Edible Ireland

When I say 2014 has been a good year for Irish cookbooks, I’ll admit I’m biased since this year my own book, Sláinte, is among their ranks. But what really strikes me about this year’s batch of books is the noticeable shift towards a ‘free’ type of eating — meat-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, sugar-free and even oven-free in the case of Sharon Hearne-Smith’s No-Bake Baking. The Extra Virgin Kitchen, which is currently in its fourth printing, has been a runaway success, and Food from the Fast Lane and The Happy Pear have both spent time in the bestseller charts too. Further afield, Diana Henry’s A Change of Appetite has received international acclaim and Nigella Lawson has said that her next book will also focus on this lighter style of eating.

The other thing that jumps out is the sheer number of Irish cookbooks published this year. At a time when book sales are still sluggish overall, cookbooks continue to thrive, and the Irish market is obviously no different, with more titles and more variety than ever before.

• For the craft beer and cider connoisseur: Sláinte: The Complete Guide to Irish Craft Beer and Cider
• For the health nut: Food for the Fast Lane, The Extra Virgin Kitchen, The Happy Pear
• For the baker: Bake Like an Italian, Bake Knit Sew, Bread on the Table, No-Bake Baking
• For traditional Irish food fans: A Simply Delicious Christmas, The Ballymaloe Cookbook, The Pleasures of the Table
  

 

Sláinte: The Complete Guide to Irish Craft Beer and Cider by Caroline Hennessy and Kristin Jensen

I couldn’t help but break alphabetical rank and lead with my own book, published in September. My co-author, Caroline Hennessy, and I set out to write the kind of book that we wanted to read when we started exploring craft beer and cider a few ayears ago, when information in an Irish context was hard to come by. Sláinte covers everything from how beer and cider are made to their history in Ireland, how to taste and savour them, how to match them with food and cheese and even how to cook with them. And while it’s not strictly a cookbook, there is a chapter of 20 recipes that all feature craft beer or cider, gathered from artisan food producers, restaurant owners and chefs, food writers and bloggers from around Ireland as well as some of our own original recipes. There’s something for everyone here. Bundled into a hamper with a selection of Irish craft beers and ciders, or maybe even some Sheridans brown bread crackers and some Irish farmhouse cheese too, this would be the ultimate gift for the beer or cider lover in your life this Christmas.

Five to try: Beef, chorizo and ale stew; beer, beer and blue cheese pot pies; cider-brined pork fillets with fennel, onions and apples; double chocolate porter brownies; stout marshmallows

A Simply Delicious Christmas by Darina Allen    

There’s nothing like editing a Christmas cookbook to make you crave turkey and gingerbread in July. This is the book I’ve been the most excited about this year because I know these are the holiday recipes I’ll be turning to now for years to come. The original edition, published in 1989, is already a well-loved, dog-eared mainstay in many Irish homes. This new edition includes over 100 new recipes to reflect today’s tastes, such as a recipe for roast turkey crown with harissa, pomegranate and cucumber raita and Moroccan tomato jam. My favourite feature is the ‘good things to serve with’ suggestions at the end of many of the recipes to take them in different directions, not to mention an entire chapter dedicated to sauces and accompaniments and creative ways to use up leftovers. This might be a Christmas cookbook, but don’t put it back on the shelf in January — there are so many tempting dishes to make throughout all the colder winter months. Sorry, Nigella, but I think there’s a new favourite Christmas cookbook in town.

Five to try: Smoked Gubbeen and pearl barley, cucumber, pomegranate and toasted almond salad; pulled braised lamb shoulder with pomegranate molasses and pickled red onions; Brussels sprouts with toasted hazelnuts and candied bacon; white chocolate mousse with dark chocolate sauce and candied kumquats; Medjool dates with Crozier blue cheese

Bake Knit Sew: A Recipe and Craft Project Annual by Evin O’Keefe

Showing that self-publishing is still a viable option, American expat and blogger Evin O’Keefe raised Kickstarter funds to publish her first book, a charming collection of knitting and sewing patterns and family recipes. Inspired by her Irish-American grandma’s recipe box and craftiness, this book showcases a year of creativity in baking, knitting and sewing. So for example, the autumn section has a recipe for an orange and honey loaf cake that is complemented by a knitting pattern for a honeycomb tea cozy. Perfect for people who always like to have a crafty project on the go.

Five to try: White chocolate cheesecake; snickerdoodles; Aunt Nell’s blondies; orange and honey loaf cake; monster cookies

Bake Like an Italian: More Recipes for the Good Life by Catherine Fulvio

Continuing on from her earlier books Catherine’s Italian Kitchen and Eat Like an Italian, Catherine Fulvio focuses on baking in her latest Italy-inspired book. Chapters are divided into breads, pasta bakes, pizza, little bites, dolci, something for coffee, something for Easter, something for Christmas and bambini bakers. The recipe intros are full of interesting background stories to the many traditional Italian recipes in the book, the result of Catherine’s travels to Italy to research the book and sweet talk her Italian friends and family into sharing their recipes. Plus ‘The Pantry’ chapter and the introduction to ‘The Bread Bin’ chapter are full of helpful tips to get you started making your own breads if you’ve never tried your hand at it before so that you’ll soon be knocking out your own homemade breads with ease.

