Seafood Pie

Photography and text by Michael O Meara

Fish pie

There are few better ways to enjoy fresh seafood than a well made fish pie. A creamy white wine sauce flavoured with leek and parsley mixed with what-ever fish is available and of course best. Rich decadent mashed potato finished with real butter and cream and topped with local Galway cheese baked till golden, fish pie is really one of the great Irish foods.
There are no rules when it comes to what fish to use in a seafood pie. Mussels, prawns in their various forms, hake, cod, haddock and salmon, any fish will do. Smoked fish is often used and will give a great depth of flavour, but it is better to use the smoked fish sparingly and use fresh fish as the main base of the dish, at Oscars we use only fresh fish. The choice of potato is also important as a fluffy light mashed potato will make the pie into a meal to be remembered. Fish pies can be constructed and served straight away but will hold well in the refrigerator for up to a day.

To make a seafood pie which will serve 4 the following recipe will work well

For mashed potato
600 grams potatoes peeled and washed (use a dry variety such as roosters)
100 gram butter
50ml cream
50 ml full fat milk
Salt to season

Method: place the potatoes into a large pot and cover completely with cold water. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water and cover the pot with a pre-cut sheet of grease proof paper. Allow the water come to a gentle simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft and cooked through. Drain off the water and allow stand for five minutes to allow the potatoes dry out. Place the milk, cream, and butter into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Slowly pour the hot liquid over the potatoes while mashing ( you may not need all the liquid) season the potatoes and place aside.

For fish pie filling
150 gram salmon cut into 2cm cubes
100 gram haddock cut into 2cm cubes
10 large prawns
150 gram cod cut into 2cm cubes
70 gram mussels cooked and removed from their shells
Note: there are no rules for the fish selection and the above selection is intended as a guideline
50 gram butter
50 gram flour
50 ml cream
150 ml fish stock
100 gram leeks sliced fine
25 grams parsley chopped fine
30 ml white wine
50 gram shallots diced fine
40 gram Killen Galway cheese sliced thinly

Oysters

Text and photography by Michael O’Meara


Galway Oysters

Of all the foods produced in Galway none are celebrated as much as the oyster. The old saying that shellfish should only be consumed in a month with an ‘R’ in it may once have been good advice, but now days due to modern cultivation techniques it’s possible to enjoy fresh oysters right the way through the year. Having said that a celebration of the Galway oyster is an important part of our Galway traditions and both the Clarinbridge and Galway international oyster festival cater to this need in a brilliant way.
The main oyster bed in Galway is without doubt the Clarinbridge oyster bed. This natural oyster bed is one of the great culinary resources of Galway and should be valued and protected through every means possible. Oysters require a combination of fresh and salt water to induce the liver to fatten. The oysters of Clarinbridge benefit from the rivers Dunkellin and the Clarinbridge River. Galway oysters are world renowned, and for good reason. This saltwater bivalve mollusc when consumed in pristine condition is difficult to beat. A little Tabasco sauce and a squeeze of lemon is all that’s required. A pint of stout is the perfect liquid accompaniment to a freshly shucked dozen oysters. And after a meal like that a man could be ready for pretty much anything.


Although the purest will only eat their oysters freshly shucked with a squeeze of lemon there are a good number of people who might not like the idea of eating raw seafood. The following recipes are simple and very tasty as well.
To open or shuck an oyster a special oyster knife is highly recommended. Also try to get a demonstration from an experienced shocker.
1. Wrap the oyster in a teacloth and place on a firm service with the flat part of the shell facing towards you.
2. Holding the oyster firmly insert the oyster knife into the gap at the hinge of the oyster.
3. Twist the blade which will snap the shells apart.
4. Slide the blade along the top flat shell to sever the muscle, discard the top shell.
5. Dislodge the oyster from the shell being careful not to spill any of the juices.
6. Enjoy
Please note that you should only eat oysters which have firmly closed shells and also feel heavy.

