Preserved limes, hot red chillies and Stonewell’s low alcohol Tobairin craft cider

I’ve always had a certain love for leftovers. Cold pizza is a favourite, for breakfast preferably, when the texture of the previously melted and now regrouped cheese offers a very particular if slightly peculiar comfort.

This weekend I discovered another surprisingly moreish leftover breakfast dish, when we wrapped some juicy, just-cooked Superquinn sausages into reheated roti bread, cushioned them into place with some cold dahl and moistened the lot with raita. Not bloody bad! Of course, the hangover was probably a crucial ingredient, perhaps even more so than with cold pizza (which I would eat almost any morning).

But on Monday night I did even better work on the leftovers from Saturday’s currytastic dinner party. As well as little tasters of lamb rogan josh and pork vindaloo (the latter from this Madhur Jaffrey recipe, and highly recommended) I had a generous portion left of my take on Rick Stein’s Madras fish curry. The original recipe can be found here, but below is my version. I can’t say whether it’s better than Ricks or not, as this is the version I ended up making, mostly by default. But I can tell you that it was really tasty, and even more so on the Monday, partly due to flavours marrying and partly due to some extra additions.

Aside from replacing unavailable ingredients (I used local red gurnard instead of imported red snapper and replaced two teaspoons of Kashmiri chilli powder with one each of cayenne pepper and paprika), I also skipped a crucial instruction by mistake and ended up having to improvise a little. Having gotten distracted and tipped the tomatoes into the softened onions too early (pre-spices), I fried the curry leaves and spices and added them to the tomatoes once they had released their aromas. It added such a nice smokiness that tonight I repeated it tonight, adding more fried spices into the reheated leftovers, this time including some garam marsala, black mustard seeds,  whole coriander seeds, more curry leaves and a few lightly bashed small red chillies to crank up the heat.

I also added a couple of dried limes before reheating. I’ve never used them before but my fella bought them in his favourite ethnic shop on Thomas Street, and I think they may be about to become my new culinary obsession, being amazingly tangy and intense.

I washed the lot down with my new favourite low-alcohol drink: Stonewell’s Tobairín Cider, which is just 1.5% ABV but full of tangy Stonewell character thanks to fermented Elstar eating apples blended with fresh Jonagored juicy. It’s properly tasty and highly recommended as perfect pairing for a Monday night curry leftover – all the flavour with none of the guilt!

So here’s the final recipe, a mix of what Rick does and what I did and what I would do next time. Enjoy!

A sour fish curry of gurnard, tamarind and preserved limes (aprés Rick Stein)

2–3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

1/2 tablespoon black mustard seeds

1/2 tablespoon whole coriander seeds

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely crushed

400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes

2–3 preserved limes, halved

100ml/3½fl oz tamarind liquid

40 fresh curry leaves

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garam marsala

2 green chillies, each sliced lengthways into 6 pieces, with seeds

1 teaspoon salt

700g/1lb 9oz snapper fillets, cut into biggish chunks

boiled basmati rice, to serve

Serves 4–6 

In a heavy-based saucepan, heat a tablespoon or two of oil over a medium heat and add the mustard seeds to the hot oil. Fry for 30 seconds or until they begin to release their aromas. Stir in the onion and garlic and fry gently for 10 minutes, or until softened and lightly golden-brown. Add the tomatoes, preserved limes and tamarind liquid, and allow to simmer.

In a separate pan, heat another tablespoon of oil and once hot, add the curry leaves, cayenne powder, paprika, coriander and turmeric and stir-fry for a minute or two until they release their aromas but before the curry leaves burn. Add to the tomatoes along with green chillies and salt and simmer for another five or six minutes, or until rich and reduced. At this point, you could allow to cool and set aside until ready to serve.

Once ready to serve, heat the tangy tomato base through. Add the fish, cook for a further five minutes or until just cooked through, and serve with plain rice.

But all that frustrated culinary inspiration does make me look forward all the more to this coming Friday’s Guerrilla Gourmet Club, described as a “one night only popup autumn harvest dinner”, when I’ll have some of the season’s best ingredients cooked in suitably elaborate style. The dinner takes place in the The Royal College of Surgeons at 7pm, Friday 15 November, when they will serve a menu created by Ross Golden-Bannon (my ex-editor, formerly of FOOD&WINE Magazine) and Temple Garner of San Lorenzo in Dublin’s Georges Street (formerly head chef at The Mermaid Café and head chef/founder of Town Bar and Grill). I love Temple’s cooking. It is full of big generous flavours and executed with subtle skill. Perfect for the generously flavoured ingredients of this time of year.

Ross and Temple’s terroir-based menu focusses on celebrating the best of local. ‘Terroir’ is a wine term used to capture the relationship between geography (in other words, place, soil, climate, weather, aspect) and people (farmers, growers, producers and even consumers) and the end product (wine, or in this case, food). In the Guerrilla Gourmet Club’s own words: “Terroir is not just about great taste it’s also about flourishing local economies. Together a band of small local business are a strong buffer to economic difficulties. The Guerrilla Gourmet Club aims to amplify this message through terroir dinners created by high profile chefs, in unusual settings.”

The dinner costs €75 and for that you’ll enjoy a drinks reception with local, seasonal canapés followed a four-course meal with wine. There’s also a tasting of 8 Degrees Brewing beers at the start of the meal and Highbank Organic Dessert Cider at the end – both of which happen to be amongst my favourite craft brewers in Ireland at the minute. The evening promises to be a sociable affair, and if you’re going with a gang they can seat you together (make sure you give them advance notice).

I’ve had a sneak peak at the menu and it includes gorgeous seasonal treats like pheasant consommé with Madeira, truffle and foie gras tortellini – just the kind of elaborate dish I would love to be cooking up with my stash of autumnal mushrooms, if I had the time this week. Instead, I’ll just have to slum it with shiitake soup, and look forward to Friday’s feast!

For further information, email guerrillagourmetclub@gmail.com, or see www.facebook.com/theguerrillagourmetclub. To book, go to https://guerrillagourmetclubrcsi.eventbrite.ie

My favourite from 8 Degrees Brewing: their Howling Gale Ale