DEE’S REAL MEALS

Dee Collins

 DEE’S REAL MEALS




Just finished one of Dee’s Real Meals and I feel real good. The Thai Butternut Squash, Potato and Lentil meal was excellent, really well balanced, creamy (coconut milk) and a little crunchy (the lentils). Very tasty indeed and also very healthy.

Each of these award winning (Great Taste Gold) 400g carton meals contains 3 of your daily 5. The ingredients are 100 per cent wholefood; there are no artificial additives.

One carton makes a meal for one person but you may use it as a side for two people, maybe add it to rice or pasta or whatever you fancy. There has to be many combinations for these tasty treats.

The meal came as part of a goodie bag handed out to those attending last Saturday’s VegFest in Electric. The bag also included one of her burgers (add a bun and you have a massive meal) but the burgers are so famous now I decided to go for the other one first!

The weather wasn't the best on Saturday but Dee was pleased: “Thanks to everyone that made it to the first VegFest Cork, hope you all enjoyed the food and your goodie bags. John Conway from The Hollies gave a fascinating talk and for those of you that might have missed it, they are having an open day on the 16th October.”

“ We are also really looking forward to The Evening Echo coverage in their Social Diary this week for those of you that got snapped, keep an eye on this week’s paper!”

“We were so happy with the feedback we got from our new range of meals - they are available to purchase in Tesco stores below from Monday - (note-the packaging on the outer sleeves will be a little stronger in two weeks time if any of them got bashed about a bit!)”

“We are trialling the use of QR codes on the base of the sleeves, if you have a Smartphone - you can download a QR code scanner with an application called ScanLife. Using the application, a photo of the code is taken and it should link you to a special V.I.P Club sign up page. For those of you that can do this we will send you some €1.00 off coupons in the post to say thanks. For those of you that do not have a Smartphone - maybe a son/daughter/friend could scan the code for you.”

“Thanks for the support, we finished a little earlier than expected but next year we will have it bigger and better with music and lots of stalls.”

John Conway of The Hollies

As Dee said, John Conway’s talk was fascinating, all about an alternative way of gardening. The attractive things about it are firstly that you treat the earth as it would treat itself, everything possible is recycled, and secondly that it is a non dig method of cultivation (except when you’re lifting your spuds, of course!). Check out the website or try and make it to the open day.

Electric were busy upstairs and downstairs on Saturday but they still took time to treat us to some of their veggie taster plates and very nice they were too. As the event drew to a close we lingered with a cup of coffee and some of the gorgeous cupcakes supplied by D’s Delights .

You will find Dee’s Real Meals at selected Tesco Stores, Dunnes Stores, Supervalu and independent stores nationwide. Recently added Tesco outlets: Greystones, Baggot St Upper, Rathfarnham, Sandymount, Bloomfields, Ballybrack, Galway, Stillorgan, Merrion, Rathmines, Clarehall Extra, Dundrum Town, Ardkeen, Maynooth Extra, Douglas Extra and Naas Extra.

TINPOT HUT AN ELECTRIC HIT

TINPOT HUT AN ELECTRIC HIT

Aoife McCan, Gerry Gunnigan (Liberty Wines), Fiona Turner and Colm McCan (Ballymaloe) at Electric

New Zealand winemaker Fiona Turner brought her Marlborough wines to South Mall’s Electric last night and they went down a treat with the diners. The upstairs room, with a view, was full and over 70 per cent of the punters took up the offer of five half glasses for a tenner.

Fiona and yours truly

Naturally enough, both Denis O’Mullane of Electric and Fiona herself were delighted with the success. It was a first time wine and dine venture for Electric while Fiona is in the middle of a busy ten day period in Ireland and the UK.

She brought five wines, three white and two red. The aim at Tinpot Hut  is to make wines that they themselves enjoy drinking. Going by last night, quite a few other people enjoy drinking them too.

First up was the 2010 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (13.5%); pleasingly rich and powerful, it is well balanced with a long pleasant finish. And it is on sale at Bradley’s, North Main Street.

Their Pinot Gris 2010 was another of the whites. A very refreshing drink, medium bodied and flavoursome with an ABV of 13%.

Didn’t expect to see a Gruner Veltliner in the line-up . The Austrian grape though has travelled well and ended up in good hands and the 2010 result is a complex medium-bodied wine, a classic style and a multi-award winner to boot, including gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2011.

Another award winner is the Tinpot Hut’s Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2007 (13%). They called it Syrah rather than Shiraz for a reason. The pepper and spice here doesn’t invade your senses but instead contributes proportionately to the overall experience. Ruby red with an aromatic nose, I thought it a brilliant mouthful, a terrific example that brings out the true flavours, mainly plum and pepper on the palate.

