Rockwell Hotel School Reunion, 20th October 2024

 The West Awake by Rockwell Hotel school Reunion.

THE WESTPORT WOODS HOTEL & SPA IN BEAUTIFUL MAYO

THE ROCKWELL HOTEL AND CATERING SCHOOL, which had a major influence on traditional cooking and service in the hospitality sector of Ireland, is holding a reunion for past students on Sunday 20th October at the Westport Woods Hotel & Spa in Westport, Co Mayo.

Stardust 1981 - This year Rockwell has invited members of the Stardust committee as their guests to remember and honour Brian Hobbs, one of the forty-eight who died in the 1981 Stardust fire. Brian was a past Rockwell student and an incredibly talented young waiter from Dublin with the world at his feet. Brian was a Gold medal winner for Ireland in Wine Waiting and had just returned from Zurich where he had gained valuable experience at the James Joyce Pub before his untimely death. Antoinette, a Stardust survivor & Lorraine Keegan who lost two sisters in the Stardust fire will represent Brian at the reunion as guests of honour sponsored by Ciaran Kelly, owner of the Landmark hotel Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.

Joe Shannon RIP 5TH MARCH 2024

Rockwell will also honour their good friend, supporter, and colleague JOE SHANNON who we lost in March this year. Joe’s family will be with us on the night. Joe was such a great character and fully bought in to the Rockwell reunions sadly missed never forgotten. 

The late Chef Joe Shannon

Chef Paddy Brady Executive chef Westbury hotel from 1984 to 2000 is another supporting chef who would do so much for culinary Ireland, to be honoured for his support and contribution to Rockwell Hotel School.

ROCKWELL HOTEL & CATERING SCHOOL was world renowned for its unique training in hospitality and turned out some of Ireland’s best chefs and waiters, many of whom work in top restaurants around the world today. 

Rockwell Hotel School was established in 1958 under the auspices of Bord Failte and was run by Jimmy Kelly in Rockwell, Cashel, Co Tipperary under the Holy Ghost Order and Fr Denis O’Brien 

Well-known past pupils include Martin Shanahan, TV chef and proprietor of Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Eugene McSweeney, a well-known industry consultant who resides in Kilkenny, Ed Cooney  Executive Chef at the five-year Merrion Hotel in Dublin, Steven McNally, former Deputy CEO at the Dalata Hotel Group and former President of the Irish Hotels Federation, Noel Cunningham  media personality and General Manager at Harvey’s Point, Co, Donegal and Paul Carty Former MD at Diageo and Chair of Irish Tourism Confederation (ITIC), Sean Davoren  head butler at The Savoy Hotel and lately seen on the ITV programme The Savoy  and Michael Lynch, who has worked at Claridge’s since 1978 and featured in the 2012 BBC series Inside Claridge’s, are also past student of Rockwell.

 

 Pat Cronin, who was one of Rockwell’s first students and the last Manager of the Catering School  said: “Rockwell had a major influence on traditional cooking and service in the hotel and catering industry in Ireland during its 25-year history, and its legacy lives on as past pupils continue to make a major impact on the hospitality business national and globally. It is a sadder place without the Rockwell students.

Former pupils will be travelling from all over Ireland and further afield for the event – one chef Padraig Molloy is even coming in from Antarctica. The evening, which is in aid of a local charity, will commence with Mass at 7pm in the hotel, followed by a drink’s reception, a six-course dinner. 

The organisers, Gerard Allen, former student and Dolores O’Connor, former Administration assistant at the school are also seeking old photos and memorabilia from Rockwell, as one of their past students, Rory Morahan, the Druid Chef, is putting together a collection for all to see on the night. If you have memorabilia, would like more details on the event, or you would just like to reconnect with old Rockwell friends, see the Rockwell Hotel School Facebook page and Instagram or contact rockwellhotelschool@gmail.com.

Westport Woods Hotel & Spa

Looking for the perfect escape whether it is a family vacation, a friends' retreat, a romantic weekend, or a peaceful getaway, the four-star Westport Woods Hotel & Spa is your ideal destination. Nestled in a 300-year-old woodland, just minutes from vibrant Westport, our hotel offers the perfect blend of tranquillity and luxury.

