Irish Food Writers Guild - Food Awards 2021

2021

Irish Food Writers’ Guild FOOD AWARDS

IRISH FOOD WRITERS’ GUILD

Contents IRISH FOOD WRITERS’ GUILD FOOD AWARDS 2021

Letter from the president Letter from the chair

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FOOD AWARD: Abernethy Butter Potted crab with Abernethy Smoked Butter

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FOOD AWARD: Ballymakenny Farm Irish Heritage and Specialty Potatoes Ballymakenny Mayan Rose potato cakes with black pudding and Brussels sprouts

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FOOD AWARD: Tom Durcan’s Spiced Beef Spiced beef blaa

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IRISH DRINK AWARD: Kinsale Mead Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged Boozy chocolate brownies with Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged

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OUTSTANDING ORGANISATION AWARD: NeighbourFood Bollito

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ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD: Ballymore Organics Ballymore Organics fresh pasta

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COMMUNITY FOOD AWARD: Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme Rice paper rolls with dipping sauce

28 31

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Marion Roeleveld Risotto with mushrooms, asparagus and mature Killeen goats’ cheese

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About the Irish Food Writers’ Guild

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IRISH FOOD WRITERS’ GUILD

Letter from the President WELCOME TO THE 27TH IRISH FOOD WRITERS’ GUILD FOOD AWARDS, BROUGHT TO YOU VIRTUALLY THIS YEAR BUT NO LESS EXCITING FOR THAT.

The list goes on, and Guild members love nothing better than to champion their favourite Irish food and drink products and to seek out new ones that deserve promotion.

Over the years there have been many challenges, especially during recessions and devastating events for farmers such as the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001. But there has never been anything like the Covid-19 pandemic. If there is to be a silver lining to this appalling tragedy, it will be thanks to the producers who have brought joy to the tables of so many throughout the pandemic – and established a new-found public respect for quality local produce in what has been an almost totally price-dominated retail market until now. Many of these local food heroes are quickthinking folks who have come up with innovative ways to pivot their businesses for survival (many of which will long outlast the current crisis) and to also give back to our communities in their hour of greatest need – people like our winners this year, of whom we are so proud.

We hope you will enjoy reading about our 2021 winners and tasting their products for yourself as much as we have enjoyed the selection process.

We especially hope that the Irish Food Writers’ Guild Food Awards will encourage more people to support local Irish producers on an ongoing basis.

Each year since 1993, the Guild has celebrated and promoted the work of small independent food producers, along with some larger but sustainably operated companies that lead by example, as well as outstanding achievements by individuals or organisations who have helped to develop our food culture. It’s been a fascinating journey, and you can see all the winners to date on the Guild website (irishfoodwritersguild.ie/winnersto-date).

From the outset, these awards have been fiercely independent. People, businesses and traditionally made or innovative Irish products of outstanding quality are nominated by members, who then buy products anonymously for tasting.

Voting is undertaken impeccably correctly by the proportional representation (PR) system.

Many of the winners from the early years are still familiar names today, which speaks volumes about their enduring quality and sustainability.

Ardrahan Farmhouse Cheese (1994); EuroToques – European Community of Chefs (1995, Special Award); Sheila’s Country Butter (1997, which has been rebranded as Cuinneog Ltd); Glenarm Smoked Salmon (1997); Sheridans Cheesemongers, Dublin and Galway (2000); James McGeogh, Oughterard, Co. Galway, for his range of speciality pork, lamb and beef products (2003)…

Georgina Campbell President, Irish Food Writers’ Guild

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IRISH FOOD WRITERS’ GUILD

Letter from the Chair IN A YEAR IN WHICH THERE HAS BEEN A NEWFOUND APPRECIATION FOR THE SIMPLE PLEASURES IN LIFE, IT IS PERHAPS NO COINCIDENCE THAT THE WINNERS OF THE 2021 IRISH FOOD WRITERS’ GUILD (IFWG) FOOD AWARDS REFLECT THE BASIC FOUNDATIONS OF IRISH FOOD.

Now in their 27th year, the IFWG Food Awards celebrate local producers and food heroes who have brought joy to the lives, livelihoods and tables of so many, both before and especially during Covid-19, but whose commitment to producing great food and drink will endure long after the pandemic.

The past year has seen a seismic shift in how people are thinking about their food, with a renewed focus on traceability, sustainability and most importantly this year, supporting local.These have been the three key tenets of the IFWG Food Awards and the work of the Guild for almost 30 years.

The IFWG couldn’t run these awards without the generous sponsorship of Bord Bia. We appreciate that they continue to value food writers’ contribution alongside their own work to promote and develop the Irish food industry.

Una Fitzgibbon, Director of Marketing and Communication at Bord Bia, said, ‘It’s fantastic to see such an innovative line-up of Irish producers and initiatives celebrated at this year’s IFWG Food Awards. Seeing their resilience and creativity throughout an incredibly challenging year, I know

we can be confident that our local food producers will continue to thrive in 2021. These enduring and respected annual Food Awards are an important opportunity to recognise local food producers for their distinctive and delicious products, which are the hallmarks of the Irish food and drink sector.

Congratulations to all the very deserving winners.’

If this pandemic has any silver lining, it is the light that has been shined on the incredible, resourceful and innovative food producers of Ireland that have responded to the challenge, giving back to communities and ensuring a continued supply of and access to the highest-quality home-grown produce.

At a time when supporting local, homegrown industries has never been more relevant or important, the Guild is happy to have this chance to pay tribute to eight of the best of our Irish food and drink producers who represent so much of what is special about the industry. This year’s winners have an innate passion for food and their commitment is nothing short of vocational. This is our way of recognising their achievements and our way of saying well done and thank you.

