Dingle Dinners. And drinks

Dingle Dinners

Compiled and edited by Trevis L. Gleason. Hardback €24.99 Collins Press

A compilation of recipes from chefs and food producers in the Dingle area of Kerry, this is a celebration of a town that years ago, many of us travelled to enjoy the fish soup at Doyle’s Seafood Bar, as it was then known. It seems ridiculous that a town that landed a fish catch on the pier and cooked it the same day didn’t have such a venue, as was the case in just about every fishing town in the country. Doyle’s was a rarity in its style too – casual with wooden tables, local pottery tableware and informal service. Stella Doyle and her husband John, a former advertising executive,  set up the restaurant in 1972. John was notably interested in wine too and would sit and chat about our choices. Stella gives her recipes in this book (prawns with pasta, smoked mackerel paté and a simple sponge cake). Stella sold the restaurant in 1998, having put the restaurant and Dingle on the culinary map.

Midleton man Seán Roche owns Doyles now and here delivers Spanish style recipes with fish, while relative newbies to the town, Jean-Marie Vaireux of Out of the Blue pops scallop parcels in Martini sauce onto the plate. The producer of delicious charcuterie Olivier Beaujoan gives a French classis – tete de veau with sauce gribiche, while his German wife cheesemaker and The Little Cheese Shop owner Maja parts with her favourites.

Martin  Bealin is a blow-in too, but only from up the country in Co. Wicklow. For fruit and vegetables for his restaurant The Global Village, he employs a full-time farmer, and his slow-roast shoulder of salt grass lamb with Moorish spices and stuffing is a favourite in the book.

There are plenty of recipes to suit various levels of ability, and will be Ideal to send out of Ireland to anyone with Kerry connections, and more specifically Dingle. It’s a useful read to get to know the area, with just the right amount of text in the introductions to each recipe donor. They make you want to go there.

At the back of the book, one of the sponsors, Dingle Distillery has plenty of time to shine with various cocktails made from gin and vodka (and both in their Martini). And if you need to cool down, how about a Hop, Skip and Go Naked. You will have to buy the book to find out how to manage that in this weather.