There
are some people who can rattle off a book in a few weeks. For most of us, it takes months, often years to
write a cookbook and in some cases the end result is the culmination of a
lifetime’s
experience and experimentation.
There’s
a delicious,
Phew moment when you send the manuscript in to your publisher and then there is
the anticipation of the publishing date, the subsequent launch, media coverage
and book signings but what if the important launch date coincided with the
Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lock-down.
Well,
that’s been the experience of several well-known food writers plus others who
have written their very first tome. I’m particularly thinking of
Ryan Riley, whose first book ‘Life Kitchen’ was
published on the 5th March 2020 and is dedicated to the memory
of his mother Krista who died in
2013 from lung cancer. Ryan was just 18 years old, his life changed
immeasurably as he watched her bravely battle through the final months of her
illness. Among the many heart-breaking challenges his mother had to
cope with, he noticed that the ongoing chemotherapy and
radiotherapy adversely affected her sense of taste. Many foods
tasted different, Kirsta lost her ability to enjoy food which she had always
loved at a time when she most needed the nourishment and
comfort. Ryan’s subsequent story is a fascinating journey from
winning £28,000 from an initial £20 in a ‘once off’ foray into a casino with a
friend, to
setting up a Food Stall in Camden, a spell in publishing and eventually cookery
writing and food styling. He was determined to honour his mother’s
memory in some way and became fascinated by the foods that appealed to cancer
patient’s tastebuds. He joined up with Professor Barry Smith,
founder of the Centre for Study of the Senses at the University of
London. He was also greatly encouraged by Nigella Lawson and Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall who encouraged him to do his first ever class at River
Cottage. Several years and several hundred free Pop-Up classes
later, Ryan has established his cooking school in Mowbray Lodge in Sunderland,
his home city.
‘Life
Kitchen’ is full of recipes, layered with umami flavours that have appealed to
the many cancer survivors with whom he works.
Maura
O’Connell Foley is another first-time author and her beautifully produced and
self-published book, My ‘Wild Atlantic Kitchen’ is the
culmination of Maura’s life in food. She comes from a long line of
spirited and entrepreneurial women, known to be ‘great cooks’. Her
mother was a professional cake maker in Frasers Tea and Cake Shop on Haverstock
Hill in Hampstead and opened a Tea Shop in Kenmare on her return to Ireland in
1950. Later Maura cooked alongside her mother in the Purple Heather
Tea and Cake Shop, opened the Lime Tree in 1963 and later Pakies on Henry
Street. More recently she bought Shelburne Lodge – which was
lovingly restored to a registered guest house. Maura was also an
early member of Euro-toques, and travelled widely to add
to her knowledge. She kept her finger on the pulse of the global
food scene. ‘Stáges’ in top restaurants and insights from the
many international visitors for whom her multi-award winning restaurant and
guest-house
are a ‘must visit’ on a trip to Kenmare.
The
introduction in ‘My Wild Atlantic Kitchen’ is intriguing, worth the price of
the book alone – but the collection of classic recipes are also
gems. Beautiful stylish, delicious and the kind of food that one
returns for over and over again. Maura is much loved and respected
as a hugely influential presence on the Irish food scene with her own
quintessential style. This comes from a life in food and a love of
the beautiful Irish produce from the local farmers, fishermen and artisan
producers whom she has supported and showcased on her menu for decades before
it became fashionable. This book is a ‘keeper’ that you’ll return to
over and over again.
Both
are available online but try to order from your local bookshop who also need
your support more than ever.
Shelburne Lodge Omelette with Gubbeen Chorizo
(From My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, self-published by Maura Foley. Book
Design by Eamonn O’Sullivan. Photography by Maria Bell & Lynda Kenny)
I have been serving
omelettes since the 1960s and know a good omelette pan is crucial; if you can
get a heavy iron omelette pan, they are the best. Fresh organic farm eggs at
room temperature seasoned with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper are
another essential. The eggs must not be overmixed, just lightly beaten, and
although cream has not been used in my omelettes in the past, I definitely do
so now.
For this omelette we use
Gubbeen chorizo, which has a distinct and refined flavour.
The chorizo is locally produced by Fingal Ferguson in Schull of the Ferguson family famed for their Gubbeen
Cheese.
