The Good Life - Approaching the end of September

The greenhouse at Ardgillan Castle in north County Dublin

It was yet another dry and warm weekend. Cloud would gather in the sky and suddenly break up bringing warm spells of bright sunshine. In the hedgerows damsons or bullace plums had spent a number of weeks ripening in clusters their under leafy cover and were now ready to be bagged for gin and jelly. The last two evenings have been spent washing and cleaning these tart little fruit in order to stew them and extract the rich claret coloured juice. I have promised some friends a jar or two to taste and may try and force them to take a jar of my experimental blackberry and elderberry jelly as well.

In the allotment on Saturday afternoon we dug a small trough in the ground and filled it with charcoal and surrounded the earth oven with bricks. We had prepared a little salad and brought some wine to drink (Cotes du Jura Port Lesney by Domaine de la Pinte 1999), and then proceeded to cook beef, corn and fennel on a cheap cake stand which had been quickly reengineered as a grill. While we were eating I set about cooking a fillet of pork for Sunday's evening meal. After seasoning and rubbing in some herbs de provence and a little olive oil, I placed freshly cut branches of mint and thyme by the fillets. The fillets were then covered with heavily scented fronds of fennel. Occasionally turning the meat I replaced the mint and fennel with a fresh batch setting the spent and dried coverings on the coals causing it to smoke the meat above. Normally I burn meat on a BBQ but this really worked well; it took about 40 minutes to cook and it looked as if it had just come out of a wood fired oven. This was just at the right time because the mosquitos were beginning to arrive in force for their own evening meal.

The pork, which had an good strong herb and smokey flavour, was sliced and served with some homemade coleslaw and a melange of broad beans, garden peas, borlotti beans and french beans. These were the spoils from clearing a few of the raised beds. They were lightly boiled together and then strained only to be fried in a parsley and garlic butter. We finished the meal with a seasonal apple and damson cobbler. It is now inevitable I will be forced to take to my bike in the coming weeks to counteract the weight gain!

September has always been the most reliable month in Ireland but this year it has certainly been exceptional. It has almost been too dry and the ground is now dry and hard. The birch forests are finally losing the green colouring of their foliage passing quickly but not uniformly into a golden phase, turning these forests into a mosaic of colour when the low sun beams its rays deep into the woods. The other deciduous trees will follow their lead and then the countryside will plunge irreversibly into the last days of Autumn and Winter.

The caterpillars have stopped eating the broccoli!

The Good Life - Indian Summer

Last weekend was spent digging, planting seedlings for the coming months, and picking over what was available in the allotment. The good weather finally arrived as promised and we were basking in the sunshine all weekend. Unusually, there were not many mushrooms to be found. A number of people are walking through and clearing the small birch forests so their growth could be affected. To counteract this disappointment, a number of damson trees close to the allotment are almost ready to harvest; the small deep purple/blue fruit are softening as they ripen through September. Elsewhere we have found hazelnuts and have begun to hang a few small bags to dry them although they are particularly nice when fresh. We decided to limit our take from the allotment this weekend and only picked a courgette, a young injured pumpkin and some sweet corn.

Sunday evening was set aside for a special task. We picked raspberries while killing some time before paying a visit to an orchard just before sunset. The orchard is a feature on a local golf course and many of the trees are not in the best of health and in some cases clearly need attention. We take it upon ourselves every year to collect a few bags of apples rather than having them rot into the ground. They are generally the cooking or bramley apples, but one or two of the trees produce a small eating apple.

The orchard is not easy to get to. You have to trudge through damp fields and steep ditches, and all this in failing Autumn light to avoid the attention of the golfing community. The still evening sunlight cast just enough light for a few minutes when we reached the orchard, but quickly faded and before long it was time to retreat. We returned by a different route through fields of low lying mist making our way up onto a country path above which the evening sky was still tinted with shades of salmon and grey by the sun which had long disappeared over the silvan horizon. In the forests only the darkest of green hues were visible and the pasture field to our left was full of a dense misty fog which spilled over the fencing much like water overflowing from a bath as the track ahead of us was slowly enveloped.

