Heart of the home

NOWADAYS more than ever before we need comfort food. So I’m going to devote my first column of the year to simple homely dishes guaranteed to warm and cheer the family when they traipse in tired and hungry from school or after a long day’s work.

Hearty wholesome dishes that will fill the kitchen with the smell of delicious home cooking. The sort of food that everyone will want to tuck into around the kitchen table.

A few weekends ago, when I was down in Kerry at the Listowel Food Fair, I popped into see Mary Keane in JB Keane’s pub in Church Street. Mary is a hugely entertaining woman with a lyrical Kerry lilt and a no-nonsense approach to life — she loves her food and some time ago brought me into her own kitchen to teach me how to make proper Listowel pies.