Aspiring chefs are being called to step up to the plate and enrol on a brand-new training course, launched today by the Northern Ireland Hospitality School, offering students the chance to gain a chef qualification and secure guaranteed employment with one of Northern Ireland’s top hotels.

The brand-new Chef Academy will see six successful candidates selected to undertake a year-long scholarship delivered through on-the-job training at one of Northern Ireland’s top hotels; Adair Arms Hotel, Galgorm Resort or Tullyglass House Hotel, where they will ultimately secure guaranteed employment.

Successful candidates will gain a nationally recognised qualification (FDQ Level 2 Diploma in Professional Chef – Northern Ireland), delivered by training partner South Eastern Regional College (SERC).  The course involves not just classroom learning, but on the job training with our highly skilled kitchen brigade as well as unique experiences with our local food producers. 

Representing an investment in year one of nearly £250,000 the new academy aims to recruit six locally based chef apprentices for its first intake in September, with applications now open.

The announcement follows the launch of the Northern Ireland Hospitality School last April, part funded by Ballymena-based charity The Gallaher Trust. To date, the school has already supported 24 students in gaining full-time employment with partnering hotels through its dedicated Bar Academy.

For more information visit nihospitalityschool.com

Top awards for Ballylisk of Armagh, Baronscourt Estate, Morelli’s and Corndale.

All four 3-star winners from Northern Ireland in the 2022 Great Taste Awards are members of Food NI. The winning products are Ballylisk of Armagh Single Rose Brie cheese, Baronscourt Estate Wild Sika Venison Loin, CorndaleChorizo Picante and Morelli’s Raspberry Sorbet. Only 1.7% of the 14,205 2022 entries received a 3-star for“extraordinarily tasty food & drink”.

Burren Balsamics won two 2-star awards for their Balsamic Jelly and White Balsamic Jelly as did Suki Tea Makers for their Breakfast Tea. 2 stars are awarded to products deemed “above and beyond delicious”). Kestrel Foods won 2 stars for Forest Feast Salted Dark Chocolate Almonds as did Long Meadow for Blossom Burst Cider, Maud’s Pistachio Verde Ice Cream, McCracken’s Black Irish Stout, Thompson’s PunjanaTea Bags and Rooney Fish Millbay Oysters.

Ann’s Pantry from Larne won six 1 star awards for Sugar Free Oven Wheaten, Spelt Real Soda, Spelt Christmas Pudding, Custard Tart, Sugar Free Irish Wheaten Loaf Mix and Spelt Real Soda Mix. Other multiple 1 star winners included Dale Farm for Dromona Pure Butter, Dromona Extra Mature Cheddar, Mullins Strawberry Ice Cream,  Mullins Gourmet Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream and Dale Farm Honeycomb Ice Cream. Kestrel Foods won 4 1 stars for Forest Feast Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar Nut Mix, Sea Salt and Black Peppercorn Nut Mix, Acti Snack Peanut Butter Trail Mix and Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Almonds. Mash Direct also won four 1 star awards for Beer Battered Onion Rings, Chilli Baby Bakes, Champ and Skinny Fries. There were four 1 starplaudits for Morellis to add to their 3 star which were Clotted Cream with Caramelised Fig Ice Cream, Butter Rum with Boozy Raisin flavour, Calypso Coffee and Gianduia Ice Creams. 

