Day Three- Rachel Bakes!...

What do you know, another day down... where to even begin! I arrived in the kitchen this morning and from the moment I put my knives down; the demo teacher had me to work. She's very helpful and encouraging and as with most in the school, there's a very high standard. So, this morning my team mate and I were reproducing what we were demonstrated by Darina yesterday evening. For me, that was:

Gruyere & Dill Tart:

Here's a pic before I had to dish it up quickly for the teacher, see the lovely fresh salad to the side- Yummy, yummy, yummy. So fresh.

I got marked down for not having enough dressing, and for too much salad. It only got knocked down half a mark so not the end of the world.

A summer fruit salad with sweet Geranium leaves

I've named this dessert after Carrie Bradshaw; it's the 'The Gals Night In Fruit Salad' :)

It was a very simple lunch to reproduce, so I got a great mark. I finished a bit early then I worked with the teacher to work on areas where I feel I needed to improve on- that's a great help. The team across from us baked the most amazing caramel squares- I took a piece, turned around to get my phone, and what you know? Gone. Shame. They looked perfect. The caramel was yummy.

We reconvened at 13:45 for the afternoon demo and we were introduced to Rachel Allen, Darinas' daughter-in-law, who took us through an incredible number of dishes in the afternoon. I sat there when she finished and I couldn't believe she made so much in one afternoon. It's no surprise that Rachels' such a success, her breadth of knowledge is incredible and she has a great teaching charisma- the afternoon flew. Rachel not only puts a great deal of effort into the food she cooks, but also how it is presented. Giving examples of how you can make traditional dishes look retro- as you might have gathered from my blog- this I loved!

To name but a few dishes Rachel demostrated:

***
Grape, Pink Grapefruit and Mint Cocktail
***
Roast Chicken with Tarragon
Roast Pheasant with Apple and Calvados
Californian Cabbage Salad- I love the name of this one!
***
It really was a great day. Rachel baking Belgian Chocolate Biscuit Cake with Raspberry Coulis- incredible. Yummy! I've seen so many of Rachels' shows and have lots of her books so today really was a highlight.

I ended the day by signing up for the cheese making classes. It featured on one of Rachels' Easy Meals shows recently so I'm really looking forward to it.

I've so much to do before the mornings session, so it's over and out.

Thanks for reading,

D x