Archive for September, 2008

Salsify a shrimp salad

Sunday, September 28th, 2008


The Irish coastline is host to a huge amount of seafood and none is more beautiful than the shrimp.

Shrimps are distinguished from prawns by the structure of the gills. However, there’s a lot of confusion between the two, with many shrimps being called ‘prawns’ and vice versa. Like other seafood, shrimps are high in calcium and protein but low in energy. A meal with a high shrimp content is a significant source of cholesterol.

When we opened our first restaurant, the Wine Epergne, in Upper Rathmines 18 years ago, a fisherman called to the restaurant with a box of shrimps so fresh they were still hopping around.

Shrimps are almost translucent but divers find them easy to spot as they usually hang out near rocks and tend not to move too far from shelter for fear of being eaten by predators.

They have to be transported quickly as they don’t live for long out of the sea. They turn red when they die and it is best to use them when they are as fresh as possible. As with many of my favourite foods, they are best cooked simply.

I love this salad. Salsify, a delicious root vegetable, is just coming into season, and rocket is still available. Give it a go – it’s a really tasty dish.

Shrimp salad with celeriac mousse and basil dressing (serves 4)

Ingredients
For the dressing you will need:
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
A bunch of fresh basil
50g fresh grated parmesan
2 tsp water
Sea salt
Fresh milled pepper

For the shrimps you will need:
50 shrimps
1 lemon

For the garnish you will need:
Bunch of rocket (washed)
2 cucumbers (diced)
1 organic carrot (blanched and diced)
2 sticks of salsify

For the celeriac mousse you will need:
1 celeriac (peeled and diced)
2 shallots (peeled and finely diced)
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
5 thyme sprigs
50g unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
500ml of single cream
Soft butter for lining the cake tin
Sea salt and milled white pepper

Method – mousse
1. Melt the butter in a pot and add the celeriac, shallot, garlic and thyme. Season and cook slowly for 15 minutes over a medium heat, ensuring the celeriac does not brown.
2. Add water to just cover the celeriac and cover with buttered greaseproof paper. Cook on a low heat until the water has evaporated.
3. Strain the celeriac and puree in a blender. Pour mixture into a bowl.
4. Bring the cream to the boil in a pot, then simmer until it is reduced by one quarter. Remove and add to the puree. Taste for seasoning.
5. Let the mixture cool then add the egg yolks and mix well. Butter an eight-inch cake tin and pour mixture in. Cover with tinfoil.
6. Cook in heated oven at 150 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes. Test the mousse by inserting a thin knife. If the knife comes out clean, the mousse is cooked. If not, cook for a further ten minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Cut into individual portions using the top of a teacup or a round cutter if you have one.

Method – dressing
1. Mix the olive oil, crushed garlic, egg yolk, basil, grated parmesan, spring water and seasoning in a blender until smooth consistency.
2. Wash the salsify well, peel and cut into strips. Place in a pot with a little water to just cover the salsify, a dash of milk, the juice of half a lemon and a few drops of olive oil. Bring to the boil and simmer for about three minutes. Remove the salsify from the liquid once it has cooled.
3. Toss rocket leaves with a little of the dressing in a stainless steel bowl and season.

Method – shrimps
1. Toss the shrimps in a hot pan with a little olive oil, for five seconds each side.
Then season and squeeze the juice of a single lemon over them, then take them off the heat.

To assemble, place the celeriac mousse in the centre of the plate. Top with salsify and rocket leaves. Sprinkle with shrimps and garnish plate with blanched diced carrots and diced cucumber.

Enjoy!

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Delectable Dublin Bay offering

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Dublin Bay prawns are highly regarded around the world, appearing on the menus of many of the world’s best restaurants. As a commis chef, I shelled boxes and boxes of prawns at a time, often until my hands bled.

When prawns are fresh, it is almost impossible to peel them, because of the membrane attached to the shell. One of the best ways to get a prawn out of its shell without breaking it is to first remove the prawn’s head, and then freeze the prawn for 30 minutes. The shell should come away easily. The centre vein and waste should also be removed.

Prawns freeze well once they are shelled and cleaned. The shells can be used to make a great sauce or consommé.

The following dish went on the menu when my wife Muriel and I opened our first restaurant – the Wine Epergne in Rathmines – 18 years ago. I was trying to develop a new version of prawn cocktail at the time. We still serve it at Thornton’s, and it’s a favourite of many of our customers.

We dry the coral of the scallop and powder it for use as a garnish on the plate, which adds to the overall impact of the dish. We serve the prawns in a shallow soup plate, with the bisque acting as a sauce. However, the bisque can also be served on its own as a soup.

The sabayon, which adds a nice contrast of textures, is an optional extra that lightens the intensity of the bisque flavour.

You can get Dublin Bay prawns inmost good fishmongers, such as Thomas Mulloy’s on Baggot Street, Dublin. Steer clear of the commercially-available frozen prawns.