Back at home I set about cooking a large cake and decided to make a bakewell tart in a large square cake tin I acquired some months ago. This was partially inspired by a slice of bakewell tart my father had brought to me the week before, but I still craved for the rich combination and contrasting flavours of fresh raspberries and a rich almond frangipane. There was to be no half hearted thin layer of tasteless red jam and pale stodge for a frangipane which all too often carries a distinct lingering smell of almond essence.

For the pastry I decided to use a short crust type using a 2:1 ratio flour to butter but also added a desert spoon of almonds and a similar amount of icing sugar. The frangipane was quite rich with 150 grams sugar, 150 grams butter, 150 grams ground almonds, 3 eggs and one egg yolk, some grated lemon zest and a heaped tablespoon of flour with flaked almonds to scatter over the top. (I describe the basics of my simple guide to pastry and frangipane here). Essentially you just spread two or three tablespoons of raspberry jelly on the pastry and scatter the raspberries over the jelly. cover with the frangipane and cook.

I must acknowledge the source of the raspberry jelly which was made by Marie Claire Paillard, a friend of Corinne's from Franche Comte. Marie Claire and her husband Michel pick the wild raspberries, blueberries and strawberries from the forests, pastures and bogs close to where they live in Frasne. On a recent visit I managed to scoop her recipe for the raspberry jelly which read with the rhythm and simplicity of an iambic pentameter, but as usual my English has bludgeoned some of the vibrant life from it.

Here is the recipe for Gelee Frambois

Chauffer les fruits, Heat the fruit
Ensuite les presser ou serrer le jus Then press or strain the juice
mettre poids egal de sucre Add an equal weigh of sugar
Cuit environ 10 a 15 min Cook for 10 to 15 minutes
mettre au pot Place in the pot

I normally add about 100mls of water for every pound of fruit to prevent scorching and then strain the cooked fruit in a muslin bag over night. As regards sugar, Marie Claire's recipe adds slightly less sugar than I would typically add. My ratio is generally 450 grams to 600 mls of juice. Finally, although Marie Claire does not mention it, the jars or pots should always be sterilised. I took the time to try this reduced sugar method with some elderberries and blackberries I picked: it was a soft set jelly with an excellent and strong flavour.

Monday morning was a somewhat rushed affair and I found that every surface was covered with unwashed pots and bowls just as I had abandoned them the night before. Two large bags of apples formed an early obstacle to the day but I eventually sat down to a cup of freshly ground coffee and a large indulgent, and undeserved slice of bakewell tart, while I refused to raise a eye to the clutter of pots and pans.

The Good Life - Harvest on the 5th September and hunting for forest fungi

The harvest this weekend was a real mixed bag as we rescued many veggies from the clutches of the voracious jaws of millions of slugs that have now arrived on site. These little guys are far from cute and are over motivated for my liking; the infestation is almost out of control. They are quite attached to the haricot beans and large courgettes have been reduced to an unrecognisable pulpy mass - It's time for the pellets!

A great example of a Leccinum Scabrum in its natural environment

I did a little mushroom hunting as well over the weekend finding a few prize examples of Leccinum Scabrum or brown birch bolet. I decided to explore a small patch where some young oak and hazel were growing and found a good quantity of Lepista Nuda or wood blewits. A good number of examples were spread all over the forest floor. All were at various stages of growth; the older examples curling their caps having spread their spores before retreating back to the forest floor, and the pale and violet caps of the younger lepista nuda bursting through the mossy forest floor.

Lepista Nuda cut and ready for the pot

GIn the same forest, probably more correct to describe it as a copse, I found a large quantity scleroderma verrucosum or scaly earth ball. These diminutive puffball mushrooms are not perfectly round but appear somewhat flattened, and are generally less than 4 cms in diameter with a small foot or stem. They are generally light ochre yellow brown in colouri with a scaly appearance to the surface of the mushroom. The younger fungi are solid with a black center; the older and slightly larger examples are soft and will burst easily releasing the spores. They are said to be toxic and should not be eaten or picked and mixed with other fungi that you intend to eat.

