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Applications Reopen For Sky’s My Kitchen Rules

Written By on April 22, 2013 in News

My Kitchen Rules on Sky Living

APPLICATIONS have reopened for Sky’s My Kitchen Rules which is due to start filming shortly and will air on Sky Living.

Best-selling cook book author and chef Lorraine Pascale (See ‘Baking Made Easy’ here on Amazon)
teams up with Michelin-starred Jason Atherton of London’s Maze restaurant (among other ventures) for a ten part series which pits rival couples against each other to find Britain and Ireland’s most exceptional home cooks. The show itself is based around six couples with a real flair for cooking – be they husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, friends, siblings or neighbours, all competing against each other over the course of ten weeks.

If you’re interested in getting involved and fancy taking on other couples in Ireland and the UK then you can do the following

  • Email mykitchenrules@boundlessproductions.tv
  • Call +44 207 861 8248
  • Email MKRapplications@boundlessproductions.tv for an application form

If you’re interested, you’d want to get moving. Deadline for applications is midnight this coming Sunday 28 April. Check the Sky Living site for more.

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So Sligo Food Festival Returns For May Bank Holiday

Written By on April 22, 2013 in Events & Festivals

So Sligo Chefs

In going through my list of events at the weekend, I noticed one glaring admission. The festival of “the father land”, or now father-and-mother-land, So Sligo, returns to Sligo this coming May bank holiday weekend, putting the festival just over a week away from kicking off. But for the Rhythm & Roots festival and other usual Bank Holiday antics in Kilkenny, I’d be there with bells on.

This year, the festival runs from 1-6 May with the World Irish Stew Championships taking place in St. Angela’s College on 1-2 May.

This years festival brings a lot of Sligo’s literary, heritage and cultural strengths to the foreground with events this year also including a look at Sligo’s Community Orchard, jazz music, exploring Ben Bulben, valley walks and more.

On the food front, the six day programme includes the World Irish Stew Championships (now with amateur and professional categories), Irish craft beer and food tasting events, the Sligo food trail, cookery demos, a wine and dine evening and more besides. The Sligo Food trail runs right through the weekend with participating restaurants offering up tapas-style speciality dishes at a fiver a pop, with everything from slow braised belly of Irish pork to kangaroo skewers on garlic pesto champ on the trail menu. (And no, I don’t think you’ll find too many kangaroos roaming around the foot of Ben Bulben). There’s coffee demos in the Italian Quarter, plenty of cookery competitions and more to enjoy in Sligo across the May bank holiday weekend.

There’s plenty for the kids to get involved in too…

If you are thinking on heading to Sligo for the weekend and you fancy the outdoors, try and take in some of the annual South Sligo Walking Festival (up the road from the home place) which takes you through the Ox Mountain region with a selection of guided walks on each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The meeting place is Joe Dan’s pub on the Tubbercurry to Ballina Road, before you get to Lough Talt (if coming from Tubbercurry side). To find out more on the food festival, pop on over to SoSligo.com or find So Sligo Food Festival on Facebook.

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All-Ireland Chowder Cook-Off Beckons This Weekend

Written By on April 18, 2013 in Events & Festivals

All-Ireland Chowder Cook-Off

This Sunday in Acton’s Hotel in Kinsale will see Ireland’s top chowder chef crowned as part of the 2013 All-Ireland Chowder Cook-Off. The Cook-Off itself brings together 32 chefs, fishermen and some commercial chowder producers together to wear their county colours, represent their own county and bid for the title of Ireland’s best chowder chef.

Chowder dishes are only something I’ve recently warmed too (and if memory serves me right, Mag Kirwan of Goatsbridge Trout in Kilkenny brought a cracking chowder dish to FoodCamp in Kilkenny last year) but if you’re a hardcore chowder fan then Kinsale is the place to be this coming weekend.

Last year’s winners – The West Bar in Westport (Co. Mayo) take off this summer to represent Ireland at the Newport, Rhode Island Great Chowder Cook-Off. That same prize is on offer for this year’s winner along with a few other goodies.

The Cook-Off is part of a wider weekend Family Festival running in Kinsale on Saturday and Sunday which sees the town turned into a huge open air market with plenty of activities and food stalls from local businesses and restaurants.

Entry to the Cook-Off itself costs €10 with your ticket getting you samples of all chowders cooked on the Sunday (presuming that’s going to be 32 different chowder dishes to sample). Seen as you’re getting to sample so many, your ticket also makes you a judge for the event with everyone getting a voting card on the way in to score their favourite chowders over the course of two hours. You can grab tickets on the door on the day or in advance from Acton’s Hotel directly.

All the information you’ll need you’ll also find on Kinsale.ie.

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Slow Roots: Mark Grandmother’s Day with Slow Food Ireland

Written By on April 17, 2013 in Events & Festivals

A cookery demonstration with Darina Allen and Pamela Black at Grandmothers' Day 2012

A cookery demonstration with Darina Allen and Pamela Black at Grandmothers’ Day 2012

GRANDMOTHERS’ DAY 2013 takes place this coming weekend, the two-day mini festival returning to Sandbrook House in Ballon, Co. Carlow this Saturday and Sunday. It’s a weekend of celebration by Slow Food Ireland who, over the course of the two days will look at our Irish food heritage and encourage families to get together in remembering lost skills and pass on “inherited wisdom, and celebrate good, clear fair food”.

