A Grand Day Out in Ireland's Ancient East

The Irish Food Writers Guild, which I’m proud to be a member of, meet occasionally to do reconnaissance trips around the country. We visit artisan producers to see their process and hear their stories. Our most recent summer outing was to the Boyne Valley... and wow, what an action packed day we had!

First stop, Drummond House, where Marita and Peter Collier welcomed us warmly onto their farm outside Drogheda, they grow 5 varieties of garlic and several acres of green asparagus on their rich sandy soil. 



This enterprise, like Ballymakenny Farm in Baltray, was born out of desperation to find a different way to earn a living on the land and the family farms they all love. Marita and Peter told us the story of the roller coaster, voyage of trial and error they embarked on to source varieties of garlic to suit their land and the Irish climate. Six years later, through sheer hard work and help from Marita’s friends at the Termonfeckin National School gate, who initially volunteered to help with packing the garlic in their spare time. They now have a thriving business and have introduced the Irish market to a wide variety of garlic types and garlic scapes (tender shoots) which I’ve hitherto only seen in my own garden or in the Union Square Market in Manhattan. 

Marita and Peter, like Maria and David Flynn of Ballymakenny Farm had high praise for the chefs who encouraged and supported them initially and continue to do so. Drummond House garlic is now widely available around the country.



Ballymakenny Farm also needed to add value to their produce, so Maria who has a business background decided to trial some unusual potato varieties, much to the amusement and scepticism of their neighbours and friends. They now grow six heirloom varieties, Violetta, Red Emmalie, Mayan Rose, Mayan Twilight, Mayan Gold and waxy Pink Fir Apple plus beautiful crops of long stem broccoli. The chefs go crazy for the deep purple Violetta, the mottled pink varieties and the fingerling potatoes, Ballymakenny can scarcely keep up with the demand. It was a extra special treat to meet David’s parents who were commercial potato growers in the past...


Our next stop was Listoke Gin Distillery and School. Bronagh Conlan gave us a spirited talk on gin production and the wide range of botanicals that can be added to the raw spirit to give it a unique flavour. Visitors can make their own unique blend at the gin school in the individual copper stills around the edge of the room. At the end of their visit, they take home their very own bespoke bottle of gin, a unique and hugely sought after visitor experience for corporate events too. Loved the psychedelic owl street art which has become the Listoke Distillery logo created by Dean Kane of visual waste.


Just a few miles to Tankardstown House where the young Romanian head chef Janos Sarkosi cooked us a seven course feast to showcase his considerable skills... Such a lovely place, no wonder it is also a favourite venue for weddings...



No time to dawdle, still lots more to see... Next stop, The Cider Mill at Stackallan, near Slane in Co. Meath. 



I’ve been a fan of Mark Jenkinson for several years now; he is a complete purist, grows a variety of cider apples in his own orchards, gently presses them in small batches in the time honored, traditional way between timber slabs. He makes five different styles of cider including his famous Cockagee, named after an ancient cider apple variety that was thought to be extinct for over 125 years. . . Mark managed to trace it to an old orchard in Gloucestershire and has now recovered and saved it for posterity. Cider is the wine of our land and there has been a rich tradition of cider making in the Boyne Valley for hundreds of years.



Mark is the only Irish cider producer to make keeved cider, a slow natural, painstaking process which results in a superb cider. His tasting room which also houses his eclectic collection of vernacular chairs, hardening stands and artefacts is worth the trip alone.



Carina Mount Charles brought along her organic eggs and salad leaves and nearby farmhouse cheese maker Michael Finnegan from Mullagh Farm delivered over his Boyne Valley Bán and Blue goat cheeses for us to taste...a new find for me.


And there was still more! A whistle-stop tour of Slane Castle Distillery where Henry Mount Charles and his son Alex have converted the stable yard into a highly impressive distillery in partnerships with Brown Forman (makers of Jack Daniels).


After an excellent tour and tasting we sped down the road to Boann Distillery where Peter Cooney had cans of several versions of gin in a tin for us to taste. This super exciting innovative company in the heart of the Boyne Valley brews beer, non-alcoholic drinks, whiskey and cider from apples grown in their own orchards in Tara. The Boann Distillery, named for Boann the Irish Godess of the Boyne, is housed in an amazing building repurposed from a car showroom. Book a tour and tasting if you are in the area.



Finally we had supper at the Eastern Seaboard Bar and Grill, Jeni and Reuvans Diaz’s award winning restaurant in Bryanstown. Seek out this place in the suburbs of Drogheda, its super innovative food is made with many of the superb local ingredients.

