Month: May 2016

SEABEET

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Sea Beet grows in coastal places at tidelines, on shingle beaches, cliffs and sea-walls, and in saltmarshes. It is a close relative of some of our cultivated beets, such as Sugar-beet, Swiss Chard and Beetroot, and can also be cooked and eaten

 

 

myself chef noel , Paul and James wandered out Sunday evening to pick some it goes very well with fish of course, it goes all over the coasts of Ireland and is easily spotted

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Over the centuries Wild Sea Beet has been cultivated into a multitude of domestic forms, some of which are the very staples of kitchen gardens and cupboards. This very

plant is the common ancestor of no less than

Perpetual Garden Spinach

  • Sugar Beet (from which we farm sugar)
  • The Chards (Swiss, Rainbow, etc.)
  • Beetroot

 

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Gangsters profile

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name       James MCCarthy .

nickname james macdaddy McCarthy

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My story so far working in the kitchen started when I attended I.T Tralee. During my 1st year there I got my first job in the industry working in the horseshoe restaurant in listowel. I stayed there for a year until I moved to a restaurant called eabha joans.

I started there during their 1st week of being open. it is here where I can thank ger for really opening my eyes and showing me how to control the pass, how to put a menu together and for creating a circle of what I now call close friends. I spent nearly 2 years there until I eventually left.

A few days after leaving i got a phone call to work in the brogue in Tralee. the head chef there had worked in eabha jones before, one of the close friends I mentioned before. I spent another 2 years working in the brogue. During my last few months at working at the brogue I became a proud dad with all the hours in the kitchen and new born baby at home it was a hard decision but i decided to step away from the kitchen and move back to listowel to work in a deli. less hours means more time with the family. to say I miss the buzz of the kitchen is an understatement

but thankfully I started to do a few hours now working beside noel in eabha joans again where I do Friday and Sunday nights mostly and tbh there the nights I look forward to the most during the week

 

Seabass sauce verige

Guest blogger Allan Maynard joins us this week, Allan is sous chef at the 2 aa rosette Glan house hotel, you can follow Allan on twitter @lesouschef and the same on Instagram  to see his stunning food. Here are two of Allan’s favourite summer dishes

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Couple of my favourite and quick summer recipes, perfect to impress loved ones with restaurant style food
  • Sea bass, sauce vierge
  • 50g butter, melted
  • 2 sea bass fillets

For the sauce

  • 100g cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp small capers
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 100ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • handful torn basil leaves and chopped chives, to garnish
  • 10 black olives 
  • 1 bunch of asparagus 
  •  Line a grill pan with foil and brush lightly with butter. Brush the fish on both sides with butter and season. Lay on the foil, skin-side up. Put the tomatoes and shallot in a pan with the capers, lemon juice and oil, and season. Grill the bass for 5-7 mins under a hot grill until just cooked and the skin is starting to brown. Meanwhile, warm the sauce through for 2 mins, then stir in some of the torn basil leaves. Lift the bass onto warmed plates using a fish slice and spoon the sauce around. For the asparagus i pot of seasoned simmering water cook place asparagus into the pot cook for 2 minutes, remove and season with butter and salt .  Serve with steamed new potatoes or small baked potatoes, asparagus and add the remaining basil and chives. Perfect also for the BBQ

Ingredients perfect summer desert Eton Mess (works with all summer berries why not mix and match) 

  • 500g/1lb 2oz strawberries hulls removed

  • 400ml/14fl oz double cream

  • 3 x 7.5cm/3in ready-made meringue  nests, crushed

  • 1 bar off your favourite chocolate

  • sprigs of fresh mint, to garnish

Preparation method

  1. Purée half the strawberries in a blender. Chop the remaining strawberries, reserving four for decoration.
  2. Whip the double cream until stiff peaks form, then fold in the strawberry purée and crushed meringue. Fold in the chopped strawberries and your favourite chocolate
  3. Spoon equal amounts of the mixture into four cold wine glasses. Serve garnished with the remaining strawberries and a sprig of mint

Asparagus

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its asparagus season both green and the very special white chefs love asparagus so over the coming days we will have a few asparagus dishes from the restaurants of the culinary gangsters

first up is Gary “G.Q.”Quigley and a starter he loves

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Blanch my asparagus for 30 secs then place into an ice bath

when cold I wrap them in smoked salmon and filo pastry leaving the tips exposed

place into oven when needed for 5 minutes at 180 ,

then finish off with hollandaise sauce 😃 very simple but very tasty dish enjoy

Gary quigley culinary gangster

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NAME .. Gary Quigley

NICKNAME .. Gary G.Q. Quigley

POSITION ..Head Chef

PLACE OF WORK .. The Elm Leaf

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WHEN STARTED .. 1995 in the setanta hotel where I worked as a commie chef

WHY.. Its was a fun Environment to work in plus you never go hungry J

HIGHLIGHTS OF CAREER ..Cooking for.. Tina turner,Foo Fighters, Julia Roberts,Bono,Steve Collins,Conor mc Gregor , Shane McGowan

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT FOOD .. I love that you can do and try anything as there are no set rules , you are the scientist of your own creations

FAVOURITE INGREDIENTS  … Has to be Basil I love it in my starters, mains and desserts

wild strawberries

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Myself (chef noel) and chef paul cotter have both found wild strawberries in the last week in Kerry, wild strawberries are popping up now easy to find because of the flower and leaf

Flowering time: May-August. Perennial. Native.

White flowers, usually 5-petalled. Petals often over-lapping. Small edible
red berries.Long-stalked bright green trifoliate leaves. Mainly basal.
Leaflets oval, strongly toothed, flattened silky hairs beneath.
Long slender runners, forming new plants at nodes. Height:5-30 cm.

Very frequent. Woods, scrub, grassland, roadsides

Evidence from archaeological excavations suggests that Fragaria vesca has been consumed by humans since the stone age  The woodland strawberry was first cultivated in ancient Persia where farmers knew the fruit as Toot Farangi. Its seeds were later taken along the silk road  towards the far East and to Europe where it was widely cultivated until the 18th century, when it began to be replaced by the garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), which has much larger fruit and showed greater variation, making them better suited for further breeding.

Woodland strawberry fruit is strongly flavored, and is still collected and grown for domestic use and on a small scale commercially for the use of gourmets and as an ingredient for commercial jam, sauces, liqueurs, cosmetics and alternative medicine

#cupcakehoue baking tips

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tips on the perfect sorbet

Therein lies the golden rule of great sorbet: start with good fruit and don’t screw it up

Sugar doesn’t just sweeten sorbet—it’s also responsible for sorbet’s structure

When you dissolve sugar in water you get a syrup with a lower freezing point than water alone

Remember the golden rule of sorbet? Use good fruit. No, scratch that—use the best fruit you can find

Fruit high in pectin (berries, stone fruit, and grapes) or fiber (mangoes, pears, and bananas) are high in viscosity and full of body

That’s because pectin and fiber act as thickeners

Also pay attention to how much sugar your chosen fruit brings to a sorbet. Sweet strawberry purée needs less added sugar than tart lemon juice

Four cups fruit purée to one cup sugar. That’s really all you need to know

You’ll also have to add acid (lemon or lime juice are best) and salt to taste

This ratio is simply a starting point; use your own taste as your ultimate guide

cooking fruit concentrates flavor, drives off water for a creamier final texture

But when I make sorbet I want it to taste like nothing but fresh fruit at its absolute best