My Cookery Masterclass with Celeb Chef Rachel Allen

Yesterday was a very good day for Baby Got Bake. A very good day indeed.

Chef Rachel Allen and I. Pals :)

After entering a competition with Sprite (The #SpriteRecipeChallenge) - which involved submitting your own take on a classic recipe, but with a healthy twist - I was picked (by someone very special!) as a winner.

The prize? A cookery Masterclass with the special one herself, the lovely Rachel Allen - A fantastic celebrity chef, who just so happens to hail from the homeland. The homeland is Ireland, for those of you reading who may not know I am all about the Eireannach. I have survived living away from home in London with the help of Rachel's cook books, and I grew up watching my mother baking recipes made famous, by Rachel's Mother in Law, the very well known and highly regarded Darina Allen.

So, this is how my very good day went...

I was picked up by a lovely chap, who brought me in his Prius to a beautiful venue in South East London, called Food at 52.

Food at 52 operates from a unique and atmospheric cookschool in the heart of Clerkenwell on Central Street. It is clear to see, from the moment of entry, that great care has been taken to create a homely and relaxed environment for visitors to learn how to cook in. The interior is beautiful, reminiscent of a country home, with an eclectic, urban curl.

In classic Becca style, I was the last person to arrive for the class. When I walked through the door, Rachel was sat with the seven or so other bloggers, sipping on champagne and chatting away. I introduced myself to everyone and the first thing she said - in that unmistakable posh South Dublin accent - was, "oh Rebecca, you're the one who wrote the hilarious post about your cookie recipe". I felt my face go bright red and immediately regretted the "casual" style that most of my blogposts tend to take. I am pretty sure the word 'Bollocks' features somewhere in that particular post. Oh well. She seemed to enjoy it.

After a few minutes we were ushered downstairs to the cookery area, where we took our positions around a vast, custom built oak and stone table. 

Class in session!

Rachel gave us a brief introductory chat, and explained that we'd be making the classic Pasta Carbonara dish (big fan!) and a light Strawberry fool for dessert.

The idea of the day was to create some beautiful, flavoursome dishes in a way that was a healthy, lighter alternative to how they are usually prepared. Sprite partnered with Rachel for this, after changing their own recipe, so it now contains about 30% less of the bold stuff, but still has that signature, refreshing taste we all know and love.

Tsssssss.. ahhhh!

We learnt how the drink contains the natural ingredient - Stevia extract - which at plain sight, looks like a grounded down herb, but is a zero-calorie sweetener from natural origins. We even got to taste the teeniest, tiniest little bit of this, and my goodness was it sweet!

In keeping with the Sprite theme, and to my initial horror, the Carbonara would not contain any cream or butter or pancetta, but would be substituted with pasta water (the water that the pasta is cooked in), extra egg yolk and green vegetables. It also meant that the strawberry fool, which is usually packed with sugary meringue, cream and syrup, would instead contain organic greek yogurt, a very small bit of light cream, fresh strawberries and a dash of Agave syrup.

At first, I was quite sceptical, and wondered how this could possibly compare to the dishes I was all too familiar with... I was soon to be enlightened by Mrs Allen.

Pasta Scarf?

Rachel did a wonderful job at showing us just how easy it is to make pasta from scratch. Now, there is a bit of elbow grease involved, as the pasta dough needs to be kneaded and rolled until paper thin, but I must say, I actually found that part of the process quite therapeutic.

It was really interesting to learn how this delicious Italian dish, a favourite amongst so many, has actually morphed into something quite different than how it was originally prepared by its creators. Carbonara didn't traditionally include cream, mushrooms, onion or meat - it was all about the egg yolk and pasta water, supported generously by green vegetables done al dente, fresh basil and a feck load of black pepper. 

Not as tricky as it looks :)

While we hung out our pasta strips, we very quickly prepared the Strawberry fool. It was all so simple. First, we mashed strawberries - which are in season at the moment, so packed with yummy, juicy flavour. The smell they released when we began mashing them was mesmerising (and a little drool enhancing, if truth be told). Second, we lightly whipped a very small portion of cream and folded it into some greek yogurt. We then added a dash of light Agave syrup.

Dessert, fool!

Finally, we mixed all of the above together very lightly and placed in the fridge for later. It was tough to say goodbye, if only for a short time. I am pretty sure I actually waved a solemn farewell when Rachel's assistant came to take it away.

We then got back to the pasta dish. There wasn't much left for us to do at this stage, but throw the veg onto the hot pan, and place the pasta into the boiling water. The vegetables - baby courgette and broad beans - went first, because with the pasta being fresh, it takes all of a few minutes to cook.

Rachel instructed us to be ready to eat our pasta at the very moment that it was ready to take off the pan. I had no problem with this whatsoever (in fact, she caught me eating direct from the pan, then joined in). She explained that this is when pasta should be eaten, as for every moment you wait at this point, will effect the consistency of the pasta. In simple terms - it will dry up very quickly. If this does happen, you can simply add more pasta water and a small bit of beaten egg yolk to loosen it up again.

So, how did it taste? Let's just say I will never appreciate a non-fresh pasta dish as much as I may have in the past. Fresh pasta, when done right, is absolutely exquisite. I cannot wait to try this again myself.

Done!

Something that really took me by surprise, was that as someone that suffers from IBS, and typically struggles to digest white pasta, this gave me no problems at all. In fact, I went for a run in the evening, and felt I had the perfect level of energy for it.

I enjoyed every minute of this day, and learned so much about how to transform a classic, delicious, but typically heavy dish into something just as mouthwatering - with half the feeling of guilt that comes with it.

I also got to chinwag with the delectable Mrs Rachel Allen, about food, running, marathon training, back home in Ireland, my perfect mother (and no.1 favourite chef), and - more randomly - our mutual love for rose gold jewellery. 

Thanks so much to the Sprite crew for a truly memorable day! 

B x