Kristin Jensen Chair, Irish Food Writers’ Guild

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Abernethy Butter FOOD AWARD

BY RUSSELL ALFORD AND PATRICK HANLON

shaped with wooden pats is made using Draynes Farm grass-fed, single-herd cream, which Allison and Will found to be the creamiest cream, resulting in the driest, best butter. Indeed, the milk from Draynes Farm is coveted by baristas, café owners and restaurateurs across Northern Ireland for its sheer superiority in milk-based coffees like flat whites and lattes. This is dairy that steals the spotlight rather than settling for being the supporting act.

Surrounded by a patchwork of rolling green fields in the shadow of Slieve Croob in Co. Down, Allison, Will and their small team can often produce upwards of 1,000 hand-pressed rolls of butter daily. Offering a variety of flavours (Dulse Butter, Black Garlic Butter, Smoked Butter, Chipotle Chilli & Smoked Paprika Butter),

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verybody made butter on their farms – that’s what you did, you made it for your own use and it was the done thing.’ Allison Abernethy remembers growing up on a family farm with that little metal churn in the corner, a staple in almost all rural Irish households. Allison and her husband, Will, are continuing custodians of a near-lost tradition of handmade butter in Ireland, having begun producing Abernethy Butter around 10 years ago and growing it into the award-winning brand it is today, with a variety of flavours as well as handmade fudge and lemon curd.

A unique dairy product, commercially unlike any other in Ireland in terms of process, their small-batch, slow-churned, hand-rolled butter

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EVERYBODY THOUGHT BUTTER JUST CAME FROM THE SUPERMARKET, APPEARING PERFECT AND FULLY FORMED, AND THAT WAS IT.

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ABERNETHY BUTTER

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ABERNETHY BUTTER

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ABERNETHY BUTTER

their unsalted and salted butters are their signature, and ‘Abernethy Gold’ should surely be added to the colour chart for the unmistakable rich shade each roll bears.

The husband-and-wife team accidentally ended up in the butter-making business together. Will, a former farmer, and Allison, a nurse for over 30 years, had a bit of a hobby demonstrating hand-churning butter at festivals and events. (‘Because everybody thought butter just came from the supermarket, appearing perfect and fully formed, and that was it,’ Allison says.)

But they soon realised how unique their resulting product was and how lost the art of hand-churned and hand-rolled butter had become in Ireland. Plus people were

constantly asking them where they could buy the butter, and soon enough they took the leap. Fast forward a decade and Abernethy Butter is frequently listed on menus and as a star ingredient in dishes of the best restaurants in Ireland and the UK, with a slew of stockists and their walls covered with prestigious awards.

With a product as pure and simple as butter, there really is nowhere to hide and quality shines in each spheric slice of Abernethy Butter. From a base of the best cream, a sprinkle of salt and a precise, experience-led, hands-on process in the craft of every single roll, ‘country butter’ has never been so cosmopolitan. abernethybutter.com

Potted crab with Abernethy Smoked Butter Abernethy Smoked Butter is handmade in Co. Down with a secret blend of spices to give it a barbecue flavour. In this recipe, the rich, smoky butter and spicy ingredients are mixed with the soft crab meat to create a light but tasty starter.

SERVES 2 TO 4

100g Smoked Abernethy Butter A pinch of cayenne pepper A dash of Tabasco 100g white crab meat Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Toast, to serve

Melt the butter gently in a saucepan and set aside. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper and two or three dashes of Tabasco – don’t add too much or it will overpower the delicate flavour of the crab.

Season the crab meat with salt and pepper and mix with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Divide the crab between two to four ramekins and pour over the remaining melted butter.

Chill in the fridge until the butter has set and hardened. Remove from the fridge and leave at room temperature for 1 hour before serving with toast.

Recipe by Abernethy Butter

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Ballymakenny Farm Irish Heritage and Specialty Potatoes FOOD AWARD

BY ALI DUNWORTH

the market for heritage potatoes to be grown in Ireland with an idea to target chefs and restaurants directly. Through a combination of Maria knocking on restaurant doors, word of mouth and savvy social media posts, Ballymakenny became the most sought-after potatoes by highend chefs and restaurateurs in Ireland and heading into 2020, Maria says things were looking good.

‘We’d just begun to relax into our new way of growing, not to mention new crops for our amazing chefs, building in confidence and sales year on year. And then Covid arrived.’

Overnight, the customer base Ballymakenny had worked so hard to cultivate came to a standstill, but fast-thinking Maria needed something to focus on. In a matter of days she had set up the Spud Shack, a drive-through shop on their farm. ‘The idea was to give me something to focus on every

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he Irish are known around the world to be quite taken with potatoes, but we’ve never known the country to collectively obsess over spuds the way we have with Ballymakenny Farm potatoes. These potatoes have developed a cult-like following in Ireland over the last few years for good reason, and despite the challenges of 2020 they continue to be the spuds everyone wants on their plates.

Maria and David Flynn started out growing the usual potatoes for supermarket retail until Maria, unenthused by what they were doing, decided to literally inject a bit of colour into their farming by trying out the ‘purple spuds’ they have become best known for. They planted these purple Violetta potatoes along with Red Emmalies, Yukon Gold and of course the peculiar-shaped Pink Fir Apple potato. She had spotted a gap in

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A GARDEN SHED, OUR BEAUTIFUL POTATOES AND A LOT OF HOPE HAS TURNED INTO ANOTHER ELEMENT OF OUR BUSINESS. THERE ARE A FEW MORE PIVOTS IN THIS FARM YET.

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B A L LY M A K E N N Y P O T A T O E S

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B A L LY M A K E N N Y P O T A T O E S

day and hope for some glimmers of positivity along the way. It very quickly developed into a positive, happy place, with customers bringing much more than their custom. Their pure will and want to help us is one of the most humbling experiences of my 50 years.’

