Review: Neven Maguire Cookery School, County Cavan

Set in a beautiful landscape of rolling hills and picturesque lakes, Blacklion is a tiny village in County Cavan close to the Fermanagh border and is home to the extraordinarily popular MacNean House & Restaurant owned by Neven Maguire – chef, cookery book author, television host and champion of Irish food and producers.

 

In 2014 Neven realised a lifelong ambition and opened his own Cookery School; a place where he could share his enthusiasm for and knowledge of food and cookery with the aim of getting more of us into our kitchens cooking! Located beside the restaurant in Blacklion, there are a number of courses on offer at the school and definitely something to suit everyone irrespective of age or cooking ability.

 

Courses on offer include the half day Parent & Child cookery course with full day courses on Summer Entertaining, Cooking for Friends & Family and Christmas Made Easy, amongst others. A two day Home Chef course is also available and was the one that I decided to attend, using the two days away as an excuse to stay overnight in the MacNean House accommodation!!!

 

Some people idolise actors or pop stars but I go weak-at-the-knees for famous chefs and as such, I will admit that I was a little star-struck meeting Neven for the first time! Managing (probably not that successfully) to retain some level of composure, I joined the rest of the class, who had arrived before me.

 

Classes are kept deliberately small with no more than ten or twelve participants. As a result, not only is there great camaraderie within the group but the small numbers mean that you really have the chance to get stuck in and cook everything yourself without feeling cramped. The kitchen is beautifully decorated in grey and muted green tones and has every mod-con that you could possibly want during the course. Induction hobs are fitted in the kitchen and even after only two days using them, I am converted and WANT one!

 

Neven demonstrates each dish first, giving you plenty of tips along the way including useful suggestions on alternative ingredients that can be used. Booklets of all the recipes covered over the two days are distributed but Neven is on hand at all times to answer questions and offer guidance.

 

Ably assisted by the wonderful Claire and Olivia, all the ingredients are weighed out and ready, so that you can get straight down to cooking but you still prepare your meats, vegetables and practice your knife skills and other cooking techniques along the way.

 

We cooked in pairs, each having a work station, hob and oven to ourselves with each duo making the decision on how to divide the various tasks involved in making each dish. During the two days, we baked breads and pastries, made soups and sauces and cooked an astonishing array of starters, main courses and desserts. Lunch on both days consisted of dishes that we had cooked ourselves, washed down with a glass or two of wine.

 

The first dish that Neven demonstrated to us was his Kaitafi Prawn Salad but this was only the beginning. During the two days we also made Vietnamese Chicken Salad, Braised Pork Belly, Gratin of Hake, Duck with Creamed Cabbage & Sweet Potato Fondants as well as Pear Frangipane Tart, Lemon & Passion Fruit Posset with Macerated Berries, Chocolate Truffles and many other sauces, breads etc. We all found making the sugar cases for our possets great fun, if more difficult than we initially thought and couldn’t understand how Neven made it look so easy!

 

To say that the Home Chef course is only about cooking would be inaccurate. In the afternoon on the first day, we were treated to a Wine & Cheese Tasting delivered by Blaithín, the restaurant’s highly experienced Sommelier. Sitting on the veranda behind the Cookery School on a heavenly summer’s day, it really felt as if life couldn’t get any better! I found the tasting session very informative and learnt some very interesting things.

 

On the second day, we were given a tour of the gardens by Kevin, who grows and tends to the plants, herbs and vegetables many of which are used to supplement ingredients used in the restaurant.

 

We also visited the restaurant kitchen; where under Head Chef Glenn Wheeler a brigade of chefs was busy at work preparing the food prior to that night’s service. I was mesmerised by the amount of work and attention to detail that goes into preparing dishes for a fine-dining menu, so to get a glimpse of life behind-the-scenes was fascinating.

 

The course is relaxed, informal and tremendous fun. Neven speaks fondly about his family and in particular his wife Amelda and their twins Connor and Lucia. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as he comes from a large family, you really get the feeling that, for him, food and cooking are very much about a sense of community and showing your love for those closest to you. This may sound rather hackneyed in this cynical old world of ours, but all things considered, it’s not a bad philosophy; food certainly has the ability to bring people together!

