Articles

Just outside Cong, in the Ashford Castle Estate, Lisloughrey Lodge is a contemporary hotel with a lovely Georgian house at its heart and, with views down Lough Corrib, it enjoys one of the most beautiful locations in Ireland. Situated in two rooms on the first floor of the old house, Salt Restaurant is perfectly placed to make the most of the view - just as Head Chef Wade Murphy’s menus make the most of the superb foods that are available to him, including many from the immediate area.
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With the nation’s foodie mindset already well tuned in to sustainable living – thousands of us started allotments this year, and no allotment is complete without its bijou chicken run – the next stage is to re-learn all the practical skills that our grandparents took for granted.
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Now widely recognised as a ‘superfood’, blueberries are virtually fat and cholesterol free, low in calories, high in vitamins A and C high in dietary fibre, high in calcium, require little sweetening - and have more antioxidants than most other fruits and vegetables...
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Brave (not the word he would use), talented and inspirational, Nick Price is a larger than life character in the Northern Ireland food world, and has played a key role in many of the good things that have developed there in recent years. Although it wasn’t their first venture in the world of hospitality, Nick and his wife Kathy (a constant presence in this book, as in life) are best known for their Hill Street restaurant in Belfast, Nick’s Warehouse, which they created out of dereliction in the 1980s in what has now become the trendy ‘Cathedral Quarter’.
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Nectarines are a smooth-skinned variety of peach, the fruit of a hardy deciduous tree. Peaches are native to China, but they are widely grown in other areas, including Europe; even in Britain and Ireland they can be grown under glass or in polytunnels – or as fan-trained trees on warm south or south-west facing walls. Nectarines are slightly less hardy than peaches and need sheltered sites for successful cultivation out of doors.
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When his much loved Newbridge hotel, The Red House, was destroyed by fire a few years ago Brian Fallon (of Fallon & Byrne in Dublin) brought the whole team to this well known premises in the attractive village of Kilcullen. Following major renovations throughout, the building emerged with a beguiling interior - a stylish blend of old and new that will be familiar to anyone who remembers The Red House - and a very relaxing atmosphere.
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There has been great interest in the fabulous cookbook Truly Tasty (Atrium, hardback 332pp, original photography throughout; €19.95/£17.95), which was compiled by successful kidney transplant recipient, Valerie Twomey, as part of her ongoing campaign to promote organ donor awareness, with all royalties going to the Irish Kidney Association. And no wonder - who wouldn’t be glad of a bit of inspiration and guidance from the likes of Ross Lewis (Chapter One), Catherine Fulvio (Ballyknocken House & Cookery School), Derry Clarke (l'Ecrivain), Domini Kemp (Itsa4), Neven Maguire (MacNean House & Restaurant) and Rachel Allen, to mention only a few of the famous chefs who have each contributed recipes for a three-course meal to this unusual book.
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Joe and Eileen Condon’s farm close to the Knockmealdown mountains in Co Tipperary, is a model farm for a state initiative “Farming with Altitude”, which has been developed to encourage use of the 450,000 acres of commonage in Ireland. On their hill farm they produce exceptionally flavoursome beef, traceable from mountain to marketplace, using farming methods that are a model of sustainability.
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You don’t have to be walking in wild windswept places to find good things along the shoreline at this time of year – shoreline plants will grow anywhere they can get a hold in salty areas between the sea and the land proper, so there are plenty of foraging opportunities on summer walks along the edge. The range gradually changes through the season but there is overlap between the times when the common varieties are available and no shortage of edible finds right through the summer.
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It is always a pleasure to see classic cookbooks coming out again in shiny new covers and specialist publishers Grubb Street have some treats lined up for us in the coming months - Elizabeth David fans, in particular, will enjoy seeing some of her titles again, along with some other favourite kitchen classics.
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