@Shelovescake

Cake lover, baker, eater. Soon to be Leith’s Diploma student. Dabbling in catering, cakes and desserts to order and seasonal workshops.

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  • Leith’s Culinary Diploma: Week 9

    After the emotion and adrenalin of week 8, the start of week 9 felt flat. I was absolutely exhausted. Not helped by the fact I had cooked for 12 hours on Sunday preparing mince meat, mince pies, biscotti and rocky road for a Christmas shopping evening on Wednesday.

    We were cooking lamb rump with salsa verde and flat breads. I couldn’t wait to get it done and come home for theory revision (and rest!). Such was my mood I didn’t even take a photo of the finished dish, pretty as it was with the pink flesh of the lamb against the verdent brightness of the salsa. I couldn’t face the lamb but the flatbreads were soft and absorbent to the sharp, salty vibrant salsa verde. An afternoon writing theory notes, crucially sitting down, and a good night’s sleep meant I was a new woman for Tuesday.

    Whilst our fellow students busily prepared a buffet lunch for us, we marinated and cooked a soy glazed salmon served with a crunchy hot and sour salad. Careful cooking of the salmon was required to ensure the glaze didn’t over-caramelise in the pan, and the fish didn’t over-cook in the oven. Precise knife skills for the salad and balanced flavours for the dressing. A punchy little number. But I resisted eating it aware of the buffet to come. Our team mates did themselves proud serving up an Ottolenghi-style feast. In the afternoon, an inspiring and fascinating dem with Olia Hercules, who I have long-followed on instagram. Olia educated us in the virtues and methods of fermenting. To really convince us she prepared a fresh salad with pickles, butter beans and dill and a Polish-style ramen with slow-cooked beef shin and pickle garnish. A warming elixir which we gratefully imbibed.

    The enjoyment of others’ food continued that evening with a book launch event with Helen Goh. It was fascinating to hear about her double life as a psychotherapist and how that contributed to the theme of her latest book: Baking & the meaning of life. We tasted a range of the bakes from the book. The kumquat biscotti were a wonderful mix of nutty and jammy; the kumquat jam being a must-make for eating on toast, in cakes and nestled into the thumb print of these delectable little treats. The semolina pastry on the pineapple ma’hmood melted in the mouth in such a delightful way that I may have pinched an extra one for the journey home.

    Wednesday was my team’s turn to buffet. With a man down ill, and another with a sprained foot, we weren’t at a standing start (literally). But we worked as a team and had done prep in terms of choosing a realistic and varied menu that we could deliver in the time. Our South East Asian theme seemed popular with our guests. The only slight panic was when I realised an hour from service that I had forgotten to make the individual portion of crustless cheesecake for the gluten free guest…and all the cheesecake filling was now baking in the oven on the gluten-based crust. Quick brainstorm and I remembered I had two egg whites leftover that I could whip up into some meringues to fill with some lime-spiked sweetened cream cheese and drizzle with white chocolate. They had just enough time to cook: disaster averted! In the afternoon, a high energy session to battle our post-buffet slump with Be Kasapian, an expert in vegan and specialist diets. Be was an absolute whirlwind, cooking up at least 5 dishes in two hours whilst talking non-stop. The vegan tart with coconut oil pastry and cashew crew was surprisingly tasty and a good one to have in the arsenal for catering events.

    The week of over-indulgence continued on Thursday morning with a cake dem: naked celebration cake with lime and white chocolate; vegan chocolate cake with a decadent whipped chocolate icing; and an orange and olive oil cake. All before, you’ve guessed it, another buffet! The afternoon was a tale of two halves: sweet in the form of shortcrust pastry and savoury in the form of moules marinere.

    A riot for our senses on Friday morning. Jo and Jess Edun aka the Flygerians were as lively, spicy and fabulous as the food they cooked. An inspiration to hear of their journey in the food industry and grateful to be handed some hard-earned advice. Their mission is to bring Nigerian cuisine to the forefront of the UK food market. And boy do they have the energy to deliver that. Stand-out tip of the morning: chop life before life chops you. In the afternoon, a lovely session blind baking our prepared and chilled tart case. And filling it with a sweet and nutty mix of golden syrup, treacle and walnuts. A mash-up of treacle tart and pecan pie. Sweet!! I’m not sure if I’m proud or not to say that the tart didn’t last the weekend. Revision, revision, revision (alongside tart) this weekend ahead of the theory exam on Monday.

  • Leith’s culinary diploma: week 8

    Week 8 can only be described as epic. Wine exam plus two formal practical assessments. And added to that the emotion of the first anniversary of my mum’s death. Definitely a hard week but looking back I’m beginning to see the culmination of everything we have learned over the foundation term.

