OSCARS BRIDGESTONE GUIDE TOP100

morels

Fresh Irish morels picked by Louis Smith author of 'Forest Fungi in Ireland' Morels

Spring and early summer is a time when the countryside really comes to life. Early season fruits and vegetables become abundant as do the selection of seafood’s available. But one wild food which grows in spring and early summer which seems oddly out of season is also one of Ireland’s greatest delicacies.

The Morel mushroom is unusual as it is an early season mushroom and would be regarded by many gourmets as second only to the truffle in terms of taste, indeed a great many, myself included would regard the morel as the superior mushroom. The morel is an odd looking mushroom of which there are many in the genus for example the black morel or morchella elata. The mushroom has a honeycomb structure and would be regarded by the untrained eye as a ‘pooky mushroom’. In fact all morels contain helvellic acid which is highly toxic but easily destroyed on cooking so morels must never be consumed raw. Additionally and as is the case with all wild mushrooms expert identification is also of crucial importance.

When Louise Smith lecturer of culinary arts in GMIT and author of the outstanding ‘Forest Fungi in Ireland’ calls into the kitchen of Oscars with what could be regarded as a treasure in fresh morels its easy to get a bit excited.

One of the best flavour pairings in the culinary world is morels and cream and this combination can produce some of the most decadent sauces possible. When using ingredients which are as good as fresh morels its best to keep any dish as simple as possible as to show off the core ingredient as much as possible.

One very simple dish would be simple pasta of fresh morels flavoured with a little fresh tarragon.
For a great pasta recipe which is by Frank O’Conner lecturer at GMIT

1 kg ‘00’ flour

2 whole eggs

460 gram egg yolk

80 gram milk

32 gram olive oil

Knead for 15 minutes and allow rest for one hour

Feed through a pasta machine to produce a fine fettuccini, blanch in boiling salted water and refresh.
To make a morel cream
1 large shallot chopped fine

100 grams morel mushrooms chopped to a medium size

50 ml white wine

50 ml chicken stock

100 ml fresh cream

5 grams of butter

5 grams fresh tarragon chopped fine

Sweat the butter, shallots and morels in a thick based pot until soft but cook without colour. Add the white wine and reduce by half, then add the chicken stock and again reduce by half. Finally add the cream and allow reduce gently until a coating sauce like consistency is achieved. Adjust seasoning and finish with the tarragon.

To serve simply toss the fresh pasta in the morel cream and serve straight away.

By Michael O’Meara chef at Oscars bistro Galway city www.oscarsbistro.ie

frogs a bit different but great to eat

Frogs legs

Most people in Ireland, if invited to try a tasty meal of frogs legs would be inclined to run a mile! It’s really a pity as this little amphibian can really make a good meal. Interestingly it may well be an idea for an enterprising farmer to even consider farming fresh frogs, as the market for this delicacy is far bigger than you might expect. I introduced frog onto my menu more as an experiment to see if they would actually sell, and indeed they did. Although the frog is most often associated with the French and their cuisine, frog meat is in fact served in a great many countries all around the world ranging from Louisiana through to China. The meat is delicate and chicken like but a little creamier in texture, lending itself to a large number of culinary uses. The frog which is preferred for the pot is not the common frog often found in Ireland but rather Rana esculenta which is a larger animal with black markings. Wild frogs are highly protected in France and due to this most are now imported into Europe from as far away as Japan.

Frogs are normally sold fully prepared and are often frozen. Its best to treat the meat as you would chicken, taking all the normal precautions in particular insuring the meat is cooked well.

A few very simple recipes include

Frogs legs fried in garlic butter and lime

5 pairs of frog’s legs per person
½ clove of garlic
Chopped plat leaf parsley
One wedge of lime
20 gram butter

Season the frogs with salt and black pepper, then toss in a pre-heated pan with 5 grams of butter, add the garlic when half cooked. When cooked (the meat will easily come away from the bone) add the remainder of the butter, the parsley and finish with a squeeze of lime juice.

