Room for relaxation - and then some

A night away is always a special thing.

A night away when you have children (even if you have to bring the Small Girl, who still likes milk direct from Mama) and an ever-demanding brewery is even more precious.

When you only have to drive half-an-hour from home, you don’t have to leave to find food for dinner and you get to stay in the biggest room I’ve ever had the pleasure of sleeping in – there were five, five, large windows – then that night away is getting off to a mighty good start.

Read the rest here:
Caroline Hennessy in Ballinterry House | The Bridgestone Guides

Fruit ready for macerating

At this time of year there are certain days – damp and cold and dreary days – that make you wonder if summer will ever come. That’s when you want some of this Rhubarb, Strawberry and Lemon Jam, flecked with candied pieces of fruit, on your breakfast toast. Or dolloped on top of yoghurt. Or even, ahem, eaten straight from the spoon.

Rhubarb has been on stream for a while now but, after pouncing on my first Irish strawberry last week, I couldn’t resist this recipe from Melissa Clark’s Cook This Now. The book is well named: I’ve had to go off and do exactly that with several of her recipes already (Grilled Sausages and Celeriac Salad with Hazelnuts is especially good) and there are a whole heap left to try as I work my way, chapter by chapter, through the months of the year.

Crispy Brown Butter Mushrooms are on the menu for a stash of fresh fungi from Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms, Melissa has got me looking at pot roasting in a whole new light (Pot Roasted Lamb with Meyer Lemon) and I’m going to have to talk to my local butcher about getting beef short ribs for her Chilli Coconut Braised Beef Short Ribs.

I’ve always enjoyed Melissa’s A Good Appetite columns in the New York Times: Cook This Now makes it easier to bring her right into your kitchen.

Rhubarb, Strawberry and Lemon Jam
There isn’t a lot of pectin in either rhubarb or strawberries so this is a soft set jam, which makes it easier for stirring through yoghurt or spreading on scones. Leaving the ingredients to stand, or macerate, overnight leaves you with little chunks (depending on your chopping!) of preserved rhubarb and strawberries dotted through the jam.

Rhubarb – 350g, rinsed, trimmed and chopped into 1cm pieces
Strawberries – 175g, rinsed, trimmed and chopped into 1cm pieces
Sugar – 425g. I used vanilla caster sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Night before
Put the chopped rhubarb and strawberries into a large bowl and mix through the sugar, lemon zest and juice. Give an occasional stir and leave to stand overnight.

Making the jam
First prepare your jars – this amount will fill 3-4 small 150ml jars. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse and dry. Preheat the oven to 160°C and sterilise the jars by heating them for 10 minutes. Lids will only need 5 minutes.

Put a saucer into the freezer for testing.

Sieve the fruit/sugar mixture into a wide saucepan. Reserve the fruit for later, bring the juice to the boil over a medium heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until it reaches 110°C on a sugar thermometer. Tip in the fruit, bring to the boil again and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Test for setting by dripping a little jam on the cold saucer. Set aside for a minute then, if the jam wrinkles when pushed gently with your finger, it is ready.

Pour the hot jam into hot jars, up to within 2cm of the top, and seal immediately with the hot lids.

Makes: 3-4 small 150ml jars.

Adapted from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark.

Read more
In season: Rhubarb Rosewater Cake
Strawberries for not so sunny days: Strawberry and Peach Sundae

The soup that turned into a stew

Stock making is often a bone (ahem) of contention. Cooks from one school of thought say that you’re missing out on one of the best parts of a roast chicken if you don’t make your own stock. The other believe that life’s too short to be bothered.

I must hold my hand up here and admit that I – like my mother and grandmother before me – am a regular stock maker, bones fished off people’s plates and stashed in the freezer until I get a chance to load up my biggest saucepan. Homemade chicken stock is undoubtedly the best addition to soups and risotti, lending them a silky unctuousness that you just can’t get from anything else. My stock of stock never lasts too long.

There are easy – and tasty – ways around that job. If I’m poaching a chicken, the broth is used as stock,  a few ladlefuls reserved for pouring over the basmati rice and lentil dish that often accompanies the chicken. The other day, faced with some random chicken thighs – too much for one, not enough to feed the brewers for dinner - Allegra McEvedy came to the rescue with a recipe that turned the thighs into stock and then used them in a soup.

In my hands, with added barley and spring cabbage, this turns into a stew. Think of it as an ultra tasty way of making three pieces of chicken feed six – and a lighter kind of stew for these capricious summer (ha!) days.

