Today, I cooked potato gratin, broad beans and seared chicken with mango salsa and roasted sweet potato wedges. Potato gratin is the 'low-fat' version of potato Dauphinoise. I say 'low fat' because it only has a stick of butter and a handful of grated cheese as opposed to a bucket of cream, or as the French would say 'Une buckette de la creme'*.
*That is not a precise measurement, nor is it French.
Broad beans really make you work for them. First you need to get them out of their pods and then, apres cooking, you need to pop them out of the kookie pale-green sleeping bags they're in (and hopefully not burn your fingers). I started with my body weight in furry pods and ended up with this mean little bowl.
Today in demonstration we were shown how to cook: Thai chicken galangal and coriander soup, Chicken and coconut laksa, Beer batter, Salt and pepper squid, Fish and chips, Scampi or deep-fried prawns, Plaice/Sole a l'Orly, Crispy deep fried mackerel, Goujons of plaice, Sole or monkfish, Fritto misto de mare (deep fried miscellaneous seafood), Crab cakes with coriander, Spicy crab cakes with Thai dipping sauce, Tartare sauce, Namjim, Tomato and avocado salsa, Mushy peas with mint, Wild rice salad, Panna cotta with grappa and raspberries, Panna cotta with green gooseberry and elderflower compote, Yoghurt ice-cream with burnt caramel, Elderflower fritters**.
**Someone has taken my enthusiasm for the deep-fryer to a whole new level - battered deep fried elderflowers. You know you have a problem when you are batch frying plants.
*That is not a precise measurement, nor is it French.
The chicken breasts came in the form of a whole chicken which I had to joint. No problem. The sweet potatoes needed to be cut into wedges. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. The mango salsa was sent to test me. From the outside the mango felt soft and luscious ... once cut I realised it was not a mango at all, it was a pale orange brick. It took me 10 minutes to cut it into cubes ... I had to sharpen my knife halfway through. Then I had to cut a red onion which was so pungent I had tears running down my cheeks. So now I looked like a crazy panda (Yes, I wear makeup in the kitchen ... I cook better when I look better). The onion was followed by a chopped chilli, which I invariably rubbed into my eye. Fabulous. By the time I got to the lime I was terrified at what new torture might befall me. The final result was a simple looking dish, but I felt like a survivor.
Today in demonstration we were shown how to cook: Thai chicken galangal and coriander soup, Chicken and coconut laksa, Beer batter, Salt and pepper squid, Fish and chips, Scampi or deep-fried prawns, Plaice/Sole a l'Orly, Crispy deep fried mackerel, Goujons of plaice, Sole or monkfish, Fritto misto de mare (deep fried miscellaneous seafood), Crab cakes with coriander, Spicy crab cakes with Thai dipping sauce, Tartare sauce, Namjim, Tomato and avocado salsa, Mushy peas with mint, Wild rice salad, Panna cotta with grappa and raspberries, Panna cotta with green gooseberry and elderflower compote, Yoghurt ice-cream with burnt caramel, Elderflower fritters**.
**Someone has taken my enthusiasm for the deep-fryer to a whole new level - battered deep fried elderflowers. You know you have a problem when you are batch frying plants.
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