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. Read more…

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!
Read more…

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 recipe when served with organic brown rice will serve 4. We prefer Biona organic beans and tomotos for these recipes. Worth the extra cents.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 cm fresh root ginger, grated1 red pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 courgette, diced
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 0.5 tsp crushed chilli flakes
• 1 heaped tsp cocoa powder
• 2 can chopped tomatoes, 400g
• 1 can kidney beans, 400g
• 1 can harricot/cannolini beans, 400g
• salt and pepper to taste

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 coriander and cook for a further 5 mins. Serson with salt and pepper.

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.
Read more…

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.

5 Ripe tomatoes

1 Cucumber, diced

250g Feta cheese, crumbled

a handfull of black olives, kalamata if possible

125ml olive oil

4 tbsp lemon juice

freshly black pepper

small bunck of Oregano, finely chopped

Chop up the tomatoes and put into a large salad bowl, and add the cucumber, feta cheese and olives.
Pour over the olive oil and lemon juice. Season with freshly ground black pepper, add a little salt if necessary bearing in mind that the feta is very salty. Toss gently to mix. Serve with some crispy lettuce sprinkling with fresh oregano.