Exciting exhibition of paintings by Rebecca Howles at Organico Cafe in Bantry.
Rebecca is a Cork-born Aritist, singer and Jewellery designer. She will be exhibiting in Organico Cafe from June 24th until the end of August. The exhibition coincides with both the West Cork Music Festival and the West Cork Literary Festival – so come up and see it!
June grapevine article – Organico
This is a light, tasty salad that I make variations of all throughout the year, substituting different seasonal vegetables for the broccoli and green beans. It is a great salad to bring to a barbecue, to serve as a starter or to serve along side your main meal with some slight variations. For example, if you increase the amount of mint and leave out the cheese you could serve it with spring lamb, or just leave out the cheese and it is delicious with some baked monkfish or fresh mackerel. Topped with marinated lightly fried tofu it makes a dairy-free, vegetarian and yet high protein meal.
Quinoa, if you are not already familiar with it, is a seed, though it cooks like a grain. It comes from central America and is used as a substitute for bulgur wheat, couscous or rice, though it is a lot more nutritious than any of them. It is has a very high vitamin and mineral content and is a complete protein which means it includes all 9 amino acids. It cooks in 15 minutes, is gluten-free and has a slightly nutty flavour and a very light texture. In Organico Café we use Quinoa in soups, chillies, and burgers as well as in salads.
So – on to the recipe! You can vary the amounts of herbs, or substitute different ones depending on what is available to you, and as for the veggies – later in the summer roast pumpkin or butternut squash works really well as do roasted peppers and tomatoes, so feel free to play around with the ingredients.
A nice salty crumbly cheese makes a good contrast to the Quinoa; I really like St Tola’s soft Goat’s Cheese or a good quality feta cheese. St Tola’s is an Irish cheese from Galway that has a distinct flavour so you can use less of it than you might a milder cheese. If you opt for feta I would avoid the ones packaged in plastic and instead try the Real Olive Stall on Fridays (or come up to Organico – we sell their feta all week round!). Your salad will taste much better.
Salad
250g Quinoa
1 small head broccoli
150g green beans,
1 bunch radishes,
150g Feta or St Tola’s soft goat’s cheese
150g cherry tomatoes (look for organic or local ones with a good sweet flavour)
½ bunch basil,
½ bunch mint,
½ bunch parsley,
50g each of pumpkin and sunflower seeds,
Tablespoon soya sauce.
Dressing
1 Tbsp pesto,
4 Tbsp olive oil,
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (Aspall make a very tasty organic one)
Salt and Pepper
Start by placing the Quinoa in a fine sieve and rinsing under running water. Then into a sauce pan adding a cup of water to each cup of Quinoa. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, then lower heat and cook for a further 5 to 7 minutes. Tip out into a bowl and leave to cool.
Toast the seeds in a dry frying pan on a medium heat for a few minutes. Watch them carefully as the oil in them can burn easily. When they have slightly browned, pour a tablespoon of soya sauce into a bowl and tip the hot seeds into it and mix, then leave to cool.
Cut Broccoli and beans up into bite sized pieces and blanch in boiling water for a few minutes until they have cooked but still have a bite. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop them cooking any further.
Cut up cherry tomatoes and radishes in to quarters.
Chop up basil, mint and parsley. Add 2/3 to the salad and the rest to the dressing jar.
Make dressing by first dissolving the salt in the vinegar in a jam jar, then add the honey and mix in, then add the pesto and olive oil, giving everything a final shake.
To assemble the salad, mix the cooled Quinoa, herbs and vegetables together then add the feta crumbling it in your fingers. Mix in the dressing and finally add toasted seeds on top.
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 1 Can Sweet corn
1 Bay leaf 2 Leeks, washed and sliced
3 carrots, scrubbed and diced Handful Parsley and Basil or Mint
1 Onion, peeled and diced Salt and pepper
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.
Enjoy!
Staying healthy and free from infections is so important in the winter. Getting plenty of sleep is vital, as well as not eating too much sugar or drinking too much alcohol or coffee. Sugar in particular depresses the immune system which allows viruses and bacterial infection to get a hold of us.
I’m doing a few different things to stay healthy this winter. I am taking 2 yoga classes per week with Esther Ekhart at the Boab Centre which helps to keep me strong physically and I am reducing my sugar intake because I think I get fewer colds this way. Of course I try to eat really healthily – we hear ‘eat your fruit and veg’ so many times that we might be in danger of tuning out but don’t – it is so important to eat well.
