Homemade Chapati w/ Cauliflower Hummus- VEGAN

by Lou Robbie

A good friend of mine showed me how to make chapati a long time ago. I was so amazed at how few ingredients were needed and how quick and tasty they were. Chapati are traditionally served with lentils or a curry but I wanted something light for lunch.

I really fancied hummus but realised I had no chickpeas but still determined to have hummus I made do with my cauliflower, roast garlic, tahini and spices and it was delicious.

Its amazing what you can make with so few ingredients and a bit of imagination.

Please let us know if you try them.

Lou x

Ingredients:

  • For the chapati
  • 140g wholemeal flour
  • 140g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for greasing
  • 180ml hot water or as needed

For the cauliflower hummus:

  • 1/2 head cauliflower
  • 1 bulb garlic, top sliced off
  • 1 tablespoon tahini light
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1-2 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

  • Step 1: Make the chapati dough. Mix all the ingredients together and knead for 5 minutes. Diving into 8 balls and leave on the counter top under a clean tea towel to rest.
  • Step 2: Start the cauliflower hummus. Wrap the garlic with a tablespoon of oil in a tinfoil parcel and roast in the oven or air fryer @180ºC for 20-30 minutes until completely roasted and soft. Steam the cauliflower florets or boil them in water until soft.
  • Step 3: Flour the work top and dust a rolling pin, roll out the dough balls into flat circles, they should be thin like a tortilla. Keep the dough covered all the time with a clean tea towel. Warm a frying pan on a medium heat, make sure the pan is hot. Add the first chapati and cook until you see bubbles, then flip and cook the other side, repeat. They will have brown spots but try not burn them too much.
  • Step 4: To a blender add the cooked cauliflower, squeeze the roasted garlic, add the tahini, turmeric, cumin, salt and olive oil, blend until smooth.
  • Serve the chapatis with the cauliflower hummus, chopped herbs, raw red onion or cabbage.

Budget Friendly – Red Lentil Dahl – (VG)

by Lou Robbie

Chilly days call for a big bowl of nourishing goodness. And even when the cupboards seem bare, this spicy dahl can be whipped up with store cupboard staples. If you have some veg to use up you can roast it like my half butternut squash, or cauliflower, parsnips, carrots or beets.

You can go as spicy as you like here too with chilli flakes or fresh chillies. And amp up the garlic and ginger to ward off the winter bugs. So delicious and versatile and the perfect way to add more organic plants to your plate this January.

Lou x

Ingredients: serves 4

  • 1/2 butternut squash
    3 tbsp olive oil
    1 small white onion, diced small
    4cm piece of ginger, grated
  • 4 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 small leek – diced small, optional
    1/2 a fresh red chilli, finely chopped- or 1 tsp chilli flakes
    Spice mix: 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp Garam masala
    1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
    250g dried red split lentils, washed and drained
    750ml veg stock
  • 1 tin chickpeas – drained
    Salt and pepper to taste
    More water to achieve desired consistency
  • To serve: plain yoghurt of your choice, fried curry or sage leaves, fresh chilli slices
  • To make it stretch further, serve with boiled rice and flatbreads.

Method:

Step 1: Preheat the oven 180ºc. Slice the butternut squash into semi circles, place on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, a pinch of salt and roast until soft- about 30 minutes.

Step 2: Warm a wide pot on a medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and gently cook the onions until soft. Then add the leek, garlic, ginger, spice mix, tomato paste, maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste, stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the washed lentils and veg stock. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes then add the chickpeas and cook for a further 20 minutes. Stir the lentils every few minutes to make them soupy and creamy.

Step 3: Check that the lentils are cooked, adjust the seasoning if needed. Then serve with the cooked butternut squash slices, yoghurt, sage leaves and fresh chilli slices.

No more olive oil…?

by Kenneth Keavey

A couple of days ago, I had a very interesting conversation with Nicolas who supplies us with amazing, single estate organic Greek olive oil. He came to tell me due to the impact of climate change his farmers do not have any oil for him for the rest of this year, and olive oil could become extremely scarce as the year progresses. This was to be his last delivery to us. 

 
He also advised that we try and source some oil now from a reputable supplier as the price has inflated so much that there will be sleights of hand in the olive oil industry, and what we think we are getting may not be what we are actually getting.

Our food system has become so convoluted, and as climate change puts more pressure on our production systems, more and more corners will be cut as retailers and farmer get equally desperate to survive. 

Pressure to change our food system is coming and must come, but just this week gone by, we have seen protests in Germany from farmers who are not happy with the pushing of an environmental agenda. I feel their pain, for years governments and the food industry has been encouraging a certain way of doing business, and now that must change. 

This change is inevitable, but it will require a very steady hand on the tiller, and a fundamental change in mindset when it comes to primary food production. An agenda no politician will touch.  Who wants to be the advocate for paying a little more for our food, when our whole system is based on the lowest possible price and not value, because low price does not always mean value.  

There, is no question that the supermarket model devalues fresh food. 

We have just finished the planning for the year ahead and looking at the performance of the farm in 2023 has been a depressing affair. 

