Culinary Anthropologist

Spring preserving workshops, Fri 27th & Sat 28th April 2012

2012-04-27T18:05:56Z

In partnership with Riverford, the lovely organic veg box people, I offer seasonal preserving workshops. We cover all the basics of preserving fruits and vegetables and together we make five you can take home.

You'll learn about sterilising jars, using sugar, salt and vinegar correctly as preservatives, reaching ‘setting point’ for jams and jellies, safe bottling and more. Class sizes are kept small and very hands-on. As well as your filled jars, there are recipes and guidance notes to take home.

At the Spring workshops we will use seasonal vegetables to make five different chutneys, pickles and relishes inspired by different culinary traditions around the world. The exact menu will be decided nearer the time when we know what produce the fields will be yielding!

“I greatly enjoyed the workshop. I thought there was the right combination of instruction, hands on experience and nice people. The lunch provided was delicious.”

“Thank you for a really inspiring and enjoyable day Spring Preserving. It’s just amazing what was produced and it made for an excellent Mothering Sunday! The atmosphere was so good and you really create a great event. I look forward to the next.”

Dates: Friday 27th, repeated Saturday 28th April 2012

Time: 10am - 3pm

Location: London N5

Price: £70 (includes lunch with wine)

To book: email Anna Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

Fish in a Day, Fri 23rd & Sat 24th March 2012

2012-03-23T17:16:56Z

This workshop is a partnership between Culinary Anthropologist and the lovely Food Safari people.

We will focus on preparing and cooking sustainably caught fish and shellfish, such as lemon sole, sardines, mackerel, squid, oysters and mussels.

Anna will show you how to fillet flat and round fish, shuck oysters and prepare other shellfish. Everyone will have a go!

You will then cook your prepared seafood in various ways for a delicious and extensive Mediterranean seafood feast to share with plenty of wine to drink.

The menu will include (subject to availability):
Oysters three ways (including raw and baked)
Mackerel escabeche
Classic moules marinières
Lemon sole en papillote with leeks and dill
Risotto nero with braised and fried squid

You will go home confident to cook more fish and shellfish at home, a pack of all the recipes and a new appreciation of sustainable seafood choices. This is an intensive hands-on class, so come hungry to learn and to feast!

Dates: Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th March 2012

Time: 10am - 4pm

Location: London N5

Price: £95

To book: Email Anna

Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

Fish filleting photo credit Eating East.

Cooking Club, Tues 13th & Weds 14th March 2012

2012-03-13T18:40:13Z

March 2012 Cooking Club: Spring in the air
Lovely new greens will be appearing for use in lighter salads and vibrant dishes. We'll look to the Mediterranean for inspiration to propel us into spring.
(The exact menu will depend on ingredient availability.)

The Cooking Club is a monthly series of classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford's beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

Classes are usually held on the second Tuesday and/or Wednesday of the month, 7pm-10pm. We cook together for a couple of hours - learning different culinary techniques each month - and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed these classes. I have learned many new skills and the classes have given me ideas on using seasonal vegetables. I have used many of the recipes again.”

“Thank you for another wonderfully inspiring and enjoyable evening.”

Date: Tuesday 13th March 2012, repeated Wednesday 14th if demand

Time: 7pm - 10pm

Location: London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)

Price: £40 per person per class. Or £35 if you book 3 Cooking Club class places, which could be 3 for you, or you plus 2 friends, or as gifts, or any combination of those options.

To book: Email Anna Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

New Nordic Cuisine for the Home Cook, 9th & 10th March 2012

2012-03-09T16:12:05Z

The world’s best restaurant, Noma in Copenhagen, has propelled new Nordic cuisine into the limelight. Chef René Redzepi’s innovative approach showcases the finest indigenous Nordic ingredients in fresh, light menus. Many of these ingredients also grow in Britain, or can be easily sourced. But with dishes such as edible soil (made from malt and hazelnuts), oyster porridge, veal and blackcurrant cookies, seabuckthorn leather with pickled elderflower, and chicken skin sandwich with lumpfish roe, this is not food most mere mortals can recreate at home.

