stephen was already in the kitchen when i arrived at 8.30am. he was making a loaf of granary bread, which he wanted to get out of the way before starting in on the items he was to make for the morning. i was making pears poached in saffron syrup, a mild madras curry with fresh spices and sue's health bars. the pears needed to be served completely chilled, so i made them first so they could hang out in the fridge while i made the curry. the curry was tedious as i had to cut the lamb from the shoulder and then trim off the fat. once i finished that, i sliced up the onions and cooked them with some crushed garlic. i browned the lamb in ginger and then added it to the onions, added nut milk, fresh spices, tumeric and sugar and whacked the dish into the oven for the required hour cooking time.
the biscuits i was making had been made by my cooking partner the week before and they intrigued me. i was a bit skeptical that 'health' was part of the name, but after looking through the recipe i noted that these bars didn't contain nearly as much butter as some of the biscuit recipes. as i collected my ingredients, sue (one of the instructors) came up to me and told me that that recipe was going be published in a magazine and that someone from the school would be photographing the bars later in the day. 'make them lovely', she advised. no pressure, right? i labored longer than usual on the preparation and then put them in the oven. when they were done 35 minutes later, i quickly cut them and left them to cool. the outcome was delicious and sue even sent a plate of them home for me and my cottage.
my curry came out of the oven just before noon and after bringing up the seasoning a bit, i was happy with it. i plated it up with some basmati rice and a few wedges of lime. i pulled my pears out of the fridge, arranged two very neatly in a bowl and then spooned some of the saffron syrup over them. my instructor tasted and gave me positive reviews. i took my pears out into the dining room and dumped my curry into the communal bowl of curry, tidied my work section and headed off to lunch.
afternoon demo started with a visit from a past student who had interned at the american academy in rome. she spent ten minutes sharing her experience with us and i think all 62 of us were furiously scribbling details so we could look into the internship later. it sounded like an amazing opportunity. darina thanked the girl for coming and then rory began demo. he started by making a variety of meringues (almond with chocolate and rum cream, chocolate with chocolate and rum cream and chocolate wafers, toffee gateau with caramel shards and irish coffee) and them moved on to bruschetta with mushrooms and slivers of parmesan, goat cheese and rocket bruschetta with tomato and chilli jam, crostinis with parma ham, goat cheese and confiture d'oignons, tomato and chilli jam, roast stuffed duck with brambly apple sauce, roast duck with traditional potato stuffing, roast duck with sage and onion stuffing, duck with orange, red cabbage and mashed parsnips. my duty for the day was to serve after demo, so i manned the bruschetta and divided up all the crostini plates.
elisa and i went for a walk when we were dismissed from demo, just a quick 30 minute stroll to get some fresh air. one of our classmates had organized a pub quiz at the goal post pub down the road for the evening, so when we got back to our cottage after our walk we showered and had naps. we headed to the pub shortly before eight and quickly found a table near a booth of our classmates. elisa, charlotte, emily and i were on a team together and while we didn't win, we did know more answers than we thought and had an absolute blast.
the 'mothatruckers': charlotte, emily, brij and elisa
minnie and connie, members of 'quiz in my pants'
matt, mary, shruti and liz, team 'sore losers' and the pub quiz winners
Ok after reading this Im hungry and confused....what does this have to do with Carmina Burana?!?!!!
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