(

Place the poached egg on top of the mackerel carefully. Spoon over the warmed Maltese Sauce and garnish with fresh kitchen garden herbs - serve and bask in the glory.

Thing is, although the meal is quality, filling and delicious, once you've cracked making the Maltese sauce, its very easy to prepare everything in advance for a quick cook and reheat.

As always, I'd advise messing around with the recipe - try smoked salmon from the smoke house - and if you are visiting the region they do tours of the smoke house. The tours run seasonally in June, July and August on Wednesdays at 3PM - thats one day a week so booking is advisable, but a visit is very much worthwhile.
Its great to see traditional, artisan food production.

As always, I hope you enjoyed the recipe - and as always, feedback and comments on variations etc are welcome.

Super Simple Soda bread

Soda bread, about as Irish as it gets. No messing around with yeast or waiting to rise etc.
This is a very simple, easy to follow recipe.

With blackberry jam or curd and a mug of tea, it is the flavour of Connemara.

Ingredients

450g (1lb) plain white flour, or wholemeal if you want a brown loaf.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baxitartar
1 teaspoon bread soda or bicarbonate of soda (2 if you dont have baxitartar)
400ml (14fl oz) buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 230ºc / Gas Mark 9.

Sift all the dry ingredients into a large, wide bowl, and make a well in the centre.
Pour in the milk and mix using the fingers of one hand, stiff and oustretched like a claw, stir from the centre to the edge of the bowl in circles.
If you dont like using your hands, try a wooden spoon

The dough should be softish, but not too wet and sticky.
When it all comes together, turn out on to a well-floured work surface.

Wash and dry your hands. Pat the dough into a tidy shape and flip over gently, then pat it into a round about 4cm (1 and 1/2 inches) thick.
Gently transfer to a lightly greased and lightly floured baking tray or tin.

You can cut a deep cross into the loaf and prick the centre of each quarter to let the fairies out, or do a deeply pierced cross pattern with a fork as I do, because thats how I saw it done.
The reason that you make a cross in the top of the loaf before you bake it is to allow the heat to get through to the centre of the bread and cook the middle.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 200ºc/Gas Mark 6 and bake for a further 30 minutes or until cooked. If you are in doubt tap the bottom of the bread: it should sound hollow.
Rub the surface with a knob of butter or a few tablespoons of buttermilk while warm - this softens the crust.
Cool on a wire rack.

Soda bread is best eaten on the day it is made.

For a very nice traditional fruity version add to the above recipe:
Reduce the buttermilk to 350ml (12fl oz)
1 tablespoon sugar
100g (4oz) sultanas or raisins
A couple of tablespoons of either molasis, treacle, maple syrup, honey or golden syrup
1 egg

As always, thanks for visiting, and please feel free to leave a comment

 

Expansion and coppice plans

Just watched that new RTE program on Monday - How to Create a garden. Not a patch (pardon the pun) on Garrai Glas that I finally caught up on with their website.
I have to say at least it is a gardening the How to Create a Garden is a gardening show - and fair play to the people who make it, but I found it of little use.
At first I felt was it just me, but the program got pretty badly slated on by others as well on boards.ie as you can read here. 
I think it is well meant, but in fairness it is a re-development of a patch of well cultivated land at Fota house that has been cared for over centuries, hardly typical.

I'm fairly sure the average back garden or small holding has not recieved one tenth the attention before being set over for crop's or a kitchen garden.
The use of roundup was disturbing. Why not show people how to make their own weedkiller or support a small Irish company making organic weedkiller like OWK? I feel that RTE should when possible try to promote Irish companies.
Also, there is one piece of advice I always give people when developing a new garden for veg from grass is use supernemo's - again - an Irish company but vital against cutworms and wireworms - in particular when starting a veg garden on virgin grass land like a lawn. If you don't listen to anything else I say, that's the one thing you should heed - I speak from bitter experience.

Garrai Glas seem's a lot more practical and is certainly better made, presented and interesting.

Today I spent most of my time opening up a new area of the garden. Rather than well tilled and maintained land this is what I faced into.

Thats briar, rush, heavy udergrowth, waterlogged and pine boughs. It is this area that will either be used to grow oats or spuds, depending on how things go with seaweed collection, weather ain't great at the moment.

