Cookery Feature - Special Summer Flavours

If reminders were needed that simple is best for summer foods - to enjoy them at their freshest and relish their true flavours - we’ve had plenty of delicious examples on our recent travels. A short visit to Connemara’s Renvyle House Hotel, for example, took us back to the days when really fresh crabmeat was almost a given on summer menus in Ireland - only just delivered when we arrived, it made for a memorable salad that would work equally well as a starter or light lunch. I was also re-acquainted with the house cookbook ‘At home in Renvyle’ that day – another timeless pleasure. Edited and published in 2005 by fellow Irish Food Writers’ Guild member Roz Crowley, with recipes by Tim O’Sullivan, the photographic style may reflect the era in places, but as they say on the back cover it has ‘… style with substance, good cooking with flair and without pretension… recipes can be dipped into, used in many different ways and adapted for everyday use.’ Famed head chef Tim O’Sullivan has since ‘retired’ but he’s actively involved with chef organisations like Euro-Toques Ireland  (indeed we met him at the annual Euro-Toques Food Awards at Ashford Castle in May) and very much still about the place at Renyle (and enjoying the kitchen garden) so you may well find him there when you visit. Copies of ‘At home in Renvyle’ are still available at the hotel and a digital version can be downloaded from TU Dublin 

RECIPES and adaptations, from ‘At home in Renvyle’ to try:

Crabmeat, Mixed Salad Leaves, Mango and Spring Onion Salsa
This is the original recipe, which was presented as a ‘tower’, but the image is of the simpler 2025 version enjoyed on our visit this summer – and you will find a similar version on the current dinner menu, which leads off with a starter of Connemara Crabmeat, Fennel Salad Leaves, Mango Mayonnaise and Crispy Breadcrumbs. The original recipe introduction notes that: “Contrasting tastes here are fresh and appetising for a lunch main course as well as starter. For more simple presentation, substitute won ton sheets with thinly sliced toasted bread or Melba toast. The mango salsa is good with curries and pork dishes.” [For more summer seafood recipes, see From Tide To Table / Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fish & Seafood. Available online, from bookshops, or from Kish Fish shops.]

Ingredients
400g crabmeat
1 sweet apple, diced
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 lemon zest & juice
1 lime zest & juice
Mix all together and store in the fridge for 4 hours
4 wonton pastry sheets: Deep fry in oil until crispy
Mango Salsa
1 mango, diced
1 spring onion, diced
Half small red onion, finely
chopped
Half chilli, finely chopped
tablespoon white wine vinegar
tablespoons water 1 tablespoon sugar
In a pot, simmer vinegar, water, sugar and chilli for 4 minutes. Chill and add the mango and spring onion.
Garnish: Mixed salad leaves; flat leaf parsley
To assemble: Place a mound of crabmeat on the centre of the plate and place wonton on top. Pour salsa around the crab. Place salad leaves around the edge of the plate. Drizzle salad leaves with olive oil.

Connemara Lamb with Herb and Mustard Crust Herb and Apricot Stuffing, Ratatouille and Rosemary Gravy
Irish mountain lamb is another treat to savour at this time of year. Later than lowland lamb, which is available from about Easter, it’s a smaller, leaner product, with more muscle and the distinctive flavour of the heathers and mountain herbs it has been reared on. Produced naturally in the wild and likely to be organic by definition, it comes from the hills and mountains of rugged areas like Connemara, Kerry, Mayo and the Comeragh Mountains in West Waterford, and is one of Ireland's most interesting speciality foods. Coming into season now and available throughout the autumn, Connemara Hill Lamb was awarded European PGI status in 2007 and, as noted in Tim's recipes introduction, “it is known worldwide for its sweetness, tenderness and a hint of wild herbs…and the recipe is not difficult, but the lamb needs to be watched so it is not over-done. Tim’s stuffing is delicious and moist and the Ratatouille is a good seasonal accompaniment, or traditional vegetables - roast potatoes, peas, carrots - work well too. Garnishes suggested in the book (deep fried parsnip, pesto) are optional.

2 racks lamb, trimmed
Salt & pepper to taste
Rosemary
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon mixed fresh herbs - parsley, thyme, mint
1 dessertspoon breadcrumbs
Herb & Apricot Stuffing: 75-100g butter, 2 diced shallots, 75g mixed fresh herbs - parsley, thyme, mint - 50g chopped dried apricots, l00g fresh white breadcrumbs

