A Special Night for a Special Cause

Announcing details of this years Threshold Valentine's Night Dinner were (l to r) Edel Conlon Threshold, Chef Brendan Cashman and Rebecca Harte Farmgate Cafe

A Special Night for a Special Cause

Threshold's Valentine's night dinner is a special night, on a special day, in a special place, brought to you by a wonderfully passionate culinary team... Oh and if that's not enough, it's in aid of a very important Charity.

The event is held each year in the Farmgate Cafe located in the historical English Market in Cork City. The evening captures all the atmosphere the English Market has to offer (remember that atmosphere includes the need for warm clothes!) and when coupled with the wonderful team at the Farmgate Cafe the evening becomes truly memorable. For those who attend they get to experience the Market at night time, something that does not happens very often and is a rare treat.

This year will be even more exciting, the Farmgate Cafe have invited multi award winning chef and restaurateur Brendan Cashman to create the menu in collaboration with the team in the Farmgate kitchen. Brendan is best known for the wonderful food he created in Augustine’s Restaurant and will be creating a menu especially for the night. We feel that an already unique evening will be made even more special with this exciting collaboration.

The dinner is in aid of local charity Threshold, the national housing charity which works to prevent homelessness and campaigns for housing as a right. (www.threshold.ie)

The evening is supported by Cork City Council and of course the very generous support and hard work from the Farmgate Cafe team. We are very grateful to Irish Distillers who have supported the event for a number of years, as have a number of food producers in the English Market itself and others selected from Cork's rich array of food producers.

Couples, groups and singles celebrate the night together without the "soft focus haze" that is typically associated with Valentine's night in a unique and special place.

Call Threshold for tickets and more information: (021) 427 88 48

Venue: The English Market (entrance via Market Parade on Patrick's Street)

Time: 7pm

Date: Valentine's Night Thursday 14th February

Tickets: €60 (Tickets are limited so make sure you get your tickets early!)

Chocolate and Cheese Mix from St Tola

Spring In St Tola Air

Spring is in the air at St Tola Goats farm as they see their in-house winter experiments take exciting shape.

The County Clare farm has teamed up with Benoit Lorge, the renowned chocolate master in Kenmare, to create some truly beautiful Cheeserts ....Fresh St Tola Goats Cheese, dipped in the finest dark chocolate and beautifully finished with hazelnuts. They make an elegant and unusual finish to a romantic meal or a great talking point for an Easter Lunch.

Grainne Casey, Sales and Marketing at St Tola told me. “We are aware that the teaming of soft goats’ cheese and chocolate is a somewhat controversial mix.” She needn’t have worried.  Just tasted a sample myself and am delighted with it.

I love St Tola in any case and the outstanding feature of the cheese is its creaminess and that still stands out but now in addition you’ve got this smashing chocolate and the whole experience is one of a delicious balance between the sweetness of the chocolate and the sharpness of the cheese. Next time, especially if romance is in the air, I might get myself a wine to go with the Cheesert, thinking of something like Beaumes de Venise or a Tokaji but open to suggestions.

And speaking of romance, St Tola are going to make a plain heart shaped crottin especially for St Valentine’s Day. The Cheeserts will be launched next week at the Food Forum in Galway and will be available shortly from all good delis nationwide including Fallon and Byrne and Sheridans Cheesemongers.

Further details from Grainne at sales@st-tola.ie


See my October visit to St Tola here

Buy local, fresh and fair!

Sometimes a mission. Sometimes messing about.

Stumbling out of the early morning and into a confusion of stalls and marvellous food. That was me at Mahon Point Farmers Market  last Thursday, sans list, sans plan.

Lucky then that I stumbled on a new product by Iain Flynn of Flynn’s Kitchen.  Spotted a colourful jar in the corner where he normally displays his soups. The label: Chorizo and Beans. “Great, I’ll have a pair of those,” I said to the modest maestro Iain.


Put the glasses on when I came home and realised it wasn't soup at all, but another four letter word: stew! A challenge, but no panic. Paired it up with a bunch of Sally Bee’s meatballs and, bingo, we had a fantastic jackpot of lively tastes and flavours that, matched with a superb wine from La Rioja Alta, the Vino Arana Reserva 2004, went down brilliantly.

Like a good wine, Mahon is well balanced. May I present Barrie Tyner, a talkative and very engaging fellow. Can’t ever leave his little stall without feeling guilty as he hands out generous samples of fantastic chicken liver pâtés, a second shoved into your hand before you have delivered the first to your mouth.

