Welcome to July’s Irish Times Food & Drink Club Digest

School is out, it’s summer holiday season, and hopefully the sun is showing its face for more than a tantalising few moments of each day, which probably means you’re doing more cooking outside. New RTÉ TV star Nico Reynolds has some great barbecue recipes to inspire you. His recipes for smoked hummus and grilled vegetable flatbreads, and crushed pork and pineapple burger with chilli mayo and shredded slaw, followed by grilled peaches with honey thyme mascarpone cream will inspire you to get the grill on. Before you do, check out these great tips from barbecue expert and TV chef Simon Rimmer.

If a picnic is more your thing, Paul Flynn has prepped the perfect portable menu of Thai chicken noodle salad with peanut and cucumber sauce, Prawn and avocado rolls, and Roasted pepper, bread and orange salad.

Tempting prizes on offer

This month we have two fabulous prizes to be won. Wine Spark is celebrating one year in business and will be delivering a case of exceptional wines, along with an annual membership of the club that connects wine lovers with winemakers, to one lucky winner. In addition, you can be in with a chance to win a trip for two to the Totally Terrific Tomato Festival at Airfield Estate in Dundrum, Dublin 14, with lunch at Overends Kitchen restaurant and an overnight stay at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire. Scroll down to enter.

Congratulations to Tina Fitzgerald from Cork, who won last month’s prize of an overnight stay at The Cashel Palace hotel, along with a Champagne afternoon tea, and to Moira Cardiff from Louth who will be joined by three friends for dinner at The Creel restaurant in Westport.

Read all about it

In this weekend’s Irish Times Magazine, Paul Flynn visits Mr Bells “purveyor of exotic ingredients” in Cork’s English Market, and reveals the condiments that he says will transform your Asian cooking. Corinna Hardgrave is impressed by the food and wine but perplexed by some of the prices at Note bistro in Dublin 2. Lilly Higgins says you haven’t lived until you’ve roasted a whole cauliflower, and shares her two-step technique. Aoife Noonan combines coconut, fresh raspberries and shortbread to dazzling effect, and JP McMahon writes about his difficult relationship with aubergines. John Wilson does a deep dive into this summer’s smash hit drink, the spritz, and explains how to make several tasty versions.

Check in with us regularly at irishtimes.com/food for all the latest food and drink news, features and great dishes to cook. If you would like to invite family and friends to join the Irish Times Food & Drink Club, they can do so here. You can also follow us on Facebook here, and on Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Marie-Claire Digby