Every year in April the #Kale sprouts and produces flowers. The leaves get very tender and are delicious in salads, and the flowers can be used as a wonderful spring vegetable. Our favourite time of year for Kale.
Myrtle Allen had been making this old-fashioned pudding long before she opened the restaurant at Ballymaloe. The recipe first came into her family in the 1930s. It is a really lovely dish and I like to serve it as a lunchtime dessert throughout the year. As the pudding bakes, it separates into two layers: the top is a light lemon sponge, and the bottom is a creamy lemon sauce. I like to serve every spoonful of the pudding with a generous amount of softly whipped cream.
Serves 4
Ingredients
15 g/½ oz (generous 1 tablespoon) soft salted butter
225 g/8 oz (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) caster (superfine) sugar
3 large eggs
30 g/1 oz (¼ cup) plain flour grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
250 ml/8 fl oz (1 cup) milk
icing (confectioners) sugar, for sprinkling
softly whipped cream, to serve.
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Have a 1.2 litre/2 pint (5 cups) pie dish to hand.
Place the butter in a mixing bowl, cream it with a wooden spoon and gradually add the sugar. It will seem odd trying to cream so much sugar into so little butter and the mixture will have a similar texture to damp sand. Separate the eggs place the whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and set to one side. Mix the egg yolks into the butter and sugar mixture followed by the flour. Blend in the lemon zest and juice followed by the milk.
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the wet mixture. Pour into the pie dish and bake for about 40 minutes, or until set. The top of the pudding should be golden. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve hot from the oven with softly whipped cream.
This recipe is from ‘Ballymaloe Desserts’ a cookbook by JR Ryall, Head Pastry Chef at Ballymaloe House HotelSearch for:
#WorldBookDay – All plans are on ice so curl up with a good #Cookbook First published in 1977, Mrs Allen wrote “Cooking is like a language. You hear other people speak, you taste what other people cook, you read what they have to say & then you go and do it yourself.. ” #StaySafe
Every year in April the #Kale sprouts and produces flowers. The leaves get very tender and are delicious in salads, and the flowers can be used as a wonderful spring vegetable. Our favourite time of year for Kale.
@myrtlerest we don’t want the curfew to get people down so we are doing a 9pm Myrtle experience. we’ve packaged it up from start tMyrtle Martini, Bia Beag, treacle bread and butter, Clonakilty black pudding, oat crusted Hake and finished with take home Irish Fudge and tea
450g (1lb, 31/2 cups) plain flour 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 300-600ml (1/2 – 1 pint, 1 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups) sour milk or buttermilk
METHOD
Sieve the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre.
Pour in all the milk at once. Using 1 hand, with your fingers stiff and outstretched like a claw, stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl in ever increasing circles. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands. Tidy it up and flip over gently. Pat the dough into a round, about 4cm deep.
Cut a deep cross on the loaf and prick in the four corners.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes then turn down to 200deg C for 30 minutes until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread, when it is cooked it will sound hollow. Cool on a wire rack.
Tip! Soda breads are best eaten on the day they are made, but are still good the next day.
Spotted Dog
Follow the recipe above adding: 1 dessert spoon of sugar, 100g sultanas, 1 egg.
Add the sugar and the sultanas with the flour and drop the egg in with the milk before missing. Spotted dog is also called railway cake in some parts of Ireland.
Stripy Cat
Follow the spotted dog recipe replacing the sultanas with 75g of roughly chopped best quality chocolate.
Come to savour culinary delights at Ballymaloe House Hotel.BOOK YOUR STAY
450g (1lb, 31/2 cups) plain flour 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 300-600ml (1/2 – 1 pint, 1 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups) sour milk or buttermilk
METHOD
Sieve the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre.
Pour in all the milk at once. Using 1 hand, with your fingers stiff and outstretched like a claw, stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl in ever increasing circles. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands. Tidy it up and flip over gently. Pat the dough into a round, about 4cm deep.
Cut a deep cross on the loaf and prick in the four corners.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes then turn down to 200deg C for 30 minutes until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread, when it is cooked it will sound hollow. Cool on a wire rack.
Tip! Soda breads are best eaten on the day they are made, but are still good the next day.
Spotted Dog
Follow the recipe above adding: 1 dessert spoon of sugar, 100g sultanas, 1 egg.
Add the sugar and the sultanas with the flour and drop the egg in with the milk before missing. Spotted dog is also called railway cake in some parts of Ireland.
Stripy Cat
Follow the spotted dog recipe replacing the sultanas with 75g of roughly chopped best quality chocolate.
Come to savour culinary delights at Ballymaloe House Hotel.BOOK YOUR STAY
Here are three delicious options, the first is the classic Mincemeat recipe passed down in Myrtle Allen’s family for several generations. Of course, it contains suet so it’s moist and juicy and best eaten hot. The second, Emer Fitzgerald’s Mincemeat is vegetarian, it doesn’t include suet or butter and is also gluten free. The third, Brandy Mincemeat, does not include suet either, but does have butter.
Core and bake the whole apples in a moderate oven, 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4, for 30 minutes approx. Allow to cool. When they are soft, remove the skin and pips and mash the flesh into pulp.
Grate the rind from the lemons on the finest part of a stainless steel grater and squeeze out the juice and stir into the pulp. Add the other ingredients one by one, and as they are added, mix everything thoroughly.
Put into sterilized jars, cover and leave to mature for 2 weeks before using. This mincemeat will keep for a year in a cool, airy place.