An Irish Country Cookbook Read online

  No further elaboration was required. Despite the potential seriousness of the patient’s condition I had trouble not smiling at the thought of the bodies strewn all over the little house.

  O’Reilly said, “It was a bloody good thing the ambulance arrived when it did. I could have had three corpses on my hands. Agnes, we later discovered, had a low-lying placenta…”

  “Always potentially lethal.”

  “The squad got a couple of pints of blood into her in her bed and in the ambulance. She had a Caesarian section in the hospital, made a fine recovery, and her wee lad is doing very well.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “But I really did think there were going to be two more fatalities.”

  “I know,” I said. “When you started telling me this story you said about the two students, and I quote, ‘Nice youngsters but one night I could have killed them both.’”

  “I did say that, didn’t I?” said O’Reilly, “But it’s like ‘saved my bacon.’” He fixed me with his gaze. “A what did you call it? I remember. ‘Figure of speech.’” He laughed. “Come on,” he said. “A bird can’t fly on one wing. Let me get you another sherry.”

  Pork

  Dublin Coddle

  This is a traditional Irish dish and was often made on a Thursday evening to use up all the leftover meat products in the days when Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays. Doctor O’Reilly remembers seeing and indeed smelling it being cooked when he worked for Doctor Corrigan in Dublin in the 1930s and he tells me that the great Irish writer James Joyce made several references to it in his books. This is a very simple one-pot meal and can be cooked on top of the stove or in the oven. Just make sure that the pot has a tight-fitting lid.

  Serves 4

  17½ oz/500 g pork sausages, cut into ½-in/12-mm pieces

  8 oz/227 g bacon, roughly chopped

  2 oz/56 g butter

  2 onions, peeled and sliced

  8 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  10 oz/295 ml chicken stock

  A good handful of chopped fresh parsley

  If you plan to cook it in the oven then you need to preheat it to 350°F/180°C. Put the sausage, bacon, and most of the butter in a pan over a medium heat and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until coloured. Spread half of the sliced onions on the bottom of a 1.5L casserole dish and top with half of the potatoes. Next add half of the bacon and sausage mixture and season well with salt and pepper. Repeat the layering process again and pour the stock in last. Add half of the parsley and dot the top with the remaining butter. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for about an hour. Finish with the remaining parsley and serve with some nice bread. My Guinness Bread (here) is particularly good with this.

  Pork in Mustard Sauce

  Serves 4

  4 slices pork loin or boneless pork chops, trimmed

  1 Tbsp butter, plus extra for greasing

  1½ lb/680 g apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

  Salt

  2 oz/60 ml dry white wine

  5 Tbsp/75 ml Dijon mustard

  8 oz/235 ml heavy cream

  Freshly ground black pepper

  Preheat the oven to 400°F/ 200°C. Pound the pork slices or chops between two pieces of parchment with a rolling pin or the base of a heavy saucepan, until they are quite thin.

  Butter a casserole dish big enough to spread the pork slices side by side. Cover the base with the apples and bake for 15 minutes.

  While the apples are baking, season the pork slices with salt, place with the remaining butter in a frying 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. 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 (here) and just about any other vegetable that you like.

  Roast Loin of Pork

  Serves 4 to 6

  8½ oz/250 ml Guinness

  3 oz/90 ml runny honey

  7 oz/200 g brown sugar

  4½ lb/2 kg boneless pork loin

  4 oz/113 ml white wine

  A knob of butter

  Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Make the glaze by simmering the Guinness, honey, and sugar together in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is reduced by half.

  Put the pork in a roasting dish and cook for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F/180°C. Remove the pork from the oven and baste all over with the glaze. Return the pork to the oven and cook, basting occasionally with the glaze. Cook for a further hour or so until the meat is tender and cooked through. Remove from the oven and place on a carving board. While the pork is resting, add any remaining glaze to the roasting tin together with the wine and deglaze the pan on a stovetop over a high heat. Whisk the butter into the simmering liquid and allow to thicken into a delicious gravy.

  Slice the pork into thick slices and place in a serving dish with the gravy drizzled on top. Serve Roast Potatoes (here) that you have cooked alongside the Pork and Colcannon (here).

  Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

  Serves 4

  1 oz/28 g butter, plus extra for buttering the parchment

  1 onion, finely chopped

  3 oz/85 g mushrooms, finely chopped

  2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

  ½ tsp dried thyme

  4 oz/113 g fresh bread crumbs

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1 (1-lb/455-g) pork tenderloin

  4 or 5 slices bacon

  Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Melt the butter in a pan, then fry the onion gently for a few minutes until it is translucent and soft but not coloured. Add the mushrooms and then the parsley and thyme. Cook for a few minutes, add the bread crumbs, and season with salt and pepper.

