Zero to hero in the kitchen

The clothes we wear, the car we drive, the routines we work through - they all start to pall after a time.

The same can be said for the food we cook. It is too easy to get sucked into the If it's Tuesday it must be spag bol' mentality and to stick with the same safe and familiar dishes when entertaining.

Part of it is the safety - contemptible or otherwise - of food we can prepare with our eyes closed, part of it is a fear of trying something new, just in case it goes wrong.

However, learning fresh and different dishes need not be scary nor intimidating. All you need is time and a patient teacher to hold your hand and mop up your mistakes along the way.

The Olive Tree Cookery School was founded by Giuseppe Singaguglia and his wife Sara 18 months ago. It is based in a converted barn just off the A351 at Norden, on the outskirts of Corfe, and is the perfect place for chefs of all ages and abilities to learn how to expand their culinary repertoire.

Giuseppe comes from Sicily and has been cooking for most of his adult life. When he was at college, he spent the long summer vacations working in hotel and restaurant kitchens throughout Italy - and met his wife Sara when she was on holiday in his country with her parents - and served as a naval chef during his year's National Service.

With his formal catering training complete, he followed Sara to England and worked for Marco Pierre White at The Criterion, Piccadilly and spent two years as head chef of Carluccio's, Market Place.

With the arrival of their children Sofia and Dante, Giuseppe and Sara moved to Dorset, where he worked as head chef at the Manor House Hotel, Studland Bay, before setting up the Olive Tree Cookery School.

He offers a total of 15 courses, ranging from Italian pasta and breadmaking events to from zero to hero' days for reluctant dads and husbands, 'dinner party for six' days, seafood sessions and even children's days, which show youngsters aged six and up how to cook and enjoy proper, home-made grub.

At this time of year, Giuseppe also takes a number of summer courses. You can learn how to cater for the perfect picnic, wow barbecue guests with sea bass stuffed with lemon and herbs and Sicilian fennel seed sausages or get to grips with seafood or summer puddings.

I was offered the chance to take part in the Olive Tree's Summer Kitchen Garden day, which teaches how to maximise your use of goodies grown outside your back door.

The dishes we were to learn sound pretty daunting if courgette flowers, champagne jelly and artichokes are not part of your everyday fare: Courgette flowers filled with mozzarella, ham and capers in pastella (a light batter made with sparkling mineral water) Cream of beetroot soup Flowering courgette and taleggio cheese risotto Artichoke, pea and broad bean frittata (omelette) Pickled artichokes in oil Champagne and elderflower jelly dotted with summer berries Rhubarb crème brulee Part of Giuseppe and Sara's ethos is to use products either grown in their own garden or sourced from the locality.

Sara explained: "We grow as many of our own vegetables and fruit as we can and use local farmers and suppliers for the rest.

"Some of our recipes use courgette flowers, but you can't buy them over here. I nearly bought some over the internet but decided against it.

"In the end I phoned a local supplier just before his crop was ready, at a time when I knew he would have some courgette flowers. I think he thought I was a bit mad! But I told him how much we were prepared to pay for them and maybe he will start selling them too now. It seems strange, because in Sicily, the farmers sell them at the markets because they are used so much."

And it is to Sicily that the family go every autumn, back to Giuseppe's family olive farm to harvest the fruit, press the oil and bring it back to the UK to use and sell. It is almost too idyllic for words.

So, down to the cooking. Now, like most people I like to think that I know my way around a kitchen, that my garlic chopping is second to none and my stroganoffs are to die for.

But hand me a gelatine leaf or unpeeled artichoke and I am likely to laugh hysterically and hit the cooking sherry.

Thank the lord, then, that Giuseppe is a gentle and patient teacher, not one to fluster when the necessary drop of olive oil turns into a deluge or a mere 45g of caster sugar becomes a clumsily poured saccharine avalanche. As the heat rises he stays cool and composed, explaining a technique here, correcting a mistake there.

Although it seems like a lot to get through in one day - the Summer Kitchen Garden runs from 9.30am until 3pm - the hours slip smoothly by as your culinary proficiency grows.

The classes are small, with a maximum of six students, and everyone gets to try their hand at the necessary kitchen skills, starting with sharpening knives on a proper, old-fashioned whetting blade.

By demonstrating how to do a certain task, and then allowing his students to do it for themselves under supervision, Giuseppe ensures that you get the best results together with the confidence to try your new-found skills alone at home.

And how glorious is the feeling when your elderflower and champagne jelly actually sets - and smells divine - and you get to have a go with a chef's blowtorch and caramelise the top of your very own, hand-made crème brulee!

The proof of the pudding - and, indeed, the main course - is in the eating and after a hard morning's work, Olive Tree students are invited to sit at a sprucely-laid table to enjoy the fruits of their labours. They say that food tastes best when prepared by someone else. But as the flowering courgette and taleggio cheese risotto, made just minutes before, melted on my tongue, I am afraid I had to disagree.

The Summer Kitchen Garden course costs £85 for the day and will next run on August 21. For full details of all Olive Tree Cookery School courses, including three-day events, call 01929 477260 or email info@olivetreecookeryschool.com Further details are available on the website at www.olivetreecookeryschool.com