Today we started off our theory day as normal with Cheeses & biscuits of the week.

The Irish cheeses were hard from West Cork - Desmond & Gabriel. We also had some Dutch cheese brought over by one of our fellow students. These were also hard cheeses, one goats cheese, one with cloves and cumin & a gouda type cheese.

Apologies for the delay - late evening wine tasting lead to a drink or 2 in the pub after, therefor no blog entry!

So yesterday we made all things breakfasty. The picture is of fruit & nut muesli with some fresh strawberries and a little cup of milk because I cudnt find a small jug anywhere!!

I also made Raw Apple Muffins - yum yum.

And finally "An Irish Breakfast" which I forgot to photograph as I was too busy eating it!!t

Today I made 2 starter plates of shellfish with homemade mayonnaise (sorry Clair!) & Carrageen Moss Pudding served with an Irish Coffee Sauce.

First up the pudding, it isnt really what I would call a pudding it's a set custardy type dessert. The setting agent comes from the carrageen which is dried seaweed (a suitable gelatine substitute for vegetarians). Milk, sugar, vanilla & carrageen infuse in a pot, the moss & pod get removed and egg yolk is beaten in. Finally stiffly whipped egg white is folded in and its left to set. Surprisingly nice, the Irish coffee sauce helps though!

Friday...yay!

So every evening after demo we are given a list of things that have to be cooked the next day. Its up to you & your partner to organise who is doing what. So this morning both of us turned up thinking the other person was making the Orange & Mint Jelly. Anyhoo I had to do it and because it needed time to set I had to start it straight away, which delayed my whole day! Boo hoo!

Sorry about the shocking looking lemon meringue pie, it looked lovely until I cut it. Apparently my lemon curd was thick enough. Wont make that mistake again, hopefully!

The pie took ages because you have to make the pastry, chill it. Roll it out, chill it again. Bake it in the oven with dried beans on top, egg wash it. Make the lemon curd, chill it. Make the meringue and then put it all together and bake. it tasted lovely, shame about its appearance!

Today, like every Wednesday was theory day. It was jam packed with cakes & cheese's of the week, then a wine presentation & tasting. And after lunch a Tea lecture & Afternoon Tea demo.

Cheese's of the week were from Fermoy Cheese:

St. Gal's - hard cheese made from raw milk, lower in fat 32%, matured for 6 months
St. Bridget's - semi hard cheese made from raw milk, full in fat & takes 6-7 weeks to mature
Cáis Dubh (Black cheese)- gouda type cheese made from unpasteurised, takes a minimum of 4-6 months to mature. Coated in black plastic, hence the name.

Cakes of the week

Today I made:

Apple & Clove Jelly
Mushroom Soup
Mushroom Frittata

Cut apples into quarters & put in pot with water & cloves. Bring to the boil & cook til it turns to mulch.

Meanwhile - soup: chop onions finely & sweat in butter. Chop mushrooms VERY finely, this took far too long but at least I got some chopping practice. Add the mushrooms to the onions & cook for a few mins.

Pour into jelly bag & hang over bowl to catch the liquid.

So on the menu today was:

Ballycotton Shrimp with Homemade Mayonnaise (sorry Clair, they made me do it!) Mayonnaise is actually really easy to make and tastes so much better, you just have to have patience. Egg yolks, a little mustard, salt, vinegar & oil. Mix all the ingredients except the oil in a large bowl then gradually add the oil while whisking. It will split if you add the oil too quickly.

Ballymaloe Bacon Chop with Irish Whiskey Sauce - Bacon coated in breadcrumbs and fried to make it all crispy. The whiskey sauce was sweet but went surprisingly well with the bacon.

Im afraid I have to admit I have being slacking off a bit on the blog front. So going back to last Friday (if I can remember that far back!).

First I got started on the French Onion Soup. Quite a few onions are required and it takes ages to caramelise them so left them do their thing while I moved on.

On my menu today comfort food!

Roast chicken with stuffing & gravy
Butter sponge with kumquat compote & fresh cream filling

Of course there were lots of other things cooked by the rest of the students such as winter vegetable soup, french peasant soup, swede topped with caramelised onions, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, orange butter scones, butter sponge with raspberry jam etc. etc. etc.

So as you can imagine we all stuffed our faces, again!