That is my mother in law’s butter knife….isn’t it darling? She is originally from Cork and has various sets of  beautiful and very old Cork cutlery at the farm.

So, this week I learned how to make cheese! I have been wanted to attempt this for quite some time and it just so happened that right before my butter demo at Totally Tipperary, a lovely woman was teaching the crowd how to make easy ricotta and paneer cheeses. I cannot believe how simple the process is and how delicious the cheese tastes…so fresh and delicate.

With a dairy full of milk at our fingertips at all times, there is no reason why I shouldn’t make this “farmer’s cheese” on a regular basis to have on hand in the fridge. I paired the cheese with some salty capers and a few moon-blushed cherry tomatoes tossed in olive oil, garlic & thyme and it was the perfect lunch!

All you’ll need is milk, lemons, sea salt and a large square of cheesecloth or muslin

Place the milk and salt into a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to froth.

Then, spoon in your lemon juice a little at a time until the milk begins to curdle like this

Pour into a cheesecloth-lined sieve

Squeeze out all of the excess whey, tie the cloth around a wooden spoon, and leave to hang for a further 15-20 mins

After the cheese is fully strained, you can either eat it straight away

or you can flatten & shape it by placing a heavy pan on top for an hour.

Then, just break it apart and enjoy!

Irish Farmhouse Cheese

Makes 8-10 Ounces

1/2 Gallon/ 2 litres Full Fat Milk

Juice of 3 lemons (1/2 cup) or you can use 1tbsp White wine vinegar

A few pinches of sea salt finely ground

Heat milk and salt over medium heat until frothy

Add in lemon or vinegar a little at a time until milk is completely curdled (if the milk is not curdling, you’ll need more of your acid-lemon or vinegar..add in a little at a time until curdled)

Pour into cloth-lined sieve to strain

Squeeze excess whey through cloth

Tie up and let hang for further 15-20 minutes

Flatten and shape or just dig in!

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Photos and Styling by Imen McDonnell

Tags: cheese, Cork, farmer cheese, food, foodies, I Married An Irish Farmer, Imen McDonnell, ireland, paneer, ricotta

 

If you are travelling through the Irish countryside at this time of year, there is no doubt you will come across one or two Wexford Strawberry stands set up alongside the roads at some point during your adventure. The quaint little set-ups (which also often carry new potatoes) can be found virtually anywhere at anytime, but not necessarily the same place on a regular basis and many times not even located in Wexford. Nevertheless, spotting these mini-markets on our family journeys or chaperoning visitors is a sure reminder that summer is right around the corner…even if the weather is not cooperating!

Either way, this is strawberry season both here and in America and I relish the many, many recipes for which strawberries are the main attraction. Strawberry pie, strawberry cake, fresh strawberry ice cream……but, for me, the most classic and Americana nostalgia-inducing treat would be good old-fashioned strawberry shortcake.

Of course, growing up I had more than my fair share of the spongy, store-bought, Twinkie-esque shortcakes that really weren’t shortcakes at all, which was fine because for us kids they were just as yummy and refreshing when topped of with fresh strawberries and whipped cream after a long day at the beach.

HOWEVER, once I discovered the crumbly, biscuit-y version there was no turning back.

And now, to make it even better than ever…I top off my favorite strawberry shortcake recipe with fresh Irish strawberries which always seem endlessly sweet and juicy.

The strawberries I used for this particular batch are indeed from Wexford and come from a group of lovely farmers who have formed a cooperative and built their own brand called “Sunny Wexford Strawberries”. They are absolutely gorgeous.

These farmers believe that the sun shines stronger in Wexford, hence the sweeter and juicier the berry. Hmmm, may have to go spend a long weekend here again just to verify this information!

If you are in Ireland and a fellow strawberry lover, you may want to nip into the Wexford Strawberry Festival which is happening over the 24-26^th June weekend. If I wasn’t signed up to churn butter at the Totally Tipperary Food Festival I would definitely be there!

So, first I washed and hulled about six cups of the fresh strawberries

Baked the scrummy shortcakes

 

And then topped off the shortcake with fresh strawberry + orange zest glaze and freshly whipped vanilla cream!

The perfect summer treat!

Wexford Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

6 cups Wexford (or any local, fresh) strawberries, rinsed, hulled (and sliced if you prefer)

1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons/300 g sugar

Zest of one Clementine orange

3 cups/ 450 g all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder (only use 3 if you are using Irish)

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons cold (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 cups/ 500 ml heavy cream

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F/190 C. In a medium bowl, toss strawberries with 3/4 cup sugar and orange zest; let sit to bring out their juices.

In a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and the salt until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup cream and the eggs; pour over flour mixture, and pulse until some large clumps begin to form.

Using a small measuring cup, deep cookie or scone cutter, gently tap out onto a baking sheet. Repeat to form 8 biscuits. Bake until lightly golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes.

Beat remaining 1 1/2 cups cream and 2 tablespoons sugar with the vanilla until soft peaks form.

Leave biscuits whole or slice in half horizontally. Spoon strawberries and their liquid over biscuit. Spoon whipped cream on strawberries and serve.

Enjoy!

Slan Abhaile,

Imen

Photos and styling by Imen McDonnell.

