From the Cape to Cannes, Andrea Foulkes is truly cooking

This is a very personal pick for me for the Cook with the Chefs series I launched in TGIFood earlier this year. Andrea Foulkes has been on the periphery of my life for decades, and from a distance I’ve been aware of the road she was travelling with her exquisitely crafted Dish Food & Social business. I hadn’t realised, until she updated me this week, quite how far she has taken that once fledgling business.

Cannes. I went there once, in 1989, to cover a certain film festival. I’ve never had the fortune of returning, yet. Andrea has, however. Several times. Her client is London-based Liquid Chefs, who commission Dish Food & Social to cater for the annual Golden Lions awards bash for the advertising industry.In Cannes. Imagine the scale of that.

But that’s not all. How about Davos? That’s an eye-poppingly high level of catering. Daunting doesn’t come close. Yet nothing seems to faze Andi, which is another thing I’ve often observed.

Joining the pots

In 2024, she is able to cast her eyes very far back. As she says: “People like quoting Steve Jobs’ speech about one not being able to join the dots forwards. I can certainly join the pots backwards.”

Like many of us, the journey began in her home kitchen. Andi, who when I met her was a primary school special needs teacher (“That’s how I manage to run a catering company!”), recalls that the path she was unknowingly setting out on must have been set when she first left home.

“I love being around people, and one of the easiest ways of gathering a crowd, I learned as a young adult when I moved out of the family home, is to feed them. Having a pasta night on a Sunday became ‘my thing’. It wasn’t too many steps from there to cooking for my own parties, and then at those of friends. Without planning to, the next thing I was being asked to cater (for parties), having been recommended by a friend.”

Travel soon became a part of her story, which also brings us to the recipe she chose to share with us. 

“My interest in and ensuing love affair with moussaka was kindled when Greece was part of my post-university backpacking tour of Europe. A gang of us spent a month literally living (camping) on a beach in Serifos. It was less a case of whether our hotel had a pool than whether our pool had a hotel.

“I couldn’t cook pasta every Sunday, hence the appearance of moussaka.”

She’s one of those, myself included, for whom travel is an irresistible lure. You’ve just got to go.

“Put a suitcase and a plane ticket in front of me and I’m like a puppy that’s about to be taken out to the park. The phenomenon of one thing leading to another has seen us make multiple trips to cater at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and for the Golden Lions in Cannes.

“Theoretically, it’s not that different to travelling to cater in Gabarone or Joburg or other parts of South Africa, but the stakes are really high. These overseas gigs have also been incredible learning opportunities, and I’ve been able to take my fabulous team along for the rides.

“During the last trip to Cannes I worked my first ever 24-hour shift (in the middle of two weeks of very little sleep). Somehow the entire kitchen team that had flown over from Cape Town even managed an after-hours swim in the sea.”

All-time favourite

… and her favourite recipe is … (Photos: Supplied)

Back to that moussaka: “The version I cook has its origins in the recipe that’s included in my all-time favourite cookbook, Simon Hopkinson’s wonderful Prawn Cocktail Years. I’ve been cooking it for almost 30 years, so the recipe has been majorly tweaked to work for me – and because we often have at least three different dietaries at every dinner, I do vegetarian and gluten-free and vegan versions that all work equally well.

“It’s a super easy dish to serve, Andi says, “but there’s quite a lot of prep time involved, so I generally only cook it over weekends when I have a few hours clear in the afternoon. The kitchen looks chaotic when I’ve finished, but weirdly it’s kind of a zen process prepping and cooking off all the elements.”

Some absolute musts (or good hacks):

• Beaten egg in the bechamel (whipped aquafaba – use the drained chickpea brine – for vegans).


• Crumbled feta in the bechamel (vegan feta and oatmilk for the lactose-free).


• Allow the ragu to cook until all of the liquid has naturally been absorbed – don’t skim liquid off (it just doesn’t have as much concentration of flavour until it’s cooked until almost dry).

“The biggest challenge is approximating the volume of the dish with the quantity I’ve cooked (almost always, far too much!). I end up in a situation similar to me packing to go on holiday, or even just a weekend away. I can make a suitcase accommodate anything it has to. A dish of moussaka, I’ve found, is slightly less compliant, so I always put the dish on a roasting tray to catch the overflow as it cooks.”

Andi concludes: “I am so grateful to our clients who give us the opportunity to experience all these things.”

Here’s her must-do recipe…

Moussaka

Dishy moussaka. (Photos: Supplied)

Serves 4, generously

100ml olive oil
4 aubergines, sliced
4 large potatoes
2 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or grated
3 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp cumin
500g lamb mince
200ml tomato purée, mixed with 150ml water
250ml lamb, beef or chicken stock
150ml red wine
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

For the bechamel:
750ml milk
80g butter
60g plain flour (or cornflour)
50g kefalotyri or pecorino cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
Nutmeg, to grate
3 cloves
2 fresh or dry bay leaves
8 white peppercorns

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C. Cut the aubergines lengthways into ½cm slices, and put them on to oiled baking sheets. Brush with olive oil and season. Bake for about 15 minutes until soft, golden and a bit crispy.

Place the potatoes (unpeeled) in a pot of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook until they are soft enough to slice then drain and set asideMeanwhile, put a glug of olive oil into a heavy-based pot and add the lamb mince. Break up the meat and dry-fry until all of the moisture is gone. Add 1 Tbsp oregano and 1 tsp of cinnamon to the meat and set aside in a bowl. Add more oil to the pot and cook the onion until soft. Add the garlic, remaining cinnamon and oregano and cook for another minute, then add the red wine to deglaze any sticky bits on the bottom. Add the tomato and stock and bring to the boil then stir in the lamb. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down low and cook for at least an hour (maybe longer) until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Season and stir in the chopped parsley.

Meanwhile, make the bechamel. Place the milk, cloves, peppercorns, salt, grated nutmeg and bay leaves in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Allow to infuse for 10 minutes and then strain into a bowl. Melt the butter in another saucepan. Stir the flour into the butter and cook for a couple of minutes, then gradually whisk in the hot milk. Cook until you have a thick sauce, then stir in the feta cheese until melted. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly, then beat in the eggs.

Arrange a third of the aubergines in the base of an oven dish, and top with half the meat. Top with slices of potato and then the bechamel. Repeat these layers (except for the potatoes) and then finish off with a layer of aubergine, and top with the sauce. Bake for about 45 minutes until well browned, and then leave to cool for half an hour before serving.

Vegan alternative:

Roast off mushrooms, cauliflower, pumpkin, courgettes, red peppers and red onion in the oven or an airfryer.

Cook off the onions, garlic, oregano, cinnamon, tomato, red wine and vegetable stock etc… Add the roasted vegetables, a tin of lentils and a tin of chickpeas to the mix and simmer until the liquid is all absorbed.

Use Oat milk and vegan feta for the bechamel. DM

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