It was an absolute pleasure to do a couple of cookery demonstrations at the wonderful Seafood Rocks  Festivalin Clogher Head again this year. The festival was all about seafood, music, family and sustainability in the nautical world.

A massive thanks to Patricia who works with me at the cookery school, assisting a demo with surprise recipes thrown in is no easy task!! Also thanks to Damien & David of Seafood Rocks for having me, Kenny Maguire for his professionalism and great kitchen and Zack Gallagher for keeping everything organised-it was a pleasure to work with you!

I centred my demos around seafood recipes of course and got some surprise seafood treats thrown into my demo at the last minute which was a challenge in terms of what I would cook but that’s exactly the type of challenge I love! It was like being given a mystery box of ingredients on stage! I have put the recipes I knew I was going to cook here but in terms of my last minute recipes, I cooked razor clams in the oven at 180C for 5 minutes, then added some chopped rosemary, chilli and garlic to them (as these were some ingredients I had to hand) when they started opening with a little olive oil. I cooked them for another 3/4 mins and squeezed a little lemon juice over. They were delicious if I say so myself but to be fair, I was very lucky with the beautiful product. I was also given a few full langoustines or Dublin Bay Prawns in their shell which I cut lengthways from the back of the head to the end of the tail, tossed on a griddle pan (great on a BBQ too) and finished with some butter, garlic, parsley and dried chilli flakes.

I was also very lucky to show case our local producers Ballymakenny Farm’s Long Stem Broccoli Drummond House Garlic Scapes & Elephant Garlic Oriel Sea Salt.

Finally, the fantastic makers of Bluebell Falls goat’s cheese had a stand in the food tent so I rustled up a roast garlic & rosemary crostini topped with their original soft goats cheese and a little drizzle of a beautiful aged balsamic vinegar that was also in the food tent.

Here are some videos:

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Day 1 Demos:

Crab Tostadas

(Makes 10-12)

Ingredients:

200g of crab meat

½ a  shallot, finely chopped

Some zest and juice of a lime

3 or 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered

3 tblsp of mayonnaise

Salt, to taste

To serve:

Some small salad leaves such as Endive or Little Gem, washed

Avocado, sliced

Lime wedges

Fresh Coriander leaves

Wheat wraps, cut into triangles and deep fried or baked until crisp.

Method:

Mix all of the ingredients for the crab apart from the lettuce in a bowl and taste for seasoning

When you are ready to serve, place the lettuce on the tostadas and top with the crab, then avocado and finally, the coriander. Serve with the lime wedges.

Pan fried Plaice with Drummond House Garlic Scapes, Samphire, Cannellini Beans & Lemon Thyme

Ingredients:

2 fillets of Plaice (or other white fish such as turbot)

1 tblsp flour

Knob of butter

About 4 tblsp Olive Oil

Large handful of Garlic Scales

400g tin of Cannellini beans, drained & rinsed

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

A pinch of dried chilli flakes

1 lemon, zest & juice

A handful of fresh Lemon Thyme, leaves removed (use ordinary thyme if not available)

A handful of fresh Parsley, chopped

1-2 tblsp Soy sauce

About 10 good quality kalamata olives (buy with stone in & remove)

Method:

1. Heat most of the oil in a pan over a very gentle heat
2. Add the garlic, lemon thyme, lemon zest and chilli
3. After about 2 minutes & keeping the pan on a very low heat, add the samphire, olives & cannellini beans
4. In the meantime,  dry the fillets of Plaice with some kitchen towel and sprinkle lightly with the flour and some salt & pepper, shake gently to remove excess flour
5. Heat a separate non stick frying pan until very hot. Add some oil and butter and quickly add the fillets of Turbot flesh side down when the butter is foaming
6. Cook until the flesh has turned a nice golden brown and turn over. The fish will rise up in the middle quite quickly and you will know it is ready. It is important not to overcook the fish at this point.
7. Remove to a warm plate to rest
8. Add the Soy sauce, a squeeze of lemon juice & chopped parsley to the cannellini beans & garlic scales. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed
9. Serve the fish over the cannellini beans & garlic scales

Crab Claws in a Garlic Cream Sauce

(Makes enough sauce about 12 claws)

My Dad made this starter in his restaurant for years.  This is pretty much the exact recipe from the late 1980s …… why mess with a classic.

