BALLYMALOE FOODS TEAMS UP WITH COQBULL RESTAURANT TO LAUNCH LIMITED-EDITION BURGER

BALLYMALOE FOODS TEAMS UP WITH COQBULL RESTAURANT TO LAUNCH LIMITED-EDITION BURGER 

Irish businesses join forces to celebrate the best of Irish ingredients

Ballymaloe Foods has teamed up with award-winning restaurant CoqBull to create a limited-edition burger. The burger will be available in CoqBull restaurants in Cork and Limerick. 

A team of chefs at CoqBull has produced a rotisserie pulled chicken and beef burger topped with Ballymaloe Fiery Relish, Dubliner Cheddar Cheese, crispy tobacco onions, mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion. 

Sarah Collins, Marketing Manager for Ballymaloe Foods: “Supporting local is key for us at Ballymaloe Foods. We take great pride in sourcing good-quality Irish ingredients and we love to see our products being used in creative ways by other local businesses. The last year has been extremely tough for the restaurant and foodservice industry, however we have seen the resilience of Irish companies and we’re looking to the future with more hope.”

Mags O’Connor from CoqBull says, “CoqBull are delighted to partner with Ballymaloe Foods and use their delicious Fiery Relish in our new ‘Ballymaloe Fiery CoqBull Burger’. We always look to source locally where possible and to support other Irish businesses. It’s very tough times with the current restrictions which is why it’s more important than ever to support local.”

The Ballymaloe Fiery CoqBull burger is now available. You can order at the door, by phone, or click and collect at www.coqbull.com 

CoqBull Cork is a chicken and burger concept located at French Church Street, Cork City, Limerick City and Castletroy. 

press release

COOK WITH LOVE. ROMANTIC RECIPES TO INSPIRE THIS VALENTINES DAY

COOK WITH LOVE💖

ROMANTIC RECIPES TO INSPIRE THIS VALENTINES DAY

💑The First Instruction💏

Light the candles, stick on Barry White and cook  up a romantic storm with this DIY menu from Ballymaloe Foods 

 Simple, no-nonsense and tasty Ideas to make Valentine’s in Lockdown Special

Beetroot Crostini

Light the candles, stick on Barry White and cook  up a romantic storm with this DIY menu from Ballymaloe Foods 

 Simple, no-nonsense and tasty Ideas to make Valentine’s in Lockdown Special

Regardless of the day itself, we can all collectively agree that this year especially, we could all do with a little bit of extra love. With most kitchen tables doubling as work desks and school desks nowadays, make sure to mark this February 14th in your diary as a day to reconnect with the ones who matter. 

Whether you're celebrating with your Valentine, your "Palentine" or even your family, virtually or as a household, it's still an opportunity to do something a little special and help spread the love a little bit further with a home-cooked menu fit for the King or Queen in your life.

So, close the laptops, clear and set the table correctly and make this Valentine's meal feel a bit more special than any other night of the week with this DIY menu that is sure to delight from Ballymaloe Foods.

Starter

Beetroot Crostini with Ballymaloe Beetroot 

Cheese Fondue

 

Main Course

Spaghetti Bolognese

Tagliatelle Meatballs 

Chicken Tacos 

 

Snack/ After Dinner

Cheeseboard served with Ballymaloe Original Relish

Ballymaloe Foods are always on a mission to help you create easy meals that are convenient, nutritious and tasty. People have so much going on right now, working from home, homeschooling or caring for loved ones so in the spirit of convenience these are all quick to assemble so if you've got little ones around, take the time to arrange, cook and eat together.

For more inspiration and recipe ideas head to www.ballymaloefoods.ie/recipes/ 

RECIPES

Beetroot Crostini with Ballymaloe Beetroot 

• 200g of drained Ballymaloe Irish Beetroot

• 240g of tinned chickpeas drained

• 1 clove of garlic

• 10 medium slices of Parma Ham

• 50g St Tola Greek Style Cheese

• 10 slices of sourdough bread

• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Place the beetroot and the chickpeas in the food processor along with the clove of garlic. Blitz until you are happy with the consistency, it should be smooth in texture. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

2. Slice the bread and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and toast in the oven until crispy. Spread the hummus over the crostini, layer with Parma Ham and crumble some delicious St. Tola Greek Style cheese on top

Fondue

Cheese Fondue

• 1 loaf of stale crusty white bread (and the crustier the better!)

• 85g mature Cheddar cheese, grated

• 1 tbsp dry white wine

• 1/2 a small clove of garlic, crushed

• 1 tsp chopped parsley

• 1 tsp Ballymaloe Original Relish

Instructions

1. Cut your bread into rough cubes and toast them in a preheated oven at 200⁰C for 10 minutes, keeping an eye on them as they can brown quickly.

2. Place the wine, garlic, Ballymaloe Original Relish and parsley in a fondue pot or small saucepan, stir, then add the grated cheese.

3. Just before serving, put the fondue pot or saucepan over a low heat until the cheese melts and begins to bubble. Don’t stir it too much while it is cooking or the mixture may split

4. Serve the fondue immediately with the toasted bread and fondue forks. If you don’t have them, skewers or regular forks will do just fine.

