Silwood Kitchen & Le Creuset

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

What started out as a very organised  me on a thursday evening ready to join some food bloggers and a Silwood chef to cook, drink and be merry .... didn't happen as i hoped! 

After consulting the husband, google maps and maps on my phone, I headed off in the direction of Rondebosch set to attend a Silwood Kitchens cooking class - yay, happiness :) BUT.... what started off as a happy food blogger (me) driving and listening to music and in a good mood ended up very lost , sad and desperate to not be LATE. As the sun started to set and the traffic thickened I was starting to get desperate .... I so badly wanted to be there on time and I had left home early enough even to factor in the traffic. But after getting into the area and not finding the road I drove round and round and round... I kept convincing myself the next road would be THE road!

Now sad that I was definitely not going to be there on time -regardless of being in the area of Silwood Cooking School the husband phoned to check if I had gotten there ok (kind man). I informed him I was LOST! 

He logged into google map, while I moaned talked to him on my handsfree cellphone headset while he directed me where to go!!!! (Thank You husband)

At last i got there.... 40 minutes late - YES I was THAT Lost!!! I was so happy to just have arrived I wouldn't have cared what they told me to do! 

Jess a 2nd year student at Silwood Kitchens Cooking School

The lovely people helping with the class got me to my cooking station and set me up with all I needed and Gary (the instructor/chef for the evening) got me up to speed with the rest of the class who were merrily chopping and cooking. 

I eventually let out a sigh and relaxed. The evening was finally back to happiness and ended up in such bliss - teasing Cayley (from Love Bites Blog) everytime I misheard the instructor I would turn to Cayley and Ming (from Butterfingers) and ask did he say? umm the small portion of butter or the large portion of butter??? and when Cayley couldn't tell me I would tease her - you are supposed to know Cayley- you've been here before ;) Sidenote: Cayley had done a 2 night cooking class at Silwood before and they made this decadent looking chocolate cake (drool). so i kept asking her stuff with her previous Silwood experience ;)

Cayley and Ming

 

On this particular Thursday night we made: Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup, Stuffed Chicken with a Tarragon sauce and Cappucino Bread and Butter Puddings.

Le Creuset gave us some beautiful dishes - 2 Large Ramekins, a mini cocote and a 19 cm rectangular dish.

Stuffed Chicken breasts with a Tarragon sauce

Cappucino Bread and Butter Puddings (Large Ramekins given to us by Le Creuset)

I along with 12 other bloggers- we cooked and chatted and worked our way through the evening - it was great fun and something I would LOVE to do again! I would like to thank Le Creuset and Silwood Kitchens for a fab evening! A special thanks to Jess a second year Silwood Student and John a first year Silwood student who were so friendly and helpful along with the helpful and relaxed chef Gary. 

I am definitely contemplating going back with a friend for a fun and relaxed evening of cooking :)

Ishay from Food and the Fabulous

Matt Alison from Im no Jamie Olive

Ming from Butterfingers

Hope you enjoyed reading

ORANGE AND HONEY CREME BRULEE

You know when you mean to make something but you end up making something else? Do you? I keep having one of those moments where I go to make my regular vanilla creme brulee (which is very delicious) but every time while making it I think awww just add the honey and orange juice, you can make plain vanilla next time. I have been doing this so much lately I've come to realise that

WINNER

AND THE WINNER IS...... Laura

Laura said...

AND I tweeted :)

well done sweetie, please email me your full name and address :)
CONGRATS and sorry everyone else, I know this little piece of cuteness caused lots of gushing and wanting... Next time ;)

MUESLI - MAKE YOUR OWN STYLE

MUESLI is one of those great things that if you make your own you can decide just what kind of mood you are in and make it according to your taste. If you don't like nuts or a particular nut - leave it out. If you really LOVE dried mango add double the amount! :) See its fun when you make it how you want it instead of buying the shop version and then picking out the annoying parts you don't like. Also the shop bought version can be expensive for the good stuff! And the cheap stuff tends to lack in taste or nice ingredients. Of course as always I believe in buying the best quality ingredients you can afford. And go for organic if you can... it will be healthier and better for you.

Here is the really simple MAKE-YOUR-OWN muesli.

