Did I mention that when we came home last Saturday from our wonderful holiday in Whitby with our cousins and their wives/husbands, we brought home a quarter of a sack of potatoes? There are five couples, we go for a meal out on one night, and we have left-overs on the last night so we each are cooks for one night. We cooked pork in cider, which although was well-received, I was a little disappointed in – never mind, I will do something different next year! Back to the sack of potatoes – one of the cousins has a potato farming friend and brings a sack of his spuds for us. When we are packing up to go we clear out the kitchen cupboards and divide the contents between us, nobody wanted the tatties, and not wanting them to be wasted we brought them home… so now… hmmm, how to consume them while they are in good condition?
Two things have struck me, potato bread and potato soup – obviously not in the same meal, but a great cauldron of soup would be lovely, especially as spring seems to have disappeared and it’s been really chilly today. Some nice farls would be delicious with a cooked breakfast and take us right back to the first time we ever went to Ireland. En route to the cottage we were going to rent, we stopped over night at a farmhouse and for breakfast the kindly lady had made us fresh farls. They were so delicious and so perfect with eggs from her hens and thick slices of bacon (I don’t know if it was from their own pigs, I didn’t ask!) When we came home from our holiday I set to making farls using the recipe book I’d bought over there, and they became a familiar item for breakfast. I haven’t made any for ages, but they are very easy so tomorrow I’ll set to!
Potato scones
1/2 lb mashed potato
1/2 oz butter
2 oz plain flour
seasoning
1 while the potatoes are still warm, work in the butter with plenty of seasoning
2 knead in as much flour as the potato will take to make a pliable dough
3 roll out the dough thinly then cut into 3 inch rounds and prick the surface with a fork
4 heat a griddle or heavy frying pan, brush the surface with oil
5 cook the scones about four at a time for 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown
6 eat while warm with Irish butter!
Fadge/farls/potato bread
2 lbs unpeeled potatoes (Golden Wonder, or Kerr’s Pinks)
1 egg, beaten
1-2 oz butter
2/3 tbsp flour
1 or 2 tbsp chopped parsley, chives, lemon thyme
salt and peeper to taste
creamy milk
seasoned flour
bacon fat or butter for frying
1 boil the potatoes in their jackets (wash very well first) pull off skins and mash straight away
2 add the rest of the ingredients except the flour, adding enough milk so the mixture is too stiff
3 roll out gently into a circle shape and cut int eight pieces
4 dip in the seasoned flour
5 bake on a griddle or fry in bacon fat or butter in a frying pan until golden on both sides
6 serve with breakfast – perfect with an Ulster fry, or eat on their own with butter.
An Ulster fry is a full breakfast with all the usual items, egg, bacon, sausage, black/white pudding, plus additions such as fried tomatoes and mushrooms.
Lois Elsden 