Wishing you all the merriest of Christmas holidays

Nollaig faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise daoibh go léir.

This is an Irish saying which loosely translates as a blessing of hope and happiness at Christmas and it's something I'd like to wish everyone who takes the time to visit my little corner of the internet. I hope you all enjoy something delicious to eat and the convivial company of family and friends this festive season.

Christmas is going to be a little different for me this year as my partner and I are shirking all of our usual responsibilities and running away to Prague for a week. (We're leaving tomorrow - eek!) I'm very excited and rest assured that I'll tell you all about it when I return.

In the meantime, stay well and happy.

Nollaig shona ón nDaingean 
Happy Christmas from Dingle

Comfort eating, vegan style

Our house is right by the sea. There's just one small green field between it and the Atlantic Ocean. It might sound idyllic and sometimes it is. But other times, it can be ferocious.

Here's what it has looked like from my office window a lot lately. 

That's rain lashing at the window. Those are the white crests of waves pummelling the shoreline all along the bay. And that reflected light on the right side of the photo is a lamp on my desk, the illumination from which was badly needed as the sky was dark and heavy with clouds outside. (To shatter your idea of the idyll of living on the coast even further: this photo was taken at 12 noon!)

On days like this, a body calls out for comfort food. But when you're following what amounts to a vegan diet that includes fish, comfort food can be hard to find. (Think about it: don't most of our most comforting dishes include dairy? Mac and cheese, fish pie with creamy mash, apple crumble, chocolate cake - now I'm just torturing myself!)

Thankfully, my experiments in the kitchen have turned up some alternatives that are just as comforting and yet follow the principles of the OMS diet. This vegan cottage pie with North African spicing is one of them. It doesn't try to be a substitute for a classic, it just feels like a whole new dish to enjoy in the dark days of winter.

Vegan cottage pie with Moroccan spicing - serves 4

200g dried green speckled lentils*
500g sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 3 to 4cm cubes
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped 
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely (I used smoked garlic but regular garlic is fine)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 large red pepper, cut into 1cm chunks
1 leek, peeled of its outer layers, halved lengthwise and chopped into 0.5cm slices
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
2 teaspoons ras al hanout*
1 teaspoon cumin
1 400g can of chopped or peeled tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt

• Start by preparing the vegetables (sweet potatoes, red onion, celery, garlic, chilli, red pepper and leek).
• Pre-heat your oven to 200 Celsius/400 F/Gas Mark 6.
• Cover the lentils in cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for ten minutes. Reduce the heat. Cover the pot and simmer for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until the lentils have softened.
• Meanwhile cook the sweet potatoes. Cover with lightly salted cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes or until soft.
• Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the rapeseed oil, chopped onion, carrot and celery. Cook for three minutes.
• Add the garlic and chill and cook for a further two minutes.
• Add the red pepper, leeks, cooked lentils and spices and cook for another three to four minutes. (If you're using canned lentils, they get added at this point too.)
• Now add the can of tomatoes and the salt and cook for a further ten minutes. (If you're using whole tomatoes, you'll have to make sure you break those down using your wooden spoon.)
• Get to work on your sweet potatoes while your lentil mix is bubbling away. Mash them with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
• Taste both the lentil mix and the sweet potatoes to make sure you're happy with the seasoning and then pour the lentils into an oven-proof dish. Top with the sweet potato, spreading it out evenly with a fork.
• Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.

* Tinned lentils work in this recipe too.

* Ras al hanout is a Moroccan spice blend that you'll find for sale in the spice section of most large supermarkets.

PS: Just in case you think living along the Irish Atlantic coast is all about darkness and harsh weather, we get days like this too.

Those days demand a different dinner!

I'm back! And so is the Dingle Food and Wine Festival!

Oops! It seems as though I unintentionally took a summer break from blogging! This makes it sound as though I spent the months of August and September lying on balmy beaches, sipping cool drinks and soaking up sunshine. If only it were so....

Nope. Instead, these past two months were two of the busiest of my year so far. August is always busy in Dingle, what with being the height of the summer season. Throw a family wedding into the mix and you've got the perfect recipe for a stressed-out and exhausted Sharon. I had so many things to do and places to be that there was never any time to be here.

But that's about to change. This weekend, Dingle celebrates its annual Food and Wine Festival, marking the end of the tourist season in the town. Everyone starts winding down once the festival is over. The farmers' market closes. The long evenings start to draw in. Some of the town's businesses close for winter. And instead of catering to tourists visiting Dingle, many of the town's residents head off on holidays of their own. 

Basically, everyone draws a breath after the frenetic pace of summer. That's what I will be doing too. I'll also take advantage of the quieter months to come to share some new recipes and thoughts with you here on a much more regular basis.

In the meantime, I'm preparing for the food festival. I'll have a stall at the farmers' market where I'll be selling... Sharon takes a deep breath before she recites what is a VERY long list... brownies, double chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, Black Forest gateau cupcakes, lemon meringue cupcakes, ginger and lime cupcakes, banoffee cupcakes, Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's icing, carrot cupcakes with orange cream cheese icing, white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes with creamy peanut butter icing, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing, cookies and cream cupcakes and mini mixed berry cheesecakes! 

Call to my stall to say hi if you're in town. And try a cupcake! 

Now, I'd best start baking.

To see what else is happening as part of the Dingle Food Festival, visit www.dinglefood.com 

Dillisk Food Project: a very special trip to Connemara

Why, hello there! It's been a while. 

I've been absent without leave these past few weeks but it wasn't because I forgot about you. As if that could ever happen! 
No, I often thought about how I was neglecting my poor food blog. It's just that I didn't know what I could do about it.

My problem was (as I take a sharp intake of breath), I had lost my enthusiasm for food. If you've been hanging around here for a while, you'll have gathered that I love food.  I love cooking it, eating eat and sharing it with friends and family. I've enjoyed sharing it with you here too.
But lately, I've fallen out of love and it was all because of my diet. We've had great weather here in Ireland this summer and I wanted ice cream but wasn't allowed to eat it. Everyone cooked barbeque dinners when the sun shone and I couldn't tuck into any of it. Suddenly, I became fixated on all that I could no longer eat and lost my enthusiasm for food.

But that was until I went to Connemara. Or to be more precise, until I visited this little boat shed in Connemara.

A very special food event called Dillisk is taking place in this shed every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from now until early September. A team of chefs, cooks and people who are enthusiastic about food have created a kitchen and dining room in this abandoned shed and are using the food that is produced in the local area to put together very exciting menus. Think smoked seaweed broth and chocolate fudge made with sea salt harvested from the coastline outside the front door. This was just what I needed to reawaken my interest in food.

They had made the interior so pretty...

  

...and built a tandoor oven for cooking.

They even had their own resident dog

We were given gin and tonics with horseradish and lemon balm sherbet when we arrived.

And then most of us decided to go for a walk on the beach

We didn't want to miss any dinner so it wasn't long before we walked back.

And then the fun really began. 

We had some fabulous food. There were onion bajis with Toonsbridge mozzarella and pickled shitake mushrooms; a deep smoked dillisk broth brimful of garden greens served with perfectly cooked mussels; some char sui Connemara pork dumplings with kohlrabi and purple carrots; a dish of peas with herbs and fresh goats' curd; pollack cooked in that tandoor oven with barley and beets; poached rhubarb, fennel meringue, homemade clotted cream and spiced brown bread; Cloudpicker coffee and chocolate and Aughrasbeg sea salt fudge; and pickleback whiskeys to finish.

The conversations were just as good. My partner and I had travelled up from Dingle for the event and everyone else had come over from Dublin (some as couples, some with groups of friends). Everyone was interested in food and because we were all seated at a communal table, everyone chatted to everyone else. We exclaimed at what we were eating and discussed everything from the goings-on at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to birds of prey and everything in between. (I'm telling you: despite everyone apart from us being from Dublin, it was a very mixed crowd!)

So, I owe the wonderful team at Dillisk a huge thanks for helping me rediscover my enthusiasm for food and all of the pleasures that go with enjoying a good meal. 

If you happen to be anywhere near Connemara this summer, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you eat at this unique pop-up restaurant. I promise you'll have lots of fun. You may even end up juggling in the kitchen at the end of the evening!

The Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine: food for thought, food for the soul and lots and lots of food to eat

I'm so sorry to have been missing in action for the past while. I had the enormous pleasure (and privilege) of attending Ballymaloe Literary Festival last weekend and have been playing catch up (and recovering!) ever since.

The festival was a wonderful celebration of all that is good about food. It featured illustrious chefs such as René Redzepi, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamini, Simon Hopkinson and the awe-inspiring Diana Kennedy. Food writers including Tom Parker Bowles, Joanna Blythman and John McKenna featured too as did food activist and fermentation expert Sandor Katz and food producers from all over Ireland such as the Diva Bakery, Silver Darling herrings and the Ferguson family with their Gubbeen cheeses, meats and more.

Food journalist Joanna Blythman

The doyenne of Mexican food and an inspiration to us all: Diana Kennedy

And that's just to list very few of the many inspiring people and personalities that played a part in what proved to be a very special weekend...

