Dorcas talks food

Beautiful, delicious seasonal food from a visit to Leopardstown farmers market

My priority in moving to a new area (I have just moved house), is always finding out about the best local food available.  There is something of a treasure hunt about the process, really exciting and satisfying to end up with a list of amazing food to dip into.  I love everything about the process, the searching out, the tasting, the shopping and choosing, the chat with the producers and of course, it goes without saying, the cooking and eating.  Going back a second time to buy a food you have really enjoyed and building up a relationship with the producer is also really special, and an important part of the process.  I really like knowing exactly where my food has come from.

So this beautiful sunny morning, I headed off to Leopardstown Farmer’s Market in South Dublin which takes place every Friday morning.  Camera in hand, we stopped at every stall, chatted and bought and mentally made a list of what to buy on the next visit as in a short space of time I had bought more than I could carry.

My favourite produce available today was from Jenny and Patrick McNally.

The most amazing array of organic greens I’ve seen in a long time with some really unusual varieties.  My basket included wild sorrel (to cook with the beautiful Clare Island Organic Salmon I bought from Out Of The Blue), organic oregano, and a big favourite of mine for soup, cavolo nera which is an Italian black cabbage.  For me, greens are up there as the most nutritional food you can possibly eat and I also believe that they are seriously addictive too!  Try including greens with every meal and within a short space of time, you will really miss them if you leave them out.

Apart from all the wonderful fresh produce and organic meat and fish on offer, there is also an incredible choice of baked goods at this market.  We had a chat with one of the amazing bakers and bought some beautiful wheat-free raspberries muffins which were delicious.

I also had to include this image as these little chocolate tartlets were adorable and so beautifully finished.

No farmer’s market trip for me is complete without a few fresh dates to use as a sugar substitute in desserts or as a delicious fudgy sweet treat with a cup of tea.  These one’s from Denis Healy are particularly good, and are the ones I buy again and again.

On the point of the benefits of shopping at farmer’s markets, the long term value to all of us is enormous.  Our support can help to increase employment at a local level, allows producers and growers to expand and create/supply new products, reduces food miles, and of course we end up with a lovely basket of healthy, seasonal and fresh local food.  The money we spend at farmer’s markets goes straight back into our local food and farming industry and not to line the pockets of multi-national supermarket chains, really big plus.  And we get to have a direct link with where our food comes from, with advice and a chat thrown in which makes the whole experience even more pleasurable!  We can, all of us, vote with our feet and our Euro!!  The more of us who join the market buzz and spend some money (however small) at our local farmer’s market, the quicker that market will grow and attract more stallholders and artisan producers, providing us with more choice and a bigger range of high quality and seasonal local foods.

I have also at this stage to come clean and say that as I couldn’t figure out how to use my new camera, my 8 year old daughter took all these photos for me, much to the amusement of the stallholders. It’s a serious looking camera!  I love this photo she took of Gourmet Grub Bakery’s chocolate muffin with custard so will finish with this.