If you find yourself in a bit of a rut when it comes to your meals, a one-off cookery course is a fantastic idea
Have you ever done a cooking course or workshop? Recently, I got to be the chef at a half day course in the Howth Castle Cookery School in Dublin. Spoiler alert: I loved it.
The course was advertised as ‘Weekend Bakes’ which was right up my alley. I’m a bit of a disaster when it comes to preparing my evening meals. I have my breakfast and lunch down to a fine art but dinner is always a bit chaotic. So much so, that I always have what I call an ‘Emergency Pizza’ in the freezer that my husband or I can throw in the oven for twelve minutes and plate up with a side salad for some token greenery.
Batch cooking is the way to go if you work until 5.30 or 6pm on weekdays and then have various things on in the evenings, be it hobbies, gym classes, your kids’ extracurricular activities, etc. That’s why I was so excited about learning how to make these dishes – they’re great for families but also for single/couple households who can stretch them out over several meals.
Under the tutelage of our instructor Ian Devine, we made a Chicken Traybake with Chorizo, Tomato and Red Peppers, Pull-Apart Garlic Bread Rolls, Potato and Thyme Scarpaccia (a bit like a flatbread), and the piece de resistance (in my opinion), a Torta di Mele.
It was supposed to take three hours to make these (10-1pm) but we went a little bit over the allotted time, which I thought was perfectly understandable given the volume of food we were making. We then got to sit in the glorious warmth of the Garden Room conservatory to enjoy our creations with a glass of wine before heading home, our arms laden with food for the next two days.
If you find yourself making the same things over and over again, I highly recommend going to a class like this to give yourself the confidence and motivation to try something new. In the meantime, here is the recipe for the Torta di Mele we made:
Torta di Mele
Ingredients
4 Apples Golden (Brambly if you like a more zingy flavour)
250g plain flour
16g baking powder
100g butter
150g castor sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
125ml milk
1 lemon grated zest
Pinch of salt
For the Top:
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
Method
- Heat your oven to 200°C.
- Prepare a 20 cm baking tin line the bottom with parchment and sprinkle sides with flour.
- In a bowl mix butter and sugar until light and creamy, add eggs, flour, milk and lemon zest, pinch salt and the baking powder. The dough should be creamy, if too thick add a small amount of milk.
- Peel the apples, cut 3.5 apples into thin wedged slices and cut the other ½ into small dice and add to dough.
- Pour the mixture into a round 20cm tin.
- On the top of the cake arrange the sliced apples wedges in a decorative pattern, sprinkle 2 spoons of brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Let cake cool before slicing, serve with whipped cream or your favourite ice cream.
For more information on the wide variety of classes and experiences available at Howth Castle Cookery School, click here.
