FOOD FILE: There is a stellar line-up of big-name guest chefs signed up to give demonstration classes at the Cookery School at Donnybrook Fair in Dublin 4 in the coming weeks.
Fergus Henderson of St John Restaurant in London’s Smithfield, for which the phrase “nose-to-tail eating” was coined, leads the posse on Saturday, March 13th (€100). Not for the fainthearted – rolled pig’s spleen, lambs’ tongues, and roast bone marrow and parsley salad are among his specialities – but adventurous meat eaters, and offal lovers in particular, will find lots to inspire them.
Denis Cotter of Café Paradiso in Cork will be conjuring up delicious meals without meat on Saturday, March 27th (€75). Mary Sue Milliken, who has appeared on TV’s Iron Chef America and is co-owner of a string of Border Grill restaurants in Santa Monica and Las Vegas, will be demystifying Mexican food on Wednesday, March 31st (€75) – before decamping to Ballymaloe, where she plans to spend Easter.
Fans of fusion cooking will be drawn to the hugely inspirational cooking of New Zealander Peter Gordon, co-owner of the Providores and Tapa Room in London’s Marylebone High Street. A committed foodie and restaurant owner told me that on a recent visit to London, she ate breakfast, lunch and dinner there (in one day). Gordon, whose sixth book is due out next month, will be at Donnybrook Fair on Saturday, May 8th (€75). All of these classes will run from 10.30am to 1.30pm and can be booked on 01-6689674. See donnybrookfair.ie. mcdigby@irishtimes.com
Web watch
www.thespicespoon.com
Lahore-born Shayma Saadat describes herself as being “Pakistani-Afghan with a hint of Iranian” and has lived in Pakistan, Nigeria, the US, Kenya, the UK, Italy, and now Canada, where she works as an economist. She is an ace cook and photographer and her relatively new blog – started just last autumn – is bursting with promise. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to achieve perfectly cooked Basmati rice, every time, her opening entry (September 29th, 2009) provides an insightful and authoritative account of how to do so. Interestingly, she advocates soaking the grains for 30 minutes prior to cooking, and provides photographic evidence of the difference between soaked and unsoaked cooked rice. Charmingly, she writes that her family says: “Each grain of rice should be elongated, separated, curved and slender like a girl’s eyelashes.”
She says her aromatic Afghan dill-spiced rice is great with roast chicken. Definitely one to read in 2010.
Oats for coeliacs
Carole McGuirk’s mail-order business, Glutopia, sells gluten-free products, including Tilquhillie Pure Oats, which have been included in the Coeliac Society of Ireland’s 2010 list of gluten-free products. McGuirk, who is coeliac intolerant, explains that the Tilquhillie oats are grown in areas where there is no possibility of contamination from other cereal crops, and are processed following rigorous controls. They cost €4.50 for 500g, and can be ordered from glutopia@gmail.com or by telephoning 085-7572727.