Scleroderma Verrucosum

A weekend trip to France

Figs and Mirabelles

The last post was complicated by issues with my Irish fraudband but thankfully I have been upgraded to intermittent poor service and can now type and save without too much difficulty. Last weekend I went to France to be with Corrine to help her out. Having arrived in Paris, I had a few hours to occupy before catching the TGV to Frasne not far from the Swiss border. I normally try to visit a small street market called the Marche de Ternes situated close to the Rue de Ternes and Porte Maillot. A good breeze coming up the Seine meant that the temperature would never be too stifling and I could walk around in comfort. The market is quite compact and occupies a portion of two small streets that radiate from a "v" shaped intersection. Street traders operate from stalls in front of an array of specialist shops and stores selling an assortment of produce including fish, meat, cheese, green grocers and fruit merchants.

Girolles

Turning the corner and arriving at the market with damp cobbles under foot I was confronted with a scene of busy preparation as the last additions were being placed on elegantly prepared displays of seasonal shellfish and fruit. Large tables of cool yellow girolles required little immediately caught my eye before it quickly travelled to the vast quantities of diminutive blushing golden mirabelles, adjacent to plums and gages and ripe figs. Bunches of opalescent pale chasselas grapes signalled the early season harvesting of grapes. In Dublin we are still picking artichokes and I thought the European crops had come ot an end by the early summer but I spotted an enormous variety of artichokes with large fleshy leaves dwarfing bunches of suedes and cauliflowers.

Artichokes and suedes

August is also one of the best months of the year for shellfish and despite the annual evacuation of the Parisians at this time of year to the South of France and Guadeloupe a great variety of shellfish was set out in well crafted icy displays grouping together vast mounds of langoustines, amandes and cooked shore crab.

Quite close by is one of my favourite places in Paris; Maison Pou on Rue du Ternes is not Fauchon, and never will be, but it essentially does the same thing cooking and preparing classic meals, dishes, meats and pates causing the havoc with the decision making skills of the hungry Parisian. The shop's style shirks the modernity and the crisp neat shapes and abstract forms that one might expect from Fauchon. The cooking and presentation of the food is easily recognisable as what I would consider to be classically French.

Delicacies of Maison Fou

I purchased my tickets in Gare de Lyon and wandered about for a while trying to find somewhere to eat. Eventually, I happened upn a neighbourhood restaurant of Reu Didertot and was put through my paces with the chef's foie gras to start, Lapin au moutard for main course and mirabelle clafoutis to finish. By this time the warmth of the sunshine needed to be suppressed and I allowed myself a refreshing glass or two of rose from the Pays du Gard.

I awoke the next morning in the small village of Couvieres. With warm sunlight flooding in through an open window that also allowed a comforting breeze circulate the room I breakfasted on coffee, toast with a reine claude plum jam and peaches fresh from the tree. Courvieres is immediately surrounded by pastures where the Monbelliard cattle graze and horses roam. The pastures are bounded all around by vast forests of tall straight powerful pine trees.

Horses near Couvieres

On Sunday morning we went for a short walk in the forests to hunt down a few mushrooms. There had not been much rainfall in the past few weeks in Courvieres, and we did not expect to find much. However, through one stretch of forest we doscovered a proliferation of Phallus Hadrian or stinkhorns; some spent and fallen down on the ground from where they literally hatched, others still proudly standing to attention freshly emerged from their embryonic sack with pitted and ribbed caps at the tip. If and when the rains arrive there may by a mycological explosion but it will not last long because the frosts will begin to become quite severe at 850 meters above sea level by the middle of September.

Phallus Hadriani emergging from the forest floor

Reading the newspapers it is difficult to escape the difference in the news reporting; the Irish media dwells upon one crisis followed by another where we have apparently been the author of our own misfortune (in reality a series of disasters created by a select few). In contrast the L'Est Republican carried a front page story on the announcements of various wine producers that they were in the last throws of preparing for the start of the vendage, or the picking of the grapes for their annual wine production. Elsewhere in the paper, my eye was caught by this full page add heralding the arrival of the Mont D'Or cheese. This cheese available during the Autumn and Winter months is one of my personal highlights of the year and launches me into new world of goumandises and a few weekends of gluttony.

