Italian Night at Farmgate. Umbria & Valtellina Combine

Italian Night at Farmgate

Umbria & Valtellina Combine

Mirco and the wines of his home region

The Munster branch of the Irish Wine and Food Society were joined by quite a few others at last week’s Italian night in the Farmgate at the English Market. The menu was cooked in the style of Umbria (the green centre of Italy) by well known chef Adelaide Michelini, while the wines, chosen by the Farmgate's Mirco Fondrini from his home area of Valtellina (Lombardy), were making their debut in this part of the world.

Mirco was delighted to be able to bring his hometown gems to Cork. He had quite a display ready as the fifty plus guests arrived. Valtellina is in the foothills of the Alps that Italy shares with Switzerland. The valleys are deep and the sun reaches just one side, the side you'll see the houses and the vines on. Wine-making here is hard work but the Pietro Nera Vineyard in Chiuro thrives on it.

Our opening wines as we arrived included the Terrazze Retiche di Sondrio Bianco IGT. The 2014 “La Novella” was made from a blend of Nebbiolo (vinified to white), Rossola, Chardonnay and Incrocio Manzoni grapes. Quite a mix in the blend but this white, with its flavours of tropical fruits and balancing acidity, was a delight.

You won't see tractors in these vineyards!

Some of us picked the 2010 Valtellina Superiore DOCG “Sassella Alisio” as our opening drink. This bright ruby coloured red, a blend of Nebbiolo, Pignola and Rossola, all grown in the village of Sassella, was a hint of the serious wines to come, once we had finished our opening canapes. One was Chicken Liver pralines with hazelnuts and cocoa beans, the other a Savoury choux with mortadella and pistachio.

We continued with the reds as the meal was served, enjoying more of the Sassella before moving on to its older sister the 2008 Sassella Riserva, made from 100% Nebbiolo (called Chiavennasca in these parts!). The bouquet and hints of oak and the wine itself was strong, smooth and velvety.

Our final wine was also 100% Chiavennasca, but with a difference. This 2009 Valtellina was a ”passito” wine, made from partially dried grapes, not unlike the Veneto’s Amarone della Valpolicella. This was quite concentrated, 15% abv also, rich in flavour and aromas. It had been aged for 18 months in oak, rested in stainless steel and refined in bottle for at least eight months. Quite a selection overall by Mirco. Maybe someone will start importing from his region!

Adelaide

The position of Principal Chef Instructor for the Gambero Rosso's International Cooking Schools abroad - Bangkok, Miami, Seoul Hong Kong - has given Adelaide Michelini “the great privilege to bring the true Italian haute cuisine in the world”.

“In 2013 I was included within the Catering & Delivery section of the Gambero Rosso - Rome Guide. In 2014, I became a TV host, presenting my very own TV show called La buona cucina di Adelaide (Gambero Rosso Channel, 412 Sky Italia).”

Adelaide, now living in Cork, used local produce in her dishes at the Farmgate and the Antipasto was a Soft Truffle Egg with Potato Mousse. Then followed the Primo Piatto, a Toonsbridge Ricotta & Hazelnut Gnocchi in West Cork Swiss Chard Soup.

Soft Truffle Egg

And then we were on to the star dish, the Secondo Piatto: O'Mahony's Porchettina with fennel semifreddo and Autumn vegetables. The perfectly cooked round of pork, with embedded herbs, was a delight in itself but the combination with the icy fennel took it all to another level. Perfect!

The Dolce was described as Tiramisu...almost! Let’s says there was no shortage of cream, no shortage of coffee as the night with a difference came to a sweet end. Thanks to Mirco and Adelaide, and to Rebecca and the crew at the Farmgate.

The next IWFS event:

Sunday November 8th. Harvest Lunch in Longueville House. We will join William and Aisling O'Callaghan for a tour to see the orchards, presses and stills where they make their fantastic cider and brandy. After the tour and tasting, we will head to the house for a special harvest lunch. William and Aisling are great hosts, so this will be a really special day out. A bus will be laid on from Cork City so people can enjoy the cider and brandy. Buses leave Cork City Hall at 11am. Price for bus and tour, tasting and lunch €65 (€73 non-members).

A lot of people have already signed up. Indeed it is very close to the limit but if you'd like to attend, please send an email to iwfsmunster@gmail.com

Porchettina (Google translates this as naughty girl!)