  Split the tenderloin lengthwise (butterflied). Then, using a rolling pin or a meat mallet, batter it on both halves to flatten it. Spread the stuffing on one side of the tenderloin and place the other half on top. Wrap the strips of bacon around the pork, place it on a piece of buttered parchment or foil, and close it loosely by scrunching the top and sides. Bake in the top rack of the preheated oven for about 1 hour. Then open the parchment or foil and cook about 10 minutes longer. Allow to rest for 10 minutes or so, then slice and serve.

  NOTE:

  This is very good served with applesauce or apple fritters.

  Toad in the Hole

  The country folk claim that this dish came by its name because it resembled a toad or maybe a frog peeping out of a hole when it had awakened from hibernation. Then when it climbed out of the mud, leaving an imprint of its shape behind, it was just like removing a sausage from the batter in which it had been cooked. Ma says they did not actually eat toads, which are probably quite poisonous, but they used any bits and pieces of leftover meat or sausages baked in the batter, which helped to make a meager amount of food feed more mouths.

  Serves 2

  2 eggs

  4 oz/113 g self-rising flour

  A pinch of baking powder

  A splash of milk

  A few thyme leaves

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  4 oz/113 g pork cocktail sausages, cooked

  Preheat the oven to 425°F/225°C. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Continue to whisk and add the flour and baking powder gradually, together with enough milk to make a thickish batter the consistency of cream. Add the thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper, and pour the batter into a greased 7-inch casserole dish. Place the sausages on top. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the batter is well risen and golden brown. Serve.

  Fish

  Fish Pie
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br />   Serves 4

  FILLING

  20 oz/590 ml milk

  1 or 2 bay leaves

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1 lb/455 g mixed fish such as salmon, cod, snapper, or haddock

  4 oz/113 g shrimp or prawns, peeled

  4 oz/113 g scallops

  2 oz/56 g butter

  2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

  2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

  TOPPING

  2 lb/910 g floury potatoes, peeled and quartered

  5 oz/150 ml light cream

  1 oz/28 g butter

  2 Tbsp grated cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Grease a 10 by 8-inch/25 by 20-cm pie dish.

  FOR THE FILLING:

  Bring the milk and and bay leaves to the boil in a large saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Add the uncooked fish and shellfish, omitting the shrimp if it has been precooked. Simmer very gently for about 3 minutes. Cover and leave while you prepare the topping.

  FOR THE TOPPING:

  Boil the potatoes until soft, drain, and mash well with the cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  Meanwhile, drain the fish, reserving the milk, and discard the bay leaf. Remove any skin or bones from the fish, break into bite-size pieces, and spread it in the pie dish with the cooked shrimp. Melt the butter in a saucepan and carefully stir in the flour. Cook gently for a couple of minutes without letting the roux (a fancy French word for the flour and butter mixture) brown. Now add the milk to the roux very gradually with the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring all the time. Then pour the sauce over the fish.

  It’s time now to cover with the potato topping. Just spread it across the top of the fish and sauce mixture, pressing down lightly with a fork and covering it from edge to edge. Dot it all over with butter or a little cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. Serve.

  Kinky’s Note:

  This is also delicious when topped with Champ (here) which has been dotted with grated cheese or butter.

  Kedgeree

  This is very good with either my Irish Wheaten Bread (here) or Guinness Bread (here). Doctor O’Reilly likes it for breakfast nearly as much as he likes my kippers but it is also a very appetising lunch dish. Himself is very fond of it and he told me that this was one of those dishes that came from India in Victorian times and had originated as a means of using up leftovers from the previous evening at breakfast time before there were refrigerators.

  Serves 6 to 8

  1½ lb/680 g undyed smoked haddock (or use half salmon and half haddock)

  19 oz/560 ml water

  2 bay leaves

  1½ oz/42 g butter

  1 onion, finely chopped

  8 oz/227 g long-grain basmati rice

  1 heaped Tbsp medium curry powder

  3 Tbsp heavy cream

  3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

  2 Tbsp chopped scallion

  Juice of ½ a lemon, plus lemon wedges for serving

  Freshly ground black pepper

  3 large hard-boiled eggs, quartered

  Bring the fish, water, and bay leaves to the boil in a large saucepan and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Drain the fish, reserving the cooking liquid as you will use this to cook the rice, and discard the bay leaves. Now flake the fish into bite-size chunks and make sure that no bones remain.

  Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the onion gently, but don’t let it colour. Add the rice, curry powder, and reserved liquid and cook for the time recommended on the packet, adding more water if necessary.

  When the rice is cooked, add the cream, parsley, scallion, lemon juice, pepper, and finally the flaked fish. Stir gently and place the hard-boiled eggs on top. You can keep this warm in a very low oven, covered with a lid, for about 20 minutes. I like to put it in a silver chafing dish and leave it on the sideboard so that everyone can help themselves at breakfast time.

