An Evening at Culinaria Cooking School

For my recent birthday, I received a giftcard to take a cooking class at Culinaria Cooking School in Vienna, VA. The school teaches both demonstration and participation classes that range in variety from basic knife skills, to barbeque and smoking, to preparing a Downton Abbey style feast. Last week I signed up for the Australian food and wine pairing class. Though I went in without knowing exactly what to expect, I can now say that the evening I spent meeting new people, learning recipes and eating and drinking fantastic food and wine was an excellent one indeed.

My class was demonstration style so I got a front row seat to watch the talented chefs Stephen and Pete cook our 4-course evening meal. Alongside preparing the food throughout the night they gave us insight into food preparation tips and tricks like rolling pasta, quickly peeling and deseeding tomatoes, and cutting and deboning a lamb loin. Since the class had a wine pairing as well, our guest sommelier Steve Saiget brought 4 Australian wines and we learned why each made a natural pair with the food we ate. From start to finish, I enjoyed every moment of my class. Between the ever-changing sights and smells, the friendly banter between the chefs, and the excellent company, the was never a dull moment. I can’t wait to return!

Here’s a look at what we had:

Egg Pasta with Smoked Trout and Tomato Butter Sauce with 2014 Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc

Crab Salad over Spicy Sesame Linguine with 2009 Wolf Blass Chardonnay

Crisp Skin Salmon Moroccan Style with 2014 Lindeman’s Bin 99 Pinot Noir

Lamb Loin with Chickpea Curry and Harissa with 2013 Layer Cake Shiraz