An Irish Country Love Story (50 page)

425 mL / 15 oz. milk

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 bay leaf

113 g / 4 oz. smoked streaky bacon

1 tablespoon olive or sunflower oil

28 g / 1 oz. butter

1 leek

1 shallot

1 small carrot

700 g / 1½ lbs. potatoes, peeled and finely diced

112 mL / 4 oz. cream

1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)

A handful of chopped parsley

First, clean the mussels and, using a sharp knife, remove the beard. That's the little tufty bit on the shell. Bring the wine to a boil in a saucepan, add the mussels, cover with a lid, and cook for about 4 minutes. Discard any that did not open and remove most of the rest from their shells, leaving just a few for decoration. Set aside the cooking liquid.

Simmer the white fish in the milk with the thyme and bay leaf for just a few minutes until cooked but still firm. Remove the fish and set to one side. Discard the bay leaf and season the cooking liquid well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Now chop the bacon and sauté in the oil and butter for about 1 minute till crisp. Add the finely sliced leek, shallot, carrot, and diced potatoes. Cover and cook gently for a few minutes, without browning. Add the cooking liquid from the mussels and the white fish and simmer all together until the potatoes are soft and breaking up. Then add the scallops and shrimp. They will only need a very little time to cook so watch that you do not overcook them or they will be rubbery.

Now add the fish and the cooked mussels together with the cream and fish sauce. Season to taste and add chopped parsley. If the chowder is too thick just add some more milk or water, and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Serve with my wheaten bread and butter and this will be a substantial meal on its own.

P
ORK IN
M
USTARD
S
AUCE

700 g / 1½ lbs. apples, peeled and thinly sliced

4 slices of pork loin or pork chops trimmed of fat

15 g / ½ oz. butter

60 mL / 2 oz. dry white wine

75 mL / 5 tablespoons Dijon mustard

227 mL / 8 oz. thick cream

salt and pepper

Set the oven to 400ºF, 200ºC, or gas mark 6. Butter a casserole dish big enough to spread the pork slices side by side. Cover the base with the thinly sliced apples and bake for 15 minutes in the oven.

While the apples are cooking, place the salted chops with the remaining butter in a pan over a medium heat and cook until they are nicely browned on each side. This should take about 15 minutes.

Now remove the apples from the oven and place the pork on top of the apples in the casserole dish. Place the pan back on the heat, add the wine, and deglaze the pan until the wine has reduced by half. Pour this over the pork in the casserole.

In a bowl, mix the mustard into the cream, tasting as you go, add some salt and pepper, and pour the mixture over the pork. Return the dish to the oven and bake for a further 25 minutes or so.

This is delicious served with champ and just about any other vegetable that you like.

B
EEF
W
ELLINGTON

1 kg / 2 lbs. 4 oz. fillet of beef, trimmed

Small bunch of thyme leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons strong English mustard or prepared horseradish

500 g / 1 packet frozen puff pastry

1 egg (to glaze)

Duxelles

Splash of truffle oil

3 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic

450 g / 1 lb. Crimini/chestnut mushrooms

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

First make the duxelles. This is the layer between the beef and the pastry.

To a little truffle (or olive) oil in a medium-hot pan add the chopped shallots and the crushed garlic, then add the mushrooms and cook until all the moisture from the mushrooms has evaporated. Now add the chopped parsley.

Now dry the fillet of beef with kitchen paper and sprinkle on plenty of salt, the thyme leaves, and freshly ground black pepper. In a frying pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil and, keeping the pan at a hot temperature, sear the beef on all sides and each end. Now spread either the mustard or horseradish over the entire fillet and leave to rest, wrapped in clingfilm, to chill in a refrigerator. This may be done up to 24 hours ahead.

When you are ready to cook the beef, set the oven to 220ºC /450ºF.

Roll out the puff pastry to a size that will completely wrap around the beef, plus an extra inch or two for sealing. Spread the duxelles over the pastry. Lay the beef on top, then fold the pastry round it and moisten and seal the pastry edges. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and decorate with a sharp knife to make a crisscross pattern. Sprinkle the pastry with some coarse sea salt to help it to crispen.

Now bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 to 12 minutes. Then, with a really sharp knife, cut into slices and serve.

Kinky's Note:

When I made this for the marquis I added another step to the recipe, but it really makes the dish much richer and is probably more suited to a very grand occasion, so.

What you need is a portion of pâté de fois gras, a tablespoon of brandy, and some very thin cooked pancakes or crêpes. Then you put a layer of pâté, softened with the brandy, onto the pancakes and place this, pâté side up, between the pastry and the duxelles.

G
INGER
B
ISCUITS

85 g. / 3 oz. plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

60 g / 2½ oz. sugar

85 g / 3 oz. rolled oats

Ginger root, about 2 inches, peeled and chopped or grated finely

100 g / 4 oz. butter

1 tablespoon syrup (golden or maple)

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat the oven to 150ºC /300ºF. Line 2 large baking tins with baking parchment. Put all the dry ingredients and the fresh ginger into a large bowl and mix together. Melt butter, syrup, and milk in a saucepan over a low heat and mix into the dry ingredients. Pop it into the fridge for about 5 minutes until it has firmed up and cooled.

Now put heaped teaspoons on the baking sheets, very well spaced apart, as they spread while cooking. Flatten the top of each biscuit with the back of a spoon and bake until lightly browned.

This can take between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on your oven. Now you need to let them cool on the trays, otherwise they would disintegrate. When they are cool enough to move, transfer to a cooling rack and store, when cold, in an air-tight box.