Five to try: Foccacia with red wine and grapes; sweet raisin bread; Roman pizza; chocolate hazelnut torte; mocha and orange biscotti

The Ballymaloe Cookbook by Myrtle Allen

Back in September, I was browsing the cookbooks in Dubray Books on Grafton Street when a Dutch tourist asked me for a recommendation for a good traditional Irish cookbook, saying he buys at least one cookbook from every country he travels to. Without even having to think about it, I took the new edition of The Ballymaloe Cookbook down from the shelf and pressed it into his hands, saying, ‘You simply have to get this one.’

Concepts and words like local, seasonal and artisinal are all the rage these days, but when Myrtle Allen opened her restaurant in her home at Ballymaloe House 50 years ago, it wasn’t revolutionary — it was just the way food was. As she says herself in the introduction, ‘I started the restaurant because I knew that the food that was available to me at Ballymaloe was terribly good as it was. I get enormous satisfaction in being able to give people the food that I think we ought to be eating.’ It’s also easy to forget what a true pioneer Myrtle Allen was when it came to recognising the outstanding quality of our own homegrown produce and serving it simply but well, years before Alice Waters famously served a single perfectly ripe peach for dessert at Chez Panisse.

I was honoured to be the editor for this handsome new edition of The Ballymaloe Cookbook, which was first published in 1977. And after reading every single recipe — twice! — I feel that I have learned the secret to Ballymaloe, and it is this: butter and cream, and lots of it, and a generous hand with the seasoning. These recipes are true classics that have stood the test of time and reflect the fact that when you’re working with top-class ingredients, you don’t need to do very much to them to make them shine. It has also been updated with some new recipes to reflect our changing tastes, but it still stays true to the Ballymaloe ethos that has since become famous around the world. No Irish kitchen should be without a copy.

Five to try: Chicken baked with butter and fresh herbs; pepper beef stew; leek, potato and cheese pie; carrageen moss pudding; Ballymaloe brown bread

Bread on the Table: Baking Traditions for Today by Valerie O’Connor

Many of us tend to think of homemade bread as beyond our abilities, when in fact you can knock out a loaf in less time than it takes to pop down to the shops for a sliced pan. This book is the perfect introduction to bread-making for novices, but with plenty of modern and inventive recipes to tempt more experienced bakers too. The very first recipe gets you to jump in headfirst with a basic white yeast bread and the recipes go from there, including soda breads, brown bread, sourdough, breads made with wild ingredients, gluten-free goodies and sweet things. Once you realise how easy it is to make your own bread at home, and how much better it tastes, you’ll never look twice at a shop-bought loaf again.

Five to try: No-knead spelt bread; wholemeal and honey loaf; potato and rye semi-sourdough; wild garlic foccacia; chocoalte swirls

Dinner: The Irish Times Selection by Domini Kemp

I had a tattered, stained printout of Domini Kemp’s winter salad recipe that I hung onto for years once it went behind the Irish Times paywall, but I was finally able to bin it now that it made the cut for inclusion in Domini’s collection of her most popular recipes from her Irish Times newspaper column. I’m sure I’m not the only one who had a collection of such well-loved and well-used printouts or recipes torn straight from the pages of the Saturday magazine and I’m sure there are many more people just like me who were delighted to see her best recipes from the past six years collected together into a book. And what a book it is, with a substantial heft to it, which is perfectly fitting for a collection like this. Domini Kemp is a woman after my own heart — or palate, as the case may be. I love the big, bold, punchy flavours she uses in her cooking, and I especially love the way she streamlines recipes to make them as quick and to the point as possible but without compromising on taste. This is the kind of cookbook that will rarely make it back onto the bookshelf because it’s bound to be in such constant use in your kitchen.

Five to try: Roast chicken bake; meatballs with lemon and wine; lamb hot pot with harissa yoghurt; baked beans with chorizo, egg and feta; pasta with salami, tomato cream and rocket

The Extra Virgin Kitchen: Recipes for Wheat-Free, Sugar-Free and Dairy-Free Eating by Susan Jane White

Thirteen years ago, Susan Jane White was a model student at Oxford — literally. But a combination of a stereotypical model’s diet with an even worse stereotypical student diet — a cocktail of carbs, caffeine and cigarettes — eventually led to a similar cocktail of bodily complaints: thrush, earaches, headaches, psoriasis, dizziness and cold sores that not even 12 courses of antibiotics and several hospitalisations could clear up. So when the consultants couldn’t figure out what was wrong, Susan Jane took matters into her own hands and with the help of a nutritionist embarked on an elimination diet. In her own words, she said ‘it felt like someone was sucking the illness out of my body’. So it was goodbye to junk food and hello to goji berries after that, and she’s never looked back. Now in its fourth print run, I think it’s fair to say that this book has been the surprise hit of the year. Susan Jane’s writing is at once informative and playful, but most of all, it makes you want to get into the kitchen and run right out to buy a spiralizer. Crucially, the book also has a resources section at the back with lists of where you can source some of the more hard-to-find ingredients. I’ve become addicted to her smudge recipe and have had a batch on the go almost continuously since the book came out back in the spring and I’ve made her hot and smoky seeds and her Irish superfood salad countless times by now too, plus her chocolate avocado mousse is the best version I’ve ever tasted. This is food that’s so vibrant and delicious, it never even occurs to you that anything is missing.

