“With the Woman Who Started it All” was the name of the post on my blog from back in the day.  A blog called “Karen in Cork”  that was really more like a travel journal documenting my time on the Ballymaloe Cookery School course.  I was so emotional about it that I literally only posted this photo.  I didn’t add any text whatsoever. Being with this woman and soaking up all her wonderful wisdom, wit and of course recipes, was a life changing experience. How could that be put into words?  So the glow on my face was my way to communicate the LOVE!

Fast forward to THIS blog and our weekly installment of Woman Crush Wednesday and one might wonder….”Geez Karen, you have done 20 crushes on 20 differently female chefs, aren’t you forgetting one?” Well my friends, I could never forget. I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to share with you my infatuation with this incredible foodie.  Darina Allen is a national treasure!  She has literally transformed and guided a culinary movement in Ireland.  Bringing attention to the fact that Ireland is leading the world in food ethos and care.  It isn’t the quantity produced, but the quality.

From ‘seed to table’ isn’t just a clever buzz phrase invented by slick marketing teams, it is the way in which the Ballymaloe Team live their life. And what better day to choose then the  day before the Feast of St. Patrick to share the love for my teacher, mentor, and dare I say idol in the culinary world!

When I left the States for the gorgeous countryside of County Cork in Southern Ireland, my American friends asked, “Well if you are going to a cookery school in Ireland does that mean you’re going to learn how to make stew everyday?”  What they showed in ignorance, they gained in knowledge once they saw my weekly posts about the recipes, the people, the farm and indeed about Darina herself.  Darina started the cookery school back in 1983.  Since then she has written numerous award winning cookery books and graced the covers of magazines as well as been featured on television.  But what she has created more than anything is a legacy.

There is a wonderful quote that says something to the effect of “the greatest thing in life is to create something that outlives you”.  Obviously the school itself is amazing,  and the team that Darina and her husband Tim Allen have put together is phenomenal.  It is such a well oiled machine now that she and Tim can actually travel to far away places, such as India, when the school is in fact in session.  But when she returns there are always more inspiring cooking demonstrations while she shares her glorious stories about their adventures.

 However when you look at the number of chefs who have immersed themselves in her teachings and then gone off and left their own mark in the gastronomic realm, then you truly realize the reach that Darina has had. One of her students has even won Master Chef!  On top of all that, several years ago she helped found the Ballymaloe Lit Fest. This yearly Food and Wine festival brings together chefs and food writers from all over the globe for a glorious gastronomic and literary weekend.  In 2014 I had the pleasure of attending a day of the festival and it was one of the most stimulating and inspiring experiences I’ve ever had.

So here I am giving homage to this amazing woman and will be recreating one of her recipes live on Snapchat (username: blissbakery).  However, each week when I choose a chef, I make a recipe that I have never made before to show those watching that it is possible. Often folks are reluctant to make a recipe unless they have been shown how to do it.  I like to model the notion that it is okay to just dive in and do it!  But, bear in mind, I have likely made every Darina Allen recipe she’s ever published!  Except this one today!  And what a perfect time to make it with Paddy’s Day tomorrow.  It is a classic recipe from early Irish farmhouse cooking. And it is made with an Irish staple, RHUBARB!  It is featured in Sunday’s Irish Independent newspaper. And in typical Celctic style, this recipe is in fact a hand-me-down. The tradition in Ireland is to indeed share recipes from one kitchen to another passing the culinary torch so to speak.  This is how Darina eloquently describes it…

“This dish is a perfect example of the way in which recipes originally cooked on an open fire can be adapted to produce the most delicious results today. Anna Dodd, who gave it to me, remembers how her grandmother would strew the bastible with chopped rhubarb, sweeten it with a sprinkling of sugar and cover it with an enriched bread dough. When the cake was baked, it was turned out so that it landed upside down, with the sweet juice soaking into the soft, golden crust. It was served warm, with soft brown sugar and lots of softly whipped cream.”

Ingredients

900g (2lbs) red rhubarb

255-285g (9-10oz) granulated sugar

Scone Dough

310g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

20g caster sugar

1 heaped tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

55g butter

1 egg

175ml whole milk

To Serve

Soft brown sugar

Softly whipped cream

23 x 5cm (9 x 2in) round tin – we use a heavy stainless-steel sauté pan which works very well

Method

Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450º/gas mark 8.

Trim the rhubarb, wipe with a damp cloth and cut into pieces about 2.5cm (1in) in length. Put into the base of your tin or sauté pan and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Sift all the dry ingredients for the scone dough into a bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Whisk the egg with the milk.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid all at once and mix to a soft dough. Turn out on to a floured board and roll into a 23cm round, about 2.5cm thick. Place this round on top of the rhubarb and tuck in the edges neatly. Bake in the fully preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 for about a further 30 minutes, or until the top is crusty and golden and the rhubarb soft and juicy.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Put a warm plate over the top of the sauté pan and turn it upside down so that the pie comes out onto the plate. Be careful of the hot juices, they will be absorbed by the pie.

