Gathering of Food Bloggers

food, photos, bloggers, butchers, pigs & swag

We will have to come up with a portmanteau (get me! it's the posh word for joining two names, mainly celebrity couples, together) for the recent gathering of foodie bloggers. It is such a great and enthusiastic group of people with a shared love and interest in all things, well, food.

The event was hosted by Bord Bia and was organised by the faces behind their tweets, Maeve and Klara along with the one and only, good mood food blogger Donal Skehan. The day kicked off with bloggers and tweeters brief shreeks at each other as they put faces to names (or in my case, got completely bamboozled with real names, tweeting names, blog names, faces...). Then we all settled down to David Owens presentation where he spoke on behalf of Bord Bia on all things Irish pork and the Quality Assurance Mark. Our pork industry took a hard knock in 2008 with the dioxin scare, but Bord Bia have since been doing an amazing job rebuilding consumer confidence within Ireland and throughout the world.

They didn't have to do much to persuade our room full of fascinated foodies as we drooled over Maura Dufficy's cooking. Maura cooked several pork dishes, but the one that got my tummy rumbling was the marinaded pork belly which thankfully we were served at lunch time. Yes, they fed us too. These gorgeous people at the Food Board (which is the translation of Bord Bia by the way, for any non Irish speakers) know how to throw a party! You can see some snaps of the food we ate over at the consumed foodies blog. I was quite clearly too busy eating to take any.

Douze points goes to the toughest presentation slot of the day given to Damien Mulley of social media fame. He had to keep our attention while the tongues were hanging out of our heads from the tantalising smells of all things Pork. He did a great job giving us top tips on how to feed our egos with increases in new followers, general admiration and the attention we all expect and deserve (!). Then once our tummys were full, we also gladly listened to Eoin Purcell, a publishing industry analyst. Eoin got our pig tails wagging about becoming the next big thing in the food book world. He was frank about us not being able to necessarily retire on our scooped earnings here in Ireland and the fact that the publisher obviously hoped that they would (!).

Two other presentations that were actually in very stark contrast to each other, were Lorraine from Blazing Salads who is a shine to all things fabulously vegetarian and then the GMIT butchery lecturer, Pat Conway. My god, is this man a butcher?! He could cut you into 6 or 8 different parts in under five minutes. Thankfully he used Mr Porky to demonstrate. Check out some photos of him in action over at The Daily Spud.

Finally the day ended on a high with a food styling and photography presentation from Erica Ryan and Jocasta Clarke. As I said before, I hadn't ever met fellow stylist Erica, so it was lovely to meet her at last. I think she did a fantastic job and had lots of oohs and aahs from the audience on the day (and ever since with lots of tweeting going on). It's funny that you forget what you do on a daily basis is actually fascinating to other people. Erica had put together a comprehensive list of food styling tips and secrets, and likewise, reading through I thought, oh yeah, I guess this is impressive. Even though Erica and I have never met and both picked tips up as we went along I imagine (rather than doing the same course or anything), it's funny how we seem to do all of the same things (yes, kitchen roll and cotton buds are my best friends too).

Anyhow, as if we weren't overwhelmed by all that we had been pampered with already, we turned to leave to find tables brimming with what has been endearingly tagged as 'food swag'. I came home with a gorgeous rosemary plant from Living Flavour (which I have already used over on my home blog), some yummy looking smoked trout from Goatsbridge which I have yet to feast on, chutney from sheridans cheesemongers (I was one of those unfortunates who missed out on the cheese sadly though), lovely shoots from Good4u which I have been nibbling on non-stop and a delightful oat and ginger cookie from fabulous blogger Lilly Higgins, who totally standard pushed with ultra cool, machine sewn packaging!

So my head is still spinning from it all. A really fab day, packed full of pork, info, tips, recipe ideas, food swag, all round good feeling and of course lots of great new foodie friends. I have updated my blogroll over on the right (and will do so over at friendly cottage soon also) to include as many irish food bloggers as I could steal in a hurry from the great list Donal compiled. Let me know if I've missed you out! I promise to follow you all too...

