Welcome to a season of Ricky M’s classes at Botanica Restaurant, Sant Pere de Ribes
€59
Botanica EXCLUSIVE
Salads masterclass
The Ultimate Tomato Salad
We’ll run through the do’s and don’t of salads. A focus on dressings and types of salad, especially side salads, so often badly done. So first up a perfect leaf salad and an eye catching Mediterranean tomato platter. Then we’ll put together some composite salads:
the amazing Xató de Ribes - Ricky’s own version of the Garraf coast’s top dish; we’ll construct a classic Nicoise at the same time; we’ll get chicken Caesar just perfect and we’ll create a fab Thai fillet of beef salad.
The finale will be to construct something exquisite and perfectly dressed, Ensalada Botanica. Perfect to add to a spring terrace lunch, we’ll use seasonal ingredients, the best leaves, herbs, micro leaves and edible flowers, some of which we’ll pick from those growing around us in the Botanica kitchen and garden. We might even get a bit competitive for this!
Our salads will all be very different and include two versatile and well-loved salads for all year-round: the under-rated celeriac remoulade and a fabulous coleslaw.
€59
Botanica EXCLUSIVE
Asparagus masterclass
Next Season!
We’ll do just about everything you can with Asparagus. The classiest of vegetables and so different from everything else - which is very much its appeal. We’ll get cooking once we’ve enjoyed a slice of Asparagus Tortilla and chatted about the different versions of the asparagus stem available to us.
We’ll do the basics first and peel some prime spears and cook them with a classic hollandaise sauce. Talking of trimmings we’ll already have a stock pan simmering away to make some asparagus stock. So that means we’ll be making a tasty asparagus soup and an asparagus veloute, the basis of a sauce that Ricky will turn into the revival of the vol-au-vent and guests will use to produce an oven baked German-style ‘spargel’ dish.
Finally, Fast Prep Asparagus. With the help of guests Ricky’s challenge is to produce 3 very different Asparagus dishes in an hour!
€59
Cooking the best Vegetable Paellas + 5 Vegetarian Tapas
Ricky’s guide to the best Vegetable Paella.
Even if you’ve mastered the basics of paella making I really would like everyone to follow how I approach a non meat or non seafood paella. Let me show you the way to create a paella that isn’t bland or uninteresting, one that sits well beside the best.
The secret lies in selecting just one or two vegetables that will produce a perfect stock plus distinctive flavour and texture combination. We’ll do it all from scratch.
Lots of inspiration.
Whilst the stock is underway we’ll prepare 5 vegetarian tapas
Our Tapas selection always changes, but a typical 5 Tapas we’ll produce might include Classic Potato Tortilla with added Escarole stems; Blue Cheese Croquetas; Broad Bean salad with Fennel; Artichokes a la Romana; timbal of Escalivada with Goats Cheese.
€59
Botanica EXCLUSIVE
Cooking with Herbs
The dishes we’ll produce
Spanakopita, the Greek Cheese Pie that can’t live without mint
Pesto Pasta, the classic from Liguria that everybody loves
Twice cooked Goats Cheese & Thyme Polenta, a great accompaniment to many meat dishes
Pasta Victor, a chicken based pasta dish that Ricky discovered in California in the ‘80s that is nothing without Coriander – or is that Cilantro
Broad Bean & Lovage Puree, a versatile vegetable side that sits well on many a plate
A new Ricky M class for 2022 and exclusive to Botanica. Prepare 5 dishes with Ricky that when it comes to flavour each has much to thank to one herb in particular. But first we’ll talk about using herbs carefully and in moderate proportions; a very brief mention of dried herbs! Herbs to always have to hand, when to add herbs to a dish, herb oils, herbs as garnish.
€69
Creating Tapas Party Food
“Where do we start with such an array of possibilities? Well we’ll start by talking about the different styles of Tapas and what suits the type of tapas party you might have in mind.
