The best of Irish
Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with one of these delicious recipes from Bord Bia For the topping:
Farmhouse cheese & oat soda bread Makes 1 loaf Ingredients
275g plain flour, plus extra for kneading 1 tsp salt
1 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda 250g stoneground wholemeal flour 25g porridge oats, plus extra for sprinkling 125g farmhouse cheese, coarsely grated Approximately 500ml buttermilk
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF/Gas Mark 8. Sift the plain flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the wholemeal flour, 25g of the oats and 75g of the grated cheese. Make a well in the centre, add 450ml of the buttermilk and mix together to make a soft but not too sticky dough. Add a little more buttermilk or milk if the mixture seems a little dry.
2 Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead very lightly and briefly into a round. Flip the dough over and gently flatten it into a disc about 4cm thick.
3 Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour and place the dough on it and sprinkle over the remaining cheese and a few more oats. Then using a large, sharp knife, cut a large cross into the top of the loaf, almost all the way through the dough.
4 Bake the loaf on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas Mark 6, and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, until it sounds hollow when you tap the base. Leave to cool before serving.
Strawberry & cream liqueur fool Serves 4-6 Ingredients
300g strawberries, plus 4 halved strawberries to decorate 50g icing sugar, plus 1 tsp. 300ml double cream
6 tbsps cream liqueur
25g plain chocolate 1 tsp clear honey 2 tbsps cream liqueur
Method
1
Put 200g of the strawberries into a food processor with 50g of the icing sugar and blitz into a coarse purée using the pulse button. Quarter the remaining strawberries and mix with the remaining icing sugar.
2 Whip the cream and cream liqueur together in a large mixing bowl until it form soft peaks. Gently fold in the strawberry purée. Layer the mixture in 4 stemmed dessert glasses with the quartered strawberries.
3 Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water until melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the honey and cream liqueur. Decorate the top of each fool with the halved strawberries and drizzle the chocolate sauce over the top.
See bordbia.ie for more information. Look for the Bord Bia Quality Mark when you are buying meat, eggs and vegetables so you know they have been produced to the highest quality standards and verified at every stage.