The Spud Shack garnered plenty of attention on both social media and in the news. Maria credits the support of the hospitality industry and friends as playing a huge part in this. ‘We never felt alone and always feel we are being pushed on by a surge of goodwill and genuine “we’ve got your back” vibes.’ This led to setting up an online shop to sell the spuds nationwide and small independent shops started to reach out and ask if they could stock the potatoes. They now sell out week on week and Maria says the Spud Shack is here to stay. ‘A garden shed, our beautiful potatoes and a lot of hope has turned into another element of our business, which will remain long after Covid has become a memory.

We might have been knocked down, but we are far from out. There are a few more pivots in this farm yet.’ ballymakennyfarm.com

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B A L LY M A K E N N Y P O T A T O E S

Ballymakenny Mayan Rose potato cakes with black pudding and Brussels sprouts Potato cakes are so versatile. They work well for brunch, lunch, supper or as a side for dinner. You can make them from scratch or plan ahead when you’re making mash for dinner to have leftovers. The Brussels sprouts can be swapped out for cabbage or kale and if you want a vegetarian version, use feta instead of black pudding. Mayan Rose potatoes cook one-third faster than most potatoes, so if you are using another variety you may need to cook them for a bit longer.

SERVES 4 TO 6

800g Ballymakenny Mayan Rose potatoes, unpeeled 100g Brussels sprouts 40g butter 40ml milk Sea salt and ground white pepper 100g black pudding, cut into cubes 1 egg, beaten 1 small bunch of fresh chives, finely chopped 60–100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting Oil, for pan-frying Eggs cooked any way you like, to serve Relish, to serve

Put your potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a generous pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat so it’s not boiling too vigorously and cook for 10 minutes. Pour off some water, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 2 to 5 minutes more, until a knife goes through the potatoes easily.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare your Brussels sprouts. Trim the ends and discard the outer leaves. Bring a small pot of salted water to the boil, then add the sprouts and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Drain and cool straight away. Once they are cool enough to handle, shred them.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain and peel them straight away – the skin should come away easily with a regular knife or even a spoon. Clean kitchen or rubber gloves help here, otherwise use a clean tea towel to hold the hot potatoes as you peel them.

Put your peeled spuds in a large bowl, then mash them with a potato masher until smooth (if you have a potato ricer, use that).

Heat your butter and milk together, then add to the potatoes along with a generous seasoning of sea salt and white pepper to taste. Stir well to combine and keep mashing until you get a really smooth consistency and all the lumps are gone.

Stir in the Brussels sprouts, black pudding, beaten egg and chives. Mix well, then start to stir in the flour one spoonful at a time until the mixture is a consistency you can handle – it will be a bit sticky, but that’s okay.

Scoop out one handful of the mixture at a time (you may need to dust your hands with more flour) and shape into six to eight balls, then squash each one down into a patty using your hand or a small rolling pin until they are about 1.5cm thick. Dust with some flour and chill in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

When you’re ready to cook the potato cakes, preheat your oven to 150°C. Heat some oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Working in batches, add a few potato cakes and sear for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden.

Transfer to a baking tray to heat through and keep warm in the oven.

Meanwhile, prepare your eggs however you like to eat them – poached, fried or soft boiled all work great.

Serve the potato cakes with an egg on top and some relish on the side.

Recipe by Ali Dunworth

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Tom Durcan’s Spiced Beef FOOD AWARD

BY AOIFE CARRIGY

chef-proprietor and fellow Cork man Ross Lewis is an enthusiastic champion of the tender, sweetsavoury delicacy.

Tom Durcan has been selling his traditional spiced beef at his butcher’s stall – one of 10 in the 140-year-old covered English Market, if you include three who specialise in poultry – since he set up the stall in 1985, but the recipe he uses dates back to his teenage apprenticeship in Jim Kidney’s butcher shop in Carrigaline. Tom’s adapted recipe involves a slow cure for at least a month in a salt brine with brown sugar and saltpetre and a secret spice mix that includes pimento, cloves and cracked black pepper. It’s a lengthy and labour-intensive process requiring regular stirring of the cure to ensure absorption of all the flavours. Traditionally

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t’s quite a thing to be recognised as one of the finest purveyors of one of your county’s most beloved foods and to have successfully introduced it to new customers all around the world. ‘It used to be eaten at Christmas as a real treat for locals here in Cork,’ craft butcher Tom Durcan explains of the traditional spiced beef that he is famed for, ‘but now people love it year round and the country over.’ The Farmgate Café in the English Market uses it daily in sandwiches, reubens and cold plates and the Real Olive Company uses ‘mountains of it’ at their popular market stall. Indeed, you’ll now find Durcan’s Spiced Beef nationwide, from Centra and SuperValu, where it’s sold cooked and sliced, to Dublin’s Chapter One restaurant, where

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IT’S QUITE A THING TO BE RECOGNISED AS ONE OF THE FINEST PURVEYORS OF ONE OF YOUR COUNTY’S MOST BELOVED FOODS AND TO HAVE SUCCESSFULLY INTRODUCED IT TO NEW CUSTOMERS ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

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TOM DURCAN’S SPICED BEEF

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TOM DURCAN’S SPICED BEEF

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TOM DURCAN’S SPICED BEEF

During a typical Christmas in Cork, some six tonnes of Durcan’s spiced beef passes across Tom’s counter. Unsurprisingly, 2020 was a big year for online sales of their spiced beef gift box, as this special taste of home was sent as a festive gift to Irish expats around the world. This signature speciality has also built up a loyal fanbase in Italy and France and attracts regular customers as far-flung as Donegal to Hong Kong.

