Sarson Cookery School Event with My Daddy Cooks

Last week, we were fortunate to be invited to attend Sarson Cookery School Event with Nick Coffer, author of My Daddy Cooks.  Ms C and I took the earliest train to get to London to make sure we arrived with plenty of time. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by Nick and Ruth.

As part of Sarson’s new campaign focusing on families, they have teamed up with TV and radio personality and family food author, Nick Coffer.  He set up the hugely successful blog My Daddy Cooks.  His blog features videos of him cooking recipes with his children, with the focus being on fresh healthy and interesting meals cooked on a very modest budget.  In 2010 he published The My Daddy Cooks book which is a best-seller in its category.

Thanks to Nick who was so patient in demonstrating four recipes he created including salt and vinegar popcorn, a healthy twist on traditional fish and chips, a barbecue marinade with a kick and a crispy meringue pavlova.

I only knew vinegar as a condiment for fish and chips and that it can be used for cleaning and science projects!  Cleaning had been always been my passion.  Clear vinegar with water is great for cleaning surfaces.  However, after this cookery course, I now definitely see myself using vinegar more in my cooking.

I don’t think it would be appropriate to share all his recipes here but I promise they were all fabulously scrumptious! You should get his book and try it out!

However, I feel I must share one of his recipes so you can get a flavour of his style.  Now, I had never cooked or tried meringue as the look of it had never appealed.  But after I tried Nick’s recipe, I must say I love it!  Now I think I need to invest a table top mixer!

Crispy Meringue Summer Fruit Pavlova

Ingredients:

• 4 fresh egg whites
• 220g caster sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 2 tsp Sarsons vinegar

Topping/Filling:

• 300ml double cream
• 2 tablespoon icing sugar
• 400 g strawberries
• 200 g raspberries
• 1 Kiwi/pear optional-grated chocolate or extra icing sugar to dust

Method:

• Preheat oven to 150°C/130°C fan/gas 2.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Whisk the egg whites with a hand mixer until they form stiff peaks.
• Slowly, whilst still whisking, add in the sugar, around one third at a time, until the meringue looks glossy.
• Sift in the cornflour and add the vinegar – fold in with a metal spoon.
• Scoop the whisked meringue onto the lined baking tray and with the back of a metal spoon, make a dip in the centre.
• Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes open the oven door, turn off the heat and let the meringue cool completely inside the oven.
• In the meantime, wash and chop the strawberries.
• Whisk the double cream and icing sugar until just thickened.
• Carefully transfer the meringue from the baking tray onto a large plate.
• Spread over the whipped cream and top with the strawberries, raspberries and kiwi or pear.
• Sprinkle with grated chocolate or dust with a little extra icing sugar and serve.

I love how the meringue is crispy on the outside and so soft on the inside. It was so delicious that I wanted to eat more but I did save some to bring back home for Mr C and Mr K!

Thanks to Nick Coffer, Sarson’s and their PR company for organising such a lovely event! Ms C and I had a fab day and of course we made a lot of new friends too!

Disclosure: We were invited to the event for the purposes of writing this post, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own. Images used with permission.