Food at Lismore
Butterflied leg of lamb Ingredients 1 leg of lamb, butterflied and defatted get your butcher to do this for you For the marinade 1 fresh red chilli 1 thumb of ginger peeled 2 pieces of lemongrass Handful mint leaves Handful coriander leaves Handful flat parsley 2 cloves garlic Red or white wine vinegar - a few glugs Lemon zest Juice of half a lemon 1.5 tbsp honey Olive oil - about 50/70 mls Method Cut the Lamb into 5 or 6 even sized pieces and put in a bowl. Make the marinade by zizzing the first 7 ingredients together then add in the rest. Add the marinade to the meat rub all around the meat. Cover and place in the fridge overnight. Remove from the fridge an hour before cooking and set aside. When ready to go preheat oven to 120degrees. Put a large pan on the hob to sear the meat. Put few pieces on the pan at a time and sear until you have a good colour on all sides. Season as you go. When all the pieces are seared place in the oven for 1-1.5 hours. (You can turn up the heat for a bit if they aren t cooking quickly enough)
White Irish Soda bread Ingredients 450 g cream flour 1 tsp castor sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tsp bread soda 350-400ml buttermilk Method Preheat oven to 230degrees Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl and make a hollow in the centre. Add in most of the milk. Using one hand, bring the flour and milk together as quickly as you can, adding more liquid if needed. Turn it out on to a floured work surface and bring it into a round. Then pop on to a flat oven tray and make a deep cross in it. Place in the oven for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 200 for a further 25/30 minutes. Remove from the oven it will sound hollow if it s cooked. If not ready pop it back in upside down for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Gravlax 1 whole salmon (preferably wild) 2 large bunches of dill 400g salt 600g sugar I tbsp. freshly ground pepper 1 bunch dill - for presentation Truly one of the most special things about cooking at Lismore Castle is that throughout the fishing season we get freshly caught Wild Blackwater Salmon delivered straight to our kitchen. It is a complete joy and an entirely different specimen to its farmed cousins. If you have access to it then you are lucky indeed but if not get the best quality organic salmon you can or of course you could always take up fly-fishing!! (Beth Ann Smith, Lismore September 2013) Method Gut and scale the salmon and filet both sides as close to the back bone as possible. Then, with a fish tweezers remove any remaining bones. Chop the 2 bunches of dill and mix with the salt sugar and pepper. Lay several pieces of cling film on the oven tray. You will need each piece to be three times the width of the tray as it will need to wrap over the salmon. Now sprinkle the first third of the pickling mix in the shape of a filet on the tray. Then place a filet, skin side down, and sprinkle with the second third of the mix. Pop the second filet on top of the first, skin side up, and scatter the remaining mix on the top. Make sure it s well covered in the pickle. Then wrap the salmon parcel tightly and pop the tray into the fridge and weight it down with a heavy board/ tray.turn the salmon once a day. After three days in should be fully cured. Remove from the fridge, wash off the pickle and pat dry. Pick the dill fronds off the presentation bunch of dill and sprinkle on to the gravlax and press down. Slice the gravlax very finely with a fileting knife and serve with dill honey and mustard mayonnaise and some home-made brown bread- it is beyond divine!
Homemade jams and chutneys from organically grown garden produce
Hot Chocolate pots Serves 4-6 Ingredients 125 good quality dark chococolate - at least 70% 125g unsalted butter 3 large eggs 150g sugar 35g plain flour Method Preheat oven to 200degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bain marie over a saucepan of barelysimmering water (make sure the water isn t touching the bowl with the chocolate as otherwise it will burn). Stir often. Whisk together the eggs sugar and flour until blended. Slowly add the chocolate and fold together. Pour the mix into 4 ramekins Pop them in the oven until the tops are cracking and slightly set (between 12-15 mins usually!) Allow to cool slightly before serving with cream or ice cream