We still have places available on our Chocolate course taking place this Sunday, 20th May. So if you fancy making your own box of chocolates, baking a delicious chocolate tart and creating a mouth watering roulade, then come along and join us. The course commences at 9.30am through to 3pm. Cost is £95 per person, this includes your ingredients, lunch and a recipe pack.

Click to book your place

Two last minute places have become available on our Thai Cookery course taking place on Saturday 5th May and two on our Vietnamese course hosted by Hao Dang, taking place on Sunday 6th.

Cost is £95 per student, this includes all ingredients, lunch and recipe pack. The courses both start at 9.30am through to 3.30pm on their respective days.

To book these places please call Wendy on 07973 479831 or email info@shirescookeryschool.com

Since we opened our doors nearly twelve months ago we have been delighted to welcome over 1000 students, attending classes ranging from Artisan Bread to Vietnamese cookery,  Pastry making through to Caribbean.  To ensure that we continue to further improve our range of classes and offer our students a professional teaching environment we have decided to undertake a mini refurbishment. New induction pads are being installed and individual refrigeration units are being adding to our expanded number of workstations.  Work will be completed ready for our class taking place on 14th April.

We still have a couple of places left on our Caribbean course taking place this Saturday (10th March) with Wendi Jarrett.

Your menu for the day – delicious Jerk Chicken, Escoveitched fish, traditional Jamaican dumplings and cornbread.

The course starts at 9.30am through to 3.30pm. The cost is £95 per person, this includes your ingredients, lunch and a recipe pack.

We cant promise you sunshine, but we can promise that you will learn how to create the fabulous flavours of the Caribbean.

Click through to book your place

Despite the snowy conditions, students battled through to attend our sausage making course. After a much deserved cup of coffee Richard Curtis showed the students how to bone a pork joint, mince their own sausage meat and then ultimately create a string of sausages.

Thanks to all the students that attended the course.

There are a limited number of places on our Champagne & Cupcakes evening taking place on Wednesday 8th February.

Enjoy a chilled glass of champagne, whilst learning how to decorate the perfect cupcake, get expert decoration tips from your tutor, Layla Wright of Beaumont Cakes, and take home your fabulous cupcake creations.

Ideal gift for your Valentine – book your place

Come along and join our game course taking place this Saturday 15th October, where your tutor will take you through a practical and educational day.

Game falls into two categories. The first is feathered game or game birds, including grouse, pheasant, partridge, quail, snipe, wild duck, woodcock and wood pigeon. The second is furred game, including hare, rabbit, venison and ‘wild’ boar.

To expand your knowledge join us for the day and learn what to look for when buying game, cooking it and get the best from its rich flavours.

Your menu for the day

Game pie with buttered celeriac and game gravy
Grilled Northamptonshire Wood Pigeon
Shires Pheasant pate

Cost is £125 per person this includes your ingredients and lunch. The day will commence at 9.30am through to 3.30 and promises to be an informative and interactive experience.

Book your place or call (01604) 621640

We are delighted to welcome Hao Dang  from Dangs Vietnamese restaurant to Shires.

Awarding winning Hao will be bringing her 25 years experience of cooking Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese cuisine to the school with a series of hands on day classes, commencing Sunday 9 October.

One of the handful of Northamptonshire restaurants recommended in the Michelin Guide for the last three years, Dangs is Northampton’s only Vietnamese restaurant. Opened in 2007 it already has a great reputation for fresh and tasty cuisine and friendly atmosphere. What’s more Hao Dang has just won ‘Best Curry Chef’ of the year 2010/2011 at the Northamptonshire Food awards in recognition of her fine skills and was runner up in the ‘Booker Chef of the Year’ 2011/12 in the Northamptonshire food and drink awards.

There are a limited number of places on the course, click through to find out more and reserve your place

Join our three hour pasta course taking place this Wednesday evening 14th Sept.

Your tutor will take you teach you how to make pasta and create a couple of delicious Italian sauces.
The course commences at 6pm through to 9pm, cost is £35 per person, this includes your ingredients.

Come straight from work, improve your culinary skills and cook yourself a delicious dinner.

After much anticipation and a great deal of excitement, the winners of the ten categories in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2011/12 are finally celebrating being named the best of the county’s best!

The competition, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), is now in its third year and is again aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

The results were announced at a glittering Awards Dinner (Thurs 1^st Sept) staged in the magnificent setting of Holdenby House.