Read more:
Homemade peanut butter from Bought, Borrowed & Stolen by Allegra McEvedy
Leon: Naturally Fast Food by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent
Leon: Ingredients and Recipes

Chicken, Mushroom and Barley Stew with Spring Greens
This is a recipe that really repays every cent you spend on free range chicken. Better bones = better stock.

Stage 1
Free range chicken thighs – 3
Carrot – 1, cut in half lengthwise
Celery – 2 sticks, broken in half
Onion – 1, cut in half
Garlic – 3 cloves, peeled
Bay leaves – 2
Whole peppercorns – 3

Stage 2
Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
Onion – 1, sliced
Garlic – 3 cloves, peeled and sliced
Carrot – 1, diced
Bay leaves – 2
Pearl barley – 250g
Dried mushrooms – 10g. I use dried shiitakes from Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms
Spring cabbage or similar greens – 1/2, shredded
Butter – 1 tablespoon
Button mushrooms – 250g, cut into quarters
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Stage 1
Put the chicken thighs, the carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns into a large stock pot.

Cover with 1.5 litres of cold water and place on a medium heat. Skim if necessary and simmer for approximately 60 minutes until the chicken is falling off the bone. Allow to cool until you can manage to fish out the thighs without burning your fingers, pull off the flesh and chop into small chunks.

Stage 2
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan that will be able to take all everything later. Throw in the sliced onion and garlic and allow to cook slowly over a low heat, for about 20 minutes, until soft. Add the diced carrot, pearl barley and bay leaves. Strain the liquid from stage 1 directly into the saucepan.

Meanwhile, soak the dried mushrooms in 1 tablespoon boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove, chop and add, with the soaking water, to the pot.

Simmer gently for about an hour, until the barley is cooked.

About 10 minutes before you want to eat, add chopped chicken and shredded cabbage to the pot. Heat the butter in a frying pan and cook the quartered button mushrooms on a high heat until golden. Scrape into the soup, season well – this needs lots of black pepper – and serve in shallow bowls. A grating of parmesan over the top wouldn’t go amiss, especially if you’re trying to persuade a Little Missy to eat up.

Serves 6.

Adapted from Leon by Allegra McEvedy.

Crackling disappearing already

The Tannery, Nude Food, Dungarvan Brewing Company: there’s plenty of good eating and drinking in Dungarvan at any time of the year – but especially when the Waterford Food Festival rolls around.

My report for The Bridgestone Guides from the sun-soaked Sunday festival market is here: Caroline Hennessy at the Waterford Food Festival | The Bridgestone Guides.

Read more:
Waterford Food Fair 2008

Just ready for soup

Picking food in all seasons in woodlands and meadows is great fun – especially when you get something as tasty as Nettle Soup as an end result. Writing for SilverCircle.ie, Caroline Hennessy tells you what you need to know to get started. First published in 2009.

***

One of the pleasures of living in the country is having a wealth of wild food available all year round – it is just a matter of looking for it. No matter what the season or weather, it’s always worth keeping an eye out. Walks can be much enlivened by having a copy of Richard Mabey’s Food For Free or Wild Food by Roger Phillips tucked into a pocket so you can figure out if that plant really is deliciously sharp wild sorrel, perfect for a spring salad, or just another dock leaf.

As country children, guided by our elders, every walk down the fields involved a feast. We bit into sloes for dares, puckering our mouths up with their sharp astringency; buckets of blackberries and crab apples were collected each year for my grandmother to make jam; wild blueberries were a special treat on walks in the woods and hills; and we couldn’t go past a patch of honeysuckle without gathering a handful to suck the sweet nectar. We also learned never to eat anything new without bringing it back to be checked first.

But, compared to many of our contemporaries, we were just novice foragers. As kids who disliked green vegetables of every kind, we had no regard for the early summer watercress and wild garlic, being away from the sea we missed out on the year-round riches of seaweeds and shellfish, and there were many more edible mushrooms than we ever dreamed of.

Such pleasures are also available to the city based. Drifts of wild garlic can be found in the Phoenix Park each May, just waiting to be turned into pesto, soup or used to flavour a ravioli filling. Nettles are also available – and easily identified – everywhere. Spring is the best time to pick and eat nettles, when they are still young and tender. Once you’ve dared to grasp your nettles (rubber gloves make the job a lot easier), nettle soup is traditional or, like spinach, nettles can be used in quiches or on top of pizzas.

