Photo: produce by Siobhain la Touche.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
ORGANIC MARKET
Photo: produce by Siobhain la Touche.
FRENCH DOUBLE
FRENCH DOUBLE
Wine Alliance has come up with an impressive French double, both by Boutinot . The 2009 red Mas de Vigneron is a Pays de Vaucluse while the white is Pays Cote de Gascogne.
Vaucluse as you probably know is a part of Provence and Mas means farmhouse in the local lingo, usually one with no windows on the north so the dreaded Mistral can't bite through. By the way, I’m looking to rent one (well part of one anyhow!) there next summer....so if you have any contacts let me know!
This Pays de Vaucluse may not be AOC. You wouldn't be expecting much? Mistake. Especially where an area has no appellation controlee vineyards.
This summer, I spotted the local Pays de Domme where I was staying in Sarlat and put it in my trolley only realising back at the Gîte that at about €8.50 it was the dearest wine I bought that day but this local beauty was also the best wine I bought that day.
Thanks to our host, I has also drank a few bottles of another local wine, Pays de Perigord, and that too was excellent and the same can be said of this exclusive import from Vaucluse which consists of Grenache Noir (70%) and Syrah (30%).
Colour is a burnt red with berries on the nose. It is soft and fruity and spicy as you’d expect with good length on the finish. Medium bodied and well balanced it is a great taste and great value at €8.99. ABV is 13% and this very drinkable red is recommended to go with grilled meats, casseroles, pizzas and mature hard cheeses. I drank it on its own and it was just delicious.
The white, Pays
Crafty Confections in Midleton
Crafty Confections is run by “sugar artist” Kelly Cope. "I love the challenge of designing each cake, creating something unique, that will truly be a centrepiece and quite simply, make people say Wow! It is very important to me that the cakes not only look good, but that they also taste amazing. I often get told by people, they can't believe they actually taste even better than they look!"
The hype can
Rose Cottage Fruit Farm in Mountrath
ROSE COTTAGE FRUIT FARM
The tasty products of the Rose Cottage Fruit Farm may be found at quite a few local markets including Mahon Point and Midleton. Cherries and Blueberries are included in a wide variety and they also do drinks such as Apple Juice, also mixes such as Apple and Raspberry, and they have a full range of jams.
Enjoyed a bottle of their Apple Juice recently and can agree it is worth the three euro for the 75cl.
The tasty products of the Rose Cottage Fruit Farm may be found at quite a few local markets including Mahon Point and Midleton. Cherries and Blueberries are included in a wide variety and they also do drinks such as Apple Juice, also mixes such as Apple and Raspberry, and they have a full range of jams.
Enjoyed a bottle of their Apple Juice recently and can agree it is worth the three euro for the 75cl.
SOWAN’S ORGANIC
Sowan’s Organic, listed in the Bridgestone Guide, make bake mixes so that you can make real home baked food, real fast. Mixes currently available include: super spelt, traditional brown, pancake mix, gluten-free real bread and quite a few others including the Wheat and Rye mix that we bought at their stall in the Recent Midleton food festival.
www.sowansorganic.ie
353 (0)86 805115
Carrigeen, Stradbally, Co Laois.
Check out my review of Sowan's Organic - I am cork - on Qype
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Tastefully Yours
TASTEFULLY YOURS
From Waterford come new and unusual flavours in the Chutneys, Relishes and Pickles produced by Dunhill’s Tastefully Yours. I tried out a few recently (at the Midleton Food festival) and they certainly tickled the taste buds. I bought two chutneys: the Cheese Board Chutney along with the Beetroot and Orange Chutney.
Their hand crafted products are the perfect accompaniment to pasta dishes, salads, hot and cold meats and are high quality ingredients for use in your daily cooking.
TOP FOUR - IN A ZONE OF THEIR OWN
SETÚBAL’S STELLAR QUARTET
Portuguese prize-winners
Get your hands on these Iberian newbies, a quartet of quality Portuguese wines from the Setúbal peninsula at an astounding price, brought to these shores, for the first time, by the talent spotters of Wine Alliance.
Let me fill you in.
MIDLETON FOOD FESTIVAL 11.09.10
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| Midleton Food Festival 11.09.10 Click on collage to enlarge |
MIDLETON: WALK DOWN MAIN STREET
Sun was out as we hit Midleton on Saturday for the annual Food Festival. First stop was at the Agri Aware Mobile Farm where young and old alike were enjoying seeing and touching the mainly young animals.