Durcan’s spiced beef can be ordered and delivered ready-to-cook or ready-cooked, whole or sliced, and ready to pop onto crusty buttered white bread topped with caramelised Spanish onions, as Tom loves it, or into a fresh Waterford blaa with Coolea cheese, as in the recipe below from Hatch & Sons in Dublin. tomdurcanmeats.ie

the joint would have been cured for up to three months, extending the cold-room shelf life of the Irish beef provided as vittles for merchant ships coming and going from Cork’s busy ports. As food writer Elizabeth David tells us, spiced beef was also a traditional feature of English and Welsh cookery for several centuries. However, its popularity has endured in Ireland, having peaked in Cork in the 1920s and 1930s.

While silverside, topside, rump and brisket would also have been traditionally used,Tom chooses to spice the eye of the round, as it is a prime and tender cut that is ‘good enough for a roast but not so thick that it won’t absorb all the spices’. He uses local Irish Hereford heifer beef that has been finished on maize for three months to produce a particularly tender meat with good layers of fat.

THIS SIGNATURE SPECIALITY HAS ALSO BUILT UP A LOYAL FANBASE IN ITALY AND FRANCE AND ATTRACTS REGULAR CUSTOMERS AS FAR-FLUNG AS DONEGAL TO HONG KONG.

Spiced beef blaa This recipe comes from Guild member Domini Kemp’s café Hatch & Sons in Dublin, where it’s long been a favourite on their menu, but it’s also an excellent way to use up leftovers at Christmastime.

Waterford blaa Rapeseed mayonnaise Tom Durcan’s spiced beef, thinly sliced Coolea cheese, thinly sliced Onion relish

This isn’t a recipe per se, just assembly!

Spread a warm blaa with rapeseed mayo, then pile on some thinly sliced spiced beef and Coolea cheese and top with a spoonful of onion relish. Sandwich together and tuck in.

Recipe by Domini Kemp

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Kinsale Mead Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged IRISH DRINK AWARD

BY KATE RYAN

French wine barrels for 12 months. The Irish Food Writers’ Guild Irish Drink Award is for their Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged, a three-year-old fermented off-dry mead flavoured with tart Irish blackberry and juicy cherry, then aged for 12 months in Bordeaux wine casks.

‘We wanted to add another layer of complexity and depth to our smooth, eminently drinkable Wild Red Mead, particularly with an eye to pairing it with food,’ says Kate and Denis. ‘We found the maturation and micro-oxygenation process of ageing in barrels resulted in a fruity liveliness with juice and bright fruit flavours that were fantastic on the palate.’

‘Historically mead was stored – and by default, aged – in barrels, and as Kinsale was such an important wine port, we knew we wanted to

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insale Mead, established by Kate and Denis Dempsey in 2017, is Ireland’s first commercial meadery for over 200 years.

Ireland has a mead heritage that reaches back to the ancient mead halls of the high kings and queens at the Hill of Tara, making this fermented honey drink older in origin than Irish whiskey.

Kinsale, with its long-standing reputation as Ireland’s premier gourmet destination and its historical trading routes to Spain, is reflected in the ingredients crafted into their white and red mead: Spanish orange blossom honey, local botanicals and fruits grown in Ireland.

In 2020, Kate and Denis, inspired by the legends of Ireland’s Wild Geese, wanted to explore the potential of their mead further by ageing it in

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IRELAND HAS A MEAD HERITAGE THAT REACHES BACK TO THE ANCIENT MEAD HALLS OF THE HIGH KINGS AND QUEENS AT THE HILL OF TARA, MAKING THIS FERMENTED HONEY DRINK OLDER IN ORIGIN THAN IRISH WHISKEY.

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KINSALE MEAD WILD RED MEAD

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KINSALE MEAD WILD RED MEAD

follow that wine trail. Wild Geese Merlot barrels were available and that was an obvious fit, both for flavour and history. Kinsale in the eighteenth century was a thriving port, one of several in Ireland licensed to import wines from France, Spain and Portugal. The harbour and warehouses were full of barrels of the finest wines, ports and sherries. In a sense we are completing the circle, bringing those precious barrels back to Ireland.’

2020 was a challenging year for the duo. The closure of the hospitality trade impacted on direct sales, meadery tours were limited and tastings, food festivals and other promotional opportunities all ceased. They responded by creating virtual Online Mead Talk & Taste Zooms comprising a tasting of three meads from their collection and intriguing insights into the history of mead in Ireland, including the myths and legends surrounding it and the Bee Laws (part of Ireland’s ancient Brehon Laws), demonstrating the importance of mead in Irish food culture, held in high esteem and value.

Kinsale Mead’s Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged showcases the creativity, innovation, determination and attention to detail put into every drop of their honeyed elixir. This mead may well have influences of Spain and France, but to taste it is to experience a contemporary expression of the original wine of Ireland. kinsalemeadco.ie

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KINSALE MEAD WILD RED MEAD

Boozy chocolate brownies with Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged pairs exceptionally well with good-quality chocolate, so the folks at Kinsale Mead Co. decided to experiment by adding some mead into a chocolate recipe. The results were amazing: fudgy, boozy brownies. They added walnuts from their local beekeeper’s trees, but you can leave them out or use other nuts if you choose. Kinsale Mead has many more recipes online at kinsalemeadco.ie.

MAKES 16 SMALL BROWNIES

60g dried cranberries (or other dried fruit of your choice) 175ml Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged 180g dark chocolate, roughly chopped 115g butter, plus extra for greasing 3 large eggs 250g caster sugar 40g cocoa powder, sifted 150g plain flour 1/2 tsp salt 60g walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

Soak the cranberries or dried fruit for at least 30 minutes in the mead, until the fruit plumps up.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 20cm square brownie and line with non-stick baking paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Add the sugar and cocoa powder and stir to combine, then add the flour and salt and mix well. Mix in the cranberries and mead, then fold in the walnuts (if using).

