Mackerel Escabeche

For a fish that is often overlooked mackerel has a physical beauty the likes of cod or salmon can only dream of. Their handsome shape perfectly in tune to the rhythms of the sea. And freshly caught, their oily skin shimmers in natural light. The problem is that mackerel should be eaten as fresh as possible. Too long on a fishmongers slab and their allure soon fades. But if you can't eat it fresh pickle it. A good way of preserving makerel is to make a Spanish escabeche. The fish is first poached, or fried, then immersed in a tangy vinegar. Great with some grilled sourdough.

Ingredients

4 fresh mackerel, filleted
200mls tarragon Vinegar
100ml water
1 small glass of white wine
150gs sugar
1 red onion
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tumeric
olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 tbls raisins


Heat some olive oil in a large pan big enough to fit the Mackerel fillets. When hot carefully slide the fish in, skin side down. After about 1 minute turn over and cook the other side for the same amount of time.Take out and drain on some kitchen paper. Cook the chopped onion in the oil until soft and coloured. Just at the end add some chopped garlic and dried chilli flakes. Drain and reserve the oil. Put the vinegar, water, wine, sugar and spices into a pot, bring to the boil and reduce a little. Add the raisins and season. Place the mackerel in a sterilized jar and pour over onions and the hot pickling liquor. Seal, let it cool and pop in the fridge. Eat cold or at room temperature.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Bar, Seville

Jaggery Spread

Jaggery or gur is one of those food items that comes cloaked in a little mystery. For the record, its unrefined sugar from the jaggery palm. Cooking with it gives food a molasses or caramel type quality. Usually used in desserts but equally good in savoury dishes chiseled from the block it comes in. This recipe is from journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's The Settlers Cookbook her memoir on the little known Ugandan-Indian diaspora that settled and prospered in East Africa in the 19th century until Idi Amin expelled them in the 1970s after the military coup.


Ingredients

4 tbls Jaggery
4 tbls Butter

Heat up equal amounts of jaggery and butter. As soon as it starts to sizzel take off the heat. Immediately spread over warm chapatis or stir into a freshly made dhal. If the spread is left to cool for about 20 minutes it will turn into a delicious fudge to accompany some tea.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Date Pickle

For Muslim's breaking their fast during Ramadan, Phoenix Dactylifera, dates to you and me, are a good source of energy and will slowly help restart the digestive process back to its pre-fasting norm. This pickle uses both the fresh kind and the dried. The fresh taste a little like a sweet coconut apple and the dried have that unique sticky and cloying moreishness.
Popular in Iran and Iraq this gooey pickle is great with fried or scrambled eggs or as a bracing accompaniment to cheese.

Ingredients

500g fresh and dried dates
150g sumac
200g tamarind brick
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
juice of 2 lemons

Seperately, soak the Sumac and tamarind in a little water overnight. Stone the fresh and dried dates and soak them foe a few hours. Then roughly chop them. Add the strained tamarind and sumac, the rest of the spices and the lemon juice. Spoon all the lovely gooeyness into sterilized jars and keep in a cool place. The fridge is a little too cool and the mixture has a tendancy to crystallize but the pickle will probably last longer if refrigerated.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Pear Relish

Pomologist Edward Bunyard believed that “the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such a texture as leads to silent consumption”.
The new season pears will be ready for harvesting soon. So if you want to encounter a little of that “silent consumption” let them ripen for a few days after being picked. Or better still pickle them to make a zingy relish. This is great with some seriously strong cheese like an Italian Gorgonzola or our own Milleens from the craggy wilds of the Beara Peninsula.
This is adapted from a recipe by food writer and chef Skye Gyngell.

Ingredients

2 pears
1 apple
2 tablespoons currants
2 tbls barberries
50ml raspberry vinegar (or cider vinegar)
cinnamon stick
25g butter
2 tbls sugar
few sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper.

