Every week is different when you’re doing
the course. It all depends on which kitchen you’re in, which dishes you make or
even who your teacher or partner is.
On Monday morning it was like stepping into
a completely different world as I moved from kitchen 2 to the demo kitchen. The
demo kitchen is where one of our lecturers (Rory O’Connell, Darina Allen and
Rachel Allen) demonstrates a multitude of dishes every afternoon for over 3
hours. It’s completely different to be cooking there as you only have six
students (the other kitchens would have about 18-20 I’d say), so it isn’t
nearly as noisy or frantic as the other rooms.
The first day there went well, under the
guidance of Tracy, one of my favourite teachers so far. She’s very good at
explaining things as well as being funny and patient. As I found myself cooking
away in a peaceful atmosphere, I thought we could have done with some music to
fill the room a little but I don’t think Darina would agree with me on that one.
I made some shortcrust pastry for my
bakewell tart, which was a bit different to the one we usually make and mine
happened to be a bit too wet. I really enjoyed making the tart though and when
it came out of the oven I was quite happy with the look of it. That morning
Rory was passing by and even said that it looked like a nice bakewell tart, I
was chuffed! I also had to make a pretty straightforward dish of cauliflower
cheese and as it was steak day I got to cook a steak (rare, don’t mind if I do)
along with some pommes allumettes. Needless to say I enjoyed lunch that day with
steak frites being one of my favourite things in the world.
In the afternoon, Rory’s lecture was mainly
about rack of lamb dishes with their accompanying sauces, a few sides and also
tarte tatin. When I was in college I used to drive through Lamotte-Beuvron on
my way home, a little sleepy town in the Loire Valley where the tarte tatin
recipe originated. There are a few different stories on how the tart was created
but the one I’ve heard in the Loire Valley was that two sisters whose family
name was Tatin and who owned a restaurant in a hotel cooked an apple pie upside
down by mistake and that this is how it all started.
On Tuesday morning many of us in the demo
kitchen added some baking to our order of work and started making breads,
scones and other biscuits. It turned out that this wasn’t a good idea as Pam
our teacher wasn’t happy and gave out to us for not waiting for her to see what
we were doing. I tried making a stripy cat, a white soda bread with chocolate chips
in it but unfortunately it was too dry. I have to practise as many breads as I
can over the next few weeks. For the final exam I’ll be given a bread at random
to bake, along with my three course meal, all in just three hours. Anyway, the
morning’s cooking wasn’t too bad as I made moules Provençales and a roasted
rack of lamb with cumin.
For the afternoon demo we had a visit from
Gillian Hegarty, head chef at Ballymaloe House, who taught us how to make pasta
in different shapes as well as several different pasta based dishes. I loved
that demo and Gillian’s energy, she seemed to be really passionate about
Italian food. Ever since I made homemade noodles a few weeks back, I can’t stop
thinking about getting a pasta machine when I get back to Dublin.
On Wednesday morning after telling us a bit
about different blue cheeses and demonstrating freezer and fridge biscuits,
Rachel Allen gave us a brilliant demo on vegetarian cooking. You can tell
Rachel is used to being on TV, even when she cooks in front of us she has this
constant beautiful smile. You know the way she tastes dishes on TV and says “mmm,
it’s delicious”? Well she does the exact same in class too and I just find it
so charming. Anyway, even though I’m a big meat eater I enjoy cooking
vegetarian dishes quite often and one of my favourite cookbooks of all time,
Plenty More by Ottolenghi is vegetarian-themed. Spices and colourful
ingredients are definitely a game changer when cooking meatless dishes and
everything Rachel cooked that day was absolutely amazing and packed full of
flavours. Lunch that day was possibly my favourite since the start of the
course!
After lunch our wine lecture focused on
natural, organic and biodynamic wines. Pascal Rossignol, wine retailer and wine
merchant from Le Caveau in Kilkenny gave us a presentation and tasting. I
actually interviewed Pascal who is originally from Burgundy in France a few
years ago for the blog so have a little read if you’d like to know more about his
background.
