Food file

Compiled by MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBY

Beauty on board

Ambrí Boards are made in Tralee, Co Kerry by Tony O'Shea, who named the company after his twin daughters, Amy and Bríd. Made with sustainable Irish hardwoods, each one is unique, crafted to made the best use of each tree's grain. Priced from €22 to €120 (plus pp) from ambrichoppingboards.com, they can be delivered anywhere in the world. They're almost too beautiful to chop on, so you could keep them for presentation purposes, like the Four Seasons hotel in Ballsbridge, which recently put in an order for 50 boards.

Top toque

Ciarán Elliott is heading to San Sebastian next spring to gain experience at the three Michelin-starred restaurant Arzak, having won the Euro-Toques young chef of the year award last weekend. The fourth-year Culinary Arts student works at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud.

His winning dish in last Sunday’s culinary skills part of the competition, which ran over three months, was poached Hubbard chicken, leek and celeriac, roast jus and sauce suprême – Hubbard being the breed of chicken reared by Galway producer, The Friendly Farmer, that the five finalists had to use in their dish.

The judging panel included Trevor Moran, the Irish sous chef at Noma in Copenhagen. Once they had completed their assessment at Chapter One in Dublin, the finalists and the restaurants that nominated them created a five-course banquet for guests at a prizegiving dinner staged in Smock Alley Theatre, on the theme of “Ireland’s Foodscape”.

Curry expertise

Banish takeaways forever by stocking up on these ready-to-use cook-in curry sauces, just launched by Green Saffron, the spice company run by Arun Kapil, who imports his raw ingredients from small, handpicked farms in India and does his own roasting and blending in Co Cork. They are available in Tesco and some Superquinns, as well as independents (€3.75).

See greensaffron.com

Seaweed bread

Tom and Ria Jones sold 70 of their Sea of Vitality seaweed loaves in just four hours at Ardkeen Stores in Waterford recently. The couple moved to Dungarvan in 2007, having left careers in the Army and banking, and began making bread this year. Their range includes wholemeal with sugar kelp, soda with dillisk, and savoury soda with dillisk, herbs and sundried tomatoes. It’s on sale at The Country Store and Eurospar in Dungarvan and Ardkeen Stores in Waterford.