Cooking up a fall feast with Clodagh McKenna | How I Host... | Homes & Gardens - video Dailymotion

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Consider this your personal invite to a cozy fall feast with chef Clodagh McKenna

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00:00Hi, I'm Clodagh McKenna and this is How I Host. Come on in.

00:16The first thing I think of when I'm doing my tablescape is what food I'm going to serve and

00:22also what the weather is like outside, the seasons. I love these colours of autumn,

00:29the browns and this beautiful kind of honey cream. With the flowers I like to pick up

00:36all the gorgeous tones. Look at these delicious chocolate cosmos.

00:44So on the menu today is a delicious roast cauliflower cashew and garlic soup and then

00:51we're going to move on to a slow-cooked delicious buff bourguignon and then we're going to finish

00:57it off with a parsnip cake that is going to have a gorgeous maple frosting on top,

01:03topped with hazelnuts, orange zest and a drizzle of the honey from Maura Farm.

01:09I'm in the middle of making the roast cauliflower cashew and garlic soup and they're all tossed with

01:15cumin and turmeric and olive oil. They've been roasting for 10 minutes. Now I'm going to add in

01:20cashews and gorgeous sage and also some lovely garlic. We have so much cauliflower growing at the

01:29moment in our farm. Last year we had so much I had to come up with like a million ways on how to use

01:38up cauliflower. This was one of the recipes. I'm going to put on another big glug of olive oil and then clean

01:47hands toss them all together. This goes back into the oven for another 15 minutes. These are really

01:56beautiful plates. They're from Nam Living. I love the ceramics of them. I love the the texture that's in

02:03them. When my guests come over I really hope that they feel like they're at home and that they are

02:10excited about food. We love having people around in Ireland. I mean we're kind of renowned for it.

02:18I grew up around the table with my aunties and cousins and people just dropping in. There was

02:24always a pot in the oven. My berf bourguignon which smells so good already and I haven't even opened the

02:34pot. I made this yesterday. The beef is seared alongside seared and browned shallots. Autumn mushrooms.

02:44I always put my best wine in there. Garlic, bay leaf, some herbs and it's slow cooked. It's always better the

02:52next day. I'm going to pop in delicious good quality dark chocolate. It doesn't bring sweetness,

02:59it brings smokiness and a beautiful velvet texture.

03:09I do individual little salt pinch bowls for everybody because I think that it adds just a real

03:17feeling of luxury. Then the next thing I have are these gorgeous fresh figs which I have slit at the

03:25top. So in a little bit I'll go upstairs to my study and write up everybody's names in place cards and

03:32then they just get popped in here. But I've been doing this for years and it's so funny I'll go to

03:38all the trouble of doing amazing tablescapes and what people will really remember are things like the

03:44figs for the place settings. It's the small detail I think that really stays with people's memories.

03:50Then a little butters, a little sprig of rosemary and a little sprinkle of sea salt over it.

03:59I love these glasses. They are from Zara. They're beautiful amber which I think really matches my

04:06new linen. These are the new napkins from my Honey by Clodo range. I love the colours. I am going to wrap

04:15these up in a lovely chocolate ribbon bow for every setting. I started laying tables probably when I was

04:26about 10. My mom would let me do all the tables because I loved it so much. The cauliflower soup is

04:34nearly ready. Everything's roasted, pureed. See how creamy it is from the cashew? Really good. The last thing

04:43I put in is a lemon. Any creamy sauces are always elevated by a squeeze of lemon. And look, look at these

04:52beautiful, usually forgotten cauliflower leaves. I'm going to put one there and maybe another smaller one

05:00kind of hanging over it there. And then we've got some croutons. And the last thing is a drizzle of

05:07really good quality olive oil. Parsnip cake at this time of the year during the autumn is my favourite

05:14cake. I love a savoury cake. I don't like things too sweet. And this is a very simple cream cheese

05:23maple frosting. I use a maple syrup instead of icing sugar. It really makes that wonderful balance

05:31between the more savouriness and that lovely sweet creaminess on top. Going right to the edges.

05:38Oh my god, that's so good. And then for texture, these are chopped roasted hazelnuts.

05:50Then some orange zest.

05:56And that's it. I love doing handwritten menus for all of my suppers. It's just a lovely little memory of

06:06the evening. And the final touches to my dinner table. I love that gorgeous feeling of surprise

06:17when my guests come and they get excited about what they're going to eat.

06:25I probably entertain at least once a week. I've been a chef now for 26 years and definitely the reason

06:33why I love being a chef is I love feeding my friends and family. I just love it.

06:42Oh, the lighting of the candle. That's my first guess. I better go get them. Thank you for joining me.

06:51Off I go to have a gorgeous supper.

Cooking up a fall feast with Clodagh McKenna | How I Host... | Homes & Gardens

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