 

Neven wants to give participants a culinary experience to remember and I can truly say that this is one of the best cookery courses that I have ever been on. Given the amount of dishes you cook, the Home Chef course is intensive but you never feel stressed or harried. Although I would be an enthusiastic and fairly experienced home cook I still learnt so much and, over the two days, made dishes that I know will become mainstays in the cooking I do for my family.

 

The Home Chef course was one of the most enjoyable things that I have ever done and I would strongly recommend it to anyone. At €495 for two days, it may initially seem like a whack of money to pay but all the ingredients are provided, you learn so much and most importantly you have great fun. I felt that it was worth every cent and I genuinely believe that there are few people who would come away disappointed after the two days.

 

Everything that you make and don’t consume on the course is packaged up for you to bring home when leaving. It’s not an exaggeration to say that my car was packed full of tasty treats which my family and I feasted on over the next few days! Amongst other things, each of us was also given a bag containing an apron, some Donegal Rapeseed Oil and a choice of any one of Neven’s cookbooks which he signed and personalised for us.

 

This was such a memorable experience and who would have thought that two days cooking in County Cavan could be such great fun?
 

Neven Maguire Cookery School

Main Street

Blacklion

County Cavan

 

Telephone: 0719853022

 

For information on courses: www.nevenmaguire.com

 

This review first appeared in TheTaste.ie

Restaurant Review: #BrunchofChampions, San Lorenzo's, Dublin

Somebody should have warned me…

 

In retrospect, it might not have been the best idea to arrive ravenously hungry to brunch in San Lorenzo’s on Dublin’s South Great George’s Street. My eyes were bigger than my stomach and fuelled by hunger, I may have over-estimated the amount I could eat. They don’t call this the #BrunchofChampions without reason but that didn’t mean that I had to look upon it as a challenge!

 

Arriving at 10.30am on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning just as the restaurant opened its doors, I was astonished to see how quickly the tables filled up. Granted, the surroundings are stylishly trendy and have an air of urban chic about them but the enthusiasm of the prospective diners to place their brunch orders indicated that this was somewhere that was about more than just being seen in the latest fashionable spot.

 

Zombie

San Lorenzo’s has a 75 minute seating time limit which I was informed about when booking my table. This didn’t present a problem as I had another appointment immediately afterwards and in fact, I considered this further evidence of the apparent popularity of the brunch menu – a good sign!

 

Brunch is one of my favourite meals; it smacks of rising late and dining in a leisurely fashion with all manner of sweet and savoury goodies to tempt the taste buds! Experts tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and we all know the benefits of eating a balanced diet but sometimes you yearn for something extravagant and a little bit naughty to eat, especially if suffering the after-effects of over-indulgence from the night before!
 

Lobster Benedict

After being seated we ordered breakfast cocktails to sip on as we decided on what to eat; a Zombie, made with rum, pineapple juice, passion fruit and Angostura bitters for me and an Espresso Martini for my friend Eithne. The Zombie, despite being very boozy was a perfect brunch drink with lovely fruity and refreshing elements but the Espresso Martini? Well… this was in a league of its own! It was absolutely superb and with my tendency towards hedonistic excess I find it amazing that I have never tried one before. It was delicious, easy to drink and a great pick-me-up; strongly recommended for anyone who loves coffee and even those who don’t.

 

The menu has many tempting dishes on it and we found it hard to choose just one each to order. I was determined to try the Lobster Benedict but was also finding the allure of the intriguing sounding Coco Pops Crunchy French Toast hard to resist. In the end, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I unleashed my inner glutton and ordered both! Not to be outdone, Eithne decided to go for the Baked Ham followed by the French Toast Stack.

 

Baked Ham

At €23.95, the Lobster Benedict is not cheap but for the quality of the perfectly cooked lobster alone, this was a dish that was worth every cent. Lobster has a natural sweetness when cooked well and the accompanying tomato/pepper sauce accentuated this. Topped with a marie-rose like hollandaise sauce and with some grilled spears of asparagus, this was a truly decadent dish. Although I’m more used to eggs benedict served on split and toasted English muffins, I loved the toasted plain bagels on which the lobster was placed. The chewy texture of the bagels stood up far better to the wonderfully runny poached ages and the other elements of the dish than toasted muffins would have. Heavenly!

