Food

St Patrick’s Day recipe: Beef in Guinness

INGREDIENTS

For the stew 2 tbsp oil 1kg braising steak, cut into large pieces 2 tbsp plain flour, well-seasoned 3 onions, sliced 500ml Guinness 2 sprigs thyme

For the dumplings 75g butter, frozen and grated, or 75g suet 150g self-raising flour 1 small onion, grated 2 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped and chopped Water for mixing

METHOD Heat the oven to 150ºC/fan 130ºC/gas 2. Heat a little of the oil in a large oven-proof pan. Lightly flour the pieces of braising steak and fry in small batches until well browned. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate. Add the onions to the pan and fry on a fairly high heat until they soften and tinge brown at the edges.

Recipe: Suet pasty sausage rolls

INGREDIENTS

120g suet 240g plain flour 120ml water Olive oil 1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced 1 sprig fresh sage, leaves picked 6 higher-welfare pork sausages 1 handful breadcrumbs 1 free-range egg A little milk

METHOD For the pastry, combine the suet, flour, and water together with a pinch of salt and bring to a dough. This dough can be rolled straight away as there is no butter to go soft. Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onions. Cook gently for about 20 minutes until soft and golden brown. Add the sage leaves, cook for a couple of minutes more, and then spread out on a plate to cool.

With a sharp knife, slit the skins of the sausages and pop the meat out. Put it in a mixing bowl with the Pour the Guinness into the pan, letting it bubble up, then return the meat to the pan along with the thyme.

Cover the pan and transfer to the oven for two to two-and-a-half hours, or until tender. The sauce will sweeten and thicken during the cooking time.

Make the dumplings towards the end of the cooking time by mixing the grated butter or suet, flour, onion, and thyme together, and season well. Gradually add water to the dry ingredients until you have a soft dough. Divide into 12 balls. Place the dumplings on top of the casserole and return it to the oven, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Serve with shredded cabbage or spring greens.

cooled sage and onion mix and the breadcrumbs, then scrunch well with your clean hands to mix together. On a floured work surface, roll the pastry out into a big rectangle, as thick as a pound coin, and cut it lengthways into two long, even rectangles. Roll the mixture into sausage shapes with your hands and lay along the centre of each rectangle.

Mix the egg and milk and brush the pastry with the mixture. Then fold one side of the pastry over, wrapping the filling inside. Press down with your fingers or the edge of a spoon to seal the join. Cut the long rolls into the sizes you want and space them out on a baking tray. Brush with the rest of the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until puffed, golden, and cooked through.

Have a Happy Easter in St Ives!

Easter, the moveable celebration. A Christian feast, also with pagan influences.

You know it’s coming when the hot cross buns and creme eggs start appearing in the shops on Boxing Day. Like Christmas (well, last year, anyway), there are four days of holiday to enjoy – but in the hope that the weather will be nicer and there will be things to do outside. Like walks. Everybody loves a spring walk, especially in our part of the world. Get out, get some air. And if you’re going out on Good Friday, this year – planned at the time of going to press – the Easter boating at Consols pool returns. Although Good Friday boating goes back 100 years, its origins are believed to be far older – up to 1,500 years old. Local fishing communities sailed miniature boats into the sea as an offering to placate the storm gods and ask for safe passage. This tradition continued for many centuries, according to records, taking place at Cock Bank Pool – a large sea pool, which ran between Smeaton’s Pier to Pedn Olver. Only when this pool and the spit of sand disappeared did the boating move to the engine pools of Wheal Speed and Consols.

This gradual transition was also influenced by the moving of people to the top of town. In 1930, the ‘popular pastime of sailing model yachts’ took place both in the harbour and ‘the pond at Hellesveor’, where the sluice gates had been closed to allow water to collect for the occasion. The following year West Cornwall Model Yacht Club were granted permission to use the Bussow Reservoir on Good Friday for the event, before settling at Consols where it is now firmly established. Perhaps you’ll watch the boats while enjoying some Easter egg chocolate – or will you wait until you get home, or even delay the joy until Easter Sunday? The tradition of the egg appears to be a pagan one, celebrating springtime fertility as life returns to the earth. The Easter bunny, first making an appearance in the 18th century, also appears to be a nod to fertility, being a famously energetic procreator. Like turkey at Christmas, lamb is closely associated with the big roast meal on Easter Sunday. This is thought to stem from Jewish traditions, where a lamb was often a sacrificial animal. I’ve been a personal fan of this meat since trying the slow-cooked shoulder of lamb on the specials board in Caffe Pasta. A thing of beauty. Vegetarian options are available. Also, with the arrival of Cornwall’s Chocolate Cove in town, vegan chocolate options are available. Founder Judy came up with her recipes as part of a nutritional therapy path, but her chocolate now has endorsement from the likes of Joanna Lumley. Fancy a go at making your own chocolate? I Should Coco, in Tregenna Place, is for you. It offers chocolate making workshops for children, as well as having a shop full of delicious offerings! So much better to buy independent, rather than mass produced. Happy Easter!

