Ballymaloe Week Five Highlights

1. On Monday we had a whole tribe (Flock? Herd?!) of opera singers drop in for lunch as they were performing in nearby Lismore. Needless to say they had to sing for their supper (excuse the pun) and to everybody’s surprise burst into the Barber of Seville in the kitchen garden, then collapsed in fits of giggles.

2. As planned, I attempted to make a sunflower-shaped bread along with a regular white loaf. A sprinkle of cornmeal on the bread gave it a crusty, ciabatta-esque taste which was delicious.

3. Periwinckling! On Tuesday evening we went to the beach to forage for Periwinkles with Emer, and returned with bags full of Mussels! It’s good to know that when all my money runs out, I can forage a free supper, as they were delicious the next day (after soaking), cooked up by some of the students with a cream, garlic and chilli sauce.

4. That same evening, I went a ‘Grow It Yourself’ class in the Ballymaloe House walled gardens with the head gardener Susan. Inside the walls there are greenhouses bursting with all sorts of different salad leaves and exotic herbs all grown specifically for the kitchens. Eileen is a fountain of knowledge and gave all sorts of nifty and thrifty tips. For example, when growing broad beans, they use a wire grid which is moved up as they grow to train them. They also grow their basil in old milk crates.

5. Lemon Curd Cream Profiteroles. While not as delicious as a crème patisserie filling and hot chocolate sauce, these profiteroles, with their pale yellow filling are very pretty. I crystallised some yellow and pale pink rose petals for added pink-cottage-girliness which was a hit in the classroom.

Christiana snapped a flat fish we were filleting eyeing them up!

6. Breakfast for lunch! On Monday Darina demonstrated everything breakfast including pancakes, waffles, a traditional Irish fry, granola, fruit compote’s and some super-energising fresh vegetable juices. As breakfast is pretty much the only reason I get out of bed, I was more than happy to have a déjà vu lunch the next day – especially when we were treated to a Champagne Mimosa alongside our fry up!

7. A pretty Pear Tart must perch on a pear-print plate.

8. Steak demo! On Friday, Rory demonstrated how to cut one’s own steak from the middle section of the cow and then grilled the various cuts and served them with a myriad of sauces (béarnaise, salsa verde, horseradish, mushroom…) and deep fried chips, parmesan crusted cauliflower and onion rings.  The resulting table was my steak heaven!

9. Incredibly fresh vegetables from the garden lined up as crudités.

10. Bank holiday weekend! On Friday evening, myself and three others, packed into Mr Wou (my yellow car) and shot off to Galway for two nights. Being true Ballymaloians, out stomach was the first priority (even though a detox was probably what it needed!). For a light lunch on Saturday we ate at Ard Bia, a tardis-like café set in an unassuming stone building on the docks but packed to the rafters inside with idiosyncratic wall art, mismatched furniture and foodie things for sale. The menu included an all day brunch, along with salads, sandwiches a few mains and then lots of cakes and tarts which greeted on a side table when you walked in. I had an open crab sandwich with poached pear which was deliciously fresh, with bits of apple running through the crab meat.

11. The next day, in bleak, rugged Connemara, we visited Kylemore Abbey and its Victorian walled gardens which were both as ‘wow’ as they look in the pictures.

12. Sunday evening sunset at the beach in Cleggan, Connemara.