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Cookery classes at Central Street Cookery School
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Something to prepare for day of the dead: Mexican Tacos. Cookery class on 27th October
Celebrate Day of the Dead in style with this fantastic hands-on class on Mexican Street Food and in particular tacos.
Here are the details. If you like zesty – chargrilled – yummy –moreish food, then this is a class for you!
Course info:
At Central Street Cookery School. 90 Central Street EC1V 8AJ
Course: Mexican Street Food. Tacos!
Chef: Sofia Larrinua-Craxton
Date: Saturday 27th October 2012
Time: 11.00
Cost: £75
Book online by clicking here
Mexican Street Food ranks amongst the best and one of its best representatives are Tacos. Small parcels of delicious marinated meats and vegetables wrapped in freshly made corn tortillas, well seasoned with yummy zesty salsas and plenty of lime is one idea of going to heaven. Come and learn how to make your very own homemade corn tortillas. Learn secrets for perfect marinades and make old time favourites like Tacos al Pastor or shepherd style marinated lamb, chargrilled steak with peppers, bacon and cheese otherwise known as Alambre con queso. We will make zesty tomatillo salsa, drunken ancho and pasilla salsa and chargrilled salsa. At the end of the class we will enjoy a cold Mexican beer, plain or Michelada (with salt and lime).
Mexican Street Cookery Class on 21st July!
Because people asked me to, here it is I will be doing a Mexican Street Food series of classes beginning with a hands on class on some of the best representatives of this kind of cuisine: Tacos.
Here are the details. If you like zesty – chargrilled – yummy –moreish food, then this is a class for you!
Course info:
At Central Street Cookery School. 90 Central Street EC1V 8AJ
Course: Mexican Street Food. Tacos!
Chef: Sofia Larrinua-Craxton
Date: Saturday 21st July, 2012
Time: 11.00
Cost: £99
Book online by clicking here:
Mexican Street Food ranks amongst the best and one of its best representatives are Tacos. Small parcels of delicious marinated meats and vegetables wrapped in freshly made corn tortillas, well seasoned with yummy zesty salsas and plenty of lime is one idea of going to heaven. Come and learn how to make your very own homemade corn tortillas. Learn secrets for perfect marinades and make old time favourites like Tacos al Pastor or shepherd style marinated lamb, chargrilled steak with peppers, bacon and cheese otherwise known as Alambre con queso. We will make zesty tomatillo salsa, drunken ancho and pasilla salsa and chargrilled salsa. At the end of the class we will enjoy a cold Mexican beer, plain or Michelada (with salt and lime) and if the weather allows we will eat al fresco in the school kitchen garden.
Cinco de Mayo cookery class at Central Street Cookery School in London
I am very excited because I will be doing a Cinco de Mayo cookery class at our new cookery school. Click HERE for more information.
Although in Mexico we understand Cinco de Mayo as the day of the Battle of Puebla, which is one battle that Mexicans won against the French. However for those ex-pats as in Mexicans living in the US, this day is a day of pride on Mexican heritage abroad and huge celebrations take place all over.
Americans have adopted this celebration and I usually find that people from the US in London, ask me if I will be doing something. My answer this year is an absolute yes, we will be making Sopes and Tostadas plus I will teach you how to make good old fashioned festive favourites like Tinga Poblana served with Lime and Coriander Rice and will finish with Flan de Cafe or Coffee Creme Caramel.
Come and join the fun and celebrate with me!
Central Street Cookery School in Old Street, London EC1
It has been a long time since I wrote anything because I got the best job in the world!
I am the manager of Central Street Cookery School, a new and unique cooking venue with the community in mind.
We are part of St Luke’s Trust a charity that looks after the local community.
And the idea is to have a place where people learn, teach, cook and eat.
We will be offering affordable courses for those who can pay and the money goes to good causes: YOUR MONEY GOES TOWARDS FUNDING COMMUNITY BASED CLASSES FOR THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE.
