Bandon Farmers Market

Bandon Farmers Market

Baking Emporium

Finders Inn

 Enjoyed a refreshing visit to the Bandon Farmers Market recently, refreshing mainly because I hadn’t seen many of the stalls anywhere else before. Enjoyed meeting up with, for instance, Nathan Wall of the Saddleback Pig Company, the Big Cheese herself and the Hungry Hill granolas.

The Big Cheese

The Market was set up in 2006 by a voluntary committee, who shared a love of good food, to supply a wealth of local and artisan produce to the residents of Bandon and the surrounding area. Early every Saturday morning the car park of the Old Market Garden buzzes with the activity of stalls setting up and the first customers arriving. Fruit, Vegetables, Fish, Cheese, Chocolate, and Cakes are among the many delights and you may warm up these days with a hot coffee.

Heavens Cakes

 Quite a selection of smoked cheeses available and got two big chunks for a fiver, included a delicious extra mature Carbery. Then a call to Nathan and also to Finders Inn for their excellent Ratatouille mix.

Baking Emporium's Apple Strudel

 No shortage of cakes or breads. Indeed, Heaven’s Cakes, well known in the English Market, are based in Bandon and, in addition to the cakes, have some smashing loaves available on Saturdays. The Baking Emporium is well known in West Cork and their Apple Strudel caught my eye. Next door was the Hungry Hill stand. Had a sample or two here before purchasing.

Yeast loaves by Heaven's Cakes

Lots of other stands here, including vegetables (from Ballycotton and The Hollies), fish from Baltimore (always a queue for fish), The Olive Stall, an Italian stall, an Asian one and more. See the full list here

Market Meal #2, thanks to Rachel

Easy meal, thanks to Rachel. By the way, the leaf on the rice is not Lemon Balm (variegated) but  Ginger Mint.

This edition of Market Meal owes much to Rachel Allen as all three dishes are based on her RTE series Easy Meals. The starter and mains were on last week's programme. 

The starter is a spicy squid salad and we got most of the ingredients in the English Market, the squid from O'Connell's Fish. Had a bit of a problem with the rocket though as the stall, deliberately or otherwise, had put their price label across the use by date label. I bought it on the 13^th and the expiry date was the 11^th. Opened it on the 14^th and the rocket, as you’d expect, wasn’t exactly at its best. It was then we peeled back the top label. Rushed up to the local Supervalu and got a mixed bag of leaves (including rocket) in tip top condition.

No problem with the ingredients for the Pan Fried Chicken and Mango Salsa main course. The chicken breasts, which were absolutely superb, came from O'Sullivan's Poultry stall, in the English Market. Must say that all the dishes were easy to cook and all were superb, light and tasty yet filling enough.

With some Mango on hand, we decided to skip last week's suggested Chocolate Dessert and instead choose an earlier Mango and Raspberry Mess by Rachel. Once again, it was a cinch to assemble. And easier still to eat. Just three letters needed to describe this: Yum.

Had to make up my own mind on the wine and struck the jackpot with Little Beauty's Pinot Gris, Limited Edition 2010, from Marlborough, New Zealand. They recommend it on their notes for Asian Cuisine and it turned out to be just perfect. Distributed here by Wine Alliance and available at stockists nationwide. 

Links to Recipes
Squid starter: http://www.rte.ie/food/2012/0328/spicysquidsalad.html
Chicken mains: http://www.rte.ie/food/2012/0328/chickenmangosalsa.html
Mango dessert: http://www.rte.ie/food/2011/1130/mangoraspberrymess.html
See Rachel do it on the player: http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1144760

A wander through the market...

A Wander In Mahon Point Farmers Market

“Have a nice wander” was the parting shot from a twitter buddy as I headed off to the Thursday Farmers Market in Mahon Point. “A wander” I questioned silently.

But the word was fairly apt, even if the market stretches hardly a 100 yards and back again of course with a detour in the middle. But is does turn into a wander. No rush as you stroll and stop and shop, time galore to ask a question, talk about the weather, the new lambs, the new salad and so much more.

Of course the more you get to know the stall holders the more the chance of a chat (great paté
 and fantastic patter from Barry Tyner) and of course Mahon is not unique in that respect. True, but still these are generally friendly folk, always ready to talk. I met one lady stall holder for the first time Thursday, a really cold day, and she immediately confided that she had so many layers of cloths on that she was unable to bend!

O’Driscoll’s from West Cork has to be the most popular stand here. Every time, there is a queue for their fantastic fresh fish; good service and a good price too. Must admit I have a few regular stops: Woodside Farm, Flynn’s Kitchen, Arbutus Breads, Gubbeen, Glenilen, and more.

Go not just to talk but to buy as well. I start with a full wallet and empty bags; end with the reverse being true. And no regrets. Great stuff there: apples and mushrooms from Ballyhoura, chickens and beef from East Cork, tasty sushi, two farmers from East Cork also with great selections of vegetables and also Organic Republic with a big selection of fruit and veg.

Coffee stops, the olive stand, fish also from Ballycotton, a cheese stall, jams and relishes from Una Poynton and an award winning range of pies from Una’s Pies, not to mention Buttevant’s Old Millbank for smoked salmon and other goodies.

And something nice to finish with? No bother. Why not call to Midleton’s Bite-Size (love their carrot cake), Cookies with Character, or the Natural Food Bakery (they also do a smashing carrot cake as well as my favourite white yeast loaf).

I know I have left some out. You may see the full list here.  And don’t forget, if you don’t; make it to Mahon, that many of these will be selling their fares at Midleton and Douglas on Saturdays. So give that wallet an airing and bring a few large bags.

