Love at first bite!
Love at first bite!
Get in the mood for a romantic Valentine’s Day with these delicious recipes from Avonmore.ie
Covid restrictions have thankfully eased and restaurants are fully open around Ireland again, meaning delicious Valentine’s Day meals in romantic settings will unlock many a food-lovers heart this February 14th.
With the love of food in mind, Overherd at Glanbia Ireland raided the Avonmore.ie recipe archives to see what culinary delights could get tastebuds tingling this Valentine’s Day. The recipes below can be whipped up in your own kitchen and are sure to impress your dinner date!
Valentine’s Day Recipes
Treat your loved one this Valentine’s Day with these delicious recipes for an extra-special meal.
Steaks with Peppercorn Mushroom Sauce
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 25g Avonmore Irish Butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion, sliced
- 80g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns, roughly crushed
- 4 rib-eye steaks
- 15ml brandy
- 120ml Avonmore Cooking Cream
To serve:
- Chunky chips
Directions
Heat the butter and half of the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the onions and mushrooms. Cook for 4-5 minutes until mushrooms are golden brown, then add the garlic and cook for one minute longer. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Heat another tablespoon of oil in the same pan over a high heat. Press the crushed peppercorns into both sides of the steak.
Place the steaks in the hot pan and cook for 2-3 minutes per side for medium-rare, or to your liking. Remove to a plate, tent loosely with tin foil and rest while you make the sauce.
Place the same pan over a high heat and add the brandy. Bring to a boil, then add the Cooking Cream and reduce the heat. Simmer for five minutes, using a wooden spoon to scrape any sticky bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add the mushrooms and onions back to the pan and heat through for 1-2 minutes.
Stir in any juices that have been released from the steaks.
Serve the steaks with the brandy mushroom sauce and chunky chips.
Roulade with Strawberries & Cream Filling
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 6 eggs separated
- 150g caster sugar
- 50g cocoa powder
For The Filling
- 225ml Avonmore Double Cream
- Handful of strawberries, sliced
For The Sauce
- 2 x 8 square bars Cadbury Dairy Milk
- 85ml Avonmore Milk/Cream
Directions
Begin by making the filling. Lightly whip the Avonmore Double Cream and fold in freshly cut slices of strawberries. Cover and chill for an hour.
Now the cake. Whisk egg yolks until they start to thicken, add the caster sugar and continue to whisk until slightly thicker. Then sift cocoa powder into egg yolk mixture and whisk together.
Using a clean whisk and bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks. Then carefully cut and fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and pour into a lined 30x20x2.5cms tin.
Bake on centre shelf for 20-25 mins, (gas mark 4, 350°F/180°C) until bouncy. Remove and leave to cool.
When the cake is cold, gently spread the strawberry and cream filling over the cake. Then roll the cake away from you using the parchment to help make the log shape. Serve with warm chocolate sauce.
For sauce, break up the chocolate bars and place in a jug with milk or cream. Melt slowly in microwave or in a small pan until combined. Pour over slice of roulade with extra strawberries. Delish.
Win a €200 Restaurant Voucher
For anyone who’d like to leave the cooking to the professionals, Overherd is delighted to give you the opportunity to win a €200 Restaurants Association of Ireland voucher, which is redeemable all over Ireland @restaurantvouchers.ie
To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize, all you have to do is answer the following question – who is your ideal dinner date and what type of food would you like to treat them to? Pop your answer into the comment section of the Overherd email or send your entry to GIPeopleServices@Glanbia.ie
A helping hand
A Helping Hand
Glanbia Ireland has launched a free and confidential counselling and information service to our farmer shareholders
GI recently launched a free service to our farmer shareholders, their family members or direct workers on the farm for when they might be dealing with times of personal crises or emotional distress. Similar to Glanbia’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), peace of mind is provided by professional support and counselling services in conjunction with Vhi.
Examples of some supports available include:
- Advice on mental health challenges
- Depression
- Addictions
- Financial pressures on and off farm
- Bereavement counselling
- Relationships and struggles with parenting
Our Glanbia farmer shareholders will also have access to a counsellor locally for up to six face to face counselling sessions per personal issue. Whether they decide to get in touch by phone or email, support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, Support Services for Glanbia farmer shareholders also provides access to a specialist information service, coaching programmes, trauma support and an interactive online portal.
Speaking to Overherd about the launch of the service, Glanbia Ireland’s Head of Marketing and Digital – Agri, Rob O’Keefe said: “In keeping with our Living Proof commitment to care for the wellbeing of our people and communities, this resource for our farmer shareholders can play an important role in promoting positive mental health. Farming, like any business can be stressful and we hope that in times of need, our farmers will reach out to Vhi to make good use of this counselling and information service.”
