Cook the Book: Coast by Rachel Allen

Do you have any friends so perfect you would hate them if you didn’t love them so much? We do. Every year we get a Holiday card or two from those perfect friends who have gorgeous, well-mannered children and live in beautifully curated homes. When the cards arrive I show them to my husband who can’t help but agree with my assessment that: “This card looks like an ad for Tiny Prints! Wouldn’t you hate them if you didn't know them?” This is sort of how I feel about culinary goddess Rachel Allen - minus the part about knowing her personally.  She’s the beautiful and talented cook who graduated from Ballymaloe Cookery School at the age of 18 and went on to work there, marry the very handsome Isaac Allen, son of Ballymaloe’s famous Darina Allen, raise three children, write cookbooks, star in TV shows and basically lead the life dreams are made of. Somehow, despite all of her beauty and talent, she seems to be totally down to earth and, just like those perfect friends of ours, way too lovely to hate.

It’s very, very tough to hate a woman who provides you with a delicious meal like this one that can be made on a weeknight (oh, and my birthday cake).  So instead I am one of her biggest fans. I watch her on TV and buy her cookbooks. Her latest one, Coast, is probably my favorite yet. The book is set up as a culinary road trip that takes you along Ireland’s Atlantic coast from Cork all the way up to Donegal. The book makes you wish you were able to join Rachel on her journey and sample all of the local produce and artisanal products available along the way.  Each time I open it, I vow to make the same trip up the coast with my family.  I will, once the kids are old enough to remember and enjoy it. In the meantime I feed them.

Pork Schnitzel with Sage Butter

adapted slightly from Coast by Rachel Allen

1 ½lb fillet of pork, cut at an angle into ½ inch-thick slices

½ cup all-purpose flour

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 ¼ cup fine white breadcrumbs (fresh or frozen)

Grated zest of ½ lemon

2 eggs, beaten

Butter and extra virgin olive oil, for frying

For the sage butter:

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 stick butter, softened

1 tbsp chopped sage

1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients for the sage butter in a bowl. Put on a sheet of greaseproof paper, roll into a log and chill.

Place the pork fillet slices between two sheets of plastic wrap and, using a rolling pin, gently beat until flattened to about one quarter of an inch thick .

Mix the flour with a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper in a bowl big enough to toss the pork in; in another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt, a few twists of pepper and the lemon zest; and, in a third bowl, whisk the eggs together.

Dip each piece of pork into the flour, then into the egg and then in the crumbs. Make sure they are well coated.

Heat one tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in a frying pan and fry the schnitzels in batches, adding more butter and oil when needed. Keep the cooked schnitzels, uncovered, in a warm oven while you cook the rest. Serve with slices of sage butter melting on top, and a salad or seasonal greens.

Get out the meat mallet and some aggression.

Breading station - flour, egg, breadcrumbs.

Add salad, rice and lemon. That's it. Perfect.

An Irish Italian Meal: Bacon and Pea Risotto

I had just started cooking dinner the other night when Paul suggested that I take some photos and blog about it. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I looked down at the big pile of cubed Irish boiling bacon that I was about to put into the risotto and realized that I use Irish bacon all the time.  So often that I don’t even recognize it as an “Irish” ingredient anymore. Friends who aren't Irish ask me what it is and how it's different from regular bacon. Like brown bread, I had never even heard of Irish bacon until I started dating Paul and celebrating holidays with his family. My father-in-law, Paddy, studs his with cloves and boils it for just the right amount of time.  It puts the turkey to shame every Thanksgiving and I can never decide whether to eat more then and there or to hold off with the hope that there will be some left over. I think Paddy has caught on to my not-so-subtle clamoring for the leftovers so he often sets some aside for me when he makes one. I freeze it for fried rice, pasta, omelettes, sandwiches, pot pies, soup, you name it.

Bacon and pea risotto was actually a first in my household but I will definitely make it again. The kids loved it and Emmett, who had requested “plain noodles” for dinner ended up cleaning his plate. We were joking that we should have been wearing the “Half-Gaelic, Half-Garlic” T-shirts for this meal, but really, who doesn’t like bacon, peas and rice?

Mr. Plain Noodles stealing bites of the good stuff from Dad. 

