Today I made : Duck breasts with spiced lentils and caramelised apples. I LOVED this dish. Each element is good alone but together were one of ‘those food moments.’ .Rich meat, sweet juicy apples and earthy lentils. The chili in the lentils gave it interest but no heat. The sweet fruit makes the meat taste meatier. The earthy lentils make the fruit taste fruitier. You get the idea. 

Carving a bird at Ballymaloe is an exercise in waste management. I had to joint a whole duck for this dish. You cannot leave a morsel of meat on the carcass that could be eaten. The fat is cooked and rendered down to be used for cooking. The carcass becomes duck stock.

I also made Aloo Makala, potatoes parboiled in water and turmeric, then shallow fried. Beautiful, deep fried, salty golden orbs. The recipe comes from the Jewish community of Kolkata. Who knew???

Brioche dough. It rises overnight so tomorrow I will shape and bake it. It is simple because it is made in the Kenwood but takes at least 30 minutes of mixing. There is a LOT of butter and it needs to be added in increments.

And a loaf of sourdough, even though I still haven’t finished eating the last loaf. Will need to cut back on how much I bake and do something else with the starter. 

In the afternoon demo Rory adorned salads with Tunisian marigold, his current decoration of choice. It has a stronger flavour than regular marigold and I just love the two tone effect.

I learned : Tuna is unsustainable. NEVER eat or buy blue fin tuna, but yellow fin is sometimes permissible.

Food of the day : Duck. I was never that enamoured but today I got what all the fuss is about.

Line of the day : ‘The pan is hot enough. I thought for one awful moment it wasn’t.’ Crisis averted for Rory.

Órfhlaith