New bakery and deli with aircon...17-week countdown
As of this week the wonderful historic head quarters for Rattee & Kett - soon to become our new home - have been fitted with air con of a slightly more drastic nature than we anticipated...it turned out that two of our walls had no foundation, so that meant peeling away existing brick walls, windows and - our most coveted - original boxed-in awnings.
We are not too concerned as they are all about to reappear when the building is re-constructed next week and our original awnings will be returning. Our plans include outdoor seating (South/west facing = evening sun) under the awnings, outside the Deli.
We have left chaos behind for a few days of research in Milan where we may link up with one or two bakeries...
Our bakery and deli is coming - 18 week count down!
The count-down has started and we are so excited we can barely contain ourselves.
As of today, we are 18 weeks away from opening the doors to our long-awaited bakery/deli/coffee shop and cookery school at Homerton business centre. We will be posting regular updates and images of our progress. Moving our award winning kitchen - lock stock and barrel - will be an interesting excersise.
We can reveal that we will be one of the first kitchens in the country to be fully kitted out with the new generation of Neff appliances - with controls that swipe like an iPad! Also new Blanco sinks and taps. And of course, new ranges from our beloved partner iittala via the cult emporium of Scandi cool design - Skandium. But first thing first - the construction of our new kitchen by our heroes Cambridge Kitchens and Bathrooms!
Scandinavian Pop-up success in London
Last week saw us hosting our third London Pop-up in cooperation with our spnsors, cult Scandinavian brand iittala and design store Skandium and their achingly beautiful Fitrovia outpost Republic of Fritz Hansen. For me, who grew up with all this beautiful design around me as part of everyday life in Copenhagen and Stockholm, it is sheer joy to design a meal around the stunning tableware and classic pieces of furniture.
This time, tickets sold out in less than 2 hours!
40 guests enjoyed a Scandinavian 7-course taster menu featuring our poached and cured salmon, classic ingredients such as "klimp" and "Gubbröra" - all rapturously received. As usual the dish that really caused a stir was our cured wild venison Carpaccio using fillet of wild red deer from Radwinter just south of Cambridge.
Designer Klaus Happaniemi whose new Nordic saga design for iittala has become an instant classic attended with his wife, celebrated textiles designer Mia. The 5 tables in the stunning showroom oozed Scandic chic - as did the food.
If you are interested in attending our next pop-up along the same lines, there are still some tickets for sale for Wednesday 17th June at design emporium Heal's where we will lay on another Nordic feast in the stunning former Spa room!
Summer Pastries in print and on radio
Copy deadlines being what they are in the magazine world, I have just filed my article for the gorgeous July issue of Cambridge Magazine on the delicious topic of summer desserts. I will also be speaking to Mike on cambridge105.fm when I start a new regular slot on the Food show on the first Thursday of every month, which I am really looking forward to.
The recipe I wish to share with you is for the fantastically tender pastry Pâte Sablée, which means sandy pastry, and gives some idea of the rather alarming fine-graimed texture of this delicate pastry. I use it to make "Sablées aux Framboises" which will be part of our next master class on pastry.
Pâte Sablée
The French name means “sandy pastry” as this pastry looks very crumbly and
dry when first mixed. It uses icing sugar instead of caster sugar and is very
delicate due to the high fat content. It makes a very tender pastry perfect for
smaller pastry discs and biscuits.
285g plain flour
A pinch of salt
225g unsalted butter, softened
2 medium egg yolks
110g icing sugar, sifted
1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and
run in short bursts.
2. Tip out. Gently squeeze into a disc, wrap in clingfilm.
Sablés aux Fraises (serves 6)
285g quantity pâte sablé
600g strawberrieshulled and sliced
Raspberry coulis
Icing sugar for dusting
1. Divide the chilled dough into 2 pieces. Roll out each disc to the thickness of a 20 pence coin. Cut out a total of 18 circles, 7-8 cm circles. Place on a baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes.
2. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 C for 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Watch so they don’t burn and use your nose to guide you - when you can smell biscuits they are ready to take out. L eave them for half a minute more and they will be burnt.
3. Save a few sliced strawberries for garnish. Mix remaining strawberries with enough coulis to just coat them.
4. Place a disc each on 6 plates. Arrange a few slices of strawberry on top.
Repeat with a second layer. Cover with a third disc and dust with icing sugar.