Let me explain, the area where we are, which is in Old Street in London, although it is peppered with trendy businesses, and is next to expensive areas like the City of London, Clerkenwell and Islington, contains pockets of deep poverty where families live on a combined income of £12 000 per year! This translates to people having to look for ‘cheap’ food that in many cases is not very healthy. At Central Street, we want to contribute to reverse that trend by doing classes that focus on healthy eating within a budget, these classes will be offered at an extremely low cost and they will be funded by paying customers.
We are running projects for mothers and toddlers to cook healthy food together, we are teaching older people how to cook for one and we are doing lots of festival and events. Come and see the kitchen in action at the Finsbury Arts Festival on 21st April, we are here
I will be running Mexican classes from here.
Any foodie, chef, teacher, anybody who wants to rent our kitchen can do so for £150 + VAT from now until mid June! The price includes use of the kitchen for half a day. We have a fully fitted cookery space where 20 people can cook and then eat. Perfect for people who run their own classes or those who want to do supper clubs. For more info get in touch with sofiaatcentralstreetdotorg
Our schedule of classes is available from our website www.centralstreet.org
This is the kitchen:
enchiladas de mole
This dish has some yummy elements that I am sure if we look at the chemical composition of the flavour molecules of certain ingredients, they must look alike or lock well together; whatever it is, Mole Enchiladas do taste delicious, and I think that this is to do with the combination of ingredients. Simple ingredients like corn tortillas, a well poached juicy chicken, mole, raw onions and sesame seeds and of course a little crumbled cheese. These ingredients combine so well that a good dish of enchiladas de mole is memorable.
To start your very own memorable experience of making enchiladas de mole -like with ALL cooking you will need to have good ingredients, so I would suggest a good bird, yes an expensive one that has had a good life, one that has been able to see the sun, to walk about and that has been properly fed, a good organic chicken that is going to produce superb stock and most important juicy meat for the enchiladas. Poach the chicken in plenty of water with half an onion, a couple of peeled cloves of garlic, some bay leaves and a little salt. To poach a chicken perfectly, it is important that you never allow your liquid to come to the boil, otherwise horrible scum will form. If you keep your bird in its water just below boiling point, the stock will be clear as water and keep its flavour. Pass the stock through a colander or sieve and reserve to make the mole sauce later on.
I think the best parts of the chicken for enchiladas are the legs, just for the reason that they are more juicy. Once the chicken is poached, cool down and then shred it with your fingers, reserve, always submerged in some of the chicken stock, this is so that the chicken does not dry.
Make your mole sauce… I am not suggesting here that you go and grind 40 ingredients on your knees on your metate as you would make a cup of coffee; the whole process is quite complicated. These days you can get good brands of mole: Dona Maria and Xiqueno are good brands, the former being a commercial brand available in many parts of the world and the latter one, an obscure brand from Veracruz that is just delicious. Make your mole sauce by sauteing the mole paste in a little sesame oil and then add a little chicken stock, whisking and stirring all the time to avoid lumps. Add a little stock and stir constantly, add a little more and so on, until you have a good thick sauce, with a similar consistency to that of creme anglaise, custard, double cream or heavy cream.
Proceed with your tortillas. You can make your own, or you can buy them… always corn ones -flour tortillas work for other things, but not for enchiladas de mole. Sautee the tortillas in a little hot oil for a couple of seconds, literally pass them on hot oil and then dip them in the mole sauce, put on a plate and put some of the shredded chicken on one half, fold the tortilla in half; this is one enchilada. Repeat the process so that you have three enchiladas on one plate. Pour some mole sauce over the enchiladas, sprinkle some crumbled cheese like fetta, decorate with chopped onion or some onion rings and scatter plenty of sesame seeds on top. Some people pour some soured cream on top as well.
Put a napkin on and never wear white -mole sauce stains clothes forever! and sit down and enjoy every mouthful of Enchiladas de Mole!!!
Thank you for the comments on my blog, thank you February for being here, promising more light and better weather and thank you customers and people that employ me, I shall not get so discouraged, work always comes to me and January lasts for 31 days and I will try to keep this blog more up to date more often!