I want to show you one or two of my favourites and those that guests always enjoy preparing. Well known classics you might have prepared before but that could maybe benefit from a refresh and others you’ve enjoyed in the tapas bars of Spain but never attempted and always wanted to know how to recreate. Plus new ideas to sit side-by-side with the classics.
Sampling happens dish by dish. And sure, the selection gets re-arranged, but eight from the following would be a typical selection” Ricky M
Empanadillas ~ Catalan Broad Bean salad ~ Seafood Salad ~ Ensaladilla Rusa ~ Albondigas ~ Fried breaded Sardines ~ Classic Tortilla ~ Chorizo in Red Wine ~ Croquetas ~ Boquerones in vinegar
€59
Botanica EXCLUSIVE
Mediterranean Summer Terrace Lunch
The fine month of July is in full swing and at home our shaded terrace tables await lunch with family or friends. So what to cook?
This class is all about the seasons and making use of the amazing produce grown in the fertile plains of Garraf. About the cooking that has been forged by the proximity of the mountains to the Med. For our meal all the key components will have been produced within 10km of Botanica. For Ricky M the benefits are obviously good for the planet and the local economy, but one things is for sure….very local food is always going to have a head start when it comes to freshness.
We’ll cook wonderful tapas appetisers using the latest vegetables to arrive on the market stalls. Then Simple risottos that ooze flavour; Vilanova sardines breaded and awaiting a squeeze of lemon. Mains will be all about allowing the host to enjoy the lunch with the guests, so we’ll cook the tastiest slow-cooked chicken tagine and vegetables with preserved lemons and pungent coriander, served with sweet onion cous-cous. A Provencal Prune Tart for dessert.
Sometimes in the classes we graze as we learn and cook, but here we’ll learn and cook the meal, building up to the final hour when we’ll move to the terrace and continue great food chat over lunch.
Each person attending this class is welcome to invite one guest to join the table for an additional charge of 25 euros. So don’t forget to invite a friend or partner to come and enjoy the fruits of your labour…
€69
Cooking Paella + 5 Tapas
The most famous Spanish dish in the world comes to life in our kitchen in a version that´s popular in these parts. This is Paella from the land rather than the sea. Rabbit, Chicken, Pork and Vegetables.
We prepare every step slowly, understanding what makes this such a fabulous dish. Everybody´s Paella is individual and yours will be no exception. With the basics understood you´ll forever be able to cook the well-known seafood version, a sea & land combo or a vegetable solo option too. We´ll discuss all the possibilities.
Before we cook our Paella we´ll roll out a selection of 5 hot and cold tapas dishes - from the sea.
I mix things up depending often on availability of produce and season, but this would be a typical 5:
Fried seafood Andalusian style ~ Fried breaded Sardines ~ Tuna Empanadillas ~ Pulpo a la Gallega ~ Bunuelos de Bacalao
€59
Botanica EXCLUSIVE
Chef for Half a Day!
You’ve all watched Masterchef. Now we’ll do it for real. Ricky is going to teach you how to prepare 3 lunch dishes, a starter, mains and dessert. Over the first two hours we’ll use every skill and learn every trick to make these dishes perfect. You’ll never forget how to cook them.
In the second half of the class, we are going to produce them for lunch service in the restaurant! If they don’t make the mark, they won’t go out. But Ricky is confident that he can make it happen with your enthusiasm.
We’ll be running a special lunch menu for the paying diners in Botanica restaurant on this day and your three dishes will form part of the menu. No pressure then!! At the end of the class you are also invited to sit down for lunch and you can book a table to invite family/friends to join you. As a reward for your efforts you personally can select and enjoy the starter dish and dessert dish we have prepared for FREE and all invited family/friends dining at your table who select the main course dish we have prepared can enjoy it for half price!
Imagine the table talk as your guests admire your dishes. Or will you be glancing around to see what other guests are ordering?
€69
Creating Tapas Party Food
“Where do we start with such an array of possibilities? Well we’ll start by talking about the different styles of Tapas and what suits the type of tapas party you might have in mind.
