Take a seat a the Christmas tables of these West of Ireland chefs

Photography Nathalie Marquez Courtney

Jess Murphy

Owner and head chef, Kai restaurant

Jess is planning to whip up a bougie platter of festive picky bits, without the fuss. Think of an old-school Scandinavian approach to a high-low girl dinner: posh crisps (She used Portuguese Bonilla a la Vista crisps from Sheridans Cheesemongers) topped with caviar and soft-boiled eggs, homemade fish-shaped crackers with damson jelly and lots of Irish cheese from Silke Croppe’s Corleggy Farm in Cavan. And finally, her piece-de-resistance: an old-school lobster cocktail with a Bloody Mary sauce.

The Dishes

• Pa Oliver’s Lobster with Bloody Mary cocktail sauce, baby gem and pink onion
• Posh crisps with picky bits, caviar, boiled hen’s eggs and dill
• Cavanbert with buttery spelt fish crackers and damson jelly

 

The Recipes

Damson jelly

INGREDIENTS

• 5kg washed damsons
• 2kg (approximately) granulated sugar

 

METHOD

1 Place your washed damsons in a large preserving pan or saucepan. Bring to a slow simmer with a couple of tablespoons of water, stirring as damsons release their juice. Leave to simmer until soft. 2 Pour your fruit into a sieve to remove the stones and the skin. You should be left with a smooth purée. 3 Measure the purée. For every 500ml of purée, add 350g of granulated sugar. 4 Combine sugar and purée in a large and heavy pan and bring it back to a simmer, low and slow. Continue to stir the mixture as sugar dissolves until the liquid is reduced to a thick purée. You’ll know it’s ready when you move your spoon across the pan and the base is visible for about 2 seconds. 5 Once you’ve reached the correct consistency, pour your jelly into shallow containers and leave to cool off and set.

Fish-shaped spelt biscuits

INGREDIENTS

• 90g plain white flour
• 40g wholemeal rye flour
• 40g wholemeal spelt flour
• 20g sesame seeds
• ½ tsp salt
• 20 ml olive oil
• 100 ml water

 

METHOD

1 Preheat your oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan. Cut two pieces of parchment paper to fit two shallow baking trays and lightly flour. 2 Combine your flours, sesame seeds and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir. 3 Combine the olive oil with the water and pour over your flour mixture (you can use a spoon for this at first but then switch to kneading with hands to form a dough). Cut your dough in half. Set one half aside, covered. 4 Place one half of the dough on the parchment paper. Sprinkle with flour and roll out to 1-2 mm thick until it covers the paper. 5 Trim the edges with a knife, and now it’s time to cut into fun little shapes! I love using the fish cutter for these. 6 Remove excess dough and prick your fishy crackers all over with a fork. Put them in the oven and bake until golden – they should be crispy! (about 10-15 minutes). 7 While the first batch is baking, repeat the process with the second half of the dough. Once all your crackers are baked, move to a wire rack for cooling. Leave until entirely cooled.

Lobster cocktail sauce

Jess paired this with cooked lobster tails, pink onions, baby gem lettuce and lemon slices.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large English cucumber
• 1kg chopped ripe tomatoes
• ½ red bell pepper, stem and the seeds removed
• ½ red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander (plus more for garnish)
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 35ml vodka
• 120ml extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1¼ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

 

METHOD

1 Peel and cut cucumber into large chunks and pop it into a blender with the tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, coriander, vinegar, olive oil, vodka, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste then chill for at least 2 hours.

 

Danni Barry

Head chef, Ballynahinch Castle

Wanting to create a statement showpiece for the Christmas table that isn’t your typical winged affair, Danni created a pithivier using winter vegetables all grown in the gardens at Ballynahinch and topped with a blue cheese sauce. “I just love that the setting of the pie in the middle of the table has the same theatre and impact as a large bird or roasting joint. It shows craftsmanship and gives the sense of occasion, and the wow factor that we all strive for at Christmas.”

