Buttery goodness.

Week 3 at college was delicious. The morning started out by collecting our goodies on a large gastronome for boiled rice, Tomato Concasse and Mushroom Duxelle which we used then in a rich pasta sauce. No one in the class needed lunch after this which worked out quite well since my egg and salad sandwich had gone soggy in my bag.

Tomato Concasse is diced tomatoes which have been blanched, refreshed, skinned and deseeded. First I cored my tomatoes and made a cross at the other end with my paring knife. The tomatoes were submerged in boiling water, I counted to 15 seconds (obviously less for the more squishy tomatoes) then refreshed them in a bowl of ice water. The skins slipped of as if the tomatoes couldn't wait to get naked and ready to become a concasse. I chopped each tomato into quarters then deseeded each quarter. The quarters were then diced about 1cm. What can you use these minx of tomatoes for you ask? Brushetta, salads, garnish, pasta sauce, pizza base sauce... the list can be endless.

Mushroom Duxelle is finely chopped onion and mushrooms cooked in until there is no liquid left. First I sautéed the onion in butter (you know this is already going to be delicious because it starts with butter) then added the finely chopped mushrooms which I sweated off until there was no liquid left. This was seasoned to taste and left to cool ready to be used in our pasta.

I mentioned cooking rice above. If you have read my other blog and my rice post you will know that I cannot cook rice unless it is with a rice cooker. I have sort of gotten the hang of boiling the rice and then letting it steam in a colander when I am desperate but today we were required to cook rice using the absorption method and not using cup measurements for the water but your finger. The water must come up to your first knuckle when you stick your finger in the pot and touch the rice. Terrible explanation and I can tell you this, I need to practice cooking rice. Mine was gluggly. At least cooking rice is better to practice then tourne potatoes, and yes to answer your question- I am still avoiding potatoes.

Now to the delicious pasta we made. Delicious but terribly rich I must warn you.
The sauce was very quick because we'd done all the prep to start with so first things first the pasta needed to be cooking for at least 5 min before I start the sauce. I gently sautéed a clove of finely shopped garlic in butter then stirred in some of our mushroom duxelles. Added cream and a tsp of french mustard and brought it to the boil and reduced the sauce a little. Tasted and seasoned with S&P then finish off with some tomato concasse, parsley and parmesan cheese. The spaghetti was folded through and served in a hot clean bowl. Sprinkled with extra cheese, tomato and parsley for garnish.
Delicious buttery, creamy mouthfuls! mm yum.

After lunch and our food coma we zested and segmented oranges. Zest is the outside coloured part of citrus fruits such as lemon, lime and orange. Segments are the fillets of the fruit. We also learnt different techniques to use lemon as a garnish on a variety dishes.

Theory consisted of us getting our assignment and learning that we have an assessment on the 30th of March for Food Hygiene. All this talk about food poisoning is going to make me scared to leave the house or eat anything. Ok maybe not the later of the two because that would never happen, food and I get on too well.

Thanks for reading! Watch this space for shallow poached chicken, grilled sirloin steak, buttered beans, sauce a l'anglaise plus more next week. Until then. Happy eating!