Serve warm with soft brown sugar and cream.

Truth be told, anything Darina makes is perfect in my book!  And this recipe is no different.  I could write a post a day on her and not make a dent in the admiration I have for her.  A woman in her 60’s who eats butter, sugar, cream, meat, all the things “experts” say not to eat. And yet she is as beautiful, vibrant, and energetic as the day she stepped foot in the Ballymaloe House to work under the tutelage of the legendary Myrtle Allen.

Knowing the humble Darina, when she finds out that I have done a Woman Crush on her she will turn to give credit to Myrtle, the matriarch of the Allen clan and one of the founders of the Slow Food Movement.  As well, Darina will say that all of the achievements are because of the T.E.A.M.  My own acronym for “Together Everyone Achieves More” fits here as there are gardeners, teachers, office staff, housekeepers, as well as the students, literally hundreds of people who make it all work.  In fact Rachel Allen (Darina’s daughter in law and also a #WCW recipient) as well as Darina’s brother Rory O’Connell, both principal teachers at the school, are two of my all time favorite people!

But let it be said, as it was the night the top photo was taken, “with the woman who started it all” none of this would be possible!  I love you Darina!  Thank you for being YOU!

Deepest Love Imaginable!

YDP

Yipee I am back home and excited to share another week of infatuating on a female foodie! While I was away in America of course I allowed myself the splurge time.  But now that I am back in London and no longer traveling I can plan ahead. Therefore, I decided to make this Woman Crush Wednesday not only a good one, but also a ‘good for you’ one!  However, you know me, I like to eat, and enjoy my tasty food! So this is where our gorgeous gourmet gal Gizzie Erskine comes to the rescue!

Gizzie is a well known British chef, cookery book writer, and television personality.  After training at Leith’s School of Food and Wine she was featured in shows such as Taste and Cook Yourself Thin.  So she knows a thing or two about getting on the straight and narrow. But like me she has a healthy appetite.  Not to mention she wrote a book called Healthy Appetite: Foods to Nourish Body and Feed the Soul.  Okay, now we are talking!  This leads us to Gizzie’s amazing and satisfying recipe for a Super Food Salad!  That way, we can feel nurtured and not neglected when we work our way through the gorgeous colors on the plate to a full tummy.

Super Food Salad

Ingredients:
100g quinoa
320ml water
100g kale, blanched for 30 seconds and refreshed in iced water
100g fresh or frozen edamame beans
½ head of broccoli, cut into small florets
1 avocado, peeled, stoned and chopped
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
10 radishes, thinly sliced
300g perfectly cooked or hot-smoked salmon, skin removed and flesh flaked
1 tablespoon toasted black and/ or white sesame seeds

For the Japanese salad dressing
1 banana shallot, very finely chopped
3cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
6 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons sesame oil
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Pop the quinoa in a dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat, keeping the quinoa moving the whole time, until it’s lightly golden and nutty. Transfer to a small saucepan and add a good pinch of salt and the water. Cover, bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and, keeping the lid on, let the quinoa steam for 5 minutes to soak up the remaining liquid and get fluffy.

To make the dressing, place all the ingredients in a clean jam jar and season with salt and pepper. Screw the lid on tightly and shake it like crazy.

Drain the kale and dry it on kitchen paper, then roughly chop. Place the kale in a large salad bowl along with the edamame beans, broccoli, avocado, spring onions, radishes and quinoa. Dress with two-thirds of the salad dressing, give a swift mix so as not to let the avocado break up too much, then plate up between 4 plates.

Top with the salmon and the remaining dressing and finish with a scattering of the sesame seeds.

Gizzie is no doubt a beautiful woman.  And you have to give it up to her for owning her style. She is a 60’s retro Audrey Hepburn punk goddess!!  She is also very confident and not one to shy away from having an opinion and stating it.  Just one look at her Instagram or Twitter accounts and you get her point.  So it isn’t a surprise that she has taken a stance about the latest food trends such as #cleaneating.  Being passionate about food, yet knowing the importance of being healthy, Gizzie sets the record straight with the recipes in her latest book, as well as this exchange from a recent article in the Independent:

So, is food bound up with love for her? “Yes – I always associated cooking with love. It’s so emotive.” No wonder she’s not so keen on #cleaneating: it’s hard to express a lot of love through cucumber sticks.

