What the Press Say

CLAIRE SHERWEN JOINS A LUCYCOOKS COURSE AT STAVELEY...and how she almost came unstuck over the potted salmon

If you’re going to write a piece about a new cookery school, you’ll have to go there and actually cook,” declared the editor when I told him my plans for a feature about LucyCooks. “And none of this ‘but I can’t cook’ nonsense, it’s a cookery school isn’t it? It’s just what you need.”

I couldn’t really argue with that one and within days I was on my way for a full day practical course at LucyCooks in Staveley, near Kendal. The cookery school opened in August and is part of the Lucy’s of Ambleside empire which includes a café and restaurant, wine bar and bistro and delicatessen.

Its founder Lucy Nicholson hit upon the idea four years ago when her husband Brian decided he wanted to learn how to cook. “When I suggested he enrolled on a college course, he wasn’t impressed,” says Lucy. “He said he’d spent his childhood trying to escape from a classroom and certainly didn’t want to go back. It gave me the idea of creating somewhere we could inspire rather than educate people. I wanted to give people the opportunity to indulge themselves and enjoy their cooking in a relaxed environment.

“Food is essential to our lives but sometimes cooking the evening meal can seem like drudgery. I want to rekindle our enthusiasm for cooking and take people outside the standard repertoire of 20 dishes. It’s about having the confidence to try things you might not otherwise have tried. We’ve had people at the cookery school who’ve never picked up a potato peeler in their lives but go home brimming with ideas and that’s what it’s all about, taking home what you learn and sharing it with family and friends.”

As I joined the rest of the group for our welcome coffee in the Bubbling Beck room, so called because it looks out over the River Kent, I took heart from the fact that I could at least handle a potato peeler. I’d been worried my fellow student cooks would be experts who’d giggle at my inability to chop onions like Jamie does on the telly. I couldn’t have been more wrong. At LucyCooks, your age, experience and ability is irrelevant. You muck in, have a go and if you need help, your tutor is on hand or one of your course mates will help out.

Of the eight of us, Val from Kendal was our resident expert. A veteran of several LucyCooks courses, she attended the first one ever ‘Starters and Simple Stuff that Works’ on August 1. Unfortunately for her, this time she ended up opposite me in the kitchen.

“Are my egg whites supposed to look like this, Val?”

“Where did you get that whisk from, Val?”
“Do you think I should turn my oven up a bit, Val?”

Our course was called ‘Thrilling Three Courses’ and our menu for the day was potted salmon with warm potato salad for starters, roast fillet of local lamb with dauphinoise potatoes and Madeira sauce for main course, and a duo of strawberry and mango mousse with bitter chocolate sauce for dessert. I had only one thought when I opened my recipe book: ‘Help!’

I took a deep breath and reminded myself what Lucy told us earlier about stretching our cooking boundaries, but it still seemed a very big jump from cheese on toast.

Our tutor, Daniel Cartwright, demonstrated each dish, talking us through every stage. He kept an eye on our progress in the kitchen and offered tips and hints about cooking in general such as how to adapt recipes to our own tastes. We could ask questions anytime we wanted about anything to do with cooking. A professional chef who worked in London and with Sainsbury’s developing recipes, he had a look of Gordon Ramsay . . . but was thankfully much friendlier.

The large kitchen area has several fully equipped galley kitchens of either gas, electric or induction hobs and is organised so that four people share a galley, a maximum of two either side, each with their own set of utensils (provided by Lakeland Limited) and a sink and a cooker between two. I was sharing with Peter from Oxfordshire who had enrolled on the course with his wife Sandra during their two week holiday in the Lakes. Opposite was Val (thank goodness) and next to her was Dot, from Beckfoot, near Sedbergh who had been given a day at LucyCooks as a 70th birthday present from her daughter.

We collected our box of ingredients from the fridge and began chopping and dicing for the potted salmon which was to be our lunch. Hopefully.

I made copious notes during the demonstration and followed the recipe to the letter. Thirty minutes later and my potted salmon was chilling in the fridge. Now it was time to attack the rack of lamb. Daniel showed us how to carefully remove the loin from the bones and make a stock from the left overs. Buoyed up by managing not to botch the salmon, I attacked the lamb. It almost fell off the bone and I was left with a perfect loin. I even got a ‘well done’ from Daniel. By now, my confidence was soaring and both the Dauphnoise potatoes and the warm potato salad were a breeze.

But the real test was removing the potted salmon from its Ramekin dish. Potential disaster loomed. I glanced over and saw that Keith from Windermere (who’d also been give a day at LucyCooks as a birthday present) had a perfectly shaped round of salmon sitting on top of his potato salad. Here goes . . . I warmed the bottom of the dish and edged my knife around the pot like I’d been shown. A few pieces of salmon plopped out and I feared the worst. Thankfully, the rest emerged as a whole and I hid the extra bits beneath my potato salad.

