Articles

MARILYN BRIGHT talks to our Seafood Chef Of The Year For 2013, Billy Whitty, of Aldridge Lodge, Duncannon, Co Wexford. A chef who has grown up living just 200 yards from the Ducannon quayside just has to know something about fish.
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Even if you’re very pressed for time coming up to Christmas, cooking a few bits and pieces is very satisfying, gets you into the festive mood - and it makes the house smell lovely too. And it needn’t take a huge amount of time either, as these tried and trusted recipes show – they’re all from that old favourite, my 1996 book The Best of Irish Breads & Baking, which is still in print (€15) and I use it all the time.
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Craft beer is perhaps the biggest success story of Irish food and drink over the last couple of years and we are delighted to introduce our new columnist Kristin Jensen, who is not only one of Ireland’s top food bloggers – she just happens to be an expert on pairing food and beer!
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A surprising number of small producers are bucking the system at the moment, doing well in businesses that you’d never expect to succeed in recession. One of these success stories is still in the making in deepest Kilkenny, where Ger and Mags Kirwan continue to develop the Goatsbridge Trout Farm at Thomastown, building on the established success of their excellent quality fresh and smoked rainbow trout.
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These delicious buttery spicy buns are a real quick fix for Christmas. They are a huge hit as a gift or just to have at home with a few friends for your elevens’s. I bake these all the time in December...
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Game is a treat at this time of year, but what do you do with it if you’re lucky enough to receive some as a gift? Together with expert George Gossip, who recently gave a game course at Ballymaloe Cookery School (Good Food Ireland Cookery School of the year 2012), Darina Allen has all the answers.
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We may well have settled on the Languedoc for practical reasons but soon realised that it is a very special area indeed. It has a unique climate; our village of Thezan les Beziers is about 15 kilometres from the beaches on the Mediterranean Sea to the south and about the same distance from the Monts d’Espinouse, which are the continuation of the Montagnes Noires, to the North.
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Is it art, craft or theatre? All three perhaps, with food as the medium and the emphasis on art? That’s the kind of thing that diners tend to ponder on at The Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co Waterford, where gifted Dutch chef Martijn Kajuiter’s astonishing food has been wowing the critics since this old hotel re-opened as an exciting contemporary destination in 2008, when it was our Newcomer of the Year.
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I have started to harvest celeriac from the garden now – it’s a hardy veg that I generally leave in the ground until things are starting to get a bit sparse elsewhere and when most of the celery is gone. I am a huge fan of celeriac – it has all the lovely smooth flavour of celery, but with the added benefit that it stores exceptionally well.
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Castlefarm gears up for Christmas – the Farm Shop is open every day from 19th – 24th December, and Jenny Young explains how they then manage the workload to keep time needed on the farm to a minimum over the holiday.
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