The Eunice Power Column

January is a pretty hectic month for me, lots of wedding and catering enquiries along with room reservation for what looks like a busy year ahead. So a good healthy start to the year for me is imperative. Did you know that a simple thing such as eating and enjoying the right food will improve your mood and self esteem? Very important in this over stressed world, wouldn’t you agree.

Food for me in January is all about tangy flavours, seasonality and most importantly the feel good factor. I like to eat my way to good health in January leaving the festive excess of the Christmas season behind. So as I take down the Christmas bling – I bling up the kitchen counters with pomegranate seeds, Seville, blood and Jaffa oranges, beetroot and carrots.

It’s all about having the right food at the right time and in the beginning of the year all these ingredients work for me. Eating less food but better food is my no. 1 resolution this January. Food doesn’t need to be complicated - it might be as simple as shredding some carrots and beetroot adding few toasted cumin seeds and stirring in a little Greek yoghurt, a pinch of black pepper and Maldon sea salt – and there you have an appetising simple seasonal salad that tastes great and is good for you, can make a meal of it by crumbling a little feta and sprinkling some toasted seeds or nuts on top.

The following are a few simple recipes that I hope you will enjoy during the winter and early spring months.


Seville Orange Marmalade

As I write this, the distinctive aroma of bitter sweet Seville oranges simmering in the kitchen wafts to where I am working – I can think of no better reminder that the New Year is upon me.

The following is the Seville Orange Marmalade recipe that I have used each January since I got married - my husband is addicted to the stuff – he could have worse habits I suppose? In our house marmalade is not just slathered on brown bread and scones but eaten with cheese, ham and other savouries- yum!

Click for recipe


Roast Beetroot and Carrots with Seville Marmalade Glaze

What wonderful companions these two make. A carrot will supply all your vitamin A needs for the whole day whilst beetroot is a natural detoxifier and blood purifier and is also rich in a variety of nutrients that are important for the immune system to work with full efficiency because beets encourage the production of antibodies that fight against the disease or infection in our body – they are the perfect veggies for our après Christmas bodies!

Click for recipe


Beetroot Risotto with Boilie Cheese

Beetroot gives this dish a wonderfully vibrant colour. The flavour of the Boilie cheese is a perfect foil to the earthiness of the beetroot. Boilie is a soft handmade cow’s milk cheese preserved in sunflower oil, flavoured with fresh garden herbs.

It is made at Fivemiletown Creamery in Co Tyrone and is available in most supermarkets, if you can’t get Boille use a soft goat’s cheese such as Ardsallagh or Bluebell farm or a Sheep’s Cheese such as Knockalara.

Click for recipe


Orange and Pomegranate Salad

With Christmas behind me I crave some fresh tangy food to tantalise my palate. This is a wonderfully fresh salad made pretty with the jewel like pomegranate seeds. By sprinkling a little feta on top you have a light starter. I love this salad for breakfast or dessert.

Click for recipe


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Eunice Power is a professional chef with over twenty years experience in the hospitality business. She runs Powersfield House in Dungarvan County Waterford, which is our B&B of the Year for 2012 and also the winner of the Best B&B Breakfast. Her philosophy is to use fresh, seasonal, locally produced food, sourced organically where possible.

Eunice has a successful outside catering company, writes about food (she is the author of an excellent cookery book written for local company Waterford Stanley) and teaches at Paul Flynn’s Tannery Cooking School, where her enthusiasm and zest for a life filled with good food are given free rein."