Lovely Lovage

Chickpea and Pasta Soup with Lovage

One of the less widely available herbs, with a yeasty celery smell that reaches out to you, lovage grows up to be something of triffid easily reaching 1.5 to 2 metres when in flower. Because it needs so much space in the garden not many people grow it but it is a wonderful way to flavour soups and stews.


It's a perennial herb, dying back to ground level in winter but quite hardy. At this time of year it's wonderfully leafy and green shooting up quickly. When it flowers later in the summer bees and insects all love it. The seeds can be saved and used like celery seed. You can also use the seeds and root to flavour liqueurs which become fragrant rather than savoury in smell and have an intriguing flavour. If you want to preserve some for winter it's better to freeze chopped leaves in ice cube trays and then bag securely but the elusive smell will only last a few months even in the freezer, quickly turning to hay.

I made a spring soup, still hearty with chickpeas and pasta and packed with vegetables but with vernal lightness from a handful of fresh herbs; lovage, parsley and chives. Lovage will be in plenty of meals from now on.

Back with Rhubarb Muffins

At last things seemed to have settled down a bit and there's a little bit of time and inclination in my life for cooking. For the next few weeks I'm going to try to showcase some of the spring produce that's growing here - not as easy as it sounds as it will be a few weeks before the first crops come in - and foraging for wild and escaped plants to add to the variety.



The rhubarb season is in full swing. Forget the weedy anaemic stems of fluorescent pink stuff sold at enormous prices two months ago, this is the real thing. Great big chunky stems of mouth puckering sharpness and excitement.

Still, I know not everyone is as willing and able to nibble their way through a freshly plucked leaf stem as I am. Making this fruity vegetable into muffins helps the medicine go down.

For nine muffins you will need:

200g flour, white or brown
100g sugar, brown is best
Baking powder; 1 sachet, 11g, about 2 teaspoons full
100g non-dairy yoghurt
25ml non-dairy milk
100g light vegetable oil
1 large stick of rhubarb, peeled if you like and chopped small
extra granulated sugar for sprinkling

Mix yoghurt, milk and oil in a bowl. Add the brown sugar, flour and baking powder. Mix together well. It will form quite a stiff batter. Add a little more milk if you like but not too much as the rhubarb will supply more moisture during cooking.

Line your muffin tins with paper cases (or grease well) and put a couple of large teaspoons of mixture into each case. Add a few pieces of rhubarb to each muffin then share the rest of the batter evenly between the cakes. Put one piece of rhubarb on top and sprinkle liberally with sugar, for extra sweetness and a crunchy finish.

Bake at about 200C for between 20 and 25 minutes. The rhubarb keeps the centres moist so it's not easy to check for doneness, the golden brown of the top should be your guide.

Allow to cool a little and eat a couple at a time as a restorative snack while gardening.

Too tired to cook...

Cabbage and Bamboo Shoot Stirfry

The weather has been brilliant this week and I've been making the most of it by trying to catch up and get ahead on the gardening. Long days outside and heavy work means that by the time I come in for my dinner I've barely got the energy to light the fire and make a cup of tea. Meals have, of necessity, been rather dull. Food as fuel, not entertainment.

The stirfry above was flavoured in the manner of a hot and sour soup, white pepper and the sharpness of vinegar. It wasn't great and possibly the only thing of note about it was that the cabbage was harvested from the garden. No bamboo shoots yet in the vegetable patch but I'm working on it.


Vegetable Fried Rice

Naturally leftovers are playing their part, this fried rice was made with the spare rice from the stirfry and some more veggies. After stir frying the vegetables briefly I steamed them in a glass of Gewurztraminer wine before adding the broken up cold rice and finally frying it. I had another glass of wine with the meal.


Braised Endive and roast potatoes

I must have had the oven on for some reason, perhaps making that Potato Apple pie because this rather austere meal of wine cooked endive and roast potatoes would have taken me too long on a normal evening. It was only o.k. and I had the rest of the braised endives in a stew the next day, mercifully unrecorded.

Tonight, a sort of porridge of celeriac and couscous. I wanted bulgar but it seems to be rule of nature that whichever I want of bulgar or couscous I only have the other. Not worth photographing, I've saved a portion for lunch tomorrow.

The luck of the Irish

Potato Apple Pie

Happy St. Paddy's Day although for most of you it's nearly over already.

This is what I intended to submit to the Daily Spud for the Paddy's day parade, a slight tribute to the Spud herself as I think the inspiration comes from one of her recipes although I didn't have it to hand when I made this. But I was too late and serves me right. Apologies for the naff picture too, it's too dark in the evenings for the little camera to cope yet.

This is really very simple and even with all the omissions I made by way of sweetening and spicing ( I forgot the lot!) it's a welcome snack with a cup of tea. A tot of Irish whiskey helps it down too.

The pastry is where the potato is hiding. You will need;

About 400g freshly mashed potato, still warm
70g margarine
120g plain flour and extra for shaping.

A couple of eating apples - I only had one but it was huge.
Lemon juice
Sugar
Cinnamon or other spices to taste.

Prepare your apple(s) by taking out the cores and making neat slices. No need to peel. Sprinkle the slices with lemon juice, this improves the flavour as well as the colour so don't leave it out.

