Jess Murphy’s vibrant presence fills the room wherever she goes, her energy, vitality and sense of deliciously irreverent fun enliven everyone around her.
Jess is a powerhouse of ideas and empathy – a force of nature.
She grew up in a rural township in Wairoa in New Zealand, where she learned first-hand what it meant to live in a community that cherishes and looks after each other, making the most of what the land has to offer. Butchering, preserving, fishing, honouring and passing on Māori traditions were a way of life. These values shaped Jess’s culinary career, she travelled to the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia where she met her now husband Dave, before moving onto work in restaurants in Wales, Dublin and finally Galway.
The dream of opening her own restaurant was never far from her mind so five years later despite a downturn in the economy, a premises came on the market and with a massive overhaul and a lot of help from their friends. Jess and Dave’s dream became a reality.
The word indomitable comes to mind.
‘Kai’, proudly named after the Māori word for ‘food’ flung open its doors in 2011 with a wild and wonderful menu of locally sourced produce with influences from dishes Jess encountered all over the world.
Jess is a bold, hugely creative cook, not afraid to mix metaphors and the result has won her many awards, a super loyal following of locals, visitors and Instagram followers alike from all over the globe.
‘Kai’ is now and has been for ever so long, a much loved star on the Galway culinary scene with the only Michelin Green Star in Ireland. Jess is a recent recipient of the Parabere Care Award, an award that recognises best practice in business, including fair and ethical conditions, and ensuring wellness across teams. By working to build up the community around her, Jess’s impact is insurmountable and is highly valued by everyone she encounters.
An ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, her work with the UNHCR has been transformative for people directly affected by war and those forcibly displaced from their communities. By using food as a powerful force for good, Jess continuously and openly advocates for those who need it most.
Considering how much this dynamo has achieved, where did she get the time to write the new long-awaited ‘Kai’ Cookbook?
The Kai Cookbook/A Love Letter to the West of Ireland by Jess Murphy published by Nine Bean Rows is packed full of recipes that have made ‘Kai’ an iconic destination!
Don’t quite know how she managed it but I’m so glad she did. Here are some recipes from the cookbook to whet your appetite.
Venison with Pickled Blackberries and Horseradish Cream
I use venison haunch for this and soak it in Buckfast, sriracha, onions, ginger and brown sugar for three days. You might think I’ve lost my mind, but it’s amazing. Buckfast is a real West of Ireland thing. We even have a Buckfast negroni on the night-time menu – we are always looking for the next sophisticated way of drinking it. My pal Eoin Coyle makes a fantastic fresh pomegranate and Buckfast cocktail, shaken, served over ice and garnished with fresh mint in the summer.
As for the horseradish cream, one time David and I were sitting next to my cooking hero, Rory O’Connell, at a dinner at Ballymaloe and a lady at our table set her menu on fire trying to read it. Rory put it out quickly; this wasn’t his first rodeo. We had Ballycotton scallops in the shell, followed by venison and braised red cabbage, but what really stood out was the horseradish cream. I cheekily asked Rory what was in it, then made my own riff on it.
Serves 5-6
Ingredients
500ml Buckfast
200ml sriracha sauce
50ml rice wine vinegar
40g dark brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, smashed
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1kg venison haunch, sliced into steaks
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pickled blackberries:
75g light brown sugar
150ml apple cider vinegar
400g fresh blackberries
For the horseradish cream:
200ml cream
20g fresh horseradish, grated on a Microplane
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp English mustard powder
a pinch of ground white pepper
Method
Whisk together the Buckfast, sriracha, vinegar and sugar, then stir in the garlic, ginger and seasoning. Add the venison steaks, cover with cling film and marinate in the fridge for 24 hours.
To make the pickled blackberries, put the sugar and vinegar in a bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved, then add the blackberries. Cover the bowl and let it sit out overnight – at this time of year it’s usually cool enough to leave them out on your countertop. The next day, transfer to a clean jar and keep them in the fridge for up to two weeks to use with roasted meat or melty cheese.