Today it was back to basics, and it was time to get communist in the garden. With all the rock, water and pine trees a strimmer - even if I could afford one - is not really an option, very much back to basics - the heavy curran or sickle.

Not the easiest job in the world - but effective. The long briars that I pulled from the undergrowth were big, and impressive. They are also a very hardy plant that produce fruit. Because of the boggy ground, the root stock was reasonably easy to lift. This gave me the idea of using them to my benefit - a coppiced hedge over a drain.

Tomorrow I will need to put in a drain to make this new patch productive.
The drain will serve three purposes.
Firstly, obviously, to provide irrigation.
Secondly, it will be a place to grow watercress.
Thirdly, with the drain and overhang of bush I hope it will attract frogs and toads to eat slugs.
The flowers should also attract bee's and make use of otherwise lost space - that integrates into the overall plan for the garden long term.

Finally, it will provide a boundry to the veg patch, backed by the idea of a fruit producing but prickly hedge.
My plan is to put in a coppiced hedge, made up of fuscia and rosa rugosa cuttings with pine branch off-cuts and laced in the briar's I pulled from the undergrowth.

I am lucky that I live in a place with abundant roadside fruit - but as this recession bites that resource may well come under pressure and there is an increase in interest in home produced and wild food.

I am going to try my hand at coppicing them into a hedge to protect the veg patch and provide blackberries closer at hand. Using the hedge as an extra space to produce food or fruit is - in a way - another form of complimentary or companion cropping

I have the base materiels from what I pulled today to make a start. I have a lot of stripped pine branches, those pulled from the undergrowth or trimmed off have been laid on the raised bed paths, and the needles and small twigs stripped off as part of the anti-slug program.
I also intend to try and incorporate other cane type fruits like rasberries or thorny ones like gooseberry in future.

One thing for sure, before any root crops go down on a virgin grassland patch, the site will need to be dosed with supernemo's - which I anxiously await in the post.

Rock's n' Roller's, Oca inna Tuber Tube

Now, before anyone takes my advice on growing Oca, there is one other blog I would strongly recommend.
That's Ian's Oca test bed blog, this is only my second season growing Oca whereas Ian has been at it for a while. The basis of my knowledge of Oca is based very much on his blog and advice, just an attempted adaptation to the colder, wetter west of Ireland climate.

Last years tubers, this years seed

Well, to be stuck between a rock and a hard place in a Connemara kitchen garden is not an unusual predicament, it sort of goes with the territory.

The back yard

Last year I grew Oca, sourced from Christoph at Macalla farm on Clare Island.

It was a good day to start on the tuber tube, I felt it was appropriate having heard the first cuckoo of the spring. Macalla is the Gaelic for the cuckoo.

I was delighted that the Oca grew last year, but a bit disappointed at the yield in terms of tuber size and amount - so having heard of people doing something similar with potato's I have decided to do a tuber tube.

This has the advantages of saving space for starters. It is designed to fit in a nook in the garden that would not otherwise have been utilised on very shallow ground.

Rock should provide extra warmth

In addition, with a little thought this method will also increase the heat and soil depth available to the crop throughout its growing season, at least that's the theory.
So, where to start? Well, my seed tubers were saved from last year with the intention of growing them again.
Over the winter they were kept in a basket on news paper in a cool dark place.
As Ian advised me, when they are ready to be planted they let you know, they start sprouting fresh green shoots.

Tubers sprouting, ready to rock

So it was off to a local garage in Cill Ciaran where 6 tyres that would probably have ended up as landfill were very kindly given to me free of charge, and more if I wanted.
It should be possible for any one who knows a garage / tyre centre to be able to source these.

Seaweed base, rocks in cavity

Now, rocks retain and radiate heat, so the first tuber tube was placed in a very rocky corner dug out of a crag to give an even base using a chillington hoe, straight forward.
The cavity of the tyre was filled with the fist sized rocks that came out during digging, soil set aside.

The base of the tube was heavily lined with seaweed to provide nutrients, deter slugs and retain moisture.

Old turf dust

From the base of last years turf stack I pulled a few buckets of small, powdered turf and roughly sieved in what is best described as peat moss, again the idea being moisture retention and slug deterrent.

