I was delighted to receive an email telling me I was a winner, and even more delighted when Di from SuperLucky told me that she had also won.
The prize was a visit to the Waitrose Cookery School in London, to take part in a Chilean wine tasting then prepare and cook a meal to eat accompanied by a selection of the wines. There were 6 winners with their partners, all staying at a central London hotel. We were whisked to the cookery school by car and welcomed with a glass of wine - Chilean, of course.
The afternoon started with a very interesting talk on Chilean wines, accompanied by numerous samples. Then it was time to don chef's whites and start cooking. Di and I posed in out whites:
The Waitrose cookery school is a lovely place, very bright and spacious and designed to make cooking as easy and efficient as possible. As well as being very well equipped with the very best of everything, they have a team of elves who swoop down on your dirty dishes and whisk them away. I could do with some elves like that in my own kitchen!
Each course was demonstrated in a theatre just off the kitchen, then cooked and devoured by us before we move don to the next course. The menu was Monkfish and Tiger Prawn salad with a warm tomato and fennel vinaigrette, steak and chips with roast vegetables and Béarnaise sauce and chocolate fondant with white chocolate and Grand Marnier sorbet.
The menu was very well thought out and suitable for all levels of experience, and the system of cooking one course at a time meant we worked at a relaxed pace without having to juggle to get everything ready at once. It also gave us plenty opportunity to mix with the other people there as we moved around between kitchen, demo theatre and dinner table. The wines were very well chosen to match the food, and we were encouraged to try two different wines with each course, something we'd never think of doing at home, to see which worked best with each dish.
To sum up, great food, great wine and great people added up to a great day out. You can see how much my husband enjoyed it.....
Thanks for writing about this Jane; it looks like you had a great day and the chocolate fondant looks amazing, was it difficult to make?
ReplyDeleteGreat write up Jane! I've done one on my blog too, we had a really super day! :)
ReplyDeleteI won a similar Casillero del Diablo Supper Club prize last year too, and it was fantastic. Our dessert was really lovely and unusual, and I have made it again since -- a basil panna cotta with strawberry sauce.
ReplyDeleteOne thing though -- given the lovely prize and the care they took, I did think it was a bit of a shame that those coming from out of London had to pay their own travel costs. I cycled!