Wow! What a week it's been, I have seen 14 record stores and been on 17 radio stations with Industry throughout the country! I finally arrived home Saturday afternoon and have been in bed since. Myself and Sofie woke up late this morning and decided to go for a walk down to the farmers market in Howth, to pick up something for breakfast.
By the time we had finished looking around the market, breakfast became brunch and we ended up in the new Seafood Tapas bar, Octopussy, which is the latest little eatery to appear on Howth's west pier. It's a pretty funky cafe/bar which serves tapas sized seafood dishes, such as calamari, crab claws, paella, Dublin bay prawns, and Thai prawn curry. The dishes are all fairly reasonably priced for what you get, all under €10, and will definitely leave you full. I ordered the Dublin Bay Prawns, which were simply griddled in a little butter, they were a little messy to eat, but totally worth it.
Chilli, Garlic and Lime Dublin Bay Prawns I use a microplane grater to mince the garlic and chilli, its a really handy kitchen gadget. To butterfly a Dublin bay prawn, run a knife from the head to tail, being careful not to cut all the way through, then gently flatten it out.
Serves 2 8 Dublin bay prawns or langoustines, butterflied 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 red chilli, minced 1 tablespoon of olive oil juice of 1 lime lime wedges and chopped coriander, to serve
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and toss the prawns to coat. Heat a large griddle pan, and add the prawns. Cook for 2-3 minutes either side or until cooked through. Transfer the prawns to a serving plate, sprinkle with a little chopped coriander and serve with some lime wedges.
If you haven't heard of Sally Bee before, and I hadn't up until recently, Sally is a mother of three who at the age of 36, despite a healthy lifestyle, suffered 3 major heart attacks in the space of one week. I'm not even going to go into the amazing story of her recovery, you really just have to read it. "The Secret Ingredient" is a collection of super healthy recipes which don't go over the top and features meals which are perfect for family home cooking.
I recently got the opportunity to meet the lovely Sally Bee, and despite our extremely brief encounter she comes across as an extremely vibrant and fun individual and when I remarked on her incredible story, joked and feigned heart pains! This is one of the fantastic recipes from her book, "The Secret Ingredient" which is out on Thursday 21st of January and can be ordered online via Amazon.
Prawn, Avocado and Pecan Herb Salad
You know, salads don't have to be boring. This dish is full of flavour! You can serve it as a main meal or smaller portions for a healthy starter. If you don't like prawns, you can substitute with chicken; anything goes, really. Be adventurous with your salads and make this a regular, everyday dish. Prawns give great texture and flavour to this recipe, but they do contain cholesterol,so I have allowed only four prawns per serving. If you want to make it more substantial, you can add extra protein: such as tuna, chicken or turkey.
Serves 2 Drizzle of olive oil 2 salad onions or spring onions (scallions),peeled and finely chopped 1 garlic clove,peeled and crushed 1 tbsp soy sauce Freshly ground black pepper 8 uncooked king prawns (jumbo shrimp) Mixed salad leaves Watercress 1 ripe avocado 2 tomatoes, sliced Juice of 1 lemon Handful of fresh basil, torn Handful of shelled pecan nuts
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped salad onions, crushed garlic, soy sauce, black pepper and raw prawns. Sauté until the prawns have turned pink all the way through. Arrange the salad leaves, watercress, avocado and tomatoes in a big dish, then pour over the prawns and other cooked ingredients. Squeeze over the lemon juice, sprinkle with torn basil and pecan nuts and serve.
Renowned Irish chef Martin Shanahan is mad about fish! Or so the program title tells us. Martin has just recorded a 6 part RTÉ series which starts this evening on RTÉ 1. As the owner of the award winning restaurant Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, Co. Cork. Martin has years of experience cooking with seafood, and he believes that many Irish people are still afraid of cooking and eating fish. Throughout the series Martin’s determined to “take the fear out of fish” and show that anyone can cook simple tasty seafood at home. I spoke to Martin yesterday to have a quick chat about fish! Check out the interview below and make sure to tune in tonight!