Dundarave Estate’s Spiced Plum and Damson Jam won a star as did Deli Lites Tex Mex-inspired Plant-Based Burrito, Echlinville Distillery Irish Pot Still Gin, East Coast Seafoods Ballyhornan Smoked Salmon, Henderson’s own brand Spar Enjoy Local Peppered Rump Steak, Desserts by The Kitchen Salted Caramel Apple Pudding, The Chef Chicken and Ham Bake and The Kitchen Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, Kennedy Bacon’s Dry Cured Gammon Roast, Kilmegan Sparkling Apple Juice, L’Artisan Foods 3 Cheese and Caramelised Pear Quiche and also Meatballs, Long Meadow Apple Cider Vinegar, Linwood’s Shelled Hemp and Cold Milled Flaxseed, Maud’s Piemonte Hazelnut, McCracken’s Pale Irish Ale, Milgro Original and Flame Grilled Steak Crispy Onions, Punjana Special Everyday and Signature Blend Tea Bags, Quails 28 day Himalayan Salt Aged Tomahawk Steak and Beef and Caramelised Onion Sausage Roll, Springmount Farm Honey and Free Range Eggs, Suki Black Bush Tea Pyramids, Tartine at the Distillers Arms Pickle Sauce, Berties Bakery Toaster Wheaten and Four Big Pancakes,The Croft Farm Shop Erin Grove Wheaten Bread, Symphonia Irish Apple Rum and Yellow Door Apple, Rosemary and Raisin Soda Bread, Beef Rendang and Seared Irish Chicken with Herbs, Home Cured Bacon and Dijon Cream Sauce. 

The highest scoring producers now go through to the regional finals. The Golden Fork Ceremony celebrates the best from each region with the winner being awarded a Golden Fork trophy – there are ten up for grabs. Plus, the ultimate winner of Great Taste 2022 – The Supreme Champion – will be crowned for winning the highest-scoring 3-star product of the year.

All will be announced at the Great Taste Golden Fork Ceremony on Monday 5 September 2022, held at Southwark Cathedral.  

Chefs, home cooks and foodie influencers!

Do you have what it takes to battle it out to win a huge £100,000 cash prize AND mentorship that money can’t buy?

Next Level Chef is a brand-new ITV competition show, where 12 talented chefs, home cooks and foodie influencers will battle it out to create phenomenal next level dishes, in what can only be described as a demanding culinary gauntlet. Following its hugely successful US run, contestants will be put through their paces in the UK’s toughest EVER food competition as we celebrate the nation’s culinary excellence. After a series of weekly eliminations, whoever impresses Gordon Ramsay and the other mentors the most will take home a massive £100k prize as well as a money can’t buy mentorship package with Gordon and the other mentors.

For more information and how to apply follow: http://www.nextlevelchef.co.uk

(NICHS) 75^th Anniversary year and the charity is calling on people to help them celebrate by hosting a Heartfelt Healthy Morning Break.

The Heartfelt Healthy Morning Break initiative is supported by leading local health-food brand Linwoods and involves supporters choosing any date in June to host a Heartfelt Healthy Morning Break get-together in their home, workplace or community group.

When they sign up to the initiative supporters will receive a fundraising pack containing a bag of Linwoods cold-milled flaxseed and a recipe card to help them whip up a batch of tasty breakfast cupcakes for their event. The cupcakes can even be decorated with the custom-made NICHS 75^th Anniversary cupcake toppers which are also included in the pack.

Nadia Duncan, Events and Marketing Manager at NICHS says; “Many people in Northern Ireland are fans of a cuppa and a catch up for a good cause so hosting a Heartfelt Healthy Morning Break is the perfect opportunity to get family, friends or co-workers together to kickstart their day the right way, whilst helping over 335,000 people living with a chest, heart or stroke condition across the country.”

Nadia continues; “We are asking our Heartfelt Healthy Morning Break hosts to try and raise £75 from their get-together. As part of NICHS’s Care Services we deliver our Post Rehab Exercise Programme (PREP). PREP is designed to provide additional support to people who have had a stroke after their statutory rehab has ended. It aims to help people with rebuilding their lives and gaining confidence following a stroke through a combination of education and physio-developed exercises. £75 would pay for a Physiotherapist to provide one hour of therapy at a PREP group.”

So why not pick out an apron, get creative in the kitchen and gather loved ones, friends or work colleagues together to support your favourite local health charity. To find out more and sign up, visit http://www.nichs.org.uk/heartfeltbreak

Saturday Kitchen regular, Theo Randall, will headline this year’s Comber Earlies Food Festival on Saturday 25 June. Visitors to the festival will have the opportunity to discover how to best cook the prized potato with cooking demonstrations by local chef Jim Mulholland, while lecturers and students from SERC will be throwing in their usual creative dishes – look out for Combonara!

