News headlines

New dates for 2013 see "diary dates" page

Contact Lindy on 01989 562353 or email g2club@hotmail.com for details and bookings 

News Flash

NEW DATES ANNOUNCED FOR LINDY'S COURSES AT DENMAN WI COLLEGE : JULY 2013 THROUGH TO APRIL 2014

http://www.denman.org.uk/courses/results?q=lindy+wildsmith&page=1

This is a quote from coverage generated in the Netherlands for Culy.nl  by Lisolotte Legebeke, Editor or www.Culy.nl  

“The Chef's Room in Blaenavon was this year awarded the title "Best cookery school in Wales” and is a very nice addition to your visit to Wales. “Culy” attended an afternoon tea workshop with Lindy Wildsmith and made the best scones ever, the traditional bara brith which is a loaf cum cake with raisins and candied fruit spread with a thick layer of butter, Welsh Cakes, soda bread and potted crab, while enjoying a glass of bubbly.

The workshop was extremely valuable and especially fun to do. Afterwards we enjoyed all the delicacies we had baked.

Other News

The Chef’s Room named Best Welsh Cookery School 2012

The Chef’s Room Fish and Cookery School has beaten two other top Welsh cookery schools to win the accolade of Best Welsh Cookery School at the British Cookery School Awards.

Lindy picked up her trophy at the awards event which took place at the Vintners’ Company in the heart of the City of London, hosted by BBC Radio 2’s food and drink presenter Nigel Barden.

Nigel Barden, head judge of the British Cookery School Awards which is headline sponsored by Kenwood said: “For this category we were looking for an all-round cookery school success story, and the winner had to have that extra special something which makes it the crème de la crème of cookery schools in Wales.

“The Chef’s Room is at the heart of an area where there are many deprived communities and it recognises the need to provide support for local people and schools.  Lindy and Franco’s combined experience and vision, has ensured the school is a success, even though it is off the beaten track, which made it a worthy winner.” 

Lindy added: “We were up against the best of the best in Wales, so to win this award is a real honour.  Our country now has such a high calibre of cookery schools which we should be extremely proud of.  The level of skills and teaching within Wales is on a par with the top cookery schools in the world so it was excellent to see that the British Cookery School Awards had a dedicated Welsh category.”

With more than 250 cookery schools now operating in the UK, The British Cookery School Awards were set up this year to honour all those excellent cookery schools that go above and beyond to deliver a first class cookery school experience.  The awards aim to celebrate the important role that cookery schools play in driving Britain’s passion for cooking good, homemade food.

Alex Mackay in The Chef’s Room

French Classics

Raymond Blanc has written that Alex Mackay is “more French than a Frenchman” and that he is “A Provencal Gourmet in a former life.” His first book, Cooking in Provence is testament to this and shows how at home he is in France and his new book Everybody Everyday shows how at home he is teaching home cooks. He has worked in Burgundy, the Loire Valley, in the Alps of Courcheval and ran his cookery school, “Le Baou d’Infer” for six years in Provence. During this time he travelled and ate extensively in the areas he lived in and all over France. Delia Smith says “It is a privilege to watch Alex cook” - it is also a lot of fun to join in. So come and join us for a day of cooking, eating and cherishing the classics from across the channel. 

Saturday 20^th April 2013 - £90/head – starts at 10.30am.  Bookings : 01989 562353

G2 club at home is back

Well known local cook and food writer Lindy Wildsmith ran the G2 club, a monthly demonstration based cookery club in Ross for many years at both the Wilton Court and Orles Barn hotels is back in business in Ross-on-Wye. The new G2 at home will be based on bespoke cooking sessions specialising in one to ones and very small groups of home cooks looking to gain confidence or to build on their already competent skills. Lindy says she can design the content of the cooking days around individual needs. Lindy also offers tuition for teachers and professionals looking to widen their repertoire or wanting to specialise in a particular field.

Lindy has a very busy schedule over and above her new venture; she runs the Chef’s Room fish and cookery school in Blaenavon where she teaches with Franco Taruschio, founder of the legendary Walnut Tree. She also hosts regular residential courses at Denman, the National WI Centre near Abingdon and creates recipes for their magazine. She has recently finished translating a new Italian lifestyle cookery book “Love Italy” into English and is currently writing a book on Italian food to share. Her last book “Cured: salted, spiced, dried, smoked, potted, pickled, raw was short listed in 2011 for both the Andre’ Simon and Guild of Food Writer’s cookery book of the year.

Why then this new venture? Lindy says “the diet of cookery programmes we are being fed on the television is transforming cooking into a spectator pastime. Simple achievable home cooking is being snubbed in favour of sophisticated chef’s fare resulting in the belief that a sophisticated ready meal is more acceptable than everyday home cooking. The importance of eating freshly cooked ingredients cannot be over emphasised. Sitting at a table enjoying home fare with your family and friends, eating home prepared food is one of the greatest pleasures in life.”

Lindy, who has lived in Ross since 1984 has recently given her kitchen a complete make-over with the help of local bespoke kitchen makers, Taylor Made by Stanton of Longhope and J&J builders of Newent. It was specially designed for teaching small hands-on classes as well as use as an experimental and domestic kitchen. She says “Replacing a kitchen is always a huge task as it is the hub of the home as well as my work place but with Tom Taylor, Jeremy Stanton and their team’s help the project was remarkably trouble free. The natural slate, marble and contemporary high gloss finish is sleek and practical and it is a pleasure to work in.”

