My wife and I enjoy cooking. I follow recipes and for the most part, my food ends up satisfactory. I need a lot more time to prepare a dish than the average person because I can’t multitask. On the other hand, my wife can not only multitask, but she can also efficiently prepare a recipe the first time she lays eyes on it. We recently attended a Cuban cooking class at The Gourmandise School.
The Gourmandise School is a facility located in the Santa Monica Place shopping center. A year ago, they moved to larger quarters and can now accommodate two cooking classes taking place at the same time. I was happy that Chef John Pitblado was our chef that evening. Based on my previous experience, I appreciated his easy-going nature and down to earth communication style.
Our Cuban cooking class was titled “A Night in Havana”. It was a Cuban focused meal consisting of yucca, watercress salad, sofrito, roast pork with garlic mojo sauce, and for dessert, a caramel flan. We learned that each person had attended a previous class there and was comfortable cooking in pairs.
Pitblado explained that flan is usually prepared the day before and then refrigerated. We added two eggs and two egg yolks to a mixture of milk, whipping cream and a cinnamon stick. Sugar was added to a pot and was constantly stirred so that it became a brown syrup. The brown syrup was added to a ramekin and topped with the egg and milk mixture. The ramekins were then placed in the refrigerator to cool.
Sofrito is a sauce commonly used for rice, stews, and other dishes in many Caribbean countries. We prepared our Cuban sofrito with finely chopped red peppers, garlic, onion, capers, and fresh cilantro. We let the sofrito simmer away while we prepared some of the other dishes.
I’ve always pronounced yucca as “yah-kah”. Pitblado pronounced this as “you-kah”. He taught us how to peel the root vegetables and how to remove the tough rope-like piece in the center. We simmered the yucca combined with sliced onions that were sauteed in olive oil.
Mojo sauce is a sauce packed with garlic that is often served with pork. Pitblado explained that lime juice was added to the mojo to compensate for the lack of bitter oranges. The juice mixture is combined with olive oil, oregano, and cumin and placed in a mortar and pestle and mashed as if you were preparing guacamole.
To add a leafy green element to our meal, Pitblado had us prepare a watercress salad with avocado. Once peeled, the avocado was sliced lengthwise and topped with chopped watercress, flat-leaf parsley, and cilantro. What made this salad exceptional was the dressing made with lime juice, oil, and garlic, and onion.
Pitblado removed the prized pork shoulder from the oven and drained the fat. He then shred the meat and scooped some of the remaining meat juice to enhance the pork. Despite the simple seasoning of salt and pepper, the pork was quite flavorful and paired quite nicely with the rice and sofrito.
We placed a small plate underneath the ramekin and flipped it over. Our flan turned out quite nice and the custard had nicely set. We both beamed with pride that our dessert turned out so well.
Most of us brought a bottle of wine to enjoy with our meal. Ours was a Spanish Tempranillo, which nicely paired with our dishes. Since most of us have done this before we came equipped with reusable plastic containers. The next day I enjoyed the roast pork as tacos.
The Cuban Cooking Class is titled “A Night in Havana” and we highly recommend it.
The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories, 395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA; 310.656.8800
http://thegourmandiseschool.com/