In a bid to share my love for cooking and baking with others, I conducted a cooking class with 9 friends a few weeks ago. It was a hands-on class held in the comfort of my house. I taught four dishes – mushroom soup, ratatouille, chicken cacciatora over mash and apple crumble.
The first picture shows some of the ingredients we used to prepare the dishes. Participants were taught the trick of cutting capsicums and onions with ease!
Here’s ratatouille cooking in a pot! It looks like alot of vegetables but they will soon give off their water and shrink to half the volume. What is ratatouille? It is a vegetarian dish that consists of a few main vegetables – onions, zucchini, red peppers and courgettes. Some add mushrooms as well. The most important part of the dish? Olive oil! You cannot do without it, so do not try to substitute with other vegetable oils!
Many of the participants were intrigued by this equipment. It is an… Immersion Blender! A very useful tool in the kitchen I must say. No more the hassle of pouring mixtures out into a standing blender and having to clean up afterwards! You just need to clean up the bottom part of the immersion blender and you are done! Fast, efficient and clean. I love it and strongly recommend you considering one for your kitchen! I use it to puree my mushroom soups, or just about anything else that needs pureeing. I used it to puree my baby’s food when she was young too!
Here’s one of the partipants preparing the mash potatoes. The trick to fluffy mash potatoes is to ensure that your potatoes are quite dry before mashing them, adding hot milk/cream and to beat and beat until your hands ache!
Dessert is always a joy to prepare, even before the mains are done! Here are the participants working together to prepare the apple crumble which was made with granny smith apples. If you prefer a less tart crumble, use Golden Delicious apples instead.
The completed ratatouille in the pot. See how the amount has shrunk once the vegetables release their liquids?
Mushroom soup! Some like it thick, some like it thin. Have it your way! The participants liked it thicker and so we added less milk. If you prefer it thin, add more milk/stock!
Chicken cacciatora in the pot! It looks a little messy here but I guarantee you it was yummylicious!
Completed apple crumble with a lovely golden oat crust. I love my apple crumble served with good quality vanilla ice-cream. Some like it plain. Your choice!
Everyone had fun! Do you like cooking too? Come join the CookForFamily initative at www.facebook.com/CookForFamily and join the Cooking event happening next Sunday! You can assess the Cook For Family Day event here!
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