sunday
we woke sunday morning, ate breakfast in the hotel and had the car packed up by 11.30am. the stones met us at our hotel and we made the drive back to crosshaven. we stopped at durty nelly's in shannon for lunch and enjoyed seafood chowder, ham and cheese toasties, salmon, pasta and for a few, pints of guinness. dad, chuck and i headed back in one car while mom stayed back with tayna, erin, tyler and andrew so they could do a bit of exploring around bunratty castle.
when we got back to crosshaven, i packed up my bags and did a bit of homework while the rest of the gang went down to cronin's pub for a pint. after an amazing dinner and conversation surrounding the weekend, mom and i packed up the car and drove to ballymaloe so i could start week eleven.
28 April 2011
pistachio ice cream
saturday
saturday morning mom, dad and i drove up to westport. the drive through connemara was absolutely beautiful even though the day was a bit grey.
we arrived in westport, had a nice lunch at madden's and then spent the afternoon exploring the downtown. mom found a photography studio (michael gannon photography) that had some amazing photos of stunning places all over connemara. she showed michael a few of the recent photos she had taken and after purchasing a few photo cards, we were on our way.
although we took a different route back to galway, the scenery was just as incredible. even with the overcast sky and drops of rain. we arrived back at our hotel with time to nap and shower before meeting up with the stones for dinner. our initial plans were to try the trendy new restaurant 'eight', but when they couldn't accommodate 9 with such short notice, we ended up at KC Blake's. not the least bit disappointing! we enjoyed a delicious meal, excellent vino and non-stop conversation over the course of two hours.
after dinner, the stones departed for charles' apartment to drop off him and erin and mom, dad and i walked over to the quay's bar. one of my favorite pubs in IRE, with a sister pub in temple bar dublin, i was curious to see if there was any live music. it was quite crowded and after snaking our way through the mass of young men and women, we decided to call it an evening and head back to our hotel.
we changed into our jams and then enjoyed some vino. mom was the first to head to bed. dad and i watched the end of 'body of lies', 'zodiac' and 'golden eye' before calling it a night sometime after 1am.
saturday morning mom, dad and i drove up to westport. the drive through connemara was absolutely beautiful even though the day was a bit grey.
we arrived in westport, had a nice lunch at madden's and then spent the afternoon exploring the downtown. mom found a photography studio (michael gannon photography) that had some amazing photos of stunning places all over connemara. she showed michael a few of the recent photos she had taken and after purchasing a few photo cards, we were on our way.
although we took a different route back to galway, the scenery was just as incredible. even with the overcast sky and drops of rain. we arrived back at our hotel with time to nap and shower before meeting up with the stones for dinner. our initial plans were to try the trendy new restaurant 'eight', but when they couldn't accommodate 9 with such short notice, we ended up at KC Blake's. not the least bit disappointing! we enjoyed a delicious meal, excellent vino and non-stop conversation over the course of two hours.
after dinner, the stones departed for charles' apartment to drop off him and erin and mom, dad and i walked over to the quay's bar. one of my favorite pubs in IRE, with a sister pub in temple bar dublin, i was curious to see if there was any live music. it was quite crowded and after snaking our way through the mass of young men and women, we decided to call it an evening and head back to our hotel.
we changed into our jams and then enjoyed some vino. mom was the first to head to bed. dad and i watched the end of 'body of lies', 'zodiac' and 'golden eye' before calling it a night sometime after 1am.
29 March 2011
log entry, day two. the adventure begins!
friday
friday morning we were up early and on the road by 8.30am to drive to shannon airport to meet up with charles, tayna, erin, tyler and tyler's friend, andrew. we split up into cars for the remainder of the drive to galway. tayna and erin rode with me and mom and the boys had a car to themselves.
