Food from the Sun. Neven Maguire
rel="nofollow" href="#litres_trial_promo">Buttermilk Pannacotta with Poached Rhubarb
Almond and Apricot Tart with Amaretto Custard
Coconut Pearls in Coconut Milk with Caramelised Bananas
Coconut Crème Caramel with Malibu and Pineapple
I love travelling. Every January my wife, Amelda, and I head away to far flung places. In recent years we have been to Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Bali and the USA. And wherever we go I love to sample the local food –tasty Thai noodles, rich Moroccan tagines, spicy Mexican food, delicious Italian pasta, fresh Greek salads and so much more. There are many wonderful new tastes, flavours and ingredients out there to discover.
I also enjoy visiting the local markets, such as the amazing Sineu village in Palma, Mallorca. There is a lot of pleasure to be had in finding exotic vegetables, rifling through enormous sacks of spices and sampling local cheeses and meats. And I love to get down to the ports to see the boats coming in and the freshest fish on offer. In this book I wanted to draw on some of these holiday moments with recipes based on dishes I enjoyed abroad –for you to cook at home.
The food we eat is constantly changing and developing. People are becoming more adventurous. Supermarkets are stocking ever increasing ranges of exotic ingredients and excellent fresh food, and great specialist stores are popping up everywhere. You should have no difficulty finding all the ingredients in my recipes. Those holiday flavours no longer have to be just a distant memory.
No matter how much cooking experience you have, the food you serve is only as good as the ingredients you use and I like to buy local, seasonal produce and to support my
local suppliers who provide fresh, top quality goods. Your butcher and fishmonger will offer better value than anything pre-packed and they are experts when it comes to preparing meat and fish exactly how you want it. They are worth a visit.
Each of the nine chapters in the book is themed around a different type of ingredient. There are ideas for whatever is in your fridge whether you’re preparing breakfast, a quick supper, a barbecue or a special occasion family feast. I have also included a larder chapter; a good basic stock is essential as the body and soul of so many soups and sauces.
Holiday dining is always pleasurable–you get to enjoy the sun while someone else cooks your lunch! I enjoy the change for a while but honestly I am never happier than when I am cooking. To help you to revive those memories I have tried to keep the recipes in this book as straightforward as possible. A few require that extra bit of effort, but I think they are definitely worth it. Join me in these new tastes, flavours and combinations, all with the memory of holidays and that hint of the sun.
Happy Cooking!
Small bites: appetisers, mezze and tapas
Oven-roasted Dublin Bay Prawns (Langoustines) with Tomato and Chilli
Serves 4
900g (2lb) ripe tomatoes, peeled (see page 119), halved and seeded
1 small red chilli, halved and seeded
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 red pepper, halved, seeded and roughly chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley and basil leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
100g (4oz) Serrano ham slices, finely shredded
25g (1oz) plain flour large pinch of sweet paprika
12 raw large Dublin Bay prawns (langoustines), shelled and left whole
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, to garnish
1 lemon, cut into wedges crusty bread, to serve
This dish is a great example of Spanish cuisine – the unique flavours of the ingredients enhance but do not smother each other. I was inspired to make this by Gillian Bowler, when she was a contestant on RTE’s The Restaurant. King prawns would also work well instead of Dublin Bay prawns.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), gas mark 4. Place the tomatoes, chilli, onion, red pepper, garlic clove and herbs in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a frying pan set over a medium heat, add the tomato mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste. Gently fry for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until reduced and thickened. Transfer to an ovenproof dish, then stir in the Serrano ham.
Mix the flour and paprika in a shallow bowl and lightly coat the prawns in the mixture. Heat the remaining oil in a very hot frying pan and quickly sear the prawns on both sides until golden brown. Place them in the ovenproof dish on top of the sauce and drizzle over any oil left in the frying pan. Roast for 6–8 minutes or until the prawns are just cooked through and slightly firm. Garnish with parsley and serve at once with lemon wedges and a separate basket of crusty bread to mop up all the delicious juices.