Beef on the bone for the Wildes of Turloughmore !

Definitely one our favourites when in the west of Ireland. Ciaran, our butcher, (who swears that we knew eachother in a previous life!)has the best beef I've ever tasted and has these steaks off to a fine art. Usually in Ireland this is the traditional Sunday roast - boned, rolled and tied and roasted (usually for ages! )
So ask you butcher not to bother boning and rolling -  a great alternative Christmas dinner.
 (Also called Châteaubriand)

So good that Ciaran, my brother, when tasting these babies said ' Oh man, if you told me this was human I'd still have to eat it Sinéad'....wow, what a compliment!

You'll need:

•  1 ribeye steak - fairly thick - one does 4 French people - 3 Irish!! **
•  Coarse unrefined sea salt. Place some salt all over the meat and leave (out of fridge) for   about an hour before cooking over very hot coals - rhis ensures that the meat cooks evenly throughout.

** 2 Australien as one guest pointed out :)

• 10 mins.each side for medium rare, 
• 15 for medium and so on

Leave to 'rest' wrapped in foil for at least 10 mins. before removing bone and slicing.
Serve with Garlic butter and Gratin Dauphinois (garlic potatoes) aswell as a few greens.
Our girls love Yorkshire Puddings with this too.

  Garlic butter (beurre d’escargot)

•  2 large cloves garlic, crushed
•  100g/4 ozs. unsalted butter, at room temp. 
• 25g/ 1 oz. chopped parsley
•  Black pepper
•  A little lemon juice 

 Crush the garlic cloves on a board under the blade of a large kitchen knife. Add a pinch of salt and work into a smooth paste. Scrape the paste into a bowl and add the butter, lemon juice, parsley and black pepper. Mix together well and then spoon onto a sheet of cling film and shape into a log about 3cm thick. Wrap in more cling film and chill or freeze until needed.

  GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

•  1 kg/2 ½ lbs potatoes (150-200g/5 – 7 ozs. per person approx.)
•  3 cloves of garlic, crushed 300ml/1
•  ¼ cups double cream/crème fraîche
•  300ml/1 ¼ cups milk s/p nutmeg (optional) 

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F Gas 2 Butter a large gratin dish. Peel and finely slice the potatoes. Rinse in cold water to wash off the starch. Dry with kitchen paper. Arrange the potatoes in the gratin dish with the garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix the cream and milk together and pour over the potatoes. Bake in the oven for a little over an hour.

On Friday night we went to my favourite local, Le Petit Bourg, for dinner. Yannick, my favourite chef, was in a particularly good humour and invited me along to a cookery class on Saturday afternoon. I had a ball! It was all about foie gras - how to choose and what to look for, how much to pay for a decent piece etc. but most importantly we had a liver each to play with. Like play dough really, we softened the liver with our thumbs before finding the vein which we later removed (buy deveined if you can) and prepared our terrines. However as nothing goes to waste in Yannick's kitchen - the sign of a true chef, he tells us, is not what he creates with his ingredients, but what he does with the leftovers - food for thought you'll aagree? So with the scraps and a little more we made the ultimate in amuse bouche (nibbles) a crème brulée de Foie Gras..

Crème Brulée de Foie Gras For 50 Verrines (served as an amuse bouche) 12 egg yolks 375ml pouring cream 300ml full fat milk 375g foie gras Salt, pepper, cardamon and foie gras spices A little truffle/fig oil (optional) Serving : Chutney – Fig for example though many others would do - I have a Christmas one here. Gingerbread Duck confit ( in tiny pieces) Heat together the cream, milk and seasonings. In a blender, blend the egg yolks and foie gras. Add the milk mixture and blend. Sieve. Add a drop of truffle oil if using. In the bottom of a ‘verrine’ (small glass) place a little fig chutney, then some duck confit. Pour some of the foie gras crème brulée on top and bake in a bain marie @ 95°C for 40 minutes. Allow to cool for up to 6 hours in fridge before sprinkling with a little brown sugar. Using a chef torch ‘burn ‘ the sugar. A little sliver of gingerbread can be placed on top.

Well hello again!

It's been a while but we're back for more recipes with the odd anecdote thrown in for good measure .. This month, November with its long winter evenings, is perfect for a decent soup. For a great winter warmer try out this one....

    Cream of Lentil Soup

•  500g/1 lb lentils 
• 2 carrots 
• 1 bouquet garni 
• 1 onion 
• 60g/2 ½ ozs smoked lardons
•  5 shallots, finely chopped
•  4 cloves garlic 
• 2 litres/3 pints chicken stock
•  0.5litre/3/4 pint cream 125g/6 ozs. butter
•  Bay leaves and thyme

 Blanche the lentils (just bring to boil in water and stop then place in freezing water) Cook them in chicken stock with the aromatic garnish (carrots, bouquet garni, onion) Once cooked (about 20 mins) drain them, keeping the cooking liquid. Sweat (don’t brown) the shallots with the garlic, smoked lardons, bay leaves and thyme. Add the cooking liquid, reduce by half, add the cream and reduce again by half. Strain, pushing out the flavors. Then add 150g/6ozs. lentils , strain and blend, strain again. Season. And for that special occasion ;)

  Fois Gras with cream of lentil soup

• Mini lardons, chopped chives and chopped shallots. Fry the lardons and drain well. Fry the shallots in butter. Mix together and drain well.
•  Fry foie gras until browned on both sides. Place in a preheated oven for a few mins. Place the lardon/shallot mix on top. Mix the reheated lentil cream to a mousse with a hand mixer. Place a spoon full in a soup bowl. Arrange the foie gras on top garnished with some chopped chives.