Jewish Cookery in the UK, Jewish Cooking in the UK, Jewish Cookery,

Food For Thought - Denise dishes up culinary inspiration for wannabe chefs
Jewish News - Friday 26th October

There are easier tasks in life than being married to a vegetarian. There is -only so much cauliflower, cabbage and carrots you can eat before you run the risk of turning into a herbi-vore (well, almost).
Seriously lacking in inspiration, and wondering what else to put in my trolley apart from Quorn and quinoa I decided to seek the advice of our resident cookery columnist Denise Philips.

Denise, who trained at Prue Leith's School of Food and Wine and has been run-ning cookery classes for 15 years, is skilled to say the least in the art of kosher cuisine. As a wife and mother, she has mastered all the firm favourites synonymous with Jewish tradition, as well as adopting modern methods of reliable classics. For instance, this Chanukah she will be making rum and raisin fritters as a variation of jam doughnuts. "Food is my passion," she enthuses. "I just love being able combine the tradition of our five thousand year old religion with the modern skills and styles of today". She always sticks to her motto of `keep it simple, keep it relevant, keep it fresh', as well as the golden oldie, `if in doubt, throw it out'.

Through running a series of cookery demonstrations, Denise is a pro at knowing what works and what doesn't. As innovative as it is informal, her Cookery School centres on enhancing your love of food and adding to your cooking reper-toire. From the extensive range of themes, I stumbled upon Italian Vegetarian Classics and immediately made my choice. The mouthwatering menu would tickle anyone's. tastebuds so I went along to watch Denise at work. "There are no beginners, intermediate and advanced classes', she says. "Everyone is welcome to attend together". In the comfort of her own home, Denise treats her guests to a truly hands -on experience in which they prepare a delicious meal and then sit down to eat it together after-wards. "If you are going to go out for dinner, you might as well learn something too," she says.

First on the menu was Tuscan bean soup with parmesan crostini - a thick soup with a delicious mix of fresh vegetables and beans. Participants assist Denise by Peeling, chopping and combining ingredients together, and I learned knife skills by carefully observing the participants chopping onions, garlic and leeks. Next on the list was calzone - a pizza folded over to enclose its filling in a kind of pouch: Once again Denise's ideas did not fail to disappoint, and she asked participants to combine three types of cheese (ricotta, mozzarella and Pamesan) along with tomatoes and basil far a tasty dish to die for. I noted how they made the pizza dough - a quick and easy recipe which would be a doddle to replicate. To accompany the calzone was hazelnut, spinach and roasted garlic salad - a delightfully simple salad that is ideal with most main courses. The aroma of the warm hazel-nuts, fresh from the oven, evoked feelings of cosiness and the type associated with wintry nights. And then to dessert Denise chose coffee and amaretto ice cream, served with almond and fruit biscotti authentic Italian favourites that would no doubt go down well with all and sundry.

I left feeling inspired - who knew that there were so many great Vegetarian recipes out there? Denise proved that with interesting ingredients, perfect preparation skills and enough effort and enthusiasm to want to learn more about specific needs and tastes, anything can be achieved. Whether you want to impress guests, your spouse or even yourself, a session with Denise will give you the opportunity to expand and improve your usual cooking techniques and leave you feeling like a domestic goddess!