I’ve posted the recipe for my homemade pizza below. The the weeks go on, the more adventurous I tend to get with the ingredients. This one, a ‘his and hers’ pizza comes with goats cheese, onion, green peppers, jalapenos, tomato and basil sauce, beetroot, red cabbage, garlic and chilli. I was also looking for an excuse to test out the Canon 5D MK1 I’ve borrowed while I work on replacing my stolen Canon 6D. You can get the step-by-step pizza base recipe here, but here’s a look at how it all comes together. Continue Reading →
Taste of Dublin 2013 got underway on Thursday at the Iveagh Gardens and myself and Mrs. Any Given Food-to-be had a chance to drop in for the evening session yesterday. I got to cook, we both got soaked, almost lost an umbrella, sampled a variety of dishes, picked up some chocolates, coffees, pastries, an awesome vegetarian dish from Jaipur and generally spent three hours walking around the Iveagh Gardens having a good time of this year’s festival.
The rain didn’t really help the flow of things on the evening, but at least we came prepared for it. It certainly made for easy passage around the tracks in the Iveagh Gardens but meant that any tents with shelter room, particularly around the restaurants area, were jammers.
It was also my first time at the event and, weather aside, it made for a really enjoyable evening. Producers and reps on stands were lovely to talk to, the atmosphere was very much “it’s Friday, let’s party” but if we had stayed any longer, we were in danger of spending a fortune in the place and not getting out of Dublin at all. Here’s a look at some of the evening in photo form… Continue Reading →
Taste Of Dublin gets underway this evening from 6pm at the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin for four days of food, restaurants, expert demos, cookalongs, tutorials, tastings and the rest.
I’ll be hitting the evening session tomorrow taking in, amongst other things, the Electrolux Chefs’ Secrets area where you’ve got a chance to cook along with difference chefs across the weekend and get one-on-one advice from the experts.
Some of Ireland’s top chefs including Rachel Allen, Derry Clarke, Clodagh McKenna, Kevin Dundon, Nevin Maguire, Ross Lewis and Catherine Fulvio will be taking a leading role on the Electrolux Taste Theatre, giving visitors the chance to garner top hints and tips for the summer season. Patricipating restaurants this year also include Bon Appetit, The Green Hen, Chop House, Pichet, Jaipur, Aniar, Icehouse, Ely, The Hot Stove and more.
Tickets this year are from €23.50 in advance and €28.50 on the door with sessions lasting four hours each (12pm to 4pm in daytime and 5.30pm to 9.30pm in the evening).
While you can pay for your tickets on the door, don’t forget that Taste doesn’t use cash on site, but instead operates on its own currency called Florins. Florins are required to purchase signature dishes from the restaurants, drinks from bars and products from exhibitors. Florins can be purchased online when booking your tickets or at any Florin Banks spread across the Iveagh Gardens. 1 Euro gets you 1 Florin and the average dish at Taste will set you back 5 Florins, or 5 Euro. Servings are tapas sized – enough for you to try more than a few dishes and for chefs to show off their skills.
Taste of Dublin is located in the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin city centre. Access to the gardens is via Clonmel Street just off Harcourt Street. The gardens are a short walk from both Harcourt Street and St Stephens Green Luas stations.
If you spot me pottering around tomorrow evening with the camera, do say hi!
I’ll openly admit that Lindt chocolate, in particular the Lindor balls, are one of my favourites when I’m heading for a real luxury chocolate. I’ll also be hitting Taste on Friday (with the umbrella in the car, just in case), so if you’re about and spot me on the hunt for chocolate and other goodies, just shout. Continue Reading →
The restaurant was announced winner of the Best Customer Service in Dublin and Best Casual Dining in Dublin before taking the overall Best Casual Dining in Ireland category.
Paul Cadden, owner of Saba, commented
“We are absolutely thrilled to have been chosen as the winner of Best Customer Service and Best Casual Dining, both in Dublin and for all of Ireland, and would like to extend a huge thanks to all of our customers, the Saba team, supporters and friends. Coming on the back of our win at the International Gourmand Cookbook of the Year Award in Paris in February for “Saba: The Cookbook” and more recently the ‘Food & Drink’ category at the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Leinster Awards, this has certainly been a remarkable year.”
Saba has recently been refurbished and Paul and his team are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to check out the new-look premises and all new menus. Check them out online at SabaDublin.com.
The Tannery, Dungarvan, winner of Best Restaurant in Munster and Ireland for 2013, and Best Chef in Munster, Paul Flynn. Original Photo: Babaduck
The finals of the annual Irish Restaurant Awards were held in Dublin last night in the Burlington Hotel. Having gone through the regional finals in various stages earlier in the year, the grand final gives the nod to the best in class in Ireland of restaurants across a wide variety of categories. On the local front (to me anyway) there were wins for Mount Juliet’s The Lady Helen restaurant in as Best Regional Hotel Restaurant in Leinster, topping it all off by winning the national award as well for Best Hotel Restaurant in Ireland.