… some thoughts on Mole
My blogger chum Chad asked me recently to write something on Mole. At the time I was a bit busy and I think this was also a subconscious excuse not to write on the subject… The reason is that for a Mexican to write on Mole is getting into sticky ground; every Mexican has his/her views on the matter and they are the best, full stop!
In the UK people relate the word to little creatures that live underground, to The Wind in the Willows, to that ‘Mexican chocolate sauce’, or worse still to eating little animals that live underground covered with a chocolate sauce! Nothing could be further from the truth; to write about Mole is to write about our identity as Mexicans, to write about our history, to touch on many aspects of our folcklore, it is to write about flavour combinations and even to write about food science, it is to challenge families and to create rivalries through recipes…. it can become a telenovela… yes we Mexicans are a complicated lot.
In fact I did think to write my dissertation on Mole… but since this is just a blog, I am going to say just a few simple things. For instance, did you know that it is believed the word ‘mole’ is derived from an indigenous word, possibly nahuatl: ‘molli’ or ‘mulli’ which means sauce? I have also heard it is derived from the Spanish verb ‘moler’ which is to grind… see? it is not that easy with this sauce.
The origins of mole are also unclear, some say that it existed well before the arrival of the Spaniards and yes many of the ingredients are original to Mexico and the american continent. There are tales of Spanish and creole nuns, like Sor Andrea de la Asuncion, who was famed for her ability to create perfect food -a kind of 17th century Heston Blumenthal, who concocted this divine dish for the viceroy in turn and other celebrities of the time. This story might well be true; it could also be related to an appropriation of the indigenous by the colonials… The story that I like best, because is full of folklore, it touches on the kitsch and again it is similar to a telenovela (soap opera) involves a nun, a saint, a draw full of spices and a bit of magic of course… The nun might well have been Sor Andrea de la Asuncion, and how she was completely burnt out from so much cooking and therefore felt uninspired; the guests were coming to eat her latest delicacy and she just did not know what to cook that day. As it was the norm, she asked San Pascualito-the patron saint of cooks and of the kitchen to help her. Then she turned, stumbled against a draw that was full of spices that went on the pot and hey presto: Mole anyone? I wonder what do they do on a stressful day at The Fat Duck? maybe we should tell them about San Pascualito.
Whatever story you go for, the truth is that Mole is a kind of national dish to Mexico, the state of Puebla is famed for its Mole and the state of Oaxaca is called the land of 7 moles. If you go to any Mexican market you will find mole sold by the kilo and of course families pride themselves in making their own family recipe which is usually a secret.
A good Mole can have up to 40 different ingredients, but the basic ones are: chillies, usually ancho, pasilla and mulato, garlic, onion, sesame oil, sesame seeds, oregano, marjoram, some day old tortillas, bananas, raisins, almonds, possibly a little stale bread and many more. Traditionally all these ingredients are ground on a metate, by hand and then fried with lard. The final ingredient is a little bit of bitter chocolate, which is essential to add flavour and a velvety texture. This will resemble a heavy paste and to make the sauce, we add stock from a poached bird; turkey being the traditonal one to use -although these days more eclectic birds like duck and even other kinds of game are used. The poached bird is covered with this sauce and served decorated with sesame seeds; this is a far cry to some people’s ideas of eating a chicken mixed with hot fudge sauce!
Being someone that really goes more for the sensation that food has on my tastebuds rather than for the looks of the restaurant or who is sitting at the next table; I’ll have to say that poached turkey topped with a heavy Mole sauce scattered with some sesame seeds in some busy convent like restaurant is not my favourite way of eating this… to me Mole can be one of those memorable food moments that I would take to a desert island…in fact Mole is included in my funeral! At least to me the best way is to eat it is in the shape of Enchiladas de Mole.
In my next post I will write on Enchiladas de Mole and why I like them. This might not be the aristocratic or trendy way of eating mole… but it is so very good!