Farmer shareholders and GI employees who feel they may benefit from speaking to a professional are encouraged to take advantage of this free service by calling VHI directly on 1800 995 957 or emailing eap@vhics.ie
Chewing the cud with… Will O’Carroll
Chewing the cud with… Will O’Carroll
Each month, we put the spotlight on a Glanbia Ireland employee and for our February newsletter, we spoke to Will O’Carroll, GI’s GPS Manager
Currently based in our Ballyragget site, but moving to Abbey Quarter later this year, Will joined GI in 2020 as the Glanbia Performance System (GPS) Manager. He started his career with Accenture and subsequently worked as a Director and Head of Operational Excellence Consulting with Grant Thornton. Having joined GI in the middle of the pandemic, Will has predominantly been working online and is really looking forward to physically meeting a lot of his colleagues over the coming weeks and months. He was keen to join Glanbia Ireland as his passion for ‘Continuous Improvement’ aligned with GI’s values of ‘Performance Matters’ and ‘Winning Together’.
In his spare time Will and his partner Eoin are renovating an old house while also taking care of their dogs, cats, donkeys, sheep and hens!
Will explains that “No one day is typical in my role, which adds great interest and variety. I enjoy connecting with my colleagues in the GPS and wider Excellence team to deliver on our improvement agenda. A significant amount of my time is spent supporting both 3M and COVI, which as a GI community, we should be exceptionally proud of. These initiatives are great examples of Continuous Improvement (CI) in action.
“3M is all about bringing strategy to life, ensuring that in both ‘running today’ and ‘developing tomorrow’, teams are realising their strategic objectives and that successful 3M deployment will result in improved results, building greater awareness of how each individual and each team can play their part in the execution of GI’s strategy.
“My favourite part of the role is seeing people across the business mature when it comes to CI. To see them coming out of our GPS Academy with stronger CI skills and putting them into real life practice is what gets me out of bed in the morning! For me, the Academy is the bedrock of continuous improvement. It’s very hard to fully execute CI unless you fully understand the process of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”
Looking to the future, Will and his team are constantly innovating to ‘Find a Better way’ of challenging every corner of the business in their Continuous Improvement journey. “Having got initiatives such as COVI and 3M to a mature stage, we now must continue to challenge teams to further ‘develop tomorrow’ and align their projects to their goals and the overall values at GI.”
Top-class Crops
Glanbia Ireland Agronomist Peter O’Grady presents the Glanbia Ireland 2021 Grain Supplier of the Year and Food Grade Oats awards to Luke (L) and Matt Dempsey (R) on their farm at Celbridge, Co Kildare
Top-class crops
Premium Oats growers have landed the Glanbia Ireland 2021 Grain Supplier of the Year Award
Kildare grain growers Matt and Luke Dempsey have claimed the Glanbia Ireland Grain Supplier of the Year Award for 2021, amid strong competition from across the country following a bumper harvest. From barley to beans, the annual awards programme recognises the excellence of the top-class Irish crops delivered by growers each year.
The growers from Celbridge in Co Kildare were amongst 12 suppliers honoured for their dedication and attention to detail in grain production. Matt and Luke Dempsey operate a tillage and beef enterprise, with around 250 acres allocated to cereal crops.
“We are truly delighted to have been selected for the Grain Supplier of the Year Award. We take great pride in delivering top-class crops and constantly strive to innovate and operate sustainable practices on our farm,” said Matt Dempsey whose Griffenrath Farm Partnership won the Food Grade Oats award with a gluten-free oats crop delivering an average specific weight of 59.3 kph at 15.5% moisture across 240 tonnes.
“We value the use of break crops in maintaining healthy soil structure on our farm, aiding soil fertility, weed control and overall grain quality. We also benefit from significant yield improvement following the use of a break crop. The organic manure from the beef enterprise also helps maintain soil structure and fertility.”
A range of break crops are grown on the farm, including beans, oats and oilseed rape, allowing for the production of seed wheat and gluten-free oats. “We strongly believe in premium crops as it is important that growers maximise the return from all crops, whilst delivering high quality grains for the end user,” said Matt Dempsey, who is also a columnist and former editor of the Irish Farmers Journal.
Glanbia Ireland Director of Ingredients, Aoife Murphy, said the state-of-the-art new Innovation Centre has delivered enhanced opportunities for our strong portfolio of quality grains. “We are expanding our portfolio of solutions to include organic oatmeal which is in response to growing consumer demand in this area. Our closed loop supply chain is a real unique selling point for our customers.
“We are also continuing to innovate with our oats ingredients in line with evolving trends in the plant-based category. As a direct response to these market trends, we recently launched a range of oat-based cheese alternatives targeted at foodservice and at food industry manufacturers,” she said.
As the largest buyer and user of Irish grains, Glanbia Ireland’s green grain intake increased to over 190,000 tonnes for 2021, with excellent yields and strong prices for crops. Glanbia Ireland’s grain and ingredients teams have focused strongly on value-added premium crops, with over €2 million in premiums paid over and above the feed price to farmers for last year’s harvest.