Makes 1 omelette
Generous knob of butter, for cooking
1 tbsp Gubbeen chorizo or
good quality chorizo, cut
thickly and diced
Few leaves of wild garlic (when
in season), plus an extra
leaf and the flower to garnish or 1 small garlic clove,
finely chopped
1 small cooked potato, diced
1 tsp snipped fresh thyme leaves, plus extra to garnish
3 eggs, seasoned and lightly beaten with a fork
2 tbsp cream
In a
heavy-based omelette pan or medium frying pan, melt the butter over a medium
heat. Add the chorizo, potato, garlic leaves or garlic and half the thyme
leaves and sauté gently for a few minutes until the chorizo starts to crisp.
Gently mix the cream into the lightly beaten eggs. Pour the egg mixture into
the pan and allow to set and start to coagulate. With a wooden spoon, gently
move the cooked outer parts of the omelette into the centre; continue doing
this until all the egg is cooked, being careful not to stir too much (the
gentler you are, the lighter the finished omelette will be). Sprinkle the
remaining thyme leaves over the centre and gently fold the omelette in half in
the pan.
Serve immediately, garnishing with garlic leaves and flowers if available or a
few fresh thyme leaves.
Prawn & Spinach Pastry with Mousseline Sauce
(From My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, self-published by Maura Foley. Book
Design by Eamonn O’Sullivan. Photography by Maria Bell & Lynda Kenny)
The North Atlantic prawns
(also known as langoustines or Dublin Bay prawns) are deliciously succulent and
the beauty of these prawns is their sweetness. These pastries could never go
off my menu! The succulent prawns are the essential ingredient. Aim
for the best quality ingredients, it truly makes all the difference. If you
can’t source these prawns, you can use mussels instead, and if doing so, add
garlic to your wilted spinach. The mousseline sauce is a hollandaise sauce with
whipped cream folded in and makes the hollandaise sauce less dense. I use a
swift method for my hollandaise, which I learned in the early 1980s from Sonia
Stevenson, the first female chef to be awarded a Michelin Star in Britain in
1974. The butter must be hot and foaming, initially added slowly to the food
processor.
Makes
8 pastries if using Theo’s
Filo Pastry . Number will vary depending on size of sheets.
Prawn and Spinach Filling
285ml of cold water with
just a pinch of sea salt
500g fresh or freshly frozen Atlantic Prawns
(langoustines), already shelled
500g fresh spinach
55g butter, melted
Noilly
Prat Sauce Filling
Prawn poaching liquid
60g butter
30g plain white flour
140ml cream
4 tbsp Noilly Prat
Sea salt and cracked black
pepper
8 sheets filo pastry
200g clarified butter, melted
and cooled
Mousseline Sauce:
225g butter
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp cold water
1
tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh whipped cream
Serving suggestions: A few
sprigs of fennel, to
garnish
Preheat the
oven to fan 200°C / fan 400°F/ gas mark 7 with a baking tray inside.
To make the prawn and spinach filling, bring the water to the boil with a pinch
of salt in a wide saucepan. Add the prawns and turn off the heat immediately,
leaving them to rest in the poaching liquid for 2 minutes or until just cooked.
Transfer the prawns to a plate, cover and allow to cool. Reserve the poaching
liquid for the Noilly Prat Sauce.
Bring another saucepan of water with a pinch of salt to the boil, plunge in the
spinach and stir for 30 seconds or until bright green. Drain and refresh in
ice-cold water. Once cold, squeeze out the liquid
from the
spinach and toss in the melted butter with sea salt and cracked black pepper to
taste.
To make the
Noilly Prat Sauce filling, return the prawn poaching liquid to the heat and
reduce by two-thirds. In another saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat,
then stir in the flour for 3-4 minutes to make a roux. Gradually stir in the
reduced poaching liquid, cream and Noilly Prat to a smooth sauce. Season with sea
salt and cracked black pepper to taste.
To prepare the pastries, have the melted butter and filo pastry at hand,
keeping the pastry well covered in clingfilm. Further cover with a damp tea
towel to prevent it from crumbling, but do not allow the tea
towel to touch
the pastry directly.
Lay out one sheet of filo and brush with butter, ensuring the sheet is entirely
coated with butter right out to the edges.
Lay a second
sheet carefully on top for a double layer and brush with butter. Using a sharp
knife, cut the pastry lengthways down the centre and then again across to
quarter the pastry, which will give you two good sized parcels. Take a heaped
spoonful of spinach and place in the centre of the pastry, with a heaped
teaspoon of the Noilly Prat sauce on top. Add 3-4 prawns followed by another
teaspoon of the Noilly Prat sauce. Fold the long part first from the bottom
over the filling.
