The Menu: Foraging and cooking like a pro is easy with experts on hand
Mike Tweedie, Michelin-starred head chef of Adare Manor leads home diners in serving up his fine dining fare at their own tables with the Chef Supper Club
If you’ve ever fancied donning your whites and cooking alongside a Michelin-starred chef, then Adare Manor’s Mike Tweedie is the next to take to the culinary ‘stage’ in Damien Grey’s Liath restaurant, in Dublin, for a live online demo of the food you will also be cooking at home — all part of the Chef Supper Club home dining kit dinner for two.
Mike will be selecting ingredients from the best of his local suppliers, all worked up into a thoroughly achievable menu with Mike on hand to guide you through the tricky bits, including snacks of Dooncastle oyster teriyaki and Doonbeg crab raviolo; starter of turbot on the bone, with bouillabaisse and caviar; and dry-aged duck for main course.
And if you want to go the full hog, splendid sommelier Cathryn Bell (winerover.ie, formerly of Aimsir) will select two special wines for pairing with your meal. Delivery in Dublin, with city centre pickup points also available in Cork, Limerick and Galway.
An old Menu favourite returns, the Knockranny House Hotel & Spa Foraging Weekend (Oct 15 & 16) takes place when the autumnal harvest ensures the larder is stocked with some of the finest of local, seasonal fare.
Check-in on Friday with the weekend kicking off on Saturday morning as Will Williams (Walk on the Wildside) leads a foraging session in Knockranny Woods and Old Head Woods, seeking out wild mushrooms, to be cooked over campfire later that afternoon, followed by a glass of vino and a cooking demo from head chef Seamus Commons.
Saturday night’s dinner is always the highlight of the weekend with Seamus turning out a game-focussed feast, a tasting menu including venison and mushrooms. Package includes two nights B&B, tasting menu, foraging, wine tasting and cooking demo, from €320pps.
Nominations for the Irish Food Writers’ Guild 2022 Community Food Award are now open for any member of the public wishing to see a favourite individual, project or organisation recognised for their community food initiative with one of the most prestigious of all Irish food awards, celebrating social responsibility and ethics in food, for example, community gardens, food education projects or food businesses with a pronounced ethos of social responsibility.
Past winners have included Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme, Falling Fruit Ireland, Cork Penny Dinners, Sligo Global Kitchen, Irish Seed Savers and Bia Food Initiative. Closing date for entries is Oct 26.
Esteemed Georgina Campbell is a living legend of Irish food writing, her annual food awards always an imprimatur of all that is finest in Irish food. Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards 2021 winners worth checking out include: Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen (Restaurant); Damien Grey, Liath (Chef); Fitzgerald’s Woodland House & Spa, Limerick (Family Friendly Hotel) and latest Menu favourite Camus Farm Field Kitchen (Newcomer of the Year).
Other winners of note included Kenmare’s Park Hotel (Best 5-Star Hotel) and Mayo’s Ashford Castle (Best 5-star activity break), while special Happy Place awards went to Good Day Deli (Cafe) and Blair’s Inn (Pub). Kevin Aherne, of Sage Midleton received a Best Pivot award for moving into food retail during the pandemic. Community awards went to Claire Nash of Nash 19, in Cork (Person) and Seagull Bakery, in Waterford, picked up a Sustainable Producer award.
- Full list: ireland-guide.com
'Tis well known to one and all that The Menu loves nothing more than gathering family, friends and strangers (who invariably depart as friends!) around the table to share good food, fine wine and convivial companionship. And one of his most favourite spreads when doing same is an array of ‘nibbles’ — the class of fare best suited to random grazing, such as cheeses, charcuterie, cold fish and meats, pickles, salads and some good bread, with some choice condiments on hand to enhance the various produce.
So The Menu is especially partial to A Bit on the Side: a superb range of jellied condiments using premium Irish produce that adds wonderful grace notes of flavour to all manner of foodstuffs, especially cheeses and meats, without ever overwhelming the star of the show — and the potential flavour combinations are near infinite.
Sweet and spicy bestseller, Red Jalapeno jelly, goes well with cold chicken, cheeses, especially Crozier Blue — and a spoonful added at the last minute to a pan of butter-glazed coriander carrots was quite the treat.
Wine & Tarragon jelly is especially versatile, very fine reduced into butter that has fried white fish and poured over same, and elevates cold boiled eggs from pub snack to gourmet treat. Port & Balsamic is equally splendid with sweet as it is with savoury dishes, quite divine when allowed to soften into a near-syrup atop baked camembert fresh from the oven, to be eaten with crisp green leaves and crunchy baguette.
The Menu got up to some mighty experimentation with a Basil Jelly, including warming it to a syrup for cocktails. And if salamis, prosciuttos, jamon and various other cured or fresh cooked cold pork cuts are an essential part of The Menu’s spread, then they are all the better for being paired with the Sage & Cider Jelly (including Slane Cider Mills’ Cockagee Cider), all in all, making The Menu very partial to A Bit on the Side!
