Conrad Gallagher reminds me of Martin Amis, united as they are by the way in which their work is an example of the male ego in full flight. Conrad Gallagher's flavours - rich, sumptuous, wild with extenuated sweetness - are as instantly recogniseable as a sentence by Amis, expressing the same desire to dominate and to decisively state and stake out the territory. The first dish I cooked from Mr Gallagher's new book - Conrad Gallagher's New Irish Cooking: Recipes From Dublin's Peacock Alley - was Tart of Polenta with Red Onion, Fennel and Red Pepper Puree, and every detail about it was pure Peacock cooking. Rather than a simple pastry case, these polenta pastry cases have polenta and Parmesan and a touch of basil added to a basic water, flour and egg dough. The filling is a meld of red onions with fennel, anchovies and roasted red peppers, tricked out with lemon juice and a scattering of rosemary and garlic. Below the filling, on the blind-baked pastry case, is a red pepper puree - shallots, garlic and thyme cooked with the peppers, vegetable stock added and reduced, then pureed - and on top of the filling is a cream, egg and Parmesan topping. Five to 10 minutes in the oven at 375F, then five minutes to rest.
Gorgeous - but you might say to yourself "fine, but that's a heck of a lot of work for a Tuesday night". And you would be right, although it isn't complex work, for the most part - though you do have to know just what you are doing, and there is a fair bit of judgement involved in getting it right, and it does demand a lot of concentration. This is not a book for beginner.
But, a lot of work is where Conrad Gallagher is at. Martin Amis's mates used to joke that the one thing you could never imagine Amis saying was: "I'm so sorry to hear about your depression. Do tell me about it." With Conrad Gallagher, the unthinkable remark would have to be: "I'll see what's in the fridge and put together something simple." Conrad Gallagher's New Irish Cooking: Recipes From Dublin's Peacock Alley is as unrestrainedly flamboyant as his work in his restaurant. Some chefs tone down their work when confronted with a book - they take their work apart and deal with it as different techniques or ingredients, respectively. Mr Gallagher has done no such thing. Although quantities have been adjusted to domestic scale, this is not domestic cooking, nor is it intended to be. Corn Soup with Oysters, Roasted Peppers and Smoked Chilli Butter is one of the soups. Pastrami-style Salmon with Japanese Rice, Pickled Ginger, Pear and Cucumber with Wasabi Creme Fraiche is the first starter-recipe given. Panseared Salmon Fillet With Soft Herb Crust, Saute Potatoes, Braised Chicory and Citron Jus is a fish recipe, the details of which occupy three pages.
And on it goes, in exhaustive detail, with a lively wit and considerable intelligence evident throughout. For this is not actually a book about food and cooking. What it is about is Conrad Gallagher, and the business of being a chef, and Gallagher's skill as a cook, just as Martin Amis's novels are actually all about Martin Amis, and the business of being a writer, and Martin Amis's skill as a writer. A further parallel is the small number of hugely expensive books produced by French chefs, which we never see over here and which are rarely translated. Glossy and glamorous, these books - I have two, both given as gifts, one by Olivier Rellinger and one by Marc Veyrat - are not designed to be practical, everyday things. They are books for dreamers, for wannabee chefs. The French understand that these books are, in fact, statements, but we, in our quotidian way, want our books to be working manuals. Conrad Gallagher's New Irish Cooking: Recipes From Dublin's Peacock Alley is not that and, like his restaurant cooking, it is a very atypical Irish adventure indeed.
A Tart of Polenta with Red Onion, Fennel and Red Pepper Puree
30g butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, peeled and finely sliced 3 red onions, peeled and finely sliced 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced 1 tablespoon sugar 4 leeks, white part only, finely sliced 8 anchovies, finely chopped 4 roasted red peppers, finely sliced Salt and freshly ground black pepper Juice of 1 lemon 2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed Half recipe red pepper puree (see below) 1 recipe polenta pastry case (see below) 100 ml cream 2 eggs, beaten 50g Parmesan, finely grated Red Pepper Puree:
30 ml olive oil 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed 40g butter 2 sprigs thyme 4 red peppers, roughly chopped 500ml vegetable stock salt and freshly ground black pepper Polenta Pastry Case:
170g plain flour Pinch of salt 70g polenta 100g unsalted butter 30g Parmesan, finely grated 1 tablespoon basil, finely chopped Freshly ground black pepper 2 eggs 1 tablespoon olive oil
To make the pastry case:
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, add the polenta and mix well. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cheese and basil and season with pepper.
Beat the eggs with the olive oil and add to the flour mixture. Mix with your hands to form a firm pastry. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes before use. This pastry can be kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours before using.
To bake blind: preheat the oven to 190C/375 F/gas mark 5. Roll out the pastry to 5 mm thick. Line a 30 cm flan ring with the pastry. Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill the tart with beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the greaseproof paper and beans and return to the oven for a further five minutes to dry out. If the edges start to brown, place the tart on the bottom shelf or turn the oven down slightly. Make sure the pastry is well cooked and dry after you have baked it blind. This will ensure that the base will stay really crisp after the fillings have been added.
To make the puree: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sweat the shallots and garlic until soft. Add the butter, thyme and peppers and cook for a further five minutes over a gentle heat.
Turn the heat up and gradually add the vegetable stock. Reduce by half and season. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Puree in a blender or food processor and strain. Refrigerate until ready to use. The puree will keep overnight.
To assemble the tart:
Preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F/gas mark 5.
Heat the butter and oil together in a medium-sized saucepan, and sweat the onions and fennel until starting to soften. Add the sugar and increase the heat slightly until the mixture starts to caramelise and then add the leeks, anchovies and red peppers. Season lightly with salt and plenty of pepper. Add the lemon juice, rosemary and garlic. Taste and set aside to cool slightly. Pour the red pepper puree into the pastry case or cases and smooth out.
Add the filling and gently smooth out. Whisk together the cream, eggs and Parmesan. Season and pour on top of the filling. Bake for five-10 minutes. The topping should just start to set, but should not wobble too much.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes before serving.
Conrad Gallagher's New Irish Cooking: Recipes From Dublin's Peacock Alley is published by A&A Farmar, price £19.99.