With Christmas fast approaching, the Waitrose & Partners cookery schools are on hand to ensure that your festive season is full of tasty treats and to help with any Christmas culinary conundrums.
Whether it’s getting to grips with the main Christmas lunch, getting savvy with Christmas baking or creating edible gifts for the first time, the Waitrose cookery schools, two in London and one in Salisbury, are running a range of festive themed courses to help you get ready for the season ahead.
Five hour daytime courses:
· Italian Christmas – learn to cook a seafood risotto, salt baked sea bream with roast potatoes, a Christmas caponata, salsa verde, caramelised clementines, and a chestnut hazelnut and chocolate torte
· Festive Italian Patisserie (Pasticcera) – create delicious pastry treats such as Baci di dame, Date and walnut ricciarelli, Festive panforte and a Torta della nonna
· The Main Event – ensure that Christmas lunch goes without a hitch by perfecting a maple brined turkey, crunchy roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce and homemade gravy
· The Main Event: Fish – if you opt for a seafood spread this Christmas, master fritto misto and purple sprouting broccoli salad, oysters with a thermidor sauce and coulibiac with a fragrant saffron sauce
· Edible Gifts – impress friends and family with a homemade edible present this Christmas. Learn how to create treats including rosemary sea salt caramels, cheddar and pink peppercorn biscuits, tomato, mustard seed and cumin chutney and peppermint hot chocolate mix and homemade marshmallows
· Christmas Baking – nothing says Christmas more than a festive bake so master the kougelhopf with orange blossom and brandy, a gingerbread loaf with orange ginger glaze and maple and pecan sticky cinnamon buns
· Christmas Afternoon Tea – whip up a classic afternoon tea over Christmas with winter berry roll cake, chocolate & orange mousse and a gingerbread Bakewell tart
· Scandinavian Christmas – a Scandi themed seasonal spread including salt-baked beetroot with bream, slow-cooked pork with hasselback celeriac and apple and almond bundt cake
· Festive Fine Dining (at Finchley Road) – pull out all the stops this Christmas by mastering lobster thermidor with fennel & crab salad and roast venison with medjool dates, buttered root vegetables, red wine and chocolate jus. Finish with a gingerbread ice-parfait with rum roasted pineapple
· Molecular Christmas – this six hour course helps you create a spread of Cornish crab with celeriac and apple caviar, roast duck with parsnip and juniper snow and a chocolate cremeux with spiced orange
· Vegan Christmas – for vegan guests whip up caramelised onion and hazelnut wellington, cheesy’ roast cauliflower, with gravy, roast potatoes and all the trimmings and finish with a chocolate pudding with salted nougatine and chocolate soil
Two hour courses:
· Couple’s Kitchen: Christmas Edition- partner up and learn how to roast guinea fowl, cook mashed swede & celeriac purée, seasonal greens and pickled cranberries along with decadent dark chocolate tart with Kirsch ice cream
· Christmas Cocktails & Canapes- stir up Christmas with a cocktail and a scrummy canapé. Perfect a chocolate orange negroni, a sugar plum fairy and a black forest martini, all with matching nibbles
Two hour recipe courses:
Learn how to create these classic Christmas recipes:
· Gingerbread Yule Log
· Festive Cheese & Wine
· Festive Wine & Small Plates
· Chocolate Truffles and Mince Pies
· Cake Decorating
· Mince Pie Souffle
· Churros and Hot Chocolate (1.5hrs)
· Festive Eclairs
To book onto a Christmas course visit www.waitrose,com/cookeryschool prices start from £50. Alternatively, gift a Waitrose & Partners Cookery School gift card for a loved one this Christmas.
