Sweet, wholesome, sublime
Sweet cured Mackerel by Hazel Bourke.
Photography: Mike O'Toole
Food commodities manufacturers have often enjoyed depth-charging recipe books with their insistence that their product be included in every single recipe featured in a book. You know the kind of thing: margarine used in every damn dish; or honey used in every damn dish, or whatever. The books, traditionally, represent a terrible waste of good trees.
But Irish Sugar may just have bucked this disastrous trend with their new "Sweet & Wholesome" booklet. For a start, they have enlisted the recipes and collaboration of three of the hottest chefs in Ireland: Derry Clarke of L'Ecrivain, Hazel Bourke of Assolas House and Ross Lewis of Chapter One.
And then they have let them get all funky and creative: spring roll of
goats cheese with spiced lentils; buttermilk pudding with red fruit compote;
loin of vension with red wine and juniper; upside-down tomato tart; brochette
of chicken, mango and red onion; brown bread nougatine parfait, are just
some of the delectable dishes here, with typically spiffing photography
by Mike O'Toole.
Of course, sugar gets involved here and there, but the product placment is done with a light hand: you get heavier product placement in any Bruce Willis or James Bond movie. A neat idea, "Sweet & Wholesome" is planned as a give-away via magazines and regional newspapers, so when your copy arrives, don't bin it.
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text © John & Sally McKenna
illustrations © Ken
Buggy