Sieve setup

There is no need to shell out €25EUR on a garden riddle, chicken wire between two tyres will do the trick, just dump on turf dust / stoney soil and give it a bit of going over with a hoe, it's another job for my now favorite tool, the chillington.

 

Sieve in use

Onto that went a thin layer of roughly sieved soil, throwing away weeds and roots, adding the small stones into the tyre cavity.

Onto this went the oca tubers, I am doing three in one tube, four in the other to explore growing capacity and yield.

Tubers in place

Over this went a layer of soil mixed with a little more seaweed and manure.

First cover

As usual, prevention is better than cure. As a slug and snail deterent, I surrounded the base with ash, and will dump some pine needles there as always.

Basic anti-slug measure - turf ash boundry

Because I am using a lot of virgin soil for this, the tube will be dosed with supernemos next week.

As the season goes on, as the Oca grows, more tyres and soil will be added to force the plant up by earthing in a what that would not be achievable on a normal bed.

I hope that the additional heat and depth will produce bigger tubers, and a bigger yield later in the year.

One important thing to remember is that one can buy stacked tubes for potato's, this is not a new idea, but by going to a garage and getting a few tyres, your saving money and taking stuff out of landfill.

Potato growpots do the same thing, but cost about €25EUR for a three tier version, and just use up more hydrocarbon's. In addition, I think the rubber will provide extra insulation.

The tyres on standby to be added later in the growing season are also being used by me as nursery beds for slow growing plants like leeks that will replace fast growing plants or harvested crop's later in the season.

As always, thanks for reading - if you have anything to add to this post, or any comments or even if you found it of use - please do take the time to comment, I really appreciate the feedback.

Herring in Mustard and Buttermilk sauce

Again, being in Holland visiting, I go back to the old North Sea / Baltic staple.

This is basically a Scandinavian dish adapted for more Irish style ingredients.
In Sweden, this dish would most likely use dill for example.


I remember one conversation when I was told that had history been a little different Irish cuisine would be more like that found in Scandinavia, Iceland and Holland.
I suppose this has some basis in that our growing conditions are closer to them than to the Mediterranean regions, with things like oats, spelt and pulses. 
There has been a move towards this type of cuisine, particularly with NOMA in Copenhagen.


I feel also the type of food cooked in Normandy has particular reference to Ireland, with a lot of dairy, fruit and shellfish.
It is renowned for its rich butter and cream sauces - and for its apples, cider, and Calvados, an apple brandy much used in local cooking. Normandy, with its climate and history is not so different.

One thing we love with our fish is the sharp tang of citrus like lemon, so the buttermilk and mustard sauce gives that flavour. Quite common in Poland, Russia and Northern Germany - where a lot of Ashkenazi Jews lived the same combo of oily fish and a sharp taste was achieved using soured cream and chives, a dish I'll cover in the future.

This is a simple dish, get the potatoes down when you turn on the oven to pre-heat, add the beans over the spuds in a steamer about 5 minutes from plating up.


Takes about 25 - 30 minutes to cook if the fish are prepped in advance. 


Baking the fish is important in this dish, as it gives a dry texture to the flesh, it suits the sauce better.

ingredients (serves 2)

4 large herrings, cooking oil

for the sauce

3 tbsp (1 1/2 oz) 40 g Cuinneog butter
30 g (about a 1/4 teacup (1 oz)) plain flour
300 ml (1/2 pint) Cuinneog buttermilk
1 tablespoon Dijon wholegrain mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper

* Some sugar or honey on standby (see note)

parsley and lemon wedges, for garnish

method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400 F) gas mark 6 and butter a deep ovenproof dish. Remove the heads from the fish, clean, gut, scale and bone them. Rinse and pat dry.

2. Slash the skins diagonally with a sharp knife two or three times on each side. Brush with a little oil. Put the herrings in the dish, cover and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the flesh is no longer pinky.

3. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Gradually blend in the milk, stirring. Add the mustard and bring to the boil slowly, stirring until thickened. 


Season to taste.

* While tasting, if you find the sauce too sharp add sugar or honey to sweeten slightly

4. Serve the herrings with the sauce poured over, I plated up with some baked new potatoes and buttered green beans.