I feel we may not have paid ourselves a fair price for the food we sell.  If we do pay our farm more, we will not make enough to run our retail business, as we must keep our prices as low as we can to try and compete with supermarkets, it is a tough space to be in.

But there is no question now in my mind as we head into 2024 with fresh purpose that our farm needs to be fairly compensated for the food it grows. There is a cost to produce high value food.

But there is also a very real, unseen cost attached to the selling of 1 Litre of olive for less than €4. This is the unseen, disconnected cost, the price of a level of agricultural industrialisation reliant on chemicals and ultra processing that removes any remnants of the original olives from the olive oil, all the goodness that was once there is gone.  This is the price we pay for our modern-day food system.

As climate breakdown amplifies, we may find ourselves increasingly seeing empty supermarket shelves where we expect the food to be.

Of course, there is a different path we can thread here, one that is brighter, better, filled with wholesome, chemical free nutrition, one that protects, enhances, helps and does right by our people, health, and planet. That is the course we are holding steady to.

Thank you for being with us on this one.

Kenneth

Quick & Easy: Butterbean Red Thai Curry

by Lou Robbie

Delicious, easy, nourishing, and packed with plant power! We love this one pot dish and we think you will too!

The organic red Thai curry paste has all the aromatics added already and is a quick way to pack in the flavour.

Feel free to add some steamed rice or quinoa to make this dish go further. Its so tasty for lunch or dinner and your gut will be delighted with all the organic veggies in there.

Make sure you add it to your meal plan this January.

Lou x

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 butternut squash , peeled and chopped into small cubes
    1 tin of coconut milk
  • 3/4 tin water
    1.5 tablespoons of red Thai curry paste
  • 1 small head cauliflower, broken into florets
  • 1 tin butter beans, drained
  • 1 large handful of washed spinach

Method:

  • Step 1: A wide pot works well for this, add the diced butternut squash, the red curry paste, coconut milk and water. Simmer on a medium heat for 15 minutes.
  • Step 2: Next add the cauliflower florets and the butterbeans, stir to coat in the sauce and cook for a further 15-20 minutes. Check that the squash is soft, the cauliflower should be cooked but not to mushy, then take the pot off the heat. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Step 3: Stir through the spinach and serve.

One Pot – Leek and Mushroom Risotto (VG)

by Lou Robbie

Slowly cooked risotto is deliciously creamy and comforting especially on a crisp cold day in January. After the costly pinch of Christmas its great to have a few dishes that are easy on the pocket yet packed of flavour.

This is a plant based version, made with plant based butter and cheese.

Sweet Irish leeks are one of my favourite vegetables and they are the perfect partner to vitamin D rich Irish mushrooms in this one pot meal.

Gradually adding hot stock to the rice will create a perfect bowl of risotto. It’s always worth the effort.

Let us know if you try it we love to hear from you.

Lou x

Ingredients: serves 4

  • 1 punnet, 250g chestnut mushrooms, finely diced
  • 1 medium leek, cleaned and finely diced
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
  • 250g arborio risotto rice
  • 1 litre of hot vegetable stock (substitute 100ml stock for dry white wine if you wish)
  • juice 1/2 a lemon
  • A big knob of butter (30g), use dairy or non dairy
  • 1 tbsp. Nutritional yeast
  • Salt, pepper and olive oil
  • grated firm cheese to finish, use dairy or non dairy
  • optional topping: a handful of chopped fresh parsley

Method:

Method:
Step 1: Heat 1 litre of stock in a pan and bring to a boil.

Step 2: Meanwhile, in another pan, sautè the diced onion for 5 minutes in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and then add in the diced leeks and cook to soften. Next add the grated garlic and mushrooms cook for a further 10-15 minutes until cooked through.

Step 3: Stir through the rice. (If you want to add white wine add it now) Pour in a ladle of stock, stir gently and once all the liquid has been absorbed, pour in another ladle and repeat until the rice is al dente, or cooked to your liking. Continue stirring the rice so the starch is released and it becomes creamy.

Step 4: Stir through the nutritional yeast, butter, grate in some firm cheese and finish with lemon juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Serve with fresh chopped parsley, black cracked pepper and a good extra virgin olive oil.


Top 5 Savoury Recipes of 2023

by Lou Robbie

Its hard to choose just 5 savoury recipes from all that we cooked and shared in 2023. Cooking with organic vegetables always makes the most delicious meal and just knowing they they were treated with care adds to the overall enjoyment.

The star vegetables here are courgette, butternut squash, beetroot, celeriac and delicious Irish potatoes.

We hope you try them out in 2024.

Lou 🙂

Tap on the dish below and it will take you to the full recipe.

  1. Courgette orzo – one pot 

2. Roast Squash Soup

3. Spicy beetroot Crepe

4. Lentil Pie w/ celeriac mash

5. Smashed potatoes 

Top 5 Sweet Recipes of 2023

by Lou Robbie

We are spoiled for choice with all the gorgeous produce and products from the farm and our fantastic organic suppliers. We added lots of amazing Irish vegetables to our sweet bakes this year, beetroot, carrots, courgettes, butternut squash and heaps of fruit too strawberries, blueberries, blood oranges and apples to name a few.