Soak the dried fruit in some warm water. Core and chop the pears and apple into small dice. Melt the butter in a pan, add the fruit and cook until starting to soften. Add all the other ingredients (except the salt and pepper) and cook for a further 5 to 8 minutes. Remove the cinnamon and season if necessary. Store in a sterilized jar.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Hibiscus Iced Tea

Dried edible flowers are a surprisingly aromatic addition to the canon of preservation.
The dried leaves and petals of the hibiscus flower make for a particularly tasty iced tea that is drunk all over North Africa and the Middle East. Soaking the leaves in hot water brings out the unique flavour of the flower, that is similiar to a more lemony cranberry juice. Once soaked the ruby petals leech a blood red colour into the water which depending, of course, on how sweet your tooth is needs sugar to offset the flowers tartness.
I picked up these Hibiscus leaves (Karkade in Arabic) in the vibrant food market in Toulon, in the South of France, where the atmosphere echoed the distinct bustle of a North African souk.
And if the health benifits of food is more your bag, well, hibiscus has been known to reduce blood pressure and help with weight loss.


Ingredients

50g dried hibiscus flowers (Karcade)
1½litres hot water
225g sugar

Soak the dried hibiscus in boiling water then add in the sugar. Stir to dissolve. After about 3 hours strain the liquid, pour into sterilized bottles, and refrigerate. Serve with ice.


Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Blackberry Gin

Can a more profound and intimate relationship with our food be had than to be seen foraging in prickly brambles on the side of our roads?
A gentle introduction into to the world of wild foods is to pick the first blackberries of the season along the many uncultivated hedgrows and bushes around the country.
Once you become a nibbler of all things wild the temptation to become a full-time gatherer might be too hard to resist particularly when late summer and autumn promise such rich pickings.
This Blackberry Gin was inspired by Pam Corbin's Sloe Gin recipe in the River Cottage preserves handbook.

ingredients

1kg Blackberries
900mls gin
450 sugar

Tumble the freshly picked blackberries into a large glass container or jar, pour over the gin and add the sugar. Stir the ingredients together and leave for the next month and a half to two months. Taste, and once the blackberries have instilled their flavour its ready. Strain the blackberry and gin mixture through a fine sieve. Pour the liqueur in sterilised bottles.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Papaya Chutney

Our anxieties over the provenance of our food and how far it has travelled will not be eased until the likes of citrus fruits, mangos and papayas grow this far north of the equator. Judging by July’s deluge that seems a long way off. So make use of the abundance of papayas from the many Asian delis around the country. This classic chutney, adapted from Simon Parkes’ and Udit Sarkhel’s cookbook The Calcutta Kitchen, is a delectable introduction to the cuisine of West Bengal.

It is usually served at weddings as a rite of passage, after a hot curry, along with poppadoms.


Ingredients


1kg Papayas

A walnut sized piece of seedless tamarind and/or 1 tbsp tamarind paste

2 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 medium sized mango

2 tbsp groundnut oil

Teaspoon mustard powder

Tsp mustard seeds

100g raisins

6 medium sized chillies, chopped

100g sugar

Salt

1 tbsp flour


Peel the papayas, de-seed them and cut them into bit-sized chunks. Soak the tamarind in about 350mls of water, then rub through a sieve to extract the thick pulp and add the liquid. Add some tamarind paste, if you wish, for extra tamarind-ness. Blend the ginger and mango together to a paste. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and powder. When the seeds start to pop, add the raisins. When the raisins balloon, add the papaya and the sugar. Stir for a few minutes then add the tamarind pulp and liquid and salt to taste. Make sure there is enough water to cover. Simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the papaya is just starting to break down. Dissolve the flour in a little water. Add to the pot and stir continuously to avoid lumps. Juts before removing from the heat add the ginger and mango paste. Cool, put into sterilized jars and refrigerate. Best served at room temperature.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Raspberry Vinegar

The raspberry, the first soft fruit of summer, deserves a transformation other than to mere jam. A raspberry vinegar perfectly captures late summers giddy sweetness. Initially used to combat coughs, colds and even flatulence raspberry vinegar is now a useful store cupboard standby for splashing into soups, drizzled over savoury tarts and added to meat and red wine sauces for extra piquancy. A few spoonfuls into a glass of champagne or cava makes for a refreshing aperitif.

