Articles

Not so much a book review this month, more a call to cook: Easy Food Home-Cook Hero, 100+ recipes and other favourites (paperback, 146pp; Zahra Publishing, €4.95) is an action-packed little paperback based on entries submitted to the 2011 Home-Cook Hero Awards and including the winning dishes in ten categories.
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Right in the centre of Athlone, Thyme Restaurant is one of the town’s most popular eating places. 'Delicious food at affordable prices' is the stated aim at this cosy little spot and it's clearly getting it right as its appeal to people of all ages means that weekend tables need to be booked well ahead.
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What is Irish cuisine – or is there any such a thing at all? There’s been a lot of talk about it in recent years and the idea has often been scornfully dismissed, as too has the concept of associating Ireland with good food at all - until recently at least.
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Ruth Hegarty, Secretary-General of Euro-toques Ireland, says it comes down to Children and Food Education. While discussing the government’s approach to tackling obesity recently with one of our member chefs, he told me that his 10 year old daughter had been at a school hockey game the week before and, having won the game, the teachers decided to ‘treat’ the children to lunch at McDonalds.
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As the popular West Cork restaurant RICHY’S BAR & BISTRO celebrates a decade in business, Marilyn Bright seeks the secret of its success – how has Richy’s not just survived, but thrived in these challenging times?
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New season Irish Asparagus is in season this month. Apparently the recent mild winter has brought the crop forward, so it has been ready earlier than usual this year. Asparagus is such a special treat and, as well as being a delicacy, it is a nutritional power house full of vitamins and antioxidants. Folklore suggests that asparagus has wonderful aphrodisiac qualities – so eat up your greens!
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Last year I was invited to the Artisan Food School at Welbeck in North Nottinghamshire, to talk to their students about the inspirational Irish artisan food scene. The snows before Christmas meant that my first visit had to be postponed but that is an even a lovelier time of the year to visit this spectacular estate and stunningly beautiful English country house Welbeck Abbey.
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This month I have been very busy planting up the Castlefarm garden and polytunnel. My onions sown last month are now clearly visible in organised green lines. Now that I can see them I can hoe the onion bed before the weeds take hold. As an organic farm we cannot use weed killer or chemicals. I find the best method of keeping down weeds is literally spending 5-10 minutes each day hoeing.
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This month we will be harvesting the first of our new season beetroot - OK, so they will be no bigger than golf balls and will have been grown in the polytunnel, but they will be all the tastier and more tender as a result.
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Lucy Madden reflects on the damage that copy cat operations can cause – and suggests that many events in Ireland (including festivals) may be at saturation point, or beyond... We’ve all seen the photograph, two celebrities arriving at a party and – shock, horror – they are wearing the same outfit.
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