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An Irish Chef in France

Euro-Toques chef Martin Dwyer, is much missed in Ireland since he and his wife Sile sold their eponymous restaurant in Waterford and moved to France. They now live in the Languedoc, where they take guests - and feed them very well.

This month Martin bravely takes on preparation of one of the great dishes of the area where they have settled: Salt Cod

I decided I should tackle Brandade de Morue, a classic dish of the area where the home of its excellence is Nimes, little more than an hour away from us on the motorway.

I have eaten and enjoyed it often but for some reason or other, (possibly fear of the unfood looking nature of it lying there on the shelf) I have yet to take Salt Cod - Morue in French - home and cook it.

Now I know all about its history, have read and enjoyed Mark Kurlansky's eponymous book which explained how the Catholic insistence on fish on Fridays may well have changed the history of the world.

The strange thing is that in Catholic Ireland we no longer eat salt cod. The preserved fish of choice would be smoked (Cod, Haddock, Ling) which one might well find in country areas in Ireland on the counter of the local shop, unrefrigerated, on a Friday in my youth.

Several times I have read exactly how to tackle this unappealing piece of white solid matter but always baulked. The directions were usually to soak it in several changes of water for some days until it (more or less) reconstituted itself, but were never quite precise enough for me.

I bought myself David Lebovitz's My Paris Kitchen for Christmas, a super book and ideal for an ex-pat in France. Now he, even younger than me and from further away, not only tackles Morue but also gives detailed direction on how to do it.

He does offer the alternative of putting it in the toilet - the cistern I add- and there the normal flushing action of a family will de-salt it in the fullness of time (24 hours or so), or else to soak it in the fridge for 24 hours and there to change the water three times.

Shame drove me to the fish counter in my local Super U and the purchase is pictured. I opted for the fridge method. For one thing French toilets (unlike Irish ones) have to be dismantled by plumbers of skill to get to the cistern.

I think that I can admit that my first excursion into the unknown world of Salt Cod was a success.

Pictured are little fritters which I made from Salt Cod and, I will most certainly make these again.

Recipe for Salt Cod Fritters:

700g salt cod 700g potatoes peeled and diced 8 plump garlic cloves - chopped fine or squeezed a couple of sprigs of thyme 200ml olive oil 200ml. crème fraiche generous use of the pepper mill beaten egg and breadcrumbs for the fritters.

Cut the cod into large pieces and soak it in the fridge for at least 24 hours changing the water 3 or 4 times.

Put the chopped garlic into a small pot with the oil and thyme and bring it up to a boil, then take it off and let it cool. Put the drained cod in a pot with the potato and cover with fresh water and cook it for about 30 mts.

Now check for tenderness, I found I had to take the thinner pieces of the cod out first and last to cook to tender were the potatoes.

As soon as the cod is cool, flake it and remove any skin and any bones. Beat the cod and potatoes together (a mixer with a flat blade is ideal) and, while it is beating add alternately the oil with the garlic (discard the thyme) and the crème fraiche. It will all come together as a creamy mass like some mashed potato. Pepper it liberally but it won't need salt.

This is the Brandade De Morue, to serve it in the traditional manner, put into an oven proof dish, or individual dishes, about half of the mixture (keep the other half for the fritters) and sprinkle the top with crumbs. Bake for about 20 minutes until brown and serve with toast.

To make the fritters, form the Brandade into balls and leave these to dry on a tray in the fridge (this way the individual balls form a skin which makes the next step much easier). Dip these in egg wash and bread crumbs and brown off both sides, in batches (keep warm in a warm oven) and serve with a piece of lemon and some mayonnaise with olives and capers.

It is delicious, even Madame, not a Brandade person, enjoyed hers.

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Martin Dwyer started cooking professionally over 40 years ago in the legendary “Snaffles Restaurant” in Dublin. After a time in a Relais Chateau in Anjou and in “The Wife of Bath” in Kent he opened his own much acclaimed restaurant, “Dwyers”, in Waterford in 1989. In 2004 he sold this and moved south to France where he and his wife Síle bought and restored an old presbytery in a village in the Languedoc. They now run Le Presbytère as a French style Chambre d’Hôte. Martin however is far too passionate about food to give up cooking so they now enjoy serving dinner to their customers on the terrace of Le Presbytère on warm summer evenings. Martin runs occasional cookery courses in Le Presbytère and Síle’s brother Colm does week long Nature Strolls discovering the Flora and Fauna of the Languedoc.

Le Presbytère can be seen at: www.lepresbytere.net;
email: martin@lepresbytere.net