Cook School by Martin Wishart

Hubby spoilt me rotten this Christmas and bought me a gift voucher to one of the classes run by Martin Wishart's Cook School. I was thrilled to bits but if I'm honest, a part of me was a little bit scared as well. A Michelin star cook school - eeek!

I chose to do the Dessert and Baking course (naturally!) which is run one day every second month, the menu changes according to the season's and today we made;

• Lemon Tart with Macerated Raspberries
• Gingerbread



• Poached Peaches with Rosemary Cream (Pannacotta to you and me!)
• Apricot and Almond Tart with Creme Friache

(please excuse the general lack of photo's - I was a bit too self conscious to whip the camera out for this one!)

And for lunch we got Steamed Fillet of Sea Bream with Glazed Vegetable Straw Potatoes and Vinaigrette Gourmand - not actually made it to Martin's restaurant for a meal as yet but after that lunch I'm defo going to move it to the top of the list! It was brilliant and the fish was so tender - yum, yum, YUM!!

We had two Chefs who took us through the recipes, each was demonstrated before we got to go back to our own workstations and do it for ourselves. They gave us little Michelin star type hints and tips along the way as well that never seem to go in the recipe books! And while I was apprehensive to start off with, in the end the recipes were so straight forward I'm not quite sure why I was ever too scared to make a pannacotta or lemon tart before now. We ate the panncotta for dessert after the fantastic Sea Bream and I was so pleased at how creamy and smooth it was (please excuse my lack of modesty). Nothing worse than a grainy pannacotta!

Lemon Tart scared me a lot before now too, possibly because the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wearing say that it is the lemon tart that can make or break a restaurant and will test the worth of the pastry chef. No pressure there then! But once we were shown the basics and let loose on our own I soon got over the fears and it turned out pretty good, very zingy and fresh and the raspberries were out of this world.

We were given all the different bits and pieces that were left over to bring home with us as well as the finished articles that didn't get eaten throughout the day. I've got pastry, lemon tart filling, frangipane, gingerbread mixture, poached peaches and apricots and pannacotta which can be melted down in a bain marie and reset in the proper moulds. Brilliant value for money.

I did have a slight disaster on the way home though, the sugar syrup that the peaches and apricots were poached in decided to leak all through the paper bag. I had just enough time to get it home before the bottom fell out of the bag. Thankfully the only casualty was the lemon tart, it ended up with a big crack through the center of the filling. Hubby was quite happy to rectify this mishap by devouring so that no evidence was left of my little disaster!

Chocolate Masterclass

For years now it has been my dream to go to catering college, and on incredibly trying days at work I visit the website for the Edinburgh School of Food Wine to help keep me going - everybody needs a dream to cling to! So a couple of weeks ago I was on the site when I noticed an advert for a Chocolate Masterclass - well this had my name all over it so of course I signed up straight away and today was the day! Getting up this morning was a bit like being a child on Christmas morning, so excited!

The school itself can be a bit of trek to get to but is definitely worth the effort. It is set in some very stunning grounds, with an old manner house and all the associated buildings. The school itself is in the converted stables.

We started the day by making some ganache for truffles. We were in pairs at our work stations and each pair were asked to make a batch of the Basic Ganache and a Butter Truffle. In my pair Sally made the traditional ganache which was flavoured with rosemary (this is done by adding the rosemary leaves to the cream while it is boiling so the flavour infuses into the cream) and I opted for a butter ganache, simply because I have never come across it before.

Making the Butter Truffle Mixture

While the ganahce was setting our tutor, Chris, then demonstrated how to temper chocolate. Why did I ever find the concept of tempering chocolate so daunting? Chris made it really easy to understand and there was plenty of time set aside in the class to make sure everyone got it right. Basically we melted chocolate in a bain marie and once it had all melted we tested it with a thermometer, if it was over 42C then it was ready to take of the heat. Then we added chocolate to the melted mixture and stirred it through until it had melted too, we started testing the chocolate for its temper anywhere from 34C and below. When it 'sets' at room temperature and looses its sheen then the chocolate has been tempered and can be used to cover truffles or make a multitude of chocolate goodies.

Examples of the different stages of temper

After lunch it was time to play with the tempered chocolate. We all made a chocolate box and a ribbon to hold our truffles in. Chris also showed us how to use professional chocolate moulds, I understand now why my moulded chocolates have never really turned out to my satisfaction before now, you need to use tempered chocolate and the mould needs to be strong enough to scrap the excess from the sides so the finished product is more professional looking and makes it much easier to work with.

The chocolate bow at 'chocolate glue' stage

Can't wait to get started on the Christmas presents for the girls now! I can't wait to enrol in another class at the ESFW as well, maybe the year long diploma course?!?!?!

Butter Truffle
250g butter
80g glucose
500g chocolate
Inclusions, to taste (I added the seeds from a vanilla bean to mine but to be honest it was pretty much lost in the chocolate and butter!)

