Anna Haugh’s Irish Kitchen: Modern Home Cooking with Irish Heart features a fantastic collection of 85 inspiring recipes for every season and occasion. A few highlights include Mussels with Herb Pesto, Pink Peppercorn & Cardamom Grissini, Mushroom & Lentil Shepherd’s Pie, Rack of Irish Lamb & Double Cauliflower, and Spiced Banana Bread. I will also be sharing her recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cake following the review.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Interlink Books in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own.
Anna Haugh
Anna Haugh has trained and worked as a professional chef for over twenty years. Born and raised in Dublin, she studied at DIT School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology and began her career at L’Ecrivain restaurant.
She then worked at Pied à Terre, The Square, and for the Gordon Ramsay Group in London. In 2019, she opened her first restaurant, Myrtle, in Chelsea in London with a focus on a Modern European menu with Irish influenced dishes.
Anna’s work has also been featured on television as the resident chef on the breakfast show Morning Live, as chef and host on Saturday Kitchen, and as a judge in 2022 on Masterchef: The Professionals. This is her first cookbook.
Anna Haugh’s Irish Kitchen
Anna begins with a short introduction, sharing her background, memories with her family, and how she was inspired to become a chef. She has also put together a guide with descriptions of essential and useful tools to get started.
I especially love the notes scattered across the pages ranging from testing the doneness of meat and fish to complementary colors and timelines for putting together a celebratory meal.
Chapters are divided according to the following: 20-Minute Dinners, Lunch & Brunch, Veggies, Fish, Meat, Weekend Projects, and Sweets.
The photography is provided by Laura Edwards with food styling by Rosie Ramsden and prop styling by Tabitha Hawkins. Every recipe is paired with at least one beautifully styled photo of the finished dish or a process shot.
Measurements are listed in US Customary and Metric. Each recipe has a headnote with background information, personal stories, yield, serving ideas, and helpful tips.
Guinness Chocolate Cake
The Guinness Chocolate Cake is such a wonderful option for get-togethers and easy to make in advance. Due to the thin layers sandwiched with the vanilla-scented cream filling, the cake is actually quite light with hints of the reduced Guinness and tangy buttermilk in every bite.
To start, Guinness is reduced in a saucepan until halved (you won’t need all of it). Once cool, it is combined with melted butter, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, egg, and buttermilk to form a wet batter.
The batter is divided between two 12 x 8 inch (30 x 20 centimeter) pans in a thin layer and baked just until set. Use a metal skewer to check for doneness.
Once the cakes are fully chilled (this is important or the cream will soak right in and you won’t be able to form slices), they are each cut in half widthwise to make four even sheets.
These sheets are layered with the whipped cream mixture before slicing and serving.
The cake didn’t last beyond a day for us, but Anna states the assembled Guinness Chocolate Cake can be refrigerated for up to three days and that it freezes well.
She learned the trick to add mascarpone to whipped cream from pastry chef, Rey (Hortillosa) Encarnacion from the Conrad Hotel in Dublin. This keeps the cream light and makes it less likely to split.
Other Dishes
I also made Grilled Rosemary Flatbreads with Roasted Tomatoes & Goat Cheese, Parsnip & Oregano Fritters, Henry’s Chicken Goujons, and Oat Cakes.
The Grilled Rosemary Flatbreads with Roasted Tomatoes & Goat Cheese caught my eye during my first look at the book. The combination of flavors were perfect for a weekend lunch. Homemade rosemary-scented flatbreads are heated in a frying pan, then topped with balsamic-roasted tomatoes, spinach or arugula leaves, and crumbled goat cheese.
I have long been a fan of potato fritters, but this was my first time using parsnip to make these Parsnip & Oregano Fritters! Grated parsnip is combined with scallion, flour, cornstarch, egg, oregano leaves, and garlic to form a thick batter. Dollops are pan-fried in olive oil until golden and crispy on each side. They were fantastic paired with the homemade spiced tomato mayonnaise. Anna has also included a vegan option.
Inspired by her stepson and now a favorite with my kids, Henry’s Chicken Goujons were an easy weeknight meal. Chicken strips are dipped in a Worcestershire mixture, then coated in panko before pan-frying until golden. They are served alongside a Worcestershire-spiced mayonnaise.
The recipe for Oat Cakes is the very first in the Sweets section. This sweet version (Anna states you can reduce the sugar for a more savory option) is delightfully scented with ginger and cardamom, cut into rounds, then baked until golden. We enjoyed them on their own, but you can also serve them with her Lemon, Lemongrass & Cardamom Posset.
Anna Haugh’s Irish Kitchen is a great pick for those looking for a variety of meals for every occasion. The recipes have been inspired by her Irish upbringing and career working in Dublin and London kitchens. Dishes range from quick and easy (but still elegant) 20 minute meals to more intricate creations made for celebrations and get-togethers. There is a nice assortment of vegetable, meat, and seafood options.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American grocery stores. A few items that may require further searching include pink peppercorns, cardamom pods, nigella seeds, Taleggio cheese, jumbo oats, juniper berries, black pudding, samosa pastry, and gooseberries.
Guinness Chocolate Cake Recipe
Excerpt from Anna Haugh’s Irish Kitchen
Guinness Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the Sponge:
- 2 cups (500 milliliters) Guinness
- 1 stick (125 grams) unsalted butter plus more for the pans
- 1 cup (generous, 140 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (scant, 35 grams) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup (75 milliliters) buttermilk
For the Cream:
- 1 1/4 cups (300 milliliters) heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners' sugar
- 3 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 2 tablespoon mascarpone
- 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped out
Instructions
- Place a saucepan under an extraction (exhaust) fan, pour in the Guinness and set over high heat.
- Reduce to half the quantity (1 cup/250 milliliters). Set aside to cool.
- Melt the butter in a separate pan, then leave it to cool.
- Butter 2 jelly roll pans, each about 12 x 8 inches (30 x 20 centimeters), and line with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C).
- Place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, whisk to mix, then make a well in the center.
- Add 1/2 cup (125 milliliters) of the Guinness reduction with the cooled melted butter, egg and buttermilk and whisk the batter until no lumps are left.
- Divide the mixture between the 2 prepared pans, then bake for 10 minutes. Insert a metal skewer into the center: when it emerges, it should be clean; also the cake should bounce back to the touch. It should be just cooked, rather than overcooked. The mix is wet and you really need to use a metal skewer to check it's done in the center.
- Leave in the pans to cool, then chill. The cake needs to be chilled when you're cutting it to assemble the cake.
- Halve both chilled cakes widthways, then trim the cakes so you have 4 matching flat layers that will sit neatly on top of each other.
- Whip together the cream, confectioners' sugar, buttermilk, mascarpone, and vanilla seeds to soft peaks.
- Use this to sandwich the cake layers together.
- Serve in slices, so you see the layers.
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