EXPLORING the POSSIBILITIES

I very recently attended a Self Sufficiency - Food From Your Garden Class at Hunters Lodge in the beautiful Carlow countryside. Except for me arriving a little late (sorry got a little lost), the class started with introductions and each of us giving some background as to the extent of our growing and rearing to date, if any, and our future aspirations, hopes dreams....
Our host Fiona then shared the story of her long and varied journey, the ups and the downs, and where she is today with the Hunters Lodge garden providing her family with so much food....eggs, vegetables, potatoes, apples, soft fruits, honey, tomatoes, herbs, chicken, duck, pork, ham, bacon and turkey and more.

It's not difficult to make a small change in your life somewhat towards self-sufficiency, by considering some of  the options that are open to you within the confines of your own garden or even apartment balcony.  This class explores and allows you to understand the possibilities for your space, from growing your own herbs and vegetables, from keeping Chickens to Pigs.

Delightful DUCK, ROCKET and PARMESAN Salad

THE RECIPE:

When it comes to a salad, not relegated to starter or accompaniment, one that is a whole meal in itself, this has to be one of my favourites. This does not take long to make and is simply delicious served with some nice crusty bread. Sourdough, which has only been a recent discovery of mine is now my bread of choice to serve with this dish.

INGREDIENTS:
                            
2 Duck breasts
4 really large handfuls of Rocket
25g Parmesan Cheese
25g Pine nuts
6 tbsp Balsamic vinegar 
6 tbsp Olive Oil
Crusty bread of your choice

THIS Old GREENHOUSE

This old greenhouse is gettin' shaky
This old greenhouse is gettin' old
This old greenhouse lets in the rain
This old greenhouse lets in the cold

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I spent a very wet day in October last year dismantling an old greenhouse, I got it home and was then tasked with the challenge of putting it back together again. It started with digging and pouring foundations and then constructing a brick base and filling the planting areas with compost and soil. Then came reassembling the framework and fixing it to the base. Finally, cleaning and fixing all the panes of glass in place. It was a long project, but with the end results very worthwhile and low cost. Good as new, very much looking forward to the growing season ahead.

Brick base

Framework fixed to base

Completed Greenhouse, Good as new!

IT'S all ABOUT the BIGA baby!

The biga

I very recently successfully made my first loaf of Sourdough and was very pleased with the results. Behind every good loaf of Sourdough is the biga, which is also called a 'starter', 'ferment' or 'mother' -  this is the way bread has been made for centuries, making use of the wild yeast spores that are found on the surface of sugary ingredients. The starter is made using strong flour, water and something sweet, such as fruit. The idea is to introduce simple sugars, which the wild yeast spores and natural bacteria can ferment easily, and bubble quicker. The starter is a fermenting dough or batter, the term sourdough broadly applies to breads raised with wild yeasts. When you make a dough on this starter, the acid produced by the lactic bacteria helps to strengthen the elastic gluten and intensifies the flavour of the finished bread. The first time you make your starter, you need to be patient, as you will need to feed it every day, and it could take a few weeks until it is bubbling happily and smells sweetly acidic before it is ready to use with your first loaf.

My first Sourdough Bread

200 HEALTHY feasts

This is a nice little book with clear instructions and straightforward recipes. It size is also very convenient for people on the go and can be perused at ones leisure while making the daily commute into the office, or during a coffee break, or anytime you have a couple of moments to spare, allowing you to review recipes and plan your meals in advance.

There is a good variety of interesting and exciting recipes in the book, divided into chapters covering breakfast, starters, soups, desserts, meals for any time of the day and any occasion, each recipe consists of a page containing a list of ingredients and clear instructions, with a colour photo of the dish on the page opposite.

This book is based upon healthy eating and sometimes this is a subject often unfairly viewed as dull, put please don't let this dissuade you, just skip past the introduction initially and jump straight into the recipes. Once you have cooked and enjoyed many of these meals you will have no problem in understanding and appreciating the message in the introduction, it is not a lecture and makes complete sense.  

