Simple recipes from simple ingredients for even the most hapless of kitchen novices
18 September 2006
According to a feature "Finding Time for Food" in The Irish Times September 1st, 40 per cent of people regard cooking as a chore. That's not the case in our house, not that any of us are into peeling pots of potatoes for twenty, but when everyone does some of the cooking it's quite good fun. Shopping is not. I hate shopping and I have the money to pay for the goods. I dread to think what it's like for those who do not.
Having decided to make mellanzane alla parmigiana for supper using Wanda Cassale's recipe which calls for aubergines, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, garlic, pepper, buffala mozzarella, an egg and some flour. As all I needed to buy were the aubergines, tomatoes and mozzarella, even I was fit to make these purchases.
But as I left the local cheese shop with the mozzarella I met my downfall in the form of my neighbour Eavan who said hadn't I heard about the farmers' market on Anglesea Road and I should go at once to buy healthy food, locally produced.
So, she who hates to shop turned back, got the car and went to Anglesea Road. Remember all I needed were a few aubergines and tomatoes but much more than that was purchased.
The first stall was called California Market Bakery-the very nice American selling his wares which were made in Northern Ireland did not seem to mind that I ate a considerable number of his lemon and poppy seed muffin samples before I bought a pound of his granola containing almonds, raisins, rolled oats, butter, honey, sunflower seeds, coconut, nutmeg and sea salt for €8.00. The excellent muesli I usually get costs €3.75 but so what, I was helping cross-border trade. (I was correct about the man being very nice; he followed me all around the fair until he found me to return my car keys which I had left on his table while munching muffin samples - farmers' fairs looked like being very fattening.)
Next, I got a delicious box of strawberries - Wexford, naturally - for €5.00. Did you ever notice that road-side sellers even in the West of Ireland always describe strawberries as "Wexford"?
This purchase was followed by a box of Roskilly's clotted cream fudge from Cornwall. We were going out to dinner the next night so I thought I'd give it to our hostess. Someone at home nearly opened it before I was able to fulfil my plan - it was delicious when we had it the following night.
On the same stand there were organic cotton babies' clothes made in India, so I collected a Green Label Farm suite sleep suit for a 3-6 month old, always a useful article to have about the house, €15.00.
The young woman from Latvia looked as though things weren't going too well, so I ate some of her smoked sardines with dill and bought a tin. I don't really like smoked sardines but the only time I was in Riga it was -38°C and one has to help people who live in that sort of climate. All the writing on the tin is in Russian, so maybe they are really Russian sardines, but we must help them too. Not every one there is an oligarch.
An Irish pair next selling sausages. Now I rarely if ever buy sausages but having eaten so many sausage samples on their stand that it was probably the equivalent to one whole sausage, I felt obliged to buy a pound - €3.80. It worked out that I knew the husband of one of the ladies on the stall, so this sealed the sale.
The bread stall samples - I took only one - ensured I bought a magnificent fibre plus everything bread covered with pumpkin seeds. Delicious, we ate much of it at dinner.
By now my bag was weighing me down but at least I had got to the vegetable stall which was the reason I had come in the first place. I purchased beautiful aubergines and tomatoes, two white peaches (only 50c each) spinach and a big crisp lettuce which I lost before I got home. But the prize purchases were some Irish apples, one with leaves still on, which tasted like apples used to taste. They were eaten for dinner, too.
Finally a pot of Irish honey. The lady who sold me swore every last bee who worked on it at Knocknobin Farm in Wicklow had Irish citizenship. Some "Irish" honey for your information has non-EU honey added to "enhance the flavour" but this should be on the label. €5.00 here.
And I nearly forgot the little pot of Tay berry goat's yogurt. Sampled but did not purchase delicious goat's cheese on this stall - yummy.
The outing to get healthy food has probably helped me put on one or two kilos and it may appear I tasted everything in sight, but this is not so. I steered clear of the rhubarb tarts, foccacia bread and tasty-looking little meat pies. Grazing had to stop some where.
The cooking of the mellanzne went well. There are so many recipes for mellanzane alla parmigiana but having tried many I think Wanda's is best. Her husband is a cardiologist in San Severo in Italy and I'm sure he approves of its contents.
I'll give you the recipe so that you can make it yourselves. Make a tomato sauce - finely chop two medium onions and sauté in olive oil - add either chopped fresh or tinned tomatoes, some garlic and pepper. The amount of sauce needed depends on the number of people to be fed.
Slice the aubergines longitudinally, dip in beaten egg, lightly flour and fry to a golden brown in olive oil.
Cut up the mozzarella. Place the tomato sauce, aubergine slices and mozzarella in layers in an ovenproof dish finishing with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Put some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top unless one is dealing with very particular vegetarians when one should not - there is real rennet in some parmesan. Pour off excess liquor carefully and bake in a hot oven for about half an hour - you'll know your own oven better than I do.
Serve with a salad and all the goodies you can collect from the local farmers' market
Senator Mary Henry, MD
