A Recipe for Fundraising Success

You will need:

• 48 People

• 2 Chefs
• A large dash of wine
• Plenty of nibbles
• Generous to a fault raffle prizes
• Clare Cook enterprises!!

In the heat of the moment our 2 chefs conjured up some truly amazing pro vs. pamp 'ready steady cook' style dishes that just had to be tasted:

• PRO - John Rimmer - the legendary head chef from The Lambert Arms, Lewknor turned out not one, but two exceptional mains - Pan Fried Salmon with a cream and leek sauce (sod the roux - see below) and Poached Salmon with sautéed new potatoes, cherry tomatoes and courgette. Followed by a date sponge to die for.
• PAMP - Clare Cook - the tireless pampered chef from Ashendon put up an exceptional challenge with her Carbonara Pizza followed by Waffleberry Pudding.

The competition hotted up as Gill Walker got to work with the big chopper. John responded with a glimpse of his shallots and Clare upped the stakes with her turkey baster and soured cream. Hilarious!

On a more serious note, John shared a few tips with us like:

•  Put a couple of teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda in cabbage to keep the green colour strong
•  Place salmon in the (very hot) pan away from you so the oil doesn't spit back
•  Don't bother with a roux sauce - use butter and cream instead

We can't thank our support crew enough for their hard work and efforts. Derek Hedges pitched chef vs. chef as compére extrodinaire. Pam Rand toiled away at the bar and the kitchen sink, to keep the evening on a perfect pitch. Jean Tippet demonstrated outstanding raffle salespersonship (helped by all who donated the very generous raffle prizes) and Paparazzi Peter (Johnson) who snapped away incessantly to capture the many moments of the evening - see below for some of these.

Then finally thanks to everyone for coming along, joining in the madness and handing over your hard earned cash so willingly. We love you. Latest (and almost final) fundraising result is £350 to be split equally between The Pollicott Belles Ridgeway Cycle for Macmillan Cancer Support and Edward Cook's Mount Kilimanjaro Trek for Marie Curie Cancer Care.