FOOD FILE:There are two major Christmas food events taking place in Dublin over the last weekend in November: Taste of Christmas at the National Convention Centre, and 'Food&Wine' magazine's Christmas Show in the Main Hall at the RDS.
Shopping for seasonal foods and gourmet gifts will be the focus of both productions. More than 120 trade stands are signed up for the National Convention Centre, and at the RDS, there will be an artisan village and a global food village, both selling speciality foods.
High-tech cookery demonstrations will be a feature of both events, with chefs Derry Clarke (L'Ecrivain), Dylan McGrath (Rustic Stone) and Sunil Ghai (Ananda) signed up for the Food&Wineevent and Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck) appearing in the 2,000-seat auditorium at Taste of Christmas, where he will give three demonstrations on the Saturday. The double act of UK chef Gino D'Acampo and Kevin Dundon will be a continuous fixture in the Bord Bia-sponsored demonstration theatre, and other chefs booked for Taste of Christmas are Conrad Gallagher (Salon des Saveurs), Oliver Dunne (Bon Appétit), Catherine Fulvio (Ballyknockan House) and food writer Donal Skehan.
Ticket prices start at €19.50 for Taste of Christmas and the Food&Wineshow costs €20 to attend.
The following week you can combine food and craft shopping at the National Craft Design Fair at the RDS, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday, December 1st–5th. Those with a sweet tooth will find chocolates made by producers from all over Ireland and can watch chocolate-making demonstrations at A Chocolate Christmas in Temple Bar, Dublin 2 on December 3rd-5th.
For the first time, there will be a Christmas market in Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin 2, from December 3rd to 24th, and the 70 stalls will include some selling food and edible presents. Farmers’ markets around the country will also be stocking seasonal specialities in the coming weeks, and a county-by-county list of markets is at bordbia.ie.
SELECTED MARKETS
Limerick Georgian Quarter Christmas Market, No 1 Hotel and Pery Square, November 19th-21st
Galway Christmas Market, Eyre Square, Galway, November 19th-December 19th
Belfast Christmas Market, St George’s Market, Belfast, November 20th-December 19th
Food Wine Magazine Christmas Show,
November 26th-28th, RDS Main Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, foodandwineshow.ie
Taste of Christmas, November 26th-28th, National Convention Centre, Spencer Dock, Dublin 1, tasteofchristmas.ie
Docklands Christmas Market, IFSC, Dublin 1, December 1st-23rd
National Crafts Design Fair, December 1st-5th,
RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, nationalcraftsfair.ie
A Chocolate Christmas, December 3rd-5th, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, templebar.ie
Fitzwilliam Square Christmas Market, Dublin 2, December 3rd-24th
Rathgar Christmas Fair, Dublin 6, December 10th, 7pm
Kristin Jensen (dinnerdujour.org) and Caroline Hennessy (bibliocook.com) have set up an Irish Food Bloggers' Association (irishfoodbloggers.com) and are inviting anyone who contributes to the blogosphere on matters involving food to join up. There will be regular meet-ups, a directory of food bloggers, and links to sites offering advice on blogging techniques, food styling and photography.
Start the season in style
Is November 27th too early for turkey and mulled wine? Tankardstown House in Slane, Co Meath is staging a Victorian Christmas, complete with six-course dinner served in a dining room lit only by candles, a fireside reading of A Christmas Carol, roasted chestnut and mistletoe sellers in period costume, and bowls of "Smoking Bishop" punch, made with red wine, sugar and spices. Sounds like a jolly evening, and you could make it a Thanksgiving outing if you prefer.
See tankardstown.ie
Out of the kitchen and into the hamper
Chef William O’Callaghan of Longueville House in Mallow, Co Cork spends much of this month in his kitchen making preserves, pestos, spice blends, dips, spiced nuts, vinaigrettes and liqueurs – so we don’t have to.
His larder cupboard supplies are all made with produce from his farm and gardens, right down to the house-smoked organic salmon (500g, €32). Best sellers include garden blackcurrant liqueur (€20), which makes a wonderful kir royale, Irish apple brandy (€35), sorrel pesto (€6.50) and apple, soya, ginger and garlic dip (€6).
The range will be on sale at Longueville’s annual gift shopping evening on Thursday, November 25th, along with crafts, fashions, jewellery and shoes, from retailers who set up shop in the hotel’s conservatory, ground floor and some of the bedrooms. Tickets cost €35, including sparkling wine, mulled wine and canapes, and there are special overnight rates too. A fun outing for a group of friends. See longuevillehouse.ie
Ed Cooney, The Merrion Hotel’s inventive chef, also produces a handsomely packaged assortment of festive condiments and treats. See merrionhotel.com
Record sales of Jamie’s latest
Competent cooks may baulk at the prescriptive, and rather bossy nature of Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Jamie's 30-Minute Meals, but there is no denying that he has spawned a new generation of cooks who delight in his fuss-free, hands-on approach, and they're voting with their hard earned pounds and euro. Latest sales figures for 30-Minute Mealsreveal that an amazing 15,264 copies were purchased in just one week (October 23rd-30th) in the UK, bringing total sales to the end of October to 78,608. To put that in context, total sales (up to October 23rd) of Nigella Lawson's latest, Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home, were less than Oliver's weekly total, at 14,128.