once we arrived in galway, we first found the hotel where the stones were staying. they checked in, unloaded their suitcases and then we reconvened in the lobby, piled back into the cars and headed for our hotel. due to a less than detailed map and poor communication from the hotel staff, our hotel wasn't where we were told it would be. after sitting in some serious traffic, we decided to drive back into the city centre, find a place to park and then a place to eat. the king's head was the choice venue and after a server pointed us upstairs, we found comfortable seating for eight. our server was a friendly fellow from donegal and he was good to bring the guinness straight away. once we were full, we walked around the city a bit. we stopped into the tourist office and picked up a few maps before heading back to the carpark. we had to sit in traffic again, however we were successful in finding the hotel by driving a bit further than we did originally. mom checked us in and the wisconsin stones headed back to their hotel to shower and nap before meeting up with young charles for dinner later in the evening. even though i hadn't really done much for the day, i was also feeling exhausted and took a nice, long nap.
the stones were back at 6.30pm and we enjoyed some appetizers while we waited for young charles to arrive at the hotel. when he got there, he shared a few stories from his recent trip to belfast before we headed out for dinner. our plan was to walk the mile (plus) into the city centre and find a place for seafood. however, we passed 'the huntsman' on our way and after a quick look at the menu, we decided it was what we were looking for. dinner was delicious and the conversation was fun. after coffees, banoffee pie, and a selection of ice creams, we walked back to our hotel. the stones departed for their hotel and we headed up to our room.
the three of us were quick to put on our jams and climb into bed.
friday morning we were up early and on the road by 8.30am to drive to shannon airport to meet up with charles, tayna, erin, tyler and tyler's friend, andrew. we split up into cars for the remainder of the drive to galway. tayna and erin rode with me and mom and the boys had a car to themselves.
once we arrived in galway, we first found the hotel where the stones were staying. they checked in, unloaded their suitcases and then we reconvened in the lobby, piled back into the cars and headed for our hotel. due to a less than detailed map and poor communication from the hotel staff, our hotel wasn't where we were told it would be. after sitting in some serious traffic, we decided to drive back into the city centre, find a place to park and then a place to eat. the king's head was the choice venue and after a server pointed us upstairs, we found comfortable seating for eight. our server was a friendly fellow from donegal and he was good to bring the guinness straight away. once we were full, we walked around the city a bit. we stopped into the tourist office and picked up a few maps before heading back to the carpark. we had to sit in traffic again, however we were successful in finding the hotel by driving a bit further than we did originally. mom checked us in and the wisconsin stones headed back to their hotel to shower and nap before meeting up with young charles for dinner later in the evening. even though i hadn't really done much for the day, i was also feeling exhausted and took a nice, long nap.
the stones were back at 6.30pm and we enjoyed some appetizers while we waited for young charles to arrive at the hotel. when he got there, he shared a few stories from his recent trip to belfast before we headed out for dinner. our plan was to walk the mile (plus) into the city centre and find a place for seafood. however, we passed 'the huntsman' on our way and after a quick look at the menu, we decided it was what we were looking for. dinner was delicious and the conversation was fun. after coffees, banoffee pie, and a selection of ice creams, we walked back to our hotel. the stones departed for their hotel and we headed up to our room.
the three of us were quick to put on our jams and climb into bed.
paddy's day
thursday
in IRE, st. patrick's day is a bank holiday. businesses are closed, schools are closed and everyone observes the day of saint patrick with parades and loads of guinness. because SPD fell on a thursday this year, we had class thursday and friday was our observed holiday at ballymaloe.
thursday was my last morning in the demo kitchen. i was in early to prepare a special dessert for my parents who were coming in for lunch and staying for afternoon demo. i had considered some individual lemon cakes with lemon curd filling, but didn't think it would have fit so nicely into my order of work. so i opted for the chocolate mousse. i put a few fresh raspberries in the bottom of the green glasses i used, poured the chocolate mousse on top and then set them in the fridge to set.
