Cornwall Cooking Class: Philleigh Way Cooking School
Looking to improve your cooking skills through a fun, exciting cooking class located in Cornwall? If the answer is yes, then Philleigh Way Cooking School is the place for you!
Okay, I have to hold my hands up and admit that I am not exactly the best cook in the world. I mean, I can certainly throw together a basic spag bol and stir fry but to be honest, I do have a tendency of burning things due to being easily distracted * oh look at that cute cat outside *.
My sister Niki and I were kindly invited to attend the Italian Cooking Class at Philleigh Way Cooking School located in Philleigh, a cute village positioned near the Roseland. Despite my lack of talent and knowledge, our family have always made a lot of effort when it comes to producing delicious food so we were both looking forward to learning a thing or two and making some yummy dishes in the process!
Located in the Roseland, Philleigh Way is the only purpose built cookery school in Cornwall that offers a range of courses.
Philleigh Way offer tonnes of different cooking courses. From patisserie and Japanese masterclasses to better barbecuing and fish in a day, there is literally something for every capability and food interest. Check out the full list here.
As well as cooking classes and courses, Philleigh Way also offers feast nights within their gorgeous grounds. I can promise you that you will not be let down with the true Cornish beauty surrounding the classroom. At lunch you’re given the opportunity to explore.
Italian Cooking with Rupert and Philleigh Way
My favourite food choice is Italian, so we were already off to a good start! We met our tutor Rupert and the rest of our class. Our fellow class members were all lovely and ranged from a young couple that was a similar age to myself and Niki and a few older people who just wanted to improve their skills. One man joked that his wife had sent him to the class because he had only discovered what a kitchen was since retiring! We all got to know each other over cake and coffee whilst Rupert went through the itinerary for the day.
The course includes five demonstrations and four practical sessions. The equipment, aprons, food and drink are all provided and you’re even treated to Prosecco mid-morning and then wine at lunch. Wine makes me happy.
The Italian dishes - lamb ragu and pizza to pasta dough and tiramisu
I won’t go into the full details of how we made each dish because I can’t give away all of Philleigh Way’s secrets - you’ll have to go to the class for yourself! To begin with, we made Lamb Ragu with Pappardelle using 250g of lamb shoulder, onion, carrot amongst other ingredients. We left this to cook whilst we moved onto the second dish, wild Garlic Pesto and Risotto Bianco. I loved this dish and ended up eating most of it over lunch!
Rupert would begin with a demonstration on how to make each dish, providing us with his top tips to get the very best flavour and texture out of each one. We were then sent over to our working area so we could try and follow Rupert’s instructions in the hope that we could make something similar! Rupert was on hand for questions and support throughout the whole class.
After lunch, we jumped into making our own pizza dough and pasta. Once we had all of our ingredients on the pizza’s they were sent into the wood fire outside to cook. To finish, we made orange tiramisu - by this point, I had to cheat with an electric whisk!
So, is the cooking class worth it?
The answer is yes! My sister and I thoroughly enjoyed our cooking class at Philleigh Way Cooking School and would straight up recommend them to anyone wanting to learn how to cook a selection of delicious dishes whilst having some fun along the way.
As mentioned before, the classes were very chilled and designed to cater for all abilities and ages. We were given folders which included the recipes so we could make notes throughout the session. Rupert was extremely helpful, full of banter and on hand if something went wrong (like burning the lamb ragu…oops).
Everything is included within the price of the class (£160 for a full day of Italian cooking), from the ingredients and equipment to the demonstrations, takeaway recipes, lunch and fizz. My fridge at home is now stocked up with delicious Italian food!
So thank you Rupert and the Philleigh Way team for turning an absolute amateur into a pro (well….almost) Italian chef!
Philleigh Way Cookery School kindly invited us to the Italian Cooking Class complimentary. As always, my opinions are my own and we thoroughly enjoyed the day! For more images, head over to my Instagram @frankiethomas.