Galway City & Dog’s Bay

This past weekend Patrick and I were treated to a child-free weekend away in County Galway. I say we were “treated” not because this trip was planned or paid for by anyone else, but because my amazing sister-in-law offered to take on our kids for the weekend. With baby #3 mere weeks away, how could we refuse?

We booked into the Westwood Hotel, which isn’t very central but the rooms are comfortable, clean and affordable and the hotel is conveniently located off Galway’s main ring road. I love Galway, but I admit – I don’t like driving in Galway.

The downtown is a tangle of pedestrian-only quays and alleyways. Many of the roads you can drive on are so small and congested I get panic attacks just thinking about them. It’s nice to drive to the hotel, park the car and just take a taxi into the downtown (no designated driver needed, either – not that I’m indulging these days).

We arrived on Friday evening. We needed a babysitter for the kids, of course, but we also needed someone to milk the cows for the weekend (farmers don’t really get days off!) so we were lucky to have people to cover both areas. Patrick helped with the evening milking before we set off – not a big deal, since Galway is just a little over two hour’s drive from the farm.

Homemade Miso!

When we arrived, we checked into the hotel and then took a taxi downtown. We had one thing on our minds: sushi. There are a few options for Japanese food in Galway, but I had been following Wa Café on Instagram for some time and wanted to give their fare a try. They recently made the Irish Times’ 100 Best Places to Eat so we knew we were in for something good.

We ordered nearly the whole menu (I’ve said before; we’re Japanese-food deprived here in Tipperary!), consuming several types of maki roll, a big bowl of Toyota-style ramen and a bento box featuring the most addictive, flavourful Karaage chicken and crisp vegetable tempura.

The next day we were up early, so we did some shopping downtown before brunch at Dela. This cozy restaurant was buzzing with activity. I hate queues, but our meal was so worth the 20-minute wait. I ordered bacon + crab potato cake with poached eggs, hollandaise, toasted brown bread and salad. It hit every mark for me – flavourful, properly seasoned, well-priced and the portion size was perfect.

After brunch we took a drive out to Connemara. Honestly, the day was so beautiful – sunny and warm – it would have been a crime to not find a beach. I had read about Dog’s Bay in the Irish Independent as it topped Ireland’s 30 Best Beaches, so we thought we’d check it out – even though it’s a full hour and a half from Galway city.

After driving through gorgeous, boggy, barren, mountainous, sheepey Connemara, we turned off the road about 20 km from Clifden. A winding road took us past Ballynahinch Castle and the cutesy village of Roundstone before we reached Dog’s Bay.

To say this beach is beautiful is an understatement. The coral sand is pure white. The water is so turquoise it looks about 20 degrees warmer than it actually is. This beach could be in the Bahamas or Maldives – you would not expect to see it in the middle of County Galway’s rocky landscape. We’ll be returning here again and again – next time with the kids.

That evening, we indulged in a seven-course tasting menu at Loam. True to it’s moniker, Michelin-starred Loam specializes in the tastes and terroir of the Wild Atlantic Way. They use produce and meat from local farmers, make their own charcuterie and surprise/delight diners like me with interesting and beautifully balanced plates of food.

We loved the “pasta” made from very-delicately-sliced squid, served with a soft egg yolk and a deep roasted onion broth. The local sirloin was served tartare-style, but it wasn’t like any other tartare I’ve had. The earthy beef was paired with anchovy, crispy onion and fresh ramson & sorrel – it was actually refreshing. For one of our two dessert plates, we loved the Chanterelle mushroom ice cream with parsley sponge and chocolate-hazelnut crumb.

Parting gift: a copy of the evening’s menu (comes in handy when you’re trying to remember each course!)

Those were our stand-outs from that night’s menu, but honestly – I loved the whole experience. We very rarely opt for tasting menus in restaurants because, more often than not, you leave feeling bloated and over-full. If you opt for wine pairings, you often end up with four unfinished glasses of wine you have to chug before dessert. Also? Sometimes. It. Just. Takes. Too. Long. I don’t want to be waiting 30 minutes between courses. We’re parents of young children and we WILL fall asleep at the table.

Loam has its guest experience down to a science. We were finished in roughly two hours, enjoyed the engaging, smart (but understated) service, LOVED the food and didn’t feel overstuffed (but also didn’t need to indulge in any late-night snacks). The one star from Michelin seems a bit stingy, actually.