There are numerous foraging courses on offer – as with wild food, it’s just a matter of seeking them out.

Nettle Soup
55g butter
300g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
100g onions, chopped
100g leeks, chopped
1 litre chicken stock
150g young nettle leaves, picked using rubber gloves, stripped from their stems and chopped
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add the potatoes, onions and leeks and season well. Put the lid on the pan and cook over a gentle heat for 5 minutes until soft but not coloured.

Add the stock and boil until the vegetables are cooked, about 10 minutes. Toss in the chopped nettle leaves and simmer uncovered for another 4-5 minutes until the nettles are soft and wilted.

Liquidise or purée with an immersion blender. Season to taste and serve immediately. Serves 4-6.

Useful Contacts:
Slow Food Ireland run a selection of foraging events in different areas around the country. Check for details at www.slowfoodireland.com

Read more:
Wild Damson Vodka
Lyric fm: Foraging
Irish Seaweed Kitchen by Prannie Rhatigan
The Irish Mail on Sunday: If you go down to the woods today…

Food for cold days

When an unseasonably warm March – oh, those lovely days of summer clothes and sandals! - segues into a freezing April, it’s time for a robust but gently spiced pot of (Home)Baked Beans.

That’s not to say that these can’t be enjoyed at other times of the year, but there’s certainly something very cosy and comforting about tucking into some beans on toast when it is, as at the moment, hailing and storming outside the window.

The (Home)Baked Beans are also especially warming if you forget to check the level of oil in your external central heating before putting it on when there’s a sudden cold snap and end up out of fuel and with an air lock. Ahem.

Because this is best made with beans that you’ve cooked from scratch – hence the Kitchen Project label – I often make this dish over a couple of days, cooking the beans one morning then finishing them off the following day. In a hurry? You could always substitute four cans of white beans.

On the other hand, if you get the cooking-beans-from-scratch bug, it’s always easiest to cook 500g at a time. Add flavourings like a split carrot, halved onion, a couple of celery sticks and some bay leaves to the cooking water before freezing the beans, in their tasty cooking liquid, in 300g portions.

Pre-soaking the beans always cuts down on the cooking time and makes them more digestible. But, if you forget to soak the beans the night before you want them, all is not lost. Simply cover the beans with cold water in a large saucepan, boil hard for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and leave sitting for an hour. Drain, rinse and cook as normal.

More beans:
Peas, beans, lentils and other useful things
A Mexican-style meal: Ruth’s Refried Beans, Guacamole and Salsa
Mexican moments: Mexican Beans
Vegetarian Cookalong: Greek Bean and Tomato Stew with Feta
Moving time: Sausage and Bean Hotpot
Squash for soup: Bean, Squash and Cabbage Soup
Warm Chickpea Salad with Parmesan
Portable food: Chickpea, Spinach and Tomato Curry

Beans for dinner, and breakfast, and lunch - and the freezer

(Home)Baked Beans
Sweetened with a combination of maple syrup and molasses, this recipe has a touch of Boston Baked Beans about it. I use mineral-rich blackstrap molasses, which gives a good bittersweet flavour to the dish. For the real Boston deal, use a 400g piece of pork belly instead of the streaky bacon and cook for 4 hours at 140°C (120°C fanbake).

Dried white beans eg cannellini, white haricot or butter beans- 500g
Onion – 1, finely sliced
Garlic cloves – 3, thinly sliced
Tomato purée – 2 tablespoons
Maple syrup – 2 tablespoons
Molasses – 2 tablespoons
Mustard powder (eg Colemans) – 3 teaspoons
Ground cinnamon – ½ teaspoon
Smoked paprika – 2 teaspoons
Cloves – 3
Bay leaf – 1
Streaky bacon – 1 x 250g packet, chopped into 5cm chunks
Freshly ground black pepper, sea salt

Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water. In the morning, drain and rinse the beans, cover with fresh water by about 5cm, and bring to the boil. Boil hard for about 10 minutes, then lower the heat and simmer gently for approximately an hour, until the beans are cooked. A good test is to remove a bean from the pot, blow on it and see if the skin bursts.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fanbake).

Remove the beans from the heat and drain, measuring the liquid and, if necessary, making it up to 500mls with extra water.

Place the beans in an ovenproof casserole dish, add the onions and garlic. Take a little of the reserved bean cooking liquid and whisk together with the tomato purée, maple syrup, molasses, mustard powder, cinnamon, smoked paprika and cloves. Pour this mixture over the beans and mix well with the bay leaf and chunks of streaky bacon. Season with pepper and cover snugly with the casserole lid or tin foil.

Bake in the preheated oven for an hour, remove the lid or foil, then return to the oven to cook uncovered for another 20 minutes so that the liquid can reduce slightly. Taste and season to taste.

Serve on buttered toast, with fried eggs, or over baked potatoes, topped with a dollop of crème fraîche and with some lemony braised broccoli on the side.

Serves 6 or 2, with plenty of leftovers for freezing.

Wicklow lamb with Dunlavin black pudding wrapped in belly of lamb

I’ve come to the conclusion that nice hotels, in many ways, are wasted on me. Swimming pool and gym on site? I’m allergic to chlorine and have never darkened the doors of a gym. Championship golf courses just outside the door? I’m with Mark Twain – “Golf is a good walk spoiled” - on that one.  Great kids’ facilities? I bring the Small Girl who, at six months old, isn’t exactly up for playground runarounds just yet.

But give me a comfortable airy room with plenty of room for the Small Girl’s bed, some good food and a decent walk that I can do without having to hop into my car – sometimes I need a way to justify all the eating! – and that’s me happy. Include some Irish craft beer in the equation and it’s not so easy to keep me away.

Last weekend, I – together with the Small Girl and my mother – took up an invitation to stay overnight and have dinner at Wicklow’s Druids Glen Resort. The hotel was showcasing some of its local partners, including cookbook author Catherine Fulvio, the Porterhouse Brewing Company and the Hempenstall family that produce Wicklow Farmhouse Cheese.

Malt samples from the Porterhouse Brewing Company

It’s not like you need to mention beer a second time to get me interested and pre-dinner drinks were with Porterhouse Master Brewer Peter Mosley. Together with Cork’s Franciscan Well and the Carlow Brewing Company, the Porterhouse Brewing Company are the only survivors from the first wave of microbreweries in Ireland. Their Temple Bar premises was a regular haunt for my friends in the late 1990s when we first moved to Dublin; we were fascinated with the fact that brewing happened on-site and loved the flavoursome pints, especially their oyster stout which, being brewed with live oysters, gave our vegetarian friends the shivers.

The smooth and ever-so-slightly saline oyster stout is still going strong but it was their lightly hoppy Hersbrucker pilsner and the rich – it’s 7% ABV - chocolaty celebration stout that made the greatest impression on Friday night. Peter had us thoughtfully sipping the beers, sniffing at the smelling salt-like hop pellets and tasting crunchy chocolate malt. I was in the middle of discussing accompanying foods when I heard that one of the canapés featured my favourite beef cheeks. These cubes of, first, slow cooked and then deep fried meat were good enough to merit me chasing the waiter around the room.

Off for a walk

(Incidentally, there’ll be more Porterhouse beverages, and many other beers, at Cork’s Franciscan Well Easter Beerfest this weekend, on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 April.)

Beer to start, but wine all the way for dinner. Loic, our waiter, was also the person who had imported and chosen the wines for the night. Fresh and fruity, the Domaine Sancerre Tassin was a good foil for my beef carpaccio starter, which came sprinkled with shavings of Cork’s own Desmond cheese. I loved the berry-rich, juicy Chateau Damase Bordeaux with my Wicklow lamb main course, the tender lamb fillet accompanied by a disc of sliced belly, which had been stuffed with black pudding. As with the beef cheek mouthful earlier, this was a way of adding interest – and value – to a cheap cut of meat.

At the end of a meal I wouldn’t normally be too fussed with desert (really!) but my passion fruit and orange tart, from a recipe developed with Catherine Fulvio, was a perfectly judged ending. Zesty and light, there was precious little left to share with those around me. Just in case there was any corner left unfilled, this was followed up with a cheese plate so that we could try Wicklow Gold, a sweet cheddar from Wicklow Farmhouse Cheese.

It was just as well that there was a walk in store; the next morning dawned bright – and early for me, with the Small Girl to holler for food – so there was plenty of time to figure out a route through the golf course that didn’t involve dodging flying balls. All in the pursuit of being able to eat more good food. And I didn’t even have to get into the car.

We were guests of Druids Glen Resort for their Partners’ evening, an event that was organised by Host PR.