Pour the mixture into the prepared brownie tin and bake in the preheated oven for 22–25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out with small fudgy crumbs on it.

Remove the tin from the oven and cool it rapidly in a baking tray of cold water. This preserves the fudgy centre and stops the brownies from overcooking.

Cool in the tray before cutting, then cut into small pieces so they last longer – theoretically! Serve with a generous glass of Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged.

Recipe by Kinsale Mead

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NeighbourFood OUTSTANDING ORGANISATION AWARD

BY ROZ CROWLEY

Suppliers know in advance what is required of them, so there is no waste. Minimal packaging is used – another win for the environment.

Producers pay a fee, which goes to the host and to NeighbourFood for this service.

Jack Crotty, known to many as The Rocket Man from the name of his deli in Cork and his stall at the Mahon Point market, came up with the concept. He presented the idea of an online service to NeighbourFood’s co-founder, Martin Poucher, a software developer. Martin was crucial to operations from the start.The system now has a staggering 100,000 lines of coding assisting hosts by dealing with credit card payments, the details of orders for all collection points filtering through one central system, coping with the vicissitudes of online selling, advertising in local communities, social media, Google Maps and ever-changing

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eighbourFood provides a route to market for small producers, which is particularly commendable during a year of enormous difficulty. It is an online marketplace where a range of local producers can sell what they grow, rear and create. It is a farmers’ market, but instead of customers lining up at stalls in all kinds of weather, they order online from the comfort of their homes. Customers click to order and pay in advance, then on the designated day chosen by each host in locations countrywide, collect their order of vegetables, meat, fish, sauces, cakes, bread, condiments and ready-made meals.

Starting in Cork in 2018, there are now 40 locations in Ireland and 20 in the UK, each with its own local suppliers, managed by local hosts who respond to online orders directed to them, collating each one ready for collection.

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JACK SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO BRING TOGETHER GROWERS AND PRODUCERS AND HOPED TO PROVE IT WAS POSSIBLE TO GET MOST OF THE FOOD WE NEED WITHIN OUR OWN COMMUNITY.

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NEIGHBOURFOOD

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NEIGHBOURFOOD

credit card and online purchase systems, all in a sometimes less-than-perfect internet network.

Jack saw an opportunity to bring together growers and producers in a way that would otherwise be impractical for them to sell as individuals. He hoped to prove it was possible to get most of the food we need within our own community. Starting some time before Covid-19 took over our lives, the service of NeighbourFood became not just a lifestyle choice, but an essential service and resource for growers and producers whose livelihoods were threatened as a result of the shrinking of the hospitality industry. There was an influx of suppliers to NeighbourFood, which in turn

provided further choice for customers who wanted to support local enterprises. Some producers also import products for which there is no local alternative, from canned tomatoes, chickpeas and olives to wine.

In Cork, Jack is supported by his mother, Simone, who, with a history of pioneering food enterprises, runs what was the first Irish depot. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. At their core is a sense of respecting

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customers, producers and growers, bringing them together in what is hoped will become a body strong enough to lobby at policy level.

This award goes not just to co-founders Jack Crotty and Martin Poucher, but to NeighbourFood nationwide, from its suppliers and collection point hosts to its appreciative customers. neighbourfood.ie

NEIGHBOURFOOD

Bollito Jack Crotty spends a lot of time in Italy and his recipe, typical of Bologna, has an honest frugality that embodies some of NeighbourFood’s ethos and fits with his appreciation of local traditions. Once you spend a little time roasting the beef bones and making a good broth, you get three meals out of it and great stock for the freezer.

In Italy they tend to use meat that has little fat, even in the cheaper cuts, as animals are bred to be lean. So while they use a chunk of topside, which will have some marbling, it will have no lumps of fat. In Ireland we can use cheap cuts such as beef shin, which is also delicious. The broth is used first for the bollito (a boiled meat dish), then the next dish will be a bowl of the broth with tortellini or ravioli and the last one will be a mug of warming broth to drink or use as a base for soup.

SERVES 6

2 large carrots, unpeeled and halved

Ask your butcher for bones for stock. He or she may also give you scraps of meat when you explain what it’s for. In Ireland if you use shin of beef or flank it will be on the bone, so get the butcher to remove the meat but make sure to also come home with the bones.

10 garlic cloves, unpeeled

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Olive oil, for roasting

Place the beef bones in a large roasting tray with the onions, carrots and whole garlic cloves pressed with the back of a knife to release their flavour. Drizzle with a little olive oil, then roast in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, until the bones have browned.

2kg beef bones, ideally with marrow 2 large onions, unpeeled and halved

4 litres water 2 celery sticks 6 bay leaves 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 tsp juniper berries 1 tsp allspice berries (optional) A handful of fresh thyme, rosemary and/or parsley stalks 1kg joint of topside beef or beef shin

OPTIONAL EXTRAS: Sausages (beef or pork) Diced pork or chicken

TO SERVE: Mustard Horseradish Mayonnaise Asian sauces

Remove the bones to a large stock pot, discarding any fat, and cover with the water. Add the celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, juniper berries, allspice berries (if using) and the fresh herbs you’re using. Cover the pot and bring almost to the boil, then remove the lid, reduce the heat to the very lowest setting and cook gently for 4 to 5 hours, until reduced by about one-third. Don’t allow the stock to boil at any stage. Skim off any obvious fat – this is easier if you let it cool first.

Add the joint of meat, left whole, and cook for 2 to 3 hours, until the meat is tender. For the last 40 minutes of cooking, add the sausages, diced pork or chicken (if using) – there is no need to brown them first.