500g raspberries

400g sugar

150ml white wine vinegar

150ml cider vinegar

Lemon juice.

Soak the raspberries in the mixture of white wine vinegar and cider vinegar for two to three days. Then overnight strain this mixture in a muslin cloth or a fine sieve. Add the sugar to the resulting liquid. Heat gently for about five minutes until the sugar dissolves. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and cool. Pour into long, thin sterilised bottles and seal.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

recipes! read all about it

follow the recipes here and in Metro Eireann every week.
A sort of peoples larder. Pickled and preserved. Check the archive for older recipes.

http://www.metroeireann.com/articles/recipes

Ful Medames

Broad beans have the reputation of being a cosseted bunch of legumes. These kidney-shaped beans, sheltered away in their furry pods, seem indifferent to our demands. But we will forgive their apparent aloofness as we are won over by their sweet and bitter nuttiness.

Fresh broad beans are great eaten raw or only very lightly blanched and simply drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice and topped with shaved pecorino cheese.
Ful medames, a little like hummus, is almost the national dish of Egypt and variations of it are eaten all over the Middle East. The broad beans for this recipe were picked up at Sonairte organic farm and ecology centre near Laytown in Co Meath. If you drop everything and hurry, you may catch the last of this season’s crop.

Ingredients:
250g broad beans
5 large tomatoes
1/4 tsp cumin seeds or powder
Olive oil
1 lemon
3 tbsp tahini (optional)
3 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Sumac

Pod the broad beans and with the larger ones remove their jackets, then set aside. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and add to a frying pan with the olive oil and cumin seeds. Cook gently until the tomatoes break down, then add the thinly sliced garlic and broad beans. Cook for a further ten minutes.
Meanwhile put the tahini into a bowl with some water to make a wet paste. Add some lemon juice. Take the pan with the tomatoes and broad beans off the heat and after a few minutes add the tahini and mix well. Season and add a little more lemon juice, olive oil and a sprinkling of sumac to serve. Best served hot with some flatbread.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Pickled Peaches

Next time you are eating a peach examine the stone nestled deep within its flannel like jacket, encased in pulpy fruit. This succulent summer fruit is a distant relation to the bitter almond and both members of the Rosaceae or Rose family. According to wide-eyed polymath Mark Twain their divergent paths to a fruit and nut was all down to a little nurturing. “Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond."

Fruit poached in a sweet vinegared syrup has always been a lip puckering way of preservation, from Spain to Italy and from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.

Try these pickled peaches with cheddar or blue cheese.

Ingredients

1kg fresh peaches

750 mls red wine vinegar

3 cloves

½ teaspoon mustard powder

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp powdered ginger

250g sugar

¼ tsp black pepper

1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon

2 tbsp barberries

Make the syrup first. In a large pan pour in the wine vinegar followed by the spices, sugar and tarragon. Bring to the boil until the sugar dissolves. Set aside. Drop the peaches into boiling water for about a minute or two. Cool under cold water and peel the skin. Be careful when cutting the peach into segments. Bring the syrup back to the boil and drop in the peach segments followed by the barberries. Poach for about 3 or 4 minutes, you want the peaches a little soft but to keep their shape. With a slotted spoon, fish out the peaches. Now boil the liquid till it reduces and becomes a little syrupy. Pack the peaches into sterilised jars and pour over the syrup. It might be difficult but leave for at least a week before trying.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Cherry Compote

Fruit and alcohol have always been sweet bedfellows. Think plums and brandy, apples and calvados, raisins and sherry and the trinity of peaches, prunes and pears with white or red wine.
And of course, cherries and kirsch are another brilliant saccharine combination.
The small French region of Alsace is famed for its kirsch, a fermented drink made from morello cherries.
The distilled brandy is a vestige from the German Empire’s presence in the region in the late 19th and early 20th century.
This cherry compote is a decadent addition to yogurt or crème fraiche.

