Plus, a fantastic strawberry soup with chocolate brownies made using hidden vegetables. And to drink – a carrot, apple and ginger juice.

The pasta and cakes will be taken home, with the rest being eaten as a light, summery lunch.

This class is for ages 10-14.

Cat has been teaching cake decorating for several years. Her beautiful cakes build on both contemporary and traditional methods but with a vintage style – think Vintage Teas parties. Using a classic sponge cake, learn how to cover cakes with fondant, how to prepare intricate and unusual decorations to stunning effect and how to create a fantastic design for any celebration.

This course is also ideal for a Duke of Edinburgh Gold award residential module, requiring students to stay away for 4 nights and 5 days. Course costs £495 + residential costs. The course runs from 11am on Sunday 28th August until 3pm on Thursday 1st September. Each day students will have breakfast, lunch and dinner at the school (the first day, starting at 11am, a brunch will be included).

Residential packages are available at a cost of around £130 per student for the 5 nights in shared rooms. There are also many private hotels close to the school who we can put you in touch with, please email [email protected] for further details of the residential options.

The autumn menu includes a Pear, Fig and Blue Cheese salad, Fresh mussels inspired by Tuscany, Filled organic chicken breast with Tarragon sauce, quick-cured roast salmon fillet and lemon-roasted pears.

13th, 20th, 27th September + 4th, 11th and 18th October. Start time 4.30pm, finishing at 6pm.

This 6-week course aims at increased autonomy in the kitchen and suits 10-13 year old cooks.

Lesson 1 Health & Safety, Knife skills. Mixed green salad with Italian dressing, Healthy Bolognese for Pasta and Lasagne, Fresh fruit salad with Crème Chantilly

Lesson 2 Baking bread and cakes, using a Bain Marie: Fresh tomato sauce, dough for Pizza, Focaccia and Grissini, Old fashioned Chocolate Cake

Lesson 3 Further bread makgin, curries and rice: Naan breads baked on the hob, Cucumber and Radish salad with Thai style dressing, Vegetable curry, long-grain rice, Banana Ice cream

Lesson 4 Understanding eggs, poaching fruit: Scrambled Eggs, Oeufs en Cocotte with wholemeal soldiers, Prep-ahead Breakfast pancakes, Poached autumn fruits

Lesson 5 Fish, baking with bicarbonate: Salmon fish cakes, Autumn Slaw, Teatime scones, Home-made butter, Passionfruit Tray Bake

Lesson 6 Mince, vegetarian dishes, baking fruit, custard: Organic lamb burgers, Stuffed Peppers, home-made Hummus, Baked Apples with home-made custard

Padmaja will lead a class on cooking onion and spinach Bhajjis, chickpea Masala, Indian filled flatbreads; Rotis and fragrant vanilla infused dessert dumplings.

This course will take you from more standard breads and rolls to working with enriched dough and more intricate breads. This widens the repertoire of the home baker to include wonderfully rich Beer bread, Sweeet Swedish Cinnamon and Buns, French Fougasse, Platted Cholla and simple Brioches.

Recipes include Venetian sweet and sour Mackerel, Fillets of Plaice “en papillotte” and a gutsy Fish Soup from Marseilles. You will also learn how to make fish stock, Mayonnaise and Remoulade.

This class includes a delicious Pumpkin, garlic and chilli Focaccia, Wild mushroom Ravioli, Whole roast Trout and Zuppa Inglese – an Italian trifle.

The course, running on Monday nights, will NOT run during half term to fit in with parents of school-age children. The final date is therefore Monday 21st November.