The Marlborough Pinot Noir  (12.5%) was the other red. No gold or silver medals here but still a smashing wine. “Classic cherry flavours dominate the palate and are supported by hints of plum and redcurrant.” This 2008 offering benefitted from the “prolonged warm dry summer...all grapes on the vine...were able to open fully, yielding...well developed, intensely flavoured fruit.”

So there we had it, five good easy drinking wines and not a dud among them. And, listening to Fiona explaining her criteria, I don’t think Tinpot will be releasing any inferior wine while she’s around.

And the food? I started with the Crispy fried tripe with chorizo, kale & chilli, then a tender steak and finished with a sweet sweet Strawberry meringue roulade. All top notch. And you can see the full menu here. 

Electric has come a long way since it opened during the Jazz weekend last autumn. Already, it is a fixture in the city. But they are not sitting back. There is better to come as the Electric ensemble is being trained to be the best around. Interesting times ahead in Cork’s “Theatre of Life”

.

Tinpot Hut wines are distributed in Ireland by Liberty Wines. 

PIRATES SCORE ON CORK GOURMET TRAIL

See some more photos, these by Billy MacGill....here

CORK GOURMET TRAIL 

Captains Sylvia and Sandra

Scores of pirates gathered in Cork City on Saturday. But their intentions were benign. Make the most of the inaugural Cork Gourmet Trail  was the mission and it was accomplished with much fun, thanks to our merry captains.


First call was to Soho in mid-morning where a Pannier Champagne reception was laid on. There was a pirate hat competition running and early favourites emerged at the photo call. Champers downed, the gathering was divided into three crews and marched out on to the streets.


Led by feisty captains Sylvia and Sandra, our crew wandered peacefully through the side streets until we reached Greens by the Waterfall where the host restaurant was joined by Isaacs and the Rising Tide in dishing up the grub. The grog, as was the case in all four venues, was sponsored by Classic Drinks.


On then to the Boardwalk – nobody had to walk the plank – and the impressive line-up to feed the villains here was Club Brasserie, El Vino, Augustine’s and The Boardwalk Bar and Grill. 

Sing for your supper

Next host was Electric, again through the side streets including a stop in Oliver Plunkett Street and a song which earned the singing pirate a meal out for two!


More music at Electric where Pa Fitz entertained and where the high standard of food was maintained by Jacobs, the Ambassador, Soho and Electric itself. Still one more food stop to go and that was at the Cornstore where the providers were Amicus, Fenns Quay and Cornstore.


About five o’clock, the different crews re-united upstairs at the nearby Bodega to compare notes and the bounty – some restaurants, including Jacobs and Electric, gave out meal or wine vouchers – and listen to the band. The quiz and costumes winners were announced and the Bodega management offered everyone a free drink.

Pat Fitz at Electric

It was a very enjoyable day and very encouraging for the organisers. Looks like one that will be repeated. Personally, I enjoyed every moment, from that first starter of Jack McCarthy Black Pudding with Apple Sauce by Isaacs to the final Chocolate Mousse in a mini-cornet by Fenns Quay.


Tried hard to sample everything; don't think it was possible. My favourite of those that I did try out was the Chicken Balti with the French Morteau sausage by Augustine’s. Isaac’s breaded lamb chop and Electric’s cold sea bass dish were other favourites.

Classic Wines

But I was just one of many and others spoke to me of enjoying their particular favourites and I heard that the Tapas type offerings of some restaurants went down very well, the Boardwalk’s steaks were popular was were the Chinese offerings of the Ambassador.


Something for everyone then and nice to see some chefs trying something different such as the “Gravalaix of Tuna in a Nori seaweed” by the Rising Tide and the different take on the Seafood Chowder by Greene’s who also had a terrific Beetroot Soup on their table.


Just a word of praise to Classic Drinks who not alone kept the thirsty crews well lubricated but also took the trouble to post up plenty of information about the wines and varied the offerings from restaurant to restaurant, usually matching a red with a white from the same area. In Electric for example, they had a Muriel Blanco 2009 along with a Muriel CVC Rioja 2006.


So a big thanks to Classic, to Pannier, to all the restaurants and especially to the organisers! Just picked up a message in a bottle down the quays and it reads: Let’s do it all again next year!

ELECTRIC EXTENDS DINE IN CORK

ELECTRIC

Dine-in-Cork may be at an end in most places but both Electric and Liberty Grill are keeping it going for another week to give regular customers a chance at the extra value menu: four courses (including tea or coffee) for €25.00.