...and a portmanteau? floggers? boodie floggers? foodles? bloodies?...Any other suggestions?

Wexford Food Fair 2010

Keep the diaries free for Wednesday May 19th for the second Wexford Food Fair. The exhibitors list is brimming with Wexford pride with companies like Thai Gold, Wexford Home Preserves, Phelim Byrne's Cookery Academy, Greens Berry Farm and a couple of neighbours of mine down home, Stable Diet and Zanna Foods.

Yes, being a Wexford lass, ok yella belly as we're called, I'm proud to promote and be part of it. In fact this year I'm hosting fun interactive food workshops with 8-10 year old local school children (God help me!) on behalf of Safefood, which I am really excited about. My cutsie morning slot getting down with the kids is going to be big news and no way will I let it be overshadowed by the evening demonstrations from celebrity chefs (& friends) Neven Maguire and Phelim Byrne. Put down the milk lads, the apron is on and the knives are out!

THE Bill Granger

I was back at The Afternoon Show again today, this time setting up for THE Bill Granger...what a lovely man! He was very sweet and so smiley, you could just take him home! Bill was over to promote his gorgeous new cookbook (full of his trademark simple but tasty recipes), feed me now!...

I didn't manage to get a snap with Bill but I truely was lucky enough to meet and work with him - he did sign his cookbook for me though...

Bill cooked two recipes, a spicy prawn stir fry and a delicious coconut slice (which needless to say, didn't last long with the crew around!)....click here to check out demo recordings. Here's the stir fry recipe...

Spicy Prawn Stir Fry

. 2 tablespoons mild flavoured oil, such as sunflower
. 20 large prawns, shelled and deveined, with tails intact
. 2 tablespoons red curry paste
. 1 large onion, cut into thin wedges
. 400g asparagus, trimmed and cut into 4cm lengths on the diagonal
. 1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and cut into thin strips
. 200ml coconut milk
. 2 tablespoons lime juice
. 1 tablespoons fish sauce
. 1 teaspoon sugar

. Coriander leaves
. Steamed rice

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Add the prawns and stirfry for 2 minutes or until they turn pink and are just cooked. Remove and set aside.
2. Return the wok to a high heat, add the remaining oil, followed by the curry paste, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the onion and asparagus and stir fry for 2 minutes, then add the red pepper and cook for a further 1 minute.
3. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, and stir to combine. Return the prawns to the wok and cook for a further minute or until they are heated through.
4. Scatter over some coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice.

wexford food fair

I'm just back from Wexford where (after having a sneeky much needed couple of days R&R) I was at a school fund raising Food Fair. Local food producers and suppliers had stands there, including Thai Gold and Carrigbyrne Farmhouse Cheeses as well as companies such as chef Phelim Byrne's fab cookery school and also Good Food Ireland. Phelim did a great demonstration to kick off the evenings events, followed by good buddy Neven Maguire who received a great welcome to Wexford. Hopefully plenty of money was raised for the local school.

Gordon Ramsay's Taste of Christmas...DONE!

I had a fantastic time in London the week before last, working on Gordon Ramsay's Taste of Christmas. It was organised by Brand Events and held in Excel in East London. I organised and managed Gordon's dems in the main theatre where we got through 14 dems over four days. I was helped by four fantastic crew - three of whom came from the cookery school Gordon is involved with, Tante Marie.

Me, Lisa, Sarge, Bianca, The Big G, Helouise
& Liam with two of Gordon's girls in the front.

Sarge (Mark Sargent) from Claridges also cooked and performed with Gordon in a hilarious Christmas themed production. Sarge was even unfortunate enough to end up dressing as a fairy and flying over the audience sprinkling fairy dust, need I say more. Each show, eight lucky people got the chance to come up on stage and be wined, gin'd (!) and dined while the chefs cooked. They had three yummy courses: roast chestnut, parsnip and apple soup (see recipe below), duck breast with braised chicory and almond sprouts and finally pear frangipane tart with ice cream.

Sarge making Christmas wishes come through!

Once we got over two very hectic rehearsals on the first day, I am very relieved to say that everything went really well. The big G didn't come after me waving any 'Kitchen Nightmare' tokens at least, phew!

