Food writers Patrick Hanlon and Russell Alford, aka GastroGays, are on the lookout for Ireland’s most comforting cheese recipes, with recipe contributors in with a chance to win Ireland’s Blue Book hotel vouchers worth €2,000, as well as two runners up prizes.
GastroGays have joined forces with the National Dairy Council and the EU funded Cheese Your Way campaign to find out what is cooking, melting, and bubbling in homes across Ireland.
This competition is a fun challenge to share a recipe that you love and may even have a story behind.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing what entries start coming in for this competition. In the past year we have seen many of our followers post recipes with wonderful produce from Ireland, France, and even Denmark, so wherever your inspiration comes from we’d love to hear about it,” Patrick Hanlon said.
GastroGays will be helping to celebrate the wonderful versatility and variety of European cheese and give inspiration to people entering by sharing tips on flavour pairings with cheeses and advice on what cheese cooking techniques work best with a variety of dishes. They will be sharing these tips on their Instagram channel over the coming weeks.
The competition has been inspired by Ireland’s love of cheese and our curiosity to try out more varieties. In a recent EU funded survey, 53 per cent of people stated they are curious to discover more cheeses, but Ireland’s firm favourite at 64 per cent is cheddar.
“The fact that Ireland is open to exploring different cheeses is exciting as there are so many varieties to choose from locally and further afield.
“We love cooking with cheese as it is so easy to use as well as being delicious. All it takes is a little bit of know how to transform a recipe from normal to phenomenal with the right cheese and flavour combinations, which we look forward to sharing throughout the competition,” Russell Alford added.
Alford and Hanlon have been taking their love of cheese to the next level during lockdown by undertaking an Academy of Cheese accreditation to upskill their cheese knowledge and apply it in the kitchen. “The world of delicious Irish and European cheeses has consumed us over the past year, so we’re super excited to be part of this campaign by encouraging home cooks of all skill levels to enter their most amazing cheesy, comforting, culinary creations with the world,” they said.
The competition is open for submissions until Friday April 9. Visit www.cheeseyourway.ie to enter.