5. Serve with remaining coulis and a few whole strawberries.
Raspberry Coulis
Push fresh raspberries through a sieve. Sweeten to taste with sifted icing sugar.
TripAdvisor Excellence!
We are thrilled to have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor for our string of top scores and extend a big thank you to all of our private and corporate guests who have given us such wonderful praise.
We strive for quality in everything we do and look forward to building on our success when we open our bakery and deli this autumn.
The Big Build May 1st
May 1st and we are looking at a veeeery basic looking space which feels just a little bit scary! The old concrete floor has been broken up over the past two weeks and the bare earth underneath is now exposed. More rubble is to come away before the new damp proof membrane and concrete slab is laid for us. Next, some new walls and doors, including the new entrance to what will be our new deli and café! We can't wait.
Truffles and wild boar in LeMarche
Our last night on the road after yet another day marvelling at the unbelievable emerald colours and jaw-dropping scenery in this exquisite little region of Italy. We have enjoyed truffles with hand-made pasatelli, on toast and in honey - all of it intoxicating. The black summer truffles are very decent but in this region the big star are the white truffles - only available around lovely little Acqualagna and in Alba. They appear in the autumn, and are best after the first frost, permeating the air in the mountains with their intoxicating scent. When I say they appear, that is of course not strictly speaking true, as truffles are a subterranean fungus requiring a good animal nose to sniff them out and unearth them.
The traditional truffle pigs have been replaced with dogs. The advantage of dogs over pigs is that they can be taught to relatively gently dig up and hold in their mouths the truffles, thus persevering the whole truffle and also the underground root system which is needed for next year'crop.
We will return with a small group of guests this autumn to go up the mountain to see these lovely dogs in action and to enjoy the wonderful Acqualagna 50th Truffle Festival with its truffle stalls, al fresco pop up restaurants, cookery demonstrations and wine tastings. Check out our website for more details about the program,
Truffle hunting in LeMarche
This week we are driving through the stunningly beautiful LeMarche region in Italy looking for truffles and tasting wine, artisan beer and cheese and eating at least 5 courses for both lunch and dinner! This amazing little region of Italy has not yet been discovered by the crowds and we hope it will stay that way. Achingly beautiful, with lush green mountains oncd home to many little dukedoms - each referred to as "una marca" has given the region its unusual name "LeMarche". Our next trip will be Octobre 30th for the Acquaoagna truffle festival and UNESCO protected Urbino with its rich cultural heritage.
Winning the € Lottery
As we proudly announced in our last blog The Times have declared that we offer one of the six best cookery holidays in Europe!
Due to favourable exchange rates we are able to offer drastically reduced prices on all of our quality culinary trips.
Our May Slow Food Trail is now £599
Cooking with us in luxurious Villa il Boschetto starts from £800
Our late autumn Truffle Trip is down to £550 - a steal given its content
And last but not least, our early autumn Stockholm Food Heritage trip (see below) has been reduced to £850.
For full details, check out our website!!!
Six of the best cookery holidays in Europe
Half a dozen tasty breaks, from chocolate tuition in Vienna to wild food hunts in Stockholm
Stockholm Heritage Food Trip
In autumn Tine Roche, who runs Cambridge Cookery School and Cooking in Italy courses in Le Marche region during summer, will take guests on a four-day journey back to her roots in the Swedish capital. On the agenda is a walk in the woods to forage for wild mushrooms, visits to celebrated covered food markets and dinner at top-class restaurants. To get to grips with Scandinavian cuisine there is private tuition from a top-notch chef and a lesson in using a 200-year-old wood oven to bake tunnbröd, a traditional northern flat bread.
Details Three nights costs £995 pp, which includes accommodation at the ultra-hip and eco-friendly hotel Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, tours, transport and all meals. Ryanair flights from Stansted are not included.
www.cambridgecookeryschool.com/italy
We run one of Europe's best cookery holidays says The Times!
Six of the best cookery holidays in Europe
Half a dozen tasty breaks, from chocolate tuition in Vienna to wild food hunts in Stockholm
Annie B’s Spanish Kitchen
Annie B is not a Radio One DJ but an experienced caterer and devout Spanish foodie who hosts regular food and wine events from her converted family villa in Vejer de la Frontera, a sunny Andalucian village not far from the coast. Her Cooking, Sherry and Culture course features a trip to the fish market at Barbate, the “tuna fish capital of Spain”, as well as a day of tastings in the Sherry Triangle, including lunch in Cadiz, and plenty of cookery lessons spread throughout the week-long stay. Expect to be able to master authentic melon gazpacho, paella and some Moroccan dishes by the end of the week.
