Chickpeas

Chickpeas are the tastiest and most useful of dried beans, rich in protein and carbohydrates.

They are popular in India, North Africa and especially the Middle East (where the recipes below come from). Chickpeas blend well with goats cheese, roasted peppers, tomatoes, aubergines, lamb, mint, coriander and Indian spices.

Tinned chickpeas are acceptable but dried ones are best. Most books recommend overnight soaking but the following “hot soak” works just as well.

Hot Soaked Chickpeas
Cover the dried chickpeas with lots of cold water, bring to a steady boil, and cook for 15 min. Remove from heat and allow to soak for 1-2 hours.

To cook the chickpeas add fresh water and simmer for 2-3 hours until tender. Drain and reserve the useful liquid.

Bulgur and Chickpea Salad (from Claudia Roden’s Arabesque)
Ingredients: 200g Bulgur wheat, 2 smashed Garlic Cloves, juice of 2 Lemons, salt & pepper, 7 tbs Olive Oil, 250g Cooked Chickpeas, Large Bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley and Mint
Soak the bulgur in cold water for 20 min. Mix the garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oil and mix in the chickpeas. Leave for 10 min. then add the bulgur and chopped herbs.

Hummus
The proportions in this recipe are flexible so feel free to add more of any of the ingredients to get the flavour you like.

Ingredients: 600g Cooked Chickpeas, 2 Garlic Cloves, Juice of 2 Lemons, 5 tbs. Tahini,½ tsp Salt, Chickpea Cooking Water, 6-8 tbs Olive Oil.
Add the chickpeas, garlic cloves, lemon juice, tahini and salt to a food processor and blend. Add a little chickpea water until the hummus becomes creamy. Blend in some of the olive oil and pour a little over the hummus once you transfer to a bowl.
Serve with pitta or any flat bread.

Potato Soup

First Published in the Evening Herald on Thursday 11th March, 2010.
No matter how much pizza, pasta and chicken chow mein we eat, the Irish love affair with the potato will never fade.

St. Patrick’s Day is as good a day as any to celebrate the potato. I recommend you roast a chicken or some rib beef on the bone and serve three kinds of potatoes - buttery mash, duck fat roasties and gratin dauphinoise.

For a more traditional dish try some dry-cured loin of bacon (try JJ Youngs in Celbridge and Clane) with cabbage and buttery mashed potatoes – a dish to please any gourmand.

Potato and Smoked Bacon Soup

There is “eatin and drinkin” in this soup. To make the soup a little more posh use Italian Smoked Pancetta (try Nolan’s Terenure or one of the Italian shops) instead of streaky bacon.

Ingredients: 600g of Potatoes, peeled and cut into dice, 200g of Onions peeled and cut into dice, 50g Butter, 4-6 Rashers of Smoked Streaky Bacon cut into dice, 900ml Chicken or Veg. Stock, 2 tbs chopped fresh Mint (or Parsley),100g Crème Fraiche., Salt and Pepper.

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and once it foams add the bacon. Cook until the bacon begins to crisp and then add the potatoes and onions, stirring until they are fully coated in butter. Put a lid on the pot, turn the heat to low and sweat for 10-15 minutes.

Add the stock and the chopped mint and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Purée the soup with a stick blender or in a liquidizer. Add the crème fraiche, taste and adjust the seasoning. Thin the soup with a little milk if you wish.

Serve with crusty brown or white soda bread.

Foccaccia

The Italians love bread. Thankfully many of their classic breads are quite easy to make at home.

Italian “00” Pasta flour is available from good delis and mixing it 50-50 with Irish Strong White Flour (e.g. Odlums in the orange pack), is a good substitute for basic Italian bread flour. Double zero flours vary so experiment with the ones available.

Sadly we have no olives growing in Ireland but cold pressed Rapeseed oil is an interesting substitute for dipping or drizzling (but not for salad dressing).

Foccaccia
This easy version is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Everyday Cookbook, a good basic cookbook.

Ingredients: 250g “00” Flour, 250g Strong White Flour (or 500g of Strong White Flour), 1tsp Fast Acting Yeast, Sea Salt Flakes, 2 tbs. Olive Oil or Rapeseed Oil, 350ml Warm Water, Fresh Rosemary (or Thyme, Sage).

Pre-heat oven to 220oC, Gas 7. Add the flour and a sprinkling of sea salt to a bowl with the fast acting yeast and the water.

Work the flour and water until it has come together roughly. Add 2tbs.Olive or Rapeseed Oil and squish the dough until the oil is integrated. Remove the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth and silky.

To knead you add air by folding and re-folding the dough (or use a bread maker). Add a little more flour if the dough is very sticky. After 7-10 minutes the dough should feel stretchy and pliable. Return to the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to rise. Once risen, place the dough in a square baking tin, cover and allow to rise again (1 hour).

Finely chop fresh Rosemary or Thyme and mix with flaky Sea Salt. Drizzle some oil over the surface of the bread, sprinkle over the herb/salt mix and push some holes in the dough with your finger. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Sausages

All hail the sausage. Perhaps I should clarify: all hail the high meat content butcher’s sausages.

Sausage making is going through a renaissance in Ireland. Butchers in Dublin sell Romanian and Polish Sausages (smoked and regular), Whelans on Parnell St. make Boerwurst, Halal butchers have Merguez and if you pass through Gort in Co. Galway you will find Brazilian Pork and Garlic sausages.

Pork is still the king, but many are using ingredients like Venison (JJ Young, Celbridge), Wild Boar (Downeys, Terenure) and of course chicken, beef and lamb.

JJ Young’s Butchers in Celbridge and Clane Business Park (good value factory shop) recently won Supreme Sausage Champion at the Craft Butchers Awards for their Beef and Guinness Sausage – a dense meaty sausage with lots of beef flavour and some dark hints of malt.

Young’s Venison sausages are also worth a try as are their Dinner Sausages, not to mention their dry cured bacon.

Expand your repertoire by mixing garlic sausages with a tomato and onion pasta sauce, a Cassoulet, or serve Bangers and Mash (like every bistro in the country).

Toad in the Hole
I like this best with beef or venison sausages.

Ingredients: 500g JJ Young Beef and Guinness Sausages, 1 large mug of Eggs, 1 large mug of Flour, pinch of Salt, 1 large mug of Milk and Water (half and half), 1tbs Malt Vinegar, 60g fat (dripping, duck fat or oil).

Set oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Break eggs into the mug until it is almost full and add to a bowl with half the milk/water. Beat well, sift in the flour and whisk again until all the lumps have disappeared.

Add the rest of the liquid and the malt vinegar and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Melt the fat in a pan, separate the sausages and fry them gently for 8-10 min. until brown on all sides.

Add the sausages and fat to a baking dish and pour over the batter. Bake for 30 minutes.