Scallops, Pea Purée and Pancetta
This week can be summarised as Cakes and Crustaceans as most of our time was spent making a classic Gateaux Opera and thereafter by sacrificing Crabs and Lobsters for our culinary delicacies.
The first 2 days of the week were spent on the Gateaux making an amazing rubberlike, indestructible sponge base which did not rise at all. This would form the 3 thin layers for our take on the infamous Opera delight. Forming the other layers were Coffee Syrup, Coffee Buttercream, Chocolate Ganache, Tempering Chocolate for Choccy decorations, and a Chocolate Mirror Glaze to finish off the top. 
The results were credible but strangely after 2 days to construct and bake the cake we were not marked on the taste but were marked on presentation which we literally had to rush in 5 minutes flat as we ran out of time on the morning session. This needs to be looked at for future sessions as we all wanted more time to decorate the cake in a refined manner but had to finish up in a crazy chaotic frenzy.
Over the 2 days we also made a Strawberry Jam and Pear and Saffron Chutney – the later we will be serving with a Foie Gras Parfait in a weeks time. Strawberry Jam was easy and I must say tastier than any shop bought stuff !
My Jam and lots of other Jam !
Thereafter we were onto Seafood and were provided with both live Crabs and Lobsters to kill, which took some of the students out of their comfort zones resulting in a refusal here and there to go through with the Kill Job. I had done both during my work experience in a Padstow so had no issue with it at all. It was a good learning experience understanding the best way to extract all of the meat from both Crustaceans in the most efficient manner and knowing very clearly what to avoid – Dead Mans Fingers and other unsightly Gills etc.
The Crab we turned into a beautiful Crab, Pink Grapefruit and Avocado Salad, but a posh one – involving an Avocado Puree and a Grapefruit Jelly as well as the Fresh fruit.
Now that’s a Crab Salad !
As regards the Lobster it’s fate after being killed, boiled etc was a Poached Lobster Salad ( sounds simple) but we made a Lobster Shell Oil to dress the salad and glaze the Lobster with And also a Tarragon Mayo and had various Edible flowers to pretty it up. I totally went overboard on the Flowers focusing on an Instagrammable Dish more than a Culinary exercise and I did explain to the Tutors this is one of the most important ways of advertising for restaurants these days and excused my Chelsea Flower Show themed dish on this fact ! 
Another seafood delight was shucking Scallops And Pan Frying them to accompany a Pea Purée with Crisp Pancetta. I also went a bit rogue and turned the Roe into a Purée by blitzing it up with butter. I did not have time to get the consistency right but it tasted good and I was complimented for trying something different.
We have the feeling that we are already at the end of term as the afternoons were filled with Demos from outside Chefs rather than any new skills being taught. We had a visitation from Jamie Rafferty who calls himself a Holistic Chef and taught us all about Raw Food. Amongst other recipes he served us a Pecan Bolognese, Courgette Linguini and Brazil Nut Parmesan. This was an interesting take on a classic meal whilst not tasting meaty, but this was not his aim – he uses classic Recipes as reference points to serve up a Vegan version of it.
Henry Harris who use to be the Head Chef at Racine And has just opened a Pub named the Hero of Maida Vale came in to show us some of his classic French dishes. He cooked us Calves Brains in Black butter, Duck Hearts on Toast and a beautiful Steak Au Poivre. I loved the Calves Brains but seemed to be the only one !
Lastly and something completely different was Norman Musa who gave us an amazing Malaysian Demo that involved Steamed Sea Bass with Lemongrass And Ginger and an aromatic Seafood Curry. Norman was a real character and got as many of us up and assisting him during the Demo, and his food was pretty good too. Could have been spicier for my liking.
We had an afternoon session focusing on Revision for our up and coming Theory Test scheduled for 11th June and this freaked out a lot of people as we now realise not only how soon this is but also the amount of stuff we have learnt over 9 months and the incredible amount of info we need to revise to cover all bases. I for one have not started revising and will have to devote some time and get disciplined during the following week to avoid an embarrassing failure !
Just before Friday Lunch we were all told our results from the WSET Wine And Spirits Level 2 Exam And it appears all of our class passed and I received a Distinction which I am very proud about. We immediately celebrated my hitting the local Portuguese Restaurant at Lunch and ordered a couple of bottles of Alvarinho which were speed drank and that is why we were so chilled out on the Malaysian Demo on Friday afternoon ! Now the question – progress to Level 3?
Lastly it was School Photo time on Friday morning ! The traditional idea is to photo all the students in front of the School so you can see the Leiths branding as a back drop. However despite Notices all around the surrounding roads some idiot had left their car right in front of the school and they could not be located to move it. Therefore we relocated to the local park and all carried the benches and chairs with us down the road to the revised location. It was hilarious and we were all feeling strange that we were out of school in our Chefs Uniforms – something unheard of ! We all felt like naughty school children and attracted the attention of local builders and passers by. But thankfully it did not rain and we managed to get a photo for posterity of our Class Blue C.
Don’t ask what the Blonde Helen is doing !
Only 2 more weeks to go plus Exam week. I will be doing my Practical on Monday 18th so will have the rest of the week off. Barring a disaster and a necessary retake on Friday, then I will just be looking forward to Graduation Day and the After Party !