A Sweet Treat

This was another post that I didn't get around to sharing at the time... I'm sure we're all in need of a little "sweet treat" now.

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At a glitzy event at Palais Brongniart in Paris in February 2019, Ballymaloe House won Trolley of the Year Award at the inaugural World Restaurant Awards for its iconic ‘Sweet Trolley’ as it’s affectionately known. 

Over 100 chefs from 37 countries made up the panel of judges for 8 different categories of the restaurant experience... Ballymaloe House had first been long-listed, then short-listed, the tension was nail-biting and then at last the announcement. The iconic dessert trolley that Myrtle Allen had introduced at Ballymaloe House, when she opened her own dining room as a restaurant in 1965, had won the top award... super exciting... 

The original timber trolley was made by the late Ballymaloe farm carpenter, Danny Power who was well known for his ‘tasty woodwork’.

Every evening, Myrtle piled it high with an ever changing selection of her favourite seasonal desserts. Always a homemade ice-cream made from the rich Jersey cream of the farm’s pedigree herd. This was, as it still is, served in a bowl of ice that Myrtle created to keep the ice cream chilled throughout the evening. A meringue gateau of some kind, a compote of fresh seasonal fruit from the walled garden. Rhubarb perhaps, or green gooseberry and elderflower followed by currants and berries in Summer and Autumn. Perhaps an orange or silky chocolate mousse, creme brûlée or her favourite carrageen moss pudding with soft brown sugar and cream or Irish Coffee sauce.

Fast forward to now. JR Ryle, the young pastry chef who came to work with Myrtle in 2004 accepted the prestigious award on behalf of Ballymaloe. He continues to work his magic with his equally passionate team in the Ballymaloe pastry kitchens but now he’s also in demand to do Sweet Trolley Pop Ups....

He’s just been to New York to do the first US Ballymaloe Sweet Trolley ‘Pop Up’. King on King Street in Manhattan was the venue; it was a roaring success, totally oversubscribed…

I spoke to co-owner of King, Ballymaloe Cookery School alumni, Claire De Boer who with her friend Jess Shadbolt opened King on King St in September 2016.

“Something magical happened, it felt like a house party, everyone was chatting to the next table and having fun”

The pastry chef at King also trained at the Ballymaloe Cookery School and the River Café. Brian McGin of Netflix flew in from Australia on his way to L.A and Claire Ptak of Violet Cakes came from London, Food Journalist, Christine Muhlke of Bon Appetit, a big fan of King came to the rescue when JR was having difficulty sourcing a trolley in New York.

David Tanis was there from the New York Times, four people from the prestigious Prior Travel Club. Clare De Boer told me that full capacity for Sunday lunch is 40 guests but due to the overwhelming demand they decided to do two sittings and stopped the bookings at 80 plus.

Special Silverwood tartlet tins had been flown out to New York two weeks earlier. Jerpoint glass in Kilkenny was commissioned to make the hand blown glass bowls for the compote and pannacotta... they arrived just two days before the event... nail biting stuff... Stable, that shop in Westbury Mall in Dublin provided the beautiful linen for the trolley but sadly the hand thrown Fermoyle Pottery didn’t arrive from Ballinskelligs until after the event – next time!

Watch this space for news of future Ballymaloe Sweet Trolley Pop Ups.

The Inaugural World Restaurant Awards

The original idea was simple: try to do something different, something that celebrates the restaurant world in a new, more relevant and entertaining way…  Awards from the ground up but it took a whole decade to become a reality. These ground breaking awards celebrate the excellence, integrity and rich culture of the restaurant world.

So with much pomp and ceremony, the inaugural World Restaurant Awards were held at the Palais Brongniart in Paris on 18^th February 2019. - 10 countries and 4 continents were represented. A glitzy, super chic event that celebrated not just the chefs that work their magic with foams, gels, skid marks on plates and liquid nitrogen, instead these awards celebrated many other aspects of the restaurant experience.

Over 100 judges from 37 countries made up a cosmopolitan, multicultural, globetrotting, gender balanced, panel of experts … chefs, restaurateurs, influential figures in old and new media, film makers, book publishers, food scientists, activists, campaigners. They chose from 18 different categories including …

No reservations required – for places where it is possible to turn up without a booking. This award went to Mocoto,  Sao Paulo Brazil.

House special , restaurants defined by one particular dish was won by Lido 84 on the edge of Lake Garda in Italy for their simple but iconic pasta dish, Cacio e Pepe en Vessie (cooked in a pigs bladder).

Multi-starred Alain Ducasse won the Tattoo-free chef of the Year.

The Tweezer-free kitchen went to Bo.Lan in Bangkok.

The Pop Up Event of the Year was awarded to the Refugee Food Festivals.

New arrival of the Year went to Inua in Tokyo.

