Dingle Cookery School Recipe

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Baked Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta

Mark Murphy: Dingle Cookery School

Here is a simple dinner recipe that is full of flavour and will be a definitive crowd favourite. Serve this any time of the year, it will work well on the cooler nights or serve it on a warm sunny evening with a green salad. I always love dishes like this that get mixed together and added to a tray and then popped in the oven. One little tip that works great for any baked pasta dish, is to cook the pasta in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes. This always helps the pasta to be just right when it comes out of the oven.

Serves 4

Ingredients

300g sausages, each cut into 3 pieces 2 garlic cloves, crushed ½ tsp. fennel seeds 1 tsp. oregano (optional) 2 tins of crushed tomatoes

pinch of chili flakes 350g pasta (use shapes like penne, farfalle, or rigatoni) 200g mozzarella, torn in pieces 150g ricotta 50-100g parmesan olive oil 2-3 minutes.

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Strain and keep about a ladle of the pasta water. While the pasta is cooking you can start the rest of the dish.

Put an oven-proof pan on over a medium to high heat (if you don’t have an oven-proof pan you can transfer it to an oven-proof dish before putting in the oven). Add a little oil and add the sausages. Cook them for about 5 minutes to allow them to brown a little. Turn the heat down and add the garlic, fennel seeds and oregano. Cook this for about Add in the tomatoes and chili flakes. Cook this for a few minutes to allow it to thicken. Add in the reserved pasta water. Add in the pasta, mozzarella and ricotta, use a large spoon or spatula to mix this all well. Taste and season if needed (remember the cheese will have some salt). Sprinkle parmesan over the top and place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Once ready remove from the oven and wait for about 5 minutes before serving. Serve with a green salad or garlic bread. Bain Taitneamh As

Agriculture is responsible for 33% of all Irish greenhouse gas emissions, so when it comes to tackling climate change farmers are firmly in the crosshairs of the firing squad. Undoubtedly improvements must be made within the agri-sector with regards not only emissions but also water quality and biodiversity but anxiety is building within the farming community due to the absence of a clear roadmap in any Climate Action Plan as to how an interim target of a 51% reduction in emissions will be achieved by 2030. In addition, government policies on strategic development within the sector and the environment are often contradictory. It is important that I acknowledge my bias towards farmers at this point. Many people in my immediate and extended family are farmers, as are many friends and neighbours. I also recognise that while there are some individuals, albeit a small minority, who should not be left in charge of a blade of grass such is their disregard for the natural environment, people unsuitable for the job exist in every profession. There are approximately 137,000 farm holdings in the country. Even though many farmers are hugely dependent on Common Agricultural Policy payments such as the basic payment scheme for their income and to support their farm business, these payments have a beneficial impact on the local economy of every parish in rural Ireland. The agri-food sector supports one in eight jobs in the country with farming and agri-business being the largest employers in over half the counties in Ireland. Over 90% of all dairy and beef and half of all pig meat produced in Ireland is exported. In 2019 dairy exports earned the country €4.9 billion, beef exports were worth €2.24 billion and pig meat exports €512 million so the sector is also vitally important to the national economy. The suitability of the temperate climate for growing grass gives dairy farmers a competitive advantage and the abolition of milk quotas in 2015 contributed hugely to the expansion of the dairy herd. The growth in agricultural exports has also been driven by government policies such as those outlined in Food Harvest 2020 (published in 2010) which proposed that Ireland could grow food exports by a third and Food Wise 2025 (published in 2015) which called for the increase in the value of agri-food exports by 85%. An important point outlined by the economist Colm McCarthy is that agricultural emissions are attributed to production whereas fossil fuel emissions and those of many other industries are attributed to the consumer. When we use petrol or diesel in our cars or oil to heat our homes, the resultant emissions are added to the total of Irish GHG emissions and not those of the states where the fossil fuels are extracted. Carbon taxes on these fossil fuels are going to get much higher in the coming years to further discourage consumption and to make it cheaper to choose low carbon alternatives. When Irish milk, cheese, butter etc. is exported the associated emissions stay on our carbon emissions spreadsheet. Even though this issue is acknowledged in the Climate Action Bill 2021, there is unlikely to be any change to this carbon emission accountancy issue any time soon as Ireland is relatively unique with regard its high agri-emissions (the EU average for GHGs from agriculture is about 10%). There have been calls from some quarters to reduce the national herd from 7 million to 2 million to reduce emissions and pressure on the Irish environment. Apart from government support and subsidies, the huge financial investments made by farmers and the importance of food exports to the economy in the past decade, Irish farmers produce enough food to feed 40 million people. Even if the national herd was culled, the demand for this produce would not disappear and would just be served by other countries which might not have the same standard of environmental