 

Tags: food, foodies, I Married An Irish Farmer, ireland, Irish, Strawberry festival, strawberry shortcake, Sunny strawberries, Wexford, Wexford strawberry

Whether you live in Ireland or are planning a trip over, please come and join us at Totally Tipperary on June 25!

Official press release:

All roads lead to Tipperary, for Ireland’s newest food festival, Totally Tipperary. This innovative and exciting food event will be held within the historic grounds of Cloughjordan House on the 25^th June 2011.

Totally Tipperary is open to everyone. Food Producers, Food writers, Food bloggers and Food lovers are converging to taste the best of what Tipperary has to offer. As well as eating and drinking, there will also be an opportunity to learn about food and where it comes from. Growing, cooking and making food will all feature prominently at this very innovative food festival.

Tastings, talks, tours, cookery, production demonstrations and a host of delectable food stalls are to be savoured at Totally Tipperary. There will also be children’s and evening entertainment which will engage both the mind and body at Totally Tipperary. All manner of tents, yurts and marquees will fill the open garden spaces within this historic old house.

Kindly supported by Bosch, FBD, Bord Bia and the Sarah Baker Cookery School, Totally Tipperary will draw on the combined expertise of the following to provide a foodie event of epic proportions. The Tipperary Food Producers, a passionate and visionary group of some of Tipperary’s finest artisan food producers; GIY (who empower people to ‘Grow it Yourself’); Greenworks, who run reskilling courses in the green economy, including food, the Cloughjordan Festival itself and Cultivate, through their Convergence event.

RTE’s Ella McSweeney (Ear to the Ground; Homegrown) and Bobby Kerr (Dragon’s Den) will be on hand to facilitate debate and demonstrations, while the Seomra Blog Bia will add a globally interactive and innovative dimension.

Seomra Blog Bia will feature cookery demonstrations from both worldwide food bloggers and chefs as they engage the visitor on how to use the best of local, seasonal, sustainable and fresh foods. This will include Kristin of Dinner du Jour (one of the founders of the #inishfood phenomenon ); David of Kitchen 72; Joanna of Smörgåsblog and Yvonne of Hey Pesto.

With the very generous help of Bord Bia, a number of French Michelin Star chefs, including Maurice Alexis, chef from the Elysee Palace in Paris, will attend as part of a nationwide tour. This will add enormously to the international flavor of the event and provide visitors with a unique view of Tipperary produce being used as the main ingredients in the creation of stunning dishes by some of the world’s most eminent chefs.

The festival will embrace all manner of modern media and will be broadcast live online through a variety of platforms: Photos, Videos, Audio sound bites will be posted, blogged and tweeted about live on the day to the world.

The Sarah Baker Cookery School will be running hourly cookery classes for children during the day in a dedicated marquee. This will allow parents to relax and enjoy the more sophisticated offerings in the main cookery tent.  The Tipperary Food Producers will include products from Hickeys Bakery, The Apple Farm, Cashel Blue cheese, Red Nose Wine, Inch House, Crowe’s Farm and a host of other passionate Tipperary businesses.

Totally Tipperary will have a very practical and hands on dimension.  Pat Whelan, of the highly respected James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel will run a dedicated meat tent; GIY  – Grow it Yourself  – will get down and dirty with how to grow some of your own food, whilst many of the demos will revolve around not just handy hints on cooking but on making some core foods yourself – including your own dairy products like butter and cheese. Imen McDonnell will host a Modern Farmhouse Butter Making demonstration as she has previously done with Ella McSweeney and Glenilen Farm for GIY Ireland’s Butter Live and at the InishFood Festival.

The Cloughjordan Community Farm will show people some of the practical steps involved in setting up a farm where the producer and consumer work together as part of a community. They will also do tours of their farm and host Raw: A milk party, which will show people how to make the most of milk. The Cloughjordan Ecovillage will also be on hand to do tours and talks on this most innovative project, which just happens to be next door to the festivities.

The days events will develop into a night of celebration with an Asado  – an Argentinian-style BBQ brought to you with 100% Irish and 100% Tipperary produce. Music and Entertainment will be brought to you on the evening by The Boudoir Sessions (Electric Picnic, Body and Soul Festival) who will swing and sway, charm and disarm the crowd with sounds from the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s – boogie woogie, swing, calypso, mento, rockabilly and bluegrass.

They will be accompanied for the evening time soirée by Kaledescape, an arts co-operative that will provide a full sensory and interactive experience including Europe’s largest Kaleidoscopes, a giant flower garden and The Invisible Band.

Be sure to join us at Totally Tipperary on 25^th June in Cloughjordan House, Tipperary for a food festival that will allow you to indulge your senses in all that is Tipperary.

For more information see www.cloughjordanfestival.com Follow @Totallytipp on Twitter or ring Peter Baker on 087 2515694

The Tipperary Food Producers is a group of some of the finest food businesses in the county.

The following will be in attendance at Totally Tipperary:

James Whelan Butchers Crowe’s Farm Una O’Dwyers Traditional Sausages Seymour Organic Inch House Con Traas Brownes Karmine Apple Juice Ponaire Coffee Red Nose Wine Hickeys Craft Bakery Crossogue Preserves The Scullery Cashel Blue Cheese Cooleeney Cheese The Cookie Jar Holycross Good Food Mags’ home baking Tipperary Organic Ice Cream Boulaban Ice cream Sarah Baker Cookery School