Taste of the Week. Skelligs Truffles

Taste of the Week

Skelligs Truffles

Handmade on the spectacular Atlantic Way, this box of Skelligs Chocolate, the Chocolatiers Selection of Assorted Truffles is just irresistible!

It is stamped “Contains Alcohol” and that makes it even more tempting. And you’ll get that in the Irish Whiskey Créme and also in the superb Strawberry and Champagne. No alcohol in the Hazelnut Praline or the Vanilla Ganache but not a crumb of chocolate escaped.

First up was a long-time favourite of mine, the Citrus Delight. Here they somehow manage to transform a simple white chocolate into a thing of beauty, absolutely delicious. #lemonchoco

Still, if I had to pick a winner, it would be the Strawberry and Champagne, our Taste of the Week. Hard to top that, except perhaps to order the large Easter Egg version. Which I did earlier in the year!

Skelligs Chocolate 

St Finian’s Bay

Ballinskelligs

Co. Kerry

A Bank Holiday Taste of the Week Special from Baltimore. Stunning "Combination" between Sally Barnes and Ahmet Dede

Taste of the Week
A Bank Holiday Special from Baltimore
A Stunning "Combination" between Sally Barnes and Ahmet Dede

A couple of weeks back, after a lovely lunch in Baltimore's Custom House where renowned chef Ahmet Dede now works, we stopped at their deli and bought a few things. Two dips ended up in our bag. One was the house pepper and garlic, the other was Sally Barnes' Smoked Fish.

"All you need now for a lovely meal is sourdough." We noted the instructions and a few days later put the three together in the sunny back-garden. And the day after as well...

An amazing Taste of the Week, quite a special one.

If you're anywhere near Baltimore, be sure and call to the deli in the Customs House, just a few yards from the village centre, and buy for yourself. You won't be sorry!

Taste of the Week. Harissa Chicken Fillet

Taste of the Week

Harissa Chicken Fillet

No problem finding a taste of the week when the order from Neighbourfood arrives. The only trouble is picking one for The Taste of the Week.

This week the nod goes to On the Pig’s Back for their Harissa Chicken Fillet. Many of you will know that Harissa is a hot sauce or paste used in North African cuisine, made from chilli peppers, paprika, and olive oil.

The chicken is top quality and the version of the sauce in which it was cooked was fairly hot. We enjoyed it for lunch with a salad (leaves and radish from the garden) and some left-over potato. The salad helped cool the sauce and we there and then decided to order our new Taste of the Week again. And again!

On The Pig’s Back 

Must say that On The Pig's Back is one of the stars of my NeighbourFood box.We've told you recently about their stunning quiches and they have an endless selection of top cheese (Hegarty's and Durrus now in the fridge). A day or two after the chicken (above), we enjoyed their superb Fish Pie Grattan. You might well query: what's the big deal about a fish pie? This is something special. The main ingredients (smoked haddock, cod, and salmon) are more or less the usual. They add in carrot, leek, celery, fennel, garlic, potato, white wine, cream, herbs, breadcrumbs, cheese, olive oil, butter and cornflour. Throw in their experience and attention to detail and you a beauty on your hands, on your plate, as good as many a restaurant meal! It comes frozen and will keep for three months or so. No waiting around here!

Taste of the Week Ballyhoura’s Freeze Dried Berry Mix

Taste of the Week

Ballyhoura Mushrooms Freeze Dried Berry Mix

No wonder chefs love Lucy and Mark of Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms. The pair are always coming with up something new and it is invariably delicious. Just like our Taste of the Week!

Oops, think I overdid it! They are delicious.

I’ve just tried out this new product: a large jar of Freeze Dried Berry Mix, including red currants, blackcurrants, strawberry pieces, raspberries and blueberries. This mix of delicious berries has been freeze dried for maximum flavour and nutrient retention. And they’re not kidding. Just bite into one of those little blackcurrants and be prepared to be hit by a very pleasurable fruit bomb! Amazing stuff.