The arrival of the iconicly seasonal Mont D'Or cheese

The Good Life - Harvest on the 31st August

The Good Life - Harvest on 22nd August

Today's take from the allotment was modest because I am cooking for one. The green and yellow haricots are just ready and there should be a few more weeks of production from these plants. The second crop of peas are coming along nicely and the swollen pods are filled with the sweetest peas I have ever tasted. Corinne's butternut squash plants are producing the nicest courgettes and there should be more to come in the next three or four weeks. Likewise we should have a few patisson for the pot over the same period. the end of August and start of September is all about the sweet corn and I have broken off a few cobs to keep me going during the week.

The last week has brought about a big change in the allotment as there has been a lot of growth over this period; the result of a good balance of rain and good periods of sunshine. The courgette plants, beans lettuce and beetroot have all filled out and matured well.

View from below showing partial veil and white gills

As I walked home this morning, I decided to take a closer look at the conifers on the route and check out what was growing around them. I am aware that some varieties of Amanita are mycorrhizal with conifers. The example photographed above and below has many characteristics common with the Amanita genus; crowded white gills, partial veil and a volva at the base of the stem. However, the cap is a little unusual for an Amanita as it has a scaled or feathered appearance almost appears to be pealing. I have not been able to identify this variety but Rome was not built in a day and there are about 600 varieties to chose from! As I have mentioned on a number of occasions the Amanitas, apart from a handful of examples, are toxic and in some cases deadly poisonous. They should not be eaten, or picked and mixed with mushrooms that you intend to eat.

Side view of mushroom

The Good Life - Amantia Phalloides or Death Cap (absolutely deadly)

Bees continue the important process of pollination

Corinne has retreated to Franche Comte and I have been left on my own to weed and attend to a few small tasks in the allotment. The weather was forecasted to be unsettled for the last few days and this weekend but it has actually been quite refreshing, being mild with a cooling breeze and intermittent spells of bright sunshine. Generally "unsettled" means you should always have a coat to hand to protect you from frequent showers.

With a solid dose of optimism I walked confidently to the allotment early this morning and went for my usual forays in the forests but was disappointed only to find one bolet and a few amethyst deceivers. I simply noted their position but did not pick them. I also took the opportunity to inspect the growth of the blackberries and elderberries because they will be ripening soon. I am aware of a few wild souls who may be experimenting with making elderflower wine this year but I will definitely be making making another batch of blackberry jelly this year.

Patisson

The patisson, or patty pan squash, plant has provided us with one good sized patisson to date and is currently producing three more; they should be ready to pick in about two weeks. I tried a potato and patisson gratinee with the last one and will fine tune this recipe for the next crop and report back in due course. The courgettes are growing nicely and some courgettes which are meant to be butternut squash are also developing well. I will have to chat to Corinne about this planting error upon her return!

While the broad beans appear to have been a failure this year, I am quite hopeful that the current dry (or shall we say less wet) spell will provide a good crop of yellow and green french beans. These plants are progressing well in their raised beds, and we should be able to have a few meals from them in the coming weeks. A second crop of peas and broad beans are also progressing quite quickly which is encouraging and we might yet be able to put a decent plate of broad beans on the table. Meanwhile our crop of salad leaves and lettuce is coming on very well. These were initially planted among the corn and transplanted out into a bed once the first drop of peas had been cleared.

Wonderful head of red lettuce

Walking home, I took a detour through Newbridge house and among the oak trees I noticed a solitary mushroom growing on the ground close to one of the smaller trees. The round broadly convex cap was shiny but patchy in places with a metallic ivory colouring. Beneath the cap the ringlike veil was unbroken; this thin fibrous delicate skin covered the gills. The cap measured in the region of 120mm in diameter. The thick stem had a large volval sack attached to its base. This was a young mushroom and it did not have a distinctive smell.

