8 May 2012

Creme caramel is delicious ... and difficult. 

There are about five steps ... three of which involve making a molten hot caramel sauce with an attitude problem ('Guess what? I am just going to turn into solid toffee while you go and turn the oven on'). So rude. I found myself pondering: 'What do you mean cook until chestnut-coloured?' 'How much wobble is too much wobble for my custard?' and 'Why the hell won't this caramel just drizzle itself into the shape of a falling star so I can have lunch? I toiled for 90 minutes and happily the end result was a wonderfully wibbly-wobbly toffee flavoured success (If I do say so myself).

Using the following simple equation I calculated that a dessert (500 calories) - scrubbing saucepans (500 calories) = guilt free dessert (happy Plumpcious). In fact, scrubbing set toffee from 3 different saucepans has introduced me to muscles I didn't know I had (i.e. they are different from the simple 'cutlery-raising' action I am used to).

I also made an Indian dish with black-eyed beans and mushrooms.  As a child, my grandmother used to make a soup with these beans (curiously called 'black-nosed' beans in Greek) which was particularly unpopular with my brother and me. Sorry black-eyed beans, but today I learnt that I still bear a faint resentment towards you. 

Today in demonstration we learned: Grape and melon with mint, Grape grapefruit and lovage salad, Pink grapefruit and pomegranate salad, How to joint a chicken (including how to violently attack it with a cleaver to make stock bones ... good for stress relief), Chicken breasts with asparagus, Chicken breasts with tarragon, Chicken breasts with mushrooms and rosemary, Chicken wings with sweet chilli sauce, Crispy chicken skin with plum sauce (Yes, literally just oven roasted skin ... I have now signed up to a local Pilates class), Spiced chicken legs (there should only be 2 per chicken .. I've seen some scary things in supermarkets here), Tomato fondue, Pan-grilled spring onions, Boiled new potatoes, Cucumber radish feta and parsley salad, and Rhubarb crumble tart.

Last week we ate cheese, tomorrow we learn how to make it. Look out world!