Remove the beef from the stock, cut it into slices and arrange on a serving plate. Remove the sausages, pork or chicken (if using) to the serving plate too. Serve with a pot of mustard, horseradish, mayonnaise, Asian sauces or whatever is to hand.

For a second meal, skim off any fat, strain the stock and return it to the pot to reheat. Add tortellini, ravioli, plain pasta (such as the recipe for Ballymore Organics fresh pasta on page 27) or noodles and cook through, then ladle a little of the broth into a bowl, add the pasta and serve.

Enjoy the remaining stock as a warming drink. It will have thickened slightly from the starch in the pasta and cooled to a beautiful jelly. Or you can use it as a base for soups, tasting as you go and topping up with water if it becomes too intense. The broth also freezes well.

Recipe by Jack Crotty

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Ballymore Organics ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

BY CAROLINE HENNESSY

build a mill on the farm and he started producing his own stoneground wholemeal flour in 2017.

The single-varietal, single-origin flour is expensive to grow and mill, but James’s sales pitch was simple: he contacted hotels and restaurants telling the chefs about the way that he farmed and got them to try the flour. The hook was the flavour. Soon his flour was being namechecked on menus at Aimsir, Ashford Castle, Dromoland Castle and Adare Manor and James was dealing regularly with Michelin-starred chefs.

With wholemeal flour selling well, James expanded his range of products to plain flour and semolina at the beginning of 2020. He also started milling the oats that he grows, becoming Ireland’s only grower and miller of both wheat flour and porridge oats. As well as selling direct to chefs, he invested in a small webshop, selling small amounts

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here were few reviews of Kildare’s two Michelin star restaurant Aimsir that didn’t mention the bread – Ballymore Organics heritage wheat soda bread, to be precise, cooked in ‘beef fat, laced with black treacle and Guinness, served with raw and heavily salted Crawford’s micro-dairy butter’.

Served as one course of a tasting menu that was designed to showcase the best of Irish food, it put locally grown wheat centre stage and the critics raved about it.

Ballymore Organics, set up by James Kelly, was the first mill to open in Kildare since Odlum’s 200-year-old Leinster Mills closed in 1989. After growing his first organic crop of ‘smashing wheat’ in 2015, James convinced Andrew Workman of Dunany Flour to mill 20kg of the grain. Positive responses to the flour meant that James decided to

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JAMES IS ONE OF A NEW WAVE OF IRISH CRAFT MILLERS, PEOPLE WHO GROW AND MILL THEIR OWN CEREALS. THE SYNERGY BETWEEN FLOUR WITH PROVENANCE AND OTHER QUALITY IRISH FOOD HAS NEVER BEEN SO DELICIOUS.

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B A L LY M O R E O R G A N I C S

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B A L LY M O R E O R G A N I C S

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B A L LY M O R E O R G A N I C S

Ballymore Organics fresh pasta When simple ingredients are this good, there’s no need for an elaborate sauce. Serve with wild garlic pesto, brown butter and lemon, some grated Killeen Farmhouse Cheese or in the bollito broth on page 23.

SERVES 4

150g Ballymore Organics stoneground plain flour, plus extra for kneading 150g Ballymore Organics stoneground semolina, plus extra for rolling 3 medium eggs, beaten

Place the flour and semolina in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Make a well in the centre and pour the beaten eggs into it. Mix with a wooden spoon until everything is roughly combined. of 5kg, 10kg and 20kg bags of flour and porridge oats – until everything changed on 14 March 2020.

While James’s trade customers disappeared overnight, online orders – fuelled by a Covid-caused flour shortage – skyrocketed. Consumers locked down at home now actively wanted to buy Irish and support Irish farmers and producers, and with flour shelves empty in the supermarkets, it made a lot of sense to buy in bulk. James credits Covid-19 with putting his products on the map and he worked round the clock during the first lockdown, dispatching bags of freshly milled flour from Kildare to gladden the hearts of home bakers all around Ireland.

Whether it’s silky, unbleached plain flour that enhances the flavour of everyday baking and cooking, nutty-flavoured wholemeal for bread, semolina for pasta-making or unsteamed rolled jumbo porridge oats that are a chewy treat at breakfast, once you’ve started using James’s Irishgrown cereals, all certified by the Irish Organic Association, it’s difficult to go back to bland, anonymous supermarket products. The good news is that James is not the only person doing this. He’s one of a new wave of Irish craft millers, people who grow and mill their own cereals, and there are people out there – chefs, professional bakers and home bakers – who are willing to pay for the pleasure of using flour that is grown and milled locally. The synergy between flour with provenance and other quality Irish food has never been so delicious. ballymoreorganics.ie

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Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 to 15 minutes, until it becomes smooth and springy.

Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Clamp a pasta machine to a clean work surface and dust the area with a little semolina. Taking one-third of the dough at a time, work it through the pasta machine, feeding it through the widest to the narrowest setting according to the kind of pasta that you want to make.

For long pasta like tagliatelle, linguini or pappardelle, slice into lengths, dust with a little more semolina and allow to air dry.

Cook in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 3 to 5 minutes, until al dente, then toss with your chosen sauce and serve straight away.

Recipe by Caroline Hennesy

Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme COMMUNITY FOOD AWARD

BY MICHELLE DARMODY

programme is wide-ranging, taking an expansive, hands-on approach to education. The first year focuses on local actions, including developing an edible school garden, creating food habitat maps and participating in soil health and seed workshops.

The year culminates in tasting and cooking workshops using the produce from the school garden.

The second year of the programme focuses more closely on the global impacts of food, while the growing aspect continues. Students explore the environmental problems associated with the global food system, investigating topics such as air miles and food packaging. A group of schools comes together at the end of the year to share the ideas that have been generated by their global food projects and to display the produce they grew and

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ithin the school system, we teach language with which to communicate and we teach maths with which to navigate, but we do not teach crucial skills associated with food and commensality. A two-year food education programme aims to change this for a portion of students throughout Ireland. The programme was devised by Meabh Boylan, Clare Patten and myself, Michelle Darmody, for GreenSchools. It was successfully piloted in eight primary schools and is now being expanded nationwide, with 45 schools joining this year and a further 65 joining next year.