Amanita Phalloides

View of the foot and underside of the cap of the Aminita phalloides

While magnificent, the Amanita phalloides is deadly poisonous and should not be picked. There is no known antidote to the toxins in this mushroom. It ultimately causes liver and kidney failure so do not touch it, and if it does end up in your basket of wild mushrooms throw the entire basket away because the deadly poisonous spores will become attached to other mushrooms. This Amanita is in season from late Summer through to the Autumn and is mycorrhizal with the oak tree but has been found growing with other deciduous trees. I removed it because there were children playing closeby and generally running around the park area, but I took great care carrying it away and carefully washed my hands afterwards.

Aminita phalloides cross section

A short weekend excursion on foot these days rarely leaves me with nothing of note; every step and glance can reveal a great variey of nature's beautiful and deadly creations. In particular, August marks an important turning point bringing the Summer to a close and turning attentions towards the harvest. Looking ahead the riches of Autumn are yet to come as trees and shrubs end their annual cycle producing their fruit.

The Good Life - Is this mushroom a Gyromitra Esculenta or false morel? No, but it could be Hellvella Palustris!

Side view of the mystery mushroom

We went on a wander through the woods this evening and Corinne found this mushroom growing alone on mossy ground. The cap has billowing folds but is not folded and creased like a brain typical of a false morel. The outside of the cap was a light grey in colour. We cut the mushroom in half to check out the interior and it was indeed hollow and light coloured. The small foot, white in colour, was not quite hollow but had chambers.

The closest type of mushroom I can relate it to is the gyromitra esculenta but it has obvious differences. Anybody got any ideas?

Cross section of the mystery mushroom (on a similarly coloured rock) with the foot on extreme left and right

After much thought, deliberation and reviewing a few French publications I am of the opinion this is HELLVELLA PALUSTRIS - 2nd September 2009

The Good Life - Harvest on the 25th July

After a long week working and attending my parents' birthday parties on Thursday and Friday, I was looking forward to Saturday but in an unplanned and spontaneous way. Lets face it, I was too tired to plan and just wanted to get out and breath in the fresh air. These were the instant thoughts occurring to me as I woke early, but immediately declined the opportunity to leave the bed as crawling and struggling were a little beyond my abilities. Eventually at 8 a.m. I swung my feet out from under the duvet and wandered like an uncoordrinated crippled crustacean across the room. Making it past the door and into the kitchen where a pot of coffee was prepped we found our milk had set over night and the kettle was boiled to thin the coffee, making it a less lethal dose. During the week I had been collecting blackcurrants in the late evening and by midnight most nights a few more jars of jam had made it into the safety of my store. Toast was buttered and decorated with a thick layer of blackcurrant jam whereupon I was ready for to take on the world again aided by the bright morning sunshine.


We headed down to the allotment intending to stay for half an hour but stayed for three. Having pulled at a few pea plants it was decided to clear the entire bed and prepare it to transplant some lettuce and fennel. Corrine does not like slugs and at times I could hear her muttering softly in a French/Dublin accent while stabbing her trowl into the ground "You guys have got to go or I will kill you". I pretended to pay no attention but it was amusing and I suppose slugs do bring the worst out in you!

First Brown Birch Bolet of the Season

We made our way to the birch forests and were quite surprised to find a few bolet mushrooms. They were ten to fourteen days old and I was quite interested to see them fruiting in mid July because we would normally be collecting them in September. My information from Poland told me they had arrived there some weeks agol. Over night, having given the issue due consideration I decided to do a little more foraging and visit a few spots which always seemed to produce good specimens. I was not disappointed. A dozen good sized mushrooms were located however they were past their best and cooking them was out of the question because they had become spongy and contaminated by our old friends the slugs and maggots.

The first crop of Brown Birch Bolet

Back in the apartment we were preparing meals for the week ahead and cooking Sunday dinner but also trying to make the place look somewhat presentable. Trays of potatoes should not be in the hallway but they are. My jam making efforts had left a large impact on the sink and this unfortunately had to be dealt with; a further kilo of blackcurrants were languishing in the fridge requiring attention and eventually I gathered the enthusiasm to stand over them in the pot for forty minutes to jam them.

