Meet Steph
Steph wholeheartedly believes everyone can make something great in the kitchen and have fun doing it – and she’s on a mission to connect with her community to show them how.
Raised on a fruit and vegetable orchard in Roxburgh, Steph Peirce grew up inspired by the way food brought her family together. Empowered with the knowledge that cooking can be fun, inclusive and creative, she spent her twenties studying Culinary Arts in Dunedin, cheffing across New Zealand and Australia, and tasting her way through Europe and Asia.
Her strong roots in NZ led her back home to Central Otago in 2020, where she launched Local and Friday, a business all about celebrating local produce, community connections, and homemade cooking.
Since then Steph now shares her down-to-earth advice and tips on just how to get the most out of what’s in your pantry and in season. There are many ways to get a taste for Steph's good food, her online cooking demonstrations and ebooks are a hit for those in any location as well as her touring cooking demonstrations as yet another way she connects with people in person, attracting sell-out audiences where she deep dives into the techniques and flavours that have made her food so popular.
It’s not just her cooking that draws a crowd, but her holistic approach to food empowers people to create outside the square. She wholeheartedly believes everyone can make something great in the kitchen and have fun doing it – and she’s on a mission to connect with our community to show them how.
Let’s get started!
My main driver is to empower home cooks just like you (and even those totally new to the oven) to use local and seasonal ingredients alongside what you have in your pantry to get the best out of a meal.
We’ve been led to believe for far too long that every meal we prepare should be a raging success, but that’s simply not true!
How do you think all these delicious recipes came to life? Mm-hmm, you guessed it… through experimenting and a few flops along the way.
I like to think of myself as your personal tour guide, Cooking with Steph recipes are your destination and I am here to show you the sneaky cafes and backroads (a.k.a tips and tricks) that only the locals know about but are always the highlight of your vacay.
My intentions for bringing you Cooking Club with Steph are to:
Gift you confidence in the kitchen + encourage you to try new things
Share my belief that cooking gets to be so much FUN
Edit the way you see food + cooking, I want to empower you with my personal habits + tricks
Re-inspire you through my own simple, tasty recipes
Set you up with skills that you can utilise long after we part ways, these are skills I use daily in my own kitchen
I’ve removed all of the fluff
I’ve taken it upon myself to remove the fluff that can often surround cooking good food.
What you’ll find here is straight up honest cooking with simple ingredients and a dash of secret sauce.
I design all my recipes to be drool worthy AND better for your body, if they don’t pass this test then they don’t make the cut.
You will not see me compromising on taste around here even whilst using good hearty ingredients.
The Fun Part
-
Grab your gang!
Whether it’s a social night in with the girls, a team bonding event at work or a bachelorette party I am armed to deliver you an incredible experience.
Here are some fun ideas that you could spice up with cooking club with Steph:
Community Event
Social Friend Catchup
Birthday Party
Work place - expand your teams skills in the kitchen, learn to cook and eat better
-
Pick your theme
Spring Summer Salads - using Steph's 5 step salads method
Winter Warmers - Soup, Slow Cook, Salads + extras
Italian Feast - No-Knead focaccia, roasted harvest sauce, the best meatballs + simple fresh salads
Going Greek - Dips, spreads + spice mixes, flatbread + chicken gyros, spanakopita
Better Baking - Raw balls + bars, Steph's best ever brownie, homemade granola - all gluten free
Get the low down on all of these themes below!
-
Lock in a date
Let's get this ball rolling and nail down your date.
Work out one or two dates that work for you, let's liaise and then we can get this (cooking) show on the road because I’m coming to you!
I travel NZ wide.
Salads are so underrated in my opinion, so no wonder I created my '5 steps' to make every salad GREAT for you! Because you need to be let in on this secret.
Gone are the days of salads being a “side” dish, they are taking their rightful place as the star of the show.
Fancy free-styling your own salads using what's in your veg drawer and pantry? Imagine being able to throw ingredients together and it turns out to be a raging success.
You will now be making your own salads anytime, any season without needing to hunt down the internet for a new recipe (and not know if it'll be a goodie) every single time, or god forbid make the same salad you have for the past 20 years ONE MORE TIME!
