Traditional Irish Smoked Irish Salmon - Connemara Smokehouse
October 2011 By Gillian Nelis – Sunday Business Post – Agenda Magazine
The big smoke on the west coast
There are several good reasons to visit the Connemara Smokehouse on Bunowen Pier in Ballyconneely, Co Galway.
There’s the fish, of course, but there’s also the stunning location on the edge of the Atlantic, and the chance to meet Graham and Saoirse Roberts and their four children, who are as enthusiastic a bunch of foodies as you could hope to encounter.
The Roberts family has been smoking fish here since 1979 and, over 30 years later, the fish they produce is still hand-filleted, smoked and packaged onsite.
Their speciality is wild Atlantic salmon that’s caught by Connemara fishermen before being dry-salted and placed in Old Smoky – a kiln first used in the 1940s – and beechwood-smoked.
It’s not cheap – a 200g pack costs €25 – but you can taste the quality in every bite, and it would be a wonderful buy for Christmas. For a more everyday treat, try the peppered smoked mackerel, which is €6.50 for a three-fillet pack. You can eat it cold, but in this weather it’s great served warm on toast for a quick and healthy supper.
You could also use it to whip up a quick smoked mackerel pate. There are any number of recipes available for this particular dish, but food blogger The Daily Spud (www.thedailyspud.com) recommends adding spring onions, root ginger and rice vinegar for a slightly oriental twist.
All of the Connemara Smokehouse products are available online, the only exception being the smoked tuna mousse – because it contains fresh cream, it isn’t suitable for home delivery. It’s delicious though, so if you’re lucky enough to be in the vicinity of Ballyconneely over the next while, stock up on a few pots.
The range also includes organic salmon from Clare Island, linecaught smoked tuna and farmed salmon from small, independent producers. Full details on pricing and delivery – as well as a great selection of recipes – are on www.smokehouse.ie.
300/400 grm of Connemara Smokehouse Organic Smoked Salmon (Chopped Coarsely)
50grm Butter
1 ounce flour
3/4 pint milk
1/4 cream
1/2 tub philadelphia cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp tarragon
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp basil
Approx. 40 grinds of Black Pepper
A generous splash of vodka (approx. 1/2 cup)
I bag fresh/dried Tagliatelle
PREPARATION:
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes, add the flour stirring into a roux. On a low heat stir in the milk and cream slowly, continually stirring to avoid sticking and lumps.
Add the philadelphia cheese and melt, stirring all the time add the tarragon, parsley, basil and black pepper. Add the Connemara Smokehouse Organic Smoked Salmon and vodka, keep stirring until the salmon is cooked.
Taste to check seasoning. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander. Serve in pasta bowls. Top the tagliatelle with Smoked Salmon sauce and topped with a bit of Parmesan cheese.
Note: Don’t add salt until after the smoked salmon is cooked as cooking will bring out the saltiness of the salmon
Recipe that Graham cooked at the Leenane Autumnal Festival 2011
1 lb Rhubarb cut into 1-inch chunks (about 4 cups)
1/3 cup sugar
Splash of dry white wine
Juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste
6 Wild Salmon darn fillets from Connemara Smokehouse (or Organic Salmon Darnes)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 230°/Gas 8 or its highest temperature.
In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the rhubarb, sugar and wine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb is tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 30 minutes, adding water if necessary. Add the lemon juice. The sauce should be fairly thin.
Put the salmon fillets, skin side down, on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast at 190°/Gas 5 until the fillets are almost opaque throughout, 17 to 20 minutes.
Spoon the rhubarb onto the center of 6 warmed plates. Lift the fillets from the baking sheet, leaving the skin behind. Place the fillets on the rhubarb and serve immediately.
Serve the salmon with crusty bread or a potato gratin
Lorna will be holding her 1st OPEN PARADOR EVENING here in Connemara this week on Thursday 21st July between 8-10pm. Lorna’s 2nd EVENING WILL BE THURSDAY 4TH OF AUGUST . Graham will be here with all his products from the Connemara Smokehouse and there will be wine from Marques de Caceres.
Lorna Roberts, is the official representative for the Spanish Parador hotels. This is a group of 93 state owned hotels all over Spain, many of which are in historic buildings – castles, palaces, convents etc. Others are in nature reserves, Medieval villages and in idyllic coastal locations away from the resorts.
The Paradores have many SPECIAL OFFERS & PROMOTIONS. Paradores are affordable and are also a wonderful romantic settings for Honeymoons and Weddings.
Lorna can check out the best deals available and help with route planning for those doing a fly drive holiday. She also accompanies small groups traveling around the Paradores.
She is holding “OPEN HOUSE” here in Ballyconneely at BARR AN BHAILE (on the road to the Connemara Golf Club) to hear more about Paradores and to enjoy some of the products from the CONNEMARA SMOKEHOUSE and some wine from MARQUES de CACERES in La Rioja.
View
AUTUMN TOURS:
The holiday in GALICIA: 10th – 17th September (Paradores at Santiago, Santo Estevo and Baiona) is almost full but able to hold 2 more rooms until next Friday – 22nd July. As the return flight on 17th September is now very expensive it is possible to join the group for 5 nights from 10th – 15th September which reduces the cost to 1195 + much cheaper flights. This would be 2 nights in Santiago, 2 nights at Santo Estevo and 1 night in Baiona – arrriving in time to have the afternoon and evening at the Parador on the 14th and the morning of the 15th, (leaving for the airport at midday)
****I only have 2 rooms available and I do not expect to have any spaces in the Paradores after 22nd July****
The 4-night mini break in the Parador at NERJA: 17th – 21st October. There are spaces on this short holiday which will be escorted for 5 days with all transport, excursions, dinner on 3 nights (with drinks – wine etc), – one of which will be at the Parador at Malaga Gibralfaro – and all tips and taxes included. As there are flights to Malaga every day, if anyone would like to extend the holiday, nights can be added in Nerja or Malaga either before the 17th or after the 21st, but it would be necessary to make your own arrangements for transport to or from the airport. We will be meeting the flight from Dublin on the 17th October and returning to the airport for the flight to Dublin on the 21st, but anyone extending the holiday would have to make their own arrangements for transport to the airport. Price per person sharing: 845 Euro + flights. Single supplement 40 Euro per night. Supplement for a superior room (if available) is 30 Euro per night.