 

Eithne’s Baked Ham consisted of a generous portion of warm sliced baked ham topped with two poached eggs coated in a buttery hollandaise sauce. Along with some peppery watercress and grilled asparagus, this was a dish that excelled because of its simplicity – a dish using quality ingredients which had been flawlessly prepared and cooked.

 

French Toast Stack

The French Toast Stack was made using 4 slices of thickly-sliced rich and buttery brioche which soaked up the eggy custard in which it was soaked before being fried off. Presented with 6 slices of crispy, lightly smoked bacon and a plentiful amount of maple syrup, this dish was a winner.

 

My When Harry Met Sally moment came upon taking my first bite of the much anticipated Coco Pops Crunchy French Toast. All I can say is… OH… MY… GOD…! It was unbelievable! I dread to think how any calories it contained but it tasted so good. Again brioche (two slices this time) had been soaked in eggy custard to which Coco Pops had been added before being fried. The bottom layer was smeared with peanut butter which gave a wonderful nutty saltiness that was completely addictive. A large blob of lightly whipped cream and some sliced bananas may have been overkill to some, but I was in a state of profound ecstasy… oh, and did I mention the chocolate sauce…? The extravagance of this dish was something to behold, but I loved it – every single mouthful.

 

Coco Pops French Toast

Needless to say, after all this excess, I was unable to eat a full meal for nearly two days, but it was worth it. Lighter dishes are available, but every now-and-again it’s nice to give in to temptation.

 

This is not the place to come to if you want a lazy and languorous meal to ease you into the day. The music is loud, the tables are placed close together and everything is a little fast-paced… but the waiting staff are friendly and attentive and the food was wonderful. I can’t wait to return.

 

Brunch is served in San Lorenzo’s on Saturdays, Sundays and most Bank Holidays; 10.30am-3.00pm

 

San Lorenzo’s

South Great George’s Street

Dublin 2

 

Tel: 014789383

Web: www.sanlorenzos.ie

 

This review first appeared in TheTaste.ie

 

Espresso Martini

Restaurant Review: Loam, Galway

Loam in Galway has been on my foodie bucket list for a while so I was delighted to finally get the opportunity to visit recently. Located off Eyre Square in a rather anonymous looking building, this restaurant cum wine bar has a spacious, modern feel inside which reflects the style of the food perfectly.

Diners can opt for a ‘simplicity’ menu and select from the three options given for each course or choose the 6-course tasting menu. Although brief, the menu features many unusual ingredients along the way. As seems to be the fashion these days, dishes are described by means of a roll-call of the ingredients, which in real terms doesn’t overly enlighten the diner about what they will eat, but certainly does retain an element of surprise which is only revealed when the dish arrives.

 

Goat's Cheese Cones

Suppliers are referred to as ‘collaborators’ reflecting the ethos of the restaurant which adopts an almost partnership approach to its producers. Granted, this ideological standpoint might seem contrived but many would argue that it offers a sound template for the future of food and dining out. Restaurant food is not divorced from the environment in which it is produced, so one can only admire those chefs who recognise and embrace this on the menus that they create by using ingredients from the immediate locale. The menu in Loam changes regularly to reflect the seasonal availability of ingredients locally.

 

With an open, on-view kitchen you can freely observe Head Chef Enda McEvoy as he works. I was transfixed watching my meal being prepared and was struck by the Zen-like air of focused calm which prevailed in the minimalist kitchen.

 

Beef Tartare

Bread and an amuses bouches selection arrived soon after we were seated. This troika of bite-sized delights looked beautiful and I was eager to dig in. Least successful was the Potato Nest with Ash as, despite possessing a pleasing crunch, I couldn’t detect the flavour of the ash. The Pear, Kohlrabi, Hazelnut was full of refreshing, crunchy textures and tasted deliciously clean on the palate. Similarly, the cone of Whipped Goat’s Cheese & Chive Flower using Dunmanus goat’s cheese teased the taste buds in all the right ways and promised further treats ahead on the 6-course tasting menu which we had decided upon.

