Award-winning blog of Irish food writer and broadcaster Caroline Hennessy.
Despite the current cold snap and impossibility of actually doing anything about it, I’ve been looking at the raised beds in the garden and trying to plan for the summer to come. Last year we went on an inspirational (and very affordable) two-day gardening course at Glebe Gardens with Jean Perry, learned lots – and really enjoyed the flapjacks!
On a cold, wet, miserable day, there’s nothing better than coming home to a big bowl of piping hot, homemade soup. Pick from Chicken Noodle,Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato or White Bean and Cabbage Soups and make a meal of it with Caroline Hennessy’s recipes for pots of pleasure on SilverCircle.ie.
Darina Allen’s latest book focuses on kitchen skills and traditions – such as making yoghurt, keeping hens and baking bread – that have been lost in recent times. She talks to Caroline Hennessy for EveryMonday.ie about how the increasing interest in self-sufficiency can help us weather the recession.
Christmas is the time for long, leisurely brunches with family and friends. Make it easy with dishes that you can prepare in advance and whip into the oven just before your guests arrive. Caroline Hennessy, writing for EveryMonday.ie, gives you a few easy ideas that won’t have you losing your Christmas cheer. Click here for recipes for the Christmas Muffins (pictured on the right), Potato, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata and Buttermilk Pancakes with Cranberry Orange Sauce.
Cookery demonstrations + cakes + ovens + me = narrow escapes! On Wednesday night I was demonstrating some recipes in the community centre at Knockcarron, a really lovely renovated primary school in Co Limerick, when oven issues arose once again.
My cookery demonstration career continues this week on Wednesday 2 December in the Knockcarron, Co Limerick (map here). Knockcarron/Knocklong ICA have invited me along and I’ll be giving a demonstration called Spice Up Your Life in the Community Centre at 8pm. I’ll be making my favourite Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, a lovely rich Beef and Prune Tagine, finishing with Banana and Cardamom Cake.This time round – although it may ruin the evening’s suspense! – I’m looking forward to using an oven that works consistently. That, and me not accidentally turning it off half ways through the demo…
This is the second article that I wrote for last Thursday’s Irish Times Christmas Gift Supplement. Read the first here.
Delicious goodies are always a joy to receive, especially when you know that they’ve been made specially for you. With a little ingenuity and time you can put together all manner of homemade gifts with a minimal financial outlay. Here are a selection of tasty titbits that won’t take a lot of work and are cheaper – and more satisfying – than just picking up their equivalents in your local supermarket. And remember, presentation is everything. Pick up some cellophane and ribbons and take a look online for professional looking gift tags and packaging that you can download.
The article that I wrote for today’s Irish Times Gift Christmas Supplement is not online so I thought that I would reproduce the entire piece – before it was edited for space and clarity – here, complete with links.
Buying for someone who loves food might seem like the easiest thing in the world but sometimes gourmet foodies can also be the pickiest of recipients. Gift vouchers give them what they love – the opportunity to choose for themselves.
