@Shelovescake

Week 8 was a total crowd-pleaser: doughnuts, creme diplomat, jam, puff pastry and sausage rolls. We also had our last three wine lessons before our level 2 exam.

The week began with our third formal assessment of the term. This time we had to fillet a whole sea bream, ensuring the skin wasn’t damaged, to produce two neat fillets. To check our work, we were required to show our filleted frame (the bones) to our assessor to demonstrate we had not left excess flesh behind. The recipe also called for our first cook of clams. After cleaning and checking for damage, we briefly steamed them before removing the meat from the shell and chilling in the fridge until needed. The fish and clams were to be served in a ‘fish cream’, which is a lot tastier than it sounds. A quickly made sauce flavoured with onion, celery, fish stock and vermouth, and finished with a generous pouring of double cream. A vibrantly green dill oil cut through the richness and provides additional colour and flavour to the plate. The last element to prepare was samphire – cooked and drained carefully to still have some bite and not leave a green watery puddle on the plate. The fish cook was key: soft flaking flesh and a golden crisp skin. I await the results!

Wednesday morning was a relaxed prep session. We started making a very sticky doughnut dough. Another different kneading technique required to strengthen the gluten strands – this time a sort of pecking and picking action until you can stretch the dough up to your armpit without it breaking. Next the incorporation of cold but pliable butter, cube by cube. Each cube is pawed down into a paste and then paddled with the fingers into the dough ensuring no lumps. A good arm work-out! The dough was scooped into an oiled Tupperware to prove slowly overnight. Our next task was to begin the rough puff pastry, completing the required number of rolls and folds which would give us the lamination associated with puff. Rough puff was a new experience for most of us so we had lots of help from the teachers to get it right. In amongst these two jobs, we also made a super-sweet and delicious raspberry and lemon thyme jam. Both my partner, Dev, and I attempted to sabotage our jam in different ways but we managed to rescue it ready to fill our doughnuts the following day.

Our third all day cook of the term was considerably less fraught than the previous two. An eclectic menu for the day included braised and chargrilled octopus in paprika sauce with saffron and lemon aioli. We were all a bit excitable about the octopus, which were enormous and evocative of deep sea thrillers. We blanched it, removed the head and then braised the trimmed legs. It’s a long, slow braise to tenderise the flesh ahead of a chargrill to impart smoky, toasty flavours. Whilst it was braising we shaped our doughnut dough into balls and left to prove; made a flavoured creme pat of our choice (I picked cardamom, the pods of which I infused into the milk); and finally we rolled out our rough puff, prepared and seasoned our sausage filling and created two filled and glazed logs ready to chill overnight. The frying and filling (and eating) of the doughnuts was very fun. The vibe in the kitchen was triumphant as we achieved the perfect golden brown fry plus the white equator – proof of a good prove! Heavily dusted in caster sugar and filled with jam and/or crème diplomat, we were all welcomed home with open arms that evening.

Our final cook of the week was super simple but highly satisfying. A second egg glaze of our sausage rolls and into a hot oven. Lots of lovely lamination and a side of piquant sweet beer pickles to cut through the savoury flavour and fat.

Italian wines, revision and a pub style quiz fulfilled our final sessions with Marjorie as we bid her au revoir and promised we would do her proud in the exam.

In amongst preparing for the wine exam, my brother and I took a day trip to Amsterdam on Saturday for lunch at the incredible desilveren Spiegel. A calming and historic setting, elegant, understated service and beautiful food. The photos speak for themselves.