The Darina Allen Column - Irish Food Writers’ Guild Summer Trip to Derry

A first-time visitor to Derry this summer, Darina is now keen to spread the word about the city’s cool culinary delights – and has plenty of reasons to go back  

Not sure how many of you have been to Derry, I hadn't been either but recently we went on a 'wee dander' around the walled city courtesy of Tourism Northern Ireland.
For me and other members of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, it was a deeply moving experience to walk around the city on top of the old walls, past the now peaceful Bogside and the Free Derry Wall. We had our photos taken in front of the wonderful Derry Girls mural, visited the Tower Museum, it was also full of memorabilia from the brilliant Channel 4 TV series of the same name. There was a replica of Mary's beloved kitchen, the wire chip pan and deep fryer, the sofa and cushions, a school uniform from Our Lady Immaculate College and a café actually serving the same cream horns made famous in one of the episodes when Grandpa Joe was busted after he was spied in Doherty's bakery buying a cream horn when he only went in for an apple turnover!

We walked across the Peace Bridge, opened in 2011 over the River Foyle. We heard the story from Angela Heaney, our deeply knowledgeable guide, of how for centuries, the river divided the communities who now, at last, walk freely backwards and forwards over the bridge.

Next day we were treated to a full-on Derry by Fork, food and drink tour. We met numerous chefs, restaurants and café owners and visited Brendan at the iconic Moore on the Quay fish stall and Pyke’n’Pommes Café tucked into an old double-decker bus on the riverbank. After delicious fish tacos, we had a selection of Asian fusion appetisers at Umi, and a taste of a delicious Austrian wine made by a young winemaker Andy.

Put it on your Derry list along with Phelim O'Hagan and Serina Macari, at the lovely restaurant Artis where we tucked into dinner later. The tear and share brioche with whipped beef fat and marmite butter was worth the detour alone.

We had so many delicious tastes of local food but also exceptional local beverages - Rough Brothers Beer, Walled City Brewery and Gin School, Earhart Gin and the cult style Northland Beer.
Paula McIntyre, the entertaining and much loved radio, TV chef and food writer – and our new Irish Food Writers’ Guild Chairperson - accompanied us on the tour. We met many farmers, artisans, and cheesemakers, including Noreen Vandervelde who made the wondeful nettle seed crisps with ripe fig and cheese and Kevin Hickey from Dart Mountain Cheese in the Sperrin Mountains, who supplied the memorable Sperrin Blue to accompany the Moyletra Moilie heritage beef cooked over fire at the long table dinner in the walled garden at Brooke Hall Estate - and more delicious cheesey bites next day, at the atmospheric Stitch & Weave restaurant on Ebrington Square More good things too at Browns in Town, little mini burgers and a juicy cube of streaky pork with burnt apple sauce and we popped into Yum, the multi award winning bakery close to the lovely Ebrington Hotel to sample their brownies, and The Cottage Craft Gallery, where we had tea and their famous scones.

Bet you are feeling full even reading this - so were we, but deliciously so, and so looking forward to spreading the word about the cool culinary delights of Londonderry/Derry affectionately known as stroke city! Might just have to go back soon for the barbecue school at Brook Hall or another long table dinner in the walled garden....

'Artis' Brioche with Whipped Beef Fat and Marmite Butter
Thank you to Artis by Phelim O’Hagan https://artisatcraftvillagederry.com/ for sharing this super delicious recipe:
“Although not a traditional bread recipe, this is our 'quick' brioche that we use as it doesn't need to be made the evening before, and we use melted rather than cold butter. A bread recipe from Martijn Kajuiter, from my time at the Cliff House Hotel in Co Waterford that we've made our own.”

Ingredients
500g strong flour
10g salt
10g sugar
175g milk
125g melted butter
3 eggs
12g dried yeast 'or' 25g fresh yeast
herbs/caramelised onion/seeds – whatever you choose to flavour your breads.

