The Best Irish Potato Bread (VG)

Irish potato bread is simple and delicious and a great use of our national vegetable, the potato! The potato that grows so happily and sustainably in our soil. They are called potato farls in the north of Ireland and are traditionally eaten at breakfast time. They are made with mashed potato, flour, butter and salt and cooked on a dry griddle pan to get the brown speckled marks.

My kids love them with beans and they make a great alternative to the well know shop bought potato waffle!

You can make them with leftover mash potato. We hope you try our recipe.

Lou x

Ingredients: makes 8

750g potatoes

150g plain flour, sifted

75g butter (dairy or plant based)

1 heaped teaspoon salt

Serve with:

250g chestnut mushrooms

50g spinach

1 tin of baked beans

Method:

  1. If not using leftover mashed potatoes, peel the potatoes and steam or boil them until fully cooked.
  2. Use a potato ricer to rice the potatoes, if you have one. If not, just mash them, but your potato bread will come out better if you use a ricer.
  3. Next, add the butter and salt. Taste the potatoes at this point, add more salt if needed. Then, very lightly mix in the sifted flour. It will come together into a dough very quickly and easily.
  4. Turn out onto a lightly floured area gently fold over until smooth. Divide into two equal portions and form each into a ball. Roll one ball out to about 1/3″ thick, then cut into quarters with a large knife or cake lifter. Repeat with the second measure of dough.
  5. Heat a pan or griddle to medium to medium high. When hot, begin cooking the Irish potato bread (do not use oil or butter.) When brown on both sides, place on a clean tea towel and cover.
  6. These are fully cooked and may be eaten as is, but traditionally, they are fried in the same pan with an extra bit of butter.
  7. Quarter and sauté the mushrooms and wilt the spinach on a pan, warm the beans and serve with the warm potato bread.

Zero tolerance will always be the way….

I grew up working on a farm, the man I worked for used to refer to soil as “good clean dirt”, he was of the opinion that no harm ever came from handling soil, and he was right.

At that time chemicals were just starting to creep into agriculture here in the west of Ireland and that was back in the early 80s. Food grown locally at that time was generally free from chemicals, with the exception probably and ironically of potatoes, which would have been sprayed for blight. Back then wild button mushrooms still grew in the fields, cowslips were plentiful and generally our fields were full of diversity. This is not the case today, and the funny thing is you never see why. The application of chemicals to our land and to our food occurs all the time but we are generally blissfully unaware that it is happening. They say once awareness dawns you can never go back, maybe that is true for food also, that is of course if we choose not to ignore the facts.

There are certainly more controls and checks and balances in Europe than in other parts of the world, but that doesn’t make chemical agriculture right. But with much of our food in this country being imported and as we don’t have the same visibility on what controls are implemented in foreign parts, (over 85% of all fruit and vegetables are imported) then choosing organic becomes even more important. Organic systems are not perfect, but they do offer an alternative, one that keeps chemicals off our food, and in doing so also helps protect biodiversity. It does sometimes feel ironic that it is the organic producer that must prove their credentials, go through the extra paperwork, and submit samples to prove that we are not doing anything underhand.

So it is that I dig out this event of last November, when a piece of our kale was tested for 1 of 870 chemicals, it came back with a clean bill of health. The fact that there were 870 chemicals on that test list, means I imagine that there are 870 active chemicals that can be applied and are applied in varying amounts to our food. I was shocked, why else would they test for all of these?

It seems ironic that we may go to such lengths to get soil off our hands, we can see the dirt, and we can wash it clean, we can be obsessed with keeping our bodies clean, but how about what we put into our bodies. It is the unseen agents that often do the most damage, and generally a wash is not sufficient to get chemicals off our food, especially those that are systemic (Get absorbed into the tissue of the plant) in nature. These chemicals can’t be removed by washing, they are in and on conventional food and they will inevitably end up in our bodies.

You would have to wonder why sickness is so prevalent in our society today and while there is no definite one root cause and it is certainly a complex issue, there is little doubt that our diet can have a large detrimental effect on our health. Conversely if approached correctly what we eat can only contribute to a more positive well-being.

