Clase de Cocina

If you know me at all, you must know how stoked I was to go to a Spanish cooking class. The "cooking school" was in a converted apartment and had a demo kitchen and little desks in a semi circle for us to sit around.


On the menu:

Sangría (vino tinto, apple slices, lemon soda, sugar)

Pan tostada con tomate, jamón serrano y aceite de oliva (toasted bread with tomato sauce, ham, and olive oil)


Tortilla de Patatas (typical Spanish tortilla...fried potatoes, onions, eggs)

Paella Mixta (Paella with clams, mussels, chicken, shrimp and peas). 

Tarta de Santiago (Santiago tart, typical of Galicia, a region in the northwest of Spain.  It was almond flour, sugar, eggs, and lemon zest with powdered sugar on top)

When we first got there it looked more like a demonstration, but we actually got to make everything ourselves.  


She made the sangria...pretty easy, wine, lemon santa, sugar, apple slices, cinnamon(?). done.


The first dish we made was the pan tostada, because you can't have a drink without food in this country.  First she showed us how to do it: rub the garlic on the bread, add some tomato sauce, put ham on top and sprinkle it with olive oil.  I was so excited though when she told us to come and help do it ourselves!  

After this, we started on the dessert.  I volunteered first to help make the dessert, and the teacher asked me if I usually cook (I guess I'm a good egg beater, a pro at mixing batter, and have a knack for pouring batter into a pan). I also got to wear a cute apron.  It was black with red polka dots.  

We also got to make our own Tortilla de patatas, which is semi-difficult because you have to flip the whole omelet-like dish.  Theres actually a really easy way to do it, so its not as impressive as it sounds.  They use the top of a pot or a flat plate to do it.

The flip method...

We also got to help make the paella, I didn't help with this one, but I took good good notes on how to make it.  I ate it all too, even the mussels, clams, and shrimp.  Soooo yummy.  I learned that saffron is the secret ingredient in paella...hence the yellowy color.

Now I am soooo full.  Can't wait to go to sleep because I'm still recovering from the weekend.  Good thing I came home from school and went on a run today...