A few weeks ago I got to try a cooking class with well known chef Ammaarah Petersen also known as the HotChef, the cheeky name of her business. HotChefs is a business that provides private chef services. You can read more about it at my previous article here.

The class was held at the Bosch showroom on Bree street in the Cape Town CBD. It being a Saturday, town was quiet and parking was no problem. You still had to pay for it as the parking attendants work till 1pm but it was easily available. The Bosch showroom has a top floor that is equipped to run cooking classes with a distractingly beautiful view of the city. Of course you have to go through the showroom to get there so I closed my eyes to all the tempting kitchen appliances and literally ran up to the class. If not my bank balance may have been considerably lighter afterwards.

We were offered bottled water and cappucinos while we waited for a few people to arrive. Ammaarah kicked us off on time, welcomed us warmly and introduced our menu for the day. Today’s class had a seafood theme. Pan fried hottentot and prawns on a bed of crushed sautéed potatoes with a seafood veloute. It sounded intimidating – I had never made a veloute before. But wait, that’s not all… We were to fillet our own fish, and prep our prawns and mussels from scratch. Prawns I can handle, but mussels were new to me. My version is the stuff you order off a menu. Never actually made it myself 😯

 

We were assigned 2 people to a station as most came in couples. Ammaarah wasted no time putting us ease and helping us individually when we got stuck. She instructed us on how to fillet a fish, which I can now comfortably do, remove your prawn vein without deshelling it, and how to de-beard and choose your mussels.

I learned things in this class that I was doing wrong all this time. Did you know you don’t boil an egg starting in cold water. You put it in hot water and boil for 7 minutes to give you soft but not runny yolk. She also showed us how to safely and quickly chop an onion without tears. There were lots of tips and tricks shared. Stuff the pros do that you can bring home to your own kitchen.

Our fish was cooked in browned butter and olive oil with a spice rub from her arsenal of flavours (did you know allowing your butter to get just a little brown adds a lovely nuttiness to the flavour?). The prawns went in the same pan but the mussels were thrown in the pot with the boiling potatoes. We prepared an aromatic base of butter, onion, garlic and red pepper which the crushed potatoes would go into. The smell was just heaven.

 

There was a lot of chatter and laughter among all the participants. We were having lots of fun. I met some interesting people and even a fellow Instagram blogger, Saadiyah from @sadiesbubbleofyum. A little competition was keeping things interesting. The best plating at the end would win a little gift. We were nearing the end as we prepped a tossed salad to serve with the meal. Oh, did I mention we would all be eating our meals afterwards? Even more reason to make it look good. I eat with my eyes first.

As time ran out we started furiously plating. I must admit this was not as easy as it looks. Especially under pressure. My aesthetics did not cut it as my votes were kinda meh… But the flavours were on point and for a few minutes there was silence as we tucked in to our masterpieces. After that we all had that “magies vol, ogies toe” feeling and you just wanted to go home and take a nap. Sign of a great meal.

This class was great fun and I learned a lot. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to hone their skills in the kitchen.

Find out more about classes with Ammaarah here.