Midleton Farmers Market

Midleton Farmers Market
Midleton Farmers Market is on tomorrow morning, as it is on every Saturday morning. You'll find it very close to Supervalu.

There are dozens of stalls to choose from. Ahern's Organic Farm is based just outside Midleton and is run by the Ahern family. They produce chicken, beef and lamb. Olly and Sean O'Driscoll are brothers who work hard to bring the very freshest fish from West Cork to you every Saturday morning. Locally grown seasonal vegetables, flowers, plants and apple juice are available from Ballycurraginny Farm. There are many more. See the full list here and drop in for a chat and something tasty and good.

I was there last week and, among other things, helped myself to Frank Hederman's smoked fish (top left), Woodside Farm Free Range eggs (not forgetting rashers and sausages), the fabulous Medieval Loaf from Arbutus Breads, the Buffalo Cheese from Toonsbridge Dairy and also said hello to breadmaker Declan Ryan. Always time for a chat at the markets.

Meet The Producers At Midleton Farmers Market

Meet The Producers At Midleton Farmers Market

Midleton is the original farmers market and is still well worth a visit every Saturday. Perhaps even more so now with Christmas on the horizon as festival extras are on tempting display.

No shortage of music and fun last Saturday as I made a fairly quick visit that started with a cheery mulled wine from the Green Saffron stall and finished with a relaxing high quality coffee in Sage Restaurant, just a few yards from the busy market.

There was an amazing amount of tempting smoked delicacies on the Frank Hederman stand. Lots of mackerel here with different flavourings and I picked the piri-piri and the chive. Spotted a very good deal in apple juice with the Little Irish Apple Company selling five big bottles for a tenner. Heavy going but worth it!

Jane Hegarty was on duty as always at her Ardsallagh cheese stall. The hard goat cheese caught my eye and I bought a chunk of the mature one. She also had goat cheddar and cow cheddar for sale.

Noreen Conroy, looking forward to the Christmas break, was busy at the Woodside Farm stall while husband Martin was on duty in Douglas. The Woodside hams are flying these days though, on this occasion, we settled for a chat and their tasty sausages and rashers.

The question of dinner had been settled in favour of a Green Saffron meal deal and here we got a pot of Chicken Korma, top notch basmati rice and naan bread for just €8.50. We were already well stocked with bread so gave Arbutus a skip on this occasion and the same applied to a few others. Besides, the three bags were fairly full and weighing me down. Time for that coffee and the short trip back to the city!

List of stalls here

Buying Irish at the local markets

Market Meal #4

Making up a meal from your local market is a great idea. It gives your shopping a focus on the day and not alone are you supporting local producers and buying Irish but you are also in for a treat.

And these kind of meals don’t have to be that expensive. The basics in this one, from the English Market here in Cork, cost about a fiver a head. Allow about a euro for the liver, 3 euro 50 for the fish and 50 cents for the pear.

Bought the liver from Eoin O’Mahony and used a recipe called Catalan Style Liver. It turned out to be a brilliant dish, a fantastic starter. Here the liver is browned and lightly simmered in a well flavoured tomato and raisin sauce with extra flavour coming from a dash of Madeira or Sherry (we used Port) and served with croutons.

I’ve always thought that Cod and Tomatoes go perfectly well together and that was the case with a French recipe Cabillaud a la Provençal (basically cod with a Tomato and herb sauce). Simply delicious.

The pears, bought across the way from O’Mahony’s, were grilled with honey and served with ice cream. Perfect with a shot of Tokaji Aszu.

A few minutes around the market and we had the makings of a fabulous meal for ourselves.

Hederman's smoked mackerel

Meal #4a

Now, there was a fair bit of work in the meal above. Even the pears took more work than you’d think. But if you want an easy meal from the market, here is one, constructed from food bought at the Midleton Farmer’s Market.

Starter: treat yourself to the fantastic smoked mackerel from the Hederman stand. Pure class. Must be the best around.

Mains: Just turn around and go to the Green Saffron stall and pick up one of their meal deals for €8.50. We got enough Chicken Korma, rice and naan bread for two. Easy to prepare and very tasty indeed.

Cheese: Ardsallagh’s hard mature goat cheese with any relish you like. You get quite a chunk of this cheese for about €5.50 and less than half that will do for this course. Love their fresh soft cheese also but the hard (they also have a smoked version) is nice for a change.

Cost per head for the basics: €7.50 approx.