Learn how to build your own salads and absolutely master a ‘fancy’ salad full of colour, texture, and contrasting flavours. Enjoy making (and showing off) these any night of the week. Trust me, once you know my secrets you'll cry of joy at how easy it is. No fancy chef training needed!
Spring/Summer Salads
So, this is for you if:
You are so over whipping up the same boring leafy salad
You look at veggies and lack the inspiration on how to throw them together into a tasty dish
You want to rock out 2023 with fresh confidence in the kitchen
You want to be known as the salad queen at dinner parties and Christmas lunch
Saving time in the kitchen while eating well is a priority for you
Cooking in bulk scares you but you know it will be a game-changer for you and your family
Ciao!
To say Italy is my favourite place to visit, eat and fall more in love with food and cooking would be me holding back my enthusiasm because... I LOVE ITALY!
After 3 trips to Italy I have really soaked myself into their culture and passion for good honest food. It's a labour of love, and one I would love to share with you.
I want to give you my favourite recipes that have my little twist on them too.
We cant go past the classic focaccia, this one is less fuss and more fun + we will turn it into a pizza too.
The perfect red sauce is essential and we will use this in many different ways to make the most out of a beautiful sauce.
Meatballs are a hit, but these ones are not your average beef meatballs.. they're not even beef... I won't give away all of the goods but these meatballs will become a regular showstopper at your dinner table I swear.
And because I am the salad queen and Italian food is a little more of the heavy side I have to throw in a humble Italian salad or two made in minutes.
Italian Feast
Going Greek
Let's take a trip to the Mediterranean... hello, now we are talking!
Ready to kick back and activate relaxation mode while indulging in lots of greek plates together?
Scooping up dips with our flatbreads in hand, nibbling on a crunchy spanakopita and really filling our belly with yoghurt marinated chicken gyros with all the trimmings. Bare feet, relaxed and eating with our hands because we are island living on this trip after all.
I'll be bringing the flavours, the techniques and different experiences from my own travels to Greece with me to share with you in the comfort of your own space.
The greeks use simple ingredients and they use the same ingredients in many dishes. I love this. We get to use ingredients that are in season here in NZ right now, we get the exotic experience of a euro trip without leaving our own town, winning!
These recipes will become your secret weapon for an easy dinner, the perfect DIY dinner party where sharing makes the whole night that much more fun and you can use these recipes in many ways with my sneaky adaptions I will be sharing with you.
Buckle up we are going full GREEK mode!
Better baking
Sweet treat lovers rejoice, I’m bringing you way better treats because you deserve it!
Let’s be honest, it can be painful to source a delish treat that’s also good for you when you are out and about right? I want to show you how to make your own at home so you never get caught short again!
I’m giving you the lowdown on the best balls and bars to make, we’ll cover my 4 steps to freestyle your own, along with endless flavour combos. These are the ultimate wholesome snack full of flavour!
I’ll also be dropping my top secret brownie recipe, this alone is worth booking this class (in my opinion). This is definitely a "better for you brownie" that doesn't compromise on taste, fudgey-ness and contains plenty of chunky chocolate goodness..it just doesn't leave you feeling all sickly win win!
Homemade granola anyone? If you don’t already make your own homemade granola, then you are missing out! But don’t stress, I am here to show you how easy it is and not to mention how much tastier it can be.
I believe in options, so I will share many ways that you can change up the flavours. My recipes are a solid foundation that you get to decorate however your taste buds desire.
All of the these recipe are or can be made gluten free without being a down graded version, we have no time for that here.
All workshops include:
2 hour LIVE Cooking Demonstration
10 page colour printed recipe booklet, including extra tips
Finish with a Feast - try everything we make
Steph's go-to brands for the best kitchen equipment and food products
VIP discount code on Steph's online Ebooks + Masterclasses
Access to purchase Local & Friday Products at event
Please allow 2.5 hours for demonstration, eating, and questions.
BYO drinks.
Pricing is based on differing group sizes
All prices include GST.
Additional travel fees apply