Ingredients:
200ml kirsch
250g cherries
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Wash and stone the cherries. Put them in a large saucepan on low to medium heat and add the sugar, cinnamon and a little water. Gently stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil. When the cherries are soft, strain the liquid into another pan and add the kirsch. Boil until the liquid reduces a little. Put the cherries into sterilised jars and pour over the reduced liquid, seal and refrigerate.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Apricot Jam

For the people of Beit-Jala in Palestine, the apricot is a fruit of longing. According to food writer Christiane Dabdoub Nasser, it is the fruit that most emigrants from this part of the West Bank miss most about their region.
This apricot jam recipe, adapted from Nasser’s Classic Palestinian Cuisine, proves once again foods’ importance in sustaining memory and identity.
The apricots lend themselves well to slow cooking with sugar. The result is a thick and sticky jam with a burnt orange glow that would make even the sun jealous. Serve with toast or yogurt.

Ingredients:
500g fresh apricots
200g sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon or orange

Halve and stone the apricots, put them into a medium-sized pan with the sugar and gently stir so that the sugar coats the fruit and melts.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for about an hour till it reaches a jammy consistency. Add the lemon or orange juice a few minutes before the end.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

'We mistook the full moon as a loaf of bread and raised our hands to the sky'......Rumi

Gingered Gooseberry Chutney

A rather reluctant member of the berry family the gooseberry is a much unloved summer fruit. Its hairy and veiny exterior alone would scare off even the most forgiving berry fanatic. It prefers the relatively milder summers of northern Europe. It's sourness far too teeth-clenching for those looking for a sweeter hit. This Chutney is an excellent way of dealing with a glut of gooseberries that might come your way. Denis Cotter of the great Cafe Paradiso in Cork generously donated his gooseberry chutney recipe to this column. Ginger is the key ingredient and gives the chutney a more eastern inspired flourish. In Paradiso this chutney is served with grilled Haloumi. Also good with grilled fish.

Ingredients

1Kg gooseberries, topped and tailed
100g grated fresh root ginger
½ tsp mixed spice
300g sugar
juice of 2 lemons
Put everything in a pot and simmer for 30-50 minutes until the gooseberries have broken down and the chutney has become thick. Store in sterilized jars.

Ken doherty is a chef and journalist

radish, pecorino salad w/ pomegranate and truffle oil, bocca di lupo, london

Strawberry Granita

“A famine of snow, they themselves say, would be more grievous than a famine of either corn or wine.” 18th century author and traveller Patrick Brydone's keen observation indicates not only the importance of chrystalline matter in the development of a cultures cuisine but that this pivotal moment was due in no small part to the arab influence on southern Italian cuisine.
The snow in question is that nestled around Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. The snow provided an icy alchemy for the arabs who used it to make sarbat (later to become granita and sorbets).
Unlike ice cream and sorbets you dont need an ice-cream machine to make granita.
Get hold of the juiciest Irish strawberries to make what could become a regular cooling ingredient in your freezer this summer.
In Sicily Granita are often served, for breakfact, with a dollop of whipped cream alongside warm brioche for dunking.

