Food « Thurles Information

Christmas At Mitchel House

Colcannon Traditional Irish Halloween Fare

Colcannon, translated from the Irish words cál ceannann, meaning “white headed cabbage” is a traditional Thurles dish made from mashed potatoes and cabbage. It is interesting to note that in Holland a similar dish exists called ‘Stamppot Boerenkol’ made from potatoes and kale mashed together.

Irish people will eat this very traditional Irish dish over the Halloween three-day bank holiday weekend that coincides with the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Samhain (pronounced “sowan”). So popular is colcannon that a song was written about it, sung here by popular Tipperary singer Nora Fogarty in true Irish Sean-Nós (old style) style and which can be found on her current album ” One Star Awake”

[audio:http://www.thurles.info/music/norafogartytrack07.mp3|titles=Colcannon|artists=Nora Fogarty]

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs of floury potatoes
1 small head of green cabbage

Note: In Ireland Stinging Nettles were used in early Spring when cabbage was scarce. Stinging Nettle are both nutritious and delicious having a flavour similar to spinach when cooked and are rich in vitamins A, C, D, iron, potassium, manganese and calcium.

1 cup milk
1/2 stick butter
Salt and pepper to taste.
One finely chopped green onion can also be added for taste, but not essential.

Method:

1. Scrub potatoes and leave skins on. Place in cold water with a generous pinch of salt, cover and bring to a boil.

2. When the potatoes are about half cooked, which takes approximately 15 minutes, strain off two thirds of the water. Then replace the lid and allow the potatoes to steam until they are cooked using a gentler heat.

3. Discard the outer dark outer leaves of the cabbage. Wash the rest and cut into quarters; remove the centre core and slice finely across the grain.
Cook in a little boiling salted water until soft. Drain, then season with salt and pepper and add the butter.

4. When the potatoes are fully cooked, put the cup of milk into saucepan and bring to the boil. At this stage add your green onion if you so wish. Peel the skins off the potatoes, mash quickly and beat in enough of the hot milk and onion to make a fluffy purée.

5. Stir in the cooked cabbage and taste for seasoning.

6. Serve on a hot dish and make a well in the center to add butter additional butter.

Note: Colcannon at Halloween used to contain a plain gold ring, a sixpence, a thimble or button. Finding the ring meant marriage within the year for the person who found it, the sixpence meant wealth, the thimble spinsterhood and the button bachelorhood. Today, however many Irish mother’s simply wrap one or two large washed coins in heat-proof paper and hide them in the dish.

Crossogue Preserves Wins Tipp County Enterprise Award

Crossogue Preserves

Crossogue Preserves, Ballycahill, Thurles, Co Tipperary has been selected as the overall winner of the 2009 Tipperary County National Enterprise Award Competition.

The winner was announced at a prize giving ceremony held at the Peppermill Restaurant, Nenagh on Thursday last and organised by the Tipperary County Enterprise Board.

The competition carries a total prize fund of €3,000 together with a piece of Louise Kennedy crystal. The winner received a cheque for €1,500 and will now advance to represent North Tipperary in the National competition to be held in Dublin Castle on November 10th next.

At national level the competition carries a prize fund worth in excess of €20,000 together with substancial benificial advertising.

The competition, which is open annually to all small firms that have received financial support from the County Enterprise Board, was first introduced in 1997 to recognise the contribution that small enterprises make to Ireland’s economic development.

This year’s awards were presented by Mr. Matt Shortt, Chairperson of the Tipperary North County Enterprise Board Ltd and Director of Services, North Tipperary County Council. Rita Guinan, the Enterprise Board CEO acted as MC for this event which was also attended by other Board Directors and members of the Evaluation Committee consisting of Mr Brian Keating, Shannon Development and Mr Tom O’Keeffe, representing Bank of Ireland.

The driving force behind Crossogue Preserves is Mrs.Veronica Molloy, Crossogue House, Ballycahill,Co. Tipperary who was born and raised in Kenya.

Many of the recipes she uses today are family recipes passed down through the generations and initially jam making was simply a hobby, producing preserves for local stores and country markets. However the quality and demand for her product began to grow and was soon recognised by larger commercial stores.

Veronica believes simplicity combined with superiority is the key to her business success. All her preserves are manufactured using traditional cooking methods and only the highest quality ingredients, with no artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives being used. This results in achieving a unique and distinctive Tipperary flavour.

Her many products, which include Old Irish Thick Cut Marmalade, Lemon Curd and Cranberry Jelly has won many awards over the past ten years, including a prestigious award by the Guild of Fine Food Fair held in London. Crossogue Preserve which today make over 85 varieties of jams, marmalade’s, chutneys, curds and jellies can be found stocked in quality retail outlets in Ireland, London and Brussels. Indeed Veronica was one of a number of Tipperary based businesses who travelled to the Irish Fest in Milwaukee recently, to showcase their Tipperary products for the American market.