Irish Fish - Two Ways. Hederman and Goatsbridge

Irish Fish - Two Ways

Hederman and Goatsbridge

Enjoyed an Irish fish dinner at the weekend, starting with smoked mackerel from Hederman’s and then a main course of fresh trout from Goatsbridge in Kilkenny.

If you want to buy Irish, you have to keep your eyes open and read the labels. That, surprisingly enough, applies to fish as well, not that too many of them will have labels!

Take Sea-bass as an example, a species that is protected here.  According to the fishmonger.ie website, we import wild Sea-bass from France and farmed version from Greece and Turkey. In all, in 2012, we imported (according to BIM figures) some €203 million worth of fish, a staggering 75,000 tonnes (mainly from Norway).

No problem buying Irish fish at your local market stalls but be careful in the supermarket, especially at the fresh fish counter. The Goatsbridge trout is not always sold under that name but the tag on the counter does say Irish farmed trout.

Cobh’s Frank Hederman is renowned for smoking fish. Not just mackerel but also salmon and do watch out as well for his mussels. If using mackerel in your main course, go for the whole fish but as a starter, the fillets (which come plain or coated with chives or chili) are fine. We used the chive one and bought it at the English Market. By the way, the salad and the baby beets both came from Derek’s Green Field Farm stall at the Mahon Point Farmers Market.

Over then to the local Dunne’s Stores for the trout and that was eventually served with seasonal vegetables and new potatoes. The potatoes and carrots were also bought at Mahon, from the Burns farm stall. And if you do call to Sandra and Joe, be sure and get some of their fabulous Vegetable Crisps.

The vegetables, for the trout, were done using Edward Hayden's Prepare-Ahead Vegetable method, detailed in his book Food to Love (pub. 2011). Basically, the veg are cooked separately, then cooled off, and kept in the fridge; take them out close to dinner-time and cook them all together, not forgetting to blanch and refresh! Got that book in the library the other day and it is proving very handy indeed.

Speaking of local, the raspberries for the delicious soufflé came from the back wall. Thankfully, the considerate blackbirds left just enough for us! Very satisfactory meal overall, especially suited to this time of year. Both the trout and mackerel are top notch products and I'd urge you to try them. Each is highly recommended.

Find out all about Frank Hederman and his smokehouse here.

All the details on Kilkenny's Goatsbridge Trout available here.

Both have online shopping.

O’Mahony Butchers Can Do It. Have Been Doing It Since 1898.

O’Mahony Butchers Can Do It.

Have Been Doing It Since 1898.

“I can't do that” are not words you’ll hear from Cork butcher Eoin O’Mahony, who has just opened a grand new stall (above), right next door to the older family unit Edward O’Mahony. Over the last few years, Eoin has had requests for different cuts, new to the market. He didn't just shrug his shoulders and tell a potential customer “we don't do that” or “we can’t do that”. No. He has a chat, finds out all about it and then comes up with the goods.

And that can-do attitude led directly to the new stall. That, along with the retiral of the O'Mahony’s neighbour. “The existing stall was busy, very busy. We didn't have enough space, the range had gotten so big, our own sausages and burgers were flying.” So he took the opportunity. And on the displays of the new stall you'll see veal, venison, buffalo, and, this week, they’ll be joined by poultry.

The story all started back in the 90s, the 1890s that is, when Eoin’s great grand-father Michael Bresnan left County Limerick to be apprenticed to a Cork butcher in the market. By 1898, he had his own stall. It is still there today (with Eoin’s uncle, also Michael, at the helm), making the Bresnan family the longest continuously trading in the English Market.

Not every one wants a full leg of lamb nowadays;
just ask them to cut it into fillets (top left).
Bottom: Bavettes (left)and Buffalo steaks.

The Bresnan's bought a farm in Ballinlough, where Lovett’s restaurant eventually set up. As the city had grown around them, they moved to a new farm and abattoir in Carrigaline in 1978 and this is where the Ballea Lamb and beef comes from. Meanwhile, a small stall at the Grand Parade end became vacant and was bought by Eoin’s mother (still working there today) and that's the one with Edward O’Mahony on the sign, right next door to the new one.

