This Blackwater Juniper Cask Gin Prawn Cocktail Recipe was created by by Bryan McCarthy, Executive Head Chef of both Cask and Greenes, Cork city.
A quirky reinvention of a classic dish, Bryan updates a prawn cocktail serving delectable Dublin Bay prawns with a Blackwater Juniper Cask Gin Cocktail Sauce and Poacher’s Tonic & Tomato Water Jelly.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
– 24 Dublin Bay prawns, peeled
– 1 head baby gem lettuce
– 4 red cherry tomatoes, halved
– 4 yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
– 200g assorted organic salad leaves
– 1 tbsp smoked seaweed flakes
– Some pea shoots, optional
For the Jelly
– 1 bottle Poacher’s Irish Tonic Water, 200ml
– 3 beef tomatoes
– 3 gelatine leaves
– 1 tbsp mirin sweet saké
– Juice of 1 lemon
– Salt
For the Cocktail Sauce
– 200g mayonnaise
– 75g tomato ketchup
– 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
– 1 shot Blackwater Juniper Cask Gin
– 1 lemon, juice only
– 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
– Salt & black pepper
Method:
Tomato & Tonic Water Jelly – best done at least 6 hours before needed
1. Reduce the Poacher’s Irish Tonic Water by half to 100ml. Remove from heat.
2. Blend the 3 beef tomatoes with a little salt. Using a clean, damp muslin cloth or tea towel, strain the tomato mixture to extract the clear tomato water. This can take up to 2 hours.
3. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water until soft, then add to the still warm tonic water.
4. When you have 2ooml of tomato water, add the mirin, a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and a little salt to taste, then add to the tonic water mix. Pour into acontainer and refrigerate to set.
Blackwater Juniper Cask Gin Cocktail Sauce
1. Mix together all of the ingredients. Season to taste.
Dublin Bay Prawns
1. Add the prawns to boiling salted water, remove from heat and leave for 45
seconds to cook through.
2. Strain, cool in ice water and dry on kitchen paper.
3. Marinate in the cocktail sauce.
To serve:
Divide the jelly between four tall glasses. Layer the baby gem lettuce, prawns, tomatoes, salad leaves, smoked seaweed flakes and cocktail sauce until the glasses are full. Garnish with the pea shoots (optional).
Executive head chef at Greenes Restaurant, Cork CITY, Bryan McCarthy is a native of Glandore in West Cork and has worked extensively building his Career in some of the countries finest restaurants & dining rooms. His cooking is best described as terroir or locavore and based in a modern Irish style.
His cooking is of a time and place in our Region using produce that is wild. foraged, farmed, preserved, fermented, organic and cultivated in as small a geographical area around our restaurant as is possible
Bryan McCarthy Greenes