The course covers:
Week 1: Health & Safety, Knife Skills, Cooking with eggs
Week 2: Stocks and Sauces, Seasoning, every-day staples, using gelatine
Week 3: Jointing chicken, how to get 4 meals from 1 chicken, classic potato dishes
Week 4: Flour-thickened sauces, pastry and soufflees
Week 5: Meat Master Class, cooking with rice, emulsion sauces
Week 6: Fish Master Class
Week 7: Classic Italian with guest chef Ursula Ferrigno
Week 8: Bread Making

Testimonials

“A fabulous, well-structured course exploring a broad range of culinary skills and providing an interesting challenge for novice and seasoned cooks alike.  All conducted in a professional and good natured environment with just the right element of competition …or was that just me? Would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with an interest in food, whatever their ability.” John Adamson

“I want to thank you for an amazing experience in this 8-week Contemporary Cooking course. The recipes were delicious and learning how to make pasta from scratch with Ursula Ferrigno was a lot of fun. I loved every class not only for the clear instructions, but for the nutrition and health benefit information you gave with each dish prepared.  A nice bonus was the wonderful positive approach to cooking  that you demonstrate.  I have told friends about “cooking with love” enveloping the preparation of the food.  I think it is a great image.” Monica Mannion

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course and found it to be enormously comprehensive given the time frame. It was evident that each week had been meticulously planned and consequently each session was packed full of variety. Tine’s organisational skills on the night ensured that every task was achieved, even if we cut it a little fine on occasion! I found the ‘roll up your sleeves and get stuck in’ method far more beneficial than a straightforward cooking demonstration. The atmosphere among the group was terrific and there was a good sense of camaraderie with a few competitive undertones! If another course with the same people was in the offing, I would certainly jump at the chance to participate.” Adrian O’Brien

“The course has made a real impact on my cooking – I now have the confidence and skills to tackle dishes I have previously shied away from.  Making ravioli was a particular highlight, but I came away from each session with something new.  The sessions were always fun, the atmosphere relaxed and informal, and eating together at the end of each session epitomised the pleasure of enjoying good food with others.” Francesca Fariono

Master Butcher Miles Nicholas from Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop and Deli will show what to look out for when buying pork and how to identify free-range, good quality meat. The class will reveal exactly where on the pig the different cuts come from and will answer questions such as whether tenderloin and fillet are the same things, how to achieve perfect crackling, how best to prepare belly pork and how to avoid chewy meat.

The class will include boning and rolling a shoulder to make Porchetta, the wonderful Italian rolled shoulder filled with Tuscan herbs. Each attendee will bring home their own rolled Porchetta ready to be roasted for the weekend. This includes instructions on how to tie those tricky butchers’ knots.

The evening culminates in relaxed shared meal of slow-cooked shoulder prepared by owner and chef Tine Roche and her team. This will offer a relaxed opportunity to ask both butcher and chefs more questions.

Through jointing a whole,  free-range chicken and making Thai-inspired rice paper canapees filled with thin strips of vegetables, you will learn all major knife-skills. Once you know how to joint a chicken, you may never go back to paying twice the price for jointed pieces. We will show you how to make stock from the carcass and talk you through how to create 3 family meals from one chicken.

The course will go through which knives to buy, how to look after them, how to  roll-slice, cross-chop and use a knife to chiffonade soft herbs.

The evening culminates in light supper consisting of Thai canapees with a chilli dipping sauce and a warm chicken salad served with a glass of wine.

Our Bread Making classes for beginners are hugely popular as more and more people develop and interest in baking from scratch at home. This class introduces dried and fresh yeast, and includes both savoury and sweet breads as well as working with a variety of flours. Breads include Breakfast loaf, Sweet Rye rolls, Multi-seeded rye soda bread, Focaccia, Grissini, Cinnamon swirls and Doughnuts.

Students start each day with making several breakfast dishes including scrambled eggs, omelettes and pancakes before moving on to risottos, curries, soups, salads, fish, chicken, desserts, cakes, biscuits and bread. There are plenty of vegetarian options. Recipes are picked to tick all the boxes for students;  quick, easy and in-expensive yet healthy, delicious and seasonal. The tempo is high and the amount of food cooked and sampled even higher. There is rarely any need for further cooking/eating on course days.

Cambridge Cookery School aims to equip young adults with a real understanding of food, nutrition and cooking as a basis for a healthy and happy life. Our courses are not tailor-made for the leisure industry. However, on completion of our courses students are awarded a certificate and which may help secure holiday and gap-year work in the leisure industry.