I started The Flavour Files in 2012 and have added recipes celebrating our wonderful Irish produce ever since. My recipes show great produce is as much at home on our kitchen tables as on a restaurant menu. It's not just recipes though - there is news, reviews & other writing too!
February 14, 2016
As it happens, I’ve never been a massive fan of potatoes. Shock horror. I blame my childhood. Endless evenings watching mum peeling and boiling spuds – the floury kind that stuck to the roof of your mouth. The worst kind being the “first earlies” that would be steamed and eaten in their skins with only […]
Read moreJanuary 18, 2016
In January every year we ditch the heavy sauces, rich dishes and heavy carbs for a much lighter way of dining altogether. It’s a month that is screaming out for cleansing, fresh, zingy flavours. Reducing the meat (or using lighter alternatives) and really packing in the fish. Plenty of veggies, raw and cooked and swapping […]
Read moreDecember 20, 2015
Well, Christmas is almost upon us but maybe you are planning more than just the Christmas dinner when it comes to dining this year? A pre Christmas party maybe? Or a bracing walk on St Stephen’s / Boxing Day? Tasty ways to use up delicious leftovers maybe? Well, we here at Flavour.ie have the […]
Read moreNovember 24, 2015
It’s not often that I can get my hands on the tantalising wild venison hand cured salami from the amazing Gubbeen Farmhouse, expertly made by the hands of Fingal Ferguson in the sleepy West Cork village of Schull (pronounced Skull). I remember the first time I came across it. It was about 8 years ago, and […]
Read moreOctober 28, 2015
I fear I can barely contain my excitement about the fact that it is finally full-blown squash season once more! Yes, yes I know…it’s all a bit “drama, drama” but genuinely, if autumn is my favourite food season, then the Squash is sitting pretty, right at the top of my pile of food loves, wearing […]
Read moreSeptember 23, 2015
Drive around the highways and by-ways this time of year around any part of Ireland and you’ll spy fields bursting with sweetcorn ripening. No truer herald for the end of summer and the start of autumn is there than the start of sweetcorn season. Bright yellow jewels of sunshine do well to raise the […]
Read morePlanning a visit to West Cork and want the low-down on the best artisan foods in the region? Or maybe just keen to support local food producers? A copy of the Artisan Food Guide will be your invaluable resource, and ideal for planning an independent food adventure of your own too!
Go ShoppingSeptember 21, 2015
There’s nothing quite like the fevered build up to the Electric Picnic. In amongst the hedonistic daydreams of dancing all day long in a field with flowers in your hair with an almost mystical ability to never get completely pissed on a diet of mainly pints of Heineken are the tempered practical and fear inducing […]
Read moreAugust 10, 2015
It’s pretty hard to get primal about your precious din-dins when you live a comfortable suburban existence. But grabbing sticky, fiery drumsticks and ripping asunder; licking tacky fingers, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand and going back for more is about as close to being a caveman as you can get. […]
Read moreJuly 29, 2015
Pesto. Pesto, pesto, pesto. Be honest…do we really need another pesto recipe in our lives? Probably not, but necessity is the mother of all invention and also having shed loads of Kale growing in the garden will also make the cogs in your mind spin into overdrive as you wonder to yourself what the hell […]
Read moreJuly 14, 2015
You can’t make an exceptional thing to eat or drink without exceptional ingredients. But more than that, the finished taste and experience should be in the hands of a skilled artisan. This is especially so for coffee and a skilled barista. Any old fool could make a cup of Joe, just the same as anyone […]
Read moreJuly 1, 2015
It was a truth that I had previously never doubted that I would never be any good at making pastry. “It’s just too difficult” I thought, “It’ll just always go wrong and then it’ll be a waste”. But then I thought – how hard could it be to make some harmless pastry. Turns out that all I […]
Read moreJune 24, 2015
Following on from my last post about cheat ingredients where I shared my loved for ready made puff pastry, I’ve decided to carry on the theme for a little bit longer (if you let me indulge)! I’ve long been a fan of mid-week puddings, but even with the best will in the world having the […]
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June 21, 2015
As a life long meat eater, it can happen that the Sunday roast can become all to focussed on the meat as the centrepiece to the meal. Lately I’ve been challenging myself to think differently about the end of week feast and try to focus less on the meat, and look more to vegetables and […]
Read moreJune 21, 2015
Let’s face it…who has time to make puff pastry. Especially if you aren’t great at the baking. And definitely if its middle of the week from hell. Celeb chefs have been singing the praises of ready made puff pastry for the “meal in a hurry” for a good few years, and as far as […]
Read moreMay 12, 2015
OK, so it’s not technically “squash season” anymore, but thanks to the fact that squash can keep well for a long time once harvested if stored correctly, mean that really they are still good to go now as a seasonal veg. Of course, butternut squash are available all year round now too and thankfully this […]
Read moreMarch 20, 2015
Everyone has their own way of making a spaghetti bolognese don’t they? Whether it’s the Italian traditional method of making a slow cooked ragu from bones and marrow, a recipe passed down through the generations or out of a ready mix jar we all have our ways of making what has become almost a staple […]
Read moreMarch 20, 2015
As summer approaches, us Irish and Brits are faced with important food dilemmas like: is it too hot outside for a roast dinner or, how rainy does it have to be exactly before you have to abandon the BBQ?! Well, in relation to the traditional Sunday roast I say to you: it is never […]
Read moreMarch 20, 2015
There is nothing more comforting that the aroma of fresh bread floating through the house. No, scrap that, there is – that would be the taste of freshly baked bread out of the oven covered in lashings of butter!
Read moreMarch 20, 2015
I was gutted that I didn’t have the nerve to get up on the platform and tell everyone there about my first cookbook and how it probably was where my love of cooking first began. But then it occurred to me that I could just as easily tell everyone about my first cookbook from the […]
Read moreMarch 20, 2015
Mondays hey….who’d have ’em? Well it turns out no matter what, there’s no avoiding them so we may as well just tackle them head on! I am always looking for something tasty and quick to eat on a Monday, mainly because my tastebuds are still hungover from the weekend but I generally am lacking […]
Read moreMarch 20, 2015
It’s amazing what you’ll come up with when you really want something sweet for after a mid-week dinner but you want it to be quick, tasty and naughty enough that you feel as though you really have had a treat! It was in this vein of thought that I started creating various different “Tumbler Deserts” […]
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