Michael Lennon, manager of the Westport Woods Hotel and a former President of the Irish Hotels Federation, is a past Rockwell pupil, is hosting this year’s event, which is held every two years. 

Picking Blackberries & my Blackberry Madeira Pie Recipe

Everybody loves Blackberries. There are quite a few runs of pretty good wild Blackberry hedges around where I live. As the roads are quiet enough too, they don't get infused with exhaust fumes so much. But this year, while nosing around a few old back roads I hit the jackpot and found a good quarter-mile of the biggest,  juiciest, most bountiful blackberry bushes I've ever seen!

I parked up the car and pulled out the wee bowl my daughter and I had taken with us just in case we found some of these luscious fruits of the forest. It turned out that I needed to use the basin I had in the boot of the car since the last cooking demo I had done! There were blackberries as far as my eyes could see - I was like a wee boy again - smiling to myself as we picked the berries, eating almost as many as we picked! They were so perfectly ripe they almost fell off their husks into our hands. 

I was reminded of when my brother and I used to stay with our aunt, Nora Boyle, a few miles out of Donegal town, for two weeks during the summer months, so that Mum could have another room for the Bed & Breakfast guests. Nora is a great baker and instilled in me a lot of the older Irish recipes that I still love to make. She grew fruit and vegetables at home, baked every day, dried Dillisk on bedsheets in the garden and used to send us out picking blackberries so that she could make her Apple & Blackberry Jam to put on to the yummiest homemade Treacle & Ginger Bread ever.

We'd spend half the day away up fields and back-roads, with our cousins, picking and eating the juicy wild berries until we were sore!

I'm a great believer in 'smell' and how it can trigger memories and transport you to a particular point in your life with the deadliest of accuracy. Well, for me, the smell of blackberries means 10 years old, on holidays, "in the country".

The smell of fresh ripe blackberries is something so heavenly and unique as to enchant even the most distinguished wine connoisseur's scent glands. When it's said that there are "notes of Blackberry" in that Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 or whatever, well they probably haven't had the chance to stick their sniffer into a hand-picked bucket of the real juicy blackberries, just off the 'vine'!

Anyway, so Lily and I picked just under 3KG of these large, shiny, blackish-purple berries in about 40 minutes! On the way home I was wondering what to make first, a Crumble, a Tart, just Jam, some Chutney... but I decided to make a blackberry variation on the classic Irish Apple Cake of pastry bottom, apples and sugar, sponge topping.

Blackberry Madeira Pie

A 10" Pie Tin
Preheat your oven to 170°C


My Ingredients:

Sweet Pastry
200g Plain Flour
100g Butter
75g Caster Sugar
1 medium egg
a little Cold Water

Madeira Sponge Mix
100g Butter
100g Caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
a little milk

Filling:
500g Blackberries
4 tablespoons caster sugar

Glaze:
2 tbls. Honey
2 tbls. Orange Juice

(or Marmalade Jam)

My Method:

1. Wash the blackberries gently, with cold water, in a sieve and let them drain while you make the rest of the pie.
2. For the pastry rub the butter into the flour until it's like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix in. Break in the egg and pull the pastry together using a little cold water if needed. Refrigerate.
3. For the Madeira, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add one egg with a tablespoon of flour and beat well until smooth. Add the 2nd egg with a little flour and beat well until smooth. The little bit of flour helps to stop the mix from curdling as you mix in the egg.
4. Add all the flour and mix in well. Add the vanilla essence and mix in. Add a little bit of milk to bring the Madeira mix to a dropping consistency.
5. Grease the pie tin with a little butter and dust with flour. Roll out the pastry and line the tin. Press it in gently and trim off the extra bit.
6. Fill the lined tin with the blackberries and dust with the caster sugar.
7. Spoon the Madeira mix over the top and using the back of a spoon dipped in cold water gently smooth out the mix to fill all the gaps.
8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for approx. 40 minutes or until the sponge is firm to the touch and golden brown.
9. Heat the honey and orange juice together, for 20 seconds, in a cup in the microwave and brush this glaze (or some marmalade jam) over the warm pie.

10. Stand back and see how long you can wait before you start eating it!

Enjoy.

My post on Making Hedgerow Blackberry & Apple Jam is Here and my Blackberry Ice Cream is Here!

Zack

Zack's BBQ Sauce & Basting Stock!

