When we had gone last year to remote, serene Ahakista, on the west coast of Ireland, to visit the memorial to Air India Flight 182 Emperor Kanishka in its 40th anniversary year, we could not make it back to Dublin in the same day.
We therefore parked ourselves in the Cork area.
Hotels in Cork were full or too expensive, so we got a room in Carrigaline, a Cork suburb within hitting distance of both Cork and Kinsale.
Kinsale, a fishing village on the south coast, could be accessed by bus, although it wasn't so simple to figure the routes because they didn't exactly join up, not easy with a toddler and his pram in tow.
The miniature happy town of Kinsale, or Cionn tSaile in Irish, one of Ireland's less-discovered diamonds, came highly recommended for a day trip. In existence since the 14th century, it is known for Michelin-starred Bastion restaurant and a few churches, castles and a fort.
Probably one of the most cheerful places you can ever come across, its doors and buildings are painted in all the colours of the rainbow.
Flowers were growing everywhere.
The lovely waterfront area was lanes and bylanes of humming cafes, craft boutiques, antique stores, fresh produce shops and wee bed-and-breakfasts.
The cafes served the most amazing food.
What was most appealing was the small-town warmth of Kinsale. People stopped in the middle of the street for lengthy chats and the traffic just moved around them (above pic).
The pace was lazy, peaceful. And the folks friendly, that charming Irish large-heartedness.
The tourists not too many (probably many more in summer). The photographs give you an idea of the town's cute prettiness.
Taking in wonderful new sights and places, while enriching your mind's eye, is also an opportunity to sample new food, which is what makes travel doubly memorable (if not special in ten other ways). In Carrigaline, at Carrigaline Court Hotel, the comfortable, geared-for-conferences/birthday/retirement/sweet-16 bashes hotel where we were staying, we had an impressive dinner the night before. It's always surprising to find unusual and tasty vegetarian food, especially in Ireland.
At the hotel's Tom Collins Bar they served us Baked Stuffed Aubergine. This was eggplant stuffed with an orzo, a rice-like buttery pasta that had been cooked up with baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and zucchini and was accompanied by sweet potato fries and watercress salad. Sumptuous, right?
Back home I used our tender garden spinach to make the dish. I didn't have orzo on hand, so used the tiny pasta I did and cooked it all in a tomato concasse (a thin tomato sauce).
It's a rather delicious dish, not so difficult to make and the kind that will impress any pasta lovers you might be cooking for.
My version (bottom-most pic) looks a little bit different from the restaurant's version because theirs was vegan and I chose to add cheese on top. 
Collins Bar Carrigaline Orzo-Stuffed Eggplant
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
- 2 large baingan or brinjal or eggplant or aubergines
- 1 piece zucchini, finely chopped, skin on
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- Handful baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 8-10 pods garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped basil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 125 gm orzo or any tiny pasta, pre-boiled
- 5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 large tomatoes, ground into paste with ½ cup water
- Salt to taste, about 1½ + extra salt for roasting the eggplant
- 1 tsp black pepper powder+ extra pepper for roasting the eggplant
- 2 tsp Tabasco
- 4-5 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- Few slices onion, for garnish, optional
Method
- Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and score them diagonally and around the perimeter of the eggplant (see pic above) without damaging outer skin.
Spread 1 tbsp olive oil on the face of each eggplant, making sure it seeps into the cuts you made.
Sprinkle with the salt, pepper - Bake for 40 minutes in a 200 °C oven.
- Meanwhile, in a frying pan, over medium heat, in the remaining olive oil, fry the onions, garlic with the zucchini till soft and cooked.
Add in the tomato concasse, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, Tabasco and mix.
Take off heat.
Add the fresh basil in.
And the cherry tomatoes, baby spinach and lightly toss. - Take out the eggplant from the oven and check if done.
If done, cool and cut out the cooked eggplant chunks till only the skin is left
- Mix the eggplant chunks with the zucchini-orzo-spinach-cherry tomato filling (above pic).
And fill into the eggplant shells.
- Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top of each stuffed eggplant.
And grill in the oven for 8-10 minutes till the cheese melts and serve immediately with garlic bread or fries.
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