When we consume healthy fresh organic food, we are doing our body a great service, and similarly we are demonstrating a level of respect for the planet, that is aiding in protecting the amazing biodiversity we share this world with.

Here is to zero chemicals on our food.

Kenneth

PS, Power to all women in the world, without whose compassion and understanding, dedication and hard work we would be lost, happy international women’s day and happy mothers day in advance. I feel that a matriarchal led society would certainly be kinder to our planet too.

Amazing: Miso & Tahini Baked Cauliflower with lentils -Vegan

This dish is stunning and tastes absolutely delicious!! It would make an fabulous centrepiece for any meal.

It all begins with lovingly grown sustainable ingredients like this beautiful organic cauliflower as well as the carrots, garlic and leeks. Add some earthy umami flavours finish with mint for freshness and lime for zing – magic!

We think you’ll go back for seconds.

Lou x

Recipe inspired by Niki Webster – Rebel Recipes

Ingredients:

1 medium cauliflower, leaves removed.

White miso and tahini paste rub
2 tbsp white miso paste
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp light tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
2 tbsp light soy sauce

  • For the lentils
    2 leeks chopped
    2 carrots finely chopped
    2 tbsp olive oil
    4 cloves garlic sliced
    1 tbsp smoked paprika
    1 tin puy lentils, 240g drained
  • 500ml litre veg stock
    1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    1/2 tbsp soy sauce
    a hand full chopped baby spinach
  • salt and pepper to taste

Toppings– highly recommended to finish the dish.
Fresh mint, chopped
Fresh lime wedges

Method: Bake the cauliflower in the oven or the air fryer.

Step 1: If using the oven preheat to 180ºC. To cook the cauliflower; remove the leaves – use them for a chopped salad. Make a cross in the stalk. Boil in a pot of lightly salted water for 7 minutes until just soft. Remove from the water, pat dry with a towel and place on a baking tray. Mix all the miso paste ingredients together and coat the cauliflower. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. or Air fry @ 160ºC for 10-15 minutes. Ready when its nice and brown all over.

Step 2: To make the lentils; warm a wide pan on a medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil and the leeks and cook for a few minutes, add the carrots, garlic, paprika, small pinch of salt. Pour in the stock and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the drained lentils, simmer

To serve;
Top the lentils with the whole cauliflower, chopped mint and squeeze over the fresh lime.

FABULOUS: Mushroom & Chickpea Rolls

Crispy, so savoury and packed full of flavour. We think you’ll love these plant based rolls. Delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

We have the nicest chestnut mushrooms rich in immune boosting nutrients, cooked down with onions and spices. They give the best texture. We’ve bulked these out with protein packed chickpeas and almonds and blended the mix with iron rich baby spinach. Serve them with a sweet chilli dipping sauce, divine.

Grab most of the ingredients in our groceries.

Lou x

Ingredients: makes 8 rolls


  • I pack of ready rolled puff pastry(375g) – most are suitable for vegans
    1.5 tbsp oil
    1 pack (250g) chestnut mushrooms, finely diced
  • 1 red onion, finely diced
    3 gloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
    2 tbsp tomato paste
    1 tbsp maple syrup
    1 tsp ground cumin
    1 tsp smoked paprika
    1 tbsp soya sauce
    40g baby spinach
    1 tin chickpeas rinsed and drained
    100g flaked almonds
    Salt and pepper to taste
    1 egg whisked or milk of choice to glaze
    1-2 tablespoons sesame seeds to decorate

Method:
Step 1: Preheat the oven 200ºC fan. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Leave the puff pastry out of fridge to come to room temperature.

Step 2: Start by warming a frying pan on a medium heat, add the oil and the diced onion. Cook for five or so minutes to soften. Add the chopped garlic and cook for a few minutes. Next add the diced chestnut mushrooms and cook for a good 5 -10 minutes, until they shrink in size. Spoon in the tomato puree, maple syrup, soy sauce, cumin and paprika. Stir to coat the mushrooms and cook for a further few minutes. Set aside to cool for a minute or two.