And the pâtés represent the cooperation that exists and is growing among local producers – the livers come from Tom Clancy (Ballycotton Poultry)  who also has a stall in Mahon. Sometimes their rich and delicious "smoothiness" enhanced by a dash (Barrie’s dash could well be twice that of others) of cognac, sometimes by a more modest caramelised onion, the livers are transformed into something wonderful.

Perfect when simply served on Arbutus baguette as Barrie does (Arbutus are at the next stall). This time at home, I had something special, a Mango relish with a Creole touch, made in the Vendee and bought last summer on the drive home from the Basque country. Here in a cold wet January evening in Cork, the summer relish and the winter pate, not to mention some organic leaves from Derek of Greenfield Farm (also at Mahon Market), came together in a delicious dish for all seasons.

I know there are many excellent local relishes available at the markets that would make a match with the pâtés. But you are allowed to reach out, occasionally! Lots of thing could be better here but thankfully there are no food police.

By all means try the good stuff from abroad but above all take pride in the local ways, in our heritage. Buy local, fresh and fair, and make the local economy stronger. No big deal really. No violence involved, just a savoury and sweet revolution. It starts with me. And you.

Anti-Valentine’s Supper Club at Fenn's Quay!

Stupid Cupid! Rebel against Valentine’s at Fenn’s Quay!

Cian O'Sullivan from Kerry Pike and Chloe Kerins from Lockdown Models. Picture: Miki Barlok

The creative team at No.5 Fenn’s Quay Restaurant (Cork) are leading a tongue in cheek rebellion against all things ‘lovey dovey’ and romantically cliché by hosting their first ever Anti-Valentine’s Supper Club. The Fenn’s Quay Anti-Valentine’s event takes place at 6pm on Wednesday 13th February 2012.  The only rule is: No loved-up couples allowed!

The restaurant which is conveniently located just off Washington Street, adjacent to the Courthouse, will serve up a luxury 5-course gourmet meal for groups, singletons, friends, guys and girls nights out or anyone who wants to embrace the single life. The evening promises an escape from cheesy love songs, wilting flowers and cringe-worthy cards. The only passion being served up is that of a gastronomic kind as the menu has been tailor made by well known Chef Kate Lawlor, tying in all courses with the Anti-Valentine’s theme and including dishes with quirky titles such as 50 Shades of Earl Grey, Sticks and Stones, Unrequited Beef, As Cold as Ice Sorbet and Bittersweet dessert.

Having served Cork’s food lovers for over four years, Fenn’s Quay is excited to accommodate the backlash against St. Valentine. Commenting on the upcoming event Kate Lawlor, Chef Proprietor at Fenn’s Quay says, “We are excited to offer our high-quality service while creating for the perfect escape from the stresses and strains of Valentine’s, which is a day perceived by some as excluding anyone who isn’t ‘coupled up’, it is also a great occasion to celebrate friendship and of course, love of good food!”.  Kate prides herself on using local ingredients and suppliers, combined with her keen eye for detail and the restaurant’s warm, inviting atmosphere. No. 5 Fenn’s Quay will also be the perfect venue to raise a toast to the fallen Cupid with something dark, indulgent and fizzy from the Anti-Valentine’s cocktail menu.

On the night there will be a charity raffle in aid of the Mercy University Hospital Kid’s Fund, with some amazing prizes to be won. Proceeds from the raffle will go towards funding the Paediatric Oncology Outreach Nurse Service which provides support to children and teenagers with outreach service that cares for children and teenagers with oncology related conditions. Because the 5 course menu is so affordably priced at just €30 it is hoped that people will dig deep to support the charity raffle in aid of this fantastic cause.

Stick a pin in Cupid, regale your friends with some of those hilarious disaster date stories, or sing along to some anti-love songs. So ‘all the single ladies’ and lads, who know that ‘Love Stinks’ and want to let loose, book a table and rebel against the romantic schmaltz.
For more information or to make a booking call 021-427 9527, email fennquay@gmail.com or visit www.fennsquay.net

Check the menu

Anti-Valentine’s Menu at No. 5 Fenn’s Quay, Sheare’s Street, Cork.

Starter-50 Shades of Earl Grey
Earl Grey Tea Smoked Salmon with pickled cucumber and radish salad.

