Gourmet's 50 Women Game Changers in Food: # 38, Darina Allen

Darina Allen was brought up in the 50's, but she wanted a career that most women didn't even attempt back then. Just as she was about to graduate from a Hotel Management School, she turned to working in a restaurant kitchen instead of following the "normal" career path. She wanted to cook soufflés and terrines and learn how to work with herbs. She was ridiculed: not only was this too fussy, but chefs were all men and women were relegated to Tea Rooms. The only other option was to open your own restaurant. Luckily, an instructor had heard about a woman running her own country house restaurant who needed a chef. A few days later, the instructor handed Darina a piece of paper with the senior Mrs. Allen’s address; Darina contacted her. The restaurant owner really wanted a man in her kitchen, but none were applying. She settled for Darina and the rest is Irish culinary history.

The woman who hired her? Myrtle Allen, and she was one of the rarities who DID open her own restaurant. She started a country house restaurant on the family’s farm in Shanagarry, County Cork. (She was to become Darina's mother in law.) The menu there still remains simple. People looked down their noses at what Myrtle Allen was doing. “It was considered downright amateurish,” says Darina. “She cooked like a ‘housewife’.” As it turned out, that’s exactly what people wanted. It’s still going strong over forty years later. This country house restaurant later expanded to become Ballymaloe House, the renowned Irish country house hotel.

Darina came to this love of food naturally. it was what she was raised on. When she was growing up, one of nine children, in the village of Cullahill, County Laois, the family ate what they raised. They had a kitchen garden, raised a cow for milk and kept their own chickens. They supplemented this bounty with locally grown and produced foods. That’s how most country people ate in those pre-supermarket days and how some people in Ireland still do.
Darina became a fixture in the Ballymaloe kitchen learning from her future mother-in-law. The food the older woman cooked “tasted wonderful,” she says; simple dishes that relied on the quality of the ingredients.

In 1983, Darina and her now husband Tim Allen started the Ballymaloe Cookery School on a 100 acre farm a few miles from the hotel. To start with, it was purely an economical decision: “We had to look at what resources we had and what talents we had between us and try and earn a living in a different way. We were in the middle of a farm growing a lot of produce, so one of the obvious things was to start a cooking school."

In its twenty-eight years, the school has grown in stature and repute, and now functions with both indoor and outdoor classrooms. The indoor classroom is the kitchen,and the outdoor classroom is the surrounding farm and gardens. Most of what is used in the school’s four teaching kitchens is raised on the farm; produce from the garden, eggs from the chickens, dairy from the resident cows.

In Ireland, farmers’ markets are springing up around the country. When supermarkets became prevalent, the idea of buying locally lost out to the convenience of one-stop shopping and lower prices. Allen is responsible for the resurgence of farmer’s markets in Ireland. She, saw one in San Francisco in the mid-nineties and “ a light bulb went on. “We could do that here,” was her thought and so she got the ball rolling.

The message that she wants people to hear is that “our food should be our medicine.” She feels it’s a matter of priorities. “We make time and money for what’s important. Food seems to be way down on the list.” She’s passionate about this and it’s contagious.

So there are two lessons that Allen hopes to impart to her students and neither pertains to the act of cooking itself: “One is that all good food starts with really good quality produce. Even more so than that, basically it’s all about the soil, the fertility of the soil, the quality of the soil.

The second lesson Allen teaches is that food is our medicine: “We forget that the whole reason for eating is to nourish our bodies, keep us healthy, give us energy, vitality, the ability to concentrate, and yet, a lot of the time, we shovel anything into ourselves and then we’re wondering why we have a lump or bump or tumor. Nowadays, so many people have bottles of tables and vitamins and minerals. If they were really eating good quality food, they wouldn’t need any of that.”

Family is front and center in this busy woman’s life. Four generations of Allens live within about 15 minutes of each other. Daughter-in-law, Rachel Allen (wife of son Isaac), a cookbook author and Irish TV culinary personality, teaches at the school.

Darina is a culinary celebrity in Ireland, starring in multiple cooking shows and series. She's revising and expanding her 1995 book, Irish Traditional Cooking. Her 2009 book, Forgotten Skills of Cooking, won both the André Simon Cookbook of the Year Award and the Listowel Cookbook of the Year Award in 2010. The award-winning book takes you back to the forgotten kitchen skills no longer necessary if we eat from the supermarket. It’s a Bible for using fresh, local and sustainable food effectively. She won the Gilbeys of Ireland Gold Medal of Excellence in 1991 with Myrtle Allen for her contribution to the Irish catering and hospitality industry. She has appeared on several American television programs, including Good Morning America, and has presented Irish feasts to heads of state such as President Bill Clinton in 1995.

Darina Allen wears many hats, but it all boils down to a commitment to eating fresh, local and sustainable food from the land. Thanks to people like her, it’s still an option.

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I chose to make Darina's Brown Bread. It's a basic soda bread. Unfortunately, I've never been overly fond of soda breads....and the one time I made one, I wasn't pleased with the results. So I decided to give this one a try in hopes of a better result. Well, it turned out fine, but I discovered soda breads are just not going to be on my favorite list. Sorry about that. I also made Darina's Champ...but decided to save it for a St. Patrick's Day post. It was simple and divine.
Bench notes: Darina says American flour requires more buttermilk than the Irish flour she's used to working with. Depending on the flour you use, this recipe may require more buttermilk (it did), enough to make the bread dough just come together. In the recipe it says the dough should be sticky...so much so that you could pour it into the pan. Mine didn't get that wet and it turned out fine.
In addition, soak your seeds in water for a bit, drain and dry before topping the bread with them. This will help prevent burned seeds on top.