We went straight to bed after dinner and left early the next morning. I actually missed my kids; can you believe it? It was another beautiful day at the farm and I couldn’t wait to spend it with them.

Have you been to Galway recently? What were some of your favourite spots?

Chorizo, Roasted Pepper & Goat Cheese Quiche

I like quiche. Like, a lot.

My first job working in a restaurant kitchen involved a lot of pastry dough. I started working during the busiest time of the summer, during the Summerlicious festival in Toronto, and my day would start around noon and end roughly 12 hours later. It was my introduction to working in a real, professional kitchen and it exhausted me completely.

It was; however, one of the best restaurants in Toronto. I got used to the hours and my feet eventually got used to the constant running around. I learned to ignore the searing pain of citrus juice and salt getting into an open knife wound and, eventually, didn’t even flinch when my skin came into contact with red hot steel or 500 degree ovens. I was just too busy.

Pastry was a great escape for me. In the pastry section of a kitchen, there is order and organization and exact measurements. You know how something is going to turn out before you even start. It’s fun. I love the chaos and hustle of the main line, but also love pastry for it’s relative solitude and peace.

That’s how I started being the quiche blind baker every night. When things weren’t too busy, just before the dessert rush came during dinner service, and when most of the other kitchen staff had left, I would methodically roll out homemade pastry dough, line the quiche pans and weigh them down before baking them in the convection oven. Then I would carefully wrap the prepared pastry with plastic wrap and leave them for the opening chef to fill the next morning.

We had a weekly quiche at the next restaurant where I worked, so filling these tasty tarts became a weekly lesson in creativity and ingenuity. What did we have a lot of? What was good right now? What cheese would work with this veggie? What wasn’t going to take a million years to prepare? These were all questions that had to be answered every Sunday evening with the chef. It became more of a fun logic puzzle than a boring, mundane, kitchen task (also, I was lucky enough to have chefs who let their cooks do a lot of problem solving, giving guidance where it was necessary – you won’t find that in a lot of kitchens).

I don’t make quiche at home very often, but when I do, I fondly remember my first days in a professional kitchen. They weren’t easy. Anyone who romanticizes about being a chef is in for a rude awakening. But if you’re the kind of person who likes the instant gratification that comes along with a busy service well-done, isn’t bothered by the prospect of self harm and has a good sense of humour (and a high tolerance for crude behaviour) it might just be the job for you.

Chorizo, Roasted Pepper & Goat Cheese Quiche

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

2 cups AP flour

1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed

1/2 cup ice water

Pinch of salt

For the quiche:

1/2 cup caramelized onion (homemade or jarred, whatever you have)

1 large roasted red pepper, julienned (again, homemade or jarred is fine)

1 cup (approx.) sautéed and drained chorizo (cured or fresh is fine)

1 log creamy goat cheese of your choice (about 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup scallions, finely sliced

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk or cream

salt & pepper

Directions:

• For the pastry: in a food processor, using a pastry blade, add in salt, flour and cold butter. Blitz until the mixture consists of coarse crumbs (you can also do this by hand with a pastry cutter or by rubbing, but the food processor gives the best result). While the blade is still running, slowly add the ice water (leave out any chunks of ice) until the mixture begins to form a ball.
• Lightly flour your counter and knead the pastry dough two or three times until it all comes together. Shape it into two discs, wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for about an hour, or until firm.
• Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (210 degrees Celsius). Remove one the pastry discs from the plastic wrap (the other can go into the freezer or be kept in the fridge for a few days to use for something else). On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry dough until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Line a tart or pie dish with the pastry dough and crimp/trim the edges.
• Cover the pastry with parchment and fill with pie weights or dried legumes (I used dried lentils since they were what was in the cupboard at the time). Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the bottom is cooked through.
• Make the quiche: layer the prepared pastry shell (still in it’s pie dish) with the caramelized onion, red peppers, chorizo, scallions and crumbled goat cheese.
• Mix the eggs and milk/cream well and season with salt and pepper (about 2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper). Pour the egg mixture over the prepared cheese, meat and veggies. Place the pie dish on a baking sheet (in case of overspill) and set in a 375 degree (190 degrees Celcius) oven for about 30-40 minutes. The filling should be completely set with a bit of a wiggle in the center.
• Serve hot or at room temperature with a side salad.