Uses recommended are: granola, yogurt, porridge, desserts, to decorate cakes or incorporate in baking, and snacking. I’ve used them with granola and with ice-cream. Over to you chefs and cooks! Oh, by the way, if you don’t fancy the mix, you may also buy single-fruit jars. All available via Neighbourfood where I came across them.

Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms Ltd

V35 Y096

Ireland

ballyhouramushrooms@gmail.com 

Taste of the Week. Crossogue’s English Market Apricot Jam

Taste of the Week

Crossogue’s English Market Apricot Jam

“Creativity runs in the family.” That’s what you read on the Crossogue website. But I think there’s a fair bit of magic there too in that Tipperary kitchen.

Take their English Market Apricot Jam, for instance. You look at the ingredients and they are more or less the same as any other pot: sugar, apricots (41%), natural pectin, and citric acid. So how does this product turn out so spectacularly, so deliciously different from the norm. 

Spreading goodness, they say on top of the jar. Sprinkling magic, methinks. In the event, the result is superb and is our Taste of the Week. For a little more magic, try it on one (or two!) of those amazing Jerusalem Bagels by Cork’s Bread & Roses.

This English Market Apricot Jam is available from Roughty Foodie in the market, along with quite a few more offerings from the Molloy family in Crossogue.

Crossogue Preserves 

Ballycahill

Thurles

Co. Tipperary

Taste of the Week. Coolea Irish Farmhouse Cheese

Taste of the Week

Coolea Irish Farmhouse Cheese

In 1979, Helena Willems, longing for the cheese she'd known at home in Holland as she couldn't find anything like it here at their new home in Ireland, took out a little pot and began experimenting in the kitchen.

Encouraged, she took it a bit further and now Coolea cheese is a big name and much of the output is sold at the famous Neal's Yard in London while in Ireland Sheridan’s are the major customer.

The cheese was to be called Milleens after the local townland but that was knocked on the head as the Steeles, further west on the Beara peninsula and living in a townland of the same name, had just started making a cheese called Milleens. And so the Coolea brand was born.

It is firm and smooth, a pressed uncooked Gouda style cheese. Early on the flavours are caramel, nutty and floral but they become more robust as time goes on, sweeter if anything and still carrying traces of its delicate youth. A gorgeous cheese and well worth watching out for. Very suitable for cooking and indeed is ideal for melting

I am enjoying a wedge of Coolea at the moment. This is matured, is sweeter than in its young mild and creamy phase, and it is Taste of the Week. Was part of my order to Margo Ann in the English Market's Roughty Foodie and delivered to the door with a lot of other great Irish produce.

Taste of the Week. Three Men in a Trailer Smoked Ketchup

Taste of the Week

Three Men in a Trailer Smoked Ketchup

I like a bit of burger with my Smoked Ketchup!

Our new Taste of the Week is Three Men in a Trailer's Irish Smoked Ketchup.

As you may expect, it is made in Ireland from all natural ingredients with some extra ‘smokey’ flavour – fantastic for barbeques. This wonderfully delicious Ketchup is totally wheat and gluten free and is suitable for both coeliacs and vegetarians.

Love the way artisan food producers draw from one another as is the case here. The natural cider vinegar used, which gives this unique product an instantly recognisable taste, is produced by the Apple Farm, outside Cahir, Co. Tipperary.

I got mine in Bradley’s, North Main Street, Cork. It is widely available though so do check their website for details of stockists. Didn't get to try it at the BBQ yet but it its terrific with burgers, even with fries. Tried their original some time back and that also was Taste of the Week. They also have a spicy one in the range, also at Bradley’s.

So who are these three men?  In their own words: ‘Three men in a Trailer’ is an idea for a mobile high quality food outlet generated by 3 guys passionate about food, particularly food from Tipperary.’

