..........Superior!!

the time has come, i am now, officially, a superior student! Daunting? yes, very much so. the pressure is on now. no more playing around in the kitchen and taking our time... its down to business!!!

haha... that sounds so intense. but in all honestly, its crunch time... in 3 months time, i can officially call myself a chef, but then all that means is i can go into a kitchen, and start from the bottom again. its like going from junior school to high school .... being the big fish in the pond, to being the scum on the on the root of the algee the the tadpoles eat. but before you know it... i will be fish again... i hope!

in my last entry i was was talking about the exams, as it was nearly exam time...
so to let you know, for the exam we had to do the lamb dish, with the tian of artichoke, mushroom, spinach, tomato and i feel like im forgetting something... oh well... and i got through it! thank goodness, even though it didnt go as i had hoped, but the fact of the matter is i passed and i am through to the next round. then for pastry i had to do the fraisier cake.. the one with the strawberries around and the marzipan rose on top.... got through that one too!!! PHEW :)

so now.... superior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

before class started, we had a 3 week break, which was much needed. seriously needed a little bit of a beak and getting out of london to get some sunshine and space!

so i went to PORTUGAL :) and italy (but im not going to talk about that because i got stuck in bed with bad bad flu, thank goodness i had my grandmother to keep me alive!)  fun fun fun! it was just perfection to get away from the business of traffic and tubes to the spacious fresh air of the algarve and porto. 

spent a few days on the beach, catching some sun, drinking freshly squeezed sweet sweet orange juice and caparhinias, soaking up the heat and attempting to catch a tan. we visited wine farms, and drank some absolutely delicious wines.. then eating the most delicious simple things.... piri piri chicken, cooked on the grill, served with tomato salad, portugeuese egg tarts, and egg tarts... oh and did i mention that we had egg tarts??? well we did, and I LOVE THEM!! and port and wine and all things nice :-) all i can say is that is not the last time im going to portugal, there is so much to explore there, and what i love most about it, is it is not the most popular holiday destination in the world, so some of it is almost untouched by the 'tourist'!

we have now been through 2 weeks of superior, and it has been busy busy busy.
almost on day one, we were given our exam dishes and what is expected of us, no more demos on what is our exam, we get given the list, and the rest is up to us!!!So for our cuisine this is is :  a tartlet with spinach, a poached egg and hollandaise sauce, and roast crown of pigeon and confit legs, various winter veggies, fondant potatoes and a red wine sauce......
Pastry is a 6 hour exam, where there are various components we have to do, one of which is a plated dessert of our own invention, but there have to be certain components: a mousse or bavarian cream, an anglaise, a coulis, tempered chocolate decoration, a sponge and a few other aspects, but when i get closer to my final decision, i will let you know what ive decided to do!!!

so we started off our first day with a 6 hour patisserie practical, making chocolate truffles... and this went on for tuesday too. so in total we spent 12 hours making chocolate truffles... and when you see the result, you will understand i am not exaggerating when i say that we could have opened up a chocolate shop and run it for a week!! for our exam, we have to make a moulded chocolate truffle, which is just one of the components... but these pracs were just teaching us the different methods and techniques there are to make truffles. we made coffee ones, and spiced ones and lemon ones and caramel ones and coconut ones and marshmallows and and and.... the list is almost endless. but it was such fun, and i think my whites had a seen better day!!!

Cuisine too was excitement:

Our chefs this term are Chef Eric and Chef Franck.. both french and both incredible chefs. it is so inspiration to watch them work, their methods are both very different, Eric being an absolute perfectionist even to the extent that he lines up his knives in size order so they are all perfectly straight, and continues to do so throughout the demonstrations, and chef Franck who walks into the kitchens and you get the feeling he doesnt quite know how he is going to get around the demonstration, and he spends ages telling you stories about his grandmother and yet, still, even if sometimes a bit late, gets the dish out, and with out fail, it is delicious perfection on a plate. 

