I recently took my 3rd class at the Dirty Apron and as usual, it was a fantastic experience. There’s something about having top of the line equipment, really fun instructors, and little elves that clean up after you that make everything better in the kitchen!
After seeing the Comfort Food Class on their schedule I promptly signed up for it. I thought it would be a nice compliment to my preference for rustic homey cooking. On the menu was Lobster Mac N’ Cheese, Wild Mushroom and Truffle Chicken Pot Pie and then we finished off with a Coffee and Bailey’s Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sounds too good to be true……well it pretty much is!
Unfortunately I can’t share the recipes with you, but I can tell you what I thought about them! The Mac N’ Cheese was absolutely delicious, if you don’t think about what’s actually in it. Whipping cream, butter and mascarpone cheese make up the base for this one. A little zing of lemon and wonderfully rich pieces of lobster meat round it out; perhaps the richest, most decadent thing I’ve ever cooked. If I were to make this again I would lighten the sauce with milk instead of whipping cream and since lobster is a bit cost-prohibitive I’d throw in some crab meat.
The chicken pot pie was next up, with a wonderful mix of wild mushrooms (chanterelle, morels and button), roasted corn and other standard veg. Again, a creamy white sauce forms the base, and then it’s topped with some white truffle oil and puff pastry. This dish is also very heavy and rich, great for a special occasion, but not something you’d want to eat on a weekly basis. Want to lighten up your chicken pot pie? Try topping it with mashed potatoes instead of puff pastry. It becomes a shepherd’s pie/pot pie hybrid and is much healthier.
Lastly we prepared a sticky toffee pudding. Not what I expected as it was more of a cake than a pudding. We simmered down some dates and added ground coffee (which I would omit next time, the flavor was too overpowering), and then mixed that into our cake batter. Baked it, and then drizzled a bailey’s caramel sauce over top. Served with a little apple cinnamon ice cream (that was made for us in advance), it was the perfect end to a delicious meal and would be great to serve at any holiday celebration.
I walked home with my belly full, a heavy bag of leftovers and a huge smile on my face. If you haven’t experienced the Dirty Apron yet go and sign up for a class, you won’t regret it! If you don’t want to commit to a class, go by and check out their delicatessen, they’ve got all sorts of delicious food prepared on-site and a good selection of high end products.
