"Please be very careful of the cows and remember they have right of way at all times". No, this is not a Hindu retreat. It's one of the directions given to students attending Elise Pascoe's cookery school which is situated above a working dairy farm overlooking the lush green Jamberoo Valley about two hours south of Sydney. We got lost long before reaching the cows because I had forgotten to bring the map. As easy as it is to find sleepy Jamberoo village, it's not quite so easy to find your way to the school. Even the local real estate agent pointed us up the wrong road.

When we finally found our way to the top of the hill, we were lured on by the sweet smell of baking. The property backs onto ten hectares of temperate rainforest and has been cleverly positioned to avoid southerly busters (famous in the area) and to partake of cooling north-easterly breezes in summer. As you wind up the hill, the main building – which is in the style of an Australian farmhouse - comes into view. Built in an H-shape, it comprises three pavilions – the cookery school, a private residential area and a library/reception area.

"I wanted it to look like a contemporary Aussie farmhouse," commented Elise. "I didn't want it to look European or south-east Asian. We put a huge amount of thought into it." Banks of giant lavender line the path to the front door and in the courtyard outside Elise has planted orange peel thyme in the squares and Italian spicy thyme around the perimeter. The garden is full of roses and there’s a separate herb garden which includes lemongrass, Vietnamese mint, rosemary, mint and even rhubarb.

The view from the main cookery school pavilion out over rolling green hills to the blue Pacific near Kiama is breathtaking. In this pavilion is a large rectangular kitchen with glazed pumpkin-coloured walls which takes up to 20 hands-on students and is fitted with stainless steel benches, three sinks, an Aga gas-fired cooker, Gaggenau electric ovens plus gas hob and wok burner. If you can take your eyes off the view, you’ll have a lot of fun in here with all the copper pots, knives, cookery equipment and smart plateware.

 

Elise is an accomplished chef, cookery book author and food writer with over three decades of experience both here and overseas. She is an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher who stresses the importance of technique and of working with local seasonal produce. In keeping with this philosophy she has encouraged farmers in the Jamberoo Valley to grow salad greens and herbs for the school and has formed a relationship with local fisherman to get hold of line-caught fish.

"The most popular classes at present are Italian," she says. "I'm running eight to ten this year and they’re all full. The Mediterranean, Moroccan and Middle Eastern classes are also popular and there's interest in Vietnamese. I'm going to cancel the Thai class and French has lost its way. I think that’s because it’s associated with fine dining and is perceived as too rich and too fatty. I still adore it because it’s how I learnt to cook at the Cordon Bleu in Paris."

Most classes start at 10am and finish mid-afternoon though there are also master classes and less expensive demonstration classes. "My aim is to run week long classes for inter-state and international clients," she says. "These will include tours to vineyards in the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands, a vineyard picnic and cooking for a black tie dinner on the final night with a guest winemaker or restaurateur giving a speech."

Proof of the pudding is in the eating. The sweet smell which lured us to the school turned out to be a warm Tuscan apple cake with meringue top. Elise served generous slices of this with a freshly brewed cup of espresso. Heaven on a stick.

Elise Pascoe International
Cooking School
www.cookingschool.com.au
Ph. 02 4236 1666 Fax. 02 4236 1777

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