Today the Hands-On Food team learnt to use a mixture of very finely diced vegetables (the French term for this technique is Brunoise). They used equal amounts of carrot, parsnip and leek cubed to less than 3mm – when adding these vegetables it is like adding seasoning and once everyting is prepared, is very quick to cook and serve.

We also imparted a lot of flavour with the use of fresh chives, parsley and chervil along with dried tarragon. Mushrooms and roasted butternut pumpkin added an earthiness and real body to the dish. The pasta is organic brown rice twists coated in an emulsion of vege stock, homemade garlic ‘butter’ and lime juice. This emulsion was created right in the pan with all the other ingredients.

Tonight when receiving an order from customers the Hand-On team needed to remember to add everything in the right order and amounts to get a perfect result.  We practised beforehand and tasted each others’ dishes to see whether they were the same.

Working in teams we came up with four variations for people to try and tell us which one was best.  We all enjoyed the process as much as the results.