Oyster fritters.
Pouch six oysters per person in the own juices and then let them cool in there own juice. Drain then dry in a little kitchen paper. Season the oysters in a little chopped garlic and lemon juice.
Mix a pakora batter; with 1 clove of garlic chopped fine, 15 grams parsley chopped fine, 70 ml water and 70 grams Gram flour. Whisk all ingredients together and season lightly.
Lightly flour the oysters, dip in the batter and fry till crisp in very hot oil, Serve simply with lemon wedges.

Grilled oysters

Open six oysters per person.
Mix 50 grams fine breadcrumbs with a finely chopped clove of garlic, 20 grams melted butter and a tablespoon full of chopped parsley. Place a teaspoon full of the breadcrumb mix on top of each oyster and grill under a hot grill until golden.

Angels on Horseback
An old classic but still a great dish; remove 12 oysters from the shells and wrap each one in a slice of Collerans or some other Galway produced streaky bacon. Skewer each wrapped oyster with a wooden toothpick and grill under a hot grill until the bacon is cooked. Serve with hot buttered toast.

Of course you can also enjoy Oysters at Oscars bistro in Galways Westend

Ice-Cream

Ice-Cream
By Michael O’Meara Oscars bistro Galway

With all the talk of the recession and all this doom and gloom I thought a piece on possibly the most successful dairy product which is known to put a person into a good mood was called for. Indeed ice-cream is a relatively new food which was originally invented in Italy in around the 17th century and then adopted into French cuisine from where its popularity has increased at an exponential rate. The first mention of ice cream in English was 1672 and was served at the feast of St. George at Windsor. Although we take the availability of ice-cream on a hot summers day for granted, it was the development of modern refrigeration which has made ice-cream available to the masses. Before Refrigeration Lake ice would be cut in winter and stored under-ground throughout the summer months. Salt was added to the ice to allow it to cool below zero degrees centigrade. A bowl was placed into the ice-water mix into which the ice-cream would be poured and churned by hand; this was the pot-freezer method. An ice-cream machine was developed by French patisseries but the first hand cranked churn was likely developed in America. Liquid nitrogen has been used to make ice-cream but this might be a little impractical for most home kitchens.
When making ice-cream the churning action coupled with freezing allows for smaller ice-crystal formation, this gives ice-cream its smooth texture.
Now back to the recession, I often hear economists (modern day tarot readers?) go on about the food industry being boring and so on. Well two companies now control more than one-third of the global ice-cream market they are Nestlè and Unilever. In 2007 the global market for ice-cream was predicted to hit $65 billion (Euromonitor) with Europe being the world’s largest market worth $21.5 billion in 2006. This is still a high growth market and might be of interest to a country with the best milk in the world, just a thought and maybe time for the development of an internationally recognised brand a bit like Ben & Jerry’s.

To make a basic ice-cream
6 organic egg yolks
100 gram sugar
300ml full fat milk
300ml cream
1 vanilla pod

1. Place the milk, cream and vanilla pod (split into two with the seeds removed and mixed with the liquid) into a heavy based pot and bring to a gentle simmer, allowing the vanilla to infuse.
2. Place the sugar and egg yolk into a bowl and lightly mix, add half the hot milk and cream to the bowl and stir in the eggs and sugar.
3. Pour this mixture back into the pot with the remaining milk and cream and allow cook till the mix slightly thickens (do not allow the custard to boil).
4. Strain the mix and then pour into an ice-cream machine, churn until smooth and creamy.

