Cookyn Class

A couple of weeks back, I had the opportunity to go Cookyn. I did recently say that I love classes, didn't I? And of the lot, cooking classes have got to be my favourite.

Places in Merv and Amanda's classes always sell-out within hours of them been launched and it was no different with their Mediterranean Party. I dropped Amanda a note anyway asking her to let me know if there were any late cancellations as I would be happy to take their place. And as it turned out there were! Got permission from my in-house babysitter and was all set to be a fill-in.

Except that I filled in for the wrong class. DUH.

Amanda had asked if I was available to join the "afternoon class" and me, thinking that she meant the 11am to 2pm class, readily agreed. It was only later upon receiving the details to the class that it dawned upon me that she meant the 4pm class. Argh. 4pm was a no-go as it would cross Noey's bath/dinner/sleep times so it looked like I was going to be a last-minute pull-out myself. So much for being a fill-in huh!

The 11am session was a private class but Amanda, on hearing my predicament, kindly checked with Janice, who even more graciously allowed me to join them. Whew!

Rocked up to their place on Sat morning and had a blast. The day's dishes were:

1. Grilled tiger prawn skewers in citrus dressing and vanilla pod
   
2. Steamed mussels in white wine Provencal style
   
3. Roasted free-range chicken leg stuffed with feta mediterranean-style
   
4. Steamed Rice with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Raisins
   
5. Homemade crepes with Greek yoghurt, honey and muesli

I've been to classes at different cooking schools and what I really appreciated was the casual, informal vibe of the class. That and the generous amount of wine they plied us with! On top of that, despite the fancy menu, the dishes turned out to be really easy to re-create, and good to boot. Great for the home chef who just wants to be able to throw together a good menu with minimal fuss.

I'm sure the pictures speak for themselves.

Merv preparing the vanilla pod. I thought this added an interesting dimension to the sauce for the prawns. Pity vanilla pod is so expensive.

Debearding mussels is hard work, oh yessiree!

The men hard at work

The finished product: ze grilled chicken

The mussels. My favourite dish of the day! With ingredients that can all be bought at Cold Storage!

Happy mummies sans babies on a Sat morning. Woohoo!

Cookyn with Mervyn will be moving to a new location soon and (I'm sure) launching a whole bunch of new classes so watch for it!