  Mustard Baked Fish

  Here’s another simple fish dish that’s very quick and makes a tasty but light lunch.

  Serves 4

  4 6 oz/170 g fillets of white fish such as cod, haddock, or red snapper

  1 tsp salt

  Freshly ground black pepper

  8 oz/235 ml whipping cream or crème fraîche

  3 shallots, finely chopped

  2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

  1 Tbsp whole-grain mustard

  1 Tbsp water

  2 tsp capers, drained

  Chopped fresh parsley

  Preheat the oven to 425°F/200°C. Grease a baking dish of a size that can hold the fillets in a single layer. Season the fish on both sides and lay skin-side down (if the fillets are skin-on), in the dish.

  Combine the cream, shallots, mustards, water, and capers in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and pour over the fish, making sure to cover all the fillets. Cover and bake for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle with parsley and serve with garden peas and crusty bread.

  Potted Herrings

  This is a very tasty and easy dish that Ma used to make in the summertime when the herrings were in season. We had a travelling fish seller who came every week in his horse and cart, and his cry of “Ardglass herrings, Ardglass herrings!” brought the delighted housewives onto the street to buy his fish. Ardglass was, and still is, a famous fishing port on the Irish Sea near to the mouth of Strangford Lough where himself likes to go wildfowling.

  It was handy to have these herrings ready in the refrigerator when the Doctor was on call and I could never be quite sure when he would return from his home visits.

  These will keep for several days in a refrigerator and taste even better after leaving overnight.

  Herrings are members of the sardine family and have lots of little bones. Somehow they just seem to melt when cooked like this.

  Serves 4

  8 herrings, cleaned, scaled, and wiped dry inside and out with heads and tails removed

  4 bay leaves

  1 onion, chopped

  1 tsp pickling spice

  Freshly ground black pepper

  Equal parts water and malt vinegar

  Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C. Roll the herrings from the tail end and place side by side in a 8 by 6-inch (20 by 15-cm) baking dish so that each one supports the other and prevents it from unrolling. Cover with the onion, bay leaves, pickling spice, pepper to taste, vinegar, and water. Cover the dish with a lid or with aluminium foil and cook for about 35 minutes. Allow to cool before serving with buttered Irish Wheaten Bread (here) or baby new potatoes cooked in their skins and slathered in butter.

  Salmon in a Pickle

  Serves 4 to 6

  36 oz/1 kg skinless salmon fillet cut into 6 pieces

  8 oz/235 ml distilled malt vinegar

  8 oz/235 ml water

  4 oz/113 g sugar

  4 Tbsp tomato ketchup or chili sauce

  1 tsp salt

  4 onions, finely chopped

  2 Tbsp pickling spice

  Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Butter an 8 by 6-inch (20 by 15-cm) dish, place the salmon fillets in the dish, and set aside.

  Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, ketchup, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir in the onions and pickling spice and pour over the salmon. Cover with foil and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until cooked through. Allow to cool and place in the refrigerator overnight.

  Remove from the poaching liquid and serve with a green salad.

  Simple Baked Fish

  Ma was very fond of this dish and of course it always seemed different depending on the fish used. And what a variety of fish the local fishermen brought in. She did, however, use strong country cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan.

  Serves 4

  1 Tbsp butter, plus extra for the dish

  3 potatoes, peeled and sliced

  2 onions, sl
iced

  2 garlic cloves, crushed

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1½ lb/680 g white fish, such as cod, sea bass, or turbot

  1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

  3 tomatoes, peeled and sliced

  A pinch of saffron

  2 oz/60 ml fresh orange juice

  3 Tbsp dry white wine

  2 oz/56 g Parmesan cheese, grated

  4 oz/113 g fresh bread crumbs

  Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Butter the sides and base of a medium casserole dish. Blanch the potatoes for 2 or 3 minutes in boiling water and drain. Sauté the onions in the butter for a few minues over a medium heat, add the garlic and cook until soft.

  Layer half of the potatoes in the casserole and cover with half of the onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Lay the fish on top and sprinkle with thyme leaves and place the tomato slices over this. Finish with the remaining onions and top with the remaining potatoes; season again with salt and pepper. Crumble the saffron into the orange juice, then pour the orange juice and wine over the casserole and finally sprinkle the cheese and bread crumbs on top.

  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until the potatoes and fish are cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed. I like to serve this with fresh crusty bread to mop up the extra juices.

  Kinky’s Note:

  To skin tomatoes easily, take a sharp knife and make a cut through the skin round the circumference of the tomato. Place in a bowl of boiling water for 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl of icy cold water and the skin will peel off very easily.

  Forms, Forms, Forms

  Doctor Fingal O’Reilly was a courteous man, always willing to make allowances, until somebody really got his goat. Then he became a patient man who subscribed to the adage attributed to Talleyrand, “Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.” I can still see him in action as he was when I first joined the practice in 1964.