Sun Shines on Midleton Food Festival

Midleton Food Festival

Top centre: Birthday boy Barrie Tyner at the Farmers Market

and, right, Mella and her award winning Fudge at the Festival

Enjoyed my ramble through the busy Midleton Food Festival yesterday morning. We had a couple of bags with us but were soon presented with another by the Festival folks as we walked down the main street.

Lots of activity. There was a small craft fair in one side street, a photo exhibition in another. Perhaps the best off-street atmosphere was at Sage Restaurant where their courtyard saw salads being served nonstop, punters relaxing in the sun on giant bean-bags and a live band in action. “Like a mini Electric picnic,” quipped Head Chef Kevin Aherne.

Back then to the big picnic on the street. Lots of hot food available, including kangaroo steaks. On the Pig's Back were busy as was Ballymaloe Relish and they were lining up to sample Mella’s gorgeous fudge. Seymours gorgeous biscuits were also in demand and I helped myself to a few packets of the Cheese Biscuits.

Day’s of Whitegate had a big stand and a big crowd. Ballycotton Seafood were also busy; picked up some fresh John Dory there and also a bunch of mackerel. Big rings of Clonakilty black pudding were being cooked in huge batches and sold on the spot. Close by, BBQ Joe’s were ready for action.

Some of the local restaurants, including Pizzeria San Marco, joined in the spirit of the day and the pizza slices were in demand. There is only so much food you can eat on a walk-through like this and I was more than happy with a tender steak sandwich from local butcher Jim Crowley, unbelievably tender!

Lots of hot food about but not too many producers in the Festival itself. To find them in numbers, you had to go to the usual Saturday morning market, and an excellent one it is, at the Cork side of the town. I’ve often thought that these producers, in Midleton every Saturday of the year, should be given pride of place on the main street on Festival day. I think it would add a solid backbone to the whole experience.

This band of musicians get attention!

Midleton Farmers Market

Midleton Market this morning.
Happy Christmas to all the stallholders at Midleton, Mahon and elsewhere.
It has been a pleasure meeting you over the past 12 months - see you all again in 2012.
Click on image to enlarge

Beer and cheese. And the blues!

Organiser Barrie Tyner (with the large bottle) at the Beer/Cheese event at the
Midleton Farmers Market today Saturday

MIDLETON'S BEER AND CHEESE MATCH

BEER AND CHEESE MATCH
at Midleton Farmers Market

Barry Tyner has been busy organising:


"This Saturday we are having a celebration of Irish Farmhouse Cheeses and Craft Beers at the Midleton Farmers Market. That means a big tasting table set up and everyone gets to sample for free.

We are also having a Costume Competition in aid of Bernardos. All stall holders will be in costume and prizes for the best costume for the kids.

We also have Stevie G doing a Jazz set and Andrea and his band belting out Rhythm & Blues. A clown performer will be going round keeping the kids on their toes."


Should be fun. Think I'll drop down in the morning.

Easter Family Celebrations @ Midleton Farmers Market

Easter Family Celebrations @ Midleton Farmers Market

This Saturday we have lots of music and fun activities for kids

Traditional Easter Egg Painting
Live MUsic
Face Painting
Lots of Chocolate treats from O'Connails

So come early and bring the kids for a Great Day at the Market

Midleton Farmers Market

MIDLETON FARMER’S MARKET

Enjoyed my walk around the Midleton Farmers Market this Saturday morning. It was perhaps the market that led to many others being set up and is certainly one of the best, quality at every turn.

Bought some Chorizo and Hegarty’s Mature Cheddar from the stall run by the busy Fiona Burke (who does three markets a week). Then on to the Ballymaloe Cookery School stall where the Lemon cakes caught the eye and a few were added to the bag.

Passed Frank Hederman’s smoked fish stall – we had enjoyed some of his smoked mackerel pate in Fenn’s Quay the previous evening – to buy a piece of chicken brandy pate from Barry Tyner’s stand-in (Barry had gone off on a deserved holiday).

Then we spotted the star of the morning, a big Neapolitan Mastiff. Everyone just stopped as he strolled along but his sad story was told on a placard on his back: he had been rescued. At least, the story has a happy ending but we were all reminded that these rescue homes need a bit of our help.

O’Driscoll’s Fish from Schull have a stand here as well and, as in the other locations, it was busy. Bought some fresh looking hake and cod. Bread was next on the agenda and we headed for the Arbutus stall where we were offered two types of rye, one a sourdough, the other with caraway seeds. Took the first and headed for home.

Check out my review of Midleton Farmers Market - I am cork - on Qype