Love spuds? We do! Thanks to Lovely Petal for the image.

There is no getting away from the fact that as a nation the Irish adore the potato, even when it’s dead set on disappointing us. It’s part of our history in big ways and little. So one of our favourite places to go in all of internetland is to The Daily Spud’s blog. Not only do you get some great recipes and ideas, but you’ll find heaps of funny articles, thoughts and just stuff you never knew. Here’s a recent post on the excitement of digging the season’s first newbies:

Oh the excitement! The day which would see the eagerly anticipated unearthing of the first new spuds was finally here. Visions of tuberous bounty filled my head, as I grabbed the garden fork and gloves and sallied forth to the vegetable patch. Mentally, I had already applied steam, butter and salt to the first of many straight-from-the-garden spud dinners. Happy days.

What happened next? Well head on over to find out. And when you come back, make sure you’ve got a nice hunger on you for some tasty baked potatoes with Dubliner Cheese.

Pic with thanks to livepine

Ingredients for Baked Spud a la Dubliner include one large baking potato, a quarter cup of broccoli; a quarter cup of mushrooms; a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil; a quarter cup of grated Dubliner cheese; a quarter cup of low/no fat yoghurt; a pinch each of salt, garlic powder and paprika; a sprig of chopped coriander.

Directions:

Pierce and bake the potato at 375° for an hour or until tender. Meanwhile use a small saucepan to sauté the broccoli and mushrooms in extra virgin olive oil until tender. When your potato is cool enough to handle, slice in in half along its length. Carefully scoop out the potato, leaving a thin jacket. Mash the potato flour in a bowl, and stir in two tablespoons of Dubliner Cheddar, yogurt, salt, garlic powder and paprika with chopped coriander. Stir in the broccoli mixture and transfer all back into the potato jackets. Sprinkle with remaining Dubliner and pop it back into the oven on a baking sheet for a few minutes 375° until the cheese is melted.

Tuck in, but watch out for the hot cheese lip effect!

When it’s windy out and you fear you might blow away, our macaroni will keep you grounded and rubbing your belly in a most contented way. Yes, we think it’s like satisfying poetry for the taste buds.

Dubliner Macaroni will require two cups elbow macaroni; three tbsps butter; a quarter cup of flour; one finely chopped green onion; one teaspoon of salt; half a teaspoon of mustard; a pinch of pepper; two and a half cups of milk; a head of broccoli, cooked and chopped; two cups diced cooked ham; one cup of grated Dubliner; half a cup of lightly buttered bread crumbs.

Make and bake: 
Cook your macaroni, drain it and leave it to one side.

Melt the three tablespoons of butter over low heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour, chopped onion, salt, mustard and pepper; stir until well blended. Then stir in the milk. Bring all to a boil, stirring constantly, until the mix is thickened. This should take a couple of minutes. Add in the broccoli, macaroni, ham, and Dubliner.

Carefully place the lot into a casserole dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top. Give it 30 minutes at 350°. Hang in there for the crispy golden finish on top and then invite the neighbours in to look. Just to look. It’d be insane to actually offer them any of it! Oh look, you decide…

Did you know that cheesemakers make less cheese in winter? Or that early in the year is when we make our mild cheeses, and summer is when the mature ones are made? Read on for JJ’s report from the Dubliner production plant in Ballineen. (more…)

The sun shone, the crowds mingled, the champagne popped, and the Dubliner Cheese stand was packed! It could only be the Taste of Dublin at the Iveagh Gardens.

As usual there was a huge range of restaurants, bars, brands and more, eager to showcase their products to the thousands of visitors.  We made the most of the unfair advantage that delicious Dubliner Cheese gives us – because who can resist the lure of the scent of a toasted cheese sandwich?

We had queues all day long, every day, but with a little team work and a lot of banter – we managed to keep up with demand! It wasn’t all work though! We took turns to slip away and visit other stands and sample some of the amazing food on offer. It really is a great day out, and I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be back again in 2010!