    The wine exam kicked off Monday morning: 9.30 sharp. Thankfully no tasting involved! A very helpful menu planning workshop followed, supporting us to think through our approach to private cheffing, menu design and costing to ensure a profit. And a relatively relaxed session in the kitchen to round off the day – the only one of the week! Za’atar prawns with a bulgar wheat and herb salad. The salad sharp with citrus and bejewelled with pomegranate and pickled red onion. The prawns were lightly spiced; mine were on the better edge of being overcooked. Overall very tasty and the bowl was all mine for supper that evening.

    Fish pie to Leith’s exacting standards was our first formal assessment of the week. The kitchens were tense: no talking amongst students except to discuss stoves and washing up. The timetable was tight: make a roux, infuse milk, boil eggs, poach fish, make a pipe-able well seasoned mash, a flavoursome white sauce and assemble with fancy rope-piped mash, grilling to just the right hue. All in just 2.5 hours. No feedback of any description was given based on the view that no distraction was needed ahead of the second formal assessment on Friday. I had trialled the fish pie at home at the weekend and woefully under-seasoned it. When my assessment pie was returned to me by the teacher, I took a taste: nicely seasoned for my tastebuds but possibly under for the professional chef palate. In all the excitement, I forgot to take a photo before service so this one is when it had been shovelled into tuppaware for transportation – you get the idea 🙂 In the afternoon, we were talked through and shown the menu for our second assessment of the week. Always looks easy when the teachers do it!

    Wednesday was a welcome reprieve: a day off to plan our upcoming group buffet challenge and start revising for our theory exam. Following a Mass said for the souls of my parents, I busied myself making mince pies, wholemeal bread rolls (practice for Friday) and trying a Christmas biscotti recipe.

    Two hanging pheasants greeted us in the dem room on Thursday morning signalling a morning of game. Mostly feathered (pheasant and grouse) and one furred (venison). A real treat to see how to cook the birds without drying them out and with their traditional accompaniments. I’ll admit I always found bread sauce a bit pointless but Ryan made it so delicious that he’s changed my opinion. Extra bowls of game chips were quickly inhaled by the group as the tasting plates were passed around. My particular favourite was the sprout tops, pancetta and chestnuts served with the grouse. Deeply savoury and salty with extra crunch coming from the fried crumb. Everything in moderation!

    The calm before the storm in the afternoon. A mise en place session ahead of our Friday all day cooking assessment. We prepared almond crumble, spiced poached pineapple and a vanilla panna cotta. Our wholemeal dough also made, we tucked it up into the fridge for the night and left to dream of cleanly un-moulding our panna cotta for service.

    My nervousness was considerable as I made my way to Leith’s on Friday morning. Running through my mind the initial tasks I needed to execute efficiently to ensure I met the service window. Dauphinoise first: sweating the onion and preparing the potatoes and celeriac. First time using a mandolin but there was no time to get the jitters. Next scoring the duck fat and leaving it to temper whilst preparing a tray of ingredients for the pan sauce. And finally, removing the dough from its sleep in the fridge and letting the warmth of the kitchen allow the yeast to kick in. I’m delighted to say that the assessment feedback said my dauphinoise were ‘delicious’ and the duck cook and flavour was very good. The less said about my over-cooked kale the better! Good flavour on the wholemeal rolls with some helpful pointers for how I can continue to elevate my dough making skills. A quick 15 minute lunch and then the plating up of the pud. The panna cotta took a bit of encouragement but it was smooth in consistency and fun to arrange on the plate with the crumble, pineapple and edible flower. A gruelling six hours but enjoyable and satisfying to have achieved it all to a good standard. And very happy customers at home who got the leftovers for dinner! No rest for the wicked and following a brief pause for a cuppa and a mince pie, I started on the christening cake I had been commissioned to make. A marginally calmer week ahead with our group buffet assignment to deliver. But for now, a well earned weekend.

  • Leith’s Culinary Diploma: week 7

    A geographically diverse week: we began in Ethiopia, took a brief sojourn to Morocco, and ended in Goa. And that’s without taking into account the canter through the wine regions of the globe as part of our Level 1 WSET wine certificate. Another fun and stretching week learning yet more new skills (hello mackerel gutting) and consolidating existing skills (Creme Anglais, meringues and drinking wine).

