Olive's Room, the lovely Dublin City Council tearoom at the Red Stables in St Anne's Park in Raheny, is named after Lady Olive Ardilaun, the one-time owner, with her husband Lord Ardilaun (Arthur Edward Guinness), of St Anne's Estate.
It is run by Angela Ruttledge and her sister and brother-in-law Michelle and Liam Moloughney. Jenn Kellett is head chef. Making good use of its location in the park, with its allotment garden nearby, the tearoom is hosting a series of evening suppers at which Kellett and Moloughney (who is also chef patron at Moloughney's in Clontarf) will cook whatever they've managed to grow or forage themselves. There will also be a series of talks on health- and food-related topics.
“The menus and the evenings reflect our pursuit of wellbeing, by which we mean finding the balance between looking after ourselves by eating healthily and getting out in the fresh air, and also enjoying ourselves and the odd treat,” says Ruttledge.
“Holy Mackerel it’s Holy Thursday” (April 13th) is the theme for the next fork supper, followed by a Midsummer Supper on June 22nd and a Bite Me Supper on October 26th (all start at 7.30pm, €27 per person).
The new food pyramid will be discussed by dietician Linda Hogan on March 22nd (€20), followed by a Food for Heart Health dinner – with matching wines chosen by Richard Verling – on May 4th (€48, five courses and wines).
For details see olivessroom.ie
Taking stock
I can’t bear to throw away a chicken carcass without making stock, but there are times, too, when I’d like to make a risotto without roasting a bird or resorting to a cube or spoonful of bouillon.
For those occasions, I will be laying in a stock (ha!) of Sadie's Kitchen Bone Broth, a crystal-clear broth made with free range Irish chicken meat and bones, simmered for a minimum of 14 hours with fresh vegetables and organic apple cider vinegar. It comes in handy 350ml pouches (€4.50 rrp) and is available from selected SuperValu, Dunnes and Avoca stores, as well as independents.
As well as being used whenever a splash of stock is required, the clean flavour of this product makes it good enough to warm in the microwave and drink as it is.
Go wild for the weekend
Food and hospitality experts and authors John and Sally McKenna are hosting a gourmet food and wine weekend at Renvyle House Hotel in Connemara on March 3rd -5th.
The seafood and seaweed bounty to be found along the Wild Atlantic Way will be the focus of the weekend, with a variety of fish filleting, preparation and cooking demonstrations, as well as a seafood banquet prepared by chef Tim O’Sullivan, and a welcome reception (both accompanied by wines from J&C Kenny). The cost is €225pp, including two nights’ bed and breakfast.
On the money
On The Pulse, Georgina Fuggle's new book (Kyle Books, £16.99) takes pulses out of the dark recesses of the larder and into the limelight. While writing the book, Fuggle, a chef, says "chickpeas replaced my chicken, and pinto beans my pasta".
She shakes off the rather fusty reputation that pulses have and introduces a whole rainbow of gorgeous beans, peas and lentils. The chapters are arranged by colour – black, green, yellow and red – rather than by pulse.
In some surprising moves, butterbeans make it into a sweet loaf with lemon and blueberry; there’s an apple and chickpea cake too, and pecans team up with borlotti beans in pretty little fairy cakes with a brown sugar icing. “As with all cakes made with beans, the cakes have a moreish density to them,” Fuggle says.
