Tasty Tuesday!

From the makers of Movies Monday and Free Music Friday comes Tasty Tuesday, a food column with attitude and, we have to admit, a dull throbbing behind the temples after last night’s artisan beer tasting session, more of which anon.

TT was in Budapest last week – expect some goulash-y tales soon! – so was unable to renew acquaintances with Anthony Bourdain as he returned to Dublin with a Discovery Channel No Reservations camera crew in tow.
At various times during his career our fave tough talkin’ Noo Yawk chef-cum-TV presenter has inadvertently fronted a mafia restaurant; let a male kitchenmate know his arse-groping wasn’t appreciated by sticking him with a meat-fork; told Madonna where she can stick her egg-free omelettes and generally behaved in a thoroughly un-Nevin Maguire-esque fashion. Well, unless there’s something about Mr. Maguire we don’t know!
“The most overtly mob-controlled place I worked in was a take-out joint, which was given to a guy who'd done jail time on their behalf,” Anthony says of his former crime associates. “Come opening night, we were so busy that all these 60 and 70-year-old Mafia bosses were pitching in and delivering chicken to apartments in the West Village. Needless to say, there weren't any complaints about the food!
“Even I was shocked at the level of debauchery and criminality. On my first day in Gino's, I found that the extremely well-paid head of prep could not so much as peel an onion – when he deigned to show up at work at all. When I inquired, I was informed by the General Manager that he was the boss' coke dealer. If half the cooks were on the line when they were supposed to be – as opposed to selling guns, or hiding in the stairwell smoking weed, or cooking up freebase in a bathroom – it was a good thing. It was the '80s, the stockmarket was going nuts and everybody thought they were invincible. Me included, I guess.”
For more tales of culinary derring-do read the archive interviews with Tony that reside at [link]http://www.hotpress.com/archive/1348603.html[/link]
[link]http://www.hotpress.com/archive/2620625.html[/link]
[link]http://www.hotpress.com/archive/2760577.html[/link]

Cooking The Books
Two Irish food legends for the price of one is the deal on July 5 as RTÉ One debut Surf ‘N’ Turf, a new series in which Martin Shanahan from Kinsale’s Fishy Fishy and Paul Flynn who wears the chef’s hat at The Tannery in Dungarvan journey to a different Irish seaside town each week and create a meal from locally sourced ingredients.
The accompanying Surf ‘N’ Turf cookbook (Quadrille. €19.99, hardback) is a thing of beauty, with the Black Pudding with Chickpeas, Garlic & Parsley and Roast Cod, Savoy Cabbage & Crispy Gubbeen Bacon – that covers most the food groups – our current faves.
Also from the Quadrille stable is Reza’s Indian Spice: Eastern Recipes For Western Cooks, another beautifully produced tome by the flamboyant – that’s putting it mildly! – Reza Mahammad who’s a Food Network and ITV This Morning regular.
“I love Indian curries, sophisticated French preparations, Thai salads, American burgers, British Sunday roasts and Persian rice dishes,” he enthuses. “Most of all, though, I love to meld them together. I live in the west, but I couldn’t go a day without spices, so my solution is to tinker with classic western recipes to give them a taste of my beloved India.”
It's a tough call, but the Guinea Fowl, Herb Butter & Wild Mushrooms and the Duck Breasts With Orange are the dishes from his 148-page masterpiece that Tasty Tuesday is craving the most.

