RECIPES: A treasure trove of recipes, gardening advice from County Cork
Local garden-to-table enthusiasts can find inspiration in an unlikely place: a farm across the Atlantic. Darina Allen, one of Ireland’s most famous chefs, and her brother Rory O’Connell founded Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland in 1983. The school is surrounded by formal gardens including an herb garden, an ornamental fruit garden and a kitchen potager and sits amidst a 100-acre organic farm that produces fruits and vegetables throughout the year with much of the harvest used by the school.
Allen shares her enthusiasm for gardening and cooking in “Grow Cook Nourish: 400 Seasonal Recipes from the Ballymaloe Cookery School Kitchen Garden” (Kyle Books, $49.99), recently reissued in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the cooking school. The recipes reflect the influence of her global travels, and celebrate the best of local food production and Irish food culture. They encourage the reader with approachable recipes that look at produce in new and delicious ways. She writes that she originally thought the title of this book should be, “Grow some of your own food and cook it” because she believes so strongly in the importance of local produce.
“Anyone can grow, anywhere, in any space. Even if you live in a skyscraper or a high-rise flat with a balcony, you can grow some of your own food.”
She is clearly in love with her subject and what she has written is a veritable encyclopedia of how to sow seeds and nurture plants, and harvest and cook what grows to nourish yourself and others. Her garden advice applies as well in Georgia as it does in Ireland.
The book’s 640 pages include over 200 pages devoted to growing and cooking vegetables, covering everything from turnips and leeks to lesser-known vegetables such as scorzonera and salsify. She includes 130 pages on fruit, 120 pages on herbs, 60 pages on things that grow wild such as blackberries or can be foraged such as dandelions and hawthorn berries and 25 pages on edible flowers.
Each entry includes information on varieties and tips for growing, as well as the pests and diseases the plants might encounter and what you can do if you find yourself with what she refers to as a “glut” of whatever you’ve harvested.
It’s a treasure trove for the gardeners among us, but this is not just a book for gardeners. It is a cookbook full of kitchen inspiration with over 400 beautifully illustrated recipes that give lie to the idea that Irish food is all stew, soda bread and corned beef with boiled cabbage.
RECIPES
Prepare a farm- or garden-to-table meal with these recipes for a tart filled with potatoes, green onions and goat cheese; lamb chops served with a Peruvian salsa of feta pureed with fresh herbs; and salad that showcases fresh carrots, beets and apples. Recipes adapted from “Grow Cook Nourish” by Darina Allen. Reproduced with permission of Kyle books.
Goat Cheese, Spring Onion & Potato Tart
The inclusion of egg in the pastry mixture makes for a sturdy crust. Brushing the prebaked crust with the reserved egg mixture helps avoid a soggy bottom once the crust is filled and baked. Note that the filling calls for cooked new potatoes.
Allen suggests serving the tart with a green salad, as shown in the photo.
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring work surface
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cool salted butter, divided
- 4 eggs, divided
- 2 tablespoons water, plus more if needed when forming the dough
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups finely chopped green onions, both white and green parts
- Sea salt
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons thyme leaves
- 5 small new potatoes, cooked, cooled and peeled
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
- Make tart crust: Sift flour into a medium bowl and add 1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- In a measuring cup, combine 1 egg with 2 tablespoons water and use a fork to whisk together. Reserve two teaspoons of the egg mixture. Add remainder to the flour-butter mixture and stir with a fork until mixture just forms a dough. Add more water, by teaspoons, if needed to form dough. Shape dough into a 5-inch disk, wrap in parchment or wax paper and refrigerate 15 minutes.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough to a 11-inch circle. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim any dough that extends beyond the rim and make small pinches in the dough along the rim. Line dough with a sheet of parchment paper and fill to the top with dried beans. Let rest at room temperature 15 minutes, then bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven, remove beans and paper and brush bottom crust with reserved 2 teaspoons egg mixture. Return to the oven for 1–2 minutes. Remove from oven and prepare filling.
- In a medium skillet over low heat, warm olive oil 1 minute, then add green onions and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion has softened but not colored, about 5 minutes.