Gordon Ramsay's Taste of Christmas, happy to say....DONE!
Now, pour me a Gin!

ROAST CHESTNUT, PARSNIP & APPLE SOUP

This soup is very quick and simple to make and is seriously delicious. I'm hooked on it! If you watched Cookalong on Friday night, this was the starter you would have seen Gordon cooking. It is adapted slightly from the recipe in his new book, Cooking for Friends.

Serves 4

• 50g butter
• 2 medium parsnips, peeled and grated
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• 1 tsp curry powder
• Small bunch sage
• 250g roasted chestnuts, shelled, skinned and roughly chopped (vac packed are perfect for this)
  
• 800ml – 1 litre hot vegetable or chicken stock
• 100ml single cream
• Olive oil to drizzle
  
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Melt the butter in a wide pan and add the parsnips. Allow to cook out briefly before adding the celery followed by the apples.

2. Add the curry powder and tear in a couple of sage leaves.

3. Season with salt and pepper and allow to soften before adding the chestnuts.

4. Pour in the stock. Cover and allow to simmer for 4–5 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the cream.

6. Use a hand-held stick blender or a regular blender to liquidise the soup to a smooth and creamy purée (you may need to do this in batches if using a jug blender).

7. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Foodie Fund Raiser

Last night saw another hugely successful fund raising event for The Burrow National School in Sutton. Howth golf club was packed to the gills with (mostly) women dying to get a slice of Neven Maguire and his cooking.

The school's parents committee, (including my friend Orla Broderick) did a fantastic job organising the event and made sure everyone had a tipple of wine, a taster of Neven's food to nibble on and a jam packed goody bag to take home.

Neven performed a fantastic dem, really informative and hugely entertaining. He is hilarious, and being his 'glamorous assistant', I took a bit of flack (and gave back a little too of course!).

He cooked three courses; some bruschettas first (see recipes below), then a grilled rib eye steak with smoked paprika & red pepper butter and a garlic mash, followed by pear belle helene. All the recipes are from his new book 'Neven's Food From the Sun' (which Orla also worked on), due to hit the shops soon.

BRUSCHETTA PLATTER

Serves 4-6

12 thick slices country bread, preferably sourdough

1 garlic clove, halved

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the grill or a griddle pan and use to toast the bread on both sides. Remove from the heat and immediately rub one side with a piece of garlic. Drizzle over the olive oil and cut the slices of bread in half if they are very large. Use immediately with a selection of the delicious toppings listed below. Arrange on large serving platters or trays to serve.

GOAT’S CHEESE AND ONION MARMALADE

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan and sauté three thinly sliced red onions until softened. Stir in 225g (8oz) of finely chopped ready-to-eat dried figs, two crushed garlic cloves, a glass of red wine and two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Simmer for about 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated, then stir in a teaspoon of caster sugar and a good pinch of chopped fresh thyme. Season to taste and leave to cool completely, then spread on to the bruschetta and arrange 450g (1lb) of thinly sliced goat’s cheese on top. Flash under the grill until the goat’s cheese has melted.

ARTICHOKE & PARMESAN PUREE

Place the contents of a 300g (11oz) drained jar of artichoke hearts in a food processor with a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, 50g (2oz) of freshly grated Parmesan and a squeeze of lemon juice. Blitz to form a smooth paste and then with the motor running, slowly add three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil until well combined. Season to taste and spread thickly over the bruschetta.

PARMA HAM WRAPPED ASPARAGUS WITH TAPENADE

To make a rough textured tapenade, simply mix 250g (9 oz) of chopped pitted black olives in a bowl with the juice of a lemon, three tablespoons of chopped capers, six chopped anchovy fillets, one crushed garlic clove and two tablespoons of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley. Season to taste and add enough extra-virgin olive oil to form a thickish paste. Spread 12 slices of Parma ham with some of the tapenade and then use to wrap 12 blanched asparagus spears. Spread the rest of the tapenade over the bruschetta and top with the Parma ham wrapped asparagus rolls.