    Our first foray into Ethiopian cuisine came in the form of a minced beef stew: Minchet Abish. We learned that the secret to soft and tender mincemeat is to treat it the same as you would a cut of meat i.e. the same rules apply for the browning process. Allow the mince to sit still in a hot oiled pan to take on colour, and therefore flavour, quickly rather than moving it around constantly. Just as I had finished browning and the meat was draining in my sieve, I was tapped on the shoulder by my tutor and given a surprise ‘short order’ to make Creme Anglais with a 20 minute deadline. The dirty sieve is of note here as a key step of mise en place for Creme Anglais is to have a clean sieve for the just-ready custard to be poured through ahead of service. Thus before I could even start I was back over to the spa bath (washing up bowl – see week 2 blog). Thankfully I had revised the method over the weekend and the ‘test’ turned out to be confidence-boosting. My custard was of good coating consistency and got the thumbs up from my tutor (and from my family who enjoyed it for dinner with raspberries and crushed Ameretti). Back to the stew, and having added various exotic spices and previously made stock to our browned mince, we left the assembled Minchet Abish to develop in flavour overnight.

    Monday afternoon marked the start of our Level 1 wine certificate. Our teacher, Marjorie, was a fabulous French woman who was an engaging teacher and has been a sommelier at Michelin starred restaurants for over 20 years. Over the course of the week we learned about growing grapes, how wine is made, wine growing regions, principal wine varieties, types and styles of wine, storage and service and food and wine interactions. We also drank quite a few examples, for learning purposes of course. A spittoon was available and indeed necessary for the Gallo White Zinfandel we tasted on the first afternoon. The exam looms large for Monday morning, and thankfully doesn’t include tasting the Zinfandel or anything else.

    With some of us feeling fresher than others post wine, we finished our Minchet Abish on Tuesday morning. This deliciously warm and spicy stew is traditionally served with an array of accompaniments and a golden turmeric rice. The toppings include an unexpected dollop of cottage cheese, and less surprisingly pickled red onion, green chilli, and parsley. A toothsome combination! Our second service that day was a Chermoula aubergine with a freekah salad. My bench partner and I regretted not leaving the aubergine longer in the oven for the flesh to become soft and yielding. But the freekah salad was a delight, spiked as it was with toasted almonds, green olives, sultanas, lemon and herbs.

    Wednesday gave us the opportunity to practice and consolidate any of the skills we have learned so far alongside the guidance of Lou, Head of School. She assessed my meringue technique and provided the light-bulb moment that I needed to be more aggressive in my whipping. This was a well-timed discovery for Thursday’s recipe of brown sugar pavlova, poached pears, whiskey caramel glaze and lightly whipped cream. My whipped eggs were incredible. Expanding enormously in volume, they almost came over the edge of the bowl. Once in the oven, we got on with the pears. The poaching liquor was the smell of Christmas: cloves, orange, whiskey and ginger (the left-overs will be perfect for a cocktail!). Once the cooled pavlova had been adorned with floppy double cream and a couple of poached pear pieces, the liquor was reduced to a sticky glaze to drizzle over the top. Gooey, aromatic, and with the cream providing a welcome freshness to cut through the sweetness. Absolutely delicious. A further consolidation of Creme Anglais completed a joyous morning of cooking.

    In the afternoon we were introduced to several fish and shellfish recipes and techniques: preparing and de-veining prawns; moules prep and cooking; en papilotte cooking; and gutting and cooking mackerel. On Friday morning we got to grips with the mackerel. Removing the gills, guts and bloodline before stuffing it with a Goan spice paste. An accompanying apple and celery remoulade provided the opportunity for more knife skills practice. And further consolidation of mayonnaise making, this time by machine. Those still scarred by mayonnaise by hand had assumed machine making would be a breeze. How wrong we were! Somehow (and I honestly think success or otherwise was in the hands of God) mine didn’t split; others took up to four attempts and still weren’t successful. Best to put it behind us and hope for it not to be repeated again on this term’s curriculum. The cooked mackerel, blistered from an initial flash under the grill and richly spiced from the paste, was soft, flaking and flavoursome. The light remoulade was the perfect foil to the oiliness of the flesh. I stripped the flesh from the frame and piled both the remoulade and fish on to crostini that evening for a tasty canapé.

    Much nervousness and apprehension for week 8, with two formal cooking assessments to add to the wine exam. The remainder of the weekend will be spent practicing and revising!

  • Christmas mincemeat for mince pies

    The run up to Christmas (and arguably a week or two after) is the only time you can acceptably eat pastry every day. Or at least that’s what my mum thought and anyone who knew her knows it wasn’t worth disagreeing. And why would you? The pastry in question is short and crisp, encasing brandy-laced mincemeat, plump with dried fruit and flecked with almonds. Making that mincemeat in early November is one of those family moments I cherish. It’s a tradition my girls are pining for even before the excitement of Halloween. It’s both satisfying and special, hinting at the joy of Christmas to come. 

