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

Ballymaloe Day 24, 9th February - Tart de Terrible

Week 5, Day 4 and this week has absolutely flown by. I was in early to get started on the pastry for the tart and I also wanted to make some extra bread, plus I had Candied Peel and a flat fish to fillet.

I made the pastry in the tart recipe, messed up the first time due to my inability to put a Magimix together, then got it right the second time. Then found out we were supposed to do a simpler, more basic pastry, not the one in the recipe, grrrr. Anyway, no time to bother with that as the complicated pastry Mark 2 was in the fridge, I prepared the dates; Medjool Dates, the king of dates are the only type of date they use here and have a sweet, rich syrupy flavour. We get to use nothing but the best for our ingredients! I made the custard and also a Soda Bread with sultanas in it. Rolled out the pastry a little heavy handedly, as such it cracked and some of the filling spilled out and stuck to the base. It also took forever to set even though I thought it was cooked when I took it out the oven. A shame as it was really delicious, both the pastry and the filling and it was all rich and unctuous like it should be. However I had pastry left so took it home to practice with again, I thought I had the knack of lining a tin here but the rolling is another matter.

My goujons of sole were great though, filleted the flat fish, a Lemon Sole, chopped him into goujons which were covered in spiced flour and deep fried. They were absolutely delicious!

Rory made Scallops with Beurre Blanc look easy

Orange Jelly & Tuiles

Lamb Tagine

Rory's Scallop Carpaccio

Nice presentation of the Tagine

Florentines

The afternoon’s demonstration was an introduction to Scallops so we were all very excited. They cost a couple of Euros each in the shell and were hand caught. Again, loads of fabulous local produce being used. Rory made a Jerusalem Artichoke Puree to go with them and a Beurre Blanc. We also saw several Tagines of Lamb, couscous in a couscousier (who knew that existed?), salads, Fruit Jellies and an introduction to Gelatine. Rory also made Florentines and Tuile Biscuits. It was a feast as you can see from the pictures above. Tomorrow I am making the Tuiles, finishing Candied Peel, Lemonade duty and the Lamb Tagine, with, yes you’ve guessed it, Medjool Dates!

Ballymaloe Day 9, 19th January - Confessions of a Milkmaid

Yes, I was up early to milk the bovine beasts and at the school for 7.30am. However it was still too dark at that hour so I was told to come back 15 minutes later. What else was there to do but go back to the cottage and put on my make-up instead. Looking a bit better (you never know when one of these eligible farmers they keep talking about might appear) I met Eileen who is in charge of the cows and we herded them out of the field and up to the milking parlour. There are three dairy cows, a Jersey, a Fresian and a cross between the two I think, plus their calves, and two little Dexters, an old Irish breed who aren't used for milk but hang out in the field with them.

We herded them in, and it was even further from Possil than ever, standing in a muddy field in the dawn wielding a big stick. We washed the udders, then put on the milking apparatus (no, I was not milking by hand, sitting on a stool like ye olde milkmaid of yore). The milk goes straight through into the dairy, then into the separator we saw yesterday. The jersey milk gives it a lovely rich colour and the cream is sunny and yellow. Then everything's cleaned down and the cows drift back to the field; they're pretty smart and know they're going to be milked and get grumpy if they have to wait around in the morning.

The separated milk and cream get taken back to the school for use in the day's cooking and that's it. Another crazy experience which is a daily occurance at Ballymaloe!

Then it was back to Kitchen 2, and got on with my Bread and Butter pudding, including nearly a pint of cream and marmalade. Also made tomato fondue, a kind of Ballymaloe in-house tomato sauce. It was all really tasty, I was pleased! I also got to fillet half a flat fish, another huge cod. I enjoyed it though, not bad for a first attempt. I contacted the real world for a few minutes (my stepfather's 75th birthday, I tracked down a mobile phone signal in a supermarket car park in Midleton), only to be asked "did I gut the fish as well?" Thankfully no, as I could fit no more into today's exploits!

The first plates of my food I've phototgraphed (and remembered the camera!)

Well I tell a lie, in the afternoon for the demonstration Darina brought in half a sheep's carcass and went through the cuts of lamb with it. She wielded a saw and took off the leg and shoulder no problem - the things you see here! Tomorrow I am cooking the shoulder, and also roast potatoes, swiss chard and finishing off my marmalade. Lastly a few of us students went to see Tim making a sourdough loaf after class. More detail on the subject of sourdough at a later date but he has a starter which has been going since September. The starter captures the natural yeast in the air, Tim calls it working with ' the elements' which I love, I feel more of a pagan here than ever! He used the starter to create the 'sponge' which you use to rise the loaf. The dough is kneaded and then left to rise overnight ready for the next stage. All the students are excited about starting their own starter, I am hoping to find the time soon!

The starter (in jar) and the dough