Here are 5 of our favourite recipes. We hope you give them a try.

Lou 🙂

Tap the recipes below to take you to the full recipe:

2 ingredient mousse 

Plum crumble cake 

Peanut butter cups 

Puff pastry apple turnovers 

Homemade Twix Bar

Delicious Rosemary and Garlic Baked Camembert

by Lou Robbie

Cheese and fruit platters are gorgeous ways to graze over the festive season. They are great for sharing and require minimum effort. We like ours when we have friends over or when we watch a family movie.

We stock some gorgeous organic bio cheeses like this wheel of camembert and with a little effort it is delicious baked for your cheese board. Baked with garlic and herbs bring it to the next level, your guests will love it. Serve along side our delicious mulled wine.

Lou 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 1 (250-gram) wheel Camembert
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves, finely chopped
  • pinch salt and pepper
  • 1 large garlic clove, sliced very thin
  • To serve: crackers/grapes/bread

Method:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Step 2: Most Camembert comes in a little wooden crate. Open the cheese and place in parchment paper and put it back into the crate. If there is no crate, place it on a baking tray.

Step 3: With a thin sharp knife, make grid like cuts in the cheese, 3 or 4 in each direction, about 1 inch apart and going about 1 inch deep into the cheese but without cutting through the bottom rind. Use your knife tip to “open” each cut and your fingers to press a little sliver of garlic into each cut. Combine the olive oil with the rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small dish. Spread thickly on top of the cheese.

Step 4: Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is loose inside the rind. Serve immediately with crackers, grapes and bread.

Delicious Christmas Mulled Wine

by Lou Robbie

Warm mulled wine is a great way to kick start Christmas. We have gorgeous Organic/Vegan wines that are perfect to warm and add some Christmas spice. You can make this ahead of time and reheat it when your guests arrive.

Cinnamon, orange, star anise, bay and cloves make for the most delicious mulled wine, a perfect drink for Christmas Eve.

Wishing you and yours a very peaceful Christmas.

Sláinte,

Lou x

Ingredients:

  • 750ml bottle organic red wine
  • 1 large cinnamon stick, or 2 small ones
  • 1 star anise
  • 8 cloves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 ring of fresh cut orange
  • 2 strips lemon zest, pared using a vegetable peeler
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar- 60g

Method:

Step 1: Cut the orange and stud with the cloves.

Step 2: Add the sugar, bay, star anise, cinnamon stick, studded orange, lemon zest and wine to a wide pot. Warm gently for 10 minutes, do not boil or all the alcohol will evaporate. Taste it is it sweet enough, if not add a bit more sugar. Then turn off the heat to infuse for 30 minutes.

Step 3: Serve warm in heat prof glasses.

Enjoy 🙂

Small is beautiful and HAPPY CHRISTMAS…

by Kenneth Keavey

Many years ago, I had the good fortune to come across the book “Small is beautiful: A study of economics as if people mattered” by E.F. Schumacher.

A key quote from the book: “Modern man does not experience himself as a part of nature but as an outside force destined to dominate and conquer it” epitomises the reason we are facing the challenges we currently face on planet earth.

There is no greater urgency, or greater need than reversing the damage we have inflicted on our beautiful planet. The time for deliberation has come and gone, now we need action.

Schumacher goes onto say that we are rapidly consuming the capital our lives are built on whilst all the time focusing on the income. The idea that our planet is finite is a law that most self-respecting scientists accept and yet the business of retail and production is based on ever expanding consumption seemingly assuming the law does not apply to them.

Protection of our capital in this case our home planet earth must be given as much weighing as the income we derive from it, otherwise we may find sooner than we would like that the goose who lays the golden eggs is gone.

This is heavy going for the final letter before Christmas, but I think it may be justified.

I know that it is difficult to make the choice to spend more on food, so thank you.

I know that you have chosen to do just that. You have made a conscious choice and invested effort to source your produce from us. We may not always get it right and there is always more to be done, but we have never wavered in our commitment to protect our planet no matter what else comes our way.

So, thank you for your continued support, for your good will, for you cheer and encouragement, for spending your hard-earned euros with us.

We have had the busiest Christmas in our history as a farm and business, and for that we are eternally grateful. There have and continue to be plenty of challenges but at least for now for another while we can keep going. We have planned our planting season for the year ahead we look forward as we always do to a new growing season, and we hope that we can get more things right that we get wrong.

Thank you so much, you may not really feel it, or realise it, but you truly are making a positive difference to our world.

We hope you have a lovely, happy, peaceful and healthy Christmas 

Kenneth and all the team at Green Earth Organics

PS:  Our Farm shop is open tomorrow Saturday the 23rd from 10am-5pm, H91 F9C5, and there is still time to get all your Christmas produce. 

We are closed all next week, there will be no deliveries and our office will be closed.  Our new box contents are already live on our website and you can place your orders at any time over the next week for delivery week commencing Tues the 2nd of January