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This months new recipe by our head chef Tony Keogh

One thing I miss being a vegetarian is breaded fish, The sights, sounds and smells of the local Italian “chipper” evoke fond childhood memories of take away cod and chips. When I was a child we would sometimes go for a drive to Howth and sit on the pier with breaded cod, soggy chips and little plastic tubs of mayonnaise . I used to love this, all washed down with a small glass bottle of coke. The following recipe is a more refined vegan take on this classic. I hope you enjoy

I did not take exact notes, as I prepared this but it is pretty straight forward and there is a wide enough berth for error which makes it a nice recipe to work with. This quantity should serve about 4 people. there are 3 components to the dish, there are the vegetables, the sauce and the tofu. you will need firstly to marinade the tofu. to do this you will need to take a 400 gram rectangular block of tofu and cut it length ways into 4 “fillets”. prick these all over with a fork to absorb the marinade and lay them out flat on a roasting tray. The marinade; In a bowl whisk together, 50 ml soy sauce, 25 ml vegetarian worstershire sauce, pinch of chinese five spice, 1/2 tsp of chopped tarragon [dry will do]1 tsp dijon mustard, a dessertspoon of agave syrup, 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, a dessertspoon of nutritional yeast. whisk all this together, the liquid should be cloying and a little sticky. now rub the marinade into the fillets and leave them back into the roasting tray to absorb while you prepare the rest of the dish.

you will need

for the vegetables; 16- 20  baby potatoes, 3 large leeks,

for the sauce; 50 mls sunflower oil, 30 grams cream flour, 380 ml unsweetened soy milk, a dessert spoon or two of unsweetened soy yogurt, 30 grams flat leaf parsley, 4-5 cloves garlic, pinch of ground nutmeg, 1 heaped tsp of dijon mustard

for the tofu; 4 marinaded tofu fillets [see above], bread crumbs, either make your own form 5-6 slices or buy a bag from the shop, about 2 dessertspoons of flour mixed with a little water to make a viscous paste think yogurt.

preparation

By reading the above, this may seem like a lot of work but believe me it is deceptively easy. just make sure you are well organised and everything will fall into place. start by roasting the potatoes. coat the potatoes in a teaspoon of salt, a little olive oil, some black pepper and a pinch of paprika [smoked is best]. spread them out on a parchment lined baking tray and place them on the top shelf of a preheated oven [200 degrees] to do their thing. keep an eye they should take about 20 minutes.

Okay, nest roast the garlic for the parsley sauce. throw the whole unpeeled cloves of garlic on to a cleared corner on the potato roasting tray. These will take about 15, they should be ready just before the spuds.

next to braise the leeks, trim off the ends, discard or keep at your own discretion. slice the leeks cross-ways into 3 cm barrels and drop into a bowl of salted water to rinse off any grit. when done place them into a deep roasting dish with a dessertspoon of sunflower oil, 50 ml water and a pinch of salt. Cover with pierced foil and bake on the middle shelf of the oven. These will also take about 20 minutes keep an eye. for the last 5 minutes or so remove the foil. it is only used during the initial stage of the cooking to prevent the papery exterior from scorching.

When the potatoes and the leeks are ready leave them sitting covered in the bottom of a warm oven [100 degrees] while you get everything else organised.

okay the sauce; in a medium saucepan over a medium flame or hob, heat the sunflower oil and add the flour. stir to form a paste and stir continuously to cook out the flour. lower the heat and slowly add the milk. allow the sauce to thicken and simmer for a couple of minutes. set aside. peel the garlic and add to the sauce along with the mustard, nutmeg, parsley yogurt and seasoning. using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until it is velvety smooth.set aside lidded until required.

for the tofu; In a large flat based frying pan heat about 1 cm of sunflower oil over a medium heat. while it is heating, finish the tofu. okay you will need to organise two plates one with the flour/water and one with the breadcumbs. remove the fillets from the marinade, rub off any excess and dredge them individually in the flour/water mixture, shaking off any excess and then into the breadcrumb mixture. when the oil is hot add the fillets two at a time. They dont take long, they will probably need to be turned after 40 seconds or so. fry the other side for about the same until nice and golden. remove with a tongs and leave on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil. repeat the same with the other two fillets.

plate up. flood each plate with sauce. place a mound of leeks slightly off centre on each plate and put a tofu fillet on top of each mound. spoon 4-5 potatoes to the side of this and garnish with a few sprigs of parsley. place a wedge of lemon on top of each fillet. serve immediately

Thanks for all the great reviews and kind words.
We are looking forward to opening a new first floor dining room later this year for you all to enjoy.

