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Thank you for your feedback on my first newsletter and welcome to all of those who have been added to the mail list. I am excited to announce that I have been appointed as Head of Food at Humble by Nature.
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At the beginning of September, I cooked a dinner for 40 people to celebrate the Ruby Wedding Anniversary of Chris and Rosie Adams. They had hired the barn at Humble by Nature, near their home in Monmouth. Later that month, I met Kate Humble to discuss a new role at her farm. Kate and her husband Ludo Graham have redeveloped one of the barns into a first class venue for cookery courses and pop up events, complete with a beautiful theatre kitchen. I am hugely excited by further projects which include completing the Courtyard Garden and an Aquaponics Solar Greenhouse. I have been cooking for their autumn courses (such as Foraging, Pig and Sheep keeping, Charcuterie and Hedge laying) and we have been busy creating new courses for 2014 which will appeal to anyone who takes an interest in where their food comes from. As well as cooking for the courses, we have plans for a cafe and will kick off the 2014 pop up season with a Burns Supper on Saturday 25th January 2014. See www.humblebynature.com for more details.
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A couple of weeks ago, I was at the BBC Good Food Show with travel company Cox & Kings to launch MasterChef Travel. I will be taking guests to a Chiang Mai night market, to the local food market and giving cookery lessons. For more details, please visit www.mastercheftravel.com
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Earlier this month, I cooked a pre-shoot dinner for a local family who were hosting 14 guests in their beautiful home on the border of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. I cooked savoury macarons as nibbles with champagne, prawn raviolo to start, a main course of roast venison, an autumnal dessert of apples and nuts, followed by milk chocolate cardamom truffles with coffee to finish. Three course menus start from £65 per head. See their testimonial on my website: kojcooks.co.uk
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Prawn raviolo, bisque sauce, sea buckthorn and lime jam, samphire, wild mushrooms
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Roast venison, smoked chestnut, pear, cavolo nero and beetroot sauce
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Apples, sea salt caramel with fennel pollen, acorn cream, apple crisp and apple tuile
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Koj cooks at Westonbirt
On Saturday 12th October, I cooked for 150 guests attending a gala dinner to raise funds for the Holfords of Westonbirt Trust. I don't normally cook for such numbers, but was supported by Chartwells who operate the kitchen at Westonbirt School. Executive Chef Andrew Walker drafted in a crack team of chefs from around the country to support me and Ben Harvey, the Head Chef.
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December availability
If you would like to arrange a canapé event, lunch or dinner for family, friends, clients or colleagues, I have some dates available in the week commencing 9th December.
Prices from £65 per head
(15% discount for Monday-Wednesday)
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Cooking together
I design menus for interactive cooking events. We can make the event competitive for colleagues or you can invite friends to taste your creations.
Prices from £65 per head
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Japanese cooking
I have run several Japanese cooking lessons for corporate and private groups. The syllabus is based around a few typical Japanese dishes, including chicken yakitori, grilled mackerel and pork tonkatsu, as well as some of the basics such as cooking rice, making dashi stock, miso soup, teriyaki sauce and, of course, some raw fish. At the end of the session, we sit down to eat together. Prices from £65 per head.
I will also be doing a special offer for in the New Year, for those of you who want to start the year healthily. Japanese dinner from £50 per head (minimum 8 people, Monday to Thursday).
NEW DATE! Friday 21st March 2014, Japanese cooking at Dancing Trousers cookery school near Lechlade. Visit dancingtrousers.co.uk
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Buna shumeji mushroom salad with ponzu sauce
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Grilled miso mackerel, rice and miso soup
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Pork tonkatsu with shredded white cabbage
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I have recently added a number of new dates to my demo diary, starting with the BBC Good Food Show at Birmingham NEC this week, Selfridges Manchester on Tuesday 3rd December and Harrods on Saturday 7th December. Please visit kojcooks.co.uk for more dates.
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Burns Night pop ups
I will be cooking Burns NIght supper with a Japanese twist (think cockaleekie soup with umeboshi plums, haggis gyoza and tempura Mars bar) at Humble by Nature on Saturday 25th January. Visit humblebynature.com
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This Christmas...
I shall mostly be cooking:
- Chestnuts, walnuts and acorns harvested this autumn
- Turkey cooked sous vide with butter and sage
- Springbok and Kudu in South Africa over New Year
- Cauliflower with dried cranberries and hazelnuts
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I have always enjoyed cooking at home, mostly sweet things like cookies, cakes and of course fudge. It all started when Mum & Dad said I could go on the school French trip but I needed to earn some money for the trip. I had made some fudge that weekend, when Mum and Dad tried the fudge they loved it so I took some fudge to school and gave some to my friends, they also loved it. I then tried some different flavours and everyone loved them. Then I said ok let’s make it into a business so that I can pay for my spending money on my trip to Paris. Now I am 11years old I can open up a bank account and this was the start of my business venture.