Three Men in a Trailer

Gortussa

Dundrum, Co. Tipperary

email info@3men.ie

Taste of the Week. Skeaghanore Smoked Chicken Crown

Taste of the Week
Skeaghanore Smoked Chicken Crown

Regular readers here will know I'm a big fan of tSkeaghanore duck, especially the Duck Leg Confit and the Duck Breast.

But they also do chicken in Skeaghanore and I've given their Smoked Chicken Crown a couple of runs recently and there'll be more for this stunning Taste of the Week.

Another superb flavourful product from the Hickeys whose farm is close to Ballydehob.

You can find their offerings in quite a few places now - check the website below - but I got my latest batch (chicken and duck) - from Bradley's in North Main Street, Cork.

Skeaghanore West Cork Farm
Skeaghanore East
Ballydehob
Co. Cork
Tel:  (028) 37428

Taste of the Week. Ballymaloe Elderflower Cordial

Taste of the Week

Elderflower Cordial

If you’re taking advantage of your county, the new travel limit for the phase of Covid19, you’re going to see a lot of elderflower blossom as you make your way from Youghal to Allihies.

Anyway, if you pick some of these white flowers you can make yourself some Elderflower cordial. But, if you don’t feel like making the long trip (could be a seven hour haul or thereabouts if you take the coastal route!), don’t worry as the folks at Ballymaloe Cookery School have done all the hard work for you, probably starting with a local forage.

You can get a bottle of their delicious cordial on Neighbourfood. I reckon it is one of the very best around and is Taste of the Week here. Check it out for yourself - well worth it.

How about using it to make this delicoous spritzer. Two parts of your favourite sparkling wine, one part of the cordial, and two parts ot sparkling water. A big part of sun would be a bonus!

Ballymaloe Cookery School 

Taste of the Week. Hederman's Hot Smoked Chilli Salmon

Taste of the Week.
Hederman's Hot Smoked Chilli Salmon

Dinner...

Great to see Frank Hederman listed among the local producers now available on Neighbourfood, a marvellous service which has been a godsend to both customers and producers, especially over the last few months, and their delivery service has been a bonus for the likes of myself in the cocoon.

So the minute, I saw the famous smoked salmon on offer, we ordered his Hot Smoked Chilli Salmon fillet. Just by coincidence, as we prepared the dinner, Frank engaged us in a Twitter conversation and suggested using it in a salad with new potatoes. 

Never one to turn down a tip from the horse's mouth, we went along with that and enjoyed a marvellous Taste of the Week, with enough left over for a breakfast that made the taste buds sit up and take notice a little earlier than usual.

Check out NeighbourFood and check out Mr Hederman!

and enough left over for breakfast!

Taste of the Week. Mini Quiche from On The Pigs Back

Taste of the Week
Mini Quiche from On The Pigs Back

Must say, our current Taste of the Week is a beauty: Chorizo, Sweet Potato, Tomato & Emmental Mini Quiche. Made by the folks at On the Pigs Back and delivered via the marvellous NeighbourFood system.The quiches, you get two for six euro, are absolutely exquisite. Make sure you get some. Use for lunch or as the base for dinner. Either way you're on a winner. Just because there's a crisis doesn't mean you miss out on the good things, not with the likes of On the Pigs Back and NeighbourFood on your team.

On the Pigs Back Mini Quiche
Douglas
Cork

Taste of the Week. Baked Jerusalem Bagels

Taste of the Week

Baked Jerusalem Bagels

Bread and Roses produce these ultra delicious flavourful baked Jerusalem bagels. They are made with milk and topped with pomegranate molasses and sesame seeds. They freeze perfectly and defrost quickly.

While bagels have a Jewish origin, there are many styles, many doughs, many toppings. The most common bagels are used like buns or rolls, for various fillings.