Sautéed Dublin Bay prawns with prawn bisque and sabayon


Ingredients (serves four)
Prawns
20 Dublin Bay prawns
Sea salt
Freshly-milled black pepper
Olive oil (for frying)
2 lemons
1 bunch of finely chopped chives
Dash of brandy
4 chervil leaves

Ingredients – bisque
20ml of brandy
200ml of dry white wine
1kg of prawn shells
1 litre of fish stock (or vegetable stock)
100g miripoix (1 carrot, 2 celery sticks, 1 Spanish onion, 1 leek, all roughly chopped)
1/2 bulb of garlic
1/2 litre of cream
2 bay leaves
20g of unsalted butter
1 small bunch of thyme
10g of whole white peppercorns
Sea salt
Freshly-ground white mill pepper

Ingredients – sabayon
3 whole free range eggs
20ml of dry martini
30ml of spring water
Sea salt
Milled white pepper

Method

Bisque
1. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and add the prawn shells. Cook shells for ten minutes on a medium heat, stirring them all the time.
2. Add the miripoix, garlic, pep percorns and herbs and continue to mix well. Add a dash of brandy and flambé. Add another two dashes of brandy, allowing them also to flambé. Add the white wine and bring mixture to the boil.
3. Simmer and reduce the liquid by three quarters. Add the fish stock or vegetable stock and bring to the boil again. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for four hours, skimming the surface of any impurities from time to time while it’s cooking.
4. Add the scallop coral powder (optional) and remove from the heat. Pass the mixture through a fine strainer and return to the pot.
5. Add the cream and bring to the boil. Simmer and reduce by three quarters. Taste and season. Add unsalted butter. Remove and blitz sauce in hand blender. It is now ready to serve.

Sabayon
1. Break the eggs into a stainless-steel bowl and mix with a stainless-steel whisk. Season and add the dry martini and still water.
Sit the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and whisk the mixture over heat until it forms a peak.

Prawns
1. Season the prawns lightly with sea salt and fresh milled white pepper.
2. Drizzle olive oil over the prawns and place them in a hot Teflon frying pan over a high heat for about 300 seconds.
3.Turn prawns and flambé with a dash of brandy. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over on the prawns and sprinkle the chives on top. Make sure the prawns are pink all over.

Remove from heat and turn prawns onto a kitchen towel. To serve, spoon the bisque onto the base of a shallow soup plate.

Place a spoon of sabayon on top and add the prawns. Delicious!

Kevin Thornton is a Michelin-starred chef and owner of Thornton’s Restaurant on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. www.thorntonsrestaurant.com

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Slow down for a tastier Sunday roast

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

Sunday is the one day of the week when everyone comes together and we have time to make more of an effort preparing the meal.

A big part of the appeal of cooking a roast on Sunday is that everyone can pitch in – meaning the cook can enjoy the process as much as everyone else.

Lamb is coming to the end of its season (the game season is just around the corner),so take the opportunity over the following weeks to prepare a delicious roast lamb while you still can.

There are two methods of roasting – on a spit and in an oven – with spit roasting being the superior option. This is because the steam produced when roasting in a closed oven reduces the meat’s flavour. Spit roasting provides a drier atmosphere that enables the joint to retain its own particular flavour.

As most of us roast in the oven, I find using a longer period of roasting at a lower temperature yields the best flavour and makes the meat much more tender.

Another way to ensure tender meat is to choose a cut that has been hung for a sufficient period of time. Talk to your butcher a few weeks in advance and ask him to hang your chosen piece of meat for you.

As the meat will lose moisture and therefore, lose weight in the hanging process, it is normal for the butcher to charge you for the weight loss.

Roast leg of lamb

Ingredients (serves eight)
1 leg of lamb
2 bulbs of garlic, separated and peeled
Bunch of rosemary
Rock salt
Freshly milled black pepper
10ml extra virgin olive oil
2 carrots (washed, peeled and roughly chopped)
1 Spanish onion (washed, peeled and roughly chopped)
1 head of celery (washed, peeled and roughly chopped)
1 turnip (washed, peeled and roughly chopped)
2 litres of lamb stock

Method
Pierce the lamb with a knife and get your helpers involved in studding the leg with whole cloves of garlic. Rub olive oil around the joint and sprinkle with rock salt, black pepper and fresh rosemary.

It is important to place the leg of lamb on a trivet or something that will elevate the meat from the tray into which the chopped vegetables are placed.

Rub the base of the tray with olive oil and sprinkle the vegetables onto the tray. Place the leg of lamb on top and place the tray in a warm oven at 110C. Cook for 60 minutes per kilogram. If speedier cooking is required, cook at 170C for 35 minutes per kilogram.

Constant basting is important when cooking lamb – again, put your helpers to work here. For the last 20 minutes of cooking, turn the oven to a higher temperature (180C) until the lamb turns golden brown in colour.

