Having just wrapped up his delicious new series Neven's Spanish Food Trails, Neven Maguire joined Alison on Weekend Breakfast.
He told us all about discovering new flavours in Spain, how he loves going back to basics with cooking and how his love for cooking began when he was just 12 years old.
Neven's Spanish Food Trails
Neven's Spanish Food Trails sees him let his travel bug run wild.
The six part series highlights the local Spanish cuisine as he enjoys a huge range of produce. From Cabrales blue cheese matured in mountain caves, to Galician veal, octopus pie, grilled sea bass, clams, traditional Spanish Cider, and Albariño Wine.
The series wrapped up on Rte One on Oct 17th but is available now on the RTE Player.
Neven also left us with a tasty recipe to try at home.
Neven's Perfect Chicken Curry
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 Tbsp Simply Better Cold Pressed Irish Rapeseed Oil
1 Tbsp Simply Better Organic Mild Curry Spice Seasoning
4 Simply Better Fresh Irish Corn Fed Chicken Breast Fillets, cut into 2.5cm (1in) cubes
1 Tin of Simply Better Italian Chopped Tomatoes
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
2 Tsp Finely Grated Root Ginger
1 Sweet Potato or Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed
1 Tbsp Mango Chutney
400g Tin of Coconut Milk
400g Tin of Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Steamed Basmati Rice, to serve
Handful of Fresh Coriander Sprigs, to garnish
Method
1. Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium-high heat and fry the onions and garlic for 4-6 minutes, until golden brown. Stir in the ginger and sweet potato or butternut squash and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add the Mild Curry Spice Seasoning and a pinch of salt and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, mango chutney and coconut milk. Stir well to combine, then bring to a fast simmer for 3-5 minutes, until the sauce is so well reduced that it is almost sticking to the bottom of the pan, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cubed chicken.
3. Slowly bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10–15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and completely tender. Add in the rinsed chickpeas and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Season to taste.
4. To serve, arrange the basmati rice and chicken curry on warmed plates and scatter over the coriander sprigs to garnish.