Five to try: Smoked paprika and cumin quinoa; mackerel paté with anchovy aioli; salmon fishcakes with curried coconut yoghurt; 10-hour shoulder of lamb with crushed chickpeas and the best sauces you’re ever likely to taste; chilli chocolate missile

Food for the Fast Lane: Recipes to Power Your Body and Mind by Derval O’Rourke

Most of us usually need something major to happen to get us to change our ways, but how many of us can cite a disappointing Olympics performance as a wake-up call? Lining up to race in Athens in 2004, just four weeks after suffering a case of severe food poisoning and appendicitis, Derval O’Rourke writes, ‘I was 22 and one of the youngest members of the Irish Olympic team. It was one of the worst performances of my entire career and possibly had the biggest impact on my future running…The message was loud and clear: I wasn’t paying enough attention to my general health. I was depending solely on the work I was doing on the track and in the gym. And that was not enough.’ What followed was a dawning realisiation that everything is intertwined and that goodness in = greatness out, starting with a good diet and a new philosophy to sleep well, eat well and live well to be the best athlete she could be. But if you think that means an unappealing diet of energy shakes and protein bars, think again. Derval loves food, and it just so happens to be healthy. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete in training to enjoy meals like chicken and mango salad, baked trout with lime and garlic butter or quick coconut and basil chicken, or treats like dark chocolate banana bread or lemon drizzle and poppy seed squares. Oh, and as for being the best athlete? Two years after hitting rock bottom in Athens, Derval went on to become world champion. Looks like the proof really is in the pudding.

Five to try: Baked avocado, eggs and basil; warm quinoa with lemon, pistachio and harissa; chicken and lentil casserole; sea bass with tomato and chorizo; creamy pistachio pasta

The Nation’s Favourite Food Fast! by Neven Maguire

It’s 6pm on a Wednesday and you’ve just landed in the door from a long day at work, maybe after collecting the kids from the creche on the way. There is a list as long as your arm of things to do, but first there’s the small matter of what to make for dinner. That’s where this book comes in. Neven Maguire has created these recipes to be ready for the table in under an hour, with many only needing 30 minutes to cook. It follows the same format as last year’s popular The Nation’s Favourite Food book, with 20 short chapters of five recipes each. But just because they’re fast doesn’t mean they’re boring: think dishes like rib-eye steak with chimichurri, chicken and chickpea tagine with honey and ginger, sticky bacon chops with root vegetable rosti or even my favourite, the baked fish fillets with horseradish crust and lemon cream sauce. It’s no wonder this book won Best Irish Cookbook at this year’s Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.

Five to try: Beef stroganoff with fluffy rice and dill pickle shavings; speedy coq au vin; roasted hake with cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella; pumpkin pizza with Cashel Blue and pickled red onion; cappuccino cream chocolate cake

No-Bake Baking: Easy Oven-Free Cakes and Treats by Sharon Hearne-Smith

As a food stylist, Sharon has been a behind-the-scenes kind of gal in the food world, working with the likes of Jamie Oliver, Rachel Allen, Lorraine Pascale and Ina Garten, to name just a few, to get their food ready for its close-up on television and in their books. But Sharon has such talent and flair and so much personality of her own (she rocks a beehive hairdo and polka dots better than anyone) that it was only a matter of time before her own name was on the cover of a book. And what a fun, beautiful book it is. Sharon’s recipes turn baking on its head by taking the oven out of the equation — no more soggy bottoms! Just delicious treats like no-bake biscuits, cakes, slices and bars, cheesecakes, pies and tarts, and frozen desserts. No-Bake Baking is her first book but I’m confident it won’t be her last, and that this is just the start of a career as a food writer in her own right for Sharon.

Five to try: Blackberry swirl marshmallow gateau; cookie monster ice-box cake; candy stripe blueberry cheesecake; chocolate, date and peanut butter bars; white chocolate and pistachio tiramisu. Check out five recipes from the book here.

The Happy Pear: Recipes and Stories from the First Ten Years by David and Stephen Flynn

Twins David and Stephen Flynn are on a mission: they want to get you to eat more veg. It doesn’t hurt that they are walking, talking advertisements for their vegetarian way of eating, all sunrise walks on the beach and glowing good health. What began as a greengrocer’s shop 10 years ago is also now a renowned cafe, an online shop, a Happy Heart course and cooking demos, classroom health education courses, a sprout and wheatgrass farm and a partnership in a local cherry farm. The book can get a little text heavy at times with a lot of background information and reminiscing, which is sure to appeal to loyal fans but might be lost on readers who aren’t lucky locals of the cafe itself. But then, this is a cafe that is very much rooted in its community with an admirable business ethos and David and Stephen are doing what they love. The book is a vibrant reflection of that and it’s hard not to be inspired by their enthusiasm and energy, which comes through in their writing and in the recipes. With all the interest in a healthier, plant-based and raw foods way of eating recently, this book has wound up being bang on trend.