Fish Curry

Text and photography by Michael O Meara Oscars


Curry

One of the most traditional English dishes dating back to the East India trading company. Curry may be delicious when made well, but Indian food it is not. Now the spices and their combinations used in curry are indeed very much Indian, but in India they tend to be fresh and far more fragrant than what we see in Ireland. The name curry originated from the word Kari which means spiced sauce. Curry powder was a British invention which allowed the spice combinations of the Indians to become far more user friendly, also transporting a powder is a lot simpler than moving complex varieties of foods across continents. Various spiced sauces can not only be found in India, but also in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia to name two. Each of these countries cuisines have approached the way they make their sauces in completely different ways for example the Malaysians way favour coconut pineapple bases to some of there sauces. In contrast the Thai people use complex combinations of fresh flavours such as wild ginger, lemon grass, coriander and lime leaf. The common element running through all curries is the use of chilli which varies to a tremendous degree in heat intensity. The way is which chilli peppers heat is measured is the Scoville scale named after its creator Wilbur Scoville. The substance that makes chillies hot is capsaicin and pure capsaicin measures 15’000,000 to 16’000,000 Scoville units. The scale starts with the mildest pepper, being the sweet bell pepper which rates as zero, the commonest hot pepper in Ireland is the Jalapeno with a rating of 2,500 the Hebanero comes in at a blistering 150,000-325,000 but the King of hot peppers is the Naga Jolokia (ghost chilli) with a rating of over 1,000,000 Scoville units, to put that heat into context Law enforcement grade pepper spray heat starts at 500,000 units.

For a simple fish curry (serves 3 – 4)

500 gram mixed fish cut into bite sized pieces, keep prawns and shellfish whole
1 Aubergine sliced into thin strips
Holy basil (normal basil will work) 50 grams

For sauce
1 tin of coconut cream
1 tin 300ml tin of pineapple pieces
Juice of one lemon
Thai fish sauce to taste
Puree together, place into a large pot and bring to a gentle simmer

10 coriander seeds crushed
10 fennel seeds crushed
3 Kaffir lime leafs
1 lemon grass fresh, chopped
10 grams ginger peeled & chopped fine
25 gram Thai red curry paste
Add to the coconut / pineapple sauce and allow infuse for 5 minutes
Then add the aubergines and allow cook for 3 minutes, add the fish and cover with a lid, poach until the fish is cooked. When cooked finish with the basil leaf, adjust seasoning with fish sauce and serve with boiled rice and fresh cut limes.

Blackberries

Text and photography by Michael O’Meara

Blackberries

The blackberry is a fruit which holds a great deal of nostalgia and happy memories for many of us. Out picking wild blackberries during a fresh Autumn evening, taking your haul home, hands purple from the juice of the berries and making some of the finest jam imaginable, bliss. Although the bramble is considered to be worse than a weed by many, it really gives up what is probably the most accessible and tasty of all the wild foods. Now finding a good spot to pick your blackberries is important, away from the road side and anything else which might contaminate the fruit. Picking the fruit is simple and oddly relaxing, and a couple of kilo of fruit can easily be gathered in no time at all. Just looking at a bucket of freshly picked blackberries certainly gets the old culinary juices running. They have so many uses ranging from the best duck sauce ever to a base for countless desserts. Even the leafs make a fine tea reputed to aid indigestion.
There are said to be over 2000 varieties of blackberries and the berry is a close relative of the raspberry. A common cross between a blackberry and raspberry is the loganberry. Additionally it is said that a blackberry should not be picked after September 29 as the Devil is said to spit on them. Although there is a degree of sense to this as after this date the blackberry rapidly deteriorates and becomes prone to insect infestation.

One great use for blackberries is jam and it’s easily made.

Use 175ml of water for each kg of fruit and allow soak for 14 hours. Place fruit and water into a deep and thick based pan add the juice of one lemon for each kg of fruit. Bring to a gentle simmer, then add 900gram of sugar per kg of fruit. Allow simmer for a further 20 minutes, skim and pot as you would any other jam.

Another simple, tasty and economical recipe is rice pudding finished with your fresh blackberry jam.

One cup short grain or pearl rice.
Three cups of whole milk
50 gram sugar
10 gram vanilla extract
Allow the milk come to a gentle simmer with the vanilla in a pot; add the sugar and then the rice. Allow cook gently stirring regularly until the rice is completely cooked. You can get a bit decadent and finish with a drop of cream also it may be necessary to add a little more milk as the rice cooks.

Serve in a bowl with a generous dollop of blackberry jam and enjoy.

