CELTIC RECIPES - Boxty and Gooseberry Crumble
By BENEDICT KIELY
Boxty
Boxty in Gaelic is Bacstai; a potato pancake traditionally from the Connacht area. This dish is cooked on a griddle pan over a fireplace. Boxty is eaten around New Year's and also Halloween as it is a festive, labour intensive dish.
Here is a funny poem about the classic dish, "Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, if you can't make Boxty; you'll never get a man."
Some recipes use a mix of mashed potato and raw potato and use pork fat to fry the pancake; however this recipe is more straight forward for people to try at home.
4 cups potatoes, peeled, grated (about 1 kg)
1 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1. Squeeze grated potatoes as dry as possible in a tea towel.
2. In a bowl, combine the potatoes, flour, and salt. Stir in the milk gradually, using enough to make the mixture hold together.
3. Let the mixture stand 1 hour.
4. Heat a 23cm - 25cm heavy frying pan until very hot. Drop in the butter and let it melt. Pat the potato mixture into the pan with a spatula, distributing it evenly.
5. Cook over medium heat until the underside is set and golden brown.
6. Slide the pancake onto a plate and invert it back into the pan.
7. Let the other side brown.
8. Serve the pancake straight from the pan with brown sugar and melted butter.
Gooseberry Crumble
Gooseberries are very popular in northern Europe; many people may remember family members making gooseberry jam which is still very popular today. Early Celts used to believe fairies and magical beings would hide from danger under the gooseberries prickly bushes, hence in some places they are called fayberries.
The gooseberry season is from late June to early August. Later in the season the gooseberries are sweeter. To buy gooseberries you should look for firm undamaged berries with an even color. Granville Island has a great selection and so do the summer farmers markets like the one at Trout Lake. Gooseberries are also very high in vitamin C and A.
Gooseberry Crumble
Serves 4-6
8oz/250g/1 cup self-raising flour
4oz/125g/1/2 cup soft brown sugar
4oz/125g/1/2 cup butter
2lb/1kg/10 cups gooseberries
6oz/200g/3/4 cup caster sugar
Using your fingertips, rub butter lightly into the flour in a large bowl, when the texture resembles fine breadcrumbs, mix in the brown sugar. Top and tail the berries and cover with the crumble mixture in an oven-proof dish, pressing the surface down lightly.
Bake for 45 minutes in the centre of a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4/180!C/350!F. Serve hot with clotted cream or good quality ice cream.
Irish-born Benedict Kiely studied at culinary school in London and then worked in a five-star hotel in London Hyde Park. While travelling and working around Europe, he met his Canadian-born wife-to-be in Athens, Greece. Five years ago they made a visit to Vancouver and loved it so much they decided to stay. He is now a sous chef at the Five Diamond Sutton Place Hotel.
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