Gemma Austin - Fish Chowder.
Gemma Austin
Gemma Austin, what can I say about this incredibly talented chef?
Well for one thing, I wish I was flying to Belfast to eat at Alexanders and Co, the restaurant Gemma co-owns.
During the time I’ve been researching people to cook for Lockdown Lunches or to gift recipes for Foodie Book Club, I’ve become a massive fan of Gemma and her cooking, being in Great British Menu representing Northern Ireland, just confirmed for me what a star Gemma is and how she’s going to take the culinary world by storm.
I’ve written this bio about Gemma partially from what I know and partially from snippets of interviews Gemma did with Women In The Food Industry, Staff Canteen and Dublin Live.
Gemma, originally from Carryduf just outside Belfast, didn’t always have the food world in her sights, she was on the way to becoming a nurse until a spine problem put the stops to that.
Changing her training to software programming was a bit of a bend in the road, so going from this to food must have seemed to some people as quite mad, but Gemma was to prove them all wrong.
Gemma took a job in a kitchen and transferred to a Culinary Arts course getting a first-class honour in culinary management.
Her passion was born and she continued to work and study full time, working hard to go from commis chef to senior-sous chef.
Gemma said, “I worked in a 5 star Hotel in Belfast called the Fitzwilliam Hotel. After that I went to a 2 rosette hotel called The Old Inn, Crawfordsburn. I'm now co-owner and executive chef of Alexander's & Co and owner of my pop-up, 'A Peculiar Tea.'
It was through her talents as a pastry chef at her pop-up ‘A Peculiar Tea’ that made the producers of the Great British Menu reach out to her for the show to represent Northern Ireland.
In an interview Gemma described what happened: "The producers of the show got in touch last July. They'd been following the pop-up, which I'd been running for about a year and half, for a while. It had just been operating in different restaurants in Holywood, Belfast, Newtownards, that sort of thing.”
"They got in touch and asked did I want to give it a go. There was a shortlist initially, then from that we submitted our menu, and each menu preference was picked to go on the show. We were filming for the Great British Menu in November."
Gemma goes on to say: "I'm a pastry chef by trade, I've never been massively into cooking savoury food, so it was a new challenge for myself. There's also not too many women chefs in the industry, so I thought, no time like the present to put myself out there. Worst thing that could happen is making a fool of myself on national TV!"
She didn’t make a fool of herself, in fact the quite the opposite.
It was obvious when watching Gemma cook on the show that she relished the 2021 theme of Innovators and Inventors.
“I thought the theme was fantastic. It gave us a chance to learn a lot about people from our own regions and what was invented in our town.” Gemma said in one of her interviews.
"So, all our dishes had to be based on an invention or innovation which came from Northern Ireland," she explains. "That was quite interesting, because we've got so many inventors who have been overlooked. Viagra, for example, that was started here - who knew that?!
What about the dishes Gemma cooked for the program, which could have caused Gemma problems?
“Technically my dessert, it was certainly the dish that the most could have gone wrong with. However, with the fish course I was doing something totally different with that course and that I’m not used to. Fish is something I have the least experience with, as I’m a pastry chef by trade.”
Dessert was obviously a great success, it was given a 10 by the judge.
What about the future, what does Gemma have in store?
“Plans for the future are to keep pushing forward.” Says Gemma.
“I would like to eventually open my pop-up as a permanent spot once Covid allows us to get back to normality. Most importantly, I want to keep doing what I love and keep smiling!”
Of course, cooking for Foodie Book Clubs Lockdown Lunches has got to be the biggest achievement in Gemmas culinary life, right?
I know that’s not true, but it certainly was great fun chatting to Gemma and to watch her cook this fabulous fish chowder.
How can you find out more about Gemma?
Easy.
Follow her on her Instagram:
Here is her restaurant:
Watch Gemma cook on Foodie Book Clubs YouTube channel:
So, to the recipe.
Gemma reminded me to let everyone know a couple of things:
*Fish only takes a couple of minutes to cook once it’s into the hot chowder liquid
*Don’t over season all at once – you can always put more in but can’t take it out.
Go on, give it a go.
Enjoy your sweet life
Fish Chowder
A bowl full of creamy flavour
Serves 4
Roasted Fish bones x 1 kg
Bay leaf x 2
Thyme x 2 sprigs
Celery x 1 sticks
Leek x 1
Onion x 1
Carrot x 1
1 litre of water
1 litre of cream
Garlic cloves x 1
Fennel seeds x 1 tsp
Black peppercorns x 1 tsp
Salt and pepper
Cornflour x 4 tbsp
Method
1. Dice all vegetables and saute in large pot. Add thyme, bay, garlic, fennel, peppercorn, fish bones and water to the pot. Bring to to boil then Simmer for 40 mins
2. Pass stock through a fine sieve and put back in the pot and reduce by 3/4
3. Add double cream and bring to the boil. Dissolve the cornflour in water and whisk it in into the sauce until thickened. Cook out for 5 mins on a low heat.
6. Add the following to the sauce and cook out until fish is cooked.
-Cooked Baby boiled potatoes x 8 diced
-Garden peas x 50g
-Sliced cooked leeks x 50g
-Cooked smoked bacon lardons x 100g
-Chowder fish mix x 800g
Once cooked, serve hot.