Eoin says they have lots of French cuts on the new stall. “We pride ourselves on being able to produce any cut. An enquiry from an Argentinian led to the Tira di asado ribs. And I picked up a  few good ideas on a recent trip to Montreal, so watch out for new stuff in the near future!”

Spiced Buffalo came in before Christmas and was a big hit and there were also great reports back on their recent marinated hanger steak. New cuts or not, it will still all be based on the best of local produce, the lamb and beef from Ballea, veal from Macroom, buffalo (they have the full range) from Toonsbridge.

Aged steak and, insert, Tira di asado ribs

We asked Eoin if the success of any particular product had surprised him. “Well, yes, the hanger steak and the bavette and the buffalo of course. Our customers, and we do have a broad range of customers, have taken to them in a big way.” His own favourite is aged sirloin steak. The bavette, by the way, “when shredded, makes a great stir-fry”.

This weather, the most popular are the Short Ribs, Beef Cheek, Feather-Blade, and the Osso Bucco and, in the summer, customers choose from a huge range of sausages and burgers. And it is not just customers at the market that O'Mahony's are popular with. They supply many of the restaurants, big and small, around the city. For instance you’ll see the Feather Blade on the menu at Fenn’s Quay and that too helps make the cuts better known.

Eoin is looking forward to 2015 with renewed confidence. Like many market traders, that confidence has been boosted by a very busy Christmas, “one of the busiest in a few years” according to Eoin. So keep an eye on that new stall, especially from this week on, when the O’Mahony’s will be selling poultry, including “proper” chicken and duck. And not just any duck. These will be the old fashioned, “more meaty” Aylesbury bird. Happy New Year!

To see the latest from Eoin and family, follow his Twitter posts here.

The original stall, still going strong.

Roughty Foodie. Generation to Generation

Roughty Foodie

Generation to Generation

Garett, on duty.

“I believe the survival of the English Market over the last hundred years is down to the families who have ran the stalls from generation to generation. They have kept it going.” So said Garrett Murphy, as we chatted over a cuppa in the Farmgate Cafe. Garrett, a current stallholder, knows what he is talking about!

For fifty years, his father Michael ran the Roughty Fruit King stall in the centre of the market, until ill health came in 2011. Four generations of the Murphys worked there, in different locations, until they settled on the current stall in 1961. Nowadays, Garrett and his sister Margot Ann work in the new look foodie stall (now called The Roughty Foodie) and they have help from time to time from younger members of the family.

 Two thousand and eleven was the year of the Queen’s visit and the Murphys, in transition from a specifically fruit stall to something more general, weren't ready for her but, with help and encouragement from the City Council and fellow traders, they were up and running for the peak summer months.

“It kinda fell into our laps,” says Garrett as he recalled those anxious months. “But we could see the change of emphasis to quality. We could compete with the supermarkets on quality though not on price. So we took that new direction and grew organically. We soon had a few local producers on board, including Macroom Mills, Glenilen and our home-baker.” Garrett will never forget that first Saturday. “Everything cleared. We had nothing left on the shelves.”

They moved along from there with new producers coming on board, including Brian from Beechwood Farm and his brother Colm from Horizon Farms, Mags (who makes a great Lemon Curd) from Heavenly Preserves and Betty Smith with her jams and marmalades. Also joining were Harty’s Jellies, Taste the View, while local strawberries came from Rathcooney.

“The two months July and August of 2011 were great. The tourists came flooding in and kept buying, the locals too despite the parking problems. Traders told us it would get better in October and November but that didn't happen and we were worried until December and the run-in to Christmas which proved massive for us and had us back on track”.

 Two of the stall’s suppliers, Seymour Biscuits and Kilbeggan, may be bought at the upscale Dean and Deluca in New York but “we have no big-name suppliers” says Garrett. “Some are part-time and some were professionals who lost out in the recession and turned to what they knew. Nicola of the Big Red Kitchen is an example of the latter.”

I asked Garrett what the most popular products are. “It is seasonal so, for example, we sell a lot of porridge in the winter months. Jams, preserves and honey are always very popular and so too is cheese.” What has surprised you over the past few years? “This Christmas it was the amount of hampers and Irish cheese and crackers that we sold. At Christmas 2011, goosefat was a huge seller.”

