Shane, or Riggers as nearly everyone knows him, grew up in Tallaght, the eldest of three brothers. Life was busy in a household of three boys coming and going, so food was grabbed in between hectic schedules. Shane says Dolores was a great gardener but never proclaimed to be a great cook – it wasn’t her forté. Her concern was keeping the family fed and, though always good quality, the food wasn’t “fancy”.
Shane’s interest in shaking things up in the kitchen kicked in during his teens when he would add a twist to the weekly staples of spaghetti bolognese or stew. Dolores was delighted with this new experimentation in the kitchen and encouraged Shane wholeheartedly. His dad had time to learn a few new cookery skills himself, being led by Shane and his knowledge, and was experimenting with ingredients and flavours.
Describing his relationship with his mam, Shane says Dolores was not overly strict in her parenting – she was loving, giving and would do anything for her boys. “A bit like a lot of Irish mothers, she would do anything for us; she was selfless.”
“My mam’s recollection is that I started prepping and making meals in my 20s but I definitely started tinkering in the kitchen in my teens. All the big family get-togethers that involved food – Christmas, Easter, etc – I was front and centre in the kitchen and my mam loved that, she was very proud of that,” he says.
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Later, Shane studied science in TCD while spending time in kitchens and working front-of-house in restaurants at the weekends, but eventually he gave in to his passion for cooking in his 30s and retrained professionally. Professional kitchens can be brusque and intimidating but Shane enjoyed the cut and thrust of the mechanisms of the business as much as the cooking itself.
Musing over what he considers good food, Shane says that as cheesy as it sounds, it’s anything that gets people around the table. He loves the ceremony of sitting together with loved ones for food that is simple and easy, yet elegant. He believes you can create something delicious with simplicity, though elevating it with the use of good-quality home-grown produce and ingredients.
Chicken, he says, is probably the most versatile and universally enjoyed meat. Sicín Sásta chicken, which carries both the Bord Bia logo and Love Irish Food stamp, is succulent and on their whole chickens the skin crisps to perfection, according to the chef.
He thinks it’s so important for our own wellness and our own taste to use chicken raised on healthy grain-fed diets, like Sicín Sásta chickens. Their diet is 70 per cent multigrain, much of which comes from local Irish farmers, with the recipe put together in the Sicín Sásta mill.
He also points out that being busy shouldn’t prevent anyone from being able to enjoy top-quality food. The Sicín Sásta products make that easy, as its Farmers’ Own and green packaged Free-Range options are available to buy in SuperValu, Tesco and a select number of independent retailers. The chicken comes as a full chicken or in fillets, or as diced chicken in pouches, opening up a plethora of dish options, from the traditional roast chicken to dozens of tasty and nutritious one-pot wonders.
Shane is adamant that you can create delicious food on a small budget and suggests sometimes using smaller quantities of higher quality meat in dishes.
The unique, sustainable packaging of Sicín Sásta means it can go straight into the recycling bin after giving it a wash of course, saving on clean-up time. The whole chicken comes in a bag, so can slide directly on to your roasting tray. The fillets sit in a tray made from 80 per cent recycled board with a very handy resealable pouch; so even if you are not feeling as confident as Shane, you can marinate your chicken with your favourite flavours and reseal overnight, making the whole process mess-free and foolproof.
Dolores is only 20 years older than Shane, such a small generational gap creating a friendship as much as a parental dynamic. Dolores says they get on very well together, though maybe sometimes they can be a bit like Tom and Jerry.
She describes the food she was making in the home when her children were growing up as “plain”, but sometimes producing three different meals for three different tastes. It delighted her when Shane took an interest in spicing things up in the kitchen, developing a passion for food from a young age.
All three of her sons have completely different personalities but Shane has swept up the whole family with his enthusiasm for food. The interest has extended to Dolores’s teenage granddaughter who she feels could run a kitchen herself now from the knowledge she has gleaned working alongside Shane in his restaurant kitchen.
She loves that Shane continues to bring everyone together to “break bread”, laugh, chat and catch up together. She is impressed by how much energy and focus he gives to Riggers D8 saying she worries about rising costs in fuel and electricity and how hard it can be for food businesses to survive. She is thrilled, however, that Shane has made his passion his profession. Seeing him engage in what he loves and making it his life’s work gives her great joy.
Chicken and Tarragon Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 Sicín Sásta breasts cut into bite size chunks or 2 x Sicín Sásta diced chicken breast pouches
- 1 small white onion finely diced
- 3 cloves of garlic peeled
- 1 leek finely sliced
- 1 stalk of celery finely diced
- 1 fennel destalked and finely sliced
- 100g of salted butter
- 100g of plain flour
- 15g of fresh tarragon
- 1 tsp of dried parsley
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- 200 ml of good dry white wine
- 1 tbsp of dijon mustard
- 500ml good chicken stock
- Double cream to thicken
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste.
- 1 kg of maris piper potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1 celeriac peeled and cut into chunks
- 100g salted butter
- 100g cream
- White pepper to taste
- Fine salt to taste
Method:
- Cook the potato and celeriac in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until fork soft for about 20 mins.
- Prepare your filling whilst the potatoes are cooking. In a large saucepan, saute the onion, fennel, garlic, leek and celery over a low to medium heat until just softened without too much colour using a little butter and oil. About 10 minutes
- Add the chicken breasts and cook for five minutes
- Add the butter and flour and mix with the veg to a thick slurry cooking out the flour for 5 mins
- Add all the herbs and mix through along with the dijon
- Add the wine to deglaze and loosen everything out and then add the stock and continue stirring over a gentle heat until you have a thick sauce forming
- Cook everything until veggies are completely softened and finish with a glug of cream and make sure to season to taste
- Assemble the pie by filling an 8 to 10 inch oven dish with the chicken sauce
- Allow to cool slightly and mash your potato vigorously with cream and butter and season with the white pepper and salt to taste. Using a ricer will give you glossy smooth mash but if not stir over a gentle heat, beating to a lump free consistency after mashing.
- Smooth or pipe the mash carefully over the pie in your preferred style, seashell style piping is pretty and professional.
- Glaze with some melted butter and bake for 30 minute until golden and bubbling
- Serve with your favourite greens when cooled slightly