Organiser Barrie Tyner (with the large bottle) at the Beer/Cheese event at the Midleton Farmers Market today Saturday |
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Showing posts with label Midleton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Midleton. Show all posts
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Beer and cheese. And the blues!
Friday, September 16, 2011
NEW DISHES FROM BALLYCOTTON SEAFOOD
Saturday, September 10, 2011
MIDLETON FOOD FESTIVAL
Midleton Food Festival 10.09.11. Click on image to enlarge. Post to follow... |
MIDLETON FOOD FESTIVAL
Had really been looking forward to this year’s Midleton
Food Festival and neither the food on offer nor the people offering it let me
down in any way. A stroll down (and up, and down and up again) the main street this
Saturday morning was a foodie pleasure.
Enjoyed my chat with Claire of Amandine who make sweet temptations from the most gorgeous French style pastries
to personalised birthday cakes. Two of her pastries, Pear & Almond and
Lemon Meringue Tarts, have been shortlisted for the 2011 Irish Food Awards in Dingle
and they were the two we bought.
One of the pleasures of these festivals, especially
if you go early, is the opportunity to chat with the stallholders and we
compared notes with Claire on Provence (where she is from and where we, and
she, holidayed this year). Bonne chance in Dingle, Claire.
Also had a chat with Jon Ward and Kevin Aherne from the
inventive Sage Restaurant who played a big part in the festival with a few stands out on the street
as well as one in the courtyard.
Also called to the regular Farmers Market which was also running and delighted here to meet up with Noreen and son Henry
from Woodside Farm and also the busy and ever inventive Deirdre Hilliard of Cobh’s Just Food
.
Back to the food now. Let’s start with the bread, a
lovely sourdough (already tested) from the Granary who have a pleasant permanent
position just off the main street. Three lots of cheese came back to the city:
two from the Old Irish Creamery and
one from Ardsallagh .
Isabelle Sheridan was manning the On the Pig’s Back stand
and here we helped ourselves to some Chicken liver pate and to a slab of Venison
Terrine. Also a box of Victoria plums from the Rose Cottage Fruit farm .
At the Farmers Market, we bought the veg from Ballycurraginny
Farm (regulars at Mahon Point), got some Pork and Apple Burgers from Woodside
and a Muesli and pot of Ratatouille from Just Food.
Madeline from Pure Sushi told
me she was delighted with her award at the Mitchelstown Festival and we treated
ourselves to a six pack for this evening. Some sweet stuff too. In addition to
the cakes from Amandine (who have a permanent stand in the Mahon Shopping complex),
we spoiled ourselves with a bag of gorgeous mixed chocolates from Benoit Lorge .
As you know, I regularly buy Irish, buy local. But
it is not always easy. Lorge has quite a reputation in the chocolate field and
many of you may have seen Eve Chocolates from
Dennehys Cross highlighted in the Evening Echo during the week.
Yet last week, at the English Market, two US travel agents
told me they were disappointed to find only two Irish chocolate products on
sale in an otherwise well stocked chocolate shop there.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The 12 Mile Menu at Sage
SAGE’S LOCAL MENU
Midleton’s Sage Restaurant is one of the first in the country to come up
with a local menu. It is known as the 12 Mile Menu and is available at
lunchtime everyday (closed Mon) from 12-3pm in conjunction with their regular
lunch menu.
You may see their August suppliers on the board at the restaurant and
also on their newly revamped website. The nature of this menu means that it changes
daily and Kevin Aherne is always on the lookout for new suppliers in the
vicinity.
Here are a few examples o f what you might find:
Slow-braised beef with bacon lardons & peas;
Roast shoulder of pork with apples & white turnip;
Buttered cabbage leaves stuffed with ham hock;
Local leaf salad with grilled courgette, roast beetroot & goats
cheese.
I had recently tried their evening menu and was delighted with it as you can
see from the review. So I was quite confident as I headed down to East Cork today to try the 12 Mile
menu. I wasn't at all disappointed.
I had missed Kevin’s tweeted recommendations but, by pure
coincidence, picked them: the Onion and Leek Soup and the Braised Pork Shoulder
with apples, white turnip and red cabbage. The creamy soup still retained a delicious
onion tang and we each thoroughly enjoyed a substantial bowlful.
I was fully confident that I was on a winner with the pork
as it is supplied to Sage by Martin Conroy of @Woodside_Farm a regular at
Farmers markets, such as Midleton and Mahon (where I often call to see him).
There have been some standout meat dishes coming my way in
recent months such as Springfort’s Braised Feather Blade of Beef and more
recently Market Lane’s Blasket Lamb. Now I can add Sage’s Braised Pork Shoulder
to the list.
It was so well cooked, a pleasure to eat. And that pleasure
was enhanced by the tastiest white turnips ever. Not to mention the baked
potato, well made apple sauce and perfect gravy. I also enjoyed the different twist
to the taste given by the red cabbage though there was a slight disagreement
from the other side of the table (a bit too sweet!).
Never thought I’d get so enthusiastic about white turnip but
this just underlines the value of local produce. Mainly, it is fresh and then
the Sage chefs know what they are doing.
There is that little bit extra to savour in each bite and that is what
made the turnip, and everything else on the plate, stand out and give the taste
buds a very pleasurable workout indeed.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
SUPERB SAGE
SUPERB SAGE
Ham and cabbage. Irish. Old Irish even. But cooked with a modern touch by the chefs at Midleton’s Sage it is turned into something special. And I enjoyed it there last week, enjoyed every bit of the meal.
A Ham Hock and Green Cabbage terrine with pickle was my very tasty starter. Something different and the terrine was enhanced by the pickle (courgette and gherkin). A very different dish but on a par with the brilliant Corn Beef and Cabbage starter I enjoyed recently at Blairs Inn. Goes to show what can be done with the most humble of ingredients in the hands of chefs who know and care.
The main course was also brilliant: Roast Chicken supreme with Asparagus, Courgette and Chorizo fritters, buttered mash and a white wine cream. The chicken was top class, tender and juicy and the Asparagus was cooked to a T. The buttered mash was one of the best I’ve come across. The fritters were different and tasty and the cream topped it off.
I could have stopped there and this menu would have cost me €20! Dessert, Warm Double Chocolate Orange Tart, brought it up to €25.00. It is an Early Bird but there is a fairly liberal interpretation of early.
Wine was a lively refreshing white from Bordeaux: Chateau Haut Rian 2010, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend, at €12.00 for a half bottle.
Sage is just a few yards off the Main Street in Midleton and is a lovely room. The chairs are comfortable and you have space enough on the tables. Service is friendly and attentive. Food is good and so too is the value.
They have recently introduced a 12 mile menu where all the food is local but that menu is only available at lunch-time. Could be well worth a call!
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