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MY NEW FAVOURITE FROM THE DOURO

BY QUINTA DO JUDEU’S VINHO TINTO, DOURO 2008, 14% ABV, €14 to €16, STOCKISTS, 4.5 STARS

This one is going straight into my list of favourites of 2011. It has quite a dark red colour and the tempting nose is full of red and black fruits and hints of spice. It is warm and fruity in the mouth, no shortage of spice and the tannins are still at work.

While you will no doubt get smoother, this is quite an accomplished wine, one you could bring anywhere though perhaps you may prefer to keep it at home for your red meat dishes. Excellent wine at a very good price.

It is a blend of five Portuguese grapes: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela and Tinta Barroca. It has been aged for 8 months in French oak. It is not filtered and they advice you to decant. I did decant but it was hardly necessary though I would say it is important to have it in the room for a few hours before serving.

You may check out other technical details and more about the vineyard here.

FENNS QUAY FISH SPECIAL

FENNS QUAY FISH SPECIAL

Click on image to enlarge

All the buzz in Fenns Quay is about the Chef du Jour joust next Tuesday and Wednesday but regulars have to be fed in the meantime and I must say there is no slacking in that regard. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit last night where the Fish of the Day special was a highlight of a very satisfying meal.

There are usually plenty of choices in Fenns Quay, including a very attractive Cork on a Fork menu. Both it and the A La Carte are supplemented by a bunch of daily specials.

The Bream was their Market Fish of the Day Special and you can see why were tempted. Quite a plateful, topped by fillets of very fresh fish. And all the extra bits and pieces made for a very tasty and very well balanced dish, also very filling.

Well perhaps the “filling up” feeling also had something to do with the starter, a rather large one. Again, we picked from the specials and Seared Scallops, done to a “T”, and the ever so tasty Rosscarbery White Pudding were an excellent match, enhanced by the parsnip purée.

After all that, we did manage one dessert between us and that was their house specialty: V’Ice-cream (a pichet of  Pedro Ximenez sherry with vanilla ice cream). Just the job, as it sweetly slid down!

New Zealand’s Marlborough has a strong reputation for producing high quality Sauvignon Blanc and our fruity and full of flavor Fair Hall Cliffs 2010, at €6.95 a glass, didn’t damage that reputation in any way.

PICHET SCOOPS SANTA RITA AWARD

Top restaurants announced at

The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants 2012 in association with Santa Rita

Santa Rita People’s Choice Award goes to

Pichet while Derry Clarke scoops the

Santa Rita Chef’s Chef of the Year Award

Pichet has been announced as the winner of the Santa Rita People’s Choice Award at the launch of The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants 2012 in association with Santa Rita, the must-have annual guide to the best eating out destinations in Dublin.

The Santa Rita People’s Choice Award ten most popular restaurants in Dublin, as voted by the public, are as follows:

1. Pichet
2. The Exchequer
3. Junior’s
4. Chapter One
5. Eatery 120
6. Dillinger’s
7. Jo Burger
8. Dax
9. Saba
10. The Trocadero

Each year, chefs and restaurateurs nominate the Dublin chef they most admire and this year’s Santa Rita Chef’s Chef Award goes to Derry Clarke of L’Ecrivain. Honourable mentions included:

·         Ross Lewis, Chapter One

·         Kevin Thornton, Thornton's

·         Padraic Hayden, Camden Kitchen

·         Dylan McGrath, Rustic Stone

The Dubliner 100 Best restaurants, in association with Santa Rita, which is now in its 10^th year of publication, features a host of dining options across the capital, including fine dining, casual eateries, family friendly venues, local favourites and hidden gems.

Copies of the 2012 guide to the 100 Best Restaurants are on

sale in bookshops across the country.

