Sunday 19 February 2012

Ballymaloe Day 25, 10th February - How to make Lemonade (hint, read the recipe)

Last Day of Week 5 and I was in early yet again to get my lemonade started. The Ballymaloe Homemade Lemonade is made by a few students every day and is very popular. It is basically sugar syrup, lemon juice or a mixture of fruit juices and water. It can be flavoured with herbs as well such as sweet geranium or rosemary in the syrup. Any fruit used for zesting where the flesh and juice of the fruit is not needed (naked fruit, if you like) is kept in a box in the fridge to be used for juicing for lemonade. Another example of how nothing is wasted here. I had a selection of lemons, blood orange and grapefruit. There was no spare syrup so I made some and left it to cool.

Next I got on with the Lamb Tagine, I chopped up some lamb from a leg into large cubes and it gets marinated in spices, then cooked with tomato juice, saffron, the obligatory Medjool dates and loads of coriander. It was fab. Made the Orange Tuile Biscuits and had loads of fun rolling them round my rolling pin. I also finished the second batch of candied peel and made sure I had loads more syrup this time. It looked pretty good. As for the lemonade I misread the recipe (as in didn’t read it properly) and put the whole pint of syrup in rather than the right amount. It was rectified though by making up more fruit juice and adding more water. A crap mistake though, I should have been concentrating and I wasn't. I also prepared Scallops from the shell which was a pretty gross undertaking and fried them and served them with my partner’s Beurre Blanc. My teacher said it was good presentation, at least that was something to take from today!


Fruits of Friday's labours


By the time I got to the afternoon’s demonstration I was exhausted! Even though it was Friday there was no let up and Rory produced plate after plate of food. Delicate broths, Potted Shrimp (loved that), Fougasse Bread, Bread in the shape of a sunflower with polenta and sunflower seeds, Irish Stew and Fruit Fools, Raspeberry, Rhubarb and so on. This weekend is the last weekend before our halfway exams so I need to try and do some study – 20 techniques to master and 40 herbs and leaves to memorise plus recipes!!


Cute breadsticks wrapped up in a parcel with raffia and Fougasse

Fool hidden by Jane's Biscuits (sounds like a crossword clue)

Rhubarb Fool

Sunflower Bread

Potted shrimp with wild garlic leaves & flowers, served with breadsticks



No comments:

Post a Comment