Five to try: Carrot, cashew and coriander soup; chermoula and herb couscous with edamame beans, cherry tomatoes and almonds; Spanish chickpea and potato bake; chocolate, orange and ginger cake; honey and seed flapjacks

The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora Fitzgibbon selected by Donal Skehan

Theodora Fitzgibbon is to Ireland what Elizabeth David was to England. She introduced her readers to exotic and far-flung flavours via her Irish Times column, which she wrote for 20 years, not to mention her 30 cookbooks. And also like Elizabeth David, she travelled widely, living in India, the US and in many countries on the Continent, which obviously had a huge influence on her approach to food. But in addition to being a prolific food writer, she also worked as an actress in London and Rome and wrote two autobiographies and a novel. Her black and white photo in the introduction of the book, with her bare shoulders, upswept hair, sharply pencilled eyebrows and holding a slim cigarette as if an admirer outside of the camera’s frame is just about to light it for her, oozes glamour. They don’t make them like her anymore. This new book, a collection of her best recipes selected and photographed by Donal Skehan, will appeal to her many fans as well as introduce her to a new generation of food lovers. It’s an intriguing mix of traditional Irish recipes like nettle soup, crubeens and boxty cakes but also more cosmopolitan recipes that must have been unheard of at the time she wrote them, dishes like rogan josh, chicken Lahori and peperonata. It’s a neat coincidence that this collection was brought out in the spring and then the current Irish Times columnist, Domini Kemp, published her selection in the autumn, a perfect contrast of old and new.

Five to try: Braised beef with prunes; ham cooked with Guinness and served with apple sauce; Dublin lawyer; Irish omelette; gur cake

 

And here are loads more Irish cookbooks published this year:

• Alchemy — A Cookbook: Simple Ingredients, Magical Food e-book by Hester Casey
• All Things Sweet by Rachel Allen (HarperCollins)
• Calso Cooks: Real Food Made Easy by Paul Callaghan (Mercier)
• Clifford & Son: New Irish Cooking from Michael and Peter Clifford with Joe McNamee (Liberties Press)
• Entertaining with Andrew Rudd: Mouthwatering Recipes and Inspiring Party Ideas by Andrew Rudd
• Food For The Soul by Gary O’Hanlon (Bluebird Care)
• Fresh Spice: Vibrant Recipes for Bringing Flavour, Depth and Colour to Home Cooking by Arun Kapil (Pavilion Books)
• Grow, Cook, Eat: A GIY Guide to Growing and Cooking Your Own Food by Michael Kelly
• Gubbeen: A Story of a Working Farm and Its Foods by Giana Ferguson (Kyle Books)
• Keep It Vegan: Over 100 Simple, Healthy and Delicious Dishes by Áine Karlin (Kyle Books)
• Naked Paleo: Food Stripped Bare by Pat Divilly (Blackwater Press)
• Surf Café Living: Cooking, Entertaining and Living by the Sea by Jane and Myles Lamberth
• The Irish Countrywomen’s Association Book of Tea and Company: Recipes and Reflections for Every Day edited by Aoife Carrigy (Gill & Macmillan)
• The Irish Granny’s Pocket Recipe Book: Over 110 Classic Dishes (Gill & Macmillan)
• The Kerry Food Story (Institute of Technology, Tralee)
• The Lettercollum Cookbook: Recipes from the Kitchen Project by Karen Austin
• Wholesome: Feed Your Family Well for Less by Caitríona Redmond (Mercier)

You might also like:

• Tickling the Palate: Gastronomy in Irish Literature and Culture by Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Eamon Maher (eds) (Peter Lang)

*I received review copies of all the books featured above. In addition, I was the editor for the following: A Simply Delicious Christmas, Bake Knit Sew, The Ballymaloe Cookbook, Bake Like an Italian, The Extra Virgin Kitchen and The Nation’s Favourite Food Fast.

If you’re working on a cookbook and need an experienced editor, email me at kristin (at) edible-ireland (dot) com.

 

 

 

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It all started with the Dark Arts.

I was at the first Inishfood festival in 2011, freezing in a marquee on a cold March night in Donegal, when I was given a cup of Dark Arts as part of a beer-tasting event. Having never been much of a fan of Guinness, my first thought was Ugh, stout. But then I figured that I might as well try it; it had already been put in my hand, after all.

Instead of the metallic tang of Guinness, I tasted roasted coffee. I took another sip, and tasted chocolate. Cue Green Eggs and Ham–style revelation: Say! I do like stout! I’ve been making up for lost time ever since. Oh hello, Leann Folláin, Knockmealdown Porter and White Gypsy Imperial Stout, where have you been all my life?