Children are taught about food in an engaging and creative way with the hope of fostering inquisitiveness about where food comes from, how it is grown and how it affects all of our lives. The

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WE NEED TO EMBED AN EXCITING AND ENGAGING SUBJECT THAT EXPLORES THE MYRIAD ASPECTS OF FOOD IN THE MODERN WORLD AND ONE THAT EQUIPS CHILDREN TO MAKE DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD CHOICES THROUGHOUT LIFE.

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GREEN-SCHOOLS

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GREEN-SCHOOLS

cooked in their school.

Green-Schools provides cooking kits to all the participating schools as well as the seeds for the garden, teaching resources and ongoing support from their staff. The cooking kit provides children with the equipment to practise skills during the cooking workshops such as peeling, grating, knife safety and different chopping techniques. Many chefs from around the country have also come on board and are being paired with a school to help reiterate the learning from the cooking workshops by doing their own cooking demonstrations with the children.

The feedback from both students and teachers has been heart-warming and the programme is a welcome addition to Ireland’s food education landscape, but for real lasting change in our approach to food in Ireland, the Department of Education and Skills needs to take food education seriously. We need to see a move away from the ‘good–bad’ health narrative currently on the curriculum and embed an exciting and engaging subject that explores the myriad aspects of food in the modern world and one that equips children to make delicious and nutritious food choices throughout life. greenschoolsireland.org

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GREEN-SCHOOLS

Rice paper rolls with dipping sauce Over the course of the Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme pilot, we trialled and cooked many different recipes with the children and this was always a firm favourite. At the beginning of the cooking workshop we would visit the school garden and pick whatever herbs, lettuce leaves and carrots that were available, then after giving everything a good scrub, get chopping and preparing. The tactility of rolling the damp, warm rice paper discs and stuffing them full of edible plants that the children had grown always led to a certain excitement and they tend to get eaten up very quickly.

MAKES 8 ROLLS

50g thin rice noodles

Wash your hands and dry them well.

1 bunch of fresh mint

To make the dipping sauce, use the measuring spoons to measure the soy sauce, sesame oil and honey into a small bowl. Stir it really well so that the honey mixes in evenly, then stir in the crushed black pepper. If you are using the garlic, peel the clove and crush it with your garlic press, then add to your dip and stir it in. Set the dip aside.

1 bunch of fresh coriander 2 medium-sized carrots 8 lettuce leaves 8 rice paper discs

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE: 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp sesame oil 1 tsp honey 1/4 tsp crushed black pepper 1 garlic clove (optional)

Boil some water in a kettle or in a pot on the hob and pour it into a heatproof bowl. Soak the rice noodles in the hot water for 15 minutes. Drain in the colander and set aside.

Wash and chop the mint and coriander. Scrub the carrots, then thinly slice them into ribbons – a potato peeler will work best.

Tear the lettuce into small strips with your hands.

Pour some hot (but not boiling) water into a large heatproof bowl.

Dip one rice paper disc into the hot water for 10 to 15 seconds, moving it around until it is soft all over, then place it on a clean tea towel to dry slightly. Repeat this with the other seven discs.

1 small bowl

Place one rice paper disc onto the chopping board and add some lettuce, carrots, mint, coriander and rice noodles in a line down the centre. Lift one edge of the disc over the filling and press it down, then roll up tightly so it looks like a sausage. Repeat with the remaining discs and serve with the soy sauce dip.

Mixing spoon

Recipe by Green-Schools

YOU WILL NEED: Measuring spoons

Garlic press (optional) Kettle (or a pan and hob) 2 large heatproof bowls Colander Chopping board Chopping knife Potato peeler Clean tea towel

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Marion Roeleveld LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

BY GEORGINA CAMPBELL

cheese retailers, affineurs and, since 2017, cheese museum), ‘It was an easy decision to make cheese.

I knew about the production of Gouda, and we had this goats’ milk…’

The main Killeen Farmhouse Cheese production is a semi-hard goats’ cheese Gouda, made from pasteurised milk and traditional rennet and available plain or with fenugreek. With curds washed and pressed in the Gouda style and with a smooth white paste, the 5kg cheeses are covered in a thin breathable plastic coat and sold from two months of age, when the flavour is fresh and clean with a hint of nuttiness that develops as the cheese ages. Interestingly, the Courtyard Dairy – which has become a champion for several exceptional Irish cheeses, including Young Buck – ages Killeen

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he cheesemaker’s cheesemaker’ is a good description of Marion Roeleveld. While not a household name like some of the pioneering West Cork cheesemakers of the 1970s who first made Irish farmhouse cheese a force to be reckoned with, Marion brought something different to the table when the former agricultural journalist left Holland in 2001 to settle in Galway and in 2004, using milk from her partner Haske’s goats, started making Killeen Farmhouse Cheese on their 50-acre farm near Portumna. Unlike most Irish cheesemakers, who tend to be self-taught, Marion had worked in cheese production in the Netherlands. As she said in an interview with Andy and Kathy Swinscoe of the Courtyard Dairy (the iconic North Yorkshire

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THE CHEESEMAKER’S CHEESEMAKER IS A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF MARION ROELEVELD. MARION BROUGHT SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO THE TABLE WHEN, USING MILK FROM HER PARTNER HASKE’S GOATS, SHE STARTED MAKING KILLEEN FARMHOUSE CHEESE ON THEIR 50-ACRE FARM NEAR PORTUMNA.