    I’ve been making mincemeat and mince pies with my daughters since they were 18 months old; teaching them what I learned from my mum. She was of course the expert but, guided by her, I was making them myself from the age of 11. I always proudly notified my best friend Christina (by old school land-line) when a fresh batch had been baked. My brother and I would happily scoff them as fast as my mum and I could make them. But on Christmas Day, it was a decadent treat to lift the pastry lid, spread brandy butter over the mincemeat, replace the lid and devour! I can’t recall whether that became before or after the obligatory turkey, chipolata and mayonnaise sandwich encased in my mum’s granary bread. Probably best not to dwell on that!

    Shortcrust pastry does take a bit of practice but mince pies are reasonably forgiving. No blind baking required and pastry cutters can help hide a multitude of sins. If you really can’t face making pastry, buy a good quality all butter one. But I urge you to have a go at making your own mincemeat. It’s lovely to do as a family, borrowing from stir up Sunday and making a wish as you mix all the rich ingredients. Of which there are quite a few to buy, and they aren’t cheap. But it really is worth it. The difference between your own and the syrupy-sweet viscose version you find in the shops couldn’t be more striking. Have a try and I promise you’ll never buy a supermarket mince pie again.

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    If you’re keen for some in person tips and want a fun couple of hours for you and a few friends, I host mince pie making workshops at my kitchen table. You’ll make your own mincemeat (to take home), your own shortcrust pastry and half a dozen mince pies (also to take home). You’ll be treated to one of my mince pies and a glass of fizz or mulled wine. Contact me on roseyjeffery@me.com to book.

    Mincemeat (to fill 3 x 400g jam jars) adapted from Cooking Explained, Barbara Hammond

    • 200g suet
    • 200g cooking apple
    • 200g raisins
    • 200g sultanas
    • 200g currants
    • 2-4 tbsp brandy (optional?!)
    • 200g mixed peel
    • 50g flaked almonds
    • grated zest of 1/2 lemon
    • juice 1/2 lemon
    • 1/2 tsp mixed spice
    • 200g brown sugar
    1. Grate the apples into a large bowl, add the lemon zest and squeeze over the lemon juice.
    2. Measure out the rest of the ingredients and add it to the bowl.
    3. It will need a really good stir, allowing all family members to take a turn and make a wish 🙂
    4. When everything is fully incorporated, pack the mincemeat into prepared (i.e. sterilised) jam jars. Jam jars can be sterilised by putting them through a dishwasher cycle. Or for speed, wash with soapy water and put in the oven on a low temp for 10 mins.
    5. Store the mincemeat in the fridge until you are ready to make your pies.

  • Leith’s culinary diploma: week 6

    Week 6 was short and carb-heavy. Two days off for half-term (yippee!) and then pasta, cacio e pepe, mashed potato, risotto Milanese and white bread….freezer now re-stocked for a few weeks 🙂

    We returned from a restorative four day weekend to a morning of slow cooking. Carbonnade of beef, lamb tagine and an Ethiopian mince beef stew. We learnt about the steps to success for browning meat (e.g. don’t over-crowd the pan, and wait for the meat to self-release) and enjoyed tasting the meat which just fell apart and melted in the mouth. Minchet Abish (the Ethiopian stew) was a revelation. Such interesting flavours paired with yellow rice and tangy toppings of cottage cheese (yes!), quick pickled cucumber, chilli, plum tomatoes, and parsley. In the afternoon, we made pasta by hand and by machine. We learnt that when ready the pasta should feel like chamois leather. Which took me right back to cleaning my dad’s Renault 7 on a Saturday afternoon circa 1990. Not what one normally associates with pasta! We made a quick basil pesto ahead of cacio e pepe. The pungent aroma of toasted pepper was heady. The emulsion of pasta water, cheese and butter created a silkily smooth sauce which was a perfect foil to the pepper and a more-ish coating for the tagliatelle. With a final shaving of parmesan, we were ready for service.

    To kick off a group project where we will develop and cook a buffet for 25 fellow students and teachers, Grace and Helene treated us to a showcase of crowd-pleasing buffet-style dishes: poached trout with pickled cucumber and lime mayonnaise; courgette and ricotta galette; lamb shawarma with chickpea flat breads and tahini yoghurt; Middle Eastern squash with white beans, mint and lemon; Chermoula aubergine with freekah and yoghurt; and a baked vanilla cheesecake that somehow we all had room for. An inspiring feast which fuelled our creativity as we planned our own menus. One of the things I wanted to get from my time at Leith’s was fresh ideas and techniques and this task will certainly achieve that. My group decided on a South East Asian theme for our buffet which is definitely out of my culinary comfort zone.

