When you want an alternative to the usual girls’ night out, bring your friends to a cooking class. It’s a delightful experience with a bit of learning, a bit of eating and drinking, plus leftovers just for fun!
This cooking class marked my first time at Calphalon Culinary Centre in Toronto. They have a clean and shiny, airy and inviting facility. I was there to meet up with my friend for “Italian Cooking for Couples.”
Ready, Set, Go!
A lovely starched white apron and personalized name tag awaited all of the participants.
Susie, the Chef, and Brian, who assisted, set up the appetizers.
Each couple had their own fully-equipped station with knife block, utensils, butcher block, cookware and gas range. Bonus luck of the draw: ours had a mini sink!
An appetizer awaited us. So we had something in our stomach before we got cooking. This was Meatball on Crostini (toasted bread slices) served with a veggie phyllo concoction.
Life is Short. Make Dessert First.
This was the mise en place (all of the ingredients ready to go) for the Tiramisu.
The coffee mixture already has the Marsala wine (do you think they pre-mixed it so we wouldn’t sample?). Of course, after someone asked about the Marsala, we were each given a taste! Perfect for a girls’ night out.
We made Tiramisu first, so it would be ready if we wanted some after dinner. 35% cream and a piano-wire whisk in a clean bowl = gorgeous whipped cream.
The whisk was also handy for making the custard.
Once all the components were done, we layered the Tiramisu ingredients in 2 aluminum pans and put them away in the fridges. The Tiramisu would be ready to eat later, or we could save them to bring home.
On to the Entree
This is the mise en place for Veal Saltimboca with shallot wine reduction. The pine nuts were for the side salad. The extra prosciutto we designated for snacking.
Making the shallot wine reduction for the Saltimboca.
We learned a knife technique to mince onions (in this case shallots). You make a series of layered cuts, followed by vertical cuts, followed by horizontal cuts and voila! A more uniform and organized way to mince your onion or shallot.
The best part of a cooking class is when you get to eat what you made. Oh, boy was this Saltimboca good. It may not be the best description I’ve ever given, but I don’t even know where to start.
Next, a Mushroom Risotto. Now You’re Cookin’.
We then moved on to making a Mushroom Risotto. Did you know the stems of herbs are where most of the flavour is? This was news to me, and I was happy to learn this.
A distinct variety of mushrooms gives the Mushroom Risotto more complexity.
This was my first time working with oyster mushrooms. I learned to pull off, rather than chop the stems, as they are tough.
It’s great to share the stirring of the risotto with your friends. One of the advantages of a girls’ night out cooking class.
Here is the Mushroom Risotto, plated. There was much more volume to the dish, but we packed some to take home.
Don’t Forget About the Fish Course
Salmon en Papillote, just prior to wrapping up in parchment.
Lovely green olives, capers, tomato, lemon zest and green onions made a delightful combination.
The right microplane grater can make short, easy work of the lemon zesting.
This is the baked Salmon en Papillote, after unwrapping the parchment paper. The fish was tender and moist, and the vegetables were fresh and still had a good bite to them (not quite crunchy, but solid).
Bring Your Friend to a Cooking Course for a Fun Girls’ Night Out
Our girls’ night out ended with two friends enjoying the fruits of our labour and then doing a bit of shopping (I took home both the microplane and whisk).
The Calphalon Culinary Centre in Toronto is now closed. Their kitchen products are available online.
An alternative cooking school in Toronto is Dish Cooking Studio. Read about our experience with David Adjey at Dish.
We have also attended an event with guest chef David Santos and a cooking class with chef Matthew Kennedy.