Who knew the magic that awaits in an area that has been hitherto been regarded as a mere corridor between Dublin and Belfast? It was an eye opener to discover so many artisan food and drink producers flourishing in this historic area... Well, take my advice and take time out to explore this intriguing part of Ireland’s Ancient East....

Irish Food Writers Guild Awards

How fortunate are we here in Ireland to have such an abundance of artisan products and more emerging virtually every week. This sector is incredibly creative and has helped to enhance the diversity and image of Irish food hugely, both at home and abroad. 

Declan Ryan of Arbutus Bread, Cork

Visitors to Ireland are thrilled to taste the farm house cheese, charcuterie, preserves, pickles, ferments, smoked fish and increasing real bread from the growing number of artisan bakeries who are making real natural sourdough bread free of the almost twenty additives, enzymes, improvers and processing aids, which can be legally included without being on the label.  No wonder so many people are finding they have a gluten intolerance.

In their 25 years, several awards recognise the efforts and creativity of this sector, Eurotoque, Dingle and The Food Writers Guild…

The latter awards were held recently at Glovers Alley restaurant in the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Dublin. The selection process is meticulously conducted. Nominations are in confidence, received from Guild members, shortlisted, tasted and chosen individually to a carefully agreed list of criteria. An Irish Food Writers Guild award is much coveted by the recipients.

Image: Paul Sherwood

This year three of the eight biggest awards went to Cork – just saying! 

One of the awards went to Hegarty’s Cheese for their new Teampall Gael cheese. The Hegarty family are fifth generation dairy farmers in Whitechurch in North Cork. To add value to the milk of their large Friesian herd, they experimented first with yogurt and cheese and eventually launched a traditional cloth bound truckle of Cheddar in 2001.  

Image: Paul Sherman

Jean-Baptiste Enjelvin from Bordeaux in France joined them in 2015 and a Comté style cheese, Teampall Gael is the result of this collaboration. This sweet, delicate, nutty, alpine style cheese is made only from the raw milk of pasture fed cows (no silage). The huge 40kg wheels are matured for at least nine months - a really exciting addition to the Irish farmhouse cheese family. 

Image: The Courtyard Dairy

Mike Thompson’s beautiful Young Buck Cheese from Co. Down also won an award. This raw milk, Stilton type blue cheese, comes from a single herd and was the first artisan cheese to be made in Northern Ireland.

The Irish Drink Award also went to Cork’s Killahora Orchards

near Carrigtwohill for their Rare Apple Ice Wine. A really exciting ice wine, delicious to serve with desserts or made into a granita. Andy McFadden and his team at Glovers Alley served it with a sheep’s yoghurt mousse, honey and lime.

Image: Paul Sherwood

David Watson and Barry Walsh of Killhora Orchards grow over 130 varieties of apple used to make craft cider, and 40 pear varieties to make perry. Look out for their apple port also... It tastes like the best white port, delicious to sip on its own or with a good tonic water.

Image: Paul Sherwood

The Community Food Award went to Cork Penny Dinners which was founded during the famine in the 1840s. This much-loved Cork charity provides up to 2000 nourishing hot meals every day of the year in a safe and nurturing environment for all those in need. 

Catherine Twomey and her team also run five classes a week, the Cork Music Dojo, High Hopes homeless choir, the Food for Thought mental health initiative for students, mindfulness classes and French classes. They are about to expand their facilities to include other educational opportunities, plus a clinic run by GP’s who donate their expertise for one day a year. A third accolade for Cork and a hugely deserving winner of the Community Food Award. If you would like to donate your time or money go to their website.

Image: 3fe

The Outstanding Organisation Award went to 3fe Coffee in Dublin. What most impressed the Irish Food Writers Guild about 3fe is not only the fact that the 3fe brand has become synonymous with the best quality coffee in Ireland, but also the company’s commitment to sustainability in the areas of waste and energy use, purchasing principles, staff welfare and community. Colin Harmon and his team have recently opened an all-day restaurant, Gertrude to add to their cafes, add it to your Dublin list...

Image: Paul Sherman

The Environmental Award went to Charlie and Becky Cole of Broughgammon Farm in Ballycastle, Co Antrim. The Irish Food Writers Guild recognises them for their exceptional commitment to the environment and for rescuing male kid goats who would normally have been put down at birth. 

Image: Broughgammon Farm

They now rear free range rose veal and seasonal wild game as well and make an exceptionally good rose veal salami. There’s also an eco-farmhouse, on-site butchery facility and farm shop that use solar thermal heating, low-flow appliances and photovoltaic solar panels.