Deep fried frog’s legs
Season the frog’s legs with salt and pepper, then lightly flour shaking off any excess, pass them through egg wash then toss in fine bread crumbs.
Deep fried till golden and cooked, serve with a selection of sauces and lemon wedges


A small note to any producers, I’m hoping to include as many local foods as possible in this article. So if you would like me to create and photograph a dish using your product contact me at foodandwinephotography@gmail.com

Fresh tasty Irish crab

whats next on the cook book?
Fresh Irish crab
Photography and text by Michael O’Meara

Far too often the only use given to this versatile and decadent decapod, this abundant and delicious crustacean is to eat the claws and forget about the rest. Fresh crab when sold whole is one of the best value shellfish on the market. The culinary uses of crab are immense and range from simple soups to some of the great classic recipes of the world. There are many species of edible crab common to Irish waters. The most popular crab used for the table in Ireland is the common or edible crab. The shell of the common crab is about eight inches wide and reddish brown in colour. Other superb table crabs are the Velvet crab and the spider or spiny crab. The best way in which to kill a crab is by placing the animal into a deep freeze. This will slow the metabolism of the crab and put it to sleep. To cook pre-boil a large pot of salted water and cook the crab for around 20-30 minutes, drain and rinse under cold water until cold. When cold pull the claws of the crab, turn the body over and separate the body from the main shell by applying pressure behind the tail flap. Remove and discard the gills or dead mans fingers as they are known. The body of the crab contains meat but a lot of work is required to get to it I normally retain this part of the crab to be used as a base for a sauce or soup. The soft brown meat left in the main shell is great when simply mixed with some lemon mayonnaise and chopped parsley. A good way in which to obtain fresh crab is to approach one of the fishermen operating out of the small Galway piers such as Barna or Spiddal and ask if they might sell you some of their fresh catch.

Whole crab is great as the base for a seafood pie.
Melt 20 grams of butter with 20 gram of flour in a saucepan and allow cook without colour for 3 minutes, this is called a roux. Add 100 ml whole milk and whisk with the butter and flour mix allow cook till the sauce thickens and then mix 60 grams Killen Galway cheese into the sauce. Mix in 100 gram fresh cod to the sauce and all the white and brown meat from one freshly cooked crab add a dash of white wine and a tablespoon of chopped parsley and 20 ml cream. Pipe some fresh hot mashed potato around the rim of a crab shell. Fill the seafood mix back into the shell of the crab, sprinkle with a little Killen cheese and bake in the oven at 180°C for around 10 minutes. Serve straight away with a light tossed salad.

If crab claws are the only type of crab you can get.
Melt 25 grams butter and the juice of ½ a lemon in a frying pan, Add the crab claws giving 8 medium claws per portion. Fry in the butter without allowing the butter to colour until the crab is heated through and finish with a little chopped parsley.

Crab cakes are easy and will always go down a treat.
Mix 400 gram cold mashed potato with 200 grams mixed white and brown crab meat, add one egg and 30 grams flour. Mix in 3 finely chopped scallions and two tablespoons of chopped parsley. Season with salt pepper and a little cayenne pepper. Form the mix into golf ball size balls and flatten slightly. Pan fry in a little butter till golden and serve with lemon mayonnaise.

Hake

Hake

The consumption of seafood in Ireland is very much on the increase with us Irish finally embracing what is possibly our greatest food source and marine resource. Although the Irish territorial waters contain some of the best fishing grounds in Europe possibly making our marine natural resources the most significant of all our resources, for some crazy reason we have allowed the EU take control of our seas and we control only a tiny percentage of the allowable catch or quota. The world demand for food is very much on the increase and Ireland is incredibly well placed to take significant long term advantage of this increasing demand. SO LETS START GETTING BACK FULL CONTROL OF OUR WATERS!
One fish which our waters are rich in is ‘Hake’ and its smaller relative ‘Silver hake’ indeed when in prime condition hake is a difficult fish to surpass. Hake (Merluccius merluccius) is classified as a codfish and can grow up to a meter in length. The fish is impressive with a smooth grey skin, large eyes and an impressive barracuda like set of teeth. Hake are night hunters with the main season beginning around September. The flesh is delicate and should not be allowed overcook, also its best to cook hake on the bone as the flavour is far superior. The head of the fish is full of flavour and makes a good addition to the seasoning of many fish soups. The Portuguese people regard hake as a favourite food as do the Spanish.

To cook hake

Get your fish monger to cut the hake into either fillet or better steaks cut through the bone. Season the fish with sea salt and black pepper, freshly crushed, then flour lightly. Heat a thick based non-stick pan and add a little clarified butter then place the fish gently onto the pan and allow to cook gently for about 5 minutes. Turn the fish and repeat the process on the other side. Then remove the fish from the heat and place a cover on top of the pan allowing the residual heat of the pan complete the cookery process. The fish is cooked when the flakes of the fish start to separate, or if cooked on the bone the flesh can be eased away from the bone. You might have to cook the fish a little longer especially if the pieces of fish are large.