Wild sea trout

Trout

By Michael O Meara
Oscars bistro, Galway City 091 582180


Wild trout, a fine fish which Galway is justifiably known and distinguished for. Indeed there are few fish meals comparable to a fresh brown trout, simply wrapped in tin foil with a generous piece of butter and cooked over an open fire allowing the skin to crisp while the flesh remains deliciously tender and succulent.
Of course there are a number of trout species found in our lakes and rivers which include the brown trout, Ferox, Sonaghan and Slob trout all of which are superb for the table. But a trout which resides in the sea is for me the number one, this of course being the sea trout. This is a stunningly handsome fish which is very similar to a salmon. But the sea trout (Salmo trutta morpha trutta) is in fact the same species as the brown trout ( Salmo trutta morpha lacustris). The divining difference being that one spends its life at sea, the other in fresh water which leads to obvious differences in diet and environmental adaptations. The sea trout can grow to a good size with the Irish record being an impressive 16Ib 6 oz fish caught in 1983 by Tomas Mc Manus. But a caution must be mentioned and that is the sea trout is a vulnerable fish and stocks must be tightly controlled, fish for the table should only be sourced from sustainable stocks and always be tagged. A major treat to wild sea trout is in shore salmon farming which can lead to a high number of sea lice which attacks the wild fish, again this is a major issue as the protection of our wild sea trout is vital for our world famous angling industry.

Wild sea trout with crushed new season potatoes and wild garlic

Wild garlic can be found in many of Galway’s woodlands.
1 kg new season Queens washed well and boiled in well salted water (or even better, seawater)
100 gram butter
50 gram wild garlic blanched and coarsely chopped.
Drain the cooked potatoes then roughly crush with the butter; finish by incorporating the wild garlic.

To cook the sea trout
Scale the fish, then fillet pin bone and divide into portions. Cook in clarified butter skin side down allowing the skin become crisp and almost mahogany in colour (not burned)
Turn over and finish cooking.
Serve with the crushed new season potatoes

Strawberries and chocolate cake

Chocolate cake
By Michael O’Meara, Oscars bistro Galway city


It would be hard to imagine a world without chocolate, with much of the world’s population declaring a serious addiction to this sweet food. Cultivated for over three thousand years in Mexico but now with West African countries producing the majority of the world’s crop. A major issue with many of the worlds chocolate supplies is that they are produced with child labour with the majority of the major manufacturers only placing token controls into place to address this serious issue.
There are many varieties of chocolate with the three main types being Milk, Dark and White chocolate. Dark chocolate has been singled out for having a variety of health benefits due to it containing a large number of antioxidants. Additionally the pleasant feelings often associated with consuming chocolate can be attributed to the presence of alkaloids such as phenethylamine and theobromine which are associated with the levels of serotonin in the brain.
Moving away from the scientific attributes of chocolate; to make an impressive chocolate cake try the following recipe:

Grease a 25 cm cake tin and then lightly dust it with flour



5 eggs
150g Caster sugar Place into a steel bowl over a hot water bath and whisk until light and creamy, remove from the heat and continue whisking until cold

120 g flour
30 g cocoa powder sifted together

60g butter at 37°C Fold the flour / Cocoa into the egg mixture gently, then add the butter again gently folding in but don’t mix too much
Pour into prepared cake tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 195°C for 25-30 minutes. Turn out on a wire rack and allow cool


For chocolate cake butter cream

5 egg yolks
175 g caster sugar
50 ml water
Place in a basin and whisk over a hot water bath until thick and creamy, remove from heat and whisk until cold.
250 g butter (unsalted)
Cream the butter and add to the egg mix a little at a time with a wooden spoon, beat well.

To make chocolate butter cream, simply melt 50 g good dark chocolate and mix into the butter cream.

To finish the cake, cut the now cooled sponge in half and fill the centre with butter cream then sandwich back together. Cover the cake with the remaining chocolate butter cream and decorate with fresh strawberries.