Rolled rabbit lions

Blood cake

My homemade blood cake or black pudding used to stuff the rabbit

Stock

Rabbit stock used to make the jus and for cooking the rabbit mince

Mince

Rabbit mince from the trimmings we make meat balls, lasagne or Shepard's pie from this

Bones

Roasted rabbit to make stock

Rabbit legs

Boned out rabbit legs about to be braised

Rabbit

Lion of wild spring rabbit shot in banteer by owen the deer stalker the rabbit is stuffed with blood cake made from the blood of our own pigs notice there is no shot marks on the lions all shot with a silenced rifle and all shot in the head very humain and incredibly skilful to pull off.

Rhubarb

Irish rhubarb from the Carrigaline Market garden part of the west Cork fusia brand we roasted it in the oven at a low temperature with sugar only no water the resulting compote keeps it's shape is not stringy and has a lovely texture when you eat it.

Black Pudding Roulade, pork belly, celeraic romulade, apple & vanilla puree, bulmers cider jelly

This is one of myfavorite dishes it uses Jack McCarthys Black Pudding and belly pork from our own free range pigs in springfort hall

Jack McCarthys Black Pudding

Jack McCarthys boars head pudding next to a pound of butter to invisize the size. Jack is currently working on a chocolate boudain and a seafood boudain i dont think Jack is happy with just 1 european gold medal.

European gold medal winning boars head pudding

Chapter One

Organic sea trout, leek & mandarin dressing, hazelnuts and cold pressed rapeseed oil. This was the second course and my favourite the cured trout was amazing the texture was soft and succulent I would speculate that they used a liquid cure made with a very high quality vinegar, cane sugar and maldon sea salt the dressing was excellent the hazelnuts equally so there was a surprise in the form of Jerusalem artichoke purée lending an earthy quality but the star was defiantly the rapeseed oil it's mild slightly nutty flavour balanced the dish perfectly with out a hint of oiliness . It was a fab night and in my excitement I neglected to find out the Provence if the oil and I kept meaning to ring and find out but as it turned out I didnt have to as 2 weeks later kitty Colchester walked into our newly opened gourmet food shop on a sales call and Tony knowing how much I had raved about this oil sent her out to me in the hotel.

Feta Cheese Mousse

This was the first course on the tasting menu in Chapter One the night we were there the feta is served with organic beetroot, pear, spiced apple & pumpkin oil

Kielbasa

Berry cheese cake

Tonights dessert special home made berry cheese cake

Sausages

Myself and Mikey making spiral sausages Toulouse style in springfort hall

AIR DRIED HAM (PROSCUITTO)

This is a Photo of the first air dried ham i ever cured i got half a rare breed Tamworth pig from pat Clarke of a growing pleasure the micro herb grower in Naas cured it for 30 days in salt and then hung it by the back door in the kitchen i hung it for 6 months before carving i wish i had let it for 2 more months even though it was fantastic i cant help but think how good could it have been if left for 8, 10, or as long as 14 months like the best Spanish pate negra.

Farewell Leixlip House Hotel

Friday the 30th of July was my last day in Leixlip House Hotel its been a fantastic 4 years in which alot was achieved and thank you to every one who made it an enjoyable experience and i wish ye all the best for the future. As for me i will be washing up somewhere on the rugged Atlantic coast in my home county of Cork the property we will be developing is just left of centre in the trees over looking the pier.

COCKTAILS

Nadir the master cocktail maker man

Dry ice turns a cocktail into a volcano spewing its very own ash cloud .

NEW PHOTOS

Been pretty busy with work and two small babies and not done much blogging the past year so here is a few more recent photos and i have lots of new material and techniques to share just need more time but i promise to try and upload 1 post a week at least cheers !!!