What are his own favourites? Licking his lips he had no hesitation: Eddie Hicks’ fantastic bacon jam and Ballybrado Supreme Spelt muesli. He has great time too for Kitty Colchester’s Happy Heart organic rapeseed oil and the High Bank Farm Apple Syrup. And indeed is enthusiastic about every single product he displays!

The stall is packed with food. But it is not just food. Tourists love the Seaweed Bath. The Goats Milk soap from the Burren is very popular too and he has a great candle-maker from Portmagee on Valentia Island. So do go in and explore. You never know what treasure you’ll find in Roughty Foodie.

Taste of the Week. Ballybrado’s Superior Spelt Muesli

Taste of the Week

Ballybrado’s Superior Spelt Muesli

Superior Spelt Muesli from Tipperary’s Ballybrado Farm is our Taste of the Week, a terrific balance of tastes and flavours and organic to boot. Look at the ingredients: Raisins, Spelt flakes, Green raisins, Raspberries, puffed spelt, almonds, sunflower seeds, golden linseeds, oat flakes, spelt crunchy, roasted hazelnuts, all enough to get your day off to a cracking start.  

I got my pack at Roughty Foods in the English Market. Ballybrado, in County Tipperary, do a range of products including cereals, flours, baking mixes and breads.

The Chicken Inn Supreme

The Chicken Inn Supreme

Tim Mulcahy

Tim Mulcahy, the merry gentleman at the Chicken Inn in ye olde English Market, is aglow with tidings of joy. “Honest to God, we’re delighted to get the McKenna Guides plaque, very enthusiastic about the whole thing. We regard it as an endorsement of what we do and of the way we do it. From our customers’ point of view, it has to be seen as a vote of confidence, that what they're buying from us is of a significant standard.”

And, singing of Christmas, well speaking of it, the good news continues: “The geese are on their way, from Robbie Fitzsimmons of East Ferry. We’ve been dealing with Robbie for the past 15 to 20 years. The goose is very popular with a regular section of our customers who know how to get the best from it. Certainly, it doesn't have as much meat compared to your turkey but every bit of the goose is beautiful, succulent!”

The Chicken Inn makes Christmas easy for you. “We’ll have have our usual cooked ham, spiced beef and turkey of course. All cooked slow and low and on the bone and all very convenient for the customer. And your turkey fillet can be ordered sliced. If a whole ham is too much for you, we also do a half a ham as well. The way it's cooked allows you put on your own rub (e.g. honey and mustard) and roast it yourself. Some add pineapple and cloves of course.”

Do you like to make your own paté? Well Tim has “a plentiful supply of fresh chicken livers” for you.  And you don’t need me to tell about their very tasty Spiced Beef.

“I’d like to wish all our customers a very Happy Christmas and all the best in the New Year. Thanks too to our staff, fully behind our efforts here, and a major factor in helping us get the McKenna’s plaque.  That plaque is also something of a present for my mother, who’ll be sixty years in the English Market in 2015.”

The Farmgate Café. A Market Star

The Farmgate Café
A Market Star

I was in the Farmgate Café in the English Market for lunch on Saturday, found the whole experience fabulous, and was thinking of a few lines for this blog post. And then, on Twitter on Sunday, I find Mr Gill of the Sunday Times had been in, dishing out stars by the constellation. Pity he couldn't have waited another week!

The twenty year old Cork classic, on the mezzanine above the market, is a magnet for tourists and there were quite a few there on Saturday. But it is also very much appreciated by locals as well and rightly so.

It may be too easy to say that the tourists come for the local dishes. But, in truth, it is all local. Some of suppliers (oysters, the traditional tripe and drisheen, Cork’s own spiced beef) are just downstairs while many others are found within the county bounds. Local, fresh and fair!

The fair refers to the price. I got a fantastic cod dish on Saturday, priced in the mid teens. It would cost up to ten euro more in the city by night and, in a Paris bistro a week earlier, an over-cooked version (though with a gorgeous “piperade” sauce) cost €19.80.

Local. And loyal too. Quite a few suppliers have been with the Farmgate since it was set up in 1994* by Kay Harte (who still puts in a shift here, though nowadays you are more likely to see daughter Rebecca working the mezzanine, all the while keeping an eye on both the dining room and the balcony). And the loyalty is not just between restaurateur and suppliers but also between the Hartes and their customers.