Hi Martin, congratulations on the new series, the promo on youtube looks really fantastic! So how did you find the crossover from cooking in the kitchen to the filming process and cooking on camera? A bit nerve wracking initially, I suppose number one I'd be a chef and obviously the biggest part of it was when I got in to the fish business first I had a fish shop for 7 years, and I wouldn't have cooked so much during that time, but I listened to the customers all the time. The biggest thing was that they all obviously loved fish, but they weren't able to cook it or they were afraid of the bones. That was the feedback all the time! I think a lot of people come into fishmongers and they are afraid to ask for the fish without the bones. So basically in the program I'm trying to educate people and to encourage them to go out and go in to your fishmonger and ask them to do those little jobs for you. Most fishmongers would be more than happy! Can you tell me a little bit about how you got into cooking and how cooking fish became your passion? I would have trained as a chef in Rockwell back 25 years ago and I would have worked by the sea quite a lot and I worked in San Francisco and anywhere I worked it would have been beside the sea, so I always loved cooking fish. It was always so simple and tasty. My experience in the restaurant is that you never get a complaint that the fish is tough. Fish is truly nature's fast food and it really is, it can be cooked so fast and so easy. That's why in the program I say that if you can fry a rasher or cook a sausage, you can cook a piece of fish! Again the techniques are really simple and that will definitely encourage people to get cooking.
People may know you as the owner of Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, but for people who haven't been to Kinsale could you tell us a little bit about the area and the food scene down there? Well look, Kinsale is a great tourist town, and when I say tourist town, I consider someone coming down from Cork to be a tourist! People come down for an afternoon from Cork to get away from the stresses of their everyday life and it's only 20 minutes down the road but it's like walking into a different atmosphere. And the obvious connection I suppose is with the sea, you don't think of a cow, you want to eat prawns or you want to eat a bit of fish and chips!
What are some of the most successful dishes from the restaurant? We'd have a couple of great ones but one of the most popular is probably the traditional fish and chips! We use fresh haddock and we take the skin and bone out of it and cut it into pieces, fry it in batter and you pick it up in your hand, put it in, close your eyes and you can be guaranteed no bone.
In the promo you mention you are on a mission to get people eating fish, and from my experience people seem to be quite nervous when it comes to cooking fish, have you any sure fire winning dishes that always win over even the pickiest eaters? The very simple one we do is a pan fried piece of cod and people would be nervous about a piece of fish like cod, or haddock, or hake, because they have a line of bones around the top of them, but in the program, I cut a piece of cod, I show them exactly the piece they should look for in the fishmongers and we just roll that in a little seasoned flour and pan fry it. I add a little knob of butter near the end and a little drop of water and by the time the water has evaporated, the butter has melted into it and you finish it off with a squeeze of lemon and on to the plate, I tell you can get nothing better! The one thing I would always say to people is to season fish, although it comes from the sea people think it might be salty but it's not, it's quite mild in itself, so you have to season it! The other thing is to make sure is that you have a good solid pan, you can't cook a fish in one of these omelet pans because they just don't hold the heat and the minute you put on the piece of fish the pan goes cold and starts to stick.
There are some great shots of you doing some cooking at a local kids school, how would you recommend getting kids to eat more fish? At that demo we actually made fish fingers in the school and we shot some back in the studio to show people at home how to make them. Fish fingers are great because they involve the kids and I would encourage parents to go to the fishmonger, ask for a pound of nice white large fish, it can pollock, it can be hake, it can be cod, it can be haddock, but again no skin and no bone, and I would encourage them to ask the fishmongers to cut them into fish fingers for them. Then you bring them home and do your flour, a dip in egg and breadcrumbs and pan fry them. That way the kids can do it with you, and it gives them a great connection with the food. You'll see in the program the reaction of the kids when they eat the fresh fish as against the processed fish and what we find is kids never lie. You know they say it as it is, you can't tell them "don't say that", they just spit it out. You will hear some of the comments from the kids and they know there stuff even at that young age.
What was the reaction to you filming locally? We got a great reaction! When the lads from RTE approached me, I wouldn't be one for the camera, but they said they would love to make a program and I said no lads the only way we could make it, was if we were to make it in Kinsale and they asked me why and I said well I know everyone in the streets, so I'd feel comfortable around them and I can have a chat with them! But the reaction overall with people has been super and everybody local just can't wait to see it. We're involving people on a day to day basis and get great feedback from people and so we understand their fish fears!
What are some of your favourite dishes from the series? I couldn't pick just one, but what I am hoping will come out of this more than anything, is that we'll keep the fishing industry that we have here in Ireland. My business wouldn't be successful without the product the local fishermen are catching. If we lose the local fishermen, and they are under pressure between quotas and costs, and people aren't obviously eating enough fish in Ireland, and we end up exporting a lot of it. So hopefully this program will highlight it and we'll make people realise it is a great product, it's a local product and you couldn't get anything more natural, it's not grown, it's not fed fertilizer, it's not mass produced at the push of a button, so hopefully people will see that and taste it and think that was lovely!