 

Ingredients:

Crab Claws, cooked

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Some parsley, finely chopped

A spritz of lemon juice

A glug of olive oil

100 ml whipping cream

Method:

Place a little oil into a frying pan and heat to medium. Place the chopped garlic in the pan with a little salt. Cook for a moment and then add the crab claws. Toss in the garlic and add the cream. Allow to bubble up for a few minutes until it is thickened. Avoid stirring. Place in small bowls or ramekins and add to platter. Serve immediately.

 

Individual Tiramisus

These are a bit of a cheat recipe as there are no egg whites involved as in an authentic Tiramisu.  The upside of this is that they are very quick to make and they make an ideal dessert for entertaining as they are made ahead of time and are ready to serve other than a flourish of grated chocolate and a little grated orange zest to be added at the last minute. You can leave out the liqueur altogether but this is what gives the dessert it’s “pick me up” element; the meaning of tiramisu in Italian. My personal favourite liqueur to use is Amaretto which came as a happy accident once!    

(Serves 4 – 6 )

Ingredients:

20 boudoir fingers

300ml good strong coffee, freshly brewed

4 tablespoons caster sugar

400g mascarpone

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons of  Tia Maria, Brandy or Amaretto

Zest and juice of 1 orange

100g best-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

Method:

Depending on the size you want, use four to six pretty cups, bowls or medium wine glasses and arrange your sponge fingers snugly in layers on top of each other (break them up to fit about 3 into each wine glass)

1. Sweeten the coffee with 2 tablespoons of the caster sugar.
2. Pour enough coffee over the sponge fingers to make sure they are all soaked.
3. In a large bowl, mix the mascarpone, vanilla, liqueur and orange juice until you a loose, shiny consistency.
4. Dollop the mascarpone mixture over the coffee-soaked biscuits and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. Grate over the chocolate and sprinkle lightly with a little finely grated orange zest and serve.

 

Day 2 Demos:

Chermoula Baked Hake with Lime Yoghurt Dressing and Ballymakenny Farm Long stem Broccoli

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

4 fillets of hake (or any other white fish)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp paprika

1 tblsp finely chopped preserved lemon skin

Seasalt

Olive oil

A handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

 

For the yogurt dressing:

2 tblsp Greek Yogurt

Juice of ½ a lime

1 clove of garlic, minced

 

Method:

To make the chermoula, mix together the garlic, cumin, coriander, chilli, paprika, preserved lemon, ½ tsp salt and a good glug of olive oil.

 

To make the yogurt dressing, place the yogurt in a bowl with the garlic, lime juice and mix. Season to taste.

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C
2. Place the fish in a baking dish and pour over the chermoula
3. Cover in tin foil and bake for 20-30 mins, depending on the thickness of your fish.
4. To check it is cooked, gently open a piece of the fish with a knife and check the flesh is opaque
5. Serve the fish in it’s sauce and drizzle the yogurt dressing over.
6. Garnish with the parsley

 

Tabbouleh

Serves 6

Ingredients:

200 grms bulghur, cooked according to pack but using chicken stock in place of water

A handful of broccoli, glanced until al dente

½ a red onion, finely chopped

Lemon juice

Olive oil

Bunch of mint, roughly chopped

Bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

Bunch of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped Salt & Pepper

 

Method:

 

1. Fluff up bulghur with a fork and add herbs, broccoli & red onion.
2. Sprinkle some lime juice over, season and mix
3. Serve

 

Strawberry Orange Drizzle Cake

(Serves 10)

Ingredients:

175g butter at room temperature

150g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

2tsp vanilla extract

250g self-raising flour

175g strawberries, de-stemmed and roughly chopped (can use frozen in the cake but fresh are best to garnish, don’t worry if you can’t get fresh)

80g granulated sugar

2 tbsp orange juice

To Serve

Whipped Cream and Strawberries halved

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/ 160˚C fan/gas mark 4.  Grease a standard 900g loaf tin and line with parchment paper.

Beat the butter and golden caster sugar in a mixing bowl for three minutes until the texture is light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until creamy.

Stir in the flour with a spatula until the mixture is just combined.

Spread one third of the batter into the tin, then scatter over one-third of the strawberries.

Carefully dot and spread half of the remaining batter on top, and scatter with half of the remaining strawberries.

Dot the rest of the batter over and spread with the back of a spoon.  Bake for one hour until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Poke the cake all over with a skewer.

Combine the remaining strawberries with the granulated sugar in a bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds, then mash roughly with the back of a fork. Stir in the orange juice.

Spoon the mixture over the cake and leave to set and cool in the tin.Remove from the tin and top with whipped cream and fresh strawberries to serve.