Lucky customers indeed, enjoying top class produce, handled and cooked well and presented well by a friendly and efficient staff. And always that buzz. A little bit different here though as much of the sound is coming from the multi-cultural market stalls downstairs.

Our Saturday call was on the spur of the moment  and we did have to wait a few minutes for a table. That few minutes was put to good use, studying the menu. My starter was the Chowder. This was the real thing: fish galore with a few crunchy slices of veg and greens mixed in. One of the best I’ve had.

CL picked the Market Charcuterie Plate, also available as a main dish. The starter portion though was large with spiced beef and salami prominent and even more prominent was a large slice of country terrine (pork, black-pudding, bacon, chickpea ….) and all served with a spot-on matching chutney.

Before I go any further, I just have to say that the breads were delicious. They always are. So much so that you have to discipline yourself. Some lovely craft beers and ciders are also available and a small selection of European wines. My glass though was filled with a terrific Wild Elderflower drink from the Connolly family in County Laois.

And then it was on to the main course. They have various dishes of the day - catch, tart and meat - and sometimes more than one in each category. Some tempting offers on Saturday but we both went for the Cod, served with a caper and sun-dried tomato butter. Five out of five for everything here (by the way, I have yet to see the AA Gill review!), the produce, the cooking, the presentation.

The main dish included a superb stack of gratin potato and the root vegetables in the side dish, carrot and parsnip, with outstanding colour and texture, were a temptation in  themselves. The cod may well have been a good-looking dish but that didn't save it from the usual fate at the Farmgate, meaning not a scrap was left.

Not a scrap of room either for dessert but time and inclination for a cup of excellent coffee and a relaxing few minutes before heading downstairs to On the Pig’s Back  to buy some St Tola for the evening’s Goat’s Cheese and Beetroot Salad from Karen Austin’s recipe in her recently published Lettercollum Cookbook. All local, fresh and fair. All top class.

The Farmgate in Midleton, the big sister restaurant, was founded by Kay’s sister Margot in 1984.

The Farmgate Cafe, English Market, Cork.

021) 427 8134

Open: 9.00am to 5.00pm. Closed Sundays.

http://www.farmgate.ie/

Treasures of Fenn’s Quay

Treasures of Fenn’s Quay

Kate's Magic in the Kitchen

Monkfish

In a small kitchen, on the oldest terrace in Cork city, with much perspiration and no little inspiration, Head Chef Kate Lawlor works the magic for her many customers at No. 5 Fenn’s Quay. Both Kate and the building in which she operates are Cork treasures.

And what it is this exotic material that she turns to culinary gold? Nothing exotic at all, in fact. The produce comes from the local farms and seas, much of it via the familiar stalls of the nearby English and Coal Quay Markets. The magic has been acquired through years of hard work, watching and learning and doing, her long hours in the heat and steam often repetitive but sometimes brilliantly illuminated by a flash of inspiration.

There was quite a buzz there when we called in last week, happy customers by the sounds of it. The menu, quickly delivered to the table, and the Specials Blackboard on the wall, told us why, and soon we were reading our way through the offerings, the only problem being that if we choose one gem, another was to be remain untouched!

The 18th century terrace at Fenn's Quay pictured 1986.
The bookshop (far right)
is where the restaurant now stands.

There is a Fish Platter (to share) on the specials but we go for two of the regular starters. Eoin O'Mahony is one of our favourite butchers and is also a favourite at Fenn’s Quay and the  O’Mahony’s Pressed Ham Terrine, Pickled Quail Egg with Celery Salad & Lemon Aioli is a delight, every bit polished off.

The other starter is even better, perhaps the result of one of those magic moments. I absolutely enjoyed every morsel of the Chicken Liver Brûlée with Crozier Blue Cheese Ice Cream & Red Onion Compote. What a combination! It had beautiful textures and flavours, even the toasted bread was conveniently curled to hold the paté. All it lacked was a small spoon to take up the final drops of the Ice Cream.

Despite tempting chicken (O’Sullivan’s), O’Mahony’s feather blade with Ballyhoura mushrooms, and more, we both picked fish specials (from O’Connell’s) for mains.  CL loves her hake but, this being Fenn’s Quay, the dish was somewhat different: Roast Hake and Gubbeen Chorizo, chickpeas and seasonal vegetables in a mild spicy broth (15.95).

