24 hours later and my oxtail stew is now well and truly cooked. In fact it was ready after four and a half hours cooking the day before, but of course it is just as good the following day, which is now upon us. I had still to chop cook mushrooms, before adding them and bringing the stew back to the boil. At this point it is still quite watery, but it needs nothing more than a bit of roux. Often with stews you can be tempted to add all sorts in an attempt to thicken it and in the process you believe that you are enhancing flavour, adding new dimensions and all that. More often than not it is unnecessary and you are losing flavour if anything. A little bit of roux can help you to reach that desired thicker more saucy end result. For any wondering what on earth this magical sounding ingredient this roux thing is, it is quite simply equal parts butter and flour brought together over a gentle heat. What is even more magical is that you can make it in as big a quantity as you like and store what you don’t use in your fridge. The only thing to remember when using it is that whatever it is being added to must be boiling. So my stew boiled and thickened nicely. I was eager to hear the opinion then of one of my classmates who had told me about how she and her siblings would fight over who got the bigger portion or the last drop of the oxtail stew when they were children. ‘Delicious’ was her verdict and so I relaxed, sat back and went about enjoying my own portion.
From one persons childhood connection to another, now I set about making a rhubarb tart. I love love love rhubarb! Growing up, a rhubarb tart would occasionally make its way to our table, and as only my mother and I liked it, it meant extra helpings. Similarly one could always find a bag if rhubarb and custard boiled sweets in the car pocket of my aunty’s jeep. So right about now rhubarb season is starting, and as ever in Ballymaloe, they are eager to embrace it straight away. Flaky pastry made since Tuesday, I had only to make the shortcrust pastry base. Incredibly simple, you line a tin (we even used a Pyrex plate) with your shortcrust, pile your rhubarb in the centre and pour on your sugar (175g to 900g rhubarb). Make sure you leave approximately an inch between the rhubarb and the edge of the pastry. All that is left then is to cover it with your flaky or puff pastry and skewer a hole in the centre. Of course this is the most basic option, you could add strawberries too and you can add whatever design until your heart is content. Taking only 45 minutes in an oven at 200, you couldn’t ask for a more simple and delicious tart, and that was exactly how it turned out: simply delicious.
As it so happened I had pastry of both kinds left over and so took then home with great plans for pies of some sort. However that very evening, before telling my mother about my day, in casual conversation she said ‘John, I have a load of rhubarb in the end kitchen. Is there anything you can do with it?!’ And so, I promised that after work I would make a rhubarb tart and so at midnight, for the second time that day I found myself baking a rhubarb tart. This time around though I had company and I gladly talked my friend through the process, getting him to roll out pastry and get involved. One day I’ll inspire a nation…
The day also saw me make a small mountain of bread. Brown soda bread for practice sake and olive oil and milk bread too. I also took a little detour from the recipe and made a bread with spring onions, chives and grated cheddar kneaded into the dough. As well as this I made some mozzarella stuffed buns. As regards these ‘experiments’, both tasted good. Personally I couldn’t eat massive quantities of the spring onion and chive bread, and the buns which I had made would have benefitted from being smaller. Having said that, they would be so good and so appreciated as part of a mixed bread basket or on the side with a bowl of soup, pea for example. As for the stuffed buns: more cheese. When you think you have a lot, add more, although that advice may be dictated by my love for cheese, so cater for your own pleasure.
Finally the morning took us across the world to the home of spring rolls, where we cooked beautiful fresh shrimp, before rolling them up in rice wrappers. There are limitless options to spring roll fillings, but it is necessary to consider who you are serving too and that they would generally be served as a starter and so today’s contents, in my opinion, were a perfect combination. These were the shrimp, noodles, carrot, cucumber, coriander, mint and a single leaf of butter head lettuce. My experience of spring rolls extended no further than being number 4 on the Chinese take away menu. These were like none which I had seen before. Elsewhere in the kitchen, indeed students were making the more common deep fried option, but fortunately for me I got the more beautiful and elegant option. Now, I was in a bit of a hurry and so my presentation could have been better, but take a look at the picture below. I hope you’ll agree that they are wonderfully charming. In spite of this, I believe that the Thai dipping sauce is essential to this dish and so it is not quite a stand alone piece. Easy to do at home, and impressive in both appearance and concept, I mean here you are, serving a typical Asian dish. Your friends and family will be blown away by your food culture knowledge. Pop a chopstick beside their plate and grab your silk dragon print suit, and you’ve got yourself a while theme. All aboard…
Dirty Whites 