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HEALTH&HABITAT

Dec 2010/Jan 2011 www.esb.ie/em

HEALTHY EATING

Christmas FEAST

Roast Goose

Serves 6

Ingredients

5.4 kg (12lb) goose, giblets removed
1/4 of a lemon
1 large carrot, peeled
2 sticks celery
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half across the middle to expose the cloves
10 stalks of fresh sage
10 stalks of fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
2. Take the goose and trim excess fat from the cavity opening, then tuck in the loose skin and tie the legs together with string. Prick the skin all over with a fork (this will help the fat to come out).
3. Turn the goose over and stuff the lemon quarter, carrot, celery, garlic and herbs in the neck cavity. Attach the loose skin around the neck to the body with a cocktail stick.
4. Season the skin well with salt and black pepper.
5. Place the bird on a wire rack in a roasting tin and roast for 1 hour near the bottom of the oven.
6. Reduce the heat to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and roast for a further 1 and 1½ hours, until the goose is golden. Insert a fork or skewer into the thickest part of the leg to make sure the juices run clear — now it is cooked. If not, put it back for another 5 minutes and check again.
7. Allow the goose to stand, covered in tin foil, for at least 20 minutes before carving to let the juices flow back into the flesh so you have a moist bird.

Dee’s all-in-one roast veg

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash, washed, skin on but seeds discarded and cut into wedges
2 small parsnips, peeled and cut lengthways
8 baby carrots, peeled
10 small potatoes, washed and halved
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally and covered in foil
3 sprigs rosemary
2tbsp olive oil
4 plum tomatoes or 10 cherry tomatoes
2 red chillies, halved lengthways (optional)
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
2. Place all the vegetables except the chillies and tomatoes in a large roasting pan.
3. Add the garlic and rosemary sprigs and drizzle over the olive oil and toss the vegetables.Season and place in the oven.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, shuffling the vegetables once. Add the tomatoes and chillies (if using) and cook for a further 25-30 minutes. Place the roasting pan in the centre of the table and let everyone tuck in.

Christmas Ice Cream

Serves 6

Ingredients

500ml tub vanilla ice cream
2tbsp orange juice
200g Christmas cake
75g glacé cherries, roughly chopped
One ginger loaf cake
To serve:
Orange zest and icing sugar

Method

1. Slightly soften the ice cream, tip into a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon, until smooth.
2. Fold in two tablespoons of orange juice, the Christmas cake, cut into small cubes, and the glacé cherries.
3. Transfer to a small freezer-proof container and freeze until solid.
4. Just before serving, heat a ginger loaf cake in the microwave on high for 45 seconds, until warm. Thickly slice into six, divide between plates and top each with a big scoop of the ice cream. Dust with icing sugar and grate over a little orange zest to serve.

For more recipes see the Christmas issue of Easy Food on sale now.

Conquering Route 66 for Temple Street

By Eddie Watts, Retired Facilities staff

A GROUP of almost 100 Motorcyclists, pillion passengers and support crew assembled at Dublin Airport on Sunday September 26th at 7am and began their fifth motor cycle challenge - to ride the mother road that is Route 66!

We are the Irish 66rs, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts from all over Ireland dedicated to raising funds for Temple Street Childrens’ Hospital.

The Route 66 Challenge is of particular significance to all motorcyclists of my generation. This is without doubt the most famous road in America, winding 2,446 miles through eight states from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California.It has been immortalised in song and film. From Chuck Berry to U2, from The Grapes of Wrath to Easy Rider, Route 66 has become a legend.

Sadly, Route 66 no longer officially exists. It was decertified over stages, the last bit, in Arizona, decommissioned in 1985. When the highway was decommissioned, sections of the road were disposed of in various ways. Within many cities, the route became a ‘business loop’ for the interstate highway. Some sections became state roads, local roads, private drives, or were abandoned completely. Although it is no longer possible to drive Route 66 uninterrupted all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, much of the original route and alternate alignments are still drivable and so part of our challenge was to seek out and ride all sections of the road that still exist regardless of their condition, only using the interstates and freeways where there was no other choice.

Over the next eight days, we rose at 5.30 every morning and were on the road from sunrise to sunset, covering 400 miles on some days on roads ranging from smooth tar macadam to rough stones and loose shale. We travelled on vast stretches of lonely isolated roads then through traffic jams on seven-lane interstates. We coped with torrential rain, hail and 100 degree sunshine – sometimes in the one day. We travelled through densely populated areas and through ghost towns, as well as through the breadbasket of America with is vast fields of corn and wheat and through the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona until we reached our goal, the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica, Los Angeles California.

While this was my first trip along the Route 66, it is the fifth time for the Irish 66rs to undertake the challenge. Previous efforts have raised €2.5m for the hospital and this year’s target was to raise a further €500,000 to purchase vital equipment for paediatric neurosurgery. Paediatric neurosurgery deals with diseases and injuries to the brain and/or the spine. Patients include those with brain tumours brain haemorrhages, spinal malformations or injuries, and those being treated because of cerebral palsy or epilepsy. These are all serious and delicate operations indeed. Remember, these patients are children, many of whom are under six-years-of-age.

While the final figure is not yet available the indications are that we have achieved our fund-raising target. For my part alone, thanks to the support of my colleagues in ESB, family and friends, I managed to raise €10,500. So on behalf of the children and their parents, many, many thanks. What we did will change their lives, it will give them a chance to grow and who knows some day one of them may even undertake Route 66 themselves.