Girolles season just about to start...

It won't be long now, the first of the Girolles poking their heads through the leaf litter in the West of Ireland. There is also an abundance of wild plants available at the moment. The dish below makes extensive use of all what is good out there right now:


Local Girolles, Gubbeen Chorizo, sauteed potatoes, caramelised onions, Sheep Sorrel, Wood Sorrel, Wild Garlic seeds and leaves, Wild Pea (Vetch) leaves and flower, Pennywort leaves and flower stems, Wild Garlic and Sour Cream emulsion, Lovage oil.

Galway Food Festival

At the recent Galway Food Festival I had the opportunity to represent Slow Food Galway with three very local and wild dishes......

At the cookery demonstration I showcased the following three dishes:

• Wild Garlic and Green Pea Soup
  with Scallop, Prawn Tapioca, Prawn Gel, Wild Pea and Scurvy Grass

• Duo of local Spring Lamb - Herb Crusted Rack, Lamb Belly Roulade
  with Sow Thistle, Carrot Purée, Confit Celeriac, Elderberry Capers, Elderberry Gel, St George's Mushrooms, Natural Jus, Wild Garlic and Lovage Oil

• Goats Milk and Gorse Flower Panna Cotta,
  with Rhubarb Gel, Spruce Sugar, Roasted Hazelnuts, Wild Primrose and Wood Sorrel

The foraged wild food basket included:

• Mushrooms: St George's, Scarlet Elf Cup, Jew's Ear
• Sandwort Leaves
• Scurvy Grass Leaves and Flower
• Sea Beet
• Sow Thistle Leaves
• Dandelion Leaves
• Wild Garlic Leaves and Flower
• Wild Primrose Flower
• Wild Pea (Vetch) Leaves
• Wood Sorrel Leaves and Flower
• Pennywort Leaves
• Gorse Flower
• Spruce Shoots

Preserved wild foods included:

• Elderberry Capers
• Elderberry Cordial
• Elderberry Vinegar
• Pickled Wild Garlic Flower Buds

Local produce was supplied and sponsored by:

• Goats Milk, Cream and Yoghurt - The Galway Goat Farm, Dunmore
• Scallops and Prawn Shells - Gannet Fishmongers, Galway
• Spring Lamb - McGeoughs Butcher, Oughterard
• Vegetables, Herbs and Honey -  Cait Curran’s Organic Vegetable Stall, Galway and Moycullen
• Rhubarb - Kate O'Dwyer, Headford
• Mustard - Brigid Brophy, Barna

For recipes of the dishes follow the link to my Recipe Section

GMIT Open Day Cookery Demonstration

At the recent open day of GMIT on January 25th 2014 the College of Tourism & Arts featured a cookery demonstration for possible future students, below are two dishes specifically created for the event.

A new take on beetroot texture with leek ash coated goats cheese, dandelion and hairy bitter cress.

Gorse flower & coconut Panna Cotta, mango & passionfruit gel, toasted coconut, spruce sugar, penny worth and wood sorrel

Sous Vide Lecture and Workshop

I was delighted to deliver another lecture on sous vide to second year Bachelor of Business Culinary Arts Students at the Galway - Mayo Institute of Technology.
After the most important theory part all attendees got to taste the beef cheek and carrot puree.
The dish below was produced to emphasise, how the sous vide cooking method enables chef's to create high quality food using relatively cheap and tough cuts of meat, like beef cheek.  

72 hour beef cheek;
carrot puree;
sauteed girolles and birch bolete; wild mushroom dust;
elderberry jus, -gel, -vinegar and -capers
lovage oil; wild pea and wood sorrel
 

The Moy House Experience

Two exciting and inspiring weekends have passed at Moy House.
Below you can find two pictures representing the dishes cooked throughout the time at Moy House.
For more detailed information on each of the menu items please refer to the Food Section and for some of the recipes to the Recipe Section of my blog.

Lunch at the Greenhouse, this got to be the best food in Ireland.......!!!!!!!!!!

As previously stated on this Blog: Words or pictures are not able to describe the talent of Chef Mickael Viljanen, his food needs to be experienced first-hand to truly understand his exciting way of cooking.

absolutely amazing, first course FOIE GRAS ROYALE, WALNUT, SEA BUCKTHORN

delightful second course RAVIOLO OF SHELLFISH, LEMONGRASS

5 course tasting menu, fish course GLAZED COD, WYE VALLEY ASPARAGUS, LOVAGE VELOUTÉ

for Main Course ROAST PIGEON WILD GARLIC SPÄTZLE, leg came on smoking charcoal to the table

To finish it all off LEMON, RASPBERRY AND MERINGUE

A true Genius at Work at the The Greenhouse Restaurant, can not wait to revisit!!!!

St George’s mushroom in abundance in Galway Ireland