Workaway Part III: Food, glorious food!

It seems over the top to make an entire post about food, but in this case I think it's deserved. Working in the kitchen everyday, I learned so much, from vinaigrettes to tips for what to do if my mayonnaise started to split.  

One of the first things I learned how to make was proper sauce. This took at least a full day to make, but it was well worth the time, becoming the most delicious sauce I'd ever tasted. It was also not cheap to make, and as such I haven't replicated it since. However its in my little book of notes, and one day I will make it again! 

I was extremely excited to finally try snails, I had sampled them once before in Greece and rather liked them, however I wanted to try the traditional and famous french method with the delicious garlic butter. We made our own version of the garlic butter, which turned out to have far more ingredients in it then I expected, included finely chopped gherkins! Everything was so well mixed and chopped it turned into an incredibly delicious butter that you really wouldn't have had any idea what was in it. And this turned out to be the best part - the snails were fine (though devilishly difficult to get out of their shells) and honestly didn't taste like all that much. You were really eating them simply to douse them in the butter, which was nice, but probably not something I would go out of my way to eat again. 

The amount the guests were given to eat was nothing short of astounding; starting with an 'amuse-bouche' to begin this culinary endeavour, we made all sorts of things from twisted cheese straws to little toasts with salmon and cream cheese, or our own home-made Foie Gras with white-wine jelly on top (pictured below) there was something incredible about the just-solid white wine jelly exploding sweetly in your mouth as you took a bite - I was a fan!

Secondly came the appetizer, from the Dutch 'Bitterballen' to homemade Focaccia bread, this was served with complimentary bubbly. Next the guests were seated at their table, and the first course was presented. Soup or veggies were our common concoction, white asparagus soup being one of my favorites. And then the main dish, which was usually ridiculously large and I was secretly impressed whenever guests cleared their plates. 

From Steak Tartare to Beef Wellingtons (which had so many steps they took two days to make) main course was always ridiculously impressive. 

And lastly, the dessert. My favourite course to make, I picked up lots of lovely new recipes along the way, from New York Cheesecake, strawberry and basil sorbet to homemade profiteroles (which are much harder to pipe correctly than you would expect!).

One of my favourite new things that I was able to do was using a blow-torch to caramelize my Crème Caramel! The torch we were using wasn't one of those tiny kitchen ones, but quite a large one which made it rather terrifying but also satisfying!

And of course, my surroundings were as beautiful as ever! All of food was locally sourced, from the local bakery, butchery, fruit and vegetable shop, and of course sometimes the supermarket.
The local butchery was in the nearby town of  Oleron-Sainte-Marie, an old local town with medieval houses and streets perched on the river, making it lovely to wander.

As they days passed and the snow on the mountains began to recede, the signs of Spring were everywhere. When the flowers all began to bud and flower, the smell (and view!) from the windows was just spectacular!