Neven Maguire: summer shows and summer salads

What a great success the Clonmany Show was last week. The weather was mixed, but that didn’t stop 10,000 people coming to enjoy the Donegal event.

I did several demos; some with my good friend, Brian McDermott, who was involved in the organising. Noel Cunningham came to one of my demos. He is always a very funny man to have a chat with.

I was also delighted to welcome Daniel O’Donnell to the stage. He was mobbed, but made time for everyone. I had a good conversation with him and I suspect Daniel is a better cook than he lets on.

Salad Niçoise is one of those staples that you always see on menus in France.

Tuna is a good, healthy, oily fish and you can bulk the salad up with things like peppers or other vegetables if you like. You may get some fresh tuna and sear it.

If you are using canned tuna, though, I always recommend Shines Irish tuna which is of a consistently good quality.

This meal also works well in a wrap for a school lunch box. When it comes to the marinade, I always use extra virgin olive oil. I like to think of extra virgin as the king of oils.

I also love the taste of this pomegranate, orange and mint salad. I did it recently in my Portuguese Food Trails show and lots of people have told me they tried it, so I am happy to also share it with our Irish Country Living readers.

It is so refreshing and goes well with lots of dishes, or with a barbecue.

You can take the seeds from the pomegranate and freeze them. Mint is a fantastic herb and so easy to grow. This salad is delicious if you crumble some feta cheese over it.

Happy cooking,

Neven

Ingredients: Serves 4

For the marinade:

Method

1 To make marinade, place the olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley, chives, garlic and a teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a bowl; whisking to combine.

2 Place the tuna in a shallow, non-metallic dish and pour over half of the marinade. Cover with cling film and chill for 1-2 hours to allow the flavours to penetrate the tuna, turning every 30 minutes or so.

3 Place the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until just tender. Drain and leave to cool completely, then cut lengthways into quarters.

4 Place the eggs in a small pan and just cover with boiling water, then cook for six minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water, remove the shells and cut each egg in half.

5 Plunge the French beans in a pan of boiling salted water and blanch for a minute or so, then drain and refresh under cold running water.

6 Heat a griddle pan for five minutes. Remove the tuna from the marinade, shaking off any excess. Cook the tuna steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on how rare you like your fish.

7 Arrange the lettuce leaves on serving plates and add the potatoes, French beans, tomatoes, onion and anchovies. Place the tuna steaks on top and drizzle over the marinade. Scatter over the eggs, olives and torn basil leaves to serve.

Ingredients: Serves 4

Method

1 To get lovely slices of orange without any bitter pith; take a slice off the bottom and top of the orange, then carefully cut away the skin and pith following the curve of the orange, continue along the orange until you have removed all the peel and pith. Cut the orange into slices and repeat with the remaining oranges. Reserve any juice for the dressing.

2 Arrange the orange slices on a large glass plate and sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds. Whisk together the olive oil and orange juice along with any pomegranate juice, then season to taste.

3 Drizzle the dressing over the salad and then roughly tear the mint leaves and scatter on top to serve.

Read more

Neven Maguire: the fruits of summer are upon us

Neven Maguire: fresh, light and so tasty fish