Ballymaloe Cookery Course: Week 12: Tuesday
Yesterday we had our last day of cooking in Kitchen Three. It’s hard to believe that we’re into the final few days of the course already.
At least I got to murder my first lobster before we finished up, for yesterday’s Lobster with Cream and Fresh Herb lunch. The other dish I made was a Walnut and Armagnac tart with a really short, biscuity pastry and – of course – another pair of sourdough loaves.
Had a bit of a disaster with the bread on Friday, however, as I forgot to put in the salt so it misbehaved and didn’t turn out very well. At least the loaves yesterday were much better, which is a relief as I’m hoping to use the bread toasted under the cheese in my exam starter – A Warm Salad of Ardsallagh Goat’s Cheese with Walnut Oil Dressing.
After morning demo today, many of us have Cook Ahead time – my Yoghurt and Cardamom Cream needs to set overnight and at least that will be one less thing to worry about tomorrow although the time will be taken off. It’s nice to think that I might get the whole dinner and bread cooked in three hours but, at this stage, I’m not so pushed about that. I just want to get finished!
Caroline,best of luck with your exam, hope it all goes well. What you doing for the main?
It’s really simple: Duck Legs with Thyme and Onions. Had a practice run at home last night – the Husband was thrilled to actually get dinner made for him for once! What did you cook for your final exam?
Best of luck in the final exams. Have really enjoyed reading about your experiences on the course.
Hope the exam went ok Caroline!! Best of luck with the new job, what will you be doing??
The duck legs sound lovely. How long did you have to cook the duck leg to be tender?My exam meal was a bit of a play on words. I called it an ‘offal dinner!’ Bada bing! Starter of a warm chicken liver salad, mains of an oxtail stew with colcannon and I finished off with a ‘sweet bread’ and butter pudding (made with brioche, sweet bread, get it :-).I took advantage of the cook ahead rule and made the stew the night before, stew is always better the after a days rest. While browning my oxtail I was able to also put together my brioche bread and butter puddings. So on the day I only had to make my bread, sauté my livers and make my Colcannon, sweet!!!Got my fingers crossed for you. Best of luck.
Amazing. What a fantastic journey. Both deeply envious and admiring of your achievement.
Hi Caroline, best of luck on your last day…. Enjoy every minute of it… Sarah
That offal dinner sounds great – good use of cook ahead time too. Not too impressed with my final meal but at least it’s all done now! Got to run – more last minute cramming to be done, but there’s the last lunch first.