Pop into your local Superquinn today and you could meet the people who make some of your favourite artisan food products. The supermarket’s Artisan Festival last October generated sales worth almost €200,000 for the producers who took part, and is being repeated this weekend.
Among those taking part today are The Scullery, Soul Bakery, Carlow Foods, Annaharvey Farm, Straight Sausages and Pandora Bell. The branches involved are in Ballinteer, Knocklyon, Lucan, Swords, Sutton, Blackrock, Blanchardstown, Sundrive, Limerick and Waterford.
Country house farmers’ market
Farmers’ markets are more often located in car parks and side streets than in the elegant surroundings of a country house. But, starting on Easter Sunday, April 4th, the garden village at Tankardstown House in Slane, Co Meath will host a monthly market. The market will run from 10am to 4pm, and the estate’s Brabazon restaurant (pictured above) will be open for brunch, lunch and dinner on the day. See tankardstown.ie
Gourmet Ireland
Ireland is finally working hard at being recognised as a gourmet travel destination. Good Food Ireland’s launch party for Colman Andrews’s new book on Irish food at the Merrion hotel last week showcased just how many superb artisan food products we have, and the charming, passionate people who make them.
So it is heartening to see that A Taste of Rome – a specialist travel company that offers cooking breaks in Italy – has added Ireland to its list of holiday destinations.
The Madden family’s Hilton Park, in Clones, Co Monaghan, will host three-day breaks (€499, no single supplement) combining cooking lessons with Lucy Madden and her son Fred, who trained with Rowley Leigh at Kensington Place in London, with lavish dinners that make good use of the produce grown in the estate’s four-acre walled garden, along with lamb, pork, venison and trout reared on the estate. See atasteofrome.com
It's Divine, darling
St Tola organic goat’s cheese is now available in two new varieties – Divine, a mild, creamy, spreadable cheese, and Original, a stronger-tasting, more punchy version – in 120g tubs. The new products, which will complement the original St Tola log, were developed by Inagh Farmhouse Cheese in Co Clare, and are made with milk from the company’s herd of 220 goats which graze on 65 acres of herb-rich organic pasture.
While still in development, the Divine cheese won best new product at the Listowel Food Fair last September. The cheeses cost €4.50-€4.95 and are now on sale in Superquinn and SuperValu, as well as at selected delis and farmers’ markets. See st-tola.ie
A cooking revolution
THERE’S A QUIET revolution going on in culinary equipment for the domestic kitchen. Just when you thought the Kenwood Chef, a true workhorse, could do no more for you, they’ve added induction heating technology, so you can mix and cook with the same appliance.
The Kenwood Cooking Chef can be programmed to cook at temperatures between 20 and 140 degrees, so you can prove dough or cook a stew, as well as make cakes. Perhaps the cleverest function is the choice of intermittent or constant stirring – so you’ll no longer have to bribe a mini chef to stir the risotto. On sale at Brown Thomas, Dublin and Cork, with a whopping price tag of €1,200.
At a more reasonable price of €130, and with the added bonus of actually saving you money on your energy bill, is the Thermal-Chef eco-friendly cooker. Just launched in Ireland, this gadget uses Japanese thermal technology to slow-cook food, with minimal energy. It looks a bit like a deep fat fryer, but is a far healthier way of cooking. You just add your soup, stew, curry or casserole ingredients to the inner pot, simmer for 10-15 minutes on a hob, then place it inside the bigger container. Cover with the lid and come back to a hot meal in an hour, or up to six hours later. Because there is no power or steam used to complete the cooking process, it’s perfectly safe to leave unattended. Thermal-Chef can be ordered online at thermalchef.com or at tel: 01-443 3250.
Cooking sous vide– or, quite literally, cooking in a vacuum – has been the secret weapon of professional kitchens for some years, and now a US manufacturer has developed a unit suitable for adventurous cooks' domestic use.
The SousVide Supreme is a counter-top gadget, about the same size as a breadmaker, that allows home cooks to achieve moist, flavour-packed food by immersing vacuum-packed portions of meat, fish or vegetables in a water bath kept at a very precise temperature.
Gentle cooking over long periods of time produces exceptionally tender results, with all of the flavour sealed inside. Cuts of meat that benefit from a seared exterior can be finished in a hot pan or oven, or can be seared before going into the water bath.
The SousVide Supreme costs $450 in the US. The European launch price has not yet been released, but European websites, from which the unit can be purchased, will be online by the start of next month.
