Italian Cookery School – La Cucina Caldesi
Posted: 11 September '09 by Kelly
La Cucina Caldesi
Niall and I are always debating what our favourite foods are and I have to say mine has to be Italian, I just LOVE it. Italian cooking is very difficult to pin down though – almost every city and town has its specialties, and there are regional trends too. The end result is a huge number of local cuisines rather than a single national cuisine. That is why I think I love it so much, there is so much to choose from that you never get bored.
For Niall’s birthday I decided to take him to an Italian Cookery school in London (not that he needs the experience!!). La Cucina Caldesi in Marlyebone is the only Italian cookery school in London and it has lots of different courses that will suit everyone. We decided to do the ‘Saturday Night Italian’ Course with chef Stefano Borella.
When we arrived to be honest I was feeling slightly nervous – I’m the “Dessert Queen” (Niall’s words, not mine) in our house and I never usually cook a main course. As soon as we arrived though all my nerves went away as we were warmly greeted by chef Stefano, handed our Caldesi aprons, and given the all-important menu.
To both our delights we were going to be cooking rocket salad with char-grilled and marinated peppers and roasted goats’ cheese. Seafood Fregola followed, and the meal was rounded-off by meringue nests with summer fruits and chantilly cream. One thing though, what is Fregola?? Thankfully it wasn’t just me that didn’t know what it was. It is a form of pasta that is used mostly in Sardinia and is kind of like Couscous (both fregola and couscous are fine beads of semolina pasta).
As people drifted in we started by getting to know each other – the people in the class came from all over the world, from England to as far afield as America and Australia. We all had an interest in cooking and eating which made the introductions and small-talk that much easier.
Chef Stefano ran through the menu with us and then gave everyone in the class a job to do. My job was to chop the VERY HOT chillies and Niall got the easier job (although I’m sure he would disagree) of chopping the herbs…… We even got to use the blow-torch to brown the top of the goats cheese which was pretty fun. Chef Stefano showed us how to make a wonderful stock for the Seafood Fregola which was so tasty and surprisingly simple to do. We then set about making the meringue nests with summer fruits and chantilly cream which was superb. My meringue was an interesting shape…. although it worked out great because it ended up the biggest (not that I deliberately made it that way, I swear!!)
The atmosphere was really relaxed and everyone had great fun preparing the meal. Once everything was ready we all sat down together with a few glasses of wine and got tucked into the food. It was fantastic, i loved the starter in particular but I couldn’t fault any of the courses – they were delicious.
Niall and I were the last to leave as we chatted away to Chef Stefano about food, working in the London food scene (particularly about the high-profile restaurants in which he has – the Savoy and Churchill, as well as Caldesi), and football (Chef Stefano is a Charlton supporter.. it takes all sorts I guess).
I would definitely recommend La Cucina Caldesi for an alternative night out. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday evening – we met some really nice people, ate some great food, and we learned a lot from Chef Stefano who was a great tutor.
There are a whole range of different courses, from wine-tasting courses, to Saturday night cookery classes, to 7 week Italian cookery courses – and we’re already looking online to see what course we can book next!
You can view the slideshow hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5
Other Information
Our Saturday Night Italian Cookery Class cost just over £90 per person.
La Cucina Caldesi
118 Marylebone Lane
London, W1U 2QF
Tel: 0207 487 0750/6/8
Fax: 0207 935 8832
w: www.caldesi.com/la-cucina-caldesi/
e: lacucina@caldesi.com
You can also see La Cucina Caldesi on Google Maps
Categories: England > Restaurant Reviews > United Kingdom
