A Cooking Class in Paris

I’m just back from a fabulous trip to Paris, where our favorite event was taking a cooking class. There were three students in our class and we met in the home of our chef, Catalina.

Catalina tried hard to teach us correct cutting techniques. We sorta got it, but then we would forget and revert to our bad habits. When that happened, Catalina would yell “You’re fired,” and we’d all have a good chuckle. (We got fired a lot.)

In the photo above Jo-Ann and I are trying to master the correct hand positioning for chopping using a knuckle as a guide. We were only partially successful.

We got lots of practice chopping peppers for a sauce.

Ann and I made Chicken Roulade, (above) but Jo-Ann is a pescetarian, so Catalina showed her how to make a broccoli steak.

She was very good at explaining to us why she was making her various decisions. We learned a lot!

And, finally it was time to eat!

First, butternut squash soup. Yummy.

Then, it was time to sample that pepper and tomato sauce along with either Chicken Roulade or Broccoli Steak.

The sauce was delicious. My American palate wanted more salt for the other items, which Catalina was happy to provide.

And for dessert: a chocolate cake. It’s almost flourless, with only 1/4C used. Almost like a torte. It was good, but again, my palate wanted more sugar.

The class was VERY informative and fun! I’ve already made the soup and the cake is on my list to try as well (with more sugar this time.)

I highly recommend a class with Catalina. Here’s her website, if you want to check it out.

Ellen Lindner