The Menu: Farmhouse Cheese
Like many of his temporarily sun-enchanted fellows, The Menu has decamped lock, stock and barbecue to local beaches, rediscovering haunts long lost to the biblical floods that usually constitute an Irish summer. Which is how he found himself in Kinsale one recent and most glorious Wednesday morning, shuffling and slurping his way through the excellent little Farmer’s Market. A further nose around town provided ample evidence of new culinary stirrings afoot triggering a return trip the following weekend to find the stunning seaside hamlet doing a fine impersonation of Cote D’Azur. Homemade ravioli and a lovely pizza of Frank Hederman’s Smoked Mackerel, Beetroot and Horseradish Cream in Bruno’s, was followed by a short schlep down the road to the very wonderful Black Pig Wine Bar for sherry, cheese, chocolates (from local chocolatier Frank ‘Koko’ Keane) and splendid and sprightly Kinsale Pale Ales. It all proved so alluring, there was insufficient time for a planned visit to the much-heralded Shanghai Express but The Menu shall return. All in all, proof positive that Kinsale is very much on the up once more and when ‘local’ Irish is good, there is nothing finer in the world.
Wicklow Slow Food host a pot luck in Ballinteer (Aug 8 at 7.30pm; free to members/non-members; email: wicklow@slowfoodireland.com). Guests bring a dish and a bottle for the unveiling of the impending €5 Challenge, a series of monthly dinners, each ‘host’ spending no more than five bucks a skull on locally sourced, seasonal and/or wild food, adhering to the Slow Food ethos.
Cooleeney Farmhouse Cheese will be in the newly-expanded On The Pig’s Back Cafe, Douglas (Aug 2, 12pm-3pm), demonstrating their Baked Cooleeney (www.onthepigsback.com).
The John Saul Picnic and Vintage Fair (Aug 5, 12-5pm), in the glorious gardens of Castlemartyr Resort, celebrates the late, great local horticulturalist, who also designed and developed much of the emerging landscape of 19th Century Washington DC. Along with myriad vintage stalls, a retro ‘best-dressed’ competition and children’s activities including a ‘hospital’ offering triage to traumatised Teddys. The John Saul Picnic takes place in the glorious gardens, so, either bring your own blanket and basket or avail of bountiful local breads, cheeses, preserves, sangers and a pig on a spit. www.castlemartyrresort.ie
It took some time to convince The Menu of the merits of rapeseed oil — and, boy, did he try, very keen on the notion of a local alternative, other than fine Irish butter, to his beloved extra virgin olive oil. But it took a taste of Kitty Colchester’s Second Nature Organic Cold-Pressed Rapeseed Oil to finally open his mind to the possibilities therein. So, when she dispatched her new range of infused oils, The Menu was slavering, palate ever-ready, ending up most taken with the Lemon — its citric kick softening in the mellow, nutty oil, especially fine in an alternative pesto of rocket, garlic and roasted hazelnuts. secondnatureoils.com
