I took my kids to the Jamie Oliver Cookery School
DURING the school holidays I am a fan of making life as easy as possible.
So teaching my children to cook seems a major win, especially when it doubles as a fun day out.
I took my sons Henry and Nicholas, to a brilliant kids’ pasta making class at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School.
There are two London locations offering lessons for all ages and abilities, including joint parent-kid sessions – perfect for the summer break or weekends.
Our class was inside John Lewis’ flagship department store on Oxford Street, in a big, bright teaching kitchen.
Our instructor was Holly, who studied at culinary school, has written cookbooks and worked as a private chef.
Holly explained what was on the menu and took us through the first part of the process – making our pasta dough.
It’s a great one for kids as the mixing and kneading allows them to get stuck in.
Standing in the flash kitchen with our ingredients laid out before us made us feel like we were on a cookery show.
The task does involve some skill, but no real prior expertise or fiddly equipment or techniques.
Holly and her assistant chef Robin circled the room and helped when needed, but gave the young cooks plenty of space to learn and explore for themselves.
Then, as our glistening, golden balls of dough ‘rested’ on our work benches, Holly brought everyone back together to explain how to whip up a quick tomato, basil and garlic sauce.
It was a new one on me, too, as I didn’t know you could make a delicious pasta dressing with just raw tomatoes and a grater – no cooking or chopping needed.
Then, while our sauce marinated, it was on to the rolling.
The kids loved it, and got the hang of the technique instantly, using the machine to gradually fashion a thinner and thinner dough.
Holly then showed the class how to use cutting tools to fashion tagliatelle, angel hair and farfalle (or ‘bow-tie pasta’, as we call them in our house).
The kids worked with care and precision to get their shapes spot-on and were delighted to see their tagliatelle appear like magic from the machine.
It was almost like grown-up Play-Doh!
The final step was to boil the pasta before stirring it into the pre-prepared sauce.
Clutching their steaming bowls of lovingly made pasta, the class wandered to the trestle tables in the cookery school’s dining room to enjoy lunch with lashings of grated parmesan.
Verdict from all the children: Delicious.
And for parents, what better way to spend a school holiday morning?
The only drawback for me has been that I am now being nagged to buy a pasta machine!
If you’re not a big fan of pasta, there are also classes in meatball-making,
Mexican street food, sushi, ravioli, Thai green curry and bread.
At this rate, I won’t have to worry about cooking in the holidays ever again.
That seems like money well spent to me.