Spanish Cuisine

Tuesday night was the first night of my Spanish Cuisine class. It is an optional class with an extra $300 fee but I AM SO GLAD I DECIDED TO TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!! Worth every penny and its only been one day.

The class meets at an actual cooking school on top of one of the smaller castles in Alicante. It meets once a week on Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:30. Each week we make a different 3 course Spanish meal. Our classroom is like a lecture that looks down on a prep table with a giant mirror over top so you can see everything the chef is doing. each row also has a few computer screens to see what the chef is doing up close. We didnt used any of this stuff though because the class is really hands on. The class was taught by Chef Nuno who was this really cute spanish guy who kept whistling "yellow submarine." This class we made grilled vegetables, pollo con naranja, and crema catalana (a vanilla custard/pudding type thing made with eggs, sugar, milk etc with a cooke and sprinkled cinnamon on top). Chef Nuno split us into three groups and each group made a different course. I am in the class with 3 of my 4 roomates so we made sure one of us was in each course so we would be fully prepared to recreate the meal at home :)

I got assigned to pollo con naranja (chicken with an orange sauce, potatoes and parsley). We cut up chicken and cooked it in olive oil. Then we added orange juice and chicken stock and cut up oranges. After that cooked for a little we added potatoes and parsley and let it simmer for a while and that was it. It was so easy and delicious. The grilled vegetables were awesome ... every vegetable you could imagin and there was three HUGE pans of them (plenty for second and 3rd servings. There were about 20 people in the class and enough food for 40! I was not expecting to get such a big meal so that was a nice surprise. Dessert was also amazing ... I wish this class was every night!

For the final exam we are breaking into groups and making Tortilla de Espana (spanish tortilla: eggs, potato and onion). Whichever group makes the best tortilla wins a free meal at a very expensive restaurant in Alicante. Maybe there is a chef reading this blog that can give me a few ideas ......