Gone to Istria!

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1. Curing & Smoking masterclasses, Sat 3rd & Sun 4th June 2017

   22nd February, 2017 3:08 pm Leave a Comment

   

   At this masterclass you will learn all the basics of salt-curing and hot-smoking – both of which can easily be done at home using simple DIY kit.

   You will learn how to cure and smoke fish, meat and dairy products, how to make different cure mixes and about different wood smokes.

   The class will end with a delicious lunch featuring our cured and smoked foods, and there will be pancetta to take home.

    

   Menu:

   Gravadlax with mustard dill sauce

   Hot-smoked salmon, trout and mackerel

   with horseradish crème fraîche

   Home-made bacon

   Hot-smoked chicken & kohlrabi salad

   Hot-smoked egg & bacon salad

   Roast carrot & smoked yoghurt salad

   Like visiting old, and very well informed, friends for lunch, turning up early, pitching in and learning how to make everything. Great food and people. I had done a bit of smoking before but still learned loads.”

   Many thanks for a lovely day. Especially liked the radioactive eggs. All great and as ever beautifully made simple for us mortals to follow.”

   Thanks for such a great class, it was brilliant fun and I learnt a lot.”

   Relaxed, very hands on approach – doing it yourself does lend confidence.”

    

   Event:	Curing and Smoking masterclass
   Date(s):	Saturday 3rd, repeated Sunday 4th June 2017
   Time:	10am - around 2.30pm
   Location:	London N5
   Price:	£120, or two for £216 (includes lunch with wine)
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

2. Secret Kitchen, Fri 16th & Sat 17th June 2017: the last dinners

   2:40 pm Leave a Comment

   

   These two dinners are my last Secret Kitchens for the foreseeable future as at the end of June I am leaving the UK for a couple of years to work on my PhD research and our new culinary guesthouse in Croatia, Bolara 60. These dinners will therefore be particularly special (at least for me!)

   We are limiting group bookings to 4 people so that as many previous guests have a chance of booking in as possible. And we are charging slightly more – £50 per person – so that we can really go to town on making the dinners special.

   As ever, my menus are inspired by my culinary travels, the seasons and the ingredients I love. Each menu tells a story, and this one will be the story of working as the Culinary Anthropologist in London for the last 7+ years. The menu will remain secret until the night.

   As usual we will start with cocktails and canapés, then sit at communal tables. Guests bring their own wine, for which I will provide suggestions with the help of wine writer Victoria Moore.

   Please let us know about any dietary requirements when you make your booking. We can always offer a vegetarian option, but cannot always cater for other special dietary requirements, so do check with us.
   

   Event:	Secret Kitchen
   Date(s):	Friday 16th June, repeated Saturday 17th June 2017
   Time:	7.30pm - 11pm
   Location:	London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)
   Price:	£50
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

3. Cooking Club, Tues 6th & Tues 13th June 2017

   2:21 pm Leave a Comment

   The Cooking Club is a monthly series of evening classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford’s beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

   We cook together for a couple of hours – learning different culinary techniques each month – and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

   The menu is usually set at the last minute so that the best seasonal produce available from Riverford at the time can be used, and so that any returning guests can be sure to learn something new.

   I couldn’t speak more highly of Anna’s cooking class. We learnt some great new flavour combinations and ways of using seasonal vegetables. Very fun and friendly!

   The Cooking Club was such GREAT fun and DELICIOUS … I very much look forward to coming back.

   Last night was fantastic. Was completely inspired by what we cooked and that I could potentially do that all at home! Really had a good evening – thank you.

   Event:	Cooking Club
   Date(s):	Tues 6th June 2017, repeated Tues 13th June if demand
   Time:	7pm - 10pm
   Location:	London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)
   Price:	£50 per person.
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

4. Cooking Club, Tues 23rd May & Thurs 1st June 2017

   2:16 pm Leave a Comment

   The Cooking Club is a monthly series of evening classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford’s beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

   We cook together for a couple of hours – learning different culinary techniques each month – and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

   The menu is usually set at the last minute so that the best seasonal produce available from Riverford at the time can be used, and so that any returning guests can be sure to learn something new.

   I couldn’t speak more highly of Anna’s cooking class. We learnt some great new flavour combinations and ways of using seasonal vegetables. Very fun and friendly!

   The Cooking Club was such GREAT fun and DELICIOUS … I very much look forward to coming back.

   Last night was fantastic. Was completely inspired by what we cooked and that I could potentially do that all at home! Really had a good evening – thank you.

   Event:	Cooking Club
   Date(s):	Tues 23rd May 2017, repeated Thurs 1st June if demand
   Time:	7pm - 10pm
   Location:	London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)
   Price:	£50 per person.
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

5. Pig Day, Sat 4th & Sun 5th February 2017

   24th November, 2016 12:08 pm Leave a Comment

   Join Catalan culinary expert Rachel McCormack and Anna for a glorious day of pig cookery and general piggery.