I want to show you one or two of my favourites and those that guests always enjoy preparing. Well known classics you might have prepared before but that could maybe benefit from a refresh and others you’ve enjoyed in the tapas bars of Spain but never attempted and always wanted to know how to recreate. Plus new ideas to sit side-by-side with the classics.
Sampling happens dish by dish. And sure, the selection gets re-arranged, but eight from the following would be a typical selection” Ricky M
Empanadillas ~ Catalan Broad Bean salad ~ Seafood Salad ~ Ensaladilla Rusa ~ Albondigas ~ Fried breaded Sardines ~ Classic Tortilla ~ Chorizo in Red Wine ~ Croquetas ~ Boquerones in vinegar
€59
Mediterranean Port to Port
I’ve long been hooked on the special character of the Mediterranean ports. Each highly individual, but there is a common feel. Food has criss-crossed this amazing blue over a couple of millennia; recipes, ideas, ingredients, all moving port to port.
Here, just south of the great port of Barcelona we´ll be preparing a fab array of dishes, first courses, mains and a dessert, using market produce from close-by fields combined with spices & fruits from elsewhere in the Med. We´ll try to pick up in each dish an authentic taste of its homeland whilst creating a unique Mediterranean table combo. Med food cruising!
Our scheduled ports of call will usually be Marseille, Genova, Napoli, Palma Majorca, Barcelona and Tunis (though the odd detour happens). So our dishes will likely be:
Ultimate Napoli BRUSCHETTA
SWORDFISH with Preserved Lemons & Capers + Cuttlefish ARROZ NEGRO
Chicken & Chickpea TAGINE. Bouillabaisse style Mediterranean Fish Soup.
PESTO with traditional Pasta. Majorcan Almond Tart
€69
Cooking Paella + 5 Tapas
The most famous Spanish dish in the world comes to life in our kitchen in a version that´s popular in these parts. This is Paella from the land rather than the sea. Rabbit, Chicken, Pork and Vegetables.
We prepare every step slowly, understanding what makes this such a fabulous dish. Everybody´s Paella is individual and yours will be no exception. With the basics understood you´ll forever be able to cook the well-known seafood version, a sea & land combo or a vegetable solo option too. We´ll discuss all the possibilities.
Before we cook our Paella we´ll roll out a selection of 5 hot and cold tapas dishes - from the sea.
I mix things up depending often on availability of produce and season, but this would be a typical 5:
Fried seafood Andalusian style ~ Fried breaded Sardines ~ Tuna Empanadillas ~ Pulpo a la Gallega ~ Bunuelos de Bacalao
€69
Ricky’s Meze Table
This is where we prepare plates of cold and warm food to create a help yourself dish-by-dish lunch and eat it under the shade on a terrace with more food chat. It’s great for any indoors meal around a sharing table too. The spread on the table is the centrepiece and the main factor is determining what collection of dishes to put together.
We’ll produce a meal that can be eaten in almost any order. It’s that informal, Not exactly a buffet table because the food is laid out on the dining table and passed around (if you are lucky!). Minimum cutlery and good appetites required. Plus many of these dishes can be adapted for a less formal party where not everyone has the luxury of a seat at a table. Talking of which, we’ll try to eat as little as possible during the making and sit down to the meze for the last hour, with more relaxed food chat.
Here’s a good idea of what the class will produce (up to 10 dishes on a good day!).
Chicken stuffed Courgettes ~ Lamb & Aubergine stuffed Pastries~ Spanokopita ~ Humous 3 ways ~ Turkish Chicken & Cheese filled breads ~ Fried Sardine Fillets ~ Lamb Meatballs Greek style ~ Octopus & Squid Salad ~ Greek Salad ~ Falafel + Tzatziki
The following classes have been scheduled for classes with Ricky M at Botanica during July and August. Further details about the classes will appear soon, but please enquire at info@rickymcooks.com in the meantime if you would like a few more details about a particular class. Classes can be booked in the meantime.
