Sweet Courgette Relish

Ingredients:

900g finely chopped courgettes

1 large onion finely chopped

500ml cider vinegar

350g granulated sugar

2 tbsp English mustard power

1 tsp tumeric

1-2 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp cornflour

2 tsp coriander seeds

Mix ingredients together:

Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cook for an hour:

Fill sterilised jars and leave to mature for a few weeks before opening:

Everybody Can Bake Bread

Bread, you can buy it cheap so why make it at home? Well, just look at the ingredients on the back of a generic white sliced pan and compare it with the following recipe and you’ll see that there is no need for those E numbers and other artificial evils.

The recipe I used:

450g Strong White Flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

25g margerine

7g bakers dried yeast (in all supermarkets)

300ml tepid water

Seeds for the crust (optional)

Sieve the flour and salt in to a bowl

Add sugar and rub in margerine

Stir in yeast, add the water and mix to a pliable dough

Turn on to a flat surface and knead for ten minutes until dough is stretchy and elastic (you’ll need flour for dusting the surface)

Shape and place in greased 2lb loaf tin. Cover with tea towel and put in the hotpress for an hour or so, until dough has doubled in size.

Sprinkle seeds on top and bake in a preheated hot oven (Gas 8/230c/450f) for approx 30 mins and until golden. Use a skewer to pierce the bread and it will emerge clean if bread is cooked.

Pic of my creation:

And tastes divine. Try it!

Never Mind Blarney Castle, Check Out Blarney Gardens

So I decided to take two days off work this week and was poxed with a gorgeous sunny day to kick it off, just reminding me why September is my favourite month. One of my aims this month is to see more of my local attractions, starting with the famous Blarney Castle.

The castle sits on 60 acres and is most famous for the legendary “Blarney Stone” which upon kissing, grants you with the gift of the gab.

I have no interest in this. Apparently, the stone is covered in the locals’ piss anyway so I wouldn’t be putting my lips anywhere near it.

Now the gardens are something else. The deserve to be part of a double headling bill, not a supporting act.

The view as you enter, showing the castle in the distance and River Martin (loaded with trout):

A tower sits by the castle:

The Castle:

And now down to the interesting business of the gardens. Each area seems to lend itself to a particular atmosphere and theme. 

The Fern Gardens was a beautiful wild and shady area in the woodland.

With interesting paths and steps leading to curious places:

And some friends hiding in the rocks:

Some huge trees about the place:

Making some weird tree shapes:

Then back into the open for some decorative flowers at the Herbaceous Border:

Decorative flowers bring alot of insects. I’ve never seen so many wasps and butterflies in one place before:

My favorite place was an area called Rock Close, which included some beautiful parts of the river, wandering steps and mystical rocks.

The Kissing Steps:

The Waterfall:

Like something from the Blue Lagoon

Archway:

Looking at the photos makes me want to visit it again, and I will soon as I didn’t realise there was a lake on the grounds (should have looked at the map they gave me on entry, no good examining it when I got home…). We spent over two hours there (and didn’t even bother to venture into the actual castle and Im sure there is at least two hours more wealth to be seen.

Fishing in Fountainstown

On one of finest days of the year, what better way to spend a few hours than fishing in a beautiful spot. Many others had the same idea as the rocky shore was littered with families catching mackerel for their supper.

The setting:

Rods positioned and ready:

Bait ready:

A lot of sprats meandering in the shallow water brings some hungry bass. You can see them from the shore but they’re clever. They see my lure but at the last second, swim away. Even this cool tshirt isn’t bringing us luck…

Finally the first fish of the day is caught, a chirpy energetic mackerel:

Mackerel didn’t stay energetic for long. He was destined for bigger better things e.g. bait. It was a good decision because before long this monster was pulled from the deep. A lovely Thornback Ray:

We pack up around half eight and make our way over the rocks back to the car. On the way, we pass a line of anglers dotting the shoreline and making for a nice picture. With the shoals of mackerel visibly breaking the surface, hopefully everyone went home with a few.

Evening sets:

Fish Cakes

My preferred homemade fast food. There is nothing more fun than spending an hour making a batch of fish cakes. Above is a photo of my most recent batch all dressed up with some noodles and salad. Here is the basic recipe I’ve put together:

Ingredients

Equal quantities of fish and potatoes - I use a self-caught white fish (usually ling), smoked mackerel, salmon and smoked coley (which is often available on special offer at the supermarket).

Fresh parsley (simple herb to grow, I’ve a parsley tree in the back garden!)

Onion

Fresh breadcrumbs (great way to use up your day old bread)

Few eggs

Flour

Butter, salt and pepper (for the spuds)

Method

Boil the spuds and mash up with butter, salt and pepper

Bake the fish slow and low for 25 minutes (feel free to add some butter/bay leaves)

Flake the cooked fish and mix well with the mashed potatoes

Add finely chopped parsley and onion

                             …..Now for the fun (and messy) bit….

Get three bowls. Put flour in the first, beaten egg in the second and bread crumbs in the third

Mould the fish mix into patties

Dip in each of the three bowls

Set on a tray and place in the fridge to harden up

After that, pan fry or wrap in tin foil and freeze for future quick meals.

Local Wild Food

I went for a stroll on the bank of my local river today and could not believe some of the things I spotted growing. My mother and I were innocently filling up on blackberries when we spotted a few unusual stalks pushing up from the footpath, wall and hedgerow.

The River Bank:

The usual flowery bushes:

And then tiny wild carrots growing out of the dirt on the footpath:

I’d love to know where they spawned from - there was a pile of bird feed nearby so perhaps someone has been spreading various seeds. If only there had landed in the grass, I might have pulled some decent vegetables.

Then I noticed a shoot that resembled an onion stalk, so mam rooted around and pulled out some wild garlic:

It tasted and smelled divine. Intensely garlic, but not overpowering. We ate it raw.

As we moved on, we noticed some familiar looking leaves (thanks Lisa):

And voila, wild strawberries (although inedible at present)

Just over the ditch (where alot of locals throw their food waste leading to a wonderful compost heap), we spotted the most beautiful Nasturtiums (the largest I’ve ever seen, in leaf and flower size). Nasturtiums are entirely edible and the flowers have a delicate yet intense pepper taste. The flowers and leaves contain Vitamin C and Iron. The flowers were out of reach but I took a few photos:

Get out there are get looking because there is nothing more wonderful than finding wild food.

One Sunny Day in Allihies

View from village

Copper Mines

View from Copper Mines

Local

Locals going for a stroll

Landscape

Little lake unexpectedly on hill

Vista