Neven Maguire: 'Life is just too short not to enjoy good food'
Neven Maguire with his latest book - Midweek Meals. Picture: Lorraine Teevan
THE question about avoiding (or not) the Covid stone goes down like, well, a 14lb stone. There’s a brief silence and then TV chef and bestselling author Neven Maguire says: “How do I answer that?” And then he’s laughing, saying that his weight crept up during lockdown but not because of over-eating.
He fell while playing football in the garden with his son Conor and broke three of his ribs. Recovery was slow and painful, taking the best part of eight weeks.
He’s immensely relieved to have put that behind him and be back in an exercise routine at his small home gym in Blacklion, Co Cavan. He’s speaking to after starting the day with a 5K run and is feeling all the better for it.
The greatest relief, though, is that the award-winning MacNean House and Restaurant has opened its doors again. “We are so grateful to be open,” he says, more than once.
In March, he and wife Amelda decided to close the restaurant before they had to because they felt it was the safest thing to do, for staff and customers. “It was soul-destroying,” the popular chef says, recalling the exceptionally difficult days of lockdown.
It was so emotional having to close, he says. But, with characteristic positivity, he looks on the bright side and says the family came through worse when the front of their restaurant was bombed twice during the Troubles by loyalist paramilitaries. His parents closed from 1973 to 1989.
“We lived through some very tough times,” he says.
Hard times are here again, with the restaurant at 50% capacity and only 55 staff of the 80-plus staff back at work. “We also have Brexit to deal with now. It’s all about survival this year. You have to keep as positive as you can.”
And if there is one thing that Neven Maguire can do, it is put a positive spin on a bad situation. When everything closed in March, he put out an email asking if people needed some help cooking. When he got more than 400 responses in 24 hours, his restaurant staff were overwhelmed. “They wanted to know what I had done,” he chuckles.
He got to work cooking, while Amelda filmed on her phone. The videos were put up on Facebook and Instagram. He gained 15,000 followers on Instagram.
That formula is captured with aplomb in his new book, , a concept that was inspired by his time on the Marian Finucane show. He pays tribute to the late broadcaster in the book’s foreward and again when speaking to Feelgood. “I was on her show for 12 years. She was a lovely lady.”
The book is divided into four sections: ‘One-pan Dinners’ for quick and easy meals; Cupboard’s Bare’ for whipping up dinner when you think you have nothing in; ‘Supermarket Sweep’ when you can pick up one or two ingredients and ‘Slow and Low’, as its name suggests, contains recipes when you have more time.
“There is something in it for everyone and the recipes really show how the Irish palate has changed. We are more sophisticated and more adventurous,” he says.
The Irish public is also more health-conscious and each recipe comes with an indication of vegetable content.
The chef, who has sold more than 100,000 cookbooks, says he also pays more attention to what he eats. He uses more pulses and veg and has kicked the bad habits so common among chefs, such as eating late and tasting everything.
He’s a big believer in batch cooking and using your freezer. And he’s a huge fan of fish. Brill, prawns and hake are favourites. “We are an island nation but we don’t eat enough fish,” he says.
Some members of his own family don’t eat it. “Maybe I put them off as I used to chase after them with live lobsters when I was young.”
Whatever your taste, though, food is such an important thing, now more than ever before, he says. “Life is just too short not to enjoy good food.”
- 675g (1½lb) frozen sweetcorn kernels (or you can use 2 × 400g (14oz) tins and drain well)
- knob of butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp cream vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 raw chorizo sausage, skinned and diced (approx. 100g (4oz))
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 50g (2oz) plain flour
- 25g (1oz) cornflour
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)
- 1½ tsp baking powder
This is a great one to have up your sleeve, as nearly everything you need for the fritters is a store cupboard ingredient. If you don’t have any chorizo, try using some leftover diced ham or crispy pancetta.
If using frozen sweetcorn, cook in a pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt for 3–4 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Drain well.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the onion and sauté for 8–10 minutes, until softened. Stir in half of the sweetcorn and season to taste. Stir in the cream and blitz with a hand-held blender until you have achieved a rough purée.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and add a little oil. Tip in the chorizo and sauté for 2–3 minutes, until sizzling. Drain on kitchen paper.
Mix the creamed sweetcorn in a bowl with the reserved whole kernels, spring onions, plain flour, cornflour, parsley (if using), baking powder and plenty of seasoning, then fold in the chorizo.
Wipe out the frying pan and reheat with enough oil to shallow fry. Working in batches, add large spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden brown. Keep warm in a low oven.
Meanwhile, mix the soured cream with the yoghurt, chives (if using), mustard and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Place in a serving bowl.
Drain the fritters briefly on kitchen paper, then arrange on a large serving platter or individual plates with the soured cream dip and a separate bowl of the tomato country relish. Scatter over the chives (if using) to serve. A nice big bowl of mixed salad will balance the meal perfectly.