- While onion is cooking, in a large bowl, whisk together remaining 3 eggs with cream and thyme. Cut potatoes into 1/4-inch slices and add to egg mixture. When onions are done, stir into egg mixture and season with pepper and another pinch of salt. Pour into baked crust. Scatter goat cheese on top and bake 40 to 45 minutes or until filling has just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 542 calories (percent of calories from fat, 57), 16 grams protein, 44 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams total sugars, 4 grams fiber, 34 grams total fat (20 grams saturated), 193 milligrams cholesterol, 330 milligrams sodium.Note: For nutritional calculations, a “pinch” is defined as 1/16 teaspoon.
Lamb Chops with Uchucuta Sauce
Allen writes that uchucuta sauce is a Peruvian salsa made with fresh cheese produced throughout the Andes mountain region blended with hot rocoto peppers and huacatay, a herb unique to that area. Her recipe is based on a version from Martin Morales of the now-closed London Peruvian restaurant Ceviche and substitutes flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, mint and tarragon for the huacatay and harissa or sriracha for the rocoto peppers.
If you have leftover sauce, it makes a delicious dip for raw vegetables or topping for boiled potatoes.
- If you have leftover sauce, it makes a delicious dip for raw vegetables or topping for boiled potatoes.
- 4 ounces feta
- 1 cup lightly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, plus extra sprigs for garnish
- 1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves, plus extra for garnish
- 1/2 cup lightly packed mint leaves
- 1/2 cup lightly packed tarragon leaves
- 1/4 cup corn kernels, fresh or thawed from frozen
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
- 1 tablespoon harissa or sriracha
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing on lamb chops
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 12 4-ounce bone-in lamb chops
- Lemon wedges, for serving
- Make sauce: In the jar of a blender, combine feta, parsley, cilantro, mint, tarragon, corn, water, creme fraiche, harissa or sriracha, olive oil and lime juice. Process until smooth, move to a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. If not using right away, cover and refrigerate.
- Heat a grill pan over high heat. Lightly brush both sides of lamb chops with olive oil and season both sides with salt and pepper. Working in batches if needed, cook lamb chops 3 minutes per side for medium. Remove chops to a platter as they are done and lightly tent with foil. Continue until all chops are cooked. Let chops rest 5 minutes, then arrange on plates with sauce and garnish with parsley sprigs and chopped cilantro. Serve with lemon wedges.
Nutritional information
Serving size: 6Per serving: Per serving: 742 calories (percent of calories from fat, 74), 43 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram total sugars, 1 gram fiber, 60 grams total fat (27 grams saturated), 186 milligrams cholesterol, 540 milligrams sodium.
Note: For nutritional calculations, the amount of salt included is 1/4 teaspoon.
Caramelized Carrot, Beetroot & Apple Salad
Cut your carrots in half lengthwise if they are 1 inch in diameter or larger. Note that the salad calls for cooked beets.
In the photo, the salad includes wild spring greens such as dandelion, purslane and chickweed. If your garden doesn’t yield similar tender spring greens, arugula or watercress make a fine substitute.
- 1 1/4 pounds young carrots, tops trimmed, scrubbed
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons thyme leaves, divided
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons honey, divided
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon pure sesame oil
- 1 red apple with peel, cored and cut into matchsticks
- Handful of wild spring greens, arugula or watercress
- 1 pound cooked small beets, trimmed, peeled and cut into wedges
- 1 tablespoons white sesame seeds
- Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Put carrots in a large bowl and add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons thyme and 1 tablespoon honey. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper and toss to coat. Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet and put into oven. Immediately reduce heat to 400 degrees. Roast 10 to 15 minutes, turning carrots occasionally, until carrots are almost tender and edges have caramelized. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- While carrots are roasting, make dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 5 tablespoons olive oil with lemon juice and sesame oil. Add remaining 2 tablespoons thyme leaves. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Set half the dressing aside.
- Toss the apple matchsticks with remaining dressing.
- When ready to serve, in a large bowl, combine carrots, apples in dressing and spring greens, arugula or watercress. Toss gently. Arrange beets on serving platter and top with carrot mixture. Whisk the dressing that was set aside and drizzle over salad. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 261 calories (percent of calories from fat, 56), 3 grams protein, 27 grams carbohydrates, 14 grams total sugars, 6 grams fiber, 17 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), 223 milligrams cholesterol, 233 milligrams sodium.Note: For nutritional calculations, a “pinch” is defined as 1/16 teaspoon.
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