The Garden Kitchen: 2011

Saturday 13 August 2011

End of a fantastic little tearoom.

It is of great sadness that we will be closing The Garden Kitchen @ Rowallane Gardens in Mid September our last day will be 18^th September.

Many will be asking why close a well run and popular business? Unfortunately it is out of our control as the Nation Trust have decided to run tearooms themselves.

I can see why they what to do this from a consistency point of view but it is a shame to close an award winning tearoom which was built from nothing.

I arrived at Rowallane in May 2009 to find a dated tearoom room, which only opened two days a week serving tray bakes, and filter coffee and tea. I set about baking and got an espresso machine from Ristretto, opened every day and started to build up good custom. So good that a few months later Laura joined me and then we became very popular with people coming to the garden just to have lunch with us.

One of the biggest complements we got in the first year was the inclusion in The Bridgestone Guide this year we also got a lovely write up from Georgina Campbell Good Food Guide.

Our last baking course at Rowallane in on Saturday 17^th Sept.

I would like to thank everyone for their custom and support over the years.

Tuesday 15 March 2011

#Inishfood

Well a few days have pasted since I drove up to Harrys Bar for inishfood, the snow on the way was a bit hairy but I was going to get there.

I arrived and meet Ross from Bailies coffee then walked it to the impressive location with people buzzing around setting up sound equipment and large screens. When I meet Donal he was very calm considering the task ahead I offered to help and ended up help lift an oven in to a van and into harrys it was good to muck in.

I am not going to sum the day in detail there are many great blog with this on it already and great photo http://icanhascook.wordpress.com/ and http://www.bestofbridgestone.com/blog/inishfood-report-sally-mckenna being some of my favorites but there are to many to list.

I am going to tell you what Inishfood has inspired me to do and the faith in local food has been restored.

The first thing I did on Sunday was make scones with the butter milk I got from @ModernFarmette demo of making butter, it made the lightest scones I have ever made and the taste was creamy.

This is a rhubarb scone from that day.

I am now looking into the practicalities of making our own butter and buttermilk talking to a local dairy this week so watch this space.

The other part of the day that got my mind going overtime was the visit to the walled garden, as our café is in a garden this was of great interest to me. To see such a great walled garden being brought back to life is fantastic I have my eye on a poly tunnel so hope to up our growing space from the 4 small beds we have at the minute. The space in the walled garden is fantastic but having more growing area would really boost what we do here.

This is the herb and veg patch in Rowallane last year fantastic to pick salads almost to order and I am about to plant peas for pea shoots to go with a terrine special.

So much happened at Inishfood and I meet so many great people I must thank you all for such a fantastic day and the staff and chefs from Harrys for wonderful food and service.

Roll on many more days like this.

Monday 14 March 2011

Winter Courses and Events at The Garden Kitchen

Dates now confirmed

Bread baking workshop

Learn how to make the perfect bread at The Garden Kitchen includes morning coffee Chelsea bun and Lunch, you even get to take bread home. You will need an apron. £35 Starts 10.30am finishes 3.30pm. Limited places please email dsemple@thegardenkitchen.co.uk or call 07930843989
17th Sept 2011, 7th Jan 2012, 18th Feb 2012

Sourdough bread workshop

Learn the art of making this wonderful bread at The garden Kitchen. Includes morning coffee with a bun and Lunch, you even get to take bread home. You will need an apron.

£35 Starts 10.30am finishes 3.30pm. Limited places please email dsemple@thegardenkitchen.co.uk or call 07930843989 19th Nov 2011

The Secrets of The Garden Kitchen

A new course at The Garden Kitchen learn how to make the perfect scone and a few of our cakes inc our famous carrot cake. Includes morning coffee with a scone and Lunch. You will need an apron.

£35 Starts 10.30am finishes 3.30pm. Limited places please email dsemple@thegardenkitchen.co.uk or call 07930843989 26th Nov 2011

Pastry and Pasta

Learn how to make short crust pastry and wonderful egg pasta.

