Eye candy

A few more yum desserts that I made in my pastry class:

Lemon tart with an Italian meringue topping and candied lemon peel

Poached pear and almond frangipane lattice

Apple tart

Fruit tart

If you would like desserts like these made for your dinner parties or events, let me know!!!

Pretty puds

My patisserie course has started and the emphasis is on presentation, and making sugar work, sauces, biscuits and fruit to complement dishes. I feel like I'm back in art class. Here's what I made yesterday:

Success!

My first term at Le Cordon Bleu is over. I have almost graduated, and although I don't know my final mark, I do know that my exam dish was awarded 77.5%. Yes!

The ticket I picked was the roast beef, which was the easiest of the three, and being my first exam where beef has ever featured, I did pretty well. My only downfall was being so terrified of over cooking the meat that it came out very, very pink, rather than the medium-rare I was going for. But the chefs comments were great, everything tasted lovely and the only additional comment they had was that the beans were presented slightly over the inner rim of the plate. And luckily I can live with that.

Looking back over the past term, I really have come a long way. In the first practical I was slightly stressed out by cutting lots of vegetables, with a time pressure, and surrounded by nine other people who might be going faster than me. And now... Well, I'm not Gordon Ramsay, but I'm so much better than I was, and looking forward to my Patisserie course that starts in two weeks.

And in the meantime, I'll share a little of what I learnt in my next post.

Time to get serious

9 weeks into my 10 week Basic Cuisine course, and it's gone by so fast! We've learnt so much, and my cooking's massively improved, from being daunted by, well, most things really, to being comfortable cooking meat, fish, veg, pastry, and in the Cordon Bleu style, happily adding butter and cream whenever I can!

But now come the exams - not the chicken and lamb exams that counted but didn't really matter. For Wednesdays exams I not only have to learn 3 dishes, but we also have a written exam that could cover anything from methods, ingredients and recipes, to French terms for cutting vegetables and methods like separating eggs (clarifier, or so I think...). If you fail, then you need to take the whole course again (and pay again too). And apparently people do fail. And I really don't want to fail - the graduation with champagne reception at the Emirates Stadium just wouldn't be the same if I'd flunked for the first time ever.

And of course I haven't revised. I have started cooking the exam dishes to prepare. Last night I bought 4 whole lemon sole, filleted and skinned them, and turned them almost successfully into braised lemon sole with duxelle mushrooms, spinach and potato that I mashed rather than piping it onto the plate and browning it in the oven - I had been working in the restaurant from 8am, back at 6pm to start cooking a dinner that was only ready at about 9pm, with a little help from my guest, so I thought a few shortcuts were very necessary.

Lemon sole with mushroom duxelle, duchesse potato border and spinach

Tonight I'm practising roast beef with turned potatoes, turned, glazed carrots, and green beans with a beef jus. The only flaw is that I have lost the recipe, but I'm sure I'll find it somewhere.

And the third dish that I might be examined on is guinea fowl, half made into a herby mousse, with the other half filleted and rolled around the mousse, then wrapped in clingfilm and poached with tomato coulis and courgette spaghetti. I'm trying my best to convince myself I don't need to practise that one too!

Guinea fowl with Provence herbs, tomato butter and courgette spaghetti

Kitchen confidential

In the last week I have almost conquered one of my biggest fears. That fear is restaurant work. In my mind, working in a kitchen is hardcore, and I don't fit in. I'm either eaten alive by a big scary chef, or sworn at until I run away, cry, or both. I also have hot oil thrown at me, and I'm tricked into picking up a pan straight from the oven with my bare hands while all the other chefs laugh. These all come from stories I've been told, and I'm not made for things like that.

But, 3 days in, all I can say is that I have survived so far, and enjoyed most of it. It's a really nice, busy French bistro, and I hope they don't make any of my nightmares come true! Highlights include opening my first oysters today, then going back to open more, picking up someone else's knife, and snapping it. Oops. The chef/owner told me to stick it in the bin quickly before whoever the knife belonged to realised what I'd done!

I also spent about 3 hours last week filling snail shells with parsley butter, then a squidgy black snail, and more parsley butter. I'm not in a hurry to try them although they do look quite good once they've come out the oven, with melted butter and herbs bubbling over the shells. And my revelation is that the shells go through the dishwasher after they've been used, and the snails come in a tin. Who'd have thought?!!!

Another eye opener was the veal brains delivery. It was so bizarre, they looked like brains, they are brains, and they were then cooked and eaten by people knowingly choosing to eat brains. And then I overheard the head chef asking someone to get rid of the haemorrhages on them. Oh dear...

Other than that I've chopped parsley until my hand almost fell off, have cut up my body weight in Roquefort, and have started plating meals that are sent out straight to the customer. Now that's exciting!

Spot the difference...

Not bad, right?!!!

P.s. If you're not convinced that it's Spring and want some warm, comforting pudding, have a look here for some inspiration. Measurements are in cups but it's easy to convert and the desserts look delicious! http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshows/2010/03/warm_sticky_gooey_desserts_slideshow#slide=1
Enjoy x

Sunshine and snow

Wow, what a lovely day! The sun is shining, Spring is on it's way, blossoms are starting to open and people are waiting to cross the road with their eyes shut and a faceful of sun! And this afternoon I am unseasonally making 'oeufs a la neige aux noisettes caramelisees'.

I never thought this was possible, but 'oeufs a la neige' are meringues poached in sugar syrup so that they are soft, shmushy and a bit like snow. Then we make a liquidy vanilla custard which goes in a bowl, on top of the custard are the soft meringues, and then we make caramelised hazelnuts and chop them up to sprinkle on top.

What makes it tricky is that we also need to make steak au poivre with pommes darphin, and the potatoes look really difficult.

And for all that we've got about 2 hours preparation and cooking time. Phew!

Here's the steak that I hope to replicate. Wish me luck!!!