Vegan Mofo Post 2; Vegan Toolkit workshop part 2

When you left us we had met the Tutor (Jane) and the other 2 participants on the course and were heading into the kitchens for demonstrations and cooking:

The kitchen had been totally refurbished since my last visit and it was now kitted out very commercially however it wasn’t intimidating for domestic cooks, I approved J

Firstly we had demonstrations from Jane for dishes that she felt constituted a “toolkit” that could all be easily adapted as your confidence grew:

Mayonnaise

Cashew Crème

Pesto

Tofu “Meat”balls

Pancakes

Yellow pancakes without eggs?

It was getting quite late by now, we were ALL talkers so it was a good thing there were so few of us or else we would never have eaten! But after frying our own pancakes we tucked into them with a cup of coffee and planned the rest of the day.

There were 8 recipes for us to cook and we were going to do 2 each:

Creamy Mushroom and Herb Pate and Thai Mushroom Soup with Crispy Wontons for Starters

Paella, Crispy Sweet and Sour Tofu and Roast Vegetable Plait for Mains

Blueberry Muffins, Cheesecake, and M’Hanncha (a Moroccan filo filled “snake”) for dessert.

I was assigned the Thai Mushroom Soup and the M’Hanncha both of which I enjoyed making, the soup took me out of my comfort zone because, for some reason, I rarely cook Thai food.

Lesson - if you take a photo over a steaming pot you get a picture of steam!!

Jane and I have fun rolling the snake

Kate made the Mushroom Pate and the Roast Vegetable Plait both of which she found easier than she anticipated. Could there be a dinner party coming up?!

Pride and Pate!!

As there were so few of us and we had to cook two dishes each we were VERY late eating lunch (past 2.30)but we must have been fed on our “trying each other’s dishes as we went” because it didn’t seem to matter as much as I thought it would. All the food was delicious and you could see ways to develop each recipe for your own taste.

So much delicious food, it would be rude to leave any

The only negative thing I would say is that this is the only cookery school I have been to where you do your own washing up. I didn't mind in the past when I was working towards the Diploma (they stopped doing it before I had finished) because as a student I felt it was right to clean up after yourself as you go but for “leisure” course that you are paying good money for it seems a bit much. Moan over!

I won’t finish on a negative point because that wouldn't be fair as I thoroughly enjoyed the day, I have cooked a number of the recipes since and they all worked well, I can definitely see them being developed in the future. Plus we made some new friends – bonus!