Running as part of Taste Summer in Ards and North Down, the free to attend Festival will have over 40 food stalls featuring local producers plus an artisan bar offering the best of local distilleries and breweries, as well as brass brands, children’s entertainment and a vintage tractor display.

Comber Earlies potatoes have enjoyed Protected Geographical Indication status since 2012, a recognition of their unique taste and flavour thanks to the micro-climate in which they’re grown in the rich soil of the Ards Peninsula and Comber areas. They share this status with products such as feta, camembert and champagne.

The Comber Earlies Food Festival is open from 10am – 4pm on Saturday 25 June and if you want to make a weekend of it, why not join the Comber Earlies Spud Tour on Friday 24 June or the Comber Earlies Food Festival Picnic on Sunday 26 June!

As part of the Spud Tour, you will have the opportunity to visit the fields of a local farmer and producer of the famous Comber Earlies and see the crops in their prime. Travelling by coach to the spectacular surroundings where the potatoes are grown, try your hand at harvesting and hear about what makes them so unique. Then taste the Comber Earlies fresh out of the field as they are cooked and served by renowned chef, Paula McIntyre, before rounding off your trip with a potato-based pizza and drink at No.14 The Georgian House. Tickets cost £20.

On Sunday 26 June, you can take part in National Picnic Week with an afternoon picnic at Island Hill, Comber. Bring your own picnic or pre-book a delicious Comber potato themed picnic box for £15. The Picnic Boxes have been prepared by SERC and contain ham hock rillettes, piccalilli and poppy seed lavash, Mexican layered potato salad, potato chapati with a curried potato green chilli and coriander relish, fresh green apple, potato power cookie, and a bottle of water.

The event is free to attend and you can enjoy lots of family fun including music, face painting and traditional picnic games.

The Council is committed to reducing our carbon footprint and has organised free buses to the event from Bangor, Newtownards and Belfast. Times and departure points are available from the website.
For more information, and to book your tickets or pre-book your picnic boxes, go to visitardsandnorthdown.com/tastesummer.

Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend, which is one of the biggest free awareness initiatives of its kind, is making a welcome return back on farms this weekend with visitor numbers predicted to be 20,000 across the three days. 

The initiative is led by the Ulster Farmers’ Union, with the support of Bank of Ireland, Asda, NFU Mutual, Livestock & Meat Commission NI, Moy Park, Fibrus and Irish Farmers Journal will take place on Friday 17 June for school children, Saturday 18 Juneand Sunday 19 June for the public and will see 18 working farms give a real behind the scenes snapshot of the local farm to fork story. 

President of the Ulster Farmers’ Union David Brown said; “We are delighted to be in a position to host Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend back on farms this year. The last two years have been a challenge for all our farm families and being able to welcome the public and share their passion and enthusiasm will be great to see.

“Our aim with Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend is to showcase the outstanding contribution our farms and farm families make in producing the quality food we so often take for granted. Throughout this year’s event we will focus on women in agriculture, environmental issues and the farm to fork story and I encourage everyone to visit our farms, speak to our farm families and really celebrate the wonderful produce available right here in Northern Ireland.”

The last two years saw Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend take on a virtual format, and although the in-person interaction with farm families was missed, the event did reach a new audience from across Northern Ireland and beyond. With this in mind, two farms – CAFRE Greenmount Campus and Churchview Farm will be streamed live on Open Farm Weekend’s Facebook page throughout the Friday (CAFRE Greenmount) and Saturday (Churchview Farm)

Opening times will vary, to avoid disappointment please check www.openfarmweekend.com

There are 18 working farms participating this year across all counties: Acton House Farm | Armagh Apple Farm at Ballintaggart House| Blackberry Hill Farm (School’s Day only) | Bullsbrook Farm| Broughgammon Farm| Chesnutt Farms| Churchview Farm| CAFRE Greenmount Campus| CAFRE Enniskillen Campus| D&D Holland| Hollow Farm (School’s Day only) | Jamison Farms| Laurel View Farm| Long Meadow Farm| Millbank Farm| Mullygarry Farm| Redhouse Holsteins (School’s Day only) | Seaview Farms