I am lucky to live in a part of the country where we have easy access to great fish. In the restaurant we have definitely noticed an increase in the number of our guests who choose fish.
Diners appreciate that this island is home to some wonderful fish and we have moved on a long way from when it was either served on Fridays, or from the fish and chipper. Not that I have anything against the fish and chipper. A wonderful Irish meal by any standards.
We have several deliveries each week from Killybegs which is about an hour away. This is the time of the year when the big increase begins. Our Dublin Bay Prawns are caught in Inver Bay and don’t asked me where the name ‘Dublin Bay’ came from.
King of prawns
They are also call langoustines and they are the king of prawns. While expensive, they are definitely worth it. Recently I went over to Mullaghmore to visit the Mullaghmore Sea Farm so that we had fresh lobster on the menu that evening. It is a great business run by Daithí O Dowd and visitors can select their own fish. I have been buying from Daithí and his brother for at least 15 years.
They are a very successful business and they export their blue Atlantic lobsters to China, France, Spain, Thailand, indeed all over the world. In the restaurant we take the lobster from its shell and serve as a garnish, using the shell to present sauces. Mullaghmore is a place I love to visit with the family to walk up the beautiful beaches, sometimes with the dogs.
It is one of those wonderful get away from it all places that we all need. I like to get over there early in the morning so that I can get back to the restaurant in good time and we often have the place to ourselves. Put Connor there with a football and he is truly happy.
The key to this crab and prawn pasta is the brown butter. Beurre Noisette is a staple in French cuisine and is now used all over the world.
The browned butter is a warm sauce that has a delicious taste and goes well with vegetables, pasta, chicken, or as in today’s recipe, fish. I particularly like it with white fish.
Star of the show
The other star of the show in this recipe are the black tiger prawns, though you can use whatever fish you particularly enjoy. This is a recipe with simple ingredients that is delicious with a light sprinkling of parsley.
It will work with whatever pasta you prefer and the chilli gives a nice kick. Though as I keep saying chilli is one of those spices that you use according to your taste. If the result is too hot, you will overpower the flavours.
Salmon and leeks are a great combination and this fish pie is a great family meal. You could also serve the salmon and leeks with steamed rice or with mashed potatoes. Salmon is far and away the most popular fish in Ireland these days.
I also like this meal with trout and a great producer is Goatsbridge Trout Farm outside Thomastown in
Co Kilkenny. Please check out their website goatsbridgetrout.ie is well worth a visit to see what that have on offer. Or you could make this pie with a nice seafood mix from your supermarket. Frozen spinach is one of those foods that it is always handy to keep in your freezer. It often comes in useful.
For the wine, Albarino is a white wine produced in Galicia in Northern Spain and also in the north west of Portugal. It is fantastic with seafood. You will never go wrong with it.
Another good reliable option is Sancerre, a sauvignon blanc from France.
Brown butter Irish crab and tiger prawn pasta
Ingredients: Serves 2
100g salted butter
½ red chilli
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
Zest of 1 lemon, plus 2 tsp lemon juice
1 pack (100g) Irish crab meat
1 pack (200g) black tiger prawns
150g bronze die spaghetti
Sea salt & black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley
and lemon wedges, to serve
Method
1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, according to pack instructions, until al dente, then drain and retain a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid.
2. Place the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook until brown
and nutty.
3. Add the chilli, garlic, lemon zest, prawns and cook for 2 minutes, add the crab meat and continue to cook for another two minutes.
4. Transfer the cooked pasta to the pan and add a tablespoon of the reserved cooking liquid and stir well. If the pasta looks a little dry add another tablespoon of cooking liquid.
Toss everything together until evenly combined then add a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste.
5. Transfer to bowls and garnish with chopped parsley and a lemon wedge, serve immediately and enjoy this tasty dish.
Neven Maguire recipe: salmon and leek pie. \Philip Doyle
Ingredients: Serves 4
15g butter, plus extra for greasing
1 packet dry cured unsmoked
Irish bacon lardons
1 pack baby leeks, thickly
sliced on the diagonal
1 tbsp seafood seasoning
150ml white wine such as Albarino
250g frozen organic spinach
4 tbsp cream or whole milk
1 carton Irish original cream cheese
2 packs organic lightly smoked Irish salmon darnes, skinned and cut into chunks
1 pack all butter puff pastry, thawed and fridge cold
Plain flour, for dusting
1 free-range corn-fed large egg yolk
Achill sea salt & freshly ground white pepper
Mashed potato and buttered peas, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas Mark 4).
2. Heat a sauté pan over a medium to high heat. Add the butter and saute the bacon until crispy and the fat has come out. Tip in the leeks and sauté for 2-3 minutes until softened.
3. Stir in the seafood seasoning and saute for another minute. Increase the heat to high and then pour in the wine and allow to bubble right down.
4. Add the spinach, then cover with a lid and cook for 4-6 minutes until the spinach has wilted, stirring once or twice. Season to taste.
5. Stir the cream or milk into the pan with the cream cheese until melted. Switch off the heat and fold in the salmon then pour into a buttered, round ovenproof dish. Leave to cool down.
6. Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface large enough to easily cover the pie. Cut out a circle using a dinner plate and then use the pastry round to cover the salmon and spinach mixture, gently tucking it down the sides. Score with a sharp knife in a lattice pattern and then brush with beaten egg yolk seasoned with a pinch of salt.
7. Put on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is cooked through and golden. Serve straight to the table with a separate bowl of mashed potato, along with a side dish of buttered peas to serve.
