Jenny Bristow

Lough Neagh Food Festival, Castledawson

Castledawson serves up a culinary celebration with Northern Ireland's ambassador for good food, Jenny Bristow

One Day Lough Neagh Food Festival Set for Saturday 15th September

Castledawson will be converted into a colourful culinary celebration on Saturday 15th September – with the first ever Lough Neagh Food Festival, organised by a Steering Group made up of Castledawson Development Enterprises Ltd, Magherafelt Area Partnership and Magherafelt TIC.

The one day event will see the main street come alive with stalls offering all sorts of taste sensations, plus culinary demonstrations and by leading chefs, and all the usual festival fringe activities – including major attraction for children of all ages such as the Monster Mural and a special class on decorating gingerbread people!
Jointly sponsored by Castledawson’s own international food success story, Ditty’s Bakery and Magherafelt’s largest independent retailer JC Stewart, the one day event is expected to attract visitors from all over Northern Ireland and beyond!

Download Castledawson Masterclass recipes as PDF

Jenny Bristow will be cooking up a treat while raising awareness for quality local produce in her Masterclass kitchen at one of the cookery events.  Jenny said “I am delighted to be involved with so many from the food industry in Northern Ireland and helping organisers create such a fantastic festival showcasing all that is good in local produce.”

 Magherafelt’s own master chef Sean Owens of Gardiners Restaurant and Simon Toye, renowned chef at The Inn, Castledawson will also be cooking in the JennyBristow.com Masterclass kitchen.

Along with cookery demonstrations and a BBQ in the Courtyard of The Inn at Castledawson, a wide range of local food manufacturers and suppliers will be getting into the food festival mood – with freshly brewed coffee beans from Upperlands, to locally produced ice-cream, sausages and seafood.

Magherafelt  Area Partnership’s Chris McCarney said

" This is the inaugural Lough Neagh Food Festival. Its mix of shopping, sampling, demonstrations with a packed entertainment programme ensures it has a wide appeal. It’s ideal for everyone from families to foodies - who can all get involved in the chefs’ master classes. Not only will the one day event give the local community a chance to celebrate its rich and diverse food traditions plus the contribution the area’s food producers make to the local economy, it’s also an opportunity for Castledawson and its surrounds to welcome visitors and offer fine food and hospitality."

Robert Ditty of Ditty’s Home Bakery which exports its oat cakes all round the globe, as well as providing fresh home baked products daily for the local market, is sponsoring the event. He said:

" This is a fresh and innovative festival that not only promotes good food and drink, it encourages a sense of community and pride in local produce"

Joint sponsor Paul Stewart of JC Stewarts said

" Joint sponsor Paul Stewart of JC Stewarts said “We’re delighted to support the Lough Neagh Food Festival. It’s a showcase for local and regional artisan produce – and JC Stewart through our own in-store Artisan events has long since been a strong advocate in support of local food craft. The Lough Neagh Food Festival will celebrate the wealth of food and related products sourced, grown and manufactured in Northern Ireland. We look forward to a fantastic event on Saturday 15th September."

The Lough Neagh Food Festival is made possible with Peace II funding via DARD (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development).

For further information contact Julie McCaughan @ Issue Island on 028 796 59626 or issue.island@btinternet.com or Jackie McGonigle at Orchid Design on 077 27 640 045 or festival@magherafelt.org

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Flock to the Lough Food Festival

Antrim Borough Council is staging a culinary celebration over the August Bank Holiday weekend on the shores of Lough Neagh. The 'Flock to the Lough' Food Festival at Antrim Lough Shore Park will showcase speciality foods and local gourmet produce. Jenny Bristow, Ambassador of Good Food Northern Ireland is working closely with Antrim Borough Council in highlighting and reinforcing the high quality local produce which exists on our doorstep!

As well as culinary delights there will be entertainment throughout the festival for the whole family including boat trips on Lough Neagh, a radio roadshow and a teddy bears picnic. There will also be live music to accompany a beautiful giant swan as it gliding gracefully into Lough Neagh as the riverbank is illuminated by firecans, followed by a fireworks display.

Jenny's Masterclass cookery extravaganza, which is to take place inside the marquee, will demonstrate the food supply chain, from supplier/exhibitor to consumer, to the finished product on your plate! The meals prepared will reflect the produce from within the marquee, including fish and meat dishes.

Jenny has worked closely with the various exhibitors to develop the following mouth watering regional recipes.

Download Lough Neagh Masterclass recipes as PDF

Jenny States

"Antrim Loughside Festival is a real celebration and a festival of good local food, music, fun. As ambassador of Good Food Northern Ireland I am delighted to be working alongside Antrim Council to provide a real extravaganza experience for all the family over the two days."