Market Meal (greenfly included!)

Market Meal #1

Are you like me?

Sometimes I head off to the market, without a clue and end up buying willy nilly. Later, have some sorting out to do. Eat this at lunch, this at dinner. Or are you all organised? Head off with a list?

Either way, you can have fun but perhaps we do need some idea as to what to buy. And, to be honest, I usually do, even if a rather vague one!. The market, whether the various farmers markets or the English Market, are great places to fill a menu. Just like this unplanned one that we did this week.

Market Meal #1

Starter: Paté (Barry Tyner).

Mains: Pork Steak (Woodside Farm)

Cheese: Gubbeen

Dessert: Date Cake (Natural Food Bakery).

Date slices

Let us fill that in a bit. Barry (left) does a great Cognac and Garlic Paté but this time we went for the creamy Chicken with Caramelised Onion one. Served it up with toasted White Yeast Loaf (Natural Food Bakery) and a salad.

That salad featured lettuce from Organic Republic. Quite a bit of greenfly on it – suppose that proved it was organic! Shook it up and washed it off and looked okay. In any event, I’d prefer to eat a few tiny aphids than some unseen pesticide!

Martin of Woodside Farm has quite a presence at Farmers Markets; you’ll find him (or wife Noreen) at Mahon, Cobh, Midleton and Douglas. His free range pork steaks, tender and super tasty, are just the job. We did a Paprika Pork recipe (top picture), a simple pan fry, enriched with caramelised onions and crème fraiche (pictured).

It was served with rice and green vegetables. The greens, beans and broccoli, came from the organic section in a nearby Dunne’s Stores. Supermarkets have their uses too!

Gubbeen are regulars in Mahon and the cheese was their gorgeous smoked mature. Two relishes were used (same as with the paté), a Baxter’s Redcurrant Jelly and a Mango Chutney from Aldi.

The Natural Food Bakery have a stall in Mahon and also include the Coal Quay in their itinerary. Besides, they have a shop/cafe at the Daunt’s Square end of Paul Street. I bought the Date Slice* in the Coal Quay and that, plus a cup of Badger and Dodo coffee, provided a fitting end to this Market Meal!

Have you put a Market Meal together? I’m sure you have. Let us know!
 
* The date slice consisted of layers of oaty crumble with sunflower seeds and a hint of ginger and sweet stewed dates. Wheat free, sugar free and dairy free.

THE MARKETS ARE BACK

Great see the Farmers Markets back in action. Happy New Year to all the producers and hope to see you in the coming months. Met a few in Mahon this morning and this picture represents a small selection of what was on offer.

Click on image to enlarge

HANDY MEALS AT THE MARKET

HANDY MEALS AT THE MARKET 

Go into a supermarket nowadays and you’ll see signs all over the place for meal deals. You won't see such signs at your local farmers market but with a little “digging” you certainly can come up with a convenient meal.

Mahon Point is the farmers market that I am most familiar with and here is a recent example.

Starter: Chicken & Brandy paté from Barry Tyner

Mains: Lamb Tagine from Flynn’s Kitchen.

Dessert: Panacotta from Glenilen.

Lots of variations are possible: olives from the Real Olive Co., salmon paté from the Old Millbank and maybe crab cakes and soups from Flynn’s for starters; various types of Indian dishes from Green Saffron and also Flynn’s do a few more for mains; cheeses from Gubbeen and Marks, cakes and pastries from Bite Size and others, fruits and more for your dessert.

I probably left out quite a few (sorry!) but you can see my point. You can quickly make up a really high class convenient three course meal.

Was at the market this morning and Ballintubber Farm, where we bought our vegetables today, had loads of pumpkins on sale (photo). Stalls were busier than usual – Ian O’Flynn thought it might be because the schools were off due to the election – and we picked up some fish from O’Driscoll’s, various bits and pieces of pig from Woodside, apple juice from Ballyhoura, a favourite yeast loaf from the Natural Foods (photo), and more to set things up nicely for the jazz weekend.

Only regret was that I had to leave before the Beer and Cheese event got underway at noon!

KILLAVULLEN FARMERS MARKET

Think I'll head up here on Saturday morning - with the shopping bags!!

Click on image to enlarge

Market Morning.

MARKET MORNING

The Olive Stall at English Market

Markets galore this morning. Where to go? Midleton, Douglas, the Food Fair in Castlemartyr? In the end, settled for the return of the market to the Coal Quay and then a trip to the English Market.

The Coal Quay, which should have been back in action last November, finally had reason to celebrate today. Quite a few stalls back in the renovated street, many selling clothes, plants, and so on and a decent section of food stalls (including Tom’s Bakery – love their country baguette) at the river end.

No meat or fish there so that meant a visit to the English Market. So, following a Charlie Chaplin figure who was getting lots of looks, we made our way to the Grand Parade entrance and made calls to stalls such as Tom Durcan, Bubble Brothers, On the Pig’s Back and Iago as the bag filled up with lamb’s liver, Rosscarbery Recipe Cured Rashers, Manchego cheese and more.

Enjoyed a fine meal in the Cornstore last night but today it was their neighbours The Bodega who were open and ready to serve teas and coffees and more to the customers and stall holders of the newly returned market.

I made my way to their vacated temporary base at Emmett Place, a base they seemed quite at home in for the best part of two years. Called into the Crawford Cafe for a cup of coffee and scone, both top class. Price though was €5.15 while it was just €3.90 across the road at Luigi Malone’s. Make you wonder.

Coal Quay Market - back to base (Click to enlarge)