Includes morning coffee with a scone and Lunch. You will need an apron.

£35 Starts 10.30am finishes 3.30pm. Limited places please email dsemple@thegardenkitchen.co.uk or call 07930843989 21st Jan

Christmas Baking workshop

Its time to think about Christmas learn how to make fantastic mince for your mince pies and the best pastry for the pie. Make a perfect chutney to liven up your turkey sandwiches. Includes morning coffee with a scone and Lunch. You will need an apron.

Includes morning coffee with a scone and Lunch. You will need an apron.

£35 Starts 10.30am finishes 3.30pm. Limited places please email dsemple@thegardenkitchen.co.uk or call 07930843989 29th October 2011

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Rhubarb Curd

For you keen eyed tweeters you will have noticed I made Rhubarb curd on Friday,

I have got the recipe for you here

2 large stalks of rhubarb

60 grams unsalted butter

120grms caster sugar

8 eggs

Ok first thing is to gently cook the rhubarb in a little of the sugar until soft, then stain it so you are left with a bright pink liquid.

Now gently melt the butter in a heavy based pan I like my preserving pan for this.

Add the liquid and sugar and stir until dissolved, wisk the eggs and them make sure the heat is low and keep stiring as it will thicken quite quickly.

Once its like a thick smooth custard its ready.

Enjoy

Friday 25 February 2011

Want to learn to grow your own veg?

The hard working garden team at Rowallane gardens have come up with this fantastic event for you.

Rowallane Garden 26 March 2011 Gone to Seed

Come a learn from the garden team on starting off growing your own veg. Pick up tips, ideas and expertise on producing your own tasty veg at home. Cost includes Coffee/Tea, lunch provided Limited places, booking essential 028 9751 0131 10-30 - 3pm £30.00

Monday 21 February 2011

New Bread baking course 9th April

After much demand I have picked a date for the next bread baking workshop.

Come along and perfect your bread making at home, a fun and interactive workshop.
Starting at 1030am with coffee and a chelsea bun then an introduction to the perfect dough.
Then its your turn to make bread followed by lunch. After lunch its question and answers while the bread rises, we should even have time for a quick scone making session or how to make perfect shortcrust pastry.
Then you get to take your bread home with you.

We are hiring

It is the time of the year to think about the busy spring and summer ahead, so with the addition of Divis to our tearooms we need more staff to help us at Rowallane.

As we are a very seasonal business this is a temporary job from April to September 20hrs+ a week to include working on weekends.

The main role is to serve the customers, make coffee's, help with kitchen prep, washing up and general duties. So a bit of everything.

We have many regular customers and it is important to treat everyone as a VIP. Having great fresh food is also another passion for us and that's why people come back.

So if you think this fits you send us your CV and we will get in touch.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Lemon Marmalade with honey

I made lemon marmalade today with lemons I was given by the lovely people at Walk Andalucia when I was on one of their great holidays at the end of January.

Lemons 1kg

Water 2.5 ltrs

Sugar 1.75 kg

Honey 200grms

I started by scrubbing the lemons in cold water then juicing them, leave the juice to one side. Now this is the most important separate the pith from the zest I cut the lemons into quarters and cut of the pith and set aside, next i sliced up the zest into fine strips. The next step is to put the pith into muslin and tie it up then I put the zest, lemon juice and water and muslin bag into a preserving pan and brought to the boil and simmered for just under 2 hours. Next I removed the muslin squeezing any remaining liquid in the bag back into remaining liquid now I added the sugar and honey to the pot and brought to a rolling boil until it reached the setting point before jarring. This made 9 275grm jars

Pics to follow

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Looking forward to Spring

As the days are getting a little longer I am looking forward to fresh herbs and veg from the garden this summer. I found this photo of the herb garden last year makes me think of menus for the summer.

The Garden Kitchen