Day 5 in the Ashburton Fusion Kitchen - Extreme Cooking, the final chapter!

Cooking extreme – the final instalment!
Awoke with a start today, due to sudden realization I had forgotten to place my thinly sliced radishes on my beef dish yesterday.  Evidently this would mean I had failed More Advanced Week, and would not be getting a certificate at the end of today.  Wiped tears away, and packed suitcase in shame.

Much twitter shenanigans had happened by the time I got up, reminding me that today would be foie gras terrine day – that’s if Chef Rob hadn’t really lost it, and Chef Darrin hadn’t really stolen it!

Our final day was kicked off by these two fine looking gentlemen – remind me when I see you, and I’ll see if I can point out which is Rob and which is John. Hohoho. I crack myself up.

Chef Rob and his new friend John D.

To start with we rolled yesterday’s now proved low-fat brioche into precise 75g portions, and lined up 10 balls of brioche in a tin.  Then chocolate ganache and a mascarpone-yoghurt-cream filling for afternoon macaroons. Unfortunately the ganache-making presented Chef Rob with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate to us all how to rescue the mix if you happen to “muller it” … I think that is a technical bit of patisserie terminology.

With this in the bag, we knocked up a bit of fresh pasta dough in the blink of an eye.  I will probably have to do this again at the weekend, just to test Chef Rob’s assertion that vac-packing pasta makes it more pliable if you’re rolling out for filled pasta … course he’ll be right as always, but professional skepticism is my middle name. And also I like pasta.

Then finally we got our hands on JD!

Heeeeeere's John - spikes galore: "C'mon if you're hard enough!"

Tricky bugger to fillet is John - he really doesn’t want to be caught and/or eaten, so comes complete with suit of armour made wholly of spikes. No pressure! I not only learnt what I did wrong the last time I had a bash at filleting one and nearly lost a finger, but also managed to emerge with 10 fingers intact. This is a bit of a first.

In fact, now I come to think of it – just realized I didn’t need a single blue plaster this week. Call in Norris McWhirter to verify, tis a record-breaking feat! I used to have to call ahead when I was arriving, and request extra stock!!

Anyway, all this brought us to lunchtime – and OH MY WORD what a starter we had! The foie gras terrine, with port and marsala in and leeks running through it, was probably the best thing ever. The Sauternes jelly, smoked apple purée and walnut vinaigrette on a few mache salad leaves were the perfect foil. And it was all served with a lovely griddled slice of weightwatchers brioche, and a nice little glass of very cold Monbazillac. All in all, no calories at all, ever such a low-fat dish, and cheap as chips – so we all made a Twitter pact to have the same for lunch every Monday. Joining us Rob??

Foie gras terrine with marsala and port, studded with baby leeks - Sauternes jelly, smoked apple purée, mache leaves with a drop of walnut vinaigrette - served with toasted brioche and a little glass of cold Monbazillac. Yum!

Ding ding, round 2! No getting complacent now – get back in that kitchen and make some more cool stuff you ‘orrible lot. And with that, it was time for a spot of reverse spherification. Ok, so I admit, when asked by friends and colleagues what the course was about – this is the term I have casually bandied about, with a wink and a knowing manner. No of course I hadn’t a clue what it all meant – but turns out it’s a way of making a little sphere, with a film round the outside that bursts when eaten, releasing its liquid centre.  In this case – a little ball of mango, to be encased in a solid coconut gel!

Having set everything up for later, it was onwards to the macaroons, a bit more whipping  - and my best “AHA!” moment of the day. The trick to not ending up with a peak in the middle of the meringue when you pipe is so simple if only you know how – and I’ll tell you, free and for nothing. It’s to STOP piping, give it a second or two, then twist. With that bit of insider info, if my macaroon-mad niece doesn’t award me a lifetime achievement award for being cool Auntie Sue, then I don’t know what more I can do!! 

Anyway, back to more serious matters, macaroons in the oven it was on to the main course!  Having earlier succeeding in disarming John, it was now time to “go for Armageddon”.  This, I think, is another quite technical culinary term, used to refer to the finishing off/plating up moment!

First there was another amazing sauce to knock up – a fish stock reduction, involving smoky bacon, sherry vinegar, brown shrimps and tomato concasse, with a hint of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of chervil and parsley. Then there was spinach to wilt, fish to sauté carefully, a little added scallop to caramelize, and linguine to warm in the sauce. We needed 8 arms and 8 pans each, but made do with 2 arms each and 4 rings between us – a bit of careful planning paid off, me and Laura were so ON IT today! Hurrah!

Pan fried fillets of John Dory, "day old" spinach, a little linguine spiral, and a smoked bacon, sherry vinegar and brown shrimp beurre blanc.

Realization dawned we were now on the very last stretch, but in spite of all the weeping and wailing, we managed to finish off the final dishes of fried eggs and macaroons.

Coconut and mango fried egg!

Macaroooooooooooons!

With that, it was all over … and despite my fears, I was actually presented with my little certificate. Actually, I was secretly rather hoping Chef Rob would say my performance was rubbish, and insist that I would have to repeat the course again next week to deserve my certificate. Dammit!

So now I suppose there’s nothing for it but to go back to work.  Still, I reckon there might be one final blog left in me … in a week or so, just to give me an excuse to properly remember my fabulous week on the Ashburton More Advanced Course with Team Extreme! 

Team Extreme! L to R: Laura, Ann, Faye, Chef Rob, Darren, Jojo, and someone else.

Push on!