Brush with butter again, then fold down from the top part. Butter, then fold
under the outer sides and butter. Repeat with the remaining filo and filling to
make eight parcels in total.
Place the
folded filo parcels on the preheated oven tray and bake for about 12-15 minutes
or until golden all over.
Baking time will depend on your oven.
To make the mousseline sauce, make the hollandaise egg base by melting the
butter in a small saucepan until it starts to boil then remove from the heat.
Meanwhile, place the water and yolks in a food processor and blend until pale
and fluffy. Very gradually start to pour the hot foaming butter via the funnel
into the processor, keeping the motor running, until it starts to emulsify. You
can then add the
remaining
butter more swiftly while still hot. Add the lemon juice via the funnel and
blend. Transfer the mixture into the saucepan
used to melt
the butter and fold in the freshly whipped cream.
Serve the
pastries with the mousseline sauce and a sprig of fennel to garnish.
Rum & Walnut Tart with Rum Butterscotch Sauce
The recipe has been adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks, Memories
of Gascony by Pierre
Koffmann. The butterscotch is a very versatile sauce and is delicious with the
addition of sea salt. Use calvados or brandy instead of the dark rum if serving
with apple-based desserts.
Serves 8
Pâté Sucrée:
125g plain white flour
55g butter, softened
55g icing sugar
Pinch of sea salt
1 egg
Rum Butterscotch Sauce:
30g butter
70g light brown sugar
70g golden syrup
90ml cream
45ml dark Jamaican rum
Walnut Filling:
300g walnuts, roughly chopped
150g caster sugar
120g butter, melted
150g honey
5 egg yolks
100ml cream
50ml dark Jamaican rum
Equipment: 23cm
/ 9in flan tin
For the pâté
sucrée, add the flour, butter, sugar and salt to a food processor and blend to
a fine crumb. Use a fork to lightly beat the egg and then add to the food
processor and pulse to bring the pastry together. Wrap in clingfilm and chill
for 1 hour in the fridge.
To make the butterscotch sauce, place the
butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring to
dissolve the sugar.
Continue to
cook to a smooth and shiny syrup. Carefully add the cream (as it will splutter)
and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle bubble then simmer for 3 minutes. Add
the rum and remove from the heat.
Preheat the
oven to fan 160°C / fan 325°F / gas mark 4.
Roll out the
pastry to 2-3mm / 0.1in thick and use to line a 23cm / 9in flan tin. Chill for
at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
To make the
walnut filling, gently mix together the walnuts, sugar, butter, honey, egg
yolks, cream and rum in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the prepared pastry
and bake in oven for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and set with a slight
wobble.
Allow to set
for at least 1 hour before serving with the butterscotch sauce and if desired
some vanilla ice-cream.
Carbonara with Mint and Peas
Life Kitchen by
Ryan Riley (Bloomsbury Publishing, £20). Photography by Clare Winfield.
We’ve been
teaching this recipe at Life Kitchen since our very first class. Pancetta,
parmesan and peas bring that sought-after umami hit, while mint leaves and
chilli wake up the senses. And, of course, tagliatelle offers comfort that is
so inherent in every bowl of lovely pasta. If you don’t eat meat, crab (another
provider of umami) is a worthy substitute.
Serves 4
1 large onion,
very roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 red or green
chilli, roughly chopped
vegetable or
rapeseed oil
200g (7oz) smoked
bacon lardons
100g (3 1/2oz)
parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
2 teaspoons salt,
plus extra to season
4 eggs
400g (14oz) dried
tagliatelle
a large handful of
frozen peas
a small handful of
mint leaves, torn if large
freshly ground
black pepper
Pulse the onion,
garlic and chilli in a food processor to finely chop. (Or, finely chop by
hand.)
Place a frying pan
on a medium–low heat and add a glug of oil. When hot, add the chopped mixture
and the lardons and season with salt. Cover with a lid (or use foil) and sweat
on a low heat for 20–30 minutes, removing the lid to stir occasionally, until
the onions have melted to a golden paste.
Meanwhile, beat
together the grated parmesan and the eggs in a bowl and season with salt and
pepper.
