Food has been huge during lockdown, especially online.
You can learn a range of skills and new dishes from the comfort of your own kitchen.
Celebrity chefs are sharing recipes; charities are drumming up (much needed) donations by holding ticketed recipe demonstrations; food magazine writers are offering Q and A sessions and there’s an endless list of tasty podcasts.
I’ve even been teaching classes on Facebook Live with my nine year old daughter as my sous chef, teaching her classmates and mums how to make their Shabbat challah.
Here are a few places you can join the online banquet:
It’s for charity:
Ed Shaerf for Grief Encounter
Kosher caterer, Ed Shaerf, will be cooking up a three course meal to raise funds. For a minimum donation of £26 — the amount needed to fund one hour of online counselling — you will receive a complete list of ingredients and utensils needed to cook with him. On the night you’ll cook your meal ready to eat at 8pm.
On the menu: sweetcorn fritters with a sweet chilli dip; Asian-inspired fragrant chicken salad and a hot chocolate pudding.
When: 25th June at 7pm for one hour of live cooking, at the end of which you'll sit down to three courses.
Where: Zoom with up to 500 other households. You will all be muted, but there will be tech support and recipe support available. To sign up, visit Grief Encounter’s Facebook or Instagram pages or visit their website.
Live Lessons:
Denise Phillips
The Jewish Cookery founder has been teaching live lessons twice a week since lockdown started. Her recipes are short and snappy and take no longer than 25 minutes.
On the menu: A range of dishes from her Jewish Cookery collection. Recent recipes have included pita bread; meat strudel; cannellini bean puree with wild mushrooms and chicken tagine.
When: Tuesdays at 11am for Junior chefs and Fridays at 2pm for grown-ups.
Where: Find her on Facebook Live – on her personal page.
Nicole Freeman – The Kid’s Kitchen
Nicole started lockdown offering free lessons to children and their families. Her tried and tested recipes from the cookery school inspired by her fussy pot son have been going down a storm with a loyal following. She now offers one free lesson a week plus a second one as part of her (paid for) cookery club.
On the menu: Plenty of family-friendly recipes that have included rainbow cupcakes; ‘nice’ cream (a healthy fruit-filled option) and homemade cones; porridge bread and butternut bhajis; crumble and pizza.
When: free class 2.30pm on Wednesdays
Where: Facebook Live – The Kid’s Kitchen page.
Extra helpings: She has also shared a series of videos teaching us how to make sourdough and is responsible for my sourdough success.
Robinne Collie - U-Foodie
Cookery teacher, Collie, has taken her classes online with weekly group sessions. You can join a class or set up your own group (for a higher fee) and have a personalised lesson.
On the menu: Sushi rolling and poke bowls have been popular, as have her pizza party class.
When: Saturdays at 4pm but other times are available. See her website for info.
Where: Zoom – details available once the class has been booked along with ingredients you’ll need.
Tracey Fine
Fine is all about healthy eating. As one half of the Jewish Princesses she has a wealth of haimish cooking experience. Now she’s all about nutrition, having studied for a diploma at Leiths’ School of Food and Wine. She has a menu of healthy, but super tasty options.
On the menu: Poached lemon chicken salad; roasted aubergines with pomegranate and tahina; homemade pesto; Thai noodles; roasted pepper salad and fig tart.
Where: Zoom – details and food/equipment list available on signing up. Classes are a very reasonable £7.
When: Mondays at 5pm – sign up in advance by contacting her via either her Facebook page or her Grumpy Gut Facebook page.
Also look out for:
Quick Healthy Family Meals
Judianne Jayson has been sharing her healthy family meal ideas for some time. During lockdown she was putting some really helpful weekly meal plans out there, and has now ventured into live cook-a-longs. The next one – scheduled for Sunday June 28 – includes tacos; pea soup and bruschetta as part of a meal plan. It’s £15 bookable via her website.
Cookery School
With their Central London premises currently out of bounds for classes, Rosalind Rathouse and her team have taken to the net to deliver classes. The recipes change weekly but have included quick breads; cupcake (for Father’s Day); souffles and salads as well as sweet and fancy breads. This week's menu has tinned tomato inspiration and a class on puff pastry. Classes are £20 and bookable via their website.
INSTAGRAM:
Honey & Co
My absolute favourite husband and wife chef duo were left twiddling their thumbs at the start of lockdown so put those digits to use, hosting cook-a-longs on their Insta page. Watch them bake up a storm and learn how to master delicious treats including their marunchino (almond biscuits) and tahini chocolate ice cream cookies! They are busy cooking for their Honey and Spice deli now but the sessions are still up on their Instagram stories.
PODCASTS:
Table Manners – Jessie Ware and mother, Lennie Ware have been hosting this podcast for years. They cook for a celeb and chat to them while eating. Lockdown means they’ve been forced to interview their guests remotely, but it still makes for entertaining listening.
In for Lunch — Jay Rayner’s Out to Lunch podcast has been rebranded during the pandemic. Instead of chatting to a famous guest over a swanky meal, he now sends them a takeaway and the pair eat in their respective homes.
The Food Programme — if you love eating this is your listen. The Radio 4 show covers all areas of eating from farm to fork and everything in between. An interesting listen.
Simple Pleasures — if you’ve not discovered this short series of meals with Yotam Ottolenghi, you need to. It’s like sitting in his kitchen with him – well you almost are!
