Cooking in: What good is organic food if it has crossed the globe? It's better to look closer to home
Goodie boxes do not come better than this. I unwrap beetroot, French beans, radishes, lettuce, bundles of tarragon, mint and several kinds of basil, two types of cucumber and both yellow and green courgettes. The beans pop when I put them in salted boiling water, the lettuce squeaks in protest at being split up, the radishes crack with a richochet, and the courgettes are as firm as you could wish for.
It has all come from the impressive gardens at Ballymaloe Cookery School, Co Cork, where nothing is wasted. The hens get the scraps from lunch, compost is the first recipe students learn, and the bins are all clearly marked for the disposal of paper, glass, cans and so on.
Ballymaloe does a great job of illustrating the link between what we eat, where it comes from and how it is raised - questions that concern more and more people. Students milk the school's cows every day, then make butter, cream and cheese from the result. The butter is a buttercup yellow, the flavour both floral and herbal.
The last time I visited Ballymaloe we ate the gardens' courgettes with penne; we also had local mackerel, local pork and tongue-tinglingly herby, flowery salad.
Back home, my neighbour has just harvested her first home-grown salad. She is ecstatic. Nothing, she says, quite prepared her for how it would taste. She wishes she had space to grow more than lettuce and rocket.
We cannot all hope to imitate Ballymaloe's integration, but tasting vegetables like theirs makes me want to try. Or, at least, to find somebody to supply me with similarly local produce.
The local approach is starting to find favour among discerning consumers in the US, where supermarket chains now stock plenty of organic produce but fly it in from all over the world. However healthy your food was in the ground, eating it can be less than satisfying when it has been jetted across continents. Local really can be best.
All recipes serve four
POT-ROASTED TARRAGON CHICKEN WITH BUTTERED GARLIC COURGETTES AND TABBOULEH
1 chicken
extra virgin olive oil
large bunch tarragon
4 yellow-skinned courgettes
100g unsalted butter
1 head garlic
1 tbsp bulgar
large bunch parsley
juice of ½ lemon
500g cherry tomatoes
Rub four tablespoons of olive oil into the chicken - about five minutes of gentle massaging - then stuff the tarragon into the body cavity. Season well with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy saucepan just large enough to take the chicken and put the bird, breast side down, in the pot. Cover tightly and cook over a medium heat, basting frequently, for an hour, or until cooked. Turn the bird over halfway through.
Wash and cut the courgettes into two-centimetre slices. Put in a saucepan with the butter and plenty of seasoning. Peel the garlic cloves and add to the courgettes, set over a gentle heat, turn a few times and stew for 15-20 minutes, until just soft; don't let them go mushy.
Pour the bulgar into a pan of salted boiling water and simmer for five minutes, or until just soft, drain and refresh in cold water. Finely chop the parsley and add to the bulgar with the lemon juice, four tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper and the cherry tomatoes, quartered.
Let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes, then serve with the tabbouleh and courgettes.
CARROT AND BEETROOT SALAD
1 tsp black mustard seeds
juice of ½ lemon
4 tbsp yogurt
1 garlic clove, peeled, finely chopped and crushed with a little salt
4 medium carrots
2 small beetroots
1 tbsp pine nuts
olive oil
4 bunches watercress
1 tbsp tarragon leaves
Combine the mustard seeds and lemon juice and set aside. Combine the yogurt and garlic and set aside. Peel and grate the carrots and beetroot separately. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until just coloured. Toss the mustard seeds through the grated carrot, season and stir in two tablespoons of olive oil. Season the beetroot with salt and pepper and stir in two tablespoons of olive oil.
Divide the carrot, beetroot and watercress on to four plates, keeping each separate. Scatter the pine nuts and tarragon over the plates and drizzle with the yogurt.
STRAWBERRY PANNA COTTA
20g gelatin leaves
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
200ml full-cream milk
400ml double cream
120g caster sugar
300g frozen strawberries
juice of ½ lemon
Soak the gelatin in cold water to soften, which should take a few minutes. Put the vanilla pod and seeds into the milk and bring to the boil. Remove and stir in the gelatin, so it dissolves. Allow to cool, then add the cream and 100 grams of the sugar.
Remove the pod, then pour the mixture into four ramekins or small bowls. Once it has cooled, cover the ramekins with cling film and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Puree the strawberries in a blender with the remaining sugar. Add the lemon juice, tasting as you go; you may not need it all. Push through a sieve and serve with the panna cotta.