Every year, about this time, when I did a weekly slot on Deise AM on WLR, Billy McCarthy and I would discuss our cookbooks of the year.

Well Billy I now have my number one ready !

Trish Deseine’s “Home- Recipes from Ireland”,(published in France as “Mon Irlande”)has just been published at home and away and it is certainly a book to treasure. I suppose that- in the time honoured fashion- I should mention that Trish is a neighbour of ours here in France and a friend- but when you talk about a book as good as this,this is more of a boast than a confession !

In the book Trish shows how the thriving Irish food scene is right there in the forefront of innovative world cuisine and she relates this to our tradition and her own growing up in Northern Ireland.

The two pictures I have chosen from this beautifully illustrated book (superb photos by Deirdre Rooney) really say it all.
First one is the typical Irish High Tea of my youth, complete with strong tea, the three piece salad with the holy trinity of bare lettuce tomato and cucumber, curranty bread and the left over sunday lunch. She even has a teapot which is identical to my mother’s.

The second shows a good Irish interpretation of the French “Apero” nibble using brown soda bread, goats cheese and then tasty foraged plants. All respectful of tradition and yet thoroughly modern.
Trish gets some of Ireland’s cutting edge chefs to write their own recipes for the book including Stephen Toman of Ox, David Hurly of Gregan’s Castle, and Robbie Robbie Krawczyk of Tancardstown House (how old does it make me feel to say I know his Mum and Dad) while giving her own twists on traditional Irish recipes ( her grans pure and simple Irish Stew sounds perfect) while also showing that she can be up to the minute with several delicious sounding versions of savoury porridge (now why did I never think of that?) an intriguing Sour Apple and Kale Soup and a relish for salmon or mackeral made for raw rhubarb.

As well as being an important book which acknowledges our past as well as our present food culture this is a really user friendly and perfectly illustrated book would make any foodies Christmas.

Bravo Trish !