I’m sorry it seems like ages since I last posted, but lots of things have been bubbling away in the background, I promise.

Last supper club of 2013 and a new career

The most exciting news is that I’m giving up the day job, to start concentrating on food full time!  I am hosting one more supper club this year on Saturday 16th November, and then in January I am off to Devon for five months for intensive chef training at Ashburton Cookery School.  Over the years, I have dipped my toe in the food industry, whether it be running the supper club or hosting a ski chalet, but it’s time to take the plunge!  I can’t wait to start the course, and spend my days cooking all sorts of wonderful food, chatting to other people who are also obsessed with food, and hopefully graduating as a fabulous chef.


My plans, once I finish the course, are a bit hazy at the moment, but I will most definitely carry on with the supper club when I’m back in June, and eventually I hope to run my own food business.


So, if you keep wondering whether to visit my supper club, now is your last chance for a while!  As usual, the cost is £25, and this includes a complementary drink and nibbles, a three-course meal, plus coffee and home made truffles.  I will be posting a menu next Monday, in which I promise to delight both veggies and carnivores.  However, if you like the idea of a mystery menu, I am offering supper club places for £20 this week only. Please email or phone to reserve your place.

Private Parties

For the last couple of months, I have been hosting private supper clubs for people who have been celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, family get-togethers, etc..  See below for a few of the things they ate.  If you fancy a Christmas party with a difference, please get in touch.  I can cater for up to 14 people in my home, or alternatively, I’m happy to come to yours, cook for you and leave your kitchen spic and span, so you can relax and enjoy the dinner party.



Ham hock and apricot terrine with homemade courgette chutney



Lemon and elderflower tart with strawberry sorbet



Duo of chocolate with raspberry puree


Look forward to seeing you on November 16th!

Knowing how much I like food and cooking, my friend suggested I spend the day in the kitchen at The Fleet at Twyning, where her boyfriend just happens to be head chef.  Having never worked in a proper restaurant kitchen, it seemed ridiculous not to accept the offer, and find out what is involved in being a professional chef.

I felt a little nervous beforehand.  Were the chefs going to shout at me?  Should I practise my best “Yes chef!”?  Maybe I should add a salute, and a little click of the heels?  As it turned out, they were all very friendly and easy going.

I turned up at 10.30am (probably hours after everyone else started…) ready to help them prepare for lunch.  As it happened, a wedding reception was booked for the afternoon, so I was set to work making lots of Mushroom Wellingtons for the veggie guests.



Mushroom Wellington 

I also chopped HUGE amounts of veg for the wedding.  First time I’ve ever chopped 6 cucumbers in a row (in case you are interested, that fills a large 4 litre ice-cream tub!).  Catering for large numbers is all about the preparation.  Everything is prepared the evening before or in the morning, so that once the customer orders come in, you are as ready as humanly possible to get that starter, main or dessert out quickly.

As well as offering a full à la Carte menu, The Fleet do a fine line in sandwiches and burgers.  My next task was to make all the burgers for the following day.  I also helped plate up the sandwiches and chips.  I’m not usually a fan of chips (I know, I’m a little bit weird), but I have to say that these ones are excellent.  All chefs tend to use their (immaculately clean) hands a lot, so I quickly realised that I need to develop asbestos fingers for such things as delicately arranging chips, if I’m ever going to succeed in a professional kitchen. Ow! The other thing I noticed is that there was a distinct lack of wooden spoons!  I could not survive without my spoons when preparing for supper club, but the boys in the pub give the pans an expert shake and rattle, and magically everything is mixed.  I crept off to find some spoons, knowing that my attempts to shake the pan would end up with most of the contents on the floor…

Last time I ate there (as a guest), I ordered pan fried seabass with a crayfish butter sauce, which was absolutely delicious.  So I wanted to see how they did it…  Best things were the new potatoes – pre-cooked in a saffron stock, then sliced in half before frying in a hot pan to get a lovely crispy bottom.  All fairly simple stuff, but this dish tastes amazing!

Seabass and scallops with a crayfish butter sauce

In the afternoon, I made the fatal mistake of saying I knew how to make risotto.  So that was me – now in sole charge of making the risotto for the evening menu.  I got into proper chef mode – making an onion veloute on one hob, risotto on another, and doing a sea bass order, all at the same tim. Thankfully, everything turned out well!

At 4.30pm, it was all hands on deck to get forty starters out for the wedding breakfast.  One of the starters was this lovely chicken and ham hock terrine, served with plum chutney.  It’s not something I’ve ever made myself, but now I feel inspired to give it a whirl.
 



The wedding puddings were fantastic – if I was a wedding guest, I would be very hard pushed to choose which one to order – but the chocolate and orange brownie is one of the best I’ve ever tasted.  Sorry – no pictures of that one – went far too quickly!  I can only offer you a photo of the lovely Bailey’s cheesecake that I plated up, practising my cheffy swirls and smears.

After chatting to my yoga teacher Hilly about supper club, she asked if I could do a yogic feast for her and some of her students.  No, I’m not incredibly bendy – I’m afraid to say I’m much better at cooking than I am at yoga!
 
So, the aim of April supper club is to provide a thoroughly chilled evening for them all.  The trick will be to provide my guests with a scrumptious, yet healthy menu, sticking to the yogic diet principles.

I did a little bit of research to find out what sort of thing yogis eat.  The yoga (or sattvic) diet is vegetarian, with an
emphasis on fresh, unprocessed ingredients.  I understand a little bit of
dairy is allowed, as long as it is from a happy cow, obviously.  I always use
organic dairy, and wherever possible, use local, seasonal vegetables.  I
discovered another important part of the sattvic diet is that food has
been prepared with care and love – well, I hope that is definitely the
case with me, as cooking is my passion!  I love making everything from
scratch too, so the bread and cheese will be home-made.

The evening kicks off with a welcome drink of Melon & Ginger Sharbat with canapés.  The sharbat turns out like a rather nice smoothie.

Starter is a mezze of fresh salads:

• Celeriac with Apples, Raisins & Parsley
• Red Cabbage, Carrot, Orange & Date Salad
• Herby Tomatoes and Roast Red Peppers
• A sprinkle of ‘Dukkah’ (an Egyptian aromatic seed & nut mix) 

Red Cabbage, Carrot, Orange & Date Salad

Celeriac with Apples, Raisins & Parsley

Main course is paneer and pea curry served with moong dal, chapatis and cucumber salad.

I thought this would be an excellent chance to try making cheese!  I was pleasantly surprised how easy paneer was.  Basically, you gently boil milk, add some lemon juice and watch as it curdles immediately before your eyes.  Drain the now slightly yellowy liquid (whey), and leave the curds to drain for 15 minutes in muslin.  Next, weigh down the curds with something heavy, say, a saucepan full of water.  Half an hour later, ta da!  Homemade paneer!  Chop into squares and you can eat it just as it is, but I always like to fry it to get that lovely golden brown colour.  Yum!  After experimenting with cow paneer and goat paneer, goat was definitely the tastiest.

Pudding is cardamom rice pudding with pistachios and rose water.  Now, I have horrible memories of rice pudding from school, so I’m hoping this rather more grown up version will cure me of my phobia…

Om