Darina Allen: Three recipes to inspire you to leave the city for countryside life

Darina Allen: "I’m so encouraged to meet so many young people who are leaving the cities to go back to the country to live on the land, not just here but in the UK and US also."

In these days of so much doom and gloom, particularly among the farming sector, I’m so encouraged to meet so many young people who are leaving the cities to go back to the country to live on the land, not just here but in the UK and US also. 

A recent poll in The Journal found that 53% of Irish people would also prefer to live in the country.

Many long to buy a patch of land, and a little house, often even one in dire need of renovation. One such example is Julius Roberts; I’ve never met him, but I certainly want to. 

He’s one of the many who are leaving the cities to take back a modicum of control over their own lives. They are on a mission to grow their own food and reconnect with the natural world.

Julius spent most of his childhood in the countryside exploring the woods, hunting rabbits and building bonfires.

Initially, he was scared to make the leap. For almost a year, he’d been working in Noble Rot, a well-known London restaurant and wine bar.

He loved the camaraderie and the excitement but the long hours, lack of sleep and stress didn’t seem sustainable to him. He loved learning and was intrigued by his head chef’s constant search for new produce, the very best ingredients and day boat fish from Cornwall. 

And the forager who always found the best wild mushrooms, the vegetable growers who sowed seeds and tilled the land. 

He envied the cheery ‘tanned and healthy’ looking growers who delivered seasonal vegetables – crunchy kale, juicy tomatoes, thorny artichokes, blue-skinned pumpkins and the farmer who proudly delivered the lambs he’d reared on organic pasture. 

All looked so vibrant and healthy from an outdoor life, while he spent his days in a windowless kitchen.

He was scared to take the plunge, but after much encouragement, he packed a bag and set off with his dog Loki in tow. 

He moved into his parents’ cottage in Suffolk and started private catering to make ends meet with the ultimate goal of turning their home into a smallholding.

Quite the challenge, he’d moved in the depths of winter with a fistful of dreams and, one might say, a pocket full of pence. 

The ground was frozen solid, too hard to dig and too cold to even sow seeds. There were many discoveries; chickens don’t like the cold either and lay far fewer eggs in winter.

He’d heard that pigs were a joy, so he started to search online and as luck would have it, met a lady who kept Mangalitsa rare breed pigs. Those gorgeous hairy pigs are famous for their dark marbled meat and are particularly good for curing.

Eventually, four squeaky piglets arrived and, after much fuss, settled into the pen Julius had scrambled together in the woods. They snuffled through the fallen leaves, dug deep into the rich soil and gorged on acorns. And so began a long and joyful journey.

Chickens, a few goats, a small flock of sheep and lots of vegetables growing, plus an endless string of hard knocks, mistakes and joyful learning, followed and so it
continues.

Somehow in the midst of it all, Julius wrote a book, continued to cook and experiment with his homegrown produce. The rest is history.

His book The Farm Table is a joy, not just for the many delicious seasonal recipes, but for his tingling prose, published by Ebury Press in 2023, but I’ve only just discovered it.

• Recipes have been adapted from The Farm Table by Julius Roberts, published by Ebury Press.

Egg Curry with Coconut Sambal and Flatbread

recipe by:Darina Allen

A comforting and warming dish inspired by the egg curries of Sri Lanka and southern India.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the curry paste:

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 4-6cm approx. of fresh ginger

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• 5 green cardamom pods

• ½ stick of cinnamon

• 2 tsp coriander seeds

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp ground turmeric

• ½ tsp mustard seeds

• For the curry base

• 1 large brown onion

• 2 bird’s-eye green chillies (remove the seeds if you don’t like it too spicy!)

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• 10 fresh curry leaves

• 1 x 400g tin of plum tomatoes

• 1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk

• 8 eggs

• For the coconut sambal:

• 100g desiccated coconut (use freshly grated coconut if available)

• 1 small brown onion

• 30g fresh coriander

• 1 green chilli (optional)

• juice of 1 lime

• salt and a sprinkle of sugar

• To serve:

• warm flatbreads

Method

1. For the curry paste, smash and peel the garlic, then peel and roughly chop the ginger.

2. Heat the coconut oil in a small pan. Once warm, add the spices, garlic, and ginger and fry on a medium heat for a minute or two until fragrant, make sure they don’t burn.

3. Transfer to a food processor with a splash of water and blitz to a fine paste. Season with a pinch of salt and set aside.

4. For the curry base, finely slice the onion and cut the chillies into thirds on the diagonal. Heat the coconut oil in a heavy-based pan and once warm, add the curry leaves and chillies.

5. Fry briefly until they sizzle and release their fragrance, then add the onion with a decent pinch of salt. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until the onion begins to caramelise at the edges.

6. Lift 4 tomatoes from the tin and crush them into the pan (don’t be tempted to add the entire tin as the tomato flavour will dominate). Add the curry paste and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

7. Add the coconut milk and cook for 15 minutes, until the flavours have melded and the sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

8. While the curry is coming together, get a large pan of water on a rolling boil and add the eggs. Set a timer for 7 minutes (for a medium soft-boiled egg with jammy yolks).

9. When they’re ready, remove and plunge into cold water. Peel off the shells and add the eggs to the curry sauce.

10. To make the sambal, pour the coconut into a bowl and grate in the onion.

11. Pour a few splashes of water over the coconut and stir together, adding more until it loses its dryness. Finely chop the coriander and chilli, if using, and stir through the coconut, being careful with the chilli at first.

