Our cookery school was buzzing last Friday and Saturday, as we hosted our cooking for family and friends classes. It was a great weekend.
I’ve said it before, but I continue to see an increase in the number of men in our classes. This time, we had five men on the Friday, and seven on the Saturday – there is always a good mix of people in the classes, though.
Our guests came from Kildare, Sligo, Galway, Belfast and even further afield this time around. Everyone came for the craic –they all had a love for good food, and they went home with some new recipes and skills in their repertoire, plus a new apron and a cookbook – we couldn’t let them go home empty-handed, now, could we?
I always really enjoy our cookery school days, which I host with assistance from Claire, who you will know if you have ever attended one of my cookery demos at the Ploughing or elsewhere – she has been working in the cookery school and with me on demos for 15 years. We also work with the wonderful Marian, who has been with MacNean House for 50 years this year. We can’t get rid of her. She won’t let us!
Our cookery school days go from 10am to 4.30pm with a nice break for some wine and cheese in between. All of the ingredients are pre-measured and guests don’t have to do any washing up, which is always a bonus.
The day is all about eating, cooking and having some fun. The space itself is not huge, but it is cleverly designed and works well. Induction hobs have become popular, over the years, and these are also what we use in the cookery school.
I use my Cook range for the classes and cheekily get our guests to test things out. We are always working to tweak the range.
Getting to this week’s dishes, I have two egg recipes which are ideal for either breakfast or brunch. They look impressive enough to serve at a get-together, but are easy enough to prepare in advance.
The poached eggs with ham and spinach is a favourite breakfast recipe of mine; we serve these in the restaurant with some brioche – a sweet, enriched French bread.
This recipe is a variation on the classic eggs Benedict, which uses a hollandaise sauce (when you have it with spinach instead of ham, it’s known as eggs Florentine, but in this recipe you get both).
The sauce we use here is cream-based, as opposed to the classic hollandaise which is made with egg yolks. It is just as rich in flavour and as tasty as a hollandaise, and will also keep in the fridge for up to five days.
This is a great, substantial breakfast. The ham is delicious, but you could also serve this recipe with some streaky bacon or smoked salmon.
At breakfast in MacNean, we give our guests the choice of all three of those options. If you are having a vegetarian friend over for brunch, simply leave out the ham and serve the eggs with some roasted cherry tomatoes on the side.
For something which still looks and tastes impressive but is slightly less work, you could try these smoked bacon and egg croissants. You can find frozen, unbaked croissants in most supermarkets now, and they are very handy to have in the freezer.
Just pop them in the oven for 25 minutes and you have freshly-baked croissants. Our twins love fresh croissants with jam, but with this savoury breakfast recipe, the relish is absolutely delicious and is also great in wraps and sandwiches.
Again, the relish will keep well in the fridge. It’s a really nice one to make in the summer, especially for those who grow their own tomatoes. However, if you don’t have green fingers, it’s just as good made with tinned tomatoes.
If you don’t have time to make your own, there are some excellent Irish-made relishes out there — Wexford Preserves and Ballymaloe are particularly good.
Once assembled, these croissants freeze very well – I often keep some on hand in case I need a late-night snack.
Poached eggs with buttered muffins, ham and sautéed spinach
Ingredients: Serves 4
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 eggs
40g unsalted butter
350g baby spinach leaves
2 white muffins, split in half
225g honey-glazed baked ham, carved into slices
For the cream sauce:
50ml cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp softened butter
1 tsp snipped fresh chives
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Heat a large pan with 2.25l water. Add the white wine vinegar and bring to a boil.
2 Break each egg into the water where it’s bubbling, then move the pan to the edge of the heat and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
3 Remove the poached eggs with a slotted spoon and plunge into a bowl of iced water.
4 Once the eggs are cold, trim down any ragged ends from the cooked egg white. These will keep happily in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
5 When ready to serve, preheat the grill to medium.
6 Add half of the butter to a large pan set over a fairly high heat, and once it starts to foam, tip in the spinach and sauté until just wilted. Season to taste and drain off any excess liquid. Keep warm.
