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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Chapter 2: What challenges do people face when deciding what to eat in the heat?
One of the toughest things in this heat can be deciding what to eat. No one really has the energy to be standing over a hot grill or working a piping hot oven. So if you're in need of some inspiration, look no further because I am joined now by Chef Brian McDermott. Good morning, Brian.
Good morning, Clare.
Lovely to talk to you. And I think everybody's in the same boat, aren't they? Well, I know it's raining in Mayo, we heard, and perhaps the weather isn't so good in Donegal, but for people who are experiencing the extreme heat, it can be difficult to know what to put on the table.
Yeah, absolutely. And none of us are any different. And Clare, I'm happy to report that in Eishon, it is 18 degrees at, what, 10.31. So we'll take that.
We'll take that.
That's pleasant. Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful just looking out over Loch Foyle here. But I can tell you, I get up this morning and it's like, right, what is it today? What are we going to eat? And you do change naturally. We don't think we do, but we want something that craves a lot of water. That's why we move to the likes of salads or so on.
But my main message today, Clare, is instead of what am I cooking today, Ask what do I have? And that is starting in your fridge or starting in your store cupboard because there's nothing worse. I've done it where you run out to the shop. The roads are busy. Everybody's panicking. They're in a rush to get back. It's like they're scared they're going to miss a little bit of this weather.
And I just find a lot of tension out there right now.
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Chapter 3: What alternatives to hot cooking methods does Chef Brian suggest?
So perhaps let's look within and see what's in there.
OK, see what you have in the fridge, maybe lurking in the bottom of the salad and veg drawer in the fridge and root it out.
Yeah, totally. And, you know, I think people will have the likes of a jar of beetroot. And it doesn't sound chefy. It's not meant to be chefy. But like if you're a lover of beetroot and that stingy vinegar, well, let's get it out there. Let's use it. And what do you use it with? Firstly, if it's not sliced, slice it. Clare, today we're talking about assembly.
Get your favourite bowl because when you assemble one ingredient on top of the other, the likes of starting with beetroot, maybe you've got some lettuce, maybe you're lucky enough to have some rocket. It's beautiful. It's peppery. Put the rocket in on top of the sliced beetroot. go to the press and see do you have the likes of walnuts because you need texture when you're layering something up.
That adds to the excitement of each delivery of those ingredients. Walnuts, perhaps their scotch cheese or do you have balsamic vinegar? We're talking here about five ingredients, five minutes, your favourite bowl start to layer them up, bring in the crunch, bring in texture through the seeds, the nuts, whatever you have in there.
And, you know, by returning that just to the fridge for five minutes in a family style service before popping it into the middle of the table, then that's going to chill and give you that extra little bit of coldness, which is what we crave.
Now, I have a question for you because I have the beetroot in there, which gives me the little kind of vinegary hit. Am I putting balsamic in there as well or is that too much?
No, I think you need it. The more hits you get of that kind of vinegary, the things like lemon, vinegar, limes, they're big, big summer flavours and we do crave them for a reason. They give us refreshment. The minute you eat into that, you're thinking, wow, that has got my senses going again. You know, in the winter, Clare, we look for the big sort of caramelisations, the big roast flavours.
They're gone. So how do you get the opposite of them in there now? And it is through the likes of the vinegar. So a double hit of that is really good. It's why we use a lot of lime juice. It's why we use a lot of lemon juice. And, you know, I have a lovely simple recipe for the likes of a butter bean, if you're lucky enough to have them, or chickpea.
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Chapter 4: How can you utilize what's in your fridge to create meals?
Once you drain them and get them in there, add some Irish tomatoes. We're right bang in the season right now for tomatoes. What do they need? They just need taken care of. They just need opened up. They need sliced. They need a pinch of salt. And what I like to put on the top of that then is very thinly sliced red onion. Clare, get a lemon.
squeeze the juice all over the top of those, a drizzle of olive oil, fresh parsley or coriander. Again, we're talking five ingredients, five minutes, and you've created a wonderful salad that you're going, wow, that is stunning.
Do we need anything else with the salad or are we good? Because you've got the kind of meatiness of if you're using chickpeas or butter beans, it might be enough for you with a nice crusty bread on the side. Or are you recommending that we put a bit of chicken or fish with that?
Again, look, you know, I think these days, if you are going to cook, cook once and eat twice. In other words, if you're going to cook a chicken, you know, this evening, use it for the next two days. If you're lucky enough to have some leftover meats, well, any of these salads that we're talking with those proteins broken up in over the top of them, they just bring them to a substantial meal.
Not sure if you or I want that. Perhaps we do. Depends on what our workload is for the day. Other things that you can consider is the likes of charcuterie meat. Claire, we're talking here and you might think, well, that's only opening a pack. It is deliberately because I'm lazy. I'm tired. You know, I'm sweaty Betty right now.
