We had another assessment this week. In an attempt to impress Chef, I cooked with a wee bit more butter, probably more than I would normally. Of course this wouldn’t matter if the food never passed my lips. But invariably it does, and although it makes all the food very tasty, surely cannot be a good thing for my waist. I also find that butter is making its way into my home cooking more and more as well. And that too, cannot be a good thing either.

For the assessment we made chicken holstein, potato marquise and courgette provencal. I was quite happy to make the chicken again, seeing as I’ve discovered what a fan I am of crumbed chicken, fried egg, anchovies, capers and beurre noisette. My courgette provencal was fine, although I wrestled with the marquise potato as I can’t say I’m a big fan of piping. It’s far harder than it looks, and I have no patience for such things. My turned out like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I have also decided presentation is not one of my strong points. I have no artistic flair to speak of, so I wonder if posting photos of what I cook on my blog works for me, or against me.

Chicken holstein, etc

Last week we covered beef stew with suet dumplings, parsley potatoes, cauliflower polonaise and courgette provencal. I worked on my own during last week’s class, even though we typically work in pairs. There are 13 of us, and occasionally there are absentees from class, so there’s no telling on any given day whether we will land on an even or an odd number. Working on one’s own is hard work. You cook the same as those in pairs, so there’s probably almost double the prep. I guess it’s a good challenge, but it made for a bit of a stressful day.

Beef stew, parsley potatoes, courgette provencal, cauliflower polonaise

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