Martin's Mad About Fish airs tonight on RTÉ 1 at 8.30, make sure to tune in!
It's a bit of a slow week this week- after our trip to Sweden, we're gently easing ourselves back into normality. The weather in Gothenberg was great when we arrived on Friday at 27oC and sunny, however the rest of the weekend was interrupted, regularly by big filthy rain clouds! But the weather didn't dampen spirits and a full schedule of activities were plowed through, rain or no rain!
We ate out twice in two really spectacular restaurants, they were very pricey but offered really amazing food and stunning seaside views. Sjömagasinet specialises in Fish and is located in Gothenberg harbour. To start I had a really elegant, "Classic lobster soup with carpaccio of scallops, served with crème of green peas and deep fried belly of pork" and for mains, "Fricassee of halibut, North Atlantic cod and flounder served with roasted shallot sauce, pan fried scallop and prawns" however this came served in what seemed like a pretty pointless dish, with the fish dotted around the sides, and a soup bowl center which the shallot sauce was poured in.
My favourite of the two was, Nya Langedrag Vardhus, which is part of the main Yacht Club in Goteberg. I had an amazing Tuna Carpaccio with Pea Shoot salad to start, and Lamb fillet with terrine of portabella mushroom and celeriac, browned red wine sauce and tomato roasted potato roll for the main course. So delicious! I seriously recommend both if your visiting Sweden!
I don't have any foodie pics but here's a bit of the Swedish scenery:
Of all the dishes we prepared for Foodstock, I am pretty certain that the Irish Seafood Chowder was the biggest success. I am told that the French absolutely love their seafood which is probably why! The chowder we made had a great selection of fish, haddock, cod, smoked fish, and prawns which the amazing chefs at the Chalet meticulously prepared for us. I have to admit that cooking on such a large scale can be quite daunting in terms of producing a similar end product to that of a smaller quantity, but that said between the whole team we served up some damn tasty chowder!
For about an hour on the Wednesday night I did feel like I was in a soup kitchen and there was a high chance of some sort of repetitive strain injury after ladling the chowder 350 times! Luckily we had the lovely ladies from Bord Bia to help us out, one of whom was out on her first assignment with them, though I’m pretty sure she is well inducted after Foodstock.
Irish Seafood Chowder This is the kind of soup that if you put a lot of love and time in you will get the best results. The key is to add the fish at the very end leaving just enough time to let them cook. Cook the fish pieces too long and you will be left with an Irish seafood mush rather than a chunky creamy chowder! Serves 8 (Makes 3.15 litres) 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 medium onions, finely chopped 100g salt pork diced (or pancetta/bacon bits)
2 dried bay leaves 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped 1 kg of peeled and diced potatoes 1.125 litre of fish stock salt and freshly ground black pepper 1.25kg of cod (or similar white fish) 750g of fresh salmon 500g of mussels 500g of smoked haddock 330ml of heavy cream 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, chopped finely 100g of smoked salmon, cut into fine strips for garnish
In a large pot, heat the butter and sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes. Add the salt pork and continue to fry until it colours. Add in the fresh thyme, bay leaves and potatoes and cook gently for 2-3 minutes before adding the fish stock. Season well with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender yet firm. (Some of the potato will break down and help thicken the chowder). Add the haddock, salmon, cod and mussels and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow to sit before finally and gently stirring in the parsley and cream. Serve with the strips of smoked salmon as a garnish on top.
I was away for the past few days for what is fast becoming my monthly trip to Sweden! Just to give you a brief history about my obsession with the home of europop, I love the Eurovision and in Sweden unlike Ireland it is widely accepted to enjoy that style of music, they also produce the best of it! I was once part of a boyband which saw us play in Sweden and one of the members (Jonathan Fagerlund) was also Swedish, at one stage I practically lived with his great family so I got to learn a lot more about the MANY traditions of Sweden. Ever Since I left the band I continue to visit and my beautiful girlfriend also happens to be from the land of the moose.
I have travelled quite a bit through Sweden and even lived there for a while, I would highly recommend you visit Gothenburg city, great shopping, really healthy food, and quite easy to access thanks to Ryanair. Perfect for a short city break.
