The menu: Food news with Joe McNamee
IN FINE VOICE
The Menu’s great compadre, Kitty Scully, horticulturalist, grower and erstwhile TV gardener is currently heading up the highly progressive growing project (including herb pyramid, geodome and hens) on the grounds of VoxPro, under the aegis of its extremely enlightened CEO, Dan Kiely. Their very first Voxpro Urban Garden Festival (August 26), a day-long exploration of self-sufficiency in smaller urban spaces, held in the company’s extensive grounds in Loughmahon Technology Park, features talks, demonstrations, family-friendly entertainment and shopping to gardeners of levels.
Highlights include: Fergal Smith, surfer-turned-grower heading up the extraordinary Moyhill Community Farm, in Co Clare: Susan Turner, Head Gardener, at Ballymaloe House, on vertical and container gardens.
The main tent offers talks/demos on starting out with pigs, beekeeping and beginning a smallholding from scratch.
Rachel Allen cooks a farm-to-fork feast in the permanent disco-ball pizza oven in the Voxpro Garden while medicinal herbalist John Vaughan leads foraging walks. Family fun comes courtesy of Blue Boar Viking reenactment, swing boats, vintage carousel and live animals and retail stalls offer plants, garden accessories, seeds, medicinal herbs and fine edible fare.
(Entrance €3, children U12 free).
www.voxprogroup.com
TASTE OF WATERFORD
Collaboration is the name of the game at the Waterford Harvest Festival (September 7-9) with splendid alliances springing up between fine local chefs and stellar imports: La Boheme’s Eric Theze partners up with a fine old mucker of The Menu’s, Kevin O’Toole, of Dublin’s Chameleon restaurant, for a multi-courser of authentic Indonesian dishes.
The Bay Tree Bistro’s Keith Boyle hosts Eddie Atwell, Executive head chef at Glengarrif’s Eccles Hotel and former contestant on the Great British Menu, along with Glen Wheeler (head chef/proprietor, 28 Darling St, Enniskillen) and Jim Mulholland (executive chef, Jean Christophe Novelli’s, Belfast). In addition, Bellissimo present a Taste of Waterford menu; Momo’s Kamila O’Neil celebrates her Polish heritage with a Flavours from Home menu; while new arrival, Everret’s, offer a Harvest Celebration Sparkling lunch. Bodega celebrate the Taste of the Sea, with locally caught fish starring while A Waterford Table Brunch at the Granary Café could a great way for later risers to break their fast.
Mezze host a Middle Eastern style pop-up at Garter’s Lane while the festival’s 10th birthday celebrations take place at the very splendid Parlour Vintage Tea Rooms and Tipple Room Wine Bar.
www.waterfordharvestfestival.ie
TODAY’S SPECIAL
If vegetables played football, then courgette would undoubtedly be cast in the role of utility player, an unflashy all rounder brought in to shore up whatever position is in need of filling.
Its versatility is without question yet rarely if ever is it allowed to hog the spotlight as the star striker; indeed, indignity of indignities, the closest it ever gets to lifting the trophy is when flower, not fruit, is served up, say stuffed or fried in crispy batter, while the most exotic (Quixotic?) thing that’s happened to the humble fruit itself in recent times is the frankly bizarre flirtation with spiralising.
Part of the problem is most courgettes are sourced out of season from the supermarket shelves, inferior, bland imports best employed as bulking agents, flavour coming courtesy of compadres in the cauldron.
The Menu, however, has been relishing the very finest of locally-grown courgettes at the zenith of their growing season, purchased at West Cork farmers’ markets from Bradley Putze and Deirdre McElligot, of Lisheen Greens, just outside Skibbereen, whose range of splendid organically-farmed, chemical-free produce, includes gorgeously flavoursome tomatoes and exquisite Carolus potatoes but it was a Lisheen courgette that truly floated The Menu’s boat.
Served as a ‘carpaccio’, sliced wafer-thin and dressed with with sea salt, punchy Lisheen Greens ‘wasabi’ rocket leaves, olive oil, toasted walnuts and a snowstorm of finely grated four-year-old Coolea cheese for a truly sumptuous yet entirely raw feast, the courgette, for once, the playmaker.
- www.facebook.com/LisheenGreens
BEER OF THE WEEK
■ Stockists: Bradleys, Porterhouse, DrinkStore, Redmonds, SelectedCarry Out, Molloys, McHughs.
Lindemans is a family owned-brewery based in the historic beer pro-ducing region of Pajottenland, south west of Brussels. This traditional Kriek is a wild fermented lambic beer made with whole cherries and aged hop flowers using naturally occurring brettanomyces yeasts. It is then bottle conditioned and aged further. Brett and sour beers are in fashion and this old trooper counts as both.
This is a fascinating beer, pouring a deep cherry red colour with sour cherry aromas, a hint of chocolate and a distinct bretty, sweaty saddle character. Cherrieshit the palate first followed by a refreshing sour bitter flavours and a bone dry finish.