the rest of the morning was spent cooking and preparing lobster, making chips and hollandaise sauce. the humane way to cook lobster is to put the lobsters into a pot of tepid water and then bring it to the boil. the slow rise in temperature puts the lobster into a coma and within minutes it's dead. since we were being resourceful and re-using water, my lobsters didn't have such a humane death. they went head first into the boiling water. i quickly secured the lid and braced myself for the screaming i was sure to hear. when i didn't hear anything, i told myself the little guys had a heart attack which meant a short, painless death. after boiling them in the salt water until they turned red, i transferred them to a pot of court bouillon to finish cooking. they were later removed and placed on a baking tray to cool. while they cooled, i made the hollandaise sauce and cut up potatoes for chips. hollandaise is simply made by whisking up two egg yolks in a cold saucepan, turning on a low heat and then slowly adding butter, a few tablespoons at a time. the chips were parbaked for a few minutes, to soften on the inside, and then rested them on some kitchen paper to dry.
the lobsters were split in half and then the meat was removed and placed into a saucepan with shallots, mushrooms, salt, pepper and cream. when the lobster and cream sauce was of the desired thickness, i removed it from the heat and let it rest. i cooked off the rest of my chips and then plated up one portion of the lobster. i filled a dried out lobster shell with the creamy lobster filling and piled a portion of chips beside it. once my food was tasted and graded, i put the plate in the oven to stay warm until my parents arrived for lunch. when they arrived, i made up a second plate of lobster and then took both plates into the dining room and to the table where my parents had sat. we had a nice visit while they ate and then when they had finished, i went and retrieved their desserts. i think it was a very lovely anniversary meal. :)
i introduced many of my classmates to my parents before we headed into demo. rory made some curry dishes, a poached salmon with spinach and tomato sauce and a few desserts with puff pastry. mom wasn't too interested in tasting any of the dishes except for the rhubarb vol au vole and dad had a plate with everything. the poached salmon was something he thinks he would make.
after demo, dad bought a fish from the local fish supplier while mom helped me pack up for the weekend and then we were off to crosshaven. since it was SPD AND their anniversary, we stopped in cronin's for a pint before heading home. we had a nice chat with sean about black and white lighthouses while we watched denis add green food coloring to the budweiser. when our pint glasses were empty, we headed to the house. we were stopped along the way by larry the census guy. he and dad spent about 5 minutes sorting out where exactly middle lodge was located according to the map that larry had. i was reminded of that great SNL skit with tim meadows and my buddy, christopher walken. 'boy, i really overshot it with that 80!'
dad let me fillet the fish once we got home and unpacked. he removed the head and i did the rest. once the fillets were wrapped up tightly and in the freezer, dad started making dinner.
we didn't have too late of an evening as we were driving to galway early friday morning.
in IRE, st. patrick's day is a bank holiday. businesses are closed, schools are closed and everyone observes the day of saint patrick with parades and loads of guinness. because SPD fell on a thursday this year, we had class thursday and friday was our observed holiday at ballymaloe.
thursday was my last morning in the demo kitchen. i was in early to prepare a special dessert for my parents who were coming in for lunch and staying for afternoon demo. i had considered some individual lemon cakes with lemon curd filling, but didn't think it would have fit so nicely into my order of work. so i opted for the chocolate mousse. i put a few fresh raspberries in the bottom of the green glasses i used, poured the chocolate mousse on top and then set them in the fridge to set.
the rest of the morning was spent cooking and preparing lobster, making chips and hollandaise sauce. the humane way to cook lobster is to put the lobsters into a pot of tepid water and then bring it to the boil. the slow rise in temperature puts the lobster into a coma and within minutes it's dead. since we were being resourceful and re-using water, my lobsters didn't have such a humane death. they went head first into the boiling water. i quickly secured the lid and braced myself for the screaming i was sure to hear. when i didn't hear anything, i told myself the little guys had a heart attack which meant a short, painless death. after boiling them in the salt water until they turned red, i transferred them to a pot of court bouillon to finish cooking. they were later removed and placed on a baking tray to cool. while they cooled, i made the hollandaise sauce and cut up potatoes for chips. hollandaise is simply made by whisking up two egg yolks in a cold saucepan, turning on a low heat and then slowly adding butter, a few tablespoons at a time. the chips were parbaked for a few minutes, to soften on the inside, and then rested them on some kitchen paper to dry.