Sallyanne Cooney, General Manager of Gleeson’s incorporating Gilbey’s, which distributes Santa Rita wine in Ireland, says:

“Santa Rita, the leading Chilean wine in Ireland, is delighted to be associated once again with The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants guide for the tenth year running. The ‘Santa Rita People’s Choice Award’ continues to be the most sought after accolade for Dublin restaurants, as it is voted for by the public – the toughest critics of all! We’d like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Pichet, Derry Clarke and indeed the 100 Best Restaurants in Dublin for 2012”

FENNS QUAY CHEF DU JOUR

FENNS QUAY CHEF DU JOUR

Fenns Quay  head chef Kate Lawlor is a busy girl these days. Not alone is she organising the day to day menus for the popular city centre restaurant and, of course the Christmas menus, but she is also running an innovative competition where a guest chef takes over the Fenns Quay kitchens for a night.

This is an unusual event and should be great fun for foodies. Places are limited and the number to ring to reserve is 021 4279527.

Paul Callaghan is the first to enter the stage. Paul is from County Clare and, briefly, this is his story: Ran my own Plastering business but have had to adapt to change, Irish food blogger, veg grower, trying sustainable living and loving it! You can find out more about him and his cooking skills on his blog at http://www.thesustainablelarder.com/

Paul will be on next Tuesday (22nd) and the following night the spotlight will be on Waterford’s Jeni Pim who is looking forward to the night: “Yes, a big change from my little kitchen in the middle of nowhere, at least I won't have to dig all the veg for it!.” You’ll find her on Twitter at JeniPim.

Kate has been looking for judges for the event and yours truly has been roped in. On the opening night, I’ll be with Elke O’Mahony of Cork Slow Food and Evin O’Keeffe . On Wednesday, I’ll be joined by Margaret Smith  and by Michael Logan of River Wines.

Kate Lawlor (right) is determined that the foodie fun won’t stop there. “We are planning a second head to head between two different chefs in January with a final pencilled in for April. And already there has been some interest in those!”

A good start is half the battle so get on down to the Sheares Street venue next week (22nd and 23rd) and have yourself a great night out which, including the wines, will cost €50.00.

Sturdy Douro white...parade ground not catwalk...

QUINTA DO JUDEU’S WHITE WINE, DOURO (PORTUGAL) 2010, 14.5% ABV, €18 TO 20, STOCKISTS 

I generally prefer wines made from old vines and this sturdy white from the Douro is no exception. It is a mix of native varieties: Malvasia Fino and Rabigato. Quinta do Judeu aim for high quality wines, using traditional methods including treading the grapes in granite tanks.

Colour of this full and complex wine is yellow with hints of green and it has aromas of white fruit, including peach. The initial impressions in the mouth are, for me: fresh, fruity, dry.

This is parade ground not catwalk, brawny not scrawny. It is a gripping engagement from the start and it remains strong to the end. No fade away here to a skinny citron pressé. It is also built to last, with a recommended drink-by date of 2015.

It has a pretty high ABV for a white but it is nonetheless a well balanced wine. More than a match for the turkey and ham!

The white is imported by Wine Alliance and you may check all the technical details, and more, here.

Very old vine at Quinta do Judeu

AMUSE BOUCHE

 “......a woman held up a duck whose throat she had cut and stroked her gently while a little girl held up a cup to catch the blood for making gravy. The duck seemed very contented and, when they put her down, she waddled twice and found that she was dead. We ate her later, stuffed and roasted.”

Hemingway, describing a visit to Miro’s summer home near Barcelona.

