Restaurant Review: The Greenhouse, Dawson Street, Dublin

There are certain meals that stay alive in the memory long after you have eaten the food. I have previously dined in the Greenhouse on Dublin’s Dawson Street and was very impressed with the food that I ate on that occasion. However, when food is that good, it places itself on a pedestal of its own making and consequently, as unfair as this may seem, it is judged at a higher standard. The sign of a truly great restaurant is the ability to sustain these levels of excellence irrespective of who is dining in the restaurant and when. It was with this in mind that I headed off to the Greenhouse again, hoping that this visit would be as note-worthy as my first and that my initial opinions would be confirmed.

 

Bread

In the accomplished and creative hands of Head Chef Mickael Viljanen, some seriously exciting food is being produced at the Greenhouse. Mikael is very much a chef’s chef and as such, it is unsurprising that he was judged Ireland’s top chef at the recently held Irish Restaurant Awards for 2015. Originally from Finland, Mickael worked with Paul Flynn at The Tannery in County Waterford before becoming Executive Chef at Gregan’s Castle in County Clare. With restaurateur Eamon O’Reilly as a business partner, he decided to make the move to the capital and together they set up the Greenhouse in 2012.

 

Other commentators have noted the ‘bijou’ quality of the dining room in the Greenhouse and whilst it is certainly compact, there was loads of space at our table and the size of the room did not, in any way, diminish our overall enjoyment of the meal that we ate. In fact, I found its understated décor appealing and a nice change from all the ‘busy’ almost brash restaurant dining rooms that seem to prevail these days.

Foie Gras

After examining both the set dinner and the tasting menus on offer I decided to go for the 6 course tasting menu. A 5 course ‘surprise’ tasting menu (with vegetarian options) was also available and is the only menu served on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

Shortly after sitting down we were presented with two amuse bouches; firstly a little disc of Cheese Shortbread, topped with a cheese mousse and secondly a stunning Beetroot Meringue filled with a silky smooth fish pâté and some fish roe. I still don’t know how something so small could possess such a concentration of gloriously earthy beetroot flavours.

 

Breads then arrived along with a mouth-sized Gougère and a tiny Chicken Liver Pâté Tartlet for each of us. Both were delicious. Slices of sourdough were served in a little bread sack which appeared to have a warming element contained within it which kept the bread warm. A dark rye was served separately on a tiny wooden block with both a traditional-style and a whipped brown butter.

 

Scallops

For the first of our 6 courses, we were served Foie Gras Royale, Rhubarb, Macadamia, Frozen Foie Gras. This arrived in a glass bowl containing a foie gras mousse topped with frozen foie gras ‘powder’, rhubarb jelly and chopped macadamia nuts. A tiny sliver of smoked eel and a quenelle of rhubarb sorbet added to the dish creating flavours and textures which danced in the mouth. Beautiful to look at, this was a wonderfully inventive dish, unlike anything I have tasted before! In many ways it has become the Chef’s signature dish, with different fruits being used to reflect seasonal produce.

 

Next up was Scallop, Broccoli, Smoked Yoghurt, Brown Butter. Here three enticingly plump scallops were served perfectly cooked with some blanched and charred broccoli, a crisp wafer, a sliver of lardo, a swirl of gently smoked yoghurt and a generous drizzle of buttery beurre noisette. This was a skilfully balanced dish full of taste combinations that worked so well together.

 



Red Mullet

Moving on, the Red Mullet with Bouillebaisse Sauce really showcased this wonderful fish. With its fine and delicately flavoured white flesh and crispy skin, the red mullet was flawlessly cooked. The accompanying courgette flower had been stuffed with a light-as-air langoustine mousse which just dissolved in the mouth. Served with broad beans, a few leaves of wilted, wild garlic and a rather magnificent, if slightly phallic looking spear of asparagus, this was another wonderful dish that looked picture perfect on the plate. The sauce despite being served as a foam managed to retain a depth of flavour which was evocative of a traditional bouillabaisse from the south-west of France.

 

Anjou Pigeon

We first made the acquaintance of the pigeon by being presented to him as he nestled in a box of smoking hay. Soon after, he reappeared on the plate us as our next dish - Anjou Pigeon & Wild Garlic. Despite the fact that smoking meats to the right level is notoriously difficult to achieve, here it worked lending the pigeon just the right amount of smokiness without overwhelming the flavour of the bird. The slightly sweet sauce, which contained fruity raisins and pine nuts had the right amount or acidity which complemented the rich meat perfectly. The wild garlic, served as a vibrant green purée added further interest. A light and fluffy potato gnocchi finished off the dish perfectly.

 

Anjou Pigeon

The Cauliflower, White Chocolate & Coconut pre-dessert was a stunning dish and for me, the highlight in what was an excellent meal. Present here were flavour combinations that shouldn’t have worked, but they just did! The white chocolate and cauliflower were combined together in a sweet mousse with both ingredients retaining their own identities but they married so well together. The addition of a coconut sorbet (though it was so creamy it had a texture more like that of ice-cream) brought everything together to create a dish which presented as white-on-white looked so simple and elegant. I loved it.