A very simple salad to serve with your hake is a vine tomato and baby spinach salad.
Cut one vine tomato per person into wedges and use about 100 grams of baby leaf spinach.
For the dressing mix 40 ml balsamic vinegar with the juice of one lemon then add 40 ml extra virgin olive oil. Whisk the dressing then toss the spinach leafs and tomato in the dressing.

By Michael O’Meara
Chef of Oscars bistro Galway city www.oscarsbistro.ie

grapefruit, fresh and fun!

Grapefruit

By Michael O Meara
Oscars Bistro, Galway City www.oscarsbistro.ie


Big juicy and utterly delicious, the grapefruit is a fantastic and versatile fruit, great on its own or as part of a dessert. The grapefruit is possibly the largest commonly available citrus fruit cultivated from the larger pomelo which was first recorded in the sub-tropical region of Barbados the fruit was also known as the ‘forbidden fruit’ or ‘Shaddock’. It was Captain Shaddock who brought the first pomelo seeds to Jamaica which led to the first true grapefruit. The name grapefruit was likely conceived due to the way the fruit grows in clusters on the tree almost as a bunch of grapes. This fruit is an excellent source of vitamin C and is particularly valued as a breakfast fruit, with its bitter sweet taste making it a very refreshing part of the morning meal.
There are two main varieties of grapefruit being the Duncan and Marsh, the Duncan is the more flavourful. Grapefruits became particularly popular with the introduction of the red or ruby grapefruit which is now the more popular variety over the traditional yellow types, the pink variety of grapefruit can not be canned as they loose their colour. Conversely about half the world grapefruit crop is made into juice.
Grapefruit are not particularly good for savoury dishes as they tend to dominate in flavour, making them a better choice for sweet and desert type dishes, but grapefruit marmalade is a real treat when made well.
The grapefruit has been successfully crossed with a number of citrus fruits such as the tangerine grapefruit cross the ‘tangalo’ other grapefruit crosses include the ugly fruit.


Grapefruit is great for breakfast and makes a fantastic component to a citrus salad.
Simply peel and segment an orange, pink grapefruit, yellow grapefruit, mandarin orange and a blood orange, then squeeze the juice of a lime all over the segments. In summer a dollop of lemon sorbet served atop a simple citrus salad makes a refreshing and healthy start to any day.

Plums, a good fruit a tasty fruit

Plums
By
Michael O’Meara
Oscars Bistro Galway


The food authority Waverly Root cites the plum as “one of the worlds most luscious fruits”. Indeed when juicy and ripe a fresh plum is a thing of culinary perfection. Plums are incredibly versatile and make the most stunning compotes which can be used as a base for tasty sauces, ice-creams or accompaniments to both sweet and savoury foods. Duck roasted and served with plum sauce, plum compote with fresh vanilla ice-cream or tangy plum compote served with a strong blue cheese, heaven.
There are a great many varieties of plum available and the colours of the plum can be as stunning as the taste of the fruit, ranging from deep blue through to bright purple and the all the way to vibrant yellow. Plums are closely related to cherries, so close in fact that a cherry could almost be categorised as a small plum.
Plums have been cultivated for thousands of years but virtually all the plums we see today are the result of crossing three species being the Euoropean plum (P. domestica), American plum (P.americana) and Japanese plum (P.salicina). It should also be noted the Japanese plum is originally a native of China, but was improved by the Japanese. The name plum in the Middle Ages was often a source of confusion as the plums was the name donated to almost all dried fruit, this included raisins, hence the name plum pudding which we nowadays call Christmas pudding.

To make a tasty plum pie simply follow the recipe below

For the filling

1 kg ripe plums with the stones removed and chopped into medium sized chunks
400 grams granulated sugar
Place the plums and sugar into a thick based pot and allow to gently stew until very tender. Place aside and allow cool.


Short crust pastry
Sift 225gram plain flour into a bowl and stir in a pinch of salt.
Add 50gram chilled butter and 50gram lard cut into small pieces.
Lightly rub into the flour until you gain a breadcrumb like texture.
Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of cold water over the mixture then use a tablespoon to mix the mixture.
The mixture will form into clumps; press these together by hand to form a ball.
Allow the pastry to chill for at least 30 minutes
Butter and then lightly flour a baking flan tin.
Roll out the pasty and line the flan tin with the pastry then bake blind for 10 minutes in the oven at 180°C. Fill the pastry with the plum compote.

For a crumble topping to the pie
50g flour
25g butter
25g brown sugar
Blend ingredients together in a food processor and spread over the top of the pie and bake for about 10 minutes or till golden in a moderately hot oven.
Serve with vanilla ice-cream and enjoy.