Category Archives: Food & Drink

Lasagne Orson Wells

Lasagne Orson Welles I’m posting this recipe in response to multiple requests for same after I put the above pic on Instagram and Facebook. It is a dish so luxuriously rich, that even the picture itself exudes calories and I can only conclude that, during an especially bitterly cold and stormy spell across the entireContinue reading “Lasagne Orson Wells”

Pilgrim’s Progress

This is a review I wrote for the Irish Mail on Sunday, last August, 2015. Pilgrim’s is a very fine little restaurant based in Rosscarbery, in West Cork, owned and operated by chef Mark Jennings and his partner, Sarah-Jane Pearce, who runs front of house. It took just a single meal for it to be instantly installedContinue reading “Pilgrim’s Progress”

Food fraud Ain’t Just Flogging Horse-burgers

I find it truly disheartening when certain restaurants or retailers choose to exploit the integrity of fine growers and producers and, ultimately, the consumer by perpetrating food fraud—here’s a piece I wrote on the subject, now up on the Irish Food Writers’ Guild website, after yet another ‘episode’, this time involving Ballyhoura Mushrooms. And inContinue reading “Food fraud Ain’t Just Flogging Horse-burgers”

Ballymaloe Litfest of Food & Wine 2014

For the weekend that’s in it, here’s four of my most recent articles, all previewing the 2nd Ballymaloe Litfest. Last year’s inaugural event defied all expectations, even those of the organisers, and I’m gearing up for yet another splendid weekend even if my own schedule (including a 9.30am interview on Sunday morning with one of Ireland’s Queens of Cheese, the magnificentContinue reading “Ballymaloe Litfest of Food & Wine 2014”

My Culinary Hero – Myrtle Allen at 90, Ballymaloe at 50

Contrary to popular opinion, The Swashbuachaill is not a callous sort though it may well appear so, such is the lack of attention or care devoted to this poor old site. But in fact, The Swashbuachaill is writing all the time, churning out the paid-for stuff that foots the bills, so will endeavour to regularlyContinue reading “My Culinary Hero – Myrtle Allen at 90, Ballymaloe at 50”

More Than Just a Cheap Cut

Along with almost every other journo in Grub Street, I have been asked to write about ‘cheap eating’ and have just written an article (published in today’s Irish Examiner) about saving money on food shopping for the family, specifically, how to buy meat for less.

Self-empowerment Begins At Home

As we sift through the wreckage of yet another blundering budget courtesy of an impotent and creatively bankrupt Government, the feelings of anger, despair and, worst of all, powerlessness amongst ordinary citizens are only too palpable. The scant few measures aimed at supporting SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises – which covers the bulk of theContinue reading “Self-empowerment Begins At Home”

10 Cookbooks You Should Own?

It’s the closest I’ve come to generating a twitter firestorm – well, maybe more of a twitter firelog but it’s certainly the most tweets I’ve ever received in response to a query for an article I was writing, published in the Irish Examiner Weekend Magazine. The query? Name ten cookbooks you should own. And thenContinue reading “10 Cookbooks You Should Own?”

Meeting Mattie Kiely

So The Swashbuachaill hightailed it off to France recently for the full pair of weeks seeking refuge from the deluge but it turns out precipitation and lots of it is currently the in-thing right across North Western Europe. But, as always, it began promisingly with the always-pleasurable cruise out of Cork Harbour on the PontContinue reading “Meeting Mattie Kiely”