Ashburton Cookery school: Day 5

The final day was fish day.

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Plaice fillets stuffed with red pepper with scallops and a saffron sauce

Simply divine! (even though I did manage to break one half of my double plaice fillet!). We didn't get to shell the scallops as they'd already been done. Good trick of using the red pepper sauce to tell the dinner that there's red pepper in the fish.

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Mackerel fillet with cannellini bean and tomato stew, crispy belly pork and salsa verde

Pork belly and "posh baked bean": wonderful. Mackerel and salsa verde: delicious. But both on the same plate? I'm not convinced. Also I must learn not to be slave to my greed. Less is more when plating up. just look at the oil leaching across the plate from the vast quantity of salsa I've used.

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Glazed lemon tart

No picture because I completely and utterly forgot. It was pretty good (I had a minor quibble with putting the lemon zest in which took away from the beautiful velvety texture).

The last bunch of tips:

• When making pesto, add the hot toasted pine nuts to the garlic which will roast the garlic giving a more subtle flavour.
• Use cold water to get rid of strong smells and colours when washing up.
• Restaurants operate on a gross profit of 75%, so divide by 4 to find the true cost of your dinner!
• Seasoned flour: add a pinch of salt and pepper for every 3tbsp flour
• For the perfect rösti make it only a finger thick and add butter once it's flipped.