ArchiveFebruary 2025

London Food Scene

The London food scene is ‘insane’ at present. Despite the challenging climate over there as well as here in Ireland for the restaurant industry, new places continue to open, the choice is mesmerising, and the standards seem to continue to rise and rise.

I spent a couple of days whizzing around London recently and didn’t miss a meal slot. The raison d’etre for the trip was to attend a lunch to celebrate 10 years of Portland on Great Portland Street, co-owned by a past student, Daniel Morgenthau. The original chef, Merlin Le Bron Johnson of Michelin starred Osip in Bruton (Somerset) came back for the day to cook up a super delicious lunch for a group of invited guests and friends of the ‘farm to table’ restaurant which now also has a Michelin star.

We were treated to the most delicious lunch. We started with six ‘Nibbles’ including macaron of mushroom and Parmesan; crispy chicken skin, liver parfait, candied walnuts, Muscat grapes; sausage roll and clementine; smoked cods roe and crudités; Flourish Farm brassicas, smoked egg yolk emulsion, black winter truffle; heritage carrots, salsify, tunworth custard and carrot brioche, one more delicious than the next.

The main course was a game pithivier of layers of wild duck and guinea fowl encased in puff pastry crust with a delicious green pepper gravy and a salad of winter leaves including my favourite speckled Castelfranco and several types of radicchio.

Pudding was Portland Trifle sprinkled with frosted pistachios made with the first of the new season’s forced rhubarb directly from the growers in the famous Yorkshire triangle. Daniel served it with one of my favourite ‘stickies’ – a sweet Chateau de Chantegrive, Cerons, France (from 2015, the year Portland opened). It was so, so good. I had several helpings. 

Can you imagine that I went for dinner after that to another restaurant you need to know about – Mountain located at 16-18 Beak Street. Welsh Tomos Parry and his team cook up delicious simple dishes with superb ingredients. I loved having a table near the open kitchen where I could watch the chefs cooking over fire in the wood burning oven and conventionally, it’s just like having a personal cooking class.

We loved the crunchy pumpkin and sage leaf fritters in the lightest tempura batter, all were delicious, but the mutton chops blew me away. An almost forgotten flavour – go there especially to taste them.

A variety of unusual homemade ice creams including Jalapeño and honey to clear the palette or artisan cheeses in perfect condition if you’d rather. 

My non-foodie highlight was a trip to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to see the Vincent van Gogh exhibition, I made sure to arrive early, I was third in the queue so managed to get close to the extraordinary paintings, so grateful and moving to see his ‘Self portrait’, Starry Night over the Rhône, ‘Irises’, ‘Sunflowers’, ‘The Poets Garden’ in real life. 

Lunch that day was at Canteen, located at 310 Portobello Road which opened its doors in November last. They don’t take bookings, but it was packed on a grey and drizzly Wednesday. The vibrant young team with no one looking a day over 25 were properly impressive, the menu was hopelessly tempting.

Once again, the food was super fresh and super delicious.

We loved the starter salad of radicchio (two types), slivers of Pecorino and toasted walnuts, pomegranate seeds and another of shaved fennel, blood orange and mint. 

We also had to taste the gutsy ribollita drizzled with Fèlsina extra virgin olive oil, a meal in itself and the fettuccini ragu dusted with Parmesan.

For the main course, we shared a butterflied mackerel with agretti (monk’s beard) and anchoïade – a delicious combination.

Can’t wait to get some Ballycotton summer mackerel to try that inspired dish.

Despite being totally full, I had to taste a quenelle of the lightest and most exquisite chocolate mousse I’ve ever tasted – you might have to make a detour to taste that too. Also very good wine choices including a selection of low and alcohol-free beverages and cocktails.

While I was there, I met five past students, two of whom Beth O’Brien and George Williams are planning to open a restaurant The Fat Badger upstairs over Canteen in a few weeks’ time, so watch that space too. Apparently, they’re planning to do lots of pies and baked Alaska – a blast from the past, how cool does that sound?

A special thank you to Daniel Morgenthau of Portland (www.portlandrestaurant.co.uk) and Jessica Filbey of Canteen (Instagram: @canteen.310) who shared recipes for our Examiner readers to enjoy.

Portland’s Whipped Cods Roe

Silky and morish, eat as a dip or as part of a mezze…

Serves 8 approx.

