The former boy band member, Donal Skehan, made the wise choice to switch from crooning to cooking in his early 20s.
A decade ago, young Donal Skehan was plying his trade as a pop star, showcasing his dance moves and – “the most mortifying aspect of it” – wearing matching white training outfits to the gym with his Streetwize bandmates.
“I can hold a note, but I look at Take That and think, ‘I was probably the Howard Donald or Jason Orange of the band’. I was good to fill numbers,” says the writer and presenter.
His pop career might have been short-lived, but music’s loss was the food world’s gain.
He had already started writing a food blog, chronicling the dishes he prepared when he first moved out of home, and by the age of 23 had landed a book deal and TV presenting gig.
Since then, the Dublin-born foodie’s landed a regular guest presenting gig on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, taken up hosting and judging duties on Junior MasterChef, published six cookbooks, and seen his cookery career take off in the US.
Now 30, his latest cookbook is Eat
Live Go Fresh Food Fast. Here’s two recipes from the book to make at home…
ORANGE, FETA, CORIANDER AND BARLEY SALAD
SERVES 4
250g pearl barley
1 pomegranate
3-4 large oranges
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
200g feta cheese, crumbled into chunks
Large handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
Large handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
For the dressing:
6tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Zest and juice of one lemon
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
2tbsp pomegranate molasses
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place the pearl barley in a pan and cover with water. Place over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 50 minutes, or until the grains are tender and all the cooking liquid has been absorbed. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the dressing together in a jam jar with a tight-fitting lid and give it a good shake to combine.
Cut the pomegranate in half and, holding one half cut-side down over a bowl, bash with the back of a wooden spoon to release the seeds. Repeat with the other half.
Use a sharp knife to cut away the peel and white pith from the oranges. Cut the oranges into segments, holding them over a large bowl to catch the juices. Drop the segments into the bowl.
Add the red onion, crumbled feta, pomegranate seeds, cooked pearl barley and herbs. Pour over the dressing and toss gently to combine. Serve at room temperature.
Chicken katsu curry
SERVES 4
4 chicken breasts (about 150g each)
150ml sunflower oil
1 large free-range egg, beaten
1tbsp soy sauce
100g panko breadcrumbs (available in good supermarkets)
25g flour, seasoned
300g sticky rice, cooked, to serve
6 spring onions, thinly sliced, to serve
FOR THE CURRY SAUCE
1tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, very finely chopped
1tbsp curry powder
1tsp ground turmeric
tsp chilli powder
1tbsp tomato puree
500ml chicken stock
1tsp cornflour
2tsp rice wine vinegar
1tbsp honey
1tbsp soy sauce
First, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the onion and fry for six minutes before stirring in the garlic and ginger; fry for one to two minutes. Sprinkle in the curry powder, turmeric, chilli powder and tomato puree and stir.
2Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a steady simmer. Cook for eight minutes and then mix two tablespoons of the hot liquid with the cornflour in a bowl until it is smooth. Pour this back into the pan along with the rice wine vinegar, honey and soy sauce. Cook for a further three minutes until the sauce has thickened and then blitz until smooth with a hand-held stick blender.
3Put the chicken breasts on a chopping board. Place a piece of parchment paper on top and, using a rolling pin, bash the breasts to flatten them to a thickness of about 2-3cm.
4Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Whisk together the egg and soy sauce in a deep, flat bowl, and put the breadcrumbs and seasoned flour in separate bowls. Remove the parchment paper and dip each breast first in the seasoned flour, then in the egg mixture and finally the panko breadcrumbs.
5Fry the crumbed chicken in the oil for five to six minutes until golden brown and cooked all the way through. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper.
6Slice the chicken and serve with the cooked sticky rice, spring onions and a generous amount of curry sauce.
Quinoa chocolate cake with avocado frosting
SERVES 8
150g cooked quinoa
4 large free-range eggs
50ml milk
150g butter, cubed
1tsp vanilla extract
200g coconut sugar (available in good supermarkets)
100g cocoa powder
1tsp baking powder
tsp bicarbonate of soda
FOR THE CHOCOLATE AVOCADO FROSTING
2 ripe avocados, stoned and flesh scooped out
75g cocoa powder
1tsp espresso powder
75g maple syrup
1tsp vanilla extract
tsp sea salt
1Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and grease and line a 20cm spring-form cake tin with parchment paper.
2Place the quinoa, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla extract in a food processor and blitz until smooth.
Add the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and blitz again to combine.
3Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
4Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin and setting on a wire rack to cool completely.
5For the frosting, place the avocados, cocoa powder, espresso powder, maple syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt in a food processor and blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Use a spatula to spread over the top of the cooled cake and dig in.
Eat. Live. Go. – Good Food Fast by Donal Skehan is published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £25. Available now