West Lothian College

　　Last Tuesday, my Hospitality class went to West Lothian College to spend the day cooking with Bob, one of the chefs there. It was in preparation for our exam this week, to try and give us more practice making timed dishes under pressure.

　　We made three dishes - a starter, a main course, and a desert. The desert we made was the one we're going to do in our final exam, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take pictures before it was gobbled up. (Yes, it was pretty good if I do say so myself.) I'll try to get a picture of the one I make in the exam; it did look really pretty.


　　The starter that we made was called Garlic Mushrooms with Wholemeal Toasted Croutons. Now, I know a lot of people don't like mushrooms, but I really enjoyed this dish. It was simple to make, and tasted lovely. For garnish, I put the crouton on a bed of salad with red onion rings, put a bit of tomato concasse around, and finished with a sprig of parsley on top.


The main course was Vienna Steak with Pepper Sauce, and Braise Rice. It was also good, though didn't have the same burst of flavour as the starter did. My favourite part about making this was putting the rice in the little moulds and turning them out. I then stuck sprigs of thyme in the rice, sprinkled some finely cut parsley over the burgers and sauce, and cut a cherry tomato flower with little courgette batons and another sprig of parsley.

　　Overall, it was quite an enjoyable day. Although slightly stressful at times, it really helped us prepare for our upcoming exam, and getting demonstrations done by a professional chef was nice. For lunch, we went to the Terrace Restaurant, a small restaurant in the college run by the students. It was quite good food, and at very good prices. I'll probably end up taking Moriah there sometime.