Corporate Cookery events - Teambuilding at The Cooking Academy

Cookery team building at Hunton Park Hotel – Watford

At the Cooking Academy we’ve teamed up Hunton Park hotel one of the De vere’s flag ship properties to offer fabulous team building events in a wonderful rural setting. 

Take your team out of the office enviroment and get them to really work with their colleagues and get to know each other.  Cooking is a great way to break down barriers and something that can appeal to most people whether they cook regularly or not.  Our corporate cookery events are recommended by our clients who have enjoyed such as BMW, Barclay, Astra Zeneca, Oracle, RBS and Roche to name but a few. 

To find out more information about our cookery team building email cara@thecookingacademy.co.uk  or call us 01923 778880.

Great food, Nutritious - learn to cook it - on the nutrional cookery class

The smart food for weight loss – The really effective diet

Diets are not really about punishment or food deprivation.  diet actually means  ‘a great way of eating’.  If that doesn’t sound like your diet then you need to come to our Nutritional cooking classes where you really can learn to eat more and weigh less .   Losing weight means you need to increase your metabolic rate.  You won’t achieve that by reducing your intake of food.  Infact you will have the reverse effect on your body – resulting in slowing down your metabolic rate and therefore not losing weight at all – worse still potentially gaining it when you start to eat normally.  

Our nutritional cookery classes examines the effects of eating  on the body and looks at ways to increase the metabolism and eat the things that are efficient for the body to digest and speed up your metabolic rate.  We’ll teach you to eat food that is good for you, your taste buds and your waist line! 

Call us on 01923 778880 to book your class or email Cara for more information. cara@thecookingacademy.co.uk

Middle Eastern Cookery classes at the Cooking Academy

Middle Eastern Cookery classes At The Cooking Academy

 Middle Eastern cookery classes are becoming ever popular with more and more of us interested in this wonderful aromatic cooking.  One of my favourite places to enjoy Middle Eastern food is Maroush in theWest End,Edgware Road, just past Marble Arch.   

 I started cooking Middle Eastern food many years ago and have come to serve this cuisine at numerous dinner parties and has always gone down very well as it has a very relaxed style of eating and enjoying food the balance of spices is generally pleasing to most palettes.

 The classic staples of Middle Eastern food is Lamb, chickpeas wheat bread and aubergine all subtly touched with fragrant spices and herbs and accompanied with liberal servings of some form of yogurt.  In many ways Middle Eastern food, whether it is Lebanese, Iranian or Persian isn’t too dissimilar to Indian food, though perhaps the use of chillies are not as liberal in this cuisine.  Its use of paprika, cumin and many other aromatic spices share common ground with north Indian food. 

 In our Middle Eastern cookery classes we unearth the spice trail and look at the aromatic flavours created by these ingredients.  We will prepare exotic dishes such as chicken tagine with dates & honey, and aromatic lamb meatballs simmered in a tomato sauce with cherries, Spicy vegetables in apricots oven baked, Lamb with chickpeas in a casserole with sweet paprika and an aromatic layered pilaf rice dish. 

 Be prepared to cook a wonderful feast of food to share with your family.

 To find out more information about our cookery class please contact Cara Brummitt on 01923 77 8880.  Or email her on cara@thecookingacademy.co.uk

Creating spice blends at the Cooking Academy - Hertfordshire

Indian cooking classes in Hertfordshire

All time favourite class today – The One day Indian cookery class here in Rickmansworth.  We’ll be covering the all important ‘Spice Trail’ which is a comprehensive guide of the herbs and spices used in Indian cookery. 

This is an ‘all senses’ experience, where the participants will be touching, feeling, smelling, tasting, each and every spice to familiarise themselves with the taste and aroma to be able to distinquish the flavours in food.  The delegates will then go on to create several spices blends.  This is alchemy at its best – where the science of food crosses over into taste and flavours and creates a food feast.

Our aim is to get the delegates involved in ‘real cooking’ to grasp the true essence authentic food; following a recipe is one thing but getting underneath it, is what we do in our classes here at The Academy.  This is the real deal getting down and dirty – sleeves rolled up.

To book your place on our next class contact us on 01923 77 8880 or email cara@thecookingacademy.co.uk

Watercress - The Cooking Academy cookery school

What’s in Season this month -  January 2012

Acorn Squash

Baby Plum tomatoes & Beef tomatoes

Sage

Basil

Beetroot

Brussels sprouts

Celeriac

Chantenay Carrots

Cara Potatoes

Cauliflower

Chanterelle Mushrooms

Chesnut Mushroom

Globe Artichoke

Galangal & Ginger -

Mustard cress – great for sandwiches

Leeks

 Parsley 

Peppers

Purple sprouting broccoli – Broccoli has been shown to improve memory function as well as slow the aging process. This means a broccoli-rich diet will keep you young and sharp. 

Red Onion

Red Cabbage

Swede

Thyme

Spring onions

Shitake mushrooms

Savoy cabbage

 Watercress

Thai cookery classes - Traditional & Authentic

We’re running the ever popular Thai Cooking Class today, and although its only Thursday 3rd week in January it seems like June already….  we are fully booked with Asian cooking classes since the new year.    Trust me – I’m really not complaining, this is my labour of love and a passion and not many people can say they do what they want to do everyday, But i do!

