Monday, December 14, 2009

Cuban Surf-n-Turf Cooking Class

One of our (my husband and I) friend gave us this wonderful gift of attending a cooking class so my husband and I went to have a cooking class together on Saturday night in Manhattan.

It was at The institute of Culinary Education and our class was "Cuban Surf-n-Turf". Since I had never taken any cooking class so I was a bit nervous but this was a recreational class so I was more excited than nervous and looking forward to learn some Cuban dishes.




To my surprise, there were many couples and friends and so on and we started by introducing ourselves a little bit. Some people were there because they got this as a wedding gift, some people were there to celebrate friend's birthday, some people were interested in learning Cuban food. There were about 15 people in the class and everybody was really nice and fun.

The class was a bit different from what I expected. We made 11 different things in about 3 hours. So we divide the class into 3 teams and each team made different things from these 11 menus. My husband I decided to split up into different teams so we can learn different dishes.

My team was in charge of "Sea bass in sofrito", "Yucca al Mojo", "Tostones" and "Flan". Each team had each separate table so after we start cooking, I did not really talk to my husband until the end of cooking. I heard his laugh but I was so busy with my dishes I did not have time to talk to him. In the beginning, we decided who will be in charge of what. I was in charge of the fish and tostones with one other person. I think our team worked pretty well. I was worried if we can finish everything in 3 hours but I also had fun cooking with other people.


In a way, it felt little bit like a competition like the one you see on TV. I mean it was more relaxed and fun but at the same time, everybody is running around getting ingredients and chopping thing away. It was very interesting.

At the end of cooking, we assembled all the dishes into one table and enjoyed our meal with mojito and wine. Everybody was enjoying each other's company and joking around while we ate.

Here are the photos of the dishes we made that night.


Mojito




Ceviche



Ropa Vieja




Pescado Enchilado

Before



After




Picadillo a la Habanera




Frijoles Negros




Arroz Amarillo



Yucca al Mojo



Tostones




Ensalada de aguacate y Pimento



Flan de Leche


It was great to learn some Cuban food because I like Cuban food and I go to Cuban restaurant sometimes but I never really cooked Cuban food myself. My favorite dish of the night was Tostones which is a fried plantains. I like it more may be because I was involved in making this. It is quite time consuming (you have to double fry the plantains) but the result was crispy salty good tostones! I loved it! and now I know how to make them :-)


My husband and I had a great time. We talked about the class and what happened in each team all the way home and laughed a lot. This was a wonderful gift. We really appreciate our friend who gave this gift to us. Thanks!!!




2 comments:

  1. This is really fun and enjoyable one that you and your husband can attend a cooking class together. All the food looks great.

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  2. Hi Anncoo,
    Thank you. Yes, it is quite fun to go cooking class with someone. Since my husband and I were in separate team, I can show him what I learned and he can show me what he learned in the class!

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