Ingredients

450g strawberries
400ml water
200g sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Make a stock syrup with the water and sugar (Mix the water till the sugar dissolves). Wash the strawberries and leave them to dry. Blitz them with the lemon juice till you get a pulp. Add the stock syrup and blitz for about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture into a container and put into the freezer, preferably overnight.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Japanese Sainbaizu Dressing

Umami might sound like the name of a Marvel comic strip character battling to the purge the earth of dark and pernicious forces but along with sweet, salty, bitter and sour it more humbly represents one of the five tastes. According to food scientist Harold McGee bonito fish flakes (katsuobushi), here representing umami, the fifth taste, are “to the Japanese tradition what a concentrated veal stock is to the French.” Umami (translates roughly as delicious or tasty), a natural glutamate, initially found in seaweed by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, enhances and gives body to food.
Parmesan cheese, fish sauce, soy sauce, mushrooms and tomato ketchup also satisfy our umami cravings.
This vinegar dressing gives a welcome fragrance to a wakame and cucumber salad. Deepens and concentrates stocks and soups (Bonito flakes are the key ingredient in Dashi a Japanese stock). Good with quick fried squid, foil baked whole fish and as poaching liquer for fish fillets.

Ingredients

250mls rice wine vinegar.
320mls water
25mls soy sauce.
60g sugar.
dash of mirin.
2 or 3 tablespoons bonito flakes

Bring the rice vinegar, water, sugar, mirin and soy to a boil til the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and stir in the bonito flakes. Leave infuse for about ten minutes. Strain the liquid, bring to the boil again and let it cool. Refrigerate after use.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Sorrel Syrup

It is not often that a herb comes with both a knockout description and a warning. Sorrel, says Richard Maybey, is “marvellously cool and sharp when raw like young plum skins, but perhaps too acid for some palates”. Although sorrel aids digestion it can be too astringent for some. Its tangy, lemony flavour is due to high levels of ascorbic acid. In fact those with kidney problems should not over-indulge in this spinach-like perennial. In Jamaica red sorrel is used to make a refreshing cold drink. Common sorrel, no relation to Jamaican, is a good substitute and is avaliable here for most of this, so far glorious, summer.

Ingredients

Cut or tear the sorrel leaves and put them in a pot with enough water to barely cover. Add the star anise and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about ten minutes. Take the pot off the heat, cool and infuse overnight. The next day strain the liquid into a clean pot, add the sugar or honey (the sweeter the better), lemon juice and the ginger powder (if are using fresh ginger cut into thin slices and add them to the simmering sorrel at the beginning). Boil the liquid again until the sugar dissolves and it reduces a little. Strain again if using powdered ginger, pour into strerilised jars and refrigerate. Dilute and serve with sparkling water, champagne, cava or prosecco.

1 kg Sorrel
2 tablspoons ginger
1 star anise
1 Lemon
Sugar or honey
water

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Persian Carrot Jam

Those used to lathering their toast with marmalaide, honey, strawberry and rasberry jam will, of course, scoff at the notion of eating carrots first thing in the morning. But this unusual jammy delight should appeal to all those with the sweetest tooth. This recipe was inspired by a recent trip to the Persian emporium Persepolis, in Peckham, south London, run by Sally Butcher and her husband Jamshid. Sour cherries sit alongside dried whey balls, herbs and spices nestle alongside dried limes and rose petals and, no doubt, if it can be pickled and preserved they will have it. Videos, cds, musical instruments and rugs give the shop a more bazaar feel. Freshly baked (in Tehran!) pastries and sweets decorate the window and would tempt most passers by.
We left with our wallets lighter, our bags heavier, a badge proclaiming 'I love Peckham' and a sense that a little known cuisine had been enthusiastically shared to total strangers. Its that sort of shop.
A recent book 'Persia in Peckham: Recipes from Persepolis' can only add to our understanding of Iran's rich culinary legacy.
This jam is great spread on hot toast or mixed into plain yogurt. Also interesting as an accompaniment to grilled fish or added to chicken or lamb casseroles.

