Our day at The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School
“There is something very therapeutic and calming about cooking in the way that you do at The Agrarian Kitchen.”
“Do you know why he’s named Gordon?” Rodney asked.
I looked back at him, narrowing my eyes in consideration before exclaiming, “….RAM! Gordon RAMsey!”
Mum and I enjoy a good pun-based animal name (we have two sheep named Minty and Stewart - think about it), so this was a very good start to our day at The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School.
It’s been over 10 years since Séverine Demanet and her husband, Rodney Dunn took the leap and moved from Sydney to Tasmania. The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking school has been operating from their home in Lachlan, just outside the town of New Norfolk since 2008. I love The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery restaurant and prescribe to the ethos behind ‘paddock to plate’ - so have always wanted to do one of their cooking school classes.
One Thursday last month Mum and I got the opportunity do the “Agrarian Experience” - a full-day cooking class that utilises seasonal produce and results in a feast at the end of the day. In summary (spoiler alert) - it was awesome. The morning starts off with a tour of the garden and property - including introductions to Gordon the Ram, Wessex Saddleback and Berkshire pigs, chickens, ducks and bees. Our class had about six people - a lovely class size that allowed everyone to get to know each other a bit and share various tasks through the day. Rodney took us around the garden, pointing out different fruit, vegetables and herbs. We picked various bits and bobs that we would be using in the cooking later. Notably, we (carefully) picked nettles to use in a pasta dish. We have lots of nettles at Stanton Farmhouse, so Mum and I were very keen to learn how to turn these nasties into something delicious!
The Agrarian Experience ~ 19 September 2019
Ricotta ravioli with nettles and garlic burnt butter
Pork schnitzel with poached egg and hollandaise sauce
Silverbeat gratin
Brioche beignet with roasted rhubarb and vanilla ice-cream
The menu for our late lunch feast was epic and mouth watering. The hardest part of the day was choosing what part of the menu you wanted to help with! In the end we all had a bit of a go with everything. Very helpfully, you are given a recipe book that you take home.
The day was very relaxed. I found I completely lost any concept of the time or the outside world, such was the absorbing nature of our tasks. There is something very therapeutic and calming about cooking in the way that you do at The Agrarian Kitchen. As someone who usually finds cooking a bit stressful, and who invariably rushes the job, I felt completely differently during the class. Maybe it was the warm light streaming through the large windows, maybe it was the country setting, maybe it was that someone else did the washing up… Regardless, I found myself stop several times to enjoy the feeling of calmness and genuine joy I was experiencing.
Sev and Rodney have made a very special place and experience at The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School. All the techniques we learned are simple and usable in any family kitchen. Mum and I are definitely inspired to reproduce some of the dishes at Stanton Farmhouse for our guests. So much so that Mum (without mentioning it to me) went and bought a food processor, pasta-making attachment and icecream machine the very next day!
The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School is soon to relocate to a new home, at Willow Court in New Norfolk (next door to The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery restaurant). Keep an eye on their website and socials for info on when they will be opening!
If you decide to do one of The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School classes, let us know - if you stay with us the night before or after your course, we will cook you up a complimentary dinner of seasonal soup and freshly baked bread. Believe us, that’s all you will be able to fit in your tummy after your late lunchtime feast!
~ Rhiannon