   We will celebrate the pig by using its various parts for a delicious breakfast, hearty lunch and sausages to take away, as is done at the annual pig slaughter in villages around the world.

   The class includes learning how to make, stuff and hang your own sausages and salami, as well as how to cook some of the lesser-known parts of the pig – pork cheeks, pork liver and pork trotters.

    

   We will make:

   Frit Mallorquin – a breakfast fry-up of liver, peppers, fennel & potatoes

   Trotters a la Catalana – a warming rice dish with classic sofrito

   Polenta nera – pork cheeks in a red wine and blood sauce, served on polenta

   Classic chorizo – to cook fresh or to hang up to cure

   Sweet pig’s blood pancakes – for dessert, with ice cream
   

    

   Rachel is originally from Scotland but spent most of her twenties living in Barcelona, where she caught the Catalan obsession with food. She now lives back in Scotland where she writes about food and whisky. She is also a regular panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, for which Anna works as food consultant behind the scenes (having had the idea for the show).

   Rachel has run many popular Pig Days at other venues for crowds of 20-30 people. This event will be in Anna’s home teaching kitchen and is limited to just 8 guests. It will be a very hands on class, with plenty of pig for everyone to get their hands into. Not for the squeamish.

    

   See photos from our previous Pig Days here and here.

   What a fantastic and unique day. I really enjoyed the food, conversation and having the opportunity to dive into masses of pig meat and fat. It was a great experience.”

   Yesterday was lovely … welcoming hosts, a lovely atmosphere, and we made sausages! Which was very cool. The kitchen worked well, and looked nice too. The wine was lovely and the sherry. The rice dish was delicious. … I would recommend the day to anyone, it was great fun, and I feel a big sense of achievement!”

   Event:	Catalan Pig Day
   Date(s):	Sat 4th / Sun 5th February 2017
   Time:	10am - 4pm
   Location:	London N5
   Price:	£120, or two places for £216 (includes breakfast and a late lunch with wine)
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

6. Home Bread workshops, Sat 4th & Sun 5th March 2017

   11:06 am Leave a Comment

   

   We will focus on how to fit making your own bread into a busy life. Who has the time to knead dough after work every day, let alone wait for it to rise twice before you bake it? At this class you will learn cunning techniques and recipes for making your own delicious bread effortlessly, and without using a bread machine!

   After this hands-on intensive workshop you will have the confidence to make a range of breads, and know how to fit them into a busy life with ease:

   classic white boules

   wholegrain bread with nuts and seeds
   

   olive & rosemary focaccia
   

   tomato & mozarella pizzette

   no-knead crusty sourdough

   malted rye tin loaf

   You will work with a range of top quality organic and stoneground flours including wholewheat, rye, malted and spelt.

   What’s more you will go home with a homemade bread-making kit specially sourced by Anna which will include all the essentials you need to get going immediately, even your own tub of bread dough to last you the week and wooden peel for loading bread into the oven. Plus of course there will be plenty of the freshly baked bread you have made to take home.

   The workshop includes a delicious seasonal lunch showcasing different types of bread. You can see pictures from last year’s Home Bread workshops here.

   The bread course was life changing – I haven’t bought bread since as I’ve been making my own… and it’s much nicer.”

   I thought it was great value for money and it more than met my expectations. I learnt more than I’d hoped. Loved the fact that we came away with options for very quick dinners as well as breads. Fridge dough is a revelation.”

   Since the course I did with you on basic bread-making, I have become the family baker – there are six of us, and I bake anything up to eight loaves a week! The children love the fresh bread and beg me not to stop. And it’s a source of great pleasure.”

   Event:	Home Bread workshops
   Date(s):	Sat 4th / Sun 5th March 2017
   Time:	10am - 4pm
   Location:	London N5
   Price:	£120 per person per class. Or £216 for two.
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

    

7. New Nordic Spring, Sat 20th & Sun 21st May 2017

   23rd November, 2016 4:13 pm Leave a Comment

   

   This May we’re going to cook up a modern Scandinavian springtime feast. Provisional menu:

   Pine shoot cordial

   Spelt & nettle crispbreads with home-made butter

   Open sandwiches with crab and white asparagus

   Chicken fricassée with spring vegetables & herb oil
   

   Rustic spelt baguettes

   Crisp radish & herb salad

   Brown butter, hazelnut & potato cake with rhubarb ice cream

   New Nordic cuisine showcases the finest indigenous Nordic ingredients in fresh, light menus which balance delicate flavours and contrasting textures to superb effect. Many of these ingredients also grow in Britain, or can be easily sourced, and adopting this approach to cooking makes for a refreshing change from heavier fare and our more usual Mediterranean and Middle Eastern inspiration. However many New Nordic restaurants and cookbooks focus on overly complicated preparations which most mere mortals cannot hope to recreate at home!

   Step in Mia Kristensen. Mia’s company CPH Good Food offers Nordic cuisine classes in Copenhagen to help home cooks translate the “new Nordic diet” movement into do-able, delicious and healthy home cooking. Culinary Anthropologist has been working with CPH Good Food for several years now to bring new Nordic cuisine and its innovative use of all things seasonal, wild, smoked and cured to Anna’s home teaching kitchen in London.

   “I am passionate about Nordic cuisine – its seasonality, lightness of ingredients and symbiotic relationship to nature. Nordic foods contain all five basic tastes and this makes it complete. Many ingredients are found in nature, which encourages wonderful family trips, cooking in nature and of course eating together,” says Mia Kristensen.

   With an MSc in Food Science, Mia will share her knowledge of the whys and wherefores of cooking during our hands-on class, providing an insight into the culinary magic of restaurants like Noma.

   The Scandinavian class was quite outstanding, such good fun, informative as always and the most delicious dinner.”

   Thanks for an inspirational afternoon. So many tips, such a lot of fun – and such nice people!”

   I shall definitely be rustling up some of the dishes we created. My taste buds totally appreciated the flavour combinations.”

   Event:	New Nordic Spring
   Date(s):	Saturday 20th, repeated Sunday 21st May 2017
   Time:	10am - 2.30pm
   Location:	London N5
   Price:	£120, or two for £216 (includes generous lunch with wine)
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

   Photo credits: Mia Kristensen

8. Winter Preserving classes, Sat 28th & Sun 29th Jan 2017

   3:54 pm Leave a Comment

   

   In partnership with Riverford, the organic veg box people, I offer seasonal preserving workshops. We cover all the basics of preserving fruits and vegetables and together we make five you can take home.

   You will learn about sterilising jars, using sugar, salt and vinegar correctly as preservatives, reaching ‘setting point’ for jams and jellies, safe bottling and more. Class sizes are kept small (max 8 people) and very hands-on. As well as your filled jars, there are recipes and guidance notes to take home.

   At the Winter workshops we will make (subject to produce availability):

   Seville orange marmelade

   Clementine jam

   Blood orange & port jelly

   Spiced pickled oranges

   Moroccan preserved lemons

   See photos from previous Winter Preserving workshops here.

   Thanks again for such a brilliant day and for sharing your wonderful skills. I can’t believe how much we made and how much I learned in your lovely kitchen!”

   Great fun! My preserves are looking so pretty on my shelf I don’t want to eat them! Thank you again for a fabulous day. Your relaxed but professional style of teaching was just perfect. Looking forward to visiting again.”

   The pace was just right- a good combination of a bit of the science behind preserving, a hands on approach to learning, and the opportunity to chat and discuss. I think the size of the class was ideal.”

   Event:	Winter Preserving
   Date(s):	Sat 28th / Sun 29th January 2017
   Time:	10am-3pm
   Location:	London N5
   Price:	£90.
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

    

9. Cooking Club, Tues 14th March 2017

   3:46 pm Leave a Comment

   The Cooking Club is a monthly series of evening classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford’s beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

   We cook together for a couple of hours – learning different culinary techniques each month – and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

   The menu is usually set at the last minute so that the best seasonal produce available from Riverford at the time can be used, and so that any returning guests can be sure to learn something new.

   I couldn’t speak more highly of Anna’s cooking class. We learnt some great new flavour combinations and ways of using seasonal vegetables. Very fun and friendly!

   The Cooking Club was such GREAT fun and DELICIOUS … I very much look forward to coming back.

   Last night was fantastic. Was completely inspired by what we cooked and that I could potentially do that all at home! Really had a good evening – thank you.

   Event:	Cooking Club
   Date(s):	Tues 14th March 2017
   Time:	7pm - 10pm
   Location:	London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)
   Price:	£50 per person.
   	Book now
   	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

10. Cooking Club, Tues 14th February 2017

    3:43 pm Leave a Comment

    The Cooking Club is a monthly series of evening classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford’s beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

    We cook together for a couple of hours – learning different culinary techniques each month – and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

    The menu is usually set at the last minute so that the best seasonal produce available from Riverford at the time can be used, and so that any returning guests can be sure to learn something new.

    I couldn’t speak more highly of Anna’s cooking class. We learnt some great new flavour combinations and ways of using seasonal vegetables. Very fun and friendly!

    The Cooking Club was such GREAT fun and DELICIOUS … I very much look forward to coming back.

    Last night was fantastic. Was completely inspired by what we cooked and that I could potentially do that all at home! Really had a good evening – thank you.

    Event:	Cooking Club
    Date(s):	Tues 14th February 2017
    Time:	7pm - 10pm
    Location:	London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)
    Price:	£50 per person.
    	Book now
    	Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.