Exclusive: Three Recipes from The Kai Cookbook to Try This Weekend

Within 24 hours of its release, it was clear that Jess Murphys's debut cookbook was something special. It received a glowing review from John and Sally McKenna, and lots of buzz on social media – including a shout out from culinary queen Nigella Lawson.

Kai's Head chef Jess Murphy, originally from New Zealand, consistently draws on her roots while highlighting Ireland’s finest local, seasonal produce through her work, and her love of both is evident on every page of the book.

With striking photography, personal stories and recipes that reflect the award-winning restaurant’s dedication to quality and community, the book truly offers a taste of Kai.

Here, we are excited to share three seasonal recipes to give you a taste (sorry!) of what's in store.

Oysters with Blood Oranges & Mignonette

"I grew up in a small town in New Zealand called Wairoa, which means ‘long water’ in Māori. We were famous mostly for our local abattoir, but also for the rival gangs who fought one another on occasion. It takes enormous skill to work the line at the abattoir, so when the season is in full swing, it’s full on. In the off season, the local meatworkers would do a stint shucking oysters in Bluff, on the southern coast of South Island. The workers would fly back home with the most amazing oysters, and if you were lucky enough to get them, it was a massive treat.

Now, living in the West of Ireland, I’m proud to serve the local Kelly oysters on our menu and in this little wintery recipe. Make the mignonette in advance as a snazzy little dish you can whip out for drinks or prinks to get the party started on New Year’s Eve."

Serves 4

Ingredients

12 native oysters

For the mignonette:

3 shallots, finely chopped
100ml apple cider vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

crushed ice or rock salt
2 blood oranges, peeled and segmented

Method

To make the mignonette, soak the shallots in the apple cider vinegar with a good crack of black pepper for around 3 hours.

Just before your guests arrive, open your oysters and put them on a bed of crushed ice or rock salt. Spoon over the mignonette and adorn with little blood orange segments. So easy and so beautiful.

Ernie’s Apple, Brown Butter & Whiskey Caramel Cake

"Every autumn, Ernie makes a handwritten sign for every Irish apple variety with a quirky way to describe them. It’s little things like this that make my day as I walk to work. For 14 years, I’ve walked past Ernie’s shop, yelling ‘good morning’ to him. Ernie knows I’ll be working late into the night, so he’ll yell back, ‘Good morning, good evening and goodnight!’ Before he opened his shop, Ernie used to be a chef, and a good one at that, so he understands the day-to-day grind."

SERVES 8–10

170g salted butter
200g caster sugar
110g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 eggs
400g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
200ml milk
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced

For the whiskey caramel:

300g caster sugar
85ml water
170g salted butter, diced
220ml cream
3 tbsp whiskey

For the brown butter Swiss meringue buttercream:

100g browned butter
345g egg whites (about 10 eggs)
600g caster sugar
525g salted butter, diced

To serve:

vanilla ice cream or custard (page 205)

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line 2 x 25cm cake tins with non-stick baking paper.

Put the butter in a saucepan on a medium heat and cook until it starts to foam. Now take it slightly further, until the noisy, bubbling butter gets quiet, turns a light brown colour and has a nutty aroma. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool, then pour the browned butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add both sugars and beat until well combined, then beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each one.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then add it to the butter and sugar mixture. Finally, beat in the milk, then fold in the apples.

Divide the batter between the tins, then bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely on wire racks.

Meanwhile, to make the caramel, put the sugar and water in a saucepan on a medium heat. Don’t mix them together or your sugar will crystallise. Just leave it alone and let the sugar melt until it turns a dark amber colour. Take the pan off the heat, add the butter and cream and mix vigorously. Put the pan back on the heat for 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat again, stir in the whiskey and set aside to cool fully.

To make the Swiss meringue buttercream, brown 100 grams of butter the same way you did before, then set aside to cool.

