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Gennaro Contaldo

May 30, 2016

The New Jamie Oliver Cookery School at Westfield, London

Hello, Happy Bank Holiday Monday!

It’s hard to believe that five years have flown by since I last took a fresh pasta class. Given that it had been quite so long, I jumped at the chance recently of brushing up my fresh pasta skills with the ‘pasta master’ himself, Gennaro Contaldo, ahead of the official opening of the brand new Jamie Oliver Cookery School within Jamie’s Italian at Westfield.

Jamie Oliver Cookery School

As you can imagine, with Gennaro as our tutor, there were lots of laughs and the evening whizzed by with great hilarity. Some of the regular Jamie’s Italian diners were also taken by surprise as they saw Gennaro and Jamie walking through the restaurant to greet a team of instagrammers!

Jamie Oliver and Gennaro Contaldo

Gennaro and Jamie by Giulia Mulè with permission

The new school is spaciously set out within a self-contained area towards the back of the existing Jamie’s Italian restaurant – which has its own space just across from Debenhams. I had eaten at the Westfield London Jamie’s before and whilst I had been as far as the open kitchens towards the back of the restaurant for a nosey, I was quite surprised that there was even more space beyond the kitchen where the new cookery school has been established. I really like the location – it’s great that you can be out at Westfield having a bite to eat or a shop, before popping along to a cookery class for a couple of hours.

Within the cookery school, there are two main teaching areas as well as a bar and a separate seating area where students can sit after the class and eat their creations. Our lesson took place in a bright, airy room with big windows overlooking Wood Lane. The second kitchen teaching area is within the centre of the school. It is very much kitted out in trademark Jamie Oliver style with plenty of Jamie tea-towels and books on display, funky chairs and fresh flowers. All the work stations are well-equipped and fitted out with ovens and induction hobs and everything you need to take part in a class, including aprons. Lessons are ‘designed to be informative and hands on, but easy-going so you can enjoy yourself while you learn.’

PASTA MASTER

During the ‘Pasta Master’ taster we watched Gennaro make and fill some fresh pasta before knocking up some quick and tasty sauces in real-time. Then we rolled up our sleeves and had a go at making and filling pasta ourselves. We used plenty of fresh ingredients for the filling, including peas, ricotta, fresh herbs and Parmesan. To make the sauces, we used a little olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes and herbs and some of us made a sage and butter sauce, too. All very simple and achievable to recreate at home. Gennaro advised that fresh tomatoes should always be left out at room temperature to ripen and shouldn’t be stored in the fridge.

Gennaro Contaldo

COOKING WITH KIDS

Since it’s half term this week and with the summer holidays only a few weeks away, you could also book a couple of places for the kids to take part in a class. Children have to be 7 -14 years old to take part and one adult is required to stay and supervise up to 2 children. The Unbeatable Pasta Class is £30 per child, the Junior Sushi Master is £35 and Pizza for Kids is just £25 for a 2-hour class.

LESSONS

Over all there is a good range of courses and all the tutors are trained chefs. Classes are really well priced (approx. £40 for a class) and I think a 2-3 hour lesson is much less daunting that signing up for a whole day course at a school that could be tricky to find or get to – although there are a couple of full-day classes, such as the Ultimate Knife Skills Masterclass if you want to get stuck in for longer. The cookery school can also host birthdays, hen parties, kids’ parties and corporate events.

There are lots more classes I’d love to take – a Mexican Street Food Feast, A Taste of Japan, and the South Indian Prawn Curry class are all on my wish-list. The Showstopping Beef Wellington Class seems to have been really popular on social media this week – gift vouchers would make for a great present…particularly as Father’s Day approaches. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see a Modern Polish cookery class amongst the lessons on offer one day!

JO_2 (1 of 16)

  • The Jamie Oliver Cookery School
    Jamie’s Italian
    1078, Westfield London,
    Westfield Shopping Centre, Ariel Way,
    Shepherd’s Bush,
    London W12 7GB

  • The cookery school is situated within the Jamie’s Italian Restaurant at Westfield

  • Follow the cookery school team on Twitter @JOCookerySchool
  • There are lots of fresh pasta recipes here on JamieOliver.com 

I attended the class as a guest for a preview evening ahead of the official launch of the school – with many thanks for the invitation. This is an unpaid/editorial post. 

November 18, 2013

Pheasant Masterclass

A seasonal pheasant masterclass

Pheasant
Andy Appleton’s Cornish Inspired Pheasant

It was all things pleasant and pheasant inside the Fifteen training kitchen last Tuesday evening. I must have been reasonably well-behaved at the last blogger’s supper at Jamie Oliver HQ, to receive a second invitation, this time to a pheasant masterclass with Jon Rotheram (Head Chef Fifteen London), Andy Appleton (Head Chef Fifteen Cornwall) and needs-no-intro, Gennaro Contaldo. Very rarely do you get the chance to watch three great chefs at work at close call and so when the invitation arrived to celebrate British game, I was intrigued and immediately hungry.