So our first demo and prac was Roast Duck or Wild Duck ( if in season, which it just so happens to be) with cloves and honey. with a celeriac puree, roast tomatoes and baby veg. i, unfortunately bit into a shot that had been left behind in the bird when i was tasting it. but thats what happens when you eat game birds i guess!

Demo 2: Herb Crusted thick salmon steak, Mushroom Flan and Maderia Jus. this was a salmon steak with a herb burrer crust with parsley, coriander and chervil, with breadcrumbs and ground almonds in it to give it a bit more texture, The mushroom flan was deliciously smooth and soft but packed full of mushroom flavour. it was also served with a salmon mousse... i think the mousse part was just to give us a heads up practice for the mousse we have to make for our exam. and the Maderia Jus was yum!

Next was Grilled Lamb Noisettes, marinated in with herbs,  with a minted hollandaise sauce and served with a lamb jus, blanched asparagus and crispy potatoes.

and so that brought us to the end of week 1 of superior...

in next issue: Chocolate boxes and windmills, Beef wellington, red mullet with potato scales, and open lasagne with lobster.... i but you just cant wait!!!!

the past few weeks have been a build up for exams, which start on tuesday. The nerves are rising and the butterflies are bursting through me. i cant believe that i have already come to the end of the intermediate course. it feels like only last week i was stressing about making choux swans, and the week before that feels like it was my first day at le cordon bleu. i am more than half way through! its amazing how fast time has flown.

Last weekend, london, and all its londonness was driving me dilly. the constant grayness of the buildings and the straightforwardness of day to day life. the nights being filled with the beeping road cleaners and rubbish trucks, and the lonely man, wondering down the road, whistling an empty tune into the emptiness of the buildings,  that bounces back at him, rather than the gentle hoot of an owl being lost into the trees or the croak of a frog ringing through the night. I long for space and sunshine that lasts more than 30 minutes... so i took myself off to the park, hired a bike and cycled. I was filled with energy in that open green space, watching fathers teaching their children to ride bikes; families sitting having a pic-nic in laughter and the half naked teen-age couples being utterly inappropriate rolling around on the grass. the old couple walking hand in hand along the river eating ice-creams, as though they were newly married. the rollerbladers practicing their tricks between traffic cones and the charity run to raise money for a poor boy with cancer, with every runner wearing a red t-shirt in support.
all this made me think, and made me realise, that, although there are hooligans running wild through the streets, and shop windows boarded up on every second corner, that london is not dark and grey (even if it is), it has a society and its filled with happiness and laughter and love, and dare i say it.... sunshine, you just have to look for it. And i was reminded of how lucky i am to be in one of the worlds most fascinating and diverse cities, doing what i love most.... cooking!!!

Im going to do a quick run through whats been cooking over the past few weeks...
i started off  practicing my salmon dish for Nicholas, but realised i had no cream, so i made a creamless mousse and a creamless sauce, and to my surprise, it was so delicious.
At school, we were deep into the ocean cooking fish like it was going out of fashion.
made a pike stew... pike is i little bit of a mission to cook, as it lives deep in the sea, it has a lot of protection around it, in the form of sinue and tissue, so all that has to be removed, and then, deboning it, well thats another story as, unlike a normal fish, the bones are all zigzagged, so you can imagine what it must be like to get those bones out.... thank goodness there are experienced fish mongers!!!
we also made squid, stuffed with pork mince... now to be entirely honest, i do not understand the french fascination with using pork mince as a stuffing... especially if you are going to be stuffing a squid, personally i would stuff it with a fish stuffing or something to that extent. but i am not french!!