DUBLIN & CORK CHRISTMAS TASTINGS

FromVineyardsDirect.ie Christmas parties & tastings in Dublin and Cork


Dublin Christmas Tasting & Party
17th November 2011  
Royal Irish Automobile Club,
32 Dawson Street,Dublin 2
6.30-8.30pm  

Cork Christmas Party & Tasting
24th November 2011
Crawford Art Gallery
Emmet Place, Cork
6.30-8.30pm

There is still plenty of time to attend and to tempt you here is the list of wines that will be tasted:
1.    1415 Brut, Crémant De Bourgogne €12.95
2.    La Chapelle Blanc 2009, Cotes de Gascogne| SW France €8.95
3.    Torrebrava Manzanilla Sherry, Bodegas Orleans Borbon €9.95
4.    Château Bauduc Blanc 2009 | Bordeaux €10.50
5.    Stanley Estates Sauv. Blanc, Awatere Valley 2011 | Marlborough €15.95
6.    Soave Classico Pra 2010 | Veneto €12.95
7.    St Véran ‘Merloix’ 2009, Pierre Janny| Burgundy €13.95
8.    Mercurey 2005 , Pierre Olivier | Burgundy €15.95
9.    Chablis 1er Cru ‘Beauroy’, Dom De la Motte 2008| Burgundy €17.95
10. Meursault
11. Primitivo 2004, casa Catelli | €9.95
12. Cotes Du Rhône Villages ’Les Trois Soeurs’, Dom Des Grands Bois 2010 €10.95
13. Altos De Oliva Gran Reserva 2004 | Catalunya  €9.95
14. Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2009, Mark Haisma | Burgundy €17.95
15. Barbera D’Alba’Granera Alta’, Cascina Chicco 2009 | Piedmont €12.95
16. Crozes Hermitage ‘Nouvelere’ 2007, Jaboulet | Rhône €22.50
17. Ronan 2009 | Bordeaux €13.95
18. Virginie-Thunevin 2006 | Bordeaux Supérieur €14.50
19. Pauillac 2006, Pauillac | Bordeaux €23.95
20. Commanderie de Mazeyres 2001, Pomerol | Bordeaux €32.95
21. Château Haut-Charmes, 2009, Sauternes | Bordeaux €34.95
22. Churchill Graham, 10YO Tawny Port | Portugal €24.95
23. Churchill Graham Reserve Port | Portugal €18.95


If you would like to attend any of these tastings please call or email Gareth on gareth@fromvineyardsdirect.ie / 01 845 7645
  www.fromvineyardsdirect.ie

A WORLD OF COFFEE

A WORLD OF COFFEE

Joined the Robert Roberts Connoisseur Coffee Club at the start of the year and have enjoyed the experience so far. A new pack arrives every month and the cost, paid upfront, works out at about four euro a pack.

A high standard was set by the first one in January, a medium strong Brazilian Bruzzi and the packs that followed, which came from all over the coffee producing world, maintained the high standard.

Next came the unusual Monsoon Malabar  from India followed by the more delicate Sigri A  from Papua New Guinea.

April saw the arrival of the Columbian Paraiso followed by a purple patch as far as I was concerned starting with the Malawi Mzuzu AAA.

The June edition featured another African, a good strong Organic Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, and then followed two more of my favourites: Organic Peruvian Cecovesa and August’s Finca La Bastilla from Nicaragua. Just finished the September pack of Guatemala’s Los Volcanes, again good and strong.

That means an opening later on today of the October pack which comes from Kenya and is named the AA Mweiga Estate. Gareth Scully, the Master Blender at Roberts , is very happy with this very aromatic full bodied cup and he hasn’t let us down yet! Looking forward to that!

CORGO DA REGUA - YOUR EVERYDAY RED

QUINTA DO JUDEU’S CORGO DA REGUA, DOURO (PORTUGAL) 2008, 14% ABV, €10 TO 12, STOCKISTS, 4 STARS

The folks at Quinta do Judeu claim that this wine, named after a local river, is perfect to match everyday meals. I reckon they are right. Get a couple of these and you’d be ready for most red wine occasions.

Made my first acquaintance with this red over the weekend and must say I am impressed. Quite a lengthy introduction as the grapes used are not that familiar to me. They are: Tourigo National 10%, Tourigo Franca 20, Tinto Roriz 35 and Tinto Barroca 35.