Jerusalem Bagels are different, used for dipping in yogurts or labneh, with hummus or baba ghanoush. I didn’t have any of those handy on the morning so just slathered it with Leamlara honey and the combo was superb. A cool Taste of the Week from Bread and Roses. Tip: give them (the bagels, not the bakers) a few seconds in the microwave and then enjoy the superb aromas before getting down to business.

Q: Where did they get the roses bit?

A: They decided to call their small bakery ‘bread & roses’ in honour of Rose Schneiderman, an American socialist, feminist and one of the most prominent women labour union leaders of the 20th Century. 

Their sourdoughs and other baked products are available on NeighbourFood and at the Coal Quay Market in Cork City centre on Saturday mornings (when the markets are reopened!) 

And don’t forget, they gift their sourdough starter to you.

Bread and Roses 

Taste of the Week. Hungry Crow Amazeballs

Taste of the Week

Hungry Crow Amazeballs

Niamh O’Reilly of Hungry Crow has quite a range of tempting chocolates. They are absent just one ingredient: guilt! Their ‘Free from’ policy helped them win the 2016 Listowel Food Fair ‘Best Emerging Artisan Food Product’.

And their Free From raw and vegan treats taste every bit as good as they look. Niamh makes her own nut butter and fruit is a very important ingredient.  Hungry Crow produce has no refined sugars, grains or dairy.

Their chocolates now have an extra outlet on NeighbourFood and the Amazeballs are our Taste of the Month. The original are Salted Caramel and here’s the story: "These are amazeballs, Auntie Niamh," declared the maker's 6 year old niece when she bit into one for the first time. They have only 4 ingredients - chocolate, dates, sea salt, vanilla.

And the Freshly Squeezed Amazeballs are just as tasty. Here, Niamh combined dates soaked in freshly squeezed organic orange juice and zest with 85% cacao Colombian chocolate and created another set of irresistible Amazeballs. 

Hungry Crow 

15 Beechwood

Clonakilty

Co. Cork

Mobile: 087 950 4868

Taste of the Week. O'Hara's Centennial IPA

Taste of the Week
Centennial IPA, by O’Hara’s Carlow Brewing Co.

Hop Adventure Centennial IPA, 5%, O’Hara’s Carlow Brewing Co.
O'Hara's Hop Adventure Series 2020

As you might expect from the label title, the hops is the king here. You are reminded that Centennial is also known as “Super Cascade”. But, nothing to fear; the reign is harmonious from start to finish, the bitterness and citrus aroma in exquisite balance, from the initial aromas to the very satisfactory finalé. A very enjoyable Taste of the Week.

A single hop winner from the Carlow based craft pioneers in their Hop Adventure series that also includes Sorachi, Aramis, Styrian Wolf, Idaho 7, Galaxy, and Eureka hops. No Cascade. Or have I missed one?

Slainte, the 2014 guide to Irish craft beer, classed Carlow Brewing, along with Porterhouse, Franciscan Well, Whitewater and Hilden, as being in the first generation of Irish craft brewers. Not an easy station then (1996) but Carlow successfully entered the export market to gain experience and sales and eventually a firm footing at home, their hard-won achievements underlined when they left their original premises behind and moved to Bagnalstown in 2009. 

Taste of the Week. The Rocketman’s Soup

Taste of the Week

The Rocketman’s Soup

I’m spoiled for choice when it comes to picking a taste of the week these days!

When the local farmers markets closed, I thought it would be the opposite but Neighbour Food came to the rescue, big time!

One of the men behind the fantastic initiative, which sources food from the producers you see at the markets and brings them to a central collecting point, is Jack Crotty better known as The Rocketman.

He has built a reputation for innovative salads over recent years but it is his soup that made my taste buds stand to attention.So get ready to meet our latest Taste of the Week, the Roasted Red Pepper, Tomato And Mint Soup. Who else but the Rocketman would have thought of adding plenty of mint to the mixture. Absolutely delicious!

By the way, NeighbourFood, with an ever increasing number of depots in Ireland, also delivers (thought not in every area).

