Tastes of Ireland

Lyndey Milan's latest cooking show A Taste of Ireland is screening on 7TWO on Sundays at midday. These three recipes feature in the series. Milan lives in Sydney and has written seven cookbooks.

Duck breast with Madeira sauce

The Titanic conjures up images of luxury and elegance. This recipe is my homage to the chef, who went down with the ship and the recipes he created on board.

Serves 2

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 x 200g duck breast fillets, skin on

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For vegetable roesti

1 potato, peeled and grated

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 white (or yellow) carrot, peeled and grated

1 zucchini, grated

1/2 egg, beaten

1 1/2 tbsp (30g) butter

For madeira sauce

1/2 cup (125ml) Madeira or sherry

1/2 cup (125ml) chicken stock

1 tbsp redcurrant jelly

Juice of 1 orange

Juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste

METHOD

1. Cut deep slashes in the duck skin. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a cold, medium frying pan, skin-side down, over a medium heat, for about six to eight minutes or until skin is well-browned and fat rendered. Turn duck breasts and cook, flesh-side down for two minutes for medium-rare or longer if you prefer. Transfer to a warmed plate and cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for five minutes while you make the sauce.

2. Meanwhile, to make vegetable roesti, remove excess water from vegetables by placing them in a clean tea towel and squeezing over a medium bowl. Tip water out of bowl, add in vegetables and combine with egg. Melt half the butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat then add the vegetable mixture. As vegetables begin to cook and soften, push down with a potato masher to flatten. When cooked on one side, cover pan with a plate and invert it. Add remaining butter to the pan and slip the roesti into the pan, uncooked side downwards. Push down again.

3. For the sauce, pour duck fat from pan and deglaze pan with Madeira, chicken stock and red currant jelly. Whisk to combine. Add strained orange and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little water if the sauce evaporates too much.

4. To serve, slice roesti in half and place on serving plate. Top with duck breast, carved into thick slices, and spoon over the sauce.

Lyndey's note: Scoring the skin and starting with a cold pan renders more fat on the duck, resulting in much crisper skin.

This recipe was featured in Episode 1 of A Taste of Ireland.

Stuffed pork fillet wrapped in bacon

This recipe is all about Pat Doherty's black pigs and the pork and bacon they produce. They roam freely on an island in Lough Erne and the finished product is sold in his shop. I combined with with salad, freshly picked from Orchard Acre Farm.

Serves 2

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking: 15-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 large (300g) pork fillet

6 long, even rashers bacon

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tsp (15g) butter

8 fresh sage leaves

For stuffing:

1 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

1 tsp fennel seeds

200-250g pork mince

For salad:

2 thick rashers bacon

4 leaves curly lettuce

4 leaves baby kale

4 soft lettuce leaves, e.g. butter lettuce

1 young beetroot, peeled and sliced

1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced

2 yellow tomatoes, cut into small wedges

1 sprig spearmint, leaves chopped

Nasturtiums, leaves and flowers

Snow pea shoots and flowers

For vinaigrette:

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp (10ml) white wine vinegar

2 tbsp (40ml) extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

For pork:

1. Mix stuffing ingredients and set aside.

2. Cut a pocket in the pork fillet by slicing lengthways, leaving the last centimetre uncut. Cut a further pocket by slicing sideways from this cut, down the left and right side.

3. Open fillet out and flatten with fingers. Place stuffing evenly down the length of the fillet. Roll pork to reform original shape. Wrap bacon rashers, one at a time around pork, overlapping the ends. If necessary, hold together with toothpicks.

4. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add oil and two teaspoons butter. When the butter is foaming, add pork fillet and cook over medium heat, turning frequently until brown on all sides. Reduce heat to very low and cover. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until firm to the touch and cooked through. Remove to a warm place, cover with foil and rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

For vinaigrette:

1. Whisk together all ingredients except oil in salad bowl. When well combined, drizzle in oil while still whisking. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

For salad:

Cut extra bacon into small strips to make lardons and dry fry in preheated small frying pan over medium heat until brown and crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel. Build salad on top of vinaigrette, placing leaves first, then beetroot, cucumber, tomatoes, spearmint and finally lardons and flowers. Toss just prior to serving.

To serve: Melt remaining one teaspoon butter in a small frying pan and when foaming, add sage leaves. Turn and when crisp drain on paper towel. Slice pork, dot with sage leaves and serve with salad.

Lyndey's note: beetroot leaves can also be added to the salad.

This recipe featured in A Taste of Ireland, episode 4 (County Fermanagh).

Plum and apple sundae

Paul Flynn is a well-loved TV chef in Ireland. When I caught up with him he was cooking an exclusive private dinner and this was the dessert.

Serves 10 to 12

Preparation: 15 minutes plus chilling time

Cooking: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

For plum and apple compote:

12 (1.3kg) plums (variety; black and orange inside) cut into 2cm dice

5 (750g) red apples, peeled, cut into 1cm dice

1/3 cup (75g) brown sugar

5cm ginger, peeled by scraping with a teaspoon and finely chopped

2 star anise

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

1 cup (250ml) apple juice

For sorbet:

1 sheet titanium gelatine

2 tablespoons caster sugar

2 cups (500ml) apple juice

2 strips lemon peel

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, plus a few thyme stalks

1/4 cup creme fraiche

1 tbsp glucose

1 large egg white

For sabayon:

5 egg yolks

200g caster sugar

1 cup (250ml) apple cider

300ml double cream

To serve:

Pistachio praline

Borage flowers

METHOD

For the compote: combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Mix well, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 25 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring occasionally as liquid reduces. Cool.

For the sorbet: soften gelatine in cold water. Place sugar, juice, lemon peel, thyme and thyme stalks in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix well and bring to the boil. Squeeze excess water from gelatine and add to pan with creme fraiche and glucose and mix again. Remove from heat. When cool, remove lemon strips and thyme stalks. Place in ice-cream machine with egg white and churn according to machine instructions. Alternatively, freeze in a shallow tray and when almost frozen, break up and whiz in a food processor. Place in freezer until needed.

For the sabayon: place egg yolks, sugar and cider in a medium saucepan over low heat (an induction cooktop allows you to take the temperature up a little higher. If unsure, use a double boiler). Whisk together continuously until light and thick and bubbles are just starting to appear. Remove from the heat immediately and pour into a shallow tray to cool. Gently whisk in cream and place in fridge.

To assemble:

Spoon some compote into the bottom of a large wine glass or similar. Place a scoop of sorbet on top and spoon over the sabayon. Paul used a pacojet to lighten the sabayon and pipe over the sorbet. Garnish with pistachio praline and borage flowers.

(Recipe by Paul Flynn of The Tannery, Dungarvan)

Images and recipes from Lyndey Milan's series A Taste of Ireland, screening on 7TWO.