that's going to leave a mark

tuesday
after my less than stellar morning in demo kitchen monday, i was in the kitchen tuesday morning by 8am. i started my puff pastry dough, refrigerated it and then made a shortcrust pastry and had that resting in the fridge before 8.30am.

in addition to my pastries, my work order for the day included a plate of smoked local fish, accompanied by homemade horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise and pickled cucumbers, and a seville orange bakewell tart. since i didn't have to do anything with the smoked fish, i made the mayonnaise, horseradish sauce and pickled cucumbers and let them cool in the fridge. i rolled out my puff pastry, put it back in the fridge and then got my shortcrust pastry and lined my flan ring. my first roll out was a bit shy for the 12" tin, so i folded it back up and re-rolled it. much better the second time around! i banged it into the oven to blind bake and then made the frangipane filling. that was set aside so i could roll out my puff pastry again (talk about a laborious task!). my pastry crust was taking it's sweet time browning up and just as i was ready to give it another 5 minutes (on top of the 25 minutes it had already been in), sorca let me know it looked baked enough. it was awkward to remove from the oven and as i struggled to get a good grip on the tin without the bottom pushing through, the tin fell on my wrist. i had to decide between letting the tin continue to burn me as i moved it over to the counter, or to drop the tin and end up with a destroyed tart crust. i opted for the latter and as the tin fell from my hands, i let out a frustrated 'rats!' and drew immediate attention from my classmates and instructor. i don't remember how i got over to the sink, but before i could do much more than wince at the pain, my wrist was under the tap and cold water was rushing to relieve the initial burning. i kept it there for about five minutes and then sorca was rubbing fresh aloe on it to ease the tenderness. the tart was a disaster. the sides had completely crumbled while the base miraculously stuck to the bottom tin disc. sorca, in an effort to cheer me up, came up with a creative way to save the tart. i rolled out more dough and lined the sides of the tin. we decided that the sides wouldn't take that long to bake and that they would connect with the bottom crust at some point. i spread the orange marmalade over the bottom of the tart, carefully covered it with the frangipane mixture and put it back into the oven. it had only been in for two minutes when sorca came back into the kitchen and let me know that she had been talking with another instructor and they felt it would benefit from some lattice work on top. i let sorca remove the tart from the oven and then i tediously rolled out more dough, cut it into semi-thick strips and then made a lattice design on top of the tart. by 11.30am, it was back in the oven for good.

i quickly retrieved my puff pastry from the fridge, gave it the final two rolls and then put it back. i plated up my smoked fish plate, consisting of eel, salmon, mackerel, tuna and mussels, added my cucumber pickle, sweet dill mayonnaise and horseradish sauce and presented it to sorca to taste.

i forgot to mention that steak was the main dish for the day and even though my partner had picked the steak to make, we both had to cook our own steaks. i let sorca know that i would be preparing mine medium-rare and then let it sizzle on the grill pan for the recommended 3 minutes on each side. i plated it up with onion rings and drizzled salsa verde on top and called it good. sorca tasted it and then let me take it into the dining room to eat. since my tart was still baking, sorca let me know she'd keep an eye on it and remove it when it was done.

after lunch i went back to the pink cottage and changed out of my stinky whites and into comfortable clothes. i laid down for a few minutes before i had to be back for afternoon demo.

since darina is in new york for SPD, rory was once again our demo leader. lucky us! he first went over how to remove lamb kidneys from the fat and membrane they are found in before starting in on the cooking. he made a warm salad of lamb kidneys, straw potatoes and caramelized shallots, a warm salad of lamb kidneys with oyster mushrooms, oyster mushrooms with marjoram, a cabbage, pea, cumin, curry leaves and mustard seed salad, a tarte francaise, jalousie, eccles cakes and croissants. he also demonstrated the humane way to cook lobster and several ways to prepare it.

i had an after demo duty of putting away dishes, so after tasting i joined a few of my other classmates in the larder and started stacking dishes and returning them to their homes. elisa and i went for a walk once i got back to the cottage and our chat mostly revolved around our upcoming exams.

dinner was some tuna in olive oil and frozen green peas. i spent the evening filing and choosing recipes for my final exam (and spreading aloe on my burn). i think it was after eleven when i finally crawled under the covers and fell asleep.