After a rather busy weekend in Dublin I was back in quiet Shanagarry on Sunday night, ready to start my fifth
week on the course.
I found myself in kitchen 2 on Monday
morning and to tell you the truth it was the kitchen I was dreading the most. It’s
the one that always looks the busiest and messiest. It’s probably because many
of the dishes are brought from and to this kitchen for the lunchtime service
and always where the washing up and cleaning up is done after lunch.
I was excited to be cooking Irish shellfish
for the first time ever as part of my ‘assiette de fruits de mer’ (if you want
to sound fancy) or ‘plate of Irish shellfish’ if French pronunciation isn’t
your best. I had to make homemade mayonnaise with it, perfect for practising,
as it is likely to be one of the techniques I’ll have to demonstrate during the
mid-term exam. I also made a beetroot and walnut cake that I’m likely
to make again at home as it was absolutely delicious and quite unusual. I like
vegetable cakes, a delightful way to help you reach your 5 a day.
The day even got better in the afternoon as
the theme of the demo was ‘Irresistible breakfasts’. I was quite excited as
brekkie is probably my favourite meal of the day (along with brunch). Darina
covered lots of scrumptious breakfast items including homemade breads, scones,
jams, granola, porridge, eggs in various ways, muffins, pancakes, waffles and
of course the glorious Irish breakfast. We even got some proper breakfast
kippers and kidneys that I never knew were eaten for breakfast in Ireland.
Darina talked about breads and places that serve toast made from sliced pans.
She told us that if she were Minister for Health that she would ban the sliced
pan.
The next day in the kitchen was great fun as
every student had to cook a proper Irish breakfast. It’s funny because I’ve
never cooked a full Irish in my house, it’s always Mr. FFID’s job and the only
fry up I eat during the year is when we spend Christmas in Mammy FFID’s house.
I also made potato fadge (potato bread) which looked rather pathetic but tasted
good anyway. We all got to eat early and washed down our food with a glass of
bucks fizz, best morning cooking so far!
In the afternoon Rachel demonstrated some
beautiful breads, how to make chicken liver pate, homemade noodles, lemon
meringue tart and different dishes of pan-grilled fish. I also got to do a fun
photo shoot with Michael Kelly from GIY along with Darina Allen and Rachel
Allen. I feel so grateful to GIY and Darina for being here and having the
opportunity to live this amazing experience.
That evening Mandy my housemate brought some
fish home for us to fillet so we all gathered in the kitchen to
practise. This is why doing the course is a totally immersive experience, you
live with fellow students and you practise or study together.
On Wednesday morning my housemate Mandy and
I decided to head to the glasshouse at 7.30 to spend some time studying for our
herb and salad leaf exam on week 6. We spent an hour trying to identify the
different herbs and leaves as well as asking Haullie the gardener for some clarifications
about chickweed, bittercress, landcress and watercress that all seem to look
alike when you don’t know much about them. We have a huge bowl filled with lots
of different fresh salad leaves in the dining room every day but we really
started paying attention as soon as we were given our exam date.
We started the day at 9am with Darina
demonstrating brownie recipes (the raspberry cheesecake one was amazing) and
she also told us about Gubbeen and Durrus cheese.
It was then time for our third wine lecture
of the course with Colm Mc Cann. It was my favourite one so far as I thought he
explained particularly well the process for making champagne and went through
the main French wine regions and varieties in a very approachable way. We got
to taste five wines in a short period of time which meant that by lunchtime I
was a bit tipsy and didn’t realise I was on supervisor duty as it wasn’t
written on my duty rota sheet. Thankfully one of the teachers reminded me.
We spent the afternoon learning about
fermented food and its health benefits from Penny Allen (Darina’s daughter in
law) who showed us how to make sauerkraut, kimchi, water kefir, kombucha, etc…
On Thursday morning I was in the kitchen
early again as I was on bread duty. I had the feeling I had too many things on
my order of work and I was right. I had to make homemade noodles which I really
enjoyed as it was my first time ever making pasta. It takes time but it’s so
rewarding and delicious eaten just with fresh herbs.
I also had to cook a seabass,
which meant filleting it. I got so flustered as my teacher was giving out to me
for being slow, which resulted in me cutting my finger while panicking. Fortunately
I had fellow student and Dutch woman, Marieke next to me who seemed to be a pro
at filleting and she was lovely enough to help me as she saw I was struggling. Unfortunately I didn't have time left to make chicken liver pate after that.
The afternoon demo was mostly about how to
fillet a flat fish and make goujons as well as how to cook rabbit. I learnt
that Darina Allen was an au pair in France when she was young and that the
family she was staying with had rabbits that they ate. I didn’t have rabbits in
my house but remember vividly my dad getting some from someone he knew and
having to kill it, skin it, gut it and cook it. Sometimes on Saturday mornings
while I was having breakfast of croissant and hot chocolate, my dad would be in
front of me jointing a poor little bunny.
On Friday morning I started the day bright
and early once more as I was on salad duty. I was delighted to get to visit the
glasshouse again as it is the best way to study. As usual, Friday was a bit
tougher than the other days as the tiredness from the week starts to take hold.
I made a date tart which was useful, as making shortcrust pastry and lining is
one of the techniques we have to know for the exam.
I also made Ottolenghi’s
puréed beetroot with yogurt and goat cheese. This is the kind of food I love making
at home so I was very happy.
On Friday afternoon we all looked wrecked
listening to Darina and I think she noticed it. However, the food she made was
totally up my street and I was looking forward to tasting it at the end.
With
focaccia breads, recipes using scallops, tagines, dishes with North African
influences and orange tuiles just to name a few, we ended the week on some
seriously tasty notes.
It’s hard to think that in a week’s time
I’ll be taking the exam and will be half way through the course already. It’s
flying!
“Charge more and be the best” – Darina
Allen
“Everything in Bordeaux is a chateau, even
a shed at the back of the chateau” – Colm Mc Can.
All pictures taken with an iPhone 4s