Fast forward a few years and that light bulb moment has evolved into a full-blown love of craft beer, especially beer and food matching. Come Friday night, you’ll likely find me sitting at the kitchen table with my husband, sharing a beer and swapping notes on the taste and aroma – is that grapefruit? toffee? McVitie’s biscuit? – and debating how well it matches up with whatever we’re having for dinner that night, be it chicken fajitas and an IPA, homemade pizza and a lager or a stout and a brownie for dessert.

It also doesn’t hurt that my very good friend Caroline just so happens to be married to a brewer who makes some of the best beer in the country. I’m a cookbook editor and Caroline is a journalist, so when we’d get together we’d talk about beer, and books, and it wasn’t long before we started talking about doing a book of our own.

And now, from that first dubious sip three years ago, we’re writing a book about beer!

I’m thrilled to announce that Caroline Hennessy and I are co-authoring The Complete Guide to Irish Craft Beer and Cider, to be published by New Island in the autumn. My hope is that it will be the kind of book I wish I’d had when I first started exploring the world of craft beer, covering everything from the basics of how beer and cider are made to profiles of the people and stories behind the microbreweries that are fuelling Ireland’s craft beer revolution, all the way through to tips on matching beer and cider with food and Irish farmhouse cheese and recipes that incorporate craft brews.

In the meantime, we’ve launched a new website, Craft Beer Ireland, where we’ll be keeping our fingers on the pulse of all things craft beer and cider. You can also follow along there on Facebook and Twitter. I’m writing a beer of the month column for Georgina Campbell’s Ireland Guide ezine, so be sure to check in there too.

It’s an exciting time for craft beer and cider in Ireland, and I’m so excited to be a part of it. Sláinte!

(And if all this has got you curious about craft beer, get down to the Alltech International Craft Brews & Food Fair in Dublin this weekend or the Franciscan Well Cask & Winter Ale Festival in Cork from 14–16 February.)

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When you look at the Irish cookbooks that have been published this year, three words come to mind: from the heart. From the sweeping celebration of Irish food and artisan food producers in Chapter One: An Irish Food Story to the celebration of family and home in Apron Strings, many of the authors have poured their hearts onto these pages.

This has been a good year for food bloggers, with three new blog-to-book authors (Fiona Dillon, Rosanne Hewitt-Cromwell and Nessa Robins), while the original blogging superstar, Donal Skehan, has just published his fourth book and Lilly Higgins has brought out her second. Meanwhile, several other bloggers have signed deals and are hard at work on their forthcoming books.

This year also saw a noticeable shift towards self-publishing. Extreme Greens, From Lynda’s Table, Relish BBQ and Buon Appetito are all top-quality books that hold their own against the ones from the traditional publishers, and in fact even use some of the same professional photographers, stylists and editors. I think we’ll be seeing more and more cookbook authors taking this route in the years to come.

Either way, there’s never been a better time to be a home cook.

Apron Strings: Recipes from a Family Kitchen by Nessa Robins

I like to think of Apron Strings as a modern day Mrs Beeton, with thrifty tips for running a household, advice for expecting mothers, recipes for children’s birthday parties, a home nurse chapter (Nessa’s background is in nursing) and a chapter on keeping hens, making jam, composting and foraging. It’s obvious that these recipes are treasured family heirlooms (Nessa’s introduction to her gingerbread and scone recipes literally had me in tears) as well as what Nessa feeds her family on a daily basis. It’s lovely to think that just as Nessa’s contentment in the kitchen comes from her mother, her own children will have many happy memories of food and cooking and times spent around the kitchen table as a family. And of course now they have her cookbook to cherish too. To know Nessa is to marvel at her boundless energy and unflagging cheerfulness. How does she do it, you wonder, and with four kids besides? To read her book is to wish you could pull up a chair at her table. Having her recipes is the next best thing.

Recipes to try: White onion, potato and chorizo soup; chicken in an herby white wine sauce; baked sausages with a spicy tomato sauce; beef, potato and wild garlic lasagna; brown sugar and cinnamon scones; caramel and hazelnut shortbread squares; gingerbread; homemade cold remedy; carrageen moss pudding; blackberry vodka.

Blazing Salads 2 by Lorraine Fitzmaurice

Raised on macrobiotic cooking, Lorraine Fitzmaurice and her siblings had quite an unusual upbringing when it came to food in Ireland in the 1970s. But far from being a passing fad, healthy, wholesome, whole food eating has become a lifelong passion, which saw them open the popular Blazing Salads deli in Dublin in 2000. In this, their second cookbook, Lorraine shares more of the quick, easy and healthy ‘real food’ recipes that have become their trademark.

Recipes to try: Avocado pico de gallo salad; chickpea, red onion and chilli salad; quinoa with roasted ratatouille vegetables and fresh basil; Mediterranean vegetable and feta turnovers; sweet potato and carrot bhajis; Moroccan minestrone; vegetable Wellington with onion gravy; summer leek tart; almond and raspberry fingers; plum cobber with flaked almonds.

