Feeling Saucy? Week 2

When Monday rolled around the next week, what was on the cards? Surprise, surprise, more soup! We took a journey around the world to make Gazpacho and a cooking show favourite- Prawn Bisque. Good old Gazpacho- the "refreshing" cold tomato soup hailing from Spain. Cold soup makes me feel sick, but apparently the one I prepared tasted good enough to pass the unit. The Bisque, on the other hand, was delicious. Much like the Masterchef contestants before me, I prepared the Bisque by sauteing prawn shells with vegetables until they turned red, and then added brandy and pernod and flambeed the contents of the pan. Woo! Flames in the kitchen! The mixture was thickened and fish stock was added. When this had been brought to the boil, and simmered until it had thickened and lost the floury taste, the mixture was strained, and cream was added. To finish the dish, some prawns were poached and placed in a bowl with some soup and a sprig of dill. Once again, I did not take photos on this day, so you'll have to take my word that these two soups looked fantastic.

The sad day arrived when we prepared our final soup of the course, a Cream of Mushroom Soup. As you can imagine, the soup was made by combining cooked mushrooms, wine and cream. For mushroom haters, it would be a nightmare, as the finished soup was topped with a porcini cream. Mushroom overload! Because one soup would not be enough for a lesson, we then made a dish which would become a test item later on; Poached Eggs on English muffins with a Mornay Sauce and Sauteed Tomato and Rocket. The mornay sauce was a bechamel sauce with the addition of cheese, which, for someone who has a habit of burning milk when it's in a pan, was a stressful experience. The tomato and rocket helped to add some nutritional value to the creamy, cheesy, saucy concoction.

Schnitty

Hump day of week 2 was schnitty day! Chicken Schnitzel with Pepper Sauce, and a Potato, Cucumber and Bacon Salad were on the cards. I'll let the above picture take you on that culinary journey.

A magical day descended on the kitchens in week 2. We got to prepare desserts! (Of sorts- they were fruit based, so not a real dessert in my books, but a handy way to teach us about sweet sauces). The first "dessert" was a Poached Pear with Chocolate Sauce and Sauce Anglaise. For a pear dessert, it was pretty good, but I may have been swayed by the custard and chocolate lapping at the sides of the fruit.

Chocolate and Custard, featuring a Pear

In addition to the pears, we also prepared a Fruit Salad with a Raspberry Coulis and interesting sugared orange zest. 

Demolished fruit salad

It was back to business on Friday, when we made a Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil Sauce and Corned Silverside with Mustard Sauce and Parsley Turned Potatoes. To clarify, we did not make the Spaghetti (that would have actually been interesting) but we did make the accompanying sauce. This was, after all, a lesson with a focus on preparing sauces. Next up was a family favourite of Corned Silverside with the most ridiculous side of potatoes possible. To achieve the perfect barrel shaped potatoes, we cut away a large portion of the potato until all sides were curved and even. Time consuming and wasteful- such a winner. The silverside that resulted was moist and supposedly tasty- from someone who likes the flavour, so a handy recipe to know- if you ever need to cook beef in a pot of water. 

The resulting Spaghetti and Silverside dishes

Coming up next week- fish and roast chicken! xx