Picked up some relishes from Tastefully Yours and from Ballymaloe; then Hegarty’s Cheddar and Chicken Liver Pate (with smoked bacon and port) from On the Pigs Back, followed by a slice of pizza from Volcano Pizzas before enjoying a well timed and welcome cup of tea courtesy of the Radisson in Little Island.
An almond and currant cake was next into the bag, purchased at the Soul Bakery stand. Dee’s Wholefood mobile stand was a busy spot as was the local Stock Pot. Next purchase was at Sowan's followed by a couple of cup cakes from Crafty Confectionery and a soup tasting at Cully and Sully’s. Local firm BiteSize was also on the list and then a huge contrast between a Chocolate Fountain and the Ballycotton Sea-food stand (featuring a shark) before ending the walk at The Pantry (see below).
Couldn’t go home though without calling to the Farmers Market, also doing great business. It is celebrating ten years on the go and most retailers were allowing ten per cent off. Enjoyed meeting producer Deirdre Hilliard who makes so many good things in Cobh’s Just Foodhttp://www.justfood.ie/ . I helped myself to one of her brilliant organic mueslis but forgot to get some of the excellent soups. Still, they are widely available.
Also called to Arun, the showman supreme of Green Saffron where we got our (prepared) main course for the evening, Chicken Korma. What a stall! Busy, busy. But he always has time for the customer.
Needed a loaf of bread for lunch so last stop was Arbutus Bread where we picked up a Rye loaf for €3.00, normally €3.30. A few slices of that, plus the newly purchased cheddar and relish, made for a quick and tasty lunch when, all bags full, we finally reached home.
Could Midleton, by any chance, make this a monthly affair? Particularly in summertime.
THE PANTRY
Met some friendly people at The Pantry Stall during the weekend’s Midleton Food Festival. The Pantry serves breakfast and lunch, open from 9.00 until 5.30pm. They are also proud of their foodstore where they stock all kinds of goodies from jams to homemade meals.
I spotted a particular apple juice on the stand but was looking for a larger size and a young lady obligingly ran across to the actual restaurant to check for me. As I say, they were friendly and I really appreciated that extra effort. As it turned out, they didn't have the size but I bought two of the smaller ones and left with a very good impression.
021 4633335
Friday, September 10, 2010
WELL DONE UMMERA
WEST CORK SMOKE-HOUSE WINS GOLD IN LONDON
Less than 12 months back, in Cork's Clarion Hotel, we tasted Anthony Creswel's Smoked Silver Hill Duck Breast. It was a winner with us and apparently with everyone else that sampled it that day. Encouraged by the reaction, by its own experience in other smoked products, Ummera confidently strode into the marketplace and a few days back the duck was named the "Best Irish Speciality Award" winner in the Great Taste Awards in London.
To read more, click here
THE WEEKEND CATCH
THE WEEKEND CATCH
Restaurant & Bar Scene in Cork
via Twitter & Facebook
West Cork Hotel A Taste of West Cork Food Festival 2010 begins on Saturday - have a look at the programme; there is something for all the family.2010 Programme for A Taste Of West Cork food festival - Skibbereen, West Cork, Ireland www.atasteofwestcork.com
Thursday, September 9, 2010
BARRY'S TEA WINNER
Congratulations to Belinda Daly of Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, the winner of our recent Barry's Tea Competition. We asked
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
THE CLARE VALLEY COMES TO CORK
AN EVENING IN THE CLARE VALLEY
The Clare Valley is a very small part of Australia: it takes just 25 minutes to drive from Clare in the north to Auburn in the south. But the valley, really an inter-weaving series of rolling hills and valleys from north to south, punches well above its size in terms of the quality of wine produced there, as we found out last evening at a very entertaining few hours in Blackrock Castle where our guide to the area was none other than Tim Adams.
Tim and his wife Pam set up there in 1987, starting with an input of just 10 tonnes, now up to a current crush of 850. Wine styles are traditional and Tim has strong opinions on wine-making.
He puts the Clare Valley success – there are very few big producers here – down to the unique combination of the climate, the altitude, the soil (in part, rich in red iron oxide) and the weather where a cooling ocean breeze drifts in so regularly you can do without your watch and still know the time. The area is very strong in Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz and we had examples of all to taste.
And each and every bottle had a
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