My First Cooking Class at L'Atelier des Chefs

I recently indulged in having a week off work in London, which I was advised by my work colleagues is a 'staycation': a vacation but in your home location.  Basically I had to take some time off work to use up some holiday days, and so deciding not to travel abroad I made some arrangements to do one main thing each day to keep me occupied. When living in such a fantastic cultural city there is an awful lot for one to do, so I had plenty to choose from but I had been meaning to tick a few things off so this provided the opportune moment.

I started the week off with an exhibition at Somerset House celebrating 60 years of Valentino's couture and ended with an exploration of Kensington Palace. The Valentino exhibition was a captivating, engaging showcase of the coutourist's masterpieces, and emphasised the attention to fine detail that made Valentino one of the most compelling designers of our time.  Seeing his work in person was very moving, I'm only saddened by the fact I had none of the ladies in my family to share the experience with.

I took what I learnt from Valentino's passion for fashion to my day two adventure: A three-course French cooking class at L'Atelier des Chefs.  L'Atelier is a cooking school just down the road from where I work at Selfridges which I had passed on numerous occasions. When my staycation arrived I thought what more than a better idea but to go try my skills at a class and boost my knowledge in some French cooking...

 

My class started off with an introduction on how the lesson would pan out; the Chef would guide me through making the three courses from the class I had chosen, assisting in each step of the way. I could then either eat the food I had cooked at the dining table with a glass of wine or I could take it away. No recipe was needed for the class and I was told this would be sent to me within 48 hours of the class (which it was). I was guided downstairs and introduced to my Chef for the class; Satti. Fortunately I was the only one who had booked on to my class so I had the Chef all to myself, so was told to make the most of his expertise!

The lesson consisted of:

• Goats cheese crostini with candied walnuts and salad
• Lyonaise potatoes and l'moutarde chicken
• Chocolate mousse and pistachio and almond toffee

Satti explained what we would be cooking together and briefly how each course would unfold. We started with making the dessert; a homemade chocolate mousse with pistachio and almond nougatine. The moose consisted of two eggs separated, melted dark chocolate, and caster sugar. The mousse was a bit fiddly, having to whisk the whites, then the yolks, add the sugar then fold into each other until smooth, which made for a very sore wrist! And then cool in the fridge. The toffee was then a matter of making it quickly as the sugar and water turns into a caramel and needs cooling time once poured onto a baking tray with the nuts, both items needing cooling so it was only right we completed these first.

We then went straight in to cooking candied walnuts for the goats cheese salad. Satti explained a deep fryer of any sort was the way to go and didn't need to be expensive. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'm not overly into deep frying and have no desire to purchase a machine! The making of the candied walnuts seemed very fussy to me; boil water with sugar and walnuts to precisely 113 degrees, remove the walnuts and drain, then fry in oil heated to 140 degrees until they rise to the surface, remove and drain, leave to cool. Now, for those of you that read LoveBites you know I am all about reasonably quick, efficient and effective food. Candied walnuts does not really fall into that category, however as I was here at the cooking class I embraced the experience.
We then made a costini, using a circular cookie cutter, cut into thick white toast bread and fried. Not really my type of crostini, I prefer the friend French bread type, but this was a interesting change. I then also had to make a dressing of whisked vinegar, mustard and walnut oil which did seem to hurt the hand after so much whisking! It was then a matter of creating a layered crostini, crumbled goats cheese, repeat, garnish with lambs lettuce, sprinkle around the candied walnuts and drizzle with the dressing. Voila! Starter completed and I was able to sit down and eat. This was rich and probably had a bit too much goats cheese but I did enjoy the candied walnuts as a nice accompaniment to the cheese despite the fact they took some TLC to cook!

The next step was to prepare the chicken, sauce potatoes and salad. The chicken was roasted, the potatoes were boiled then sliced, then fried with onions and thyme leaves. The sauce involved sauteing the shallots and garlic, adding white wine, chicken stock, mustards and cream. The salad involved whisking a dressing together in much the same fashion as the dressing for the candied walnuts. To serve we halved the chicken diagonally and placed atop the fried potatoes and doused in the sauce. The salad leaves were tossed with the dressing and served on top of the chicken as garnish.

