Spud Sunday: Fab City
Bizarrely enough, it was a car park that I had, at first, been most excited about as I set off on my travels to Limerick.
Not just any old car park, mind, but the Potato Market Car Park (the clue to my excitement was, of course, in the name – I am nothing if not predictable in the matter of all things tuber). Established on the banks of the Shannon in Limerick around 1843, the Potato Market’s primary purpose has not, however, been as a place of trade in potatoes or any other commodity for quite some time. Though the market buildings were refurbished in the 1980s, the riverside location mainly functions as a place in which to park – though admittedly it’s somewhat picturesque as car parks go – with a series of open bays lined along the river and a footbridge leading to the Hunt Museum in the old Custom House building on the opposite bank of the Shannon. Though there was nary a spud to be seen, I think, perhaps, that I just like the fact that Limerick once had such a thing as a Potato Market, even if I can only imagine, fancifully, what it might, at one time, have been like.
The Potato Market, Limerick: nowadays, the only spuds you'll find are the ones in the signage
Spud Sunday: Liquid Lunch
There I go, scribbling in last week's Sunday Times
on value-for-money lunching in Ireland
(the online version, sadly, lives behind the Sunday Times' paywall)
Brian, one of my quotees in last week’s Sunday Times article (which you can glimpse above), is a great man for the ol’ liquid lunch (and yes, we are talking soup, as opposed to anything stronger). Soup, says he, is the bees knees when it comes to make-it-yourself lunches, and, of course, he’s not wrong. So, in an inspired move, I thought this week, that I might make some soup – for lunch, like – except that, by the time I was done, soup had become stew, and lunch had become dinner and such, as the fella says, is life. No matter. I scarfed it down anyway, and you might just do the same.
Spud Sunday: The Comfort Of Spuds
Perhaps unsurprisingly, what with the recent passing of my Da, I am, these days, all about comfort food, seeking solace in sweetness, in soothing, creamy textures, in foods fondly remembered and – somewhat predictably for me – in spuds. Today, that meant a simple gratin, with potatoes poached in milk and baked with crispy skins on top – a dish made in my mother’s kitchen with basic, unfussy ingredients and enjoyed with that most comforting thing of all, family.
Sunday spuds
Spud Sunday: An Early Harvest
“Potatoes are up.”
So reads an entry made just three weeks ago today in the diary that sits on the table beside my Dad’s armchair.
Said spuds are the ones that were planted by Dad’s good friend and neighbour, John’O, in my parents’ greenhouse, after what was probably a good deal of friendly, if characteristically unsubtle, prompting from Dad. Though he himself was no longer fit for the kind of physical exertion involved, he remained, nevertheless – and as his career as an army officer and community fundraiser par excellence had always demonstrated – a supremely able director of operations. He was pleased as punch at the thought that he would have new potatoes in May – around the same time that he expected news of a much anticipated great-grandchild – and, while he needed no preparation for news of family arrivals, he had advised John’O to get the garden fork from the garage and leave it in the greenhouse, ready to lift the spuds when the time would come.
Yes, the potatoes in the greenhouse are indeed up
Spud Sunday: Traditional Spuds
Darina Allen's volume on Irish Traditional Cooking
“Writing it has been a labour of salvage as well as one of love.”
So writes Darina Allen in her introduction to Irish Traditional Cooking. First published nearly 20 years ago, the blurb on the front cover tells you that this newly released edition includes over 100 new recipes, which is all well and good, except for the fact that, when they say new, I really rather think they mean old. For this book is all about old Irish recipes and ways with Irish food that, to a greater or lesser extent, had fallen into neglect in recent decades, as traditional cooking and true home economy had given way, first, to the lure of new-fangled shop-bought bread and later, to the convenience of a growing number of packaged and processed foods. We are learning to appreciate some of these traditional food ways again, however – “even as half the country is living on pre-cooked foods from garage foodcourts, there is a deep craving among growing numbers of people for forgotten flavours and fresh local foods,” says Darina – so a re-publication of this volume is timely.
Spud Sunday: Gimme The Spuds
You know what they say – if you want to get something done, ask a busy person, and Sheila Kiely is nothing if not busy. Mother to six, including two sets of twins, Cork-based Sheila is now also the proud parent of her first cookbook, Gimme The Recipe, to go with her blog of the same name.
Gimme The Book
Spud Sunday: One Hot Potato
In at number 40 on the Hot 100 list:
yes, it's my top-of-the-pops moment
Well, well, well. I appear to be operating at a sizzle these days, at least if this year’s Food and Wine Magazine Hot 100 list is anything to go by. Amongst mentions in the list for fellow bloggers Niamh Shields from Eat Like A Girl, Aoife Carrigy from Holy Mackerel and Joanna Schaffalitzky from Smorgasblog – lovely ladies all – I was very flattered to see this here blog listed for the second year.
And if, as the Food and Wine citation says, this is the place to come for potato recipes, then I’d better get some spuds on now, hadn’t I?
Local Beer-O
WJ Kavanagh, Dorset St.
Now here’s something that I couldn’t be more pleased about – the opening of WJ Kavanagh’s on Dorset St., by the people who brought you L. Mulligan Grocer. The Mulligan’s crew have done nothing short of redefine what it means to be an Irish pub with Irish grub and Dublin is a better place because of their endeavours. The new premises is bigger and brighter than L. Mulligan’s and (as co-owner Seáneen describes it) the menu will be lighter to match. There will be lunches, there will be coffee (with the assistance of coffee meisters from 3FE), and jam jar cocktails will join craft beer, whiskeys and whiskies on the drinks list. There will also be afternoons – many I hope – spent in the nook by the fireplace. I’m happy because it’s here and even happier because it’s near.
