HE MAYBE Leinster born and reared but Richard Corrigan won the following of the Munster faithful in Thomond Park on Tuesday night when his live cooking demonstration delighted the some 400 strong crowd who paid to see the famous restaurateur and TV chef do what he does best.
From a simple but delicious seafood pasta dish with kelp and cockles to a ideas of how a €9 chicken would feed a family for three days,
Corrigan showed some epicurean delights in what he called “good family food” that was both “nutritious and very tasty”.
The night began with a cooking demonstration from Masterchefs’ Thomond Park based head chef, Jonathon Ronan, who cooked a sumptuous loin of pork with sweet potato, savoy cabbage and plenty of twists along the way that were set to tickle and inspire the taste buds of the gathered foodies.
Guests were invited to sample the produce of local suppliers who had market stalls set up in the main conference suite including ice-cream from Tommy Relihan’s cart at Adare Farm Foods, Simon Wilkinson’s fare from The Country Basket and Helen Cahill’s Newcastlewest based Cahill’s Farm Cheese. The branded Thomond Park red and white wine was also available to help the night go down with ease.
Back to the main event and the man himself took to the cooking stage ably assisted by members of the Munster Rugby academy including Kieran Essex, Conor Murray and Mike Sherry who were drilled all week in the preparation of the dishes. The trio opened with a seafood pasta dish with a Japanese leaning incorporating kelp, cockles and wasabi. Beef olives were next up as Corrigan and crew sliced beef fillet and stuffed with a mushroom and herb stuffing before pan frying and serving with a vibrant lentil accompaniment. A thrilling soufflé broke the pace of the night as the famous chef took a number of questions from the audience. From foodie trivia to technical know-how, the farmers son turned upper end London based chef and restaurateur, answered what was put to him with aplomb, including one clever young woman who delved outside the run of the mill questions to ask what the chef’s favourite comfort food was? Little did the crowd expect a response from the often outspoken chef to include, “toasted soda bread and Heinz baked beans – and they’re not paying me to say that. If I come home in the evening and I’m tired and not in the mood to cook, I will toast some soda bread and have some good baked beans. Nothing more – even if I was out for a few pints, you wouldn’t find me hanging around take-aways with kebab, n
o, I’d wait until I got home and have that”.
A sauté chicken, with an Indian spice influence closed the display as four lucky punters were drawn from a hat to dine at the chef’s final creations.
Michelle Payne, Business Development Manager with Thomond Park said that the night “proved again what a fantastic venue Thomond Park is and we were delighted with the turnout and how the evening went.
The event closed with a performance from the young New Zealand singing sensation Will Martin who flew in to Limerick on the night ahead of his concert performances at the UCH.
