Saturday morning when I was a child, my mother or older sisters would bake rock buns. The aroma would waft through the whole house; it was better than any alarm clock to get us up and dressed.
Makes 8
220g (8 oz) self-raising flour
pinch of salt
110g (4 oz) butter, diced
110g (4 oz) brown sugar
80g (3 oz) currants
15g (½ oz) chopped cherries
15g (½ oz) chopped candied peel
pinch of nutmeg
1 egg
a little milk
Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and then rub in the butter. Mix in the sugar, currants, cherries, peel and nutmeg. Beat the egg with a little milk and add to the dry ingredients. Mix with a fork to a stiff mixture.
Grease a baking tray and add rough heaps of the bun mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C, 400°F, Gas Mark 6 for 15 minutes. Serve warm with Irish butter.
There is something very special about making this distinctively flavoured bread. It is made from a yeast culture grown in a paste of flour and water, known as a ‘starter’. Each time the bread is made, a small amount of starter is added to the dough. The original starter can then be ‘fed’ with more flour and water (see tip). With regular use it can be kept going indefinitely. There is a tradition of passing starters on from one generation to the next.
Makes 1 loaf
For the sourdough starter:
2 tsp dried yeast
300ml (10fl oz) water
240g (8½ oz) strong white flour
For the dough:
1 tsp dried yeast
200ml (7fl oz) water
60g (2 oz) rye flour
300g (10 oz) strong white flour
First, make the sourdough starter. Sprinkle the dried yeast onto the water and stir until dissolved. Stir in the flour, cover, and leave to ferment for 2 days at room temperature. Stir a couple of times a day.
When the starter is ready, make the dough. Sprinkle the dried yeast onto the water and stir until dissolved. Sieve the flours in to a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in 250ml (9fl oz) of the starter (reserving the rest for a future loaf) and mix in the flour from the sides. Stir in the yeast water until you have a sticky dough.
Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm room to rise for 2 hours.
Knock back (knead) the risen dough, punching out the air, and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Shape into a round loaf, place on a lightly floured baking tray and cover with a tea towel. Leave in a warm room (a hot press or airing cupboard is perfect) for 1½ hours – this is called ‘proving’. It allows the bread to rise slowly; the dough should double in size. Bake in a preheated oven at 220°C, 425°F, Gas Mark 7 for 1 hour. When cooked, the loaf should sound hollow when you tap the base. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
Tip: If you wish to keep your starter going, keep it loosely covered in the fridge. Each time you use it, replenish the remainder with an equal amount of flour and water to that which was removed. No further yeast should be necessary. You will notice a watery liquid film on top of your starter, either mix it back in or drain it off. The starter is a living thing: if it stops raising the bread, it should be discarded and a new starter made.
Ireland’s coast is one of her greatest natural resources. Sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, her waters have offered up a plentiful supply of fish, shellfish and seaweeds. We have a thriving fishing industry, expert fishmongers and our artisan producers are exporting smoked fish and seaweed-based products around the globe. It all sounds good, and it is. The fish certainly is: it’s naturally high in protein, low in bad fats and is a great source of Omega 3 oil. But, are we good for the fish?
Over-fishing has left our oceans perilously under-stocked, and fishing methods are seriously damaging the ocean environment. Most nets are not selective, when one species of fish is targeted other species are also hauled in. Greenpeace estimates that globally, a quarter of what is caught is merely killed and discarded.
Fish farming is one solution to decreasing stocks, but fish farms are prone to the same problems as intensive chicken farming. I would urge you to buy organically farmed fish (a halfway house between wild and farmed), which is produced under strict guidelines from the Soil Association and other regulatory bodies. It’s reared with regard for its welfare and without artificial additives.
What else can you do? Ninety per cent of fish sold in Ireland goes through the big supermarkets. Yet barely any of them source their fish from sustainable fisheries. Help make the supermarkets accountable by asking why they may sell the least sustainable species (cod, plaice and tuna), and take your custom to local fishmongers and farmers’ markets. But do make sure that even your local supplier bought the fish from a sustainable fishery. Seek their advice – tell them you don’t want to use cod in a particular recipe, and ask them to recommend an alternative fish.
Finally, eat a variety of fish. We rely too heavily on cod and salmon when the sea around Ireland is full of mackerel and herring. Try my recipe for fried mackerel with chilli and rocket salsa. We have some of the best oyster and mussel beds in the world – eat oysters as fresh as possible with a squeeze of lemon juice, and try steaming mussels with fresh tomatoes and chilli. What about our prawns and fantastic smokehouses? Fish smokes beautifully: try smoked eel or kippers on home-made brown bread with mayonnaise – mmm, fantastic!
Opposite my stall at the farmers’ market in Clonakilty, West Cork, was a fabulous fresh fish stall run by brothers Sean and Ollie O’Driscoll, who bought fresh fish each morning from the local fishermen at the pier in Schull. Every week I bought a bag of fish from them for a fiver – a special offer they do, and as a result I have made every fish pie under the sun! This is my favourite recipe. I use Hegarty’s, an Irish mature Cheddar, as its salty flavour is fabulous with the fish.
Serves 4
500g (1lb 2 oz) potatoes, peeled and boiled
7g (¼ oz) butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 fillets ling, whiting, or any white fish you can get your hands on (approx. 600g/1lb 5oz)
125ml