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.