Scotland, Salmon, Seaweed and Stone Mountain

What a blast I had this past weekend at the annual Scottish fling known as the 'Highland Games' in the Stone Mountain Park right here in Atlanta. The weather was perfect, the kilts where blowing in the breeze and chef Noel McMeel and I were creating a buzz with the very special Irish culinary treats we prepared for the guests and passer-bys at the Tourism Ireland stand. A lot of fun, and pictured above is just one of those interesting treats...'Cured beef (or smoked salmon) and creamed cheese on Irish smoked oatcakes with sesame marinated seaweed'...phew, quite a title, and very delicious.

Smoked Irish Oatcakes ( an Ulster Kitchen product from Ditty's bakery in County Derry in Northern Ireland) are the perfect base for seafood and cured meats. The texture of these oatcakes are wonderfully crunchy and in this case we complimented them with a spread of cream cheese to create a bed for the cured beef or salmon. Finally, we topped it off with a scrunch of seaweed that I had marinated in sesame oil and the result was perfect! The folks who attended the Irish food demos loved these, and they were snapped up in an instant.

So we chatted and demonstrated our hearts out, and y'know, it was quite a pleasure to promote Ireland I have to say.It gave me a lot of pride to represent my country and I'm always amazed at the great reactions we get. People just love Ireland and long to visit there. Several people even signed up for the culinary tour to Ireland I'm leading this coming summer..so, it was great fun all round.

But, we weren't done yet, to follow the seaweed we made and gave away hundreds of mini 'Raspberry cranachan' desserts. (what is that, you cry?) Cranachan is a 'trifle' dessert with white chocolate cream, raspberries, oatmeal and ...yes, Bushmills Irish whiskey (we had to sneak it in somewhere!)

So, there we have it. It was a lot of fun, and on top of it all I got to launch my book; 'The Shamrock and Peach' doing a brisk business in pre-sales (thank you, thank you!)

If you would like to learn more about these dishes and how to make them, then drop me a line through my website:

http://www.theulsterkitchen.com/

Or come along to my Irish Cooking class at Whole Foods in Alpharetta on October 25th where we will have a lot of very elegant food to taste, sample and enjoy:

http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/alpharetta/salud-cooking-class-calendar/

Until next time!

Enjoy!

Judie the Irish Foodie.