Make a lovely soft dough by mixing the margarine into the warm mash and then adding the flour. Use a fork or something to mix it well. Turn out onto your well floured board and divide into two pieces (or possibly three, I saved a little back and made a potato scone with it). Gently pat or roll one portion out into a rough circle shape about 25cm across. It's extremely difficult to move so it may be easiest to work straight onto the baking tray.

Arrange your apple slices over the base leaving a border all around them of about 3cm. You can pile them up a bit in the middle if you like. Add sugar if you think it needs it and sprinkle in a little of your spice flavouring.

With the other portion of dough make a lid. Start by patting out a circle on the board but before it gets too thin and unwieldy plop it on top of the apples and pat it out across them there. You need only top the apples with it. Fold the base up to meet it and seal the edges. The dough is easy to work.

Sprinkle some sugar over the top and bake in a medium oven, say 170C for an hour. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting.

That's all.

Roast Cauliflower

Far too tired for cooking, here is tonight's supper - a big bowl of roast cauliflower decorated with a few springs of calabrese and some shreds of onion.

Tomorrow morning I'm hoping to have the energy to create something for the St. Patrick's day parade over at The Daily Spud but just in case I'm too shagged out to make the deadline there's still time for you to submit your favourite Irish recipe for the show if you're quick.

Night night.

Back to the Farm

Transition day today - first movements back to full habitation for the summer.

Last night's dinner

Felafel and Chips with Salad

After a month of feeling guilty every time I reached for the bottle of oil I decided to break loose.

You can find the recipe for felafel here, chips here and tahini sauce here down the page a bit.

History lessons

Ruby Chard soup with leaf garnish

The first digital camera I owned was a little Ixus point and shoot. I've just spent a happy half hour looking through my archives to see which photo taken with it qualifies as the first food picture. There aren't that many to choose from, mostly birthday cakes, but I think it was the one above which shows some beet and chard (probably) soup probably made with produce from the allotments we had then. That was taken in October 2003, several years before this blog was started, before I'd even considered opening up my mealtimes to the world.

Keeping a blog running for nearly five years has changed the way we live our lives. We stop to take the picture before we eat, the menu is shaped by desires to make the next entry interesting to readers, novelty can sometimes overwhelm good taste and the predictability of weekday meals makes finding something to share in writing a task to fear rather than one to enjoy. It's a funny hobby for someone who's basically not all that keen on telling anyone anything.

Still, here we are and this is what's been done. In the next few months I think there'll need to be some changes around here. Perhaps a new format, perhaps a new direction. History might repeat itself but life never stands still.

Irish Range Dec 2002

Food for lovers

Pink Gin and Tonic

Valentine's Day - we don't do cards or flowers but it's always nice to have an excuse to cook a little more extensively than usual. There's nothing very novel here, mostly recipes I've made before or dishes that don't need a recipe but the scale of the four courses kept me busy for half an afternoon and of course, now we have leftovers enough for another three days!


Mushroom soup from the ladle

I made mushroom soup because it's the Mister's favourite. It was enriched with dried ceps we'd gathered in the woods last autumn and served with sourdough breadsticks.


Mushroom Soup plated


Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos 2004

With the main course we had this rather nice bottle of Spanish wine which was a gift from a friend.


Tomato Curry

I must admit part of the reason for choosing curries for our main course has to do with blogging. Taking pictures can interrupt the flow of an evening so I wanted stuff that could keep warm while we took the snaps. Also, although it's hardly obvious here curry was on this week's austerity menu list. So we're still on track there, in a manner of speaking!


Sag Aloo, spinach and potato curry.


Aubergine Tikka

The colour isn't very bright on this because we only had smoked paprika and that's rather too strongly flavoured to use with abandon.



We kept everything warm on one of those table top warmers powered with tealights that they have in some restaurants. Ours was a gift from the Stripey daughter.


Raspberries, blueberries and red grapes set in a port wine jelly

Something light and richly red for dessert. Made up as I went along but similar to a million other fruit jellies it ended up being more than the sum of its parts in a rather unexpected way. Very nice to eat but experiments are needed to pin down that novelty value.

And finally, the truffles. We rolled these at the table, an enjoyably sticky mutual task for a meal for lovers.


Chocolate, coconut and chilli truffles

Punch Drunk

Cottage Pie with Carrot Alfalfa Salad

This month of abstinence isn't going too well. We're eating very good food but a bit too much of it so the only really healthy thing we've managed is to cut right back on alcohol. This weekend we're relaxing completely after a meal out with friends last night and some indulgences for Valentine's day but the intention is to try for another couple of weeks of clean living from next Tuesday...


Pizza with mushrooms, yellow pepper and nutritional yeast

Bread is a real sticking point when trying to reduce calorie intake. We love it, it's an essential part of our usual diet but it's easy to eat and easy to load up with rich toppings and overeat. Still, pizza is essential for winding down on a Friday night and without cheese it's not too evil.


Made in the bottle Ginger Beer

Finally I was fascinated by this recipe for ginger beer, made directly in a pressure resistant bottle (the sort Coke or fizzy water comes in).

I was too eager and sampled it a bit early but it has great potential for brewing on the go. Give it a try,