Bibliocook - All About Food

Award-winning blog of Irish food writer and broadcaster Caroline Hennessy.

Author: Caroline

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Eating Out

Restaurant Review: Harry’s Café Bar in Dún Laoghaire

Slow Food Ireland Last night’s Slow Food evening was the perfect introduction to Harry’s Café Bar in Dún Laoghaire. Since reading about the Polish food on offer there, especially the pierogi (dumplings), this had been a long-anticipated – but never quite realised – trip. Although there was no sign of pierogi on the menu circulated with the email about the event, the mention of dishes such as Marinated Roast Beef (Pieczen Wolowa) and Roast Pork Shank (Golonka) were more than enough to convince me.

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Doh! The Irish Blog Awards…forgotten

Irish Blog Awards 2007 Did I mention that I was a bit dotty with dates recently? I managed to MISS the Irish Blog Awards, thinking that it was on next weekend. It actually took place last night and I only discovered when I did a wander around the Irish blogosphere this morning. Although I’m disappointed that I didn’t manage to make it along, it was great to see that some of my favourite bloggers were among the winners. Take a bow Ice Cream Ireland (Best Business Blog, Best Specialist Blog), Conor for Best Blog Post (You may feel a small prick), the lovely ladies at Beaut.ie (Best Design and Best Newcomer) and The Sigla Blog (Best Arts and Culture). Congratulations all!

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Fairtrade chocolate at Amnesty in Dublin

Chocolate Heaven Fairtrade Fortnight kicked off on Monday this week and, if you’re not off chocolate for lent this year, you can indulge and feel suitably virtuous at Amnesty Ireland‘s launch of their fairly traded and organic bars of chocolate. It takes place tomorrow night, Thursday 1 March, at 7pm in the Freedom Café on 48 Fleet Street in Dublin’s Temple Bar and admission is €5 per person. Rumour has it that there’ll be a chocolate fountain in situ.

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Do / Travel

Looking for information: Barcelona

World Food: Spain I’m heading off to Barcelona with the sister for three days in a few weekend’s time and I’d love some food suggestions! We’ve never been there before so this is completely new ground for us both. The Boyfriend has been recommending the “silky” coffee to me, the sister has lists of places to try out (she arrives several days before me) and, my appetite whetted by the Mediterranean Food Company’s tapas class and several nights consumption at Dublin’s Market Bar, I have every intention of eating my way through as much as possible of everything on offer in Barcelona.

By request: Ricotta and Spinach Pancake Bake 5

Food for Friends

By request: Ricotta and Spinach Pancake Bake

I have made this dish a couple of times for Pancake Tuesday as I love to have a pancake main as well as desert! One of the best things about it is that many of the elements can be made beforehand. This year I made the pancake batter on Sunday, the pancakes and tomato sauce on Monday, then assembled, baked and served on Tuesday.

Pancake Tuesday 2

Cook / Food for Friends

Pancake Tuesday

Not being very clued in with dates, the first notice I received of the annual pancake flipping day was a display of bottles of squeezy lemon and pancake batter mixes at Morton’s in Ranelagh. Pancakes really are one of the easiest things to make so don’t bother with the mix – it’s normally nothing but flour anyway – buy a real lemon and whip up your own pancakes in minutes with some of the recipes on Greatfood.ie – try sweet pancakes, crêpes, savoury French Galettes or even some fluffy American Buttermilk Pancakes from Bakingsheet.

Thanks to all who voted, but… 7

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Thanks to all who voted, but…

…unfortunately Bibliocook didn’t manage to make it through to the shortlisted stage of the 2007 Irish Blog Awards. However, some of my favourites did so best of luck to Beaut.ie, Sinéad Gleeson, One Breast Less, Conor O’Neill, The Waiting Game and Ice Cream Ireland on 11 March at the Alexander Hotel. You can see the full list here and a particularly big thank you to all who voted for Bibliocook!

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Cook

The easiest Valentine’s Day dinner: Baked Vacherin Mont d’Or

…or perfect for any other time, should the mood take you!First, get your hands on a small round soft cheese called Vacherin Mont d’Or. It is a seasonal French or Swiss cheese, which means that you can only have this kind of meal between mid-September and March – like asparagus, it makes it all the nicer as a result.Baked Vacherin Mont d'Or Preheat your oven to 200°C and take the cheese out of its little wooden box. Remove any waxed paper and sit it snugly back into the box. Tear off a sheet of tinfoil and scrunch the tinfoil around the box to make a nice nest so that nothing can flow out in the oven. Prick the top rind of the cheese with a fork and then, using a spoon, scoop enough of the rind sideways enough so that you can push a small bunch of thyme and a couple of cloves of garlic into the heart of the cheese.