How to Eat Out when Eating in with Warrenpoint’s Top Chef’s Recipes?

What’s cooking in Warrenpoint?

We have all had little help from The Whistledown!

If you follow the Whistledown Hotel in Warrenpoint on social media over the last few weeks, you will have been thrilled to get access to some of the tightly held recipe secrets of their chefs.

It’s a perfect ‘Dining In’ Guide to restaurant quality meals at home!

Everyone has been missing friends and family during the Lockdown!

Holy Communions have been postponed.

Weddings and special family occasions have had to be rescheduled.

Birthday and anniversary celebrations have been missed.

Our Beloved Blues on The Bay Festival will not take place at the end of May (Check out our Blues on The Bay Video Gallery)

Ralph McLean always broadcasts his BBC Ulster Show live from the Whistledown to kick off the Blues Festival in Warrenpoint

These occasions of great joy would have taken place in the Whistledown and the other venues in Warrenpoint and beyond only for this wretched pandemic.

This has been a stressful period for all of the hospitality businesses in our area.

But it’s something we all have had to do and anything that can make it a bit easier is surely welcomed.

Cooking during the Lockdown

All this time at home gives us the chance to brush up on our culinary skills (or for some of us just to get started with cooking).

Indeed many of us during this time are planning meals with a lot more focus due to the social distancing at supermarkets and the time to enjoy the actual cooking experience.

It’s great to go online and get some tips from the celebrity chefs but it’s even better to get some tips from some of the best local chefs as we work through these challenging times.

Have you tried to make any of the Whistledown recipes yet?

Here is three top recipes from the Whistledown’s Facebook Page:

Their World Famous Chicken Curry
Seafood Risotto (Family Recipe)
Chocolate Brownie Recipe

How to make Gourmet Restaurant Chicken Curry at home?

WHISTLEDOWN CHICKEN CURRY RECIPE We hope you enjoy a good Whistledown Curry this weekend, but remember the magic is not...
Posted by The Whistledown Hotel on Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Keeping the Spirits up during the Coronavirus Lockdown!

🌱WHISTLEDOWN CHEFS AT HOME 🌱 Chef Annette is cooking Seafood Risotto for lunch today and this is her family recipe....
Posted by The Whistledown Hotel on Sunday, May 10, 2020

Risotto Recipe

This dish can be as easy or as complicated as you have time for.

You can use up store cupboard ingredients or for a special occasion go all out with seafood, wild mushrooms etc.

So the most important ingredient is the correct rice. Arborio rice is perfect because it is starchy and when cooked gives a beautiful creamy, velvety like consistency to your dish.

Next is the base flavours, build up your layers of flavour for a really deeply satisfying taste.

1 x litre of good quality chicken stock ( fish stock if doing a Seafood risotto)

400g x Arborio rice (don’t rinse as you will remove the all important starch)

1 x large white onion very finely diced

2 x cloves of garlic very finely chopped or grated

2 x sticks of celery very finely diced.

2 x tablespoons of a light vegetable oil.

Butter

90g x parmesan (not the pre-grated or shaved ) use real parmesan

Have your stock gently warming on the stove beside you.

Gently warm the oil and a knob of butter in a large heavy deep pan or I like to use a heavy cast iron dish with a lid.

Add the onions, garlic and celery and very gently soften these together for around 10 to 15 minutes do not allow them to brown…

When they are soft add the rice to the pan and turn up the heat and stir continuously for 2 minutes then add your wine.

It should sizzle when it hits the pan. This will burn off the alcohol and the bitterness.

When the wine has been absorbed add your warm stock 1 x ladle at a time. Stirring continuously with a wooden spoon

Keep adding the stock until it has been absorbed.

Now taste the rice, is it soft but with a little bite?

Is the seasoning correct?

Add a little water if you need to cook further.

Remove the pan from the heat stir in a knob of butter and freshly grated parmesan and place a lid onto the pan allow to sit for 2 minutes.

Enjoy on a cold evening with a slice of toasted sour dough and glass of white wine.

Chocolate features strongly at Easter time and as promised we bring you our cherished Chocolate Brownie Recipe...
Posted by The Whistledown Hotel on Sunday, April 12, 2020

Chocolate Brownie Recipe

Important things to note for good Brownies are quality ingredients to make them fudgy and the cooking method that keeps them fudgy – it’s all about the fudge with Brownies.

This recipe requires a 20cm square tin and will cut into 16 squares -depends how hungry you are.

Pre heat oven to 180oC

Grease and line your brownie tin with parchment paper. This is very important.

100g x Dark Chocolate – at least 50% cocoa
85g x Milk Chocolate
185g x Butter

Put these into a saucepan and warm them gently on a low heat until just melted and remove from heat and set aside.

275g x Caster Sugar
3 x Large Eggs (duck eggs are excellent for baking any cakes)

Put these into a mixer and whisk until really light and fluffy and almost doubled in volume.

Sieve
85g x Plain Flour
40g Cocoa Powder – Bournville Cocoa Powder is a good option

Next, add the fluffy egg and sugar mix into the flour and the slightly cooled chocolate and butter mix in too and very gently fold it all together by hand until it’s completely mixed.

Chop 50g of White Chocolate and fold into the mix.

Pour into the lined tin, place into the oven for approx 30 to 35 minutes

Now here’s the fudge! It may be only very slightly wobbly in the centre…. that’s ok let it cool completely in the tin preferably over night in a very cool place and then it’s ready to cut.