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Creating great Tapas Party Food
“Where do we start with such an array of possibilities? Well we’ll start by talking about the different styles of Tapas and what suits the type of tapas party you might have in mind.
I want to show you one or two of my favourites and those that guests always enjoy preparing. Well known classics you might have prepared before but that could maybe benefit from a refresh and others you’ve enjoyed in the tapas bars of Spain but never attempted and always wanted to know how to recreate. Plus new ideas to sit side-by-side with the classics”
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Paella + 5 Tapas
The most famous Spanish dish in the world comes to life in our kitchen in a version that´s popular in these parts. This is Paella from the land rather than the sea. Rabbit, Chicken, Pork and Vegetables.
We prepare every step slowly, understanding what makes this such a fabulous dish. Everybody´s Paella is individual and yours will be no exception. With the basics understood you´ll forever be able to cook the well-known seafood version, a sea & land combo or a vegetable solo option too. We´ll discuss all the possibilities.
Before we cook our Paella we´ll roll out a selection of 5 hot and cold tapas dishes - from the sea.
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Summer Terrace Lunch
Dish by dish we create the perfect summer meal for family and friends, platters for sharing, making the most of seasonal market produce and Catalan traditional recipes. All this as we chat about the ingredients, techniques and life by this stretch of the Med. Sometimes the odd dish changes, but this is how our Terrace menu usually looks: Xato de Sitges (Garraf coast salad), Broad Bean Salad, Escalivada (char grilled veg understatement!), Braised Artichokes, Rabbit filled Courgettes, Pan con Tomate, Seafood Fideua. Almond Tart.
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Spanish Pork masterclass
Today we’ll leave the wonderful jamon of Spain aside and concentrate on individual cuts of uncured pork and take a close look at some of the Spanish dishes associated with each cut as well as advice on which cuts of pork work best in one or two well known pork dishes. And of course there will also be an appreciation of the unbeatable Iberico pork.
Andalusia loves its small rolls filled with a variety of warm and cold meats. We’ll prepare one of its favourites that’s enjoyed from breakfast to late, montadito de pringá, a kind of pulled pork re-cooked in pork fat and gravy and spread on a roll or panini - delicious. We’ll cook Carrilladas - braised pork cheeks and for steak lovers Presa, Secreto, Pluma - an appreciation of 3 fabulous pork steaks. Pork scratchings! We’ll make the best Pinchos Morunos and we’ll cure our own bacon.
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Pickles, Chutneys, Salsas & Jams workshop
B O T A N I C A E X C L U S I V E
Learn a few basic preserving techniques and you’ll be hooked. Filling jars and bottles with your own produce that has been cooked with care and the best quality ingredients is not just fun, but you’ll be so pleased you did later on in the year!
We’ll see what is available, but will definitely make the amazing Piccalilli; an oriental stir fry salsa; the unbeatable Kimchi accompaniment to Asian food; we’ll preserve lemons, make jam and more. Start saving your jars!
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Pack the Perfect Picnic!
B O T A N I C A E X C L U S I V E
I can tolerate a picnic even in the worst English weather if the food is top-notch. In the shade of a tree in Spain a picnic is just perfect in a country where we eat on terraces and in restaurants so much.
This is my ultimate picnic. We’ll make a wonderful raised hot water crust pie; I’ll take you through every stage of the unbeatable Vitello Tonnato which will form the centrepiece; a chilled gazpacho, a cool Cucumber relish, a roasted Med Veg Salad; Chorizo Scotch Eggs and an Italian Apple Cream Tart
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Taste of Andalusia
Having spent 9 months in this enormous region of Spain recently I brought back a few new and many tweaked recipes from my time down south.
So here we’ll make some perhaps unfamiliar tapas dishes from land and sea. Tuna will be on the menu; we’ll make Gazpacho and we’ll really get to grips with some decent Pork cooking and get to grips with cooking seafood Malaga style.. .