the lobsters were split in half and then the meat was removed and placed into a saucepan with shallots, mushrooms, salt, pepper and cream. when the lobster and cream sauce was of the desired thickness, i removed it from the heat and let it rest. i cooked off the rest of my chips and then plated up one portion of the lobster. i filled a dried out lobster shell with the creamy lobster filling and piled a portion of chips beside it. once my food was tasted and graded, i put the plate in the oven to stay warm until my parents arrived for lunch. when they arrived, i made up a second plate of lobster and then took both plates into the dining room and to the table where my parents had sat. we had a nice visit while they ate and then when they had finished, i went and retrieved their desserts. i think it was a very lovely anniversary meal. :)
i introduced many of my classmates to my parents before we headed into demo. rory made some curry dishes, a poached salmon with spinach and tomato sauce and a few desserts with puff pastry. mom wasn't too interested in tasting any of the dishes except for the rhubarb vol au vole and dad had a plate with everything. the poached salmon was something he thinks he would make.
after demo, dad bought a fish from the local fish supplier while mom helped me pack up for the weekend and then we were off to crosshaven. since it was SPD AND their anniversary, we stopped in cronin's for a pint before heading home. we had a nice chat with sean about black and white lighthouses while we watched denis add green food coloring to the budweiser. when our pint glasses were empty, we headed to the house. we were stopped along the way by larry the census guy. he and dad spent about 5 minutes sorting out where exactly middle lodge was located according to the map that larry had. i was reminded of that great SNL skit with tim meadows and my buddy, christopher walken. 'boy, i really overshot it with that 80!'
dad let me fillet the fish once we got home and unpacked. he removed the head and i did the rest. once the fillets were wrapped up tightly and in the freezer, dad started making dinner.
we didn't have too late of an evening as we were driving to galway early friday morning.
16 March 2011
kaizen
today was day two of our 'business side of food' lecture with darina's sister, blathnaid bergin. we spent the first part of the morning reviewing what we discussed a few weeks ago when she first visited with us and then she talked about value added tax and kitchen management systems before we broke for coffee at 11am. when we resumed from our break, we looked at kitchen management in action and food costing. we did a few food costing exercises (my math is much better than i give myself credit for!) and watched at a gordan ramsay 'kitchen nightmares' dvd before lunch.
i was in charge of serving soup for lunch, so i quickly made for the dining room at 1pm. i ended up with the bread basket and i went around to each table, offering bread and chatting with my classmates. lunch today was corned beef and cabbage (served for the sake of all the non-irish) and loads of delicious sides. i was slightly surprised to see my tart on the dessert table next to the poached rhubarb and pear tarts. i made a point of tasting it (since i did go to all the work of saving it the day before) and it was actually quite good. so good that i had seconds. :)
the afternoon resumed at ten to two as pam was drawing names for cooking times and kitchen assignments for our exam in two weeks. i will be cooking at 8am on thursday, the 31st.
blathnaid picked up with portion control, waste management and talking about 'the business of ageing'. i was most intrigued with the whole business of ageing, what blathnaid called 'turning silver into gold'. she had attended a conference recently that looked at the group of men and women who are 50 years of age and older. she explained that they are a market that is being completely ignored and told us that there are endless business opportunities for them in the food industry. one of the things that was unsettling was that she said the 50 and older generation does not like to be looked at as 'old' and they are irritated and turned off when people refer to them as that. however, when i asked her if there was a consensus of how that group would like to be seen instead, she didn't have (in my opinion) an answer. it was interesting to hear some of my older classmates talk about experiences they have had with advertising (and how 90% of it is aimed to the 25-35 year olds) and even at ballymaloe. it was funny to hear some of the assumptions they had about ballymaloe compared to the ones some of the younger students had as well.
we wrapped up the lecture with a case study (about a past student who opened a cafe outside of dublin and had enlisted blathnaid's help) and a short evaluation of blathnaid's time with us.
as it was only 4.30pm when we got back to the pink cottage and the day was absolutely beautiful, elisa, rose, charlotte, minnie and i went for an adventure walk. we started out along the school road and then ended up in the fields. the scenery was stunning and our chat was light and fun.
