Nettle and Barley Pudding - An Experiment

It is time to go foraging for Nettles, they are now in season, here in County Kilkenny.

Bunch of Freshly Picked Nettles

Best eaten tender, soon after emerging from their winter slumber.  When picking them, wear rubber gloves, so you will not be stung. This recipe calls for a decent bunch. Make sure they are growing in a spot where they have not been sprayed, away from a road and preferably where there are no livestock grazing.

Added ingredients: leeks, sorrel, watercress, thyme & chives

This recipe is based on an ancient type of pudding, commonly eaten in the past. 

Puddings, nowadays, apart from blood puddings, are usually regarded as sweet dishes, but this was not always the case. Originally, they were placed in an animal's stomach, like the modern Scottish haggis. From the seventeenth century, puddings, generally savory, wrapped in a cloth and thus cooked. Later, in second half of the nineteenth century, they were placed in a pudding basin and steamed. 

Barley and Nettle Pudding being placed in Lamb Stock

RECIPE

Lamb, ham or chicken stock

Barley (pearl barley was used in this case)

Bunch of nettles

Bunch of watercress

Bunch of sorrel

2 leeks

Chives

1 wild garlic leaf

Sprigs of thyme

Salt

The barley was soaked before hand, in lamb stock and then drained (there is a similar version of this recipe, that uses barley flour). The greens were finely chopped, added to the barley, along with some sea salt, mixed together.  Some of the larger leaves were held aside and used to line the pudding cloth, and to wrap the pudding. It was then tied up and cooked in a saucepan of lamb stock for an hour and a half.

Nettle and Barley Pudding

VERDICT

The pudding should have been opened, once it had cooled, but being in a hurry to taste it, it was opened while still steaming - so it lost its shape! It was wonderfully tasty, and was eaten with some locally produced lamb. It is likely that in medieval times, all sorts of exotic foreign spices (of which they were so fond), would have been added - by those who could afford it. 

Next time, I am going to try the barley flour version, it is an inspirational dish: traditional, healthy, cheap, local and seasonal. 

Email: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com

St. Patrick's Day Salad

A WILD & SEASONAL, GREEN SALAD FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Watercress, Sorrel and Wild Garlic Salad.

A salad composed of plants readily available in St. Patrick's time, that have would have been well known by anyone living in Ireland, in the 5th century AD. We forget that so many of our common 21 st century vegetables and salad plants are comparatively recent introductions to Ireland and would have been unknown to our ancestors.

The days are lenghtening, tender wild spring greens, packed with vitamins and other goodies are emerging. The slugs have beaten me to the sorrel, but there are still enough new shoots for a tasty St. Patrick's Day salad.

Wild Kilkenny Garlic

The young, wild garlic (Allium ursinum) grows in profusion in County Kilkenny, in hedgerows and on the woodland edges. Look out for the distinctive garlic smell, as you crush it under foot. A few well chosen leaves is all that is required, or alternatively break up the leaves and rub the inside of the salad bowl with them.

Sorrel

Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) , like spinach, contains oxalic acid, so it is best eaten when young. It has a slightly bitter but pleasant taste. Sorrel can be used in sauces and soups. Not to be confused with the shamrock-like leafed wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)), which has a similar flavour. 

Watercress

Be careful when picking watercress (Nasturtium officinale), make sure that your source is a clean one, watercress can act as a host to Fasciola Hepatica more commonly known as liver fluke. The water in the watercourse, should be clean, fast flowing and away from animals. Boiling will kill the fluke larvae, but it is best avoided, if you suspect the watercress might be infected. It is easily grown at home under controlled conditions.

St. Patrick's Day Salad on a bed of Shamrock

RECIPE
For a St. Patrick's Day Salad, pick the young leaves (go easy on the garlic - unless you like a very strong flavour), wash them well and place in the salad bowl and add a little honey and some apple verjus and you have a salad that St. Patrick would recognise.

Email: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com

A Kilkenny February Salad

With a little care and protection salad leaves can easily be grown in Kilkenny, at all times of the year. This February Salad is made up of the thinings from Cos lettuce plants, young sprigs of watercress and blanched chicons.

A freshly picked Kilkenny February Salad

The dressing consists of Irish rape seed oil, homemade verjus, honey from the bees in the yard and a small amount of finely chopped fresh parsley, fresh thyme, fresh sage and fresh rosemary. All the ingredients originated within a few square yards of each other in rural Kilkenny, with the exception of the oil.

Email: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com