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| Jamie Oliver's 'Recipease' |
Last week I ventured out of the office for a cooking lesson at Jamie Oliver's 'Recipease' restaurant, a birthday present courtesy of my University housemates. And I'm happy to say that this is something I would definitely recommend to anyone who cares about food (which I'm assuming you do, or you would not be reading this blog!)
The Jamie Oliver revolution is currently leading from the front of our food industry: he's got his own business, restaurant chain, books, online video database (foodtube), television production company (Fresh One Productions), his own programmes, AND he still manages to be churning out new recipes when he gets a spare moment. Pretty impressive. And what's great is that he's recognised (and is actively trying to help) a problem which is damaging our nation: bad food.
When entering Recipease, you are entering the world of Jamie. His name is everywhere: on all of the food products, his books (obviously), the knives, the furniture, even the aprons. We had a browse around what was on offer (we received 10% off, which reduced the price to an amount which made you gasp just that bit quieter) before meeting our chef who would take us through the lesson. In front of us were a whole array of fresh ingredients, as well as all the utensils we would need to cook our three-course meal. Jamie was kind enough to throw in a glass of wine for free, which is potentially a disastrous combination. That being said, I took a swig and picked up my freshly-sharpened knife to begin.
What was so great about the lesson was that we were taught not only how to cook the Thai recipes, but also general cooking skills. Things such as knife skills (how not to kill yourself when using a very sharp knife and get maximum results from your newly learned chopping techniques), where NOT to cut an onion to save yourself the mid-chopping tears, the easiest way to peel ginger, and which sorts of garlic are the ones you shouldn't eat before a big date (you catch my drift).
We then started on our three course Thai meal. This included a sweet and spicy prawn soup, sticky stir-fried beef with chillies and Thai basil, and long-stem broccoli with shrimp paste and a Thai inspired salad, finished with a coconut rice pudding with caramelized pineapple. The lesson operated on a watch-and-copy basis, although I have to admit we did start to get a bit cocky and work simultaneously with the chef (not advised). Inevitably she ended up 3 steps ahead of us whilst we were still chopping our onion and trying not to cry.
We made our own fresh Thai paste, which I'd never done before, and this contributed to two of the three courses. We created our sweet & spicy stock by infusing things like chilli and lemongrass. We were in a right mess handling our beef, which we covered in flour before pan-frying for crispness - I was really excited to show off my Jamie Oliver frying-pan 'toss', which I thought I'd mastered, but the pressure of the chef watching me meant I spilt a bit and felt embarrassed (I blame the wine.) After making a huge mess, being very immature with our fresh prawns and bantering with the chef, we produced a three course Thai feast.
We then sat and ate our Thai creation, taking any remains home with us to eat another time. The whole atmosphere Jamie has created is welcoming and social, tables scattered around, rustic handwritten chalk boards surrounding you, and a good playlist to cook along to (he might not have made that though.) All in all it was a fantastic new cooking experience which I would certainly do again (we're already eyeing up the Sushi lesson and the Mexican Feast!) Make sure you go - soon!
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| Our three course Thai Feast |
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