Wow!!!! This was more than a cooking class, and we can’t recommend this experience highly enough! When we arrived at her apartment, we were warmly greeted by Carol and Paulo. We started the afternoon with an appetizer of Pebre, a Chilean tomato and onion salsa served on melba toasts, just sitting, chatting, and munching. Then, Paulo took us into the kitchen, and showed us how to prepare the traditional Pisco Sour, which we enjoyed greatly. Before we arrived, Carol and I had discussed on “What’s App” that we would do a combination class of Chilean and Peruvian cooking to represent both Carol’s and Paulo’s nationalities and food heritages. We started with a Chilean main dish, Pastel de Choclo, which is like a Shepherd’s Pie, but the topping is made with starchy corn kernals removed freshly from the cob, creamed in a blender and cooked and stirred on the stove top until just the right consistency. The filling for Pastel de Choclo is a mixture of sauteed ground beef, chopped onions, spices, placed in an oven-proof dish, topped with the corn, and then baked in the oven. As we cooked, we took notes on the recipe steps so that we could replicate them back home and sipped on Chilean wine and beer. The next dish was a Peruvian “Papa a la Huancaina” which is a bed of butter lettuce, with boiled cold sliced potatoes, topped with a creamy, spicy, cheesy white sauce. Next was to enjoy the fruits of our labour at the dinner table with more wine and beer. We started with the Papa a la Huancaina, which was wonderful, then moved on to the fantastic Pastel de Choclo, and enjoyed a fresh tomato and onion salad. We spent the next couple of hours eating, drinking, talking about family and life in Chile, Peru and Canada. Before you knew it, it was getting late and time for us to return to our hotel and relax. As I mentioned in the title of the review, this was more than a cooking class. It was like visiting with family on a Sunday afternoon, and spending time cooking together. We arrived as strangers and left as new-found friends. Thanks again for your warm welcome, friendship and fun afternoon, Carol and Paulo.
Carol and her assistant Christine were amazing! They were very friendly and knowledgeable about Chile (and various South American cuisines). Both spoke flawless English.
The food was amazing! Carol did much of the prep, but showed us how to help and explained the various local ingredients.
Highly recommend for a small group.
By all means, meet Carol and have dinner with her. We had a spectacular meal that we will long remember and the company was even better than the meal. Bravo Carol and we will miss you. Good luck with your new endeavor. Hugs.