Druids Glen Resort, Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow. +353 1 2870800 @druidsglenhotel

A great family cookbook

With six school-going children in her house, Cork woman Shelia Kiely has plenty of experience in figuring out what food will keep a family happy.

She’s not short of, as she mentions in the dedication, testers, helpers – or critics. And children can be merciless. Any recipes that have survived their oh-so-cautious consideration are definitely worth checking out: dishes like Pork Chops in Creamy Honey and Mustard Sauce, Spaghetti with Pesto, Bacon and Broccoli or Moroccan Meatballs are sure to become family favourites.

From dinners to DIY takeaways, baking to dinner parties, there are options here to keep everyone happy. Leftovers get used up in a way that guarantees kids won’t recognise that the dish has already graced the dining table – beef stew becomes a Cornish Pasty, tired pasta gets revitalised into a quick baked dish.

Pizza comes in three guises: with a proper yeast base, a quick scone base and even the cheat’s option, using ready made pitta bread, looks appetising. There are even simple menus for confirmation/communion/christening gatherings, along with cookalong schedules for events like the Christmas dinner.

With lots of ideas, none of them too complex, Gimmie the Recipe is a handy book for anyone who’s despairingly wondered what to feed their families for dinner.

Must try: Salmon in Soy Sauce, Apple and Blueberry Loaf Cake, Chocolate Chip Squares

Gimmie the Recipe by Shelia Kiely is published by Mercier Press.

A real storecupboard special

Butcher’s Sausage Hotpot
On Monday afternoon I read this recipe, realised that I had all the ingredients in the house and it was on the table for dinner that night. It is one of those dishes, however, that lives or dies by the quality of the sausages used. I had a pack of Bramley apple sausages from McCarthy’s of Kanturk and they were fantastic. Check out what your local butcher has on offer.

Salad potatoes – 1kg bag
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
Decent butcher’s sausages – 400g
Red onion – 1, peeled and cut into 8 segments
Vegetable or chicken stock – 500mls (I used Marigold stock powder)
Frozen peas – 400g
Butter
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Slice the potatoes in half, cover with cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer until partially cooked. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large heavy based frying pan that you can use in the oven and cook the sausages slowly on a medium heat, until well coloured. This can take from 10-15 minutes. At this stage, I cut the sausages into three so that they stretch a bit further. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the segments of red onion and fry for a few minutes.

Tip over the potatoes and spread into a roughly even layer. Mix the frozen peas with the stock, season with black pepper, then pour over the potatoes, sausages and onions. Bring to the boil, dot the potatoes generously with butter, and pop into the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and the stock has reduced.

Serve hot from the oven. Serves four.

Adapted from Gimmie the Recipe by Shelia Kiely.

Homemade peanut butter

Adventurous, curious and passionate about food, Allegra McEvedy comes across as someone who would be a fantastic travelling companion. Apart from the fact that, due to her obsession with collecting knives, she must spend a lot of time being stopped at customs and having to justify her latest purchase.

From a simple wooden-handled Turkish picnic knife to the sexy, single-edged Japanese tool made for eel cleaning, Bought, Borrowed & Stolen tells the stories behind Allegra’s acquisitions. Also included are a wide variety of recipes she picked up on her travels: think Brazilian Breakfast Juice, Oranges in Tangiers and Rooibos Malva Pudding from South Africa.

One of the founders of the healthy fast food chain, Leon, Allegra wrote their first cookbook and it was her opinionated, slightly breathless voice that made that book such a joy. B,B&S has a similarly big-hearted feel and, like the Leon book, there are plenty of irresistible recipes here. This book is both an esoteric travel guide and a series of snapshots from a life well-lived.

Must try: Stuffed Pot-Roast Chicken with Pine Nuts and Pomegranate Molasses, Rosemary’s Pumpkin Curry, Smoked Duck Breast with Beetroot, Horseradish and Rocket.

Bought, Borrowed & Stolen by Allegra McEvedy is published by Octopus.

Adventurous, curious and passionate

Homemade Peanut Butter
I had to try this homemade peanut butter which just uses peanuts and, if you think it needs it, some good flaky sea salt. If you have kids – or a Husband! – that likes peanut butter, they’ll be delighted that the leap from peanut-in-a-bag to peanut-butter-on-toast is so quick.

Salted peanuts – 1 bag
Irish Atlantic or Maldon sea salt – to taste

Preheat the oven to 160°. Scatter the peanuts  on a flat baking tray and roast for 15-20 minutes, checking and shaking regularly, until a deep golden brown.