TASTY TUESDAY'S TOP 10
1. Festival and market favourites Dux & Co. are opening their own southside Dublin restaurant a few steps away from The Ha’Penny Bridge. The Spanish Chorizo & Butterbeans in a Robust Tomato, Paprika & Onion Sauce is one of the best things we've eaten this or any other year. [link]http://www.duxandco.eu[/link]

2. Caperberries, palm sugar, pink peppercorns and chapatti flour are among the latest additions to the very fine Tesco Ingredients range. [link]http://realfood.tesco.com/our-food/new-in-store/the-tesco-ingredients-range.html[/link]

3. Tasty Tuesday gave the recent Taste Of Dublin festival a wide berth because of the hefty admission price – €28.50 just to get into the Iveagh Gardens – but will definitely be heading to the People’s Republic between July 19 and July 22 for the Irish Examiner Food Festival, which is €12 general admission, €8 for corporate tickets and kids under-12 free. Andrew Rudd and the Allens, Rachel and Darina, are all confirmed for demos with Amicus, The Cornstore, Hayfield Manor, Greene’s and Isaac’s among the fine eateries showcasing their wares. [link]http://www.prettyreallygoodevents.com/foodfestival[/link]

4. Dublin's first Spanish-Japanese fusion restaurant – they're all the rage in Manhattan – is opening in August. Full details in an upcoming Tasty Tuesday.

5. R'n'B diva Kelis is launching her own range of cooking sauces. It’s no mere celebrity endorsement with the ‘Milkshake’ woman taking four years off from music to qualify as a chef.

6. Mr. Oliver has confirmed the autumn opening of Jamie’s Italian in Dundrum. He’s promising wherever possible to use local produce.

7. Hick's Bacon Jam. Available from Fallon & Byrne and especially good on toast, potato farls and vanilla ice cream. No, really! [link]http://www.hicks.ie[/link]
8. If you want to know your Ardrahans from your Wicklow Blues, The Encyclopedia Of Farmhouse Cheeses: A Celebration is available from [link]http://www.irishbooksdirect.ie/lifestyle/food-and-drink/farmhouse-cheeses-of-ireland-a-celebration[/link] for a bargain €16.99. Derry Clarke, Ross Lewis, Catherine Fulvio, Clodagh McKenna, Denis Cotter, Darina Allen and Rachel Allen are among those providing the accompanying recipes.

9.   Locally made cheeses, artisan smoked fish, specialist charcuterie, baked goodies, BBQ meats, vegetarian stews and, natch, pie 'n' mash are all on the menu at the Liss Ard Festival, which takes place in Skibberreen, County Cork on August 4 & 5. The musical fare includes Lisa Hannigan, Toots & The Maytals, Bob Mould and Chic. [link]http://www.lissardfestival.com[/link]

10. That most elusive of south of the border cooking ingredients, the tomatillo, is now available online from [link]http://www.mymexicanshop.ie[/link] Remove from the can and freeze in meal-size batches.

CHEESY DOES IT

Available nationally from both Dunne's and Tesco, Cooleeney is a gooey raw milk cheese with a delicious mushroom-y smell, and a taste to rival the finest French Bries. And unlike many of its continental cousins, it’s always perfectly ripe. An artisan product at a supermarket price, it’s great mixed in with mozzarella on a pizza. [link]http://www.cooleeney.com[/link]

DON’T WORRY BE HOPPY

The reviews were all rave last Christmas when the Dungarvan Brewing Company released its Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, a super-tasty brew that ended up in almost as many beef and venison stews as it did pint glasses.
Their latest seasonal tipple is Comeragh Challenger Bitter, a 3.8% ABV English-style pale ale, which is available both in bottles and on draught, and beats our cross-channel friends at their own game. [link]http://dungarvanbrewingcompany.com/[/link]

THE REAL DEAL

"Cheap" isn't a word you'd normally associate with Les Fréres Jacques, Dublin's oldest and arguably most authentic French restaurant, which Tasty Tuesday visited recently with Elaine Crowley, the presenter and producer of TV3's Midday show.
Sit down before 7pm on Monday and Tuesday, and you can enjoy a three-course meal for just €25, and all wines at half-price. There's nothing budget about the cooking though, with Crispy Seared Duck Magret with Sweet & Sour Cranberry Sauce, Fillet of Cod Vapeur Dusted with Cacao Chilli and the thoroughly decadent Green Cardamom Cream Sauce & Layered Peach Schnapps Mousse & Lychee Génoise with Red Fruit Coulis all on the Early Bird. With the Olympia just a few doors away, it's the perfect pre-gig rendezvous and in Sylvain Vallier boasts one of the capital's most personable Maitre D's. Shame he's a Man U fan, but hey! The €25 deal is also available between 6pm and 7pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday but wine is full price – still a steal with the very cheeky house white and red both coming in at under €20. [link]www.lesfreresjacques.com[/link]