 

Monkfish Liver

Beef Tartare, Egg, Salted Gooseberry was the first dish to arrive. Simply presented this was a striking dish which showcased the wonderful quality and delicious flavour of the beef that was used. For anyone squeamish about eating raw meat, I urge you make your way to Loam and try this dish. The beef was wonderfully tender and succulent and I loved the warm ‘sauce’ created by the runny but cooked egg yolk. The elements of a classic beef tartare were all there but what distinguished this from others that I have eaten was the inclusion of salted gooseberries. The salty astringency that they imparted elevated this dish to something that was as close to perfection on a plate as you can get.



Duck Hearts

Next up was Monkfish Liver, Onions, Lion’s Mane Mushrooms. Here the fish liver had been combined with cream to create a fine textured ‘sausage’. Sitting in a small pool of squid-ink broth and accompanied by some bittersweet caramelised onions and almost alien-looking lion’s mane mushrooms, this was a delicate dish, sensitively cooked. The mushrooms in particular were a revelation, possessing a slightly chewy texture und an underlying subtle seafood taste that worked so well with the other elements of the dish.

 

Susan, my guest for the evening has a fish allergy so couldn’t eat the monkfish but this did not present a problem. Duck Hearts, Little Gem, Sheep’s Milk arrived in its place without any fuss. I have only eaten duck hearts on one previous occasion and wasn’t particularly enamoured with them but here they dazzled jewel-like on the plate and looked so inviting that I felt compelled to try them and I was delighted that I did because they were outstanding. Accompanied by charred little gem lettuce, lovage sauce and a sheep’s milk froth, this was another perfectly balanced, top-notch dish.

 

Asparagus

Asparagus, Woodruff & Pine, was a seemingly simple dish consisting of both wild and cultivated asparagus on a woodruff and lovage purée with fermented double cream. Wild asparagus possesses a somewhat grassy taste which I found contrasted beautifully with the lactic tanginess of the fermented cream. Pickled spruce needles are new to me, but I loved their inclusion and the unexpected ‘pop’ of flavour they delivered.

 

Duck, Chicory & Beet was the next course to arrive and in many ways was the simplest of the evening. The accompanying beetroot provided a gentle sweetness as did the duck and apple jus whilst the slight bitterness of the braised white chicory cut through the overall richness of the dish. For me, the extreme bitterness of the red chicory leaves was a little too much but the perfectly cooked duck breast made up for this and I enjoyed the dish.

 

Duck

We were then presented with a stunning looking pre-dessert. Cucumber & Pear consisted of a cucumber sorbet, small pearls of compressed pear macerated in lemon and some shards of cucumber meringue. Carefully flavoured with a little dill, I thought it was absolutely delicious and one of the most unusual sorbets I have ever tasted with palate cleansing properties that were second-to-none.

 

I certainly wasn’t expecting to see ice-cream when Sheep’s Milk Yoghurt & Strawberry arrived. Not that this was regular ice-cream but rather, a frozen confection made from sheep’s milk yoghurt and squid ink! Although the dark grey colour was unsettling to look at, I liked its unique taste, particularly when eaten with the strawberry meringue, strawberry gel and dehydrated white chocolate crumb which came with it. This was a great finish to the meal.

 

Cucumber, Pear

Petit fours – a Blackcurrant Pastille and Nougat were presented as we sipped on well-made espressos and finished off our wine – a bottle of 2011 Garnacha ‘Salvaje del Moncayo’ from Spain; a smooth wine with a nice fruity character, which I felt was reasonably priced at  €27.



Of all the restaurants I have eaten in over the past two years, Loam has lingered longest in my thoughts after the meal was finished and I want to do it justice. Reviewing restaurants is subjective and often difficult. No words can fully express nor do photographs truly depict the experience of eating a meal for yourself. Reviews document the food in a very two-dimensional way and at best merely whet the appetites of readers and potential diners.

