food news

   For many years the worlds cheese consumption has been dominated by Europeans. While cheese has been traditionally associated with the milk of cows, a new form of cheese has recently become all the rage. It has been featured everywhere from RTE's hit show The Restaurant to your local supermarket and can be found in everything from salads to pastas. Goat's cheese has quickly become the new gourmet cheese of choice for professional chefs looking to give their dishes an extra edge. With Taste's chefs use goat's cheese in a variety of dishes such as the popular Goat's Cheese & Vegetable Terrine pictured below.

   Delicious in more ways then one, the many varieties of goat's cheese come in all different shapes, sizes, textures, and flavours. Praised for it's flexibility and health benefits: goat's cheese is rich in calcium, protein, and easily digestible. It can be enjoyed warm or cold, hard or soft, creamy or dry. Goat's cheese might have gotten its start in the Mediterranean 12,000 years ago but today there are many Irish farmhouse cheese makers that produce a variety of goat's cheese products such as the St. Tola Organic Goat Cheese brand produced in North West Clare. 

If a recipe calls for the traditional imported French goat's cheese, remember there are many local Irish goat's cheese products of extremely good quality that can be easily substituted. Since goat's cheese can be used in cooking a variety of dishes like salads, sandwiches, or tarts serve your guests Irish Goat's cheese proudly and support our local farmhouse cheese makers.

From time to time our head chef John Dowd outlines a recipe you can try at home. This recipe is based on a popular dish at Gordon Ramsey's Boxwood Cafein Knightsbridge, London. John says its worth paying a bit extra and going to your butcher to get the best quality beef.

SERVES 6-8
READY IN ABOUT AN HOUR

Ingredients
1.5 litres beef or chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 medium bulb fennel, stalks trimmed and reserved
4 large sprigs fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1kg prime quality beef fillet
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
6 tbsp vinaigrette, preferably homemade
About 6 baby courgettes
4 tbsp double cream
2 large little gem lettuces
Leaves separated
Parmesan shavings

[Per serving for six 400 calories, protein 38g, carbohydrate 2g, fat 27g, saturated fat 9g, fibre 1g, added sugar none, salt 1.14g.]

1 PREPARE THE STOCK AND BEEF
Pour the stock into a deep saucepan that will hold the beef. Add the onion, carrot and fennel trimmings plus 2 sprigs of rosemary, all the thyme and the bay leaf, bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Trim the beef fillet of any membrane or sinew if necessary. There is no need to tie it, so leave it as a natural shape. Sprinkle sea salt and black pepper evenly and lightly on a large plate, ready for seasoning.

2 SLICE THE FENNEL
While stock is simmering, using a mandolin slice the fennel from the root end into wafer-thin slices. Drop the slices into a big bowl of iced water with the lemon juice. Leave for 10-15 minutes then drain, pat dry and toss with 2 tbsp of vinaigrette. Season and set aside to marinate.

3 POACH THE BEEF
When ready to cook the beef, roll it in the seasoning on the plate so it is well coated. Submerge the beef in the stock, pushing it down under the vegetables and herbs so it cooks evenly. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and poach for 18 minutes for rare, 20 minutes for medium rare.

4 LET THE MEAT REST
Lift the fillet out onto a large plate and pour over 2 ladles of stock. Place the poached herb sprigs on top of the beef, then cover with cling film and leave the meat to rest and cool.

5 WILT THE COURGETTES
Meanwhile, strain the stock and return it to the pan. Re-heat to boiling. Top and tail the courgettes and slice these into thin shavings using a mandolin or sharp knife. Dunk the courgettes in the boiling stock for about 30 seconds until they wilt, then immediately remove with a slotted spoon and put in a sieve under cold running water to cool down quickly.

6 MAKE THE DRESSING
Pour about 4 ladles of the stock into a smaller pan, add another sprig of rosemary and boil down to about 100ml. Pour in the cream and boil from the heat. Strip the leaves from the last sprig of rosemary and finely chop. Add half to the rosemary cream as it cools. Then mix in the remaining 4 tbsp vinaigrette.

7 TOSS THE SALAD
Put the little gem leaves in a bowl and toss with the fennel and courgettes remaining rosemary cream dressing. This can now be chilled for up to an hour until ready to serve. Keep back a handful of the salad for garnishing; put the rest on a large platter.

8 ARRANGE THE SALAD
Uncover the beef, remove the herb sprigs, then cut the beef lengthways into 6-8 long thin slices using a well-sharpened carving knife. Lift these up all together on a palette knife and place on the salad in a neat mound. Top with the reserved salad and shave over some parmesan. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the beef.