    On Friday we embarked on our first all day cook: 7 hours in the kitchen with just a 20 minute break. Good organisation, mise en place, and keeping on top of the washing up were key to success (and staying sane). Plus of course stamina and decent culinary skills! The smell of featherblade beef browning shortly after breakfast was strangely appetising. Having assembled our Carbonnade for a low and slow cook, we weighed out ingredients (including fresh yeast) for a classic white loaf. Whilst the dough proved, I got on with the mashed potatoes. The Leith’s way on mash is as exacting as its way on everything else. And I have to admit I was a little nervous about executing this basic comfort food to those standards. Mash made, I started the final dish of the morning: risotto Milanese. I don’t love the dominance of saffron in this dish but, slightly undercooked carnaroli aside, it’s difficult not to enjoy the slowly sweated onions, plump rice and sighing sunshine coloured sauce of butter, parmesan and saffron.

    A quick 20 minute break to refresh my tastebuds with a salad and back in the kitchen to put the finishing touches on the Carbonnade and mash for service. The meat could barely keep itself together when touched with a fork; the sauce, whilst flavoursome, was thin. I used a beurre manie to thicken it and re-heated the mash adding the dregs of a warm cream, butter and milk mix to take it to a creamy dropping consistency. Unfortunately, I slightly over-seasoned both mash and carbonnade but you live and learn and they still tasted good! Meanwhile, my white bread was now out of the oven and looking well-shaped, proven and baked – my mum would have been proud.

  • Leith’s Culinary Diploma: week 5

    Having settled into something of a rhythm, I was struck by a deep sense of gratitude this week. How changed my life is now from my Bank of England days. At lunchtime on Wednesday, having cooked and eaten a delicious sirloin steak with parsley butter, I went for a walk in the sunshine. The contrast from a rushed box of Itsu at my desk whilst responding to emails and preparing for my next several meetings, couldn’t be more striking. The chance to pause, to learn and grow; and have the time and space to do so is a gift.

    On Monday, we channeled our inner Jenny Chandler having been inspired by her energy and drive at the end of week 4. Paired with the lovely Kate Madden, we smashed the Greek butter bean with feta recipe, creating a sweet yet deeply umami sauce to ooze into the velvety plump beans. We also each produced a lacy, crispy-edged Farinata, which made a delicious light lunch dressed with rocket, parmesan, black pepper and a good dousing of extra virgin.

    Tuesday brought the drama of our second formal assessment. The drama coming mostly from the requirement to make mayonnaise by hand. That is, not in a machine, but by hand with a sauce whisk. NEVER AGAIN! After a successful and swift plaice filleting and skinning, the mayonnaise took me a good 40 minutes. So determined was I that it wouldn’t split, I took it painstakingly slowly. I knew that if it did split there was a high probability I would walk out and not come back. Thankfully my patience paid off. I managed to serve my crisp and golden plaice goujons with a piquant tartare sauce (daughter sauce of the mayonnaise) with a neatly prepped lemon wedge with just 2 minutes to spare of the allotted 20 minute service window.

    The afternoon was considerably less pressured. Ryan showed us how to cook tender cuts of meat: steak, pork chops and lamb rump. We really do get fed very well in these dems! The steak came with a chimichurri sauce and a side of fries; the pork with a cider, tarragon and cream sauce; and the lamb with a sharp and salty salsa verde.

    Wednesday was a glorious day. In the morning we tackled steak. First taking a piece through the gradations of cooking from blue to medium. And then preparing a piece of sirloin, rendering the fat, cooking to medium rare and finishing with slices of parsley butter. What a fabulous lunch (for me and my youngest daughter who had it the following day at school)! Pudding was even better. The afternoon dem took us through each of the components for chocolate choux buns. The finale of which was a production line for our own delectable consumption: filling a crisp choux bun with creme diplomat, icing with molten chocolate and sprinkling with glistening almond praline. Most of us couldn’t resist a second!

    The sense of gratitude continued on Thursday. We filled a previously prepared shortcrust pastry case with a rich and unctuous leek and gruyere egg custard. The dressing for our accompanying salad was chef’s choice for which I created a lemon, honey and mustard mix to cut through the creaminess of the tart (forgot to take photos before it went into tuppaware). Having enjoyed a considerable wedge of that tart for lunch, the afternoon dem negated all requirement for dinner. We were cooked for by Marvin Jones, Executive Chef of El Pastor restaurants. He demonstrated his legendary raw tuna tostados, serving one each with an enormous mountain of the chilli-sesame-soy dressed tuna.

