The Green Grocer: Cooking School

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The Cooking School

The Green Grocer has over the years formed a strong and direct bond with our fresh produce suppliers and celebrate the seasonality of their produce. Our cooking school has evolved to provide an essential link between the farm and the table and offers seasonal programs of classes designed to suit all levels of cooking proficiency from the novice to the experienced chef.

Our cooking classes are conducted in our fully equipped commercial kitchen and feature guest presenters from all areas of our vibrant organic industry. Classes are informal, practical and all recipes and notes are provided. After the class sit back with a glass or two of organic wine and feast on the days creations.

Bookings

Bookings can be made by contacting us by phone or email. Class placement is only confirmed with full payment, otherwise bookings will not be held. Classes once booked are not transferable to any other class or refundable. Class size of 10 - 12 people. Hands on class format, includes tastings and notes.

Gift vouchers are available.

2008 Sunday Sessions

Welcome to 2008 Sunday sessions at the Green Grocer cooking school. Over the coming months our team of chefs and their guests will present a series of classes that will highlight the wonderful seasonal flavours organic produce has to offer. We have decided to move our classes to Sunday afternoon for winter, so come and help us steam up the kitchen windows through out the chilly Melbourne winter months.

'a la vasca' - in the basque manner
The Basques are known for their creativity in the kitchen and their long-enduring culinary heritage. In Spain ’s Basque Country, food and eating are the centre of everyday life and the focus of endless conversation. Tanya shares her own Basque culinary experiences with plates full of pinchos, to begin your culinary journey – “al la vasca”
$95 Sunday 20 July 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter: Tanya Connellan

the art of slow cooking

On a chilly day when the crisp air outside stings your nostrils, what could be more beguiling than the steamy, rich aroma of a casserole? Slow-cooked dishes have a subtlety gained only by patiently simmering all the ingredients together so their flavours slide and meld into one another. Take advantage of the warmth of the oven and start cooking earlier in the day than any other season. A hearty casserole has a magical way of banishing the winter blues. The ancient art of slow cooking transverses cuisines, from the classic French ‘Cassoulet’, and the Italian ‘Osso Bucco’ to a Chinese Chicken hot pot, a great class for both the novice and experienced cook.

$95
Sunday 3 August 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Presenter: Tanya Connellan

“bouchon” – french bistro cooking
French bistro cooking has stayed close to its roots. It conjures up romantic images, but bistro cooking is actually very rustic, down to earth food. This type of cooking started in home kitchens and spread to restaurants, so you probably have everything you need in your kitchen already. It’s as comforting as potatoes baked with reblochon cheese and as simple as pear and almond tart.
$95 Sunday 31 August 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter: Tanya Connellan

to be announced

$95 Sunday 14 September 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter:

to be announced

$95 Sunday 28 September 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter:

to be announced

$95 Sunday 12 October 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter:

the mighty Mekong - a culinary journey through Vietnam (part one)

With a length of more than 4,500 kilometers, the Mekong is one of the world’s largest rivers. It springs from the Eastern Tibetan highlands and flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia into Vietnam, where it splits into nine smaller rivers and countless canals and tributaries before reaching the South China Sea. Life in the Mekong Delta revolves around the river system, which is home to an amazing variety of fish. And because there is water aplenty, the Delta produces half of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetables, and is centre of Vietnam’s rice production. Join the authors of KOTO – A culinary journey through Vietnam, Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, in a class featuring the tropical abundance of the cuisine from the Mekong Delta.

$95
Saturday Special 18 October 10.00am - 12.30pm
Presenter: Tracey Lister & Andreas Pohl

Hanoi and the Northern Highlands - a culinary journey through Vietnam (part two)

Confucianism is about harmony and balance and the famous five courtyards of Van Mieu, Hanoi’s ancient Temple of Literature, represent the five elements thought to be the origin of all things: water, fire, metal, earth and wood. From the idea of the five elements flows one of the most important principles of Vietnamese cooking, the concept of the five flavours. To be truly complete, every meal needs to have a balance of bitter, sweet, sour, spicy and salty tastes. Join the authors of KOTO – A culinary journey through Vietnam, Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, the tastes of Vietnam’s capital and the northern highlands.

$95
Saturday Special 18 October 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Presenter: Tracey Lister & Andreas Pohl

to be announced

$95 Sunday 26 October 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter:

the whey of goat cheese

With many years of cheesemaking experience, a Churchill Scholarship to Europe to look at small scale cheesemaking and a recent trip to Italy for Slow Cheese, Jan & Trevor Brandon from Red Hill Cheese will share some of the secrets behind this culinary art. Learn the basics of traditional slow-set goat cheese and gain the confidence to tackle some simple variations at home. The class will also include a comprehensive goat cheese tasting, from fresh to white mould and farmhouse to blue.

$95
Sunday 9 November 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Presenters: Jan & Trevor Brandon

to be announced

$95 Sunday 23 November 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter:

to be announced

$95 Sunday 7 December 2.00pm - 4.30pm Presenter:

Our Presenters

Joe Trinchi head chef The Green Grocer.

Terri Mercieca is a young and energetic freelance pastry chef and chocolatier. With her own venture Fraise Sauvage Terri is combining her training from some of Australia’s finest foodies with her own expertise of pastry and chocolate to offer workshops in dessert making and fine culinary sweets. Terri has used her own flair and creativity to design desserts for St Kilda’s Stokehouse and more recently at EQ Cafebar. She has acquired skills in fine chocolate making from chocolate artisans Kennedy & Wilson and furthered her art whilst designing and creating dairy free, organic Fairtrade choclates for Coco Loco.

Nathan Nichol career highlights include working as Sous chef for a Melbourne fine dining sustainable seafood and organic restaurant, as Senior chef de Partie at London's 1 Michelin star Italian restaurant Cecconi’s and as being personal chef to Elle Macpherson. He has also been a contestant on My Restaurant Rules, worked as Sous Chef for Melbourne's Longrain and mention Gordon Ramsey, and he has some interesting kichen experiences there as well!

Tanya Connellan head chef at The Green Grocer 2003-2006 and now head chef at Port Fairy's Portifino on Bank. "As a cook, I find myself captured by the sequence of events that gets the best organic produce from the farm to our kitchen. Organic & biodynamic practices are a profound commitment to a sustainable environment and in my view the green grocer cooking school is a link from the farm to your table."

Tracey Lister knows how to shop, cook and eat in Vietnam. Fresh from the Melbourne restaurant scene, where 15 years in some of the city’s finest kitchens earned her a reputation for seductive flavours and exciting blends, Tracey landed in the hustle and bustle of Ha Noi in Vietnam in May 2000 and was determined to put her extensive training and experience to good use. Her opportunity came in the form of KOTO, a grass-roots charity that helps street kids to free themselves from the poverty cycle through vocational training. Tracey’s brief? To transform disadvantaged young people known as the ‘dust of life’ into Vietnam’s hospitality crème de la crème.