A Pleasant, "Local" Surprise

A chilly house on a rainy Irish day calls for a hot fire to warm the soul. there's only so many cuppa teas you can drink. So, as I open the door with my bucket to fill with coal from the shed, I find a Dunnes bag sitting on the stoop....hmmm. Pleasantly surprised, I put the bucket down and I curiously open the bag. It is filled with dirt covered vegetables! OH, talk about Pleasantly Surprised! I squealed to myself in delight, ran to the shed to fill up the bucket with coal and wooden sticks so I could quickly explore this bag of goodies. Opening up the plastic bags, the smell of the fresh vegetables surged towards my face as I breathed in the aroma of the earth's goods. Carrots, onions, parsnips, rutabaga, cabbage, and eggs. I was absolutely delighted. All this talk about local, organic, and seasonal foods I've been asking about and chattering away with to the locals in Dunfanaghy, who probably think i'm a nerdy header like the lot of them, suddenly paid off. There's lots of fields and farms here - there should be tons of local produce available. It's natural for me to be curious and I would love to find out that they do use "good" farming methods. I would even love to be involved in encouraging or starting it here...but anyways. This wasn't the crab and lobster that Thomas goes out on a boat to fish for that is immediately shipped to France and Spain because there is no market for them in Ireland. It wasn't the local farms' lamb that is sold off to the markets rather than being eaten at home. It isn't the pesticide-ridden produce because apparently no one cares about, or can afford to care about, organic in a recession. This was the leftovers from a family's back yard just up the hill from behind my house. (ok, maybe they use pesticides, I have no idea...but LOCAL. pleases me enough).

bags o'goodies

carrots and parsnips.

rutabaga.

eggs. JUST HATCHED.

white onions.

crunchy cabbage.

After I could stop smiling and racking my frenzied brain deciding what to do and make with all this, I called Frazer to thank him. He told me that his uncle, going back to Letterkenny, had taken most of the eggs so when he asked his dad if there were any left he said, go check the chicken shed - so these 3 eggs, now sitting on my kitchen counter, were just hatched barely hours earlier. talk about fresh. talk about local. I couldn't wait to taste it. I wasn't even hungry. but how could I resist?

Spinach Salad with Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Garlicky Irish Button Mushrooms with Campbell's Carrot and Just-Hours-Before-Hatched Fresh Eggs

Turn the oven on to 200C. line a pan with parchment paper and add the halved tomatoes and garlic cloves with the skin left on. Roast for about 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes' juices have started to leak. (I love roasted garlic so a couple can be added to the salad if you like, that is, if they make it past the pan...)

before and after

In a small pot, bring some water with a splash of vinegar to boil. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat the olive oil and add the finely diced garlic. then add the mushrooms (cut into quarters). saute. sprinkle over some mixed dried herbs. add about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and give the pan a good swirl to coat. cook over low heat for about 6 minutes, until the mushrooms have softened a bit and the flavours have fused. Then, when the water has boiled, turn down to a simmer. Put the egg in a small cup and gently lower into the water and cook for about 2-3 minutes until the egg whites have just about settled. 

arrange some fresh spinach leaves in a bowl with the carrot  from the garden (dirt scrubbed off, peeled, and cut into coins). carefully lift the tomatoes out of the pan, including the juices and arrange on the spinach. gingerly scatter the mushrooms and garlic on too. dress with a little bit of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. lastly, scoop the poached egg out of the water with  a slotted spoon and place on top of the salad. season with a little bit more salt and pepper. 

mmmmmmm. for not being hungry i sure gobbled this down real fast. savouring each bite, the flavours and textures were a perfect combination. the roasted tomatoes were juicy, the spinach crisp, the garlicy mushrooms in the red wine sauce were divine, the carrots tasted of the earth (was there still a little bit of dirt left?ha), and the egg....it would be lame, cliche if i said it tasted of the farm. it had a thicker texture to it, kinda woody or potatoey tasting (this is ireland, land of the potatoes, they must penetrate the entire island's soil) but it was really scrumptious. even the juices and the vinegar and the runny yoke at the bottom of the bowl were licked up. 

Campbell's, I couldn't be thankful enough. 

now, even more so, i have to/want to learn how to grow my own veggies and herbs and have to figure out how that would be possible with no one living here year round...something to keep me busy on a rainy day!