So if you want to open that pack, there's some of these that have been 36 months maturation. They've been cured. The work's done for you and put that over the top of it. Nice shards of that charcuterie meat is excellent. Again, always finish with a seed when you're going to kind of serve something because you initially get the texture.
Then you'll get a little bit of fattiness of the likes of the charcuterie meat or leftover chicken, ham, whatever it is you may have. Then you're into the salad, the wateriness of the lettuce coming through, perhaps a tomato. Then that acidicness that we're talking about. All the way you're going through your layers here and you're delivering stimulation to each part of what we want right now.
Yeah, I was looking last night online. Someone was making the Jennifer Aniston salad. Do you know about the Jennifer Aniston salad? It has quinoa.
I'm not fully familiar.
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Chapter 5: What are some quick salad assembly tips from Chef Brian?
Like it has quinoa as the base. Are you a fan of that as a grain?
I think as a grain, they're like little sponges. They pull in. So when we add in the oils, we add in the lemon, the lime juice, anything that she's adding in there, it absorbs them in and it gives it back out when you eat it. So in that face, I'm happy with it.
Yeah, but you need to cook that beforehand. And we're trying to avoid that, aren't we?
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. We don't want to be cooking at all, Clare. You know, God forbid, but that bloody air fryer, it's away now, isn't it? It's gone into the press and we don't want to see or hear about it until the autumn again. And if you do have to cook, you're talking here about one pan. Like last night, I did just an escalope of chicken.
And I looked in my fridge and I had a little convenient pizza sauce, scalloped nice and thin, took a couple of minutes either side, topped it with a pizza sauce. I had some cheese in there. I finished it with cheese and I just let it sit and settle for a couple of minutes. And I had that with some salad. Again, the beetroot was out. There was some leftover potato in the fridge.
And it's up to you whether you want to heat that up or not. But notice today, I'm not going near mayonnaise. I think mayonnaise is kind of done. I hate when just you get the table full of mayonnaise based sauces. Let's go for the oils. Let's go for the vinegars. Let's go for the natural flavours in the form of the lime juice, the lemon juice.
And even with the likes of potato that you have left over, you could warm that up.
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Chapter 6: How do you enhance the flavors of simple salads?
If you have a microwave, just bring a little bit of heat and temperature into it. The minute you hit that then with a little bit of oil, perhaps you have a bit of mint in the garden. Beautiful. Perhaps you have a bit of dill. and a little bit of yoghurt onto it. You've just turned basic leftover potatoes that you're going to throw out tomorrow into something hugely substantial and very rewarding.
Yeah, I think you've answered a question that I had during the week because we were in Leash during the week for the Newstalk Summer Tour and after the show I had a sneak down to my mammy's house and she had a lovely mammy salad for me. Now she had grapes on the salad, that was posh. And it was all delicious.
But she said to me, now I have a bit of coleslaw for you there if you want to add it to it. But Brian, I said no. And I was thinking to myself, I'd normally love a bit of coleslaw, but I just didn't fancy a roasting hot day. You see, yeah, and I'm with you. You've answered that for me.
Yeah, but your memory is, Clare, like of that salad and your mum and being home and being safe. And, you know, there's a joy that comes to you immediately. And no matter what your mum's going to serve, you're going to love it because it's rekindling something in you. But I bet you there was salad cream back then, aren't I?
Oh, yeah. Well, it was in the fridge, I'd say, on Tuesday. But the other thing she had, Brian, you love this, brown bread scones inside and they were warm with the butter. So you can't beat that, can you, with your fancy salads?
No. And it's at what point do you repeat that for your family, you know? are you hanging on to the mommy's salad? And how do you own that, Clare? That's the difficulty here. And we're all in that phase of life where we go, and my mum, I was up with her yesterday as well, funny enough, and she's offering the hot tea.
And I'm thinking, God, no matter what the weather's like, you're going to get a hot cup of tea. But likewise for me now coming back and my two girls, they're at 24 and 21. So they're at the age where, for example, the notions in January back there where they were using chai seeds on porridge and they were going to be super healthy. And
like everybody, probably dropped off mid-January and I was looking this morning and there is the big jar of chai seeds and I'm thinking, they're perfect. Pull them out and it's part of today. Look what's in your store cupboard. What have you not used or what did you buy as part of a notion months ago? Get it back out and that does add a layer of texture to the likes of what we're talking about.
Simple little salads today that you can create that become memorable because once we serve this in the table, again, less is more, Clare. Let the ingredients speak for themselves and don't be worried by... Just grating a carrot and adding a little bit of coriander to it and a little pinch of salt.
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