Note to self…

Bottled another 8 x 500ml of nettle beer today. Ready to drink next Saturday. Must pick more nettles tomorrow (I have to make a note here or else I lose track of what I did on which date!).

My little soldiers…

Ready for duty!

So, the nettle beer (most of it, the kitchen floor got a bit of a sprinkling, as did I!) is bottled – 8 x 500ml bottles. The instructions say to leave it for a week in a cool place, then drink, chilled.

It definitely takes two people to siphon this stuff into bottles – it’s impossible to hold the end of the tube above the lees whilst aiming the other end into a bottle in a controlled manner. The good news is that, after a couple of involuntary mouthfuls of this stuff – it’s still tasting good, and I can feel a slight buzz from the alcohol content. All is well!

Beer update

So, today is Day 3 for the nettle beer. It started off bubbling extremely vigorously, but has now slowed right down and almost stopped. The original recipe said to bottle it on Day 3 (ie, today) but I’m going to give it until tomorrow because it’s been in a cool place.

I couldn’t help but taste a little of the brew this evening – and the verdict? It’s good! It tastes a little like lager, and nothing like I would have imagined something made from nettles to taste like. It’s not clear, it’s hazy, and a kind of golden colour. It reminds me of sitting outside pubs in the summer, and the sample glass smells like a pub now it’s empty

I am so pleased with the result so far that I’ll be picking more nettles tomorrow, and making another gallon. Final results in about a week, after it’s sat in the bottles for a while.

Beyond the kitchen

This blog is where I post my thoughts and experiences with food and drink – but of course there’s more to life than that – so if you’re at all interested in the other aspects of what we get up to in rural Ireland – my other blog is Darkginger’s Lair – where I witter on about all sorts of stuff, most of it only of interest to my nearest and dearest, but hey – it’ a blog, not lit-rat-toor

When life gives you nettles…

…make nettle beer! I awoke to find the sun shining on Ireland this morning – it’s been a while since we’ve seen it. The dogs and I spent the morning in the field, picking nettles – rubber gloves of course! It takes a surprisingly long time to pick a kilo of nettles, but I got there in the end.

Back indoors, I washed the nettles (they’re young ones, apparently they have to be, because the older ones taste ‘rank’ according to my source), drained them, and then boiled them up in 8 pints of water for 15 minutes.  This produced a sludgy green liquid, which I strained on to just over a pound of sugar.

First, boil your nettles...

The juice and zest (no white pith) of two lemons went into a sterlised demi-john, along with an ounce of cream of tartar. Once the nettle brew had cooled a bit, that went in too, and then normal baker’s yeast sprinkled on the top.  Gave the whole thing a swoosh round, fitted an airlock, and I’m now waiting for it to do it’s thing and ferment. It’s gone kind of an orange colour, which is surprising.

Researching nettle beer online is scary. Reports vary from those who love the stuff, to those who claim even their slugs won’t drink it. According to the EU, it’s not even a beer,  since it has no hops in it – it’s a ‘made wine’. Some people have experienced exploding bottles – but that’s probably due to not allowing it to ferment out in the primary vessel. I’m going to use plastic bottles in an attempt to avoid explosions, always a downer when trying to have a quiet drink.

Unlike the mead, this should be ready to bottle in about a week – and drinkable a week after that. Serve chilled, is the advice – whether that’s to mask the flavour or not, I’m not sure – but rest assured I’ll report back and try to give an objective view of the result. Watch this space!

New Book!

When I was travelling through Gatwick Airport recently, I noticed Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck Cookbook on sale for £40 in Smith’s. It’s a very large and heavy hardcover book, so I managed to resist buying it – and I’m glad I did, because I ordered it from Amazon last week for £24.79 (and free postage to Ireland, which is a miracle!).

The book arrived today – I’ve only had a quick flick through, but the photography and illustrations are mouthwatering, and the recipes look fascinating, if difficult to reproduce at home. I can’t really see me making snail porridge, but I think the idea with a book like this is to learn how the exotic stuff is made in professional kitchens, and use the recipes as inspiration rather than a script.

This is definitely one of those books you need to be sitting at a desk or table to read – it’s too heavy for the lap or propping up on your side in bed. I need to clear up the kitchen work surface anyway (it’s suffering from that annoying creepage of equipment and jars), so now I have more motivation to do so!