7 Arrange the muffin halves on the grill rack, cut side up, and cook for 2–3 minutes, until lightly toasted. Spread with the remaining butter.
8 Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the poached eggs and cook for 1–2 minutes to warm them through.
9 To make the cream sauce, place the cream and mustard in a small pan and simmer for 1 minute. Whisk in the butter and stir in the chives. Season to taste and keep warm.
10 To serve, place the muffins on warmed plates and arrange the ham on top, then spoon on small mounds of the spinach.
11 Using a slotted spoon, remove the poached eggs from the pan and drain briefly on kitchen paper. Place on top of the spinach and spoon over the cream sauce.
Smoked bacon and egg croissants with red pepper relish
Neven's smoked bacon and egg croissants with red pepper relish.
Ingredients: Serves 4
8 rindless smoked streaky bacon rashers
4 butter croissants
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
4 eggs
For the red pepper relish:
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, finely chopped
1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped (from a jar)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Large pinch of caster sugar
Good pinch of dried chilli flakes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 To make the roasted red pepper relish, place the tomatoes, red pepper, spring onions, basil, vinegar, sugar and chilli flakes in a saucepan and cook for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have softened. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and leave to cool.
2 Preheat the grill to medium. Arrange the bacon on a grill rack and cook for 5–6 minutes, until crisp, turning once. Slice the croissants, then open them out and place the slices of crispy bacon inside.
3 Heat a large frying pan and add the oil, swirling to coat the base evenly. Break in the eggs and cook for 2 minutes (or longer if you prefer your eggs less runny), gently spooning the excess oil over the yolks to help them cook.
4 Using a fish slice, carefully lift the eggs and put into the croissants. Then top each one with a spoonful of the roasted red pepper relish to serve for breakfast or brunch.
Read more
Neven Maguire: Cauliflower state of mind
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Our cookery school was buzzing last Friday and Saturday, as we hosted our cooking for family and friends classes. It was a great weekend.
I’ve said it before, but I continue to see an increase in the number of men in our classes. This time, we had five men on the Friday, and seven on the Saturday – there is always a good mix of people in the classes, though.
Our guests came from Kildare, Sligo, Galway, Belfast and even further afield this time around. Everyone came for the craic –they all had a love for good food, and they went home with some new recipes and skills in their repertoire, plus a new apron and a cookbook – we couldn’t let them go home empty-handed, now, could we?
I always really enjoy our cookery school days, which I host with assistance from Claire, who you will know if you have ever attended one of my cookery demos at the Ploughing or elsewhere – she has been working in the cookery school and with me on demos for 15 years. We also work with the wonderful Marian, who has been with MacNean House for 50 years this year. We can’t get rid of her. She won’t let us!
Our cookery school days go from 10am to 4.30pm with a nice break for some wine and cheese in between. All of the ingredients are pre-measured and guests don’t have to do any washing up, which is always a bonus.
The day is all about eating, cooking and having some fun. The space itself is not huge, but it is cleverly designed and works well. Induction hobs have become popular, over the years, and these are also what we use in the cookery school.
I use my Cook range for the classes and cheekily get our guests to test things out. We are always working to tweak the range.
Getting to this week’s dishes, I have two egg recipes which are ideal for either breakfast or brunch. They look impressive enough to serve at a get-together, but are easy enough to prepare in advance.
The poached eggs with ham and spinach is a favourite breakfast recipe of mine; we serve these in the restaurant with some brioche – a sweet, enriched French bread.
This recipe is a variation on the classic eggs Benedict, which uses a hollandaise sauce (when you have it with spinach instead of ham, it’s known as eggs Florentine, but in this recipe you get both).
The sauce we use here is cream-based, as opposed to the classic hollandaise which is made with egg yolks. It is just as rich in flavour and as tasty as a hollandaise, and will also keep in the fridge for up to five days.