The colour is dark red and there are red fruits, and spice, on the nose. On the palate, you again come across the fruits and the spice (a comfortable level) and a lovely warming medium weight mouthfeel. The tannins have smoothed the way here, all the way to an excellent finish. Good value too.

Must say I like this stuff, generous from start to the finish when the last drops tumble down from the commodious hollow stem of the standard Riedel receptacle. Not just a happy ending. More a happy story.

The Corgo da Regua is imported by Wine Alliance and you may check all the technical details, and more, here.

CHRISTMAS PUD - MAKE IT NOW!

Getting better with age   Your Christmas cake and pudding are best made this month, for time to age that leads to an incomparable flavour come Christmas! Email us your Christmas tips

Recipes and tips How to steam Christmas pudding Amazing Christmas cake Luxury Christmas cake Traditional Christmas pudding Ultimate Christmas cake

SUNNY MORNING AT DOUGLAS FARMERS MARKET

DOUGLAS FARMERS MARKET

November sunshine flooded the Douglas Farmers Market this Saturday morning as I strolled around among the thirty or so stalls. It was my first visit here and glad to see old familiar faces such as Woodside and Flynn's Kitchen but great too to meet up with the newcomers of the Ballyhoura Wild Mushroom stall (soon to have a permanent one!) and also La Dolce Vita.

Let’s start with the Italian. After all we owe Trap and company - big time! And of course the Italian cuisine is no punishment. Far from it. We got a few tastes before settling on a Bolognaise ragout and a couple of bunches of Tagliattelli.

That was the night's main course settled. Starter? It was just a few steps away at the Ballyhoura Wild Mushroom stand. Again a couple of tastings before purchasing a gorgeous soup. There was a good date on that so we kept exploring and settled on some chanterelles for the starter. They have quite a selection, including Shiitake and Oyster.

While we call regularly to Woodside  and Flynn’s Kitchen , they too had something new, at least new to us. Enjoyed some of Woodside’s extra tasty gluten free honey sausages at lunch-time.

Iain Flynn makes some terrific jams but it was the first time I had spotted his mixed berry with black pepper and kirsch, a terrific match with the sourdough from Arbutus close by.

Room in the bag for ten rosy red apples, total cost just 2 euro, and then headed across the village to On the Pigs Back. What a beautiful sparkling clean shop with all the choices we’ve come to expect at the English Market and space too for a cuppa and a snack.

Got some cheese here, again after a tasting. So we’re pretty sure we’ll enjoy the Mossfield Organic Mature Gouda with Oregano.

SIX TOP YOUNG CHEFS IN EURO-TOQUES FINAL

Its Hotting Up in the Kitchen

Euro-toques Young Chef Competition 2011 – Finalists announced

The temperature has been high in the kitchen and now the finalists, six outstanding young professional chefs from around the country, have been announced (8 November) each competing  for this year’s Euro-toques Young Chef of the Year 2011.

The Euro-toques Young Chef of the Year, in association with BIM & Failte Ireland, is the only professional culinary competition in the country based around local and artisan food ingredients. Through mentoring and training based prizes the competition aims to contribute to the professional development of promising young industry professionals.

Despite the recession the number of skilled chefs in Ireland significantly falls short of the demand in Irish kitchens and restaurants; many qualified chefs travel abroad and not enough return home!  For 21 years, the Euro-toques Young Chef competition has been searching for – and nurturing - the future culinary talent of Ireland.

Celebrating this achievement are Kamil Dubanik (23) from Knockranny House Hotel, Westport; Aisling Gallagher (24) from Ballynahinch Castle, Galway; Kyle Greer (24) from No 27 Talbot Street Belfast; Micheal Harley (22) from Rathmullan House, Co. Donegal; David Magaeen (24) from Restaurant Victoria Belfast and Margaret Roche (23) from The Cellar at The Merrion Hotel Dublin. (detailed biogs below).

