This week’s recipe comes in from Dominic and Ali at Castewood Farm in Durrow, Co Laois. At Castlewood they produce a range of organic food, including beef, pork and lamb. They also have a great new addition which is a cafe open in the summer months. For more information check them out on www.castlewoodfarm.ie 

Lamb Filo Pie

Serves 4

Organic ingredients:

Sunflower oil, for brushing

450g minced lamb

1 onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

400g can plum tomatoes

2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tsp grated nutmeg

350g young spinach leaves

1 packet filo pastry

1 tsp sesame seeds

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Salad or vegetables to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Oil a 22cm/8.5inch round springform tin
2. Fry the mince and onion without fat in a pan until golden.
3. Add the garlic, tomatoes, mint, nutmeg and some seasoning. Bring to the boil while stirring. Simmer, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has evaporated.
4. Wash the spinach and remove any tough stalks. Cook in the water clinging to the leaves until lightly wilted.
5. Lightly brush each sheet of filo pastry with oil and lay in overlapping layers in the springform tin. Leave enough over-hang to wrap over the top.
6. Spoon in the meat and spinach. Wrap the over-hanging pastry over the top to enclose and scrunch it slightly. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Bake for 25-39 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve hot.

Alternatively you can use chicken or fish for this dish.

 

Brussels Sprouts

Tis the season for them and well you either love them or hate them, if you are in the later half then here are some tempting recipes to convert you! This year has been a good year for growing sprouts so contact your local organic grower to order some now.

Roasted brussels sprouts

Organic Ingredients:

300g of sprouts

4 tablespoons of rapeseed oil

black pepper

seasalt

Method:

Trim the outer leaves from the sprouts and cut the ends off. Place all of the ingredients in a sealed plastic bag, shake it vigorously to make sure that the sprouts are well coated. Then put them on a baking tray and place in the oven which is preheated to 200c. Every 5-10 mins take the tray out and shake it to move the sprouts around and make sure that they cook evenly. After approximately 35 minutes the sprouts should be turning brown and almost black, remove them and serve immediately.

Roasted brussels sprouts with bacon

This is essentially the same recipe as above except you add 6 pieces of bacon to the dish. Cut the bacon up into 1 inch pieces and sprinkle on top of the sprouts before you place them in the oven. Cook the same way and serve immediately.

This week’s recipe comes from Paula Pender, coordinator and tutor on the distance learning horticulture course at the Organic College in Dromcollogher, Co. Limerick. Root vegetables are a favourite at this time of the year, and Paula describes herself as a beetroot fanatic so much so she had to give us two recipe with beetroot, so try out these seasonal recipes and see what you think!

Over-roasted roots Frittata

I love this recipe as it is a great way to use up odds and ends of fresh veggies!

Organic Ingredients:

Approx 600g mixed winter veg (potatoes, celeriac, beetroot, carrots, squash, onions, parsnips)

1 large clove of garlic finely chopped

3 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil

7 or 8 large eggs

handful of mixed herbs such as parsley and oregano

approx 20g parmesan or another hard cheese grated

Sea salt and ground pepper

Method:

Preheat over to 190ºC

Prepare veg, quarter or thickly slice; peel carrots and cut into 5mm slices, peel squash or pumpkin, deseed and cut into 2-3 cubes; peel parsnip, celeriac and beetroot and cut into 1-2cm cubes; cut potatoes into 1-2cm cubes.

Put all the veg into an ovenproof dish, about 23cm square. Add the garlic, oil and salt and pepper and toss well. Roast for about 40 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the veg are all tender and starting to caramelise in places.

Beat eggs together with the chopped herbs and some more salt and pepper. Take the dish from the oven, pour the egg evenly over the veg and scatter over the grated cheese. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes until the egg is all set and the top is starting to brown. If your oven has a grill, you can use that to accelerate the browning of the top.

Leave to cool slightly, then slide the frittata out on to a plate or board. Serve warm or cold.

Roasted beets with apple cider vinegar

500g beetroot (all colours and sizes)

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

splash of olive oil or rapeseed oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C. Wash beet root and cut in halves or quarters (depending on size).

Put in an oven proof dish and coat with oil. Cook for 30 to minutes turning them in the oil after15 minutes. After half hour remove tray from oven and add vinegar to the beetroot and cook for another 5 minutes. This will caramelise them. Allow to cool.

Thursday the 26th is Thanksgiving so why not celebrate it with this tasty vegetarian dish as it may be hard to source an organic turkey this early unless of course you have one stored in the freezer and ready to eat!

Vegetarian Nut Roast

Organic Ingredients:

1 x 100g almonds

1 x 100g hazelnuts

1 x 100g cashews

1 x courgettes

1 x head of celery

2 cloves of garlic

1 x bunch of thyme

1 x bunch of rosemary

2 x eggs beaten

150g breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Put all of the nuts in a blender and blitz it until chopped, it does not have to be too fine it can be chunks of nuts, then transfer it to a large mixing bowl. Then add in the breadcrumbs. Blend the garlic, celery and courgette and add it to the bowl. Add in the chopped thyme and rosemary. Then add in the beaten eggs and stir the mixture thoroughly. Line a bread loaf tin with grease proof paper, and then simply spoon the mixture into the tin. Place it into a pre-heated oven at 170, and cook for 1 hour until a nice golden deep brown colour on top.

To serve it, simply remove it from the loaf tin by turning upside down and place on a bread board and cut in slices. Serve it with all of the usual trimmings!

 

This weeks recipe comes from Conor & Declan at Aramark. Tribal Fusion, Salmon fillet, Potato Blini, Slaw.

It’s a starter portion & serves 4 – 6.

Ingredients:
Rapeseed Oil
Pinch of Sea Salt
4 x 100g skinless fillets of fresh Galway Bay Salmon
1 tsp Wasabi Sesame Seasoning
For the Blini
200g Potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
50g Plain flour
½ tsp Baking Powder
60ml Milk
3 eggs separated
1 tbsp Crème Fraiche
Method
For the Slaw – combine the following ingredients and chill
1 small White Beetroot poached, cooled and finely sliced
1 tbsp of Wild Irish Seaweed Salad
50g Mixed Live Shoots
2 tbsp Crème Fraiche
For the Blini
Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water for 15 minutes or until tender, drain well and mash with the milk. Season and transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.
Sieve flour and baking powder and beat in egg yolks and crème fraiche. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Using a large spoon gently fold the whites into the potato.
Heat a little oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. Add 3-4 separate tablespoons of the mixture. Fry over a medium heat until set, then turn them over and fry briefly, so that both sides are lightly browned. Remove and keep warm. Repeat the process until all the mixture has been used.
For the Salmon
Pan Fry salmon fillets in a little oil over a medium heat until lightly cooked. Sprinkle with some wasabi sesame seasoning. Place on top of blini and serve with the Slaw.