Simon Dougan - Celebrating a Northern Irish Food Hero

In a guest column this month, the well known Northern Irish chef, food writer and TV presenter Paula McIntyre celebrates the life and legacy of her friend Simon Dougan, co-founder of The Yellow Door.
A much-admired presence in our guides for many years – first with the opening of his original fine dining restaurant in Gilford, Co Down which caused such excitement in 1992, then the inspired move to a more casual offering (and the beginnings of their wonderful bakery) at the Yellow Door Deli in Portadown in 1997, through expansion to Belfast and the superb catering operation that still sees so many events and venues transformed by the deliciously down to earth Yellow Door fare. Always a huge supporter of local produce, a favourite memory for the Guide is of an event held at Hillsborough Castle (see reight) prior to its opening in 2019 when, amongst many other delicious thing, Simon so proudly introduced Armagh’s first farmhouse cheese - the Wright family’s unctuous single-estate Ballyisk Triple Rose – to a warmly appreciative audience. How fortunate were we…

A few weeks ago we lost one of the legends and pioneers of the Northern Ireland cooking scene with the passing of chef Simon Dougan. I first met Simon when I was teaching in the Catering College in Portrush and he was attending a dinner. As the food scene here evolved I met him often at events and we formed a friendship based on our shared love of produce, cooking, good craic and a healthy dose of rascality. For over twenty five years, Simon ran the Yellow Door restaurants and catering company. He could seamlessly cook for hundreds of people and was an exceptionally skilled and talented chef. He epitomised Northern Irish hospitality and wherever he cooked the food was full of flavour, a celebration of our seasonal produce and no one ever walked away hungry.

Simon curated a dinner to mark the start of the Year of Food and Drink in Northern Ireland in 2016 at the Ulster Hall in Belfast. Over 200 people were treated to glorious dishes. In a short space of time our place had become a beacon of good food recognised across the world. He played a major part in that transition and was rewarded with an MBE in 2017 in recognition of his services to hospitality here. Simon’s company was responsible for the food at Hillsborough Castle and while he often cooked for royalty and heads of state he remained grounded and treated everyone with respect – Simon didn’t care whether you were a king or a pauper.
He was as giving with his time for charity as he was with his food. He worked tirelessly for the NI Cancer Fund for Children organising many fundraising dinners for them. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2024 and became a spokesperson and fundraiser for NI PANC. In September he and his wife Jilly opened up the garden at their home and raised over £25,000 for the charity. He and Jilly loved nothing more than working in the garden, tending to their vast array of vegetables and all manner of fruit trees with their beloved dogs Ernie and Reggie never far away. Visitors would invariably drive away with a boot full of the bounty from the garden, honey, bread, not to mention a heart full of love and a head full of laughter.

Simon was a proud Armagh man and it’s fitting that this week I’m sharing two of his apple based recipes from his cherished home county. The puff pastry apple pie and pork belly with creamed cabbage and whisky honey glaze are from The Yellow Door cookbook, published in 2008. The dishes are full of heart, warmth and generosity, just like he was.

*Published by Blackstaff Press (hardback, £20) The Yellow Door, our story, our recipes is available from good book shops eg Waterstones, and Amazon. Read Georgina Campbell’s 2008 review here ]
 

Pan seared, slow cooked pork belly with creamed cabbage and whisky honey glaze
2 onions cut into rings
2 red apples, cored and sliced into rings
2 bay leaves
1 garlic clove, halved
2 glasses cider
1kg pork belly, boned and skinned
Broighter Gold rapeseed oil for cooking
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rosemary sprig, leaves chopped
Sage sprig, leaves chopped
75ml Irish whiskey
50g honey

Set the oven to 170ºC. Place the onions and apple rings in the centre of a roasting tray. Tuck in the bay leaves and garlic and pour the cider on top. Lightly score the pork belly on both sides and drizzle with the oil. Season both sides with salt, pepper, rosemary and sage. Place the pork on top of the apples and onions and roast for 1 and a half to 2 hours or until tender. Strain off the fat and keep the cooking juices. Allow the pork to cool for half an hour then transfer to another tray and place another on top. Weigh down with cans or weights and chill overnight. Strain the cooking juices and keep the fat for roasties.
Pour the whiskey, honey and reserved juices into a pan and simmer to spoon coating consistency. Chill overnight with the pork after cooling.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Slice the pork belly into 8-10 slices and fry in a little oil until brown and crispy on both sides. Heat the glaze and spoon over the pork.
Serve with the creamed cabbage.

Creamed cabbage
½ Savoy cabbage, finely sliced
250ml double cream
50g butter
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Cook the cabbage in boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Drain and return to a low heat for a couple of minutes to dry out. Turn up the heat and add the cream and butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook until the cream has reduced by two thirds.

Puff Pastry Apple Pie
25g butter
800g Bramley apples peeled, cored and roughly chopped
6 cloves
Juice 1 lemon
150g castor sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
375g puff pastry
1-2 tablespoons milk

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Use butter to grease a loose bottomed tart tin.
In a large bowl mix together the apples, cloves, lemon juice , 125g of the sugar and cornflour. Set aside.
Roll out two thirds of the pastry large enough to line the base and sides of the tin with some overlap. Press the pastry into the tin. Spoon in the apple mixture – spread the cloves out. Roll out the remaining pastry and place over the top. Pinch the pastry together and cut off the excess. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle over the remaining sugar on top. Make 4 small incisions in the pastry and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes lower the temperature to 150oc and bake for a further 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes before serving.

* The original version of Paula’s piece above was first published in the Belfast Newsletter.

Paula Mcintyre: Trained as a chef in Northern Ireland and at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, USA. Presenter of 4 series of “Paula McIntyre’s Hamely Kitchen” on BBC 1, contributor to Radio Ulster and Radio 4. Lecturer in Professional Cooking in Catering College, Portrush and Northern Regional College for 18 years. Columnist in Belfast Telegraph and Newsletter and contributor to other magazines and papers. Chair of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, Director Slow Food NI. MBE for services to hospitality in 2018.