Here you will find some titbits to warm your soul and inspire you to keep warm cooking!

This cold start to our winter makes it very tempting to snuggle down under the doona instead of braving a bracing walk along the beach! Spending time cooking in the kitchen is a great way to keep moving and warm with the bonus of welcoming aromas permeating the house. Stock-making, apple tarts, risotto, rillettes…

I have been busy doing all the things I love most – teaching in classes, creating new programs, recipe testing, cooking and reading.  I always love seeing your pleasure, at the table, when you enjoy all the delicious creations we have made in class.

Do check out the Winter Book Club at the end of the newsletter,  Memories of Gascony, by chef Pierre Koffmann about the provincial cooking of Gascony, in south-west France, plus many delicious dishes. It makes a very enjoyable read.

Plus, the new classes are here!

I am excited to offer these new intensive half day classes in French Desserts, Charcuterie, Risotto and Arancini, plus full day classes in Spanish and Moroccan Cuisines. Come, share with me whilst we cook together and you learn new methods, techniques and recipes.

Cook Create Celebrate - its all about the food - fresh, local and seasonal!

There are FIVE new cooking classes at Cooking on the Bay.  They are all fully hands-on learning and cooking and are an exciting addition to the cooking class program.

Three are four-hour half day intensive masterclasses and are a good option for those with limited hours in the day.
The French Bistro Classics Program - will start with French Bistro Desserts and French Bistro Charcuterie.
French Bistro Classics – Desserts: there is so much fun selecting dishes from a limitless menu, the selection is endless. All dishes are enjoyed at the shared table with wine. Some are light, some rich, some decadent, some with fresh, seasonal fruit.  There is always something to suit your occasion, such as apple or pear tart tatin, oeufs à la neige, crème brûlée, chocolate délice mousse cake, cherry clafoutis, soufflés, classic crème caramel. Desserts are everyone’s favourite
French Bistro Classics – Charcuterie include terrines, both savoury, fish, meat, pork, duck and sweet with fruits and ice-creams; a variety of pâtés, pork and duck, plus salmon rillettes and salt cod brandade. We also make appropriate, complementary relishes and pickles.  All of these dishes are great for an entrée, on picnics and for hors d’oeuvre platters.
At Our Italian Table Program is starting with the forever favourites - Risottos and Arancini.  Perfect a great risotto and you have countless flavour combinations open to you and with that you make the delicious, crunchy arancini, freshly made and nothing like you buy! Risotto ‘cake’ is also on the menu as another option.

These classes are scheduled on various days and in mornings, afternoons and evenings, such as on Sundays either between 8.45am and 1pm or 1pm to 5pm; plus, the occasional evening class on Wednesdays between 6 and 10pm. Check dates on the website

Before I leave at the end of June, for France, there are still a couple of cooking classes happening, French Odyssey and Mediterranean, both have a few places available, so do book one, otherwise it will be August before others are available. Featured, here are the Spanish Pimentos di Padrone, with garlic and feta, a wonderful starter or side dish.  Also on the menu, an Italian Tagliata di Manzo, a wonderful porterhouse beef, potato, red onion and rocket 'salad', which was on almost every Sardinian menu when I was there last year.  I sampled nearly everyone!

At the end of this month, I am off to France again, for the month of July, returning on August 5th.  Do follow our adventures on the dear old Betty B barge as we barge along the beautiful, verdant and peaceful Canal de Bourgogne. 

We are travelling from Auxerre all the way to St Jean de Losne, where we will leave her for the winter and hopefully a few more seasons after that.  As many of you know, barging is not all relaxation and fun; there are often disasters that befall us, such as the occasional ‘crash’, broken toilets, faulty power connections, water pump issues and some I have not yet had! 

We live as locals, shopping at the local markets, cooking, washing, much like we do at home, except we are in exquisite countryside with wonderful sights around each bend.  It is a photographer’s dream and I do  get carried away with the superb scenery, photographing quaint cottages, homes of the lock-keepers, farm cottages, goats, hens and cattle, wheat fields, huge bales of freshly cut hay. Always on the look-out for my perfect photo.  One which does seem to allude me is taking the farmer’s tractor with its trailer going over the cute canal bridges!