It was lunchtime and we took our creations downstairs to the Bubbling Beck to devour. They tasted all the better for having made them ourselves. Lucy emerged from the downstairs kitchen with large plates of steaming potatoes and salad, home-made dressing and bottles of water and wine followed by a delicious fruit salad and cream.

During lunch, as we chatted about the morning’s cooking, Dot turned to me and asked if I’d been nervous about going on the course?

“Yes,” I replied.

“Me too,” she said. “But I needn’t have worried. There’s nothing to be nervous about, is there?”

Too right. I was having a great time in good company. And, what’s more, I had discovered I could actually cook. I was in the middle of de-boning the lamb when it dawned on me that I’d been spoilt by years of growing up in a house where mum could rustle up a dinner for 10 hungry farm workers at a moment’s notice, and then I married a man who can cook a mean spag bol. It’s a standing joke in our house that while my poor husband slaves in the kitchen at dinner parties, I do front of house (i.e serve and drink Chardonnay).

I’d realised it had more to do with lack of confidence than lack of ability.

After lunch we went back upstairs to class. Daniel had had a peek at our lamb stocks bubbling away on our stoves over lunch and – as I waited for a Gordon Ramsey moment - announced: “Claire’s and Peter’s have the ideal consistency and colour.”

I was about to break into a proud smile when Dot nudged me in the ribs and whispered: ‘Teacher’s Pet.’ My new title didn’t last long – it was time for dessert.

The duo of strawberry and mango mousse involved pureeing strawberries and mangos, whipping up egg whites, folding the egg white and then cream into the purees, and adding soaked gelatine leaves to slightly warmed cream (don’t let it boil!) before folding it into the mixtures. My work space was covered in several multi-coloured mixing bowls, spoons covered in egg white and cream and bits of egg shell. Not a pretty sight, but guess what? I finished just 10 minutes behind the saintly Val and my mousse set.

Although you work at your own speed at LucyCooks, Peter and I felt we’d got a bit behind during pudding and combined our prize lamb stocks to save time. A splash of Madeira and knob of butter and our stock had become sauce for the lamb and our meal and cookery course was completed.

We packed our food into tin foil containers ready to take home and impress our loved ones. As I left the Mill Yard, I phoned my husband and told him I’d made tea.

“Really?” (he didn’t need to sound so surprised) “what are we having?” “Roast fillet of local lamb with Dauphnoise potatoes and Madeira sauce followed by duo of strawberry and mango mousse,” I replied, trying not to sound smug.

It was delicious. And he’s still in shock.

INFORMATION: LucyCooks, Mill Yard, Staveley, near Kendal, Cumbria LA8 9LR. Tel: 015394 32288 www.lucycooks.co.uk. A full day’s tuition including refreshments, recipes and goodie bag costs from £130. LucyCooks also holds morning or evening demonstrations from £30 per person including refreshments. LucyCooks is holding a free open day on Sunday, January 21. The Foodie Free for All will include demonstrations and the opportunity to meet the chefs. Christmas courses including party food for the festive season, Christmas decorations with a difference, special edible gifts for family and friends, turkey, trimmings and more, what to do with all the leftovers. LucyCooks also runs courses for families and children and has adapted kitchens for people with disabilities. Tutors also include author and television cook Annette Gibbons, food writer Henrietta Green, Aga demonstrations with Margaret Anderson, children’s courses with Sarah Ross, tray, bakes and cakes with Libby Shawbaker, and Cumbrian chefs Nick Martin and Steven Doherty. Specific courses from flower arranging to gift wrapping and wine tasting are also available.

RECIPE (which Claire managed to make!)
Potted salmon with warm potato salad

Serves four
Prep time 15 minutes
Cooking time 10 minutes

What you need

For the potted salmon:
200g fresh salmon, skinned and cut into small dice
1tbsp chopped shallots
100g unsalted butter
1tbsp capers, chopped
1tbsp chopped dill
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp grated horseradish
Half a lemon, juiced

For the warm potato salad
200g small new potatoes, washed, boiled, refreshed and cut into quarters
2tbsp chopped black olives
4tbsp olive oil
4 spring onions sliced finely
1 tiny pinch of saffron

What you do
Take just a small knob of butter and melt it in a medium sized pan, throw in the shallots and cook without colour for two minutes.

Add the remaining butter and melt over a low heat.

Add the salmon and fold over gently, throw in the capers, dill, parsley, horseradish and lemon juice and allow to just warm through.

The salmon will only need a minute or two.

Divide the mix into Ramekins or pots and press down with the back of a spoon, and then pour over the remaining butter.

Chill for at least two hours (but better overnight).

For the salad, pour the olive oil into a frying pan with the saffron, allow this to infuse for a minute or two.

Then over a medium heat throw in the potatoes, olives and onions and heat through evenly.

Turn the salmon out of the pots; arrange the warm salad on a plate with the potted salmon on top and the remaining dressing drizzled around.

Claire Sherwen

01/12/06