Ingredients

2 slices white bread (crusts removed and soaked in milk)

200g smoked cods roe

2 garlic cloves

35g lemon juice

100g extra virgin olive oil

100g water

10g rapeseed oil

Method

In a food processor blend together the bread, cods roe, garlic and lemon juice until smooth.

With the food processor running firstly add the water followed by the oils in a slow steady stream as if making mayonnaise. Season with salt to taste.

Portland’s Rhubarb Trifle

Oh, my good goodness, this was so irresistible, I couldn’t help myself, I had three helpings…it takes time to make but is so worth it!

Serves 8 approx.

Components

Rhubarb Jelly

Genoise Sponge Discs

Grand Marnier Syrup

Vanilla Custard

Rhubarb Compote

Syllabub

Frosted Pistachios

orange zest

For the rhubarb jelly

Ingredients

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

1 vanilla pod, scraped

120g strawberries, chopped

600g rhubarb, chopped

75g elderflower cordial, diluted

120ml dessert/sweet wine

120ml water

15g grenadine

150g caster sugar

Method

Place all the ingredients in a metal bowl and cover with a lid. Place the bowl on top of a pan of gently simmering water and cook for around 1 hour until all the liquids have been released and the rhubarb is very soft. Strain off the liquid by pushing through a fine sieve. Measure the liquid and add 4 leaves of bloomed gelatine per 1 litre of boiled liquid to set the jelly.

For the genoise sponge

Ingredients

20g milk

40g butter

6 eggs

180g caster sugar

180g plain flour (sieved)

Method

Firstly, gently melt the milk and butter together. Meanwhile whip together the eggs and sugar (ideally in a stand mixer) until light and fluffy. Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture bit by bit, followed by the milk/butter. Transfer the mixture to a baking parchment lined baking tray and spread out evenly to around 2cm thick. Bake at 170°C/Gas Mark 3 for around 14 minutes until cooked through.

For the Grand Marnier syrup

Ingredients

50g grand Marnier

100g water

75g sugar

Method

Place all the above into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Chill

For the vanilla custard

Ingredients

750g double cream

2 vanilla pods

225g egg yolk

130g caster sugar

15g cornflour

Method

Place the cream in a saucepan, scrape out the vanilla seeds and add to the pan along with the pods. Bring to the boil. Separately whisk together the egg yolk, sugar and corn flour until light in colour. Once the cream has boiled pour over the egg yolks and whisk well together. Return to the pan and cook out to 83°C whilst whisking constantly. Once cooked pass through a fine sieve and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours and then whisk again.

For the rhubarb compote

Ingredients

325g roughly chopped rhubarb

50g butter

75g sugar

1 x vanilla pods

400g nicely diced rhubarb

Method

Place everything except the diced rhubarb into a saucepan, cook until soft and blend in a blender until smooth.

Place the purée into a pan and add the diced rhubarb, cook gently on a low heat until the diced rhubarb is just cooked. Chill

For the syllabub

Ingredients

325g cream

juice of ½ orange

75g sherry

30g Grand Marnier

75g sugar

Method

Whisk the cream to a stiff peak and gently fold in the remaining ingredients.

For the frosted pistachios

Ingredients

300g caster sugar

75g water

2g ground cardamom

175g green pistachio

Method

Place the sugar and water into a saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by half until just starting to change colour. Take off the heat and throw in the ground cardamom and pistachios and keep stirring until the sugar crystalises. Scrape out the pan onto baking paper and let cool.

To build the trifle

Take your preferred trifle bowl and pour in a layer of the rhubarb jelly until it comes one-fifth of the way up the side of the glass. Place in the fridge until completely set (ideally overnight).

Cut out the genoise sponge into discs the same circumference as your trifle bowl. Place this on top of the set sponge (it should be the same thickness as the jelly). Generously spoon over the Grand Marnier syrup until the sponge is thoroughly soaked. Now spoon over the custard and spread out, again it should be the same thickness as the previous two layers. You may not need it all. Next repeat the process with the rhubarb compote and then add a generous dollop of the syllabub. Lastly, sprinkle over a liberal amount of frosted pistachios and finish with a few gratings of orange zest.

 Enjoy… 

Canteen’s Ribollita

A delicious, comforting meal in a bowl, make a big pot as it reheats brilliantly.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 carrots, 180g approx.

1 heart of celery, 80g approx.

1 red onion, 175g approx.

