Bogland Ratatouille

I can’t remember the last time we talked about water restrictions in Ireland; well apart from the obsolete and dilapidated water pipes exploding here and there, water shortages due to dry and prolonged weather conditions are not that usual. A more common affair now in Brittany, my homeland getting drier, often mocked once by the Parisian clique for its long and often tempestuous rain spells but yet, they never forgot to pack their cute yellow raincoats. Ok, about that, let me be clear here: unless you are on a fishing boat, we do not wear yellow raincoats. We wear Cotten salopettes with shell jackets on top ( I have the whole uniform, I just don’t get to wear it that often), they are yellow, on a boat only, not to go to the market and pretending to be a local, it’s like a big giveaway, don’t do that! I suppose we get the same here this time of year, Aran jumpers and Donegal tweed caps… Well maybe in the more touristy parts of the Island, here in the midlands, we do not see much of that, and yesterday, as I was admiring in dismay the queue for the car wash, I thought the message didn’t quite sink in… Boglanders, you gotta love them!

I got out of my usual aestival doldrums last Sunday, at times like this I really miss the ocean, my wound healer, my friend. How can I live on an Island and be so far away from you, how did I let this happen? The bog is beautiful at the moment, and it does fill one’s soul with a certain uplift; purple heather and yellow asphodels in full bloom, and the bog cotton looking mighty fine…

All this colours made me want to do one of my favourite summer dishes. Ratatouille! I made some chickpea “sliders” or small burgers, griddled aubergine slices and some boiled potatoes, then baked them with bocconcini mozarella di bufala cheese in the middle and this is how it went…

Ratatouille, You’ll Need:

• 1 organic red pepper
• 2 medium organic courgettes
• 2 small organic red onion
• 2 organic cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• fresh oregano
• 75 cl of organic tomato passata
• 1 glass of white wine

How to?

Very simple, chop the vegetables to your preferred size, not too small as you need a bit of texture there and fry them gently in olive oil with salt and pepper, pour the glass of wine, cover with passata and the same volume again of water, let it simmer and gently reduce… Now for the chickpea burgers…

You’ll Need:

• 1 tin of organic chickpeas
• 1 happy egg
• 1 small organic red onion
• 100 g of Killeen Cheese ( goat Gouda, four months old)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp of organic almond paste

Just blend all the ingredients together. When I make chickpea burgers, I sometimes egg wash and breadcrumb them, this time I wanted to have a bit of fun, so I put them in a buttered and floured baking tray…

They turned out pretty well and I griddled a few slices of aubergine on each side, to go with, the burgers were still nice and moist. in the oven, 200 c for 15-20 minutes…

Boil a few whole potatoes, you can actually do them first, cool them when cooked, and make an incision in the middle but don’t cut them in half. I placed them in an oven dish, with a bit of salt, black pepper and paprika. I stuffed them with bocconcini, these beautiful baby buffalo mozzarella, I really enjoy them at the moment!

Looking good when baked…

As the afternoon was closing on the hills of Sliabh na Cailleach, I thought Oldcastle was looking well, I couldn’t help remembering our summers by Mancell Bay in Séné, the whole family sitting over a big bowl of ratatouille and green beans, I am hoping that the wells won’t go dry and I thought that was an interesting version my parents would have been proud of!

Keep Well and Eat Happy

Slán Tamall

Franck