The Dish

Christmas pithivier with celeriac, mushroom and creamed spinach pithivier and a Young Buck blue cheese sauce

The Recipe

Serves 4-6 people

INGREDIENTS

• 1 celeriac
• Rapeseed oil
• Sea salt
• Thyme leaves, chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 150ml cream
• 500g spinach
• 450g chestnut mushrooms
• 50g butter
• 60g walnuts, chopped
• 50g plain flour
• White wine or sherry
• 250ml milk
• 60g Young Buck or other strong blue cheese
• Worcester sauce
• 2 sheets of puff pastry
• 1 egg yolk

 

METHOD

1 Scrub the celeriac, rub with rapeseed oil and coarse sea salt. Wrap it in foil with some thyme and bake for an hour and 30 minutes. When cooked, a cocktail stick or skewer should go in and out with no resistance. Allow the celeriac to rest in the foil until cool (if you can do this overnight, the results are better). 2 For the creamed spinach, add half the chopped shallot, leek and half the garlic and cook slowly in a pan until soft. Add cream, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. In a pot of boiling water, blanch the spinach for two minutes (other winter greens work well here too such as kale, chard) then plunge into ice to cool and give a good squeeze between two tea towels to remove excess water. Chop through the greens and mix with the cream. Put to one side. 3 For the mushrooms, trim the stalks and cook whole in a hot pan with 20g butter, salt and thyme and until golden brown. When they are cooked, roughly chop, and mix in the chopped walnuts. 4 Make the blue cheese sauce using the mushroom pan. Melt 30g butter, add the remaining garlic and shallot and caramelise slightly. Stir in plain flour, adding a dash of white wine or sherry and then the milk. Cook for 5-6 minutes and then crumble in your cheese. Keep stirring and the sauce will thicken. Blend using a hand blender, add a splash of Worcester sauce, to your taste. 5 Line a nine-inch cake pan or pudding bowl with cling film. Peel and slice the celeriac into large round discs and arrange in the bottom of the mould until covered, add the mushroom layer, more celeriac, add the greens and top with the celeriac. Cover and press with a weight on top overnight if possible. 6 Roll out 2 sheets of pastry to a nice even layer about 30cm x 35cm. Turn out your clingfilm parcel and place in the middle of the first sheet. 8 Remove clingfilm, brush with egg and lay the second piece of pastry on top, smoothing around the edges of the filling (use your knuckle to avoid putting a hole in the pastry). Trim around the edges and crimp to make a frill around the seal. Decorate to your liking and brush again with egg yolk. 9 Place the decorated pie into the fridge for at least 30 minutes before cooking. 10 Bake on greaseproof paper in a hot oven at 180ºC for 45 minutes to 1 hour until nice and golden. Serve with the warm blue cheese sauce.

Kathleen Flavin

Head chef, Foxford Woollen Mills Café

Kathleen began making her Christmas pudding while working at the Four Seasons in Dublin, although the recipe has been tweaked a lot since then. “I was working with a French chef, and he always wanted to put Grand Marnier in it, but I always refused!”

You need to begin making this a few weeks in advance, or you can pick up one of Kathleen’s puddings from the café or online. Kathleen, who is coeliac, also makes a gluten-free version.

The Dish

Traditional Christmas pudding, served with ice cream or custard

The Recipe

Makes 2 puddings

INGREDIENTS

For soaking

• 450g raisins
• 230g currants
• 115g mixed peel
• 115g glace cherries
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Zest of ¼ of an orange
• Zest of ½ a lemon
• 170ml Guinness
• 80ml Irish whiskey

For pudding

• 170g veg suet
• 90g fresh breadcrumbs
• 170g soft dark brown sugar
• 100g freshly grated carrot
• 170g freshly grated cooking apple
• 4 medium free-range eggs
• 60g treacle
• 90g plain white flour

 

METHOD

1 Weigh out the ingredients for soaking carefully. Place in a large bowl and mix well. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature to soak for 1-2 weeks. 2 Weigh out the pudding ingredients carefully. Weigh the treacle into a small bowl, crack your eggs on top and whisk to prevent treacle sticking to the dish. 3 In a large bowl, using a spatula, mix all the soaking and pudding ingredients together thoroughly. 4 Butter two plastic or glass 2lb pudding bowls and divide the mix between both evenly. 5 Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper and tie under the rim of the bowl with a cotton twine, making a twine handle for ease of lifting. 6 Steam in a covered saucepan of boiling water for 6 hours. The water should be coming halfway up the bowl and should be topped up every hour or so, so it doesn’t boil dry. 7 Remove after 6 hours (carefully, so you don’t burn yourself) and allow to cool. Re-cover with fresh greaseproof paper and store in a cool dry place. 8 On the day you want to serve, steam the pudding for 1.5-2 hours until hot. 9 Turn out onto a plate, decorate with holly and some dried orange slices and serve with lashings of custard or cream.

