MASTERCLASS IN HOWTH COOKERY SCHOOL
Executive chef Cormac Rowe was part of the team that earned the Lady Helen restaurant at Mount Juliet in Co Kilkenny its first Michelin star in 2013, when he was 29. He has since moved on to other projects and is doing a two-hour demonstration followed by a hands-on masterclass at the renamed Howth Castle Cookery School in Co Dublin on November 4th (7-9pm, €50). Up to 50 tickets will be available to see Rowe prepare scallops, venison and panna cotta. On November 14th, 16 people will recreate the menu in the school at a class (1-6pm, €150) that includes dinner with wine. For bookings see howthcastlecookeryschool or tel 01-8396182. Howth Castle Estate has appointed Susan Bell executive chef with responsibility for the cookery school, Deerpark Golf Club’s club house menu and a catering service. Bell worked with Marco Pierre White, Raymond Blanc and Kevin Thornton before becoming head pastry chef at The Butler’s Pantry.
BLENDED LEARNING
Coffee cupping is the new wine tasting and the excellent Bear Market Coffee in Blackrock, Co Dublin, run by architects-turned-baristas Stephen Deasy and Ruth Hussey, is offering 90-minute informal classes at which at least five coffees – single origins and blends – are tasted and evaluated, and their regions and processing methods discussed. Classes are limited to six participants and take place on Friday evenings at 7pm. The €35 fee includes a €10 Bear Market gift card.
The next sessions are on October 30th and November 13th. The couple has also launched coffee tutorials online at bearmarket.ie/gallery, where you can learn how to make great coffee at home using a range of methods.
SWEET (POTATO) DREAMS
Samuel Dennigan (30) brings the benefit of 10 years working IN his family’s business, Sam Dennigan & Co in Dublin’s Smithfield market, to his new venture Handy Foods, which has just launched its first product here.
Strong Roots sweet potato chips are a low-fat, low-salt, vitamin-rich alternative to traditional oven chips. With their rice flour coating, the frozen chips crisp up really well in the oven. They have just arrived in SuperValu shops in Leinster and EuroSpar/ Spar in the North, and sell for ¤3.99 a bag.
Handy Foods source and process the sweet potatoes in North Carolina, but they are working on developing a sweet potato that can be grown commercially here, with the aim of transferring production here. “We are growing some in north Co Dublin . . . due to be harvested for the first time at the end of this month. We planted seven varieties to see can we make it work under Irish conditions and have done lots of work with a leading plant breeder and expert on the sweet potato’s development in Europe,” Dennigan says.