Darina Allen’s Brown Bread

Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups stone-ground wholemeal flour
5/8 cup plain white flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 level teaspoon baking soda
1 organic egg
1 tablespoon of sunflower or olive oil
1 teaspoon of honey
1 3/4 cups of butter milk
2 generous tablespoons of seed mix – I combined sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds (remember...soak them in water for a while and they won't burn)

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 395 F
Put all your dry ingredients – wholemeal flour, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt – into a large mixing bowl. Mix together.

Mix your buttermilk, egg, honey and oil in another bowl until well blended.
Get a bread loaf pan and pour a teapoon of oil into it. With your hands, make sure all of the inside of the tin is coated with the oil, to prevent the bread from sticking.
Make a well in your dry ingredients. Pour about a third of your milk mixture into the well. Mix the mixture with your hand until it begins to get sticky. Don’t mix it too much
though, it will go a bit tough in the end if you do. Add another third of the milk mixture and mix again. Finally add the last third and mix.

Darina says: "The dough is supposed to be wet and sticky, so much so that you can pour it into the loaf tin.  (Mine was not that wet. See bench note above) As I said above, I’ve had varying degrees of wetness in the dough without changing anything obvious. And all of the loaves have worked out really nicely, they’ve just all tasted a bit different. So, there’s no need to panic at this stage. Just go with what you have and it’s very, very likely to turn out really well."

Once your mixture is in the oiled loaf tin, pop it in the oven on the middle shelf for between 45 minutes and one hour. Sprinkle seeds on top.
Once your bread is nice and brown, and sounds hollow when tapped, leave it to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.



Join Mary from One Perfect Bite and all the other participants in this fun series.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets 
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen
Sue - The View from Great Island
Kathleen Van Bruinisse - Bake Away with Me 
Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds
Martha - Lines from Linderhof
Amy - Beloved Green
Linda - Ciao Chow Linda

Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Lovely Things

Claudia - Journey of An Italian Cook
Alyce - More Time at the Table
Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Ice Cream 101

So my youngest grandchild was here last week. He likes ice cream as much as his grandmother does. I told him I'd make him his favorite ice creams and he could do some tasting while it was being frozen. That brought a big smile. 
I'd do just about anything for a smile, wouldn't you?

We began with basic strawberry. I've never seen a child eat as many fresh strawberries as this one does. Now, there's no point dressing up a recipe with this kid, so forget liqueurs, nuts, spices and all those other things we food bloggers love to add for fun. These are basic, plain ice cream recipes. And are they ever good. My 5 year old grandson says so.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Gourmet  | June 2001

Ingredients:
1  3/4 cups heavy cream
3 (3- by 1-inch) strips fresh lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 lb strawberries (3 cups), trimmed and quartered
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method:
Combine cream, zest, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and discard zest. 
Whisk eggs with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking. Pour back into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F (do not let boil). 
Immediately pour custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl, then cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Chill, overed, at least until cold, about 2 hours, and up to 1 day. 
While custard is chilling, purée strawberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then force through fine sieve (to remove seeds) into chilled custard. Stir purée into custard. 
Freeze in ice-cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

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And his absolute, hands down favorite: Chocolate. (Not his grandmother's favorite however. LOL) Now I wanted to make it darker and use bittersweet chocolate, but dared not. So I used some semi-sweet morsels I had left over.

Chocolate Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

5 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

(If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)And it was....almost like pudding as I left it in the fridge over night. I whisked it and it froze perfectly.

Does he love ice cream or what?
(He got a little sunburn on his shoulder...ouch! Wore a diving skin from then on.)

Pebbly Beach Fruit Squares

Once again, I'm probably one of the few bloggers who hasn't made these fun, crispy cookies. And after I made them, I took one look and decided I must have messed up the recipe. They tasted delightful, but I wondered: is this what they're supposed to look like? So I did some research online and discovered mine turned out exactly right. 

Lisa suggested soaking your dried fruit in some water (or fruit juice or wine) for about 20 minutes only to soften the fruit. (Might be fun to soak the fruit in rum or brandy during the holidays.) Then drain and dry before continuing on with the recipe.
So keep in mind: if it looks like you've screwed up the recipe, you've probably made them perfectly.  

Pebbly Beach Fruit Squares
From Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich  Via Lisa is Cooking

(Makes 24 to 32 two-and-a-half-inch squares)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest or ground cinnamon or anise
1 cup moist dried fruit (one kind or a combination); dark or golden raisins; dried sour cherries; dried cranberries; coarsely chopped dates; dried apricots, or prunes; finely chopped candied ginger
1/4 cup turbinado or other coarse sugar


Method:
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork. With a large spoon in a medium mixing bowl or with a mixer, beat butter with the granulated sugar until smooth and well blended but not fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon zest and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.


Divide the dough in half and form each into a rectangle. Wrap the patties in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and let sit for 15 minutes to soften slightly. On a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll one piece of dough into a rectangle 81/2 inches by 16 1/2 inches. With a short side facing you, scatter half of the dried fruit on the bottom half of the dough. Fold top half of the dough over fruit, using the paper as a handle. Peel paper from the top of dough. (If it sticks, chill dough for a few minutes until the paper peels easily.) Dust top of dough lightly with half of the coarse sugar and pat lightly to make sure the sugar adheres. Use a heavy knife to trim the edges. 
Cut into 4 strips and then cut each strip into 4 pieces to make 16 squares. Place cookies 2 inches apart on lined or greased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough, fruit, and sugar.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Rotate pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to racks. Cool cookies completely before stacking or storing. May be kept in an airtight container for a week.