In pastry, well, class was cancelled due to the riots, so for safety reasons, we could make our chocolate truffles. but our next practical, we were working on our chocolate tempering skills. we had to make a chocolate centre piece, with colours and stencils... well... you will see the picture at the end...

then more fish.... but this time fresh water... trout. with spaztli.. and green beans and turned mushrooms.. to practice our turning skills.
St Jullien parisien: scallops served in a shell, with duchesse potatoes piped around the edge, and a gratinated with bread crumbs and a bit of cheese.
due to all our fishy recipies... we decided to go and visit billingsgate market, which is only open from 4-7am... so we ventured off bright and early, well it wasn't so bright, but thats besides the point. and went to the market. it was amazing, i have never seen so many types of fresh fish all at once, there were mussles, and oysters and crabs and lobster and salmon and sole and and and and and......

then, we cooked more fish... lemon sole, filleted served with a tomato sauce and green hand cut pasta.

Back to pastry, we made an erupting chocolate fondand, so rich and chocolaty, that when you cut into it, it erupts with the soft gooeyness of warm molten chocolate. then we made a tart-tartin with creme anglaise and a banana mousse, with salted caramel inside it, incased in velvety white chocolate..

we then had to make our second exam dish for pastry. which is a lamb tian. it is a tower of sauteed spinach, mushrooms, grilled artichokes, confit onions, tomato concasse, 6 slices of perfectly cooked pink lamb loin, topped off with a quenelle of confit garlic, served with a mint and peppercorn sauce.
so needless to say, i have practiced this again.... hmmm

before i move on to what i consider as the most delicious dish we have done this term, i will talk briefly about the fantastically fluffily light cointreau souffle and the not so light baked souffle...

now... hmmm, Lobster with a broad bean risotto and a deliciously tomatoey tomato sauce.... it was scottish blue lobster, which has a much richer, creamier, sweeter flesh, it was honestly a taste bud expierence. and the sauce was just so perfectly tomatoey, with a gentle undertone of lobster, as that is part of the secret of cooking it. this is not new to me, but it confirmed my belief... tomato is undoubtedly my favourite ingredient, by far!!

as we came to the end of our intermediate cusine course, we touched a little on vegetarianism... cooking a dish of sautéed spinach and wild mushrooms, sitting upon an artichoke heart, encased in a puff pastry net, served with a tomato and basil sauce.
then onto canapés: we did a salmon rose on a blini, topped with fresh horseraddish cream. grilled, marinated prawns, honey glazed roasted aubergine with roasted peppers and goats cheese roulade. and lime smoked chicken wings, and parmesan sable...

and thats that!!!

this weekend ive been studying studying and practicing!!! and had my lovely cousin kitzy visit me :)

thats all folks :) xx

 mushroom turning progress

 creamless practice

 pike stew

 stuffed squid

 chocolate centre piece

 trout with spatzli

 st julien parisian

 london sunrise

 chocolate fondant

 tart tatin

 banana mousse... and my creative decoration!! haha

 sole and spinach pasta

 exam dish... lamb tian

 souffles in the oven

 souffle

 baked souffle

 lobster with risotto

 canapes 

 exam practice... not so good!! woops

me and my lovely cuz :) 

Exams are in view!!!

Well, the past tee weeks have been busy busy busy, once again! And I have just recovered with a wonderfully fun filled weekend with my splendid strange family! :-)