In recent times Crossogue Preserves has taken an exotic turn with the launch of a series of new products namely Hot Red Pepper Jelly, Banana Chutney, and Banana and Rum Jam. These new products were inspired by Veronica’s trip to Tanzania last September with the charity “Playing for Life” . Veronica’s mission there was to share her preserve making skills with a class of some fourteen Tanzanian women, using fruits and vegetables locally grown.

Crossogue Preserves are an excellent example of how a small business can grow over time and with thought and planning become a true commercial success story.

Boxty A Traditional Irish Potato Dish

Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake dish. The dish is mostly associated with the North West and Midlands of Ireland, in particular the counties of Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim, Cavan and Tipperary.

There are many different local recipes but all contain finely grated, raw potatoes and all are served fried. The most popular version of the dish consists of finely grated, raw potato and mashed potato with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and sometimes egg. The mixture is fried on a pan for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake. The most noticeable difference between boxty and other fried potato dishes is its smooth, fine grained consistency and it is a great method for using up potatoes left over from the previous meal.

Since interest in old Irish cuisine has risen considerably over the last number of years, so too has the popularity of Boxty. Some modern recipes, in their efforts to conceal Boxty’s humble Irish origins, use garlic and other spices as ingredients. These additions help to pass this dish off as being more eastern European in origin, however in the past Boxty was seen as a huge part of local Irish culture in Tipperary and indeed the following rhyme was penned as a result.

“Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in your pan, if you can’t make good Boxty, Sure you’ll never get a man.”

The failure to make good Boxty is no doubt the reason for so many good looking Tipperary females being still unattached.

Recipe and Ingredients for Boxty:

Four medium floury potatoes, peeled (about 650g/1lb7oz).

Plain flour 100g/4oz.

One carton buttermilk – 284ml or 9½fl oz.

Salt to taste.

One level tea spoon of baking soda.

Large knob of pure butter, for frying.

Method

Boil the peeled potatoes for 15-20 minutes, and then mash half of them.

Grate the rest and put in a colander lined with kitchen paper.

Put kitchen paper on top and press to squeeze out as much liquid and starch as possible.

Mix the grated potato with the mash, then sift in the flour, baking soda and salt to taste. (One small very finely grated onion can also be added to the mixture depending on choice.)

Stir in buttermilk to make a soft batter.

Heat the butter on a griddle or heavy based metal frying pan.

Drop in spoonfuls of the batter, large or small, and cook for 2 minutes until golden underneath.

Flip and cook for 2 minutes more.

Try it out, it is delicious.

Mitchell House Restaurant Thurles – Dinner Theatre

Its new, its innovative, its “Dinner Theatre” and its coming to Mitchell House Restaurant, Mitchell Street, Thurles, Co.Tipperary, for the first time, on Friday 26th June next.
The first of what we hope will be a series of Dinner Theatre, followed by late night dancing, will feature none other than Ireland’s number one swing diva Ellen McElroy accompanied by well known Musical Directer, Arranger, and Composer David Wray.

