2018, the year where #veganuary has taken over the Christmas pud and we’re all on a bit of a health kick. So what a perfect way to start the year than try our cooking lesson at the Waitrose Cookery School on Finchley Road. We booked onto the quick and simple suppers (perfect for getting home from work and not wanting to spend an hour preparing a meal!) And here’s what we got up to…

So first of all, Waitrose Cookery Schools have a couple of locations around the City including Finchley Road and Kings Cross and a branch in Salisbury Wiltshire. They also offer many different courses from baking (yesss all you #GBBO fans can get a prep on to impress in the white tent) as well as Italian classics, a curry night and even pastry, Mary Berry would be proud!

Now don’t think you need to be a cooking pro, I mean I confused a radish with a spring onion on the day so that says a lot about my cooking knowledge…if they’ll have me on the course I think you’re ok!  The cookery school caters for all levels and all ages too, to attend the adult classes children need to be over 13 but there are also many kids classes on offer throughout the year. Classes vary from 2 hours to half a day to a full day. You’ll be cooking up a storm in no time!

We went on the evening course, we didn’t need to take anything with us apart from ourselves, Waitrose will provide everything else, all the ingredients, your apron, your utensils and even a glass of wine to accompany each course. There were probably 20 people on our course and we all worked in pairs, I buddied up with Luke of course so don’t think you’ll be put with a randomer, although that would be quite fun!

Our lovely chefs Alfie and Omar invited us into the theatre to watch their demonstration of each dish before we were unleashed in the kitchen on our own. Well not completely on our own, you’re given a recipe card and instructions and don’t worry the chefs are on hand keeping a close watch on you. Each of our meals only took 15/20 minutes in total to prepare and cook which certainly kept to the quick and simple supper theme. We then sat down with the rest of the class to eat what we’d cooked.

So our meals on the day were a tuna steak with salad made from quinoa (an ever popular ingredient), radish, spring onion, mint and lime. It was sooooo delicious and something I would never have thought I could have created, particularly using tuna steak as a meat and great alternative to chicken or beef although you could substitute to switch it up a bit. Definitely one to impress friends at a ‘Come dine with me’ evening!

Our 2nd meal was a beef stir fry with soy and ginger sauce, instead of accompanying with rice we used cauli cous cous. I know POSH right? It’s bascially cauliflower blended up into rice size pieces, you don’t even need to cook it, you can just blend it and you’re done!

All ingredients Waitrose’s own, all meals prepared by myself and Luke! Pretty impressed with our results, a fun evening, learning something new and thinking outside the box! Can’t wait to book the next one! If you’d like more info or to book onto a course, head on over to http://www.waitrose.com/home/inspiration/waitrose_cookeryschool.html

Lexie
xxx