Saturday sees Slow Roots, a food symposium taking place. The focus here is on education and in exploring how our Irish Food Heritage can create employment for this generation. There’s a string of speakers and environmentalists on hand to share their insights and knowledge on how our food culture, growers and producers can enrich rural communities and create jobs.

Members of Slow Food Ireland will be cooking lunch on the Saturday as a result of the Slow Food Challenge, with all elements of the meal locally sourced, foraged and produced with some of the finest seasonal ingredients. In what was a great element of the Waterford Harvest Food Festival last year, Saturday wraps up with a Fulacht Fiadh (break out the history books here). If you’ve never seen one in action or always wondered how our Irish ancestors cooked thousands of years ago, here’s your chance.

Get the Saturday Schedule Here (PDF)

Sunday then is Grandmothers’ Day itself, kicking off at 11am for a full celebration of Irish food heritage. There’s a day-long farmers market, workshops for the family, food tastings, cookery demos and more. Saturday’s symposium event costs €30 and admission on the Sunday is €10 and includes free entry to all children with one adult, free car parking; free entry to all talks and the market. Please note that some demonstrations will have a small cover charge – sign up on the day on a first come, first served basis.

Get the Sunday Schedule Here (PDF)
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Brian O’Driscoll tries Thai cooking at Saba

Written By on April 17, 2013 in Restaurants

WHETHER we see him or not in a green jersey again remains to be seen (in my books anyway) but with one eye on the Lions tour this year, Brian O’Driscoll traded rugby greens for chef whites recently in a video produced by HSBC at Saba in Dublin. Take a look as BOD tries his hand at spring rolls with sous-chef Yo before doling out tips on how to get a pass off. While he might yet become a dab hand at Thai and Vietnamese cooking, it turns out the number 13 prefers the plainer spaghetti and chicken before a big game. Take a look at the video above or check out the Saba blog for more behind the scenes clips.

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Entries Open For 2013 Blas na hEireann – National Irish Food Awards.

Written By on April 16, 2013 in News

Caoimhe Smyth, Detox Retox, Smithfield, Dublin 7, at the Blas na hEireann- Irish Food Awards at the Dingle Food Festival in Dingle, Co. Kerry. Picture: MacMonagle, Killarney. .

Caoimhe Smyth, Detox Retox, Smithfield, Dublin 7, at the Blas na hEireann- Irish Food Awards at the Dingle Food Festival in Dingle, Co. Kerry. Picture: MacMonagle, Killarney. Via Flickr.

Entries are now open for this year’s Blas na hEireann, the National Irish Food Awards. Each year, the awards search for and celebrate the very best of food and drink produced in Ireland. This year, organisers have introduced a new Producer Development Programme and there’s a new Chef’s Choice award.

Entries this year are €35 per product if you register before 31 May. The ultimate deadline for submission this year is 15 July with submissions between 31 May and 15 July costing €45 per entry.

The first round of judging takes place in August with shortlisted producers notified in September. The final round of judging then takes place on 3 October with the award ceremony proper taking place on 5 October.

Some of the winners from last year include Una’s Pies Chicken Leek and Cheese (Grand Champion), Gallagher’s Bakery’s Plain Soda Bread (Most innovative product), Atlantis Seafood’s Surf n Turf-smoked scallops and black pudding (Seafood Innovation) – and that’s not to mention the 50 category winners with awards at gold, silver and bronze level.

Find out more and get registered today by visiting IrishFoodAwards.com.

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West Waterford Festival of Food This Week

Written By on April 8, 2013 in Events & Festivals

Waterford Festival of Food

THIS THURSDAY sees the return of the West Waterford Festival of Food in Dungarvan where it’s all on offer with everything from talks to trails, baking to barbecues, film screenings, picnics (hopefully this weekend’s weather holds out for next weekend), cookery classes, demos, wine tastings and more.

Download the full programme (PDF)

The Tannery play host to a €60-a-head nose-to-tail nice of dining, recreating some of the elements of Fergus Henderson’s FergusStock. One of the big events of the weekend will be the Lunch With The Chefs in Lismore Castle on Sunday featuring some of the regions and country’s finest cheps with Garrett Byrne, Paul Flynn, Ross lewis, Martin Shanahan, Michael Quinn, Martijn Kajuiter, Richard Corrigan, Rachel Allen and Fergus & Margot Henderson all in conversation with lunch by Eunice Power after (it’s a pretty extensive list).

Between Thursday and Sunday then you’ve got talks on food writing with John McKenna, Raw Food with Jess Kean and Natasha Czopor and a whole host of tastings, demos and music to beat the band.

