Plants to Plates – The Two Day Kitchen and Garden Course
from £490.00
Two days at River Cottage with a River Cottage Chef and Gardener, covering how the garden and kitchen work hand in hand.
Our ever-popular Get Growing one-day course has set many of our guests on the deeply satisfying path to growing their own ingredients. This two-day course goes a step further, giving you time not only with our passionate garden team but also with one of our brilliant chef-tutors.
Each day will be a rich blend of both cooking and gardening. The garden sessions will give you all the basics of planning, sowing and planting. We will show you how to nurture your plants with the best feeds and composts, and how to protect them from pests, all the way to a delicious harvest. You’ll find out about choosing the right vegetables for your garden and the right varieties for flavour.
On the cooking front, the emphasis will be on getting maximum deliciousness from your just-picked harvest. You will discover how to make raw produce delicious by cutting, prepping and dressing it smartly. And you’ll find out how to concentrate flavours and caramelise natural sugars by barbecuing and roasting veg too.
There will be sessions on preserving your crop in the form of ferments, pickles and pestos, and you will learn how to combine different vegetables and herbs into multi-layered and beautifully textured plant-based dishes for high end menus and celebrations.
And you will of course feast on a veg-based lunch of stunningly prepared produce grown in our own River Cottage garden, and by the talented organic growers on our neighbouring farms.
When this bounteous 2-day extravaganza of growing and cooking is over, you will return home with the knowledge, skills, inspiration and confidence to transform your own garden and kitchen to produce a ready supply of veg and dish them up for family and friends in the most delicious ways possible.
Your course
10:00 - 17:00
-
Make yourself at home
Meet your tutors and settle in with tea, coffee and treats fresh from the kitchen.
-
Day One - in the garden
You'll have a tour or our garden and farm.
Throughout the day you'll learn how to improve soil health and gain tips on growing from seed to harvest as well as crop rotation and pest control.
-
Lunch
Cooking over fire with the River Cottage chefs, you’ll create a big veg feast to enjoy in the market garden or in the poly tunnels.
-
Day One - in the garden
Discuss the benefits of growing your own and our favourite varieties to grow for yield and flavour.
You'll finish the day with a dessert made by our chefs.
-
Day Two - in the kitchen
You'll learn how to make the most of your veg and how different cooking techniques can enhance and alter the flavour of your veg.
-
Lunch
Use different ingredients to create pestos, sauces and dressings and learn how to use herbs to boost flavour in your every day cooking. You'll enjoy some of these as you use this to finish your lunch.
-
Day Two - in the kitchen
Discover the delights of preserving the glut with krauts, kimchis, pickles and chutneys.
-
Departure
You'll have an opportunity at the end of each day to ask any burning questions you may have, before heading up the hill.
Please note: This is a guide to the activities that will make up your course at River Cottage. This is by no means set in stone and will depend on seasonal availability.
On occasion cookery schools will use equipment that includes induction hobs. It is recommended that people with pace makers should not work on these units. If you are concerned or would like to check whether or not induction hobs will be used on the course you are interested in, please call us on 01297 630302.
Further information...
This course is run from River Cottage HQ on the Dorset/Devon borders. Full address details of HQ will be provided once you have booked.
We are a licensed venue. We have a wide selection of the finest organic wines available to purchase.
Stay in our famous Farmhouse, click here. For other local accommodation click here.
We would advise that this course is only really suitable for 12 years of age and upwards. Under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult. We put these guidelines in place for the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all our guests.
With many of our courses there are often treats and leftovers to take away with you. In our quest to be more sustainable we are encouraging guests to bring their own containers and bags to transport their produce home. Details of what is required for each course will be included in booking emails.
- Sustainable Restaurant Association
- Food and Travel Magazine 2017
- Great British Food Awards 2017
- Great British Food Awards 2018