Hugo Arnold Cooking InIt's easier to buy your food from a supermarket than from small producers. But you might have to pay more, and, as the results show, you won't get the same quality
I'm partial to a roast dinner pretty much at any time of year. Great ingredients, traditional cooking, job done. Some friends joined us recently and were so impressed by what they ate that questions poured forth. For one it was the beetroot, for the other the carrots. Neither could get over the chicken. The potatoes came in for much praise. Then they started on the courgettes, stewed with olive oil and garlic and eaten with minted yogurt and flatbread.
So much is in the ingredients. Every Friday I shop at the market at Leopardstown Racecourse, in Co Dublin. And, every Sunday, at the market in Dún Laoghaire. Many people consider this madness: expensive and time-consuming. I hold my hands up about the time; it certainly takes a chunk out of the day. But it is amazing what you pick up by way of chat. What is good and not so good, for a start - the effect the weather is having; why some things are in better shape than others.
I buy my salad from Jenny, who has been harvesting the leaves on her farm outside Dublin the day before. Most of my fruit comes from Denis; some from his farm on the outskirts of Dublin, but a lot from markets in Italy, Spain and France. They influence my choices and, by implication, my eating. It's a good arrangement.
To those who focus on the expense, I am rather more evangelical. The mistake most people seem to make is to shop from a list when they go to a supermarket and with their eyes when they go to a farmers' market. It is so easy to pick up a cake here, a pot of jam there, a little more cheese than you had intended, because it looks so fabulous. It's hard not to add a few more cherries, particularly when you've had an opportunity to taste one.
So, to compare on a level playing field, I came up with a menu. What would the ingredients I needed for a roast-chicken lunch for four cost from a farmers' market and from a supermarket? It's not always possible to compare like with like, particularly when you take quality into account. I think, however, that farmers' markets can compete with supermarkets. The chat comes for free.
On the case
COURGETTES, FLATBREAD AND YOGURT
450g courgettes
6 garlic cloves
olive oil
bunch thyme
flatbread to serve
Trim courgettes and cut into chunks. Peel garlic and place cloves, with the courgette, in a saucepan. Add a tablespoon of water and four of olive oil. Season with thyme (half a teaspoon), salt and pepper. Cover and simmer over a very low heat for 20-25 minutes. If it looks watery leave the lid off for the last 10 minutes.
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
250ml thick full-fat yogurt
bunch each of mint and coriander, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
Combine the red onion with a teaspoon of salt in a sieve. Toss well and leave to drain. After 10 minutes rinse in lots of cold water and set aside. Combine the yogurt and herbs and add the red onion. Mash the garlic clove, with a little salt, using the flat side of a large knife; add to the yogurt. Toast the spices in a dry frying pan until they start to pop. Add to the yogurt.
POT-ROAST CHICKEN, BUTTERED GARLIC BEANS AND TABBOULEH
1 chicken
extra virgin olive oil
large bunch tarragon
250g runner beans, trimmed and cut into 4cm lengths
100g unsalted butter
1 head garlic
1 tbsp bulgar
large bunch parsley, finely chopped
juice of ½ lemon
500g cherry tomatoes, quartered
Rub four tablespoons of olive oil into the chicken for five minutes, then stuff the tarragon into the cavity. Season well. Place the chicken, breast side down, in heated heavy saucepan, just large enough to take it. Cover tightly and cook on a medium heat, basting for an hour or until cooked, turning halfway through. Wash the beans and put in a pan with the butter. Season. Peel the garlic cloves and add to beans. Set over a gentle heat, turn a few times, stew for 15-20 minutes. Pour the bulgar into salted boiling water and simmer for five minutes; drain and refresh. Add the parsley, lemon juice, four tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper, and the tomatoes. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, then serve with the tabbouleh and the beans.
STRAWBERRY STACKS
600g strawberries, roughly chopped
1 tbsp sugar
1 packet puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
200ml whipping cream; a little icing sugar
Combine the strawberries and sugar, then set aside. Roll out the pastry and cut it into 8cm-by-5cm rectangles. Brush with egg and bake at 180 degrees/gas four for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Whip the cream. Layer pastry, strawberries and cream twice on each plate and dust with icing sugar. harnold@irish-times.ie