Such industry chefs as Paul Flynn, Ross Lewis and current Euro-toques Commissioner-General Gearoid Lynch are involved in the competition judging, along with representatives from competition partners BIM and Failte Ireland. Candidates, who must be under the age of 25, submitted a written recipe entry and were then shortlisted for interview and a blind taste test. From these two stages, six finalists were selected to compete in the final.

The heat is now on!  These six finalists now have the next 3 weeks to devise and practice their dishes for the culinary skills test final in Chapter One Restaurant on Sunday 27th November. They must prepare and plate 2 portions of an original dish, using Dublin Bay Prawns and Achill Island Turbot, and present it to the panel of 5 chef judges for tasting, within 70 minutes. On the skills test judging panel Paul Flynn (The Tannery Dungarvan) and Ross Lewis (Chapter One Restaurant Dublin) will be joined by Lorcan Cribbin (Il Segreto Restaurant Dublin), Marc Amand, MD La Rousse Foods and panel chair Neil McFadden. Both Cribbin & McFadden have competed for Ireland on a World Stage in the renowned Bocuse d’Or and know what it takes to compete at that level.

In addition, over the next 3 weeks, the six young finalists will also need to perfect their dishes for a tasting menu which will showcase their talents for state, industry and media guests at the 5 star Merrion Hotel Dublin on Monday 28th of November. Each of the finalists will be introduced to guests before their course is served. At the end of the presentation lunch  the 21st Euro-toques Young Chef of the Year will be announced.

Despite the recession the number of skilled chefs in Ireland significantly falls short of the demand in Irish kitchens and restaurants; many qualified chefs travel abroad and not enough return home!  For 21 years, the Euro-toques Young Chef competition has been searching for – and nurturing - the future culinary talent of Ireland.

“We are crying out for talented, hard-working chefs in our kitchens right now” commented Gearoid Lynch, Commissioner General Euro-toques Ireland at today’s event.  “It is very heartening to see young chefs such as these six, who are willing to push themselves, aim ever higher and who see a future for themselves in this industry. This competition allows us to contribute to their development as chefs and also to hold them up as examples to those who may come after them; both in terms of what is expected of them, but also what they can achieve. It is also hugely important for us to recognise the experienced chefs who give their time and commitment to training future talent. Our competition partners BIM and Failte Ireland have recognised the role that chefs have to play in promoting Irish food and tourism, and we must ensure our industry lives up to that expectation by investing in its future”.

The competition emphasises training and development, with the role of the mentor being central to the process.  This years sponsors are BIM and Failte Ireland and their involvement reflects their recognition of the importance of chefs in building Ireland’s national and international food reputation, the pivotal role that ‘local food’ plays in this and, above all, their commitment to education and development in this sector.  This year’s competition is also supported suppliers La Rousse Foods, Findlater Wine & Spirit Group and Bragard, and Industry partners The Merrion Hotel Dublin, The Ivy London and Chapter One Restaurant.

The top prize for the 2011 Young Chef of the Year will be the opportunity of an all-expenses paid stage at The Ivy, London's favourite restaurant, under Executive Chef Gary Lee. Plus a one week stage at the award winning Michelin star Chapter One restaurant in Dublin under the tutelage of Euro-toques head chef Ross Lewis.

Among the overall prizes, each of the finalists will win a unique food experience with BIM and Failte Ireland. BIM will host a one day practical on-site introduction to the complex world of the seafood industry, visiting a seafood facility and discussing how fish is caught or harvested, bought, and sold, and what this all means to a chef. Including meetings with key industry personnel, processors and industry chef.  Failte Ireland will host a Food Tourism road trip - an educational 4 day food focused road trip taking in ‘hands-on’ cooking time  in top professional kitchens, visits to artisan food producers;  tastings, demos, unique meal experiences  and overnight stays with exemplary Irish food and hospitality operators.

For more info, including biogs of the young chefs, read here...