Organico Bantry

Hi I’m Rachel (the one who you never see because I’m always in the kitchen!) and I would like to share my passion with you for healthy food that tastes great and doesn’t cost the earth. In Organico Café our aim is to provide tasty, healthy food that is really good for you (and to serve it along side indulgent treats to comfort and spoil you). There is a very important link between the food you eat and the way you look and feel. We have always been told that a healthy diet is important but as I discover more about what it means to eat healthily, I realise how different everyone’s interpretations of “a healthy diet” are. There is a confusing amount of information available and a lot of it contradicts itself.  So we have decided to try a new approach for this column, writing about natural remedies every 2nd month and  giving tasty recipes in between.  Along with the recipes we will give some nutritional information on the main ingredients involved. Following Hippocrates’ advice and letting your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food is certainly a recession-proof approach to health!

I have chosen a soup to start with as I think it is essential to a healthy diet – a home made nutritious soup is a complete meal and is very easy to digest. Dried Split Peas are a very good source of cholesterol lowering-fiber, they are also very helpful in managing blood sugar levels as their high fiber content prevents blood sugar rising after meals. They also provide minerals including Iron and magnesium, as well as B vitamins and protein. The fresh herbs change it from a good soup into something special so please don’t skip them! (We will have lots of fresh herbs in the shop from now on – sometimes they can be hard to find). As with all our recipes we recommend the use of organic vegetables and split peas for their higher nutritional quality and taste. The type of stock powder you use is also important, as many use salt as the main flavour which isn’t the healthiest, so look our for Marigold Bouillon or Kallo stock cubes (they both also do a very nice low salt option). In the Café we have found this to be one of our most popular soups with people always asking for the recipe – and it goes down really well with children too!

Spring Sweetcorn Chowder

225g Yellow split peas

2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tsp Vegetable Marigold bouillon powder

250g Spinach, Kale or Spring Cabbage
2 Tbsp of olive oil

2 Leeks, washed and sliced

1 Can Sweet corn
3 carrots, scrubbed and diced       Handful Parsley and Basil or Mint
1 Onion, peeled and diced             Salt and pepper  1 Bay leaf

Place the peas in a sieve and rinse well under running water for a few minutes. Place in a large sauce pan and cover with 1.5L cold water, Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, sometimes they will take longer so just check every 5 minutes until they feel soft. Remove any residue that rises up to the surface with a slotted spoon. Top up with more water if necessary. While the peas are cooking fry the chopped onions, leeks, carrots and bay leaf in olive oil on a medium heat for 10 min’s then add the sweet potato and garlic and cook for another 5 min’s., keeping you eye on it to make sure nothing is sticking. When the peas have cooked for 25 min’s blend with a hand blender, add the cooked veggies to the split peas, remembering to take out the bay leaf at this point, and cook for another 15 min’s. Chop up the greens and add along with the sweet corn to the split peas, cook for a further 5 minutes. Season to taste. Chop the herbs, stir into the soup and serve. If you would like to freeze some portions then just leave out the greens and the herbs and add them later.

This is a quick, easy, healthy and economical soup that tastes great. For the best taste and health value use organic carrots. There are 2 ways if making this soup – the first is quicker and heathier, the second perhaps a little more tasty!

Ingredients:

5 big Carrots, approx 500g, diced small
1 large Onion, chopped
600ml boiling water
1 bunch fresh Mint or Coriander (or both) chopped
1 tbsp Orange rind, grated
1 tsp salt and fresh ground Black Pepper
Juice of fresh Orange
Olive oil (for 1st way)

Verision 1:

Bring the water to the boil, add the carrots, onion, mint, orange zest and seasoning.
Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Remove the mint and (add some of the coriander if using) and blend the soup until smooth. Add the rest of the corriander on to as a garnish when you serve.

Version 2 (This is how I usually make it but it takes a little more time and it’s less healthy because of the frying.)

Heat olive oil in a pan adding onion, carrot and seasoning, cook on a med heat for 10 minutes.
Add the water, orange juice and zest and mint, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 10-15 minutes,
until the vegetables are tender. Add coriander if using, keeping some back for garnish, and blend the soup until smooth. Serve with chopped Corriander on top.

Exhibition Showing in Organico Cafe, 3ed to 27th June

Opening Thursday 5th June 6.30pm , Organico Cafe

Alison Trim is a local artist, living in Bantry for the past 13 years. She is best known for her work with children and young people through her role as Schools and Youth Coordinator for West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen. She is currently studying in the third year of the BA in Visual Art course with Dublin Institute of Technology on Sherkin Island. She has previously exhibited in group shows with West Cork Arts Centre, The Courtyard Gallery, Middleton, Talbot 101, Dublin and was shortlisted for the Markowicz medal award at United Arts Club, Dublin in 2005.

