It has been a busy week for me and one of the highlights was going on television on The Six O’Clock Show.
It is nice to be back in a live studio and reminds me of my Open House days. I made my favourite sticky cocktail sausages and then a really nice blueberry and lemon bread and butter pudding. That should make sure they ask me back again sometime.
Then, I had my regular chat with Marty Whelan on Lyric FM. Marty has really made a great success of his morning show, and I often listen to him when I’m pottering away in the kitchen at home.
The word is that he is cooking Easter Sunday dinner this year, so never let it be said that he lacks ambition. Needless to say, as he plans his big feast, I have been on speed dial in the Whelan household.
Luckily for Marty’s family, I have done my research and have a list of Malahide-based takeaways ready to go.
We all must try new things in life and I attended a totally new type of event (for me, anyway) at the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo.
I, along with four of the nominees for the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards were asked to give a talk about our books. The event was hosted by author Una Mannion, who did a great job. My fellow authors in attandance were: Kevin Barry, Seamus O’Rourke and Hayley Kilgallon. It was quite a diverse mix as Kevin discussed being a fiction writer while Seamus talked about the success of his book Leaning on Gates which is a really interesting and entertaining reflection on life in rural Ireland.
Then of course, Hayley gave her perspective on the history of ladies Gaelic football.
I was in very good company and a nice relaxed discussion. It was nice to think of myself as an author for a while.
I am looking forward to Easter Sunday dinner and, as usual, Thornhill Duck will take pride of place at my table.
My good friends Ken and Sorcha Moffitt breed ducks which are a cross between a Pekin and Aylesbury. This cross-breed means a great duck for roasting whole and one which is incredibly succulent.
Ken produces about 400 ducks a week and is now supplying oven-ready ducks to selected supermarkets and butchers. This makes it easier than ever for Irish shoppers to give duck a try at home, so keep an eye out the next time you are doing your shop.
Orange with duck is a classic combination; duck naturally has a lot of fat and the orange is the perfect way to cut through it. For the roasties and potato gratin, I like to use Maris Piper or Roosters. I love this sauce, as well. It is deliciously sweet and sour; hitting all the right notes. It’s also very good with pork.
Sides and dessert
There is something immensely satisfying about potato gratin, with its golden crust and soft, creamy inside. It is a great side dish. And this recipe is gluten-free. You can make most of it well ahead of time and then pop it in the oven to warm back up before you plan to serve dinner, so it’s an ideal side dish if you’re hosting a big Easter gathering.
This cinnamon swirl apple cake is a cross between two of my favourite things: cinnamon rolls and apple cake. You can make it a day ahead and I think it tastes even better the next day. The sour cream is what helps to give this dessert a deliciously moist crumb, while the glaze oozes down into any cracks. I like to serve it with ice cream or pouring custard, and I also like to warm up the slices before serving. It’s like a hug on a plate.
Happy Easter!
Thornhill duck with sage and onion roasties
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
1 oven-ready whole Irish duck, at room temperature
1 orange, cut into quarters
5g fresh thyme
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
For the roasties:
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp semolina
2 tsp onion granules
1½ tsp dried sage
For the sauce:
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp orange blossom honey
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp soy and ginger sauce
1 tbsp light muscovado sugar
6 whole cloves
500ml fresh beef stock
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
Steamed purple sprouting broccoli
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2 Keep the duck in the foil tray it comes in and remove all other packaging. Stuff the cavity with the orange and thyme, then smear it all over with the oil and season with pepper. Pour 100ml of water into the tray and roast for 1½ hours.
3 Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water until they are beginning to soften around the edges, then let them steam dry for a minute or so.
4 Mix the semolina, onion granules and sage and season the potatoes generously. Tip the potatoes into a roasting tin.
5 After an hour and a half, remove the duck from the oven and carefully drain about 3 tbsp of the fat and juices from the tin, then pop the duck back in for 45 minutes.
6 Brush the potatoes all over with the duck fat juices, then sprinkle over the semolina mixture, turning to coat. Roast for 1 hour, turning once, until crisp and golden brown.
7 To make the sauce, heat a sauté pan over a medium heat. Pour in the vinegar and bubble down, then whisk in the honey, ketchup, soy and ginger sauce, sugar, cloves and stock. Simmer until reduced by half, then season to taste and strain into a clean pan, ready to reheat.
8 The duck needs to cook for 2¼ hours in total, or until it’s golden brown and tender and the drumsticks feel nice and loose.
9 Transfer the duck to a warm platter to rest while you finish cooking the potatoes.
10 Strain the sauce into a jug and pile the sage and onion roasties around the duck. Serve straight to the table family-style with the broccoli.
Neven's Thornhill duck with sage and onion roasties.
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
1kg floury potatoes
900ml cream
120ml milk
Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
Butter, for greasing
Wild garlic, to serve (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Method
1 Peel the potatoes and cut into 3mm slices with a mandolin. Spread them on a tray and sprinkle with plenty of salt. Rub the slices together, then heap them up in a pile and leave for 10 minutes. The salt will extract excess water and soften the potatoes.
2 Put the cream and milk in a pan large enough to take all the potatoes later. Season lightly with salt, add plenty of pepper and the nutmeg, then stir in the garlic.
3 Place over a high heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer to reduce the liquid by about a quarter, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
4 Preheat the oven to 120°C. Press the potatoes gently in a tea towel with your hands to squeeze out all the excess water. Add the potatoes to the reduced cream mixture and bring back to a boil.
5 Remove from the heat and, using a large spoon, spread the mixture out evenly in a buttered ovenproof dish. The gratin should be at least 6cm thick.
6 Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 90 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender when pierced with a sharp knife but not at all coloured.
7 The gratin can now be cooled down and chilled for at least 6 hours, although overnight is best to firm up. At this point it can be cut into portions and arranged on a non-stick baking sheet, or kept whole.
8 When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 170°C and cook the gratin pieces for about 20 minutes until warmed through. If you are cooking the whole dish, it will take 30–40 minutes until bubbling and golden.
9 Garnish with wild garlic, if desired.
Neven's cinnamon swirl apple cake.
Serves 8-12
Ingredients
240g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 apples
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
150g light brown sugar
350g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt flakes
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
100ml milk
200g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Custard, to serve
For the glaze:
200g icing sugar, sifted
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2 Butter a 23cm baking tin and line with parchment paper.
3 Peel, core and dice the apples, and mix in a bowl with the granulated sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Put the rest of the cinnamon in a bowl with the light brown sugar.
4 Melt the butter in a small pan or in the microwave and, once cooled, stir half into the sugar mix. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, and stir in the salt and caster sugar. Beat in the eggs, milk, sour cream and vanilla. Using a spatula, stir in the remaining butter, then gently fold in the apples.
5 Transfer the cake batter into the prepared tin, spreading it out evenly. Add small dollops of the sugar and cinnamon butter, and quickly swirl this through the batter using a knife.
6 Bake for 35–40 minutes until the cake is well risen and lightly golden. The apples will still be moist, and the cinnamon swirl should be gooey.
7 While the cake is in the oven, make the glaze. Mix the icing sugar, milk and vanilla together in a bowl until smooth. Pour over the warm cake, spreading it out evenly.
8 Set aside for 30 minutes to cool, then cut into slices and serve with custard.
Read more
Neven Maguire: an eggs-cellent start to the day
Butter flied lamb full of flavour
It has been a busy week for me and one of the highlights was going on television on The Six O’Clock Show.
It is nice to be back in a live studio and reminds me of my Open House days. I made my favourite sticky cocktail sausages and then a really nice blueberry and lemon bread and butter pudding. That should make sure they ask me back again sometime.
Then, I had my regular chat with Marty Whelan on Lyric FM. Marty has really made a great success of his morning show, and I often listen to him when I’m pottering away in the kitchen at home.
The word is that he is cooking Easter Sunday dinner this year, so never let it be said that he lacks ambition. Needless to say, as he plans his big feast, I have been on speed dial in the Whelan household.
Luckily for Marty’s family, I have done my research and have a list of Malahide-based takeaways ready to go.
We all must try new things in life and I attended a totally new type of event (for me, anyway) at the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo.
I, along with four of the nominees for the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards were asked to give a talk about our books. The event was hosted by author Una Mannion, who did a great job. My fellow authors in attandance were: Kevin Barry, Seamus O’Rourke and Hayley Kilgallon. It was quite a diverse mix as Kevin discussed being a fiction writer while Seamus talked about the success of his book Leaning on Gates which is a really interesting and entertaining reflection on life in rural Ireland.
Then of course, Hayley gave her perspective on the history of ladies Gaelic football.
I was in very good company and a nice relaxed discussion. It was nice to think of myself as an author for a while.
I am looking forward to Easter Sunday dinner and, as usual, Thornhill Duck will take pride of place at my table.
My good friends Ken and Sorcha Moffitt breed ducks which are a cross between a Pekin and Aylesbury. This cross-breed means a great duck for roasting whole and one which is incredibly succulent.
Ken produces about 400 ducks a week and is now supplying oven-ready ducks to selected supermarkets and butchers. This makes it easier than ever for Irish shoppers to give duck a try at home, so keep an eye out the next time you are doing your shop.
Orange with duck is a classic combination; duck naturally has a lot of fat and the orange is the perfect way to cut through it. For the roasties and potato gratin, I like to use Maris Piper or Roosters. I love this sauce, as well. It is deliciously sweet and sour; hitting all the right notes. It’s also very good with pork.
Sides and dessert
There is something immensely satisfying about potato gratin, with its golden crust and soft, creamy inside. It is a great side dish. And this recipe is gluten-free. You can make most of it well ahead of time and then pop it in the oven to warm back up before you plan to serve dinner, so it’s an ideal side dish if you’re hosting a big Easter gathering.
