All posts in teaching

easy pumpkin pasta

November 17, 2014 / No Comments / Posted in: food, pasta, recipes, teaching, vegan, vegetarian

Plumpkin pasta (1)

easy pumpkin pasta..

….and the beauty of it all is, you don’t even need to know how to cook!
In fact, if you can BOIL some water – then you’re GOOD to go!
Don’t worry about adding salt or oil into the water – there’s really no need (I’ve seen it happen so many times, where does that come from?)
BUT
do try and TIME the boiling, so you don’t just get a soggy mass of ‘pasta jelly’ in your pot (I’ve also that too many times to mention, and let me tell you, it ain’t pretty)

with me so far? Let’s go:
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gorgonzola and roast fennel

January 1, 2014 / No Comments / Posted in: adventure, food, kitchen, teaching, travel, vegetarian

gorgonzola and roast fennel

Happy new year to everyone. There have been quite a fe people getting in touch asking what I’ve been up to and where I’m going next. I think it’s going to be a year of gorgonzola and roast fennel, that’s for sure, and what I mean by that, I suppose, is that I’m going to have more of an opportunity to develop, create and play around with more ideas, and generally have a lot more fun!

Back to the gorgonzola and roast fennel thing, it’s not just about flying in, handing over a couple of recipes, baking a few cakes and then flying back out again to the next job. It doesn’t work that way, almost never does. I wish it could be that simple!

Lots of techniques and systems need to be put into place, building motivation and enthusiasm for a project until a team are ready to take things by themselves. Fledgling students learning to fly high with confidence, skill and speed. That’s where the real satisfaction comes from.

And my work here is done!

Thanks to everyone for your continued support, happy new year 2014!

carrot coriander cress salad

July 1, 2013 / No Comments / Posted in: food, kitchen, recipes, salads, teaching, vegetarian

cress carrot coriander salad

 

Take the simplest of summer ingredients for a carrot coriander cress salad and a great looking summer meal. Then get back to me and we’ll cook some more!

But there’s the question, isn’t it? What do we really mean when I say ‘simple’ ingredients? What is simple to me could be exotic to you: peppercorns
were regularly traded as currency and historically were more valuable than gold! Am I trying to say a ‘summer meal’ is different to a ‘winter meal’ or just that there’s less of it…? This could become complicated, but really doesn’t need to be:

Cress, coriander, carrot, lime, flax or olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds… (a little summer sunshine also helps a little)

How do we get those long strips – we can’t cut like that? Is it a ‘dry’ salad – isn’t there any dressing? What are the proportions – how many carrots? Isn’t it too bland -can I add some cheese or mayo for ‘flavour’? Is this a ‘raw’ salad? I can’t eat that – where’s the meat? Can I have some more?

These are some of the questions I was asked at a local demo class a short while ago. You see, one thing is just throwing a few ingredients together and hope it’ll work out fine. Another thing totally is to be able to grab a few simple summer ingredients, combine then in both an attractive AND tasty way, and believe that some of the class will be intrigued enough to try and make it again.

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