The author of Foxford Café Cookbook shares her foodie journey and favourite recipes …
How did your work in luxury hotels including Ashford Castle, Four Seasons Hotel and Dunraven Arms) influence your style of cooking? They were all fabulous venues and gave me wonderful opportunities. I was a student while at Ashford, so you just try to soak everything in. I learned fast that it was all about the guests’ experience. I started as a baker with Four Seasons Hotel, beginning work at 3am. We baked all of our own croissants, Danish pastries and breads in-house. I worked in each section of their pastry kitchen, from fine dining to banqueting. I learned how to produce quality food in large quantities, meaning you had to be incredibly organised. The Dunraven was my first role as head pastry chef. I got to put my own stamp on their menus, which was a wonderful feeling.
What’s your process when working with seasonal produce grown on site? We grow all of our own leaves and lots of herbs. We also have apple and pear trees. Our kitchen team picks the leaves and herbs daily as it’s important that they learn to appreciate the hard work that goes into getting them to a kitchen, and they understand how to harvest them so that they replenish. We keep it simple: the leaves are the star, and we usually just serve them with pickled onion, seasonal fruits or sometimes with our signature Fig & Pickled Pear Salad. We also serve seasonal crumbles or pop the apples and pears in our Bakewell Tarts.
The Foxford Café is nestled in the mill for visitors to enjoy. How important is the food for this experience, do you think? Foxford is now more than just a woollen mills, it’s a contemporary lifestyle brand and food plays a huge role in that. The commitment to quality and craftsmanship that is part of the fabric of Foxford is evident in everything we do in the café. The space meanders through original rooms that have been given new life. Our production kitchen, where we produce our award-winning preserve range, has revived a finishing room from the original mill buildings. We’re committed to sourcing locally and our menus reflect the seasons, with all of our food produced onsite. Customers come for the Foxford “experience” and the cafeé is at the heart of everything that happens in the mill.
Seasonal food keeps better, so you’ll have less waste. It’s common sense, really.
You promote food sustainability, is it important for readers to see easy-to-follow recipes made with fresh ingredients? One hundred per cent. We’ve become spoiled by the wide variety available all year round in our supermarkets. Lots of the recipes in our cookery book focus on a star ingredient like beetroot patties, for example, which you make when beetroot is at its best. It’s also easily grown in Ireland. Another example is our Kale Salad with Maple Tahini Dressing & Pickled Red Onion. It’s great when in season and also easily grown in Ireland.
Do you grow any produce at home and, if so, what produce? I have six or seven apple trees, so cooking apples. I usually bring them to work. My mother is a wonderful gardener, and I’m lucky enough to live next door. She grows potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, beetroot, tomatoes, lettuce, blackcurrants, squash and even chillies. She puts me to shame!
What’s your favourite autumn menu to cook when entertaining guests and why? I love making soups and winter warming curries this time of year. I often make the Mushroom & Spinach Soup from the book at home. For salads, it would have to be the Beetroot & Orange Salad or kale salad as they’re great for lunch.
What’s your top tip for setting an autumnal table? I usually have some dried hydrangeas, the garden is full of them and they look equally as good dried as fresh. Also a couple of branches and a few small pumpkins if I can get my hands on them.
Foxford Café Cookbook by Kathleen Flavin, published by The O’Brien Press (€24.99).