The highlights for me were:
1: Attending the Sunday morning talk with Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamini and Ariana Bundy. Sometimes people complicate food too much, focussing overly on the nutritional aspect and what's good for you and what isn't or on creating a fine dining experience that is far removed from the simple pleasure of eating food.
Not these three. For an hour and a half on Sunday morning, they spoke warmly about what food means to them, how it connects them to their families and where they come from, how much they love eating and the joy they take in cooking for others. 
They reminded me of why I decided to open my own café and inspired me to continue my journey in food - wherever it takes me next.

2: A Sunday lunch in Ballymaloe House cooked by Rowley Leigh. The ajo blanco (almond and garlic) soup served with melon balls is the best thing I've tasted this year and I can't imagine anything beating its fresh and exciting flavours.

3: Bringing a smile to Simon Hopkinson's face when I told him that his were the recipes I trusted above all others. (I've never cooked a recipe of his that didn't exceed expectations and was pleased to get the chance to tell him so.)

4: Meeting so many wonderful people and creating new connections in the ever growing and always exciting world of food in Ireland.

See you next year, Ballymaloe, I'll definitely be back!

 


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Vote for Dingle - we all know it's THE Foodie Town of Ireland

People who visit Dingle are always very impressed by the sheer quality of its food.

The town has 52 (count them!) restaurants, cafés and other places to eat serving dishes made from the finest of local ingredients including fish freshly landed at Dingle Pier, meats such as the lamb raised on the Great Blasket Island, locally-made cheeses, black puddings, chocolates and even locally-brewed beers.

The streets are lined with fantastic food shops selling local and Irish cheeses as well as cheeses from all over Europe, award-winning ice cream and wonderful healthful foods.

Every Friday, the town hosts a farmers' market (to which I returned last Friday but more on that anon).

And early every October, there is the not-to-be-missed Dingle Food Festival.

With all of this and more, surely Dingle has to rank as THE Foodie Town of Ireland? To make it official, vote here

The Restaurants Association of Ireland, in association with AdMailer.ie from An Post, are on the search for Ireland’s premier foodie destination. Let them know that you've found it in Dingle by voting here before Sunday, May 18th.

Dingle: there's no place quite like it

Addendum May 20: voting has now ended and the judges are due to visit Dingle this Thursday. Here's hoping Dingle knocks their socks off!

Addendum number two: just in case you missed it: we won! It's now official. Dingle is THE foodie town of Ireland - at least for 2014!

Missing in action: an explanation

Please don't think I've forgotten you because I haven't. In fact, I was supposed to post a new recipe here today (for an almond and orange cake inspired by a recent visit to Brother Hubbard in Dublin) but it got slightly burned while baking and it isn't good enough for you to enjoy just yet.
Although this doesn't mean that it's not good enough for me to eat. I'm licking the delicious crumbs from my lips as I type!

It's a good cake so I'll bake it again (and bake it better) some day really soon and post it here for you then. I'm also planning to make some chocolate, cheesecake and raspberry brownies at the weekend so I'll post those here on Sunday (fingers crossed I don't burn them too).

In the meantime, here are some pictures taken by my house recently. It's been cold but beautiful in this part of the world.

Mount Brandon from Feothanach Beach

The evenings are getting longer too, which means I can fit a walk in after work.

And this makes our dog, Jimmy, very happy.

A birthday dinner in Cork

It was my birthday this day last week and as has become an annual tradition for us, my boyfriend and I celebrated with a special meal out. "I'd like to go somewhere the food is imaginative and different," I said, "somewhere with a chef who is really trying to be creative."
Quite how this led to us booking dinner in Les Gourmandises in Cork, a restaurant I'd always assumed to be a classic French place, I don't know. But I'm glad it did.

We were impressed from the very beginning. The room is pleasant with high ceilings, white walls, red banquettes and sparkling chandeliers. It was busy. Everyone was buzzing. And the staff were attentive and friendly from the moment we arrived.

Our meal began - as all the best meals do, in my opinion - with a glass of something sparkling. In this case, it was Cava and it came with a selection of breads from the nearby English Market - all fresh and crusty and delicious with some cold and salty butter.

I had the monkfish beignets to start. The fish was perfectly fresh. The batter was light and crisp. And it went well with the sweetcorn puree and the tartness of the caper-rich sauce tartare it was served with. My only gripe might be that it was too large a portion. As you can see from the picture above, there were three small bowls (with two small beignets in each one). It's a lot for a starter, isn't it?