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.
Make the stuffing: Melt the butter in a pot, add the herbs, chopped apricots and shallots. Cook for about 3 minutes, add the breadcrumbs and keep warm.
To cook the lamb: Heat a large griddle pan and season the lamb with salt and pepper. Seal the lamb on both sides, add a little rosemary and place in a roasting tin in the preheated oven for 18 minutes or until cooked as you like it.
To finish the lamb: Coat the outside surface with a mixture of mustard, the remaining crumb; and the herbs. Finish under a hot grill for 2 minutes to crisp and brown.
Ratatouille:
Half an aubergine
1 red pepper, de-seeded
1 courgette
6 mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and chopped
To cook: Dice all ingredients finely and cook in oil for 5 minutes. Keep warm.
Rosemary gravy
1 glass red wine
Small sprig of rosemary
1 teaspoon redcurrant jelly
25g butter
Heat a saucepan, add the red wine and chopped rosemary. Reduce by one third, then add the redcurrant jelly and add in the butter a little at a time.
To serve: Cut the racks of lamb in half. Place the ratatouille on the centre of the plate and set the lamb on top, garnished with the deep fried parsnips and flat leaf parsley.
Pour the gravy onto the base with the pesto. Place the stuffing beside the ratatouille. Serve immediately with extra seasonal vegetables.

Courgettes with Almonds
This recipe in ‘At home in Renvyle’ caught my eye - reminding me of another very enjoyable recent visit, to Peter Ward’s renowned Country Choice in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, which happened to coincide with the retirement of ‘King of the Butchers’ Denis Quirke. Peter – who was to speak at the retirement party next door at The Pepper Mill - was people watching from a pavement table outside his shop. Spotting us heading in to buy some cheese, he went ‘to put the kettle on’ and (so much for just a cuppa…) emerged a few minutes later with a magnificent cheese & charcuterie board from the deli, plus some interesting accompaniments – which included a speciality that they make with marrows. “Nobody will buy marrows these days, you have to disguise them in something tasty like this, where they look like courgettes…” `So, I will get that recipe from Peter at some stage, but for the moment this – from ‘At home in Renvyle’ - is their way “to make the best of courgettes when in season. The fried courgettes make a good contrast in texture and taste to the cream and browned almonds. This is a perfect accompaniment to roast lamb or duck and makes an interesting change with turkey. Vegetarians will enjoy this as a substantial main course, served with salad.”

500g courgettes
40g plain flour
4 dessertspoons olive oil
20g butter
120ml cream
40g sliced almonds
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Salt and pepper
10ml lemon juice
600g parsnips
70g butter
2 large onions, sliced
2 medium eggs
100ml cream
5 slices brown bread
2 tablespoons honey
50g sesame seeds
Salt and pepper

Trim the ends of the courgettes and cut into 2cm strips. Dip in flour. Heat the oil and butter in a pan and add the courgettes in small amounts at a time. Cook until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm. Add the almonds to the pan, cook until brown, stir in the cream and lemon juice. Season to taste and heat gently. Place the courgettes in a serving dish. Garnish with cream, almonds and chopped chives on top.
Preheat oven to 200°C/400F/Gas 6.
Wash and peel the parsnips, cut into thin slices. Boil in salted water for
15 minutes and drain.
Melt butter in a pot, add onion and fry until lightly browned.
Blend the onions, parsnips, eggs, cream and honey in a food processor
and season.
Butter an ovenproof dish, cover the base with the sliced bread and spoon in
the parsnip mix. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble with Pistachio Ice-Cream
Endlessly versatile in all manner of sweet and savoury dishes, rhubarb is probably Ireland’s most prolific kitchen garden produce and deserves a place on every summer menu. In ‘At home in Renvyle’ “…it has wonderful summer flavours and a few levels of crunch with the toasted nuts and topping contrasting with a delicious creamy rhubarb filling.”

Pistachio Ice-cream (Best made 24 hours in advance)
50g pistachio nuts, skinned
3 tablespoons pulverised pistachios (or pistachio paste)
600ml crème anglaise (vanilla custard, see below)
1 tablespoon icing sugar
First make the vanilla custard: Blend 6 egg yolks with120g caster sugar; mix with 500ml hot milk (preferably heated with seeds scraped from a vanilla pod, alternatively flavour with a little vanilla extract); heat very gently, stirring, until it thickens. Strain if wished. Cool & chill.
Toast the pistachio nuts until brown; when cool, add to the crème anglaise (Or mix in the pistachio paste, if using). Freeze in a plastic tub.
Rhubarb Filling:
200g rhubarb
l00g granulated sugar
25g butter
3 tablespoons maple syrup, or similar (eg Highbank Orchard Syrup https://highbankorchards.com/shop/highbank-orchard-syrup )
Cut rhubarb into cubes and cook gently in a saucepan with the sugar, butter and maple syrup for 10 minutes. Divide between 4 ramekin dishes.
Crumble Topping:
50g plain flour
25g each butter and brown sugar
25g pistachio nuts, toasted and chopped
Pinch ground ginger.
Pre heat oven to 200°C/400°F/ Gas 6.
Mix the flour, butter, sugar and pistachios and ginger in a food processor. Pour on top of the rhubarb and bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes.
Serve warm with the ice-cream.