« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »

November 28, 2007

Ballymaloe Cookery Course: Week 11: Wednesday

Wine exam over - phew! - so it's now time to get stuck into revision for next week's theory papers. Meanwhile, we're treating ourselves very well in the house. I made my second pair of sourdough loaves yesterday and, when I brought them home, the Ranelagh Housemate produced his home-cured bacon so we had the Best Bacon Butties Ever with our homemade bread and bacon, followed by a side order of Homemade Noodles with Chicken Liver Sauce for the Husband, scrounged from school for the Husband.

Besides the sourdough, which is working amazingly - and surprisingly! - well, this week is pretty full on in the kitchens. Final full week of cooking. After this week, I think we just have Monday left and that's it. 12 weeks - almost - over and it's back to real life soon.

Posted by Caroline at 5:36 PM | Comments (5)

November 27, 2007

Ballymaloe Cookery Course: Week 11: Tuesday

Wine exam tomorrow at 8am - time to get studying!

Posted by Caroline at 3:59 PM | Comments (5)

November 23, 2007

www.greatfood2buy.com

Congratulations to Anne Kennedy over on Greatfood.ie who has got her new fine food and ingredient gift shop - Greatfood2buy.com - off the ground in perfect time for Christmas. I know she has been cooking and testing for the Greatfood.ie range of chutneys, preserves and jams - Wild Cranberry and Apple Relish sounds especially good and I think I'll have to pick up a jar of Onion Marmalade with Plums and Port for myself. Living in the countryside, it's not always easy to get your hands on things like puy lentils, verjuice, organic polenta, lavender honey, quality spices or my favourite argan oil but Anne has put together a great selection of products that can be all yours in the click of a button (if you have the use of a handy credit card...) She also has the award-winning Castle Leslie range of balsamic reductions for sale - a bottle of their Balsamic Reduction with Sherry and Fig has gone down a treat in this house, with spoonfuls being tasted at regular intervals. I have great plans to use it on some pan-fried duck breasts, if it ever makes it all the way to the kitchen. Watch out next week for Greatfood.ie's Flavour of Italy range, including fine pasta, mostarda gift sets, Italian dolci and wine.

To celebrate the launch, Greatfood.ie have teamed up with the Italian School of Cooking in Rathmines to run a Christmas Artisan Food Fair on Sunday 9 December from 12 noon to 6pm. Wonder if Marco will be singing again?!

Posted by Caroline at 2:36 PM | Comments (0)

November 22, 2007

Ballymaloe Cookery Course: Week 10: Thursday

Today everything clicked into place, despite last night being a late one with the Sister at a musical evening in Ballymaloe House and lots of red wine! I was in at 8am on gardening duty with the ever-perky red-socked gardener. The two of us whizzed around the greenhouse or, rather, she whizzed - I plodded along behind at half speed - gathering quantities of parsley, chervil, coriander, kale and Swiss chard, which we then sorted, washed and labelled back at school.

A morning's work already under my belt, I trotted off to Kitchen 3, to find my sourdough breads had been unceremoniously upended in the fridge overnight. Fortunately it bounced back and I ended up with two beautiful loaves of dark brown crusted, beautifully risen, satisfyingly chewy sourdoughs and an amazing sense of achievement.

Meanwhile, during the bringing-back-to-room-temperature, rising and baking of the dough, myself and my super-efficient American partner worked together on all of this morning's dishes - Smoked Chicken Salad with Parsnip Crisps, Pan-Grilled Tuna and Salsa Verde, Apple and Sweet Geranium Vol au Vents and Homemade Parsley Noodles. It was just one of those days - for a change! - when all went smoothly. As my partner chopped parsley for the Salsa Verde, she handed over enough for my pasta; leftover egg from my dough served as egg wash for our vol au vents; I grabbed salad leaves, she made the parsnip crisps. We rolled, pan-grilled, chopped and assembled together and flew through an incredibly busy and satisfactory morning.

Today we also got our practical exam times and dates. I'm lucky - cooking the first day, Wednesday 5 December, from 9am. Must spend some more time on actual cooking my menu. The Husband is going to be well sick of eating the same goat's cheese, duck and mousse dishes over the next two weeks

Posted by Caroline at 6:02 PM | Comments (3)

November 20, 2007

Ballymaloe Cookery Course: Week 10: Tuesday

Last week I had a really good time in the kitchen with lots of ideas for my final three-course exam meal. We have to have the menu and a detailed list of ingredients in for Wednesday, alongside the occasion for the meal, the reason for the choice of menu and accompanying wines. I've been toying with cooking Shanagary Chicken Casserole but, the closer I get to the deadline, the more I'm veering towards a duck dish, maybe the Pan-Grilled Duck Breast with Spiced Lentils and Caramelised Apples that I made on Friday or the Duck Legs with Onions that we also cooked that morning. We have three courses, along with a bread - allocated by lottery - to be prepared in three hours and we're penalised if we go over time. Conversations revolve around the pros and cons of different dishes, my head is full of menu permutations and I'm also working on the latest collection of short First Course pieces for Intermezzo magazine. Is it any wonder that I dream of being in kitchens and cooking food every night?!

Posted by Caroline at 2:08 PM | Comments (2)

November 11, 2007

Balllymaloe Cookery Course: Week 8: Sunday

Some days, after the morning's cooking, you feel on top of the world; others leave you feeling like you never want to set foot in a kitchen again! Thursday was one of those days. I had a simple enough list of things to cook - Pan-grilled Steak with Béarnaise Sauce, Cauliflower Cheese and Pommes Allumettes (matchstick-thin chipped potatoes). I was also on lemonade duty (which reminds me: did that jug of lemonade ever make it to the dining room? I got out of the kitchen so late that I completely forgot about it!) and decided to get another bread ticked off my technique list so made a Stripy Cat, a soda bread flecked with chocolate and, because I love that combination, orange rind.

