Learning how to cook...

Dear reader, if you’ve been reading my blog regularly, you’ve probably noted that I’ve been trying out my cooking skills quite a lot recently – stretched them to the limit, and beyond, even. Obviously my darling Mathilde has noted it – so she kindly got me a cooking lesson as a birthday lesson (perhaps partly motivated by a sense of self-preservation? :-) ).

Today was the grand day for my lesson. So off I set after work to Nice Nord, where the course was talking place. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, since I pictured myself making a fool of myself in front of a bunch of semi-professional chefs. So I was somewhat relieved when I heard that there were only to be two students apart from me – and even more relieved when one of the others didn’t turn up! So it was just me, a Vietnamese lady, and our teacher, then.

We started off by preparing the dessert (that was the first thing I learnt on the day – one should apparently normally start with the dessert) – “Fraisier a ma facon”. Basically it’s composed of strawberries, some mint leaves, a biscuit – complemented by a creamy concoctation made up of mascarpone, eggs, and sugar. Very simple, right? Well, it was actually – especially considering our teacher did most of the actual work whilst we watched and learnt.

The main course we prepared was called “Pave de poisson en coque d’herbes, oignons nouveaux et puree” (bit of a mouthful, that…). We started off by preparing the onions, potatoes and other veg in our teacher’s high-tech oven, which can steam vegetables in a few short minutes. Most impressive. A good 20 minutes later, the deliciously creamy puree (or actually it was an "espuma de puree") was ready, as well as the saumon. That’s probably the most important learning of the course – how to prepare a fish in a frying pan. After meticulously presenting the dish on a plate (our teacher actually told us she reckons the presentation is the most important aspect of a meal – I beg to differ on this point as I think taste is rather important too…) we were ready for “la degustation”.

Mathilde joined us for the meal – which was nice, especially since my Vietnamese co-student left us quite quickly. So, what’s the verdict, then? I would say pretty much a sans-faute. The fish was perfectly cooked, the espuma de puree creamy and tasty and the vegetables that went with it just right (and the presentation was tip-top, of course!). And the deset was a true delight, yummie! (I even got to finish some left-overs!)

So all in all, a very pleasant evening then! And I learnt a thing or two – hopefully some of it sticks… ;-)