Emma Cooking In London: peppery steak, sagey pork and swanny eclairs!

hello there all my lovely loyal readers!

hope everyone is doing well :)

i have had yet another busy, jam packed, fun filled, cooking mad week!

monday was a bank holiday, yay.... fun! had a really relaxed weekend, which was just perfect because i actually needed a recharge, i've been so busy and on the go constantly, so was good to just do nothing. but i think i need to start doing more londony things... so planning to go, some time soon i hope to the globe theater to watch hamlet, so hoping to get tickets for that!

im also really excited as i have family flooding into london at the moment until june, so going to have some lovely family time! fun too...

now down to the real stuff ... all about the food...

we are really starting to get busy in the kitchens, and when i take a look back at what we were doing in our first weeks, and how long it took us to do that, and then now what we manage to cover now in the same time! just think what we will be doing in a months time, and in 6 months time... all very exciting.

so what have we done this week...

veal with braised rice.... this was veal, cooked in water, then a volute sauce made from the cooking liquor and some stock... to be honest, it was a bit bland, and i really don't see myself making it again in the near future, but it was still interesting to learn how to make it, and then i can use the base of it and try to make it into something i would like better... but not just yet because i'm still learning the basics :)!

then... hmmmmmm STEAK AU POIVRE! that was delicious delicious delicious. pepper steak with potato rosti. i really liked that, and i had fun making it too. I still find it funny how you are showed one thing in the demo, and then the chef who takes you for prac, tells you different things. and again that just shows how there is just so much to learn, and there is so much room for interpretation once you know the basics. im really excited to be good enough to just know and do! oh oh, i forgot, we also did roast sirloin, with a jus and turned potatoes, (which i still cant get perfect, and chef david can do behind his back... serious show off... but seriously, one day i will do that too and then i too can show off).

so those were the pracs on tuesday and wednesday.

and then on thursday we had pastry... and made tartes aux fruits with the puff pastry that we made last week, it was really basic, just filled with creme pattissier and topped with fruit, its really great how chef matthew lets us be creative and decorate our things how we want, some of the other chefs like it their way or no way. we had a lecture on nuts and spices.... then on friday we only had 1 class!!! it was a pasty demo on choux pastry, and chef nicholas got us all in a spin about how hard it is and how there is such huge fail rate with the eclairs, as it is one of the exam pieces... but it wasn't that bad! i think they just want to scare us. it was a really busy prac, but it worked, and our eclairs and swans weren't too bad at all :) so that was a huge sigh of relief.

We had the Choux prac and our pork prac on saturday... back to back pracs is exhausting, but they fly past and before you know it 6hours has gone and it feels like you have just got out of bed.

to the pork... we made sage pork chops with mash and honey, lemon and mustard and sage jus... it was reallllly delicious! the sweet porky lemony jus complements the pork so nicely. and the mash... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!! thats all i can say. butter and cream are the french's best friends!

and that was that.... it was a great week.

we have another fascinating week coming up this week... its all about eggs and bread, so moving away from the bread for a little while. will let you know how it goes.

have a wonderful week all!

here are some of my creations from the week: