Oxtail and the Triple Crown

Back to Kitchen 1 but a new partner and a new workstation, a new week loomed and new challenges would arise. My first was to seek out Tim Allen and get urgent remedial action for my Sourdough. Bubbling away nicely yesterday, today it looked lethargic and under-performing. A rapid diagnosis of need for an additional feed had the monster perked up but not ready for use today. Oh well, on to the actual tasks of the day.

An Apple Pie, Pasta and Melted Leeks would fill the morning. If I could not cook the national vegetable of Wales, i determined, I would leave the course today. Actually like many Ballymaloe vegetable recipes a massive amount of vegetable is cooked in a minimal amount of water for an inordinate length of time (often this also involves butter), and requires an act of faith. Today was no exception but I had the weight of a nation behind me and triumphed.

That left the Pie and the Pasta. Now I love Pasta and there is no doubt that Fresh tastes better than Dried - but 100 Million Italians can't be wrong and dried is the order of the day. But this is not Bologna it's Ballymaloe so out with the eggs, 00 flour, Olive oil and salt and on with the task. To the dry ingredients I added chopped herbs to give a delicate flavour and a lovely speckled appearance.

15 minutes of kneading after adding the liquids gave a smooth and silky dough which could be laid aside to rest. After 15 minutes of kneading I needed to be laid aside to rest.

On then to the Pie. The Flaky Pastry had been prepared yesterday so only a shortcrust to be made. This would be one of the more difficult pastries as it contained a reasonable proportion of sugar. but I am on a roll and this was soon chilling prior to being rolled out. Apples were roughly chopped and would be added to the shortcrust one it was on the baking dish. A covering of the Flaky was added and then the two types of pastry were bound by some nifty tucking and folding before being bound irretrievably by gentle knife work and then some scalloping. Finally after an egg wash and pastry decoration it headed to the oven for about an hour to cook golden on the outside with a melting filling.

This would be served with the expected Soft Brown Sugar and Softly Whipped Cream but also with a Bonus Element of some Cinnamon Ice Cream provided by a colleague who is far too modest to ask for a name check.

Just the Pasta to go then. Out with the massive rolling machine and a gradual reduction in thickness from 10 to 0 and |I had a pasta so delicate that you could see through it whilst the structural integrity remained. Dried for 30 minutes then cut into Papardelle size ribbons it would be quickly cooked and then garnished for tasting.

 Finally the dishes were all put up for a tasting which they survived rather well.

Then to Demo where Rory cooked Stews, started Bread, made little chocolate cases which were later filled, made exciting mashes and Polenta. The highlight was the Oxtail and Beef Stew which again gave him a chance to demonstrate why he should have had the lead role in Psycho or ALL of the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

So Oxtail done and after beating the evil flour three times today I awarded myself the Triple Crown before heading off to do the washing up.