Remove the lamb from the oven and rest for ten minutes before carving.

To make the sauce, drain the excess fat from the tray and keep a little of it aside for the Yorkshire pudding tray (see below). Place in a large pot along with the lamb stock and bring to the boil.

Reduce the liquid to half by simmering, then pass it through a fine sieve and skim any excess fat from the top.

Return the liquid to a pot and bring to the boil. Taste and correct the seasoning. Add the unsalted butter and serve.

Yorkshire pudding
Ingredients
500g plain white flour
7g sea salt
Fresh milled white pepper
1/2 nutmeg grated
4 free range eggs
1l milk
1/2l cream

Method
The day before you plan to eat this dish, sieve the flour into a bowl, then add the seasoning and nutmeg. Make a well and add the eggs, cream and milk and mix well. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

To cook, heat a bun tray and rub with olive oil (the oil can be flavoured by mixing olive oil with a little of the fat left from the cooked lamb tray). Heat the tray by placing in oven at 170C for few minutes.

Remove tray and pour the Yorkshire pudding mixture into the bun moulds. Bake in oven at 170C until golden brown. Remove and serve with lamb, roast potatoes and veg.

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Turbo-charge your turbot

Sunday, September 7th, 2008


Turbot is a large, flat fish with a subtle, delicate flavour. Found close to shore in sandy, shallow waters, it can weigh between 13 and 18 kilogrammes.

When buying turbot avoid the very small ones as the fillets they produce can be too small. Equally, very large turbot may tend to be a little tough. Middle size (2 to 4 kilogrammes) are best.

As usual, when choosing fish avoid those with sunken eyes and use your nose to detect a fresh seawater smell. You can ask your fishmonger to fillet it for you into four pieces.

If you’re a dab hand at filleting fish yourself, take it home and use the bones to make a fish stock. Turbot is in season from September to around the middle of February.

It’s not a cheap fish but, when married with a few carefully selected ingredients, it makes a fine dish.

It’s a good source of protein and vitamins B3 and B12.Aswell as containing minerals important for the immune system, it also has magnesium and phosphorous which are important for metabolism and building strong bones and teeth.

We serve it at Thornton’s with a sauce made of beetroot and grapefruit, and the combination of flavours is a firm favourite with our customers.

Sautéed fillet of turbot with brioche, beetroot and grapefruit sauce


Ingredients (serves 4)
4 pieces of wild turbot about 100g each
1 slice of brioche
Juice of half a pink grapefruit
10ml virgin olive oil
50g unsalted butter
Sea salt
Fresh milled white pepper

Sauce ingredients
1 diced shallot
1 1/2 pink grapefruit
Juice of half a lemon
65ml Noilly Prat
65ml dry white wine
250ml fish stock
5 beetroots
Sea salt
Fresh milled white pepper

Puréed potatoes ingredients
4 Maris Piper potatoes
100g unsalted butter
100ml cream

Roasted beetroot ingredients
12 capers
12 small beetroots
1 grapefruit
1 orange

Method
Marinate the turbot in olive oil and refrigerate for 30 minutes while you get busy with the sauce and vegetables.

Dice and sauté the shallots with a little olive oil for a couple of minutes, add one pink grapefruit (skinned and chopped) and sauté for a further three minutes. Add three peeled and diced beetroots to the mixture.

Pour in the Noilly Prat and bring to the boil. Simmer and reduce by three quarters and add the fish stock. Bring the liquid back to the boil and then simmer until it reduces by half. Season to taste. Remove the sauce from the heat and pass it through a fine sieve.

Use a juicer to extract the juice from the remaining two beetroots and add the juice to the sauce. Bring the sauce back to the boil, then simmer until it is again reduced by half.

Taste and correct the seasoning, Cut the unsalted butter into small pieces and whisk it into the sauce to finish.

To prepare the vegetables, wash the baby beetroots, cut into quarter pieces and wrap them loosely in tinfoil.

Squeeze juice of orange and grapefruit over and place in oven at 125 degrees centigrade for an hour. Remove and they are ready to serve. Meanwhile, boil and purée the potatoes, and add butter and cream and season to taste.

To prepare the fish, heat the oven to 170 degrees, then season and sauté the turbot in a hot pan with a drop of olive oil until golden brown. Turn over fillets and put in the oven for about three minutes.

Remove the turbot from the oven and squeeze the juice of half a grapefruit over the fillets.

Cut the brioche into small cubes and arrange them on the fish, place the pan under a hot grill until the brioche turns golden brown. While this is happening you can reheat the sauce.

To serve, place some potato purée in the centre of the plate with the turbot on top. Pour the sauce around the potato, garnish with the beetroot and sprinkle with capers.

Kevin Thornton is a Michelin-starred chef and owner of Thornton’s Restaurant on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. www.thorntonsrestaurant.com

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