Method
Put all of the dry ingredients, including your choice of flavouring, into a mixing bowl.
Take 75g milk and heat until lukewarm to activate the yeast, (20-30°C). Add the yeast and stir.
In a food processor, blend together the rest of the wet ingredients, then add to dry ingredients gradually whilst mixing.
Let the mixer knead the bread for 5-10 minutes.
Prove in a greased cover container for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Knock the bread back by turning onto a lightly floured surface and kneading the dough gently until nice and smooth.
Weigh the dough into 60g balls (for individual breads) or 12 x 15g balls (for tear and share style) and roll into smooth balls.
Brush the rolled balls lightly with egg wash (mixture of egg, salt and alittle milk or water).
For individual bread loaves, bake for 8 minutes in a preheated oven at 175°C.
For tear and share, arrange all the small balls into a large circle on a non-stick pan and bake for 12 minutes at 175°C.
Serve with this Whipped Beef Fat and Marmite Butter:
Ingredients:
200g rendered beef fat
150g unsalted Irish butter
35g marmite

Method:
In a food processor, whip all the ingredients together until almost double in size.
Serve with sea salt and crispy onions on top
Note: Replace the beef fat with butter if you prefer. Alternatively, for chicken butter, use chicken fat and for bacon butter, use bacon fat.

'Lo and Slo's' Butter Braised Potatoes
This delicious recipe was generously shared by Lo and Slo https://www.lo-slo.co.uk/ .
We also greatly enjoyed their mussels, and tomahawk steaks cooked over a fire pit in the walled garden at Brook Hall https://brookhall.co.uk/ just outside the city.
New potatoes are perfect for maintaining their shape and creating a sweet, velvety interior. Floury potatoes are also delicious but will break down during the cooking process, and then risk burning. Keep an eye on them and give them a gentle, extra little stir. These can be cooked in the oven if desired. Seasonal herbs and garlic may be added. Serves 6-8

Ingredients
2kg seasonal potatoes (any variety)
250g salted butter
a good glug of vegetable or rapeseed oil (neutral flavour with a high smoke point)
flaky sea salt
chilli flakes

Method
Light your BBQ fire. You want the coals to be glowing with a white ashy coating, not leaping flames.
Slice your potatoes into 4cm pieces and place into a large baking tray.
Divide the butter into large pieces evenly on top of the potatoes.
Add a glug of the oil.
Sprinkle a handful of flaky sea salt on the potatoes. Add chilli flakes to taste and stir to distribute.
Allow the potatoes to simmer over the coals, stirring occasionally.
Top up with oil if they are looking too dry.
When the potatoes become golden brown and toasted, remove from the grill. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Cream Horns
These delicious flaky cornets will, for many folks, be forever associated with the Derry Girls TV series, but for me, they bring memories flooding back of two cafés in Kilkenny city in the 1960's where Mummy took us for occasional treats at Mulhall's and Marie's Café on High Street. We would fantasise and argue all the way from Cullohill about whether we would order a cream horn or a chocolate éclair.
Makes 18 to 20

Ingredients
puff pastry, preferably homemade with butter
egg wash
icing sugar
Filling
homemade raspberry jam
softly whipped cream
Equipment
cream horn moulds
pastry wheel, optional

Method
Roll the chilled puff pastry into a rectangle, 35cm long and 3mm thick. Cut into strips, 2-2.5cm wide. Keep chilled.
Starting at the tip, roll a strip of pastry around the pointed end, rotating around the mould so the pastry overlaps by 3mm down to the wider end.
Arrange on a baking tray, sealed side downwards.
Brush lightly with egg wash. Transfer to a fridge and chill.
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, lift off the tray and detach from the mould when cool enough to handle.
When cold, spoon some raspberry jam into the interior of the cornets, fill with a swirl of whipped cream. Arrange on a doyley on a pretty china plate and enjoy.

An Extra Bite: Regular readers will be well aware of how strongly I feel about the teaching of children how to grow and cook so I was super delighted when Michelle Darmody's first book 'Seed to Supper: The Journey of Your Food from the Ground Up' arrived on my desk. Michelle is a sustainable food education expert so she's totally in touch with young people and instinctively knows how to whet their appetites for both growing and cooking. Great illustrations by Ruth Graham will pique their curiosity further – a lovely collection of eclectic recipes to share with family and school friends. Avaiable from all good book shops, and online from the publisher Nine Bean Rows https://ninebeanrowsbooks.com/products/seed-to-supper

http://www.cookingisfun.ie/