Sarah Plicher

INTRODUCTION

We know that cooking should be a pleasure, but all too often it just isn’t. Whether we cook everyday for family, or for special occasions with guests, the pressure is on to produce a more ambitious range of food that looks and tastes great. At the same time, we want to enjoy the process, get pleasure from learning and yet still have enough time and energy left to share your precious time with family and guests.

My job is to make all that happen in a relaxed and informal way, which moves on from the familiar ‘training you to cook’ routine to a highly personalised approach – kitchen coaching.

We may need to start with the basics – I can hold your culinary hand and coach you whether you would like to start at the beginning and learn the basics, or to increase your repertoire for family meals or perhaps for more lavish entertaining for parties.

I can teach you simple and effective ways to make your life easier by becoming familiar and comfortable with ingredients, local markets, specialist suppliers and using supermarkets cleverly. Sometimes the menu for an occasion can be a challenge – I can help and advise you to find the perfect one, drawing on my extensive library of cookery books and thousands of tried and tested recipes .

HOW I CAN HELP

Here are a some of the ways I have helped people:

Perhaps you are bored with the same dishes night after night. Together we can increase your repertoire – I will help you develop your own personal cooking style and produce it consistently.

If you’re not feeling very confident we can start with the basics, which are the foundations of effective and enjoyable cooking. Practicing the right techniques will lead you to feel more comfortable in the kitchen and enable you to tackle more advanced recipes.

You may wish to learn some menus, which can be prepared in advance. We can also go through your store cupboard and make sure it is well stocked with essentials for those days when time is short.

Perhaps you have been asked to arrange a family or group celebration –  you want to prepare the food yourself but are feeling somewhat daunted. I will work with you to create a menu, prepare and provide coaching in areas you where you are less confident and sharing the short cuts and chef touches with you. We can even lay the table and arrange the flowers, so when your guests arrive you are relaxed and ready to enjoy the occasion with them.

ABOUT ME

Since training at Leiths’s School of Food and Wine I spent many years working as a private caterer and built up an extensive list of fantastic clients – looking after their parties, dinners, special occasions or simple suppers. During this time I felt the need to expand my restaurant experience and joined the management team at Petersham Nurseries’ Michelin starred Cafe. Here I had the chance to watch first Skye Gyngell and then Greg Malouf cook in one of the most magical and beautiful restaurants in London.

I have spent the last couple of years at Sonny’s Kitchen in Barnes, co-owned by Rebecca Mascaranhas and Phil Howard, two powerhouses of the London restaurant scene. I managed the food shop, outside catering arm and private dining room.

Since leaving Sonny’s I have come back to the stove as more and more people have asked me to show them how to prepare, cook and serve great food, ultimately increasing their confidence and enjoyment in the kitchen.

Choose a course:

    Avocado, Goats Cheese & Tomato Crostini

    • Preheat oven to 180
    • Cut baguette, you want 20 thin slices and brush with olive oil, bake until crispy for 10 mins, leave to cool then keep in airtight box turn down oven to 150
    • Cut tomatoes into quarters, drizzle with olive oil, balsamic, salt & pepper and roast for 30 mins
    • Put avocado, goats cheese, lemon, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper, tabasco in a food processor and puree, I like to leave it with a little texture
    • Put a teaspoon of the avocado mix on to a crostini and garnish with some tomato

    From Diva Cooking

    INGREDIENTS

    Serves 20 Canapes

    • 1 large avocado
    • 150gms soft and creamy goats cheese
    • grated zest and lemon juice
    • 1 tsp olive oil (I like greek best)
    • 1 garlic clove
    • salt & pepper
    • a little tabasco
    • 10 cherry tomatoes
    • olive oil
    • balsamic
    • salt & pepper
    • 1 day old baguette slice thinly

    Crab Salad with Nam Jim

    • Make the dressing as close to serving as possible
    • Crush the coriander, add the chilli, more crushing
    • Mix in the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice
    • Stir in chopped shallots
    • Taste and alter seasoning if necessary
    • Dress the crab with the nam jim and put on the plate with rocket or perhaps cress

    Note: I would serve this with some toasted sour dough, not very authentic but good for mopping up the juices

    From A Year in My Kitchen – Skye Gyngell

    INGREDIENTS

    Serves 4

    • 500 grams of white crab meat
    • 1 large chilli seeds removed and thinly sliced

