Some days just leave you with a rather large smile on your face. Last Sunday was one of them. I swapped my family roast for a rather special occasion: my first food dem at the Taste the World stage at WOMAD festival.
Mid show photo: Courtesy of the marvellous @dannymccubbin
The long trek through the endless rows of tents gave me my first heads up that this was a fairly big event... somewhat bigger than I'd anticipated. The idea I had in my head of a few benches of onlookers swiftly morphed into the reality of an actual stage, in a tent complete with lights, head mics and a fairly sizeable audience. I'm sure plenty of hosts would be cooly unfazed by this, but I was undeniably thrilled and excited to be there. I will however admit that there was a slight variance between the calm words I uttered and the 'kid in a sweet shop' euphoric monologue going on inside my head: Replying "Yes certainly I'll just pop the head mic on" when really I was thinking "me, a head mic, are you sure? I'm not Madonna or anything, but oh go on then. Hold on, how do I put this thing on? Come on Pippa, look like you've done this before".
First arrivals to the tent: Photo from my instagram pippacolecooks
So, lights up and off we went. We'd decided on a home made pesto dem, making two different versions, all dolled up with cous cous and wholewheat pasta salads, dressed with lovely little tomberries, courgette ribbons and plenty of extra leaves. With a food blender, pesto is just such a breeze to make and we wanted to show the families watching that it's fresher, cheaper and, crucially, tastier made fresh - miles better than buying expensive jars which sit in your cupboards for weeks on end.
One of the finished pesto pasta salads: photo courtesy of the marvellous @dannymccubbin
It was a complete joy to see the kids getting involved: picking herbs, grating lemon zest, chopping garlic and grating parmesan... a little pesto production line! Our hour slot nearly up, queues of eager faces lined up for a taste. Truly wonderful to see this enthusiasm but, for me, the highlight was being approached by inspired parents and children afterwards asking for extra tips, advice about working in food, or merely just to say thank you. I really dislike talking myself up like this, but sometimes I have to write things down to actually believe them, the literary version of pinching myself. One lovely audience member, Mel, came up to the front just to comment on how much she loved my complete passion and evident love for what I do. She also kindly admired my humorous honesty in admitting that even I was a little surprised to be there, given I'm a mere 19 year old on her gap year before Bristol uni. Mel's comments really stuck with me, they summed up the essence of why I love giving demos. It's their ability to give you a platform to share what you love, impart ideas, inspire confidence, get people running back into the kitchen with smiles on their faces. But most importantly, in this instance, it was showing people that, with enough hard work and patience, you really can live out your wildest hopes and dreams (yes, please feel free to gag at this sickly statement). Two years ago I was an entirely anonymous audience member at Jamie Oliver's feastival, watching the demos thinking "wow, they really do have the best jobs in the world... wouldn't it be amazing if I could do that one day..." Well, two years later, after my 'polite ambush' of one of Jamie's food team, multiple emails, one work experience and one week's real work... there I was, on stage.
Right, gushy outpouring over, I think it's about time I tell you about the food (thank you for bearing with me!). One thing I really stressed in the dem, and it's something Jamie O really advocates, is not being put off by not having the exact ingredients. Recipes are your base, be creative, tailor them to your budget, your preferences, your store cupboard. Sticking by this, I am incredibly unscripted with pesto: a couple of raw garlic cloves, about two large handfuls of fresh herbs, a pinch of sea salt, perhaps a little lemon zest, a few glugs of quality olive oil and a handful or two of grated parmesan and/or nuts... all blitzed up together and tweaked for taste and texture.
We played around with basil, flat leaf parsley, rocket, parmesan, ground almonds, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Have an experiment, try different combinations. We loved our basil, rocket and almond version, as well as our gremolata style parsley, lemon and garlic-heavy concoction. If you're a little nervous, I'm sure you'll find endless wonderful pesto recipes elsewhere on the net: this pistachio pesto is a particular favourite of mine from the ever-inspiring Sprouted Kitchen. But if you're willing to be brave, just collect your favourite ingredients and see what works for you, there are so many options that I have no doubt you'll soon find a family favourite of your own. Please let me know if you have a go, I'd love to hear how you get on.
A few Q&As from the dem:
Q: How do I get a similarly flavourful pesto if I can't eat cheese as I'm vegan/lactose intolerant?
A: It's the real salty depth of flavour that you get from the parmesan, so to get a comparable depth I'd suggest toasting whichever nuts you use before you grind them, as well as perhaps adding an extra pinch of salt. Toasting the nuts really amplifies their flavour so it really helps to fill the gap.
Q: I'm allergic to nuts, what can I do?
A: If you want an equally thick pesto, I'd limit your use of oil and up the cheese and herb quantities. However, you can just omit the nuts and make yourself a much lighter pesto, I often make it like this if I want to use it more as a dressing to drizzle over salads or roasted veg.
Q: Does it matter what nuts you use?
A: Definitely not, be creative! Italians typically use pine nuts but these are often quite pricey here in the UK. Almonds are probably the best value alternative (a great tip by the wonderful @dannymccubbin), but I also love pesto made with pistachios or walnuts - the latter are particularly good with a bit of lemon zest.
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