Wild Atlantic recipe book launching

A recipe book that's all about keeping food simple, cooking with care and using the best available local produce is about to hit the shelves. ‘My Wild Atlantic Kitchen: Recipes and Recollections’ is a compilation of Maura O’Connell Foley’s favourite recipes created throughout her career spanning over six decades.

Several years in the making, this book is a comprehensive collection capturing over 250 recipes of the food Maura has loved to cook throughout her life and successful career as cook and restaurateur.

‘My Wild Atlantic Kitchen’ features stand-out dishes from the first tea shop she and her mother Agnes opened in 1961 to the Shelburne Lodge Guesthouse which she continues to run today with her husband Tom.

Maura said: “Over the years, I was approached on many occasions to write a book, but I just didn’t make the time. I finally put pen to paper, and I can tell you it has been a tremendous effort! The recipes are a diverse collection of the food I have loved to cook at various times in my life.”

Maura’s recipes are seasonal, classic and organised into eight chapters in the book; breakfast, starters, fish, meat, vegetables, desserts and baking, sauces, stocks and staples, as well as a dedicated section on dinner parties.

Recipes include drop scone pancakes with dry cured bacon and apple syrup, confit of duck leg with pear and ginger salad, twice baked hazelnut goat’s cheese soufflé, seafood sausage with beurre blanc, smoked cod cakes, beef and Guinness casserole, dover sole stuffed with Atlantic prawns and brandy cream sauce, chocolate pots, Irish barmbrack and butter pudding, and spicy apple and rum pudding.

Not only a cookbook, 'My Wild Atlantic Kitchen' features Maura’s culinary recollections and stories, accompanied by over 100 images of her recipes captured by Lynda Kenny and Maria Bell.

The foreword is written by Irish Michelin starred chef Derry Clarke of L'Ecrivain Restaurant in Dublin. He says: “This book is the culmination of 60 years of passion, hard work and imagination and is a summary of Maura’s life working in busy kitchens. These recipes are timeless, classic and detailed.

“This is a book I feel every cook should have in their kitchen as there are so many brilliant and varied recipes. This is a book recording Maura’s legacy through the many years she has been at the forefront of Irish cooking. As a fellow chef, I am proud to know her and respect her for all her achievements.”

'My Wild Atlantic Kitchen: Recipes and Recollections' (€35) is available from 26 March on Amazon or directly from mywildatlantickitchen.com and selected independent bookstores.