Catherine Fulvio shares her taste of home

Following the success of the first series of Tastes Like Home, Catherine Fulvio returns to our screens to bring the favourite recipes of Irish families to their loved ones living across the globe, from South Korea and South Africa to Vancouver, Mexico and LA.

As well as cooking up Irish dishes overseas, however, Catherine also makes some taste memories of her own – from experiencing a genuine Korean BBQ to eating Mexican guacamole with deep-fried grasshoppers – as well as participating in once in a lifetime adventures, like watching the sun rise over the African plains in a hot-air balloon.

In this week’s Irish Country Living, Catherine shares just two of the recipes from the series, but also savours her very own taste memories from Ballyknocken House & Cookery School.

“We were a mixed farm when I was growing up, so my mum – as a major treat – used to make rice pudding. She used to make it in the biggest saucepan we had, because we loved it so much. She would use that fresh farm milk – and I just remember how creamy it used to taste.

“My brother used to say that she would spoil it all by putting raisins in it, so there always had to be a certain amount set aside for him before the raisins went in it. She did experiment with tapioca as an alternative, but that went down like a lead balloon!

“I was born into the bed and breakfast as well, so having the bacon and the sausages and the fried eggs cooking and mushrooms on in the mornings, that’s a very strong memory because mum and dad would have worked together.

“Dad would have come in from milking the cows and then he’d give her a hand to cook the breakfast for the guests. It was like two dancers working so closely together in a confined environment, producing something amazing.

“We were turkey farmers as well … my job used to be to pluck them! We used to have turkey for Christmas, turkey for New Year’s Day, turkey for St Patrick’s Day and turkey for Easter, so you’d want to like turkey in my family.

“The other big memory for me was of my grandmother, who used to make the white soda bread with the raisins in it. I never knew the name- spotted dog – until I was much older. She’d take it out of the oven and she’d dampen the tea towel and put it over it to soften the crust. You’d be hanging on waiting for it to cool down before you could eat it with butter and homemade jam.

“As for my own children, they absolutely adore the classic Irish ham and cabbage with potatoes. We always do ham and cabbage when granddad is over and, after our dinner, out comes the game of cards.

“It’s the whole family memory as well as the food memory and that’s really how memories are created: it’s the smells, the taste, who is with you at the time, where you are … it’s the whole picture that you have in your mind when you taste something.” CL

Tastes Like Home airs on RTÉ One on Wednesdays at 7.30pm or catch up on RTÉ Player. Follow @TLHwithCFulvio on Twitter or Tastes Like Home with Catherine Fulvio on Facebook. For more information, please visit

www.ballyknocken.ie.

Carrick-on-Suir to Vancouver

Grilled Prawns with Mango and Papaya

Serves four

My dish in Vancouver ties in with the many Asian influences of the city. Add mango and papaya: you can use green papaya or an unripened papaya, more regularly available in Ireland. All in all, either will make a deliciously vibrant tropical salad.

For the dressing

1 orange, juice only

1 lime, juice only

½ tsp. sesame oil

3 tbsp. olive oil

½ red chilli, finely chopped

1cm fresh ginger, grated

For the salad

2 mangos, peeled and roughly diced

1 small papaya, peeled and sliced into thin strips

1 cucumber, sliced lengthways into ribbons

12 cherry tomatoes

A handful of coriander leaves

For the prawns

A handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 lemon, juice only

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. sesame oil

12 large prawns, head and shells removed, deveined

Lemon wedges, to serve

1 To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2 For the salad, arrange the diced mango, papaya slices, cherry tomatoes and cucumber ribbons on a large serving platter. Sprinkle the coriander leaves on top and spoon over some of the dressing.

3 To prepare the prawns, place the coriander leaves, garlic, lemon, sesame oil and olive oil into a bowl.

4 Add the prawns and leave for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

5 Preheat a pan or chargrill pan on a medium-to-high heat. Using tongs, transfer the prawns onto the chargrill pan and grill for about one to two minutes on each side. Add the marinade to the pan and arrange the prawns on the salad and spoon over a little more salad dressing.

6 Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Kildare to South Korea

Individual Citrus Cakes with Green Tea & Ginger Infusion Syrup with Orange Segments

Makes eight cakes

I love lemon drizzle cake and this really is my taste of home as it is served to all our guests visiting Ballyknocken House & Cookery School, so I thought adding a little green tea to the mix would be perfect for the destination. If you like green tea and ginger, you’ll love this zingy cake (pictured below).

For the cake

2 unwaxed mandarins, sliced with skin on

160g softened butter

160g caster sugar

3 eggs

200g plain flour, sifted

1½ tsp baking powder

1 unwaxed lemon zest only

2 oranges, cut into segments

For the green-tea syrup

150g caster sugar

250ml strong green tea

Juice of 2 and zest of one unwaxed lemon

2-3 cm of fresh ginger grated

1 To make the syrup,place the caster sugar, lemon juice and zest, ginger and green tea in a saucepan, heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for about 10 to 12 minutes, until a light syrup forms. Remove from the heat to cool down.

2 Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 165°C/gas 4. Brush the bases of the eight x 12cm diameter mini cake tins with butter and flour them all to avoid the cakes sticking. Lay one slice of mandarin at the bottom centre of each tin.

3 Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and whisk until very frothy and light. Fold in the plain flour, baking powder and lemon zest. Pour into the buttered tins and fill them to about two thirds. Bake for about 20 minutes. To check, insert a skewer into the centre of the cake: when it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and remove the tin and place on a cooling rack.

4 While the cake is still warm, pour over the green-tea syrup and add the orange segments as garnish.