My boyfriend had the Castletownbere crab dish. This was a near perfect dish. The crab (which was served potted style with some clarified butter on top) tasted fresh from the sea and this freshness was highlighted with spikes of lemon, offset by the melon and grapefruit that came in the accompanying salad and the refreshing pink grapefruit jelly that was served alongside. Just the thing to bring the palate to life!

I chose the seafood platter for my main course and it contained some really good elements. There was pan-fried red snapper in a crispy skin. There were salmon rillettes. There was that lovely crab from my boyfriend's starter, those monkfish beignets from my starter, that really nice pink grapefruit jelly from my boyfriend's starter...
Are we beginning to notice a pattern here? Maybe I was unlucky in our choice of previous dishes, but I was disappointed to see so much repetition, especially as I had found that there was too much in my monkfish beignet starter to begin with. It all tasted good though.

My boyfriend had pan-fried guineafowl which was served with confit onion, a potato fondant type thing, barley and a port jus. He loved the sweet juiciness of the onion set against the earthiness of the barley and the moreishness of the sauce and the perfectly cooked bird. Well, that's what I think he said as he scoffed the lot!

We asked for two side dishes to go with our mains; a serving of French fries and peas with asparagus. The French fries were great and though the serving was small, it was probably enough. But the serving of peas and asparagus was tiny - three spears of asparagus and a handful of peas. It felt a little miserly, which I don't think is the impression you want to give guests in your restaurant and was completely at odds with what I thought about the size of the starters. However, they did give us more when we commented on it being small.

We shared a dessert platter to finish. Clockwise from top left, there was a

crème brûlée, that snapped under my spoon just as a crème brûlée should. There was a tangy lemon posset - zingily delicious. There was a chocolate and cognac cake. And there was a raspberry panna cotta. All were good. Not amazingly good but good.

Our bill for the entire meal - 2 glasses of cava, 2 starters, 2 main courses, one dessert plate, one bottle of white wine, one glass of red wine, one bottle of sparkling water, a tea and a coffee - came to €167. So, it wasn't cheap but as you can see, we treated ourselves to quite a lot.

Was it worth it? Though I had some complaints, the food was based on quality ingredients that were well prepared. The wine - a Pinot blanc from Alsace - complemented the food very well. The service was attentive and friendly. I enjoyed the atmosphere and overall, I had a good birthday dinner. I'd go back again.  

Les Gourmandises, Cook Street, Cork City

Breathing is always important, especially when it's time for the annual Dingle Food Festival

Breathe, Sharon, breathe.

I'm suffering from mild hyperventilation at the moment because it's finally arrived: the Dingle Food Festival starts tomorrow and that means that today is officially my busiest day of the year. I ought to be mixing  batters and baking and icing cakes now but the reason I'm sitting at my computer is because I've got so much work to do, I don't even want to start. 

Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while will remember that I was ambitious for last year's festival and made ten different types of cupcakes as well as my ever-popular brownies.

Well, this year I'm going one better. I'm making eleven kinds as well as a range of cake pops - which are new to my stall and, as I haven't practiced them very much, may end up looking so unpresentable that they'll go into the bin - a possible but hopefully avoidable outcome!

This year's flavours are:

White chocolate and raspberry

Cookies and cream

Banoffee

Carrot 

Lemon meringue 

Black Forest Gateau

Guinness and Baileys

Chocolate and coffee

Chocolate and peanut

Ginger and lime

And mixed berry cheesecakes

My cake pops will include a Madeira cake base and a chocolate cake base flavoured with orange, Baileys, raspberry or coffee covered in either dark or white chocolate and topped with rose petals, pollen, chopped hazelnuts, candied orange peel or chocolate shavings. If they work out, they'll look fabulous. If not, then the bin it is!

There's so much to look forward to at this year's festival - if you're lucky enough to be a visitor and not a stallholder.  If I'm able to break free from my stall or the stove for any length of time, here's what I'd like to go to:

• Some of the workshops, which include chocolate making with Benoit Lorge; rearing and curing a pig with Fingal Ferguson of Gubbeen Farmhouse Products and Ted Berner and Ivan Wheelan of Wildside Catering; hen keeping; foraging; and 'coffee from around the world' with Mark Kingston from the Golden Bean.
• For Food's Sake: a series of thought-provoking talks, film screenings and discussions - all about food.
• Come Dine with the Penguins: a seafood feast served in the penguins' enclosure at Oceanworld Aquarium.
• And, finally, the wonderful taste trail where 55 businesses in the town play host to some of the area's food producers and serve creatively cooked local food. There's seafood in Curran's Bar, a kangaroo BBQ in Finn McCool's Surf Shop, Píog pies with a pint in Hannie Agnes' Bar, Terayaki salmon skewers with warm sake shots at Fish at the Marina and so much more. 
  