Entrée- Sticks and Stones
Crispy Salsify and olive with a lemon aioli.

Main -Unrequited Beef
Chargrilled rump steak with wilted spinach and carrot puree.

Palate Cleanser-As Cold as Ice
Refreshing Stonewell cider sorbet.

Dessert-Bittersweet
Steamed orange pudding with bitter chocolate ice cream & rosemary custard.

Tea & Coffee

Len’s Cereals, Mahon and Temple Bar

Len’s Cereals, Mahon and Temple Bar

 If you like muesli, pulses, seeds, nuts, spices, rice, dried fruits, then Len’s Cereals is the place to go to. You’ll find him in Mahon Point Farmers Market every Thursday and in Dublin’s Temple Bar Market on Saturday. The venture is run by Corkman Len O’Donovan and his Spanish wife Maria Minguella.

Seeds

Dried fruits

I started going there first for his granola mix to which I add a scoop or two from his dried fruits, eg papaya, mango etc. The selection is huge, his stall packed with good things. Len says that “health is always a good seller” and at present Goji berries are very popular. He also has quite a selection of lentils (our choice at present are the Puy) and our latest purchase was a bag of linseed.

Rice

Lentils

He finds that tourists are big customers, even if it is seasonal. The continental visitors, especially the Italians, the Spanish and the Danes are very much into their seeds and nuts, much more likely to buy a bag to eat on the go rather than indulge in sweet things or fast food.

Burns Night in West Cork

Burns Night Goes from Strength to Strength in West Cork

Not even Flooding can keep people away from The West Cork Burns Supper!

Building on the success of the first West Cork Burns Supper in 2012, this year’s event on 25 January attracted even more devotees of the poet, his native land and, of course, good food and drink.

Hosted by the West Cork Hotel and West Cork Food, this year’s Burns Night attracted over 120 guests and was, once again, sold out weeks before the night.  Not even the terrible weather and flooding on the roads could put people off!  As Neil Grant, General Manager of the West Cork Hotel observed, “I was saying thanks to one of our guests as I knew they had travelled a distance to get here in terrible weather.  Their response was to say that they would have taken any detour required and would make it here ‘no matter what’!  It was lovely to hear!”

read more

Irish Beef Takes Centre Stage at ‘Culinary Olympics’

Irish Beef Takes Centre Stage at ‘Culinary Olympics’
Bocuse d’Or 2013, Lyon

Monday, 28th January 2013:  Irish beef has been selected as the key meat ingredient for this year’s Bocuse d’Or, the international culinary competition widely regarded as the ‘Olympics of the Culinary World’. Held every two years, the competition will take place in Lyon, France on Tuesday (29th) and Wednesday (30th) as part of SIRHA, the leading European foodservice trade show, which attracts over 170,000 food buyers and almost 5,000 international chefs. The initiative is designed to further underpin and enhance the image of Irish beef, exports of which last year were valued at €1.9 billion and are set to grow by up to 10 per cent this year.
read more 

Fab Fish at Rising Tide

Fab Fish at Rising Tide

 Friday last was a bad one weather-wise, so a restaurant where one could park outside the door had its attraction. The Rising Tide sprang to mind and, once the house painters (us) had signed off, we were on our way to the harbour side village of Glounthaune.

In fairness, the Rising Tide has much more going for it than its so convenient parking spot. Bet you I’m not the only one to enjoy co-owner Sandra Murphy’s hearty laugh!

Okay. Stop right there and get serious. Sandra had posted a few tweets detailing her fish specials. Hooked me, for one. No regrets at all.

 Baked Monkfish, Pan-fried Sea bass ad Pan-fried King Scallops were the three, also detailed on the Specials Board. Settled on the Baked Monkfish with sauté sweet potato and green bean salsa (€26.50). Haven’t sweet potatoes come from nowhere to centre stage in Irish restaurants in recent years? The dish was very well presented and accompanied by a colourful arrangement of perfectly cooked vegetables, including chunky carrots and herby garlic potatoes.

The overall dish was perfect, quite a combination with a serious eruption of flavours and terrific textures eg the spot-on mange tout. Completely delicious, totally delectable. And well worth the out of city trip on a night that tempted one to put the feet up to the fire, well close to it.

We were hardly six feet in the door when greeted warmly. Soon we were guided to a table in the comfortable restaurant area, the bar already (before 7.00pm) buzzing with its eating space close to full. Less than an hour later, the downstairs restaurant section was also close to being packed (comfortably so). Not bad for such a bad night!