We always look forward to good French food and wine we manage enjoy en route as well.  So, do check out the Facebook page, 
and see what we are up to there.  Fingers crossed we manage to get a good internet connection, something which is always challenging in rural France.

Once again, my lovely friend and colleague, Livia Vidotto, will be running the business and looking after the bookings, so you will receive an email from her, when you book, or in answer in any questions.

Winter is perfect time to how to make the classic Tarte Tatin, upside down apple tart, which will feature in the winter French Odyssey menus, topped or bottomed, with a crispy and light puff pastry and served with vanilla bean Chantilly cream.  For the French Bistro Classics – Desserts cooking class we will be making our own puff pastry, so that is a good technique for you to master.  The pastry is made with either Puff or Pâte Brisée, a sweet short crust pastry.

I make my tart tatin in the classic French manner with the tart packed with apples, preferably Golden Delicious, peeled, cored and halved.  It is important to have a nice rich caramel base to give the apples good colour and flavour, plus a golden pastry top, which becomes the base.  I have made my tart tatin with both a sweet pastry and a puff pastry; if time permits, it is wonderful with the puff pastry.

This quintessentially French dish was created in the 1880s, completely by accident!  The Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, around 100 miles south of Paris, was run by the Tatin sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline. Stéphanie was also the resident chef, and legend has it that one day – overworked in her kitchen – she left the apples for a traditional apple pie cooking too long in sugar and butter. Smelling disaster, she attempted to rescue the dish by covering the apples in pastry, then sliding the whole pan into the oven to bake. When she flipped over the finished tart onto a dish, she hastily served it to her waiting guests in the hope they would be satisfied; little did she know just how delighted they would be!

This comforting ‘upside-down apple tart’ is a staple of the French Pastry repertoire, and an absolute favourite. You will find as many variations of Tarte Tatin as you will people you ask, all influenced by their backgrounds, families and tastes! Experiment with a few and then choose your own favourite.  Happy Baking!

What a cold start to our winter.  Spending time cooking in the kitchen is a great way to keep moving and warm with the bonus of welcoming aromas permeating the house. It is also a perfect time for making warm winter soups, stews, goulashes and curries, and most important element of all of these is a good quality stock. 

The Masterclass in Stocks, Sauces and Soups continues to be a favourite for enthusiastic and aspiring cooks; the next classes are on Sunday 1st July and Thursday 30th August. I love these classes teaching the essential fundamental techniques of cookery and I am joined in singing their praises by, great French Chef, Escoffier.  For stock, he used the phrase ‘fonds de cuisine’, which literally means the fundamental basis and essential elements without which nothing serious can be undertaken in the kitchen. And Julia Child said ‘sauces are the splendor and glory of French food…’ and they are!

Thank you Livia for looking after the Cooking Class bookings, and general Cooking on the Bay business, whilst I am away in July. LIvia does the best job and I am very lucky to have found her!

Memories of Gascony is an award-winning cookbook written by three-Michelin starred chef Pierre Koffmann about the provincial cooking of Gascony, in south-west France

I bought this book on Gascony, after I read about it in Dee Nolan’s glorious book, and one of my all-time favourites, A Food Lovers’ Pilgrimage through France: from the Vineyards of Burgundy to the Mountains of the Basque Country. Food, Wine, Walking and History on the French Pilgrim Paths to Santiago de Compostela.

Indeed, it is the marvellous story of how talented Pierre Kaufmann, a three-Michelin starred and most influential chef, first learned to love food. Pierre includes recipes and reminiscences from his grandparents' home in rural Gascony as he tells his story of school holidays spent on the farm cooking at his grandmother's side, helping his grandfather to harvest and hunt, and learning to treasure seasonality, simplicity and the best ingredients. Remembering how his Grandmother cooked, Pierre formed his more sophisticated restaurant dishes with a focus on flavour, the seasons and simplicity.

These traditional Gascon recipes are still relevant to the food tastes and trends of today and are used in his restaurant. Such dishes as dandelion salad with bacon and poached egg, grilled chicken with shallots and vinaigrette, and greengages in armagnac in Spring; chicken liver pate with capers, Bayonne ham tart with garlic, oeufs a la neige in Summer; roast hare with mustard and beetroot, salt cod cassoulet and quince jelly in Autumn; and fried eggs with foie gras, potato and bacon pie and tarte aux pruneaux in Winter.

