Day 24- Learning to Cook Spanish Style

Yes, I am a little behind but this week has been a little slow and I have been a bit under the weather, so I wanted to space it out a bit. So on Saturday I took a cooking class here in Barcelona, I have made it my goal now to take one whenever I travel. If we would have had more time in Paris I would have loved to take one there but I needed to save something for next time. My class consisted of 14 people, a couple from California, a couple from Wisconsin, a couple from New Zealand, a couple from Spain and Germany, a few other people who I am not totally sure where they are from except one of the women lived in Barcelona and knew all about paella (I think her cousin was visiting with a friend), a woman from England and a man from Australia who is a travel writer. Our teacher was named Ignacio, he was great! He took us to the market and showed us all the best people to buy from, he also taught us the 4 things to look for while buying fish, the smell, the scales, the eyes and the blood vessels (I assume) in the gills. That was something I never knew...... He also explained the prices of things and how local is more expensive, the different meats and what they are. The back leg of a black pig is the best; they eat acorns and grass only and "live outside for their entire lives, which is 5 months." Yes and for a mere $1149 you too can have your very own Jamon delivered right to your home from hamlovers.com. You think I'm joking, check out the website....

After the market we went back to the kitchen to begin our recipes. The menu consisted of Calcots (Sweet winter onions) and asparagus with Romesco Sauce (a nut & red pepper based sauce) followed by Trinxat de Cerdanya (potato and cabbage with smoked bacon)Ignacio made a variation of this which I liked but probably won't remember. Next was the main course, Paella de Marisco (seafood paella) the traditional paella although I prefer the meat paella. This was the tricky part, did you know they have a specific pan for the number of people you are making paella for? Basically it's even numbers only 2 and up, ours was 14 so you can imagine how big that pan is or Ben can demonstrate....

This is a very specific recipe, everything is about timing.... He also made sure we knew that we probably won't do it right the first time but keep practicing. I like realists. I also learned how to cut an onion properly which I am stoked about! Lastly was dessert, Minitarta de Moniato (Sweet potato minicake). Delicious! My recommendation if you ever visit Barcelona, Cook & Taste located at Paradis 3 or check out www.cookandtaste.net. My Class

Did I mention we drank a lot if wine????