Richard Dash, of Lost in Cheshire, shares his recent experience at the Italian Staples cookery class at The Cheshire Cookery School, in Altrincham
I recently took a trip, on a dreary Saturday morning, to Altrincham for an action-packed day of cooking some Italian staples. For a day like today, I knew I had to bring someone who LOVES a new experience, who is thirsty to learn, and who dreams of her holiday to Italy, so I called in Siobhan from @notsosecretlysober.
Siobhan has been sober for nearly six years and has scoured the length breadth of Manchester and the surrounds for fun, wholesome activities that do not involve drinking or partying to share with over 14,000 followers on her Instagram. She’s a selfcare queen and, after our cooking masterclass, is now a self-proclaimed Italian chef (apart from the pasta rolling, sorry Siobhan). I knew she would be the perfect sidekick to cast her eyes over the day so we can give a true and honest account of a cooking school from two people who are not by any stretch chefs.
The cookery school kitchen is thoughtfully laid out to allow space between guests to make sure there’s a level of privacy but it's not so far apart you can’t have a good chinwag with your neighbour (or ask them what to do if/when you forget the next steps). The space is bright and equipped with all of the tools you’ll need for the day.
On the menu for our Italian Staples class? First, a vanilla panna cotta, followed by some focaccia baking, gnocchi making and tagliatelle pasta rolling in the traditional method.
It's soon time to roll up your sleeves and head to the front of the workroom as Chef Rob takes you through the first demonstration. I particularly loved how Rob made us feel like we were already competent enough to cook everything he had planned for us. He took us through the plan for the day and then created a panna cotta mix right before our eyes. Then you pop back over to your station to complete the steps yourself. Rob made sure the demonstrations were engaging, easy to digest and to remember, so you wouldn’t forget where you were when you were doing it for yourself.
Next, we set about the first steps for making the perfect focaccia – but only time would tell if we’d nailed it, or not.
After working up a light sweat and getting ourselves sufficiently covered in flour, it was time to start making our lunch; fresh gnocchi with garlic cream and spinach. What a delicious lunch it was. We all gathered around the table with our own creations (admittedly, my gnocchi were slightly deformed, but I loved them nonetheless. Some enjoyed a glass of wine, and we all got to know each other a little better. What better way to break the ice than to discuss how you may have ruined your focaccia, but we won’t know until later this afternoon. Just the right mix of excitement and anxiety we didn’t know we needed.
After lunch it was into the afternoon to finish off our focaccia and get stuck into rolling our own tagliatelle; I’ll let Siobhan tell you how we managed on that one.
“The tagliatelle is something that both Chef Rob and Richard made look easy! We had lovingly crafted our pasta dough (harder than they make it look on the telly) and we were ready to get to work with our manual pasta-making machine - you know the one, it’s silver and you roll your pasta dough through as you turn the handle, while your beautiful pasta dough gets thinner and thinner until it eventually makes you the tastiest fresh pasta you have ever tasted… or not so much... Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for me. I kept carefully placing my pasta, and turning the handle, so the pasta could come out torn and weathered. Luckily, Chef Rob was on hand to help me master the pasta machine (or do it for me) and I ended up with the most perfect tagliatelle to take home.
I have to agree with Siobhan. Our experience with The Cheshire Cookery School was marvellous. While a day of cooking meals we usually pick up at the local supermarket, or enjoy in our favourite local Italian restaurant, may feel completely outside of your comfort zone, the day is carefully designed to make sure everyone has fun and enjoys the process of cooking. I’m starting to see what all the fuss is about now.
Whether you’re a keen cook or just looking for some new experiences, Cheshire Cookery School should be at the top of your list. Head to their website or social media to see what other dates and classes they have lined up.
PS: my focaccia was perfect. And, disappointingly, so was Siobhan’s.