The winners and runners-up are:
Young Chef of the Year:
Winner: Leighanne Harrison
Runner-up: Paige Sanderson

Local Food Hero:
Winner: Collyweston Community Shop
Runner-up: Nick Riseley of Creamers Coffee House, Raunds

Community Pub of the Year – Town:
Winner (only): The Malt Shovel Tavern, Northampton
Community Pub of the Year – Rural:
Winner (only): The Sun Inn, Hardingstone

Curry Chef of the Year:
Winner: Durga Sapkota of Mem-Saab Ltd, Northampton
Runner-up: Bodrul Islam of Saffron, Northampton

Pub or Bar Restaurant of the Year:
Winner: Rose & Crown, Yardley Hastings
Runner-up: The Saracen’s Head, Little Brington

Restaurant of the Year:
Winner: Beckworth Emporium, Mears Ashby
Runner-up: The Seafood Café, Northampton 

Best Local Product:
Winner: Farrington’s Balsamic Dressing, Farrington Oils Ltd
Runner up: Diamond Pork Pie, Sauls of Spratton Ltd       

Best Local Drink:
Winner : Fleur Fields Rosé, Fleur Fields Ltd
Runner up: Medium Apple Juice, The Village Orchard

Booker Chef of the Year:
Winner: Lee Gaskins of The Terrace Restaurant at Highgate House, Creaton
Runner-up: Hao Dang of Dang’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Northampton

‘Young Chef of the Year’, Leighanne Harrison, a former Northampton College student who is now working at The Seafood Café in Northampton, was stunned by the announcement of her victory, “I couldn’t believe it when my name was announced and my legs turned to jelly when I got up to collect my trophy! I’ve won two bronze medals and a silver in the UK World Skills competition for my silver service but this is my first award for my cooking – and it’s amazing!”

Meanwhile for Andrew Pye of The Sun Inn, Hardingstone, winning the title of ‘Community Pub of the Year – Rural’ also came as a wonderful surprise, “I’m absolutely delighted! I’ve got twenty five young people in my team and this is fantastic recognition for them and their efforts in supporting the community. This really is the greatest accolade and we certainly intend to have a big party to celebrate!”

And for Duncan Farrington of Farrington Oils in Hargrave whose Balsamic Dressing won the ‘Best Local Product ’ title, the award clearly meant everything, ”This is the third year we’ve entered and so to take the title at last is wonderful, especially with a product which we only launched earlier this summer.  Although we sell nationally and internationally, our greatest following is here in Northamptonshire and so to receive this local award from those wonderful supporters is great and we’d like to say thank you to them!”  

The trophies – a beautifully handcrafted plaque created by Northampton ceramicist Nita Nathwani – were presented by a selection of this year’s Award judges, including Holdenby House owner James Lowther, award-winning broadcaster, editor and food writer William Sitwell and Northampton-born Tom Whitaker, who was runner-up in this year’s BBC Masterchef. Tom said he was very pleased to be playing his part in supporting his county of birth, “It’s been great to come back home and to be involved in what is such a fantastic competition. I’m a real supporter of buying British and indeed local produce and it’s clear Northamptonshire‘s great venues and chefs share my thinking. The county should feel very proud!” 

Guests were welcomed to the event by the competition’s co-ordinator, Rachel Mallows of The Mallows Company and NEP’s Chief Executive, Rob Purdie. Rob spoke afterwards of his delight that the competition is making such an impact, “As the organization behind these awards it was very exciting to see the responses of the winners and runners-up and what success in this competition so clearly means to them. The awards are about encouraging all those in the sector, from grass roots level upwards, to be as good as they can be and across all categories we’re already seeing the difference that is making. We’re delighted that our efforts are reaping such rewards for so many.”

Former Northampton College student and Executive Chef at Gary Rhodes’ Michelin-starred restaurant Rhodes Twenty Four, Adam Gray, prepared a mouth-watering Northamptonshire menu for the 250 entrants, judges, sponsors, media partners and supporters who attended, including the creator of Ready Steady Cook and a Fellow of the Master Chefs of Great Britain, Steven Saunders.  Guests were treated to a starter of cured salmon served with a Northamptonshire honey-pickled cucumber salad, followed by a trio of Northamptonshire lamb and a pudding of iced lemon chiboust served with Northamptonshire blackberries.