Sudi Pigott talks to London-based Irish chef, Richard Corrigan about food, freedom – and mashed potato ...

‘I just knew I needed freedom and mashed potato, I was tired of twiddly, intellectual food,’ says Richard Corrigan – in characteristically blunt manner – about his decision to open his Michelin-starred Soho restaurant Lindsay House in a Georgian townhouse complete with creaky floorboards. Though Corrigan hates the ghettoising, his approach is irresistibly, charmingly Irish, his conversation is heavily peppered with native wit and cursing and fundamental ingredients such as potatoes and cabbage figure largely on the ‘modern Irish’ menu which is a model of refined simplicity.

First and foremost, Richard believes good food must use only the freshest of seasonal ingredients – Irish wherever possible – prepared using traditional skills. This conviction was shaped by his rural childhood, which he spent living in a thatched cottage on a 25-acre farm in County Meath in the Irish midlands. His family, ‘had no money, but no hunger, everything grew brilliantly in the bog – turnips, carrots, swedes and we had a huge orchard of plums, cherries and pears.’ They cured their own bacon, turned their own butter, fished their own eels, made their own black pudding and cooked using the dried turf from the fields as fuel. He clearly remembers the bread his Mum made every day which she baked in a metal casket over an open smokey peat fire and the bread he serves in the restaurant remains based on his mum’s recipe. ‘The way I was brought up has made me appreciate the seasons more than many. As a chef, I still like the anticipation, the waiting for foods in season – such as wild salmon. Respect for food – even for the humblest carrot – is important.’

Much of Corrigan’s food preparation is not a sight for the faint-hearted: assorted tongues, pig’s feet, flitches of bacon and bundles of muslin-wrapped spiced beef are kept in a briney barrel until they are cooked. ‘Better,’ as Corrigan retorts, ‘than telephone-supplied pancetta of no fixed abode.’

He maintains that St Patrick’s Day is a bigger celebration for Irish immigrants than in Ireland itself. ‘It’s a way of rekindling our Irish spirit with a good craic.’ His St Patrick’s Day menu at Lindsay House is legendary: not only for the great food, but the warmth and amiability of the hospitality. The menu invariably kicks off with wild salmon from Ted Brown in Dingle, though Corrigan maintains the London-light cured Forman’s wild salmon is hard to beat, too. Irish stew using well-reared Irish beef is the centrepiece, though it’s far-removed from the bones, scrag of meat and over-cooked vegetable affair of school dinners. Irish cheeses are a particular passion and Corrigan invariably serves up a generous selection including seasonal soft sheep’s milk cheeses such as Emlett, Little Ryding and Gubeen, accompanied by soda bread. Pudding might be his extraordinary spiced madeleines with date and orange salad.

Perhaps surprisingly Corrigan doesn’t come over all nostalgic about returning to Ireland at St Patrick’s Day, ‘as everyone there seems to know all your god-damn business.’ Rather, he insists, he enjoys the anonymity of London. ‘It’s a fantastic city and after fifteen years I think of myself more as a London Irishman.’

Next page: recipes from Richard Corrigan

St Patrick's Day Feast

All recipes serve 4 generously

Irish Stew
2 middle necks of lamb, filleted, boned and bones reserved
450g floury potatoes, such as King Edward, peeled
450g waxy potatotes, such as Maris Piper, peeled
700g peeled carrots
1 onion, peeled and thickly sliced
decent pinch fresh thyme leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chopped fresh chives and parsley

1. Make 800ml stock with lamb bones and trimmings from the carrots and onions and some fresh parsley stalks. Cut the lamb into large chunks and put in a heavy-based pan. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, skimming frequently.
2. Remove the lamb with a draining spoon and reserve. Strain the stock into a clean pan. Add the lamb and bring back to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, cut the carrots and potatoes into chunks. Add carrots, onion and floury potatoes to the pan and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the waxy potatoes and the thyme and simmer a further 15-20 minutes or until the lamb is very tender. The floury potatoes will have broken down to thicken the sauce, while the waxy potatoes will keep their shape.
4. Remove from the heat, cover and leave, without stirring for 15 minutes. Check seasoning, serve generously sprinkled with fresh chives and parsley.

Broccoli with anchovy butter
This gives a good lift to what can seem an uninteresting vegetable

500g broccoli
80g unsalted butter
3 anchovy fillets
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
grated zest of 1 lemon
40g hard goat’s cheese, grated
freshly ground black pepper

1. First make the anchovy butter. Blend butter, anchovies, parsley and lemon zest in a food processor until smooth. Add goat’s cheese and pepper to taste and blend again briefly.
2. Shape into a log on a sheet of greaseproof paper, wrap and chill until firm.
3. Cook broccoli florets for 4-5 minutes until tender but still crisp. Drain and refresh, turn into a serving dish and dot thinly sliced discs of anchovy butter over the broccoli.

Spiced Madeleines
30g sultanas
15g plain flour
75g caster sugar
15g ground almonds
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
pinch ground mace
large pinch Chinese five-spice powder
large pinch freshly grated nutmeg
65g unsalted butter
1 tbsp clear honey such as acacia
2 egg whites
icing sugar to dust

1. Put sultanas into a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil, remove from heat and leave to soak overnight to plump up. Drain.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and cook until it turns nut-brown. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey. Allow to cool slightly, then add dry ingredients, beating together with an electric mixer. Gradually add the egg whites, mixing them in. Cover and chill for 30 minutes and chill madeleine or small cake tin moulds.
4. Brush a thin layer of melted butter all over the inside of tin. Chill again until butter has set. Brush with another layer of melted butter, dust with flour and shake out excess.
5. Scatter sultanas over bottom of prepared tin, spoon mixture over and bake at 170C/325F/gas mark 3 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and only just firm to the touch, erring on the still moist.

All recipes from The Richard Corrigan Cookbook (Hodder & Stoughton, £25)

• Lindsay House Restaurant, 21 Romilly Street, W1. Tel: 020 7439 0450
• H. Forman & Son (for wild smoked salmon, mail-order available). Tel: 020 8985 0378
• Neal’s Yard Dairy, Covent Garden & Borough Market, and mail-order, tel: 020 7379 7646