Chapter One: An Irish Food Story by Ross Lewis

Magnificent. Stunning. Breathtaking. Incomparable. Epic. This is a book that will be talked about in superlatives. It painstakingly documents some of the recipes at Ross Lewis’s Michelin-starred Chapter One, one of Ireland’s best restaurants — make no mistake, this is aspirational cooking even for the most serious home cooks. It also reads like a love letter to Irish artisan food producers, who are held in the very highest esteem, which is reflected in their beautiful portraits by photographer to the stars, Barry McCall. Ross Lewis takes their produce and elevates it to its highest expression of itself. It’s a book to inspire and savour and will stand the test of time as a beautifully crafted snapshot of Irish food at this time. It is not only the jewel in the crown of all the books published this year, but is surely the finest cookbook ever published in Ireland.

Recipes to try: These recipes are not for the faint of heart. Ross Lewis says straight out that “the home cook, no matter how talented or determined, is not blessed with a hardworking and talented brigade of chefs as I am, so it will be difficult to reproduce many of the recipes in full in a domestic kitchen. However … most of the dishes can be broken down to simpler versions or perhaps just two or three elements from a recipe.” Having said all that, the spiced chestnut soup with hazelnut cream and white truffle; winter pickled vegetable salad; Dublin Bay prawn, smoked bacon and basil spring roll; braised top rib of prime Hereford beef and Skerries new potatoes with buttermilk and Savoy cabbage, rich red wine and shallot sauce; carrageen set West Cork cream pudding with Pat Clarke strawberries and fresh yoghurt mousse, soda bread sugar biscuits and Irish apple balsamic vinegar meringues; hot Valrhona Guanaja chocolate soufflé; and soda bread and Demerara sugar biscuits in chocolate with smoked sea salt caught this home cook’s eye.

Extreme Greens by Sally McKenna

Seaweed has been in the spotlight more and more recently. Did you know that seaweed has twice as much vitamin C as orange juice,  50 times the amount of iron as spinach and is 10 times higher in calcium than cow’s milk? That it can be used as a fertilizer, a medicine and a food? And that’s just for starters. By the time you’ve finished reading this book, you’ll wonder if there’s anything seaweed can’t do. Sally McKenna (of McKennas’ Guides fame) became enchanted with seaweed while exploring secret watery nooks in her kayak around the coast of West Cork, and her enthusiasm is infectious (take one of her foraging tours and see for yourself — highly recommended!). With 80 recipes, a guide to how to forage for your own seaweeds and even instructions on how to make your own natural beauty products with seaweeds, this is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to incorporate this magical food into their life, and with dried seaweeds now commonly available in health food shops around Ireland, there’s no reason not to.

Recipes to try: Mussel, coconut and kelp soup; seaweed and chilli popcorn; spaghetti and sea spaghetti with a tomato fennel sauce; seafood crumble with dillisk; sea grass and garlic butter; seaweed sausage rolls; kelp and sour cherry scones; dillisk and stout brown soda bread; sea grass blaa; chocolate, hazelnut and nori ice cream.

Food for Friends by Edward Hayden

Life provides plenty of opportunities to push the boat out a little bit in the kitchen, and Edward Hayden’s second book has it all covered, from brunch to children’s birthday parties, food for romance, a movie night in or dinner party and straight through to Christmas. As such, this is also a great book for anyone who’s just starting out in the kitchen or is only starting to build their cookbook collection.

Recipes to try: Sweet and sticky chicken drumsticks; sweet chilli noodle salad; pork and cider stroganoff; braised chicken with smoked bacon cream; Edward’s apple and rhubarb crumble cake; whole roast duck with apricot and hazelnut stuffing; festive mince pie crumbles.

Food from an Irish Garden by Fiona Dillon

Who hasn’t dreamed of swapping the city office for a life in the country? In 2009, Fiona Dillon did just that and shows you how you can too. Fiona said that this is the book she wishes she’d had when she started her journey towards self-sufficiency. Part how-to, part cookbook, it covers everything from keeping poultry and pigs and a bit about beekeeping to maintaining a kitchen garden, then on to recipes for what to do with the things you grow and even a chapter about foraging, all illustrated with Fiona’s own photos of the good life at Hunter’s Lodge. If you don’t already live in the country, this book will have you dreaming that you did.

Recipes to try: Traditional Irish soda bread; baked eggs; tea loaf; sweet and sour cucumber pickle; raspberry gin.

From Lynda’s Table by Lynda Booth

Lynda Booth says that she likes a cookbook with plenty of reading, and she has written just that. Owner of the Dublin Cookery School, this is her first book and is a treasure trove of wisdom, tips, tried and tested recipes and anecdotes from her years spent working in kitchens and with top chefs from around the world before she realised her dream of opening her own cookery school. Lynda’s background as a teacher comes through in the way the recipes are written, guiding the cook every step of the way. The book has a wide scope of recipes and flavours. It starts with a chapter on foundations before moving on to the recipes Lynda makes on holidays in Connemara, a ‘Branching Out’ chapter that will help you to push your boundaries a bit, a chapter on the flavours of Thailand and India and one on desserts. A beautifully photographed, hefty hardcover weighing in at 360 pages, the book is a bargain and one you’ll return to again and again. You can find it in bookshops or you can order it online from the school. As Willy Clingan of the Irish Times said, writing so well about this being his favourite Irish cookbook, “Use it to cook for people you love, or hope to persuade to love you.” After all, isn’t that what most cooking is about? One of the best books of the year.

