Upping our veggie cooking game

Having not been on a cookery course before, we didn’t know what to expect when we were invited by Rupert from Philleigh Way to attend a vegetarian cookery course. We didn’t know if cooking for a whole day would be too much for us or how much we’d learn but we were ready to give it a go. We do cook a lot of veggie food at home as I’m vegetarian (much to Andy’s general dismay!) but we’re both always fascinated by the unique flavours and ingredients chefs use to create the far from boring vegetarian food that was found in most places years ago so really hoped we’d come away with some of these ideas and skills.

It was a dreary winter’s Saturday so arriving to homemade cake and freshly brewed coffee was most welcome. Philleigh Way’s converted barn has the perfect layout with a chef’s station to demonstrate, a seating area where we could all see the steps and admire Rupert’s culinary skills, and individual cooking stations to put our newly acquired knowledge into action.

Rupert was the most friendly, informative host who has a unique way of explaining things in a way you’ll remember. As a former professional rugby player who cooked for his team mates as a way to channel his love for cooking, Rupert’s recipes and teaching was centred around being easy to apply with readily available ingredients rather than coming away with recipes as long as your arm with foods you’ve never heard of. This is what I loved about the course, we learnt things that would be useful in our every day cooking as well as some delicious and creative veggie recipes we could easily replicate at home.

The dishes we made were all SO delicious and included a Lentil Dhal, sweet potato mash and roasted cauliflower, homemade flatbreads, a beetroot and goats cheese dip and homemade houmous. We also learnt how to make a curry base and a ragu base; two extremely useful bases to know how to do well as they allow you to create so many delicious dishes.

Not long after returning from the course we applied our skills and cooked up the Lentil Dhal with flatbreads and beetroot dip and I can honestly say it was just as amazing. Since then I’ve frequently made some of the flatbreads and dips to take with us on picnics and BBQs and each time I’m amazed at how simple but how versatile and tasty they are. We’ve also used the recipe for the curry and ragu base countless times, these really have become our go to bases for most dishes.

We had a really great day at Philleigh Way, the day flew by and we seemed to learn and cook so much! We also took home a whole selection of the food we had cooked. This course was suitable for all levels and with a small welcoming group it was great for asking questions, feeling really welcome and learning lots. I can safely say we’ve both improved our vegetarian cooking and had a great day out whilst doing so.

Philleigh Way hold many different courses throughout the year, you can check them out on their website and keep up to date on their Instagram. I’d highly recommend joining at least one of the courses.

*This experience was gifted but I was not asked to post or write a review, all views are my own and you can be safe in the knowledge I’d never recommend something that I wouldn’t recommend to my best friend.