weekend bites

This week I’ll be eating... leeks, because they are at their very best just now and because I have quite a few in our vegetable garden, all planted late last Summer, having been sown in March or April. At their simplest, they are good just sliced and softened in butter, maybe given a splash of cream and a scrape of nutmeg. Young tender ones can be cooked very gently and served cold with a vinaigrette and grated hard-boiled egg. The French call this poor man’s asparagus!

Wojciech Tysler from Bewley’s has triumphed in the Avonmore Barista Championships, held at the food and beverage exhibition, CATEX in Dublin last week, and will represent Ireland at the world championship in Boston next month. Fifty baristas have to prepare four espressos (espressi?), four milk coffees and four inventions of their own, all within a quarter of an hour. I would panic even thinking about the challenge. Good luck Wojciech!

Michael’s of Mount Merrion is an outstanding restaurant, famed in particular for sensational seafood and steaks and a stunning wine selection. And so, I’m thrilled to report that chef Gaz Smyth (formerly of London’s 2 Michelin star, The Ledbury) has taken over the premises next door and Michael’s will soon have a wine bar (sommelier Talha Pasha has an unerring nose for the good stuff) with what Gaz describes as ‘an emphasis on dealing directly with Irish cheese makers, growers, fishermen and producers, but we will also import the best charcuterie Europe has to offer.’

There’s no substitute for cooking from scratch but I had a nostalgic moment when I heard that Bird’s Eye have relaunched the Crispy Pancakes once brought to us by Findus. Growing up in the 1970s I was inordinately fond of the one with minced beef inside. Times have changed and the new versions are Mozzarella, Tomato & Mozzarella and Ham & Mozzarella. I don’t think I knew what mozzarella was in 1975!