Sneaky Peek at Our New Food Packaging Labels

Here is a wee sneaky peek at our new labels, those of you with a keen eye will see that Lurgybrack is spelled wrong , that has been amended . The photo was taken by a friend of mine , Sabina , the rest of the photos are available on my Facebook  , we had a great evening taking the photo's a lot of work but the results are fantastic , keep an eye out for the updates, take care, Chef Anderson

Pecan Pie Like You Never Tasted Before, From The Kitchen Of Chef Martin Anderson.

The Best Pecan Pie You Ever Tasted

Pecan Pie is one of my favourite desserts, the recipe below is for the pastry firstly and then the pie also, you will get 2 x10 inch pies from the pastry recipe. You can also use the pastry recipe for any sweet tart or pie you wish to make. When i worked in paris many moons ago this recipe was given to me by the head pastry chef , that was in 1988 and i have used it since, if you roll it out thicker you can use it for biscuits and top with cream and fresh cut strawberries. any problems and let me know.

Sugar pastry.
250g of softened butter/margarine.
180g of castor sugar
4 drops of vanilla essence.
2 large eggs.
500g of plain flour, sieved
½ tsp of fine salt.
Method.
Beat the sugar and butter together until smooth and creamy.
Add the vanilla and mix in the eggs one at a time.
Sieve the flour and salt and add to the mix, blend with your hand until you make dough.
Turn out onto a floured table and knead lightly
Refrigerate and use as required.
Before using knead lightly, this will stop the pastry cracking.

Pecan pie.
You will need half your sugar pastry recipe.
it is best to make this pie a day in advance to allow it to cool and set before you cut it !
For the filling.
3 medium eggs, beaten.
110g of brown sugar.
4 table spoons of golden syrup.
50g of melted butter.
200g of pecan nuts. Whole or chopped.
1 tsp of Vanilla essence.
Method.
Pre-heat your oven to 170c
Roll your pastry to ½ inch thickness and line your pie tin. Pricking the base of the pastry. (This stops the pastry from rising)don't prick the whole way through or the liquid will run out of the pastry and you will make it soggy.
In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, golden syrup, vanilla essence and melted butter, add your nuts and pour into your pastry.
Bake until the pastry begins to colour and turn down and cook until set, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Serve hot or cold with ice-cream or why not try some crème fraiche for a tangy taste!
you will have to lock this pie in the store just to keep yourself from eating all of it in the one go !

Donegal Chef Cooks with Chef Richard Corrigan of Bentlys, London

Last friday i had the chance to cook with richard corrigan the chef/owner of bentlys oyster bar london, we had already selected some ingrediants from local suppliers but on arrival he did what any chef would have done ! take me to a farm shop ,fish monger ! after a wee trip to ramelton he came back with a selection of ingrediants and i went about doing his mise-en place , after a bit of organizing and a few opening speach's we went to cooking, well he cooked and i bowed to the role of commis chef, a long time since i'd done that i might add. for starter richard did a simple rissotto of local mussels , cumin and roasted cauliflower, it was light , tasty and very pleasing on the eye, the leaves from the cauliflower were lightly steamed and folded into the rissotto at the last moment.
the follow was a piece of rump steak cooked medium rare with pieces of roasted bone marrow which was tossed in chopped garlic, parsley and cracked black pepper. the steak was cooked in a good hot pan with a little of rape seed oil produced here in raphoe county donegal. the marrow was  sliced and just finished in the pan , the steak was sliced and topped with the marrow, all this came from the farm shop in ramelton.juicy,tender and full of flavour.
john boyle of killybegs supplied a couple of fillets of smoked haddock which where cold smoked and not the usual dyed orange crap that you get, butter poached and just done ,richard sauted off a couple of slices of dry cured bacon and sliced them, i had already diced and cooked some parsnips from the farm shop and these were lightly warmed with the bacon, the fish was layered with the parsnip and finished with a little of the cooking liquor, the delicate flavour of the fish took a good hit with the bacon and the sweetness of the parsnip just finished the dish off.
there was already a beef wellington cooking in the main oven of the tassie, this was supplied by willie houston of edenmore farm meats from lifford, 28 day aged irish beef, hand reared and slaughtered here in donegal , it never got to leave the county in fact it was reared and slaughtered within a 30 mile radius of where it was cooked.
we cooked the wellington medium and when sliced you could see the quality of the meat , when tasted it just melted in the mouth, fantastic ! all in it was a great night and we look forward to the food coast programme from donegal enterprise.

Launch of the Brunch

over the years i have had many request to start serving my own food in my own dining room , up until now i only cooked for residents and for catering clients, we have decided to open the crest dining room to the public for a trial basis and serve a sunday brunch, 11-2pm starting from this sunday the 14th of march.
booking is by phone reservation only and the numbers are on my site.
looking forward to cooking for you all.
we will start posting recipes as well from next week here on my blog. take care.

The Crest Catering Company

We pride ourselves on quality of food, service and cleanliness.

With a selection of menu’s to suit every event and budget, We only source local suppliers and produce.

We cater for various events including: Wedding Receptions Birthday & Anniversaries Family Functions Corporate Event