Best Crop of the Season: Herb Salad with Chevre & Beetroot Carpaccio

Last spring we went to Ireland on a short trip. We spent almost three weeks and boy, how quickly time flies when you are having fun! We met up with family and friends, taking millions of photographs and doing quite a lot of wining(no, not whining!) & dining  :)) There's absolutely no reason to whine about Ireland, apart from the high cost of living & unreliable weather, otherwise all is perfect - especially the food & eating out.

This salad is inspired by one great lunch we had with friends in the small town of Athenry, Co. Galway.  For  those who are not familiar with that part of the world or have never been to the west of Ireland, Athenry is 25 km east of Galway. Although I visited it only briefly during two not-so-sunny afternoons, I loved its vibe. It is vibrant, clean & has some great little spots to eat out. I was telling you some time ago about my epiphany about scones & lemon curd. This is a follow-up!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have waited for what seems like a long time for spring to arrive & to be able to buy the best greens of the season: spring onions/garlic, ramson aka wild garlic, crunchy radishes and orach.

In Romania we cook orach sour soup with beef stock & lovage, which is very nice indeed, but I had other plans for my favourite purple herb of the season. 

Herb Salad with Chevre & Beetroot Carpaccio in Sweet Mustard Vinaigrette

Type of cuisine: vegetarian/low fat/healthy

All quantities are given for two persons

a small bunch of wild garlic

1 spring onion

1 spring garlic

half a baked beetroot, cut into thin slices

8 slices of chevre

4 small radishes

For the vinaigrette you will need: 4 tbs of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tsp of Dijon mustard, 4 tbs of balsamic vinegar, 1 tbs of clear honey.

Mix and shake the liquids well.

Chop/cut/slice the herbs, the radishes, the cheese and the beetroot and place them on a dish.  Sprinkle the sweet mustard vinaigrette over and enjoy :)

You can serve with croutons, salty crackers, brown bread fried in cumin & olive oil or plain chips.

Couldn't have been easier and/or healthier - apart from the chips or the fried bread, that is :// - and it certainly brought back some memories of green Ireland, Galway, Athenry, and the New Park Hotel where we had lunch. You can click on the link and read their menu. Maybe you can steal some ideas and recreate some of the dishes for yourself...until you visit Athenry and have brunch/lunch/dinner on their premises - I recommend the experience!

New Park Hotel

Cross Street, Athenry,

Co. Galway, Ireland

http://www.newparkhotel.ie

Inspiration

Shopping is great in Ireland. I found that food is mainly organic and people focus more on quality & eco-friendly, free-range products. Milk, butter, beef, chicken and veggies all taste like the real thing - the way they were meant to taste! I fell in love with the place and we will certainly go back. Next time, maybe, we'll rent a small holiday apartment. That will give me the possibility to go shopping, cook indoors and experiment with different local Irish ingredients. 

I discovered this small, family-owned butcher shop which gave me great ideas. The staff was extremely friendly and let me take some snapshots. 

what a great idea!

men @ work :)

A fake door / painted mural



(I don't want to boast, but it was delicious) xx

Perfect Breakfast: Lemon Curd & Some Beautiful Snapshots of Sunny Ireland

I discovered lemon curd last spring in Ireland. It was almost like a revelation. How could I have lived so far without spreading the velvety tangy cream on brown bread early each morning?  Lemon curd makes life more beautiful, early mornings shine and keeps a big smile on your face. Food wise, there are many things last year's trip opened my eyes to:

* Irish beef - the most tender in the world

* Irish Guinness Stew

* Irish soda bread

* Irish dairy in general: the real taste of Irish butter

* (probably) the greatest potato mash in the world :)

* rhubarb jam/pies/salad/sauce etc - such a rare ingredient in Romania, where organic rhubarb is plentiful in areas like Transylvania, but it's only a staple in pigs' diet (!). I know, it's sad they aren't aware of it.

* lemon curd: so delicately sweet and citrusy, it becomes an addiction. No matter how much I may have, I feel like I need some more. 

I loved it so much that I stacked up on it, bought some extra jars for family, friends and myself & Mike. No worries, we drove from Romania to Ireland, hence we left with a boot-ful of Romanian wine and came back with lemon curd,  rhubarb jam, Irish cured beef, HP sauce (can't find it in Romanian supermarkets anymore), organic Miso paste, soba noodles, teas, organic coffee, and and the list can go on. (I love shopping in Ireland) because the focus falls on quality rather than on quantity.

