Cooking Class:
Learn to create the perfect alfresco meal
Class: “Alfresco Dining” Time, place and cost: Held at Expat Kitchen’s cooking studio in Little India (9 Norris Road, #02-01), this threehour cooking class (10am to 1pm) costs $165 per person. The more classes you book, the cheaper they get. What’s cooking: The Alfresco Dining class focuses on teaching six light and refreshing dishes: a mushroom, caramelised onion and feta quiche; roast balsamic tomato almondine; chicken caesar salad; herbcrusted salmon; spicy, roasted eggplant dip; and Parmesan pita crisps. What I liked: As with all classes at Expat Kitchen, this focus class was kept at a cosy size. I was joined by six other participants, who were all English-speaking domestic helpers. After washing our hands and putting on our aprons, we started on the first recipe, the quiche.
Everyone gets their own file with the full recipes printed and arranged according to sequence, which was super useful during the lesson. Our trainer I-lin constantly referred to it, explaining the reasons behind each step. She was clear, concise and easy to understand. As it was a small group, we were able to get close to I-lin whenever she was demonstrating something. It was also easy for her to delegate the work to each of us; the whole process was based on teamwork, as we had to create each dish together. Although there was no break in between, the three hours passed pretty quickly and the class was over before I knew it! I-lin’s jovial demeanour made the atmosphere casual and relaxed, and the lesson was well-paced without being rushed. As for the dishes, they were all easy to prepare yet delicious. I even picked up a few tips and tricks about basic cooking and presentation, such as the right way to slice through grilled chicken.
My favourite dishes? The eggplant dip, which had an addictive smoky flavour, thanks to the 40 minutes of roasting, and the roast balsamic tomato almondine, which was unbelievably simple to create! At the end of the class, we enjoyed the fruits of our labour for lunch; it was the perfect way to round off the session.