Liz’s Quizzes

Liz is back with her St Ives Local quiz! Catch he live at the Castle Inn, St Ives, on Monday evenings; the Bird in Hand, Hayle, on Wednesday evenings; and the Cutty Sark Marazion, on Sunday evenings. For full details, and to book tables where necessary, follow St Ives Liz’s Quizzes on Facebook. Liz raises money for charity, too, from her quizzes, as well as offering the chance to win big cash prizes, and holds special events supporting causes such as the Edward Hain Community Project.

1. According to the proverb, what is worth two in the bush? 2. The proposed merger of Sainsbury’s with which other supermarket was vetoed in April 2019? 3. Which city is the setting for the film Trainspotting? 4. Which book of the Old Testament is also the name for a mass departure? 5. Miss Hannigan is a character in which musical? 6. In which century did Geoffrey Chaucher begin writing The Canterbury Tales? 7. Mongolia is bordered by Russia and which other country? 8. The Zodiac sign Libra covers which two months? 9. Proverbially, what do you work to the bone if you are working very hard? 10. Bamm-Bamm Rubble is a character in which animated TV series? 11. What five-letter word can be a cheer of congratulations or a character in the Nato phonetic alphabet? 12. According to the song, what was the profession of Old MacDonald? 13. In which year of the 1980s was the song Club Tropicana a hit for Wham!? 14. How many golf holes have been played when someone is “at the turn”? 15. Sports commentator Tony Gubba was the original commentator on which TV show? 16. Which H built the Roman wall that divided England from Scotland? 17. Which MK is famous for its concrete cows? 18. In which AO does Lanzarote lie? 19. What C can mean to catch or is an item of neckwear? 20. What P is the name for an infant seal? 21. According to an old music hall song, which T is it a long way to? 22. Which A wrote the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf? 23. What CC was the name of the character played by Rula Lenska in Coronation Street? 24. What NLOTLP was Neil Kinnock on 2nd October, 1983? 25. In the human body, what K do you bend to genuflect?

Answers on page 46

St Ives September Festival: All systems go!

Iconic folk-rock pioneers Lindisfarne will headline the opening night of St Ives September Festival, which aims to be back firing on all cylinders this year.

Covid restrictions and ongoing doubts and uncertainty over when they would be eased – and if they might return! – meant that the 15-day extravaganza of music and arts was organised at short notice in 2021 following the previous year’s enforced cancellation.

Remarkably, only a small handful of events fell by the wayside, with event organisers and performers stoically determined to ensure that “the show must go on”.

Judging from feedback received, the Festival got the thumbs up from just about everyone who attended and gratefully accepted and appreciated the difficulties that had been overcome to make it happen, at a time when other festivals were being called off for a second year. Hopefully, all that is now in the past, and New Year saw the committee preparing for a bigger and better Festival from 10th to 24th September.

Early ticket sales indicate that Geordie legends Lindisfarne – who will bring a classic five-piece line-up of long-time members fronted by band original Rod Clement – will have the “House Full” signs out long before they take the stage with their repertoire of unforgettable songs including Meet Me On The Corner, Fog On The Tyne, Lady Eleanor and Run For Home.

Following them to the Guildhall will be rhythm and blues band Dr Feelgood; American folk icon Peggy Seeger; singer-songwriter Emily Barker (right) – who wrote and performed the theme to BBC crime drama Wallander; British and American roots music exponents Brooks Williams and Dan Walsh (pictured top right); blues singer Laurence Jones; Cornish folk rockers The Countrymen and Irish band FOS Brothers.

The opening night also features the return to St Ives Theatre of madcap musical duo John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett, more than 40 years after they first appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Dr Feelgood, formed on Canvey Island in Essex in the early 1970s, remain one of the most popular and exciting live rhythm and blues bands in the world, with the uncompromising performance style which took their album Stupidity to number one in the UK charts and produced a string of hit singles, including Back in the Night, Milk and Alcohol, Down at the Doctors, She Does it Right and See You Later Alligator. The current line-up features Kevin Morris on drums and Phil Mitchell on bass – both 38 years with the band – the return of the legendary Gordon Russell on guitar, and Robert Kane, formerly of the Animals, who joined in 1999.

Peggy Seeger, who carved a special place in the folk revival in both the UK and the USA, plays piano, guitar, 5-string banjo, autoharp, English concertina and Appalachian dulcimer. Lauded for her feminist and political songs, the half-sister of American folk great Pete Seeger was the partner of late legend Ewan McColl and the inspiration for his classic song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

More information and tickets at www.stivesseptemberfestival.co.uk