Rising Tide’s Special for Fish

Rising Tide’s Special for Fish

Bream

The Rising Tide’s menu caters for most tastes but, if your taste is for fish, your luck is in at this picturesquely situated Glounthaune venue. You can have your steak, your corn fed chicken, your pasta but do check out the blackboard as the chefs here take a great pride in their specials and more than likely, these will be fish and appropriately so, considering the harbourside location of Sandra Murphy’s bar cum restaurant, a long established favourite for both locals and visitors.

We, both of us with a big grá for fish, were in luck when we called in midweek as the board featured two tempting fish specials, one for each of us! Not that there was any shortage of fish on the general menu. We could have had fish and chips two ways,  and there was also hake, cod and a fish pie, not to mention the regular mussels and oysters dishes.

I went for the Pan-fried King scallops with char-grilled aubergine and fresh salsa. Don't think I’ve ever had the scallop-aubergine combination before but it was a fantastic tasty mix, an appealing pairing by the Rising Tide chefs and so well presented.

Scallops, aubergine

I don't think I really needed anything else with it but there was no shortage on the sides with, between the two of us, salad, vegetables, and french fries all available. CL’s main dish was another well executed gem: Grilled sea-bream fillets set on a basil and goats cheese risotto. The risotto was lovely on its own and also a superb match with the well cooked fish. Big compliments to Head Chef Craig Guiney.

Quite an enticing list of starters here too, including Chowder, Crab, Goat’s Cheese, and Prawns, all sourced locally, as are the ingredients for the main dishes.  

After enjoying the breads and dips, I tucked into my opening dish. This was a delicate delicious starter: Lemongrass and Honey Chicken, cooked in a parma ham cream sauce in a savoury tartlet. CL got a bit more than she bargained for with two big discs of Jack McCarthy Wild Boar Black Pudding. Served with cider apple and seasonal leaves, this was a flavoursome reminder as to why McCarthy’s black pudding is regarded as the best in the country.

Black pudding and, top: Chicken starter (right) and dessert (Lemon & Figs)

By the time the main courses were polished off, a debate started on the desserts and the final agreement was to share the Lemon and Fig Posset and this, so velvety and so smooth, proved to be another little beauty from the Rising Tide kitchen.

Being a full bar, there is a great variety of drinks here. I enjoyed my pint of Rebel Red from the Franciscan Well while CL was very happy with a glass of Santa Sofia Pinot Grigio, billed, rather truthfully,  as “much richer and full bodied than your average Pinot Grigio”.

The Rising Tide

• Glounthaune Village,
• Cork

  Phone	(021) 435 3233
  Email	sandra@therisingtide.ie
  Website	http://www.therisingtide.ie

Market Meal #6. Scallops and Rashers, John Dory and Puy Lentils, Bromleys and Dates

Market Meal #6
Buy local, fresh and fair!
Scallops and Rashers, John Dory and Puy Lentils, Bromleys and Dates

A three course meal, sourced mainly in Cork’s English Market on Saturday morning.

Chateau Soucherie
Anjou Blanc 2009.

Bought the scallops and the John Dory from the cheery crew at Ballycotton Seafood. I was on the lookout for the Ummera Smoked Rashers but the Market’s Good Food Shop was out of stock and they didn’t have them in Brown Thomas Food Emporium either but there was a super sub available in the nearby Supervalu where I got a pack of Truly Irish Beechwood Smoked.

You’ll find lots of Scallops plus Rashers recipes on the internet and most follow the same pattern. Fry the rashers first but take them up before they start to get hard; wrap them around the scallops, securing each "parcel" with a cocktail stick.

From the local market!

Heat some butter and crushed garlic in a pot and brush the exposed parts of the scallops with this. And you’re on your way to a terrific starter. The bacon is a very compatible wrap for the sweet scallop in terms of structure, colour, texture and flavour and certainly a change from the black (sometimes white) pudding option.

The John Dory was fresh as could be and, pan-fried with a knob of butter and olive oil, went very well with the Puy Lentils (from Lenny in Mahon Point Farmers Market) and some sun-dried tomatoes from the Olive Stall in the English Market.

A healthy dessert might seem like a contradiction in terms but there are quite a few of them in Healthy Ways, the new cookbook by Croí, including Winter Spiced Baked Apples by Gregan’s Castle Hotel. They use eating apples (Granny Smiths) but we had some Bromleys from Cahir’s Apple Farm to use up and they worked well (with an extra bit of brown sugar!).

The spice is provided by a combination of dried dates (€1.99 for a packet from Dunne’s Stores), raisins, light muscovado sugar, mixed spice and orange zest and juice. 

You may order the recipe packed Healthy Ways online at www.croi.ie . Highly recommended.