 Service was chatty, informative yet efficient and never slack. Very impressed when the lights at our section were turned on from the bar as we studied the menu and then dimmed somewhat when that pleasurable task was completed.

Started off with a surprisingly colourful selection of breads and dips. My “official” starter was a well executed Mussels Marinara (steamed in a white wine and cream sauce), that creamy sauce requiring a spoon so as to avoid wasting even a smidgeon of its deliciousness.

The other starter was Breaded Ardsallagh Goat Cheese with a Melon Salad and served with a Cumberland sauce, just the correct mix of sharpness and sweetness. The promise of good things to come.

Amuse Bouche

Amuse Bouche

“She gave him a conspiratorial smile; the waitress brought menus in golden script.
‘Here one takes the choucroute garnie,’ she said.
Sauerkraut? Oh no, not with the way his stomach felt. On the surface, Zannis showed a certain insouciant confidence, but every muscle in his body was strung tight. He was ready to shoot his way out of the restaurant but not at all prepared for sauerkraut.”
Alan Furst in his WW11 novel, Spies of the Balkans.

Skirt and Kidney Chow

Skirt and Kidney Chow

Thanks to Pat Whelan (left) for allowing us to publish this post of his from the Good Food Blog on http://www.jameswhelanbutchers.com

It has also appeared in his local paper, the Clonmel Nationalist. We thought it deserved further airing and hope you enjoy it. Certainly, we here agree with him!

If there are positives to be taken from the current financial climate then for butchers it has to be the renewed interest in the cheaper and less regarded cuts of meat. I’m quite thrilled by this because in our more affluent years we gradually lost out on so much when it came to taste and flavour as we turned our noses up at some of the cheaper cuts of meat. I am also conscious of the environmental impact we made when we disregarded so much of an animal that was perfectly good for human consumption, purely on the basis of our arrogance and perceived sophistication which really boiled down to nothing less than ignorance.

While many of us may not want to be reminded of it, our heritage was built on eating an animal nose to tail and acknowledging and fully embracing its ultimate sacrifice so that we could be nourished and made strong. It would also have to be recognised that when it came to offal and the tougher cuts of meat, these were often the only things left behind for the ordinary Irish once the rest of the meat had been shipped off. This was particularly the case when we were under British rule. The best meat was often butchered here and sent to Britain making the eating of offal and off cuts very popular in port towns and cities. Here in the south, Cork and Waterford have long traditions of this as it was through these ports that many animals and meat passed through. The elderly of these cities will be very familiar with dishes such as crubeens (pigs’ trotters), tripe, drisheen, liver and skirt and kidney stew.

So what are skirt and kidney? While it definitely sounds like it could be a show that my children might watch on The Cartoon Network, they are part of the pig. Skirts are thin strips of meat found on the inside of the ribs and backbone. Skirts are very tender because they are found near the pig’s diaphragm and this is a muscle the pig tends not to use too much. Kidneys, as the name suggest, are just that. When skirt and kidney are stewed gently together the result is delicious and oozing with flavour. There are many traditional recipes from the very simple that use just pepper, water and potatoes to the more elaborate that include an abundance of herbs, soup mix and vegetables and finally thickened with a little corn flour. 

Recently I happened to catch an episode of Saturday Kitchen on BBC. Saturday mornings are usually not a good time for watching TV in my house but on this rare occasion I happened across a marvellous recipe by Atul Kochhar who was a guest on the show. He introduced a wonderful traditional spicy lamb stew from South Africa. The interesting part of this recipe is that it was originally created as food for the field workers. Because of this it was served (literally) in bread dishes. Loafs of bread were cut in half, the soft white part largely removed and the empty loaf shell was then filled with the lamb stew for the worker to take back to the field. As he ate the stew he would tear off part of the ‘dish’ and eat it at the same time. How very inventive; no washing up and no worrying about what to do with the plates when lunch was over. The recipe was called Bunny Chow. I made it as suggested with the lamb along with a few necessary tweaks and it was great, but I didn’t bother with the bread bowl and just served it with rice. However it did occur to me that this would be a great way to serve a Skirt and Kidney Stew. Traditionally it was a dish that was served with bread anyway, so this was just a new twist on the old; and so my new dish was born; Skirt and Kidney Chow. What is really lovely about serving it this way is that by the time you get to the end the loaf has soaked up all the lovely juices and so the dish is tasty and warming to the last bite. (Of course when I served the stew in the hollowed out loaf I did put the loaf dish on an actual plate as it made more sense. We are, after all, in Clonmel and not on the African plains!) I suppose the even better news for everyone is that Skirt and Kidney stew is probably one of the most economical dishes you can make. Indeed it was featured on an episode of the RTE radio series, The Frugal Household – need I say anymore.

