Home cooking

The last time I was in Paris, a couple of months ago, my mom asked me to lead a cooking class at home for a few of her friends.  She requested I teach them how to debone a chicken.  Each woman chose a different stuffing to roll up and cook in the deboned chicken, and I went with my mother to the market that morning to pick up the birds, and the other ingredients for our afternoon.  This took quite awhile, because my mother is very French and engages all of her senses when it comes to seeking out the perfectly ripe ingredients.  None but the very best will do and she will grill the sellers, smell, gently poke, and examine with a keen eye every piece of fresh food that she buys. 

I cook a little better than she does, the family agrees, so I am always in great demand as a chef when I visit relatives.  This cooking class was a bit of a novelty and it was such a great success and fun time, that I repeated it last month when I threw one of my biannual big parties.  I served little plates of simple tapas with some tasty wine while the class ran, then I sauteed up the chicken “lollipops” we made from the leftover middle wing sections, while our rolled, stuffed chickens were cooking and had those while we finished the wine and talked. 

It is a really wonderful way to spend some time with your friends and learn something new and tasty at the same time.  It doesn’t have to be anything quite so exotic as the ones I did, I think most people have at least one thing they make that is amazing, and the spirit and camaraderie of such a gathering pays off in multiple ways.  I encourage everyone to host one

 

Don't forget the wine

Advertisement

~ by ShesTheOne on June 5, 2009.