Scorch and Surge.

These two canvases explore two of the biggest fears that climate change confronts us with, flooding, or desertification. The images combine layers of information based on many different sources of information about weather, tides, migration patterns, including maps, charts, and photographs. The more we seek to understand the way our planets systems work the more complex it becomes, and when it comes down to it, all most of us really understand is whether we feel wet, or dry, hot or cold. Weather is natural, beautiful, complex, dangerous, known and unknown, a wealth of contradiction.

Stones

“A thing is a hole in a thing it is not” Carl Andre This work is inspired by a collection of stones the artist gathered during walks on Snave Beach, Coomhola, over the past ten years. “There is a mystery to me about these stones that suggests a breaching of boundaries. Stone is a solid material, in fact emblematic of solidity, and yet something has passed through leaving a hole through the core of its solidity. It almost feels as if we should be able to see the stones insides, or that it has been violated, and yet the shape of the stone itself feels very contained, as does the negative shape of the hole. Alongside the documentation of these stones my painting work had become very much to do with, surface, and layers, and the notion of ‘containment’ has recurred in my practice for some time now. This painting brings these two strands of my practice together, using the shapes of the stones with a surface which feels almost permeable, like skin, or almost ready to burst like ripe fruit.”

Ingredients

1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped into small lengths
1 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and chopped into roughly 3cm cubes
300-400g butternut squash, peeled and chopped to roughly the same size as the sweet potato
350g Passata
100 ml water
1 organic stock cube (Kallo are good)
10-12 dates, chopped
small handful of cashew nuts
1 can chick peas
handful of parsley chopped
1 tbsp olive oil

spices
Cinnamon 1tsp
Cumin ”
Corriander ”
Sweet Paprika ”
Smoked paprika ”
chilli flakes 1/2 tsp

Lightly fry the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes on a low heat till it begins to soften. Then add the garlic, leeks, peppers and spices and sautee unitl the leeks soften. then mix in the sweet potato and butternut squash, stirring for a few minutes to coat in the spices. Add the passata, water, stock, dates and cashew nuts. Bring to the boil then reduce to simmer, put a lid on the pot and leave on a low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionaly – until the sweet potato and squash are soft. Now add the can of chick peas, lemon juice and parsley and set the pot aside with the lid on for at least an hour to let the flavours infuse.
When you are ready to serve reheat for a few minutes.

I like to serve this with a mixture of brown rice and quinoa. Cook 3 cups of brown rice with 2 cups of quinoa. Soak in water then drain, add 8 cups of boiling water and cook on a low heat with a lid on, watching it doesnt stick.

Thanks again Jess!

In season, gluten and dairy free!

250g Wild garlic – mix of leaves and flowers
50g toasted sunflower seeds
50g cashew nuts
3 generous tsps of miso
Olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to season

Toast the sunflower seeds and leave to cool. Roughly chop the wild garlic. put all the ingredients in a blender, starting with 4 tbsps of olive oil and adding further depending on consistency, blend till a dark paste is formed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put into a container and cover with a thin layer of ollive oil to preserve.

Pesto tip – If when making pesto it turns out really bitter and you cant seem to right it add a small bit of boiled potato. It can often be the quality of olive oil, or the nuts being slightly rancid, but the potato rights all!!

Recipe Thanks to Jessica Mason – Cheers Jess!

I just made a delicious light dinner and would like to share the recipe…the inspiration came from the back of a jar or pate, so it’s not all mine, but I have personalised it. It is a really quick fairly light meal (that kind of depends on how much pasta you serve yourself…) and is a great ’store cupboard staple’). I did use white spaghetti here, with I try not to do too often, but I think the delicacy of the Artichoke Pate needs white pasta. You could substitute parmesan or some other hard cheese for the Cratloe Sheep’s cheese, but personally I like to buy Irish and Cratloe makes a great substitute for parmesan. In my opinion!

Spelt Spaghetti with artichoke, red onion and Cratloe sheep’s cheese

(For 2)

1/2 a Packet of Biona white Hand-rolled Spelt Spaghetti

1/2 Jar of Sunita Organic Artichoke Pate

I large organic red onion

1 medium organic courgette

2 handfuls of grated Cratloe Sheep’s cheese (you could use Parmesan but I love Cratloe Cheeps’s cheese!)

2 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

lots of black pepper

A nice crunchy salad to serve, for example celery, onion, cherry tomato, cucumber and lambs lettuce with a balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing.

