Today I did my first ever live cooking demonstration at the Totally Tipperary event in Cloughjordan. We were asked to show a dish that showcased some of the local producers taking part. I cooked my chicken stuffed with black pudding, using chicken breasts from James Whelan butchers, black pudding from Inch House, streaky bacon from Crowe’s Farm and apples and apple juice from The Apple Farm.

You too can watch my very nervous performance in the video below.  Continue reading »

totallytipp on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free.  Continue reading »

This Week’s Guest Chef  is John McIntyre.
Chef at The Olde Castle Bar & Restaurant, Donegal Town

Born in Dublin, John McIntyre started cooking at the tender age of fifteen and learned the value of fresh, locally sourced produce from that early age. A keen sea-fisherman, John also loves trying out old recipes, putting a modern twist on the dish using ideas from abroad intertwined with traditional methods.  Continue reading »

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Chateau d’Estoublon

Fontvieille was the nearest town to us in a recent visit to Provence and so I took the chance to visit nearby Chateau d’Estoublon, mentioned in the Michelin Wine Regions of France Green Guide. Estoublon seems to be an up and coming organic producer in this area and I saw its wines on sale in the Palais des Papes in Avignon where it shared shelf-space with the big hitters.  Continue reading »

The light refers to the colour, not the calories. I just want to get that out there straight away. If you’re on a diet, look away. In fact, you might want to just close the laptop and go for a walk. Because these calorific cute hoors might sound healthy, but they’re really very fat wolves in skinny sheep’s clothing. But utterly delicious all the same.
I made these for a picnic on a boat, as I was afraid anything too chocolate-y or egg-y would melt / become dangerous.  Continue reading »

Primarily a blogger here on SGdotIE, I was, among other things, a wine writer for 13 months for a national paper until my publication went bust in February (the Sunday Tribune). But before my little mini-rant begins, let me state I’m not angling for another writing position, at least not right now (house move, third kid on the way, too busy to drink wine most of the time, let alone write about it).  Continue reading »

As the title suggests, next week I hope to cover 5 days of food on a budget. A budget which I won’t be releasing, because I haven’t set a budget as of yet. But I’m trying to cover food for a family of 4, for 5 days cooking, everything from scratch. So it’ll be a big shop on Monday, lots of fresh produce, meat, baking supplies and some tinned items.
Monday will see homemade bread, which is simple to make.  Continue reading »

White chocolate and lavender was the second flavour we made for Bloom, and it was hugely popular. One reason I made this flavour, is that I have lavender flowers in my garden. If you’re not so lucky, you should be able to find edible flowers in a whole foods shop.
White chocolate makes ice cream especially smooth and silky, so this flavour is sure to impress! Just make sure you use the best white chocolate you can lay your hands on!  Continue reading »

When I found out that June was National Papaya Month, it got me thinking about exotic fruits.  Summer is the season for stuffing your face with fresh fruit- I know I certainly have been over-indulging when it comes to watermelon- and so I decided to investigate fruits that I didn’t know too much about.
Here are some interesting and exotic fruits that you’ve never head of, plus some tasty tidbits of information about them!

1.  Continue reading »

Our little brother, Curious Davide, is back with another whopping recipe. I’m sharing an apartment with him now in Cork City, so whilst I have to put up with his smelly feet, he’s a dab hand in the kitchen, which more than makes up for it. This is another one of my picks from his repertoire. Please don’t confuse this with school dinner mac & cheese, or that from a tin.  Continue reading »

“…there is no flavour without the fat.”

Irish Beef and especially Irish Steak is second to none on the world’s stage of top quality meats. Our cattle are predominately grass-fed and this is something that other European countries recognise as ’special’ in Irish meats. I believe that this is the main reason that our beef is the tastiest meat on the planet!  Continue reading »

A.  Continue reading »

The postman dropped off a letter earlier this morning, well, a few letters to be honest but I won’t bore you with details of the bills and the spam. The letter that grabbed my interest first off was one from the college.
I opened it wondering was it the results I’ve been waiting on? Sure enough, there they are, my results for all my hard work over the year.  Continue reading »

Coming soon to Dublin’s Mary Street, apparently.
Spotted, snapped and shared by @suzybie on Twitter
Related posts:

Excellent bargain at Tesco, if you can’t count
Free bottle of wine for parties of four in Jo’Burger, Rathmines
Cheap as chips.  Continue reading »

The summer really is when food comes alive. For me, things become almost effortless because the fantastic fresh produce on offer requires very little work to make it really beautiful. Eating outside also makes everything taste better!  Continue reading »

The Method
Preheat the oven to 210oC.

Toss the sweet potato chips in a large roasting tin, with the rapeseed oil and cajun seasoning.  Pop the roasting tin in the oven for 35-40 mins making sure to toss them half way through, until they are slightly charred on the edges.

Whizz together the ingredients for the chimichurri sauce in a food processor and decant into a bowl.  Continue reading »

Who doesn’t, at some stage, have lonely egg yolks languishing in their fridge. There they sit, dreaming of a better life, (cue violins) until one day the fridge door opens… light floods in… and their crusted remains are consigned to the bin. Awwwwww…

No more! The talented and lovely Jill Colonna, author of Mad About Macarons le book, and le blog to the rescue!  Continue reading »

Who doesn’t, at some stage, have lonely egg yolks languishing in their fridge. There they sit, dreaming of a better life, (cue violins) until one day the fridge door opens… light floods in… and their crusted remains are consigned to the bin. Awwwwww…

No more! The talented and lovely Jill Colonna, author of Mad About Macarons le book, and le blog to the rescue!  Continue reading »

Steamed Brocoli

Ingredients;

1 head of broccoli
Vinaigrette Dressing

Prepare the broccoli by cutting the florets from the stalk and chopping into roughly equal sized pieces. Next peel and dice the stalk into small chunks.
Place some water in a saucepan, not enough to reach the bottom of your steamer basket, and bring this to the boil and reduce to a simmer.
Load the steamer basket with the stalk chunks first and then the broccoli florets on top.  Continue reading »