Hot off the press

TODAY was a lovely day, a new calf was born in the field behind the Cookery School in full view of the cookery students, most of whom had never imagined they would witness such a miracle of nature.

A beautiful black Aberdeen Angus heifer calf, the cow gently licked it all over and within minutes it tottered to its feet. We called her Easter.

While all this excitement was going on in the field, other students were doing their cooking exam in the kitchen, proving to me that they could cook at least one delicious meal after spending 12 weeks absorbing an avalanche of information on food and wine.

Mid-way through the afternoon Olivia Lacey arrived with a huge parcel. Other students gathered round, eager to open the box which contained their very own cookbook hot off the printing press. The very favourite recipes of the January 12 week certificate students 2005.

All the students, the office staff, many of the teachers, several of the gardeners and Haulie the farm manager all contributed a recipe. The idea came about just a few weeks ago when Olivia and a few pals were walking along Shanagarry strand as ever discussing food. They talked about their favourite standby recipes for dinner parties, survival food at college, Gran’s yummy chocolate cake - they each described their favourite nosh.

“Wouldn’t it be brilliant to gather all these little gems into a cookbook!” chirped Olivia in her inimitable way. Her mum, Nicola Beauman, is a publisher at Persephone Books, so she mooted the idea to the rest of the students. Recipes poured in, in every shape and form, everything from Derek’s Hunger Buster to Charlie’s Marshmallow and Digestive Sandwiches.

Huw contributed the one and only recipe he knew before he came to the school, William’s Special Tuna Pasta. This was his staple diet at college. Kinue Harada from Tokyo hand-wrote her lovely recipe for Sesame Miso Soup. Richard Mills got all nostalgic about his mum’s meatballs; he had painstakingly written the recipe down on a scrap of paper when he was eight and he knew it was still under his bed at home.

Olivia typed, Ciara did drawings, Anne Marie Hourihane and Caroline Williams did the layout and, hey presto, the manuscript was complete.

Just three weeks ago they contacted Margo McGrath at the Print Factory in Midleton and she too performed a minor miracle and produced the adorable little cookbook in just three weeks.

It’s full of little gems, some easy-peasy, all delicious, and it has sold like hot cakes. At €5 there are just a few left, so if you would like a copy, please contact the school.