 

Our final dessert was almost like a fine dining interpretation of a Snickers bar, but so much better. Chocolate & Peanut was presented as a rich chocolate mousse on a chocolate biscuit base, topped with peanut mousse, chocolate shards and gold leaf for an added touch of opulence. This dish was wickedly rich but the accompanying banana ice-cream created some relief on the palate.

 

Terrific petit fours including chocolate caramel truffles fashioned to look like actual truffles, fruit pastilles and a raspberry macaron arrived along with decent espressos to complete the meal.

 

White Chocolate, Cauliflower & Coconut

There was a generosity and expansiveness about the meal we ate. The meal was so much more than the 6 courses we were initially led to believe we would receive. There was much to delight and enthral. Mickael Viljanen is producing food that is avant garde and exciting. He obviously draws on the influences of his childhood in Finland, yet uses these reference points to create food that celebrates seasonal Irish produce in an imaginative way.

 

Service was impeccable and seamlessly delivered by staff who were knowledgeable and eager to please. This was a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable dining experience.

 

Cost of 6 course tasting meal was €85 (matching wines +€48).                       

The Greenhouse

off St. Stephen’s Green

Dawson Street

Dublin 2

 

Telephone: 01-6767015

 

Opening times:

Tuesday – Saturday

Lunch: 12pm– 2.15pm

Dinner: 6pm – 9.30pm

This review first appeared in TheTaste.ie
 

Chocolate, Peanut

Bread Making at The Firehouse Bakery & Bread School

A sliced white pan can be bought for as little as 50c in some supermarkets with loaves on sale everywhere. Artisan breads, on the other hand, are more expensive to buy and require time if baking them yourself at home. It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that making your own bread is a whole lot of bother and not worth the trouble!

Although it is a craft that we have abandoned for the sake of convenience, there is something so rewarding and almost therapeutic about baking your own bread. More importantly, it is also fun and something that you can incorporate into your life whether on a daily or weekly basis. Whilst many of us can throw together a fairly presentable loaf of soda bread, the ultimate bread making experience really comes with making your own yeast-risen and sourdough breads. The bread you bake will taste so much better than those cotton-wool like, mass-produced supermarket offerings and won’t be pumped full of preservatives, E numbers etc.

At its most basic, bread contains four ingredients; flour, yeast, salt and water. With this in mind, I urge you take a look at the list of ingredients on the back of your supermarket loaf… Alarming to say the least!

It was armed with these thoughts and a desire to learn more about baking my own bread, that I signed up for the one-day bread making course run by the Firehouse Bakery  & Bread School on Heir Island off the West Cork coast. The bakery was set up by Patrick Ryan and Laura Moore in 2012 and in addition to the course on Heir Island, evening courses are also run at its main premises in Delgany, County Wicklow.

 

Arriving at the bakery school, I noticed a clay wood-fired oven and, as I passed by, I could feel the intense heat emanating from it. During the day, we would bake some of our breads in this oven but also in the domestic-style ovens in the school. Patrick explained that the wood-fired oven had been lit early in the morning to build up the temperature. He also showed us how inwardly it retained its heat but because of its construction the outer walls still remained cool to the touch.

 

The first bread we attempted was a sourdough loaf using a starter. Although the starter was provided, Patrick gave detailed instructions to us on how to grow our own and I am happy to report that the one that I began when I got home is coming along very nicely!

 

We mixed together all our ingredients and then started kneading our doughs. During that ten minutes or so all you could hear was the slapping of the dough against the wooden table as we concentrated on working the glutens in the flour. We were shown how to check whether our dough was ready by using the ‘window-pane’ test and once this stage was achieved, our doughs were set aside to prove and allow time for the natural yeasts within the sourdough starter to begin working. We would later knock the air out of the proved dough and allow it rise for a second time in special proving (banneton) baskets before being baked in the wood-fired oven.

 

We then moved on to breads made using fresh yeast. Each of us was tasked with creating a different flavour/type of bread. Between us we made a variety of breads, including baguettes, cinnamon rolls, savoury pinwheel rolls, potato & rosemary flowerpot bread, foccacia and granary ‘tear-and-share’ rolls.  We were shown how to form and shape the proved dough to create loaves, rolls and baguettes.

 

Not all breads use yeast and require kneading and proving. Soda bread is something that is quintessentially Irish and we would all be familiar with the brown and fruit versions, but Patrick showed us how adaptable and versatile it can be. Soon we were mixing up a range of these ‘quick’ breads, including thyme, mustard & cheddar soda bread, stout & treacle soda bread with oats & walnuts and apple & cider soda bread. We also made savoury muffins and the most fabulous honey, blue cheese & walnut soda bread. By this stage the heady aroma of all these breads baking was swirling around us in a very enticing way.

