How to cook like an Italian

A pan of water is boiling furiously on the hot-plate while the fatty bacon hisses and spits as it turns into a golden crisp in moments.

This is serious cooking – the sort you watch on the telly, where chefs in whites whip up delicious-looking dishes and present them artfully on pristine white plates.

If you are a fan of Masterchef and wistfully wonder what it would be like to rattle those pots and pans with the professionals, here is your chance.

York College is running a four-week Italian cookery course in its state-of-the-art kitchens, starting next month.

The three-hour sessions run for four weeks and aim to give you the full flavour of the Italian kitchen, with plenty of recipes to repeat at home.

Participants will prepare and cook up to three dishes each week, under the watchful eye of Italian cook Maria Bishop. “It will give you confidence in cooking,” says Salvatore Petruso, head of hospitality and catering at the college. “We want to show that it is not that difficult; that you go home and cook these recipes again.”

To give a taste of what’s in store, Sicilian-born Salvatore lent me his white apron and gave me a masterclass on some Italian classics.

Focaccia, carbonara and tiramisu are all on the menu for the day, as are arancini – deep fried rice balls that are sold as street food in Sicily, explains Salvatore.

We begin back to front – in terms of the menu, that is – and start whipping up the eggs for the tiramisu, the Italian equivalent of an English trifle with layers of cream and sponge soaked in coffee and marsala. Ideally, says Salvatore, this needs to be made the day before so that all the flavours can infuse.

Next, we make the dough for the focaccia. This is left to rise while we carry on making the cream for the tiramisu; gently folding dollops of thick marscapone into a bowl of soft-peaked egg whites. Next, we snap shop-bought sponge fingers and dip them into a cup of cold espresso and dish of marsala wine and layer them in a pretty glass dish with the creamy mix. To finish, we cover with a heavy coating of bitter cocoa powder.

“You can use sponge cake or amaretti instead of the finger biscuits,” informs Salvatore. “But remember: the staler, the better.”

Back to the focaccia. It’s doubled in size and, using our fingers, we pull at the elastic dough until it fills a large rectangle baking tray. Following Salvatore’s lead, we poke our fingers deep into the dough, leaving little circular indents. These, I learn, will cradle the garlic, herbs, olive oil and rock salt that are yet to come.

Using the biggest knife in the block, Salvatore guides me on how to chop garlic. Tucking my fingers safely almost beneath my knuckles, I begin slicing the small, white bulb. Once it is finely chopped, I use the flat of the blade to crush it further. It quickly turns into a oozing paste and the smell of garlic is intoxicating – much more so than when I use my garlic press at home. The garlic is added to a jug of olive oil which we generously brush over the dough. “We use about a pint of olive oil in this recipe,” says Salvatore with a naughty glint in his eye.

Topped with olives and torn leaves of fresh thyme, the bread is popped into a industrial oven for about 15 minutes.

Which gives us a chance to start on the arancini.

“These are like Sicilian Scotch eggs,” explains Salvatore. And I suppose they are, given that they are round and covered in breadcrumbs, but they are truly Italian too.

Made from leftovers, they encompass risotto rice with a filling. Today, we have shredded ham and grated mozzarella, but Salvatore uses the remains of casseroles and even curry. They are great fun to make – seriously sticky and messy and would be ideal to rustle up with kids. We begin by flattening out the rice in the palm of our hand, then layering the ham and cheese, before squidging it all together, making sure the filling doesn’t escape. Then it is dipped in flour, egg and fine breadcrumbs and deep fried. They are best eaten warm and are incredibly filling.

While I am left stirring the risotto rice for the arancini, Salvatore takes the focaccia out of the oven – and the whole kitchen fills with the smell of sweet garlic. After another drenching in olive oil, Salvatore cuts the bread into doorstep-thick triangles for us to try. The taste and texture is incredible: the outside is golden crisp, giving way to meltingly soft bread with the earthy notes from the thyme and olives in perfect symphony with the sharpness of the roasted rock salt.

A feast is unfolding before our eyes, but we still have to make the carbonara. I feel more comfortable here as carbonara is a dish I make at home. But as I follow Salvatore through each stage, I realise that I will be rewriting the recipe in future.

We start by chopping up pancetta – cured raw belly pork – but smoked streaky bacon would be an alternative, says Salvatore. As the bacon crisps up in the pan, we boil spaghetti; breaking it in half first and adding olive oil to the boiling water to prevent it sticking together.

Once the bacon is cooked, we add double cream straight to the pan, we then drain the pasta and add that. Finally, off the heat, we add a mixture of egg yolk and cream, with parmesan to serve.

The dish is simple to prepare, but the flavours anything but: the saltiness of the pancetta cutting through the creamy sauce, all held together by strands of spaghetti which still have a bite.

With an Italian cook at my side, working through the ambitious menu had been surprisingly easy – and great fun. But it also gave me the confidence to know that I could do it all again on my own.

Salvatore said: “This course is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to work in the industrial kitchens you see on TV.”

Budding Masterchefs take note.

• Experience Italy – Food And Drink runs for four weeks from November 2 from 6.30pm-9.30pm. It costs £114 for the course, which includes ingredients and wine. Find out more, or book, by telephoning 01904 770400