The Hake

This was a gorgeous dish and the spice, mild as stated, went well with the hake. And matched too with the wine we picked, the tingly multi-grape Claude Val blanc 2013 (Languedoc). Indeed, the wine was also suitable with my mains: Pan-fried Monkfish and potato rosti, braised leeks, celeriac and king oyster mushrooms in a delightful lemon butter sauce. I could have eaten any part of this on its own but put it all together as Kate did and it is top notch, all the ingredients (including that sauce) so well measured, so well matched.

And could she surprise us with dessert? Could she what? We went for the Mimi’s Cork Dry Gin and Tonic Dessert and the Vanilla Carrageen Moss with Seasonal Fruit. Where else would you get them? Beautiful. Terrific finalé to a very enjoyable meal.

Have to say before I finish that the service was excellent here. Our server was busy but still had time for a brief chat or two and a laugh or three. And she spotted that we were out of water before we had to ask for it. On the ball. Just like her hard-working chef-patron.

Desserts, Carrigeen Moss (left), Gin & Tonic.

Taste of the Week

Today's Taste of the Week brings together two of Cork's best known food companies in a very flavoursome combination indeed, a lovely Chicken Korma.
The slow cooked chicken came from The Chicken Inn, stars of the English Market since 1955. And the magic sauce came in a jar from Midleton's Green Saffron, a relative youngster compared to Chicken Inn.
Arun is the face of Green Saffron and he is soon to publish a book. Will Chicken Inn's Tim Mulcahy follow suit? In the meantime, enjoy our Taste of the Week. So simple, so good.

Oscars for Oysters. Market Menu a Winner

Oscars for Oysters

Market Menu a Winner

If I had some Oscar statuettes handy last Wednesday evening, I’d have been handing them out to the crew at Oysters. Best restaurant! Best chef! Best of everything! No doubt I'd have got a few arguments from city rivals but their Market Menu, served every Wednesday, is brilliant and, with four beautifully cooked courses for twenty five euro, outstanding value.

Head Chef Alex Petit is a regular at the English Market and his well trained eye picks out the best available for this weekly treat. You won't have a choice here. But I learned a long time ago, in a small back street French restaurant where the menu had “selon jour” attached, that a no-choice list can be surprisingly brilliant. Besides, you waste no time going through the menu: the job has been done for you.

And that is the case here. As I sipped a Kir and tucked into the lovely breads, served with Lemon Butter and also scallop and herb mousse, we read the short list for last Wednesday's Market Menu and were immediately impressed. Even more so when a terrific amuse bouche - Smoked salmon and poached pear - arrived.

First course were Oysterhaven Rock Oysters, fresh and tangy and the best I’ve had in Ireland with a while.

Piano music was now drifting across the room and we had moved on to the wine, a pretty good glass of Illuminati Riparosso Montepulciano (€8.00), in readiness for the main course: 19 hour braised Irish beef cheek, squash fondant, wild mushroom, smoked beurre blanc. And served with a side dish of tasty potatoes. This was a brilliant treat, melt in the mouth stuff and some great flavours on the palate. It was worth the twenty five euro on its own!

Next up was Bellingham Blue Cheese, served with poached pear and raspberry dressing. This is an award winning cheese from County Louth, a fine full flavoured Irish farmhouse cheese, made from cow’s milk. Very good indeed.

We had a superb lingering finish with the Rosscarbery strawberries and Hibiscus syrup. This looked very tempting and delivered on that promise. The strawberries were cut into tiny cubes and that made us linger and drool all the more. Terrific finish to an excellent meal. Very Highly Recommended.

Oysters, under proprietor Donald Morrissey, is a great supporter of local producers and suppliers listed on the main menu include O’Connell Seafood, Seafood Cuisine (Skibbereen), David Busby (Fruits), Keeling Fruit and Vegetables, Waterfall Farm, Ballyhoura  Mushrooms, O'Mahony Butchers, On the Pig’s Back, Max e’ Mattia Italicatessen, Michelle Wild Seaweed, Arbutus Bakery and Mr Darragh Brady The Clarion.

Oysters

5 Lapps Quay,

Cork

(In the Clarion Hotel)

Phone	(021) 427 3777
Website	https://www.oysters.ie

Be sure and check their facebook site and note the free bottle of wine offer for the month!