Irish Dairy

Irish cuisine is traditionally simple and hearty. Irish dairy also plays a prominent role all along and the Irish butter is known far beyond the country's borders. Inspired by this Dublin Food Stylist and Blogger Ajda Mehmet has prepared rustic Irish recipes for us.

Wild garlic Butter

450g unsalted butter, softened | 6 tbsp wild garlic leaves, finely chopped

Place the softened butter and wild garlic into a mixing bowl and stir until smooth and the wild garlic is evenly distributed.

Take a sheet of baking paper, spoon the butter across the bottom of the sheet, leaving a 4 inch gap at either end. Roll the butter up like a sausage, twisting the paper at both ends securely.

Refrigerate overnight and serve as you would any flavoured butter. Delicious on Irish soda bread, melted over pasta or in scrambled eggs.

Irish seafood chowder

1 tbsp olive oil

knob of butter

2 sticks celery, finely sliced

1 large carrot, finely diced

1 large potato, cut into 1 cm cubes

1 large onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tsp flour

200g undyed smoked haddock

200g salmon

500ml full fat milk

1 bay leaf

500g mussels

1 glass white wine

squeeze of lemon

handful of chopped parsley

sea salt and crackled black pepper to taste

Place the smoked haddock, salmon and bay leaf in a small shallow-sided pan on low heat and pour over the milk, enough to cover the fish. Heat the milk gently so the fish begins to poach making sure to remove the pan from the heat before it comes to a boil. This should take about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the oil and butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables, onions and garlic and gently sweat them off for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until soft but not coloured. Sprinkle over the flour and stir well allowing it to cook for a further minute.

Remove the poached fish from the milk and set aside, discard the bay leaf and pour the poaching liquor over the softened vegetables. Stir and lower the heat and allow it to simmer for a few minutes.

In the meantime, place a large saucepan on high heat. Add the mussels, glass of white wine and a good squeeze of lemon, cover, bring to a boil, shaking the pan occasionally until the mussels are cooked and the shells have opened. This should take about 3 minutes.

Pour the mussels and broth over a very fine sieve into the chowder base. Discard any mussel shells that haven’t opened and then add the rest into the pan. Flake over the smoked haddock and salmon and stir gently so that all of the fish and mussels are coated in the creamy sauce.

Add the chopped parsley, season to taste and serve inlarge bowls with Irish soda bread and wild garlic butter.

Irish Whisky Syllabub

with Orange, Honey and Thyme

For the syrup

50ml irish whiskey

2 tbsp honey

juice of 1 orange

2 pieces of orange peel

5 sprigs of thyme

For the syllabub

500ml double cream

zest of 2 oranges

handful of thyme, leaves picked and chopped

dash of irish whiskey

To garnish

Honey

orange zest

few sprigs of thyme

Place the whiskey, honey, orange juice, zest and springs of thyme in a small pan on a medium heat and gently bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as it starts to bubble, cover and set aside to cool and infuse, overnight is best but 2 hours should do it.

Whisk the cream in a large bowl until thickened and soft peaks have formed. Fold in the infused syrup, discarding the orange peel and thyme.

Zest the oranges over the cream mixture, add the chopped thyme leaves and a dash of whiskey for extra kick and gently fold in also, taking care to not overwork the cream.

Transfer the mixture to your serving dish and garnish with a drizzle of honey, some orange zest, a few sprigs of thyme and serve. A delicious summer dessert!

Food: Ajda Mehmet

Photos: Nathalie Marquez Courtney

Props: Markers & Brothers

Irish Linen: 31 Chapel Lane