And Just Look at the Menu

Five warm oysters served in their shell, lightly poached on steamed vegetables, champagne sauce and caviar

 Ballycotton smoked salmon sushi with pink pickled ginger, wasabi, cucumber and dipping sauce

 Ardsallagh goat cheese and almond croquettes, roast Barnabrow beetroot, candied walnuts, walled garden rocket, love apple dressing

 Barnabrow anti pasta sharing plate for 2 of cured meats, cheeses, fish and vegetables

 ***

Champagne sorbet float

 Smoked haddock, potato and sweet corn chowder 

***

 Pan fried monkfish tail, saffron mash, braised fennel, bouillabaisse style sauce 

Herb crusted roast rack of lamb with feta cheese, olives, roast Mediterranean vegetables and basil lamb jus 

Char grilled 8oz sirloin steak, roast garlic portabello mushroom, red onion confit and truffle flavoured jus 

Baked sea bass, 3 flavour Asian style, stir-fry udon noodles, crisp prawn tempura skewer and pickled vegetable salad

***

 Glazed Passion fruit tart

 Pink meringue strawberry roulade and Baldwin’s strawberry ice cream

 A Fondue for 2, Barnabrow dark chocolate fondue and a selection of dipping fruits and marshmallows 

Ice cream filled profiteroles and warm chocolate sauce

Dinner with Bubbles and B&B for €75 pps.

Treat your loved one to the experience  - the unique romantic ambiance at Barnabrow House with great food.

Offer Available both on Saturday 11 February and Tuesday 14 February

Last month I had a stroke of Irish luck, when I was invited to join in on a business trip to the Emerald Isle. The 4-day event was put on by an Irish-based company in my industry with the intention of introducing us to their products and services. In reality, it was a lot of wining and dining and boozing and schmoozing.

Ireland is not particularly recognized for its food, or at least not as much as its European mainland counterparts, but I happen to be a big fan of pub food — stews, pies, sausages, potatoes… beer! This trip, however, raised the [quality] bar of pub food and introduced me to Ireland’s flair for seafood.

Our first meal was at Barnabrow Country House in Midleton, East Cork, Ireland, where we dined privately on the best traditional Irish food I have ever tasted (and yes, I ate a lot of Irish/British pub food when I lived in England). Our menu included the following:

Filo Baskets with Black Pudding and Cashel Blue Cheese and Red Onion Marmalade, or for veggies, Filo Baskets with Ardsallagh Goat Cheese, Roast Barnabrow Beetroot, Tomato and Red Onion Marmalade

Leek and Potato Soup with Smoked Salmon

Beef and Guinness Stew, or for veggies, Mozzarella and Pesto Potato Cakes with Tomato Salsa

Dauphinoise (Creamy Garlic Ptatoes)
Oven Roasted Vegetables

Baked Chocolate Tart
Sweet Pastry

Seriously, we ate all that. And lucky for us — and you — they gave us a copy of the recipes. So thanks to Head Chef Gary Masterson of Barnabrow Country House, you too can have delicious Guinness Beef Stew!

Beef and Guinness Stew
Use your favorite Irish stout for this recipe: Gunniess, Beamish or Murphys.
Serves 6–8

900g/2lbs of  lean stewing beef, e.g. chuck, shin, flank or top rump seasoned flour to coat
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
25g/1oz of butter
2 onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
225g/8oz of celery chopped into 1″ dice
4 large carrots sliced into 1″ dice
175g/6oz of streaky rashers (bacon) cut into 2cm lardons
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of English Mustard (optional)
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
350ml/12fl oz Guinness, Beamish or Murphy Stout
250/350ml/10fl oz of beef stock
1 bay leaf
225g/8oz of button mushrooms cut in half
salt and freshly ground pepper

Cut the meat into 1 1/2″ cubes and toss in seasoned flour. Heat some oil and 1/2 the butter in a hot pan and lightly brown the onion, then add the rest of the vegetables except the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes then transfer to a casserole dish. Wipe out pan and heat with a little more oil and then fry the floured meat in batches until it is brown on all sides. Transfer the meat into a casserole and then add a little more oil to the pan. Fry the bacon lardons until nicely browned and deglaze pan with the stout and make sure to scrape off any crusty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan (this is flavour, so don’t waste it). Transfer to the casserole, add the stock, stout, sugar, tomato puree and mustard, if using. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and summer in a very low heat, 150C/300F for 2 – 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. During cooking, if there is any residue that rises to the top of the sauce, skim off and discard. Meanwhile brush clean and cut the mushrooms in half. Saute in very little melted butter in a hot pan. Season with salt and pepper.

Note: The stew reheats well. You may ground pepper, set aside. When the stew is nearly cooked, add the mushrooms and simmer for 15-20 minutes, taste and correct the seasoning. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley. You may need to add more sugar to the recipe if you find it a little bitter.

If you have any left over put it into a pie dish, let go cold and top with either puff pastry or mash potato and bake as a pie. 

Then amidst twinkling candles and roaring log fires they dined in the splendour of our Georgian dining room in the west wing while the wine flowed.  Lively conversation continued until the small hours.

Maeve wrote to me this morning and amonst other nice things that she said – she mentioned that she would be recommending it to all her friends – for her it was a ‘real discovery’.
Look on youtube for a video demonstration of the vegetarian dish – Roasted root vegetables with goat’s cheese in filo pastry.

I am making progress of sorts with sussing the lineage of the puppies.  The Vet from Knockgriffin Veterinary Hospital is a neighbour of ours and she, Barbara, very kindly came by last night to have a look.  She thinks that they have all the signs of being Westies but her final diagnosis is that only time will tell.  She thinks that seven puppies is a very big litter for a Westie mum but on the other hand a Labrador is a very big dog to have mated with our Lillie.  If our MJ is the dad – he is showing very little interest.  Mind you Lillie is not letting him near them. It all depends on how big they get in the next two weeks.  Barbara was impressed with how healthy they are.  They are getting to the mischevious stage now – able to get out of the basket but unable to find their way back in! Either way they will be looking for new homes by Christmas.

Barnabrow House is open for lunch every Sunday and we offer a really good deal. A cooked-to-order top class 2-course meal costs only €18 including tea/coffee. But even more, you get a voucher for a free bottle of wine if you make a return visit the following month