Taste of Christmas: 25th-27th November 2011, Convention Centre Dublin

18,000 THANK YOU !!!!

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:11:45 +0000

Over 18,000 Visitors attended Taste of Christmas last weekend

at the Convention Centre Dublin

Taste of Christmas featuring the MasterChef Ireland Live Theatre Show, weclomed over 18,000 visitors to the Convention Centre Dublin, for the second year in a row. The seasons finest food, drink and shopping festival took place from Friday 25^th to Sunday 27^th November. Visitors savoured dishes from a stellar line-up of Dublin’s top restaurants at Taste of Christmas including Bang, Bon Appetit, The Chop House, Jaipur, The Cliff Town House, Unicorn, Pichet and two of Dublin’s top Malaysian restaurants Swai and King Charlie’s.

MasterChef Ireland judges Dylan McGrath and Nick Munier hosted the first ever MasterChef Ireland Live Theatre Show featuring cook-offs between this year’s MasterChef Ireland finalists; Mary Carney, Mike Curran, Bridin Carey and Christine O’Sullivan. In addition, live cooking demonstrations from Catherine Fulvio, Clodagh McKenna, Oliver Dunne, Edward Hayden and Norman Musa of Taste of Malaysia took place throughout the event.

Taste of Christmas Show Director, Rachel Kelly, commented, “We are delighted once again with the success of Taste of Christmas, with 18,000 visitors in attendance for the second year in a row. We are also very proud to have hosted the first ever MasterChef Ireland Live Theatre Show which was very popular with our audience each day. We are now looking forward to our next big event, Taste of Dublin 2012!”

Visitors attended Taste of Christmas last weekend

at the Convention Centre Dublin

Saturday at Taste of Christmas

admin — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:17:22 +0000

Photos of MasterChef Ireland Live

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:59:50 +0000

Red Velvet Pancakes With White Chocolate Chips

pumpkinpie — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:53:14 +0000

Red Velvet Pancakes with White Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

256g – Flour
10g – Baking powder
5g – Bicarbonate of soda
5g – Salt
75g – Caster sugar
40g – Unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
360ml – Buttermilk
125ml – Sour cream
A few drops of red food colouring
4 drops of Vanilla essence
100g – White chocolate chips

Directions

Mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl (flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, cocoa powder), mix wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, sour crea, food colouring, vanilla essence) in a seperate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined, you don’t want to overmix. Add chocolate chips in and give one last stir.

Grease a pan with oil or butter and lay down enough batter for a nice portion of 3 pancakes per person. Heat on both sides until just lightly browned. They should turn out nice and fluffy like American style pancakes.

Lightly dust them with confectioners sugar, drizzle with maple syrup or golden syrup. Enjoy!

Tis the season!

Superquinn VIP Suite

Ciara — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:13:00 +0000

At Superquinn we are very excited about Christmas, as we have re-launched our ordering service so you can now order over 120 of your favourite Christmas products, including our famous fresh Irish Turkey and Ham.

To Celebrate we will be at Taste of Christmas, where you can sample some of our freshly baked mince pies and enjoy some Superquinn bubbly and award winning cheeses in the Superquinn VIP Suite.

We are also looking forward to the MasterChef Ireland Live Theatre Shows as the finalists will be cooking with delicious Superquinn food. We look forward to seeing you there!

Christmas Stuffing

E.Ross — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:29:03 +0000

Christmas Stuffing

2 Small Onions – finely chopped

500grms Breadcrumbs

100grms Butter

2tbsp Mixed Herbs

2tbsp Thyme

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

-Melt the butter slowly, over a low heat so that it won’t burn.

-Add the finely chopped onions and sweat until the onions are soft and transparent (approx 10mins).

-Next add the mixed herbs and thyme.

-Continue to cook over a low heat for a further minute, to allow the flavour of the herbs to infuse into the butter.

-Add the breadcrumbs gradually, mixing after each addition so that the breadcrumbs soak up all the butter; and the onions and herbs are well incorporated.

Chocolate orange cupcakes

grainnefoley — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:13:11 +0000

Chocolate orange cupcakes

Preparation time 5 mins, cooking time 20 mins . Oven temp: 170degrees

Ingredients: For sponge mix:

100g self raising flour, 140g castor sugar,40g room temp. butter, 20g cocoa powder

120mls milk, 1 egg, 1 teasp orange flavouring

For topping:

250g icing sugar , 80g soft butter , 3 tabsps milk , 1 teasp whatever foodcolouring you would like to use

Method: place flour, sugar, cocoa powder and butter into a bowl and mix until it looks like grains of sand.

Whip milk, egg and orange flovouring in a separate jug,

Add liquid to dry mixture and beat fast and quick, be careful not to over mix.

Place mixture into about 12 paper cases and bake in oven for 20 mins.

To make topping put icing sugar and butter into mixer and mix slowly at first .Up the speed when you add milk and colouring and mix until smooth. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with silver balls ar any christmas decoraions that you wish.