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A new recipe from our head chef Tony Keogh

I came up with this recipe prior to Christmas last, for our seasonal menu. I was trying to come up with something rich and satisfying and comforting. I had been toying with this idea, of a savoury cheese cake for quite some time. Initially when I came up with the flavour combination, my intention was to use a goats cheese. In the restaurant, we use a very nice light goats cheese called Ardsallagh. I figured this would work well with the beetroot and biscuit base I had originally envisaged. I tried it out, and it was very nice, it then occurred to me, that walnuts might work well with this combination, a classic trinity of flavours beetroot, goats cheese and walnut. My next dilemma was where to put the walnuts. Perhaps I could ground them up with the biscuit base, For some reason it did not sit well with me as the base was already quite heavy and I felt the walnuts might get lost. So I decided to re-think the base, perhaps something lighter than biscuit. My mind gravitated towards a combination of ground walnuts with shredded root vegetables. Celeriac, would work well as a base with the other ingredients and as I thought of that,being Christmas time, the classic idea of a celeriac and blue cheese soup  occurred to me. so I tried the recipe again with this combination and I was very pleased with the result. It is a fun recipe, and it is very simple to prepare. It can be served hot or cold. The combinations of vegetables, cheeses and nuts can be played around with. A few examples off the top of my head roast red pepper and feta, spinach and Camembert. Whatever you decide I hope you enjoy it!

Celeriac, cashel blue, beetroot cheesecake

for the base;  500 g grated celeriac , 120 g walnuts soaked in hot water, 50 g polenta, pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon

for the filling; 300 g cream cheese, 150 g cooked peeled beetroot, 100 g blue cheese, 3 eggs 1/2 tsp chopped fresh dill, 1/2 a tsp of dijon, pinch of nutmeg,

Firstly make the base, strain and toast the walnuts in a pre-heated oven set to 200 degrees celcius for about 5 -7 minutes. Heat a little sunflower oil in a large heavy based saucepan.Add the shredded celeriac and stir briskly over high heat until the it begins to form a ball and come away from the sides of the pot. Meanwhile grind up the soaked toasted walnuts in a food processor and then add to the cooked celeriac along with the polenta and the lemon. Remove from the heat and season to taste.  press the mixture into a 23cm spring-form mold and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 12-15 minutes

now make the filling, there are two layers involved here, so divide the cream cheese and the eggs into two large bowls. [crack all three eggs in a bowl, whizz up with a fork and divide in two] . Add the blue cheese to one of the bowls containing half the cream cheese and half the egg, add nutmeg and seasoning, using an immersion blender or a food processor blitz the ingredients to a velvety paste. repeat the same process with the remaining cream cheese and egg, only this time with the beetroot, dill mustard and seasoning.

remove the base from the oven. allow to cool a little before covering with the beetroot mixture. Both these mixtures lack any real body or viscosity so be careful as you gently ladle the blue cheese mixture over the beetroot mixture. the idea is to have a two tier effect although a marbled effect will work.

bake for about 30 minutes covered with a foil wig-wam to prevent browning.

allow to sit for at least 20 minutes before removing from the ring. use a pallete knife for this and serve

Here is an enlightenting and interesting article about Deirdre McCafferty, owner of Cornucopia, in Positive Life magazine.

http://www.positivelife.ie/2012/03/the-woman-behind-cornucopia/

Cornucopia is hosting an exciting one day pop up catering feast in the Google offices on Friday 30th March. We will be taking over their Fusion Café to offer Google Dublin’s best vegetarian fare. We will also be offering Google staff a special discount for a year of 10%, Google I.D required. (not with other specials, Fri March 30th 2012 – March 30th 2013)

Cornucopia, 19 & 20 Wicklow Street!

‘Restaurant of The Year’

Dublin Living Awards 2011!

Thanks to Caterspan inviting us to Google!