In our 1 day Thai cookery classes we’ll be learning all about the spices used in traditional Thai cookery, the kind of equipment used to cook authentic Thai food.  We will take a journey through the spice trail and get to grips with essential thai herbs and spices.   This class will provide a really good grounding and cover a number of key dishes that are the cornerstones of a Thai diet as eaten in Thailand. 

To find out more information or to book your place please contact Sonia Basra at the Cooking Academy. tel 01923 778880. www.thecookingacademy.co.uk

it seems like I’ve taught much of London to

Indian Cookery classes for beginners

If you’re beginning to dabble with spices and herbs to make your own ‘Indian’ then this course is for you. 

It is a very gentle but intense look at Authentic Indian cookery.  It dispels the myths surrounding Indian food and its so called complexities.  You’ll throw away any remaining  jars, you’ll restock your spice cupboard and you’ll look forward to coming home to ‘cook your fit’ with our beginners guide to real indian food! 

Not only that, most importantly this class will also change your mind set from the sloppy curry scene to real Indian dining – gourmet style just like the myriad of British Indian families eat every night. 

For more information contact Cara@thecookingacademy.co.uk

Real Indian food starts with The Cooking Academy

Cauliflower & Cheese Soup

It’s definately soup day today!  The sun may be out but dont be fooled into thinking it’s spring, the temperature is touching 4 degrees in Hertfordshire today and thus demands soup to warm up the cockles.  Would someone please tell where the cockles can be found on the human anatomy!!  It’s a northern expression that sounds great but what are cockles ?  

I had this soup for supper yesterday and thought of a dear customer who is confined to a pureed food diet for the time being.  I thought of her instantly as she described her pain and dedicate this recipe to her.  

Cauliflower & Cheese Soup  

 Serves 4

 Ingredients

 1 Cauliflower – Florets separated and cut down if very large pieces

4 or 5 charlotte potatoes – peeled and cut in half

1.25  litres of vegetable stock

4 sticks of celery – finely diced into ½ cm cubes

5 bay leaves

25g unsalted butter

1 tsp salt or to taste

5 black peppercorns fresh or dried, add in whole

50 g cheddar cheese or Manchego cheese

Splash double cream or crème fraise

 Cooking Instructions

 In a large pan, melt the butter then add the bay leaves, celery, and black peppercorns garlic and cook for 15 minutes without colouring but softened. Now add the cauliflower and potatoes and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring gently from time to time.  

 Now add the stock and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

 Remove from the heat and liquidise the soup very gently; or if you prefer a little more texture then use a potato masher to mash the solid vegetables.  

 Return to the heat; now add the cheese and cream and check the seasoning after the cheese has disintegrated (cheese can be salty and will therefore add its own seasoning).  Sprinkle a little cheese on top and grill for a few minutes to develop a little crust … garnish with a few strands of rocket if desired or trying to show off your culinary skills to your family and friends …..

 Serve with some fresh crusty bread  - enjoy

 Cooks tip 1: Use broccoli instead of cauliflower if desired

Cooks tip 2: Manchego Cheese or stilton cheese is delightful

 Health tips 1: Cauliflower is from the same family as broccoli.  It is rich in folate, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene. 

 Folate helps in making and stimulating blood; Folate is also essential for growth of body tissues and can prevent severe diseases like cancer and heart disease.   Vitamin C, acts as anti-oxidant; Vitamin E and beta-carotene, makes our immune system strong.

 Recipe by Kumud Gandhi – copyrights to The Cooking Academy Cookery school

Indian Cookery class – Advanced – Authentic Indian Cookery classes

Today I’ve been taking students further along their journey into the delights of authentic Indian Cookery!  

This is their 2nd Indian Cookery class,  at least, with us here at The Cooking Academy, and tonight they will likely share the spoils of the day with their family and friends… if they’re not too exhausted from their experience.   It’s a very enjoyable class with no more than 5 delegates, giving it a certain intimacy of a dinner party, getting to know people better and sharing clips of their lives and their cooking.  It is a labour of love – I can truely say and I enjoy every class. 

I am glad to say so many students come back to after their first cookery class with us, to learn more.  That makes it a real honour for us here at the Academy.   Cookery classes are more than just a gift experience!  It is a journey and here at the Academy we work hard to ensure our customers enjoy every minute of it and are inspired to cook. 

To find out more about our cookery classes contact us on 01923 778880 or email cara@thecookingacademy.co.uk

The Cooking Academy - cookery school

Last minute Christmas Gifts

If you still have that elusive gift to buy for someone with a passion for food why not buy them cookery gift vouchers for a cookery class at The Cooking Academy.  This is ideal gift who someone who loves to cook and wants a little inspiration in the kitchen.  It also pays dividends back to you in the form of fabulous homecooked recipes that makes your mouth water. 

Don’t worry about delivery – you can print off your voucher instantly so that you still have something to give on the 25th December. 

Our cookery voucher start from £50 and we offer a wide range of cookery classes for the novice – right up to courses for chef’s. 

Visit our website on http://www.thecookingacademy.co.uk/AboutUs.phpor call us on 01923 778880 for further information.