Let's start with patisserie this time, just to mix things up a little.... So; my last entry I was about to make the Sabrina cake... Which is the cake with concentric circles of sponge and strawberry mousse, iced, pistatio nuts around the rim, and marzipan disk, coated with tempered chocolate and then decorated with a piped strawberry mouse on top, dividing the cake into eight portions and a even squiggly worm of chocolate piped on Top of the divisions, and Finished off with a strawberry!! Sounds crazy doesn't it... And that is why it is one of our exam pieces... And that is why I need to start practicing!!!! (aaaaaaaaa) yes, that was a scream, because i have 2 more cakes that have previously been described to practice too!! But actually... It's all good fun :-) and I love doing it!
The next cake we made was a 'marrons' which translated into english means chestnuts... So no prize in guessing what was in that one :-)! It was a chestnut mousse cake, with sweetens of almost stewed, succulently soft (yes, the nigella in me is coming out) chestnuts encased in the softness of the lightly delicately flavoured aerated mousse, held together by a spongy sponge and glazed with a shine of indulgent chocolate!! Hmm ok, enough of that....
Cake no 3 was a White chocolate mousse cake... Hmmmmm delic, the main aim of this practice was the art of tempering... Which I shall explain, as I'm not sure if I have done so in the past... So it is melting chocolate, then bringing it up to a temperature of 45, then stirring it until it is paste like and 27 degrees, then heating it up again to 31 degrees... All the time stirring... Now this might sound mad, but as with everything in life, there is a reason for this... And that reason is To get all the molecules of the chocolate into a straight line, so when the chocolate sets, it sets with a nice shine, and when you break it, it has a nice sharp crack, and it shouldnt melt on your fingertips... Unless you are in a 78degeee room and clasping it in your grubby paws so tightly that a mopane worm would squish!!

Right... Onto the savouries:
Fishy fish fish fish... Yes, that is what we have been cooking!!
We made a succulent seabass... A whole one, as in eyes and head and tail, (bones removed of course, I am not a murderer) stuffed with a lovely mix of ham and olives an capers and parsley and onions (no leeks... Although I thought it would be fun to chop some up anyway) tomatoes and mushrooms... And then baked in the oven! Was delicious actually!!
And we have made a bouillabaisse, with mussles and 5 types of fish, and langoustine, all flavoured with saffron and garlic and a yummy fishy stock!
And a sea food risotto... Yum! And then pike dumplings... Interesting texture, yes, you have to make a mousse out of the mousse ... Blend it, and pass it through a scieve, and add cream an butter and seasoning and a type of choux pastry... And then chill it, and then spoon it onto a quenelle, and poach it in fish stock, whilst you made a delicious crayfish sauce... Hmmm... Live little small and some even blue crayfish, stewed in stock and mirepoix and tomatoes and Herbs, then strained and reduced, with a little flambeing and wine thrown in there too...!!
Then away from the ocean and into the mountains, for a pork and veal mince parcel, wrapped in a cabbage leaf and encased in pork stomach (net vet, for those afrikaans speaking readers... Stellies people, think of skilpadjies.. It's almost like that, but Wrapped in cabbage too) and then braised in stock...

And now, I have caught you all up to speed!!
This week I will practice my exam dishes and report on those!! And later I will upload photos!!
Have a happy week xx

 Sabrina

 rabbit stew.... forgot to mention this one

 bouillabaisse 

 sea bass... stuffed

 sea food risotto

 white chocolate mousse cake

  how cool are these... amber raspberries

 forgot to mention this too.... roast stiffed chicken thight with mushrooms

 BLUE crayfish

 pike dumplings with crayfish sauce

 stuffed cabbage, before and after cooking!!

my aunts beautiful sweet peas!!!!

xx

Intermediate and more

Well, once again I have been slack! But im going to do my best to keep you up to date more often, I have finally realised that I can download an app onto my phone so I can actually update from my phone now... Not sure how much of a good idea it is, as there is now even more pressure on me to update, but I suppose now i have no excuse!!!

So, since my last update, we have been cooking like mad... It's really great, with out noticing, class has become more intensive and more is expected of us, but we still doing it all in the same time frame!