Ingredients

600g carrots.
300ml water.
400g sugar.
1 dried lime.
1 lemon
1 tablespoon rose water
Peel the carrots and grate or julliene them into small strips. Mix the sugar with the water and bring to the boil. Add the carrots, lemon juice and dried lime and simmer until the carrots are cooked and the jam thickens. Add the rosewater at the end. Pour the jam into a liquidizer and blitz until you get a pulpy fruity mess. This gives the jam a more spreadable quality. Pack into sterilized jars and refrigerate. Best used within a couple of months.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Honeyed Walnuts

According to Pliny the Elder “Cattle that have eaten poisonous honey throw themselves to the ground, seeking to cool their bodies which are running with sweat.” Apart from the bizzare imagery the chances of poisoning anyone, let alone cattle with honey, seem remote. Maybe its an ancient human smear campaign against the phenomenon of bees and their complex and dilligent work ethic. The hardworking summer bee swoops from flower to flower gorging on liquid necter that results in a miraculous sticky and sweet ambrosia. Syrups are a useful way of combining flavours that like to mingle with honey including spices, orange blossom, rosewater and lemons. Nuts preserved in honey are a particular favourite of the South of France. Walnuts, which turn rancid fairly quickly, are best smoothered in a honey syrup. Add honeyed walnuts to yogurt, muesli and ice-cream. Use as a filling for tarts or for a sweet crunch with pecorino cheese.


Ingredients

350g clear honey.
450g walnuts.
1 lemon.
½ medium sized cinnamon stick.
Water.
Lightly toast the walnuts in a frying pan for a few minutes. Set aside and cool. Put 500mls of water in a pan with the honey, cinnamon stick, lemon juice and rind. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer to get a good syrupy consistency. Tip the walnuts into the syrup and mix. Immediately transfer everything to two 250g sterilized jars.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Crispy Pigs Cheek, Dandelion and Mustard. St. John, Bread and Wine, London.

Asparagus with Paprika Alioli

To miss the short Irish asparagus season would be to risk incuring the wrath of mother nature. A myth, if there was one, would show that if the current asparagus season was missed the following one would yield zero. These glorious green spears, are criminally undervalued here and with the season, if you are lucky, lasting from the end of April to the end of June any you can get hold of should be consumed with relish. Ideally eaten as soon as they are plucked from the ground before losing their natural sugars. Simply blanched and dipped into a fiery Catalan mayonnaise makes for a great shared starter. Ok, all together now, 'Im Asparagus!'

Ingredients

6 garlic cloves.
300ml olive oil.
1 tablespoons white wine vinegar.
1 egg yolk.
½ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
Salt.
Crush the garlic and salt to a paste with the top of a knife, transfare to a bowl and add the egg yolk and vinegar. Slowly whisk in the olive oil till you get a thick consistency. Gently mix in the sweet paprika.
The asparagus does'nt need much cooking. Snap off the hard bottoms (they could be used later for a stockpot). If they are particularly large cut them into two and blanch in boiling water for about a minute or two. To stop the cooking process refresh under cold water, drain and serve with alioli on the side. Alternatively cook the asparagus on a griddle pan for about seven or eight minutes, turning occasionaly. Eat immediately sprinkled with flakes of Maldon sea salt.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist.

Sweet Aubergine Relish

Its almost as if cooking was invented for the likes of the aubergine. The most mysterious and misunderstood of the night shade family the aubergine becomes, in pickles and relishes, a great carrier of flavour. This preserve is somewhere between an Indian relish or pickle and an Italian caponata. Great as a side with curry's and stews or add to pasta for an eastern twist. The fruity and spicy element are a great accompaniment for sandwiches in need of a lift.

Ingredients

2 medium sized aubergines.
1 red onion.
10 grams of fresh ginger, chopped.
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced.
½ teaspoon of mustard powder.
½ teaspoon of mustard seeds.
½ teaspoon of dried chillies.
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds.
1 teaspoon of coriander.
1 teaspoon of tumeric.
Olive oil.
2 tablespoons of tomato puree.
30g Sultanas.
30g pinenuts.
120ml red wine vinegar.
30ml port.
1 tablespoon of muscovado sugar.
Cut the aubergines into small chunks. Put them in an oven proof dish drissled with a little olive oil and some sea salt. Mix together so the aubergines are coated in the oil. Roast in the oven at about 170 degrees til browned and soft. Meanwhile fry the spices, in a medium sized pot, to release their aroma. Add the onion and a little more oil and fry till soft. For the last minute of frying add the chopped garlic and chilli flakes. If too dry add some more oil at this point. Drain the soaked sultanas and mix with the onions and spices. Pour the red wine vinegar and port into the pot with a little muscovado sugar and on a low heat and let it reduce and thicken. Add the aubergines and toasted pinenuts and cook for a further ten minutes. The relish should be sweet, sour and spicy. Transfer to sterlized jars and once opened keep in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Labneh