The inspirational Workman family of Dunany Flour in Co. Louth have been growing heirloom wheat varieties and milling their own organic flour for four generations. Recently they recognised a gap in the market for spelt, a challenging crop to grow and harvest but nutrient dense and low in gluten, high in fibre and B vitamins and rich in essential fatty acids and amino acids. Dunany organic spelt grains are my new best find and we enjoyed a stunning spelt risotto made from it for lunch at Glovers Alley. I can’t wait to experiment more.

Last but certainly not least the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Peter Hannan of Hannan Meats, near Moira in Co. Down, in recognition of his continued work as one of Ireland’s most dedicated food champions. 

Peter has dedicated his life to producing superb quality beef and is 50% stakeholder in the renowned Glenarm Southern Beef Scheme. Hannon Meats are dry aged in four Himalayan salt chambers for an average of 35-45 days but they provide an extra aged product for special clients who want 80-100 days. Peter was a worthy recipient of this award, one of numerous awards he has deservedly won over the years.

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/

Tasty Words: The Dream Package for (Wannabe) Food Writers at LitFest

There's never been a better time for those who want to write. You can just tap away on your keyboard or iPhone, and publish it immediately - on a blog, on Facebook, or email it to an editor. Anyone anywhere can write about what they're passionate about.

And it's so great that a lot of people have got that message - there really is some incredible stuff out there... but there's  also a lot that "needs more work".

LitFest is a haven for writers, wannabe writers, bloggers, journalists, food photographers. We celebrate food, books and words. Here's just a taste of what we have in store:

Sicily October 2013

I'm sitting in a rattan chair on a balcony in Italy in the misty morning light overlooking the Aeolian sea. The birds are singing gustily in the lemon trees below. Somewhere in the distance church bells are ringing and I can hear the occasional shot from a hunter's gun.

The balcony at Rocca delle Tre Contrade villa, with Mount Etna in the background.

I'm in Sicily, staying with friends in a beautiful villa in the shadow of Mount Etna. I'm having one of those rare moments of blissful contentment.

Last night we had a wonderful dinner which included both ricotta and wild green fritters, and a risotto with porcini mushrooms collected on the slopes of Mount Etna, as well as parmigiana and a local sausage made with pork and Parmesan in a Marsala and orange sauce. For pudding we had the most sublime crème caramel I've ever tasted, made by a past student Natalie to a recipe from one of the owners Marco Scire. He and Jon bought this villa in an advanced state of dereliction in 2006 and have since restored it to beyond its former glory.

Later in the day we piled into the farm car and wound our way up through the Etna villages to a vineyard between the villages of Passopisciaro and Randazzo, owned by Alice Bonaccorsi and her husband Rosario. Because so many people nowadays can no longer drink the mass produced wines without a reaction, we have a particular interest in the natural wine movement. Etna wines in Sicily are really causing a stir, Jon and Marco are particularly knowledgeable on the subject and they've brought us to visit one of the small vineyards whose wine they really admire. this is possibly the most beautiful vineyard I've ever visited anywhere in the world. The indigenous vines, some over 80 years old are planted on tiered terraces held in place by loose lava rock walls. The soil in the vicinity of Etna is incredibly fertile and the biodiversity is startling. Here and there an ancient olive trees  laden with ripening fruit. There's a white mulberry and Spanish chestnut covered with prickly husks and an occasional walnut tree. Cerise coloured prickly pears are ripe for picking on the cactus and the pomegranate is also dripping with fruit: it feels like the Garden of Eden.

It's harvest time, the pickers are chatting away happily as they snip the last grapes from the Nerello Mascalese vines. The vineyard is alive with bird song and the rosemary and wild thyme are buzzing with bees. Alice points out the edible bitter greens as we walk along the ancient lava paths: wild fennel, sorrel, old lady legs, chickweed, and something called cannelli.  All these are a treasured part of the Sicilian diet, and are  incredibly nutritious, eaten wilted as a vegetable, with pasta, in fritters, sauces. They can be an acquired taste for those of us for whom bitter is not part of our flavor palette but I absolutely love them.

The Bonaccorsis keep a few sheep and goats to clean the vineyards after picking, no mown and manicured vineyards here but a reassuring feeling that they are really farming in harmony with nature, so rare nowadays. The Val Ceresa Etna wines from their small vineyard have already made their way onto the wine lists of some of the smartest restaurants in the world, as a growing public craves something other than the five or six favoured noble grape varieties. At last there more people are beginning to truly value authenticity, craft and tradition in wine-making.

