Sorry for the pun! Today was even busier than yesterday, if possible. We got so much done today; praline, shallot tart tatin, praline and white chocolate parfait, filleted a sea bass, poached some baby leeks, mustard vinaigrette, forty-day aged roast rib of beef, Florentines, praline biscuits, whipped truffle mash, wilted spinach, port and cardamom syrup, mystery soup challenge, balsamic veal glace, calves’ liver, sweetbreads, tempura batter and fig beignets.
The morning began with making some praline. We quickly roasted the hazelnuts in a hot oven to remove the skins as they taste bitter and made a caramel, tossing the naked hazelnuts and almonds through it. Joe and Rob showed us how to make the parfait, using the praline after it had been blitzed to a dust in the food processor. Then it was time to descale, behead, de-gut and fillet a sea bass. Did you know that it's illegal to take a sea bass out of the water if they're shorter than 30cm? It's cruel if they're any smaller as they're not old enough and haven't lived their life yet. So leave the babies alone! A good tip for descaling small fish is to put them into a plastic bag to catch all of the scales. I don't think my knife was sharp enough as when I was filleting the fish, it slipped and almost went into my hand. Lucky escape! We blanched some baby leeks and emulsified a mustard vinaigrette and by then, it was lunch time already!
Seabass carpaccio, baby gherkins, capers, poached baby leeks, micro cress and mustard vinaigrette
Lunch was surprisingly lovely. I wasn't so sure about the raw fish and mustard as I don't like mustard on its own. However, I was pleasantly surprised, I gobbled it all up! The sea bass was so fresh and sweet and the mustard vinaigrette went really well with the dish. The poached baby leeks were so delicious and intensely flavoured. All together, great.
After lunch, we started on the afternoon food. We attempted to make some florentines for petit fours tomorrow. Our florentines didn’t turn out that well, a bit holey. Our mixture seemed to be a bit wet when it went into the oven, but practice makes perfect! We also tried to make thin praline triangles to garnish the puddings. We did this by rolling then praline dust very thinly and melting the caramel in a hot oven to fuse together. Then we very carefully tried to triangles out of it. This proved more difficult than first thought because you had to get it to the right temperature as it was cooling, but not so cool that it cracked when cut. Anyway, after much frustration and re-re-heating and melting, we managed to get a few good ones for pudding presentation.
My sweet potato soup
Then it was time for the daily challenge. We could choose from various ingredients, so long as we created a…spoiler alert, the mystery is about to be revealed…sweet potato soup, all within half an hour. There was celery, a carrot, sweet potato, sweet potato, button mushrooms, shallots, garlic, cream, butter, oil, a chilli, a smoked bacon rasher and a selection of spices and herbs. I set to work to create a slightly spicy, creamy, sweet potato soup. I turned the bacon into a crispy lardons and used them as a garnish, along with some finely chopped chives. Once the thirty minutes were up, we gave a taster bowl to the judges, Rob and Joe and then swapped our soups with our partners to eat as a starter. Mat’s and my soups were both very similar and both very tasty indeed.
Mat's sweet potato soup
Afterwards, we got feedback on our soups. They said that mine was a good flavour with the salty bacon, nice, smooth texture, but needed more seasoning and more of a punch. When I was making it, I tasted, seasoned, tasted, seasoned and I thought it had enough in it. Oh well! It’s better to under season than over, as you can always add more if you wish.
Back into the kitchen to prepare the main course. Rob showed us how to take the membrane off the huge calf’s liver which he said could be used as a nice bracelet, hair band or even contraception. Lovely! Anyway, we pan fried the liver and sweetbreads, sliced the medium rare beef, warmed the potato puree, reduced the sauce, cooked the shallot tart tatin and plated up.
Well-aged roast rib of beef, calves liver, crisp sweetbread, shallot tart tatin, whipped truffle potato puree, balsamic veal glace and essence of truffle
This dish was a mix of scrumptious and not so good for me. The shallot tart tatin was mind-blowing. Sweet, sticky shallot with a puffy cup base to cradle the delicious contents. The beef was so tender, it literally just melted in my mouth. Mmm mmm. The potato was really wonderful. The truffle oil flavour was first, followed by sumptuously smooth, creamy mashed potato. I didn't, however, like the liver. I tried it with high hopes, but the after taste wasn't good. It was just too...'livery'. The sweetbread was alright. I didn’t like the texture, it was spongy and a bit like what I’d think brain would be like, but the taste was ok. If they were there, I’d eat them, but I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t have them again. Finally, it was time for pudding. We dropped the batter-coated figs into really hot corn oil (at least 200 degrees centigrade) and then plated up.
Iced praline and white chocolate parfait and tempura fig beignet with a cardamom and port syrup
The fig was beautiful, both in flavour and looks. The crispy, sweet cinnamon sugar encrusted tempura batter was wonderfully balanced against the soft, luscious fig. Simply marvellous. The syrup was intensely wonderful too. However, I didn't like the parfait. I tried a bit in hope, but the hazelnut flavour was just too strong and I really detest hazelnuts. Yuck!! It's not Ashburton's recipe's fault, in fact everyone who had it said how divine it was. I shall take their word for it. So, if you like praline and white chocolate, this is for you. I'll try the parfait as a normal white chocolate one, with no praline in it sometime soon. I'm sure it will be absolutely delicious.
Last day tomorrow. We’ll be eating our gravalax, our homemade bacon and venison. Yummy!
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