A spot of cooking

Sometimes on holiday you just have to try something new: be it hot-air ballooning, kayaking or different food.

This year we decided that our shared love of food would make a cookery course a no-brainer.

Zoom forward 2 months, and there we were, amidst the olive groves of Spain, frying up some tasty tapas!

We stayed at this great place we found, called Las Encinas, where a British couple have set up a cooking school/B&B in the wilds of Spain. 

Day one's food offering looked something like this

So we learnt lots of great skills, like how to gut a fish, and to make creme caramel in a bain-marie 

Turns out, I'm a regular fish wife! Must ask my grandmother if any ancestors of mine worked in Billingsgate...

The finished results were spectacular. Although I kinda think that it was down to our lovely chef Clive, given how much wine we got through that night!

Starter was asparagus with almond sauce. Fresh, crunchy and delicious. Have had to rethink asparagus.

Next up was seabass with olives, lemon and tomato. Heaven on a plate if you ask me!

We finished with the creme cararmel painstaking prepared above. They turned out perfectly, but did not last long enough to capture!

What a great way to finish.





Day Two

Tapas day. Amazingly, this managed to top the previous nights, as did our appetites!
Just imagine coming into the kitchen with all these scrummy raw ingredients in front of you.

Let's talk through it.....

1) Patatas bravas: the classic.
But this time it's angrier! A serious amount of chili went into this one

2) Lettuce with garlic and anchovies: the shock outsider.
The crunch of the lettuce, the salty punch of the anchovies, and garlic - how can that be wrong?!

3) Clams: the boozy one

Spanish take on French Mussels in wine, this was with Fino sherry (which was surprisingly tasty in a glass by itself)


4) Salt cod stuffed peppers: the sweet one. My second favourite. Softened salt cod within sweet peppers. Mild yet so tasty.

5) Aubergine: the wow one
I've always loved aubergines, but having a part in them tasting this good was a revelation! This is getting made again, a lot!

Plus a whole load of this.....naturally

Pudding rounded things off: poached meringues.

I honestly couldn't recommend this highly enough. A few days enjoying a country's amazing cuisine, talking to locals plus picking up great new cooking tips. Would do it again in an instant.

The end result? Dishes scraped clean.