Ananda’s Suni Gahi has been named Best Chef in Ireland for 2013 while The Tannery in Dungarvan (pictured above), under the watchful eye of Paul Flynn (Best Chef in Munster) has been named as Best Restaurant in Ireland for 2013.
The Whole Lamb and The Whole Of The Fish are new additions to the cookery school (not a nose-to-tail course, but getting better use out of fish or lamb), along with learning to bake the sweetest brioche, deboning chickens, preparing pork and more besides.
The classes and workshops will be hosted by Aniar’s JP McMahon (pictured right, above)
Understanding Food is the first course up of the season, taking enrolled students on a six week learning curve through six basic food elements. Each Monday they will look at the origin and traceability of bread, beef, pork, fish, poultry and vegetables and how best to prepare them. The course, which costs €360, will start on June 10th, and commence again on August 12th and also October 7th.
Aniar will also play host to a range of one-day workshops costing €150, which will focus on specific food groups. The workshop “The Whole Lamb”, to be held on June 9th, will teach students how to cook the nicest cut of lamb, while “The Whole Hog”, held on June 23rd, will teach students how to use pork to prepare delicious meals.
For lovers of baking, “The Whole Loaf” will teach students how to make everything from a sweet brioche to rye bread on Sunday June 30th, while those seeking adventure in the kitchen can also try ”The Whole Hen” on July 21st which will teach students how to debone a chicken and cook it at least 5 different ways.
Students will also be able to perfect their hosting skills with a one-day workshop on how to plan, prepare and cook a four course meal to delight the tastebuds. The course, which will be held on June 2nd and July 7th, will also teach students how to pair food and wine and bake bread.
For more information on all of the above, check out AniarRestaurant.ie or give them a shout to ask about bookings on 091-535947.
Got news about your restaurant that you would like to share? Drop me a line via email to hello@anygivenfood.com.
Vegetarian barbeque goodies. Creative Commons photo via Matt Spurr on Flickr.
The sun is out, the back of National Vegetarian Week is broken and, as far as barbeques go, my real experience is all meat or meat related – chicken, ribs, burgers, bacon, pudding, wings, the whole lot. Sure enough, the odd spud goes in there (love BBQ spuds), but beyond that, I’m at a bit of a loss in terms of what to cook for a vegetarian barbeque.
The dilemma is this: I got a present of a brand new barbeque for the birthday last weekend and it’s still sitting in the kitchen, the empty can of gas to go along with it in the back of the car and all the goodies that came with it are still in their original bags. With the best weekend of the year by far now upon us, it’s coming out this evening to get some cooking going. But, what does one cook?
In scouring the web for a few suggestions, here’s 10 things you could cook for a vegetarian barbeque.
So what do you reckon? For someone who doesn’t barbeque any kind of vegetarian food but is wholly intent on spending the next few days beside the grill, can you suggest anything? Have you any favourite veggie BBQ foods?
It’s day four of National Vegetarian Week and after cheese and garlic snacks, homemade pizza, awesome spicy wedges and a kick ass breakfast at Zuni Kilkenny (see below), I was stumped as to what to cook for dinner tonight. Breakfast was a late one, around 10am or so, and a working breakfast at that and as lunch disappeared across projects this afternoon, I pulled into the car park in SuperValu not knowing what to cook this evening, having promised I’d cook something up by seven.
Whatever made me decide to do a risotto dish is beyond me (I’d never even consider ordering it when eating out) but it turned out to be one of the nicest, simplest of dishes I’ve cooked in a while, so much to the point that Mrs. Any Given Food-to-be reckons it’s the best thing I’ve cooked her, ever.
I’ve never ordered a veggie burger in a restaurant. I’ve never ordered a veggie burger in a takeaway. The only time I can remember buying veggie burgers, per se, was in trying out Dee’s Omega or Spicy Bean burgers on the rare time that they’re in the local supermarket. I’ve still to get the BBQ set up (curse not cooking chicken, steak, ribs and everything else this week) but the thoughts of it put burgers in my mind yesterday anyway, so I opted for a veggie burger.
Now, I may have cheated a little in springing for the store-bought burgers, going for the BirdsEye Vegetable Quarter Pounders.
As mentioned previously, we’ve no freezer in the house, so the only option is to cook all four – no problem; but they’re not much good on their one. So, I grab some fresh white batch rolls from the bakery and a bag of Maris Piper potatoes to top up the few Roosters that are in the press. The result can be seen above.
For the burgers, I lightly grilled the rolls, starting with loads of spicy rocket on the bottom, some Tastefully Yours spicy Apple & Chilli chutney, followed by the vegetable quarter pounder, topped with a half white onion (ringed), some gherkins and little red sauce. But, the kicker is in the spicy lemon and garlic wedges that go with it, fast becoming a favourite of mine and firmly replacing chips in the house. Here’s how to get those started. Continue Reading →
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Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home 
Rachel’s Food for Living 
Neven’s Real Food for Families 
Apron Strings: Recipes from a Family Kitchen 
Rachel’s Irish Family Food: A collection of Rachel’s best-loved family recipes 
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