Needless to say after all this preparation I had pretty much cooked a feast! The chicken and potatoes were bursting with flavour which was emphasised by the sauce and each mouthful was a succulent tender and juicy masterpiece. The dish was once again exceptionally rich and I could only manage half the meal - had to leave some room for dessert! As I tucked straight in to the chilled mousse which was also powerfully rich, I felt like my stomach was going to explode! I managed to finish most of the mousse but felt quite overwhelmed with the richness of every dish.
Each course was tasty in its own right, the main course being my favourite but I do think if I was going to repeat this at home I would need a lighter dessert, or starter as each dish felt very heavy. However this is the style of French cooking and as I had just completed my first French cooking class I could not complain. After this mammoth meal I did not need any dinner but was able to replicate the remainder of the main course for Adam when I got home which he thoroughly enjoyed!

This was a great class, I had a great teacher and a lot of fun, and would definitely recommend going to L'Atelier to anyone. I did in fact enjoy it so much that I went back later in the week for one of their fast lunchtime classes where a friend and I learnt how to cook the perfect steak! I was so impressed with this steak that I ended up buying the Le Creuset grill pan we used shortly after and have been using the finger to palm steak test ever since!

For the recipes I made check out the links below :
Caramelised goats' cheese salad with candied walnuts
Chicken a la moutarde with Lyonnaise potatoes and salad
Chocolate mousse with pistachio and almond nougatine
Rump steak sandwich with truffle mayonnaise and rocket salad

On a Side Note...

I have been perusing some of the tastes of London in the past couple of weeks, which seemingly has been in a lot of pubs!

Adam and I recently attended the Prince of Wales pub on Lillie Road in West Brompton - which looks slightly glamourous from the outside and appeals with its sign stating 'beer garden out the back'.
Henceforth as it was a rather sunny afternoon and we had only just arisen from a large night out we decided to try this food quarter out. The menus appealed and looked nicely presented. I was after mushrooms and tomatoes (one of those hangover cravings) and decided on the fully cooked breakfast (although I was rather tempted for the roast). Adam went for a good English pub classic; Bangers and Mash, and we sat outside in the sunshine eagerly awaiting our food. My mid afternoon breakfast arrived complete with eggs, baked beans (slowly becoming a fan of though I hate to admit it), one soggy hash brown, two pieces of extremely well buttered white toast (ugh!) and a horrid sausage with one rash of bacon, SANS mushrooms or tomatoes... which is why I chose the meal in the first place! I was mortified and asked the waiter where the rest of the meal was - he shrugged his shoulders and went to ask the chef - he then came back with a boiled half tomato and said they were out of mushrooms. In my hangover state I was not happy but ate the meal with disgust as I needed something to fill the itching in my stomach.

I was left feeling I would have rather got the roast having it been better value for money especially if they didn't have the two items on the plate that I was wanting... damn waiter should have said something.  Adams bangers were not banging as such, but very processed and the gravy was average - potato was tasty though.

So all in all - Prince of Wales - you suck - too costly for both meals for a rubbish job! Sort your bangers out!

We also recently Guanabana restaurant in Camden for my birthday dinner where Jerk Chicken and Goat Curry were devoured. Jerk Chicken - absolutely delightful and many of us struggled to eat the whole thing, the Goat Curry on the other hand tasted similar to lamb and looked like goat poo. See pictures below!

One more thing to note... our lovely friends who live in a Munster Road abode invited a group of us to the local pub The Durrell (featured in my First Roast Experience). On a pleasant Sunday evening the group of 10 of us devoured x8 Chicken Roasts (you get a half) x1 Lamb Roast (I finally managed to fulfill my craving for one) and x1 Tuna Steak (non-roast). We were graced with four whole chickens in which two men took up the role of carving them in half. A few massive plates of roast potatoes, brocolli, parsnip, carrots and a huge yorkshire pudding each. To top this off, our friends had a 50% off card which made the roast £6.50 each!

The Durrell and Munster Road Flat = You rock my socks off. We shall return again with more board game playing and plenty more roasts.

Delish!