The Sigla Blog

Anyone passing through here with even a modicum of regularity has probably noticed the blog equivalent of a tumbleweed passing through. I’ve been working a hell of a lot in the last month and a couple of things I’ve been doing are food-related. I used to bake a huge amount as a child. No weekend was complete without me attempting some sort of cake, biscuits or elaborate dessert much to the delight of my family who wolfed the results down with Sunday tea, regardless of how successful they were. Once, I strove too far, and attempted eclairs, only to use over-large eggs and have my choux pastry turn in to mini-omelettes in the oven. Needless to say, my culinary ego was dented and it took a long time for me to pick up a spatula and mixing bowl again.

For eleven years, I was a strict vegetarian and I became very resourceful about food. There was nothing (apart from dishes containing animal-related ingredients of course) that I didn’t try to cook. I sought out every spice, herb, obscure vegetable, hard to find ingredient and elusive condiment I could find, co-opting them in to a variety of dishes. Cooking is very therapeutic, and I know some will disagree, but for me it requires a luxury I constantly fall short of - time. Not that I was any less busy in my vegetarian days, but over the last year I’ve had less and less time to experiment. An invitation to dinner during the week was the source of much anticipation for me. We had a gorgeous meal at a friend’s house: guacamole to start, followed by Duck pâté with orange, spicy meatballs and ham-wrapped dates (similar to one of the starters in L’Gueuleton). An ice-pack was even provided for my knee as I took a nasty spill on the way there (before Liam’s very nice, lime-suffused gin and tonics). After lengthy chats about myspace, the afterlife, Steve’s new recording studio, writing and many other things, the food was still very much on my mind so I resolved to return to cooking. Sure, I do functional amounts of it, and of some unusual stuff, but I want to resurrect my inner chef or least kick-start my cookery mojo again.

A chunk of the work that’s been keeping me from the blog has been food-related. I’ve written two pieces for the next issue of Food & Wine magazine (one is an interview with Karl Purdy, of Coffee Angel who will be representing Ireland at the World Barista Championships in May) and being around F&W’s mercurial editor Ernie Whalley, has also reignited my desire to get more adventurous in the kitchen. Tonight, I am a guest on Winter Food on RTE Radio 1, which sadly is the last in the present serious of what’s been a very enjoyable show. As well as tips, recipes and some fascinating guests, it was great to meet the lovely Clodagh McKenna who presents the show. Aptly, we were discussing food cookery courses at home and abroad and Clodagh trained at Ballymaloe Cookery School , as did Catherine Fulvio (my fellow guest) who runs the Cookery School at Ballyknocken House in Wicklow. We were joined from Galway by Judy Kavanagh who runs The Cook Club, a venture where she teaches people to cook in their own homes. I also recently wrote an article on Italian Food for U magazine and got to use one of Ursula Ferrigno’s recipes. For anyone interested, she’s teaching a course in Dun Laoghaire’s Cook’s Academy in June.

There are tons of food courses, independent food producers and farmer’s markets in Ireland. In short, there’s a lot of people involved in food in this country so, I’m surprised there aren’t more food blogs around. Kieran Murphy’s Ice Cream Ireland is well worth a look and I know Morgan regularly posts about food. Bibliocook is a nice mix of personal foodie entries, book reviews and recipes and I’ve been lucky enough to actually sample Caroline’s super tasty brownies. (Conn is also a Bibliocook fan and recently mentioned it over at An t-Imeall.)

Perhaps someone (Caroline?) should fill the gap left by Winter Food and start a food podcast show? In the spirit of my cookery rebirth, I know I’d tune in.

The last Winter Food show in the series is on RTE Radio 1 at 7.30pm tonight. The audio version will be archived for a while and the site has links to all the other sites mentioned in the discussion as well as Catherine’s recipe for Aubergine Caponata and Judy Kavanagh’s Sausage & Mash and a Mezze Plate which includes Lamb Koftas, Tzatziki and Hummus.

Update: Suzy’s ahead of me on the food podcast idea.