Awesome that she equates cooking with LOVE!  My kind of person!  Her soft side is just as adorable as her cats Ponzu and Kimchi!  And apparently she feeds them quite well!  Even caviar according to this article in the Daily Mail!  Well, we will certainly be well fed with this salad today, and likely tomorrow too.  As this is not a typical mixed leaf salad that goes all wilted once you put on the dressing.  With all the bits and pieces of tasty goodness and all the flavors and textures, it will hold up quite well indeed!

Thanks Gizzie for being such an inspiration to so many.  On the day after International Woman’s Day I can say I am delighted to have you as a #WCW and look forward to many more years of your fabulous recipes!

Super (Gizzie) Food Love,

YDP

P.S. As per usual I’ve done a cooking tutorial with our Woman Crush Wednesday recipe. My username is: blissbakery. I had some bugs in my snapchat app but I didn’t let that stop me! Though it did take a bit longer to post. But if you like some 60’s music (accompanied by some bad singing and bad dancing by moi) than come check it out. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why it took so long to post. Poor Snapchat’s ears can’t take it! LOL!

Though I am still away from home, I am enjoying every minute of the time with my girls (my daughter and two granddaughters).  It is like a total girl power party every night (no offense to my dear son in law).  And with Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday the 6th of March (only for my UK and Irish Peeps, as the American one isn’t until May) I thought why not celebrate this week’s Woman Crush Wednesday with a perfect ‘mother to be’ honoree? AND recreate her ultimate recipe for what could be a centerpiece dish for a Mother’s Day Brunch!  Bring on the gorgeous gourmet gal this week, the incredible Chrissy Teigen!

The timing for Chrissy to be this week’s #WCW couldn’t be more perfect as this multi talented lady is about to give birth.  And I’m not just talking about her first baby with award winning musician husband John Legend. Yes Chrissy’s other impending birth is her new highly anticipated cookbook called Cravings. Though when you look at this stunning part Norwegian, part Thai model/chef/television host, you might not think that food is this woman’s passion. Wearing a swimsuit for the famous Sports Illustrated Magazine cover and eating decadent food don’t usually go hand in hand.  But with Chrissy it works!  She loves to cook and eat, and does it all with amazing charm, grace and yes even bravado!  Hence she is adored by her millions of social media fans on Instagram and Twitter.

Chrissy’s blog called Delushious is a love letter to food! I happen to love how it is broken down into categories “What I Make, What I Eat and Stuff You Made!” as it is very user friendly and interactive. There are so many great pics and recipes you could get lost with stars in your eyes. Of course, with Chrissy’s stunning beauty as well, it is easy to see why. Yet what is fab about her is that she and her hubby are so in love and aren’t afraid to show it.  Not only inspiring to those who glimpse a pic of the two sharing some PDA, but also, Chrissy has been a muse for her hubby’s amazing songs!

Here is a recipe of Chrissy’s that will make all of us sing!

CEREAL & MILK FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE WITH SALTED FROSTED FLAKE TOPPING

Ingredients

1 tablespoon softened butter
1 pound (450 g) French loaf bread (cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes)
8 eggs
2 cups (475 ml) heavy cream (called Double Cream in Ireland and UK)
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1/2 cup (120 ml) spiced rum
1 cup (220 g) brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
CRUNCHY CEREAL TOPPING
3 cups (135 g) frosted corn flake cereal
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup “streaky” bacon, cooked and crumbled, which is about 3 slices
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Butter a 9inch x 13inch casserole dish (or 12-inch high-sided oven-safe skillet) and arrange the cubed bread in the dish.
In a large bowl, add the eggs, heavy cream, milk, rum, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and mix until smooth. Pour the mixture over the bread, pressing on the bread to submerge it in the custard. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 12.
For the Crunchy Cereal Topping: preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, combine the cereal, butter, bacon and salt, and stir to combine. Spread the mixture evenly over the casserole.
Place in the oven to bake until the topping is golden and the bread cubes peeking out of the top are crusty and toasty, about 50-to 55 minutes.

Okay, this casserole is so good, really now, you have to make it. It is not only easy to put together, but is also flexible, as you can make substitutions if need be.  I did.  My five year old granddaughter cannot have dairy, so I swapped out the cream, milk and butter with suitable alternatives.  Not a problem as it still tasted fantastic.  Also, if you don’t eat bacon then just leave it out.  I love that the final result is so crunchy and yet soft as well.  It has the perfect balance of sweet and salty.  It would be great to have on a buffet brunch table with a fruit salad on the side.  And the best thing is that it can be prepped in advance (up to 12 hours in fact) and then popped into the oven just an hour before you need to serve it. My kind of entertaining!