 

My first Lemon Curd

adapted from BBC Food recipes

As I was kinda nervous, I used half of all the listed ingredients from the BBC recipe. Next time I will experiment with pomegranate and/or with a bunch of oranges and will definitely start making curd for family and friends.

2 and a half lemons, zest, and juice

100 gr of caster sugar

50 gr of butter (a thick slice of Danish butter) - can't find Irish butter in Romania 

:(

2 free-range eggs

1 free-range egg yolk

 Method

(source: BBC Food Recipes)

Follow faithfully the instructions given below, it works and it does make a mind-blowing, creamy lemon curd.

Preparation method

1. Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted.
2. Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolk and stir them into the lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10-13 minutes, stirring every now and again, until the mixture is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
3. Remove the lemon curd from the heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. Once cooled, spoon the lemon curd into sterilised jars and seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
   
   
   
   

   It will give 2 small Ikea spice jars of smooth lemon curd that will complement your scones, rice pudding or tart. 
   
   
   A couple of days ago, tasting this creamy delight reminded me of the beautiful (working) holiday we had in Ireland, where the weather was amazing and strangely enough, sunny and warm. Not a cloud in sight (that day, I should add)! :) I love you, baby. 

Co. Mayo, near Delphi

Beef Stew with Guinness

 *for my love*

After making a (very) successful attempt at Harry Eastwood's *skinny* BB -which was über delicious- I decided to try my luck with a variation of this dish, Irish style.  So basically, I followed Harry Eastwood's (low-fat) recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon, but replaced the wine with two pints of smooth black Guinness, so I did :)

My version of Beef Stew with Guinness

Type of cuisine: Irish

Preparation & cooking time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

500 g of lean beef (cut in cubes)

2 pints/cans of Guinness ™  (2 x 400 ml)

2-3 skinned onions

2 skinned tomatoes

1 sliced carrot 

approx 10 brussels sprouts heads

4 garlic cloves 

bouquet garni (mixed dried chips of carrots, celery, lovage, parsley, bay leaves etc)

1 tsp of ground coriander seeds

a pinch of pepper

1 cube of beef stock (optional)/ or salt

olive oil

2 tbs of flour

Method

Cut the beef in (small) cubes and season it with the freshly ground coriander & pepper. If you decide not to use beef stock, salt the meat at this stage. 

Fry the crushed garlic in olive oil and add the meat cubes & let them brown. 

In a different non-stick pan fry some olive oil (1 tbs) and a transfer the meat. Add the flour and stir constantly the cubes over till they get a biscuit-like colour. Pour the natural beef stock that you kept in the first pan and continue mixing. 

In a small bowl dissolve the beef stock cube in warm water (approx half a cup of water) and pour it over the meat. 

Open the 1st can of Guinness and pour it over. Season with 2 tbs of bouquet garni,  add the skinned tomatoes and onions, cover and simmer for 2 h. Stir occasionally, making sure the meat won't stick to the pan. 

45 minutes before the 2 hours are up, add the sliced carrot and brussels sprouts. Add the second can of Guinness and keep on simmering on low fire. 

2 hours later the meat & Guinness sauce will have become thicker and totally delicious as the alcohol and bitterness of the beer will have vanished completely. 

Mop it with Irish Soda bread or serve with baked jacket potatoes, salt, melted butter and fresh parsley.

I have  been dreaming of this stew since I went to Ireland in May. So when I found Guinness at the supermarket, I knew that I had to use it to the fullest. I am not a beer drinker, but I must say I like the smooth velvety consistency of Guinness.  

Traditionally, lamb is used for Irish stew, but I went for tender beef instead (in lieu of lamb) and soaked it in Guinness. That brought back some wonderful memories of Ireland and its people. 

typical traditional Irish cottage

(My First) Irish Soda Bread

Dear Lemon Love Notes,

Not so long ago I came back from an unforgettable trip to Ireland. The green, the craic and the food are still lingering in my mind. Ireland is so much more beautiful than anything you can imagine. I spent my time soaking up the scenery :) (pardon the pun, as we all know what the weather is like in Ireland), meeting & visiting people, and dining out with friends. I have more or less managed to shed the excesses of hearty Irish breakfasts by eating fruit and porridge in the morning.  However, I must confess that I really love my carbs and, more to the point , I am in love with Irish soda bread. Drooling and dreaming on won't be of much help to me, unless I roll up my sleeves and start getting the kitchen dirty. How can I make soda bread? Any tips?

