Recipes
 In my spare time I enjoy foraging, and little did I know when my father took me picking wild mushroom at the age of six that I would end up living in Ireland, in the beautiful village of Oughterard, collecting many other wild foods apart from mushrooms. Right now, there is an abundance of three-cornered leek, a member of the onion and garlic family. Using it in this potato soup results in the most comforting bowl of deliciousness, with a subtle flavour of sweet onion and a hint of green pea. The soup is very simple to make and perfect for this time of year, and if you cannot find three- cornered leek, then either wild garlic or spring onion is a great substitute.
Simple potato soup with a little wild twist Serves four Ingredients: 25g butter, and extra for the bread 1 small white onion, peeled and sliced 3 (250g) medium size potatoes, peeled and diced 600ml light chicken or vegetable stock 250g three-cornered leek, finely sliced (or wild garlic or spring onion) 130g natural yoghurt (I use Velvet Cloud sheep’s milk yoghurt) Salt and pepper To finish: 40g air-dried ham, or Parma ham, torn Three-cornered leek flowers Rustic sourdough loaf A splash of high quality cold pressed Irish rapeseed oil Method:
Chef’s tip: Using yogurt instead of cream will give you richness without the calories, but ensure the yogurt is added at the end of cooking, to prevent the soup from splitting. My recipe appeared in the Irish Times Online on April 20th as part of the Kitchen Cabinet series, a collection of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-toques Ireland who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that we like to cook and eat at home
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 Leek Ash
Take individual pieces of leek and spread them on a grill pan. Put under a very hot grill until completely burned and black on both sides. Remove and pound in a mortar and pestle until turned to a fine ash. Beetroot pickled Ingredients: 20 g salt 30 g brown sugar 200 ml water Aromatics optional (Star anise, chilli flakes, cinnamon, caraway seeds, etc.) Method: In a pot mix together the brown sugar, salt and water and bring to a simmer with the chosen aromatics. Allow the liquid to cool completely and add very thinly sliced raw beetroot. Allow to pickle for at least 48 hours and use as needed. Nasturtium pesto Ingredients: 200 g Nasturtium leaves 75 g Sunflower seeds 75 g Pumpkin seeds 400 ml Organic canola seed oil or a mildly flavoured extra virgin olive oil 100 g Fresh parmesan or pecorino cheese very finely grated (if possible use a Microplane) 3 Garlic cloves Freshly ground black pepper Ground Sea salt, Method: Roast the seeds in a moderate oven until golden, than leave to cool completely. In the meantime wash the Nasturtium leaves thoroughly and place in a salad spinner to remove as much water as possible. Now coarsely chop the leaves and the garlic cloves. Mix all the ingredients from stage 1 and 2 in a food processor or with a hand blender while adding the oil. Add the grated cheese and incorporate. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to your liking. Stored in dark preserving jars and kept in a refrigerator the pesto should last for one month  Soup – Easy Peasy Soup 25 Portions
For the ham hock 1 ham hock ½ carrot, peeled ½ celery sticks 1 onion, peeled 1 garlic clove, peeled 1 bay leaf 2 sprigs of thyme 2 branches of parsley For the soup Knob of butter or splash of vegetable oil 3 onion, peeled and diced 3 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 400 g potato peeled and diced 800 g frozen peas 1 bunch of tarragon, chopped 2.5 litre vegetable stock salt and freshly ground black pepper For me mustard cream 150 ml whipping cream 150 g crème fraich 2 tablespoon coarse—grain mustard 1 bunch of tarragon, chopped Prepare the ham hock ahead of the soup — Place all the ingredients in a Pressure cooker and cook for 1.5 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone or you can pull the bone out. Leave to cool and then pick all the meat off the bone and shred. Set aside. Heat a large saucepan with a little butter or vegetable oil and sweat the onion over a gentle heat until soft, then stir in the garlic and potato and then pour in the hot stock and return to the boil. Cook until potato have softened, add the peas and tarragon and allow to simmer for a further 2 minutes Whizz the mixture in a blender until smooth and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, but do not over whip, otherwise the cream will split when the other ingredients are added. Whisk in the wasabi and then the mustard and finish with the chopped tarragon. Putting Girolles to good use, Wild Mushroom Focaccia with Porcini dust, Thyme, Treacle, Pumpkin Seeds and a drizzle of Donegal Rapeseed Oil.  Recipe makes two standard size 2lb loafs or two trays of Focaccia as in the pictures Ingredients: 1 kg strong white flour and some extra for dusting 200g treacle 550ml tepid water 3(21g) sachets yeast 30ml rapeseed or extra virgin olive oil 100g pumpkin seeds 30g dry wild mushrooms powdered (use a spice grinder for this) 20g thyme leaves picked 20g salt 50g fresh wild mushrooms A few young thyme Sprigs Some more rapeseed or extra virgin olive oil for the top of the focaccia Some Maldon sea salt Method:
Enjoy with any savoury topping of your liking.  Happy Baking...............
 Chocolate tart filling
Ingredients: 260 g dark chocolate (260 g) 195 g butter (195 g) 4 egg yolks ( 4 unit) 2 eggs ( 2 unit) 110 g sugar (110 g) 2 shots of Baileys (2.5 unit) Method: Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl Whisk together the sugar and eggs When the chocolate mix is melted add to the egg mix, whisk all ingredients well and add the Baileys Pour into precooked pastry case Bake at 150°C for 10 minutes then 120° for another 10 minutes Allow to cool and portion Lemon curd Ingredients: 140 g sugar 100 ml of lemon juice 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 200 g butter 0.7 of a leave of gelatin Method: Juice enough lemons to produce one litre of liquid Combine the eggs and sugar in a large bowl, add the lemon juice and mix well Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl Whisk well for a couple of minutes then every so often When the mix has thickens enough add the butter bit by bit until all incorporated Half the way through incorporating the butter add the softened gelatin Place in sterilised gars, cool and use as required (keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks) |