12. Taste and season generously with lime, sugar and salt until you’re happy. Add more green chilli bit by bit to find the right level of spice for you.

13. Serve the curry in bowls, with warm flatbreads and a generous amount of the coconut sambal.

Pear and Walnut Upside-Down Cake

recipe by:Darina Allen

This cake is juicy, moist, and wonderfully light, but not too sweet. This cake lasts a good few days, especially if you keep it covered. Just gently warm any leftover slices in a low 140°C fan oven (Gas Mark 1) before eating.

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 50 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the topping:

• 5-6 ripe pears

• 50g butter

• 80g soft brown butter

• Juice of 1 ½ lemons (100ml approx.)

• For the cake:

• 1 x 23cm round cake tin, lined with parchment paper

• 200g butter, softened

• 200g caster sugar

• 4 eggs

• Seeds from 5 cardamom pods

• 3 cloves

• 100g walnuts

• 200g self-raising flour

• 4 tsp baking powder

• 5g sea salt

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 100g sour cream

• To serve:

• crème fraiche

Method

1. Start by peeling the pears, then cut them into quarters lengthwise and remove the cores with a sharp knife.

2. Place a wide frying pan on a medium heat and add the butter.

3. When it begins to melt, add the pears, cut side down, then sprinkle the soft brown sugar over the top and gently move the pan, using the weight of the pears to mix the sugar into the butter.

4. Squeeze over the lemon juice and allow to cook down for 8-10 minutes, until the pears have softened but still holding shape and the butter and sugar have become an amber-coloured caramel.

5. Remove the pears and arrange cut side up, fat side out in the lined cake tin (you may not need all of them).

6. Leave the caramel bubbling on a low heat to reduce further until it reaches a thick consistency, then pour over the pears (3-4 tbsp of caramel approx.).

7. Preheat the oven to 180 °C fan (Gas Mark 4).

8. For the cake, place the softened butter in a large bowl of a food processor using the whisk attachment and add the sugar.

9. Whisk until the butter is pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides a few times to make sure it’s evenly incorporated.

10. With the mixer running, add the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is thoroughly mixed before adding the next, or the butter may split.

11. Grind the cardamom seeds and cloves in a pestle and mortar and pop into a bowl.

12. Bash the walnuts in a pestle and mortar or crush them in a folded tea towel, using a rolling pin.

13. You want to keep a chunky texture. Mix the flour with the baking powder to ensure its evenly distributed. Sift, then add to the butter with the salt, cinnamon, ground spices and walnuts.

14. Mix these dry ingredients into the batter, then stir through the sour cream. Spread the cake batter over the pears and lightly even out the top.

15. Place the cake in the middle of the oven for up to an hour, until the cake is set. After around 30 minutes, reduce the heat to 160°C fan (Gas Mark 3) to make sure the top doesn’t get too dark.

16. Keep an eye, but don’t open the door, or you risk the cake deflating. After about 50 minutes, give the cake a gentle shake – if the middle is at all wobbly, it’s not cooked yet.

17. To test, insert a skewer into the middle, and when it comes out clean, it’s ready.

18. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes, then place a chopping board gently on the top of the cake.

19. Flip the cake and board, then remove the tin, and you should have a beautifully risen cake with juicy caramelised pears on top.

20. Serve warm with crème fraîche.

Deep Green Pasta

recipe by:Darina Allen

This one-pot dish is delicious and made in minutes. This sauce is equally delicious dolloped into a risotto at the end of cooking, slathered on toast with eggs, or even stirred into a salad dressing.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 250g cavolo nero (destalked weight), chopped coarsely

• 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled

• 200g spinach

• 400g rigatoni (penne may also be used)

• 100ml olive oil

• 1 unwashed lemon

• Ricotta, Parmesan or pecorino, for serving (optional)

Method

1. Get a large pan of water on to a rolling boil and season well with salt, enough that you can actually taste it. Add the cavolo nero along with the garlic cloves and simmer for about 5 minutes.

2. Then add the spinach, and when it has wilted (1 minute approx.), keeping the pot of water at a rolling boil, lift the greens and garlic into a colander. Run the greens under a cold tap and allow them to drain (press out the excess water). Put the pasta into the pan of water.

3. When the greens are drained, transfer to a high-speed blender, pour in the olive oil, grate in the zest of the lemon, and blitz into a very smooth purée, adding a splash of the cooking water to loosen it if need be (75ml approx.).

4. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

5. Cook the pasta until al dente, then take a mug and collect a full cup of the starchy water before straining the pasta.

6. Pour the pasta back into the hot pan and add a few big dollops of the sauce. Be generous.

7. Add a good splash of the pasta water (100ml approx.) and mix well, beating it around the pan to form a thick sauce that envelops the pasta in a deep green blanket.

8. Serve immediately, with a squeeze of lemon, some ricotta, Parmesan or some pecorino, if you like, and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Seasonal Journal

Kilcoe Studios spring workshops

Kilcoe Studios, located in Ballydehob, West Cork, are offering numerous workshops this spring:

February 28 - Spring clean broom making

March 28 - Rush basketry

March 29 - Coiled baskets with brambles

April 4-6 and April 19 - Cothú foraging events

April 25 - Nature’s materials and coiling baskets

kilcoestudios.com