Set aside for a few minutes to cool, then pulverise in a food processor or blender with 3-4 tablespoons of warm water. Add salt to taste – depending on how salty the peanuts are, you might not need any more – and, if necessary, more warm water until you are happy with the consistency.

Store in a sterilised jar in the fridge. Best eaten fresh!

Adapted from Bought, Borrowed & Stolen by Allegra McEvedy.

No fish - yet

Peace.
That’s something that’s in short supply these days, especially when life includes a demanding active toddler, a hungry adorable baby, four cats, two hens and a brewery.

Last Saturday, as I stood on a gently rocking boat off the coast of West Cork, fishing rod in hand, gazing across the sea at the Old Head of Kinsale, I had one of those rare moments when you know for certain that you’re totally relaxed. No smallies, no animals, no problems. It was just me, a few other newbie fisherpersons – and the fish that were to become our lunch.

We just had to catch them first.

***

The Husband and I were there with several other food bloggers as guests of Inchydoney Island Lodge. The fishing trip – a first for many of us – was part of a weekend that showcased the very best of West Cork food and hospitality. It was also pure indulgence.

The Nespresso machine in our room got an effective work out so that we could enjoy coffee on our balcony – in the sun! with chocolates! – while the Small Girl slept. Breakfasts were eaten in a bustling dining room overlooking the sparkling bay, with my favourite bircher muesli, just-baked walnut bread and fresh fish on offer, alongside the regular breakfast dishes.

Some butter - with a little bit of that walnut bread

But it wasn’t just sitting around and eating all weekend, oh no. The Small Girl enjoyed long walks in her sling on the pristine beaches either side of the hotel, enough justification – I told myself – for the amount of food that came our way.

We also paid close attention, from our balcony (with, ahem, coffee/chocolate/novel in hand), to the surfing school that was taking place on the beach below and promised ourselves that we’d do that, next time. On Saturday night Sally McKenna and Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking spoke passionately about their seaweed foraging trips: yet another reason to return.

After we checked out the variety of seaweed that Sally and Jim had brought with them, it was time for the pièce de résistance of the weekend – a spectacular meal, a Taste of West Cork, eaten in company with many of the producers featured on the menu. We had the good fortune to be sitting between Ummera‘s Anthony Creswell and Sara Devoy from Devoy’s Organic Farm so that we discussed growing unusual vegetables, the joys of polytunnels and hot vs cold smoking while devouring Ummera salmon, Castletownbere shellfish, a refreshing beetroot and raspberry dish and a delectable fillet of West Cork beef. There was a wild rabbit dish that, after our bunny issues at the cottage, we very much appreciated, the Husband looking for tips from rabbit-catcher extraordinaire Dan McCarthy.

The view from our balcony

Although we were satiated after five courses at table, which had been preceeded with morish oyster and pearl canapes (think smoked oyster pate in a mini cone, topped with jewel-like cod roe) as we gathered before dinner, chef Adam Medcalf still had a trick up his sleeve to finish.

Sweet Spring Chicken, Fresh Laid Eggs looked like breakfast had arrived early: to all appearances, it was a poached egg with toast soldiers for dipping. But the egg white was meringue, filled with lemon curd, and the fingers of “toast” were glazed shortbread.

***

It’s very easy to pay lip-service to the idea of local food but we saw the proof on our plates not just at that dinner but in the Glenilen butter on the table, the Ummera gravadlax in the breakfast buffet and the O Conaill’s chocolates in our room. Meeting the producers made real the connection between the hotel, its location and what we were eating. It also showed the importance of spending money nearby, making a difference to individuals, rather than sourcing ingredients from a faceless distributor.

And the fishing? Although none troubled my particular line – maybe they didn’t want to disturb the peace! – our boat came home with a triumphant catch of 22 pollock and colley. Fresh, sustainable and eaten for lunch, with some baked rooster potatoes and lots of that butter.

West Cork? There’s a lot of eating in it.

***

We were guests of the Inchydoney Hotel Lodge & Spa, as part of an event that involved several fellow food bloggers, and was organised by Conway Communications. The hotel also rents self-catering apartments and will organise activities for guests such as fishing, kayking and whale watching.  We discovered that you don’t need fishing experience to come home with lunch! 

Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa, Clonakilty, Co Cork. +353 (0)23 883 3143 @inchydoneylodge