Ethical Thinking, rewarding environmental and social responsibility to Refettorio – various locations. Food for Soul, an Italian not-for-profit organisation that addresses food waste, loneliness, and social isolation through community meals. 

Instagram Account of the Year was won by another 3 star Michelin chef, Alain Passard of Arpege in Paris.

Off map destination was won by Wolfgart, a 20 seat restaurant in a 130 year old white washed fisherman’s cottage on the edge of the ocean in Paternoster on the Western Cape.

Wolfgart also won Restaurant of the Year. Chef owner Kobus Van der Merve said ‘by keeping it small, we keep it sustainable’.

Red-Wine serving Restaurant - for those who shun current fashion by championing the red grape. This category was won by a cult London wine bar called Noble Rot.

Ireland was nominated in two categories and won both…

Collaboration of the Year went to Cork’s own Denis Cotter of Café Paradiso and farmer Ultan Walsh from Gortnanain Farm in Nohoval who has been growing beautiful produce for Café Paradiso for over 18 years. Denis accepted his award in beautiful, fluent Gaelic.

Much to our excitement, The Trolley of the Year Award went to Ballymaloe House. JR Ryle, who is the passionate young pastry chef and I proudly accepted the award on behalf of Ballymaloe and dedicated it to the memory of Myrtle Allen whose idea it was to have a trolley groaning with delicious desserts for her guests to choose from. She and her husband Ivan opened their home as a restaurant in 1964.

Everything about the ‘Oscars of Food Awards’ was super exciting. Chefs from all over the world flew in to give us a taste of their special little dish. The finest pata negra was carved off the bone into paper thin wisps, hundreds of oysters were shucked, tender abalone, black pepper soft shelled crabs, tantilizing tacos, chilli crab beignets and delicious coconut madelines, warm from the oven made by Cheryl Koh from Singapore, who promised me the recipe.

But perhaps what impressed me most was the short film by Perennial Farm shown at the beginning of the evening which reminded us cooks and chefs, what restaurants can do to combat climate change.

Chefs can help by:

• Sourcing from climate friendly farms and ranches.
• Going carbon neutral with zero ‘foot print’.
• Composting.
• Conserving energy and reducing consumption and waste. 
• Spreading the message that food can be a solution… 

It’s sooo worth thinking about how we can all do our bit.

LitFest 2015 - The New York Launch

Great excitement here - we're packing our bags and heading off to the US this weekend to launch the third Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine in New York. We want to tell the whole world - we're aiming to make it the 'Sundance' of Literary festivals! 

The festival team of Rebecca Cronin, Rory O'Connell and I are honoured to be joined for the launch by Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland and Jeanne Kelly of Kerrygold, our festival sponsors. I'm personally looking forward to tasting the new big thing, which is taking the US by storm - American coffee with a blob of Kerrygold butter.

This year's Kerrygold Ballymaloe Litfest runs from the 15th-17th May. We hope we can tempt you to join us. 

We've got another incredible line up of chefs, foragers, wine and drink experts, gardeners, critics, publishers, food historians, TV presenters, bloggers, journalists... 

International chefs joining us include: Alice Waters from Chez Panisse; Christian Puglisi from Relae in Copenhagen;  Sam and Sam Clark; April Bloomfield; David Tanis; Fuchsia Dunlop; Allegra McEvedy;  Itamar and Sarit from Honey & Co and many, many more... 

There's also some seriously impressive homegrown talent including: Stephen Toman and Alain Kerloc'h from Ox in Belfast (whose pop up dinner has already sold out), Arun Kapil, Kevin Thornton, JP McMahon, and of course our very own Rachel Allen and Rory O'Connell...

Our speakers on food issues this year include: Patrick Holden of the Sustainable Food Trust and John McKenna.

And this year's top food bloggers include David Lebovitz, Jack Monroe - A Girl Called Jack and Caroline Hennessy founder of Irish Food Bloggers.

Colm McCann has also put together an incredible line up for the drinks theatre including: Desmond Payne - the world renowned gin distiller; Jancis Robinson; master of wine, Mary Dowey; Garrett Oliver of The Brooklyn Brewery; and wine writers Leslie Williams, Tom Doorley, John Wilson...

Head over to the website to check out this year's full line up.

Tickets went on sale in a flurry of excitement on 7th of January, some things booked out in a matter of minutes,  but there is still availability for many events, so you might want to browse the website ASAP.

The Kerrygold Ballymaloe LitFest is the only festival of its kind in Ireland. And those of you who came last year or the year before will know that it is a weekend filled with fascinating facts, inspirational stories, intriguing discussions, incredible knowledge, fantastic music and of course, lots of delicious food and drinks.

Don't miss it, it's a blast!

http://www.litfest.ie/

Butter is Back!