Step in Mia Kristensen. Mia’s company CPH Good Food offers Nordic cuisine classes in Copenhagen to help home cooks translate the new Nordic diet movement into do-able, delicious and healthy home cooking. Culinary Anthropologist has teamed up with CPH Good Food to offer some special classes to bring new Nordic cuisine and its innovative use of all things seasonal, wild, smoked and preserved to Anna’s home teaching kitchen in London. We're going to cook up a feast together, including making our own bread and pizza, curing our own bacon and hot-smoking salmon - all techniques any home cook can master. See full menu below.

“I am passionate about Nordic cuisine - its seasonality, lightness of ingredients and symbiotic relationship to nature. Nordic foods contain all five basic tastes and this makes it complete. Many ingredients are found in nature, which encourages wonderful family trips, cooking in nature and of course eating together,” says Mia Kristensen.

A student of Food Science and disciple of the world’s most pre-eminent food nerds, Dr Harold McGee and Professor Peter Barham, Mia will share her knowledge of the whys and wherefores of cooking during our hands-on class, providing an insight into the culinary magic of restaurants like Noma.

On the menu:
Crispbread with ramson (wild garlic) pesto
Lightly cured & smoked salmon with celeriac salad
Malt pizza with home-cured bacon & herbs
Apple bread made with old wheat varieties
Pork cheeks in wheat beer
Cauliflower salad with salted hazelnuts, cress & dried cranberries
Spicy spelt salad with horseradish, cream, cabbage & apples
Danish Apple cake with skyr (Icelandic curd cheese) foam, oats & hazelnuts

Dates: Saturday 10th March 2012, and also Friday 9th March if demand

Time: 10am - around 2pm

Location: London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)

Price: £80

To book: Email Anna

Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

Eastern Mediterranean Meze class, Sat 11th Feb 2012

2012-02-11T14:35:49Z

At this hands-on class you will cook a range of beautiful and delicious vegetarian meze dishes from Greece, Turkey, Syria and the Lebanon.

Our menu will include lemony stuffed vine leaves, smoky babaganoush, homemade flatbreads with colourful beetroot and butternut squash dips, falafel with tzatziki, spinach & Feta filo parcels and more, with honey-drenched baklava and sweet Turkish tea for dessert.

You will pick up lots of cunning culinary tips, eat and drink very well, and go home with a stunning new repertoire of recipes suitable for family suppers, dinner party starters and buffets for large crowds.

“Thanks for such a great class, it was brilliant fun and I learnt a lot.”

“Everything was perfect and so delicious. My friends and I were all blown away.”

“Thank you for a fantastic day on Saturday - so informative and enjoyable. Can't think how it could be improved.”

Date: Saturday 11th February 2012

Time: 10am - around 2pm

Location: London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)

Price: £70

To book: Email Anna Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

Cooking Club, Tues 7th & Weds 8th Feb 2012

2012-02-07T18:18:39Z

February 2012 Cooking Club: Comfort cooking
As winter drags on we'll warm up with a delicious winter soup, hearty stew and comforting pud. Crowd-pleasing one-pot dishes will be the order of the day.
(The exact menu will depend on ingredient availability.)

The Cooking Club is a monthly series of classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford's beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

Classes are usually held on the second Tuesday and/or Wednesday of the month, 7pm-10pm. We cook together for a couple of hours - learning different culinary techniques each month - and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

“Anna's style of teaching is calm, friendly, educational and relaxed. She really engaged with the group and gave exceptional tips on how different ingredients interact with each other. I learnt a lot and felt energised and motivated to cook with confidence.”

“We had a ball! It was a fantastic class.”

Date: Tuesday 7th February 2012, repeated Wednesday 8th if demand

Time: 7pm - 10pm

Location: London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)

Price: £40 per person per class. Or £35 if you book 3 Cooking Club class places, which could be 3 for you, or you plus 2 friends, or as gifts, or any combination of those options.

