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Published: October 26th 2021
After the amazing culinary extravagance of the previous evening, it was time to get down to some serious business. Shortly after booking this trip, we all agreed to that we wanted to do a cooking class. Dave, Merry Jo and I had taken a class in Jordan and loved it. Not to beat the proverbial dead horse, but as a chef, I sometimes need to remember why I do what I do. Spending a day cooking for fun while learning some new ideas and working with new ingredients is pure joy. The key to this is to find a class that is balanced between fun and challenging and shows me some dishes that I can take back to work. Several dishes from previous trips have been featured on menus, as will many dishes from this one. Heck, the Ladies Golf Invitational next year’s theme is Roam Around the World, so I have some homework to do on this trip. I found Cooking Lisbon online, and felt that it was going to be what we were looking for, and I was right. This was a fun morning of cooking, talking, eating, drinking, and learning. Spoiler alert: by the end of the class
I was happy, I was content, I was slightly tipsy, and I was excited to take these new ideas back to work with me.
When things are meant to be, they are easy. Dinner last night was only few blocks from our hotel. Our Market Hall Walking Tour and Cooking Class was to meet a few blocks from the hotel too, which I took as a good omen. On a warm, sunny day, it was a nice walk to the Cooking Lisbon center to meet Filipe, our chef instructor, and two other students. Small class is another good omen. Today was going to be a bang-up good day. Before leading us down to the Market Hall, Filipe took us to the kitchen to put an octopus into the oven. Never have I worked with octopus, so this was interesting. I did not know that it had to be frozen and defrosted before cooking. Filipe chopped up an onion, added some fresh thyme and rosemary, garlic and olive oil, then added the octopus and covered it all with foil. Into a preheated oven it went, and off to the market we wandered. The market was A. right across the street
Oven Ready Ocopus
Yes, it looks like a scary tv dinnerfrom our hotel. I can’t imagine how I didn’t put that together, and B. smaller than some of the other European markets I have visited. The seafood portion was extensive, and well laid out, although I was admonished by a worker for including her in my picture of the market. I was only taking an overview shot of the market, but apparently, she didn’t like that. I can relate; I have had bad hair days too. The snarky part of me wanted to put the picture on here, but the more compassionate part of me decided to delete it and not push my karma luck.
Once we had finished our shopping, we walked back to the classroom where the fragrant smells of herbs and garlic welcomed us. A bountiful hospitality table was arranged with green wine, chorizo, bread, cheeses and olives. The green wine was, once again using the term of the trip, lovely. I very much enjoyed it. The word green refers to the fact that it is a young wine, not to a color. Green wine can be red, rose, or white as was the case here. We sat on tools drinking and munching on chorizo and
cheese while we watched Felipe make a watermelon gazpacho. Each of us were assigned a task. My job was to use a Parisienne scoop to make balls from Granny Smith apples. I rocked it. I truly shined like the star that I think I am. Into the blender went the remaining apples, watermelon, cucumber, some tomato and olive oil. Around and around it goes, where it stops….. ah, I didn’t care where it stopped. It was fun to watch and picture serving this, iced cold, to golfers on a hot day. Filipe had us place the Parisienne scoops of apple, watermelon and cucumber into a ring mold in the center of a bowl, pour the gazpacho around, garnish with balsamic, mint and fresh queso. And there it was, the perfect starter for a hot day.
Once the gazpacho was made, but before garnished and served, he cooked some fresh clams we had picked up at the market. Merry Jo was all in on the clams and peered through the glass lid of the pot to watch them cook. They were delicious to eat as we watched Dave start the risotto. Truth be told, it wasn’t a true risotto, but
was delicious and much lighter. Filipe used Carolina rice instead of arborio. Onions, garlic and peeled tomatoes were cooked down to bring out the flavor. The rice was added and lightly sauteed, then slowly, ladle by ladle, the broth from the octopus was stirred in by Dave. While he was stirring, I was tasked with dicing the octopus for garnish, and once again, nailed it. Into the risotto went the perfectly diced pieces of octopus, and there it was, our perfect lunch.
While all of this was going on, another student was making what I would refer to as tuilles flavored with cinnamon. Our dessert was going to be the pastel de Belém deconstructed. Filipe had made a custard similar to the one in the classic dessert earlier in the class. This was spread over the tuilles to create a light, crispy, delicious dessert. Yes, yes, I will post some pictures. I know you are ready to stop listening to me yammer on about this, so bear with me for a few more minutes. We sat at a family style table to toast to our success and enjoy this lunch. As with all cooking classes, it was a
truly relaxing way to spend a morning.
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Jackie S
non-member comment
Great to see you back out there doing something (else) you love. Enjoy the rest of your time, and I will enjoy reading your posts. (PS: I was in Madrid and Northern Spain for most of September.).