 

Sheep's Milk Yoghurt, Strawberry

In many ways you have to leave your culinary pre-conceptions behind when you enter through the doors of Loam but this is what makes the food so exciting and different. I felt as if my palate had been invigorated by the meal that I ate. On one level the food is challenging and may not be accessible to all but this is impressive cooking that is innovative and deserves to be recognised. More importantly, this is food that should be experienced, eaten and enjoyed.

 

Items on the ‘Simplicity’ menu are individually priced with starters and desserts around €10 and main courses €30. The 6 –course tasting menu which must be ordered by the entire table costs €60 or €90 with wine-pairings.

 

Loam

Geata na Cathrach

Fairgreen

Galway

 

Telephone: 091569727

Website: www.loamgalway.com 

 

This article first appeared in TheTaste.ie

 

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Spiced Amaretto Cherries

Strangely, although I quite like the taste of chocolate, I rarely yearn for it the way that some people do. I also find that as I have gotten older my taste buds have changed and now I prefer to eat chocolate that is slightly bitter with a rich chocolate taste.

 

I fully appreciate that for some people nothing beats chocolate and that, if they see a dish containing it on a restaurant menu that will be the dish that they will go for! There’s no doubt it chocolate is extremely popular. My children would be quite happy if everything I cooked or baked included chocolate and they are at a loss to understand why I insist on making other dishes!

 

This dessert is definitely one that ticks all my boxes. The panna cotta, although rich and possessing an intense chocolate is not too bitter, so also appeals to younger diners. Nor is the panna cotta overly set but rather, it retains a pleasing wobble which makes it heavenly to eat. Coupled with the spiced cherries, this makes an elegant dessert which gets its inspiration from the flavours of a classic Black Forest Gateaux, the bastion of many a 1970’s dinner party!!! In fact this reinterpretation would make a lovely finish to any 21^st Century dinner.

 

I’m really pleased with how the spiced cherries turned. Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know that I am a big fan of the Italian almond flavoured liqueur and that I use it regularly in my cooking.

 

Both the cherries and the panna cotta are easy to make and can be prepared well in advance. You will probably have more cherries than you need but they keep well stored in the refrigerator and along with some toasted hazelnuts and a dollop of lightly whipped cream would also make a lovely topping for some French toast or as an accompaniment to some ice-cream.
 

Ingredients:

Spiced Amaretto Cherries:
175ml water

75ml Amaretto

220g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod, halved and seeds scraped out

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

600g fresh cherries, destalked, pitted and halved

Chocolate Panna Cotta:

200g dark chocolate (I used Green & Black’s 70% cocoa solids)

2½ leaves of gelatine

200ml of whole milk

250ml double cream

100g caster sugar
 

Method:

Spiced Amaretto Cherries:

1. Place the water, Amaretto, sugar and spices in a medium sized saucepan over a moderate heat. Stir gently until all the sugar has dissolved and then increase the heat and bring up to the boil. Allow to bubble for 3-4 minutes until the mixture has reduced slightly and become syrupy.

2. Tip in the cherries, and reduce the heat so that they are simmering gently. Cook for a further 3 minutes and then remove from the heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate before serving.

Chocolate Panna Cotta:

3. Lightly grease 6 individual dariole moulds (about 150ml capacity) with a little vegetable oil and set aside.

4. Break the chocolate into small chunks and place in a medium-sized heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.  Once the chocolate has melted remove the bowl and set aside to cool slightly.

5. Place the gelatine in a small bowl of cold water for five minutes.

6. Place the milk, cream and caster sugar into a small saucepan and bring up to simmering point. Stir occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved and then strain through a sieve onto the chocolate in a steady stream, stirring constantly so that everything is well combined.

7. Remove the gelatine from the bowl of water and squeeze out any excess moisture. Add to the chocolate mixture stirring until it has completely dissolved.

8. Divide the panna cotta mixture evenly between the 6 dariole moulds and set aside to cool completely before covering each mould with a little cling film and refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least four hours before unmoulding (or allow to chill overnight).

9. Unmould by dipping each dariole mould into a bowl of hot water for about 5 seconds before upturning onto individual serving plates. Serve with a couple of spoonfuls of the spiced cherries.

Serves 6.