Pasta Primavera a la Hungry Soul

​Perhaps the simplest, quickest and tastiest plant-based and 100% vegan dish you may ever make… especially suited to non-vegans who want to know how to make a great cholesterol free healthy dish😊.
 
I was working late and I did not want to wait too long to eat. In the time it took for the water to boil and the pasta to cook, we had a meal. This is how I like to cook, simple and tasty!
 
INGREDIENTS

• Pasta 200g
• 1 tub of Hungry Soul, Natural or Garlic & Chives
• 1 cup of pasta water
• 1 courgette / zucchini
• 1 red pepper
• 1 onion
• 6 - 8 cherry tomatoes
• A handful of basil leaves
• A drop of olive oil
• Salt and pepper

 
METHOD

1. Put a pot of water to boil with a little salt.
2. While water is heating, chop the onion, red pepper and courgette into small cubes.
3. Gently softer the onion in a little olive oil, then add the red pepper and after a few minutes add e courgette and the whole cherry tomatoes, keep cooking on low heat.
4. Once water in boiling, drop in the pasta and cook until al dente.
5. Retain a cup of the cooking water and drain off the rest.
6. Return the pasta to the pot, add 1/2 tub of the Hungry Soul, 1/2 cup of the pasta water and stir it all together on low heat until pasta is nicely coated.
         ( you may add more Hungry Soul or more water if you want more flavour or more sauce)
7. By now the veggies should be nicely softened and saucy, taste them to see if you would like a little salt or black pepper.
8. Chop the basil and mix it in the sauce.
9. Serve an amount of pasta on the plate and some of the chunky sauce over it and delight in the wonderful flavours of the plant-based world.

 
Happy Days!
 
Bon Appetit
 
Jacques, from Hungry Soul

Reuse Before You Recycle

At The Urban Co-op, we’re always finding simple ways to support our zero-waste community — and one of the easiest is reusing what we already have. That’s why we’re offering clean, used glass bottles, large plastic containers, and wooden boxes for free!

These items are perfect for repurposing:

• Use glass bottles for homemade juices, oils or dried herbs
• Repurpose plastic containers for bulk food storage, DIY cleaning supplies, or gardening
• Give wooden boxes a second life as planters, organisers, or rustic gift packaging

​By giving these materials another use, we reduce landfill waste, support a circular economy, and make practical sustainability accessible for everyone. Drop by, pick what you need, and feel good knowing you’re making a greener choice — no cost, just conscious living.

Geraldine Fitzpatrick

A fiery peanut and chilli condiment with Irish rapeseed oil. 
1 Star Great Taste Award Winner 2024. Judges Comments: 'This is a fully locked and loaded sauce... A gorgeous array of flavours and textures made us keep going back for more...'

Food surprise. it great, it adds a surprise to each meal or sambo .Thank you. Review by Rory
​
Amazing! Fabulous products that enhance many different dishes in various ways. Delighted to have discovered Rivesci. Review by Elissa

Becoming a kitchen staple Loving the Rívesci sauces, a new staple for my kitchen especially for frying my eggs on! Review by Ruth

Let us know which of our products are your favourites and why
Email Geraldine [email protected]

Simple and delicious smoked trout sandwich topped with creamy goats cheese & pickled apple and fennel.
 
Preparation Time 5 MINS  |  Overnight Marinating Time  |  Serves 1
 
Ingredients
FOR THE PICKLE

• 400ml cider vinegar
• 180g sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 orange, rind only
• 1 tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 fennel, sliced into matchsticks
• 1 apple, sliced into matchsticks

• 1 tbsp. fennel fronds
• 1 tsp. capers
• 1 unwaxed lemon, juice and zest
• 40g St. Tola Goats cheese
• 2 slices soda bread
• 40g Goatsbridge cold smoked trout
• Seasonal salad leaves
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• Achill sea salt & cracked black pepper

 
Method

1. First make the pickle in advance. Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, orange rind and coriander in a saucepan, place under a low to medium heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool and then add the fennel and apple − you could also add matchstick slices of celeriac and beetroot. Pickle the vegetables overnight at a minimum.
2. Incorporate the fennel, capers, lemon juice and zest, and salt and pepper in a bowl with the goat's cheese until combined then spread generously on one slice of soda bread.
3. Top the second slice of bread with the smoked trout and pickle. Serve alongside the mixed leaves and avocado and finally season with good quality salt and pepper.

 
Recipe from Goatsbridge 

These Intangible Things by Eilís Haden-Storrie

This book has come onto our shelves recently from Banner Books. Timely as it echoes an awakening to the wide scope that is health. An interesting read…! 
 
The World Health Organization has recognised mental, physical, social and – to some degree – spiritual health as being key components of our wellbeing. Today, more than one-in-five doctor’s visits are due to chronic pain. Chronic conditions are on the increase and affecting people at a much younger age than ever before. Whilst pharmaceuticals and surgery can enhance our lives and survival rates of many illnesses, the Western medical world is struggling to deal with the 95% of diseases that have little if anything to do with our genes. In order to address this, we need to look beyond physical symptoms and explore what is going on with regard to our minds, our social connections and perhaps even our deeper spirit. Are there elements of our past which might give us clues on how best to do this? Without casting off our clothes and dancing naked under the moon, what can we learn from age-old and natural practices? How can we re-view our past in a measured way so that we can take what we need and leave the rest? .This book comprises of conversations with academics, health practitioners and service users, exploring our history and present day lifestyles in the light of finding a way through. Many of the conversations are held at ancient sites in County Clare – places which connect us to health and wellbeing throughout the ages.

Anne Maher

A discussion that is happening repeatedly from farmers is about the lack of small abattoirs locally that would help with local meat production. Here I am going to concentrate on offal so look away now if you are mindful that plants don’t have feelings too. Here’s the deal. The large abattoirs can process and monetise all parts of the animal. Offal is frozen and sent abroad for human consumption. Small abattoirs have restrictions on selling and effectively cannot monetise. Of course we then don’t have the access to this nutrient dense food. The slow race to the bottom continues. Our old cookbooks showed how to utilise this nourishing food and Limerick itself was known for offal being a traditional common food. Packet and tripe anyone? How easily a nourishing food can disappear out of our diets…I do believe we need to be on the alert for this trend because we go through periods of feast and famine in cycles…
 
Raw milk is making a comeback though and the experience of this journey shows that there are so many factors influencing whether we can have the access to nourishing foods at all. It’s not a given at any time despite periods of prosperity and our agricultural culture…The danger lies in complacency. Stay awake. 

​Anne Maher

​It is not that easy to keep up with tariff stories so I  might be very out of date by the time this goes out. I just wondered about butter. If Irish food exports were subject to tariffs which made them cost prohibitive then would this mean there is a glut available at source? Would we need to bury the butter in the bogs again to preserve the glut for the mean times… can you tell I obsess about this food? It brings back memory from childhood about my parents taking an organised bus trip from Portlaoise to a place in the North called Jonesborough in Armagh in the 70s. I remember boxes of butter coming back. Obviously worth travelling great distances as a group on a bus for this food. I guess the price was prohibitive at the time south of the border. I can’t say if this was a once off or a regular thing. But notable now when I dwell on the same desire to find good food. It seems too easy to get food but there is effort involved in the valuable stuff! The question I have today is how far will you go to get it? 

​Anne Maher