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The Northern Ireland Seafood Festival - Belfast Maritime Festival

Northern Ireland Seafood, in association with The Belfast Maritime Festival, is staging a culinary celebration of fish and food, aimed at extolling the virtues and excellence of local produce. Jenny Bristow, Ambassador of Good Food Northern Ireland is working closely with Northern Ireland Seafood in highlighting and reinforcing the high quality local produce which exists on our doorstep!

An increased profile for local and regional produce exists in Northern Ireland; Northern Ireland Seafood aims to generate regional distinction, based on the entities i.e. provenance & quality of a short supply chain. Northern Ireland Seafood has strategically devised a food marquee, located on the grounds of Belfast's Odyssey Arena, which highlights the quality of our local fishing industry while also incorporating the additional meat and agri products which make up our diet.

The Tall Ships provide an excellent back drop for the festival and is one of the main features of the Maritime weekend.

Jenny's Masterclass cookery demonstrations, which are to take place inside the marquee, will demonstrate the food supply chain, from supplier/exhibitor to consumer, to the finished product on your plate! The meals prepared will reflect the produce from within the marquee, including fish and meat dishes.

Jenny has worked closely with the various exhibitors to develop the following mouth watering regional recipes.

Download Maritime Masterclass recipes as PDF

Jenny comments

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to support Northern Ireland Seafood Maritime event and help stimulate progress for local food producers. It's very important that local producers are given the opportunity to promote themselves. The recipes demonstrated at the masterclass showed how local produce is so important in creating quality meals."

Malcolm Emery, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Seafoods states

"This Maritime event is an extremely important showcase for the best of local produce. Northern Ireland Seafood joined forces with Jenny Bristow masterclass as this demonstrates in a real manner the importance that we should place on local produce. It is also a fantastic opportunity for local producers to promote themselves."

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The JennyBristow.com Masterclass - McGees Butchers and Belfast City Council

As part of a unique event for Belfast City Council's 'Waste - its not rubbish campaign', Jenny Bristow, Ambassador of good food Northern Ireland and Joe McGee of McGee's Butchers, Forestside combined their knowledge of quality local produce and their love for great food to produce mouth watering recipes for you to try on your barbecue this summer.

Jenny's Masterclass and Joe's waste free BBQ complimented each other well and with summer fast approaching, there has never been a more appropriate time to raise awareness. Jenny's Masterclass highlighted the importance of supporting local business such as McGee's Butchers which not only assures quality food but also significantly reduces the amount of packaging used on foods and also helps reduce the carbon footprint, which can only be beneficial to our environment.

Jenny and Joe together created the following mouth watering recipes for you to enjoy at your own BBQ. The team at McGee's Butchers are only too happy to help you when you drop in at the Forestside.

• Deep Southern Barbecued Chicken
• Gently Spiced Chilli and Chicken with Soured Cream
• Chinese Style Stir Fried Ribbons of Beef
• Marinated Teriyaki Beef with Spring Onions
• Oriental Style Barbecued Pork Chops or Fillets with Pineapple Chutney

The recipes can be downloaded here and also found in the BBQ section on jennybristow.com

Download McGee Masterclass recipes as PDF

Jenny said

"It has been quite a year for McGee's Butchers. Joe has has recently been presented the 'Northern Ireland Steak Burger of the Year 2007' award and is awaiting the grand opening of his new premises at Bloomfield Shopping Centre in Bangor which will again set a standard for Northern Ireland. I am delighted to see Joe taking on the challenge of helping me create awareness for good quality local produce with myself at the Masterclasses and I am looking forward to telling you about Gortnagarn, Co Tyrone where they have their own dedicated family farm."

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Cooking for fun, Cooking for life! - A Masterclass with Jenny Bristow

Food has never before had such a high profile - from discussions about junk food, campaigns for fresh, tasty and nutritious food to how food is grown. W5 is stepping into this debate with a practical and fun event on Saturday 2 June for young people and their families highlighting the importance of adopting good eating habits from a young age to supporting local and seasonal produce. Cooking for fun Cooking for Life with Jenny Bristow will also demonstrate W5's emphasis on science in everyday life.

Cooking can always be regarded as an experimental science and food preparation and cookery involves many processes, which are well described by the physical sciences. For those of us who want to know why certain recipes such as Baked Alaska work, and how to make a really good nutritional pizza the local way, Jenny's masterclass will help us appreciate the underlying physical processes and help unravel the mysteries of the "art" of good cooking.

Download W5 Masterclass recipes as PDF

Cooking, after all, is the appliance of science, as Jenny will demonstrate with new materials and cooking methods. Jenny Bristow has developed a new kitchen set alongside Alwood Kitchens so the cooking will be demonstrated in a slick and impressive environment nestled in W5's impressive lecture theatre that seats 200 people.

There will be four Public and eight Secondary School events throughout the year, the latter linked to the Government's initiative of Skills and Science and the new Curriculum underlining the importance of Home Economics and the preparation of young people for adult life.

The public events are free with admission to W5 however places are limited. To book your place on Saturday 2 June call 028 9046 7700.

