One of the most exciting things about Foodstock was getting to show of some really fantastic quality Irish products, and it wasn’t really until I actually arrived in Paris that I realised the importance of this. Myself and Raphael spoke about organising what he called a “Dégustation” so that everybody at Le Fooding could sample the dishes we would be serving up. When we arrived at the hotel we met with the lovely Constance who would be tasting the dishes along with two of her colleagues from the magazine to give us the green light. It was only after I served up the Kelly’s of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese salad that I realised how specifically Irish these products really are and just how distinctive the flavours were. I have to say with the initial reaction I was really proud, not just to be serving up a salad that went down well, but also to a certain extent that I could claim these fantastic ingredients as my own!
On the night when we served up the salad, I’m pretty sure people were a little bit apprehensive about trying the black pud but when they did the reaction was really great and we had people coming back for seconds! Louise a lovely Danish girl who is living in Paris and working for Le Fooding was overseeing the serving of the food and was on the tables with me all night. There was a system they were using where you could only get a portion in exchange for a coloured ticket. Now anyone who knows me will know that I am colourblind and have trouble differentiating similar colours or different shades which made it extremely hard to be strict with the tickets when it came to serving in the dark! However Louise was on hand with a fantastic sense of Scandinavian organisation covering up for my shoddy ticket skills and making sure things ran smoothly!
If you are Irish, this is a lovely little salad to show off some of our distinctively Irish produce to foreign visitors and if you're not you can always substitute the cheese and the black pudding for something more regional! Let me know your suggestions! :)
Kelly's Of Newport Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese Salad
Make sure to prepare everything ahead of time and only assemble with the dressing when you are ready to serve!
Serves 8
280g of Kelly's of Newport black pudding in 1cm slices
120g of mixed baby leaves
80g of Cashel blue cheese broken into chunks
40ml of balsamic dressing
Balsamic dressing (makes 55ml of dressing)
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of Jameson Whiskey
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Arrange the black pudding slices on a baking tray, and place in an oven at 200oC/Gas Mark 6 for 7-8 minutes.
Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.
Dress the salad leaves lightly with half the dressing and toss to combine.
Arrange the leaves on serving dishes with a slice of black pudding and a little crumbled Cashel blue cheese.
Serve with an extra drizzle of dressing.