Lamb Kleftiko

‘Klefitko’, apparently, means ‘in the style of the thieves’ – the origin of this dish is that it was cooked by bandits in the hills of Greece, using ingredients they had to hand. In order to escape discovery, they cooked in tightly sealed vessels so there was no telltale smell. I have no idea how they avoided capture when actually eating!
Lamb and spring are connected in my mind, and lamb, Greece and Easter even more so – it’s like a spring stew!   Here we go:

 

This is what you need

Ingredients

2lb stewing lamb

3 or 4 potatoes, according to size

1 pack of shallots

1 pack Feta cheese

1 lemon

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

3 or 4 bay leaves

Dried oregano

8 cherry tomatoes, whole, or 2 large tomatoes, sliced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Start by peeling the potatoes and cutting them lengthwise into wedges. You could , of course, cut them into chunks but they always seem to do it this way when I’ve eaten spuds in Greece.
Put the potatoes into a casserole dish (it MUST have a lid). Slip the bayleaves between the potatoes, season well with salt and pepper, and squeeze the juice of the lemon over.

The spuds in the dish

Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees.
Add 1 tbsp of the olive oil to a large pan, and brown the lamb in it over a high heat. It’s important to really brown the meat – you may have to do it in more than one batch (took me 3) – so that it goes brown on the outside, as opposed to steaming to grey, which is what it will do if there’s too much meat/moisture in your pan. A lot of the flavour comes from this browning – something called the Maillard reaction takes place, which brings out the flavour – so be sure not to cut corners here.

See? It's brown, not grey!

Once the meat’s browned, add seasoning, then another tbsp of olive oil, then the peeled shallots, and 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped. Cook for around 5 minutes, until the shallots begin to take on some colour – then pour the whole lot, including all pan juices, over the potatoes in your dish.
Take the Feta out of its wrapping, and cut/crumble into chunks, then sprinkle over the lamb. Put the tomatoes on top, then shake your oregano over it all (to taste).

All ready to cook!

Put a tight fitting lid on the casserole dish (now I toyed with the idea of making a flour/water seal between lid and base, but decided it wasn’t really necessary, since my lid fits well. Yours may differ, so it’s up to you).
Into the oven it goes for around 4 hours. This gives you plenty of time to go out banditing, without having to worry about someone finding your camp.
When you’re ready to eat, simply remove the lid and serve.

Ready to eat

I think it works as a standalone dish, but you could always have something green on the side.
Hope you enjoy it!

More Mead, and Mussels

I started a second batch of mead today – the method’s the same as before, but this time I used a lemon instead of the orange, and about four inches of peeled and chopped ginger root instead of the cinnamon. Both meads are bubbling away nicely. Estimated time until bottling – 3 months, so I should be doing it around June 22nd.

My husband went out collecting mussels the other day – there’s a place not too far from here where they are abundant, and pretty big.

Cooked mussels

This is them after I’d cleaned them and then heated in a pan with a little white wine and garlic. I nibbled on a few, but my absolute favourite way of eating mussels is a bit more complicated.

Mix around 100g of unsalted butter with a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil, one crushed clove of garlic, and some fresh parsley. Take a mussel, remove the top shell, check for any leftover bits of beard or grit and remove, then spread the butter mix over the mussel meat.

Mussels with their garlic butter, ready for freezing

Now, this is where I left off, and prepared them for the freezer (in tin dishes, covered in clingfilm, as above). When we want to eat them, I’ll take them out, defrost, then dip each one in fresh breadcrumbs. 5 minutes or less under a hot grill (broiler), and they’re ready to eat, with plenty of French bread to soak up the juices. A bit like an Irish version of the French escargots!

Mead for beginners

It’s been a few years since I tried to make mead, but it’s really one of the easiest things to brew. I’ve just started off a new one gallon batch, and this is how I did it (it’s an adaptation of a recipe I found at Got Mead):

Ingredients

3lbs Boyne Valley Honey
1 orange, washed
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
25 raisins/sultanas
Champagne yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient

You also need a 1 gallon demi-john, a funnel and a jug.