i started straight into my menu and ingredients list for the final exam when we returned to our cottage a little over an hour later. i decided on starting with a salad of crozier blue cheese, pears and spiced pecans, a main of lamb tagine with medjool dates, sides of peas with coconut and coriander, cous cous with apricot and pistachio nuts, yoghurt and banana raita and ending with yoghurt and cardamom cream with pomegranate seeds flavored with rose blossom water. should be good to quite good.
i finished my order of work for the morning and minnie's just served up some french onion soup. elisa made a carrot cake for dessert, so i figure it'll be a late night tonight.
i was in charge of serving soup for lunch, so i quickly made for the dining room at 1pm. i ended up with the bread basket and i went around to each table, offering bread and chatting with my classmates. lunch today was corned beef and cabbage (served for the sake of all the non-irish) and loads of delicious sides. i was slightly surprised to see my tart on the dessert table next to the poached rhubarb and pear tarts. i made a point of tasting it (since i did go to all the work of saving it the day before) and it was actually quite good. so good that i had seconds. :)
the afternoon resumed at ten to two as pam was drawing names for cooking times and kitchen assignments for our exam in two weeks. i will be cooking at 8am on thursday, the 31st.
blathnaid picked up with portion control, waste management and talking about 'the business of ageing'. i was most intrigued with the whole business of ageing, what blathnaid called 'turning silver into gold'. she had attended a conference recently that looked at the group of men and women who are 50 years of age and older. she explained that they are a market that is being completely ignored and told us that there are endless business opportunities for them in the food industry. one of the things that was unsettling was that she said the 50 and older generation does not like to be looked at as 'old' and they are irritated and turned off when people refer to them as that. however, when i asked her if there was a consensus of how that group would like to be seen instead, she didn't have (in my opinion) an answer. it was interesting to hear some of my older classmates talk about experiences they have had with advertising (and how 90% of it is aimed to the 25-35 year olds) and even at ballymaloe. it was funny to hear some of the assumptions they had about ballymaloe compared to the ones some of the younger students had as well.
we wrapped up the lecture with a case study (about a past student who opened a cafe outside of dublin and had enlisted blathnaid's help) and a short evaluation of blathnaid's time with us.
as it was only 4.30pm when we got back to the pink cottage and the day was absolutely beautiful, elisa, rose, charlotte, minnie and i went for an adventure walk. we started out along the school road and then ended up in the fields. the scenery was stunning and our chat was light and fun.
i started straight into my menu and ingredients list for the final exam when we returned to our cottage a little over an hour later. i decided on starting with a salad of crozier blue cheese, pears and spiced pecans, a main of lamb tagine with medjool dates, sides of peas with coconut and coriander, cous cous with apricot and pistachio nuts, yoghurt and banana raita and ending with yoghurt and cardamom cream with pomegranate seeds flavored with rose blossom water. should be good to quite good.
i finished my order of work for the morning and minnie's just served up some french onion soup. elisa made a carrot cake for dessert, so i figure it'll be a late night tonight.
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.
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.
14 March 2011
i get knocked down, but i get up again
this week i'm in the demo kitchen which is quite different from the other kitchens. there are only six of us in this kitchen which makes us a true team. pam is our instructor which is a real treat.
i got into the kitchen at 8am so i could get a loaf of granary bread checked off my technique sheet and find my way around the kitchen. it turned out to be a bit of wasted energy as i started out using the wrong flour for my bread and then had a hard time trying to find ingredients. pam came in at 9am and gave us the rundown of the kitchen and then let us back to our cooking. in addition to my bread, i was cooking roast duck with onion and sage stuffing and bruschetta with mushrooms and parmesan.
the duck turned out perfectly aside from the fact that i was rushing to carve it at 1pm. the bruschetta was lovely and i was pleased that i even got to make the pesto to go on top of it. my granary loaf was questionable since i used a tin that was too small. when i removed it from the warming oven, the dough was pouring over the sides of the tin. i quickly squished it back in and was ready to transfer it to another tin but pam told me to put it the oven. to her surprise, and mine, it turned out beautifully.
