Reviews

Here are a couple of reviews from happy students:

Beverley Morel: Parkholme Supper Club Cooking Lesson 1st April 2012

"One of the joys of the Parkholme Supper Club Cooking Lesson is that it combines two great ingredients: cooking food and donating to a worthy cause. So indulging in a passion can benefit the needy. For me that is a recipe for a win-win every time.

The cooking lesson isn’t just for those who want to learn to cook. I cook every day for my family but I cook alone. No-one talks to me about the recipes, what’s in them or why I am cooking in the order I do. No-one is interested. They just want to eat the end result. Here I got to cook and discuss food all afternoon. Why we use one particular ingredient rather than another, what is the best way to chop an ingredient or when to add the next, and is that al dente or soggy? It made such a lovely change to share the process of cooking food.

The Parkholme Supper Club cookery afternoon is great for food lovers who want to share the joy of cooking some great dishes with other like-minded individuals (and then eat them too!!). The menu was diverse.

We made Vietnamese Summer Rolls which were really simple to prepare when someone is showing you how. The fresh herbs really made the rolls. It was love at first bite for me. As I live in South London it is not so easy for me to buy the Thai holy basil or the Laksa leaf locally, so I now have a miniature greenhouse set up in my kitchen where I am growing these myself. I have also added lemongrass and galangal to my pots as well as chilli peppers and the usual fresh herbs. I am not sure which ones will continue to flourish but it is lovely having fresh herbs at hand and I am very interested to see how the galangal comes along.

We also made a Smoked Fish Pie which was absolutely delicious. It is a very simple recipe which highlights that a great dish doesn’t need to have endless ingredients; sometimes just a few work extremely well together.

When we made Chicken Pilaff, we focused on quartering a whole chicken. It was useful to learn the proper way to do this and to learn how to make a stock from the bones.

Making Apple Strudel was the best for fun.. It was more fiddly than the other recipes and for me it was the most challenging. Whilst I was assembling the strudel, a fellow student asked me if I was as nervous as a child!! It was the gaping holes that worried me - alll over the place! it just didn’t sit well until it was cooked, then there were no holes to be seen! I will definitely be making this with my daughter as this is a dessert that is so much more fun to make with friends.

Would I go again? I have put my name down for all further dates that come up. Need I say more."

Janice Susan (on facebook) "- just to say alicia's cooking classes are awesome. if you haven't tried one yet, do it! sorry i can't attend this one."