Generous chef Mollie helping the elderly

Generous chef Mollie helping the elderly

13 April 2022

A KIND-HEARTED donation from an anonymous donor will see 15 senior citizens from Killyleagh receive a home-cooked meal delivered in time for Easter.

The donation went to Killyleagh’s new food entrepreneur Mollie Cunningham of Ballytrim Pantry.

It will be the second time that chef Mollie has been funded to deliver meals to local people having been asked to do it last Christmas as well.

The 25-year-old explained: “I was given money to donate meals to 15 local people at Christmas. I have received money again that will cover the costs of 15 main courses while I donate puddings to the people.

“One of my customers is Jennifer Small, the wife of Rev Brian Small of Raffrey Presbyterian Church. She will nominate 15 local people to receive a meal for Easter. It’s likely to be be someone who lives on their own and probably wouldn’t normally be cooking for themselves.”

Since returning home after studying as a chef and becoming a cookery school tutor, Mollie has combined her love of her family farm, fresh fruit and vegetables and cookery to create Ballytrim Pantry.

She uses her skill and expertise to make the best use of the glut of vegetable produce that the farm’s walled garden produces to create home-cooked meals for a growing band of customers. 

“I’m all about seasonality and using what is in season when it’s at its absolute best in terms of freshness and taste,” said Mollie.

“Thanks to my father’s love of gardening and his need to sow 25 rows of cauliflower instead of five, we always have more vegetables that we can possibly eat. 

“I decided to make the best of our vegetables and source my fish and meat from the best local suppliers using my cooking skills to produce wholesome, home-cooked family meals to buy.”

Mollie devises a new menu of main courses every Monday night based on what the walled garden has to offer, preps the food on Tuesday and Wednesday, and cooks for Thursday collection by customers and delivers with 10 miles of the farm on Friday.

Working with the best of what the farm and the countryside has to offer produces intriguing meals by Mollie.

For instance, nettles appear frequently on her menus, such as charred leeks and nettle butter with mild beef chilli along with the exotic sounding dishes such as bean and wild garlic pesto potato topped pie with charred purple sprouting broccoli and chorizo.

Mollie got the chance to work at the renowned Daylesford Organic Farm in the Cotswolds, established by organic pioneer Lady Carole Bamford, after studying 

Consumer Management and Food Innovation at Ulster University.

“I trained under two exceptional chefs to become a cookery school tutor and learned how to create delicious and nutritious meals using seasonal ingredients,” she continued.

“My experience at Daylesford gave me the idea and the confidence to come home and establish Ballytrim Pantry and it’s really taking off while also making the best use of what produce the farm has.”

The daughter of Clarke and Julie Cunningham, Mollie says her father’s green fingers sometimes presents her a challenge in devising meals.

But she know’s how fortunate she is as their greenhouse provides all she needs for desserts such as peaches and dusk melons.

Whenever she can, she will make the most of what is currently a the top of its season, such as batch cooking wild garlic and pumpkin seed pesto. 

Mollie runs special events at Ballytrim Pantry combining either craft workshops with lunch and hopes to expand this over the summer months.