DublinTown Christmas Lights Switch On At Bewley’s Grafton Street
It’s beginning to look a lot like the festive season following the big switch on of the stunning Grafton Street Christmas lights at Bewley’s Grafton Street on Thursday November 16th.
Erected by city centre business group Dublin Town, they were turned on by Little Blue Heroes Foundation representatives Willow Mae Carroll, seven, from Kells, Co Meath, and Cian Byrne, 10, from Finglas West, Dublin, who pushed the magic button.
The Foundation is a Garda charity supporting families of children with serious illnesses, while empowering the lives of young people through positive community engagement.
With only 34 days remaining to December 25, the switching on of the spectacular Grafton Street chandeliers, precedes the turning on of lights at Henry Street, South William Street, Capel Street and throughout the city centre.
In total, Dublin Town, which has been decorating the city centre at Christmas on behalf of businesses for 15 years, will provide energy-efficient Christmas lights across 25 streets in the city centre this year.
It takes 30 people, working through the night over four weeks, to erect the lights. All lighting used is low-energy LED, regulated by time clocks. The Grafton Street display uses one third of the electricity of a domestic shower. Every single bulb and fixture is tested by Dublin Town’s lighting contractor in advance of going up.
Bewley’s Grafton Street is delighted to partner with DublinTown as the venue for the Christmas Lights switch on and hope everyone gets to enjoy the sparkle over the upcoming festive season.
Those early mornings are back 🥱and there’s nothing quite like a post-school run brekkie 🎉 Todays Ready brek bowl is served with frozen berries, a dollop of greek yogurt, a chilled glass of orange juice and some mixed nuts 😍
Place breadcrumbs, pecans, pepper and salt in food processor
Pulse until pecans are finely ground
Add butter and pulse a few times until mix begins to come together
Line mini cupcake tins with paper liners
Fill each cup with a teaspoon of crust mix
Press down hard with fingertips or water bottle cap to make a firm, flat layer
Chill tins and make the filling
For Filling:
Using a stand or a hand mixture, beat cream cheese and cream together until smooth Note: Cream cheese must be room temperature or mixture will be lumpy
Add egg, beat until fully incorporated, add second egg, beating until fully incorporated
Watch Neven’s Christmas in Limerick on Thursday, 4 December on RTÉ One at 8pm.
Ingredients
In the first of this two-part special, Neven’s Christmas in Limerick, Neven Maguire prepares Smoked Salmon Galettes, Glazed Rack of Pork with Creamy Roast Potatoes, and No-Bake Chocolate Tart.
Serves 8-10
For The Tart
300g Shortbread biscuits
150g Butter
1 Jar White Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
200g Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
100g Milk Chocolate (38% cocoa solids)
250ml Irish Jersey Cream
For The Citrus Caramel
225g caster sugar
1 tbsp glucose (liquid or powdered)
300ml orange juice
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1 clementine
For Decorating
Amaretti Biscuits, to serve
Crème Fraiche, to serve
Sea Salt, to serve
Citrus Caramel, to serve
Method
For The Citrus Caramel
Place the sugar, glucose and 250ml of water into a heavy-based, high-sided pot.
Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until you have achieved a golden caramel colour. The sugar syrup should be a thick honey consistency, but not too runny.
Add the orange juice slowly, it will boil up vigorously, so take care at this point, whisk until the sugar has dissolved and you are left with a smooth syrup. Whisk in the vanilla seeds, lime juice and clementine juice.
Set aside and allow to cool and use as required.
For The Tart
Blitz the shortbread to a fine crumb (in a food processor or with a rolling pin and zip lock bag) and tip into a large bowl. Melt 100g of the butter in a small pan or in the microwave, then stir into the shortbread crumbs and mix until evenly combined. Press into the base and sides of a 10″ loose base tart tin.
Open the jar of white chocolate hazelnut spread into the microwave for 10-20 seconds (or you can use a pan) to loosen it up, then give it a good stir until smooth. Pour about half of the jar on to the shortbread base and use the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly. Place in the fridge to chill down.
To make the chocolate ganache, put the rest of the white chocolate hazelnut spread into a heatproof bowl along with the dark chocolate, milk chocolate and the remaining 50g of butter. Set over a pan of simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt.
In a small saucepan, gently heat the cream. Once the chocolate has melted completely add the warmed cream. Using a stick hand blender gently blend until combined and silky smooth. Pour into the prepared tart tin, place in the fridge for 2 hours until the ganache is set firm or overnight.
Remove the tart from the fridge 30 minutes before serving. To serve, carefully unmould the tart and put on a plate or cake stand, decorate with the Amaretti biscuits (if desired) cut into slices and serve with a quenelle of crème fraiche and sprinkle of sea salt.
4 x 120g fillets of smoked haddock (undyed if possible)
250ml cream
100ml milk
1 tsp prepared English mustard
1 tsp curry powder
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Brush a shallow casserole or baking dish with the melted butter. Put the cooked and halved potatoes on the bottom, then cover with the leek and raisins. Put the fish on top.
Whisk your cream, milk, mustard and curry powder together, then pour this over the fish and season with salt and pepper.
Cover tightly with a lid or foil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve straight to the table.