Carrot Slaw Two Ways

Summer’s almost over. The kids are going back to school. The nights are just a wee bit cooler. And you’re thinking of putting away the grimy, greasy grill until next year.

But before it’s all over, try this fast, easy and colorful pair of recipes.

I’m not sure when different colored carrots appeared in markets, but they certainly are fun. Maybe it makes us remember our childhood, when we messed around with food. I know I dyed one batch of applesauce blue and ate it.

Then along came food processors, which make shredding carrots so easy! Of course you can do it by hand if you insist (and I do have a number of vintage shredders), but it you’re in a hurry, you can just send a batch through the shredding disk and you’re done. Then mix up a simple dressing or two, toss with the carrot shreds, and serve alongside grilled something or other. I went with two recipes—an oil and mustard one, and a creamy yogurt one, each with a fresh herb. You can experiment all you like—toss in garlic, scallions, chives, vinegar, lemon juice, whatever you have handy. Nobody will complain!

Carrot Slaw #1 – Tangy

Ingredients: (Note: this is for a large batch using a lot of carrots. If you don’t need this much slaw, just reduce all the ingredients in proportion)

2 pounds carrots, peeled and shredded (the picture above shows about three pounds, which I split between the two recipes)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
2 Tblsp chopped fresh chives

Instructions:

In a bowl, combined the mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and whisk until combined. In a larger bowl place the shredded carrots, add the dressing, and toss well to coat. 

Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve it.

Carrot Slaw #2 – Creamy

2 pounds carrots, peeled and shredded
1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
2 Tblsp mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
3 Tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tblsp chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, mayonnaise, buttermilk, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the shredded carrots and toss well.

Easy, right? Shred all the carrots at once and split them between the two recipes. Or choose a different color for each recipe. Have fun!

I'm off to Ireland later today. Whenever I go, I try to include two Saturdays, because that's when the Skibbereen farmers' market is open. It's one of my favorite places, and I always come back to the cottage with unexpected items. Next week I should have a new recipe and I'll be christening my new Slide-and-Hide oven (for those of you who watch the Great British Baking Show, you'll know what I mean).

With rainbow!

www.sheilaconnolly.com

Irish Food

If all goes as planned, by the time you see this I’ll be back in West Cork, admiring the “improvements” to the cottage, including the very large rock, and collecting food supplies.

My husband hasn’t been there in a year, and my daughter, who will be joining us, hasn’t visited Ireland since 1999. Back then I remember a lot of terrible watery stews, all apparently based on the same recipe: Irish bacon (more or less like our ham), cabbage and potatoes. Place in a large pot, cover with water, and boil for a week or two. You could find it about anywhere in the country. (I will concede that the soda bread and local butter were always good.)

My, how things have changed! I was listing for my husband the places I wanted to revisit or visit for the first time on this trip, and far more than half turned out to be either restaurants or food vendors. At least my daughter has grown up to be a foodie, and is now a professional baker, when she isn’t acting with small theater troupes, and I want to show off to her what the Irish chefs have achieved since she was there last.

I’m torn between going to restaurants, large and small, versus buying fresh ingredients and cooking in my own tiny kitchen. When I acquired the cottage, the first thing I bought was a water-color from a local artist. After that I went straight to equipping the kitchen, before I bought more than a couple of pieces of essential furniture (a bed is handy, when the floor is concrete!). I’m getting by with the original appliances (although I am so coveting a Neff Slide-and-Hide stove, as seen on the Great British Baking Show—I think there’s room for it), but I’ve acquired decent cookware from a variety of second-hand dealers. And of course a hot-pot and French press for coffee, and a microwave.

Skibbereen Farmers' Market

I’ve raved about the Skibbereen Farmers’ Market before. Seafood, two tables of local cheeses (I’m partial to the gubbeen), locally smoked salmon, the lovely cookie and sweets baker I just discovered this past summer, bread in shapes I can’t even describe, vegetables that were picked that morning, plus assorted "tat."

Seafood, including monkfish!

This is only half the cheeses they have.

