I cannot believe it’s already a week since I attended the ‘Sunday Farmers
Market’ cookery lesson at La Cucina Caldesi.
I was given the lesson as a Christmas gift, through ‘Virgin
Experiences’, to enhance my recent interest in Italian cookery.
La Cucina Caldesi is situated at the bottom of Marylebone
Lane, London. Owned by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi the various classes offer
hands on Italian cookery with the emphasis being on seasonal Italian food using
fresh local produce.
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| La Cucina Caldesi, Marylebone |
I was rather nervous as I travelled to the school last Sunday
morning as I don’t mix well with strangers, and I hate it in these situations
where you have to introduce yourself and say something about yourself. Much to
my delight there was none of that.
I was first to arrive and was offered a coffee whilst awaiting
the others. 13 other people joined me, along with our chef/tutor for the day
Stefano and straight away a relaxed atmosphere was achieved.
Stefano was the perfect host/tutor. He worked the room well
with his knowledge, skills, conversation, wit and humour.
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| The entrance to La Cucina Caldesi |
The first part of our day was a visit to Marylebone Farmers
Market, which is just a few minutes’ walk from the school. Stefano bought
ingredients for our lesson whilst we had 20 minutes to have a walk round and
look at all the stalls.
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| Marylebone Sunday Farmers Market
There were lots of fruit and veg stalls with fresh, and
sometimes unusual produce. Everything looked very vibrant.
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| Marylebone Sunday Farmers Market |
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| Tomatoes at Marylebone Sunday Farmers Market
I was very taken by the appearance of some gluten free savoury
muffins, of which I bought 2! I wanted to have a taste as it would be an
interesting addition to our cake counter at work. One was filled with squash,
goats cheese and sage, and the other tomato, pesto and ricotta.
I saved them both for the following day and am now definitely
looking into making some, they were divine!
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| Homemade produce at Marylebone Sunday Farmers Market |
On our return we all donned our ‘Caldesi’ aprons (which we got
to keep at the end of the day) and picked a spot around the big square table.
Each dish to be prepared was explained in full detail by Stefano.
We were to make bread sticks, tomato bruschetta, stuffed
courgette flowers, ceviche, sea bass with roasted potatoes, olives and tomatoes
with green beans and aubergine and, for dessert, an amaretto trifle.
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| Stefano, chef/tutor at La Cucina Caldesi demonstrating ceviche |
It wasn’t possible for us all to make everything so we went in
groups of2s and 3s and were given different parts of the meal to prepare. I paired up
with a lady called Freddie, and we made the custard for the trifle.
I think the only criticism I have of the day is that while we
made the custard we had to leave the table to use the stove which took us away
from everything else being prepared, and a bit out of the group. Freddie had
hoped to be able to make bread dough and I had wanted to watch the courgette
flowers being prepared.
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| Prepared, stuffed courgette flowers |
Despite not making the bread dough we each were given a piece
from the ‘proved’ dough to roll out breadsticks and coat with sesame seeds and
nigella seeds.
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| Breadsticks ready for the oven
We then got to fillet the sea bass, something I have never
done so enjoyed having the chance to learn the skill.
The fish was then laid on top of the roasted potatoes, olives
and tomatoes and put in the oven to cook.
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| Prepared sea bass dish ready for cooking.
All the final parts of the meal were then put together and a
long table was laid up for us all.
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Finally we all sat together and enjoyed all the food from the
days lesson with red and white wine to accompany the meal.
It was a lovely atmosphere. We had all got on so well right
from the start of the day and the room was filled with good conversation and
plenty of laughter. Again Stefano was a great host!
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| Enjoying the end of the Sunday Farmers Market cookery lesson at La Cucina Caldesi
Even though the day was due to end at 3pm I didn’t feel that
we were pushed out at all, in fact I think it was about 3.20pm when we all
started to say our goodbyes.
What a day! Totally exceeded my expectations, learnt a couple of
new skills and had great fun.
More info on other classes, or indeed this one can be found on
the Caldesi website along with info about their restaurants and café.
I would certainly recommend, and am even tempted to try another
myself!
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