My own take on what’s becoming a neo-classic. Avoca stores and most good delis stock smoked paprika, but if you can’t find it the ordinary variety will do. 4 large waxy potatoes, washed but unpeeled 1 medium-large onion 2 tbsp corn, sunflower or peanut oil for frying 1 tbsp tomato puree 1 tsp cumin seeds ...
RecipesThe Ballygowan/ Irish Food Writers’ Guild Awards were presented at a lunch at L’Ecrivain, Dubin’s latest Michelin starred restaurant, where chef/proprietor Derry Clarke, winner of no less than 3 Awards at the recent FOOD & WINE Magazine/Evian Restaurant of The Year Awards, cooked up an absolute storm , using the produce of the 4 awards ...
FoodLike the hero of Nick Hornby’s novel High Fidelity I’m a compulsive list maker. (Top five food-flavoured records: Booker T and the MGs’ Green Onions/Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant/Victoria Spivey’s Gimme a pig’s foot and a bottle of beer/The Band’s King Harvest/The Smiths’ Meat is Murder – this is probably Dennis Cotter’s number one!). Having served ...
FoodSaw out the month with the lunch to herald the Merrion’s game promotion. Wondeful food and though I say it as shouldn’t, nice wines – especially the Sipp-Mack Rosacker Grand Cru Riesling. Interesting conversation with Kevin Dundon, Dunbrody House, Wexford, this morning. In addition to a TV prog and 2 cookbooks on the go he’s ...
Wine & DrinkAnother beauty by the bold Gordon and a worthy companion volume to Just Desserts, one of my all-time fave raves. The combination of Ramsay “Moody Maestro”, Roz Denny “Foodie Shrewdie” and Georgia Glynn Smith the uncrowned queen of “Eat Me” photography is a surefire winner once again. This time they are joined by Mark Sargeant, ...
Books & EquipmentThe Cellar Restaurant at The Merrion Hotel in Dublin are holding a game promotion in October. Chef Ed Cooney has devised some superb dishes. I was asked to select wines (chosen from the Merrion’s wine list) to accompany them. Here are my choices, and the reasons for making them: “It’s a mistake to imagine that ...
Wine & DrinkPedro Ximenez is a single-grape variety sherry, thick, dark, unctuous and sweet with slight burnt caramel undertones. If you can’t get this, use any sweet sherry. I’ve also made versions of this dish using port, madeira, marsala and other fortified wines, and with pomegranate syrup. For this dish, I use one of my favourite cooking ...
RecipesTalking to young sommeliers is very character-building, I’ve decided. These shining early twenty-somethings, armed with the questing mind and capacity for absorbing complex information I used to pride myself on, are a constant reminder to me not to take anything as set in stone. Having clocked up 40-odd years drinking wine (from the sublime to ...
Wine & DrinkThe Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today highlighted its concern in relation to the current outbreak of E. coli O157 at a Dublin hotel and urged the entire food industry to rigidly adhere to the best food safety practices or face the consequences. The FSAI stated that as investigations continue into the biggest outbreak ...
FoodInitially I thought this was by Hamish Henderson, the famed Scottish folklorist, the man who wrote ‘Farewell to Sicily’ and ‘The D-Day Dodgers’, two classics of the folk song revival! Anyway, it isn’t. Hamish ANDerson is the sommelier at The Tate Gallery – now renamed in Blairite fashion “Tate Britain”, Tate Modern and allied enterprises. ...
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