I am lucky to live in a part of the country where we have easy access to great fish. In the restaurant we have definitely noticed an increase in the number of our guests who choose fish.
Diners appreciate that this island is home to some wonderful fish and we have moved on a long way from when it was either served on Fridays, or from the fish and chipper. Not that I have anything against the fish and chipper. A wonderful Irish meal by any standards.
We have several deliveries each week from Killybegs which is about an hour away. This is the time of the year when the big increase begins. Our Dublin Bay Prawns are caught in Inver Bay and don’t asked me where the name ‘Dublin Bay’ came from.
King of prawns
They are also call langoustines and they are the king of prawns. While expensive, they are definitely worth it. Recently I went over to Mullaghmore to visit the Mullaghmore Sea Farm so that we had fresh lobster on the menu that evening. It is a great business run by Daithí O Dowd and visitors can select their own fish. I have been buying from Daithí and his brother for at least 15 years.
They are a very successful business and they export their blue Atlantic lobsters to China, France, Spain, Thailand, indeed all over the world. In the restaurant we take the lobster from its shell and serve as a garnish, using the shell to present sauces. Mullaghmore is a place I love to visit with the family to walk up the beautiful beaches, sometimes with the dogs.
It is one of those wonderful get away from it all places that we all need. I like to get over there early in the morning so that I can get back to the restaurant in good time and we often have the place to ourselves. Put Connor there with a football and he is truly happy.
The key to this crab and prawn pasta is the brown butter. Beurre Noisette is a staple in French cuisine and is now used all over the world.
The browned butter is a warm sauce that has a delicious taste and goes well with vegetables, pasta, chicken, or as in today’s recipe, fish. I particularly like it with white fish.
Star of the show
The other star of the show in this recipe are the black tiger prawns, though you can use whatever fish you particularly enjoy. This is a recipe with simple ingredients that is delicious with a light sprinkling of parsley.
It will work with whatever pasta you prefer and the chilli gives a nice kick. Though as I keep saying chilli is one of those spices that you use according to your taste. If the result is too hot, you will overpower the flavours.
Salmon and leeks are a great combination and this fish pie is a great family meal. You could also serve the salmon and leeks with steamed rice or with mashed potatoes. Salmon is far and away the most popular fish in Ireland these days.
I also like this meal with trout and a great producer is Goatsbridge Trout Farm outside Thomastown in
Co Kilkenny. Please check out their website goatsbridgetrout.ie is well worth a visit to see what that have on offer. Or you could make this pie with a nice seafood mix from your supermarket. Frozen spinach is one of those foods that it is always handy to keep in your freezer. It often comes in useful.
For the wine, Albarino is a white wine produced in Galicia in Northern Spain and also in the north west of Portugal. It is fantastic with seafood. You will never go wrong with it.
Another good reliable option is Sancerre, a sauvignon blanc from France.
Brown butter Irish crab and tiger prawn pasta
Ingredients: Serves 2
100g salted butter
½ red chilli
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
Zest of 1 lemon, plus 2 tsp lemon juice
1 pack (100g) Irish crab meat
1 pack (200g) black tiger prawns
150g bronze die spaghetti
Sea salt & black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley
and lemon wedges, to serve
Method
1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, according to pack instructions, until al dente, then drain and retain a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid.
2. Place the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and cook until brown
and nutty.
3. Add the chilli, garlic, lemon zest, prawns and cook for 2 minutes, add the crab meat and continue to cook for another two minutes.
4. Transfer the cooked pasta to the pan and add a tablespoon of the reserved cooking liquid and stir well. If the pasta looks a little dry add another tablespoon of cooking liquid.
Toss everything together until evenly combined then add a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste.
5. Transfer to bowls and garnish with chopped parsley and a lemon wedge, serve immediately and enjoy this tasty dish.
Neven Maguire recipe: salmon and leek pie. \Philip Doyle
Ingredients: Serves 4
15g butter, plus extra for greasing
1 packet dry cured unsmoked
Irish bacon lardons
1 pack baby leeks, thickly
sliced on the diagonal
1 tbsp seafood seasoning
150ml white wine such as Albarino
250g frozen organic spinach
4 tbsp cream or whole milk
1 carton Irish original cream cheese
2 packs organic lightly smoked Irish salmon darnes, skinned and cut into chunks
1 pack all butter puff pastry, thawed and fridge cold
Plain flour, for dusting
1 free-range corn-fed large egg yolk
Achill sea salt & freshly ground white pepper
Mashed potato and buttered peas, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas Mark 4).
2. Heat a sauté pan over a medium to high heat. Add the butter and saute the bacon until crispy and the fat has come out. Tip in the leeks and sauté for 2-3 minutes until softened.
3. Stir in the seafood seasoning and saute for another minute. Increase the heat to high and then pour in the wine and allow to bubble right down.
4. Add the spinach, then cover with a lid and cook for 4-6 minutes until the spinach has wilted, stirring once or twice. Season to taste.
5. Stir the cream or milk into the pan with the cream cheese until melted. Switch off the heat and fold in the salmon then pour into a buttered, round ovenproof dish. Leave to cool down.
6. Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface large enough to easily cover the pie. Cut out a circle using a dinner plate and then use the pastry round to cover the salmon and spinach mixture, gently tucking it down the sides. Score with a sharp knife in a lattice pattern and then brush with beaten egg yolk seasoned with a pinch of salt.
7. Put on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is cooked through and golden. Serve straight to the table with a separate bowl of mashed potato, along with a side dish of buttered peas to serve.
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