Spaghetti Bolognese

• 300g spaghetti

• 430g beef mince

• 1 carrot (peeled, diced into half inches)

• 120g mushrooms (chopped)

• 150g courgette (chopped, deseed if large)

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 jar (400g) Ballymaloe Bolognese Sauce

• 2 oz of water

• Grated Parmesan

• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the salt and bring back to the boil

2. Stir in the spaghetti and cook for 4 minutes

3. Take from the heat, leave the lid on and allow to sit for a further 4 minutes

4. Taste to ensure it is cooked, then drain and set aside

5. In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive and crumble in the beef mince

6. Cook off the mince fully and set aside

7. In a separate medium-sized saucepan, heat the other tbsp of olive oil and add in the diced carrot, mushroom and courgette, then cover and sweat. Heat for ten minutes until the vegetables are cooked through

8. Add the cooked vegetables to the browned meat, then stir in your Ballymaloe Bolognese Sauce and bring to the boil

9. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

10. Take four warm plates and portion out the spaghetti, then top each with the delicious mince, veggies and sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Tagliatelle Meatballs

• 1x 400g Ballymaloe Bolognese Sauce

• 300g Tagliatelle

• Handful of cherry tomatoes

• 120g Mushrooms

• 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan

Meatballs:

• 480g minced beef

• 3 cloves of crushed garlic

• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

• 50g freshly grated parmesan

• 40g breadcrumbs

• 1 free-range egg

• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. In a bowl mix together all the ingredients for the meatballs, with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Remember the egg as this is what holds the meatballs together.

2. Fry off a small piece to taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, by adding more salt and pepper.

3. Once you are happy with the seasoning, begin to shape them into whole walnut pieces. Repeat until finished.

4. In the same frying pan heat another drizzle of olive oil and add in the sliced mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and cook fully.

5. Heat a frying pan and cook the meat balls in batches in a little olive oil. Make sure the meatballs are brown on the outside and cooked through. Keep warm in a low oven while you cook the spaghetti.

6. Bring 8 pints of water to the boil in a large saucepan and add 1.5 tbsp of salt and return to the boil. Cook the spaghetti for 2 mins with the lid on. Turn off the heat and allow the spaghetti to remain in the water for 4 mins or until al dente (with a little bite).

7. When ready strain off the water but always keep some back. The pasta cooking water is great to loosen cooked pasta and prevent it from sticking as it sits and also to enrich a sauce.

8. Heat the Ballymaloe Bolognese Sauce in a saucepan. Use some pasta cooking liquid to loosen any remaining sauce from the jar. Add in the cooked sliced mushroom. Once the sauce is bubbling add in the meatballs.

9. Taste and correct seasoning if necessary, with a pinch of sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

10. To serve- place the freshly cooked spaghetti into a large warm serving bowl and top with the saucy meatballs then finally sprinkle over grated parmesan and freshly torn basil leaves.

Tacos

Chicken Tacos

• 2 chicken breasts

• 8-12 soft flour tortillas

• 4 tbsp Ballymaloe Pepper Relish or Original Relish

• 1 avocado (sliced)

• 2 tbsp coriander (freshly chopped)

• 1 lime (cut into wedges)

• 1 tsp pickled jalapenos (finely chopped)

• 2 tbsp pink pickled onions

Instructions

1. Place a heavy griddle pan over a medium heat.

2. Lay the chicken breast on a chopping board and flatten with your palm. Slice horizontally to butterfly the breast.

3. Toss the chicken in a little olive oil then season the chicken with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Preheat a pan-grill, fry the chicken on the griddle until completely cooked, turning halfway through. Set aside to rest before slicing.

4. Warm the tortillas by placing them on a dry, hot frying pan

5. Once warmed through, fill each tortilla with strips of chicken, slices of avocado and fresh coriander.

6. Spoon a dollop of Ballymaloe Pepper Relish or Original Relish over each taco and scatter some finely chopped jalapenos and pickled onions over the top. Serve right away.

7. 
   

BALLYMALOE FOODS TO INVEST IN THE IRISH PASTA SAUCE MARKET

 BALLYMALOE FOODS TO INVEST IN THE IRISH PASTA SAUCE MARKET

Yasmin Hyde with daughters Rose Callaghan and Maxine Hyde (right)

 

Cork food company focused on reducing plastic by 40% this year

 

Ballymaloe Foods is planning to increase its focus on the pasta sauce market this year with a significant investment.

 

Figures show that the branded pasta sauce market in Ireland is worth €24.6 million (up to end of October 2020). Also pasta with sauce is the most popular meal eaten by children and the third most popular adult meal in Ireland according to - “What Ireland Ate Last Night” (Bord Bia 2020). Figures also show that 80% of households in Ireland are buying pasta sauces so it is an essential category for so many people when they are shopping.

Just one in 20 branded pasta sauces sold in Ireland is an Irish pasta sauce. Ballymaloe Foods has big ambitions to double this by the end of 2021. Ballymaloe Foods pasta sauces are the fastest growing pasta sauces in the Irish market. (Kantar 2020)

 

Ballymaloe Foods is also focused on reducing their use of soft plastic. In 2020 they reduced the amount of soft plastic they use in their supply chain by 1.3 tonnes - the equivalent of a blue whale. They have plans to reduce this further in 2021 and have changed from plastic packaging for their pasta sauces to glass jars. 

