Episode 4, Season 2 of Beár Bia is live – A travelling podcast celebrating the unison of Irish food & drinks.
Launched last year by Dee Laffan and Oisin Davis, Beár Bia is a travelling podcast solely dedicated to pairing Irish foods with Irish drinks. In their latest episode, Dee and Oisin took a trip to the McNally Family Farm in the Ring Commons, North County Dublin to spend some time with Jenny and her daughter Niamh McNally and learn more about their fantastic business.
In 1997, farmers Patrick and Jenny McNally took the decision to go all organic and sell their produce directly, bypassing the standard practises of distribution.
Thanks to the remarkable assistance of all five of their children who work there, they have gone on to become one of the most sought out and cherished producers to top Irish chefs.
Everything they sell is grown on their 99 acres of land and along the way they have added a farm shop, café and most recently a tour to their list of offerings
Dee and Oisin’s setting for the recording – and the weather – couldn’t have been any better! Sat right outside a polytunnel jam-packed with baby tomatoes that were days away from ripening, they enjoyed two pairings where each of the dishes mostly featured items from the farm.
The first was a sourdough focaccia sandwich made with bread baked at their café, filled with their farm grown roasted padrón peppers, heritage tomatoes, basil mayo and green leaves.
This was a “symphony of the freshest flavours” and to enjoy a beverage alongside it, Oisin volunteered to mix up a cocktail that also had farm ingredients in it
Aptly named the “McNally Martini” it had Glendalough Gin, Richmount Elderflower Liqueur, Fino Sherry, fresh lemon, a healthy spoonful of McNally Family Farm gooseberry preserve, fresh lemon and a splash of Nátúrtha Pet-Nat sparkling wine from Waterford to give it some fizz.
The dry sweetness from the cocktail counterbalanced the smoky bitterness of peppers and tomatoes and they say it was a real pleasure to enjoy the bounty of the farm in such a rounded way, both from the plate and the glass.
Their second pairing was a Roman style pizza slice that was also baked on site using their sourdough bread and topped with Carbery cheddar, farm grown baby courgettes, basil pesto and feta cheese
Seeing as the bottle was already open and that it’s such a delicious wine, they paired the rich (and super crunchy!) pizza slice with some more of the Nátúrtha Pet-Nat sparkling wine from Waterford.
Its nutty, earthy notes “really brought out the soft sweetness of the courgettes.”
Beár Bia is available on all podcast platforms. Listen in from Spotify here.