Fifteen Training KitchenBritish game is in season right now and the JamieOliver.com team were keen to cast away any game-related fears and open our eyes and our taste buds to some great British pheasant; wild, naturally organic and free range. I recently visited Borough Market in London, where I saw plenty of pheasant and rabbit on offer. I confess to wandering straight past it without giving it much thought. And that’s what many of us do; walk straight past it, perhaps at the butchers or in the shops, which means that so much game is being shot and then wasted.

Many of us are also quick to dismiss game, perhaps because of fears that the meat may taste too ‘gamey’ or simply because we don’t really know what to do with it or how to cook it. Happily, the pheasant masterclass did much to dispel many of my previously held misconceptions and I now have a better idea of flavour combinations that I know will work. I learnt that game works with many well-known flavours; chilli, garlic, fresh herbs, such as rosemary and thyme, or sweet and sour combinations, such as a sprinkling of raisins steeped in balsamic vinegar, or a red wine reduction spiked with cinnamon – as showcased within the three dishes we tried. Whilst the breasts need hardly any cooking at all, the legs benefit most from being slow-cooked.

A pheasant masterclass at Jamie Oliver HQ
Gennaro Contaldo demonstrates his pheasant dish

First to cook for the intimate crowd of hungry food bloggers was Gennaro Contaldo; the man noted for mentoring and now business-partnering with Jamie Oliver – soon to return to our screens as one half of the Two Greedy Italians. I adored watching Gennaro and Antonio Carluccio as they foraged, cooked and ate their way around Italy and can’t wait for them to reunite in the third series. As animated and exuberant as he is on-camera, Gennaro invoked his deep-rooted love for hunting, foraging and simple food, inspired by his childhood in Italy. Gennaro is most at home when cooking with game and he was quick to thank and credit Jim, Jamie’s Website Editor, for shooting the birds in Essex ahead of the masterclass.

A quick quip about ‘Essex Birds’ ensued, whilst Gennaro prepared a side dish of sliced potatoes, de-seeded tomatoes, salt, oregano and olive oil for the oven, called Patata Arragante. We were then shown how to remove the breasts from the bird, ready to be flattened out and seasoned up with rosemary, sea salt, garlic and chilli. The pheasant was quickly pan-fried in a very hot pan. The only extra ingredient needed was a splash of good-quality white wine to deglaze the pan and to create a little sauce. As he served up his homely and rustic dish, Gennaro humbly added:

“When I am 100 years old, you can call me a chef!”

Gennaro’s top tip:

Use a ceramic bowl, with just a little olive oil rubbed into the bottom, to push down the pheasant once it hits the pan. This helps the chilli and fresh herbs to penetrate the meat. You can use whatever you have to hand – a brick will even work fine!

We quite literally devoured Gennaro’s dish and it was a huge privilege to taste his flavour-charged yet uncomplicated food first hand.

Pheasant Masterclass (12 of 26)
Gennaro’s Flavour Packed Dish

Next to cook for the group was Jon Rotheram, whom some of us had met at the previous supper club above the restaurant itself. Jon showcased an example of the sort of dish he happily cooks at Fifteen, always ensuring that he maximises the bird. Jon said that he always makes use of the legs and the breast and that he very often pan-fries the hearts. He also made a pork and pheasant sausage from the offcuts. Jon served his pheasant and sausage with kale (cooked in the same pan that he’d roasted the bird and cooked the sausage in), onions that had been slow-roasted overnight in a low oven, game chips, pickled quince and a smooth and very moreish bread sauce.

Jon’s top tip:

Ask the butcher or your local game supplier for pheasant hens, as they have a little more fat on them. Jon prefers his game to have a shorter hanging time (up to a week), but to be hung with the guts in to improve the flavour of the meat.

A pheasant masterclass with Jon Rotheram
Next to cook, Jon Rotheram, Fifteen London

Third to the stove was Andy Appleton, who had travelled all the way from his kitchen at Fifteen Cornwall to impress us with his dish of pheasant with Cornish squash, fresh thyme, cherry tomatoes and chestnut caponata. Andy’s cooking is largely inspired by the Italian kitchen and his flavours were equally stunning. Andy had soaked some raisins in balsamic vinegar and also pan-roasted his pheasant on the crown to keep the flavour in. He also made a red wine and cinnamon jus.

Andy’s top tip:

Game goes really well with sweet and sour flavours, so try some fruity sauces, or add some raising seeped in Balsamic vinegar to your finished dish.

Pheasant Masterclass
Andy Appleton, Fifteen Cornwall

As if we needed any additional treats, Jamie’s editorial team had also set out some fine cheeses, pâté, fresh sourdough and rye bread and charcuterie with plenty of red wine to accompany our pheasant-led feast. Of course, the ladies flocked around Gennaro, catching a few shots for our photograph albums, whilst Gennaro shared his personal iPhone albums of seasonal chestnut and mushroom hunting with his family. I think we can safely say that we left with a warm glow, eager and more confident in experimenting with some game recipes during the season and in particular, over the Christmas period ourselves at home.

JO4
Left – Leyla Kazim, Top – Jim Tanfield, Gennaro and me!

