So I had a cooking class the other day for some friends. These friends happen to be triplets and I also happen to have a twin sister, so we made it a "multiples cooking class." With beer of course.
I met Peasha (aka Patricia) when we both worked as servers at a Japanese Restaurant. We found out we had a lot in common: We're both from Latin families (I'm Peruvian, she's Cuban), we both majored in Psychology, and we're both multiples. I'm an identical twin and she's a triplet. Both of us work at FAU now and sometimes get to have lunch together. A few weeks ago when hanging out with Peasha and her sisters, Cristina and Elena, they mentioned that they wanted to learn to cook. So we decided to have a cooking class where I would teach them my style of cooking. So I set aside Wednesday, the 15th at 8:00 pm to have a cooking class with the triplets and my sister.
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| triplets: Elena, Cristina, and Peasha |
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| twins: Me and Valeria |
The menu was: stuffed mushrooms, fish tacos, lamb chops with roasted thyme potatoes, and chocolate souffle. I brought a four pack of La Fin Du Monde (Peasha's favorite beer) and some other beers to cook and pair with, including: Ommegang Abbey Ale, Rogue Chocolate Stout, and White Rascal. Even though they wanted to learn basic things, I chose some food items that people might not make on a regular basis because the same techniques can apply to more everyday foods. All the courses turned out delicious and Patricia, Elena, and Cristina were the best students anyone could ask for. Four days later Peasha told me that they had already made the stuffed mushrooms twice and that Cristina made steak and pork the way I taught them. They were really serious about learning! Here's a recap of the evening, although I didn't get many pictures of the final products.
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| Learning! |
Stuffed Mushrooms
I chose stuffed mushrooms because they're awesome and a quick and easy appetizer with simple ingredients. These were the first thing to be ready and eaten. They even said it was the best homemade thing they had ever had. ♥
You can see my recipe
here.
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| Stuffing |
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| Topping with cheese |
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| Eating! |
Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
Fish tacos were chosen so we could try some beer battering which could also be applied to other dishes, such as fish and chips or onion rings or anything really. We used White Rascal for the battering. Elena whisked together the batter, Peasha coated the fish, and Cristina did the frying and flipping. Throw that crunchy fish on a tortilla with some pineapple salsa, lime mayonnaise, and lettuce and dinner's ready. Here's the basic
recipe.
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| Peasha coating the fish in batter. |
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| Salsa ingredients |
Lamb Chops
Lamb chops were my choice for the entree because they are freaking delicious and if I could show them the basic techniques for that, they could apply it to steak and other meats. Before the dinner I was contemplating between salmon, roasted chicken, steak, or lamb as the main course. In the end I chose lamb but I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, so I made it up as we went along. We seasoned the chops with salt, pepper, and fresh mint and seared them with some onions and garlic. Once the they were done we removed them and I made a sauce by deglazing the pan with Ommegang Abbey Ale (getting all the delicious flavor up from the bottom of the pan) and adding butter, milk, and some other seasonings. This may have been the biggest success of the night.
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| Helping Peasha with her knife skills. |
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| My class :) |
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| Yummy lamb chops! |
Roasted Thyme Potatoes
These are super easy to make. You just wash and chop up a few potatoes and arrange them on a baking sheet. Add olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and thyme. Bake at 400 degrees for an hour and you've got a really tasty side dish.
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| Potatoes before going in the oven. |
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| Everyone helping with the thyme. |
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| Lamb and potatoes |
Chocolate Souffle
Chocolate souffle for dessert because of how surprisingly easy yet delicious it is. Well I guess it wasn't dessert since we ate it before the lamb and potatoes. But we are adults now and can choose whatever order we want to eat our dishes in :) We made a chocolate sauce to put on top with melted chocolate chips, milk, butter, and sugar. We paired the souffle with Rogue Chocolate Stout. And we left one of the souffles uncooked to chill in the fridge. That makes some yummy chocolate mousse.
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| Whipping up some egg whites. |
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| Sister teamwork! |
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| Brian pitched in |
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| Chocolate souffle |
I had so much fun. I can't wait to do something like this again! Thanks to Peasha, Cristina, Elena, and Valeria. And my mommy who was there too. And Brian even though he only woke up when the food was ready. You're all awesome!
