We had a crazy class at Nosh Melting Pot this week where I reminded everyone of the true Vanessa – the incorrigible MasterChef contestant who can’t help but do an entire journey of food in 2 hours.
A perfectionist I may be – but to try to pack so much in – well as Ray McVinnie once said to me – “you can’t do so much Vanessa and get it all perfect!!”
What went exceedingly well were the samples. Food came streaming from the oven to the table and I didn’t spot any crumbs left behind.
The evening commenced with a tasting of the Tart Tatin – a savoury take on the original apple and caramel, this was tomato, thyme, buffalo mozzarella and caramelised onion. The pastry was deliciously golden and the Italian flavours were divine.
Next came a cute chicken and leek cobbler served in a demitasse cup on a saucer. The cobbler was fragrant with thyme and the aroma of leek and sage filled the air.
Then came the hearty main – an individual puff pie, filled with beef, enriched with Guiness, chocolate, pistachios and cranberries. Decadent and delicious!
Not for the faint hearted, was this class as next up was the Banoffi Pie – a deconstructed version based on the constructed one that didn’t quite set. Miniature jars of layered ingredients were topped with grated dark chocolate and spiked with a shard of stem ginger cookie crumb.
A special finale of filo cases filled with a rich lemon curd and topped with a freshly made blueberry jam, completed the pie degustation. That my demo of the fail safe tart tatin became a comedy of errors, only highlighted the issues we can so often face in the kitchen.
Good humour, a fabulous audience who were happy to laugh along and be prepared to be entertained along the journey made the evening a pleasure. If you didn’t make it and would like to take a try at the recipes – here you are….
12193_Vanessa Baxter recipes_v2
