Dinner Tonight!

Try out the following receipes and do let us know how you get on - or if you've any particular recipe you would like to share with us!

Casserole of Red Gurnard with Prawns and a Tarragon Cream   Ingredients Serves 4 300g gurnard, cut into strips 300g prawns, peeled 1 tablespoon olive oil For the tarragon cream 700ml fish stock 250ml cream 1 onion, finely diced knob of butter 1/3 cup white wine vinegar 25g flour 25g soft butter 1 handful fresh French tarragon, chopped Method To make the tarragon cream: boil together the fish stock and the cream until slightly thickened. In a separate pan sauté the onion in a knob of butter, add the white wine vinegar and boil until the vinegar has almost evaporated. Add the stock/cream mixture to the onions and heat again. Mix together the 25g of flour and soft butter. Have the creamy stock simmering whilst you whip in teaspoonfuls of this roux into the stock. The sauce will thicken into a smooth velouté. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 170ºC. If you have individual ovenproof casseroles, use these for this dish. Otherwise use just one. Sauté the fish in the olive oil for 2 minutes, then place the fish carefully onto the bottom of each casserole. Pour over the tarragon cream. The mixture should be quite saucy, with the pieces of fish sitting in a bath of the tarragon cream. Finish the casserole off in the oven for 4-5 minutes. Taken from Irish Seafood Cookery by Martin Shanahan & Sally McKenna

Buy the Guides Online!

Champ   Ingredients 1kg main crop floury potatoes 1 bunch scallions (spring onions), approximately 100g, white and green parts 100ml cream 50g butter ssalt and pepper Method Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut into large dice and put in a medium saucepan, and just cover with water. Simmer, partially covered, until soft. There should be no ‘give’ in the potato when pierced with a knife. Meanwhile trim the scallions, keeping as much of the green as you can, and thinly slice on the diagonal. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and boil to reduce by half. When the potatoes are cooked, pour off the water. Leave the lid ajar and let the cooked potatoes rest and dry over a low heat, when they will become floury. Mash the potatoes using a potato masher. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, and then, with a fork, whip in the cream, the butter and finally the scallions. Serve with a little — or a lot — more butter on top.

Buy the Guides Online!

Oatmeal-fried Mackerel with Bacon   Ingredients For each person salt and pepper 1 tablespoon medium oatmeal 1 mackerel, filleted generous knob of butter 2 rashers of smoked bacon lemon wedge parsley Method Put the salt and pepper and oatmeal onto a plate and press the mackerel fillets down on top. The oatmeal should stick to the fish. Melt a generous knob of butter in a frying pan and fry the bacon until just crisp. Remove the bacon, and keep warm. Place the fish, flesh side down in the bacon-buttery juices and cook for approximately 3 minutes. Turn over and cook for a further 3 minutes, or until the mackerel is cooked. Put the mackerel and bacon on the plate and drizzle over any pan juices that remain. Serve garnished with a lemon wedge and a sprinkling of parsley. Goes equally well with boiled potatoes or buttered slices of brown soda bread. Taken from Irish Food, Slow & Traditional by Sally McKenna

Buy the Guides Online!