Christmas Masterclass 11 December 2011

2011-10-22 16:48

Christmas Masterclass 11 December 2011

I’ve been hosting my famous Fish Masterclasses for years now, which are always booked out months in advance by people who are keen to know how to choose fresh fish and learn about the massive variety available at different times of the year.

You have to be keen to attend as the day starts early at Billingsgate Market, before travelling to Zilli Fish restaurant to learn how to clean, gut and fillet your fish. I then teach my class how to make pasta, pasta sauces and different techniques for cooking the fish. It always ends in a delicious lunch where we all enjoy the fruits of that morning’s labour together!

However, I’ve noticed that the one meal of the year that everyone gets really stressed out about is Christmas lunch. Often it’s the first time cooking for so many people – and obviously with the focus being on the perfect Christmas roast it can be daunting for even those who are used to cooking. Because of this, I have decided to host a very special one-off Christmas Masterclass on 11^th December this year.

I will cover every single possible Christmas dish in this class, so that everyone who attends will leave feeling more than confident that their family’s lunch will be the best ever. We will be cooking suckling pig, roast beef, lamb, turkey, fish, goose and even the ultimate vegetarian roast – as well as all the trimmings. I will be giving you tips on how to make brussel sprouts taste amazing, how to make the crispiest roast potatoes and the most delicious gravy and how to cater for the little ones too.

And at the end of all this hard work, you will have earned a delicious roast dinner served by me in my Soho restaurant Zilli Fish.

For details on how to book this class, click here.

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2012-05-14 11:21

Mystery Masterclass Mystery Masterclass

Hi all. Hope you loved my column again this weekend in Saturday Magazine and attempted to make the delicious scones recipe! I’ve had a very busy weekend... On Friday, I had a complete ‘foodie’ day as I ventured to Borough Market to do some food shopping for my mystery masterclass in the evening. I bought a live lobster, some monk fish and scallops from the fish stall, then headed to the vegetable stall for the best heritage tomatoes, basil, fennel, red rucola, chard leaves, karoubi, courgette flowers and artichokes to name a few! After I’d delighted in all the fresh produce of the market, it was off to my mystery masterclass for the evening for well-known Radio One DJ, Scott Mills. His housemate bought him a surprise cookery master class with me to improve his culinary skills! As I arrived at his house, his flatmate opened the door and led me into the kitchen so I could start prepping with my assistant, Charlotte. Ten minutes later, Scott came in ready for his cooking masterclass to begin. I taught him to cook a whole variety of dishes starting with homemade fresh pasta to dealing with a live lobster and stuffing courgette flowers with mascarpone and mint. We went on to roast the monk fish with artichokes and fennel and shallow fried the diver-picked scallops served with fresh pea and mint purée. I also taught him how to make a fresh carbonara sauce for the spaghetti and showed him how to flame a lobster with brandy... instantly setting the fire alarm off! I also grated beetroot and karoubi into a fantastic salad. Well, by this point, the guy was now salivating so I totally had his attention. A few glasses of vino later, he managed to eat the whole lot! Well done, mate, let’s hope you talk about me for the rest of your radio life! Haha. Saturday was family time. I played football with Rocco and little Twiggy joined in too. Then Sunday, Mamma Zilli’s idea was to venture out to the coast, so off it was to her favourite furniture shop in Brighton. We parked outside and guess what... she locked the keys in the boot of the car! One phone call to the AA, two hours later and two screaming kids, the car finally opened and off to the beach we headed. The kids were happy, Nikki and I were stressed but I suppose all in all it was a lovely day out in the end! We then headed home for an early night as Monday is a big day for me, I have a busy day and night as I’m off to see my favourite rock show in London, ‘We Will Rock You’, with Variety Club UK. Will keep you posted on how it goes! Ciao for now.

2012-05-09 14:53

Discover The Origin Discover The Origin

OK, picking up from my last blog... The London Foodies Festival for the Discover The Origin campaign at Hampton Court on Saturday was amazing. Great stalls, lots of food and got to catch up with the lovely Levi Roots, Caribbean chef/rockstar! I love his shows - half food, half music. I did a food show myself and it was incredibly popular, as you can imagine, as I was offering free Parmesan, Parma Ham and wine to all visitors! I cooked roasted monkfish wrapped in Parma Ham and served on a bed of broad beans and crushed new potatoes. I also made fresh pasta with a simple arrabbiata sauce. Then I went and tasted the best prosecco on tap from one of the stalls at the festival. Afterwards, it was time to say goodbye and rush home to watch the Chelsea versus Liverpool FA Cup Final with my little Rocco. I was so happy when they won! I let Rocco eat as much chocolate as he liked, enough to last a week! Needless to say Mamma Zilli was not so impressed... Moving on, the rest of the weekend was just lots of fun and games with my kids. Shame the weather was so bad so no outdoor activities. Exciting times ahead now as Charlotte has just joined us to expand the Zilli brand and look after me and Mamma Zilli. I wish her the best of luck. Finally, thank you to all of you that bought a copy of the Express newspaper at the weekend to read my column in the Saturday Magazine. What a great response I had from you all. Please don't forget to get it again this Saturday for the best scone recipe! Ciao.

2012-05-02 12:54

Come On You Blues! Come On You Blues!

Buongiorno, Let me start by telling you about last week, well apart from being sick with the flu not much went on but onwards and upwards. Its midweek already and a big week for my Chelsea team, let’s hope we beat Newcastle tonight then go on and win the cup on Saturday. Dreams do come true! Can you believe Mamma Zilli has had the brilliant idea of taking me out tonight, so please no tweets about the match as I am recording it on Sky Plus. Now this weekend if you are going to invest in a newspaper then I very highly recommend The Daily Express as it’s my first food column in the Saturday mag. I hope you like it and please let me know your comments as I will be tweeting you back! Competition Time The first 2 people to tweet about my column and please include your phone number, I will call you back personally and take you through the recipes and send you a signed copy of my book, or better still come and see me live in Hampton Court at the London Foodies Festival visit the Discover The Origin stand where I will be demonstrating some great recipes. Hope to see you there and let’s hope there is a TV as I can’t possibly miss the cup final! Ciao!

2012-04-23 17:23

What a week! What a week!

OK, welcome to my new blog and what a week it has been, starting with my trip to Parma with my Morrison’s team in search of great new ingredients and great regional food. So armed with my iPhone and twitter I went. Starting off with a great flight on Club BA, their offering of food got me to a good start by feeding me a well executed cod with new potatoes and leeks, nice broth considering where we are. So I arrive at Linate Milan airport where I was met by a friendly Sicilian driver who whisked me to Parma...

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Aldo's Master classes

Spend the morning with Aldo cooking recipes from his latest book in addition to learning the tricks of the trade, great presentation tips and how to use seasonal produce.

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