Got to say thanks to Electric for putting up a Twitter competition where I was one of a dozen or so lucky winners. Prize was a table for four and a meal from the Dine-in-Cork menu and I took advantage yesterday evening. Glad to report that my guests were all happy with the meal, the venue, the window with a view and the friendly and efficient service.

There are some excellent starters in the line-up and I was tempted by the Bodice and Cabbage. The sticky roast pork ribs came on a bed of sauerkraut and chilli jam. Had the sauerkraut here a few weeks back and it went very well indeed with the ribs.

Thought this might be a sticky dish, especially when the finger-bowl of water arrived. But the pork was so well cooked it more or less fell away from the bone and there was little need to resort to the fingers!

Picked the sirloin for my main course. It was a 6 ounce Angus sirloin served with sauté mushrooms, mash, triple cooked chips (in a paper cone) and mine, by choice, was served with garlic butter. It was cooked as requested and very enjoyable indeed.

They had a good choice of desserts from the regular menu but Baked Alaska was the popular choice and it was, as their heading suggests, “something sweet”. Finished off with coffee as I know they do a good one here. Very enjoyable all round. Now, are there any more twitter competitions at the moment?

ELECTRIC

ELECTRIC

Just a few years back, I had my first encounter with Sauerkraut*, in an Austrian monastery on the banks of the Danube. Not a very pleasant meeting, very sharp stuff indeed and the English ex-pat alongside was having a laugh: I told you so!

Got back on the boat and headed for Vienna. A few days later at a Heurigen (wine tavern that serves food, and the only place I ever got wine in a half-litre tankard ) near the city, the Sauerkraut was on the menu again. Never afraid to research in depth, I tried it again and found it much milder and every enjoyable.

And, thankfully, it was the latter type (this from Alsace) that accompanied my Pheasant (€20) on a dinner visit to Electric.  Bacon and Morteau sausage were also in the pleasing mix, along with some mashed potato. A really well balanced dish and one happy customer.

The other side of the table was delighted with her Roast free range chicken with carrots, parsnips, goose fat roasties and onion gravy (€17). The chicken was exceptionally flavoursome, the whole combination so well done and a pleasure to eat.

We had skipped the tempting starters and so had room for desserts. Again these were top notch. The Cocktail Alexander (brandy panacotta with espresso chocolate mousse) looked classy and inviting and it sure was a treat.

Unusually, I went for the tri-partite Chocolate Explosion (€8.00): a dark mousse, a light mousse and a chocolate cake, each separate in the well presented dish. Quite a substantial dessert but there was nothing left!

Drinks included Brown Brothers late harvested orange muscat (€4.5 a glass), Les Jamelles 2008 Vine De Pays d'Oc Merlot (€4.9) and NZ Old Coach Road 2009 Nelson Riesling (€5). Decent wines at decent prices.

The new restaurant is on the second floor with views, depending on where you are seated, over South Mall, end of Grand Parade and the adjacent river. It is a very pleasant place to visit with good food and good people at all levels of the interaction.

*Choucroute in France

ELECTRIC

ELECTRIC

Electric, the new kid on the block, had a full scale trial last Saturday night and, from this diner’s point of view, came through with flying colours.

You can't miss this blue streaked building – the first on your right as you enter the Mall from the Grand Parade. And the name? Well it sounds cool but tradition has been honoured here as the building once housed the O’Shea’s electrical and garage business.

The restaurant is on the second floor and has views on three sides, of the river, the boardwalk and the Mall itself. Seating is comfortable and first impressions all round are very favourable.

Started off with the Home Smoked Duck, served with rainbow beetroots and leaves. By the way, the duck was much leaner that your normal smoked. Don't miss it!

And the continental feel continued

MAN CAN'T LIVE ON JAZZ ALONE

NASH 19 

Lunchtime class

Made the first of two visits downtown today around lunchtime - the second will be to the Opera House and one, maybe two, jazz venues later on.

No jazz this time but Nash 19 was buzzing. Service was fantastic, as usual, and I thoroughly enjoyed my Jack McCarthy  aged beef. Plaice was the other choice at the table and that too was top notch. Dessert was a light and easy but delightful Strawberry Cheesecake. Terrific food, terrific restaurant.

Also made an initial call to Electric and there is still a fair old buzz there as the final touches are being put to the restaurant upstairs and to the exterior. The bar though looks smashing; loads of comfy seating and no shortage of staff either.

Great to meet entrepreneurs Denis O’Mullane and Ernest Cantillon and also Aidan Cotter from Heineken, making sure that Guinness weren't having it all their own way this Jazz weekend. Also met the lads from the Roaring Forties, including saxophonist Ken Marshall , who had an exciting morning, including photoshoots at Electric and a fire alarm while in 96FM for the Prendeville show.