Step 3: To a food processor add the cooked mix, drained chickpeas and flaked almonds, chopped spinach. Blend to combine but keep the mix a bit chunky for texture. Taste the mix add salt or pepper if needed.

Step 4: Unroll the pastry, divide in 2 lengthways giving 2 even strips. Spoon the mix down the middle of the pastry in a sausage shape. Brush one side of the pastry strip with egg or milk. Gently fold the pastry over, use a fork to seal it. Cut the strip into 4 and put them on the baking tray, seam side underneath. Brush with egg or milk, sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Repeat with the other strip of pastry.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until nice and golden brown and delicious.

The Big Lie

The big lie, do you think that genetically engineered crops and glyphosate are necessary and safe?


The big lie is the idea that if you lie big and continue to repeat the lie enough it will eventually become so common that it is accepted by society.  
As we choose our wild open pollinated flower seed for part of our rotation for the year ahead and wait for our bees to wake up from their winter slumber, it would seem we are a million miles away from the big agribusinesses that dominate our food supply chain. 
These businesses are not in the business of altruism, they are in the chemical and life patenting business, a business which it seems gives them the right to own seeds (to own life itself) and make vast sums of money from the sale of these genetically modified seeds and the chemicals necessary to bring them to harvest. 
One example of a big lie was the use of neonicotinoids in agriculture, we were told they were safe for the bees, they were not, and now after much research they are banned.
Another example is the idea that GM crops and the chemicals used on them are safe, are necessary, and bring benefits to nature, the farmer, and the consumer.  Is this true? Here are a few facts that may help you decide for yourself.

  1. In 2015, 180millon Ha of GM crops were grown.
  2. Of this area, 4 key crops accounted for 178million Ha.
  3. Of these 4 key crops, soya 52%, Maize/corn 30%, cotton 13%, canola/oil seed rape 5% accounted for nearly 100% of all GM crops grown. (read the report here)
  4. All 4 crops have been engineered to allow them to be resistant to glyphosate allowing more of this chemical to be sprayed on the crops, meaning they will all contain higher levels of glyphosate.
  5. GM crops are banned in Europe, but GM products find their way into our food and remember because they are GM they will have been sprayed with significantly higher levels of glyphosate (A potential carcinogen).  Some soybeans have been showed to have as much as 100mg/kg, the maximum residue limit is 40mg/kg in the US, in 1999 a supplier of both glyphosate and roundup considered 5.6mg/kg to be “extremely high”.  (Read the report here)
  6. Many of these crops are grown to feed animals, and many of the by-products of these crops such as high Fructose corn syrup have made it into the ultra-processed foods on supermarket shelves. All are drenched in glyphosate.
  7. This combination of chemicals and plants both owned by agribusiness, makes these companies very rich and gives them a lot of power. Revenue from one leading agribusiness was $26 billion in 2022.
  8. Roundup ready crops do not improve the yield. 

The development of this technology is not about feeding the world, it is about control of our food system, and making vast sums of money, it is about feeding a factory farmed food industry that is making us sick. So, are we to think then that altruism, safe food and doing right for the farmer, for the planet and the consumer are the driving forces behind these mega businesses? I will leave you to decide. With your support we support the very opposite of points 1-8 above.  Thank you,

Kenneth

EASY “Roast & Blend”- Tomato & Squash Soup (Vegan)

Soup is just a fantastic way of getting lots delicious nutritious organic ingredients into one meal. Once made it is convenient to serve up, once its cooled its easy to store and reheat another day.

This soup requires little effort just chopping really! Roast up all the veg on a tray in the oven then blend with hot stock and serve. Delicious soup full of flavour and goodness.

We love it, hope you do too!

Lou x

Ingredients: Makes 6 portions

  • 2 onions – diced
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
  • 2 red peppers, deseed and dice
  • 500g cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder or flakes
  • a sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 800ml hot veg stock

Method:

Step 1: Preheat the oven 180ºC. To a large roasting tray add the diced onions, butternut squash, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, paprika, chilli, thyme, salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil all over and give everything a good mix with your hands.

