Cooking session #1: Cooking With Fish The Sustainable Way with Rob

Rob Tomlinson is probably one of the busiest Cracking Cooks, helping run Cracking Good Food events such as the launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival at the end of March, the Celebrate Festival in Whalley Range at the start of May, and the recent Chorlton Arts Festival Street Feast (see our Facebook page for loads of photos!). He has also led sessions such as last week's puddings workshop for Chorlton Good Neighbours and the first of our public cookery classes, Cooking With Fish The Sustainable Way, on Tuesday at Chorlton High School, which you can read more about on our blog here.


You can join Rob for his second class on Cooking With Fish The Sustainable Way this Saturday (12 June) at St Ninian's (11am-2pm). He will take you through a variety of different methods for cooking fish from frying goujons to grilling stuffed mackerel, and will help you get to grips with techniques such as descaling, gutting and filleting. You'll even learn how to make fish stock, the basis for many tasty recipes. Rob is also very knowledgeable about ingredients and provenance, making him the perfect candidate for explaining all about the importance of shopping for responsibly sourced sustainable fish.


All details on the June and July sessions, which cost just £15 for three hours (£10 concessions), are on the Cracking Good Food website here.

GUEST BLOG: Reeling in some top tips on cooking fish

By guest blogger ADELE JORDAN

A culinary treat was had by all on our first session for the paying public on Tuesday evening – one of the group even described it as Babette’s Feast! Rob was in charge of Cooking With Fish The Sustainable Way and we got stuck in immediately.


First off, we had a go at filleting some lemon sole, then we each prepared whole mackerel with all its innards. The roe was potential taramasalata, and someone even took it away with them to make the fishy dip at a later date. We used all the leftover bones to make a fish stock in the pressure cooker, adding a few vegetable peelings from the mushrooms and shallots that Jay from Hickson & Black’s Deli (pictured below getting to grips with some coley) added to a Veronique sauce he made using the quick stock, some cream and an egg yolk.


We got our fish from Out Of The Blue fishmongers in Chorlton, where Dave advised us to buy coley on the grounds that they are always mature (the ones that he sources anyway) and therefore more sustainable. We duly cut it into finger slices, made breadcrumbs by bashing old toasted bread with a rolling pin, and put out a dish with flour for coating and another with beaten egg for dipping. Flour, egg, breadcrumbs, frying pan...


Having shallow-fried the coley goujons, grilled the mackerel with toasted almonds, and baked the lemon sole Veronique in the oven, we were set to eat. Accompaniments were a garlic and yoghurt dip, and boiled samphire - a wonderful sea vegetable that Dave threw in for us. What a feast. The only problem was that we soon had to pack up and go home... we could’ve all stayed there for hours!

Adele Jordan coordinates the classes and events run by Cracking Good Food. You can get in touch with her by emailing adele@crackinggoodfood.org

GUEST BLOG: Volunteering with the picnic in the park

By guest blogger MARY LUNDQUIST

On Saturday 5 June, Cracking Good Food set up in Manley Park, Whalley Range, for a wonderful community picnic in honour of World Environment Day. Various other local groups were involved, including Manchester Friends Of The Earth, Eat Your Streets, Adopt A Tree, Celebrate Your Alley Gates and Meat Free Monday.

Kim from the the Cafe at Islington Mill was the lead chef and, together with Adele, coordinated the cooking of four main dishes. On the menu was Egyptian Falafels (pictured below), Turkish Couscous, Butterbean and Sun-dried Tomato Pate (also pictured below), and Warm Potato Salad.


Kim picked up most of the ingredients at independently owned shops, which were very local (just across the street!), and Kat from Friends of the Earth and I pitched in with setting up the stall. The cooking was a real group effort and the work of many helping hands, and it was wonderful to see so many people getting involved, making for loads of cooking and conversation. We even sent everyone off with recipes, so they can make it all again at home!

All those who participated had a great time making then eating the food, and everything was delicious. People also came with their own lunch, and some provided music, and soon we had a grand picnic spread out over the grass. Even the sun came out!


There are loads more photographs from the day on our Facebook page.

Mary Lundquist is a Cracking Good Food volunteer. As well as the picnic in the park, Mary has helped with the Chorlton Arts Festival Street Feast and will be on hand to assist during our second session for the general public this Saturday. If you would like to volunteer to help with Cracking Good Food events, email adele@crackinggoodfood.org

GUEST BLOG: Ministry Of Food

By guest blogger CRACKING COOK AVRIL POVAH

The sun was shining as Adele and I set off over the Pennines to Bradford on Monday 24 May. We were going to see the latest Jamie's Ministry Of Food centre, opened by Jamie Oliver following his famous TV programme of the same name. The first opened up in another Yorkshire town, Rotherham, which was highlighted in the show as being one the “fattest” places in England, and we were keen to learn how people were being inspired to get back into the kitchen to cook good wholesome meals instead of eating takeaways and ready meals.

Jamie's Ministry Of Food centres are council funded and their kitchen costs, whatever they may be, are outweighed against the long-term savings in treating obesity in their respective areas. The centres are centrally positioned right in the heart of the towns so local people just passing by can pop in to learn the basics of cooking and how to make good simple meals on a tight budget, or just get friendly advice on recipes, shopping, nutrition, equipment, and local and seasonal ingredients.


Soraya Overend, the project manager at Bradford, made us feel very welcome, showing us the ultra modern and sleek kitchen, perfectly designed with cookery classes in mind. She explained that they offer 10-week cooking programmes covering a range of meals from simple egg dishes to homemade soups, pasta and pizza, and roast dinners. People from all walks of life can learn how to cook quick, simple, healthy and cost-effective meals in just one hour, and the “pass it on” strategy encourages them to tell their friends and family all about it. One lesson is just £4 and you get to eat the food afterwards, either at the centre or to take home.

