1 June 2011

Cooking with James: an Assemblage of Flavours and Textures

Cooking with more than one Thermomix and fine ingredients is a real treat

Yesterday I had the pleasure of cooking with three Thermomixes – oops! with James Knight-Pacheco, Chef, private caterer, Cookery teacher, presenter, consultant, and soon-to-be Chef Patron of Assemblage, his dream restaurant opening in November 2011 in the Shoreditch area of East London.

We were recreating the Celebrity Menu James designed and served at the UK Thermomix Demonstrators’ Conference in May at the fantastic Barceló Walton Hall near Stratford-Upon-Avon. James was assisted on the night by 2010 BBC MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker and 2010 BBC Celebrity MasterChef winner Lisa Faulkner, with travelling brigade Chef Grant Hawthorne pinch hitting in the galley. Yesterday it was me. The celebrity aura was distinctly lacking but the level of cooking was right there 😉

James plates up using silky smooth purees made in the Thermomix

While we cooked, the Venezuelan-born James told me about moving to the UK at the age of eight and settling in Devon. Many of us have followed his recent career on BBC’s The Restaurant, where he and childhood friend Ali were pitted against other teams of contestants and judged by Raymond Blanc in a contest to win their dream restaurant. James and Ali did not win then, but after winning the starring spot in another cooking-reality show, Out of the Frying Pan, James has now earned his own restaurant.

James' cooking is an assemblage of flavours and textures — James’ cooking is an assemblage of flavours and textures

So where does the name Assemblage come in? According to a Wikipedia entry, assemblage is a method used in the visual arts for making a three-dimensional artistic composition by putting together found objects. James and private equity backer Alicia Whitby have taken this artistic theme one step farther. Chef Patron James will be creating “art on a plate” by putting his dishes together from fine ingredients.

James Knight-Pacheco and Madame Thermomix

James certainly chose fine ingredients for the Thermomix Celebrity Menu, and Thermomix was used to produce fine purées, sauces and other components of the meal. We are confident that he will produce his own kind of art on a plate at Assemblage, and are looking forward to the arrival of winter and the opening of Assemblage in late 2011. I for one think James will make RB proud.