You dont need a long white coat and a blue hair net to make cheese. Yoghurt, a muslin and a little time should be sufficient. By making your own cheese you become a producer of food with a sense of mystery and no less alchemy. By straining the whey from yogurt it becomes a lot thicker with a hint of sourness that places it somewhere between yogurt and cheese.
The Middle Eastern Labneh is great dappled among sweet roasted vegetables or placed like thick snowy peaks on bulgar and couscous salads. It can be formed into little balls, stored in strerilized jars and topped with olive oil. These cheese balls can be rolled with fresh herbs or spices. They make a great addition to slow roast lamb or beef. For a dip mix it with mashed smoked garlic. Add swirls of honey or fresh fruit for an early morning sweet kick or a refreshing after dinner soother.

Ingredients

500g Greek Yoghurt
½ teaspoon Sea Salt
In a bowl mix the salt with the yogurt. Scoop the yoghurt out and into a muslin cloth, tie up and hang over a bowl to catch the whey (which can be discarded later). Alternatively the yogurt can be strained through a fine sieve. Leave for at least 24 hours or longer if you want the cheese to have a firmer set.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Anchovies with Cime di Rapa

Great foods should have a sense of mystery: From sweet Spanish hams to the fragrant wheels of Parmesan cheese, from the fruity drama of figs and pomegranates to the alluring nightshades of aubergines and peppers. Stretching from Spain and North Africa to Italy and the Middle East tinned and jarred food have a glorious reputation not just as a store cupboard staple but as a mysterious and evocative link to the mediterraneans shared culture. Tinned anchovies in olive oil are the midnight treat of preserves. They are the base note for many dishes and sauces. Their saltiness compliments the sweet, like onions and tomatoes and they love the company of garlic, butter, lemon, capers and olives. They add complexity to meat, particularly lamb.
Anchovies coating the spring green cime di rapa (turnip tops) makes for a subatantial starter.

Ingredients

Serves 4
100g good quality tinned anchovies
½ chopped red chilli.
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced.
Butter.
olive oil.
Cime di rapa (turnip tops) or purple sprouting broccoli.
Put a good dash of olive oil in a pan, followed by a knob of butter. Add the garlic and chilli and stir for one minute. Pour the anchovies with its oil into the pan. Melt them (sciotte in Italian) till you get a rich unctuous sauce. Meanwhile blanch the cime di rapa in boiling water for one minute to get rid of its slight bitternes. Drain the cime di rape and tip into the sauce. Stir to coat all the leaves. Serve straight way on its own or mixed with orecchiette pasta, traditionaly served with cime di rape in the Puglia region of southern Italy.
If using purple sprouting broccoli, blanch or steam for about 2 minutes before adding to the sauce.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Kimchi

Food that gets a dedicated museum to honour its importance should be approached with trepidation and no less awe. The Kimchi Museum in Seoul, South Korea, makes it difficult to say anything new about this ancient preserve while at the same time inspiring a devotion few foods can match.
'Kimchi!' is the word Korean's shout, instead of 'cheese!', when getting their picture snapped. The defining characteristic of all Kimchi, apart from the heat, is the sour notes that a few days fermintation brings on. It is commonly used as the centrepiece in an aray of banchan (side dishes) that accompany a main meal.