i flew through lunch and was back in demo without getting my anticipated walk in. not the end of the world, but a bit of a bummer. darina popped her head in to thank everyone for their participation in friday night's pub quiz. the money raised was going to support her india fund. we students contributed six hundred euros which darina/ballymaloe are going to match euro for euro. not a bad collection! rory ran demo again today and after showing us how to cut our own steaks, he made a plate of smoked fish with horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise, pan-grilled steak with bearnaise sauce and chips, pan-grilled steak with chipotle butter, chargrilled sirloin steak with salsa verde, steak au poivre, pan-grilled steak with roast red peppers, anchoide and rocket, ballymaloe spiced beef, spiced tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, ratatouille nicoise, pommes allumettes, cauliflower cheese, italian cauliflower fritters, rocket and olive salad, cabbage, sultana and fennel salad, normandy pear tart, apricot and frangipane tart, a bakewell tart, a pine kernel tart, a blood orange tart and a seville orange bakewell tart.
after struggling to keep my eyes open through the first half of demo, i took a nap after we were dismissed for the day. i got up when charlotte came in to ask me if i wanted a cup of tea. emily's mom and a friend were visiting as they had come down to ballymaloe for the afternoon. they chatted a bit about lunch and demo and then were on their way back up to dublin.
i did some filing, completed my order of work and am still contemplating on my menu for my final exam in three weeks. i have until thursday to finalize my dishes, complete my grocery list and order of work. we have a wine exam on wednesday the 23rd, cooking exams wednesday the 30th and thursday the 31st and written exams on april 1st. can't believe my twelve weeks are nearly up!
i got into the kitchen at 8am so i could get a loaf of granary bread checked off my technique sheet and find my way around the kitchen. it turned out to be a bit of wasted energy as i started out using the wrong flour for my bread and then had a hard time trying to find ingredients. pam came in at 9am and gave us the rundown of the kitchen and then let us back to our cooking. in addition to my bread, i was cooking roast duck with onion and sage stuffing and bruschetta with mushrooms and parmesan.
the duck turned out perfectly aside from the fact that i was rushing to carve it at 1pm. the bruschetta was lovely and i was pleased that i even got to make the pesto to go on top of it. my granary loaf was questionable since i used a tin that was too small. when i removed it from the warming oven, the dough was pouring over the sides of the tin. i quickly squished it back in and was ready to transfer it to another tin but pam told me to put it the oven. to her surprise, and mine, it turned out beautifully.
i flew through lunch and was back in demo without getting my anticipated walk in. not the end of the world, but a bit of a bummer. darina popped her head in to thank everyone for their participation in friday night's pub quiz. the money raised was going to support her india fund. we students contributed six hundred euros which darina/ballymaloe are going to match euro for euro. not a bad collection! rory ran demo again today and after showing us how to cut our own steaks, he made a plate of smoked fish with horseradish sauce, a sweet dill mayonnaise, pan-grilled steak with bearnaise sauce and chips, pan-grilled steak with chipotle butter, chargrilled sirloin steak with salsa verde, steak au poivre, pan-grilled steak with roast red peppers, anchoide and rocket, ballymaloe spiced beef, spiced tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, ratatouille nicoise, pommes allumettes, cauliflower cheese, italian cauliflower fritters, rocket and olive salad, cabbage, sultana and fennel salad, normandy pear tart, apricot and frangipane tart, a bakewell tart, a pine kernel tart, a blood orange tart and a seville orange bakewell tart.
after struggling to keep my eyes open through the first half of demo, i took a nap after we were dismissed for the day. i got up when charlotte came in to ask me if i wanted a cup of tea. emily's mom and a friend were visiting as they had come down to ballymaloe for the afternoon. they chatted a bit about lunch and demo and then were on their way back up to dublin.
i did some filing, completed my order of work and am still contemplating on my menu for my final exam in three weeks. i have until thursday to finalize my dishes, complete my grocery list and order of work. we have a wine exam on wednesday the 23rd, cooking exams wednesday the 30th and thursday the 31st and written exams on april 1st. can't believe my twelve weeks are nearly up!
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