We caught up with Lorraine Fitzmaurice from Drury Street’s Blazing Salads to talk about leafy greens and healthy grains, all featured in her latest cookbook, Blazing Salads 2.
Tell us about the evolution of Blazing Salads – how has it evolved from having the idea of serving wholesome food with your siblings to publishing your second book?
Blazing Salads has evolved from lots of hard work and passion. We strive to keep our food we serve daily consistent in its quality, taste and freshness, with the result that we have retained customers for the last nearly 40 years and the word spreads then to bring new customers in to eat with us.
Since Blazing Salads first opened its doors on Drury Street in 2000, have Irish people’s attitude to food (particularly health foods) changed?
People are more aware of the importance of eating a wide variety of vegetables and fruit, so they will buy a vegetarian cookbook for the vegetable part of their meal. If a person eats alternatively they are less likely to be labeled a hippy or a crank. I haven’t noticed a growth in people becoming vegetarians but there are a growing number of young people becoming vegan. We have found at the deli that people are eating a vegetarian lunch as they find they can perform better at work in the afternoons. Our customers are aware of the benefits of eating good quality grains and using good quality condiments to dress salads.
How about the products you serve in Blazing Salads –have they changed to suit global and local trends in the last decade?
We have been serving our products for the last 30 years. We haven’t been tempted to follow trends. We have never gone down the route of selling high sugared power drinks or snack foods now being sold under the guise of health foods. It is now paying off for us. Our customers are confident that the ingredients we use are 100% wholefood and are what we say they are. People’s attitudes towards food is changing.
How did your childhood shape your approach to food and cooking?
I have always had a big interest in food and cooking (an obsession really). I loved taking over the kitchen at home on Sunday to cook lunch. My mother had one wholefood cookbook and I loved reading it. When we were children our mother brought myself and my sister and brothers into the kitchen when she was cooking the dinner to stop the squabbling. She would give us all (there were 4 of us) small jobs to do. This has created an interest in food and cooking in all of us.
You have said that your childhood lunch boxes were a source of mystery to your schoolmates. Do you think nowadays children are less shocked by the sight of greens and quinoa in their classmates’ lunches?
Absolutely not. Very few children are aware of these ingredients. I think lunch boxes have become worse than when I was a child. My teenage daughter doesn’t like to bring anything too unusual in her lunch box, just as it was for me in the late 70s.
Tell us about your second cookbook, a follow-up from 2004’s Blazing Salads Cookbook. Apart from wholesome recipes, what are the recurring themes?
The first Blazing Salads cookbook was a collection of recipes from my childhood and recipes that I cooked in Blazing Salads restaurant. They are simpler in style. This new book has a collection of new recipes relating more to deli style cooking and our customer base has grown to include many non-vegetarians. The recipes are more seasoned and use more dairy but still use grains and pulses with wholefood principles.
Your bread is endlessly popular. Can you tell us where it’s baked and where it can be
sourced?
My brother Joe has branched out and has built a wood-fired oven in the Eco Village in Cloughjordan, North Tipperary, where he lives with his family. He is producing the most beautifully baked loaves using only certified organic flours and natural sea salt. He specializes in sourdough, long-fermentation, spelt and rye breads. The oven is fuelled entirely by locally sourced timber. It is now available under the name Cloughjordan Wood-fired Bakery from our Blazing Salads deli on Drury Street, Donny brook Fair, The Hopsack in Rathmines, The Dublin Food Co-Op Newmarket, Select Stores Dalkey, and locally in Cloughjordan.
Who are your favourite people to cook for?
I love cooking for my family as they have great appetites and are very complimentary. My friends are mainly in the food business so cooking for them is a pleasure; good food, good wine and good conversation.
It can be difficult to maintain a varied diet when you’re busy and trying to be healthy. Where do you get your inspiration and motivation?
When I’m home late I keep meals simple and then on days that I have more time I’m more adventurous. I keep a stock of different grains, noodles and pastas and beans and chickpeas etc in my cupboard to make it easier.
What are your plans for Blazing Salads in the future?
The plans for Blazing Salads are to continue providing nutritious wholefood.
Lorraine Fitzmaurice’s new cookbook, Blazing Salads 2, is in shops now (published by Gill
& Macmillan Books, priced at €19.99).
RECIPE
BULGUR SALAD WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND ADUKI BEANS
Serves 4 to 6
315 g coarse wholemeal bulgur wheat
sea salt
21/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
31/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 fresh chilli, deseeded and minced
2 tbsp fresh coriander
21/2 tbsp fresh mint
150 g diced roasted butternut squash
100 g cooked aduki beans
1 cm piece of kombu seaweed (optional)
Rinse the bulgur, place in a large bowl and just cover with cold water. Soak overnight, or in the
morning to use that night. Fluff up the soaked bulgur. Season with sea salt. Add olive oil and lemon
juice. Stir well. Check the seasoning. Wash the coriander, and chop both leaves and stems very
finely. Remove the hard stalks from the mint, rinse and chop very fine along with the mint leaves.
Add the herbs to the bulgur along with the chilli, butternut squash and aduki beans. Mix well.
Aduki beans are available cooked in tins in health food stores, but this is how to cook the beans
yourself: Place the aduki beans in a bowl and wash well. Cut a 1 cm piece of kombu seaweed
(if using) and wipe the salt from it. Place in the bowl with the aduki beans. Cover with plenty of
cold water. Soak overnight or for 6–8 hours. Drain off the soaking water and place the beans and
seaweed in a pot with 250 ml water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 45
minutes. Rinse and drain to use in salad. If using in a casserole or soup, there’s no need to rinse
after cooking.
To roast butternut squash, heat the oven to Gas 7/220°C/425°F. Peel 1 small butternut squash and
remove the seeds. Chop into 1 cm cubes and place on a baking tray. Season with a small pinch of
salt and add 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Toss well. Place on the top shelf of the preheated oven for
20 minutes until the squash is tender but not mushy.
TIP: This salad is equally good made with wholemeal couscous or quinoa.