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic

a few sprigs rosemary

a few sprigs sage

a few sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

400g tinned tomatoes

1 big bunch Cavolo Nero (kale)

800g cooked borlotti beans

500ml chicken stock

½ sourdough loaf

extra virgin olive oil

Parmesan to finish

Method

Chop the carrots, celery heart and red onions finely and fry in a heavy based pan with a good glug of olive oil until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Chop the garlic and herbs and add this to the sofrito mixture and fry for another 2 minutes.

Break up the tinned tomatoes with your hands and add to the base, cooking for a further 5 minutes.

Shred the Cavolo Nero from its stalks, roughly chop and add to the base, fry for a further 4 minutes.

Take half the borlotti and blitz in a food processor until smooth. Add the blitzed beans and the whole borlotti beans to the base.

Heat the chicken stock and add to the vegetables, add the bay leaf and season again to taste with salt and pepper.

Take the crusts off the sourdough loaf and slice.

Place the slices over the top of the soup, add a good glug of oil all over and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t catch on the bottom, until the cavolo is soft and the bread has soaked up the soup.

Stir the bread through the soup until it is broken up.

Serve with another good glug of oil and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.

Canteen’s Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

This was truly the lightest, silkiest and most delicious chocolate mousse I ever ate, thank you to Jessica Filbey at Canteen for sharing the recipe but do go and taste the original.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

400g good quality dark chocolate (Callebaut 54%)

210g good quality extra virgin olive oil

230g egg yolks with 90g caster sugar

200g cream

360g egg whites with 60g caster sugar

pinch Maldon sea salt

Method

Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie and stir in the olive oil.

Whisk the egg yolks and 90g caster sugar until pale and very thick.

While this is happening, whisk the double cream by hand until very soft peaks form.

Carefully fold the whisked egg yolks into the chocolate and oil mixture in three increments, until incorporated.

Take two large spoons of the chocolate mixture and fold it into the whipped double cream. Set this aside.

Whisk the egg whites, 60g caster sugar and the salt, until firm peaks form. In thee increments, fold in the whipped egg whites to the chocolatey, egg yolk mixture until incorporated. Finally fold in the double cream. Pour into a large serving bowl and put in the fridge to set for a few hours.

Scoop and serve with a drizzle of your finest olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

Jerusalem Artichokes

As promised, this week’s column is completely devoted to what is probably my favourite but most underrated winter vegetable – Jerusalem artichokes. Despite their name, they’ve got nothing to do with Jerusalem and aren’t even related to artichokes. The flavour is reminiscent of globe artichoke hearts – sweet and nutty. The name appears to be an adaptation of girasole, the Italian word for sunflowers.

They wouldn’t win any prizes in a veggie beauty contest. They resemble misshapen, knobbly potatoes and can be white, pale purple or yellow depending on the strain.

The variety we grow has been passed down from generation to generation in the Allen family. They are ridiculously easy to cultivate, just pop into the soil like potatoes once the weather is dry from the end of February/early March, allowing about 9-12cm between each one. Next winter, you’ll be rewarded with at least 8 or 10 plump rhizomes where you planted a single Jerusalem artichoke.

In the US, they are called Sunchokes, they are in fact a species of the sunflower family. The foliage grows about 8-10 feet tall and the yellow flowers in August resemble small sunflowers and are loved by bees. You could plant them at the back of an herbaceous flower bed to give height and colour. Some folks have had fun creating an annual maze with them – how fun is that?

The leaves are frost tender, but the tubers are hardy and can stay in the ground throughout the winter – we harvest from November right through to the end of February even into March depending on the weather. They begin to sprout if it’s particularly mild.

Choose the largest rhizomes and replant in a different location so the next harvest will be healthy and fulsome too.

Some supermarkets are now selling Jerusalem Artichokes, you’ll also find them at Midleton and Mahon Point Farmers’ Market and the English Market in Cork city.

If you haven’t already got some growing in your garden, jump into the car and make a pilgrimage to our Farm Shop in Shanagarry, I’ll give you a present of a few artichokes. Where you plant one artichoke, you’ll have ten next year – it’s like magic! 

By the way, Jerusalem artichokes have the highest inulin content of any vegetable, super important to stimulate the microbes in your gut biome, so here’s a really valuable hot tip…

If you’ve recently been on a course of antibiotics, go out of your way to get some Jerusalem artichoke, I love the flavour but for some they can be a little difficult to digest, hence the nickname ‘fartichokes’ but that’s just an indication that they are definitely stimulating your gut biome!

So now what to do with this ugly vegetable.