 

To finish up, we were all given different sweet recipes to make. Again we all baked something different from randomly selected recipes. Very soon I was mixing up the ingredients to make a fabulous chocolate orange cake but around me the others were making a range of goodies including coconut kisses, flour-free orange cake, Bailey’s chocolate chip cookies and pistachio financiers. As ever, Patrick was keeping a watchful eye on proceedings and offering guidance when needed.

 

If doing the course on Heir Island, I strongly recommend taking some extra time to explore the island and the beautiful landscape around West Cork. Hostel and self-catering accommodation is available on the island and Patrick and Laura will be happy to give you further details about this when booking a course. One word of warning, places get booked up quickly, so do keep an eye out for new courses being announced on the bakery’s website.

 

The course was informative, great fun and I learnt a lot. Perhaps the most important thing that I took away from it was a new-found confidence in baking my own bread; I can now see that this is something that is completely achievable in my own kitchen using a domestic oven. Since returning home I have managed to source a local bakery who kindly sells me small amounts of fresh yeast and I have been happily baking away producing a wide variety of different breads which are being eagerly gobbled up by my gang!

 

At €110 for a full day’s hands-on baking under Patrick’s guidance (which includes the cost of the ferry to and from the island) I think that this course represents real value. Numbers are deliberately kept small with no more than 6 or 7 places on each course. This definitely encourages better group interaction. All ingredients and utensils are provided and also included is lunch which made by Laura, was absolutely delicious. You will also receive a Firehouse Bakery bag containing a dough/bread scraper and copies of all the recipes that you and the other participants cooked during the day… Oh, and make sure to bring something with you to carry home all the bread that you bake, because you will be leaving laden down!

 

Firehouse Bakery & Bread School

Bakery:

Old Delgany Inn

Delgany

County Wicklow

 

Bread School:

Heir Island

Skibbereen

County Cork

 

Telephone:     

085 1561984

01-2876822 (bakery)

 

This article first appeared in TheTaste.ie

Rich Chocolate Cake

My gang absolutely love anything that contains chocolate and are constantly bemoaning the fact that I don’t use it more often in my cooking and baking. They would be quite happy if I spent all my time in the kitchen baking chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake and the like!

 

Truth be told, I am often disappointed with a lot of desserts and cakes that contain chocolate as they either don’t actually taste of chocolate or contain chocolate that is far too bitter. I want something that has a full and genuine chocolate flavour and is satisfying to eat. To use chocolate effectively requires a deft touch and an appreciation of this hugely popular ingredient.

 

I have been on the hunt for a chocolate cake recipe that satisfies my rather exacting requirements and think that this one in pretty much perfect in all regards. It is rich with an intense chocolate flavour being provided by the inclusion of both melted chocolate and cocoa powder. However, due to the use of whisked egg whites, which are folded into the cake batter just prior to baking, the resulting cake is light and not too heavy or dense and is not dry to eat. Finally, it is covered by a thin layer of chocolate ganache which sets to a beautiful glossy icing on the finished cake.

 

Although I used a chocolate with 70% cocoa solids in the cake batter, I decided that this would be a little too bitter for the ganache icing and used one with 58% cocoa solids instead. This still gave a good chocolate hit and made the resulting cake palatable to adults and children alike. If you like, you can flavour the icing with a little brandy, Cointreau or other liqueur to make it a really grown-up and indulgent treat but if it is being consumed by children leave it as is. Either way, this cake is delicious.

 

As regular readers will know, I love cakes that are adaptable and can be served as a dessert or as a cake in its own right and this is one that works well as both!

 

Ingredients:

130g butter
170g caster sugar

5 large eggs, separated

130g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) melted and allowed to cool a little

100g self-raising flour

15g cocoa powder

Icing:

175g dark chocolate (58% cocoa solids), roughly chopped into small pieces

125ml double cream
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan Oven 150C/Gas Mark 3. Butter and flour a 27cm round spring-form tin and set aside.

2. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-electric mix, beat together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks, one-by-one mixing well before adding the next.

3. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate and sieve the flour and cocoa powder together and fold into the batter. In a separate, clean bowl using clean whisk attachments on your hand-held electric mixer, whip the egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks.

4. Mix one third of the egg whites through the batter to loosen it and fold in the remainder, trying to preserve as much of the air as possible. Make sure the egg whites are well mixed in and then pour the batter into the prepared tin, levelling out the mixture to the edges of the tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until risen and springy to the touch. Do not over-bake as this will result in a dry cake.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out to finish cooling completely on a wire rack.

Icing:

6. Place the chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Place the double cream in a small saucepan and heat until over a moderate heat until the cream is almost boiling. Immediately pour the heated cream over the chopped chocolate and stir using a small whisk until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture has a thick sauce like consistency.

7. Allow to cool for twenty minutes or so, stirring every-now-and-again until the mixture has thickened slightly. Spread over the COOLED cake, spreading it out slightly with a small off-set spatula, if required. Allow to stand for an hour before serving in order to give the icing a chance to set.

Serves 10-12.