Publisher’s biographical notes: Pierre Koffmann has been at the heart of fine cuisine in Britain for over 40 years. After working as a young chef in Strasbourg and Toulon, Koffmann arrived in London in 1970 to work under Michel and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche. In 1972 he was made the first head chef of the Roux brothers' new venture, the Waterside Inn at Bray. When Pierre opened La Tante Claire in 1977, it was the start of a residency at the top of the London culinary world that would span four decades. Within six years of opening, La Tante Claire had its third Michelin star, setting new standards for cooking and creating extraordinary dishes from classically simple ingredients, while also serving as an academy for many of today's culinary superstars. Between them his various protégés, from Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay to Tom Kitchin and Jason Atherton, now boast over 20 Michelin stars in their own right. He retired in 2003, but following a sell-out of his critically hailed pop-up at Selfridges in 2009, he returned to the kitchen once more. His acclaimed, informal restaurant, Koffmann's at The Berkeley, serves classic provincial French cooking - the food of his grandparents' farmhouse kitchen.

Remeber - new classes are added when classes are fully booked

June – Saturday 23rd - A French Odyssey – Journey through France

June – Sunday 24th - French Bistro Classics – Desserts - new Sunday time of 1pm – 5pm. 

June – Wednesday 27th – French Bistro Classics – Charcuterie  - 6 – 10 pm

June – Thursday 28th - Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice
June – Saturday 30th - Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice

July – 1st Saturday - Mastery in the Kitchen – Stocks, sauces and soups

Barging and travelling in France

August – Thursday 9th - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion
August – Saturday 11th - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion
      
August - Wednesday 15th - French Bistro Classics – Charcuterie –  8.45am – 1pm

August – Sunday 12th - At Our Italian Table - Risotto and Arancini -new Sunday time of 1pm – 5pm

August – Wednesday 15th – French Bistro Classics – Charcuterie - 6pm – 10 pm

August – Thursday 16th - A French Odyssey – Journey through France
August – Saturday 18th - A French Odyssey – Journey through France

August – Thursday 23rd – Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice
August – Saturday 25th – Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice

August – Sunday 26th Spanish Cuisine – Camino Inspirations – 8.45am – 3.30pm

August – Thursday 30th - Mastery in the Kitchen – Stocks, sauces and soups

September – Saturday 1st - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion

September – Sunday 2nd - At Our Italian Table - Risotto and Arancini at 8.45am – 1pm

September – Thursday 6th - A French Odyssey – Journey through France

September – Saturday 8th - French Bistro Classics – Desserts – Half day class - 8.45am – 1pm

September – Thursday 20th - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion
September – Saturday 22nd - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion

September – Sunday 23rd - At Our Italian Table - Risotto and Arancini at 8.45am – 1pm

September – Thursday 27th - A French Odyssey – Journey through France

September – Sunday 30th - French Bistro Classics – Desserts – Half day class - 8.45am – 1pm

October – Thursday 4th - Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice
October –Saturday 6th - Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice

October – Thursday 11th - Taste of Melbourne – Modern Australian Cuisine
October – Saturday 13th - Taste of Melbourne – Modern Australian Cuisine

October – Thursday 18th - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion
October – Saturday 20th - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion

October – Sunday 21st- Mastery in the Kitchen – Stocks, sauces and soups

October – Thursday 25th - French Odyssey – Journey through France
October – Saturday 27th - French Odyssey – Journey through France

November – Thursday 15th - Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice
November – Saturday 17th - Mediterranean – A Touch of Spice

November – Thursday 22rd - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion
November – Saturday 24th - Italianicious – Cooking with Passion

November – Thursday 29th - Taste of Melbourne – Modern Australian Cuisine – Festive celebrations

December – Saturday 1st - Taste of Melbourne – Modern Australian Cuisine – Festive celebrations

December – Thursday 6th - French Odyssey – Journey through France
December – Saturday 8th - French Odyssey – Journey through France

December – Thursday 13th – Italianicious – Cooking with Passion
December – Thursday 20th - Taste of Melbourne – Festive celebrations

December – Saturday 22nd - A Taste of Melbourne – Festive celebrations

Sunday classes are added when the Saturday classes are fully booked