Bill Clinton is in town. The relevance? Tonight he will be at a dinner where the starter is rumoured to be a plate of Irish shellfish, and I think that is why there was no seafood left for the rest of Ireland to cook. How selfish (or shellfish, even). I walked into the kitchen this morning expecting to find a bowl of 20 lovely pink prawns waiting for me to batter and deep-fry them. Instead I was shocked to come face to face with the ugliest cross-eyed critter to have been plucked out of the sea - the monkfish. Further horror ensued when the teacher casually stated - as he smacked the monster onto my chopping board - 'Watch out for its teeth - they are really sharp'. So, in addition to having fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down this creature can maim you even in death and, as I soon discovered, has TWO layers of slippery skin to remove. Do yourself a favour and buy it already filleted.
The monkfish eventually became goujons, and the goujons eventually made it onto a plate with tartare sauce (mayonnaise with capers, gherkins, chopped hardboiled eggs and lemon juice) and chips.
In this afternoon's demonstration both The Editor* and I learned to cook: Vietnamese rice paper rolls (shrimp and herbs), Rice paper spring rolls with Thai dipping sauce, Salmon with tomato and ginger in filo, Thai chicken curry, Red Thai chicken curry, Beef rendang, Thai green curry paste, Red curry paste, Thai jasmin rice, Wasinee Arjard (cucumber salad), Radish and broad bean salad, Rustic peach tart with summer berries, Raspberry ice-cream with fresh raspberry sauce, Strawberry ice-cream, Backlava, Moroccan snake (filo pastry filled with almond paste and shaped like a coil - it will not respond when you play a flute) and Almond fingers.
* Yes, he not only came to lunch, but he also stayed for the afternoon cookery demonstration! As such I am now expecting him to impress my family by whipping up a quick baclava when they pop round.
The monkfish eventually became goujons, and the goujons eventually made it onto a plate with tartare sauce (mayonnaise with capers, gherkins, chopped hardboiled eggs and lemon juice) and chips.
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| Monkfish goujons having a meeting |
I also made a wild rice salad from a curious recipe - all the measurements were in millilitres. Which is fine for ingredients which happen to be liquid (lemon juice, sesame oil, honey) but it is frankly a tad cuckoo when you're measuring out 500ml of green grapes and 125 mls of chopped basil. My theory is, if you have time to cautiously 'pour' grapes into a pyrex jug, you need to get out more. So I hazarded a guess at two handfuls of grapes and got on with my life. Incidentally, besides looking a bit schizophrenic, the salad tasted delicious.
* Yes, he not only came to lunch, but he also stayed for the afternoon cookery demonstration! As such I am now expecting him to impress my family by whipping up a quick baclava when they pop round.
The Editor and I are off to Mayo for the weekend and I am taking my new pet, Stanley. Stanley is a sourdough starter - he is part flour, part water, all fermenting happily in a glass jar. Why is he coming with us, you ask? I know what you are thinking - Plumpcious has gone completely bonkers ... she is living in deepest rural Ireland, she already has a cheese named Chester and now she has befriended a glass jar who comes with her on vacations. Well, how cynical of you. The reality is, Stanley needs to be 'fed' every day with more flour and water, hence he must go wherever I go. And hopefully on Monday he will become my first loaf of sourdough bread. Stay tuned.
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