Depending on where you buy your skirts and kidneys you may need to do a little trimming. Make sure all the membrane is removed and all the ‘plumbing’ is removed from the kidneys. Any good butcher should be able to do this for you. Everything should be cut to about 1” pieces. There are many varying recipes available but personally I recommend that once on the heat this should be simmered gently for 1 to 1½ hours to bring out the full flavour.

Once the skirt and kidney stew is cooked it really is up to you how to serve it. The hollowed out bread is a novelty, but not a necessity. If you haven’t used potatoes in the actual stew itself then you could serve it with creamy mash or just slices of fresh buttered bread, either of which would work really well. Below is the recipe I used but as you will see it is one that can be played around with very easily. I’m on a mission to at least get people to try these old fashioned cuts. I love them for the flavour but if the driving factor for you is value then it’s a double win.

This post was written by me, Pat Whelan, owner of James Whelan Butchers and a passionate advocate of local artisan food. My family have been producing quality Irish Angus beef for generations using a traditional dry aging process. This tradition is one that I continue to practice at our abattoir on our family farm in Garrentemple, Clonmel. These posts aim to impart some of the wisdom to readers and help them get the best out of the meat they eat! Our meat is available online here! I welcome your feedback to Pat@jwb.ie

Mushrooms light up Mahon Market

Mushrooms light up Mahon Market

Lucy and Mark of Ballyhoura Mushrooms brought a colourful crop to Mahon Point Farmers Market today. The Rose and Gold Oysters (originally from South East Asia) certainly caught the eye. But so too did the Pom Poms and even the less colourful Chesnut. No stopping these two, always coming up with surprises. Ballyhoura also have stalls in Midleton and Douglas (both Saturday markets).

Pom Poms on top.
Then a mix of Rose and Gold (Lemon) Oysters.
Chesnut mushrooms are bottom left.
At the bottom right, you have the front and back
views of the Rose oyster mushroom.

Food and Drink Spotting

Food and Drink Spotting

Buying a Pizza? Then why not buy a local one. I found this in Dunne's Stores. It is made in Bandon and is delicious, moist with a tasty bite. Padraigin's frozen pizzas are available in local shops in the Cork area.


Padraigin's Gourmet Pizza comes from a family owned busniness in the West Cork town, set up and run by local resident Patricia Crowley. The restaurant is located on St. Patricks Quay overlooking the Bridewell river. It has been operating for twenty years and has recently been expanded to a two storey restaurant. 

Bush Tucker Trials in Cork?!
The Woolshed Baa & Grill are bringing the famous Bush Tucker Trials to Cork as they celebrate Australia Day this Saturday 26th January! The trials will bring a taste of the Australian jungle to the Rebel county as on the night those brave enough to take part in a bid to win some amazing prizes will be served up meal to remember including Crickets, Worms, Scorpions, Ants, eyeballs plus many more ( no horse meat!!!). Along with the Bush Tucker trials the celebrations will include an array of traditional Australian activities and an Aussie style party that will take you down under for the night!

The Celebrations kick off at 12noon with an Aussie BBQ and they the celebrations this year look to set to top last year’s crazy event when they had a large swimming pool in the bar!!!  There will loads of activities to take part in throughout the day such as a rock paper scissors tourney, beer pong, wet t-shirt competitions and a 1st ever Bush Tucker Trial in Cork that will definitely challenge the toughest of you out there!!! The Party is set to go on all day and night as the DJ kicks in from 8pm with a late bar giving you the opportunity to experience a taste or Australia right here in cork!

The Woolshed have over €1000 euro worth of travel vouchers to giveaway to make the night even more exciting.


Burgundy 2011 En Primeur
Burgundy had another excellent vintage in 2011 and prices have remained remarkably stable considering the ever-growing worldwide demand. This won't last unfortunately as the 2012 vintage was a disaster in terms of yields - in some cases 70% down! The Hospices de Beaune auction prices for 2012 were 55% up on 2012 - a clear sign of things to come... Burgundy lovers should buy as much as they can.