To book: Email Anna Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

Winter preserving workshops, Fri 3rd & Sat 4th Feb 2012

2012-02-03T18:56:56Z

In partnership with Riverford, the lovely organic veg box people, I offer seasonal preserving workshops. We cover all the basics of preserving fruits and vegetables and together we make five you can take home.

You'll learn about sterilising jars, using sugar, salt and vinegar correctly as preservatives, reaching ‘setting point’ for jams and jellies, safe bottling and more. Class sizes are kept small and very hands-on. As well as your filled jars, there are recipes and guidance notes to take home.

The February workshops will be a citrus extravaganza and include (subject to produce availability):

Seville orange marmalade
Moroccan preserved lemons
Grapefruit curd
Spiced pickled oranges
Blood orange & port jelly or Cumberland sauce

"Thanks again for such a brilliant day and for sharing your wonderful skills. I can't believe how much we made and how much I learned in your lovely kitchen!"

"The pace was just right- a good combination of a bit of the science behind preserving, a hands on approach to learning, and the opportunity to chat and discuss. I think the size of the class was ideal."

Dates: Friday 3rd, repeated Saturday 4th February 2012

Time: 10am - 3pm

Location: London N5

Price: £70 (includes lunch with wine)

To book: email Anna Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

Lemon panna cotta

2012-02-01T10:35:13Z

Panna cotta is really easy - you just need to remember to make it in advance so it has time to set in the fridge. You could use any combination of milk and cream, even crème fraîche or yoghurt. Panna cotta is lovely served with fresh, poached or candied fruits and something crunchy like a small, crisp cookie.

]]> Recipe: Lemon panna cotta.pdf

Serves: 8 (using 125ml ramekins/moulds)

500ml whole milk
500ml double cream
8 tbsps white sugar
pinch salt
zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
80ml lemon juice
4 level tsps gelatine granules
a little almond or sunflower oil

Combine milk and cream in a saucepan with sugar, salt and lemon zest. Slowly heat the mixture until it just comes to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. When sugar has dissolved, take it off the heat and set aside while you prepare gelatine.
Put lemon juice into a ramekin or small bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine. Let it ‘sponge’ for five minutes without stirring. Meanwhile pour a little hot water from the kettle into a larger container, such as a saucepan. Place ramekin in hot water for five or so minutes to dissolve the gelatine.
Lightly grease eight ramekins or pudding moulds with almond, sunflower or any mildly flavoured oil. Put them on a baking sheet or tray and set aside.
Now make sure both cream and gelatine are luke warm, then combine the two and sieve the mixture into a jug. Let mix cool to room temperature. (You can speed this up by nestling the jug in a big bowl of ice cubes and cold water.)
Stir the mix, then pour into moulds and chill for at least two hours or overnight. To serve, dip each mould briefly into hot water from the kettle to loosen the panna cotta, then invert onto a dessert plate.

Read more about lemons here...

Baklava

2012-01-31T19:05:01Z

The best baklava in Turkey comes from the southeast, notably the town of Gaziantep, which is surrounded by pistachio groves and known for its master baklava makers. Traditionally it would be made with yufka, which is a super-fine dough rather like filo, and baked in a round dish called a tepsi in a wood-fired oven. There are all kinds of different baklava shapes - layered, rolled, twisted and coiled - and it can of course be made with different nuts - walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts being most common. For added flavour use honey instead of some or all of the sugar.

]]> Recipe: Baklava.pdf

Makes: one 30cm diameter circular tray or one 27cm square tray or one 20cmx35cm rectangular tray

450g filo or yufka pastry sheets
350g walnuts (or pistachios or hazelnuts or a mix)
200g unsalted butter
450g sugar (or use half sugar, half honey)
250ml water
2 tbsps lemon juice, orange blossom water, rose water or 1 tbsp vanilla essence