I also use some natural products regularly over the winter to keep me healthy. The first thing I reach for when I feel a sore throat coming (for me a cold always starts with a sore throat) is Echinaforce by A.Vogel. Echinacea is a well established immune stimulant and recent research has shown that taking it regularly (during winter months) reduces your risk of getting a cold by over 50%, and hugely reduces the length of time you suffer also. A.Vogel also make Ivy Thyme which I find amazing for helping to prevent a cold taking hold in the chest area – if you are prone to chest infections this is a good remedy to try.
Kyolic Garlic is another of my favourite supplements. Books could be written about all the health issues is can help. Kyolic Garlic is much stronger than regular garlic capsules. It has benefits that range from heart-protection to anti-candida to immune-stimulation. Coming from Japan, with hundreds of clinical studies to back it up, Kyolic Garlic is something of a super-supplement. The strengths range from Kyolic 100 to Kyolic 1000. The standard one we would recommend to most people if they want to fight off colds would be the Kyolic 600; I take 2 per day when I feel un well and 1 per day most of the winter. (Because Kyolic Garlic is ‘aged garlic’ it is naturally odourless, so you don’t have to worry about your breath!)
Added to that I always take Vitamin C. There are a lot of different Vitamin C products on the market but the one I prefer is Higher Nature’s True Food C, easy on the stomach and supported by lots of research which shows that it absorbs into our blood very effectively. A high serum (blood) level of Vitamin C is what we need to help fight infections, so it is important to take one that is easy to absorb.
Finally, a traditional local remedy that I always recommend is Carrageen Moss. Made into a drink with water, lemon and honey, Carrageen is soothing for the throat, boosts energy and is a great source of micro-minerals that aid convalescence. Call in for the recipe!
For more information and dietary advice contact Organico on 027 51391, visit us online at www.organico.ie or pop in and see us at No 2 Glengarriff Road, Bantry.
Combine lunch in Organico and a Town Concert in Bantry this week during the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. On Wednesday the 2nd of June enjoy the Lambay Piano Trio (one of the pieces is Cafe Music by Schoenfield, on Thursday the McGuiness Quartet, and on Friday the Kelly Wind Quartet. Saturday finishes up with Walters String Quartet. All tickets are €5 on the door.
Lunch in Organico is available from 12; we serve a refreshing range of salads, soups and hot meals. See here for more on our menu.
A message from the Irish Association of Healthfood Stores (of which Organico is a member) regarding the international Save Our Supplements campaign.
Please check out this YouTube video (click here) for an amusing but to the point comment on the contradictory nature of the way our lives are being regulated.
Just a reminder to e-mail your elected representatives about the EU’s over- regulation of food supplements. It’s easy! * Go to www.saveoursupplementsireland.com (copy and paste if link doesn’t work).
* Click on GET WRITING (bottom left). * Copy and paste form letter into e- mail (or re-word as you wish).
* Copy and paste e-mail address of your TDs and MEPs (do separate e-mail for each one).
* Send Preferably send off your e-mails before next Friday’s referendum, as politicians are on full alert right now. Many initiatives are currently underway in relation to protecting freedom of choice in healthcare, both in Ireland and in other EU Member States.
We would welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have. Please be sure to forward this reminder to all your contacts!
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.”
Mindfullness meditation is starting in Organico Cafe in Bantry on Monday Febuary the 18th and running for 4 weeks. The evenings will be facilitated by Marjo Osterhoff, who trained in Burma and Thailand as a Buddhist nun before moving to Ireland. She now lives and works in Adrigole where she has a Meditation Centre.
The classes will involve sitting and walking meditation, as well as relaxation excercises to help relieve stress. Mindfullness meditation (or Insight meditation) is a simple and direct way to develop our capacity to be present in each moment, to learn to recognise habits, patterns and challenges that may be preventing us from enjoying living in the ‘now’. The classes will be suitable for beginners and non-beginners.
Starting date: 18th of Febuary 2008 for 4 evenings in total, continuing if there is enough interest;
Time: 8pm sharp
Duration: 8-9.30pm
Cost: €50 for the 4 weeks
For more details or to book please ring Marjo on (027) 60223 or email moosterhoff@eircom.net.