Everything seemed to take much longer than anticipated. Before long it was 11.45am, I was watching two ovens, trying to put a smoked fish starter plate together (hadn't taken that one into account, had I!) with one hand while whisking the living daylights out of my Béarnaise with the other. My partner and half the kitchen had already cooked their steaks and, if there's one thing that makes you feel really behind with things, it's when the kitchen empties around you while you're still struggling. I finally managed to get everything done and tasted - the steak was grand, not brilliant, but I was well beyond caring at that stage - and then I discovered our large saucepan was missing. Every day all the items that are supposed to live in each colour-coded section are checked by the teachers and missing things are the bane of our lives. By the time I had traipsed around the other three kitchens (still no sign) and got the ok to leave, lunch was almost cleared away and I was in a right grump.

Sitting with the few that were still lingering over lunch, it seemed that few people had an easy morning. These crises of confidence - I can't cook, I'm totally disorganised, what on earth am I doing here? - are something that hit us all at different stages, especially when you've left your job to do this course! Then it's good to take a step back, grab a cup of coffee to drink somewhere quiet and calm outside and have some quality chill-out time watching the chickens scratch for beetles under the moss on the steps.

Fortunately, an enjoyable afternoon demo with Rory O'Connor where he efficiently worked his way through an assortment of delicious terrines, crepes and the involved technique for making flaky pastry greatly restored equilibrium, as did some morale-boosting chats with fellow classmates. Although I would have liked the opportunity to make those dishes myself, I walked out of school on Thursday very glad to have the following day off as I was going to a wedding in Killarney. A few days away from the kitchen and I'm gingerly looking forward to getting back there tomorrow. Best start studying those recipes...

Posted by Caroline at 3:13 PM | Comments (9)

November 6, 2007

Balllymaloe Cookery Course: Week 8: Tuesday

After a scattered start - I forgot to check this week's duties and I was actually on early salad prep - Monday was a day spent sitting in demo for the home butchery part of the course. We started easy, jointing a chicken and duck, gradually working our way thorough half carcasses of lamb, pig and a large chunk of a dead bullock. It was not the day to have a hangover as German butcher Philip Dennhardt cut and sawed his way through a small mountain of flesh and bone. As a child I loved being sent to the local butcher, especially if there was a long queue as it gave me an opportunity to gaze, fascinated, at the butcher as he went about his business, reducing large hunks of meat into family-sized portions. Today we watched as chickens were spatchcocked, legs of lamb filleted, pork brined and sausages made. I'm not sure when I'll next be landed with a lamb carcass to cut up but at least I'll have the notes at the ready.

Friday night was the first time we cooked together in the Ballycotton house. The Husband enjoyed watching as three Ballymaloe cooks worked on his dinner. It wasn't just him we were feeding, though, some of our classmates were coming over for a simple meal - Smoked Salmon and Chive Cheese Bruschetta, Roast Chicken with Ham, Stuffing, Glazed Carrots and Cauliflower Cheese, followed by Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and Pedro Ximnez desert sherry (yep, we had a sherry masterclass last week!) and Chocolate Covered Caramelised Almonds (I had a spare 15 minutes during that morning's cooking). And this was all after we had the usual post-demo plateful. A very relaxed and wine-fuelled meal was followed by a trip to the Blackbird, which was packed with fellow students all dressed up for a Halloween Party. Work hard all week; party any chance we get!

Posted by Caroline at 8:31 AM | Comments (7)

November 1, 2007

Balllymaloe Cookery Course: Week 7: Wednesday

After starting at 8am on Friday - I was on Early AM duty, shaping and rolling pizza bases for that morning's demonstration - and having our first set of set of exams that afternoon, the last thing I needed was a night at Declan Ryan's Arbutus Bakery. But, as my father continually tells my mother, when you enlist your must soldier, so 11.30pm found me wending my weary way along the dark, foggy roads en route to the bakery in Mayfield Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Cork City.

From the moment I got out of the car at 12.30am, until sitting back into it to go home, eight hours later, there wasn't a minute to sit down or even lean against a counter. I was kept busy all night by the three bakers on duty - a Turk, Frenchman and Pole - putting the topping on 160 loaves of Tomato and Basil bread, shaping Brown Soda Bread loaves and cakes, manipulating pide, stacking sourdoughs, egg-washing croissants, pain au chocolate and Danish pastries. With lots to do and big mugs of tea to keep us going, there was no time to feel tired and the time flew.

The worst hour was between 4am and 5am, when there was a short lull as we waited for bread to prove and bake. A pain au chocolate and another dose of tea kept the spirits up and I was soon back in the swing of things. I left at 8.30am, physically shattered but buzzing mentally, with my arms full of the fruits of my labours. I made it safely back to Ballycotton and, after a breakfast of fresh-baked bread, Ballymaloe-made marmalade, and more mugs of tea, the Husband and I headed for home. We hadn't left the sight of the sea before I was unconscious in the passenger seat, only waking up when we got home.

Short week this week so only three cooking mornings. All day Wednesday was spent on a brilliant seminar on setting up your own food business, which included details on costing your dishes and menu planning, to be continued in two week's time. Time to go now - I'm making Shanagary Chicken Casserole and Bread and Butter Pudding today and my mother is coming down for lunch so I've to speed through this morning's cooking!

If you're looking for Arbutus Breads, try Urru in Mallow and Bandon, Declan Ryan sells the bread himself at the Middleton Farmer's Market and On The Pig's Back in Cork's English Market.

Posted by Caroline at 8:34 AM | Comments (2)