Mind you, this market has been there for centuries, literally—it is not the brainchild of a marketer who decided to create a magnet for upscale blow-ins (those pesky furriners who buy up the local properties—I don’t count as one because my name’s Connolly, and I had “people” in the area). People of all ages and descriptions show up at the market on a Saturday, then sit and chat. There’s a antiques dealer I’ve gotten to know (in his spare time he’s an editor and writes mysteries), and various people who have odds and ends to sell (at a very good price!). At this time of year there may be a jumble sale at the church on one side of the market. This isn’t food shopping—this is an experience. Which is why I always plan to be in the area for at least two Saturdays. 

And I adore the local supermarket, Field's SuperValu, which has food and more. 

Field's vegetable section: "Golden Wonder" potatoes

The candy aisle is six feet high and twenty feet long.

The baked goods are wonderful.

And this time of year you can get fresh game!

Oops—no recipe here! But I’m plotting one for my post next Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Don’t yet know what it will be (turkey is unlikely—the Irish save that for Christmas--but maybe a pheasant?) but I’m hoping I can figure out how my 1950 cast-iron Rayburn cooker works and produce something edible.

My cooker (I've cleaned it up a
bit since). Fuel goes on the left,
and you bake on the right. I'm
still trying to figure out what some
of the other parts do!

Wish me luck! 

Oh, right, books. It's definitely a week for the County Cork Mysteries!

The trade paperback format for Cruel Winter will be released on December 12th (just in time for holiday giving!), and . . .

the next book in the series, Many a Twist, will be released in hardcover on January 9th! Read more about it here.

I won't give anything away, but a lot of old questions will be answered.


www.sheilaconnolly.com

Gratin of Cod Irish Style

We got to our market very early this past week, and most of the fish hadn't been put into the case. But they had some very nice local, never-frozen cod, and this is Massachusetts, where the gilded Sacred Cod hangs in the House of Representatives chamber the State House in Boston, so that's what we went with.

So what's Irish about this? I have, at last inventory, at least eight handsomely illustrated Irish cookbooks. One of them is Darina Allen's A Year at Ballymaloe Cookery School, published in 1997. In case you've never heard of Darina Allen, she has been called "the Julia Child of Ireland," and she's the owner and head chef of the above-named cooking school, which just happens to be in County Cork. I'm saving my pennies to take a class there. But as it happens, she was at the Skibbereen Farmers Market a few weeks ago, so of course I introduced myself. I managed not to gush. (Sorry, no photos--I didn't wish to appear too much of a groupie.)

The fact that she was there, at a market nearly two hours from her home base, on a summer Saturday, is a tribute to the market. (I believe she was buying cheese.)

I found this recipe in her book. Of course I tweaked a few things, but luckily I had the ingredients on hand, including Kerrygold Irish cheese, and this is delightfully quick and simple to make and lets the fish speak for itself. (BTW, My husband approved with the first bite.)

As ever, I cut this recipe in half for the two of us, although I kept the original amount of sauce because, well, I like sauce. I also added the tarragon to the recipe, because I thought the tart taste would go well with the Dijon mustard, and I happened to have a bunch of fresh tarragon on hand.

And if anyone can explain to me how you divide a large fish fillet into similar-sized pieces that will cook evenly, I will be eternally grateful. At least in this recipe the sauce kind of insulates the fish pieces, so none were overcooked.


Gratin of Cod

Ingredients: (Note: original amounts given)

6 pieces of cod fillet (total 36 oz, 

   cut into 6 pieces)
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups grated aged Irish Cheddar cheese
1 Tblsp Dijon mustard
4 Tblsp heavy cream

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a baking dish large enough to hold all the fish pieces in one layer.

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Arrange the pieces in the dish in a single layer.

Grate the cheese. Mix it with the mustard and cream and tarragon and spread over the fish on both sides. (It can be prepared to this point and refrigerated.)

Ingredients, mixed

Ready for the oven

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. The top should be golden and bubbly.

Thank you, Darina--it was delicious. We'll be making it again. (And hope to see you again soon!)

Right now I'm between books: Cruel Winter (County Cork #5) was published last March (the sixth book in the series, Many a Twist, will appear in January 2018), and A Late Frost (Orchard Mystery #11) will come out in November. Which does not mean I am slacking off! I'll be launching the new Victorian Village series in June 2018, and I'm already writing the second in that series (no cover yet). I'll try to keep you up to date!

www.sheilaconnolly.com