To make the horseradish cream, whip your cream until it’s on the stiff side. (I love using raw cream for this – it adds a farmyard funk like a good butter would.) Stir in the grated horseradish, honey, mustard powder and a pinch of ground white pepper – you don’t want to over whip it at this point. Keep in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
Ideally, you want to cook the venison on a super-hot barbecue (we use a Japanese charcoal grill for this in Kai). Otherwise, you can pan-fry the steaks by heating the olive oil in a large frying pan, then adding the steaks and cooking for 2-3 minutes on each side. You have to remember that venison has no fat, so I cook it until it’s medium-rare, then let it rest for 15 minutes and use the pan juices as a dressing.
Serve with pickled blackberries and horseradish cream. A side of sweet potato mash and fried onions is never a bad idea. You could also pop this in a bowl with sticky rice and serve it with a fried egg. Or try it in a sandwich – there is room for all God’s creatures between two slices of bread.
Salt Community Hall Fatteh
I was on a mission with the UNHCR (the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Oman, the capital of Jordan, and we’d arranged to meet some Syrian and Jordanian women who were running a school lunch programme for the local Syrian refugee community in a small town called Salt. We cooked up a feast in the Salt community hall to celebrate us coming together as women and feeding at least 800 kids a week on a very limited budget. One of the dishes we served that I’d never heard of was fatteh. I saw the ladies dry roasting pittas and got really excited. In a restaurant, your main waste most of the time is bread, so we are always coming up with economical ways of using it – as breadcrumbs, croutons, picada or crostini or in a treacle tart. Now I could add fatteh to our repertoire. In my opinion, it’s the most underrated salad in the world.
Serves 4
Ingredients
5 large pittas
extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle
500ml Greek yogurt
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp ground cumin
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g pine nuts, toasted
1 bunch of fresh mint, chopped
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
1 bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 tbsp pomegranate seeds, plus extra to garnish
2 tbsp finely diced preserved lemon (skin only)
a pinch of sumac
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Cut the pittas into bite-sized pieces and spread them out on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toast in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until crisp.
Mix the yogurt with the garlic, lemon juice, dried mint, cumin and a pinch of salt.
Toss together your chickpeas, pine nuts, fresh herbs, pomegranate seeds and diced preserved lemon. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, spoon a generous amount of
yogurt into a serving bowl. Add your chickpea mix on top, then some crispy
pittas, then repeat the layers. Garnish with more pomegranate seeds and a pinch
of sumac, then drizzle more extra-virgin olive oil on top.
Chocolate and Olive Oil Mousse with Almond Praline
If you don’t like mousse, we can’t be friends anymore. Like, that’s it, I’m taking the houseplants and leaving.
This recipe comes from Niamh Fox, from when she worked at Café Paradiso in Cork in the early 2000s. We’ve adapted it slightly, so thank you, Denis Cotter (don’t sue me, you’re the best!). I adore this with blood orange segments in the winter, with fresh cherries in the summer or with the praline at any time of year.
Serves 6
Ingredients
10 eggs, separated
130g caster sugar
375g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
280ml olive oil
For the praline:
200g caster sugar
50ml water
100g flaked almonds
Method
Whisk the egg whites in a spotlessly clean, dry bowl to stiff peaks.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale.
Put the chocolate and olive oil in a large heatproof bowl set on top of a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir constantly so the chocolate melts as quickly as possible and doesn’t get too hot. Remove the bowl from the pan and put it on the counter. Add a small amount of the egg yolk and sugar mixture to the melted chocolate and mix it in fully, then add the rest of the mixture and gently fold it in.
Add two large spoonfuls of the stiff egg whites and mix it in fully – this will make it easier to fold in the remaining whites one-third at a time, gently folding until you can no longer see any white.
Spoon the mousse into six serving bowls or glasses, then pop them in the fridge for at least 6 hours to set.
Meanwhile, to make the praline, line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook on a medium heat without stirring until the sugar dissolves and hits 116°C on a candy thermometer. Continue to cook until the sugar turns golden brown. As soon as it does, stir in the flaked almonds, then immediately pour them out onto the lined baking tray. Allow to cool completely, then break the praline into bite-sized shards.
Serve the mousse with a few pieces of praline scattered on top.