 

Recipes with Brioche

After yesterday’s post, I realized I could have written about 10,000 more words about brioche and its many uses. Chances are you just want me to get to the recipes and not the reasoning/science behind it, but I do want to explain a little bit more about this delicious bread.

Brioche is lovely toasted with jam and butter. It makes a rich, flavourful bun for burgers, sausages and lobster rolls (as you’ll find in Clodagh McKenna’s restaurant at the Arnott’s in Dublin) and, at Christmas time, I love to add dried fruit and nuts to the dough to make a decorative (and delicious) bread wreath drizzled with orange vanilla glaze. It’s so versatile. It’s a well-known fact that the most delicious grilled sandwich you’ll ever consume features brioche (croque monsieur/madame, anyone?) and, probably the simplest (and my favourite) way to enjoy brioche is by using it to make French toast and bread pudding.

If you let the bread sit and dry out slightly for a day or two, brioche absorbs liquid and flavour perfectly. There are a few other breads that make excellent “absorbers” like challah, pannetone or even day old croissants (which is what we used for our baked French toast at the restaurant), but for me, nothing beats brioche when it comes to the perfect French toast or bread pudding.

The following are two of my favourite recipes for each. This past weekend we had a decadent brunch of French toast with Canadian maple syrup (of course!) and fresh Irish cherries while my father-in-law was visiting. It was divine! Then, to use up the last of my brioche batch from last week I made a very simple orange and vanilla bread pudding served with a classic crème anglaise.

Perfect-Every-Time French Toast

Ingredients:

1 loaf 1-2 day old brioche, thickly sliced

10 eggs, room temperature

2 tsp good quality vanilla

1/2 cup sugar (can be substituted with honey or maple syrup)

3/4 cup whole milk or heavy cream (cream is obviously better, but not necessary)

butter

maple syrup (for drizzling)

mixed fruit or berries of your choice (strawberries, cherries and blueberries are my faves)

Directions:

• In a deep casserole dish, mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk or heavy cream (this mixture is also called a sweet crème royale – you can use the same mixture of eggs and cream for a quiche, minus the sweet stuff). You don’t want to see any chunks of egg left in the royale mixture, so whisk it well (or, for even better results, whisk it using a hand or stand mixer).
• Fit as many slices of brioche in the royale-filled casserole dish as you can. While letting the bread slices soak, heat a non-stick or cast iron frying pan over medium heat.
• Flip the soaking bread slices to ensure both sides are evenly soaked. When the bread is fully soaked through, melt some butter in the hot pan and place as many slices in as you can. Cook evenly on both sides. Repeat this process until the entire loaf has been used (there should be enough royale mixture for 10-12 slices of brioche).
• When the French toast has been evenly cooked on both sides (to a golden brown), I usually place the finished toasts on a lined baking sheet and keep them warm in a 200 degree oven (95 degrees Celsius) until ready to serve.
• When all the French toast has been made, serve hot with maple syrup and fresh fruit.

Orange Vanilla Bread Pudding with Warm Crème Anglaise

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf of 1-2 day old brioche or two large brioche rolls (I just use my leftovers for this recipe, this time it was two leftover hamburger buns)

1/3 cup sugar (or honey, or maple syrup)

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tsp good quality vanilla

rind of one orange

For the Crème Anglaise:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 Celsius, no fan). Slice the brioche into 1 inch cubes. Butter a round sandwich tin (or if you have a small casserole dish this will work, too). Place bread cubes into the buttered dish.
• In a bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, cream, vanilla and orange rind to make a creamy royale mix. Pour royale over the brioche cubes and leave for 30 minutes so the bread absorbs as much moisture as possible.
• Cover with tin foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the tin foil and return the pudding to the oven for an addition 15 minutes.
• Make the crème anglaise: heat the cream, milk, vanilla and 1 Tbsp sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan. You don’t want the mixture to boil, but you want it to start to bubble around the sides of the pot. Remove from heat.
• Whisk the egg yolks and remaining 1 Tbsp sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and ribbon-ey. Temper the eggs by adding a splash of hot milk and mixing well (this avoids a potential “scrambled egg” situation). Once the egg mixture is tempered, add the remaining hot milk mixture while stirring constantly.
• Return to the saucepan and heat, stirring constantly, on medium-low until the crème anglaise has thickened (and easily coats the back of a spoon). Remove from heat and cool slightly before serving with the warm bread pudding.
• Take the finished pudding out of the oven (the final 15 minutes are more for colour than anything else) and cool slightly in the dish. Slide a knife around the edge of the dish and carefully remove the pudding from the dish. Serve warm with warm crème anglaise.