    The final flourish of the week was making our own chocolate choux buns and almond praline. Apparently onlookers said I stopped breathing at the crucial moment for the praline. But this is clearly the key to success as I achieved what Leith’s call an ‘adult’ caramel i.e. one that is bold enough to have some bitter notes alongside the sweet ones. The final construction of the masterpiece was a fitting end to a wonderful week; and a massive crowd pleaser when I returned home to a hungry audience of cleaner, nanny, children and husband. The right question, of course, is who on earth came up with the method for creating choux pastry? Why would you melt butter in water, boil, add flour and egg with the intention of creating a light, crispy vector of deliciousness? One to ponder. In the mean time, and looking ahead to week 6, things are stepping up again with a practice theory paper and our first all day cook. Come back next week to find out how it all went 🙂

  • Leith’s Culinary Diploma: Week 4

    As I come to the end of week four, I feel like I might just be getting into my Leith’s groove 🙂 Of course, I could fall flat on my face in next week’s formal assessment but for now let’s take the positive vibes!

    Brilliant start to the week, and what you’ve no doubt all being on tenterhooks to hear….my chicken thigh was cooked! Indeed, the assessor’s comments were ‘flesh cooked well – nice moisture and well seasoned.’ What a relief!

    I catered for a retreat last Sunday afternoon so welcomed a slightly later start to Monday and a brief canter through some key points about nutrition. We also got to taste some delicious recipes specifically crafted for individuals lacking in or requiring certain nutrients. Not that we’re in deficit, but because it will make a great side dish, I’ll be making one of these (a herbed quinoa) for my brother and family this weekend. Creating the perfect swirl was the name of the game in the afternoon. A decadent chocolate and coffee cream Swiss roll. Light, tiramisu-inspired and very more-ish! Alongside the Swiss roll, we also had our first go (to Leith’s exacting standards) at creme anglais. I was very pleased to hear mine met those standards. And even more pleased to have a quiet Nigella moment snaffling spoonfuls from the fridge when I returned from dinner later that evening!

    I wasn’t looking forward to Tuesday, not being a huge fan of a roast. But it was great fun to produce a full roast in two hours as a dream team of four and then sit down together and eat it. I’ve had the pleasure of being on the same cooking bench with three fabulous women this week (Ellie, Kristen and Sophie). We were rightly proud of our medium rare sirloin, crispy yet fluffy roast potatoes, puffed up Yorkshires, the cheesy umami gratin and a perfectly seasoned gravy that brought the whole masterpiece together. Well done team! To round off the day, we covered short crust pastry with patisserie expert, Lou. Leek & Greyere and walnut and date tarts for the tasting – yum!

    A much needed study day on Wednesday and mid-term catch up with our tutor. I took the opportunity to get ahead for a private catering job on Friday night. Nibbles for a drinks party for 20 mums in Tooting.

    Back into the kitchens on Thursday for a meditative session making our own shortcrust pastry. I have to admit I was nervous for this one. Having made shortcrust, taught by my mum, since I was a child, I was very aware that my methods were not those of a Leith’s professional! And in shocking news, it turns out that it is worth going to culinary school as you do learn some fantastic tips and ways of working that really elevate your ability. I loved the session: it was calming, brought back memories of my mum, and I ended with three neat crisp tart cases which have made four little children happy!

    Friday morning was an absolute treat. Jenny Chandler, Leith’s graduate and author of Pulse, came to talk pulses and grains. She was incredibly engaging and cooked some delicious food which we not only devoured, but made us think differently about the use of pulses in our cooking and diets. I’m already planning to make her Greek butter beans with parsley feta for an upcoming dinner party. And the chickpea farinata is an absolute winner for a quick mid-week supper that doesn’t scrimp on flavour. Friends and family: don’t be surprised to find her book in your Christmas stocking this year!

    Our final session of the week, which left me on a high, was filleting and cooking a flat fish. We were each presented with a whole plaice. I really enjoyed the methodical process of removing the four fillets individually, followed by the skin. Very satisfying! We made a seaweed butter (yes, more butter!), a slice of which we placed on the fillets before grilling. We served them alongside crushed new potatoes with salad onions and extra virgin olive oil. Simple, nutritious, delicious.

    Thoughts of my mum have been with me all week. Both remembering her cooking heydays and her decline as her anniversary approaches. Even a year on, it still feels raw. And I miss her desperately and deeply every day. To be doing this diploma is a wonderful way of channelling the essence of her, and yet the loss of not being able to share it with her is profound.

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  • Leith’s Culinary Diploma: Week 3

    Chicken, chicken and more chicken. I even dreamt about jointing a chicken! Indeed, my brain is so busy trying to make sense and organise all the culinary knowledge and learning that I am dreaming about my days at Leith’s every night. It’s been a physically exhausting week but I end it feeling elated and fizzing with excitement for more learning, more upskilling and definitely more eating next week!