Recently G2 at home opened its doors to Linda Lord who spent the day with Lindy cooking “Simple recipes for healthy eating.” The dishes for the Simple recipes for healthy eating class were predominantly fish based as Linda was nervous about trying different types of fish. It was a bit of a baptism of fire; the class included griddled swordfish with Mediterranean vegetables and salsa verde, monkfish and scallop skewers with crispy breadcrumbs, homemade tomato sauce with pasta, a chicken, potato and green bean dish and a seasonal salad with brown shrimp.

For more information about G2 cooking at home; from one to one confidence building cooking to lunch party cooking with friends email or to discuss individual needs email g2club@hotmail.com or phone 01989 562353 or for her other activities please visit www.lindywildsmith.co.uk or www.thechefsroom.co.uk

Lindy speaks at The Foodie Bugle Lectures at Thyme at Southrop Manor Estate

by Silvana de Souissons  http://thefoodiebugle.com/author/2

The second in the series of The Foodie Bugle Lectures was once again hosted in the beautiful Tithe Barn of Thyme At Southrop Manor Estate near Lechlade in Gloucestershire. Food lovers, writers, artisans, producers, food and drink entrepreneurs, PR agents, cookery teachers, bloggers and photographers gathered to listen to seven outstanding speakers tell the story of their life and work.

Lindy Wildsmith Lecture

Lindy shocked us all when she told us that she had failed her cookery “O” level! She went to Art College after school and went to stay in Bologna as part of her studies. There she stayed with an Italian family where the Mamma, in a tiny kitchen, produced the most delicious food. Lindy fell in love with the Italian way of life and eventually found herself as a PA to Valentino. She left Italy to return to the UK and decided that she wanted to write a cookbook. She wrote a synopsis and found herself rejected by many different publishing houses.

Eventually Aurum Press published her first book which was called “Tutta Pasta” and after it was published Lindy found herself receiving the very first copy through the post. As she opened the envelope, she told the audience, she was mortified because the book had the ugliest cover she had ever seen in her life, and to this day is still very ashamed of it. Nevertheless, her writing career was launched and she then wrote for Conde Nast and many different food and lifestyle magazines, including House and Garden.

Lindy talked us through the complex world of food writing, publishing, royalties, payments, translations and rights. She is delighted that Larousse has bought her latest book “Cured”, published by Jacqui Small, which has been translated into French.

During the lecture we came to see the importance of confidence and instinct in cookery. “God gave you a nose so that you can smell if food is good or bad”, she said, referring to the absurdity of people throwing food away just because a thin layer of mould has formed on a cheese. We discussed how the Italian Mamme are no longer at home, yet Italian families still eat well.

Lindy is an incredibly busy and prolific writer and cookery teacher and despite her busy schedule she is working on a new book all about artisan drinks and Cicheti, the Venetian snacks {similar to Spanish tapas}.

Events

Dates to be announced

Up-coming courses

February 2^nd Saturday - Chocolate Rush - Lindy Wildsmith and Pam Killick

Make triple chocolate muffins, Italian chocolate torte and a chocolate profiterole mountain while your chocolate laced coq au vin cooks oh-so-slowly in the oven for lunch. After lunch enjoy a chocolate making session with chocolate expert Pam Killick of Chocs Away chocolate workshop (www.chocsparty.com).  Learn various tips and tachniques so you can reproduce professional tasting and looking chocolates at home. You will learn how to temper chocolate ready for use in enrobing different flavoured truffles - vanilla cream, madeira cake ganache balls and a soft fudge. Fill little chocolate pots with creamy ganache and top with your own decoration - once described as 'a little chocolate pot of heaven'. These will all be packaged beautifully ready to take away.

£90, 10am – 3.30pm

**NEW DATE**  FEBUARY 7^TH THURSDAY – FISH BASICS – FRANCO TARUSCHIO

If you are unsure of which fish to choose and how to prepare and cook it, this course is for you. Vin Sullivan’s award winning fishmonger Johnny Jenkins will be on hand to show you how to fillet and skin a number of fish. Franco will take you through a delicious menu of fish dishes that you can prepare at home and you can stock up on some fresh fish at our shop before going home. Dishes include soused herring or mackerel, goujonette of cod with chilli sauce and salmon with rhubarb and ginger.

£80, 10am – 3pm

February 16^th Saturday - Pasta, Risotto, and Gnocchi - Franco Taruschio

Learn to make fresh pasta and potato gnocchi and the sauces to go with them and a basic risotto recipe from the master. It is all too easy these days to buy readymade pasta and gnocchi but once you have sampled the real thing you will want to make them yourselves at home.

£80, 10am – 3pm

February 22^nd Friday - Tuscan Kitchen - Lindy Wildsmith

Tuscany is a land of green rolling hills burgeoning with plenty. Spring is on its way and nowhere is this more evident than at the kitchen table when rich pickings of fruit and vegetables arrive to be transformed into traditional fare. Make crostini of chopped chicken liver, classic minestrone with fagioli and the season’s vegetables, Tuscan chicken with sage, fennel and prosciutto and ricciarelli biscuits.

£80, 10am – 3pm

Spoil yourself or give the perfect gift by linking this with Far Eastern Street Food (below) and save £20 or even better make a weekend of it and stay over – see our accommodation recommendations.

February 23^rd Saturday - Far Eastern Street Food - Shaun Naen

An exotic gift for the cook who has everything. Shaun is a regular guest chef at the Chef’s Room. He is a charismatic teacher with a profound knowledge and understanding of Asian ingredients and techniques. He is a native of Malaysia who trained as a professional chef here in the UK. He worked himself around the world and settled in Cheltenham where he is now head chef at Gloucestershire College. This chef led master class will be an introduction to the street food of Asia to include Malaysian curry puffs and fish parcels.

£90, starts at 10am

Link with Tuscan Kitchen see above. This is a red letter day!