If you fancy some sea air and seeing what Dungarvan has to offer, check out the festival website here or give the box office a shout on 086 0262017 for any of the ticketed events (there are plenty of free ones too). If you’re looking for other food events and festivals this summer, check the events list here. Submit yours by emailing hello@anygivenfood.com.

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Rhubarb and Candied Ginger Creme Brûlée

Written By on April 4, 2013 in Recipes

Rhubarb & Candied Ginger Creme Brulee

Artisan restaurant in Galway have recently launched their spring menu and have passed along some recipes for sharing. It took me a while to warm to them (no pun intended) but I’m a big fan of creme brûlée, and having been brought up on the stuff an even bigger fan of rhubarb, so here’s a Rhubarb and Candied Ginger Creme Brûlée to try at home.

Ingredients

  • Rhubarb and Candied Ginger Compote:
  • 1 bunch Rhubarb
  • 50g sliced Ginger
  • 50g Brown Sugar

Creme Brûlée

  • 400ml Cream
  • 40g sliced Candied Ginger
  • 6 Egg Yolks
  • 85g Caster Sugar

Method

  1. To Make the Rhubarb and Candied Ginger Compote, mix together the Rhubarb, sliced Ginger and Brown Sugar until soft
  2. To make the Creme Brûlée whisk the Egg Yolks and Caster Sugar until white. Bring Cream and Ginger to the boil. Add a small ladle of Cream to the Egg mix and whisk in, then add all of the Egg mix and stir on low heat for 3-4mins.
  3. Place two spoons of the Rhubarb and Candied Ginger Compote in to the Brûlée moulds and pour mix on top. Bake in the oven at 125°c for approx. 20mins.
  4. When serving cover Brûlée with Brown Sugar and blowtorch until golden brown.

If you’re Galway-bound, you’ll find Artisan on Quay Street, above Tigh Neachtain. Check them out online at ArtisanGalway.com.

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First It Was Suspended Coffee, Now It’s Suspended Lunches

Written By on April 1, 2013 in News

Suspended Coffee

FIRST it was suspended coffees, now it’s suspended lunches.

What is a suspended coffee I hear you ask? The notion of it originates, the idea being that if you go to buy a coffee, you can buy another one and ‘suspend’ it for someone who can’t afford their own.

Consider it the Irish equivalent of “putting a pint in the barrel” for someone in your local.

Someone could then come into the coffee shop, ask if there was a suspended coffee or tea available and leave with a hot drink, presumably paid for by a stranger. There’s no guarantee that there would be a drink available but if there is, it’s up for grabs. Others have taken it a step further in that if any suspended drinks aren’t claimed by the end of the month, the monetary value of the drinks will be donated to a local charity.

Already the likes of Idaho cafe in Cork, Cafe Deli in Athlone, The Tea Rooms at Duckett’s Grove in Carlow, Brioche Cafe, Caffe Italiano and Soulful Bistro (all in Dublin) getting behind the Suspended Coffee movement.

Closer to home (for me) is Go Burritos in Kilkenny. The Newpark-based Mexican takeaway opens daily from midday serving up a variety of burritos, pizza and other hot dishes. The slow cooked beef burrito I had there on Saturday was by far and away one of the nicest takeaway dishes I’ve had in a long time.

The team at Go Burritos are taking it one step further from teas and coffees and are doing suspended lunches up to the value of €10 – anything on their menu with €2 pretty much the cheapest item on the menu. And again, the monetary value of any lunches that haven’t been claimed by the end of the month each month will go to a local charity.

It’s an interesting one to call. To those who can’t afford it, a hot drink or a hot meal can make a world of difference. Would you feel better giving your spare change over to a shop to ‘suspend’ a drink or meal for someone as opposed to throwing your change to someone on a street, not knowing exactly where it ends up? I’m sure as more businesses get behind the idea the debate will rage but personally, I love the sound of it and if I was in the tea or coffee business myself I’d be next in line to offer it up.

There’s a Twitter account and Facebook page tracking those offering suspended coffees in Ireland.

Is there anyone in your area offering the same? Have you suspended a coffee or a lunch for someone already? What do you make of it?

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Edward Hayden to launch Food For Friends

Written By on March 30, 2013 in Events & Festivals

Edward Hayden's Food For Friends

In just under a month, local chef Edward Hayden (he of TV3, KCLR96FM and a myriad of other places) will launch his third book, Food For Friends, at the Springhill Court Hotel in Kilkenny.

I was in Springhill for Edward’s last book launch, the hotel absolutely jam packed for the reveal of his second book, Food To Love, in May 2011. I had Edward in studio as a guest a few months back to find out how the third book was progressing and on April 26 coming, it will go public with The O’Brien Press.

The book will be launched at 8pm by Ireland’s Queen of Home Baking, Celebrity Chef from Ireland AM, Catherine Leyden.
MC on the evening is KCLR96FM’s Sue Nunn From and music will be provided on the evening by the Wonderful ‘Two Of A Kind’. No doubt there will be a truckload of copies of the book available to buy on the night and if the last launch is anything to go by, I wouldn’t expect the copies to stick around long.

The evening is free to attend and gets underway at 8pm. Check the Facebook event for details.

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