Glanbia Ireland Quality Grain Awards – category winners 2021
Oat-Standing taste
L to R: Shane McDarby, Tom Finlay, Ann Meaney, Yvonne Bellanti
Oat-Standing taste
Oat-Standing™ range of plant-based cheese alternatives showcased at FIE, Frankfurt
Glanbia Ireland Ingredients were delighted to showcase their range of Oat-Standing™ products at Food Ingredients Europe, which took place in Frankfurt from November 30th until December 2nd 2021. The team showcased the Oat-Standing™ range of gluten-free and organic flakes and flours, as well as our new range of plant-based cheese alternatives. The range includes Oat-Standing™ Mozzarella Style, Oat-Standing™ White Cheddar Style and Oat-Standing™ Red Cheddar Style.
Speaking at the launch, Ann Meaney, Head of Ingredients Marketing, said: “This range of plant-based cheese alternatives provide excellent taste and functionality and can help meet demand for a plant-based alternative to dairy cheese. Oats are an excellent ingredient as they naturally contain between 11-13% proteins. In addition, they are high in soluble fibres, especially Beta Glucan which can help to reduce and lower cholesterol. They are low in sugar, salt and saturated fat and in addition, our oats are gluten free. Oats also contain a range of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc.”
According to a recent report by Innova, food and beverage launches with plant-based claims have grown +57% in recent years. (Global, CAGR 2015-2019). One in four consumers have also expressed an interest in more plant-based treats, e.g. ice cream and chocolate.
Commenting on this new product, Tom Finlay, Head of Plant-based Category said: “Our expertise in cheese development, our extensive oats portfolio and the growing trend into plant-based cheese motivated us to broaden our cheese portfolio to extend into plant-based cheese alternatives.”
Find out more here https://giioh8uuau3pm.devcloud.acquia-sites.com/ingredients/plant-based-cheese-alternatives
GI’s tree giveaway
GI’s tree giveaway
Glanbia Ireland has achieved 100,000 tree-planting target 12 months early
Glanbia Ireland and our farm family suppliers have achieved the Operation Biodiversity target of planting 100,000 native trees and hedgerow plants one year ahead of schedule.
To celebrate the landmark sustainability commitment, 10,000 potted native trees are being given away to farm family suppliers, customers and employees through our network of CountryLife Garden Centres along with the local branch in Athboy, Co Meath.
Speaking during the recent launch of the initiative, John Murphy, Chairman of Glanbia Ireland and Glanbia Co-op said: “Our farm family suppliers have demonstrated strong commitment to sustainability action by embracing the Operation Biodiversity initiative with great gusto.
“We pledged to plant 100,000 native trees and hedgerows in two years. It was one of several on-farm commitments also included in our ‘Living Proof’ sustainability strategy. We are delighted to report we have reached this target – a full year ahead of schedule.”
Trees flying out the door
The 10,000 free native trees have been available for a couple of weeks now and have proven to be extremely popular with customers. Overherd at Glanbia Ireland caught up with Horticulturalist Fergal Joy from our Bunclody branch who told us that “customers are really delighted to pick a free native tree as part of Operation Biodiversity and they’re even happier when they see the great selection of native Irish trees to choose from. I’ve been happy to advise people on which type of tree will sit happily on their land or in their garden and the feedback has been great, with many people mentioning it’s great to see GI support a project like this and help to combat climate change.”
Pick up your free tree
There are still some trees available* for pick up at Glanbia Ireland’s CountryLife Garden Centres. Types include Alder, Birch, Crab Apple and Oak and our in-store horticulturists are available to discuss which variety best suits different soil types and where trees will thrive. The trees are available on a first come, first served basis and limited to one per person.
There are also bundles available for sale and for every 15 native trees purchased through the Operation Biodiversity initiative, Glanbia Ireland is giving away a further 10 for free. Also, for every two bare root hedgerow bundles purchased, Glanbia Ireland is giving a third bundle away at no additional cost, helping our farmers sow up to 10 metres more of hedges.
*Trees are no longer available in Athboy, Castlelyons and Tullamore
Retiring after 40 years!
Retiring after 40 years!
Noel Tobin, one of Glanbia Ireland’s longest servants, has hung up his boots for the final time
Hailing from our Tallow Agri-branch in County Waterford, Noel bid farewell to his Store Man role and to colleagues after 40 years of service to the company. During a ceremony held at the branch, Local Advisory Member David Murphy presented Noel with a painting of a cow by artist Bridget Shelly from Ardmore and thanked him for his dedication to the people of Tallow and the wider area. The regard which customers and colleagues have for Noel could be seen by the number of gifts he received when people heard he was retiring.
Tallow IFA member Cathal Herlihy spoke of the great person Noel was to deal with, while Noel himself thanked everyone for their kind words and gifts and said he was “very lucky to have worked for such a good company for over 40 years.”
Southern Operations Retail Manager Joe Barry said: “Noel was a great man to work alongside and a hard worker. We’ll be at a loss without him in the Tallow branch.”
Best of luck in your retirement Noel!