Nuggets No More

Ho hum: If that’s how you feel about what you’re putting on the table lately, it’s time to get your groove back—and a fun way to do that is to take a cooking class.

Get a like-minded friend (or several) to come along, or arrange for a sitter and take your hubby. You’ll go home with new techniques, fresh ideas and inspiration.

At the most plebeian (read: economic) level, sign up for a variety of City of Ottawa culinary courses, from Thai to Indian to Japanese and vegetarian. Or learn how to make a particular food, such as sushi, Indian bread, chocolate, or even—you guessed it (or maybe you didn’t)—Ukrainian Easter eggs.

If your taste buds incline sharply towards crêpes, tarte tatin, cassoulet and pot-au-feu, head to C’est Bon Cooking, where you can learn how to create a seasonal feast or a signature dish, or master a particular technique, such as preserve-making. C’est Bon welcomes groups and will also come to your home. Course offerings change regularly and there’s always something new to learn.

Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa is probably better known as a destination for would-be professional chefs, so you might not know that it also offers short-term courses and workshops for dabblers—“no skill or experience required!”. The list goes on and on, with pastry workshops, French regional cuisine, international fare, charcuterie and chocolate techniques.

If your interest is strictly ethnic, check out the Ottawa Chinese Cooking Studio which teaches Japanese, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese cooking at two south-end locations in Ottawa. Rice, tea, drinks, chili sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger and fortune cookies (depending on the class you take) are all complimentary. This school also offers classes for children and for parties of all kinds (your place or theirs).
 
Italian food aficionados will already know that the shopping is good at La Bottega Nicastro in the Byward Market—but the cooking classes are perhaps less famous, possibly because there is just one a month and it generally sells out. Classes are taught by master chef Mario Novati, who will share techniques and recipes for three different dishes (which you then get to eat). Best of all, wine is included.

If your idea of fun in the kitchen is an intimate group, international flavours and plenty of wine, visit The Cultural Kitchen, which offers workshops in a diverse range of cuisines. This place has a special fondness for Mexican foods, but also offers wine workshops and a long list of international classes, with titles like A Taste of Peru, Tapas!, Caribbean Groove, Europe on a Plate, and The Spanish Table. Private, semi-private and group classes are available, as well as private parties.

Kind of makes the chicken nuggets you had in mind for tonight seem a bit lame, doesn’t it?