I Heart Belfast

I had a fantastic time in Belfast at the weekend. I was there with work but definitely managed to fit in a bit of play! I was working with a really lovely team at Belfast City Council who were hosting a great food festival there. I organised demonstrations in Georges Market on Saturday afternoon for celebrity chefs Paul Rankin and Nick Nairn. I hadn't seen the guys for ages (having not worked on 'Ready, Steady, Cook' for over a year now) so we had a great catch up.

I was put up in a very swanky hotel, The Merchant, which I totally loved every minute of (mood lit baths, chocolate truffles brought with the turn down service and gorgeous cocktails in the bar before hitting the town). Then, I met the team for a delicious dinner in Paul's restaurant, Cayenne, before heading out clubbing.

Slightly sore heads the next day, but the dems went really well. Emma-louise Johnson presented with enthusiasm and the chefs managed to draw a huge crowd, which is great for the market no doubt. They first of all cooked their own recipes, two of which are below. The second part of the dem was an 'against the clock, cook-off' using ingredients a punter had bought in the market, which was a lot of fun. As usual they blew everyone away with the dishes they came up with on the spur of the moment.

The boys working the crowd & Emma Louise doing her thang

So all in all, a fantastic gig to work on....just the small issue of all those boxes of equipment that still need to be unpacked, yawn!

here are a couple of the recipes from the event:

PAUL’S SEARED SQUID WITH CHILLI GREMOLATA AND BLACK PASTA

SERVES 4

450 g (1 lb) squid, about 10-12.5 cm (4-5 in) long

250 g (9 oz) black tagliatelle (or other black pasta)

2 tbsp light olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

175 g (6 oz) yellow and red cherry tomatoes, halved

CHILLI GREMOLATA OIL

2 large red chillies, finely chopped

4 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Grated zest of ½ lemon

1 tbsp lemon juice

120 ml (4 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil

To prepare the squid, separate the head and tentacles from the body and discard the stiff cartilage quill. Cut the head free from the tentacles and discard. Remove the purplish skin. Clean and rinse the squid, then cut the large tentacles in half and the body into 1 cm (½ in) ringlets.

To make the gremolata oil, simply stir all the ingredients together. Heat very gently, set aside and keep warm.

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until al dente. Meanwhile, heat the light olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. When the oil is almost smoking, add the squid and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 1½-2 minutes, until the squid turns from opaque to white. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

To serve, toss the drained pasta in 2-3 tbsp of the gremolata oil. Divide the pasta between the warmed plates, then spoon over the squid and tomatoes. Drizzle with more gremolata oil and serve.

595 cals per portion
34 g fat per portion

Nick's Hot Blairgowrie Raspberry Souffle

400g raspberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

100g caster sugar

2 tsp crème de framboise

1 tsp cornflour

180g egg whites (about 6)

pinch of cream of tartar

Icing sugar, to serve

Press the raspberries through a fine sieve to produce 180g of purée. Put this into a thick-bottomed pan, add the lemon juice and reduce down to a thick jam, stirring from time to time and being careful not let it catch and burn.

Put 70g of the sugar in a separate pan. Melt it, then boil until it becomes a thick syrup (121°C on a sugar thermometer). To test without a thermometer, dip a teaspoon into the syrup and then quickly into cold water. You should be able to roll the cooling syrup into a ball between your fingers. But be careful as the syrup is exceedingly hot! When it has reached the right point, stir the hot syrup into the raspberry jam.

Mix the framboise and cornflour together and stir into the jam over the heat. This will help the jam to thicken. Turn the jam into a small bowl, sprinkle the surface with icing sugar and cover closely with cling film. This can all be done the day before and kept in the fridge. Return the jam to room temperature before using.

When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Slowly whisk the egg whites with the cream of tarter until you can form soft peaks, then fold in the remaining caster sugar, taking care not to overwhisk. Lightly fold the whites into the jam, leaving thin traces of white visible in the mixture. Spoon into four buttered and sugared large ramekins, place these on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.

Transfer the ramekins to plates. Dust the hot soufflés lightly with icing sugar. Serve immediately.