    Dressing

    • 2 cloves of garlic
    • 1 bunch of coriander
    • salt
    • 1 green birds eye chilli
    • 2 tbsp palm sugar
    • 2 tbsp fish sauce
    • 3 tbsp lime juice
    • 2 shallots finely slice

    To Serve

    • lime wedges to serve

    One Dish Chicken Risotto

    • Aga roasting oven 190 degrees
    • Put the stuffed and smeared chicken in the oven in a smallish roasting dish, pour in 2 ltd of boiling water
    • Leave chicken to cook for 45 mins
    • Add onions to dish after 30 mins
    • Take dish out of oven, pour rice and wine under chicken (if possible lift up chicken)
    • Put back in oven and pour yourself a glass of said wine (prepare any salad to be served with the chicken now and put dressing on just before you put on the table)
    • Check rice after 20 mins, try not to stir but ensure there is enough liquid (add only boiling water)
    • Before you remove from oven check rice is cooked through, take chicken and place on warm place to settle
    • Add another 50grms of butter to the rice and stir through herbs
    • Joint chicken or carve. Rice on plate, or even better, in a shallow soup dish, carved chicken on top.
    • Dress salad, more wine (in your glass)

    Mine

    INGREDIENTS

    Serves 4 Generously

    • 1 Chicken stuffed with half a lemon, thyme and 2 garlic cloves (over 1.5kg)
    • Smeared with 50 grams butter
    • Salt & pepper
    • 300grms risotto rice
    • 150 ml white wine
    • 2 ltrs boiling water
    • 1 onion peeled and finely quarted
    • Another 50 grams of butter

      • To Serve

    • Flat leaf parsley finely chopped (could add more thyme or even a few chives)

    Up-side Down Apple Cakes - makes 6

    • Put oven to 180 degrees C
    • Lightly grease a six hole muffin tin
    • Slice 3 apples into 6 thick rounds
    • Melt 25 grams butter and 3 tbsp of the golden syrup
    • When bubbling fry the apples on both side till they have a lovely colour (long weekend in the south of France not 2 months in Spain)
    • Cream remaining butter and sugar and slowly add the eggs, if it looks like it going to curdle add a little flour,
    • Fold in flour and crushed cardamom seeds
    • Put in oven and bake for approx 15 min
    • Turn out from tins and serve warm with a drizzle of the rest of the golden syrup
    • Think you might needs some vanilla ice cream at this point.

    Unknown Source

    INGREDIENTS

    Serves 6

      • 2 crisp eating apples
      • 175 grms unsalted butter (soft)
      • 6 tbsp golden syrup
      • 150 grms caster sugar
      • 3 medium organic eggs lightly beaten
      • 150 grms self-raising flour
      • 2 cardomom pods, seeds removed and finely crushed

    To Serve

    • Vanilla Ice Cream

    Here is my instagram feed of my food and the food I love to eat.

    SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

    • I’m stuck in a rut and tired of eating the same meals week after week

      We can look at your existing repertoire and find new, delicious and inspiring recipes, sort out your cupboards so you always have the basic stock ingredients to create quick meals and delicious feasts – from £195 excluding ingredients

    • My son is going to university and I don’t want him to starve or live off takeaways

      I can spend 1-5 days teaching a true novice how to shop well and prepare nutritious, delicious meals to stop the fast food machine taking over – from £195 excluding ingredients

    • I want to produce a meal for my sister's birthday but enjoy it as well

      Although there is no standard event an example of a recent job started with a client overwhelmed by a family celebration for 12. We met to discuss the lunch to get an understanding of her requirements. I created a menu, shopping list and came round on the morning of the event and laid the table, arranged the flowers,  prepared the menu together. When I left the client had a detailed time plan for the rest of the evening and felt relaxed and that everything was under control, the above event cost the client £295 excluding ingredients

    • I’d like someone to help with the clearing and serving

      I have a great network of professional staff, many of whom have worked in restaurants, who will come and take the pressure off you while your guests are there, normally £15-£20 per hour.

    • We have guests coming from America who would love to investigate London's food scene

      I can take them on a tour of the favourites such as Borough Market but also some hidden gems so they can get the full London experience – from £175.

    Please click here to email me
    or contact me using the
    details below

    Back to top