This cinnamon swirl apple cake is a cross between two of my favourite things: cinnamon rolls and apple cake. You can make it a day ahead and I think it tastes even better the next day. The sour cream is what helps to give this dessert a deliciously moist crumb, while the glaze oozes down into any cracks. I like to serve it with ice cream or pouring custard, and I also like to warm up the slices before serving. It’s like a hug on a plate.
Happy Easter!
Thornhill duck with sage and onion roasties
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
1 oven-ready whole Irish duck, at room temperature
1 orange, cut into quarters
5g fresh thyme
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
For the roasties:
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp semolina
2 tsp onion granules
1½ tsp dried sage
For the sauce:
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp orange blossom honey
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp soy and ginger sauce
1 tbsp light muscovado sugar
6 whole cloves
500ml fresh beef stock
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
Steamed purple sprouting broccoli
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2 Keep the duck in the foil tray it comes in and remove all other packaging. Stuff the cavity with the orange and thyme, then smear it all over with the oil and season with pepper. Pour 100ml of water into the tray and roast for 1½ hours.
3 Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water until they are beginning to soften around the edges, then let them steam dry for a minute or so.
4 Mix the semolina, onion granules and sage and season the potatoes generously. Tip the potatoes into a roasting tin.
5 After an hour and a half, remove the duck from the oven and carefully drain about 3 tbsp of the fat and juices from the tin, then pop the duck back in for 45 minutes.
6 Brush the potatoes all over with the duck fat juices, then sprinkle over the semolina mixture, turning to coat. Roast for 1 hour, turning once, until crisp and golden brown.
7 To make the sauce, heat a sauté pan over a medium heat. Pour in the vinegar and bubble down, then whisk in the honey, ketchup, soy and ginger sauce, sugar, cloves and stock. Simmer until reduced by half, then season to taste and strain into a clean pan, ready to reheat.
8 The duck needs to cook for 2¼ hours in total, or until it’s golden brown and tender and the drumsticks feel nice and loose.
9 Transfer the duck to a warm platter to rest while you finish cooking the potatoes.
10 Strain the sauce into a jug and pile the sage and onion roasties around the duck. Serve straight to the table family-style with the broccoli.
Neven's Thornhill duck with sage and onion roasties.
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
1kg floury potatoes
900ml cream
120ml milk
Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
Butter, for greasing
Wild garlic, to serve (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Method
1 Peel the potatoes and cut into 3mm slices with a mandolin. Spread them on a tray and sprinkle with plenty of salt. Rub the slices together, then heap them up in a pile and leave for 10 minutes. The salt will extract excess water and soften the potatoes.
2 Put the cream and milk in a pan large enough to take all the potatoes later. Season lightly with salt, add plenty of pepper and the nutmeg, then stir in the garlic.
3 Place over a high heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer to reduce the liquid by about a quarter, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
4 Preheat the oven to 120°C. Press the potatoes gently in a tea towel with your hands to squeeze out all the excess water. Add the potatoes to the reduced cream mixture and bring back to a boil.
5 Remove from the heat and, using a large spoon, spread the mixture out evenly in a buttered ovenproof dish. The gratin should be at least 6cm thick.
6 Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 90 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender when pierced with a sharp knife but not at all coloured.
7 The gratin can now be cooled down and chilled for at least 6 hours, although overnight is best to firm up. At this point it can be cut into portions and arranged on a non-stick baking sheet, or kept whole.
8 When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 170°C and cook the gratin pieces for about 20 minutes until warmed through. If you are cooking the whole dish, it will take 30–40 minutes until bubbling and golden.
9 Garnish with wild garlic, if desired.
Neven's cinnamon swirl apple cake.
Serves 8-12
Ingredients
240g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 apples
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
150g light brown sugar
350g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt flakes
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
100ml milk
200g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Custard, to serve
For the glaze:
200g icing sugar, sifted
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2 Butter a 23cm baking tin and line with parchment paper.
3 Peel, core and dice the apples, and mix in a bowl with the granulated sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Put the rest of the cinnamon in a bowl with the light brown sugar.
4 Melt the butter in a small pan or in the microwave and, once cooled, stir half into the sugar mix. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, and stir in the salt and caster sugar. Beat in the eggs, milk, sour cream and vanilla. Using a spatula, stir in the remaining butter, then gently fold in the apples.
5 Transfer the cake batter into the prepared tin, spreading it out evenly. Add small dollops of the sugar and cinnamon butter, and quickly swirl this through the batter using a knife.
6 Bake for 35–40 minutes until the cake is well risen and lightly golden. The apples will still be moist, and the cinnamon swirl should be gooey.
7 While the cake is in the oven, make the glaze. Mix the icing sugar, milk and vanilla together in a bowl until smooth. Pour over the warm cake, spreading it out evenly.
8 Set aside for 30 minutes to cool, then cut into slices and serve with custard.
Read more
Neven Maguire: an eggs-cellent start to the day
Butter flied lamb full of flavour
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