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.

The Good Life - Summer mushrooms but...!

Agraricus Campestris

We took advantage of a brief gap in the near constant low, middle and upper levels of Irish Summer cloud cover to pay a visit to the allotment and bail the trenches dug to relieve the inundation of the raised beds; one end of the allotment where we have a large raised bed is reminiscent of Venice in a bad Winter over run by the Po. The still night and humid conditions guaranteed we were not the only visitors to the swamp! The air was thick with mosquitos, all hungry and eager for a light snack before retiring to gnaw on a reluctant and acquiescent badger or rabbit.

All moaning aside we did find evidence of some seasonal wild growth in the form of the common (actually quite rare) field mushroom. These pretty little mushrooms have elegant and delicate off pink gills when young which eventually turn brown. The specimens we found had a slightly brown cap and had a sweet smell. It would have been easy to stay in and go through the motions of preparing for work but that would have been unforgivable. There will be plenty of dark of dark Winter nights where you wish you could get outdoors do something or anything!

The Good Life - Harvest on a damp 4th July

We managed to gather a few heads of lettuce, nasturtium flowers, scallions, mange tout and peas, parsley, mint and chives along with a few handfuls of potatoes as the showers were rolling through north County Dublin at midday today. Altogether the basket looked quite colourful and healthy! Looking foward devourig the new potatoes with peas and mint this evening, and possibly a scallion and mange tout salad which is my star combination of the moment.