Food File

Veg out:Vegetarian burgers can often be a bit on the stodgy side, but there are no nasty "fillers" in the all singing, all dancing organic, wheaten-free, gluten-free, salt-free, dairy-free vegetarian burgers made by Deirdre Collins's Eat Well, Be Happy company.

So if they’re free of practically everything, what’s actually in the burgers? Seeds, wholegrains and vegetables are somehow transformed into a surprisingly tasty patty that comes in two varieties – Omega and Spicy Bean. They are available in branches of Superquinn nationwide (€3.99 for two), and Collins, a UCC food science and nutrition graduate, will be in the Blackrock, Co Dublin store next Saturday and in Lucan on March 13th, cooking up samples of the burgers.

Let the battle begin

It's back! MasterChefwill be keeping us glued to the box in the coming weeks as a mixed bag of amateur chefs are put through their paces on screen. Last year's winner, wild food enthusiast Mat Follas, has gone on to open a restaurant, The Wild Garlic, in the Dorset town of Beaminster, and previous winners also include TV chef and Mexican restaurant owner Thomasina Miers. Just in time for the launch of the new series on BBC1, The MasterChef Cookbook(DK, £25) is a compilation of 250 of the best recipes from the series, including Celebrity MasterChef. With every single dish designed to impress, this is a great selection of dinner party show-stoppers.

Whats in your basket

Melanie Harty perfected the recipes for her pepper jellies while she was working in food production and distribution in the US in the 1980s. “It is a condiment that has its roots in the spicy rustic home-cooked food of Texas and the southern states,” she says.

Back home in Tralee, she opened a restaurant, The Cookery, which she ran successfully for a decade. But food production was where she saw her future, so she developed a range of four quite different pepper jellies – hot pepper, jalapeno, ginger and pepper and chargrilled pepper – that can be used as dips, spreads, glazes and seasonings. They’re properly hot, and not overly sweet, which makes a refreshing change from the sweet chilli sauces that have become so ubiquitous.

Harty suggests mixing the jellies with soft cheese to make a dip, or with mayonnaise to serve as a sauce for chicken wings. They can also be heated. The RRP for Harty’s Pepper Jellies is €3.49 and they are available from delicatessens and good food shops.

See hartysfoods.com.

In a stew in Sligo

The SÓ Sligo Food Culture Festival has come up with the novel idea of staging a World Irish Stew Championships in conjunction with its event on March

19th to 21st. There will be amateur as well as professional divisions, and you can enter by sending your Irish stew recipe to joeshannon@radissonsas.com, stating whether you are an amateur or professional cook.

A panel of finalists will then be chosen to attend the festival and cook their stew for the judges. The festival is also encouraging participation from younger chefs, with a Junior Masterchef competition. See sosligo.com.