Ok so today was theory day again so no cooking. I dont take pictures of demonstrations so thought it would be a good idea to upload pictures of my fellow students or anything else of interest about the social side of the course. The picture above includes myself, Ray, Sean & Owen.

Rory O'Connell did the morning demo to include:

Roast Rib of Beef, curried parsnips, gravy, horseradish sauce & yorkshire puddings
Cassoulet
Lamb Shanks
Braised short ribs
Tapenade, anchoide & dukkah with Crudité
Mayonnaise & Aoili
Simmnel Cake

This morning I only did what I was meant to do, proud of me?!

First up - Brown Soda Bread. A little wet apparently but I was assisted in adding the milk so I dont mind this criticism!

On to the Spicy Apple Chutney - prepared the apples & onions and threw the rest of the ingredients (spices, sugar, vinegar & sultanans) into a big pot and left it simmer away for 1 1/2 hours.

Next I scrubbed my potatoes, pricked them a couple of times and whacked them in the oven to bake for an hour.

Last night like all other nights when doing up my "Order of Work" for the next day I thought "I don't have that much to do, I can definately fit in something else". You'd think I would have learned by now that everything takes way longer than you think and when you have a few things to cook & have an extra duty (lemonade) there really isn't enough time to fit something in.

Anyway, arrived early to start my "something extra", scones with lemon butter, its better to get breads etc. out of the way in the morning. These went swimmingly & tasted well yummy!

On my menu today was:

Fillet & skin a round fish
Panettone & Pear Bread & Butter Pudding
Make marmalade (was soaking over night)
Tomato & Chilli Fondue with Spaghetti
Soak Haricot Beans (for Monday)

First I turned on the marmalade.

Then on to the custard for the pudding & poured over panettone & pears & left to soak up the yumminess.

Then on to the filleting of the fish. We had to watch our teacher do it first & then fillet the fish between 2 of us, which we had to in front of our teacher to make sure we were doing it right. This took ages and delayed everything.

Today we were back in the kitchen.

First I made some White Soda Bread - was quite good but maybe a little doughy.

Then on to preparing marmalade to boil tomorrow - this was grand, I have done this many many times.

Next I prepared my spicy tomato salsa, super tasty. On to my tortillas, the dough could have been a bit more moist and my shaping into rounds didnt go so well but they were grand. Gaucamole was next with lots of lime, yummy! I fried some tortillas and sprinkled with cayenne, salt & parmesan. Finally I made basmati rice.

Voila

Apologies I didnt put my daily blog on yesterday!

Theory day as normal on Wednesdays - First up Milk and lots of different things you can do with it especially making cheese. We had a lovely man from Teagasc to help us go through the whole process of making Gouda cheese there & then and explaining how to make many different cheeses with different processes etc.

Short break with some tea/coffee & little nibbly squares of all kinds - lemon, coffee, chocolate, hazelnut etc.

Back to class for more cheesey talk and finish off the gouda.

Another morning in the kitchen with a list of things to do! But before I begin, I must mention that each morning when cooking is complete we have to lay a taster plate out for our teacher to judge and score out of 6.

First I made a second attempt at "Mummy's Sweet White Scones". But of course, it is not possible for me to complete a full morning in the kitchen without a blunder so guess what... I burnt them while making my jelly. They still tasted yummy, not just my opinion, my teacher also agreed.

In early to weigh up spices for a chicken marinade.

Then we learned how to joint a chicken - it took ages. Meanwhile the ingredients for my scones were left sitting there only to be returned to there original homes and not get baked and eaten!

Next to marinade my chicken drumsticks - ill cook these tomorrow.

Then chicken in tarragon sauce - needed more seasoning & sauce too thick, but chicken not over cooked (which was very important).

Today was the second day of cooking and I planned to make it far better than my last attempt so got up early and was in school 30mins before required. Weighed up my ingredients for my Hazelnut & Chocolate Tart. Once my teacher arrived I started my pastry, too wet unfortunately so lots of fridge time needed (yay!). Then on to my second attempt at whats called "Beginners Wholemeal Bread" funnily enough. It went fine this time so into the oven to bake.

Today was theory day so not too interesting! First a demo on making cheese biscuits, red currant jelly, the perfect cup of tea, infusion tea and coffee.

Quick tea break with yummy nibbles such as biscuits, chocolate biscuit cake and little jammy spondgey things.

Talk on wine, video about wine. Talk on farmhouse Irish cheeses.