One thing that we’ve noticed over the years is that food plays such an important role our in lives and not just for fuel but for entertaining and providing us with fond memories too.
We’ve chatted to some of Ireland’s well-known faces to discover their favourite dishes and meals, be it from their childhood or simply something they like to rustle up at home.
Sarah Maria Griffin is an Irish author and poet currently living in San Francisco. She came into the spotlight following the publication on her beautifully written memoir Not Lost, which documents her move from Ireland, 5,000 miles away from home.
Her memoir is an honest and often humorous account of her first year in San Francisco in a year of newness and adventure!
“Cathy taught me how to cook in her family kitchen in the old house by the sea in Skerries, back when we were in college” says Sarah of the Warm Spinach Salad recipe.
“We were getting ready to go out dancing and drinking in the town, in a nightclub that is gone now. She was making dinner for her whole family and I watched her, rapt and clueless.
“I’m not sure she knew she was teaching me, but she was. Over her massive stove she shook all these herbs onto a pan and sliced up all these mushrooms with a huge knife, looked at me and said, ‘How did you get to be 21 and not know how to cook?’ I told her my Mam’s kitchen was my Mam’s kitchen and though I am the spit-take image of my mother in more ways than just our noses and jaws, she is organized and I am a mess. Didn’t make for cooking lessons.
“Cathy made her brilliant, ‘Are You Serious’ face, and said that was no excuse. She was dead right, too. Said there weren’t any rules, not really, to cooking. Just feel it out. Cathy showed me how to figure out what it needed, to taste as you go, to just, you know, throw in some things and see what happens. She made a mess but it disappeared quickly behind her: it never seemed like a big deal. She never even looked like she was trying. The food was always delicious. She lived in Japan for two years and now lives in Wales. We have seen each other twice, for a heartbeat, since we both left.
“This is the dish she made that day. The measurements of each ingredient are by eyeball, by taste and by smell.”
Before you start, here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 bag of baby spinach
- A wheel of goats cheese
- A carton of cherry tomatoes (I favour the Santini ones, the little ones)
- A bunch of scallions
- A carton of crème fraiche
- A punnett of button mushrooms
- A packet of pancetta or bacon
- Salt/pepper/onion powder/garlic powder/Herbs Du Province
Method:
- Take a big bag of baby spinach and rinse it out.
- Put it in a bowl, a big one.
- Take a wheel of goats cheese and slice it up, throw that in over the spinach.
- Take a box of cherry tomatoes, the small little dark ones, they’re the best. Slice them in half or quarters and throw them in there too. Mix it up a bit.
- Scallions, they’re important. Slice them until the white starts turning light green, introduce them to the bowl with the spinach and goats cheese and cherry tomatoes.
- Take a frying pan and melt some butter on it.
- Take a pack of pancetta, or like, bacon, chopped up into little bits, same difference.
- Also, a punnett of white, clean baby mushrooms, slice them up and throw them in with the pancetta.
- Throw them into the hot pan and let them cook a while, let the mushrooms reduce and change and become soft, the bacon will sizzle and the kitchen will smell really nice. You know the way. Now, things are about to get real.
- Take a carton of crème fraiche and throw it in over the mushrooms and bacon. Don’t let it boil or go foamy, just let it warm, maybe simmer a little at most.
- Salt, pepper, onion powder if you can get it (this is a magical holy ingredient and every pantry should have it) and some garlic powder too for good measure. I feel like this combination of spices is sort of, a holy quadrangle of flavor, or something.
- Now, very delicately, tap in some Herbs Du Province. Do not overkill this – taste as you go. This is the magic ingredient, pulls the whole thing together.
- When the sauce looks more like sauce and less like it’s just cooking (you’ll know when it’s ready), take it off the heat a moment and let it cool down a little.
- Then, pour the sauce over the spinach, mix roughly with your hands and serve immediately.
- If you’re feeling wild, throw in some walnuts (possibly candied walnuts) for a crunch. Croutons are also optional. I mean, there are no rules, not really. Make a mess. Add your own things.
Don’t try too hard. Just feel it out.
