cookery school

HOW TO BECOME
DELIA IN A DAY

According to a recent national survey, despite the plethora of cookery shows on TV, most of us cook and eat the same meals week in and week out.   Why?  Lack of time and lack of confidence in the kitchen are the main reasons cited.   One lady that plans to change all that is Lucy Cook, founder of Lucy Cooks Cookery School in the Lakes.  We sent our nutritionist, Rachael Anne Hill there to find out more ……..

Anywhere that is born out of a combined love of food and people has got to be a great place to visit and Lucy Cooks Cookery School, near Kendal, Cumbria is certainly no exception.  Light, bright, spacious, airy and modern the superbly designed and expertly equipped kitchen can accommodate classes of up to 24 whilst still managing to retain an incredibly relaxed, warm and friendly atmosphere and that’s exactly the way Lucy Cook, founder of the school wants it.

“The very name ‘cookery school’ makes for an interesting debate” says Lucy, mother of four and self confessed ‘foodie’  because people have so many different ideas of what to expect.  Some have visions of an industrial style kitchen filled with ‘chefs whites’, others think it’s a place of formal, serious style education.  The truth is, Lucy Cooks is neither of these things.  The whole ethos of Lucy Cooks is to make cooking fun for all with courses for all reasons and all seasons” …..and boy has she achieved that!

The range of courses on offer is phenomenal.  With something being taught almost every day you’ll find everything from Tasty Thai Cuisine, Low Fat Healthy Cooking, Cooking with Fish and Delectable Dinner Parties through to How to Feed the Whole Family Healthy Food, Cakes and Bakes and even ‘Gluten Free’ and courses just for men.  Prices range from £30 for an evening demo and taste, £65 for a half day course through to approximately £110 for a full day.  One thing all the courses have in common is that they are all designed with ‘fun’ in mind.  No exams, no pressure just 100% cooking for the love of it!

I was invited, along with my husband and two boys to join in a Family Fun day of Cooking where, despite my initial reservations (my youngest is only 5 and is not best known for his concentration span!) executive chef Dale Blacow kept us all 100% engrossed from the beginning to end of a day that involved making Italian style foccacia bread topped with fresh rosemary, olives and Parma ham, home-made burgers, mini bread rolls and posh 5 star hotel ‘jenga’ style stacks of oven baked chips for lunch followed by an afternoon of baking lemon meringues pies to die for!

The day began at 10am where we all (Dad’s and Daughters, Mums and Sons and whole families who simply wanted to either spend some quality time together or were there for the specific purpose of encouraging their children to take more of an interest in food, cooking and healthy eating) congregated over a cup of coffee (juices for the kids) in the ‘Aga’ kitchen downstairs.  After initial introductions and a brief explanation of the days events we were invited to don our ‘Lucy Cooks’ aprons and head to the much larger kitchen upstairs.  Each recipe was then cleverly broken up into ‘bite sized’ chunks of expert demonstrations by Dale which really held the  attention of both parents and children alike followed by our turn to have a go, ‘Generation Game’ style, ourselves.  Dale remained on hand throughout to give guidance where needed and to ensure both adults and children felt confident in what they were being asked to do.  At lunchtime we all re-grouped in the beautiful Aga kitchen over looking the River Kent to eat the food we had cooked which, although we said so ourselves, was delicious!   With our heads held high we returned in the afternoon to the kitchen to make lemon meringue pies which we boxed up and took home as proof to our families of our new found cooking abilities!

3 July 2008
Rachael Anne Hill
www.rachaelannehill.com