Georgina Campbell's Book Review

Val's Kitchen Real Food, Real Easy by Valerie O'Connor (Brien Press; hardback, 246x189mm, 160pp; photography by the author; €19.99/£14.99)

Already well known to followers of the popular blog that she has written for over a decade (www.valskitchen.com), Valerie O’Connor’s books are reaching a ready audience. Hot on the heels of the successful ‘Bread on the Table’ (also published by O’Brien Press), the Limerick-based cook, blogger, food writer, organic horticulturist, photographer and mother of two teenagers has followed up with a topic that she seems especially comfortable with: “A family cookbook for today”.

Her approach to cooking for a family is sensibly straightforward and wholesome - if you want your family to be well nourished you’re going to spend a good bit of time in the kitchen anyway, so why not make it as easy and enjoyable as possible.

There is a wide range of dishes here for everyday and special days, with a recognition of traditional values. As a nation we’ve been a bit slow in seeing the sense of the old ways, but now that the horror of obesity and ill health that has followed the widespread of adoption of diets based on processed food is understood, the movement back to natural foods and simple cooking can’t come soon enough.

Val teaches traditional cooking skills and, like a lot of us today, she recognises that our parents and grandparents got it right with their simple dishes based on inexpensive, easily available ingredients - cheaper cuts of meat for nourishing slow-cooked dishes, plenty of vegetables, grains like barley and oats, porridge smothered in cream and honey, potatoes doused with butter…

While the delicious sourdough breads that Valerie advocates may be a recent addition to the Irish baking tradition, those ‘glasses of pro-biotic buttermilk’ were the health drink of every Irish family long before the term was coined, and much of the fermenting that is currently so trendy was an ordinary part of everyday life before refrigeration.

There’s a whole chapter on fermented food, as well as a wide range of more familiar throwbacks (Braised Shin Beef with Bone Marrow and Vegetables, for example, and proper stocks), the whole collection livened up by dishes inspired by Val’s travels.

Organic horticulturist that she is, Val has included a chapter on growing your own food (plus a bit on foraging) and this is the perfect time of year to get started too. All round there is plenty of guidance in Val’s Kitchen to get curious cooks moving in the right direction - and, importantly, it should appeal to a young audience.

SAMPLE RECIPE: The Veg-Out Omelette

“One of my favourite breakfasts came from the Wild Onion Café in Limerick where the feisty Ruth would hold court every Saturday policing customers who had the audacity to walk in and expect a table in their tiny, bustling diner. Ruth stood, notebook in hand, marshalling the hungry crowd who stood in line waiting for a table. Their breakfasts were the stuff of legend; this was my favourite so I'm attempting to re-create it in homage to Bob and Ruth who have now moved their business to a small bakery on the Ennis Road.”

[Sadly Ruth died in March 2016, following a short illness, and Bob has closed the bakery - so Valerie’s homage is a poignant memorial to a great woman and a great Limerick institution. GC.]

Serves 1

Ingredients

A mixture of broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and 'onions or anything that will griddle well, about a handful of each
Cheddar cheese, to garnish
A few slices of a medium chilli
3 fresh eggs
Butter, for frying the omelette
Olive oil, for cooking the veg

Method

Heat up a large griddle pan and slice the veg into even thicknesses so they will all cook in a similar time. Drizzle on a little olive oil and throw on the veg. Let them get a bit burnt at the edges, then turn them over; this gives a great flavour. They should be done in about 6-8 minutes. Remove to a warm plate.

Meanwhile make your omelette. You will need a decent sized pan here, cast iron pan or ceramic, ideally. Heat the pan and melt a good sized knob of butter to evenly coat the bottom. Quickly whisk your eggs in a bowl with a little salt and pepper and pour the mixture onto the frying pan.

Let this bubble up and don't disturb it. When it starts to look cooked around the edges carefully slide the veggies onto one side of the eggs. Leave them to settle, then pop on your chilli and cheese and let it melt. Then flip the eggy side over onto the veg and slide the omelette out of the pan onto a warm plate.

Variation: you can just as easily fill an omelette with some steamed kale and top it with a few slices of fried chorizo, yummy and no need for cheese.