Put your egg whites and sugar in a large metal bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. When it reaches 71°C on a digital thermometer, transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk for 8–10 minutes, until the bowl is cool, the meringue is shiny and smooth, and stiff peaks have formed.

Switch to the paddle attachment and beat in your plain butter a couple of cubes at a time. The mixture may appear split or curdled, but just keep mixing and it will become a smooth, shiny buttercream. Finally, beat in the browned butter.

To assemble, cut each cake in half horizontally. Put one layer on the base of a cake stand or serving platter and cover with a generous layer of the icing. Repeat with the remaining cakes and icing, making sure you save enough for the top too. Pour over the caramel, letting it drip down the sides of the cake. Serve with ice cream or custard.

Sally’s Smoked Haddock Croquettes

"Sally Barnes is the GOAT of fish smoking. I’ve learned more about fish from Sally than I have in all the books I’ve read about fish. This little dish is something I make on a cold winter night and think of Sally down in West Cork, all warm and snug in front of her Stanley range while the wind blows in off the Atlantic and we all watch Instagram stories of yet another car floating away in the car park at Salthill that always floods. But Kai and our tiny house in the West have thick walls and we have Sally’s smoked haddock croquettes to keep us warm and well fed. We love you, Sally Barnes."

SERVES 25

500ml cream
500ml milk
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 bay leaves
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1 x 450g side of smoked haddock
150g salted butter
150g plain flour
250g Durrus cheese, grated (if you can’t get Durrus, use some kind of melty cheese, like a raclette or Gruyère)
250g Coolattin Cheddar cheese, grated
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
sea salt and ground white pepper

For the crumb:

150g plain flour
4 eggs
250g panko breadcrumbs

To serve:

pickled chillies
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put your cream, milk, onion, garlic, bay leaves, a pinch of nutmeg and some salt and white pepper in a large saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Add the smoked haddock and bring it back to a simmer, then take the pan off the heat. Transfer the fish to a baking tray to let it cool down, but keep the milk warm.

Melt the butter in a separate saucepan on a medium heat. When the butter starts to foam, stir in the flour to create a paste (a roux). Cook until it turns a blonde colour and smells like toasted flour.

Strain the milk mixture into a measuring jug through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids. Start adding your warm milk to the roux half a cup at a time, whisking thoroughly to avoid lumps. You want this sauce to be super-thick – it should be so thick that it comes away from the sides of the pan when you stir it. When it is, stir in your grated cheese.

Remove the skin from the smoked haddock and discard it, then flake the haddock into pieces, keeping an eye out for any bones. Stir the flaked fish into the sauce.

I usually transfer the mixture to a baking dish and put it in the fridge overnight to make it easier to form into croquettes, but a couple of hours will be fine. When the white sauce has set firmly (it should be firm enough to slice), scoop it into 25 x 70g balls. Pop them in the freezer for 25 minutes to make them more manageable.

Heat the oil in your deep-fryer to 180°C. If you don’t have a deep-fryer, use a large, wide, high-sided saucepan or sauté pan and fill it no more than halfway with oil. You’ll know the oil is hot enough when you put a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil and little bubbles start to fizz around the wood.

Line a baking tray with kitchen paper and put a wire rack on top.

Put the flour in one wide, shallow bowl and season it with salt and pepper. Put the eggs in a second bowl and whisk them together. Put the panko breadcrumbs in a third bowl.

Working with one ball at a time, dust it in the seasoned flour, then dip it in the beaten eggs, shaking off any excess before rolling it in the breadcrumbs. Make sure it’s completely coated, then flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand so that it will be completely submerged in the hot oil when you fry them. Repeat with the rest of the croquettes.

Working in batches, add the croquettes to the hot oil and deep-fry for 3–4 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to the wire rack to let any excess oil drip down onto the lined tray.

Sprinkle the croquettes with a small pinch of flaky sea salt and ground black pepper. Serve with pickled chillies. Divine.

The Kai Cookbook is on sale now.