School Dinners

The time in the term has come again when the superior students are hosting their dinners, and I, in return, am scoffing it down.  Its nice to see how some of the cuisine kids in my year are getting on and try out some of their food for once, instead of being taunted by the aromas wafting into the boulangerie whilst in the middle of a seemingly endless 8pm piping session.  This time the theme was 'Le Printemps' (Spring), calling for a good dose of baby animals and sprouting veg. Yum yum.

After an Aperitif of Melon Bellini and a foie gras canape or two the menu was as follows

Rock Oyster ceviche with chilli, lime and cold gin

This was my first ever Oyster and, after a slight panic that a may have an anaphylactic shock, I slurped the slimy creature right up. Not only did I manage to keep it down, but it was also pretty delicious all round.

To follow we had asparagus, poached quail eggs & pancetta with a tarragon vinaigrette. Nice, light dish with eggs poached to perfection.

Main was a stuffed lion of lamb with yuca frites, shredded lamb shank on a sweet plantain puree. The shredded lamb was a real winner, I think it was my favourite dish of the night. Infact, just the memory of it is making me salvate.

The cheese course included a bosworth ash goats cheese and bleu d'Auvergne. It was probably best that it was all nicely plated up, avoiding the normally inevitable calorie splurge brought on by cheese.

For dessert we had a vanilla cheesecake on a chocolate sable base with a rhubarb glaze, served with a rhubarb and raspberry sorbet, tuille and rhubarb crisp. The cheesecake suffered slightly from excess time in the blast chiller but overall it worked well. My favourite bit was the unassuming rhubarb crisp which was surprisingly tasty.

We finished off the evening with some petit fours and a good ol' brew. The pastry chefs did a really good job of the petit fours making chocolate coffee cups, lavander macarons and chocolate praline. After just finishing my chocolate module I was pretty staggered by how seemless the cute chocolate cups were. Triumph indeed.

Overall the evening was really good, not only was I fed with all sorts of treats that would never be lurking in my fridge, but the wine was good and I managed to keep my conversation to the head of school suitably polite.

Photos are slightly hit and miss, but the best my poor camera could do.