From the pass

Miso Glazed Celeriac #from the pass

We recently did a function with the CBA Presidents Dinner, Taste of Cork. I was asked to create a plant based menu that reflected the main menu.

We decided to go with an experiment that Marcus has been working on, Miso baked celeriac. It was tender but firm. When caramelised and cut, it almost looked like a piece of grilled chicken.

I served the celeriac on a base of potato & leek hash and with a slow baked carrot.

Sunday 7 April

Lightly Pressed Mushroom Terrine, #from the pass

In a week we will have a dinner in collaboration with seven other chefs from Cork, as part of Taste of Cork and CBA Presidents Dinner. As I am doing the plant based menu I want to experiment with items and techniques I have not done before. To layer the terrineIi wanted to create a layer layer that reminded me of a dish I did many years ago at The Planet Restaurant, a pressed duck terrine with FG. To do this I needed to make a cashew mushroom mousse. We also created the pulled duck effect with mushroom binded with chia and coconut yoghurt. Was it a success, Partially! Next time thinner layers and a firmer mousse.

5 April

Fire Grilled Mackerel with Apricot glaze and dill oil, #from the pass

One of the great advantages of living in Cork, is the selection of fresh fish available.

For weeks now Marcus has been asking that we get Mackerel. With the arrival of the grill this was made easier as Mackerel really benefits from being grilled on a fire.

15 March

Beef Wellington, #from the pass

We had to put it on the menu. This time we merged the spinach into crepe, giving a nice green colour and giving us an opportunity to use all the old wilted stuff. We then added a braised element from the pie mix with beamish. Served with parsnip puree and slow baked carrot.

20 January

Lamb Liver and Lamb Sweetbreads, #from the pass

We experiment with new dishes all the time, on this plate we have pan fried lamb liver, with sauteed lamb sweetbreads in a mushroom sauce. It will not go on the menu now, but will go into the library for later. Some more refinement is needed. Pickled capers or pickled onion.

9 January

Smoked Salmon, #from the pass

Since my arrival in Cork I have wanted to smoke Salmon in house, the quality is so much better, we control all the elements. As part of the process we cure with all the gin flavours available. This gives it a beautiful spiced flavour not found anywhere on a shelf.

Served with salmon rillette and horseradish cream.

15 December

Crusted Lamb Loin, #from the pass

For another day, into the library. We often have small batches left from production, and the more we work on items the more ideas we have. Some are served as specials and go to the library. Seared local Irish lamb loin, with a lamb farce in a seed crust, served with king oyster mushrooms and fermented currants.

8 December

Seared Irish Salmon, Salmon Rillette, Pickled Cucumber and Horseradish Cream, #from the pass

We wanted to create a fresh Salmon Dish for a VIP client, to intensify the flavour we brined the salmon for several hours. Caramelised it with a little help of maple and pepper. It came together with pickled cucumber and smoked salmon belly rillette.

18 September

Venison Wellington, #from the pass

This was a matter of time, I wanted a wellington on the menu, but with using venison with the season in full swing. Served with a fondant, roasted vegetable puree and roasted baby carrot. Think it can do with a little sweetness.

9 August, #from the pass

Country Style Terrine, #from the pass

With a recent function where we had charcuterie and cheese as the feature, we made our own smoked duck, duck rillettes and country terrine. As this is one of my favourite culinary delights, I had to make a terrine for the event. This also gave us another item we can add to the library for future use. We had a fair amount of offcuts when trimming duck and pork, this gives and opens the door to other opportunities, if all is respected we have multiple opportunities. We made this terrine with pork and duck, apricots, pistachio and shitake mushrooms.

1 August,

Salmon Terrine, #from the pass,

Another creation that is born from the belly and tails after we trimmed for the menu. Partially smoked and partly roasted salmon pieces used.

Capers, chives and dill added for flavour with cream cheese. Wrapped in smoked salmon.

Accompanied by a tarragon dressing and capers.

Served on a sunday as part of the sunday brunch.

6 July

Spice Roasted Cauliflower, , #from the pass

We wanted a vegan main course, cauliflower allows a beautiful marriage in flavours.

Cauliflower is seasoned and marinated in light lemon based curry marinade with coriander and curry leaf.

In this feature we have a cashew chickpea sauce. I also use all the trim and discarded bits in the beautification of the dish. With the addition of cauliflower salad and Cauliflower pickle

7 June

Carrot Lox, , #from the pass

When I was working and the Mount Nelson, we were working on a lot of plant based vegan concepts, Kirstin was instrumental in driving many of the ideas and concepts.