Contact Lorna for more details:
Barr an Bhaile, Ballyconneely, Co Galway, Ireland
Keytel International Ireland,
Barr an Bhaile,
Ballyconneely,
Co. Galway,
Ireland.
Tel: +353 (0) 95 23511
Fax: +353 (0) 95 23539 www.lornarobertsholidays.com
Cara Magazine-Enjoy your flight-Aer Lingus-July Issue 2011
EAT AND DRINK YOUR WAY AROUND THE WEST OF IRELAND, WHERE AN AVUNDANCE OF ARTISAN PRODUCERS ARE MAKING THE MOST OF THE FINEST LOCAL INGREDIENTS. LIZZIE GORE-GRIMES GIVES HER TASTE BUDS A TREAT FROM CONNEMARA TO CONG.
ALONG GALWAY’S RUGGED Atlantic coast, near the town of Ballyconneely, low-lying, whitewashed building sits perched on a pier, with the strong cold water of the Atlantic crashing almost to its door. This is the Connemara Smokehouse. It appears an unassuming place at first, until you step inside and meet the Roberts family. Graham, in thid mid-thirties, runs the smokehouse with his wife Saoirse and thier four young children (all artisan-smokers-in-the-making). Together they produce the best smoked Irish Salmon and line-caught Irish tuna you are ever likely to taste. There is a freshness and delicacy of flavour to Graham’s smoked salmon that is hard to equal. To taste it, with the mellow aroma of beech smoke in the air and the crashing waves of the Atlantic outside, leaves you in no doubt that this is, indeed, Ireland the food island.
We’re here in the west of Ireland, as part of a seafood appreciation weekend taking place in Ashford Castle. Arriving late at night after a long drive from Dublin, it’s hard not to be impressed by the stunning vista of the sweeping drive, bridging the river to the fairytale castle by the lake. Ashford Castle knows how to make a big impression, but David the doorman tops the lot – you’re definitely somewhere special when the doorman knows your name. All we have to do after that is settle into our sumptuous room, drink in the view over Lough Corrib and wander downstairs for dinner.
The next moring we get up early to head west, about as far west as you can go. Passing through the popular town of Clifden and on out to Ballyconneely and Bunowen Pier, we arrive at the smokehouse at the edge of the world. As Graham Roberts takes us on a tour of the smokehouse, it’s evident how hands-on he is at every stage of the process. As he deftly fillets, trims and preps a whole salmon in minutes, he explains the true depth of connection he has to the area. “fishermen I work with today are the sons of the fihermen my father worked with. Most of our fish come from nearby Killary Harbour. We have wild salmon in season in June & July (until stocks last), and we also get fantastic organic salmon from nearby Clare Island”. Graham opens the thick steel door of the smokery to show us the racks of salmon sides all deepening in colour in the fog of gentle beech smoke.
“We prefer to burn beech rather than oak,” continues Graham, “as oak contains more tannins and can produce a slightly more bitter flavour in the fish” Graham takes a side of salmon from the smoker to his slicing station where he still prefers to slice the majority of the salmon by hand. The way this man wields a filleting knife would make Nobu Matsuhisa look clumsy. A whole side of salmon is perfectly sliced in a matter of minutes. While he is doing this, his four immaculately behaved children hand out plates of smoked salmon and tuna for us to taste. The tuna is something you don’t see too ofter; it’s line-caught off the Irish coast, and Rick Stein was so impressed with it when he came here (to film Graham and Saoirse as part of his Food Heroes television series) that he now serves it in his famous seafood restaurant in Cornwall. Other piscatorial pleasures to stock up on are the Roberts’ family recipes of smoked tuna mousse, as well as gravadlax and traditional smoked kippers.
From one fish feast to another. We leave the Connemara Smokehosue to make our way to Rossroe Pier……
Aer Lingus - Cara Magazine - July Issue
Other wonderful places/producers mentioned in this article:
Cullen’s Bistro – Ashford Castle
Air dried meats – James McGeough
Mussels – Marty’s Mussels
Stefan Matz – Ashford Castle
Seaweed – Seamus Moran Lo-Tide Foods
Butcher – Sean Kelly
Aran McMahon – Café Rua
Farmhouse butter – Cuinneog
Homemade Jam – Grove Jams
Mixed leaves – Stephen Gould
Cheeses – Carrowholly
Chocolate – Helena’s Chocolates..
To view this article I’m afraid you will just have to take an Aer Lingus flight to view their inhouse “Cara Magazine”. Food & Drink – The West of Ireland – July Issue 2011
A lot of excitement around the premiere of the new Brendan Gleeson movie THE GUARD.
Connemara Smokehouse Organic Smoked Salmon features at the Irish Premiere after party for THE GUARD starring Brendan Gleeson, Pat Shortt and Liam Cunningham taking place in The G Hotel Galway.
Irish audiences will get an opportunity to see THE GUARD in cinemas when it goes on nationwide release on July 7th 2011.
Français
Buy online
