Should foreigners be allowed to vote in Irish elections?

I ask the question, not because I am a racist. But, instead, in a pathetic attempt to get your attention (and your vote) for my candidature in the Blog Awards Ireland 2015.  A few weeks ago, I begged you to vote for my entry in the Cono Sur Blogger competition. Many of you tried and failed (It is restricted to Irish based voters). I have forgiven you foreigners for your inadequacy and realise that there is a wider question to be answered. Should you be allowed to vote in Irish elections at all? 

Thankfully, you can vote for me in the Blog Awards Ireland 2015. I’m shortlisted in Best Food Blog. Click on the big image and give me your vote. I really don’t care if you are Irish or a foreigner. I want them all!When you have done that (and in an effort to dispel any thoughts about my potential, voting inspired, racism), I’ll prepare a German influenced dish, using Irish pork and apples, French cider, Spanish onions and caraway seeds of indeterminate Asian origin. The dish is Roasted Pork Knuckle and if the racist tag won’t stick, you can comfortably call me a penny-pinching skinflint. The knuckles cost a tiny €3 each. They are huge, with enough meat for two people on each. This is bargain basement food, fit to serve to visiting foreigners or locals alike. 

Very simple ingredients for a very simple dish.

Ingredients

• 5 pork knuckles (if you want to have some cold the next day)
• 6 large onions
• 4 Bramley apples
• Salt (lots)
• Black pepper
• A large bottle of dry cider
• A handful or two of caraway seeds
• A small amount of oil to rub the skin of the pork
• Half a pint of pork stock (not essential)

First, peel and slice the onions into chunks. Do likewise with the apples. Place both in the bottom of a large (very large) casserole dish.

That’s a lot of onions. They will reduce and intensify in flavour.

Score the skin on the knuckles. Try to avoid cutting into the meat. This is easier said than done.

This will make lovely rings of crackling. Don’t be afraid of it.

Rub the knuckles with lots of salt. It makes me think of what it must be like to massage an octogenarian.

The skin looks a little like the neck of an 80 year old woman.

Side note on “isms”: For the record, I don’t practise racism or ageism or any other “ism”s that you might want to throw my way. I really am a pretty balanced bloke. If you want to take offence at anything here, you can call me small, baldy or Irish (any combination of these will hit the mark pretty accurately).

Sit the knuckles on top of the onions and rub them with a little oil. Then rub them with the caraway seeds.

This is one of the most unusual roasts I have ever done.

Pour about half the cider into the dish. Reserve the balance for yourself.

This will flavour the onions and pork. It will also make for a delicious sauce.

Place the dish in a 180ºC oven and leave it there for two hours.

Share a glass with a foreign friend while the meat roasts.

Take the meat out. Place the meat in a different roasting tray and return it to the oven. Turn the heat up to 200ºC and turn on the fan. Strain the onions and apples, reserving the liquid. Strain the liquid into a pan and reduce by two-thirds. Add the pork stock (if using) and reduce to a nice sauce.

I had some highly concentrated pork stock in the freezer. It’s perfect for this.

Add a knob of butter towards the end. This will thicken the sauce and give it a nice sheen.

Fry the onions in a big saucepan (I used a wok) until they brown up nicely and reduce by about half. Remove the meat from the oven and let it rest for ten minutes.

A gratuitous meat resting photo. Look at that crackling!

Serve with your choice of vegetable. I served it on a bed of creamy mash. I had been out cycling earlier in the day and had an outrageous appetite. Hence, I ate a whole knuckle. Don’t judge me. That’s gsatroism and I frown on it.

Delicious pork gravy made this a meal fit for a king. Irish or foreign, it doesn’t matter.

The second bottle of cider got polished off with the pork. It was an excellent Irish dish inspired by the Germans and using other European and Asian ingredients.

Foreign food! It gets my vote, for sure.

Now, no matter where you’re from, get over to the Blog Awards Ireland via the image link and throw me your vote. And, just in case you still have me down as a hater, when I go abroad, I’m a foreigner too. Of course we should have the vote!