Kevin Dundon - Great Family Food

2Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok, add the fennel and fry for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a further 1 minute. Stir in the wine, stock, tinned tomatoes and sugar, bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.

3Add the monkfish and bring back to a simmer. Stir in the prawns and mussels, cover and cook for approximately 5 minutes, or until the mussels have opened and the fish is cooked. Discard any mussels which have not opened. Mix in the pimento paste, if using, at this stage.

4To serve, ladle the stew into 4 deep plates or bowls, scatter over the fennel tops, garlic chives and lemon thyme and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.

With a large supply of seafood so readily available in Wexford, where I live, is it any wonder that fish features so much in this book? I often double the quantities in this recipe and use the leftovers to make fish pie (see page 117).

50g/2oz/ 1/2 stick butter

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 leek, trimmed and diced

1 small carrot, diced

1 potato, peeled and cubed

50g/2oz smoked salmon slices, cut into julienne (long thin strips)

125ml/4fl oz/ 1/ 2cup dry white wine

425ml/15fl oz/generous 1 3/ 4cups fish stock or water

275g/10oz mixed fresh fish fillets, skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces (such as cod, haddock, hake and salmon)

12 raw Dublin Bay prawns (langoustine), scrubbed clean

150g/5oz mussels, scrubbed clean

1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

200ml/7fl oz/generous 3/ 4cup pouring cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1Heat a large pan over a medium heat. Add the butter and once it is foaming, tip in the onion, leek, carrot, potato and smoked salmon. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until softened.

2Pour the wine into the pan and allow to reduce by half. Add the fish stock and bring to a simmer, then add the fresh fish and shellfish. Return the pan to a simmer and add the tarragon and cream, then season to taste. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the fish and prawns are tender and the mussels have opened (discard any that remain closed).

3To serve, ladle the chowder into warmed serving bowls, piling plenty of the fish and shellfish into the centre of each one.

At the end of a busy day, it’s lovely to come home to a comforting stew. I usually buy a whole chicken and cut it into pieces (your butcher will happily do this for you or you could just use chicken legs). You can choose any red wine you like, but I prefer a full-bodied Burgundy. Goose fat adds real depth of flavour to this dish.

1 whole large chicken (1.3kg/3lb), cut into portions with skin on

50g/2oz/ 1/4 cup butter or goose fat

200g/7oz button mushrooms, quartered or sliced

20 pearl onions, peeled but left whole

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

4 rashers of back bacon, cut into strips (lardons)

1 tsp tomato purée

600ml/1 pint/2 1/ 2cups red wine

200ml/7fl oz/generous 3/ 4cup chicken stock

3-4 fresh thyme sprigs

2 bay leaves

1 bunch of fresh parsley, to garnish

salt and freshly ground black pepper

To thicken:

25g/1oz/ 1/ 4stick butter, softened

50g/2oz/ 1/ 3cup plain flour

1Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2Place the chicken in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper and mix the chicken around to ensure that it is fully seasoned.

3Heat the butter in a large pan. Pan-fry the chicken pieces for 2-3 minutes, or until they are golden brown all over. Take the chicken pieces out of the pan and transfer to a large casserole dish.

4If required, add another teaspoon of butter to the pan and add the mushrooms, onions, chopped garlic and bacon. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until glazed and golden brown. Add the tomato purée and whisk in the red wine together with the chicken stock. Bring the mixture to the boil, then add the fresh thyme sprigs and the bay leaves to the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken pieces in the casserole and place in the oven for 1-1 1/ 4hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.

5Remove the chicken from the sauce, place on a warmed plate, cover with foil and leave for a couple of minutes. Remove the thyme and bay leaves from the sauce. Return the saucepan to the hob and bring the sauce to the boil.

6Mix the softened butter with the flour into a soft dough. Break this into the boiling liquid (it is very important that the liquid is boiling at this stage; if not, it will make for a very lumpy sauce) and whisk rapidly, then allow the sauce to thicken for 8-10 minutes.

7Put the chicken on a serving plate, pour over the sauce and garnish with the parsley. Serve with crusty bread and crisp green vegetables.

Stir-fries are the ultimate one-pot meal, and this is a quick, healthy and very tasty dish. You don’t have to use a wok—a large frying pan works just as well.

500g/1lb 2oz beef fillet, sliced into very thin strips

1 tbsp sunflower oil

250g/9oz green vegetables, sliced (such as broccoli, mangetout or French beans)

beef or vegetable stock (optional)

350g/12oz egg noodles

1 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and chopped

110g/4oz beansprouts toasted sesame seeds, to garnish

Black Bean Sauce:

2 red chillies, roughly chopped and deseeded (unless you prefer a very hot dish)

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2.5cm/1in piece of fresh root ginger, peeled

100ml/3 1/ 2fl oz/scant 1/ 2cup soy sauce

100ml/3 1/ 2fl oz/scant 1/ 2cup beef stock

1 × 110g/4oz tin of black beans, drained

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp Thai fish sauce juice of 1 lime pinch of salt

1Begin with the black bean sauce, which can be made up and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Place all of the ingredients for the sauce into a food processor and blitz at medium speed for 3-4 minutes, or until it is completely smooth

2Heat a large frying pan or wok, add the oil and fry off the meat until almost cooked. Add the vegetables and quickly fry them, using a little stock if the mixture gets too dry.

3Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the noodles with a pinch of salt and cook according to the packet instructions, around 6-8 minutes. Drain.

4Pour half the black bean sauce into the beef mixture and bring the mixture to a rapid boil. The remaining sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

5Add the chopped spring onions to the beef together with the beansprouts just before you serve the dish. Pile the beef and sauce on top of the noodles and serve immediately, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.

A casserole makes a convenient and nourishing meal at any time of the year. You can pop it on top of the cooker or in the oven and just forget about it for an hour or two while it happily bubbles away. Here, I have added herb dumplings, which are a real family favourite.

1 tbsp sunflower oil

700g/1lb 8oz lean stewing beef, finely diced

1 onion, peeled and sliced