Myself and Sofie were there for the past 5 days with two of our friends so we did a few touristy things to keep ourselves entertained, including a short drive from to a beautiful picturesque island north of Gothenburg called Mastrand, a trip to Scandinavia's largest theme park, Liseberg, some essential shopping and even a spot of sailing!
We also attended Sofie's Grandparent's crayfish party which was LOT'S of fun! The idea of the crayfish party has grown in popularity since the 1930's when the crayfish season began in late August, people sit out in the last of the summer sun, eat huge amounts of crayfish, sing schnapps songs, and wear funny hats and bibs! The one we went to was no different and definitely lived up to my expectations!
I particularly love shellfish so I can't describe my excitement when what appeared to be unlimited supplies of crayfish and prawns were placed elegantly on the table! All table manners really go out the window at this stage, when shell's are cracked, and claws snapped to reveal the salty sweet cooked cold meat. Making loud sucking noises also become an acceptable form of behaviour, to our friends who are bit squeamish, this must have looked more like a massacre than a party! I nearly had one of them trying the crayfish but they couldn't bring themselves to do it! Oh well maybe next time!
The eating is only broken up by the singing of songs and drinking schnapps which happens so regularly that for a light weight like myself it led to singing in my best Swedish at the top of my voice!
People who aren't used to cooking generally shy away from shellfish and see them as something pretty difficult to prepare, but if you can boil an egg then you can cook crayfish. Here is a simple recipe to make the crayfish we had at the party.
Swedish Crayfish Recipe
2 lbs of crayfish
3 Litres of Water
5 tbsp of Salt
1 tbsp of Sugar
Handful of Crown Dill or Fresh Dill
Bring the water to the boil in a large pot and add the salt sugar and dill. Add the crayfish to the hot water, if your crayfish is live, I recommend you put them in one at a time in order to keep the water hot enough to kill the little fella's instantly. Bring to the boil again and let simmer and cook for 10 mins. The option here is to just strain the crayfish under cold water but my advice would be to rinse them under cold water and place them back in the seasoned water with ice for a better taste.
A that's it! Serve them cold and enjoy your very own cray fish party!
Thank you so much for all the entries, some really delicious steak ideas kept me entertained for the last week, and I will have no shortage of ideas the next time it comes to cooking up a few steaks for dinner!
But let's get down to business! We have a winner of this meaty prize! I randomly selected a winner from the comment section with thanks to random.org and can now reveal that the winner of the "Pork and Beef Taster Teaser pack" worth €60 is:
Ashling Hayes! Ashling suggested:
Surf n turf! Rare fillet steak topped with garlic prawns and roasted garlicy potatoes. Had it for dinner last friday and keep thinking about it!Congrats to Ashling! Also big thanks to Nigel Cobbe from Simply Sourced for the fantastic prize!
Yes it's me! I'm back blogging after a unplanned little break- which tends to be the norm for most bloggers from time to time. Sofie and I spent the long weekend in Gothenberg, Sweden where we stayed at her lovely mom, Ebba's house. It was a such an enjoyable little break and with a solid 29 degrees from Monday to Friday, it was definitely the kick start to my summer.
To my friends and family, I'm not exactly known as the most outdoors type person, and Sofie was even shocked when I changed a tyre over the weekend, but lately I think I'm developing a bit of a love affair with nature. After to moving to the apartment last year, which is situated right beside a main road, I have a constant and real urge to just be out in the silence of a park, to walk on a beach, or even to go for a quick walk around the cliffs. Needless to say I was really impressed when Sofie introduced me to the two lakes behind the house. They were straight out of the story books I used to read as a kid, complete with Jetty and Ducks and Reeds.
The water was way to warm not to get in, and even though the sun had just set I hopped in for a quick dip. There is something about the water in lakes that always seem to give me an eery, ominous feeling, but being caught in the moment meant I was oblivious to any potential late night, lake creature attacks!
Following what has become one our little Swedish summer traditions, we bought 2 kilo of prawns and 1 kilo of shrimp, which you can buy over the counter cooked from the local "Fisk" shops. It's the perfect sort of food that you can eat masses of, but keeps you occupied enough, to ensure that you can continue eating without feeling full! Does that make sense? Well bottom line, you can eat as much as you want, as messily as you like! Sounds like the perfect combination to me. We ate our way through the two bags with a little help from Sofie's dad who took us on a quick boat trip through the archipelago of Sweden's west coast.
Well Monday came all too quick for me and not even a phone call to the boss could guarantee me a longer stay. So after one last dip in the lake it was back on the one o'clock Ryanair flight to Dublin.
