Brioche, Bearnaise & Bees

It was a day of "firsts" for me - first time to make honeycomb, ice cream from scratch and brioche and in between those, I managed a pea soup and a mushroom and caramelised onion salad too, not too shabby for a morning's work by someone who still feels as though she's been rolled through the pasta machine a few times too many, this cold must bugger off now, I've had more than enough!

I started with the brioche, I'd made the dough the day before so now it was just a question of fiddling with it for a short time, shaping it, hunting desperately for the right tins (everyone seemed to be making brioche and the "real" tins have those slanty sides with the ridges and are few and far between). If I could help myself I would but I'm a bloody Virgo so I'd no choice in the matter and my first ever brioche had to have the right tins, eventually found some and that was that - rolled the dough into balls with each one given a little hat, another traditional brioche thing, too cute, and stashed the tray in a corner to rise again for the next few hours.

Moved onto the honeycomb next and oh my shattered nerves, you've to have everything ready, it all happens soooo quickly - basically you fuss about getting getting sugar, a bit of water, a mountain of glucose syrup (the stickiest stuff you've ever seen, I needed a high pressure washer just to get the spoon clean and don't talk to me about the pot) and some honey - chuck it all in a (super sized) pot, stir it for a short time till the sugar dissolves, then wait for it to get to exactly 149 degrees celcius (I had a sugar thermometer to hand, Ireland sadly hasn't instilled me with any super powers) then chuck in a tablespoon of baking powder and watch the magic, the whole thing foams right up (mini panic attack re my pot size selection) and then you pour it out onto a tray, it sets in seconds and then later you break it up with the back of a knife, such fun, and then even better swirl it through ice cream!

Now let me tell you about that part - sugar, egg yolks, bucket loads of cream - that's it and OMG it was so good, mine had the honeycomb swirled through it, some had almond praline and some were just plain vanilla but made with real vanilla pods you know, instead of vanilla essence which I'm sad to tell you has never been near a vanilla pod in it's life.................

Made my soup next, pea and coriander with a hint of chilli and I was looking for an officially subtle hint - the chillies coming up from the glasshouses at the moment could double as firelighters, they're vicious, I actually cut mine up with surgical gloves on because everyone's been having reactions and I'd no plans to spend the rest of the day with my hands in ice, it's cold enough!!!

And then finally, the mushroom and caramelised onion salad, delish but sllloooowww, the onions were in no hurry to go over to the dark side and they're so much better if you wait for them to caramelise themselves, tossing sugar in might be a shortcut but you end up with a bit of a cheap knock off, it's like handbag shopping on the streets of New York and ending up with a Prado when you wanted a Prada. I know it's a bit difficult to even spot a mushroom in amongst all this, I may have been a little enthusiastic with my garnishing, I like marigolds and you can eat them you know!

Finally just after 12 the brioche had finally done their thing and fluffed up to double their size so it was into the oven for them, they took about 25 minutes and Rachel was right about these, they really are fantastic, I had to try one having never made them before but after that I almost paid my teacher to take the rest away, the tray and I so wanted to spend the evening together but my recollection of the endless stream of butter that I'd thrown into it the day before was sadly still horribly vivid.................

So that was that, the morning's cooking was over and I took my sore throat for lunch, feels like sandpaper, perfect excuse to eat only ice cream for lunch, there have to be some advantages to feeling dire surely!

Afternoon demo was with Pam for the first time, it was great and my God, the list was long, she had her work cut out for her. It was COW day, how to identify assorted body parts and cut your own steaks - can't wait for Thursday lunch, I've not had a steak since I left home and I'm a Seth Efrican you know, can't help myself, I love steak!

This massive piece of cow came out, not the whole side but a fairly big part of it and the first thing that Pam got rid of was the kidney and seriously, you've never seen such a well protected organ in your life, look at the fat, honestly this cow should have tried for an extra lap around the field each afternoon.

Once we'd finally cut some sirloin and fillet steaks, it was time for the accompaniments - brace yourself, matchstick potato chips, Bearnaise sauce (similar to Hollandaise but with even more whisking), creamy mushroom sauce, cauliflower cheese (my best, best thing), blue cheese butter and the winning number, French fried onion rings, don't even say it, too good!

There was also a wicked ratatoiulle and I normally hate ratatouille (except for the Disney movie version, is that not the best rat you've ever see??) - tends to be too tomatoey and too slooshy and too yuk but the key is making the tomato and pepper sauce, grilling the aubergine and courgettes separately and only introducing them to one another moments before the contract is signed and sealed, much better.

There were a few salads too including your man's favourite, coleslaw, although I'm not sure this one would have been quite up to his standards, he likes his coleslaw with lashings of mayo (and I mean lashings you understand, Grade 5 hurricane's worth) and this one wasn't like that, so much nicer though, I'm not quite as enthusiastic a mayo fan. Pam also showed us a whole lot of smoked fish, thankfully we don't actually have to do that part so the key to these type of dishes is making good brown bread to eat it with, delish sauces like horseradish and this sweet dill mayonnaise that was fantastic and then presentation, presentation, presentation - a side of smoked organic salmon costs €80 and a smoked eel (and he wasn't even that big, more of an overgrown earthworm than an eel) goes for about €50 so you want to make sure it looks red carpet pretty when it goes out.

Speaking of eels, your man loves to fish, especially off the rocks rather than off a boat but he has a fondness for a.) making occasional lead donations to the ocean in terms of losing everything on the end of his line and b.) catching eels. Now he's always seen the latter as a big negative but if only we'd known this, we could fire up the Weber with some smoky wood and be sorted, who knew that eel were such a speciality - I did try a bit and it was quite nice, to be honest I couldn't really make out that it was eel once it was on my plate next to all the other little smoky bits.................sorry!

For pud, there were a whole lot of tarts (more shortcrust pastry, my new best thing, can you believe it) they were all done with frangipane filling which is made with ground almonds - I love almonds - my favourite of the 3 tarts was one with pears which I'm making on Thursday, I know I'm sad but so looking forward to it, medium rare steak for lunch followed by pear and almond tart, works for Deb, YAY!

I'm off home now to drink lemon/ginger/honey tea with a LARGE splash of whisky, still feeling rubbish.