Method: Slice and sweat the onion and garlic in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, then add the sliced courgette and sweat for a further 5 minutes

Meanwhile boil plenty of slightly salted water and cook the pasta

And make the salad!

Mix the Artichoke Pate and the grated cheese in with the onions, keeping a little cheese for garnishing. Add lots of black pepper fresh from your grinder.

When the pasta is done, combine, and serve immediately. Eat slowly and quietly, and enjoy!

If you make this for more than 2 people, it might be easier to mix in a really large pan or in 2 batches, as the pasta behaves more like fresh pasta than dried and is a bit unwieldy.

This warming organic chilli is always best the next day, so make plenty and keep or freeze it. This receipe when served with organic brown rice will serve 4. We prefer Suma beans and tomatoes – they are marginally more expensive than Biona (the other brand we stock in Organico Shop) but are fuller and better quality. Worth the extra cents.
Ingredients

To serve:

• Handfull of organic corriander, chopped
• Minced onion
• grated cheddar cheese
• Tabasco (for the real chilli fanatics) or Green Tabasco (not organic but great flavour!)
• Creme fraiche or natural live yoghurt
  

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot garlic,ginger, cumin and paprika and fry for a few minutes, stirring all the time.

Tip in the red pepper and courgette and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and fry for a further 2 minutes.

Empty the can of chopped tomatoes and their juice into the pan and simmer until cooked down and thickened and the vegetables are soft. Wash kidney beans and add along with the chopped corrianderand cook for a further 5 mins. Serson with salt and papper.

Serve piping hot, with organic brown basmati rice, and a selection of the toppings mentioned above. If you are having people to dinner you can put all the topping out on the table and let your guests chose their favourites. Another option that we offer in Organico cafe is to serve the chilli in a wrap – in that case heat the wraps (tortilla wraps made without chemicals are available in most good health food shops) and put them on the tabls covered with a tea towl to keep them warm. Put everything else in serving dishes and let your guests mix and match! Make sure lots of napkins are to hand!

This soup is a favourite with adults and children alike, and is a quick and easy receipe for a winter’s lunch. As with all our receipes we reccommend the use of organic vegetables and pulses for their superior nutritional qualities and taste.

Ingredients

225g yellow split peas

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tsp vegetable bouillion powder

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 onion peeled and diced

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

3 carrots,scrubbed and diced

Place the peas in a sieve and rinse well under running water for a few minutes. Place in a large sauce pan and cover with 1.5l cold water, the stock cube and the bouillion powder. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, Remove any scum that rises up to the surface with a slotted spoon.

While the peas are cooking fry the onions and carrots in olive oil on a medium heat for 10 mins then add the sweet potato and cook for another 5 mins. When the peas have cooked for 25 mins add the cooked veggies to the pan and cook for another 15 mins.

Allow cool a little then blend the soup with a hand blender or food processor until smooth, reheat and serve with the sprigs of mint garnishing the surface

For a fat free and quicker version:

Add the rest of the vegetables to the cooked peas and simmer for a further 15 to 20 mins or until veggies are tender when pierced with a knife then follow the rest of the directions.

In Organico Bantry more and more people are discovering our spelt breads, cakes and scones. the most recent addition to our range is a variety of savoury scones made with spelt flour. These are delicious with soup or with salad, and can be made in miniture for a party.
We follow a normal scone receipe but leave out the sugar. Instead we use a little salt, and add either chopped black olives and thyme, red onion and cheddar or corriander seeds, or onion and a little green chilli. It’s hard to give amounts because in some cases it depends on the saltiness (with olives say) or the strength of the chilli flavour you want to achieve, but in general you want to err on the side of caution as often these savoury scones are made to be eaten along side another dish and you don’t want their flavour to be too dominant.

Other favourites include fetta and sweet chilli and black pepper and tomato. Watch out for more receipes over the next months!

We always reccommend organic ingredients, but in this case they are more important than ever for taste reasons. Organic carrots are a superior product by far than conventionally grown carrots – sometimes in our shop we have ‘dirty’ carrots which are covered in sand and which in the winter keep their flavour very well.

Ingredients

6 large Carrots, peeled (the only time I peel organic carrots is for salad as they discolour if just scrubbed)

50g dessicated coconut

Juice and zest of 1 orange

Handfull of sultanas

Good pinch of sea salt

Add the juice and zest to the coconut and sultanas and allow to soak for 30 mins.

Grate the Carrots and put into a large bowl, add the coconut, sultanas and juice and combine. Add the sea salt to taste.

Leave to chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator and serve.