I was feeling quite lazy by Sunday afternoon and required a simple quick and tasty pudding for desert to keep everybody happy. I decided to consult my book of post war cookery, namely the "The Penguin Cookery Book" by Bee Nilson published in 1952. Its a small tome which lacks the synthetic colour which Fanny Craddock brough to cooking in the resurgent 1970s but it contains over 850 recipes from the little known "Ragout of Turnip" to the even less celebrated "Boiled Finnan Haddock". Recipe 773 "Bread Custard" is what one might use in a base for Queen of Puddings (a.k.a. Queen's Pudding and I thought it would go well with vanilla ice cream and a spoon of blackcurrant jam which were all to hand.

To make Bread Custard you will require the following: 4 oz bread crumbs, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of sugar, half teaspoon of vanilla essence, 1 pint of milk, a pinch of salt and butter to grease the bowl. I blended a stale baguette for bread crumbs and heated the milk in the microwave (about all it is good for), then beat the sugar, egg and vanilla together. I poured the milk into the egg mixture and whisked to blend well. At this point I departed from the recipe and threw a handful of sultanas into the warmed milk and egg mix and left it to stand for a few minutes before pouring it over the breadcrumbs. Thereafter it was placed into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius and cooked for about three quarters of an hour.

The vanilla ice cream and blackcurrant jam worked a treat. You may not get this bin end delight in the top restaurants but it was everything a desert should be. The visiting dog had little to savour from the plates before they were cast on the mountainous pile that had grown up in the sink over the afternoon.

The Good Life - Harvest on the 18th July

Saturday was another good day in the allotment. Much of the flooding had worked its way into the soil and clay, but the potatoes, jerusalem artichokes and some of the broad bean plants may not be as healthy as they should be. Harry was not so pleased with some of the potatoes. While they had grown to a good size there was evidence of a large scale slug attack upon some plants. However, I had to point out in some cases he was confusing slugs with damage caused by somebody digging with a large fork! By midday we happily layed out on the work bench our selection of potatoes, beetroot, peas and beans, carrots, chives, fennel, spring onions, lettuce, mint, sorrel and a single "common" field mushroom.

We had a particular surprise with the beetroot. Six weeks ago a debate raged about whether or not beetroot plants could be transplanted. Corinne held the firm view that they could not and wanted to cull a bed of them to plant beans. I held firm and continued to water the guys until signs of fresh green growth appeared. It was also then stated that if the plants survived the beetroot itself would not grow well. Yesterday afternoon Harry and myself made a great show and took great relish in disproving these points of view as we struggled to pull the well formed and rooted beetroot from the soil. Corinne made no formal comment at the time but no doubt I will question her further on the issue when she is eating them.

Harry and Corinne

The Polyporus Squamous is also known as Dryads Saddle, Pheasant Back or Hawk's Wing mushroom. The cap is quite distinctive being kidney shaped with a scaled or feather like appearance. Peering under the cap you can examine the pores which are in the form of beautiful delicate velvet white tubes. This mushroom flourishes in late Summer. It is great to be able to find mushrooms and fungi growing in season when the changeability and unpredictability of the seasons can be the background or basis for many a conversation.

Polporus Squamous

They are quite spectacular mushrooms with caps up to 30cms wide. They can be found growing in large groups on decaying logs or stumps of elm or maple slowly devouring the crumbling bark and trunks of trees. The younger mushrooms are the best ones to pick as they will be quite tender. The more mature and larger mushrooms tend to be too tough and fibrous. The foot of the polyporus squamous is often quite big and thick as it will ultimately be attaching a large mushroom, weighing up to a few kilos, to the trunk of a rotten log. Once cut a sweet smelling liquid runs from the foot of the fresh mushroom. Some people describe the sweet fruity smell being similar to watermelon and I would not disagree.

Polyporus Squamous from the side

While the edibility of this mushroom is not disputed the quality of the mushroom is a little maligned and this is probably because this mushroom grows at a time when other more flavoursome varieties are available, and the "worthwhile" factor comes into play. In my view, when cooking wild mushrooms it is often preferable to have at your disposal a selection of mushrooms to enhance a recipe and this is at least one good reason for not ignoring this mushroom.