On Thursday morning we all jumped on a bus,
excited to go on our school tour with the ever fabulous Darina Allen. Our first stop was
the Mahon Point Farmers market that takes place every Thursday in the Mahon
Point Shopping centre car park.
Darina told us how a visit to a farmers market
in San Francisco in the nineties inspired her to launch the first farmers market in Ireland on the Coal Quay in Cork in 1996. This is the reason why Darina Allen is so inspirational, she has
brilliant ideas and has the drive to make them happen, she really is a food
hero. Mahon Point market is actually run by Darina’s son-in-law Rupert Hugh-Jones, it has lots of stalls and apparently a big waiting list of people who want to have a spot there.
The range of stalls is quite diverse and you can find many things
from cheese to cakes, from vegetables to fish and there are some fabulous food
producers like Arbutus Bakery, Green Saffron and O’Connail chocolate just to
name a few.
I ate a delicious raclette from the Boeuf a la Lolo stall, which is
ran by a French man. Several of my fellow classmates loved his steak sandwich.
I also tasted the macarons from Treats Petite, which were amazing. Not only did they look perfect but the texture and flavours are unbelievable, definitely the best macarons I’ve had in Ireland.
I also tasted the macarons from Treats Petite, which were amazing. Not only did they look perfect but the texture and flavours are unbelievable, definitely the best macarons I’ve had in Ireland.
After the market we headed to Durrus cheesefarm, one of the first farmhouse Irish cheeses to be made in the eighties along
with Gubbeen and Milleens.
We also stopped in Good Things café to listen to Carmel Somers telling us about how she got started. We then had a talk from another Irish food hero, food writer John Mc Kenna who lives nearby and just happened to be there to give something to Darina.
On our way back to Ballymaloe we stopped at Urru food store, which is owned by Ruth Healy another past student of the course. She told us a bit about her business and how she’s always on the look of new trends or exciting new Irish made products. There is nothing like hearing past student success stories to make you think about your own future and what you’d like to do with the skills gained in Ballymaloe.
We also stopped in Good Things café to listen to Carmel Somers telling us about how she got started. We then had a talk from another Irish food hero, food writer John Mc Kenna who lives nearby and just happened to be there to give something to Darina.
On our way back to Ballymaloe we stopped at Urru food store, which is owned by Ruth Healy another past student of the course. She told us a bit about her business and how she’s always on the look of new trends or exciting new Irish made products. There is nothing like hearing past student success stories to make you think about your own future and what you’d like to do with the skills gained in Ballymaloe.
It was a bit weird to be back in the
kitchen on Friday morning after a two-day break but I was so excited to be
making pasta. I started the morning by baking a walnut cake for which I had to
make an American frosting. I wasn’t quick enough at icing the cake and it
didn’t end up with a nice glossy look as it should have as the frosting started
to set too quickly. Eimear, my teacher that morning was very understanding and
said that I just need some more practise.
Nevermind, my little pleasure that day was
the making of fettucine alfredo and I was delighted to be able to bring some of my
homemade pasta with me to enjoy at home.
The week ended with Rachel’s demo, which
had a strong Indian theme to it. She covered several Indian dishes and
desserts. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to India a few years ago and it’s
one of my favourite countries in the world, their cuisine is flavoursome and
real Indian food is just so good. Some of my best memories from there are food
related (as usual)… I still can hear the men in the early morning on the trains
shouting ‘Omelette’ and selling them for breakfast to passengers. I vividly
remember people making chai tea on the side walk of busy streets or frying
samoussas in huge pans. Mr FFID and I did a camel safari in Rajhastan’s Thar
desert and I remember our guide making chapatis in front of us at every meal in
the middle of the desert.
Once again we covered so many different
things this week and I just can’t believe I only have four weeks left on the
course. I find myself thinking about the exams and post-Ballymaloe life a lot.
I decided to travel to Dublin for the weekend to take a little break from the
Ballymaloe bubble. Weirdly enough I haven’t been homesick at all, being so busy
all the time. Even so, home is where Mr. FFID is and I was delighted to get
back to him and my beloved Dublin city for two days.
