April 2012 Archives

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 make:

Rhubarb, cranberry & anise chutney
Lebanese pickled beetroots & turnips
Spiced carrot jam
Proper pickled eggs
Bengal ginger & chilli chutney
Wild garlic pesto, if available

The exact menu may change slightly nearer the time when we know what produce the fields will be yielding!

“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.”

“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.”


Dates:  Saturday 28th April 2012, repeated Friday 27th and/or Sunday 29th according to demand

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.

Add dried spices to the dough for more flavours.  To stay within the flavours of Nordic cuisine, try caraway seeds, dried dill, dried lemon balm or even small pieces of roasted bacon.  Serve these crispbreads with an assortment of cheeses, a fresh herb pesto or with pickled herring, like they do in Sweden.  

Recipe from Mia Kristensen of CPH Good Food.

This recipe is adapted from one by Thomasina Miers. Escabeche usually refers to a technique of frying fish and then marinating it in a vinegary liquid with onions, spices and herbs. Flavourings vary enormously from country to country; escabeche is popular in Italy, Spain, Latin America and the Philippines.

This dish is a relative of good old fish and chips, which is not as British as one might think. They share origins in a dish beloved of the Shahs of Persia some 1500 years ago - sikbāj - sweet and sour stewed beef. This later made its way around the Arabic world, with fish replacing beef in Christian parts. The amazing history is told by Prof Dan Jurafsky on his blog, 'The Language of Food'.

Dan writes: "The word escabeche came to Spanish from Catalan, which acquired it from its neighbour, Occitan, who got it from the Genoese, who stole it from the Neapolitans, and so on, back eventually east to the Arabic of Baghdad and the Persian of Ctesiphon." And the story continues with the Jews being expelled from Spain and Portugal and going to northern Europe, taking their fish dishes with them. Finally, in England, Belgian frites were married with battered and fried fish doused with vinegar: fish and chips.