Food file

Compiled by MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBY

Clodagh goes global

Clodagh McKenna, who was described by Forbes in the US as “Ireland’s answer to Rachael Ray and a hot new global brand” when she recently launched her Homemade cook book there, is taking over the cafes in Arnotts department store in Dublin. “We will be honouring the homemade ethos in both cases, and at the same time showcasing the very best of Irish suppliers as every dish served will be made, in so far as possible, from local produce,” she said. The two cafes will be refurbished in time for a September launch, and will operate under the Homemade by Clodagh banner. McKenna’s involvement with the cookery school, cafe and shop at the Village at Lyons will continue.

The big cheese

Greg Flanagan, who works in Sheridans Cheesemongers in Galway, is taking part in the second Cheesemonger Invitational in Long Island City, New York, next Friday. His tasks in the competition will include a blind tasting of six cheeses, a cutting and wrapping test, assembling a creative and balanced cheese plate, and introducing an original cheese pairing. “We don’t get to pick the cheeses we use for our cheeseboard, or for the match. However, we have lobbied strongly that some Irish cheeses should be used in the competition and they have agreed,” Kevin Thornton explained.

One for the glove compartment

If you’re holidaying at home this summer, pop a copy of Georgina Campbell’s Ireland for Food Lovers in your bag and you won’t go hungry. There are few, if any, places in Ireland to eat, stay, or source great ingredients that Campbell hasn’t ferreted out and road-tested. It’s available from bookshops (€20).

Smokin' hot tuna

Graham and Saoirse Roberts produce some of Ireland’s best smoked fish products at their Connemara Smokehouse, situated right on the water’s edge at Bunnowen pier in Ballyconneely. Their cold and hot smoked salmon is superlative, but they also smoke mackerel, kippers and tuna – the latter is supplied to UK chef Rick Stein for his Padstow seafood restaurant.

The cold smoked tuna is a revelation – meaty, delicately smokey and sweet at the same time. As part of a smoked seafood platter it steals the limelight from its more common cousin the salmon. Roberts says he uses only Irish albacore tuna, line-caught in an environmentally-friendly way. You can buy this delicacy at the smokehouse, or from the couple’s website and it costs €15 for a 200g pack. Delivery of up to 25kg to addresses within Ireland adds a further €12. “If customers are visiting during June, July or August, they can come on one of our tours of the smokehouse which we run at 3pm every Wednesday”, Graham suggests (booking is advisable).

Saoirse suggests using the hot smoked tuna (€15/200g), in a salad with beetroot ribbons (pictured), while Graham prefers the cold smoked atop thin rounds of toast smeared with cream cheese, with a delicate sliver of cucumber. “Normally we serve it very simply, and it goes very well with some bubbly,” he says. See smokehouse.ie.