With this wonderful weather upon us and the whole of Ireland pulling out their BBQs to take advantage of the sunny afternoons, I thought that I’d give you a tip that will help turn your Barbecue into something really special!

The first thing to note is that you should not coat your meat (any type) with the Barbecue sauce until it is almost finished cooking. The reason for this is that the sugars and tomatoes in the BBQ sauce will caramelise and burn on the outside of the meat before it is actually cooked on the inside!

Instead you use a Basting Sauce (aka basting stock) while it's cooking to keep it moist and add flavour. Use a 1” paintbrush to coat the basting sauce over the meat as it is cooking. 


When your food is cooked, brush the BBQ Sauce over the meat and give it another few minutes on the grill to glaze and finish the flavouring.

My Basting Sauce Recipe:

500ml apple juice

100ml olive oil

50ml malt vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

1 Chicken stock cube

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tspn thyme

1 tspn rosemary

½ tspn paprika

½ tspn black pepper

½ tspn salt

Put everything in a pot and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Use this to moisten your meats as they cook.

My BBQ Sauce Recipe:

50ml olive oil
1 medium onion
5 cloves garlic
1 red chilli (deseeded)
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
2x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
50g brown sugar
4 tbls honey
50ml soy sauce
300ml tomato ketchup
100ml brown sauce
1 tbls Treacle
1 tbls Sesame OIl
1 tbls Dijon mustard
1 tbls Worchester sauce
juice and zest of 1 lemon
juice and zest of 1 orange
1 tspn Tabasco sauce
½ tspn cracked black pepper
100ml water

Chop the vegetables roughly because your going to blitz the sauce in a food processor when it's cooked. Put them into a large pot and add all the other ingredients. Bring it all to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes. Blitz in a food processor or with a blitzing gun, you can make it smooth or leave it a little rough for a bit of bite. You can use this BBQ sauce straight away or you can put it in the fridge overnight to help the flavours develop. 

When your beef, chicken, ribs, lamb, Kebabs, burgers, sausages, fish, prawns, or whatever you're using, is cooked to your liking, simply brush the BBQ sauce over your meat, give it another few minutes on the Barbecue to add a tasty, shiny, crispy delicious glaze that will have your guests licking their fingers with delight!

My BBQ Sauce is also excellent for rubbing on Chicken Wings or Pork Ribs. Cook the meat in a pre-heated oven at 180°C until its done. Take it out and brush with the BBQ Sauce and pop back in the oven for another 10 mins. Delicious!


Both sauces can be made in advance and kept in the fridge. The BBQ Sauce will keep for months, if you jar it when its still hot. 

Enjoy the Sunshine and insist on locally-sourced Irish food for your BBQ!


Zack

Hot Cross Buns for Easter!

One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot Cross Buns!

Hot cross buns are traditionally baked to be eaten during Lent, the 40 days before Easter. The bun acquired mythical properties over the centuries and early literature reveals that the hot cross bun was also known as the Good Friday Bun.

The most famous story says that the origins of the Hot Cross Bun date to the 12th century when an English monk was said to have placed the sign of the cross on the buns to honor Good Friday. Throughout history the bun has received credit for special virtues, among them that of ensuring friendship between two people sharing a bun. An old rhyme states, "Half for you and half for me, between us two, good luck shall be."

Another tradition holds that a hot cross bun should be kept hanging from the kitchen ceiling from one year to another to ward off evil spirits. Healing properties were also attributed to it. Gratings from a preserved bun were mixed with water to provide a cure for the common cold.

There are loads of delicious ways to eat this legendary treat: you can slice them, toast them and butter them! I love them toasted with real butter and strawberry jam! This recipe is an old family one and it makes about 10 buns - but we always double it up!

Hot Cross Buns


My Ingredients:
450g bread (strong) flour
pinch of salt
2 tsp mixed spice
75g butter
7g fast action dried yeast (generally 1 sachet)
50g caster sugar
1 egg
275ml warm milk (40 seconds in microwave will do)
200g dried raisins or currants (I don't like the traditional dried mixed fruit - but if you do, use that instead)
grated rind of an orange

My Method:

1. Put the flour, salt and mixed spice in a bowl and give them a quick whisk to mix. Rub in the butter to the flour mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the yeast, sugar, beaten egg and milk and stir together into a soft dough.

2. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. If you are using a mixer to make these buns give it five minutes on low with the dough hook. Add in the dried fruit and the grated orange rind and knead for another minute.

3. Roll out the mix slightly and cut the dough into 10 pieces. Roll these into balls on the table using the flat of your hand and place on a baking sheet or tray. Leave their own width again between each bun so they will have room to rise.

4. To make the cross mix 1 Cup flour with about 3 tbls cold water to make a basic soft dough. Roll it out really thin and cut into little strips. Dampen with a little water and stick to the top of each bun. Take a length of plastic wrap and brush with a little cooking oil. Place this loosely on top of the buns (oiled side down) and leave in the kitchen to double in size - about 20 minutes depending on the weather and the warmth of the room. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 390ºF (360ºF if a fan oven) for 20 minutes.

Hot Cross Buns were traditionally brushed with a sugar & water glaze when they're still hot, but I prefer to brush them with local honey from the Saturday country market in Leghowney, near Donegal Town!

And Here's my recipe for Hot Cross Buns with American Cup measurements
http://www.irishcentral.com/culture/food-drink/Irish-hot-cross-buns-recipe-for-Easter.html

Enjoy!

Zack

Video & Music by http://www.youtube.com/user/annshelaann

Make your own Home-made Haggis for Burns' Night!

In 1801, some five years after the famous Scottish poet Robert (Robbie) Burns' death, nine of his friends sat down to dinner, to celebrate his extraordinary life and to gave thanks for his friendship. Little did they know that this remembrance would resonate down through the centuries and span all across the world. Over the years, the informal theme from that evening has developed into the ritual known internationally known as Burns Night.

Presenting and Toasting the Haggis have become part of the ritual of a Burns Night event!

Here in County Donegal, with the historic association of many Donegal people with Scotland and Scottish traditions, we have long been enjoying the lightly spiced and peppery flavours of this famous dish. Haggis is traditionally eaten on Burns Night which falls on the 25th January which is the birthday of the Scottish poet. Many venues in all nine counties of Ulster, celebrate Burns Night on the weekend closest to the 25th.

Robert Burns - Celebrating the poets birthday has made the Haggis world famous!

The Haggis, which tastes a little like our Irish black and white puddings mixed together, is a very old traditional dish that combines meats, spices and oatmeal.  A traditional Scottish recipe for haggis would involve the boiled and minced liver, lungs and heart of a sheep mixed with chopped onions, toasted oatmeal, salt, pepper, and spices.

The mixture would then be stuffed into the cleaned sheep’s stomach, sewn up and then boiled gently for several hours! The dish is usually served with neeps (mashed buttered turnip) and tatties (mashed potatoes), a whiskey sauce, a few readings of some poetry, along with copious amounts of whiskey to toast the Haggis!

A Traditional Haggis with Neeps (Turnips) and Tatties (Potatoes) & a Wee Dram of Whiskey!

Creating a Burns Night event at your home or restaurant is a splendid reason to go out to eat and drink with friends in January! Although the traditional date is the 25th January, most restaurants and hotels celebrate a Burns Night event on the Friday or Saturday closest to that date.

That's me assisting with "Presenting the Haggis" a Burn's Supper event
hosted by members of the local Ulster-Scots community. 

Here is my version of an old Haggis Recipe, where instead of a sheep’s stomach you cook the Haggis in a casserole dish.

Ingredients:
500g minced lamb
500g minced beef
125g suet (beef or vegetable)
500g beef liver
100g of porridge oats
300ml of  meat stock (strain this from your boiled beef and lamb - see method)
250g finely chopped onions
½ tsp grated nutmeg
¼ tsp ground mace
½ tsp of cayenne pepper
¼ tsp ground coriander
butter for greasing
a few twists of sea salt
a few twists of ground black pepper

Peeled Potatoes

Peeled and roughly chopped Turnips or Swedes. 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Cover the roughly-cut liver with cold water, bring to a boil and cook for five minutes. Strain and dump away this liquid and then chop the cooked liver with the onion, in a blender or on a board.
3. Cover the minced lamb & beef with water and bring to the boil in a large pot. Cook out for approximately 30 minutes. Keep 300ml stock from this cooked meat and pour away the rest.
4. Give the porridge oats a rough chop and then mix all the ingredients together with the meat stock. Transfer this mix to a well buttered casserole dish. Cover and seal with a layer of tin-foil.
5. Cook in the oven at 160°C for about 2 hours.
6. Meanwhile boil and then mash some Turnips with butter, white pepper, salt and a drizzle of honey. Boil and then mash some potatoes with butter, salt and white pepper.

