A little meat can go a long way when you have the right starter and a tasty salad, writes DOMINI KEMP

AUGUST IS A funny month, probably because it’s the last month of holidays for many kids. It seems a good time to catch up with friends – before the silly season comes to an end and the busy season kicks in.

Naturally, when cooking for a bunch of people you’re keen to spend time chatting with, you want something simple that comes out of a pot and only needs a blast of re-heating before serving. But at this time of the year, we’re not quite ready for one-pot warmers.

We recently had a bunch of friends and family over for a very last-minute supper and I got a bit flummoxed as to what to serve. I decided to splash out a bit on some fillet of beef, which I served thinly sliced.

Although it is pricy, you only need to serve a slice or two of it: think quality not quantity. I seared off two pieces of fillet, which weighed about 400g each, one at a time, in a very hot frying pan with a little olive oil, a big knob of butter, lots of salt, pepper, thyme leaves and few pinches of caster sugar to really get the caramelisation going.

Once I had good colour on each piece, I transferred it to a roasting tin and then cooked it for five to 10 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees/gas mark four. Then, I took it out to rest for about an hour, sliced it thinly and served it to eight guests, comfortably.

With such a small amount of beef, to make sure everyone feels sated, this goats’ cheese and beetroot starter is ideal, and the accompanying cannellini bean salad is one I’ll be making regularly from now on.

Part of its appeal is the crispy, curly kale which gives it a great, savoury crunch. It reminds me of the “seaweed” I used to love ordering in Chinese restaurants as a kid. The fact that kale is so good for you is an added bonus – plus I have an overabundance due to the vast amounts of it I planted this year.

I confess to being a rather pathetic (although aspirational) gardener, yet the beds Quickcrop installed last year have yielded plenty of salad leaves and lovely curly kale despite my attempts at botanical manslaughter.

If you get the knack of cooking the kale using the method below, you will be forever hooked. But, it takes a few goes to get it just right, as “crunchy and tasty” can very quickly turn into “burnt and frazzled”, depending on the ferocity of your oven.

Cannellini bean salad with curly kale, olives and basil

Serves four

1 pack of curly kale (about eight big leaves)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 tins of cannellini beans

70g black, pitted olives, roughly chopped

2 bags of baby spinach

Big bunch of basil

Dressing

1 heaped tbsp of Dijon

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 squirt of honey

50ml red wine vinegar

100ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark six. Give the curly kale a good rinse, then roughly chop it into large, bite-sized pieces. Chuck it into a bowl, still damp, and pour on a good splash of olive oil and plenty of salt and black pepper. Toss well and then spread out on to a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes, then move it around so that the bits in the middle are moved to the outside of the tray and the crispy bits are moved into the centre.

You need to bake and check and move the kale around for another five to 10 minutes when it will suddenly change from soggy to super crispy, as though it had been deep fried. If some bits are bordering on burnt, then move them into a bowl while the rest of it cooks. When it gets crispy, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool on the baking tray so that it doesn’t go soggy. The hard work is done.

Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and throw them into a big salad bowl with the olives. Mix the ingredients for the dressing together in a jar, and pour most of it on to the beans. Add the basil and spinach and gently toss.

Add the kale, lightly toss and serve straight away. The kale will stay crisp for about an hour, so don’t toss everything together until the last minute.

Baked goats’ cheese and roasted beetroot salad

Serves four

We used Gortnamona goats’ cheese that is technically a “soft” cheese, but it stood up to baking very well because it was young and firm. The older it gets, the softer it gets, so use a young, firm cheese for this.

8 beetroots, peeled and quartered

2 tbsp olive oil

Splash of water

Few sprigs of thyme

Salt and pepper

Splash of balsamic vinegar

55g breadcrumbs

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tsp chopped fresh herbs

4 slices of goats’ cheese

4 handfuls of lettuce leaves

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark six Toss the beetroot with the olive oil, water and thyme, and season. Roast in the oven, covered with tin foil, for 15 minutes, then add the vinegar, toss around the roasting tin, reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees/gas mark four, and bake for another 15-20 minutes until tender. Remove from the oven and cover with foil to keep warm and allow the flavours to strengthen. Meanwhile, mix the breadcrumbs with the olive oil (you may need to add a splash more), garlic and herbs, and season. Spoon some of the mixture on top of each slice of goats’ cheese. Put these on baking paper on a baking tray and refrigerate to firm up. When you’re ready to serve, increase the oven temperature to 230 degrees/gas mark eight and bake for seven to 10 minutes, until the crumbs are golden brown and the cheese is soft and starting to melt. Arrange the lettuce on each plate, spoon some beetroot around the plate, top with the warm goats’ cheese and serve straight away. dkemp@irishtimes.com

See also www.itsa.ie

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Thinking of planting a raised bed vegetable patch? Enlist help from the guys in quickcrop.ie