Love xx

-----

My dear friend,

I was very happy to read your lovely letter. We have so many things in common. Firstly, I must also confess that I also love carbs, and bread especially, but who doesn't? "Bread is the warmest, kindness of all words" as they say it. I would go as far as to say that Irish soda bread encompasses the defining trait of the Irish; you may have noticed how warm-hearted, generous and hospitable the Irish are. Freshly baked bread with butter and rhubarb jam and a cup of tea are a simple treat, a modest meal in itself, but they show the hospitality and good nature of the host. Actions speak louder than words.  Sometimes we might not have much, but sharing what we have with somebody we love, with a neighbour, a friend, or just a stranger makes us so much stronger. Keep the memories alive by making your own soda bread, the easiest thing in the world: flour, buttermilk., soda and lots of love. If it doesn't raise, if it's crunchy at surface but raw inside, try your luck once again until it comes right out of the oven, as practice makes perfect.

 Irish Soda Bread (and a few holiday snapshots)

Ingredients

2 cups of self-raising flour

1 cup of oatmeal flour

1 cup of buttermilk

salt

1 tsp of baking soda

1 sachet of baking powder

onion seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cumin seeds etc

Method

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, seeds, salt, baking soda & powder. Add the cup of buttermilk and knead slightly. Shape the dough into a round and mark a cross on top of the bread. To be creative, you could also sprinkle some seeds on top before sending it into the oven. Bake it at around 160' Celsius for 40 minutes and 180' C for the last 10 minutes. This way the inside

 will be well done and the coat will be crunchy to perfection.  :)

breakfast in KK, Ireland

Irish breakfast @ Langton's, Kilkenny, Co. KK

omelette on Irish soda bread, Langton's, KK

Kilkenny

For my first soda bread I am very happy with the result. Next time I bake soda bread, I will use wholemeal flour.  Perfect with my mother's perfect zacusca (a delicious Romanian dish similar to chutney, bar the Indian spices), a cup of Earl Grey and your loved ones close by.

my mother's perfect zacusca

xoxo

Spiddal Market, Connemara, Ireland

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a beautiful website called Exotic Markets (@Exoticmarkets) whose aim is to"capture the variety and color of food, flower, flea and other markets from around the world." It was a sweet find as I have a soft spot for markets in general. Taking a peek at appetizing photos ends up in boosting my creativity and my getting busy in the kitchen. Yes, it's all about being inspired and dreaming of new combinations and mixing up ingredients to (re)create new dishes. *drooling*
Most of the time I have itchy feet, that dreadful condition that makes you look up to the sky when you hear the roar of a plane overahead. But the best photos are the ones that you take yourself on site, maybe in your home country or abroad.

Cooking begins with a journey when at dawn the sellers set off to the market; maybe they travel for miles, or maybe the trip is short and sweet. Later they will carefully display the goods to appeal to the five senses, and especially to the hungry eye of the customer. No wonder self-help books always advise that one should never shop on an empty stomach :)

Prices were a bit high, as you would expect, but not as high as eating out, so if I had had access to a well-equipped kitchen, I would have definitely gone to the supermarket/the local market, stocked up on freshly picked fruit and veggies, and cooked my own meals. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for and in Spiddal market, the prices generally reflect the high quality of products.

Spiddal Village Market is in fact a baby market, if I can put it this way. It's tiny and it's open every Thursday. 19 km west from Galway City, Spiddal is your scenic, picture-postcard Connemara village. Don't be fooled by the sunny weather, apparently it rains a lot most of the year. The luck of the Irish, we were blessed with beautiful, warm weather!

All photos have been taken in May (2011) in Spiddal/Spiddal area so hopefully you'll get a feel of the place as well (and fall in love with it, as I have). xx

muffins, cupcakes and pies

home-made peanut butter, honey and other goodies

gourmet delights

gingerbread men :)

seaweed

a beautiful Connemara horse posing for the camera

organic home-made soap

a generous display of chutneys,  sustainable free-range eggs and Irish cheese

"Saving fish from drowning"

 freshly caught john dory

handmade Irish cheese

"MARKET RETURNS IN SPRING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. FRESH PRODUCE STILL AVAILABLE EVERY THURSDAY"

Spiddal pier

salsa

pottery and poetry :)

Spiddal...forget-me-not 

winding road...

Spiddal pier in the afternoon