    We expected our first formal assessment to be the pinnacle of week three but that turned out to be one of the least onerous (in terms of time) kitchen sessions. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t without considerable angst and stress but the twice-experienced four hour cooking days were absolutely epic. The written feedback from the formal assessment is still to come but thankfully we were all informed we had passed. This wasn’t assured given, when my chicken thigh returned from service, the inside looked distinctly raw. I could have cried. Or wailed. Stay tuned for next week’s thrilling instalment to discover whether it was cooked or not!

    Jointing a chicken last weekend and again on Monday (with considerably sharper knives) felt new but relatively intuitive. In the formal assessment, it all felt alien and wrong. I didn’t even recognise some parts of the bird. It’s odd what pressure and stress can do! Having made the chicken sumac with fattoush salad twice, chicken supreme with tarragon cream sauce, sriracha butter chicken, and a brown chicken and veal stock, I think we can tick chicken off our foundation skills list. And remove chicken from the Ocado order for at least a few weeks!

    Mid-week saw us prepare a butter heavy side dish of purple-sprouting broccoli with a never-attempted before beurre noisette with caper, anchovy and pine nut. To say we were all on a knife edge making the beurre noisette would be an understatement. Several people went too far and had to re-start. Mine was too salty but I still scoffed the lot for lunch. Chef’s perks 🙂

    A welcome change and sugar injection on Wednesday afternoon. We watched preparation and bake, and devoured, lemon and poppy seed cake; the dampest, most aromatic gingerbread cake; an elegant chocolate and coffee Swiss roll; and cheddar and marmite scones with homemade butter. A well deserved treat! On Thursday, we tackled the lemon cake and scones ourselves. Glorious kitchen session. I’m a big fan of making and eating cheese scones (see my post on cheese scones). The marmite really elevated them to an even deeper umami experience; and the butter flavoured with nutritional yeast to yet another level. Neither lasted the day once delivered back to my family!

    Not done with carbs and sugar, we readied ourselves for crepes Suzette and almond meringue biscuits. This alongside simultaneously finishing our brown chicken and veal stock with a final cook, strain and reduction. The depth and intensity in flavour of the final stock was definitely worth the three day process. It’s now been frozen for use in a few weeks’ time in a carbonnade of beef. The cooking session started well with me initially keeping to my time plan. Somewhere between rolling precisely weighed 15g balls of almond meringue between wet hands and flambé-ing Grand Marnier and brandy in a hot saute pan, it all took on a somewhat less controlled edge. Thankfully the results were delicious!

    For the final Friday flourish, Grace and Mikey (two of the teachers) showcased the very best of roasting to produce an epic and applause-worthy feast. They cooked roast pork with crackling, roast beef, two separate gravies, apple and sage sauce, fresh horseradish cream, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, roast parsnips, roast carrots with caraway seeds, and buttered cabbage. I have to admit I was defeated by the week and could only manage a sample of the carrots from the groaning selection. The rest of the class formed a stampede, embarking on a hearty ‘dunch’ (as my mum used to say).

    Many memories of my mum this week. A great lover and maker of cheese sconces herself. And a daily marmite on toast for breakfast girl. Returning from 11am church on a Sunday to the welcoming aroma of the roast she’d timed to come on filled my senses once again and the memories of ‘grown up’ dinner as a family came flooding back.

    It’s been a physically exhausting week but I end it feeling elated and fizzing with excitement for more learning, more upskilling and definitely more eating next week!

  • Leith’s Culinary diploma: Week 2

    The increasing pace and breadth of the curriculum certainly kept us busy through week two. Between teaching demonstrations and hands-on kitchen sessions, we covered various sauces and batters, hummus and crudités, basic bread dough, veg prep and cooking, jointing and cooking chicken, and making our own white meat stock using chicken carcasses and veal bones.

    There was some respite, of sorts, for the start of week two. A morning completing the Food Allergen Awareness certificate. One of the more engaging online training sessions I’ve completed, which really brought home how crucial it is to take full responsibility for ensuring you are 100% confident that what you are serving or selling someone won’t harm, or in extremis, kill them.

    In the afternoon, we were back in the kitchen focusing on one of the 14 food allergens: eggs! I usually leave the omelette making to my husband having never had much success. Turns out more butter in the pan is the answer (to this and many other culinary dilemmas). As we started cooking, I had a quick word with myself to relax and enjoy it! I produced a very neat, well seasoned classic French omelette with a smart snipping of chives and just the right amount of baveuse. Success! Then on to scrambled eggs. I had thought I was something of a connoisseur here but it turns out that my usual flake size could be compared to what Ryan, our teacher, described as ‘cat food’. Clearly something to aim off if at all possible! Take a look at the pic – I think success here too 🙂

    Our knives finally arrived this week. And sharp is most definitely the word. Or perhaps it is cut, since most of us managed to nick a finger during the course of the week. Blade covers to be purchased this weekend!