Tip: If you don’t wish to eat the whole pudding, slice off what you wish to eat and heat as above. A microwave can be used to reheat portion’s but beware you don’t overheat it and ruin your hard work.

Niamh Fox

Chef and recipe developer

For that in-between period of Christmas and New Year that’s often spent grazing, Niamh typically ends up packing a picnic. “I’m from Inishbofin and a lot of our Christmas is spent outside, hiking or going to the beach,” she explains. While they typically vary up their Christmas meats, this time opting for some crispy slow-roasted pork tucked inside homemade bread rolls, each winter picnic nearly always includes warm cookies and homemade hot chocolate.

The Dishes

• Leftover roast pork bread rolls with ruby relish, local greens
• Dark chocolate and roasted hazelnut cookies
• Homemade hot chocolate powder

 

The Recipes

Hot chocolate powder

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS

• 3 scoops Bean and Goose hot chocolate powder
• 1 scoop Ovaltine
• Pinch Maldon salt
• Pinch cayenne
• 350mls Mooghna Milk or any full cream milk
• Glug of Killowen Gloria coffee liqueur (optional)
• Dark chocolate and marshmallows, to decorate

METHOD

1 Heat milk (but do not boil) and mix the chocolate powder, Ovaltine, salt and cayenne in. 2 For adults add in a generous slug of Killowen Gloria coffee liqueur. 2 Grate 70 per cent dark chocolate on top and serve with giant marshmallows.

Brown butter toasted hazelnut dark chocolate cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 280g butter, cut into cubes
• 520g plain flour
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 190g dark brown sugar
• 190g granulated sugar
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 300g dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar
• 120g hazelnuts

 

METHOD

1 Roast the hazelnuts on a baking tray at 180ºC. Check on them regularly, it should take about 15 minutes to evenly brown. Chop roughly and set aside. 2 Brown half of the butter over a medium heat (you can find tutorials online). Transfer into a large bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes before adding the remaining butter. Whisk well until mixture is smooth. 3 Whisk in the milk and add both sugars, beating until smooth. 4 Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat some more. 5 In a separate bowl, sift flour and baking soda and a pinch of sea salt. Stir dry ingredients until well combined, before carefully adding to wet ingredients. Fold in flour mixture and then whisk batter until you don’t see any bits of flour. 6 Fold in chocolate chips and chill dough for 15-20 minutes. Portion out the dough into 60g balls before a second round of chilling. You can leave them chilled for 24 hours or freeze until you’re ready to cook. 7 Once you’re ready to bake, take a lined baking sheet and add 4-6 cookies per sheet. 8 Bake at 165ºC fan until golden for about 12 minutes. Check after 10. If frozen, it will be more like 18-20mins, just check. Remove from oven and let cool on the tray before moving them to a wire rack. Sprinkle of salt and devour with hot chocolate.

Slow-cooked pork sandwiches

Niamh made the super soft bread rolls from Louise Robbie’s (@littleloucooks) recipe and her own homemade beetroot and onion relish.

INGREDIENTS

• 3kg pork shoulder, bones out
• Hoisin sauce
• Bread rolls
• Relish
• Local greens
• Butter, for spreading

 

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 130ºC fan. Remove the shoulder bones if they haven’t been removed by your butcher. Roll up the meat and tie tightly with twine, then cover tightly with tinfoil. 2 Cook for six hours and then take it out to rest. 3 Turn the oven up to 210ºC, remove tinfoil and then brush the underside with hoisin sauce. 4 Put back in the oven for a further 20 minutes until outside has crisped up nicely. 5 Remove from oven and allow some time to cool before slicing. 6 Pile everything into a bread roll with a good slather of butter.

This feature appears in the Winter 2024 issue of IMAGE magazine, on shelves now, or click here to buy online.