Invite your friends around and make your own home-made Haggis for a Burns' Night Supper!

For the Whiskey sauce:
500ml cream
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 large shot of whiskey
sea salt
ground white pepper
3 tbls chopped scallions

To make the whiskey sauce, heat the cream in a pan over a medium heat. Add the wholegrain mustard, Dijon mustard, scallions and whiskey and stir with a small whisk. Increase the heat until the mixture is simmering and cook for 1-2 minutes until it reduces and thickens up a little. Remove the pan from the heat and season with salt and ground white pepper.

To serve:
Spoon out the Haggis, accompanied with mashed turnips and potatoes and drizzle with the whiskey sauce. I like to stack the Haggis, using a serving ring (see pic above) for presentation and then drizzle the sauce around it!

Why not make your own Haggis this year and have a Burns Supper of your own with the family! Or even better, have one in your local restaurant! 

Enjoy!
Zack

Originally published in 2012

Buy as much Food, Drink & Crafts as you can, from Local Producers this Christmas!

 Buy as much Food, Drink & Crafts as you can, from Local Producers this Christmas!

My Traditional Irish Christmas Cake

Christmas cakes are made in many different ways, but generally they are variations on the classic fruitcake. They can be light, dark, moist, dry, heavy, spongy etc. The cakes are made in many different shapes, with frosting, royal icing, a dusting of icing sugar or simple and plain.

The spices and dried fruits in the cake are supposed to represent the exotic eastern spices brought by the three Wise Men to the newborn King! The fruit is all soaked overnight in the whiskey, in a covered bowl, before use.

I always make three cakes - one for Christmas Day and two to eat every day for tea until then!

My Christmas Cake Ingredients:

150g (5oz) raisins

125g (4½oz) stoned dates

125g (4½oz) sultanas

100g (4oz) glace cherries

100ml (4 fl oz) Irish whiskey

(all of the above are soaked together overnight before making the cake)

225g (8oz) real butter

extra butter for greasing

200g (7oz) soft brown sugar

4 eggs

grated rind of 1 lemon & 1 orange

2tbls black treacle (light molasses)

225g (8oz) plain (all purpose) flour

½ tsp salt

1 rounded tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp grated nutmeg

¼ tsp ground clove

50g (2oz) ground almonds

50ml (2 fl oz) extra whiskey 

My Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F), Gas mark 2. Grease a 20cm (8") cake tin and line it with greaseproof paper. Wrap some Newspaper around the outside and tie it with string. This will help the outside of the cake from browning too much during the cooking and prevent it from drying out.

2. Beat together, in a bowl, the sugar & butter until creamy. Gradually add the eggs, dusting a little of the flour in with each egg added. Add the treacle & grated fruit rinds and mix well.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl of soaked fruit and add the salt, spices and almonds. Stir all of this together, mixing well.

4. Fold the fruit mix into the egg mix, stirring evenly. Spoon the completed mix into the cake tin. Pull a little dip back in the middle of the cake so that when it rises, it will level itself off better.

5. Bake in the centre of the oven for 3 hours. If it is browning a little too much cover it loosely with tinfoil. Cook for another ½ hour. The cake is cooked when a fine skewer, inserted into the centre, comes out clean and dry.

Make small holes all over the warm cake with a skewer and spoon the extra 50ml whiskey over the holes until it has all soaked in. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. 

When the cake is cold, remove it from the tin, peel off the lining paper, then wrap it first in clean greaseproof paper and then in foil.

A small amount of brandy, sherry or whiskey (depending on your own favourite drink) should be spooned over the cake every week until Christmas. This process is called “feeding the cake”. 

You also should turn the cake over, each week, before you pour another little bit of your favourite drink over it. This ensures that all that lovely alcohol penetrates to the very middle of the Christmas cake and definitely creates that "Yum!" factor on Christmas Day. Enjoy!

Zack