The Rocket Man HQ, 

No. 38 Princes St, 

Cork City. 

Tel: 086 822 9624

Taste of the Week. Davidson's Chicken Italiano

Taste of the Week

Davidson's Chicken Italiano

Davidson's are our local craft butchers and regularly come up with some terrific ideas. Just noticed this pic on their Facebook a few weeks ago, grabbed the keys and headed on over to the shop, knowing that this could well be a Taste of the Week. And so it proved.

Juicy boneless chicken breasts filled with cheddar cheese, smothered in tomato & herb sauce and topped with grated mozzarella and a drizzle of fresh basil pesto. Cover in foil and roast in the oven for 40 mins @ 180°C. They’re saucy, they’re cheesy, they’re delicious. We tested them immediately and they are superb. 

No more grabbing the keys now and heading up to our butcher but the place is well geared up to meet the needs of its customers during these covid19 times. We were able to order over the phone and one of our adult children picked up the box for us, a box that included the Italiano.

The Chicken Italiano is part of their specially range that also includes award winners such as Pork Steak Wellington, Home-made Meat Loaf, Crusted Rack of Lamb, Steak Stir Fry, Butterflied Leg of Lamb, Chicken Pizzaiola, and Chicken Supreme stuffed with broccoli and gruyere cheese. And most of these are available these days, though maybe not all on any one day!

Davidson's Craft Butchers

7 St Christopher's Drive

Montenotte

Cork

(021) 451 8184

Taste of the Day that's in it.

Taste of the Day
The Big Red Egg from Skellig Chocolate

Happy Easter Everyone.
We're in the cocoon but so too is this big
red Strawberry and Champagne Egg from
Skellig Chocolate. Don't think it will last too long, the egg that is, not the cocoon.

And, don't forget the real eggs. This East Ferry Farm box came via our local craft butcher Davidson's Montenotte

#buylocal #supportlocal

Taste of the Week. Earl Grey loose tea from Mahers

Taste of the Week

Earl Grey loose tea from Mahers 

In 1991 John and Mary Mackey acquired Mahers Coffee from Dick Maher. At this time the business was purely retail, selling quality beans and ground coffee to its customers in Cork. 

In 1993 they expanded the business establishing the wholesale division supplying restaurants and cafes with their coffee. Due to the exceptional quality of their beans and the personal service provided, the business expanded rapidly.

Today Mahers Pure Coffee customers include top gourmet restaurants, independently owned hotels, local artisan cafes, canteens, schools, and offices. And me. Even in these Covid19 times. They deliver directly to customers all over Munster and provide a courier service nationwide.

My recent order included coffee, of course, and their loose Earl Grey tea, described as “The English Classic with natural bergamot oils on a fine blend of digestible black teas”. It is superb, one of the best Earl Greys I’ve ever tasted and now our Taste of the Week.

And their delivery service is also excellent. Check it out.

Mahers Pure Coffee 

25 Oliver Plunkett Street
Cork

Phone. (021) 427 0008

info@maherspurecoffee.ie

Taste of the Week. Kilmeaden Fully Mature White Cheddar

Taste of the Week

Kilmeaden Fully Mature White Cheddar

An enforced change of shopping habits over the past week or two led to a few different products on the table. One, Kilmeaden’s Fully Mature White Cheddar, was a very tasty surprise and its intense and distinctive flavour went down very well indeed.

This aromatic and rich cheese, made by Glanbia in Waterford, is our Taste of the Week. And, if you’d like to take it a stage further, Kilmeaden have a few recipes on their website, including this Ratatouille & Cheese one here. 

Our Taste of the Week has been typically matured for 10 months and comes in a handy resealable pack. Handy size too at 200g. If it’s this good at 10 months, then the Grader’s Choice (which is matured for 2 years) must be worth a go. I’ll have to keep an eye for that and perhaps take a stab at the recipe above.

Glanbia, Citywest, Dublin 24