Johannesburg - I was fortunate enough a few years ago to cook with Irish celebrity chef Rachel Allen when she visited South Africa.
And the cookbooks of her equally famous mother-in-law, Darina Allen, have been on my shelves for many years.
So I was thrilled, during a recent trip to Ireland, to visit Ballymaloe, the country house celebrating its 50th birthday this year.
Ballymaloe was bought in 1948 by vegetable farmer Ivan Allen, and for the next 16 years he and his wife Myrtle farmed there and raised their six children.
When the kids left the nest, Myrtle asked her husband if she could turn their dining room into a small restaurant. They put a small advert in the local newspaper inviting people to “Dine in a Historic Country House” and to call for a reservation.
They served traditional Irish food made from local produce, most of which came from the family’s farm. It turned out to be a very successful venture.
Myrtle, the 90-year-old matriarch, still lives on the farm with three generations of the family actively involved in running the farm, country house and cookery school.
The 14th century house may have grown and changed with the years but it still has the look and feel of a comfortable, not overly posh country manor.
The hotel section has 30 generously proportioned, extremely comfortable rooms, and also offers self-catering accommodation in fully equipped farm cottages.
A new addition to the farm is The Grain Store, a renovated 17th century grain barn which can be used for a multitude of functions from concerts to weddings.
The gardens at Ballymaloe are a sight to behold and would take a couple of days to explore. In a section of the beautiful herb garden, a pear tree was laden with fruit waiting to be turned into delectable preserves and desserts by the chefs in the kitchen.
I was invited to join pastry chef John Robert Rydall for an early-morning baking session. At 6.30 each morning, fresh bread and scones are baked for breakfast and chef JR, who has worked at Ballymaloe since he was 15, showed me how to make soda bread, which is served everywhere in Ireland.
The buttermilk which comes from the farm gives the bread its light texture and unique flavour.
I also helped prepare a batch of Ballymaloe’s brown bread and some feather-light buttermilk scones which I enjoyed with farm butter and home-made strawberry jam.
JR told me the jam is made with frozen strawberries. When the fruit is abundant in summer, they freeze them so they can make jam all year around. “Jam made fresh from frozen berries is much nicer than jam standing in bottles for months on end,” he said.
Rory Allen, Myrtle’s son, took me on a tour of the cookery school where I met the school founder, Darina Allen. All the kitchens were a hive of activity, with full-time students busy with their lessons for the day.
Students come from all over the world to do an intensive three-month course and learn every aspect of farm-to-fork cooking.
They have to milk cows, learn how to make butter and cheese and harvest their own produce from the 100-acre organic farm housing an enormous greenhouse.
Students who train here are guaranteed of getting good jobs. Past students include Rachel Allen and MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers.
Ballymaloe is also famous for its Country Relish which became so popular that guests started asking to buy bottles to take home. Such was the demand that Myrtle’s daughter Yasmin opened a factory close by making the relish for local and overseas markets.
I too came home with a couple of bottles.
* For more information visit www.ballymaloe.ie or www.ireland.com.
BROWN BREAD
10g instant dry yeast
450ml warm water
30ml molasses
30g butter
10ml salt
5 cups of wholewheat flour
Combine the yeast with 150ml of the water.
Stir the molasses and butter into the remaining water and combine with the yeast.
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and add the yeast mixture.
Mix to a dough that is quite soft – like a very thick batter. Mix well using the dough hook of the machine.
Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size.
Mix well and transfer the dough to a 25cmx12cm loaf pan that has been well greased. The dough should fill three quarters of the pan. Cover and allow to rise until it reaches the top of the pan.
Bake at 200°C for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
Chef JR’s tip: Remove the bread from the pan and return it to the hot oven for another 5 minutes to ensure a crisp crust.
WHITE SCONES
Makes 10-12
3 cups of cake flour
2 tablespoons of castor sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
a pinch of salt
90g butter
2 eggs
250ml milk or buttermilk
egg wash
Sift the dry ingredients into a wide bowl. Cut in the butter and rub in until it looks like crumbs.
Whisk the eggs with the milk and add to the dry ingredients. Mix to a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured surface. Pat into a round, then gently roll to about 2.5cm thickness. Cut into rounds and put them on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake at 200°C for 10-12 minutes until well risen and nicely browned.
Note: For a variation, add 1-2 tablespoons of sultanas.
BALLYMALOE IRISH SODA BREAD
Makes 1
430ml wholewheat flour
430ml cake flour
5ml salt
5ml bicarbonate of soda
400-470ml buttermilk
Sift the dry ingredients into a large, wide bowl. Make a well in the centre and add most of the buttermilk.
Hold your hand in an open claw shape and mix the dry ingredients into the buttermilk. Add the rest of the buttermilk if necessary until the mixture forms a soft ball. Do not knead.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and form gently into a round. Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Mark a cross on the top.
Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 180°C and bake for another 30 minutes until the loaf has a nice brown colour and sounds hollow when tapped.
The Star