Author: traleeculinarygangsters

Chef, food truck owner, Gardner, forager, blogger, author , columnists,

Salt and baking

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All about salt Salt slows down the chemical reaction in the dough

2 calming fermentation activity to a steady level

l 3 salt makes the dough a little stronger

4 salt is hydrscopic which means it absorbs water

5 salt makes pastry tighter

6 salt effects the dough from the moment it is added

7 salt of course adds flavour

8 salt potentiates the flavour of other ingredients

9 in baking the type of salt is irrelevant

 

wild wood sorrel

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Wood Sorrel is a small creeping perennial. The flowers have five white petals with lilac veins. The leaflets, grown in threes, are heart-shaped; they sometimes fold up. Both flowers and leaves have long fragile stalks.
The plant grows in and at the edge of woods throughout Ireland; in the west it can be found on shady banks or among bracken. It is sometimes planted to naturalise in a shady part of the garden but must be treated with caution; it can become a rampant weed.
The flowers are out in April and May

Wood sorrel is actually a whole range of plants in the oxalis family, all edible, and with common traits that make it very easy to identify. In addition to the ease in identifying, wood sorrel is pretty widespread and grows on every continent (other than Antarctica, obviously), making it a terrific first foraged food for beginners

All the parts of the plant are edible, including leaves, stems, and flowers. Wood sorrel’s flowers each have 5 petals, and they can range in color from white to yellow to pink to purple (or some combinations of the above). Our local wood sorrel has yellow flowers.

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