INGREDIENTS (feel free to swop out ingredients for what you like)
500g - 1kg rolled oats (organic if possible)
2 - 5 tablespoons coconut oil
2 - 5 tablespoons Honey ( as RAW and as pure as you can get)
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
OPTIONAL:  (Raisins, Golden Saltanas, Dried Mango,Dried Pineapple, Dried Apple, Dried Apricots, Dried Pears etc...)
Almonds or nuts of choice

METHOD:

MIX ALL THE ABOVE TOGETHER AND BAKE/GRILL UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN. STIR OFTEN AND WATCH IT DOESN'T BURN. THEN ADD:


Almonds or other nuts you like

Dried fruit of choice- (Raisins, Golden Saltanas, Dried Mango,Dried Pineapple, Dried Apple, Dried Apricots, Dried Pears etc...)


Chop up your dried fruit into small bite sized pieces and stir into the honey toasted oats.
Let cool and then pour into a air tight jar.
Enjoy with a variety of options:
milk
yoghurt
a spoon of honey
coconut milk
sliced banana
fresh fruit



Makes an excellent gift - label and tie some pretty ribbon round the jar.

READY STEADY COOK - Market Style

On Saturday 2nd July I had the opportunity of being part of a Cape Town Version of READY STEADY COOK! No there was no Ainsley Harriot but there was chef Ian Cawkwell and Chef Stefan Wessels as well as Sam Linsell from Drizzle & Dip.

To say that I don't like crowds and people staring at me is an understatement!!! I hate that feeling when you realise the whole room is looking at you and everyone has stopped what they are doing to hear or see what you are doing... say EMBARRASSING! but I must say the market kept its buzz in the background as some people watched and others shopped... and it was FUN! Yes I said fun... this coming from hermit crab me who wanted to climb under the table just minutes before it all started. Thanks to my team member and chef - Ian Cawkwell. We won! ;) YAY!

Sam and Stefan made a fish biltong salad for starters and a Kudo/gembok (or some other wild and exotic mince) into a spaghetti bolognese for their mains. The point of the exercise was to use ingredients from the market that people don't always tend to buy = unusual.

On our team Ian and myself- our dishes were Jerusalem artichoke, bacon and pecora(sheep cheese) risotto. And we got to do a dessert instead of a starter - a banana and almond Tartan. All this = Delicious :)
I really enjoyed working with Ian as he was very thorough and made sure I learnt while we cooked. It was a very enjoyable experience - even if having a microphone in your face every now and then with an MC asking you questions is a weird way to cook! I still had a blast.



Thanks to Jackie from Earth Fair Market organized this event and who has a very cool vision for the market and wants to try new and fun things .... and Fun is what I had!

This Saturday 16th July is the Earth Fair Markets 2nd birthday! Im sure it will be fun.

SUNDAY

 Hope you are having one of those kind of Sundays!

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE...

• Sitting in the sun on a winters day 
• Eating homemade food - Like soup or risotto or homemade cookies
• Nice emails and kind tweets and sweet comments on this blog make me smile - alot!
• A hot cup of rooibos tea and a cute cat curled up on the windowsil
• Watching my favorites TV series and having a good giggle
• Pretty bunches of flowers around my house
• Having the husband at home (even if he is sick) is nice company
• Learning how to make risotto from scratch and then eating your creation - rewarding :)
• Friends and family who came to support me on Saturday at Ready Steady Cook at The EarthFair Market :) so very kind

 What is making you smile right now?

GIVE AWAY Cath Price Rabbit Bowl

How cute is this bowl by Cath Price. I first spotted her beautiful work on the House & Leisure website and just knew this piece of functional art was a must have. I mean think of the possibilities... not only could you use it as a cute pinch bowl for spices or sauces but placing your jewelry in it or your keys would look just as fabulous - or just staring at the little bunny popping through is nice too.

And the Good News is you get a chance to win one of these pieces of cuteness :) how lucky!!!
 
Please visit Cath's Facebook Page and LIKE it

THE GIVEAWAY:
1. Super Cute Rabbit Bowl

There are 4 ways for you to win - you will get an entry for each thing that you do

YOU HAVE TO BE A FOLLOWER OF BETTY BAKE BLOG & LIKE CATH'S FACEBOOK PAGE
1) Be a Follower of Betty Bake Blog (I will check) - 1 entry
2) "like" Cath Prices facebook page (just come back and say so here) - 1 entry
3) "like" Betty Bakes facebook page (just come back and say so here) - 1 entry
4) Tweet about this giveaway - add @bettybakeblog to your tweet (just come back and say so here) - 1 entry

*please leave a separate comment for each thing you do (facebook like, tweet,) in comment section below

this is SOUTH AFRICA give away ONLY

this competition closes midday Friday 15th July 2011