Food file

MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBYrounds up matters relating to food

Olivieri oil on its way

John Wilson writes about some Tuscan extra-virgin olive oils arriving in Dublin this week, and hot on their heels is the Colletta Olivieri extra-virgin oil that Lino Olivieri makes at his family farm much further south in Puglia. The olives were pressed on November 11th, and Olivieri, who used to work with Amnesty International in Dublin but is now concentrating solely on his olive oil business, will have it available for tasting at the Dublin Food Co-Op at 12 Newmarket, Dublin 8 on Saturdays. For the first time, the oil can be bought in small quantities, from 250ml, as well as three- and five-litre cans. It is also on sale at the Organic Shop in Bantry, the Ballymaloe Shop in Shanagarry, Co Cork; and Caviston’s in Glasthule, Co Dublin, with further stockists to come. See olivierioliveoil.com

Make Trish's chocolates

Paris-based Irish cook and author Trish Deseine, whose fondness for chocolate is legendary – she has even wrapped crispy bacon in the stuff – has designed her own range of high-quality chocolate specially created for cooks. “When I showed photos of beautiful cakes and chocolates in my books and articles, made with French couverture chocolate with lots of cocoa butter, and I wrote in my books ‘use the best you can find’ – what was that supposed to mean exactly? It did not seem precise or helpful. Last year I decided to put my money where my mouth is and make some cooks’ chocolate myself,” she says.

The Chocolate by Trish range includes buttons that come in white, milk (38 per cent) dark (64 per cent and 74 per cent), as well as chocolate shards and chocolate dust. Until Christmas it is available exclusively from Selfridges branches in London, Manchester and Birmingham, but it’s such a good product that international distribution must surely follow in the new year.

You can however buy Deseine’s chocolate-making kit, which includes a selection of moulds and tools, and an English version of one of her chocolate recipe books, Atelier Chocolate, on her website, chocolatebytrish.com. This kit could be just the thing to give your homemade chocolates a professional edge. The PayPal instructions for Irish customers can be located by clicking on “deluxe chocolate kit” on the home page. It costs €39 including PP.

Chocolatebytrish.com also has a selection of really good chocolate recipes, including one for a chocolate saucisson – made with nuts and raisins. “Serve it with a glass of red dessert wine and play a visual prank on your friends. It looks so like the savoury version,” she says.

Stollen pleasures

Stollen, the traditional German Christmas cake laced with dried fruits and marzipan, is an interesting alternative to our traditional dark fruit cakes. Dietmar Weiss came to Ireland from Germany 15 years ago to study English and he now lives in Dublin 8 with his Irish wife and three children. He has just returned from a trip back home to his family’s hotel in the wine-growing region of the Ahr valley with several hundred stollen that he and his brother Eric baked for Irish customers.

They use a family recipe that dates back to 1900 and bake the moist and delicious cakes in four sizes, from 260g up to 1kg. Eight spices that they ground and blend themselves are included in the mix and the seam of top quality marzipan that runs through each cake is sourced from a specialist supplier in Lübeck. Perhaps it’s better not to know, if you’re counting calories, that the cakes are soaked in liquid butter as soon as they came out of the oven, but their luscious texture and deep flavour hints at something decadent.

Weiss, who ran a cake shop and bakery called Cáca Milis for several years and now works in product development for a major Irish food manufacturer, supplies his Weihnachts Stollen to independent delis, including Fallon Byrne, Dublin 2; Morton’s, Ranelagh; Caviston’s, Glasthule; Liston’s, Camden Street; Magill’s. Clarendon Street; Country Choice, Nenagh; and McCambridges, Galway. The biggest size sells for between €20 and €24. mcdigby@irishtimes.com

Chef Paul Flynn will be getting first-timers on track to produce a Christmas feast to be proud of at a one-day course at his Tannery Cookery School in Dungarvan, Co Waterford next Saturday, December 4th (10am-4.30pm/€150/tannery.ie). And if you want an even-more hands-on and calming influence to steer you in the right direction, Mary Drum’s very popular Christmas cooking classes at her home in Sutton, Co Dublin take place on December 2nd, 7th and 14th (10am-3pm/€80). Classes with the former ‘Afternoon Show’ cook of the year are great fun. Book on 086-8594501.

Giftslikethese.ie, an online gift company run by Cork sisters Anne and Sinéad O’Donnell, is a treasure trove of quirky and sometimes irreverent presents, such as this “punk” milk jug complete with safety pin

From Plate to Plate, to perfect present

Plate to Plate is a collection of recipes and sketches from the artists associated with The Leinster Printmaking Studio, who also persuaded some of their friends to get involved with the venture. Contributors to the book include Maria Simonds-Gooding, Jacqueline Stanley and Patrick Pye, together with chef Kevin Thornton. Recipes, anecdotes, sketches and photographs from the 42 artists taking part add up to an engaging production that is on sale for €20 from the Cross Gallery (01-4738978; crossgallery.ie and The Leinster Printmaking Studio (086-3558365). Proceeds over and above production costs will be used to establish a bursary for an aspiring printmaker. Pictured right is Romy Hogan’s sketch for her turkey and ham fricassee recipe.