Lunch at a little local restaurant in Randazzo, Trattoria San Georgio & Il Drago, opposite a twelfth century convent with lava rock window surrounds. The food was fantastically good and authentic. We had asked the owner to bring us something local, to which he replied, 'we only have local so how can I choose?' He then proceeded to bring dish after dish, first an anti pasta with about seven choices including cardoons, bitter greens, cured black pig ham, local cheese, zucchini and ricotta frittata, stuffed zucchini blossoms, roast purple cauliflower with chilli and olives.

This was followed by tonnarelli pasta with briony and fungi di feila, local wild mushrooms roasted in the wood oven. None of us had room for pudding but there was fresh fruit and new season walnuts from their trees. It was a feast, and I kept wondering how Sicilian visitors would fare if they called in to a random restaurant in a remote village in Ireland!

The next day, we drove to Catania, a baroque city completely rebuilt in the 1600's after lava from Mount Etna engulfed the city to a depth of 15 to 20 meters. It was fascinating to see the remains of a Roman amphitheatre under one of the main squares.

This region had been the bread basket of Sicily. Up to the 1930's wine was shipped in cask from the port of Catania to France where it was blended with French wines. 

We strolled through the old city admiring the elaborate facades and vaulted doorways. The shops have a charming old fashioned feel with goods displayed in little glass cases on the wall outside. There are markets here and there, and little Vespa vans parked on street corners selling fruit and vegetables. 

We were on a mission to find the best arancini, crispy rice balls with a gloopy texture flavoured with all manner of things from ragu to pistachios. Jon brought us to Savia restaurant, an institution in Catania, opposite the Botanic Gardens. Long polished glass cases piled high with Sicilian pastries, marzipan fruits, cannoli, nougat.....

Some of the delicious selection of pastries at Savia in Catania

At the other end there was a classic Sicilian tavola caldo with a selection of arancini in a variety of shapes, the classic were round and as large as my fist, arancini with ragu are cone shaped, spinach arancini are also round but are easy to distinguish because they are green. Catanese with aubergine are oval.......

We ordered a selection of three and a faggotini, a tender bread parcel stuffed with aubergine, tomato and cheese. The arancini are really substantial and filling, and are eaten out of your hand wrapped in a napkin.

The drink of choice seemed to be iced tea with a dollop of lemon granita so I had one of those and loved it. I couldn't decide which of the arancini was my favourite, they were all good, but I think maybe the spinach. We certainly didn't need a dessert but decided to order a  coffee and almond granita, all in the way of research!

Water ices are an excellent way to round off a robust meal, in Sicily the texture tends to be smoother and less granular than  one expects a granita to be. Granita is also the breakfast of choice for many Sicilians with a soft bun: a perfect start to a sizzling hot day.

A New Book...

Apologies again for my long silence - apart from giving the Ballymaloe Cookery School my almost undivided attention after the busyiness of LitFest, over the past few months, in every spare moment, I have been working on my new book: 30 Years of The Ballymaloe Cookery School. 

What a mission! It's a month past deadline already, and still not finished! It's been a mixture of pleasure and pain, and a wonderful trip down memory lane. So much water has passed under the bridge in those almost 30 years since Ballymaloe Cookery School first opened its doors on 15th September 1983. The big challenge is to remember it all!

For most of that time I was writing for the Irish Times and later for the Irish Examiner, so those articles have helped to jog  my memory and are almost like a diary of the evolving food scene in Ireland and my travels, which as you can imagine, were always food related!

Rosalie Dunne, now retired, was my PA for almost 24 of those years, and has graciously agreed to come back and help me with my research for the book. She's got an ace memory, and we've had so much fun together reminiscing as we work to put the pieces together. Of course it could be 30 volumes - but my long-suffering publisher Kyle Cathie, wishes I could just deliver one! The plan was to have it in the shops in time for the 30 years celebration in September... I'll keep you posted!

From Virgin to Veteran

Sam Stern's new cook book From Virgin to Veteran has just arrived on my desk, a slick hardback choc full of easy recipes to inspire confidence. Sam did the 12 week Certificate course in September 2008, this is his sixth cookbook in five years, he's just 20 - how about that!

I'm inordinately proud of 'my babies' now scattered all over the world achieving on all different levels. At this stage, 12 past students have published books, in some cases they have several to their name and an accompanying TV series.

Gillian Berwick (September 1985)
Rachael Allen (January 1990)
Clodagh McKenna (January 2000)
Catherine Fulvio (January 2000)
Thomasina Miers (January 2002)
Stevie Parle (January 2002)
James Ramsden (September 2004)
Tiffany Goodall (September 2004)
Lily Higgins (April 2007)
Sophie Morris (April 2008)

Other books are in the pipeline as we speak, I'll keep you posted.