Heat the oven to 160C. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Get out the pastry and keep it under a very slightly damp tea towel to stop it drying out.
Brush your tray (see above for sizes that work) with melted butter. Cover the base with a sheet of filo and brush lightly with butter. Repeat layering and buttering until you have used nearly half the dough.
Blitz nuts in a processor until around half are finely chopped and half are coarsely chopped. Spread over the dough in your baking tray.
Cover the nuts with more layers of buttered filo, as before, until the packet has been used up. Butter the top layer too. Then use a sharp knife to trim the pastry edges and cut the baklava into squares, diamonds or triangles.
Bake for one hour in the lower third of the oven, or until the top is golden and the pastry cooked all the way through. If the top is going too dark before the baklava is done, cover it with some baking paper.
Meanwhile prepare the syrup: Put the sugar in a saucepan and pour around the water. Cover and heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved, without boiling. Now uncover, add lemon juice, orange/rose water or vanilla, bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes or until it has thickened slightly.
When the baklava is done, remove it from the oven and pour the hot syrup all over. Let sit for a few minutes then re-cut the shapes to check they will lift out easily. Let cool. Serve with tea or coffee.

Secret Kitchen menu, 22nd Jan 2012

2012-01-22T18:44:07Z

a breakfast tour

Bloody Mary
Turkish nibbles

Polish żurek

Ethiopian ful

Blood orange sorbet

Coffee
Baklava

]]> About today’s menu

It's amazing how breakfast differs around the world. We thought we'd found our favourite ever in Poland several years ago. When staying on a smallholding we woke to bowls of traditional żurek, full of homemade sausages, eggs from the hens, fermented rye juice, and sour cream made from the milk of the cow in the barn. Żurek belongs to a family of sour soups found across central and Eastern Europe. In this case, the sourness is from a fermented mix of rye flour and water, flavoured with garlic, allspice and bay. We don't have our own hens or cows, but we did make the sausages.

More recently the Ethiopian breakfast of ful, eaten particularly in Muslim areas, trumped our Polish soup. We learnt that 'special ful' on a menu meant a steaming bowl of spicy pulses beautifully garnished with egg, yoghurt, chillies, onion, tomatoes and green lentils, and we ordered it whenever we saw it. Variants of ful are eaten all over the Arabic world, most notably Egyptian ful medames, made from dried broad beans. One can visit a lot of historic palaces and churches with a belly full of beans.

The blood orange sorbet is a nod to the best part of every Moroccan breakfast I've ever had - a huge glass of thick, sweet freshly squeezed orange juice. Move aside Tropicana.

We've topped and tailed the menu with Turkish treats, as Turkey is full of amazing breakfasts - in fact we ended up at a conference on the subject. Without salty white cheese and black olives it is not a proper breakfast. But when breakfasts weren't leisurely two hour affairs, we would go for a shot of thick Turkish coffee ('medium sweet') with a sticky square of baklava. I have been practising baklava ever since watching the master Güllüoğlu bakers in Gaziantep for whom it is a life's calling.

Winter rainbow coleslaw

2012-01-11T19:20:22Z

This recipe is just a guide - use whichever vegetables you have to hand and dressing quantities that suit your taste. This is a great way to use up those winter veg that might otherwise hang around in the fridge too long, and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days. Eating them raw makes a refreshing change, too. The rainbow colours are pretty, and the salad looks stunning served in a bowl lined with the beautiful outer leaves of a large January King cabbage, which are sea green fringed with purple.

]]> Recipe: Winter rainbow coleslaw.pdf

red cabbage
white cabbage or green cabbage
your choice of root vegetables: swede, turnip, parsnip, celeriac, carrot, beetroot
red onion and/or shallots
good olive oil
mustard - smooth and/or grainy
cider vinegar and/or freshly squeezed lemon juice
yoghurt (optional)
a few chilli flakes (optional)
chopped fresh herbs, eg parsley, lovage, dill, chervil (optional)
a little sugar or honey (optional)
salt and pepper

Peel the vegetables and cut them into very thin matchsticks. If you have a mandolin or processor with a julienne attachment, by all means use it. Or you could coarsely grate the root vegetables and slice the others thinly. Otherwise take the opportunity to practise your knife skills!
Toss the vegetables with the dressing ingredients of your choice, tasting as you go. It will need plenty of salt and plenty of zing, with a good mustard kick. Adding yoghurt will give it a creamy consistency. Let sit for at least an hour before serving.

