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Inspiration and Recipes from an Irish Garden

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It seems none of the Allens stray far from the two places that have made them: the garden or the kitchen. One morning I come across Tim, hands dirty, hair disheveled, pulling garlic from the earth. Myrtle is there, along with the chef from Ballymaloe, and a discussion ensues about what to put on the menu that evening. “We grow organically, of course,” explains Tim, gesturing toward the rows of produce. “And because we don’t have the transport issues, we can pick everything at its absolute ripest—that’s how we determine what’s on the menu each night, by what is picked that day.”

That evening at the five-course dinner in Ballymaloe’s formal dining room, the light filters through the tall windows. A field of rapeseed (to be used for biofuel, Rory Allen explained) is rustling outside. Course after course arrives: a thyme-infused onion soup, pan-fried scallops with Jerusalem artichokes and beurre blanc, guinea fowl with fresh herb stuffing, and a decadent raw-milk crème brûlée with shards of caramel. Darina and Tim mop their plates; Myrtle, now in her eighties and still ever-vigilant, comes by to find out how the meal is. “Tomorrow,” she adds to Tim, “we must do something with all of that arugula we have—it is the season.” At Ballymaloe, it is always the season for something.

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