A feast for St Patrick’s Day

COOK UP A FEAST TO CELEBRATE ST PATRICK’S DAY

St Patrick’s Day is on the 17th March, so what better time to look at some great recipes from the Emerald Isle

Images for illustrative purposes only Recipes from www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk

Ireland isn’t just about Guinness and Potatoes, we have scoured through the cookbooks to find some of the most comforting and tasty Irish recipes, perfect for celebrating St Paddy’s day at home this year.

FIFTEEN

Ingredients 15 digestive biscuits 15 marshmallows 15 glacé cherries, cut in half about 200ml condensed milk 100g desiccated coconut, to coat

Method

Crush the digestive biscuits in a food processor or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, then put them in a large mixing bowl. Chop each marshmallow into 4 pieces and add to the bowl with the cherries and 175ml condensed milk. Mix until the ingredients are well combined and you have a sticky mixture. If it’s too dry, add a splash more condensed milk.

Sprinkle most of the coconut over a large piece of cling film (or foil). Tip the mixture onto the coconut and shape into a long sausage, about 30 x 5cm. Sprinkle more coconut over the top of it and wrap the cling film tightly around, twisting the ends together. Leave in the fridge to chill for 4-6 hrs, then cut into 15 slices and serve. Will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week wrapped in cling film.

IRISH STEW

A classic, hearty and warming Irish stew, perfect for a cold Spring evening. Ingredients 3 middle necks of lamb (about 1.8kg/4lb), filleted and boned - you need to end up with about 950g/2lb 2oz pure meat 650g floury potatoes, such as King Edward 650g waxy potato, such as Desirée or Pentland Javelin 1kg carrots 2 onions ½ tsp fresh thyme leaves chopped fresh chives and parsley, to garnish

For the stock bones from the lamb 1 large carrot, quartered 1 onion, quartered ½ celery stick, quartered 1 bay leaf 2 large sprigs of thyme a generous sprig of parsley 6 black peppercorns, lightly crushed

Images for illustrative purposes only Recipes from www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk Method

Make the stock. Put the lamb bones in a large heavy-based saucepan with the carrot, onion, celery, herbs, peppercorns and 1 tsp salt. Pour in 3 litres/5 ¼ pints water. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 2 hours.

Strain the stock through a fine sieve to remove bones and vegetables, then return to the pan. Boil until reduced to about 1.3 litres/2 ¼ pints. (You can make the stock the day before – keep it in a covered container in the fridge, or freeze it for up to 3 months.)

Make the stew. Cut the lamb into large chunks. Peel the potatoes (keeping both types separate) and cut into pieces of similar size to the meat. Put the two different types in separate bowls of water to keep them white. Peel the carrots and cut into slightly smaller pieces. Slice the onions into thick rings.

Put the lamb in a large, clean saucepan. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, skimming off all the impurities from the surface. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Add the floury potatoes, carrots and onions. Season generously and simmer for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the waxy potatoes and thyme. Simmer until the lamb is tender (15-20 minutes). Take off the heat, cover (don’t stir) and leave for 15 minutes. (You can make this up to 2 days ahead and keep in the fridge). Garnish and serve.

GET A HEAD-START

ON YOUR GARDEN

It’s that time of the year, gardeners everywhere are getting prepped for what they hope will be an incredible year in their gardens

It may still be cold outside, but, hopefully, the last of the year’s frosts has come and gone. There are certain seeds and bulbs you can now start to sow, both outside and inside, ready to move outside later on.

If you get the timing just right, regardless of whether you have a greenhouse or not, or the size of your garden, you can have a bumper crop of veg and herbs alongside some beautiful flowers in your borders, but you need to put the work in now.

As opposed to shop-bought flowers ready to plant, if you have grown your flowers from seeds and bulbs, as well as the excitement of watching them grow, they will actually be hardier than the shop-bought variety.

For a little investment now in seeds, if you’re savvy, you can then use the seeds from the veg that grow for next years crops and likewise with the herbs. If you take a cutting towards the end of the season, you can have your herb plants ready-to-go next year too.

Tomatoes are one of the best go-to veggies for your garden or greenhouse. Get an early start by sowing your seeds early in seed trays indoors. Start with some good quality compost and pick a few different varieties of tomatoes. Sow the seeds on the top of the seed trays, before sprinkling on a thin layer of compost. Give them a good water, before covering and leaving in a warm and sunny place. When the weather gets warmer, then transplant them into a large planter or grow bags with bamboo or trellis to hold them up.

Another great group of plants, that when grown yourself at home adds so much to your summer BBQs, are herbs. Basil, oregano, and thyme are three of the most popular and you can start these great plants off early. Sow basil, oregano and thyme now in seed planters with good quality compost and a propagator lid in a warm place. The shoots should start to show within a week and when they do keep them moist until they’re large enough to pot-on. When potted-on, put them in a warm, sunny spot in your garden or, even better, a greenhouse.

Chilli peppers and sweet peppers perfectly compliment the tomatoes and herbs you already have growing and they are just as

HERBS

There are certain seeds and bulbs you can now start to sow, both outside and inside, ready to move outside later on

TOMATOES

CHILLIES

simple to grow. Pick a few different varieties such as Burrito Chilli, Sweet Pepper and Cayenne, and sow the seeds similarly to the tomato plants. The roots go deeper in chilli plants, so plant each seed 1cm into the compost and then water, cover and keep in a very warm place. Once the plants are 2-3cm tall pot-on into individual containers somewhere warm and with lots of sunshine. Ideally, keep them in a greenhouse or lean-to with direct GARDENING TIPS sunlight. l Always use good quality compost when starting your seeds to get incredible growth. If you don’t have a lot of room for seed trays and Most of your Spring propagators, simply cover pots with cling film. bulbs should already be in, however, there l Always put pots with seeds in a well-lit and warm are a few more you area to encourage growth. can plant now. When potting on, pull out the plant – root included Summer-flowering – using the leaves as if they break they will grow bulbs like Pineapple back, whereas a broken stem won’t. Lilies and other Lilies alongside your Gladioli Tomato plants grow like a jungle when bunched are prime to go into together, so make sure you use bamboo or trellis to the ground next. For try to keep the space neat and tidy. Gladioli, soak the bulbs in water a day before planting and then plant the bulbs 2-6 inches deep, 5 inches apart in rows before covering again with soil. These will take between 70-90 days until they flower. For Lilies, plant the bulbs three times as deep as the height of the bulb and set pointy side up.

BULBS

l

l l If you get the timing just right you can have a bumper crop of veg and herbs alongside some beautiful flowers