Cooking Club, Weds 11th Jan 2012

2012-01-11T17:46:49Z

January 2012 Cooking Club: The usual suspects
We'll be cooking the usual winter suspects in some new and delicious ways. Think cabbages, swede, parsnip and celeriac - but fun and delicious!
(The exact menu will depend on ingredient availability.)

The Cooking Club is a monthly series of classes that you can dip in and out of as you please. At each class we cook a seasonal vegetarian supper, the stars of which are Riverford's beautiful organic vegetables and fruits. This class is perfect for those who want to eat seasonally and are after a little recipe inspiration (as well as a fun night out).

Classes are usually held on the second Tuesday and/or Wednesday of the month, 7pm-10pm. We cook together for a couple of hours - learning different culinary techniques each month - and then sit to enjoy a convivial dinner around the kitchen table with wine.

“I really enjoyed the Cooking Club - and was very impressed with the results! You are inspirational!”

“I had a great time last night - it was fun, informative and relaxing.”

Date: Wednesday 11th January 2012

Time: 7pm - 10pm

Location: London N5 (Arsenal tube 2 mins walk)

Price: £40 per person per class. Or £35 if you book 3 Cooking Club class places, which could be 3 for you, or you plus 2 friends, or as gifts, or any combination of those options.

To book: Email Anna Please read the booking terms & conditions before booking your place. Thank you.

The Ruby

2011-12-22T11:34:55Z

We named this cocktail after the fantastic bar in Copenhagen where we discovered it. Having made our way through their menu of forgotten cocktails - flips, punches and a real Martinez - we asked the barman to make us something with dill aquavit. Dill aquavit was on our shopping list as we knew it was traditional to serve at Christmas, and we were planning a Danish Christmas feast for one of our Secret Kitchen dinners in London.

The barman’s creation was a revelation - distinctly dilly, pink with grapefruit but most certainly a proper grown-up cocktail. (He called it an ‘866’, but we never found out why…) This is our own version, and the addition of grapefruit bitters is ours; you could leave it out. We recommend serving this with pickled herring on thin slices of rye bread.

]]> Recipe: Ruby cocktail.pdf

2 parts pink grapefruit juice
1 part dill aquavit (Schumachers and Esrum S ø are especially good ones)
1 part Campari
grapefruit bitters (eg Bittermens)
a pink grapefruit
ice

Chill your cocktail glasses by filling them with ice. Empty, then wipe the rims with a lozenge of grapefruit zest which you have crushed to release its oils. Dip the glasses in salt to create a lightly salted rim.
Shake the pink grapefruit juice, dill aquavit and Campari with ice until well-chilled and frothy. Add in a shake of grapefruit bitters per person, if using.
Pour the cocktail into your prepared glasses through a fine-meshed sieve so as not to get any of the small shards of ice. If you like, garnish with twists of grapefruit zest, taking care to spray their fragrant essential oils over the surface of the cocktail.

Read more about cocktails here...

Glögg

2011-12-20T17:27:06Z

Glögg is Swedish mulled wine with a vodka kick! (Or call it gløgg if you’re Danish and go for brandy or rum instead.) This recipe is adapted from one by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern. It looks fantastic served in little Turkish or Moroccan tea glasses, and works a treat in our household every Christmas. Just remember that it’s a lot stronger than regular mulled wine…

]]> Recipe: Glogg.pdf

Makes: over 2 litres

2 bottles of dry red wine
1 bottle of vodka or aquavit
12 cardamom pods, crushed
8 cloves
3cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced
a cinnamon stick
250g white sugar
200g raisins
an orange
200g blanched almonds

Put everything except the orange and almonds in a large non-reactive saucepan or casserole. Use a vegetable peeler to pare the zest off the orange in one long strip, taking care not to include the bitter white pith. Add this to the pot. Set aside overnight.
Heat to simmering point, stir in the almonds and keep warm over a very low flame. Do not boil. Serve in little glasses on saucers, with teaspoons to eat the alcoholic almonds and raisins at the bottom of the glass!

