Unseasonal

Raspberries freshly picked from my garden

Part of my life in a previous existence was to buy industrial quantities of raspberries and strawberries.  I can almost tell you to the month what continent they are imported from.  When so many chefs, restaurants and the industry in general have realised that seasonal food is best, I am continually surprised that this does not seem to apply to soft fruit.

On Shrove Tuesday just past, so many people tweeted pictures of strawberries and raspberries with their pancakes.  Maybe and it's understandable there is a longing for the summer and the taste of fresh soft, sweet fruit. But at this time of year, they are utterly tasteless and represent a huge waste of money.  Someone said to me recently when I mentioned this, that they are seasonal in the country they are being exported from. This may be so, but the varieties grown are chosen for their abilities to withstand transport rather than texture and flavour.  They are also picked unripe which further impinges on flavour.

When strawberries are grown and ripened naturally they have that lovely sweet smell and the flavour is so worth waiting for.

This summer past I had an unbelievable crop of the most luscious and flavoursome raspberries. I had for the previous two years cursed them endlessly, as I had bought the canes in Lidl and they sucker everywhere.  I was almost at the end of my tether with them and was just short of pulling them all up.  Something stopped me and I am so glad now that it did.

Apart from the apricot all the fruit grown by myself

I always feel it is a waste to make jam with such luxurious fruit but I was able to spare some this year so I went ahead and made it.  In these winter months I am delighted I did, because served with warm fresh scones or brown soda bread hot out of the oven the taste is incomparable.















Tags: Seasonal soft fruit  Strawberry  Raspberry  Raspberry jam Irish Recipes

Welly Love

Getting wet feet every day is no fun. My honourable old pair of Aigle wellies had cracked and perished from too much time in the (sun) light in the shed. Sun in brackets because we seem to have had constant rain for months now.

Why did I not just go and buy a new pair?  Because I still harbour a bit of old snobbery about labels and I couldn't bear to just get a serviceable rubber pair in the local Stores.

I looked at a pair of Hunters on line, on eBay and in a hunting/shooting/fishing shop nearby and cringed at the price. I got a lecture from my son that they would be made in the same sweat shop in China where the serviceable pair in the Stores were. But I didn't care. I craved them.

I used to buy designer label jeans in BTs (Brown Thomas)  after all at €350 a pop. I loved bags and shoes and belts and coats. I loved all the designer horsey wear. But that was a previous life. That life is gone.

Now I just wanted wellies. I wanted to come back from feeding the pigs with dry feet. Yes feeding the pigs. Now my life involves feeding pigs, feeding chickens and ducks and dogs and a cat. And the surprising thing about all this is - my life is much better!

I get to bake and cook when the mood takes me. I can go for a walk when the rain stops. I can take a picture of snowdrops and a close up of a crocus. I get to write my blog. I eat better. I drink less. I have given up smoking.

But best of all, I finally got my wellies and they have given me a bigger thrill than any designer label bag or shoes.

The final straw having to wade through this twice a day!

Tags: Hunter wellies  Aigle wellies  Irish country living  Irish farming  Designer labels

Horse these Burgers into You (Homemade pork and beefburgers)

I don't know about anyone else but all the talk about burgers recently made me really want some.  Not the ones in the news which, to put it mildly, are not anything like described on the tin.  But my own burger recipe modified from one I saw Jamie Oliver do a while back.

Normally I only get the urge to make them for a BBQ in the summer.  When you have fresh herbs in the garden they are really delicious.  But in winter they work equally as well.


Ingredients Pork and Beef Burgers







250g mince pork ( you need about 20% fat to keep the burgers moist and juicy)
250g mince beef
2 red onions
1 garlic clove (optional)
salt, pepper
fresh thyme and oregano or what ever herbs you have
1 good big teaspoon of Dijon mustard
a glug of Worcestershire sauce


This quantity should make enough for 6-8 burgers depending on how big you like them.

Sauté the red onions and garlic with salt, pepper in some good quality oil.  Add some fresh thyme at this time of year.  When they are softened remove from heat and cool.

Add to your meat mix and then if you have some fresh oregano add it.  Scoop out a good big teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce.  Add some more seasoning and mix well.

If not binding you can add a beaten egg but I rarely find it necessary. Chill for about an hour.  They can also be frozen individually wrapped in cling film.

I like all my meat cooked rare or twitching and burgers are the same.  I buy meat and mince it myself in a mincer attachment I have for my Kitchen Aid.  That way I know exactly how fresh it is and what is in it.  For this reason I have no problem cooking them rare. However, I am sure your butcher would mince your meat for you, if you ask. My mother never bought mince when we were young. She always wanted to see the butcher mince it in front of her.

To serve buy decent bread rolls not the nasty burger buns in sweaty packets full of Calcium propionate (mould inhibitor).

Tags: Irish Food Jamie Oliver  Pork and Beef Burgers  BBQ  Dijon mustard  Worcestershire sauce  Kitchen Aid 
Horseburgergate  Horse Meat