The life and times of a hapless kitchen apprentice
Day 1 at the cafe – I want to learn everything about everything in the kitchen. So I have invited myself to our gorgeous new local cafe for a spot of work experience.
Today I learnt a lot about washing up – nothing there I didn’t know already. But hey ho, it’s all part of the joyful process of providing fabulous food and drinks for a constant stream of very receptive customers.
I watched the chef knock up some soda bread in super-fast time. Did a bit of the rolling out myself (and only slightly over-worked it apparently) – and when it came out of the oven it was delicious. A bit more washing up and then on to the salads.
I was given the heady responsibility of chopping up a vast quantity of beetroot (hope the chef likes the slightly pink hue of his walls now), mixing it with chopped up orange (must remember not to waste any of the fruit in the peeling process) and then trying to keep up as the Chef added a gloop of this, a sprinkling of that, a pinch of some other stuff and generally turned it into a magnificent dish.
So the three rules according to the Chef are: does it look fresh, does it look good, does it look like I want to taste it? A resounding yes from me to all of those questions on everything I saw today. Shame I only got offered a Twix.
Still I’ll be back next week and hoping to get my hands on a bit more of the cooking.
Back home, I was inspired to whip up a quick beetroot salad (with stir fried leeks and a nutty, orangey, chilli-ey dressing) to go with the left over poached chicken with freekeh and fattoush salad (thanks Ottolenghi). I was too full for pud, but Mr S wolfed down a set yoghut pudding with all the trimmings.
Bon appétit!
