Quick Summer Food

Quick Kebabs
Trim and cube 1kg of round steak purchased from a butcher that ages his meat (to ensure tenderness) - Ennis Butchers in Rialto is one example but there are many all over the country.

Rub the steak with salt, pepper, mild chilli powder (Aleppo Chilli MIx if you can find it), allspice, nutmeg and dried oregano. Add a splash of olive oil and some lemon juice, mix well and allow to marinate for at least an hour. Push onto skewers and grill on the barbecue.

Trim and cube 4 chicken breasts and place in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil, chopped chilli pepper (optional), fresh coriander or other herbs. Allow to marinate and push onto skewers and grill.

Couscous Salad
Pour 300g of couscous into a dish and pour on 300ml of hot water containing ½ - 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir the couscous vigorously so that the water is absorbed evenly and leave it to swell for ten minutes. Add 100ml of extra virgin olive oil and rub the couscous between your fingers to break up any lumps and to ensure it is light and fluffy. This last step is the most important so spend a few minutes lifting and separating the grains with your fingertips. Finally add a chopped red pepper, chopped red onion, black pepper and lots of fresh mint.

Grill some merguez or lamb sausages (available in halal and fancier butchers) and add to the couscous cold or warm.

In Season...

Anyone reading this column in the past will have noticed my emphasis on seasonality. I’ll say it one more time for anyone that missed it: locally grown food in season tastes better and costs less.

If you are unsure about what is in season the Bord Bia site: www.bestinseason.ie has a very useful chart.

The best way of dealing with seasonal produce is to do as little as possible with it to preserve the natural flavours, and one of the best ways to do this is to make a salad, the ultimate summer food.

Salad doesn’t have to contain leaves but there is a good reason for eating sweet young leaves at this time of year when they reach their peak of flavour. You still have time to plant some “cut and come again” lettuce that will give you continual supplies over the coming months.

Fresh herbs are at their best in summer so liberally add any that you have to hand.

Warm salads (where hot cooked ingredients are added) are useful to avoid accusations of serving rabbit food. Thinly sliced rare steak, fried bacon lardoons and shellfish work well; as does offal such as lamb kidneys, sweetbreads and even black pudding (add some apple).

Flowers can add a decorative element but also flavours, particularly nectar sweet Violets or pungent peppery Nasturtiums. Herb flowers such as chive or rosemary work well and jasmine, primroses and even fuscia are all worth trying. Beware of poisonous flowers such as potato or sweet pea.

French Dressing
3 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1tbs Sherry or Wine Vinegar, 1tsp Dijon Mustard, Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper.

Add the ingredients to a jam jar and shake vigorously to emulsify.

Variations: replace the vinegar with twice as much lemon or grapefruit juice; replace the olive oil with hazel or walnut oil; for salads containing shellfish add a half teaspoon of Thai fish sauce and some chopped lemongrass; for meat based salads add the deglazed juices from the pan.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Irish strawberries are well and truly in season now and the price has finally begun to drop.

The tunnel grown fruits are being replaced with the outdoor fruit which always seems to taste sweeter.

Strawberries are rich in Vitamin C and naturally sweet, though I usually add a light sprinkle of caster sugar and let them sit for a few minutes to macerate.

Strawberries and cream is one of the great indulgences of the Irish summer and Glenilen double cream (from specialist supermarkets and delis) is the finest I have found, usually containing large globules of cream that are just begging to be scooped off with your finger.

Dip the strawberries in melted chocolate and refrigerate for an hour for the perfect TV snack.

Stuff some warm pancakes with strawberries, and perhaps some chocolate, and serve with vanilla ice cream and a strawberry coulis (strawberries blended with some sugar and lemon juice).

Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar and drizzle with top quality balsamic vinegar for a surprising Italian twist that really seems to intensify the strawberry flavours.

The simple strawberry ice cream below gets made at least a dozen times every summer in my house and is delicious on its own, with chocolate sauce or served with fruit tarts.

You will get best results with an ice cream maker but if you don’t have one simply follow the still-freezing instructions below.