Stuart Smith of FVYD: “Our En Primeur offering comes from some of the best small growers and Domaines in the heartland of Burgundy. Amongst them Sauzet in Puligny, Michelot in Meursault and Bize in Santenay. The generic Bourgogne wines from these producers are particularly good value as the grapes come from vineyards next door to the greater Grand Crus.” Read more here

Slow cooked and scrumptious
   
Let your slow cooker do the work for you - from soups and curries to stews and more, it truly does do it all!

New slow cooker recipes via All Recipes:
French onion soup
Bean and sausage stew
Smokey bourbon ribs
Chickpea and quinoa stew
Lamb korma
All Slow cooker recipes

Shorts
Flemings Restaurant ‏@flemingsrest
COMPETITION TIME** Win Romantic Dinner for 2 on Valentines, 6 course tasting menu w/bottle of bubbly Enter Here: http://ow.ly/gZ3D6

A brief history of cider in Ireland http://www.ciderireland.com/a-brief-history/

Funny restaurant signs
http://www.buzzfeed.com/arielknutson/funny-restaurant-signs

Woodside Free Range Pigs

Woodside Free Range Pigs

Bubbling Up Nicely

Taste of the Week in this house came from Woodside Farm. Actually, the Conroy’s at Woodside could provide a taste of the week every week, even if they confined it to their Free Range Pigs, pedigree Saddleback and pedigree Gloucester Old Spot pigs.

I have tried quite a bit of the range: Shoulder of Pork, Pork Loin, Pork Belly, Leg of Pork, Pork Chops, Pork Escalopes, Pork Steak, Spare Ribs, Minced Pork, Pork Sausages, Gluten Free Sausages, Cumberland Sausages, Liver, Kidneys, Caul Fat, and Pigs Tail.

That is just the pork. Here is the bacon selection: Collar Bacon, Loin of Bacon, Streaky Bacon, Ham Fillet, Dry Cure Back & Streaky Rashers, Dry Cure Gammon Steak, Lardons, Bacon Ribs, Trotters, Pigs Cheek.

Last Thursday in Mahon Point Farmers Market, I got a piece of Dried Cured Ham from Martin. He is in Mahon every Thursday and in Douglas every Saturday while Noreen is on duty in Midleton every Saturday.

We went pretty traditional with the bacon. Got lots of vegetables in Mahon but had no cabbage when Sunday came around. Up then to the local Supervalu and picked up an excellent head of Savoy, a terrific combination with the very flavoursome meat.

And all polished off with no worries about what was in the meat. Martin: “We cure our own bacon and make all our own sausages. We don't use any preservatives or stabilisers; because of this our sausages have a five day shelf life. We also make Pork and Apple Burgers which contain just Pork and Apple, these are also Gluten Free. We only sell meat from our pigs and don't buy in any meat and pass it off as our own. When you buy our products you can be sure you are getting a Truly Free Range Product.”

In recent months, I’ve been getting granola along with dried fruits (e.g., papaya, mango...) from Len’s Cereals, also in Mahon. But he has lots more, including Puy Lentils. Got a bag of those last Thursday. But what to cook with them?

Had been thinking of some lamp chops but instead decided to go with butchers sausages. So up then to the local Coolmore Meats in Montenotte. I found out that they don’t do their own sausages but the good news is that they stock O’Flynn’s Gourmet sausages.  No hesitation, bought a bunch and between them, the lentils and some sun dried tomatoes, we had quite a tasty plateful.

Mark’s Cheese in Mahon carries a range of Irish and European products but had no Irish sheep cheese for me last week. And indeed won’t have it from his supplier for another couple of months! So I settled for a wedge of the Spanish Manchego.

While in the Basque country last summer,  I came across the local sheeps cheese regularly in the restaurants and it was invariably served with jam (black cherry). Iain Flynn (Flynn’s Kitchen)  includes jams among his award winning products at the market and I bought a pot of his excellent Mixed Berry (livened up with black pepper and Kirsch) and that went down every well with the Manchego.

As you can see, the Manchego and the lentils were about the only non Irish ingredients in that bout of shopping but at least I bought them locally and had a lot of fun doing do. The more you go to the markets and indeed to your local shop and butcher, the more interaction you’ll have as they always have time for a chat or even a suggestion as to how to make the best of your purchase. Buy local – why not hit Mahon tomorrow? – and enjoy the craic.