Redcurrant Jelly

OK so the summer hols went on a little bit longer than expected! I have tons and tons of stuff to stick on here about the wedding, the stag, the honeymoon as well as the usual stuff at home.

Here is my recipe of the classic accompaniment to venison, terrine, pate and the like

It couldn't be easier to make. Just get equal quantities of both redcurrants and sugar. Boil up the fruit until it realises it's juice (about ten minutes) and then add in the sugar. Boil for eight minutes before straining through muslin and into sterilised jars. Simple as that!

Tom Doorley digs the Bounty!

Been meaning to put this up. I recieved this message from food writer Tom Doorley about barrowsbounty.com.
"Hiya Liam. This looks really good. Keep up the good work. You have inspired me to start blogging again".
I must be doing something right!!! Good man Tom!

Parma sucess!........... at last!

Those of you who have been following my blog for the last year will no doubt recall last year's parma disaster! (For those of you that haven't here it is http://barrowsbounty.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-first-disaster.html)

Enough to say it was not a roaring success. Thankfully this year things seem to be on the up. Our hams have been hanging in a stable since October and one was finally cut down from the rafters this week. Needless to say it didn't look pretty but was scrubbed down with vinegar to remove all unpleasantness and then ceremoniously cut up ready for eating.

We were a but sceptical about eating it after what happened last year and I cant say I am proud of what happened next but needs must. George our working cocker was hanging round like a bad smell once he got a whiff of the ham and at the same instant both Sandy and I looked at each other and it was decided. George would be our parma Guinea Pig! He seemed keen, if not a little suspicious as to why he was getting such a treat but didn't look the gift horse in the mouth! We monitored him closely over the next few hours and can report that there seemed to be no ill affects other than an almighty thirst.

That was enough convincing for me and after waiting for two years I got my first taste of my own air dried ham! What a revelation. It was super and is now being had with brekkie (with melon), lunch(on a sambo) and dinner (on a pizza). All the hard ache was worth while!

George out hunting

Plans for the year

Firstly sorry for the break in posting. I was in hibernation with Christmas and the snow!

I really just wanted to let you all know what the plans for the coming year are going to be.

I will be continuing to try and grow as much of our vegetables and fruit as possible. The pigs and laying hens will also feature along with trying to find as much wild food as possible.. A new departure will be chickens for the table. Me and a buddy of mine are going to raise some chickens for eating so I will keep you posted as to how we get on!

The big project for the year however is going to be our wedding which is happening in June. I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew here as I want to try and have all the food for the wedding either home grown produce or wild food! At 150 people it is by far the biggest challenge I have attempted in the garden and kitchen.

We are having a marquee and the idea is to have a relaxed homemade wedding with all our friends and family. The food (hopefully!!) will be some canapes of wild food followed by a whole spit roast pig with salads and vegetables from the garden and then some kind of seasonal dessert which will feature our eggs and fruit. God its a bit overwhelming when you actually write it all down!

I will post on here as to how I am getting on with the preperations, whether it be catching a wild salmon to growing the vegetables or trying to encourage the pig to grow so it is ready for June!!

The picture above is of me and George spending some man time on our local shoot which we have been doing quite a lot of while we have been away.

Bunnies

I went out this morning with a neighbour to try and bag a bunny. I have to admit I have not been having much luck in the last few days trying to get one. That was put right today and we got one in no time. My primary reason for needing a few rabbits is to give George a few retrieves on game before the pheasant season which starts on November 1st. Of course there is the added bonus that rabbit is delicious!

The idea with rabbit shooting is quite simple, you either shoot them with a small rifle from a good distance or you hunt them in cover with a spaniel. The ideal cover is gorse and that kind of thing. George hunts through the cover and when a rabbit bolts he sits, you shoot the rabbit with a shotgun and he retrieves the rabbit to you. It is vital that the dog sits as soon as he flushes the rabbit to allow you a safe shot. The last thing you need is your dog chasing the rabbit while you try and take the shot!

I am still undecided as to what to do in the kitchen with the rabbit this time, bunny burgers, rabbit kebabs or a terrine. I will post soon and show what I decided on.

Going out now out fly fishing for a few brown trout now as the weather is glorious followed by a few pints with Ross our local vet. Not a bad Saturday all in all.

Garden Soup

I just thought this recipe might be of interest to some of you. We like a roast chicken every now and again like everyone else. As of yet I have not gone down the road of rearing chickens for the table. This is partly due to just not having gotten round to it and partly because George sometimes retrieves the laying hens (Puts them off laying something terrible but otherwise doesn’t seem to trouble them too much). God knows what he would do to little chicks.
As we don’t rear our own we try to buy organic or at least free range birds. However as everyone knows they are bloody expensive full stop and especially so when compared with the 4.99 bird we see in the supermarkets. I refuse to buy this kind of meat so we find ways to make the organic bird go further. This is typically what we do. Roast chicken dinner is first on the list. I then strip the rest of the meat from the bird and we will have chicken pasta, risotto or chicken and broccoli bake. Finally I make a stock with the carcass and make this soup.
The stock is easy, just break up the carcass and add some carrots and onions along with some bay and any other herbs you have. Barely cover it with water and simmer for 2 or 3 hours. Top up the water if needed and that’s it.All you do then is strain the stock. I add whatever vegetables happen to be in season at the time. This can include spuds, carrots, peas, beans, kale, and anything else that takes your fancy. The only trick is to make sure to cut everything into pieces the same size. So if using peas for example, make sure that you chop the spuds and carrots into pea size chunks so everything cooks at the same time. The other thing to note is that I didn’t season with salt during the stock making process. It can easily turn out too salty, so you are much better off seasoning when the soup is ready

Not Everyone is Enjoying the Fine Weather

While the rest of us are out and about soaking up the sunshine there is only little chap who is not very happy at all. Poor George is not all that well suited to the heat and spends his time sitting in the shade panting. It makes it difficult to do any training with him even if you do it at 6am, it is just too hot and he is buggered after 5 mins

Normally I do some training with him twice a day, once in the morning and then again in the evening. I hunted with him last season but he was still only a baby and it will not be until this November that we see how he is going to turn out. The signs are positive enough and he has matured and improved hugely in the last few months.

I still take him down to Arklow to train with Donal, who runs Delvin Kennels. Its a great set up down there and in fairness Donal has been great in helping me get the dog right.

So back to my weather problem! The only thing I can do with him when it is like this is to take him down to the river. He loves to retrieve dummies from the river and 20 minutes of swimming and he is knackered. If I tried to give him that much exercise in a field in this heat the poor little fella would collapse. I also just do some obedience training to try and put manners on him but this is simply following commands so the heat doesn't affect it.

George

As I said in an earlier post the hens are little or no trouble at all, on the opposite side of the spectrum to the hens we have George who is nothing but trouble.

George is an 18 month old working cocker spaniel who dosnt realise how good he has it. The working cocker is a gundog and I use George to shoot pheasant and woodcock in the winter and to shoot rabbits in the summer

That descripion does, in fairness, make him sound like a solid, workmanlike kind of a dog which couldn't be further from the truth. Below is just an example of what he is capable of. I like to call it "A morning's work". It was a magazine I had bought that morning!