In a large pot, melt the honey in some water (maybe a couple of litres, it’s not really important how much) over a gentle heat. Allow it to cool, then pour the honey mixture through a funnel into a sterilised demi-john. Chop the orange into pieces small enough to push through the mouth of the vessel, then add those too, plus the cinnamon stick, the clove and the raisins.

Add cold water to bring the volume up to around about the shoulder of the demi-john, and allow it to cool to room temperature. Once it’s cool, add the yeast and the nutrient, then give the whole thing a shake up (blocking the top so nothing spills out), fit a fermentation lock, and leave in a dark place for a few days. Once the initial vigorous foaming has died down a little, you can top it up with cold water to 3″ from the top.

Leave for two or three months, until fermentation stops, then siphon into bottles, leaving the residue behind.

It doesn’t get simpler than that – just make sure you sterilise all the equipment before use. I bought my yeast, steriliser and nutrient from Home Brew West but there are loads of home brew suppliers out there. The main expense is for the honey – I’m trying to find local beekeepers to see if I can come to some arrangement with them.

Mead - day 1

My books are here!

The Flavour Thesaurus and Formulas for Flavour arrived today – and on glancing through them, I’m delighted. The Flavour Thesaurus is so much more than a list of complementary flavours – it offers recipe suggestions, anecdotes and opinions on hundreds of different foods and flavours. Formulas for Flavour not only has a large section which explains all the basics, like making a lamb jus, confit onions etc. but also has step-by-step illustrated guides to some attractive sounding dishes, such as Slow Cooked Beef, Rib Meat and Onion Ice Cream, or White Chocolate Mouse with Raspberry Milkshake. I can’t wait to try some of these and see how my skills measure up.

I shall, of course, let you know how I get on!

Malaysian curry – the recipe!

This is not my recipe – it was posted by Curry Addict on Boards, and he in turn got it from a restaurant chef. I’ll post the original, and then note my adaptations and the result.

The Original recipe by Curry Addict

2 tbs vegetable oil
2 Chicken fillets or beef, thinly sliced strips
1 red onion coarsely chopped
2 lemongrass sticks (finely chopped)
1 tsp garlic
1 long red chillies
2 tbs Malaysian spice mix
Mushroom (handful quartered)
3 tbs oyster sauce
400ml Coconut milk
300ml chicken stock
2tbs fish sauce
2tbs palm sugar
coriander leaf to garnish

Heat the oil in a hot pan/wok, add the following…chopped onion, lemongrass, garlic, chicken, chillies and mushrooms and stir fry for 3-4 mins or until the chicken is slightly browned.
Mix in the oyster sauce and add the coconut milk quickly. Add the Malaysian spice mix, chicken stock and simmer for about 6 mins. Add the fish sauce and palm sugar and stir in well, check the seasoning and add fish sauce if required. Garnish with coriander leaf and serve with rice or noodles.

My Comments

I managed to get hold of most of the ingredients (I made the chicken version) – we’re becoming quite cosmopolitan out here in the far west! The lemongrass came from Country Fresh (greengrocers) in Westport, the fish and oyster sauces from Centra down on the Quay, the Malaysian spice mix I documented earlier, I didn’t have coconut milk, so I diluted some coconut cream with water, and I couldn’t find palm sugar anywhere, so used normal caster sugar.

Anyway – this was quick to make and was really good to eat. I found myself with rather more liquid than I expected, but Curry Addict suggested this could be because my heat isn’t high enough – I have a ceramic hob, although I would far prefer gas. We don’t have mainline gas out this way, so that would mean a gas bottle (not to mention an entire new stove!), which would, sooner or later, run out just when I didn’t want it to. I like the cleanliness of the hob, anyway -no gullies for yucky stuff to collect in.

So – the result was a huge success, both with me and with my husband, who isn’t always keen on spicy food. Next time I make it I should have the palm sugar too, thanks to a lovely lady in the UK called Red. I’ll definitely be cooking this again soon!

Sourdough continued

A few posts back, I mentioned that I was experimenting with making a sourdough starter for bread. After a very slow start, it’s on its way at last, and the rather unattractive picture below is the proof of that. Tomorrow, I’ll make a sponge (which is the pre-cursor to making the actual bread) and take it from there.