If you are looking for some game recipes to inspire you, look no further than Jamie’s selection here. Likewise, there is a great scast of Christmas recipes on offer to inspire you over on JamieOliver.com, too.

Jamie's Book Shelf
Inspiration in the Fifteen Training Kitchen

Where to buy pheasant and game

I spotted plenty of pheasants at Borough Market recently. More locally in Hertfordshire, I can recommend my local butcher, A&C Meats. I also read an article on The Foodie Bugle recently using produce from The Wild Meat Company, although I’ve yet to try their service. Game, including venison, rabbit, quail, partridge, pheasant and grouse is also becoming more widely available through supermarkets. The pheasant season usually runs from October to April.

For more hints and tips, search the hashtag #pheasantmasterclass on Twitter or follow the team on @JamieOliverCom

Other #PheasantMasterclass posts

Leyla  – The Cutlery Chronicles

Annie – Mamasaurus

Rachel – The Food I Eat

You can also catch my weekly blog for JamieOliver.com here.

With many thanks to Jim, Merlin, Subi, Jon, Andy and Gennaro for the invitation to join them for the evening for the pheasant masterclass. All thoughts and opinions my own.

July 18, 2013

Gennaro's Italian Sponge

Gennaro’s Italian Sponge Cake Recipe

I don’t know about you, but I love my local Italian deli. They’ve been in business for 35 years and are a great example of a local family-run business with a strong customer focus and a great presence in the city of St Albans – joining in with the St Albans Food Festival, fetes and fairs. I buy all my seasonal produce from my deli, Italian ’00’ flour for pasta and baking, fresh cheeses (including local cheeses) and Italian antipasti.

Bertolli are running their second annual Bertolli Spread Olive D’Oro Awards and they have asked me to share a competition with you – if you vote for your favourite deli over on their site you could be in with a chance of winning a holiday to Palma, Italy.  In return, I have a wonderful Italian Sponge Cake recipe to share by Jamie’s mentor Gennaro Contaldo – called a Torta Paradiso.

There are six categories within the competiton-

  • Best Deli Café
  • Best Deli Store Cupboard
  • Best Family-Run Deli
  • Best Produce
  • Best Deli Dish
  • Best Customer Service

See the details below the recipe or the Bertolli UK website for more information on where to vote.

Gennaro's Italian Sponge
Image courtesy of Bertolli

Torta Paradiso (Italian sponge cake with a creamy filling)

This is a traditional Italian sponge cake, sometimes known as Torta Margherita.  Over time, it has evolved and a creamy filling is sometimes added. It makes a wonderfully rich and creamy cake which is perfect to enjoy for dessert or for afternoon tea.  Using Bertolli Spread simultaneously gives both the cake and filling the creaminess it deserves and makes it lighter and healthier for all to enjoy! 

Servings: 6-8

Sponge

  • 4 x eggs, separated
  • 200 g Bertolli Spread & extra for greasing
  • 200 g sugar
  • 150 g plain flour
  • 50 g cornflour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 x sachet vanilla powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • Zest of 1 x lemon
  • Sifted icing sugar

1 x round cake tin 22 cm in diameter – lightly greased and lined with baking parchment paper

For the Creamy filling (makes approximately 300g)

  • 50 ml water
  • 150 g sugar
  • 6 x organic free-range egg yolks  – make sure they are very fresh!
  • 175 g Bertolli Spread
  • Seeds of 1x vanilla pod or 1x sachet of vanilla powder

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
  2. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and set aside.  In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks until well amalgamated.  In a larger bowl, cream together the Bertolli Spread and sugar.  Gradually add the yolks.  Gradually fold in flour, cornflour, baking powder, vanilla powder, salt and lemon zest.  Gently fold the stiff egg whites this into the mixture with a metal spoon until well combined.
  3. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes until golden and springy to the touch.  You can check if it is cooked by inserting a wooden skewer in the centre, if it comes out dry the cake is ready.  Remove, tip out onto a wire rack to cool, then with a sharp knife carefully cut horizontally into two layers.
  4. For the Creamy filling – Combine water and sugar in a small pan, place on a low heat, stirring from time to time until the sugar has dissolved and you obtain a syrup consistency.
  5. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and gradually add the syrup.  Leave the mixture to cool.  Then add the Bertolli Spread and vanilla seeds or powder and continue to whisk until you obtain a creamy consistency.  Place in the fridge and use when required.
  6. Spread the creamy filling over the cooled cake layers and sandwich together.  Sprinkle with lots of sifted icing sugar over the top and serve.

TIP  ~  For a really tasty filling, mix some strawberry or raspberry jam into the creamy mix!

© Gennaro Contaldo

Gennaro Contaldo has teamed up with Bertolli to call on the nation to back its best Italian delis in the second annual Bertolli Spread Olive D’Oro Awards. To vote for your favourite deli visit the Bertolli website here.

 

Disclosure: I’m happy to share the details of the Bertolli Spread Olive D’Oro Awards with you as I am very much behind campaigns to support local artisan and local family-run businesses.  I have received no payment or compensation to endorse this competition – other than Gennaro’s recipe to share.  

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