It is no small matter for chefs to reinvent themselves and their restaurants, especially after a decade of success. But, despite the temptation to stay put as you reach 40 and have a steady business, reinventing themselves is just what Paul Rankin and Derry Clarke both did at the end of the last millennium.
During the 1990s they were the keynote cooks of their cities - Rankin in Belfast's Roscoff, Clarke in Dublin's L'Ecrivain - and both were justly rewarded with popular and critical success. And then they turned their respective operations on their head, with Clarke demolishing, rebuilding and extending L'Ecrivain, and Rankin even going so far as to re-christen his re-styled restaurant "Cayenne".
The new restaurants also shifted their culinary focus to a more accessible and informal style of eating, which perfectly suits the Zeitgeist. Clarke's new direction is an organic extension of what he was cooking before, but Rankin's has been a metamorphosis. In place of the formal, purist Roscoff style, Rankin and his chef Andy Rea now produce the funkiest food imaginable, pulling on all manner of influences from the global kitchen: Oriental navarin of lamb is on offer alongside Chinese red braised pork and lemongrass-crusted salmon. An old charger such as bread-and-butter pudding emerges as Chocolate Chip and Bourbon bread-and-butter pudding, but even so there are supremely elegant classics such as skate with capers and brown butter and the superlative seafood risotto, which features below.
For Clarke, the move is less radical and his classic dishes - such as deep-fried Dublin Bay prawns in ketaifi pastry with chilli jam, and baked rock oysters with cured bacon and cabbage and a Guinness sabayon - are still offered, along with new arrivals such as roast red gurnard with marinated char-grilled vegetables and a saffron mash, or the dazzling Roast Bere Island scallops with a crisp roll of coral and a roasted fish sauce.
Modern Irish food can be both excellent and unfussy, as the food cooked in both restaurants, and the recipes we feature below, shows.
Clarke's tribute to the under-appreciated mackerel is a simply gorgeous dish, while the Cayenne seafood risotto is subtle and more-ish. If it is no mean feat to reinvent yourself, when there must be considerable pressure to stay still and tread water, the true success of Cayenne and L'Ecrivain is to have reinvented themselves so successfully.
Cayenne Seafood Risotto
Serves 6
1 litre fish stock
1 pinch saffron
unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions - finely diced
400g risotto rice
100ml dry white wine
200g mixed seafood, cooked - prawns, mussels, cockles, salmon, hake, etc.
100g diced ripe plum tomatoes, skinned and seeded
1 zest lemon
1 clove garlic, finely grated 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons basil, chopped
Heat stock, add saffron and leave to infuse for approximately one hour. Take a separate pan, add oil and onions with a pinch of salt and sweat on a low heat for three minutes. Add rice and turn the heat up, keep the rice moving for two to three minutes until it absorbs all the flavours of the base, without colouring. Add the wine and cook until all liquid has evaporated. Add a ladle of pre-seasoned stock, continue to add stock ladle by ladle, stirring continually as each one is absorbed over a low heat, about 18 minutes approximately. Once rice is cooked, add cooked fish, diced tomatoes and butter: the rice should have a slightly "soupy" consistency. To serve, place the hot risotto in warm bowls, sprinkle with lemon zest, garlic, parsley and basil. Serve immediately.
L'Ecrivain Seared Mackerel Fillet with Red Pepper Fondue, Sweet Mustard Dressing
4 mackerel fillets
4 red peppers
2 shallots
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic
quarter cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
quarter cup French mustard
quarter cup of golden syrup
1 cup olive oil
To make the pepper fondue: julienne the peppers and shallots. Crush the garlic. Sweat the peppers, shallots and garlic in olive oil, without colouring, until tender. Add the chicken stock and bubble until it is reduced. Add the vinegar and sugar. Reduce the heat and cook very slowly for at least one hour. Season to taste. To make the sweet mustard dressing: whisk the mustard and golden syrup together. Whisk in the olive oil slowly. Season to taste. To assemble the dish: on a hot pan with a little oil, fry the mackerel, skin-side down first, then turn when golden brown and cook for a further two minutes. Season the fish with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with the mustard dressing and the fondue on the side.