ME, MY SHELF & I

OLIVER DUNNE, Bon Appétit (pictured above)

First thing you rustled up on your own as a kid? I was a very fussy eater as a child; there wasn't much rustling from this kid. I remember a ham & cheese toastie – and that would have been pushing the boundaries!

Failsafe dish? Dry-aged rib-eye steak, with slow-roast tomatoes.
Store-cupboard essentials? Stock cubes and coconut milk.
What's been lurking in there unused the longest? After years of experimenting my cupboards are full of weird and wonderful ingredients from all over the world that I would be afraid to touch without gloves!
Favourite places to food shop? Anywhere I can find something new and interesting...
Cheeses of choice? Manchego or Tomme de Savoir.
Tipples of choice? I recently switched from Peroni to vodka, for calorific reasons! But I'm loving Pinot Noir at the moment…
Guilty food pleasure? I absolutely love Southern-Fried Chicken!
Can't do without cookbook? The one that I’m constantly writing and editing in my head!
Anything to declare? Apples and milk. Must have milk with apples...

Michelin-starred Oliver cooks up a storm at Bon Appétit, James Terrace, Malahide, County Dublin. [link]http://bonappetit.ie[/link]. Tel. (01) 8450314

UP THE AISLE

This is the bit where Tasty Tuesday scours the high-street for pre-packed fare that's artisan/restaurant quality. First off the shelves is Marks & Spencer's Chargrilled Calamari with Catalan Chorizo (€3.69 for 120g), as authentic a tapas as you’ll get without hopping on a plane to Barcelona. The tenderness of the M&S calamari is in stark contrast to the recycled rubber boots we were served recently in a Dublin restaurant who’ll remain nameless because they don’t deserve publicity, good or bad! Get four different tapas – or should that be tappi? – and a bottle of plonk for €14 as part of their current Med Meal Deal.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

This week saw YouTube launching its dedicated [link]http://www.youtube.com/hungry[/link] channel. We’ve immediately made friends with hipster Brooklyn fast fooders The Brothers Green, The Casserole Queens who look like they’ve stepped out of an episode of Mad Men, and the nose to tale extolling Pork You crew.

Best headline of the week by a country mile is WPIX News 11’s ‘Hot Dog Hooker Goes Free’. Catherine Scalia is vowing “to keep wiggling those wieners” despite being nabbed for soliciting from a food truck by the Long Island Police Department.

[link]http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-hot-dog-hooker-walks-could-go-back-someday,0,6050463.story[/link]

Foie gras has been banned in California with other states considering similar legislation. Should Ireland follow suit?
Let us know your thoughts…

[link]http://www.shortlist.com/instant-improver/food/the-rise-and-rise-of-craft-beer[/link] is home to an excellent article on Britain’s thriving artisan beer industry. Tasty Tuesday got to sample the ‘must-try’ 6% ABV American-hopped IPA Diablo last weekend while in its Yorkshire backyard. UK residents can order online from [link]http://shop.summerwinebrewery.co.uk/index.asp?function=TERMS[/link]

Ahead of his coming all-Italian guns blazing to Dublin – see our Tasty Tuesday Top 10 – Jamie Oliver has opened an eatery at London’s Gatwick Hotel. [link]http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/02/07/2012/344311/Jamie-Oliver-opens-first-airport-restaurant-at-Gatwick.htm[/link]

And that’s where we have to down forks for this week. All thoughts, foodie news, recipes and virtual yumminess for the next Tasty Tuesday can be zapped to [email protected].