Clarify the butter to separate the milk solids. (This is not essential but helps to improve the shelf life). Melt the chocolate and butter together, add the syrup and any inclusions and stir until smooth. Pour onto a sterile tray, cover with clingfilm and cool.

Makes lots!
From ESFW

Note: Alcohol can be added to this mix but it must be at least 40%. It can hard to add liquids to this mix as it will separate if you aren't careful.

The finished products!

Bread In Fife

The whole gang - Colin, Hilary, Jac and Louise

A couple of weekends ago I spent a fantastic day out with Jac from Tinned Tomatoes and her friend's Hilary and Louise.  We spent the day making bread under the tutelage of Colin Lindsay in his B&B which can be found in the very cute little Scottish Village of Freuchie, in Fife and just a quick 30 minute (ish) train ride from Edinburgh.  Jac, being the super organised yummy mummy that she is, has already posted her round up for the day complete with some wonderful photo's so please head over to her blog where Jac has paid the day far more justice than I can!

Shaping Oatcakes ... not too sure he'll
thank me for publishing this one!

Preparing the Rye Bread for baking

We started the day by sampling some of Colin's home made Oatcakes, which we later got the chance to make as a group.  I think these are going to be in the Christmas Hamper for the girl's this year, no more store bought oatcakes for them!  They seriously bought any oatcake you have ever tasted before to shame.  As a group we also made a Rye Loaf, the method for making this being a bit different to a 'regular' bread dough as it is far too gloopy to knead by hand.

Wholemeal dough proving in the banneton

The finished articles ...

And the tin baked version.

Then we got to work on some wholemeal loaves, one made in a tin and the other in banneton, which is a wicker proving basket.  My dough was made following the 'master recipe' while Hilary and Jac added 'Old Dough' or 'Mother Dough' to theirs and Colin and Louise added sourdough to theirs, to help vary the flavour and texture of each of the breads.

Griddling the Staffordshire Oatcakes

Heaven in prep mode!  Yum!

While the dough for the wholemeal loaves was proving, Colin made some Staffordshire Oatcakes, which I have to admit somewhat stole the show for me.  A-Mazing!!!  We tried them firstly with some honey drizzled over but the piece de resistance had to be eating them warm for lunch in the garden with ripe juicy tomatoes and parmesan cheese sprinkled over.  They were so good I've managed to track down a local supply of the Oatmeal Colin used so I can make them myself.

Top tip:  Press your thumb into the top of the shaped
rolls before baking to ensure an even rise while baking.

My finished babies!

After lunch we baked the wholemeal loaves and made bread rolls.  This was the one of the highlights of the day for me, previously my attempts at making bread rolls have been comical to say the least!  Colin taught us how to shape them into the perfect little rolls, all smooth and regular shaped with no unsightly seams to ruin their shape or rise.  Woo hoo!

We each used different flours in our rolls and then got to sample one of each at the end, my favourite bread rolls were made by Jac using Shipton Mills Three Malts and Sunflower Brown Flour, a rich earthy flavour with loads of texture from the three malts speckled through.

We came home with bags stuffed to the gunnel's with completed bread ... not to mention belly's stuffed full too!  I highly recommend this course to anybody in the area who maybe searching for some friendly tuition on the subject of bread making.  And if your not from the area then why not come for the weekend and stay at the B&B too!

Introducing Thumper

This week we finished off our second cake for class.  I'm a little bit smitten with the marzipan bunny and I've dubbed him Thumper for obvious reasons.  My tutor seems to think he has a cheeky look to him, he even went so far as to suggest that he has adopted the personality of his creator ...

... I'm sure I don't know what he means!  Lol

Thumper just loves having his photo taken!

He is such a little show off!

As well as a mischievous little bunny there are also snowdrops ...

And sugar paste pebbles to make a rock garden.

The rock garden didn't really like the two bus journey to get home so its not looking at its best now but I managed to get some pics on my phone before we left college.  I just need to figure out how I get them off my phone and onto my laptop now!

My Guilty Little Secret

Have I mentioned how I've been spending my Tuesday evenings recently? No? Well I was ashamed to admit it at first, guess I wanted to see how things panned out first before I showed the evidence to anyone but now its here in all its glory.

Yep. I've been going to a cake decorating class! Not the world's most beautiful creation, I'll give you that but now that the creation is complete I'm as pleased as punch with it.

The carnations are my favourite. That's why there are sooooooooo many photo's of them!

This creation took is six weeks, learning a new technique every week. None of us are particularly fond of the Garrett frill around the sides. We all decided that it made the cakes look like a pair of Grandma's pantaloons!

Tomorrow night sees us all embark on another course, seven weeks long this time. We'll be decorating another cake with some more traditional techniques and learning some new modelling ones too.

For the time being though, this little baby is sitting pretty on our sideboard ... nobody is allowed near it with a knife!