Recipes to try: Griddled lemon chicken with salsa verde; Connemara meatballs and tomato sauce; Turkish pizzas with lamb and harissa; biscotti with dried apricots and cranberries; linguine with shellfish sauce, pan-fried lobster and Dublin Bay prawns; spicy beef salad with Thai chilli dressings; Sauternes pots de creme with Armagnac prunes; Robert de Niro’s chocolate hazelnut cake.

Home Cooked by Donal Skehan

Equal parts comfort food and lighter, more exotic tastes, the thing that really appeals about Donal’s food is its freshness and its bold flavour. Home Cooked is Donal’s fourth cookbook and is easily his best yet. Donal is one to watch as he goes from strength to strength — one of his (many) new projects, the breathtakingly beautiful FEAST: A Dinner Journal, is one of the most exciting things to happen in the Irish food world this year. We knew him when!

Recipes to try: Baked risotto all’Arrabiata; blue cheese beef sliders; butterflied rosemary chicken with romesco sauce; chilli and lemongrass chicken; deep, dark and delicious pork shoulder tacos; margarita chicken with smoky avocado corn salsa; polenta chips with rosemary salt; roast Asian beef stew with chilli noodles; chocolate pistachio espresso biscotti; crazy monkey brownie baked Alaska.

The Irish Beef Book by Pat Whelan and Katy McGuinness

“In Ireland, we have the best climate in the world for growing beef.” So begins fifth-generation butcher Pat Whelan in his introduction to The Irish Beef Book. “The luxuriant green pastures of Ireland, and the good husbandry practised by our farmers, are responsible for the world-class quality of Irish beef. Sometimes I think we take this for granted, when really we should be pausing and taking time to celebrate this naturally superior product.” And celebrate it he does in this book, a comprehensive guide to the different cuts of beef and a wealth of recipes for how to cook them, from a classic Sunday roast or long, slow braises to an entire chapter devoted to cooking steaks and good things and sauces to eat with them. Put away the Post-its you might usually use to flag the recipes you want to try in a new cookbook — you’ll want to make them all in this one.

Recipes to try: Skirt steak with anchovies, red wine and garlic; roast fillet with wild garlic salsa verde; rich beef cheek ragu; braised beef chin and chorizo; barbacoa beef cheeks; short ribs with balsamic vinegar; slow-cooked pulled chipotle brisket; Spanish meatballs in a tomato chorizo sauce; Knockmealdown burgers.

Like Mam Used to Bake by Rosanne Cromwell Hewitt

No sooner did this book come into the kitchen than my eight-year-old daughter pounced on it and neatly wrote out a (very long) list of all the things she wants to bake from it. As for me, my search is over — Rosanne’s flourless brownies have proved to be the elusive perfect brownie recipe that I’ve been looking for my whole life. What is striking about this book is how approachable the recipes are, with many having just half a dozen ingredients that you probably already have in the house. These are comforting, nostalgia-tinged treats, many of which featured in Rosanne’s own childhood, that are easy and quick enough to rustle up on a weeknight. The recipes are unfussy favourites that have stood the test of time — classics like Victoria sponge, apple tart, gur cake or knickerbocker glory — as well as more modern ones too, like mojito cucpakes, individual blueberry clafoutis, biscotti or caramel macarons. The perfect book for the baker in your life, it’s also very popular with children, thanks to its cute and colourful design, and is sure to be under the Christmas tree for lots of little girls this year (and grown-up ones too). Be sure to check out Rosanne’s blog too, where her deadpan Dublin humour will have you laughing out loud.

Recipes to try: Rosanne’s famous pavlova; coconut cake; coffee cake; RoRo’s rocky road; Brazil nut toffee; sticky toffee buns; double chocolate peanut butter cookies; apple bake; cappuccino mousse; millionaire’s shortbread; and of course those incredible flourless brownies (seriously, the book is worth buying for the brownie recipe alone).

Lilly’s Dream Deli by Lilly Higgins

After graduating from Ballymaloe in 2007, Lilly Higgins dreamed of opening up her own restaurant. While the recession might have forced her to shelve those plans for now, she’s realising a different dream as a food writer and has pulled together a collection of recipes for what might be on the menu of her dream deli some day. For the home cook, this is a snazzy collection of fast, easy, healthy cafe-type fare: breakfast and brunch, light lunch and supper dishes and, of course, plenty of teatime treats too, and all with Lilly’s trademark colourful, vibrant flair.

Recipes to try: Peanut butter granola; quinoa salad with pistachios and pomegranate; mango and shredded chicken salad with garam masala yoghurt; ham cooked in cider; fennel, pork and apple sausage rolls; sea salt, honey and macadamia nut popcorn;  coffee streusel cake; ginger and white chocolate flapjacks; raspberry and coconut buns.

