260 days of salad
David Bez
described himself as “a designer and food lover raised in Milan” – the raised-in-Milan bit is important because it goes some way to explain the importance of food in his life. Which is why he goes to the trouble of making a different salad every day of his working life. His new book, Salad Love, grew out of his blog, Salad Pride, and is a collection of 260 recipes, one for each Monday to Friday working day of the year, made at his desk and photographed by himself just before he picked up his fork. The recipes are seasonally arranged and there’s great inspiration here as we face that “back-to-school” lunchbox dilemma. Salad Love, by David Bez, is published by Quadrille, £16.99. For 10 great autumn/winter salads from the book, see
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All go in West Cork
The Taste of West Cork food festival, which opens next Friday and runs until September 14th, has spread even further afield this year to take in events from Clonakilty to Dunmanway, Bantry and Skibbereen, and lots of places in between. An opening night "Taste of West Cork" seven-course dinner at Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa next Friday (€65 including a drinks reception and pre-dinner talk on seaweed), is one of the highlights of a varied programme (see it at atasteofwestcork.com). The festival booking office is at Field's Old Bakery, Townshend Street, Skibbereen. If your West Cork visit takes you to Castletownbere, look out for The Roan Carrig, a new seafood restaurant at Berehaven Lodge. Head chef John Byrne, pictured above with restaurant proprietors Donal and Joan Kelly, was previously in charge of the kitchen at the Brandon Hotel in Tralee.
Piggy to market
Galway restaurateur and chef JP McMahon is cooking a six-course nose-to-tail dinner at the Honest2Goodness market cafe in Glasnevin, Dublin on Thursday, September 25th. Crackling, cheek, belly, neck and ear will feature, the latter in an intriguing bacon and pig's ear pannacotta with camomile and sweetcorn. The €75 ticket price includes a wine pairing for each course, with wines from Spain, Greece, Austria, France and Italy. To book, see honest2goodness.ie
Seashore harvest
Prannie Rhatigan's Irish Seaweed Kitchen, published in 2009, was the forerunner of a renewed interest in this coastal resource, and now the author has published a handy laminated booklet to accompany it. There are colour photographs and descriptions of well-known, and less well-known seaweeds, information on when and where to pick seaweed, and how to do so in a sustainable manner. If you are still in any doubt as to what you're picking, there is also a QR code on each page which, when scanned by a smart phone, links to a video of Rhatigan describing the seaweed and how to harvest it. It is available from irishseaweedkitchen.ie, €8.45.
mcdigby@irishtimes.com
