Judgement Day

Today was our turn to cook for the rest of the group.  I'd had a rotten nights's sleeep, dreaming that my mashed potato had dissapeared in a haze of melted butter and that the kitchen was covered in pink blancmange that nobody could deal with! At 0930 the six remaining gladiators, myself, Craig, Lou, Kate,Jan and Charlie entered the arena - all overseen by Stuart.  Our task was to produce 4 courses throughout the day at specified times to one person in the other half of the group.  We didn't know who it was to be.  We all had to produce a menu based on certain criteria and using ingredients that were to be found in our mystery boxes. The dishes were, a vegetarian risotto to be served at 1230, a starter of scallops to be served at 2.15 followed by a main course using lamb rump at 3.30 and then a dessert using chocolate.  The meal also had to include a flavoured bread.  The interpreation of the dishes was entirely left up to us and we had a good hour and a half to plan our menus, look in our boxes, write our Mis en Place list and get prepared for what was going to be a busy day.  Stuart was there to answer any questions we had and to offer gentle words of encouragement as well as ensuring that the food that we produced wasn't going to poison the people up stairs doing the wine tasting!  He was also there to assess our skills!

After a little deliberation and a lot of looking through various cookery books I settled on, a risotto with crunchy red pepper and green beans, an Irish lamb stew (courtesy of the Ballymaloe Cookery book that my sons had bought me for Christmas), Oranges in dark chocolate with Grand Marnier decorated with cocoa powder and orange segemts in brandy!  The pudding evolved rather than was made - initially it was supposd to be orange segments dipped in dark and white chocolate but when the cold orange segements hit the warm chocolate - it all went horribly wrong!  I digress - risotto is apparently not an easy thing to get right - so I did keep a watchful eye on it having prepared most of the ingredients for the other dishes including my Thyme flavoured bread which I was going to serve with my lamb stew. At exactly 1230 the 6 risottos were presented to our mystery guests up stairs - mine was Fem who had served me yesterday!  I had topped my risotto off with a lid of red pepper - much to the amusement of the guests - I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I completely forgot to take a photograph of it!

Down stairs and into the kitchen for a quick scrub down and it was back down to business and with my bread made and my Irish stew cooking gently on the stove I could concentrate on my scallops!  Yesterday the group had squid to cook so today cooking scallops was equally difficult to get them just right - they just need searing in a frying pan for a minute or two and done just before serving.  Mine were presented on a bed of sea salt with a wedge of lemon and a honey, ginger and soy dressing! Again, I forgot to take a photograph! 

 Whenever I cook at home I have been known to use every dish, saucepan and bowl in the house, which seems a sure fire way to make Sue have a sense of humour failure - fortuneately for us we had Lizzy helping us in the kitchen today.  She worked her little cotton socks off all day making sure that our pans were clean and our knives were restocked - without her we would have been lost! 

With time marching on and the pace of activity in the kitchen reaching fever pitch it was interesting to see what the others had produced - some really inventive ideas and beautifully presented.  Charlie had made pitta bread and had sliced it in half and stuffed it full of slice lamb - a posh donner kebab - he is now known as Stavros Deuchar!

The main courses were served right on schedule, not a minute to early  - and my Irish stew and Thyme bread was even presented to Fem with an Irish accent - you can't get quality like that in Claridges!

My sweet had been made, evolved and was quietly hiding in the fridge along with  other chocolate concoctions and it was at this point, just 10 minutes before we were due to serve, that disiaster struck.  Not for me but for poor old Lou!  Her melting chocolate puddings had not cooked and when she brought them out they looked like a pile of "dog poo", her words, not mine!  There wasn't a lot she could do despite our words of encouragement and Stuart's intervention.  So up they went to be served as a chocolate surprise!

Lou was to have the last laugh though as it was her dessert that was unanimously voted the best tasting dessert of all!  The feedback session was a rowdy affair - I think one or two people may have a little too many sips of wine - all good postive criticism for us all.  The verdict on my dishes - good honest fare, a little more seasoning needed in the risotto, more salt in the bread, the scallops were cooked to perfection and the dressing was exquisite with just the right mix of flavours and the pudding - nice flavours but put the segements on the side rather than in the chocolate - if only they knew!  Shaun summed it up when he said that one of the dishes he'd had "was like angels crying on his tongue" - such  poet!

A high pressured day but one that was really enjoyable - a few Guinesses to celebrate the success of the Irish stew I think!