The Nation’s Favourite Food by Neven Maguire

This book is sure to be a winner with Neven’s many fans around the country: the best 100 recipes from one of Ireland’s best-loved chefs, all tried and tested favourites. What makes this book even better is the way it’s organised: broken up into 20 short chapters (plus a basics chapter at the end), each chapter has five classics that would be right at home in anyone’s repertoire. If you have only one of Neven Maguire’s many cookbooks in your collection, it should be this one.

Recipes to try: Lamb cutlets with garlic, lemon and paprika; pan-fried fish with lemon and herb butter sauce; smoked salmon and leek quiche; sweet potato cakes with chilli and feta; meatball pasta bake with spinach and mozzarella; braised blade of beef with celeriac purée; French beans with hazelnuts and garlic; Vietnamese pot noodles; raspberry chocolate brownie with salted caramel sauce; MacNean wheaten bread; maple glazed ham with pineapple salsa.

Relish BBQ by Rozanne Stevens

After the scorcher of a summer we just had, Rozanne Stevens’s new cookbook couldn’t have been better timed. Rozanne, who is originally from South Africa, has put her own al fresco spin on 10 different world cuisines (South African, Irish, Thai, Indian, Italian, Mozambique, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, American). The salads are particularly tempting and you’ll never want to settle for a bottled barbecue sauce again after trying these marinades, bastes and sauces.

Recipes to try: Black pudding burgers; soy-glazed salmon burgers; strawberry chilli flattie chicken; smoked paprika BBQ pork chops with guava salsa; BBQ prawn, avocado and melon salad; Monica’s berry Baileys meringue roulade.

The Weekend Chef by Catherine Fulvio

For home cooks, one of the best things about weekends is the chance to happily potter in the kitchen, luxuriating in long, leisurely breakfasts over coffee and the papers, a bit of baking or a proper Sunday lunch with family and friends. Catherine Fulvio’s fourth cookbook was made for this kind of cooking, with chapters dedicated to play dates, curry night, movie night, late night supper, food for the match, afternoon tea, baking day, tapas night, dinner parties, Sunday brunch and Sunday lunch. Forget about hurried midweek meals, this is food to unwind with.

Recipes to try: Chilli bhajis with spicy apricot pickle and coconut raita; spicy chicken tacos with lime and avocado salsa; celeriac soup with lemon gremolata; Greek lamb with feta topping; crispy pork belly with chilli ginger caramel and sweet potatoes; cinnamon and walnut rolls; coffee cheesecake; wicked mousse layers.

Wild Food by Biddy White Lennon and Evan Doyle

There are few things as simple and satisfying as foraging for wild food and turning it into something tasty in your kitchen. Far from being a passing fad, foraging is more popular than ever, which makes this a well-timed book. It looks at 25 wild foods and is helpfully organised according to what’s in season, from February straight through to December. Each wild food is broken into sections on where to find it, what it looks like, how to pick it, how to prepare it, traditional uses, how to preserve it and a few recipes for it. Written by Biddy White Lennon, an active Slow Food member who has been foraging for wild food for as long as she can remember, and Evan Doyle, who owns the BrookLodge Hotel and Ireland’s only all-organic restaurant, The Strawberry Tree, with its famous wild food pantry, this small but mighty book is an invaluable guide.

Keep your eye out for the following Irish cookbooks too:

• 30 Years at Ballymaloe: A Celebration of the World-renowned Cookery School by Darina Allen (click here to buy a signed copy)
• Buon Appetito: The Campo de’Fiori Cookbook by Marco Roccasalvo
• Celebrating Irish Salmon by Máirín Uí Chomáin
• Eat West 2013: Eat the Best of the West at Home
• Gluten-free Treats ebook by Vicky McDonald
• Irish Pantry: Traditional Breads, Preserves and Goodies to Feed the Ones You Love by Noel McMeel
• Kevin Dundon’s Modern Irish Food by Kevin Dundon
• Master It: How to Cook Today by Rory O’Connell
• Rachel’s Everyday Kitchen: Simple, Delicious Family Food by Rachel Allen
• Wild and Free: Cooking from Nature by Cyril and Kit Ó Céirín

And while they’re not cookbooks, these food books were also published in 2013:

• A Taste of Ireland.com Food Heroes Vol. 1 by Sean Monaghan
• Georgina Campbell’s Ireland: The Best of Irish Food and Hospitality by Georgina Campbell (12th edition)
• Good Food: Can You Trust What You Are Eating? by John McKenna
• Put the Kettle On: The Irish Love Affair with Tea by Juanita Browne

 *I received review copies of the following: Apron Strings, Extreme Greens, Food for Friends, Like Mam Used to Bake, Lilly Higgins’ Dream Deli, The Nation’s Favourite Food, The Weekend Chef and Wild Food.

In addition, I was the editor for the following: From Lynda’s Table, Good Food, Lilly Higgins’ Dream Deli, Relish BBQ, The Nation’s Favourite Food and The Weekend Chef. If you’re working on a cookbook and need an experienced editor, email me at kristin (at) edible-ireland (dot) com.

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