We arrived early to ask Soraya (pictured on the left, with me on the right and Adele reflected in the window!) how it all started and how it’s going, then joined the Week 5 group for a Thai green curry lesson. Some of the participants had popped in during their work lunch break - what a great idea: learning a new skill and getting fed too! Soraya explained all the ingredients we were using for the Thai green curry - we even had fresh seasonal asparagus to cook with - and demonstrated how to make a Thai green curry paste. There was lots of herb smelling, and we were all hooked on the fresh lemon grass and coriander. We picked from a choice of chicken, prawns or Quorn (which Adele plumped for immediately), then we were let loose on the induction hobs to prepare our stir fries. When we tucked into our creations afterwards, all the fresh flavours came flooding through - it was absolutely delicious!

The next Jamie's Ministry Of Food centre opens in the centre of Leeds this month, and I hope it's as successful as the others. Please come to Manchester, Jamie!


Avril works for Nutrimens and The Sunshine Cafe in Sale. She is also on Cracking Good Food's team of Cracking Cooks and will be running a public session called Tasty Salads With Pulses'n'grains on Tuesday 22 June at Chorlton High (6-9pm). All details on the June and July sessions, which cost just £15 for three hours (£10 concessions), are on the Cracking Good Food website here.

GUEST BLOG: Chorlton Good Neighbours puddings cooking session, Wednesday 2 June

By guest blogger AVRIL POVAH


Adele was on her jollies en France – ooh la la - so I stepped in to coordinate a cooking demo for Chorlton Good Neighbours at St Ninian's Church on Wilbraham Road. The session was on themed puddings, which Rob, our Cooking Leader, executed wonderfully, helped along by our super cooking assistants, Kate from Jam Street Cafe and Donna from Chorlton High School.


At first, I was worried that it seemed rather an ambitious menu for a two-hour session, but despite all the chopping, fruit stewing, mixing and baking, we pulled it off! Our menu consisted of Apple and Pineapple Sponge, Rhubarb and Apricot Crumble and Semolina Pudding with Prunes, accompanied by lashings of homemade custard. Each had plenty of fruit content, but as they were also laden with fat and sugar, we explained straight away that puddings aren't nutritionally balanced and we cannot live on sweet dishes alone (I wish), but that they're to be eaten as a treat and not over portioned.


The sponge was delicately spiced up with cinnamon, while the hint of ginger in the crumble really made all the difference in tasting at the end of the session - truly delicious. Rob was a brilliant raconteur, relaying passionate stories of ingredients and origins of food, together with his vast knowledge of working in the food industry.


You can join Rob for his sessions on Cooking With Fish The Sustainable Way on Tuesday 8 June at Chorlton High (6-9pm) and Saturday 12 June at St Ninian's (11am-2pm). Meanwhile if the thought of puddings has tickled your fancy, Kim will be running a session for the general public on Tuesday 15 June at Chorlton High (6-9pm). All details on the June and July sessions, which cost just £15 for three hours (£10 concessions), are on the Cracking Good Food website here.

Avril is on Cracking Good Food's team of Cracking Cooks and will be running a public session called Tasty Salads With Pulses'n'grains on Tuesday 22 June at Chorlton High (6-9pm). She also works for Nutrimens and The Sunshine Cafe in Sale.

Picnic in the park

Join us on Saturday (5 June) to bring World Environment Day to Whalley Range at a community picnic in Manley Park. Cracking coordinator Adele and Cracking Cook Kim will be helping picnickers rustle up some tasty nosh (for a small fee) from 11am, with the picnic running from noon until 4pm. On the menu are felafels, couscous with nuts and fruit, raita, potato salad with maple syrup, sesame seeds and torn parsley... all kinds of yummy veggie fayre.


Loads of other local groups will be there as well as Cracking Good Food, including Friends Of The Earth, Meat Free Monday, Eat Your Streets, Celebrate Your Alley Gates and Adopt-A-Tree, and there will even be some planting taking place from 2.30pm.

New sessions booking up fast!

Get cracking and get booking your places on the June and July cookery sessions in June and July!

The sessions still available are:

Cooking With Fish The Sustainable Way (with seasoned chef Rob - get the joke?): Tuesday 8 June and Saturday 12 June

Easy Puddings (with Kim, who runs the café at Islington Mill): Tuesday 15 June

Tasty Salads With Pulses'n'grains (with Avril of Nutrimens - which means "food" in Latin, so she should know what she's doing!): Tuesday 22 June

Something Spicy (with Kate from Jam Street Café): Tuesday 29 June and Saturday 3 July

Pasta Plus (with Jay, the Hickson in Hickson & Black's): Tuesday 6 July

Mexican Tapas (with Unicorn's Fernanda): Tuesday 13 July and Saturday 17 July


Aimed at individuals and parties of friends, each one-off three-hour class costs just £15 or £10 concessions thanks to all the lovely funding we've managed to secure from the Local Food Fund (National Lottery), The Co-operative Membership and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

The Tuesday evening sessions take place from 6pm to 9pm at Chorlton High School on Nell Lane, while the Saturday classes run 11am to 2pm at St Ninian’s on Wilbraham Road. Vegetarians can easily be catered for and full details on how to book are available on the Cracking Good Food website. Alternatively, you can just pop in and see our friends at Hickson & Black’s deli in Chorlton and sign up there.