The Ubiquitous Irish Fry

When I first came to Ireland a few years ago, it was straight from Korea where I had been living for nearly three years. I craved Western food, real beer, and being able to understand what people around me were saying.

I was slightly nervous, since I would be meeting Patrick’s family for the first time, but for the most part I was relieved to be leaving Asia and couldn’t wait to indulge in some home comforts. A real shower! In the apartments where ESL teachers live in Korea, the entire bathroom is a shower with a nozzle on the wall and a drain in the floor. A great way to keep your bathroom clean and dust-free, but it would never compare to a Western-style shower or, even better, a bath.

Being in Korea, there were obvious food items you didn’t often get to indulge in, and even when you could, the quality would not compare to that of home. Butter, for example. Cheese. Bread. Food in Korea was phenomenal and I’m always craving a good Kimchi Jiggae, but when it came to bread and dairy it just never hit the spot.

That’s why, as we descended into Dublin that cold September evening, I was looking forward to my first Irish fry.

Patrick had talked it up, of course. Actually, it was all he could talk about. He couldn’t wait to have a proper fry up. Sure enough, we stayed with Pat’s auntie that evening and the next morning enjoyed our first of many Irish fry up’s together. It was worth the 11 hour flight and the jetlag. We felt whole again.

In Ireland, a “proper fry up” always includes rashers. Rashers aren’t like the bacon we have in Canada, they’re more thickly sliced and slightly less fatty. You can still get Canadian style bacon, or streaky bacon, here, but rashers are very much loved by every Irish person I’ve ever met; you don’t see a lot of streaky bacon at breakfast.

Puddings are another component to the Irish fry. At home in Cape Breton we eat these at breakfast, too, but they’re called marag. You get the puddings in white or black – black is made with blood, and white is made without. Both are delicious, especially if they’ve been home-made. I would say the puddings are my favourite part of an Irish fry.

Sausages feature as well. They’re smaller and paler than breakfast sausages in Canada and mostly made with pork.

That’s a lot of meat on one plate, but don’t worry – usually, you’ll find fried mushrooms and broiled tomatoes as well. A sunny-side up egg or two and a few slices of Irish brown bread, and you’ve got yourself a breakfast feast that will keep you going til supper. In Northern Ireland, you can expect some potato farls thrown onto the plate for good measure.

We don’t indulge in a morning fry up very often, but as our friend was down over the weekend I bought some rashers, puddings and sausages and we had them for our Saturday morning breakfast. As always, I cooked enough for about ten people (coming from restaurant kitchens I cook everything in bulk; I can’t help it). I kept the leftovers and, for our Sunday breakfast, made a lovely strata with chunks of homemade sourdough, sauteed onion, cheddar cheese and the extra rashers, sausages, puddings and mushrooms.

It tasted lovely, and was even better served with a dollop of Ballymaloe Relish. Here’s the recipe:

Irish Fry Strata

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf sourdough or any type of bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

Leftover rashers, black/white puddings, sausages and mushrooms, roughly chopped

1/2 cup grated Irish cheddar

8 large eggs

1/4 cup whole milk

1 Tbsp grainy mustard

1 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 small onion, diced

Directions:

• Butter a large glass baking or casserole dish. Add the cubed bread to the dish.
• In a large pan, heat the olive oil and soften the diced onion. Add the chopped rashers, sausages, puddings and mushrooms. Heat through.
• In a bowl, add the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, mustard and chili. Whisk until combined and frothy.
• Add the sauteed onions, mushrooms and meats to the casserole dish, spreading evenly over the bread.
• Pour the egg mixture over the bread and meats. Top with grated cheddar cheese.
• Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight in the fridge. You want to bread to soak into the egg mixture completely.
• The next morning, preheat your oven to 375 degrees (190 degrees Celsius, no fan). Bake the strata for about one hour, until the top is bubbly and golden and the casserole is cooked through.