Ingredients

2 Chinese (Napa) Cabbage
1 small Korean radish
2 tablespoons of Korean chilli powder
1 tbls of Sugar
2 tbls of fresh Ginger
1 head of Garlic
half an Onion
Salt
6 Spring Onions
1 tbls Nam pla fish sauce or anchovy essence (optional)
Rub salt into the cabbage leaves. Leave in a bowl for a few hours till it shrinks to at least half its size. In the meantime make the spice mix. Put the peeled garlic, chopped ginger and onion into a blender with a little water to make a paste. Mix the paste in a bowl with the chilli powder, sugar and sliced spring onion. Thinly slice the radish and add to the chilli paste. Rinse the cabbage under cold water to get rid of the salt. At this stage rubber gloves might come in handy. Mix the paste and cabbage together making sure all the leaves are covered. Put in sterilized jars and press down. There should be enough liquid to cover, if not, add a little water. Leave about 2 inches at the top and seal. Leave to ferment for 3 days and then refrigerate. It will last about 3 weeks. Any longer and the fermination might be too strong for most tastes. Serve cold.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Rhubarb and Rose Water Jelly

Next time you are in a busy restaurant or bar listen out for the rumblings that seem to be a paen to a seasonal herbacious plant. The sound of 'rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb' might be lost on many but foodies would realise that it is perfectly in tune with the seasons. This late spring and early summer edible plant makes for a wonderful jam or conserve but with the added fragrance of rosewater and Persian limes it becomes a more complex and seductive preserve.
This jelly is ideal for adding depth to stews or caseroles, sweetness to game dishes, a filling for tarts or simply serve with ice cream or a dollop of yogurt. In Turkey and Iran something sweet like this would be stirred into tea or coffee.

Ingredients

1 kg Rhubarb.
400 ml water.
Juice and zest of 4 limes.
1 and a half teaspoons of Rose water
For every 300mls of juice add 200g of sugar.
Method
Chop the rhubarb into chunks and add to a pan with the water. Boil until the Rhubarb becomes mushy. Pour this into a muslin over another pan and let the clear juices run out, preferably, over night. Next add, and disolve, the required amount of sugar with the rhubarb juices. Add the rose water, juice and zest of the limes and boil rapidly. Turn down the heat and simmer gently until the jelly reaches a setting consistency. This could take anything from 30 mins to an hour and a half. To test if the jelly has set pour a spoonful onto a cold plate, leave for a minute, and if it wrinkles when touched its set.
Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Preserved Lemons

As the days get longer and spring strides optimisticly into summer there is one versatile fruit that reminds us of far sunnier climes. Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East enjoy a climate and geology where lemons are in abundance. Fresh lemons, particularly their zest and juices, lift a mundane meal to a more memorable one. Preserved lemons are something else altogether. It would be hard to imagine bulghar and couscous, tagines and Moroccan salads without those zingy complex notes. Their bursts of sunshine would not only be bottled for the leaner months but preservation brings out a particular unique characteristic. They are an easy and worthwhile addition to any larder.
March and April is a good time to pick up some new season Mediteranian lemons from the many Middle Eastern and Indian deli's around the country.

Ingredients

10 small to medium sized unwaxed lemons.
Salt.
Water.
Cut a cross section into the lemons about ¾ the way down so they open like a flower. Fill each lemon with about 2 teaspoons of salt. Close the lemons and pack them tightly into a sterilized jar. Leave for a few days so the salt can draw out some of the natural juices and sugars and they become softer. For the preservation to really start working its magic cover the lemons with a mixture of lemon juice and water. Leave for three to four weeks. They will last for about a year in their preserving juices.

ken doherty is a chef and journalist

Food and Memory: Savouring the Taste of Home

Ken Doherty takes a tour of some of Dublin’s multitude of ethnic restaurants and shows how for many immigrants, the connection to their culture and traditions is kept alive through the prism of food......

see.....www.metroeireann.com/article/savouring-the-taste-of-home,1669

Calcots, La Boqueria, Barcelona

La Boqueria, Barcelona