Step 2: Slice the top off the garlic bulb exposing the cloves, place it on a square of tinfoil or baking parchment paper and pour a table spoon of oil over it, close the tinfoil up like a parcel. Place it on the tray with the veg. Put the tray of veg in the oven to roast for about 40 minutes, stirring the veg half way through. Take the garlic out separately and discard the thyme twigs if any.

Step 3: When the veg is soft and cooked add it to a blender along with the hot stock, squeeze in the roast garlic. Blend to your desired consistency. A hand blender would work fine too. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve with crusty bread, delicious.

Vegan “Butter” Curry – Valentines Dinner

Valentines day is this week and we think this would make for a very special meal for the one(s) you love. Deliciously spiced, creamy and satisfying all the things a curry should be. We have roasted some butternut squash and tofu for extra texture and it tastes fantastic.

Butternut squash are a great winter vegetable thats so versatile and perfect in a silky sauce.

Sugar and spice and all things nice for your special person this Valentines- we’ve got you covered.

Lou x

Ingredients:

  • 200g extra firm tofu, patted dry, and cubed
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed

For the sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons butter (dairy or non dairy)
  • 1 large onion, diced small
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 
  • 2 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 heaped teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 heaped tablespoon curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1  tin full fat coconut milk

To serve:

  • Boiled rice
  • Fresh coriander
  • Steamed green beans
  • Naan bread

Method:

Step 1: Preheat the oven 180ºC. Dry the tofu thoroughly with kitchen paper. Toss the butternut squash in oil, salt and pepper and place on a baking tray. Toss the cubed tofu in 1 tablespoon of cornflour and a small pinch of salt place on a second baking tray. Roast both in the over for 30 minutes. The butternut squash may need a bit longer, it is ready when it pierces easily with a knife.

Step 2: Start the sauce: Warm a wide pan on a medium heat, add the butter and onions and cook to soften for about 5 minutes. Add the grated garlic, ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Step 3: When the tofu and squash are roasted stir them into the sauce. Cook on low for a further few minutes then serve up.

Serve with boiled rice, green beans, fresh coriander and naan bread.

Homemade Chapati w/ Cauliflower Hummus- VEGAN

A good friend of mine showed me how to make chapati a long time ago. I was so amazed at how few ingredients were needed and how quick and tasty they were. Chapati are traditionally served with lentils or a curry but I wanted something light for lunch.

I really fancied hummus but realised I had no chickpeas but still determined to have hummus I made do with my cauliflower, roast garlic, tahini and spices and it was delicious.

Its amazing what you can make with so few ingredients and a bit of imagination.

Please let us know if you try them.

Lou x

Ingredients:

  • For the chapati
  • 140g wholemeal flour
  • 140g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for greasing
  • 180ml hot water or as needed

For the cauliflower hummus:

  • 1/2 head cauliflower
  • 1 bulb garlic, top sliced off
  • 1 tablespoon tahini light
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1-2 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

  • Step 1: Make the chapati dough. Mix all the ingredients together and knead for 5 minutes. Diving into 8 balls and leave on the counter top under a clean tea towel to rest.
  • Step 2: Start the cauliflower hummus. Wrap the garlic with a tablespoon of oil in a tinfoil parcel and roast in the oven or air fryer @180ºC for 20-30 minutes until completely roasted and soft. Steam the cauliflower florets or boil them in water until soft.
  • Step 3: Flour the work top and dust a rolling pin, roll out the dough balls into flat circles, they should be thin like a tortilla. Keep the dough covered all the time with a clean tea towel. Warm a frying pan on a medium heat, make sure the pan is hot. Add the first chapati and cook until you see bubbles, then flip and cook the other side, repeat. They will have brown spots but try not burn them too much.
  • Step 4: To a blender add the cooked cauliflower, squeeze the roasted garlic, add the tahini, turmeric, cumin, salt and olive oil, blend until smooth.
  • Serve the chapatis with the cauliflower hummus, chopped herbs, raw red onion or cabbage.