  So, who is coming to Dingle this weekend? If you are, do call by and say hello. I'll be manning my stall at the market on Holy Ground from 9am to 2.30pm tomorrow and from 11am to 4pm (ish) on Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the time, I'll be breathing - or should I say baking!   
  
  
  

Don't you just love Cork?

I love going to Cork. I was there for work last week and after spending the morning listening to the harrowing stories of two homeless people I had to interview, I was badly in need of some sustenance and comfort.

My first choice was the fabulously art deco Electric Cork where I have yet to eat but have heard such good reports about. But it was not to be as they don't serve lunch on Wednesdays. Hmm, I wondered, where to now?

I strolled through the English Market where I nibbled on some Frank Hederman smoked salmon and bought Macroom oats, some Clive McCabe teas, Vacherin cheese and orzo as I considered my options. (If you have yet to visit this wonderful place, it should be the first place on your list whenever you're next in Cork.)

I eventually hit upon the idea of going to The Liberty Grill. 
  

Located on Washington Street, this is a bright, buzzy place with a modern vibe. It's always busy, no matter what the time of day, and its menu seems to have something to appeal to all appetites and tastes.

I was instantly greeted by a very friendly member of staff who offered me a copy of that day's paper as I was on my own. He also presented me with the menu, which tempted me with all sorts of great dishes. There are sandwiches - a choice of steak, chicken, club, crab, halloumi cheese and ham, chicken and Swiss cheese - served on sourdough or seeded rye bread. There are salads, ranging from classics such as Caesar salad and niceoise salad to more unusual combinations such as a vegan San Fran salad of soya and chilli-fried tempeh, herbed quinoa and dressed leaves. There are great brunch options which include the house muesli, porridge, pancakes, quesadillas, and baked eggs. I loved the idea of the posh toasts, which come with a range of toppings including sautéed mushrooms, spicy crab and tomato and avocado as well as more classic offerings such as eggs benedict.

But I was really hungry and none of these seemed enough. I wanted a proper lunch and I wanted it Liberty Grill style.The Liberty Grill is known for its burgers so I had to have one of those. But seeing as I didn't want meat, I opted for a crab burger.

It was a good choice. There was lots of crab and white fish in the burger which was coated in a pleasingly crunchy crust. It was served on a bed of rocket and with a zingy lemon and dill sauce and the crispest of chips. My only complaint was that the bun was a little dry and had too much of that sweet processed taste for my liking.

But these are niggling things. Overall, the Liberty Grill was a friendly, buzzing place with a great menu and I enjoyed my lunch there. The price was good too - €14.95 for my burger and a sparkling water.  It ensured that my love affair with Cork continues and I'm looking forward to visiting the city again soon. Where should I go for lunch/dinner next time?

The Liberty Grill  
32 Washington Street
Cork
021 427 1049
Open Mon-Thu 8am - 9pm; Fri-Sat 8am - 10pm

The Markets of Killarney: a new food business that places Irish food alongside the best in the world

This (terrible) recession doesn't appear to be having that much of an impact on the burgeoning food culture of Ireland. There seem to be more farmers' markets, food festivals and shops specialising in fresh, natural foods that have been grown and produced with respect than ever before.     

Places like The Markets in Killarney.  I discovered The Markets today and I only wish it were in Dingle instead of in Killarney (which is more than an hour's drive away). Newly opened on New Market Lane in the heart of the town, I'm willing to bet that it will be a great success.

And do you know why I'm willing to bet that?  It's because it has the emphasis just right. It's all about the food and letting the quality and value of that food speak for itself. 

This food includes the freshest fruit and vegetables, Benoit Lorge's handmade chocolates and pastries, cheeses and wines from Manning's Emporium, fresh breads, fabulous Irish produce such as Glenilen yoghurts and Glenisk organic milk and the finest ingredients from the greatest food-producing countries in the world, particularly Italy and France.

I spoke to some of the staff there and all of them are very ambitious for The Markets. They want to stock more of the foods that make Ireland, and especially this part of southwest Ireland, special. Already, they stock (wonderful) seaweed products made by Olivier Beaujouan of The Wild Side, who has a stall at Dingle Farmers' Market. And because they only opened last Thursday, they are still in the process of sourcing new ingredients and making connections with new producers. I can't wait to see what they have on my next visit. 

The Markets,
New Market Lane,
Killarney
Opening hours: Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat: 9am to 7pm
Thursday: 9am to 8pm
Sunday: 12pm to 6pm