Kinky's Note:

Ginger keeps very well in the freezer and is easy to grate whilst frozen.

U
LSTER
B
UTTERMILK
S
CONES

225 g / 8 oz. plain flour

2½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

56 g / 2 oz. sugar

85 g / 3 oz. butter, at room temperature

1 egg, beaten

4 to 5 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF and line a large baking sheet with greased baking parchment.

In a bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, salt, and bicarbonate of soda and add the sugar. Cut the butter into the flour mixture and rub in with your fingers. Then stir in the egg and a tablespoon of buttermilk. Gradually work in the rest of the buttermilk to make a dough. Different brands of flour may use more or less buttermilk, so do this slowly, as you may have too much or may need to add more. When it all comes together in a soft dough it is ready to be kneaded and rolled out on a floured work surface. It should be about 1 inch or more thick. Now take a cutter or a small upturned glass tumbler and cut out rounds about 1½ inches in diameter. You should end up with about 12.

Arrange the scones on the baking sheet and brush with a little egg yolk mixed with a little milk to give the scones a golden top, or you could simply dust them with flour.

Bake for about 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

This is the recipe that I gave to Maggie MacCorkell.

F
UDGE

115 g / 4 oz. butter

397 g / 14 oz. condensed milk

150 m / 4 oz. milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla essence (optional)

455 g / 16 oz. demerara sugar

Line a 30 x 20 cm baking tin with parchment.

Melt the butter in the condensed milk and the ordinary milk over a low heat in the biggest, heaviest-bottomed pan you can find. Add the salt, vanilla (if using), and gradually add the sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn the heat up high and watch that the mixture does not boil over. Continue to boil for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often and making sure that the bottom of the mixture is not burning. The colour will change from a creamy white to a shade of light brown and the temperature will register about 240ºF /116ºC. A drop of the mixture dropped into icy-cold water will form a soft ball of fudge.

Beat with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes and pour into a baking pan about 30 cm × 20 cm or 12" x 7". Leave to cool and when almost but not quite set, mark into squares with a sharp knife. When cold, cut up into squares.

 

G
LOSSARY

I have in all the previous Irish Country novels provided a glossary to help the reader who is unfamiliar with the vagaries of the Queen's English as it may be spoken by the majority of people in Ulster. This is a regional dialect akin to English as spoken in Yorkshire or on Tyneside. It is not Ulster-Scots, which is claimed to be a distinct language in its own right. I confess I am not a speaker.

Today in Ulster (but not in 1967 when this book is set) official signs are written in English, Irish, and Ulster-Scots. The washroom sign would read Toilets,
Leithris
(Irish), and
Cludgies
(Ulster-Scots). I hope what follows here will enhance your enjoyment of the work, although I am afraid it will not improve your command of Ulster-Scots.

acting the lig/maggot:
  Behaving like an idiot.

aluminium:
  Aluminum.

amadán:
  Irish. Pronounced “omadawn.” Idiot.

and all:
  Addition to a sentence for emphasis.

anyroad:
  Anyway.

arse:
  Backside. (Impolite.)

at himself/not at himself:
  He's feeling well/not feeling well.

away off (and feel your head/and chase yourself):
  Don't be stupid.

aye certainly:
  Of course, or naturally.

back to porridge:
  Returning from something extraordinary to the humdrum daily round.

bang your drum about:
  Go on at length about a pet subject.

banjaxed:
  Ruined or smashed.

banshee:
  Irish:
beán
(woman)
sidhe
(fairy). Female spirit whose moaning foretells a death.

barging:
  Telling off verbally or physically shoving.

barmbrack:
  Speckled bread. (See Mrs. Kinkaid's recipe in
An Irish Country Doctor.
)

beat Bannagher:
  Wildly exceed expectations.

bee in the bonnet:
  Obsessed with something.

bee on a hot brick:
  Rushing round at great speed.

been here before:
  Your wisdom is attributable to the fact that you have already lived a full life and have been reincarnated.

beezer:
  First rate.

bettered myself:
  I rose in the world by my own exertions.

between the jigs and reels:
  To cut a long story short.

biscakes:
  Biscuits (cookies).

bisticks:
  Biscuits (cookies).

bit the head off:
  Gave someone a severe verbal chastisement.

blether/och, blether:
  Talk, often inconsequential/expression of annoyance or disgust.

bletherskite:
  One who continually talks trivial rubbish.

blow out:
  End a romantic affair, or a feast.

boke:
  Vomit.

bollix:
  Testicles. (Impolite.)

bollixed:
  Wrecked.

bonnet:
  Hood of a car.

bookie:
  Bookmaker.

boot:
  Trunk of a car.

bore:
  Of a shotgun. Gauge.

both legs the same length:
  Standing around uselessly.

boys-a-dear or boys-a-boys:
  Expression of amazement.

brave:
  Very.

British Legion:
  Fraternal organisation for ex-servicemen (veterans).

brogue:
  a) A kind of low-heeled shoe (from the Irish
bróg
) with decorative perforations on the uppers, originally to allow water to drain out. b) The musical inflection given to English when spoken by an Irish person.

bull in a china shop/at a gate:
  Thrashing about violently without forethought and causing damage/charging headlong at something.

bye:
  Counties Cork and Antrim pronunciation of boy.

cailin:
  Irish. Pronounced “colleen.” Girl.

camogie:
  A stick-and-ball team game akin to hurling, but played by women.

candy apples:
  Apples dipped in caramel glaze.

candy floss:
  Cotton candy.

can't for toffee:
  Is totally inept.