6 Corca Dhuibhne Beo

regulation. It is also a good time to point out (again) that food has never been so cheap and one-third of all food is wasted world-wide. Perhaps if farmers were paid a fair price for the food they produce they would not need to expand production for economies of scale or to compensate for low margins. Agricultural emissions are primarily from methane (67%) produced by belching cattle and nitrous oxide which comes mainly from soils fertilised by manures or synthetic fertiliser. Not all greenhouse gases are created equally so methane for instance is four times more potent than carbon dioxide but is relatively short lived in the atmosphere in comparison to carbon dioxide. There is a lot of disagreement amongst scientists as to how this should be calculated within carbon emission equivalent measurements. In addition, there is further uncertainty due to difficulties in measurements as to how much CO2 soils, hedgerows etc. actually remove from the atmosphere and so offset credits are not currently being given to farmers. You can’t value what you can’t measure so the worry is that this will not be given enough consideration when it comes to devising carbon budgets. Irrespective of the issues with measuring emissions farmers are being encouraged to change production systems and/or diversify to offset carbon. Unfortunately, this encouragement is not backed up with sufficient support. Ten years ago, for example, 90% of all new forestry plantings were undertaken by farmers but this figure had dropped to just 30% in 2020. A major factor in this drop is that current licensing system could not be more off-putting. In order to plant more than more than a quarter of an acre of woodland it is necessary to apply for a licence. A separate licence application is necessary if an access road is required, another for aerial fertilisation and yet another to thin and clear fell the trees. To compound the bureaucracy anyone from any part of the country can appeal an application (lodging an appeal was free up until October 2020 when emergency legislation was passed to deal with the situation). Nearly 100% of applications are appealed and licence applicants cannot start work until they know the outcome of the appeal (this has resulted in the destruction of millions of saplings in nurseries over the past number of years). There is currently a backlog of 4,500 applications in the system with only 200 dealt with between October and the end of March.

Another example is that of organic farming. Organically farmed soils emit 40% less greenhouse gases and organic farming practices improve soil health, eliminate the need for synthetic fertilisers and support biodiversity. However, just 1.7% of utilisable land is farmed organically in Ireland while the EU average is closer to 7%. This is mainly because organic farming has struggled to get state support. There are only two advisors for the whole country and it is very difficult to join the organic farming scheme. The scheme does not open every year and admitted only 55 out of the 225 applicants in the last round in 2018. The scheme is open again at the moment and it is hoping to add between 300-400 new applicants but this remains to be seen.

Empowering farmers to earn carbon credits through micro generation of energy has been another missed opportunity. There are literally hundreds of acres of shed roofs in farmyards around the country which could be used to put solar PV panels on. Across Europe, power generation companies rent roof space from farmers but apparently the technology to feed energy into the national grid could not be used in Ireland. EU legal requirements have finally compelled the government to develop policies to allow small scale producers sell excess electricity back to the grid and these should be in place by the end of the summer. It could be argued that examples such as these do not preclude individual farmers from taking the initiative to improve biodiversity on their land or reduce emissions by using alternative agricultural practices. They could for example, plant trees in the corners of fields, maintain and plant hedgerows, reduce fertilizer usage through use of multi species swards and regular soil testing, decrease pesticide use etc. and, of course, many do! However the top down, one size fits all approach of most policies and directives means that there is little or no incentive for many farmers to implement these changes. A lack of information and education doesn’t help either. There is scant mention of biodiversity, for example, in the level 5 Green cert course for young farmers but even if it was extensively covered less than 5% of Irish framers are under the age of 35. A quick review of the statistics on the mental and physical health of Irish farmers in addition to the Health & Safety Authority statistics on farm accidents also highlights that most farmers do not have the time to research and implement such

measures even if they have an interest. There is, however, a proven approach to increase biodiversity, reduce measurable emissions and improve the sustainability of agriculture in Ireland. This is the implementation of locally-led, results based programmes. The BurrenLife farming for conservation programme, for example, has been running since 2008 and has had significant impacts on biodiversity in the Burren. It has highlighted the knowledge of local farmers and has provided them with opportunities to be financially rewarded for their hard work. A supporting team of experts including ecologists, field assistants, programme scientists and farm advisors who have respect for the views and input of the farmers while ensuring conservation goals are achieved is also key to this success. More recent examples of these farmer centered, results based programmes which have had incredible outcomes include 23 European Innovation Partnership Schemes. These are projects that allow farmers, scientists and other experts to collaborate together to develop new practices that are environmentally friendly and economically sustainable. Projects include the BRIDE (biodiversity regeneration in a dairying environment) Project in Co. Cork, Caomhnú Árann, The Pearl Mussel Project and the MacGillycuddy Reeks EIP. The total funding for the scheme across all projects is €59 million over 6 years. This sounds like a lot of money until you consider that it cost Ireland €86 million to buy carbon credits for failure to comply with EU targets in 2020. Closer to home, 120 dairy farmers on the peninsula have come together with the support of the SEAI to form the West Kerry Dairy Farmers Sustainable Energy Community, the first sustainable energy community in the country. The SEAI is funding an energy master plan which will be specific to the needs of dairy farmers in West Kerry and will outline methods to achieve greater energy efficiencies when completed. At the end of the day, the farming community is and will continue to be one of the most adversely affected sectors by climate change. Moreover, their livelihoods are dependent on the health of the environment so it is in their best interests to address the climate crisis. The approach needs to be fair, equitable and sustainable.

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