Bring a pan of
water to the boil, add the 2 teaspoons of salt and cook the tagliatelle
according to the packet instructions. Two minutes before the end of the cooking
time, take 2 ladlefuls of the cooking water and stir it in to the parmesan and
egg mixture.
Then, add the
frozen peas to the pan with the pasta. When the pasta is cooked, drain it with
the peas and tip everything back into the pan.
Add the parmesan
and egg mixture and the onion and bacon mixture to the pasta and peas and stir
– the sauce will take 2–3 minutes to heat through; just keep stirring and it
will turn glossy and coat the pasta. Transfer to a serving dish and scatter
over the mint leaves and extra parmesan.
Taste and Flavour Fact
Carbonara is a classic pasta dish, involving several
sources of umami and many different textures. The addition of cooling mint, a
trigeminal stimulant, offers piquancy, making this version of carbonara
especially good for those with a diminished sense of smell.
Paddington
Pudding
Life Kitchen by
Ryan Riley (Bloomsbury Publishing, £20).
The Life Kitchen classes have touch me so
much about my guests’ favourite things to eat when living with
cancer. Something that comes up a lot is marmalade. This
is my marmalade-y take on a bread-and-butter pudding.
Serves 6
6 croissants, halved lengthways
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 tablespoons orange marmalade
250g (9oz) vanilla custard
10 cardamom pods, cracked
4 tablespoons caster sugar
1 lemon, zest and juice
Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Open the halved croissants and butter the
bottom halves, then slather on the marmalade. Replace the tops and
tuck the croissants into an ovenproof dish so that they fit snugly.
Place a saucepan on a medium heat, add the
custard and cracked cardamom pods and bring to a gentle boil to help the
flavour to infuse. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the
custard to cool slightly, then pour it through a sieve over the croissants,
discarding the cardamom pods.
Bake the pudding on the middle shelf of
the oven for 30 minutes, until the top is browned.
Mix together the sugar and the lemon zest and juice and sprinkle the mixture over the pudding.  Return the pudding to the oven for 5 minutes to glaze, then serve.
 Wild Food of the Week
Ground-elder (Aegopodium Podagraria)
This pernicious ‘weed’ grows with vigour and
enthusiasm in damp, shady places throughout the British Isles. The good news
for all of us, including me, is you can eat it and enjoy it all the more
because it is such a pest in so many gardens. Ground-elder is best harvested in
Spring before it flowers: the young leaves can be added to the green salad bowl
and are also delicious cooked like spinach and tossed in butter or extra virgin
olive oil. We also make a delicious Forager’s soup with it (see recipe).
Herbalists like John Evelyn and Nicholas Culpeper Wrote of its ability to cure
gout and sciatica, hence one of its popular names, ‘goutweed’, or ‘bishop’s
goutweed’.
Foragers Soup
Throughout the seasons one can gather wild greens on a walk in the
countryside – foraging soon becomes addictive. Many greens are edible and
some are immensely nutritious. Arm yourself with a good well-illustrated
guide and be sure to identify carefully and if in doubt – don’t risk it until
you are quite confident. Don’t overdo the very bitter herbs like
dandelion.
Serves 6
50g (2ozs) butter
110g (4ozs) diced onion
150g (5 ozs) diced potatoes
250g (9ozs) chopped greens – alexanders, nettles, wild sorrel, a few young
dandelions, wild garlic, borage leaves, wild rocket, ground elder, beech
leaves, chickweed, watercress
600ml (1 pint) light chicken stock
600ml (1 pint) creamy milk
75g (3ozs) chorizo or lardons of streaky bacon
extra virgin olive oil
wild garlic flowers if available
Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. When it foams, add potatoes
and onions and turn them until well coated. Sprinkle with salt and freshly
ground pepper. Cover and sweat on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. When the vegetables are almost soft but not
coloured add the hot stock and boiling milk. Bring back to the boil and
cook until the potatoes and onions are fully cooked. Add the greens and boil
with the lid off for 2-3 minutes approx. until the greens are just cooked. Do
not overcook or the soup will lose its fresh green colour. Purée the soup in a
liquidiser. Taste and correct seasoning.
Heat a little oil in
a frying pan. Add the diced chorizo or lardons of streaky bacon, cook
over a medium heat until the fat starts to run and the bacon is crisp.
Drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle over the soup as you serve. Use
the chorizo oil to drizzle over the soup also and scatter a few wild garlic
flowers over the top if available.
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