LEE Conetta is Glasgow food royalty, having built up and helped to run some of the city’s most famous restaurants.

For her occasional column in the Glasgow Times, she shares fantastic recipes and memories of her life here in the city and her travels to Italy and beyond.

This time, Mrs Conetta recalls her own training at Glasgow’s famous Dough School – we’d love to hear from readers who remember it? Email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk to share your memories.

And her fantastic recipe is a winter warmer for the soul….

Glasgow Times:

I HAD the good fortune to attend the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science, later Queens College, but affectionately named the Dough School.

This was equivalent to any European school of cookery - I know as we trudged round them all not too long ago, trying to find the best one for my granddaughter Christina.

The first was in Bra, Piedmont, around 30 miles south-east of Turin. Bra is the birthplace of Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food movement and the world's first University of Gastronomic Sciences.

It is also home to Cheese, a bi-annual International Festival organised by Slow Food, which features the makers of cheeses from all over the world. In 1997 the event attracted some 150,000 visitors. The town is also famous for the production of Bra sausage, made from veal and originally for the Jewish inhabitants of neighbouring Cherasco - it is usually eaten raw. Piedmont is also renowned for the famous black truffle.

It was around 2014 when my husband Joe nd I went to check out their cookery school and it was certainly state of the art, in a beautiful setting. The classrooms and kitchens were second to none.

We then went to Madrid to inspect the Cordon Bleu school of cookery - another state-of-the-art establishment where Christina would be taught to understand the culinary processes and techniques.  She chose this school and went on to gain her diploma in Haute Cuisine. She then went on to further her gastronomical vision by working at The Ritz in London for a year.

She is now in Dublin working for the famous restaurants So and Fire. In my opinion, the Glasgow Dough School’s education was just as in depth as any cookery school’s, as we did advanced cookery, French cookery, basic Scottish cookery, large scale cookery – and we learned all the basics around cooking from scratch.

It was a wonderful course which helped Joe and I create the menu for our famous Di Maggio’s restaurants. 

What we need in these tough times are recipes for dishes which are not only nutritious but economical to make, like soups. I love a good Scotch broth or a hearty lentil soup, but one of my favourites is leek and potato – a Scottish classic, warming, comforting and healthy.

Glasgow Times:

RECIPE: Leek and Potato Soup

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

50g of butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

450g leeks, sliced

3 large shallots, sliced thinly

250g floury potatoes (such as Maris Pipers), peeled and cut into chunks

1 litre of chicken stock

150ml of double cream

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper

METHOD

Heat the butter and oil in a heavy pan, add the leeks and shallots, cover and cook gently, for 15-20 minutes, stirring once or twice until soft but not browned. Add the potato chunks to the pan and cook uncovered for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the chicken stock (or water), add around a teaspoon of salt and black pepper to taste, bring to the boil, reduce heat and partly cover the pan. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and add the cream.

If preferred, you can use a blender to produce a smooth, creamy soup, or serve chunky.