With the sun starting to shine a little more, it’s great to get outside and enjoy a barbecue with friends and family, or even as a treat after work.

Barbecues are a whole lot more versatile than many people realise and there’s so much scope to cook outside and make the most of this summer. Whether you’re looking to cook a Full English Breakfast outside, your Sunday Roast or simply not burn the sausages at your next family gathering, our barbecuing classes are designed to help you master your barbecue.

As a Certified by Weber chef, I can help with cooking on gas, charcoal and electric (yes, I did write electric!) barbecues, as well as smokers which are becoming increasingly popular. Whether you have a barbecue already which you are looking to get the most of or are thinking of investing and would like to try before you buy, do get in touch to arrange a class written specifically for you. As an extra bonus, the first 10 booked on will get a goodie bag of barbecue goodies to take home with them and everyone will of course take all of the food they cook home with them to impress their families with.

The class can be bought through the link below, or get in touch to discuss – Contact

PS don’t forget we offer barbecuing get togethers for friends or as team building events. At these relaxed events you will learn a whole range of barbecuing skills, enjoy delicious food and spend time with your friends. Please email me if you would like to hear more about this – hello@emsworthcookeryschool.co.uk

One-to-one, £255

Our Barbecue evening will kick off with a drink and barbecued nibbles on arrival to get you in the mood. The evening will be tailored to suit your level so it’s perfect for the complete beginner or the accomplished barbecuer looking to take things to the next level. Here’s a few ideas of aspects we can cover-

• Pros and cons of the different fuel types & different barbecues
• How to light the barbecue & get the most out of your fuel
• How to roast large pieces of meat, such as a Beer can Chicken, Roast Lamb or Beef
• How to cook the perfect Steak
• Knock-out Burgers to impress anyone
• Hot Smoked Salmon
• Side dishes such as Potato wedges, Risotto, Corn-on-the-cob with chilli butter, flatbreads, brioche buns….
• Homemade sauces such as tomato ketchup, chunky smoked salsa or proper barbecue sauce

Would you rather come with a friend? Book here for 2-2-1…

Or to book for a group of friends, do get in touch!

While it’s true that we get more female cooks in the kitchen than men, there are certain classes that seem to attract more men to. Indian, Thai and Bread all seem be a hit with the men. 

At the Emsworth Cookery School we always want to get more people involved in the kitchen and we’re really hoping that our special treats over the Fathers’ Day period appeal to the man in your  life. We’ve got Barbecue Marinades and Sides for those of you who want to extend your BBQ repertoire, Beer Baking using local beers to make brownies, bread and much more, then Montezumas – the dark side of chocolate, for those with a sweet but sophisticated tooth!

And if you have someone who doesn’t know one end of a spatula from the other, do send them along for Confidence in the Kitchen! 

All of these classes are open to ladies and gentlemen, we’re just trying to make sure our menus appeal to everyone. Please do get in touch if there’s something you think would appeal for future classes!

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One of the main events in the final weekend of Emsworth British Food Fortnight was the fantastic Thought for Food Market. Despite the horrendous rain (and thunder!) as we set up, the crowds turned out to see the best that Emsworth and the local area has to offer.

In the food demo area we were tempting people with new recipes to get creative with peppers, using locally sourced bell and sweet pointy peppers from Tangmere Airfield Nurseries. We made savoury muffins, sweet pepper houmous and pepper focaccia. The recipes will be available shortly, stay tuned for details!

Obviously we couldn’t just stick to savoury recipes and we were delighted to get our hands on some yummy Montezuma’s chocolate to get creative with. Recipes included Chocolate, orange and geranium brownie, Lemon and chocolate mousse and a Chocolate, salt & lime sauce. If you fancy the sound of those and didn’t make it to the demo, it’s not too late as we’ll be making them on our upcoming Chocoholic’s Choice class, book here!

Earlier this month I was involved in A Thought for Food Market as part of The Emsworth British Food Fortnight. We cooked a huge amount of sweetcorn which had come from Barfoots just up the road in Pagham.

I hadn’t appreciated it was quite so easy to cook sweetcorn on the BBQ, for years I’ve removed the husks and wrapped in foil – what a waste of time! Just chuck it on the BBQ in the husks and let it cook through. Serve with a little chilli or herb butter for a fabulous & simple side dish.

Fattoush

This is the recipe for you if you are looking to take a side dish to a barbecue this summer, or fancy a light lunch full of flavours. This is a Middle Eastern salad using pitta bread and lots of fresh vegetables. You can get creative with the vegetables – just use whatever is in the fridge! The dressing uses sumac which is a spice which you may not have come across – it is a dried, crushed berry used in Middle Eastern cookery – you may have seen it scattered on the top of dishes of hummus. 

Ingredients

For the salad

1 pitta bread, toasted and cut into strips

2 vine ripened tomatoes, cubed

quarter cucumber, cubed

half pepper, cubed

handful black olives

4 radishes, sliced

handful rocket

1 little gem lettuce, torn

handful fresh mint, torn

For the dressing

100ml mild olive oil

2 lemons, juice and zest

1 small garlic clove, grated

1 tbsp sumac

to taste salt and pepper

Method

1. Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad, toss together to ensure an even coating. 

If you are preparing the salad in advance, I would hold back on adding the pitta bread and dressing until you are just about to serve.

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Last week I spent time out at the Weber Grill Academy in Copenhagen. This venue is beyond amazing, with a BBQ glitter ball hanging from the ceiling as you walk in and countless BBQs set up for indoor cooking. As with much of Scandinavia, they achieve effortless coolness – how do they pull off cool so much better than us Brits?

Along with a selection of other cookery schools from the UK and Ireland we learnt how to grill, bake, roast and smoke on gas and charcoal barbecues. Amongst the recipes we covered were pizzas and puddings, beer can chicken and bruschetta.

The evening was spent outside practising our new skills. A cool evening was warmed up with countless grills fired up to create our evening meal and we sat down to enjoy each course expertly matched with a fantastic wine.

The purpose of the trip was to ensure we were all set up to teach the Weber Essential Course, which is now available with the Emsworth Cookery School. Our events will be held down in Southsea, making use of the fabulous cooking facilities at the Portsmouth High School. Fingers crossed for some warm weather to get us barbecuing this summer.

Details of the Weber barbecue course are available on the Weber site. Please note all bookings are made directly with Weber, but do give me a ring if you have any queries.

UPDATE – we’re also now running BBQ Marinades & Sides and BBQ baking classes in Emsworth, plus the Weber range has extended to include BBQ Classics, Seafood and Winter Warmers.