This is a cookery book, I have enjoyed using, producing some great dishes which have been completely enjoyed, unknowingly as the Healthy option.

The CHAP in BED on the TELLY!

It has been a long week and this has nothing do with food, but I guess it would if I ate in bed, which I don't. Anyway I was in a local shop yesterday just picking up a few bits and pieces, when I noticed a little old lady staring at me. So I said "hello" and she asked "are you that chap that was in bed on the Telly" to which I replied "yes", she said "it was very good, I enjoyed it". Let me explain, some time ago I was somehow persuaded to take part in a documentary and it was shown on television last Monday night, it was called 'In Bed with the Irish'. I had never dreamt it would be picked up by RTE. So my wife and I reluctantly watched it from behind our Sofa, but glad to say it was tastefully done and thankfully I survived the aftermath in work the next day.

Don't EAT the PAINTINGS

Two of my favourite paintings, oil on canvas Lemons and Tomatoes, these have pride of place in my home.
I often feel inspired to get into the kitchen and cook just looking at them.

From SEED to PLATE

This book is a delight, a little confused but in a really good way, an identity crisis, unsure whether to be a cookbook, a gardening book or a guide to Italy. Greatfully it is all of these things. The best way to get fresh, tasty ingredients is to grow your own. Italians have known this for centuries, and no Italian house, apartment, school or office is complete unless it has a little bit of space in which to grow tomatoes, herbs, salad leaves and whatever else can be crammed in. This book covers that very Italian tradition of growing to cook, using recipes handed down from cook to cook, often through generations. Paolo Arrigo shares his family's practical traditions and 'passione' for food, including the best varieties to grow, offering growing tips and explaining how all the resulting delicious produce should be best prepared, cooked and preserved. It Includes recipes from Paolo's own family, delicatessens, favourite restaurants and chefs such as Georgio Locatelli, Antony Worrall Thompson, Rose Prince, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and many more. This is an excellent book, the recipes are easy to follow and they inspire you to want to grow stuff yourself (rather than simply buy it) just to then eat it - the Italian way.

The PAINTER, the COOK and the ART of CUCINA

This is another wonderful book which I received as a gift from family living in Bari in the beautiful region of Puglia.  I really like the painting of the Red Radicchios on the cover. The Painter, the Cook and the Art of Cucina takes you on a gastronomic journey through the lesser known parts of Italy - Puglia, Piedmont, Veneto, Liguria, Le Marche and Sardinia. The food of these regions is being discovered by visitors and cooks for the first time. In a unique collaboration, Anna Del Conte, the foremost expert on Italian cuisine and leading painter, Val Archer, have travelled around Italy using their eyes, ears and taste buds - this book is the result of their journey. Anna observes how passionate Italians are about the flavour and variety of their foods, seasonality, regional specialties and recipes, local producers and local food customs. In each region there are recipes choosen to represent the best use of the local produce, from restaurants or directly from local cooks. Over 100 rich oil paintings are matched with stories about the food and the recipes from the cooks and food producers. The Italians are, of course, as famous for their music as for their cuisine, and it is the inclusion of information about such composers as Rossini - as well as other fascinating nuggets - that makes the journey such a pleasurable one. At the heart of the book though, of course, are the recipes - and these are straightforward and comprehensible. Perhaps all the ingredients may not be available to us, but there is no doubt that most of the results are achievable with just a little effort.

The FRENCH Kitchen

I first came across this book in France a couple of years ago, always meaning to get it, but delighted to say very recently received it as a birthday present. This book is a delight in which Joanne Harris shares her family recipes, passed down through the generations. From her Grandmother's 'Festival Loaf', to traditional French classics such as 'Moules Mariniere' of 'Boeuf en Daube', The French Kitchen: A Cookbook is a wonderful collection of casseroles, soups, roasts, salads, tarts and sweets. A collaboration between a writer who loves food and a former chef who loves writing about food, this book gathers together simple yet stylish recipes from the heart of a French family. Even to read it takes you into the heart of France, its markets & kitchens. Magnificent.....