weekend bites

THIS week I’ll be eating… kohlrabi, which is very easy to grow and getting a little easier to find in the shops. It’s a member of the cabbage family and, if picked young, closer to golf-ball than tennis-ball size, it has a lovely fresh, crisp texture with a nutty flavour. Thin slices feature on fashionable restaurant plates; I like it grated and dressed with sesame oil, salt and lime juice. Cut in thin strips, it’s an alternative to celeriac rémoulade if you toss them with mayonnaise and mustard. CORK’S Greenes Restaurant goes from strength to strength. Chef Bryan McCarthy, inset, has just announced his seasonal winter menu, with an even stronger focus on local produce than usual. Highlights include Ballinwillin venison from Mitchelstown, wild halibut from Union Hall, foraged sea vegetables from Monica Gonzales, vegetables from Kilbrack organic farm and wild mushrooms from Ballyhoura. Even the custard is made with organic milk from Dan Ahern’s farm near Midleton. Bryan’s cooking is exceptional: complex and disciplined. See greenesrestaurant.com. BAILEYS has spawned vast numbers of imitators, but here’s a cream liqueur with a difference. Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur is so called because the cream element comes from five family farms in West Cork, which is definitely a unique selling point. But the quality is so good that this new Irish product took the Chairman’s Trophy at the international Ultimate Spirits Challenge. The whiskey element, incidentally, comes from the other end of the county, Midleton. Five Farms is in all O’Briens stores and retails at €34.99. ACCORDING to a survey carried out for Aldi, Cadbury’s Roses are Ireland’s favourite chocolates, beating Quality Street firmly into second place. Jacob’s Chocolate Kimberleys are the top biscuit, with USA Assorted back in fifth place and, amazingly, Chocolate Hobnobs in eighth. In the same week we learned that the most likely sweet to be chosen from the Haribo bag is the gummy bear, with rings trailing in second place. Make of all this what you will.