Paul Cunningham- Scallops with Wild Garlic Risotto & Brown Butter
Chef Paul Cunningham
These last weeks chatting to some of my food heroes has felt like a dream. Chef Paul Cunningham has been a cooking hero to my many years of fan-girling. With his foraging ethos which drives his seasonal cooking, if travel were an option right now, i’d be there in a flash
Meanwhile, here is a little about Paul and how he became the skilled chef he is today.
Chef Paul Cunningham first became interested in food at an even earlier age than most chefs, because Pauls grandfather was a keen forager of his own ingredients and passed this on to a six year old Paul. It’s this passion for local, seasonal, fresh produce which heavily influences his ingredients-led cuisine today.
He talks about his grandfather: ‘He took me out on the seashore to find cockles and mussels and sand eels and we would walk across Dundrum Bay in our bare feet. He was the one who started all this in me and he’s passed away now, but every year, when I’m out picking honeysuckle, I can still hear him like he was standing beside me. He told me to respect the land and it will respect you back.’
It wasn’t many years later before Paul started as a kitchen porter but was soon learning to cook (at aged 13) in the former Roundhouse restaurant in Dundrum while still at school:
‘I was washing dishes, a mixture of things, I was just happy to get into the kitchen,’ says Paul. ‘I loved the buzz and I still love it today, 20 years later.’ Paul Said
He went full-time in the restaurant as soon as he had finished his GCSEs
Paul had two aunties, Patricia Bell and Theresa Poland, who were themselves chefs and they advised him that every six months, if he felt he wasn’t learning enough, he should move on. So, when the owners of the Roundhouse – Peter Lavery and JJ Lyttle – decided to open another restaurant in Clough, Paul transferred there to work as a commis chef. By then, he was 16.
‘I was loving it,’ he says. ‘I was getting to cook every day and I was learning a lot. As soon as tech became available, I was away to Belfast to enrol and that was even more exciting.’
After about a year, he moved to the Buck’s Head Inn at Dundrum, primarily because he was keen to work with food at a higher level. He was there for about 18 months under head chef, Fergus King:
‘I got on really well with Fergus” Says Paul. “He put a great love for the food in me. Anyone can cook, but he taught me to respect everything that came into the kitchen.’
Opening his own place was always an aim, even back then – it was a dream, but Paul says he knew he was stubborn enough to make it happen:
‘If you want something enough and you work hard to get it, then you will. It’s really up to you.’
A succession of other posts followed, at the Hillyard House in Castlewellan; The Dundrum Inn and Belfast’s Shu restaurant.
Then, at the age of 24, Paul was approached by the owner of the Anchor Bar in Newcastle who wanted to bring him in to run a proposed new restaurant on the first floor We were hampered a bit by where we were, people would have passed about 14 other places before they came to us, but it’s all completely different here,’ says Paul. ‘It sounds crazy but since we came here, business has quadrupled, especially in lunches.’
As for the future, Paul says his priority now is to make sure that Brunel’s meets its potential – he has no plans to open another outlet – although he admits that ultimately, he has dreams of opening his own concept restaurant:
‘I don’t know where but I’m happy not being in Belfast. I can go foraging here for an hour before opening and come back with a bucket of food. I couldn’t do that if I was in the big smoke.’
But you could do that where I live, so if you want to come and stay, I’m all for a day of foraging!
Paul has used one of my favourite foraged ingredients in this recipe and probably one of the easiest to find and know that it’s safe, wild garlic.
If you don’t have any you can forage, I think you can buy it from those popular on line shops.
Those plates, those beautiful plates, well, it’s about keeping it in the family. Made by Pauls talented wife Jennifer, you can find her work on her Etsy shop
And the recipe, Scallops with Wild Garlic Risotto & Brown Butter cooked live for Foodie Book Club Lockdown Lunches was just a joy.
If you missed Paul cooking live, no problem, watch him again on our Foodie Book Club YouTube channel. and you can find Paul on his social media accounts here:
Brunel’s Restaurant on Facebook:
Now to the food.
Scallops, with Wild Garlic Risotto & Brown Butter
Beutiful and beuatifully plated
Scallops with Wild Garlic Risotto & Brown Butter
Wild Garlic Risotto
2 Shallots – Diced
1 tbsp Rapeseed oil
2 cloves garlic – crushed
2 tsp thyme
1 knob of butter
200g Arborio Rice
100g white wine
600g Hot chicken stock
30g Parmesan- grated
1 tbsp crème freche
80g Peas
2 tbsp Wild Garlic Pesto
Garnish Optional
Hazelnuts – toasted to garnish
Wild Garlic flowers.
Wild Garlic Leaves
Method
In a hot pan, add the shallots and time and sweat for 5 mins until the shallot is soft and translucent
Add the rice and bruise for 2 mins to break up the outer coating
Add the wine and keep it on the heat until the liquid has reduced until dry
Add a little of the chicken stock at a time and continue to cook and add the stock while cooking.
Constantly Stir the stock into the rice and cook the rice until soft but still has a bite
Remove risotto from the heat and add parmesan, crème freche, peas and wild garlic pesto
Test the seasoning and serve
Dig In
Scallops
Ingredients
Scallops
Butter
Lemon Juice
Method
Heat a pan and add the butter until melted and foaming
Add the scallops and brown on both sides (approximately 2 minutes on each side), basting with the butter
Once cooked, remove from the pan and let rest
Keep the butter the pan, heat until the butter is brown.
Add a few drops of lemon juice to finish
To Serve
Place the cooked scallops on top of the risotto, and garnish with wild garlic flowers and hazelnuts if using.
Beautiful fresh colour