Christmas Scottish Shortbread

E.Ross — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:46:58 +0000

Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes.
Serves: 8-12 biscuits.

Ingredients:
125g flour
25g cornflour
50g caster sugar
100g hard butter
Caster sugar to sprinkle
100g cooking chocolate
Cinnamon to taste (Optional)

Steps:

1.Preheat oven to 180°C/170°f/Gas mark 4.
2.Grease baking tray if non-stick.
3.In a bowl sieve flour and cornflour,add caster sugar.(and cinnamon if using)
4.Rub in butter until it come together,kneading everything to a ball.
5.Place on lightly floured worktop and roll out to 1cm thickness.
6.Cut into shapes using christmas cutters or carefully with a knife.
7.Place on tray and bake for 20-25 minutes intil pale a golden colour.
8.Remove shortbread biscuits from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.
9.Melt chocolate in heatproof bowl over pot of simmering water. (Not Boling!)
10.When cool dip in chocolate and sprinkle with coloured sprinkles for that extra Christmas feeling.

Store in a tin or airtight box

Christmas Fruit & Nut Rum Truffles

Ash — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:23:42 +0000

Christmas Fruit & Nut Rum Truffles

I tried this recipe for the first time last year and love it. It looks more complicated than it is; the secret is to have your ingredients prepped before you start.

There are some fabulous truffle cases out there to make it the perfect festive offering. This quantity will make 12 truffles. If you want to make one batch to keep and one to give as a delicious gift, double the ingredients. If you are super-organised, you can make these now and freeze them for up to a month!

125g Dark chocolate broken into pieces
50g Crushed walnuts
25g Chopped sultanas
25g Chopped dates
15g Unsalted butter
2tbsp Double cream
1tbsp Dark rum
1tbsp Cocoa powder and some for dusting
1 medium egg yolk.

1. Soak the sultanas in dark rum for at least 3 hours; overnight if possible.

2. Lightly toast the crushed walnuts in a frying pan, or beneath a grill for 2-3 minutes. Make sure to keep them moving; if they burn discard them, as they’ll give a bitter taste to your truffles.

3. When the walnuts have cooled, stir in with the cocoa powder.

4. Slowly melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water, or it will spoil the chocolate.

5. When the chocolate has melted, stir in the chopped butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

6. Beat the egg yolk and cream in a large bowl. Stir in the chocolate and butter mix.

7. Add the rum-soaked sultanas and chopped dates mixing thoroughly for up to five minutes.

8. Cover with clingfilm and set aside in the fridge for at least two hours until the mixture is firm.

9. Use a spoon (or a melon-baller if you are Julia Childs!) to scoop out mixture and roll into small balls.

10. Roll the balls in the walnut and cocoa mixture to give them a fine coating. Also, lightly dust with cocoa powder.

11. Place in pretty cases and keep them chilled until they are needed; they will last for up to a week in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Signature Dishes

Ciara — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:48:54 +0000

Tempt your taste buds with these mouth-watering signature dishes which will be served up at Taste of Christmas this year.

RESTAURANT	SIGNATURE DISH 1	SIGNATURE DISH 2	SIGNATURE DISH 3
Bang	Wicklow Mountain Venison Terrine, Cranberry Chutney	Slow Cooked Beef (Jacob’s Ladder), Celeriac Puree, Grain Mustard Jus	Dark Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Jelly
Bon Appetit	Bon Appetit Seafood Chowder	Braised Beef with Creamy Mash Potatoes & Onion Gravy	Spicy Toulouse Sausage & White Bean Cassoulet
Chop House	Parfait of Four Mile Bridge Goats Cheese with Shallots, Chive Candid Walnuts & Beetroot Jelly (V) (N)	Raw Sashimi Tuna, Quail Eggs & Spicy Pickled Cucumber, Teriyaki Glaze	Organic Chicken Coq Au Vin, Bourguignon Garnish
Cliff Town House	McGrath’s Spiced Beef with Rocket, Hazelnuts & Coolatin Cheddar	Organic Irish Turkey Wellington with Cranberry Jam	Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sabayon
Jaipur	Bombay Railway Lamb Curry with Aged Steamed Basmati Rice	Goan Prawn Curry with Saffron Pulao	Punjabi Chicken “65″ with a Warm Tangy Potato Salad (V available)
King Charlies	Rojak – Malaysian All Time Favourite Snack (N) (V available)	Beef Rendang Served with Roti Canai	Mee Mamak - Stir Fried Prawn Noodles with Sweet & Spicy Sauce (V available)
Swai	Penang Skewered Chicken Satay with Peanut Butter Sauce (N)	Yummy Chicken Curry Served with Flavoured Rice	Malay Fish Cake with Curry Soup Noodles
Unicorn	Artichoke Tortellini with Wild Mushroom & Parmesan Cream (V)	Venison Ragout with Pasta	Tiramisu (V) (N -traces)