What's your favourite comfort food? If it involves cheese, it could help you win big this year thanks to the National Dairy Council and the GastroGays.
We're big fans of European cheese here at FOOD&WINE, which is why we were excited to hear that the National Dairy Council (NDC), along with Patrick Hanlon and Russell Alford aka the GastroGays, is on the hunt for Ireland's best comfort food recipes.
From macaroni cheese to a heaving cheeseboard and everything in between, there are very few cheesy comfort food dishes that we would say no to and it looks like we're not alone.
The NDC want to see what cheesy comfort food people around the country have been cooking over the past few months - do you think you have a recipe worth sharing? If the answer is yes, then you need to head to the cheeseyourway.ie website ASAP! There you'll find a form where you can submit your ultimate recipe, along with a photo or video, to be in with a chance to win a range of gorgeous prizes. There are only two restrictions - the recipe must be your own work and it must contain Irish or European cheese. Other than that, you can let your palate run wild!
If experimenting in the kitchen with your favourite cheese isn't enticing enough, there are three gorgeous prizes up for grabs too. The recipe that the NDC and the GastroGays decide is their favourite will earn its creator a €2,000 Blue Book voucher to be used for the perfect Irish getaway once the country reopens. As well as this, the winning recipe will feature on the Cheese Your Way and the GastroGays sites so the whole country can try the cheesy goodness too! A €500 Ballymaloe House voucher will be awarded to the second runner up, with a €200 Sheridan's Cheesemonger Hamper sent out to the third runner up.
Speaking about the competition, Patrick and Russell told us how excited they are to be part of the process.
“We’re all need of a bit of comfort at the moment and this competition is a fun challenge share a recipe that you love and may even have a story behind,” Patrick and Russell said. “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.”
As well as helping to decide the winner, the GastroGays will help to celebrate the versatility of Irish and European cheese by sharing tips, flavour pairings and advice on their Instagram page over the next few weeks. Make sure to keep an eye on their page, as well as the NDC page, to see more.
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 is open for submissions until Friday 9 April. To enter, head to cheeseyourway.ie to submit an entry.