Bacon and Pea Risotto

1 fist-size slab of cooked Irish boiling bacon, cubed

1 cup frozen peas

1 shallot, thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

¾ cup Arborio rice

⅓ cup white wine (optional)

1 tablespoon butter, divided in half

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cups chicken stock or broth (This is more than enough.  I heat up more than I need and use what's left for another purpose)

1 sprig rosemary

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (dried work fine as well)

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup Parmesan cheese plus more to finish

1 lemon for serving

Place chicken stock or broth in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. While stock is coming to a simmer, prepare your shallot, garlic and bacon. Place a heavy bottomed pan on the stove and turn heat to medium high. Add half of the butter and the olive oil.  Once the pan is hot, add the shallot and garlic and turn down the heat as necessary to make sure the shallot and garlic do not burn. Cook about five minutes, until shallot is translucent.  Add the rice, rosemary and thyme and stir until all of the grains of rice are coated in oil/butter and begin (just barely) to toast. Turn the heat back up and add wine, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Once wine is almost completely evaporated, turn the heat down to medium low and start adding the stock. I use a soup ladle and add a couple of ladles of stock at a time, keeping the rice-stock mixture at low boil and seasoning with salt along the way. Once the rice has absorbed most of the stock, I add more. After 10 to 15 minutes I start checking the rice to gauge how much longer I think it will take to cook through. Once it is just a little more al dente (15 minutes or so) than I would like, I remove the sprig of rosemary and add the bacon, peas, and a little more stock.  I continue to cook until the rice is just cooked through. Try not to get distracted at the end because it can go from perfect to mushy quickly. When the rice is ready, I turn off the stove  and remove the pan from the heat.  Then I season the risotto with salt and pepper and stir in the remaining butter and Parmesan cheese. I serve it with lemon wedges, more Parmesan, and ground pepper on top.   

Family Dinner: Fish

The Barry dinner table: All cleaned up for a photo. This is where it all goes down. 

I’m determined to have family dinner with real, home cooked food most nights. I’ve read a lot of articles lately that describe family dinner as a thing of the past and downplay its importance. It’s probably true that family time doesn’t have to be around the table but still, family dinner is important to me. I grew up eating both breakfast and dinner with my family and I want to do the same now that I have a family of my own. My son already expects it. The other day when he walked in and I was upstairs instead of in the kitchen he gave me a funny look and said “You’re not cooking dinner?” Of course, all kinds of thoughts started racing through my mind. Mostly, what am I teaching him about gender roles that he always expects me to be cooking when he gets home?  But also, isn’t it nice that he expects a home-cooked meal every single evening? Isn’t it nice that dinner is part of his daily routine? That he loves to drag his little sister to the table shouting “Dinnertime!!!”?  So I resolved to be mindful of what I’m teaching my kids about gender roles but not to stop cooking. Also, for the sake of honesty, my little guy does ask me “if we are having friends over” whenever he sees me cleaning.

Long Grove Irish Days. The free Irish dance lessons were a huge hit with my tiny Irish dancers. 

Now that I'm back at work, fish is my weeknight weapon. It’s so hard to cook a proper meal (and wait for a proper meal to cook) at the end of a long day when everyone is tired and hungry.  But fish cooks in minutes and the whole family, thankfully, LOVES it.

When we were in Ireland, I noticed that a lot of people don’t eat fish or shellfish despite the natural abundance of seafood in the region. I thought this was quite odd and probably just my (mis)perception of things. But recently I read that, for the last few centuries, the Irish have indeed eaten well below the European average of seafood.  This is thought to be due to the association of seafood with religious fasting. In addition, Ireland has historically had a primarily cattle based economy and seafood, especially shellfish, was associated with being poor. Of course all this is changing now as so many of us are growing to appreciate the natural bounty of the region and Irish chefs continue to embrace and popularize local food products. Lucky for me, because I intend to keep seafood on my regular weeknight rotation and am always looking for new recipes.

I made this one up with the help of Arctic char on sale at my local Whole Foods, my garden and my sweet baby who slept for even longer than the 20 minutes it took me to throw this one together.

Arctic Char with Almond Gremolata

Feeds 2 adults and 2 hungry toddlers or 3 adults; A slightly larger filet would easily feed 4 adults

For Gremolata:

A handful of roasted, salted almonds (or whatever nuts you have on hand, pecans, pistachios or walnuts would all work well)

½ shallot, diced finely

1 handful of Italian flat leaf parsley

1 handful of basil leaves

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (I used a new high quality EVOO that I just bought from the Olive Tap, right next to Paddy’s on the Square. They have such a nice store, check out next time you are in Long Grove.)

Juice and zest of one lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

For Fish:

1 Arctic char filet (about 1lb)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Prepare the gremolata by dicing the shallot finely, chopping the nuts and herbs to your desired coarseness/fineness and placing in a small bowl.  Add lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Stir and set aside.  

For the fish, heat a large skillet or saute pan to medium high and add vegetable oil until smoking. Season the filet generously with salt and pepper and place it in the hot pan skin side down for 2-3 minutes until crispy and golden on the bottom.  Flip the filet and cook about 2 minutes more until fish is cooked through, taking care not to overcook the fish. I try to make sure the internal temperature of the thickest part of the filet does not go over 145F but this comes down to personal preference. I always eat the thickest part because my husband prefers his cooked just a little bit more.

Someone found a mirror. 

We ate this so fast I didn’t even take a photo - which is why I chose to post more photos of Irish Days instead (which was SO MUCH FUN!). Too bad because Paul even commented on how pretty it was.  If you would like a visual, I know I always do, it looks something like this, which was actually my inspiration for the dish.