This is a great, substantial breakfast. The ham is delicious, but you could also serve this recipe with some streaky bacon or smoked salmon.
At breakfast in MacNean, we give our guests the choice of all three of those options. If you are having a vegetarian friend over for brunch, simply leave out the ham and serve the eggs with some roasted cherry tomatoes on the side.
For something which still looks and tastes impressive but is slightly less work, you could try these smoked bacon and egg croissants. You can find frozen, unbaked croissants in most supermarkets now, and they are very handy to have in the freezer.
Just pop them in the oven for 25 minutes and you have freshly-baked croissants. Our twins love fresh croissants with jam, but with this savoury breakfast recipe, the relish is absolutely delicious and is also great in wraps and sandwiches.
Again, the relish will keep well in the fridge. It’s a really nice one to make in the summer, especially for those who grow their own tomatoes. However, if you don’t have green fingers, it’s just as good made with tinned tomatoes.
If you don’t have time to make your own, there are some excellent Irish-made relishes out there — Wexford Preserves and Ballymaloe are particularly good.
Once assembled, these croissants freeze very well – I often keep some on hand in case I need a late-night snack.
Poached eggs with buttered muffins, ham and sautéed spinach
Ingredients: Serves 4
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 eggs
40g unsalted butter
350g baby spinach leaves
2 white muffins, split in half
225g honey-glazed baked ham, carved into slices
For the cream sauce:
50ml cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp softened butter
1 tsp snipped fresh chives
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Heat a large pan with 2.25l water. Add the white wine vinegar and bring to a boil.
2 Break each egg into the water where it’s bubbling, then move the pan to the edge of the heat and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
3 Remove the poached eggs with a slotted spoon and plunge into a bowl of iced water.
4 Once the eggs are cold, trim down any ragged ends from the cooked egg white. These will keep happily in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
5 When ready to serve, preheat the grill to medium.
6 Add half of the butter to a large pan set over a fairly high heat, and once it starts to foam, tip in the spinach and sauté until just wilted. Season to taste and drain off any excess liquid. Keep warm.
7 Arrange the muffin halves on the grill rack, cut side up, and cook for 2–3 minutes, until lightly toasted. Spread with the remaining butter.
8 Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the poached eggs and cook for 1–2 minutes to warm them through.
9 To make the cream sauce, place the cream and mustard in a small pan and simmer for 1 minute. Whisk in the butter and stir in the chives. Season to taste and keep warm.
10 To serve, place the muffins on warmed plates and arrange the ham on top, then spoon on small mounds of the spinach.
11 Using a slotted spoon, remove the poached eggs from the pan and drain briefly on kitchen paper. Place on top of the spinach and spoon over the cream sauce.
Smoked bacon and egg croissants with red pepper relish
Neven's smoked bacon and egg croissants with red pepper relish.
Ingredients: Serves 4
8 rindless smoked streaky bacon rashers
4 butter croissants
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
4 eggs
For the red pepper relish:
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, finely chopped
1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped (from a jar)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Large pinch of caster sugar
Good pinch of dried chilli flakes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 To make the roasted red pepper relish, place the tomatoes, red pepper, spring onions, basil, vinegar, sugar and chilli flakes in a saucepan and cook for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have softened. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and leave to cool.
2 Preheat the grill to medium. Arrange the bacon on a grill rack and cook for 5–6 minutes, until crisp, turning once. Slice the croissants, then open them out and place the slices of crispy bacon inside.
3 Heat a large frying pan and add the oil, swirling to coat the base evenly. Break in the eggs and cook for 2 minutes (or longer if you prefer your eggs less runny), gently spooning the excess oil over the yolks to help them cook.
4 Using a fish slice, carefully lift the eggs and put into the croissants. Then top each one with a spoonful of the roasted red pepper relish to serve for breakfast or brunch.
Read more
Neven Maguire: Cauliflower state of mind
Neven Maguire: pass the pasta after the parade
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