Ellen McElroy
No stranger to R.T.E, TV3 and B.B.C viewers, the very beautiful Ellen McElroy has been on stage since the age of nine. She received her training at the Bull Alley School of Performance ellen-mcelroy and continued her theatre studies under Audrey Behan. She also trained under Dr Veronica Dunne at The Royal Irish Academy of Music and under David Wray at the Leinster School of Music. Her most recent performances include Fay Apple – Anyone Can Whistle, Mary Magdalene – Jesus Christ Superstar, Maria – West Side Story, Mabel – Pirates of Penzance and as Ellie in Showboat. Her favourite roles to date have been as Phantom in The Rocky Horror Show (Olympia Theatre), Louisa in The Sound of Music (Olympia Theatre), Giulietta in Aspects of Love (Olympia Theatre & Cork Opera House), Pitti-Sing in the Hot Mikado (Olympia Theatre), Marta in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Theatre Royal Waterford), Linda Porter in Red Hot and Cole (National Concert Hall), Madelene Astarte in The New Lesbian Vampires of Sodom (Andrews Lane). She also starred in the critically acclaimed Side by Side by Sondheim staged at the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork. Ellen also played Vikki Nichols in the recent smash hit comedy The Full Monty staged in the Olympia Theatre and the show also had a national tour. Ellen also played Ruth in Jim Molloy’s Pirates of Penzance staged at The Helix. Ellen just starred the smash hit show Michael Collins staged at the Olympia Theatre and The Cork Opera House and is returning to both venues in July and August with the same show.
Ellen is one of the “Irish Divas” and has toured extensively throughout America for the past couple of years. As a member of Musical Theatre Ireland she has featured in such productions as “The Great American Songwriters Series”, “The Glorious MGM Musicals”, “Cole Porter Songbook”, “Simply Sondheim” and the national tour of “New York Songbook (Way off Broadway)”. Earlier this year she completed a smash hit tour with her old friend Kevin Hough in ‘Songbirds’ – The Golden Age of Swing, Jazz and Blues, selling out Nationwide.
Ellen made her London debut in The Cuchulainn Cycle at Riverside Studios. She also completed a successful world tour on board the QE2 performing with the Concordia Theatre Company. Ellen is a regular performer at The National Concert Hall with Kevin Hough’s Theatre Nights. For the last five years she has been a star singer at The Everyman Palace in Cork in Sunday Night at the Palace series. Live TV work includes The Late Late Show, Live at Three, Echo Island, Jo-Maxi and a series of Open House with Kevin Hough. She is also a regular singer on the popular R.T.E. radio programme Theatre Nights and the live recording of Simply Sondheim for the BBC.
Future projects include another nationwide tour with Songbirds with RTE’s Kevin Hough. She is currently on tour with the Three Tenors as guest Soprano. Ellen will also be touring with her new Burt Bacharach show and also her brand new big band extravaganza “The Music of 007”.

Here is what the critics had to say regarding her most recent performances:-

“Irresistable, with a sparkling personality” – The Boston Globe
“Induced me in an inchoate wish to ask if she sang requests” – Irish Times
“Excellent performance” – Irish Times
“Ellen Mc Elroy has the range and confidence to move from soubrette to torch singer with effortless precision.” – Irish Times
“Ellen’s voice is above the weight of the music but she has the vocal and theatrical intelligence to reveal the quality of the music while making it her own.” – Irish Times
“Ellen Mc Elroy’s voice is amazing. What a talent” – Evening Echo

David Wray
No stranger to Thurles David Wray’s depth of musical knowledge across a wide range of genres has assured his success as a Musical Director, Arranger, and Producer in Dublin and London for nearly 20 years. He is currently the Musical Director with the exciting new 5-male vocal group from Ireland, Druid, and he has been arranging and directing the 3 Irish Tenors since its formation in 1999. With these 2 groups, he has recorded 3 albums and performed extensively throughout Ireland, Europe, North America, and Asia. In addition to his work with these projects, he is currently the Musical Director for Dublin’s Opera in the Open as well as a select group of david-wray1 independent artists, including singers Nyle Wolfe, Danna Davis, Ciarán Nagle, Naoise Stuart-Kelly, and violinist Tara Novak.
David trained in the U.K. at Lancaster University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Before relocating to Dublin in 1991, he worked as the assistant to the director of London’s English Bach Festival, appearing in productions at the Royal Festival Hall, Covent Garden, Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre, and across Europe. During that time, David also established and directed the Baroque ensemble “Musica Stravagante,” with whom he performed extensively and recorded on Italy’s RAI, worked with the Wexford Festival Opera and Opera Ireland, and performed as the continuo player for many high profile opera festivals, including the Festivale d’Peralada Barcelona.
In 1998, David founded Musical Theatre Ireland. Through this company, he has produced, directed, and arranged or composed numerous productions, including: “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” “Songs for a New World,” “A New York Songbook,” “Noel and Gertie,” “And the World Goes Round,” and “Red, Hot and Cole.” David’s additional work as a musical director and arranger includes “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Hot Mikado” at the Olympia Theatre, and “Side by Side by Sondheim” for the Temple Bar Music Centre.
Outside of the musical theatre realm, David’s creative voice can be clearly heard in the albums and shows of the artists he has worked with and developed, particularly Ellen McElroy, Danna Davis and Nyle Wolfe.
As a composer, David has written “Just Bodies” for the Irish Modern Dance Theatre, co-written “Ovid’s Transformation” for Belfast’s Rainbow Factory of Youth Action Northern Ireland, and recently was commissioned to co-write with tenor Ciarán Nagle the piece “Amergin,” which is featured in both the live performances and the recently-released album by Druid, “Come Follow Me.”

What more can I tell you folks, except, if you enjoy good food and good music get out your best frock, brush down the jacket and be there for what promises to be a very, very special evening.

Make a Note:-

Venue:- Mitchell House Restaurant, Mitchel Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Bookings:- Tel No: 0504-90776 or email: mitchelhouse@eircom.net

Date:– Friday 26th June 2009.