FOOD FILE:Iseult Janssens (22) is a Paris-trained pastry chef who has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants Hélène Darroze in the French capital and Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin, and is now running her own company, the Cake Stand, making gorgeous wedding cakes, desserts, cupcakes and macarons.
Janssens decided she wanted to be a pastry chef when she was still at school in Dublin, and in her final year at King’s Hospital, she travelled to France to interview at three prestigious cookery schools – École Ritz Escoffier, Le Cordon Bleu and École Grégoire-Ferrandi.
She graduated with honours from École Grégoire-Ferrandi, and having completed a stage with Pierre Hermé, she joined the pastry team at La Grande Épicerie in Paris.
Her cakes are delicious, as well as beautiful, and are made with organic ingredients where possible. The French-style macarons are particularly eye-catching, and can be ordered from thecakestand.ie at €12 for a box of 14 (excluding delivery, which is available in the Dublin/Kildare region), or €14.95 at branches of Avoca, the Sugar Cafe in Cork and the Country Basket in Limerick. Flavours include chocolate, salted butter caramel, pistachio, rose, blackcurrant and violet, and cranberry and orange. Special occasion cakes, serving approximately 15, cost from €40-€60.
Janssens will be doing tasting sessions at Avoca in Rathcoole, Co Dublin today (1pm-4pm), and in Avoca on Suffolk Street, Dublin 2 next Saturday (1pm-4pm).
WHAT'S IN YOUR BASKET
Mossfield Organic Farm, where the Haslam family have been making their distinctive Gouda-style cheese since 2004, benefits from its limestone pastures, which support a huge variety of natural herbs that in turn give its milk products their unique taste.
Margaret O’Farrell, from Nenagh, Co Tipperary, who admits she has a slight vested interest – she does some administrative work for the farm’s owners – is a big fan of the cheese, which she says she buys from the Organic Store in Birr run by Jonathan Haslam (right).
“It is absolutely delicious just served simply as a cheese lunch or supper with maybe some homemade bread, chutneys and pickles. My favourite midweek, vegetarian dinner option is chilli eggs with an Irish twist.
“Fry up a sliced onion and half a green and a red pepper. Add some cumin and oregano, and a a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer for a bit. Break four eggs on top and grate some Mossfield cheese (preferably the cumin-flavoured) over the top. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and you have a yummy dinner for two.”
Mossfield comes in plain, mature, basil and garlic, Mediterranean, and cumin varieties. See mossfield.ie for a list of suppliers nationwide.
What’s in your basket? E-mail us at mcdigby@irishtimes.com
FRENCH CONFECTION
Isabelle Sheridan is a French woman who has been living in Ireland for 20 years, and who brought with her from her family home in the Loire Valley a tradition and knowledge of making charcuterie. “Every region in France has its own unique variety,” she says. “My family have their own recipes for pâtés and terrines.”
Using her family recipes Sheridan set up a stall in the English Market in Cork, selling Irish and French cured meats, pâtés, foie gras and sausages. On the Pig’s Back recently expanded, opening a new production facility and cafe in the former St Patrick’s Woollen Mills in Douglas, Cork, and the company now employs 15 people between the two outlets.