 

General Manager at Ballymaloe Foods, Maxine Hyde said: “The Irish pasta sauce market is heavily influenced by international brands but we want to see more people reaching for an Irish product when they find themselves in front of the shelf in supermarkets. We are very excited to significantly invest in this market in 2021. Our pasta sauces are Irish made with all natural ingredients. We also have the fastest growing pasta sauce brand in Ireland and it is amazing to see this level of support in the market from consumers. Over the last year we have seen so many new consumers starting to use some of our products and pasta sauces have proved a huge hit.”

 

Ballymaloe Foods is also planning to expand its online shop this year. In 2020 they launched an online shop as they had received lots of queries from people who had family who couldn’t make it home for Christmas but wanted to have a taste of home. 

 

Maxine added: “Even though this is currently a small side of the business for us, it is exciting to be expanding how we are reaching our consumers.”

press release

 

Tip Top Tapas and a lovely experience at Vikki's in Sunday's Well

 Tip Top Tapas and a lovely experience at Vikki's in Sunday's Well

Camembert 

“Wild mushroom and truffle arancini” 

“Tempura prawn, wasabi mayo” 

“Burrata, tomatoes, olives and sour dough”

“Mackerel Pate and watercress salad”

 “Wild mushroom bruschetta”

“Miso glazed tofu, sesame and smoked almond crumbs”

All and more chalked on the tempting Tapas Board at Vikki’s (which comes under the Blue Haven wing) in Sunday’s Well. 

Add in the Charcuterie board (Ballinwillin goat salami, bresaola, Serrano ham, Ummera smoked duck, salami, olives and croutons). Plus the Cheeseboard of Cashel Blue cheese, Hegarty's cheddar, Macroom mozzarella, Taleggio, Knockanore vintage red cheddar, sundried tomatoes, Ballymaloe relish, grapes, crackers, apple chutney. I could see I was in for a tapas treat.

Yakitori

And that it would be enhanced by some excellent wines. Quite a few whites by the glass including the Blue Haven Collection Sauvignon Blanc by Better Half in Marlborough, New Zealand, and reds too such as the Johnny Q Shiraz-Viognier (South Australia). Fancy a full bottle? No bother. I can rarely resist a Gruner Veltliner and they have the Peter Scheiger Kogelberg among their whites, while the red list includes Chateau Maucoil Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Rhone, France).

No shortage of sparkling or rosé either. And they also offer local drinks in bottle such as Blacks of Kinsale KPA and Stonewell Cider Medium Dry, each a favourite of mine. As we started making tapas decisions, we sipped two terrific whites, the Abadia de Seixo Albariño and the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. The Marlborough has been created in partnership between The Blue Haven Collection and Better Half Wines Marlborough, a small family winery sourcing premium grapes from thirteen hard-working, local growers in the Wairau and Awatere Valleys. Each was impressive in its own way.

Cauliflower

Soon our opening tapas were on the table and the sharing began. The cauliflower pakora with its mint yogurt was a pleasant opener but it was the Chicken Yakitori that came with its crunchy slaw and spicy dip that stole the opening act of a very pleasant and satisfactory meal.  All part of an easy-going evening with pleasant and good humoured staff who knew the menu and had time for a chat and a laugh or two.

I often feel that local chefs can better display their talents through smaller dishes and indeed we often agree that we would sometimes prefer to eat nothing but starters on certain occasions. And this is more or less what we were doing here because the tapas portions are equal in quantity to many starters.

Quantity and quality came together again in our next double. First up was the Baked Camembert with chutney and sourdough. Another superb dish, another highlight of the evening, the experience enhanced no end by the stunning plum chutney.

Cauliflower

We had now moved on to a couple of red wines. One was Organic “Authentico” Bobal Tempranillo, an excellent tapas wine, a rounded, fruity and persistent blend of Bobal and Tempranillo organic vines by Covinas. Bobal is a relatively unknown grape despite being widely planted in Spain. As it turned out, we both leaned towards our other red, the  “Original” Malbec by Rigal, from the South of France, a smooth fruity and harmonious wine.

The Bobal Tempranillo really came into its own with the Wild boar and Gubbeen cheese croquettes, perhaps the least photogenic of our tapas, but packed full of robust flavours and a delight to dispatch, especially with the lively sauce on which they were laid.

Would we like dessert? Reluctantly, we shook our heads, even though earlier we had put an eye on the Tunisian almond and orange cake in the short selection. We had enjoyed our tapas and the wine and the evening in Vikki’s and decided to call a halt!

You’ll find all the details, opening times and menus, on their website here and stay up to date with last minute changes by checking their Facebook page.  By the way, their Covid 19 precautions are some of the most impressive around. Delighted to take up an invite to visit this comfortable venue.

Tapas are served here from Wednesday to Sunday. They also do lunch and brunch - see social media. Below is a screenshot of their Christmas opening times (subject to Covid changes).