St Ives is renown for many things, its beaches and coastal walks, its restaurants, cafes and pubs. It also has one of the busiest working harbours in the area, bringing the freshest of fish to shore.
With the growing interest in fine cooking we wondered if we could combine the two and got in touch with Grant Nethercott, head chef and driving force at the award-winning Alba Restaurant on The St Ives harbour front.
Our plans are for a series of 3-day residential cookery courses focusing on fresh fish, where you’ll learn the simple basics of how to choose and prepare the best fish available to cooking some of Grant’s signature dishes.
Arriving on Monday afternoon for canapés and drinks, there’s an introduction to the course followed by an evening meal you’ll prepare together with the chefs who will be teaching over the coming days.
During the first session on Tuesday morning you’ll visit the best fish merchant in the area to understand what to look for in choosing fresh fish, including cleaning, scaling and filleting. From then on the serious cooking begins, with sessions about the ‘basics of perfect fish’, stocks and sauces, and smoked fish recipes. On Tuesday afternoon you will be involved in cooking three of Grant’s own dishes to eat together in the evening.
Wednesday morning starts with ‘ideas for breakfast’ and making pates and paste’s, and after lunch a time for questions and answers. With free time to explore St Ives in the afternoon, we’ll get together again in the evening for supper at The Alba Restaurant.
On Thursday morning it’s time to head for home with a notebook full of recipes and the expertise to impress family and friends.
Using one of the Sail Lofts apartments as our base, the course includes accommodation, all ingredients and cooking utensils and supper at The Alba.
If you would like a one to one course during your stay this can also be arranged, perhaps as a gift or just a treat for yourself. This is how one of our guests described their experience...
For more information, please call the Sail Lofts office: 01736 799175