Budget Friendly – Red Lentil Dahl – (VG)

Chilly days call for a big bowl of nourishing goodness. And even when the cupboards seem bare, this spicy dahl can be whipped up with store cupboard staples. If you have some veg to use up you can roast it like my half butternut squash, or cauliflower, parsnips, carrots or beets.

You can go as spicy as you like here too with chilli flakes or fresh chillies. And amp up the garlic and ginger to ward off the winter bugs. So delicious and versatile and the perfect way to add more organic plants to your plate this January.

Lou x

Ingredients: serves 4

  • 1/2 butternut squash
    3 tbsp olive oil
    1 small white onion, diced small
    4cm piece of ginger, grated
  • 4 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 small leek – diced small, optional
    1/2 a fresh red chilli, finely chopped- or 1 tsp chilli flakes
    Spice mix: 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp Garam masala
    1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
    250g dried red split lentils, washed and drained
    750ml veg stock
  • 1 tin chickpeas – drained
    Salt and pepper to taste
    More water to achieve desired consistency
  • To serve: plain yoghurt of your choice, fried curry or sage leaves, fresh chilli slices
  • To make it stretch further, serve with boiled rice and flatbreads.

Method:

Step 1: Preheat the oven 180ºc. Slice the butternut squash into semi circles, place on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, a pinch of salt and roast until soft- about 30 minutes.

Step 2: Warm a wide pot on a medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and gently cook the onions until soft. Then add the leek, garlic, ginger, spice mix, tomato paste, maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the washed lentils and veg stock. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes then add the chickpeas and cook for a further 20 minutes. Stir the lentils every few minutes to make them soupy and creamy.

Step 3: Check that the lentils are cooked, adjust the seasoning if needed. Then serve with the cooked butternut squash slices, yoghurt, sage leaves and fresh chilli slices.

No more olive oil…?

A couple of days ago, I had a very interesting conversation with Nicolas who supplies us with amazing, single estate organic Greek olive oil. He came to tell me due to the impact of climate change his farmers do not have any oil for him for the rest of this year, and olive oil could become extremely scarce as the year progresses. This was to be his last delivery to us. 

 
He also advised that we try and source some oil now from a reputable supplier as the price has inflated so much that there will be sleights of hand in the olive oil industry, and what we think we are getting may not be what we are actually getting.

Our food system has become so convoluted, and as climate change puts more pressure on our production systems, more and more corners will be cut as retailers and farmer get equally desperate to survive. 

Pressure to change our food system is coming and must come, but just this week gone by, we have seen protests in Germany from farmers who are not happy with the pushing of an environmental agenda. I feel their pain, for years governments and the food industry has been encouraging a certain way of doing business, and now that must change. 

This change is inevitable, but it will require a very steady hand on the tiller, and a fundamental change in mindset when it comes to primary food production. An agenda no politician will touch.  Who wants to be the advocate for paying a little more for our food, when our whole system is based on the lowest possible price and not value, because low price does not always mean value.  

There, is no question that the supermarket model devalues fresh food. 

We have just finished the planning for the year ahead and looking at the performance of the farm in 2023 has been a depressing affair. 

I feel we may not have paid ourselves a fair price for the food we sell.  If we do pay our farm more, we will not make enough to run our retail business, as we must keep our prices as low as we can to try and compete with supermarkets, it is a tough space to be in.

But there is no question now in my mind as we head into 2024 with fresh purpose that our farm needs to be fairly compensated for the food it grows. There is a cost to produce high value food.

But there is also a very real, unseen cost attached to the selling of 1 Litre of olive for less than €4. This is the unseen, disconnected cost, the price of a level of agricultural industrialisation reliant on chemicals and ultra processing that removes any remnants of the original olives from the olive oil, all the goodness that was once there is gone.  This is the price we pay for our modern-day food system.

As climate breakdown amplifies, we may find ourselves increasingly seeing empty supermarket shelves where we expect the food to be.

Of course, there is a different path we can thread here, one that is brighter, better, filled with wholesome, chemical free nutrition, one that protects, enhances, helps and does right by our people, health, and planet. That is the course we are holding steady to.

Thank you for being with us on this one.

Kenneth