Indian spices

2011-12-20T17:11:00Z

Some nerdy facts about some of the spices used in Indian cooking, such as in this delicious tarka dal...

Nigella seeds, otherwise known as ‘black cumin’ despite being nothing to do with cumin, are from a flower closely related to love-in-the-mist. The Egyptians were some of the first to cultivate it, and must have valued it highly as some seeds were found in Tutankhamen’s grave. Two teaspoons of crushed seeds taken twice a day is said to boost the immune system. (Didn’t seem to work for young Tutankhamen though.)

Fenugreek seeds come from a bean plant. In some countries they are cooked up as a staple like dal or used to make a milk substitute for babies. Tutankhamen liked them as well, apparently. Used as a spice fenugreek has a distinctive aroma - a sweet savouriness reminiscent of maple syrup. In fact, it’s used to flavour artificial maple syrup.

Cumin seeds crop up in all sorts of recipes all over the world, from North African tagines, to Indian curries, East European soups, Mexican burritos and a few European cheeses and breads. The ancient Greeks loved it so much they kept it on the dining table in its own special box.

Fennel seeds are anise-flavoured, like the stems and leaves of the plant. Star anise is chewed in China, and fennel seeds in India, to ‘sweeten the breath’ - literally - the distinctive chemical compound common to both spices is 13 times as sweet as regular sugar, by weight.

Asafoetida powder, charmingly nick-named ‘devil’s dung’, is made from the sap of the root of a member of the carrot family. The sap is aged until resinous, sometimes in goat or sheepskin to enhance its naturally sweaty, sulphurous, stinky cheese scent. Don’t let this put you off, some claim the smell reminds them of white truffles. The vegetarian Jains in India use asafoetida in place of onions and garlic, which they avoid as uprooting them kills the future plant and disturbs the little bugs in the soil.

Cayenne powder is derived from the Cayenne variety of chilli pepper, which is approximately 3 times ‘hotter’ than the Serrano, at least 15 times hotter than Paprika, and over 100 times hotter than the Bell pepper (in Scoville pungency units). So beware how much you use.

Turmeric powder comes from the dried rhizome of a plant in the ginger family. It has been used since prehistoric times to colour skin, clothing and foods yellow, for ceremonial purposes and as a medicine and preservative. It’s still popular today - India produces some 350,000 tonnes each year.

Mustard seeds are usually added at the end of cooking as prolonged exposure to heat reduces their pungency and leaves behind a generic cabbage-family aroma. Black mustard seeds are the strongest, then brown, then yellow. On the global scale of trade, black pepper is the only spice to outdo mustard in monetary terms. The word ‘mustard’ comes from its use in the popular condiment - ‘must’-‘ardens’, ie ‘piquant must’, as prepared mustard used to be made with grape must.

Curry leaves come from a small citrus tree and are used widely in Indian and Malaysian cuisine. ‘Curry’ probably hails from the word ‘kari’, which means ‘spicy sauce’ in many languages in those regions. Most local names for the plant include the word ‘kari’, however there are no kari leaves in the usual curry spice mixes, and ‘kari’ can also mean ‘black’ it seems, referring to the colour of the leaves of a similar looking bush. Which would mean that the stupid Brits just called them ‘curry leaves’ because they heard a word that sounded similar - ‘kari’. To complicate matters further there is some evidence that the word ‘curry’ was used for stews in Britain before the first traders arrived in the subcontinent. A great etymological mystery that I will assign to my linguist husband for further research… Anyway, the leaves are usually added whole to dishes, like bay leaves, and often fried briefly in butter before being added, as in this recipe. They’re much better fresh than dried, and can be stored in the fridge or freezer for a week or two before they lose their flavour. Buy them on the branch if possible. It’s antidiabetic qualities are supported by scientific research.

Sources:
On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee, 2004
Food Plants of the World, Ben-Erik van Wyk, 2005
www.wikipedia.org
www.plantcultures.org.uk
www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl