I’m a bit conflicted when it comes to Sin É on Dublin’s north quays. Like many of Dublin’s trendier hang-outs it has a dark, shabby kind of air, which is probably not so noticeable when in its natural state of being packed to the rafters with sweaty youngsters under the nonchalant gaze of the DJ. I’m guessing here, though, as I’ve never been in after dark.  Continue reading »

Attn: All Spuds
c/o Central Vegetable Patch, Back Garden
Sorry spuds. Mea culpa. I thought I was doing you a favour but, in fact, I was giving you too much of a good thing. Nitrogen, I mean. An essential nutrient, yes, but too much of the stuff and you were all about the above-ground show of foliage, with nary a thought for the tuberage down below. No, you were not to blame for the low yields and I, for my part, will know better next time.
It’s true.  Continue reading »

Like any true Irishman, I love me some fishcakes. So much so that I’ve nearly an arsenal of fishcake recipes! In my days, crab in Ireland was pretty much served as a ’salad’ mixed with mayo and Mary Rose Sauce or in a casserole. My first experience with a crab cake was on my first trip stateside, in Martha’s Vineyard and I’ve been hooked ever since.  Continue reading »

Every Friday at Chew on That, we test your foodie vocabulary by quizzing you on a new foodie word and supply delicious recipes to match!

This week’s word is: granita (noun). Please choose the most appropriate definition for a granita. (No cheating!)
a.) A decorative edible shard made of baked granulated sugar.
b.) A light, fluffy mousse tart that originated in France.
c.) A sort of hodge podge side dish comprised of mixed grains such as quinoa, barley, and rice.  Continue reading »

For those of you with a penchant for ice cream (and I’m assuming, given this site, that’s most of you!) you might wish to check out the current issue of Desserts Magazine.  Continue reading »

Organic farmers are still reeling from the twin cuts in REPS and the Organic Grant Aid scheme.

According to Kate Carmody, Chairperson of IOFGA, “many farmers had been finishing up their current REPS plans and were waiting to join REPS 4 and convert to organic farming. We currently have many members who are finalising their applications for grant aid and IOFGA are very disappointed with the short notice given to announce that the scheme was closing”.  Continue reading »

The invitation went something like this:
Dear Spud,
Hennessy would like you to come and sample some cognac and cocktails. Thursday, 3.30pm. You free?
Yours etc.
Notwithstanding the fact that I am not much of a brandy drinker, I recognise free drink when I see it the need to go forth and sample such things for the greater good of my readers.  Continue reading »

This week, I returned from my holidays in Spain. Despite the rain, I’m actually quite glad to be back. Much as I love Spanish food, I missed having the amount of choice we get here. If I want Moroccan, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Turkish, or whatever, it’s reasonably easy to find a restaurant, or to get…  Continue reading »

The third part of The Wine Geese radio documentary is on Lyric FM tomorrow morning at 8.30am. In this show, Tomas Clancy meets the far-seeing Francis Mahoney, devotee of Pinot Noir and the man who pioneered it in California 35 years ago. You can read more about Mahoney here and the programme will be online after broadcast on the Lyric FM Features page.  Continue reading »

When I was small, picking blackcurrants was a big job. My Nana had several large, old bushes in the orchard under her apple trees. Every year, little fingers were pressed into service to strip the bushes of their black bounty so that she could make, or supervise the making, of the pots and pots of blackcurrant jam that were to see the household through the winter.  Continue reading »

Our house white has been lapping up the limelight once again, this time from the Irish Examiner’s Blake Creedon and Frank O’Brien of Robert Francis Wine. Cuvee Jean-Paul (click here to view) is one of the very the best wines available in Ireland at €8 – we, and our customers have known this for quite a while – but now the critics have woken up to our best kept secret and it’s time for everyone else to sit up and take notice.  Continue reading »

Yesterday’s Irish Independent ran a taste-test on concentrated orange juices, and Superquinn’s Euroshopper option came out top of their list.
Juice is one of those things I spend more money than I should on. I know that they are much, much cheaper, but concentrated orange or apple juice just don’t taste the same. Concentrated orange juice,…  Continue reading »

At the Bloom in the Park festival in June, I met the lovely Silke Cropp. A charming, smiley, redhead from somewhere in Northern Europe (sorry Silke!), she produces the delicious Corleggy Cheese. The cows cheese was perfect, and the goats cheese managed to be even more perfect. Silke is offering one-day Cheese Making classes in…  Continue reading »

Up at the crack of dawn, walking 25-30km a day, over mountains, across valleys. And what do we do after eight days on the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain? Get really drunk and stuff our faces full of bread in San Sebastian and Bilbao, two major Basque cities.
Our visit to Bilbao was brief: just…  Continue reading »

Thinking about it, you’d probably never guess from the recipes on my blog that I’m a huge fan of Indian food. I’ve been experimenting with soups recently, trying to find a way of working the great flavours of Indian food into a soup. I’ve consulted lots of websites and recipe books and none of them came up to the mark. After a couple of attempts, I’ve abandoned the idea of sambhar; I just can’t seem to get good results from red lentils.  Continue reading »

Cuvee Jean-Paul Sec VDP 2008
Ugni Blanc and Colombard may not be grape varietals that you are to familiar with. They are work horse grapes that often are used to produce bland, high volume, boring whites. Italian White Wine lovers Ugni Blanc is the french name for Trebbanio. This grape is often used in cognac production.  Continue reading »

Was meeting with Caz, Dorothy and Jan last Friday in Annie’s Gastropub in Sunday’s Well. Haven’t been in that pub in ages (at least 5 years ago when it was still an old men’s pub) and was looking forward to see what they have done to the pub. Before I go into the interior, I have to admit that I am a bit old-fashioned when it comes to pubs.  Continue reading »

I have to give credit where credit is due. This was totally the Missus’ idea! She found this recipe on Daily Unadventures in Cooking and was dying to give it a go. I’m beginning to think she’s addicted to hummus actually–it’s her favourite afternoon snack–so you can imagine her excitement. Just so happens we had all the ingredients (or close enough) in stock so I suppose it was meant to be. Here’s our version, which got two big thumbs up from our house.  Continue reading »

I was out n about the other day getting some things in the supermarket when my missus called and asked me to grab some chips for her. I’m not a big chip guy unless I find something a bit different than the usual brands. I’m always on the lookout for something new and improved and of course it has to fit into the healthy category. As I wandered down the chip aisle where, btw, there seems to be endless amounts of chips available, I was hoping to something that would catch my eye.  Continue reading »

M&S’s very popular regular Dinner for Two offer is back on this weekend.  The menu includes:
Mains:
The Grill Chilli, Cumin & Coriander Chicken
Lemon Sole with Lemon & Pepper Sauce
Cook! Chicken Breasts with Mozzarella & Pesto
Roast Whole Chicken
The Grill Burger & Sausage Selection
The Perfect Roast Chicken
Cook! Alaska Wild Salmon with a Parsley Lemon Crust
Butternut Squash Lasagne (V)
Gastropub…  Continue reading »