Strawberry Ice Cream
400g Strawberries
75g Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1tbs Strawberry Syrup (optional)
240ml Cream (Glenilen double cream for preference)

Buzz the strawberries and sugar in a food processor until they form a smooth pulp (or mash and stir them vigorously with a wooden spoon). Add the vanilla and strawberry syrup and mix well. Beat the cream until it forms soft peaks and mix well with the pulped strawberries.

Freeze for 90 minutes, remove and mix in the frozen bits at the edges until you have a smooth mix. Repeat this process a couple of times over the next few hours to prevent ice crystals. Alternatively pour the mix into an ice cream maker and churn until stiff.

Mangos

(More recent (April 2010) posting on mangos here)

A good mango is hard to find. The large green-red mangos in our
supermarkets all year round are pale shadows of what this glorious
fruit can taste like when ripe and in season.

The new season mangos are arriving ripe by airplane on a daily basis
to provide our ethnic communities with a little taste of home (hang
the air miles, a little ozone depletion is worth it for a taste this
good). Look for small yellow varieties with slightly yielding flesh
and intoxicating perfume.

The Anwar Ratol variety is the best around at the moment, described as
“the king of mangos” by the shop I visited on Clanbrassil Street. A
box of 15 cost me 12 euro, a bargain given that this is the variety
gifted by Pakistan to visiting heads of state.

Ripe mangos do not need anything other than a sharp knife and a
willingness to get your hands messy but you can also serve with
savoury dishes or with curries or make them into delicious sorbet.

Mango Tart Tatin
This upside down tart is best made using a frying pan with a metal
handle that can be placed in the oven, or use a standard pie dish.

First make a caramel. Add 75g Sugar and 2tbs water to a heavy pan and
cook on high heat for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until
brown flecks appear. Reduce the heat and cook until the sugar is
caramelized and is uniformly golden. Remove from the heat and stir in
25g of butter. If using a pie dish scrape the caramel into the dish
at this point.

Peel approximately 1kg of ripe mangos using a sharp potato peeler or
paring knife. Try to remove as little flesh as possible. Cut a thick
slice either side of the central stone and arrange in the pan or dish
on top of the caramel. Scrape all the remaining flesh from each stone
onto the dish. Dot the mango with 25g butter and bake in a hot oven
at Gas 6, 190oC for 20 minutes.

Roll out 200g of frozen puff pastry (or short crust) and place on top.
Bake for a further 25 minutes until the pastry has browned and risen.
Remove from the oven and place a large plate on top of the pan, with
one movement flip the pan over. Serve with lots of double cream or
crème fraiche.

Elderflowers

Elderflowers

The finest free food of the summer began appearing in the last couple of weeks.

Elderflowers are the creamy white bursts of strongly scented, spiky tasting flowers that decorate hedgerows and parklands all over Ireland and can be spotted at 100 metres.

The flowers eventually become elderberries in the autumn, a berry that is only moderately useful, so feel free to pick as many as you can reach.

Identify them once, and you will not mistake them again as the aroma is very distinctive.

Pick the flowers on a dry day, choosing only fully open sprays. You can return in a week and pick just as many as the tree flowers abundantly.

For a delicious dessert dip the flowers in good batter (beer and flour works well), sprinkle with caster or vanilla sugar and serve hot with ice cream.

For Sorbet, mix ten flowers into 500ml of hot sugar syrup (half sugar, half water), add the rind and juice of 2 lemons, and allow to cool. The following day freeze the sorbet in an ice cream maker or half freeze, and remove every 20 minutes to beat out the ice crystals.

Cordial is the most common use of elderflowers and can be poured on ice cream or used to make a kind of kir with a dry white wine or kir royale with sparkling wine.

Elderflower Cordial
Bring 3 pints (1.7 ltrs) of water to the boil in a large pot and stir in 3lb (1.5Kg) of sugar.

Add the grated zest of 3 lemons, followed by their juice, and two ounces (50g) of citric acid (buy or order from your local pharmacy).

When fully dissolved remove from the heat and add 30-40 clumps of elderflowers. Try to remove most of the stalks as too many will give a slightly bitter flavour. Stir well and leave to cool overnight.

Strain the cordial through muslin into a jug. Sterilize some glass bottles by filling them with boiling water for a few minutes and bottle the lemonade.

Dilute with fizzy or still water and add lemon or mint for extra zing. Keep the cordial in a cool place and refrigerate once you open a bottle.