For further information contact:
Stephanie Berkeley, Marketing Manager W5
(028) 9046 7788 or email stephanieberkeley@w5online.co.uk

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Coffee date with Jenny Bristow

Northern Ireland Hospice Care is calling on fundraisers across the country to raise lots of 'dough' on June 7th for its annual Coffee Morning.

The charity is providing some 'food for thought' by enlisting the help of Jenny Bristow to offer Coffee Morning hosts three wonderful traybake recipes to cook at home and sell on the day.

The delicious coffee, pear and brazil nut tart, melt in the mouth buttermilk and vanilla scones, and fun Snickerdoodle recipes are available to download from www.nihospicecare.com from (May 14th) or www.jennybristow.com from today (May 22nd) and are guaranteed to bring sweet success to every Coffee Morning event.

Download Snickerdoodle recipes as PDF

Meanwhile, event sponsor Bewley's will provide complimentary coffee for every registered Coffee Morning event.

Belfast Telegraph Saturday May 19, 2007, Jenny Bristow said

"We all like to take time for a cuppa everyday so let's put one of them to good use for a good cause! I hope hundreds of people, businesses and organisations across Northern Ireland will have their kettles on standby on June 7th and donate a minimum of £1.50 per cuppa for a good cause, plus a little extra if they decide to serve up one of my delicious traybakes."

Geoff Scott, Marketing Manager, Northern Ireland Hospice Care

"We at Northern Ireland Hospice Care are absolutely delighted that Jenny Bristow has come on board to endorse Northern Ireland's Hospice Coffee Morning. Jenny's warn nature and unstinting cooperation have raised the profile of this year's event beyond our best expectations and thanks to Jenny we are now looking forward to one of our best coffee mornings ever"

The Northern Ireland Hospice Care Coffee Morning, now in its 14th year, is one of the local charity's biggest annual fundraising events. Last year, coffee hosts raised almost £35,000 for the local charity from 188 coffee parties. This year the Hospice Care fundraising team hope to raise £40,000. All money raised will go towards helping the local charity provide care to families of children and adults coping with cancer and other life limiting illnesses.

Anyone wishing to host a Coffee Morning can do so by contacting Geoff Scott at Northern Ireland Hospice Care on 028 9078 1836 or go to www.nihospicecare.com for further details.

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The jennybristow.com Masterclass - Alwood Kitchens

April 07 is the launch of The jennybristow.com Masterclass which will be a series of truly innovative cookery events touring around Ireland where Jenny is delighted to be working exclusively with Wilson and Alfie Briggs of Alwood Kitchens an established and trusted firm of almost 75 years, www.alwoodkitchens.com.

These events will bring together Jenny an Ambassador of Good Food,Ireland using local seasonal, prime produce, often organic, farm reared, artisan bakers and honestly sourced ingredients.

Alongside the expertise and advice of Alwoods, Jenny will be using up to date and state of the art appliances with a style that takes cooking into the modern era. Today's cooking and kitchen have reached a new sophistication with the emphasis clearly on modern appliances geared for everyone taking into consideration issues such as Health and Safety in the Kitchen, disability and environment not forgetting health.

Download Alwood Press Release as PDF

The jennybristow.com Masterclass aims to promote healthier food cooked with innovation that includes conveniences and in no way compromises on flavour, with already secured venues such as the W5 in the Odyssey, Belfast, prestigious local properties, Sea Fish events, Corporate Cookery evenings, charity locations both indoors and out.

Alwood Kitchens and Jenny are both very excited by the opportunity to develop and inform in an entertaining way the development of good food and cooking here in Ireland by this Ambassador Masterclass whilst at the same time promoting local produce and its benefits.

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Jenny & John from Orchard Organics - on the McArdle Family Farm in Co. Armagh

Ask any good chef and they will tell you that being able to cook with good quality local produce is their dream. Unfortunately for most of us being able to replicate that experience at home just isn't possible. Gone are the days of having a vegetable patch in our ever shrinking gardens, never mind having the time to look after it!

You can imagine my delight therefore when I met John McArdle of Orchard Organics. Based on the McArdle Family Farm in Co. Armagh, John is passionate about Local Organic Food and in addition to supplying Organic Produce to supermarkets the length and breadth of Ireland he has launched an Organic Box Scheme so that we can all have these top quality ingredients delivered directly to our doors. You can find more details at www.orchardorganics.com.

It has been a real delight for me to have been working closely with John on a range of seasonal recipes using his organic produce. I hope you try and enjoy our first two recipes using fresh beetroot in a lively fresh way and a pudding using rhubarb that will delight many a table over the coming months. It is hard to beat the natural true flavour of these ingredients and now that spring really is here I am looking forward to all the other seasonal flavours this growing season brings.

Together John and I aim to demonstrate good local produce grown organically and with it the added health value that many today are searching for in their quest to cook food free from unnecessary artificial ingredients.

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