The Chef Group has given me permission to share the recipes, more to come soon!
Two years ago my friend Jen and I went to some cooking classes at The Superstore and they were, how shall we say, disappointing? I adore The Superstore but sadly this class was more about watching someone cook for you than learning about food. Recently I found out that Sobeys had similar classes so we though we would give it a shot again. We are so glad we did!
The chef for that evening was very entertaining, knowledgeable and talkative. The turnout was fantastic, there were over a dozen people there very focused on learning about food. We lucked out because there was a bring-your-friend-for-free promotion so Jen and I split the cost and paid $7.50 each. That is $7.50 for three courses of food!
We began with the Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad where I learned that you can make onion oil for salad dressing. Just chop up lots of onion and fry in oil to flavour it. Genius! I have seen garlic oil made but not onion oil before. The salad was quite light and the beef had lots of flavour thanks to the savory marinade.
As you can see, I ate every last bite! Then we moved on to the next dish, Spice Rubbed Beef with Chimichurri Sauce:
I love Chimichurri sauce on steak. It packs a wallop to your tastebuds with all that garlic and vinegar. I had no idea you could also put it on top of bread to make an herby bread! So smart, I am absolutely going to do that myself. This Chimichurri sauce was quite good but I prefer Everday Food’s Parsley Garlic Sauce. It is much more powerful but it is true, if you have that sauce you will have to be sequestered for days thanks to dragon breath.
When I saw that the chef would be making Pina Colada Cake within two hours, I was totally skeptical. How on earth was he going to do it? By making cupcakes instead. Clever! He made a white cake with some toasted unsweetened coconut inside. Using canned pineapple he made a glaze for the topping and finished it off with some whipped cream he made by hand. I really enjoyed how he demonstrated that baking is flexible and talked about how you can easily change this recipe and use different flavour combinations to suit your favourite flavours. I am personally considering making an apricot version of this cake now!
What a fun, educational and delicious evening we all had. Not to mention filling! I think we all went home with bursting bellies and I for one am going to take the rest of the week off and not eat red meat for a while. I truly loved Sobeys cooking class and highly recommend it to people of all levels of cooking and baking. It is so nice to hang out with other food enthusiasts and learn as a group. I will definitely be back for more.
Wow! I can’t believe the price! I hope they sent you home with recipes (and that you share them). My daughter and I are doing a cupcake class at the Viking Cooking School in a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to it!
Hey Susan! It’s true, the price is impossible to beat. Yes, we were sent home with the recipes. I contacted the company The Chef Group and asked them for permission to share their recipes. I really want to make that apricot cake and share that recipe with everyone. Thanks for your interest and wow, that cooking school looks fantastic!
I wish our local grocery stores did this here 🙁 Thanks for sharing this great class with us. Yum, yum, yum.
I miss Sobeys. I loved the one on Barrington Street by the Westin. You really appreciate how beautiful Canadian grocery stores are once you move to the USA. Seriously, what’s with all these ugly big box stores here?
I have a Sobey’s near me, but no kitchen at that location, boo hoo, otherwise, I’d probably be there every night of the week. The dishes look fantastic and that cupcake, oh my, just dreamy!
Sounds like fun!
So fun! Wish I was close enough to come with you!
I have taken a couple cooking classes here in my new town also. They have been fun – both a demonstration one and a hands-on one. I’m signed up to take one in a couple weeks for making tamales! Can’t wait!!
We have a Loblaws here that has a kitchen on the upper level, and I just found out it offers cooking classes. However, they are $30, and I’m not exactly sure whether it’s hands on or just a cooking demo where you get to eat the food. I’m thinking about trying one out of curiosity! Glad to hear you had a good experience (and you can’t beat that price!)
This sounds (& looks!) like it was So Much Fun!! yum . . . what a price, & how fun to share with a friend!
We have a cheese shop (in a wine & olive oil etc shop) that offers classes in wine & cheese ‘pairings’ – I took my daughter, & tho she doesn’t drink much wine – everything was so good – & fun info! We took our own crackers, & she put one of the spreads on poached or dried fruit (apricot?) & the gals with bread were envious – so she had to make some that way for them!!
I came over to check out that Clementine cake & got distracted (& HUNGRY, lol!!)
Hugs
In Toronto, the best classes have been by the LCBO (but you are looking at $50 to $75 per person) and through Viva magazine and Green and Black (free!!). I learn so much from those classes. Glad you had fun!
I love classes like these!!!