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MARION ROELEVELD

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MARION ROELEVELD

in-house for a minimum of nine months to develop the flavour to its full potential.

A cows’ milk variety is also made, using milk supplied by a local farmer, and it comes in plain, basil and garlic, cumin seed and an Emmental style called Kilmóra.

A holistic philosophy informs the whole production process and the running of the farm, where quality and traceability are paramount. They grow all the grass, hay and silage for the goats themselves and it is a closed herd – Haske only introduces selected breeding males to the herd.

Marion’s training and all-round knowledge of farmhouse cheese production also led to her working with other producers to develop some remarkable cheeses, including Mossfield Organic (a mild, creamy, Cheddar-type cheese made

by Ralph Haslam of Mossfield Organic

Farm in Co. Offaly); the ewes’ milk Cáis na Tíre, which Marion originally made for Tipperary farming couple Barry Cahalan and Lorraine Davis, who now produce it themselves; and most recently the East Galway gem, Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese, made by Teresa Roche nearby at Loughrea.

Consistency and an absolute commitment to quality have led to awards aplenty for Killeen Farmhouse Cheese, far too many to mention here, but winning Best Goat Cheese (twice) in the British Cheese Awards and Supreme Champion (three times) in the Irish Cheese Awards are among the highlights of an impressive career that – fortunately for the development of Irish food – no doubt has plenty more delicious surprises in store. killeenfarmhousecheese.wordpress.com

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MARION ROELEVELD

Risotto with mushrooms, asparagus and mature Killeen goats’ cheese

Marion Roeleveld says this is pure comfort food, perfect on a cold evening. She loves the combination of the mushrooms and the earthy taste of mature Killeen.

SERVES 4

Handful of dried porcini or mixed mushrooms

Place the dried mushrooms in a small heatproof bowl and cover with just-boiled water from the kettle. Allow to soak for 10 minutes.

1 bunch of asparagus

Snap the woody stalks off the asparagus spears and discard, then cut the spears into 2.5cm-long pieces. Boil the asparagus for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside.

1.2 litres vegetable stock 2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 350g Arborio rice 1 glass of dry white wine 100g mature Killeen goats’ cheese (e.g. Dunnes Stores Simply Better Five-Months Matured Killeen Goats’ Cheese), grated 25g butter Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the stock in a small saucepan almost to the boiling point, then reduce the heat and leave it simmering.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring. Don’t let the onion brown.

Add the rice and give it a stir, then add the wine, reduce the heat to medium-low and keep stirring until the wine has been absorbed into the rice. Strain the liquid from the soaked mushrooms and stir it in, then chop up the soaked mushrooms and add them too.

Add the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Keep adding more stock one ladle at a time and stirring until the rice is cooked but still has a little bite. The whole process should take 25 to 30 minutes. Just before the end, stir in the cooked asparagus.

When the risotto is cooked, take the pan off the heat and stir through half the grated cheese and all the butter. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

To serve, divide the risotto between warmed shallow bowls and scatter the rest of the cheese over the top.

Recipe by Marion Roeleveld

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The Irish Food Writers’ Guild A VOICE FOR BETTER EATING Given that the Guild began as a support network for its food writer members, we are delighted that it has developed, through the annual IFWG Food Awards, to offer that support to the wider artisan Irish food industry. This is what we hope it will continue to do for years to come.

The Irish Food Writers’ Guild was formed in 1990 to promote high professional standards of knowledge and practice among writers about food, nutrition, food history and related matters and to assist in the formulation of links and networks among all involved in the food industry.

The Guild was established by a dozen founding members, all of whom were working as freelance food writers at the time. They saw the formation of the Guild as an opportunity to pool their collective knowledge, experience and ideas.

Membership is by invitation only to established food writers with an acknowledged and substantial corpus of work. The Guild currently has 60+ members. By the nature of their daily work, Guild members are in constant touch with food producers, food retailers, restaurateurs and other professional bodies in the industry throughout the country. Today the Guild enjoys close links with associations like Slow Food Ireland, Euro-Toques, the Irish food boards and other professional bodies in the food industry, both in Ireland and abroad.

In 1993, the Guild decided to promote outstanding quality, craftsmanship and innovation in the production of food in Ireland. The annual IFWG Food Awards were our chosen vehicle. These are now widely acknowledged as the country’s most prestigious food awards.

Our mission statement The Guild aims to support food writing excellence and integrity in food reporting; to highlight and influence food policy; and to create debate on sustainable and ethical food production.

The Guild also aims to promote good food education across all levels of education and seeks to promote Irish food at home and abroad.

Where to find us The Guild is on Twitter at @foodguild. On Instagram, we’re @foodwritersguild. You can find the Irish Food Writers’ Guild on Facebook as well. Our website is irishfoodwritersguild.ie.

Please help spread the word about our winners using the #IFWGfoodawards hash tag.

Thank you to Bord Bia The IFWG would like to acknowledge Bord Bia for their continued support of these awards and for their tireless work on the home and export markets to promote and develop the Irish food industry.

For more information please contact Rachel Sherry on 087 662 2111 or Rachel.sherry@grayling.com.

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EDITOR KRISTIN JENSEN

CONTRIBUTORS RUSSELL ALFORD PATRICK HANLON ALI DUNWORTH AOIFE CARRIGY KATE RYAN CAROLINE HENNESSY ROZ CROWLEY MICHELLE DARMODY GEORGINA CAMPBELL

DESIGN JANE MATTHEWS JANEMATTHEWSDESIGN.COM

PHOTOGRAPHS PAUL SHERWOOD SHERWOOD.IE

COVER PHOTO IMEN MCDONNELL IMENMCDONNELL.COM

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FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT RACHEL SHERRY on 087 662 2111 or Rachel.sherry@grayling.com.