    Our first formal assessment looms large in the week ahead, with everyone leaving school on Friday evening ordering chickens-a-plenty to practice jointing over the weekend. A more relaxed peer assessment was experienced on Friday afternoon following an enjoyable kitchen session making pan-cooked pizza using pizzaiola sauce and dough we had prepared earlier in the week, alongside a Green Goddess dressing using the mayonnaise we had whipped up by hand (yes!) using a small sauce whisk. Making mayonnaise by hand felt strangely akin to the practice of simultaneously patting your head and rubbing your tummy i.e. tricky! Whilst whisking the egg yolk, we had to continuously transfer drops of oil from a gastro into the egg, at speed, and without stopping. By the end of the session, I had a very oily bench, and thankfully a tasty, and importantly, not split, mayonnaise. With somewhat tired wrists, we moved swiftly to making a roux and basic white sauce. Quite the arm work-out!

    The pace and breadth of the washing up and kitchen cleaning are also something we are quickly getting to grips with. The steam bath from standing over hot washing up water is, sadly, a far cry from a spa facial.

    My dad was an expert at a classic French salad dressing. I’m not sure he would have been swayed by the idea of Green Goddess, at least not if he was on salad duty. Meanwhile, there were deeply felt memories of my mum this week during the bread demonstration and making. She made bread, by hand, to the same recipe, nearly every week of her adult life. And the image of her doing so is firmly and forever fixed in my mind. I think it’s unlikely she would have been impressed by my Grissini attempt this week, unevenly shaped and baked as they were. Hopefully I can do a better job of scones next week!

  • Leith’s Culinary Diploma: Week 1

    After six months of waiting and anticipating, I finally walked into Leith’s School of Food & Wine on Tuesday to begin my Culinary Diploma adventure.

    Joining our crisp new uniforms in our lockers were three Leith’s aprons and a box of delights…! After a considerable information download on the term ahead from Head of School, Lou Kissane, we opened our boxes with the excitement and delight of Christmas morning. Inside there was a treasure trove of utensils, gadgets and very sharp knives.

    Day two took us into the kitchen for the first time. There was a frisson of excitement and nervousness in the locker room as we changed into our full chef uniforms, discussing hair nets (yuk), varying shoe styles (comfort over style); and the right way to tie the neckerchief (thank you Alix de Mauny). We were eased in gently with a spiced carrot cake muffin recipe. Becoming familiar with the kitchen, appropriate etiquette, and how to clean up after ourselves were the key objectives. Everyone was on their best behaviour. No licking the spoons or bowls like you might (definitely) do at home! In the afternoon, Sarah from Leith’s List Connect (careers service) spoke to us about all the inspiring opportunities for work experience (yes please Saturday Kitchen and a week with Rick Stein in Padstow) she can assist us with. Suffice to say, we all went home buzzing!

    Knife skills was the focus of day three. An Asian inspired salad which took a luxurious two hours to prepare. Never have I spent so long chopping one carrot! We got to grips with julienning, chiffonading, and rolling our chops! Garlic is not to be crushed in a crusher (sacre bleu!) but by using our knife and pressing down with a paddle motion.

    Is it strange to be immensely proud of a bowl of chopped vegetables?! I think that’s probably what gets you through the intense kitchen sessions. Certainly it made for a delicious, and well deserved, lunch whilst chatting to my fellow students and congratulating our efforts. The afternoon was spent in dems (short for demonstrations / teaching sessions): three different types of stock (fish; white chicken and veal; brown chicken and veal) and veg soup with garlic sourdough croutons.

    I make a veg soup about once a fortnight. I’ve never over-thought and second-guessed my actions as much as I did making it in Leith’s kitchens yesterday. I’ve been fat-sweating onions for years (thanks mummy!) but that didn’t stop me getting in a tizz using a cartouche and flapping about keeping the gas flame low but without putting it out. Against the odds, after two hours we each had a silky, sweet and well-seasoned soup, plus some crunchy garlic croutons on the side. We were all exhausted!

    Friday afternoon pepped us up in anticipation of week two: eggs dem with Ryan. Mayonnaise, Turkish poached eggs, egg and bacon salad, shakshuka, and lemon curd. He made it; we ate it!

    What would I say to my mum and dad about this week if they were alive to hear it? To my dear dad, I’d be telling me about all the good quality ingredients and feeding his love of food with detailed descriptions of the dishes we’ve cooked and been shown. To my mum, I’d be thanking her for everything she taught me from her own training as a home economist, which is still relevant and standing me in good stead!