Favorites from the City of Lights

I still can’t get over last night! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! My husband is truly amazing, and I’m very lucky to have him.

Ok, so ready for the surprise? Well, it’s a actually a two-part surprise. The first part started with Mal picking me up from our apartment. Once we started to drive to our destination, he made me play 20 Questions to guess my surprise. Well, after asking 20 questions, I still had no idea!

Eventually, Mal just told me what he had planned. He arranged for us to attend a Classical French cooking class at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts!! So cool! I was psyched! Mal’s family is French, so he was just as excited for the class as I was!

Once the instructor explained to us what we needed to do, our 10-person class got right to work. We prepared a 9-course meal for dinner.

We broke off into smaller groups to tackle each of the dishes. Mal and I were responsible for the Chicken Fricassee with Cognac and Fraises Au Poivre Et Au Rouge (fresh strawberries with peppercorns and red wine).

We started by preping all of the ingredients needed for our chicken dish, which included cutting up a whole chicken, slicing bacon and onions, and portioning out the right amount of butter.

For some reason, I thought 1 tablespoon = 2 ounces, so I got a little carried away with the butter. (FYI: 1 tbsp = 1/2 oz.)

French cooking typically requires a lot of butter, so I wasn’t concerned at first. But, then I realized that I had a massive amount of butter in my bowl.

Oops! Luckily, I realized my mathematical error before we started cooking.

The recipe also called for bacon “lardoons,” which were basically thin strips.

Mmm… bacon.

Then, Mal took the reigns on cutting the chicken into pieces. He’s a brave one.

Mal did a great job with the chicken. We let the pieces marinate in cognac for about 20 minutes.

While we waited, we enjoyed some red wine.

And prepared the strawberries for the Fraises Au Poivre Et Au Rouge.

A little while later, it was time to get cookin’!

A good two hours later, it was finally time to eat! We were starving, but it was well worth the wait. Everything was so, so, so delicious! We lucked out with a talented group of people and a great instructor.

For our meal, we enjoyed French Onion Soup.

Mussels in Velouté Sauce.

Salad de Bleu D’Auvergne.

Pommes Dauphinoise.

Chicken Fricassee with Cognac and Asparagus with Tarragon Butter Sauce.

Beef Wellington.

Bon Appétit!

I loved everything on my plate, especially the Pommes Dauphinoise. I can’t wait to make them at home.

And dessert!

Fraises Au Poivre Et Au Rouge.

Cream Puff Croquembouche.

Mal and I really enjoyed cooking together. We’re already eyeing a tapas class for a future date night.

Part 2 of my birthday celebration is coming soon!

Tagged as: date night, Favorites from the City of Lights, The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts