What Was And What Will Be

Ballymaloe Weeks 9 - 10

This will probably be my last post before the end of my time at Ballymaloe. Exams are looming and there's lots to do to distract myself from actually studying HACCP and wine notes and the like. My time cooking the past few weeks hasn't been particularly noteworthy. Still making bread every day. I've added macaroons to my daily list, too. I have fun making them and they're notoriously finicky; I've made them seven times in the past two weeks I think, and only been happy with the results once. I suspect It'll take a lot longer than three weeks to really nail them down, but every little bit helps. Maybe I've just grown more comfortable in the kitchens here for the past few weeks, or maybe as the course draws to a close I've just stopped caring about doing something I'm not supposed to, but I wish I had realized earlier in the course that I can basically cook whatever I want as long as I get my assigned work done. The most fun I've had has been the random little macaroons, breads, tray bakes and the like that I do without assignment. If I had started doing those little extras earlier in the course, I can't imagine how much more I would have been able to do in my short time here. C'est la vie.

Speaking of exams, our menus were due for our final practical this week. I wrote about what I had in mind for my menu not long ago. Then I changed my mind. Many times. I'll probably change it again tomorrow, but at this point the commitment has been made. I'm calling my menu "you are what you eat eats", a meal of rabbit and the things rabbits eat:
Apple, celery, and walnut salad // Rabbit with mustard and sage leaves and pappardelle verde // Carrot cake.



The kitchen may have been unremarkable the past few weeks, but life at home has been anything but. Last weekend some of my housemates planned a weekend trip to Kinsale; a small tourist town on the coast about an hour southwest of Ballymaloe. For lack of anything better to do, I invited myself along with them, and we were joined by a fourth from the house. Kate and Fi, who originally planned the trip, had made reservations at a little bed and breakfast in town that was booked full for the weekend. Tess and I, having joined the party late, booked rooms at another b'n'b that I thought looked like it would be close to where the others were staying. Hilariously, the two ended up being directly next door to one another. After checking in to our respective rooms, Tess and I dropped by next door where the owner treated us to tea and cake, then Kate and Fi came over and were shown around where we were staying. The rooms were great, the hospitality was pretty mind blowing, and the price was probably three or four times less than you'd pay for similar rooms in a big hotel. My first impression of Kinsale was, to say the least, positive.

With rooms sorted, we took a walk around town. I think we all had our Ballymaloe goggles on; everything that wasn't farmland and greenhouses was terribly charming, but I really enjoyed Kinsale. We did some shopping and I bought a lot less than I wanted and a lot more than I needed, then we had some drinks and went out to dinner. 

Dinner was at the Black Pig, a wine bar that did charcuterie, cheese plates, antipastos and the like for its food menu. The wine, I'm told, was very good, and I was really impressed by the menu. It's a pretty brilliant set up that they've managed to get away with. Only one dish on the menu is hot, everything else is pretty much just slicing up meat, unwrapping cheeses, and un-jarring olives to order. What makes it all work is the quality of the ingredients. The hot dish (which we all ended up having), was a chorizo and pea risotto. If you're only going to cook one thing at a restaurant, it had better be good. This risotto was good. Carnaroli rice, local chorizo from a very good farm, and a stock made from the trimmings and bones of Jamon Iberico. Still thinking about that one. We closed down the Black Pig, and at around 12:30 (well after all the other tables had been cleared and cleaned), they started playing "homeward bound" on the sound system and we took the hint. 

Jamon Iberico, not the worst

Trouble Makers

Shortly after getting home that Sunday afternoon, what had already been a very nice weekend got even better. After an inquiring email a few weeks ago to the London based chef, author, and restaurateur Ottonelghi, I was offered a short internship at Nopi in London. I'll be there for the first two weeks of April, a week after the course here is over. I'm a bit of an Ottolenghi fanboy, so to get my first real restaurant work experience in one of his restaurants, even just for a few weeks, is exciting to say the least. Fi and Kate from the house will be working at Ottolenghi restaurants in London after the course, too, and another girl from Ballymaloe will be at Nopi right after me. It seems like we're basically just relocating Mrs. Walsh's cottage from Shanagarry to London. I can't wait, but first I've got to go cook a rabbit