Details Six nights for a double room at Casa Amaro apartments in Vejer, with full cooking tour experience, costs €1,160 pp based on two people sharing, excluding flights. Ryanair flies from Stansted to Jerez, about 40 miles from Vejer.
www.anniebspain.com
Taste of Vienna
Run by American based Herzerl Tours this gourmet holiday offers a “taste” of the Austrian capital beyond the simply culinary. There is culture, cookery and visits to fine-dining establishments such as Restaurant Griechenbeisl, the oldest in Vienna. A packed itinerary includes lessons on classic Viennese dishes at the the city’s Culinary Institute, a cruise across the Danube to a vintner for an afternoon’s wine tasting, and a chamber concert with one of the city’s orchestras. For many, the icing on cake will be a chocolate workshop at Christian Petz’s Xocolat Manufaktur and a Viennese apple strudel demo at Residenz Cafe Schönbrunn.
Details Six nights accommodation, including six breakfasts, four lunches, two dinners and transport costs (flights not included) from £1,610 pp based on two sharing. www.herzerltours.com
Stockholm Heritage Food Trip
In autumn Tine Roche, who runs Cambridge Cookery School and Cooking in Italy courses in Le Marche region during summer, will take guests on a four-day journey back to her roots in the Swedish capital. On the agenda is a walk in the woods to forage for wild mushrooms, visits to celebrated covered food markets and dinner at top-class restaurants. To get to grips with Scandinavian cuisine there is private tuition from a top-notch chef and a lesson in using a 200-year-old wood oven to bake tunnbröd, a traditional northern flat bread.
Details Three nights costs £995 pp, which includes accommodation at the ultra-hip and eco-friendly hotel Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, tours, transport and all meals. Ryanair flights from Stansted are not included.
www.cambridgecookeryschool.com/italy
Greek Cooking and “Life” with Diane and Vassilis on Ikaria
The Greek island Ikaria is famed for the health and longevity of its inhabitants so a week spent there is a chance to pick up more than just culinary skills. From her holiday home, built on family-owned land, well-versed chef and author, Diane Kochilas and her husband run cooking holidays where guests are invited to explore the fresh ingredients found among the rocky cliffs and olive groves of this picture-postcard retreat. The hands-on week includes a honey-tasting, milking the goats to make Ikaria’s kathoura cheese, foraging for local herbs, cooking demos and an evening “dancing with Ursula” in their garden.
Details Six nights, including transport to and from hotel, costs about £1,850 pp excluding flights.
www.dianekochilas.com/ikaria-classes/
The Gascony Cookery School
Husband-and-wife team, David and Vikki Chance believe “anyone can cook”. As such there is a choice between foundation and advanced week-long cookery courses and tuition is divided between David’s purpose-built teaching kitchen in the converted 17th-century accommodation and Bernard Corbieres’ professional restaurant kitchen in Gramont. Students learn the fundamentals of French cuisine including Gascon classics such as foie gras and cassoulet. Hands-on cookery is a daily affair and there will be a chance to visit an Armagnac distillery, wine museum and the village of La Romieu, famed for its array of cat sculptures.
Details Six-day foundation or advanced courses cost £1,230 pp, which includes accommodation, meals and transport. A four-day charcuterie course is £680 pp. BA or EasyJet fly from Gatwick to Toulouse, which is 40 miles from the school.
www.gasconcook.co.uk
Delectable Portugal in Historic Evora
The setting for the International Kitchen’s week-long cookery course is the UNESCO World Heritage town, Evora, which sits in the sparsely populated Alentejo Region. Fresh, local produce such as olives, herbs and vegetables inspire the recipes that guests prepare and cook, much of it gathered from the kitchen garden and courtyard full of citrus fruit trees. There are plenty of Portuguese varietals to imbibe and sore heads can be nursed during a day-off spent in northern Alentejo visiting the Renaissance ducal palace and the historical sancturay of Vila Vicosa.
Details From £1,800 pp for seven nights accommodation (one night in Lisbon, six nights in Evora), including all meals, five hands-on cooking classes, all excursions as per itinerary with English-speaking guide, and return transfer to Lisbon airport or city centre. www.theinternationalkitchen.com