Seafood Cookery Class with Lee Groves

Back in June, Pete and I were invited to spend a few days in South West Cornwall on a “Seafood Safari” holiday organised by The Food Travel Company. Based in the lovely Coswyn Barn conversion at Lanyon Cottages, our small group enjoyed an early morning trip to Newlyn Harbour, a pootle around Cornwall and two fantastic seafood cookery classes taught by Lee Groves.

The classes each lasted over four hours, probably nearer to five and were held in the wonderful big kitchen in Coswyn Barn.

On the first day, Lee took us through several fish dishes, including lots of tips on how to choose and prep fish and ideas for cooking them. It was also as hands on as we wanted, and we took turns gutting, filleting, boning fish, shucking oysters and smelling and tasting everything offered.

LeeSeafoodClass collage3

On the second day, Lee focused on seafood. First we enjoyed his Thai-inspired mussels, a suggestion from two lovely little girls in our group, then a punchy and hearty fish stew. After that, Lee created some enormous seafood platters, two served cold and two served hot. These were a feast of Fresh crab, lobster, scallops razor clams, squid, oysters and langoustines.

LeeSeafoodClass collage1

One of the lobsters, a feisty chap even after 24 hours in the fridge, was the biggest lobster I’ve ever seen, Lee said it was likely to be 30-40 years old. The idea of a critter that could be as old as me was impressive, though didn’t make me enjoy eating it any less when it was served on the platter!

LeeSeafoodClass collage2

All the seafood was Cornwall sourced and incredibly fresh and of the very best quality, with the exception of the mussels which were from Devon as Lee finds them more consistent in quality. Lee showed us the various tags that certified origin (and could be used to track it, should we wish).

LeeSeafoodClass collage4

We made so many fabulous dishes; it was really inspirational, not to mention delicious!

  • Trout served with a simple dressing of halved cherry tomatoes in a vanilla vinaigrette
  • Monkfish with samphire and cherry tomatoes
  • Turbot with asparagus in a wine cream sauce
  • Mackerel three ways – grilled, lightly pickled and smoked
  • Hake with butter, cucumber and chives
  • Trout gravadlax
  • Ray wings in a pepper and brown butter sauce
  • Sashimi tastings of all the fish, and the scallops
  • Oysters
  • Thai mussels
  • Fish stew
  • Hot seafood platter with a herbed breadcrumb topping
  • Cold seafood platter on ice

See my next post for an interview with Lee Groves and his recipe for the Ray Wings.

 

Our visit to Cornwall was part of a week-long South West Tour courtesy of The Food Travel Company. They are a new company offering specialist trips for food (and drink) lovers, with group departures and customised itineraries available.

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10 Comments to "Seafood Cookery Class with Lee Groves"

  1. Jo Romero

    Kavey, I’m so jealous! What an amazing experience – I think seafood is often something that intimidates people when cooking so it’s great to have such a hands-on course to show everyone exactly what to do! Thanks for a great post and amazing pictures – you’ve made me want to go to the fishmonger now 🙂 xx

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    It was a really great experience!
    We’ve got a new fishmonger opened recently, so we’re going to pop along and see what they’re like…

    Reply
  2. Monica

    I forgot that I learned how to fillet a turbot! I definitely HAVEN’T forgotten that sea trout gravalax – amazing, especially when surprised by a secret stash on the last night in Cornwall. I loved that Lee. I loved his fish. I loved this trip. And I loved seeing it in your photo collages. So many smiles (except from the fish, of course).

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Oh oh oh I MUST get that picture you took of me with the gravadlax, remember I was trying to look serious and burst out laughing just as you hit the button!

    Reply
  3. Pete @ Bookatable

    I think everyone should attend these kind of classes if possible because fish definitely intimidates a lot of people. I’ve recently thrown myself into cooking fish much more and am loving it! Great post as per usual.

    Reply

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