Chrissy is such a fun loving person and I can imagine the get togethers at her and husband John’s home would be a blast.  One look at Spike TV’s hit show Lip Sync Battle which she co-hosts with LL Cool J and you get the gist that even work is fun!  The recent episode with Channing Tatum vs his wife Jenna Dewan was hilarious!  Personally I had a blast singing and dancing while doing the snapchat tutorial for this #WCW recipe.  If you want to try to catch it in the next 24 hours my username is:  blissbakery.

Congrats Chrissy on all the great things happening in your life. Thank you for being a wonderful inspiration for enjoying food and life in general. Looking forward to many more cooking adventures with you!

Mama Love,

YDP

How fun is it to see that another Wednesday has rolled around, which means that another female chef is gonna be getting some love!  This week is a bit different as I am traveling today from L.A. back to my daughter and family in Washington State. Spending many hours on planes and layovers, unless I commandeer the snack cart on board, our cooking tutorial will have to wait a day.  But I can still shine a light on another gorgeous gourmet gal, and recreate her recipe for snapchat (username: blissbakery) tomorrow.

Though today’s chef isn’t from Los Angeles, her recipe was inspired by a popular treat found here at many bakeries. The lovely English rose Olivia Wollenberg from Livia’s Kitchen is this week’s #womancrushwednesday and her sweet treats will knock your socks off!  But the good news is they won’t hurt you in the process because all of Livia’s recipes are wheat, dairy and refined sugar free. Her desserts are wholesome and delicious and I’ve been eager to share her with all of you.  Her first book, Livia’s Kitchen:  Naturally Sweet and Indulgent Treats,  is about to be released so I thought this would be the perfect time to introduce you. And when I read her intro to this recipe, the word “LA” jumped out at me.

“Blondies are a very American thing and something I have been wanting to recreate ever since I changed the way I ate. I was worried that I would never manage to make some as delicious as the ones I remembered from my time spent in LA but luckily, these are as good if not better! They are so moist and gooey but also crumbly and the chunks of raw chocolate make them the most dreamy things.”

I suppose because I have been back here visiting for the past two weeks I’ve gone all “LA-LA Land!” Lots of blondes here, many are likely the bleached variety though!  But, not surprisingly, Los Angeles is a wonderful breeding ground for healthy foods, so all the stars were indeed aligned for these amazing Chocolate Chip Vanilla Blondies.

Ingredients:-

250g ground almonds
2 teaspoons vanilla powder
50g buckwheat flour
100g cashew butter
50g coconut oil
45g coconut sugar
130ml maple syrup
200ml almond milk
100g raw chocolate (I used ombar but you could use your favourite brand, make your own or just add chopped nuts instead)
Method:-

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a brownie tin with greaseproof paper.
In a bowl, combine the flour, almonds, vanilla and raw chocolate and set aside.
Cream together the coconut oil and coconut sugar in a food processor.
Add the maple and cashew butter to the processor and blend again until it’s combined.
Add this wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix it really well.
Add in the milk and stir again until it’s all completely combined.
Pour into the lined tray and bake for 35 minutes until golden.
Leave to cool for 10 -15 minutes in the tray before slicing.

Besides her cookbook, Livia hosts super popular “Cream Free Teas” a nice alternative to the proper British Teas that might not be suitable for people with daily intolerance.  Livia also teaches healthy baking classes and runs a business baking delicious treats.  Her sought after  crumbles are now running neck and neck with an exciting new product to her range, the awesome Raw Millionaire Bites.  These come in three flavors (chocolate orange, salted date caramel, and almond raisin) and are packaged in a cute little bucket.  This girl is not only a fab chef, she is also a beautiful business woman!  Yet she is totally humble and very accessible to her loyal social media followers.

She has nearly 75,000 followers on Instagram alone, and shares pictures of stunning food, pretty friends and even a glimpse in the kitchen with her “elves” (as she calls her helpers) happily baking away!  It is indeed a family affair as she works out of her parents’ kitchen and includes her mom and sister to lend a hand melting chocolate or sprinkling the oaty crumble on top of the fantastic fruit!  But what I love about her Instagram posts is that all of them are positive.  In the midst of a bad day, Livia reframes it as a challenge and provides so much inspiration and encouragement for those who look up to her.

It is really lovely to see someone so talented and so nice, doing so well. And feeling well!  It was because of a diagnosis of food intolerances back in 2014 that spurred Livia on to create treats that she could eat.  I think I met my sweet tooth match with her!  But these Blondies are beyond yummy and while you feel satisfied after eating them, you don’t feel guilty. The sky is the limit for her! She just so happens to be “besties” with another of our  #WCW recipients, Ella Woodward. And lo and behold, Livia is baking the cake for Ella’s upcoming wedding.  Very eager to see that!

Thanks Livia for being not only an awesome Woman Crush Wednesday and sharing your sweet treats with us, but also for being such a sweet person! You’re making the world a better place one bite at a time!

Millionaire Love!

YDP