Monday 19 March 2012

Ballymaloe Day 41, March 6th - Duck, Panna Cotta, Buffet

Well this week (Week 9!) I was back in Kitchen 3, trying to remember where everything was. On the menu was pan grilled duck breast with Puy lentils and caramel panna cotta. I also practiced my brown soda bread to try and see some improvement on last week's.

The lentils are cooked up with some sacrificial vegetables and mixed with lots of herbs. The duck itself was simple but needs to be cooked on the skin side till the fat is nice and crispy, not flabby! Cooking the duck on both sides takes about 20 minutes, longer than you'd think. The panna cotta was my first time here using gelatine; they make it using the leaf gelatine to the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla. They don't bake it in the oven here, instead it sets in the fridge after adding the gelatine. The caramel sauce was the perfect addition, just the right side of bitter to balance out the sweet cream. The panna cotta itself tasted good but then it would, given the sum of its parts!

No pictures though today, but the afternoon's demonstration was the Ballymaloe House Buffet and there were huge platters of salads and roast meats. It was all pretty old school, but delicious nonetheless. It also included the rather wonderful Ballymaloe House Ice Bowl, which they use to keep ice cream cold. The ice bowl can be made with flowers and leaves and looks amazing, definitely one to try!

The Ballymaloe House Buffet

Roast meats

Buffet dishes

The Ice Bowl

Onions Moniegasque

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