Food drink:-Manoir made me a pasta master.

Byline: By Paul Fulford

TWICE before I had tried to make my own pasta.

First time it emerged thicker than the average Newcastle United fan. The next time it contained more holes than Rab C Nesbitt's vest.

Thus the pasta rolling machine given to me as a gift has been gathering dust in a cupboard behind half-empty boxes of breakfast cereals well past their sell-by dates.

No longer. This heavy metal contraption is about to emerge from its hibernation.

The reason for this new-found optimism is a day-long course I attended at the Raymond Blanc Cookery School held at the Michelin starred chef's flagship hotel, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxford shire. Entitled Tastes and Textures from Elsewhere, it covered a range of Eastern and Far Eastern techniques and ingredients that can be used to enliven essentially Western European dishes.

Eight students attended, many given the experience as birthday presents and all of them keen amateur cooks.

Dodging the army of chefs in the restaurant kitchen as they prepared dishes for a lunchtime event, we were shown into the cookery school - rather like a large and well-equipped domestic kitchen.

The class was led by Steve Lyons, from Kidderminster, who's impressive CV since he became a chef seven years ago after a career in audio equipment design includes stints in the kitchen at the Manoir and at the Cheltenham's legendary Le Champignon Sauvage.

He pitched the course perfectly making it informative but hugely enjoyable and entertaining.

He displayed not the slightest fear as he brandished a huge Cornish crab which began to revive from a torpor induced by several hours in the fridge.

We looked the creature in the eyes as he demonstrated how it would be despatched with a sharp instrument thrust into its brain.

Fortunately for the crab, Steve had prepared a couple earlier so it headed back for another chilly snooze.

It was from the claws, bodies and heads of the already deceased crabs that we were given the task to extract the meat before it was checked, checked and checked again for fragments of shell or slivers of cartilage.

Shells disappeared into a pan to make a bisque while the flesh was separated - some to go into a tamarind and crab curry and the best to be combined with scallop to make a mousse with which to stuff pasta.

I worked with fellow student Tom, a currency broker with a broad London accent, as we combined flour and a couple of eggs to make pasta.

Starting worryingly dry, the mixture became more and more pliable as we kneaded it until Steve was happy it was the right consistency.

After a period wrapped in cling film in the fridge, the pasta emerged to be rolled out and put through the pasta machine at different settings so it became thinner and thinner before we cut it into panels which we stuffed with the crab and scallop mousse.

Tom and I chopped various vegetables told how to hold the knife properly by Steve.

These I stir-fried while my kitchen colleague briefly simmered the ravioli which we plated up and ate with spiced crab bisque.

Later it was time to make sushi flattening the sticky rice over nori seaweed, topping it with salmon, spring onions, avocado, sesame seeds and wasabi before rolling it with the help of a bamboo mat.

My family and friends seemed impressed when I brought it home that night.

Perhaps they are easily pleased.

In between times, Steve and his colleagues rattled up a fabulous crab and tamarind curry, produced a fabulous miso soup, made cauliflower and potato fritters with a sweet curry sauce, a Thai chicken curry and a rice pudding with exotic fruit.

At various times we students were called on to help.

Throughout Steve was full of advice and hints.

The day lasted from just before 9am until 5pm and the time flew by.

I emerged with a plaque, a snazzy white chef jacket bearing M Blanc's name... and a newly founded ability to make pasta.

Le Manoir aux Quat' Saison is located in Great Milton, Oxford shire.

Cookery courses are held regularly and cover various subjects. For more information phone [phone], email [e-mail] or visit www.

manoir.com

FoodFact

Waiters at Le Manoir point out to chefs if a customer is Japanese so dishes can be seasoned less because the Japanese use less salt than Europeans.

TopTip

Never put your working knives in the dishwasher it blunts them.

CAPTION(S):

ON A ROLL pasta making at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, the Michelin-starred hotel owned by Raymond Blanc (below).; COOKERY COURSES Le Manoir in Great Milton, Oxford shire.