The great indoors

My brother-in-law runs two great pie shops in NYC called Tuck Shop, and his gal-pal, Doris Choi, is a chef who works with nutritionist and raw-food enthusiast Natalia Rose. Doris runs a delivery business that prepares select dishes according to Natalia Rose’s raw-food diets. It’s a unique business, but one that works well in a city such as New York, where people have little time or patience to prep, juice and chop their way to glowing health. I was a little fearful that we’d be forced to eat sprouts all week, but what we both discovered is that we love to cook the same kind of salady grub and we swapped loads of tips and hints. One of the favourite things of the week was having an “appetizer” of barbecued corn on the cob, which I don’t think I’ve ever bothered to do, even though I always see nice pictures of them in al fresco food shots. She took loads of cobs, rubbed them well in butter doused with salt and pepper and cooked them slowly until well-charred. Biting into the smoky, salty, sweet taste of the corn went down a treat with a cold beer.

She has promised to send me a few recipes which I will be sure to write up, but in the meantime, here are two fairly rib-sticking recipes that ended up being cooked at the end of the week once we’d ploughed our way through mountains of veg and had run out of coal for the barbecue. Great dishes when it’s a little nippy and you’ve a bunch of hungry folk to feed.

Artichoke dip

I have always been grateful for this crowd-pleaser. People love this kind of party food – especially the golden brown melted cheese on top. Although it is basically vegetarian, don’t forget that Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies. Easily feeds 10 for canapés, or four to six as individual starters if you cook them in individual ramekins.

3x400g tins whole artichoke hearts, drained

1 onion, finely diced

200g mayonnaise

200g grated cheese – Gruyère and mozzarella are good

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas four. Drain the artichokes well or the dip will be very soggy. Chop the artichokes very finely and mix with the onion, mayonnaise, half of the grated cheese and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary; you may want to add more mayonnaise. Spoon into a gratin dish or individual ramekins, smooth the top of the dip and top with the remaining grated cheese. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the dip is piping hot. Serve with your favourite crackers.

Beef rendang

Very easy-going flavours, kids to grannies will eat this. Serves 6-8.

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

Good pinch dried chillies

1 tsp turmeric

Few glugs olive oil

2 onions, peeled chopped

Big knob ginger, peeled sliced

6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

2 stick lemongrass, finely chopped

2kg chuck/rump steak

Salt pepper

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tins coconut milk

Bunch coriander

Put all the spices in a large saucepan and gently heat for a minute to dry-roast them. Either grind them up or pour into a cup and crush them with the end of a rolling pin. Pour the crushed, dry-roasted spices back into the saucepan and add the olive oil. Add the lemongrass, onion, ginger and garlic and sweat for a few minutes. Add in the meat, mix well so it is well coated in the spices, and season well with salt, pepper and add the sugar. You can turn the heat up and if the meat browns a little, great. But don’t caramelise the meat at the expense of burning the spices. Add the coconut milk. Cook for at least two hours on a very gentle heat.

I didn’t keep a lid on it as I wanted it to reduce, but do give it the occasional stir as it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan. Eventually, the meat should be incredibly tender and the sauce thick. Adjust the seasoning and serve with loads of chopped coriander on some boiled rice. This also tastes very good the next day. If it has dried out too much, add a few splashes of water and check the seasoning.dkemp@irishtimes.com

See also www.itsa.ie