So, we stepped into the Loire valley, which is about grapes and apples and fish and such.... So we made stewed trout wrapped in a lettuce leaf and braised in white wine served with creamy butter sauce and for pudding... A hot Cointreau souffle, it was so soft and light and fluffy and a perfect balance of sweetness. Delicious.
Next was pork fillets stuffed with prunes and Paris style mushrooms, which is a stuffed mushroom, stuffed with mushroom duxelle (chopped mushrooms) and breadcrumbs and parsley on top, and put under a grill so it gets crispy. And then with dauphine potatoes, which are deep fried and seriously light and crispy. It's a mash mixed with a choux pastry and fried until deliciously golden and some salt sprinkled on just before you serve it.
Our next prac with chef David's guidance, we made goats cheese on glazed beetroot with poppyseed and grape dressing... Now, if you ever need to waste time... Peel grapes. Honestly, the most time consuming and annoying process ever! But in the end , it gives ur digestive system a much easier process of digesting. So all good in the end I guess :-) and for mail course, we made calilles roties grand mere, paillasson de legumes: roast quail with a shredded vegetable cake! It was sweet, juicy quails, with a bacon and mushroom sauce served on a veggie rosti in layman's terms really. And was simply splendid.

Mouclade was our next class, this was a creamy curry mussel soup so to day and a tender, lamb neck stew with fresh spring veggies, so delicious.
In Bordeaux, we made an asparagus and walnut salad and a fillet of beef with red wine sauce (would you expect any less coming from Bordeaux, just wish I was actually in Bordeaux, drinking it!! Haha) with sautéd wild mushrooms... I think this has been one of my best dishes so far this term..
Next: quack quack... Yes, you guessed it, duck!! Yum!! Well, mine wasn't, but it was meant to be! I kinda messed up my sauce a tad, well, we can't all be perfect all the time!! ;-) ... I put too much lemon in my sauce so it was acidic beyond bearability! All I can say is that I learnt from that experience! So, it was a duck breast withs citrus sauce, and sautéed apples and pears with roast beetroot and celeriac. Magret de canard was the french name!! Then we marinated a duck leg for prep for confit of duck.

Perigord... The region of France, famous for truffles, orchards, confit, foie gras, goose fat....
So can you guess what was on out menu this week??
You guessed it....
Hot pan fried foie gras served with grapes and a sauternes reduction jus.
Confit de conard (confit of duck) sauce perigueux et pommes sarladaises ... Truffle sauce and pan roasted potato slices, layers down in a pan to look like a daisy, with garlic between each layer! So crispy and delicious.

Basque- our next region of France
This region has slightly more spice in it. Has a Spanish influence, so peppers and paprika style pepper are used. Also cured hams and sausages are known to be found on menus here....
Our menu was: basque style chicken cooked with peppers and wrapped in cured ham!!
That was it for all our cooking...

Patisserie:
We have been busy busy busy with out exam cakes: gateau fraisier, gateau opera and gateau Sabrina.

Fraisier is a Sponge cake With a creme mousiline flavoured with kirsh, and strawberries layered in a ring around the edges so they are perfectly even. And a layer of sponge on top and a pink marzipan disk on top and finished with a marzipan Rose.
Gateau opera- chocolate and coffee... This cake has to be 3.5cm in height and every layer has to be 0.5cm... So it is layers of almond sponge, with a smooth rich chocolate ganache and rich coffee buttercream alternate In perfectly flat layers between the sponge until the ideal height has been achieved. Then finished off with a perfectly smooth layer of chocolate glaze.... Sounds hard??? Hmmm well!! Thats why it's an exam piece.
And then the Sabrina, was invented for Sabrina fairchild, remember the movie...?? This is a spiral of sponge with strawberry cream inbetween, masked around the edge, finished with chopped pistachio nuts, and a marzipan coated in an even layer of tempered chocolate, and portioned to even sizes and finished with a strawberry!!!

And then it was the weekend :-)

xx

 trout with braised letuce

 croissants and pan au chocolate... i forgot to mention we made these too

 hot cross buns and chocolate brioche

 mushroom turning practice for the exam dish

 pork stuffed with prunes with paris style mushrooms

 goats cheese with glazed beetroot and peeled grapes

 quail with shredded veg cake and mushroom and bacon

 foccaccia and rye bread ... made this too in pastry!! 

 one fun night!!!

 lamb stew with spring veggies

 aspargus and walnuts

 fraisier

 Opera... and all the layers

basquaise chicken