We were working on ideas for afternoon tea, Kirstin worked an idea to making a smoked carrot to replace smoked salmon on the tea sandwiches. This was genius, by no way a new idea. She just made it perfect. ]

I decided to use the same concept and create a new dish for our vegan guests. With a almond curd, toasted almond, pickled shallots.

26 May

Roasted Bone Marrow with Roasted Garlic, #from the pass

We were receiving marrow bones to make stock, not the ideal bone for a stock. Needless to say, we removed the bone marrow after roasting. I wanted to use for some future applications, in doing so we created a little snack on the specials menu with roasted garlic and thyme. This was beautiful and indulgent.

12 May

Lamb Loin Crepinette, #from the pass

Seared lamb loin with a herbed rustic lamb farce, wrapped in crepinette fat.

We created a special and a new library item.

Served with fingerling potatoes, asparagus with sauteed onions and a hollandaise.

7 May

Cod Roasted with Tomato, Olives, Capers & Chickpeas

As part of the lunch special, we received beautiful fresh cod. We lightly brined the fillets and roasted baby tomatoes, capers, olives, garlic and olive oil. This was amazingly fresh with a nice mediterranean feel.

30 April

Tomato Cheddar Sourdough Sandwich #from the fire

With the sun setting later and warmer weather approaching, has given us the opportunity to test my baby BBQ. We always make a “braai broodtjie” (fire grilled sandwich)

There is something special about this sandwich, we used crushed garlic, olive oil, basil, pepper and salt with the cheese and tomato. We butter the outside before toasting. This allows for a crustier crust, that must be eaten from the fire.

6 April

Lamb Shoulder en Croute, #from the pass

Call this a fancy pie, we slow cook the shoulder in Beamish and onion. We then roll the pulled chunks of shoulder and cool. Portions are cut and topped with slow braised beamish onion, covered in puff pastry and baked.

Served with beamish gravy and mash

18 October

Club Sandwich, #from the pass

Part of any young chefs initiation into our kitchen is to get thrown into the corner where you are shown how to make a club sandwich, possibly the biggest seller on the menu. Many chefs believe that a kitchen is judged on how the club is made. Every chef and kitchen has its own method and each will layer the sandwich differently. Some kitchens have a three layer sandwich, some with fried egg or egg mayo. We make two different sandwiches, both has lettuce and tomato with mayo and cheese, then we have one with bacon and egg, the other has avocado and grilled chicken.

2 September

Chicken Larb, #from the pass

In working on new fresh ideas for the pool, we created this beautiful chicken minced salad with the addition of mint, coriander, toasted jasmine rice powder, spring onion, lime and fish sauce. The first time I tasted this was on a visit to Laos, next to the pool at a sister Belmond Hotel Luang Prabang.

August

Ceviche Revisited, #from the pass

We have been serving ceviche for many months, in this we have learnt many lessons. Nothing more so than the Leche de Tigre recipe (Tigers Milk)

It must create an explosion in taste! With the right blend of onion, chili, fresh white fish, coriander, chili and garlic. We started making the Tigers Milk daily to ensure freshness. It was as important as the freshness of the fish.

21 May

As-aartappel, #from the fire

A braai is not a good braai without a good pre-starter of as-aartappel, we often serve the ash-potato after the braai broodtjie.

Large potatoes are thrown into the hot fire, once soft, we remove, cut the top open and serve with loads of butter and salt and pepper eaten with serviette holding potato and a teaspoon mashing in butter & salt with pepper as you dig down. The Best!

12 May

Lamb Shank baked in Puff Pastry, with slow cooked lamb neck #from the pass

We were tasked with hosting with the Mount Nelson Interhotel Challenge Dinner, we had to use lamb, mostly secondary cuts. We used Shank and Neck, now I do not consider these as secondary, there is more value in these than the loin.

Slow cooking the lamb shank in a rich stock with red wine, star anise and rosemary, delivers a beautiful soft flavorful meat. I asked the butcher to collect the shanks over a couple months, curb them into 8cm shanks for the event.

We used a fondant potato that we broke into pieces that were made crispy and served with chickpeas, tamarind and prune puree.

10 May

Crayfish Due, #from the pass

WOW! We broke this into three elements, Terrine, Tail and sauce.

Terrine was layered with all the trim and legs, mango and avocado. The sauce was made with the shells, forming a bisque, then adding cream, curry leaf and lemon.

The tail is cooked in butter with curry leaf and cooked gently.

Served with spekboom.