Take the heat out of cooking

Take the heat out of cooking

Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons 5 May 2009

It's an odd thing to admit, but I have always been suspicious of tomatoes. They're funny things - not a vegetable but a fruit, skin that is almost indigestible, an inner flesh that is squishy-squashy with suspect seeds. My father once told me that if you ate the seeds, you would start growing a tomato plant.

All my emotions were about to change, however, when I attended the Raymond Blanc Adult and Child Cookery School at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons with my ten year old, Milly.

For someone who has never been keen on cooking, this was daunting. Spending a day in a kitchen in chef whites (not my colour!) filled me with consternation. Listening to someone talk about cooking? Pas moi!

But I was about to be very pleasantly surprised.

The Adult and Child Cookery School is designed to fill you with wonder and surprise, not theory and facts. With the help of the delightful Steve Lyons - winner of Raymond's Scholarship - we went on an odyssey - learning how air can be your friend or enemy (when kneading or folding), where gadgets no longer frighten you (loving the Mouli, Steve), where you actually understand the importance of seasonal produce and where ethical practices (even for the youngest members of the group) start to knock on the door of your conscience and force you to answer.

The magical memories of creating Hedgehog Bread (no prickly animals required), Crème Anglaise (the only thing, apparently, that Blanc will admit to learning from the English) and making Crèpes (I no longer scream when my daughter approaches a hot stove) were truly memorable.

And then, there was the star of the show - Marmande tomatoes - impossibly big and uneven - that smelt of earth and sunshine. I would have liked to say that creating our own pasta was the highlight of our adventure but it wasn't.

It was the tomato sauce that was the pièce de la resistance! Reducing the tomatoes in a large pan with herbs and garlic - not to mention a generous swig of extra virgin olive oil (does one cook with anything else?) and then employing a Mouli (something that I originally thought was an inaccurate pronunciation of a famous Jungle Book character, but is actually a glamorous sieve with a rotating handle) and then watching the ingredients work their magic, was surely the highlight for me.

This Superfood - once treated with abject distrust by yours truly - really was super. How is it that these uneven red fruits become a base for a number of things - pasta and pizza - for starters!

As we made our way back home armed with dishes we had prepared, we vowed never to buy pasta sauce again.

I have lost my disdain for tomatoes - AND I know what I'm getting for my birthday - one Mouli and some marvellous Marmandes, which will still be in season - bien sûr!

 

Milly Lee, aged 10

I went off cooking when I was five. I joined my school cooking club and nearly got poisoned after eating a bad pancake made by the teacher! My taste was simple in those days - I liked pizza and pasta, but when I went to Le Manoir for the Cookery School, I realised there were so many more possibilities.

Ingredients hold so many secrets; all you need is the key. We made Veggie Fish Pie (we are vegetarians which wasn't a problem at all!), Crème Anglaise and we even made our own pasta.

We also learned about Pistou, the French version of Pesto - which I preferred - and also found out that the population of Cod is decreasing because of the amount of irresponsible fishing that we do.

My mum and I failed when it came to making Vanilla and Chocolate Charlotte (mostly because my mum cheated by spreading sponge mixture rather than piping it) but we had some donations of sponge from Steve, our teacher!

My favourite part of the cookery school was probably making the pasta. I had never done it before but my mum and I learned fast. I still remember the sequence on the pasta making machine depending on how thick or thin the dough was: one, two, one two (fold) one, three, three and four. It sounds like Saturday night on Strictly Come dancing, don't you think?!

My score for the Adult and Child Cookery School? Triple tens!!

Adult and Child Cookery Day

The Adult and Child cooking course at Le Manoir has been specifically designed by Raymond Blanc to bring together the older and younger generations through the enjoyment of cookery. This course gives adults the chance to bond with a child close to them through an enjoyable learning experience and teamwork whilst under the guidance of highly skilled tutors. This is a wonderful opportunity for children and adults to learn the basic skills and knowledge of cookery in a Michelin starred environment.
Prices start from £495 per adult and child.

For more information visit www.manoir.com

 

 

Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons case studies

Refreshing a brand image

for Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons

We brought Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons to a wider audience by creating a garden to remember...

Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons news