Wine course in Kilkenny

A couple of weeks ago, I braved the unusually snowy weather in Ireland to travel to Thomastown Kilkenny for a week-long course with The Wine Academy. This was the Advanced Certificate course, one of the WSET accredited courses, and it was delivered by Mary Gaynor, who runs the Wine Academy.

Well, I have to say that my bravery was amply rewarded, despite the freezing cold weather, which had me running into the Kilkenny Design Centre on the second morning to purchase some wooly socks!

We had a great week of it, learned a massive amount (although I am not sure if I remembered enough of it to pass the exam on the Friday afternoon - time will tell!), and were highly entertained into the bargain. Mary's hospitality was wonderful, her teaching talents and wide knowledge of the wine industry were only to be admired and each day flew by! Thomastown is one of those Kilkenny towns which will be transformed when it is bypassed, and even now it has a lot of charm despite all the large vehicles rumbling through on their way from Kilkenny City to Waterford City or Wexford. Mary can be contacted at www.thewineacademy.ie

Exciting moves and market days ahead...

After much thought and deliberation for the last few months, we are on the move to new premises and are planning to include a weekly indoor food market in our new location on Saturdays. The building is in Glasnevin in Dublin, and has about 6000 sq ft of available warehousing, as well as ample office and storage space, a stainless steel kitchen and space for our wine tastings and much more. It'll be full steam ahead in the coming weeks to prepare the space, meet all the Environmental Health requirements and be up and running by mid-summer. This is all part of our decision to join forces with Champagnes Unlimited, and grow our business jointly, with emphasis on good value wines in this time of economic recession, cookery demonstrations on how to use the produce from the market, and to have our own stall at the market. We will be able to have wine tastings and courses on the premises, although we will still be available for incompany tasting evenings.

Current plans are for a mainly fresh food produce market, lots of veggies, meat, fish etc with an emphasis on quality and good value as well. Of course we'll also have some produce for people to be able to treat themselves, but always with a healthy emphasis! So, I'm off to Borough Market in London this weekend to look at it with fresh eyes - not as a consumer of the food there, but to see how they have it set up from an operational perspective. Not much point in not aiming for the best we can be, and they are a good example in this part of the world... Barcelona would be even better, but maybe too ambitious... for now... So, if you would like to explore having a stall at our market, and your food produce is good quality and affordable, then get in touch with us at info@thetastingroom.ie or if you would just like to hear more about our plans...

Horticultural matters

A few months ago, a low-key statement issued announcing the closure of Warrenstown College, which is one of only 4 horticultural colleges in Ireland, and is the only third-level college in the county of Meath.

I can understand some of the economics behind the decision - and we are in such a state in the Irish economy at the moment! - however, it does appear to be a very short-sighted decision. We are at a time when all things horticultural are at a cross-roads in Ireland. We have two possible future directions. One is to follow the road of importing the bulk of our fruits and vegetables, with our own farmers getting fewer and fewer, and those who are still there having to do battle with the big multinational supermarket chains. Hmmm, doesnt sound good for the longterm to me!

The other is to differentiate ourselves into the higher-quality produce, with the bulk of it organic (or at least grown to organic principles), with the food being provided to local outlets, cutting out the multinationals from our food chain. Small retailers, farmers' markets and direct provision to local supermarkets could be the way to go. That way, our collective carbon footprint improves, we eat better quality, in-season vegetables (thus getting more minerals and vitamins from them) and therefore our health is better all round.

If we dont have sufficient places for people to be trained to produce food this way, then the likelihood of this second options being chosen diminishes... and the alternatives being offered by Teagasc are - The Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin and Kinsealy!! Not exactly in areas offering cheap accommodation, or indeed locations likely to seem attractive to people who have been born and reared in the countryside, and who just want to be able to farm better!

Is it too late to reconsider the options? What cost to our economy and to the future generations in this country? Does anybody care??

Ode to a Quail (or two!)

Never having cooked quail before, as they are rarely available round my area, I was delighted to spot them in Cavistons in Glasthule, where I visited this morning. In case you dont know them, Cavistons is a family run business, with some of the best fresh produce that you can get in all of Dublin - great fish and meat, wonderful cheeses and fresh vegetables, and a fine array of artisan foods. However, back to the quail! While not cheap food, you could do them as a starter, thus only serving one per person - that way it would work out at €3.50 each, which isnt an outrageous price by any means. Two for a main course is about a nice generous amount!

I love the way that Ho Sen (Vietnamese restaurant in Temple Bar) do them, so we set out to recreate them along the same lines. Our marinade was created from garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, lime juice, chillies, schezuan peppers, sesame oil and peanut oil and a little honey. We left that to sit for a while mixed through the partly boned quails (we allowed two per person as a main course). With part-boned quail, it is much easier to cook them, as you have a fairly even surface to cook, rather than trying to roast the whole bird.

I checked with a few online recipes as to how long they need to be cooked properly (I dont know if they fall into the chicken category of 'must be fully cooked' or the duck category of ' anyway you want to cook from rare to well-done'). I still dont know, but concluded that when in doubt, make sure the food is safe to eat, so I erred on the side of caution and went with the option of 5 minutes on each side, rather than one of the options which was a total of 5 minutes!

After leaving the marinade on the quail for about 20 minutes, I cooked them by browning them on each side for about 2 minutes each side, then putting them into a preheated oven for about 5 minutes, then for the last minute, doing them on dual grill and oven setting. They turned out brilliantly! Succulent, yet crispy-skinned, and the flavours from the marinade came through beautifully without overpowering the quail taste. We served them with wok-fried veggies and some brown rice and had them with some really nice Australian Chardonnay - the Stonier Reserve 2004, which is a far cry from the still-lingering image of over-oaked Aussie Chard!

If anyone would like the recipe in full, get in touch with us and I'll send on the details to you! You can send the mail to info@thetastingroom.ie