Ulster Fry

OK, so firstly, this picture does not do justice to the delight that is the Ulster Fry.  I mean I've done some processing on the photo, but unfortunately, I took my eye off the ball when cooking this, and there's no getting away from it, almost everything on the plate is overdone.  But this blog is meant to be about the real world, and in the real world this happens sometimes...  and it was still absolutely delicious!

Also, today's blog is more of a serving suggestion than a recipe... but I wanted to bring a few of my recipes together into one meal.  Forget about calories with this one, it's a huge portion, filling treat of a weekend breakfast.

Finally, there will be many Northern Irish folk fainting at the prospect of beans on an Ulster Fry.  No, they're not traditionally part of it.  But I like them, so I say PFFT!

Ingredients (per person)

2 slices Bacon
2 slices Vegetable Roll
1/2 Soda Bread Farl
1 Potato Cake
1 Egg
100-200g Baked Beans
Brown Sauce or Ketchup (optional)

Method

Honestly, the method is simply cook everything and bung it on a plate!  But if you'd like a bit more detail...

1.  Start cooking the bacon and vegetable roll.  You can either do this by frying in a pan with a little oil, grilling, or oven baking in a hot oven.

2. When there's about 5 minutes to go on your meat, pop your beans in a saucepan and heat on a medium heat until hot.  (Or place in a microwave dish and zap in the microwave for a couple of minutes).

3.  At the same time, heat up a little oil in a frying pan and crack an egg into it.  Add the soda bread and potato cake and cook for a minute or two on each side until they're how you like them,  (You can also do the bread and potato cake by sticking them in a toaster, but that just isn't quite as nice as they come out a bit dry - although you can butter them afterwards to help with that.)

4.  Once everything is cooked, bung them on a plate, add ketchup or brown sauce to taste and get it down your neck :-)

Soda Bread Farls

I really used to miss Soda Bread, another staple Northern Irish food.  Soda bread is available in most English supermarkets, but it's always the brown/wholemeal sort, and not the delicious bread of my childhood.  Soda farls (farl refers to the shape of the bread) were briefly available in my local supermarket, but were discontinued, so I was at a loss - until I found out how incredibly quick and easy they are to make!  And it can be made in advance in batches, as it freezes really well.

Soda bread is delicious when it's cut through the middle and grilled or toasted - buttered and topped with bacon and brown sauce, or sausage and a fried egg... or my personal favourite, corned beef and melted cheddar (I can hear the discomfort of Ulster folk as I write that, but I love it!).  It's also a vital ingredient to be fried up in an Ulster Fry.

Ingredients

300g Plain Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
250ml Milk
2 tsp Lemon Juice

Method

1. Stir the lemon juice into the milk, and leave to sit for about 10 minutes.  This allows the milk to curdle slightly, forming a buttermilk.  (You may just use buttermilk instead, but my local shops don't seem to have it).

2. Mix together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.

3. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and add the milk mixture.

4.  Get in with your hands and mix the ingredients to form a fairly dry dough.  If your dough is sticky, add some more flour a spoon at a time.  If it becomes too dry (and starts cracking), add a splash of milk.

5. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and turn out the dough.  Shape it into a circle about 1cm thick.  This is thinner than you expect, but remember your dough is going to puff up a bit when cooked.  Cut your circle into quarters with a knife.

6.  Heat a frying pan to a low to medium heat.  Sprinkle some flour in to the pan (the pan needs to be totally dry), then place your farls on top.  Now LEAVE IT ALONE for around 8-10 minutes until the underside is nicely coloured.

7.  Turn the farls over and cook for another 8-10 minutes on the other side.  Remove from the heat and allow the farls to cool completely before either freezing them or cooking with them.