They are wonderfully versatile, of course they make a wonderful soup which I sometimes scatter with chorizo crumbs or add a topping of avocado and hazelnut salsa. We love to roast them until the edges are caramelised, they’re delicious hot or cold, as a side or as a basis for a salad.

Slice them thinly and fry until crisp for artichoke chips, crunchy and gorgeous to nibble with a drink or scattered on salads.

Slice and cook to melting tenderness in butter or extra virgin olive oil, whizz to a purée and mix with mashed potato – so good!

They also work brilliantly in a gratin layered up with potato and maybe celeriac or parsnip. That can be an entire meal, maybe with a few bacon or pancetta lardons added. It’s good to know that they can cook a little unevenly but that’s part of their charm.

Crunchy raw Jerusalem artichokes are also irresistible but if sliced ahead, they need to be kept in acidulated water to prevent them from discolouring. Just put a teaspoon of vinegar into the water, strain and discard the liquid before cooking.

We also love these fermented Jerusalem artichokes with even more nutrients – try these as a nibble or delicious crunchy accompaniment.

A simple purée makes an irresistible accompaniment to scallop, and a dice of caramelised Jerusalem artichoke raises a simple risotto to a new level – try it.

Now you see why I am so passionate about raising awareness of probably the most underrated of all winter vegetables!

Here are a few recipes to whet your appetite.

Roast Jerusalem Artichoke, Avocado and Hazelnut Salad

Everyone loved this delicious combination – a recent addition to our repertoire. The winter salad is particularly good with goose, duck, pheasant or as a starter.

Serves 4-6

450g Jerusalem artichokes, well-scrubbed.

2 tbsp sunflower or extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

Avocado and Roast Hazelnut Salsa

1 ripe avocado, halved, stone removed, peeled and diced into neat scant 1cm dice

3 tbsp of hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and coarsely chopped

3 tbsp of hazelnut or olive oil

1 tbsp of chopped flat parsley

Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

sprigs of flat parsley

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

Leave the artichokes whole or cut in half lengthways, if large. Toss the Jerusalem artichokes with the oil.  Season well with salt.  Bake in a shallow gratin dish or roasting tin for 20 to 30 minutes until soft and caramelized at the edges.  Test with the tip of a knife – they should be mostly tender but offer some resistance.  Season with pepper and serve.

Meanwhile, make the avocado and roast hazelnut salsa.

Mix the ingredients for the avocado and hazelnut garnish. Taste and correct seasoning. This mixture will sit quite happily in your fridge for an hour as the oil coating the avocado will prevent it from discolouring.

To Serve

When the artichokes are cooked, allow to cool, sprinkle with avocado and hazelnut salsa.

Toss gently, taste and tweak the seasoning if necessary.

Scatter with sprigs of flat parsley.

Jerusalem Artichoke Crisps

We serve these delicious crisps on warm salads, as a garnish for Roast pheasant or Guinea fowl and as a topping for Parsnip or root vegetable soup.  Delicious crisps may be made from other vegetables apart from the much loved potato.  Celeriac, beetroot, leek and even carrots are also good.  Careful not to have the oil too hot or the crisps will quickly turn and be bitter.

Serves 6-8

3-4 Jerusalem artichokes

sunflower oil

salt

Heat good quality oil in a deep fryer to 150°C. 

Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes well and peel if necessary. Slice in wafer thin rounds.  Allow to dry out a little on kitchen paper.

Drop a few at a time into the hot oil, they colour and crisp up very quickly.  Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Pan-grilled Scallops with Jerusalem Artichoke Purée and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Serves 8

8 super fresh scallops

sea salt

Jerusalem Artichoke Purée

450g Jerusalem artichokes (weighed after peeling)

450g potatoes, scrubbed clean

4 tbsp cream

25g butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

To Serve

extra virgin olive oil

flakes of sea salt

little sprigs of chervil

First make the artichoke purée.

Cook the artichokes and potatoes separately in boiling salted water until tender and completely cooked through.  Peel the potatoes immediately and place them with the hot artichokes in a food processor.  Add the cream and butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Blend until a silky consistency is achieved.  Taste and correct seasoning.

To serve, reheat the artichoke purée if necessary. Heat the pan on a high heat, dry the scallops well, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with a little salt. Pan-grill for a few minutes on both sides, put a generous tablespoon of artichoke purée on each small plate, top each one with a pan-grilled scallop, drizzle with extra virgin and sprinkle each plate with a few flakes of sea salt.

Top with a little sprig of chervil.

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