When I did my Simply Delicious TV series in the 1980s and '90s,  I used to get regular letters berating me for using butter and cream in my recipes. Had I no sense of responsibility? Didn't I realise that saturated fats were bad for us? Why wasn't I recommending low-fat alternatives?

You can imagine my reply!

I simply could not believe that butter, a totally natural product, made from the milk of grass-fed cows, could be less healthy than an artificial product made up of ten or more ingredients, some of them produced in a lab rather than originating in nature.

I was regularly referred to as the Butter Queen of Ireland, and once overheared someone say: "There's that Darina Allen 'wan' - she's a hoor for the butter!"

Despite the barrage of abuse I got, I never faltered. And surprise, surprise, it now appears, all those years later, that my gut feeling was right.

It's interesting how the tide has turned...

In October last year, Dr Aseem Malhotra, an eminent cardiologist at Croydon University Hospital, argued, in a widely reported piece in the British Medical Journal, that it was time to bust the myth of the role of saturated fat in heart disease. 

From his analysis of independent research he concluded that there is no argument to back up the theory that saturated fats from non-processed foods are detrimental to our health. He maintains that saturated fats have been ‘demonised’ ever since a landmark study in the 1970’s concluded that there was a correlation between the incidence of coronary heart disease and total cholesterol. An entire food industry has evolved and profited from this low fat mantra for almost four decades. For more on this see my November 16th article in the Irish Examiner.

These findings caused quite a sensation. And it wasn't just Dr Malhotra and his colleagues who have come to this conclusion. A recent study from Cambridge University and the Harvard School of Public Health published in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported that they found no link, repeat, no link between consumption of saturated fats and heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems. The 22-year-long Harvard University study of 80,000 female nurses, has confirmed Malhotra's findings: the total amount of fat in the diet, whether high or low, isn't really linked with disease. What really matters is the type of fat in the diet. In the US a recent University of California, Los Angeles study indicated that 75% of acute heart patients do not have ‘high cholesterol’. 

I have spoken to many doctors, dieticians and heath professionals who are presently in a state of confusion, having been preaching the benefits of a low fat diet for years, they are now not sure what advice they should be giving.

So it’s clear that it's time to rethink the received wisdom on what "good" and "bad" fats are - which is exactly what two of the most respected writers and broadcasters on food issues: Joanna Blythman and Ella McSweeney, will be doing in conversation with John McKenna at this year's Kerrygold LitFest. The Good/ Bad Fats: The Big Debate 6.30-8pm on Saturday 17th in the Grainstore, Ballymaloe House   

I simply can't wait. This promises to be one of the most interesting, important and ground-breaking sessions at LitFest this year. If you're interested in health for professional or personal reasons this is not to be missed.

We're also absolutely delighted  to be joined by The Butter Vikings, an inspirational couple from Sweden, who are the chosen suppliers of  handmade "virgin" butter for Rene Redzepi's legendary Noma restaurant. I met the Butter Vikings and Rene at the MAD Food symposium in Copenhagen and invited them to take part in LitFest - the response of both was an enthusiastic "yes please!" 

And whilst we're on the subject of butter, the other great news is that Kerrygold have agreed to become our festival sponsors- how about that for a marriage made in heaven?

JR - a butter devotee and Ballymaloe pastry chef -  in his Kerrygold bow tie at the LitFest launch in Dublin last week.

Garden Festival Winner

Many congratulations to our day pass winner, Emily Rainsford Ryan. We look forward to welcoming her to the Ballymaloe Garden Festival on either the Saturday or Sunday, on the weekend of August 31st.

 Do check out the complete programme of events here. And remember we have the Big Shed full of food and plant stalls, family fun and live music as well.

I hope to see many of you there! Fingers crossed for sunshine!

Noma Pops Up in Shanagarry

On Saturday night in the autumn, two young chefs, both of whom had worked at Noma for several years created a wonderful menu in the spirit of Rene Redzepi's inspirational restaurant in Copenhagen.

Yannik and Louise Bannon arrived several days early with a totally open mind on what they would cook. As soon as they arrived they donned their wellies and headed out to the farm and gardens and into the greenhouses to find what tempting produce was still about available.

Next it was over to Ballycotton to have a chat with a local fisherman to check out the likelihood of spanking fresh fish, then they were off over to Ballynamona and Shanagarry strand to forage for seashore plants and seaweeds at low tide.

When they had checked all that out they were off to forage in the woods like a pair of excited kids in Hamleys at Christmas. It's not a great year for wild mushrooms but they found a few yellow legs, lots of wood sorrel and some myrtle berries.

Here's the magic menu they created.....

Louise is the baker, she made all the sourdough breads for dinner, in little individual timber "bread tins". We served it with virgin butter freshly churned from the cream of our three Jersey cows.

Cured pollack with sea lettuce and sea oak pods.

Plating up...

Popping a fresh myrtle berry onto the top of each Malt Puff, before they were coated in chocolate.