Darina Allen

This version of eggy bread comes from Kolkata, where street vendors set up their street food stalls on Park Street and Fairlie Place in the business district at noon each day, collectively they will feed the hundreds of workers who pour out of their offices in search of tasty nourishing foods—this simple snack is filling and super delicious.

This is a gorgeous old-fashioned family dessert that separates into two quite distinct layers when it cooks—it has a lovely fluffy top and a creamy lemon base, provided it is not overcooked.

We have about 10 chocolate cakes in our repertoire, from Cynthia's Chocolate Cake made with cocoa and buttermilk, to the decadently rich Ballymaloe Chocolate Cake made with the very best chocolate money can buy, lots of ground almonds, and a silky chocolate frosting. But if I had to choose just one, it might have to be this recipe given to me by my sister Blathnaid Bergin. It is deliciously chocolatey, yet light and rich at the same time. You can serve it very simply with the chocolate ganache poured over the top or spruce it up for a birthday cake.

Wild Irish salmon is a now a rare treat, but for the last couple of years we have managed to get a small number from fishermen on the Blackwater River. We treasure each one and eat some fresh, cure and smoke some ourselves, or give them to Bill Casey, our local smoker, to smoke for us. We hot- and cold-smoke the salmon and teach the students both methods of preserving. For this recipe we use cold-smoked salmon, but flakes of the hot-smoked variety would also be delicious.

We have several farmhouse goat-cheesemakers in Ireland. We use Ardsallagh goat cheese, St. Tola from Inagh in County Clare is also heaven, as is Gortnamona from Cooleeney farm in County Tipperary and Corleggy from County Cavan.

This recipe comes from my brother Rory O'Connell. During the 5-6 weeks when wild garlic is in season, it is woven in and out of the menu at the School every day. There are two types of wild garlic: the wider-leafed Allium ursinum, which grows in shady places along the banks of streams and in undisturbed mossy woodland; and Allium triquetrum, with long thin leaves, which grows alongside roadsides and country lanes. The latter is also known as the three-cornered leek or snowbell because it resembles white bluebells.