Indulge With Mimi

The Best Macaron Recipe, Macaron Art & More

  • ♥ Home
    • Conversion Charts
    • Privacy
  • ♥ Macarons
    • Best French Macaron Recipe
    • Macaron Troubleshooting Guide
    • Macaron Tutorial Video
    • Macaron Art
    • Macaron Baking How To’s
    • Macaron Recipes
    • Macaron Templates
    • Subscriber’s Only Area
    • Macaron Knowledge & Books
    • Mimi’s Macaron Friends
    • Reader’s Questions
  • ♥ Sweets
  • ♥ Recipes
  • ♥ Life
    • Afternoon Tea
    • Travel
    • Party Ideas, Home Decor, Design
    • Easy Meal Recipes
    • Social
    • Fertility, Pregnancy, Family
  • ♥ SHOP
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Home » Blog » Life » Social » A Bad Cook (aka me) Learns to Cook a Gourmet 3 Course Seafood Dinner at Dirty Apron with Villa Maria Wines

September 14, 2017 by Mimi

A Bad Cook (aka me) Learns to Cook a Gourmet 3 Course Seafood Dinner at Dirty Apron with Villa Maria Wines

Yes, I’m a Bad Cook!

Dinner time sometimes involve real tears at my house. As I’ve mentioned before in the first post from my Easy Meal Recipes series, dinner time involves quite a bit of drama sometimes. I am not a good cook and when I try a new recipe, I’m often scrambling to complete each step like a mad woman with no clear direction. My kitchen is often a complete mess afterwards too. I just can’t seem to multi-task in a calm and focused manner like I do when I bake. I’ve often wondered why there is such a dichotomy between the way I bake and the way I cook. I think some of it may be due to a lack of confidence handling raw meat and the fear of poisoning myself (meat at my house is always overcooked), the dislike of splashing hot oils and the fear of creating a kitchen fire, and a general lack of passion for it due to so many failed attempts at cooking on my own. So if you told me I would be creating a 3 course gourmet seafood meal in 3 hours all on a gas stove top, I would not have believed it but that was exactly what I did when I was invited to a cooking class at The Dirty Apron hosted by Alicia Fashionista and Villa Maria Wines.

The structure of the cooking class goes like this. First, we sit down for a cooking demonstration by the chef instructor and then we head to our own cooking station, which we share with one other person, to start cooking. The ingredients for each course is carefully laid out on a tray so all you need to do is focus on cooking with the materials in front of you.

I don’t know how it happened but I transformed into a little gourmet chef for a few hours under the direction of Chef John. Sure, on several occasions he asked me why I was standing so far away from the flames (Um… because I could burn myself! If anyone can, I can!) and he also swapped my small paring knife which I was perfectly content in using for an “intimidating” big French knife. But it was exactly that no-nonsense push that I needed from him to whip me into shape.

And, of course, we couldn’t have seafood without some white wine! It’s always been my personal preference to have Sauvignon Blanc with shellfish and Villa Maria Wines introduced us to their version along with an off-dry Pinot Gris which was paired with our third course of pan roasted halibut with charred tomato vinaigrette.

All the ingredients we need are clearly laid out on the tray before we begin cooking each course.

Tomato Coconut Mussels. This was amazing and the sauce was so good on its own too! It was surprisingly easy to cook and I loved how it did not involve splashing hot oils. Here, we are having it with a Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc which makes a perfect pairing.

Maple Seared Scallops over Chorizo Ragout and Pea Coulis, plated by yours truly.

Pan roasted halibut over sauteed spinach and fingerling potatoes. We used a metal ring to first place the potatoes and spinach inside for this pretty presentation. The fish was then placed on top with a charred tomato vinaigrette. This dish was paired with an off dry Pinot Gris from Villa Maria.

Cardamom caramel poached pear with chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce was thick, creamy and rich. It’s worth sabotaging your diet for!

 

Hey, I Can Cook (?) !

For me, I think failures don’t breed success, success breeds success and luckily for me, the evening taught me that I was capable of cooking a delicious gourmet meal without burning anything down. It was a surprise to me that in a few hours, my confidence for cooking grew immensely. Chef John showed me to cook with more passion instead of viewing cooking as a practical means for survival each day. I have the recipes of our dishes from the night stashed away in my recipes folder, I’m excited to cook the mussels again for a dinner party and open a bottle of Sauv Blanc from Villa Maria Wines as well. I’ll also try not to burn the house down 🙂

Until our next dinner date.

XOXO,

Mimi

Many thanks to my cooking partner, Emma of VancouverFoodie, for holding my hand at every step!

 

Disclosure: This was an invite event. All food and drinks were complimentary. All opinions are my own.

[srp post_limit=’5′ post_random=’yes’ category_include= 131 widget_title = ‘Other Vancouver Life Moments’

❮❮ Previous Post
Next Post ❯ ❯

Comments

  1. Vivien says

    September 24, 2017 at 5:04 am

    I am about to cook my first macarons and am truly inspired by your macaron recipes and technical tips. I would like to subscribe so I may receive any newsletter and updates you provide. I would also like to use your templates for my first batch.

    Reply
    • Mimi says

      September 28, 2017 at 10:53 pm

      Thanks Vivien,

      You can subscribe on the side panel if viewing from Desktop and at the very bottom if viewing on mobile. Good luck!
      xoxo,
      Mimi

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search this site:

Writer and photographer behind IndulgeWithMimi ♥ Join me for posts about Vancouver life, style, baking and my obsession: #MacaronArt ♥

Macaron Recipes

Lavender Macarons Made with Real Lavender Buds

Scrumptious Salted Caramel Chocolate Macaron Recipe on the Radio

Earl Grey Macarons with Mouth-watering Lemon Swiss Buttercream (Heart Template)

“Matcha” Green Tea Macaron Recipe

Macaron Templates

Pink Baby Monkey Macarons with Template

Baileys Irish Cream Macarons with Gingerbread Man Template

A half birthday cake made from whipped cream and fresh strawberries topped with a cake topper that says "half".

A Strawberries and Cream Half Birthday Cake for Bibi’s 6-Month Birthday (Cake Topper Template)

Gender Reveal Surprise Macarons & Pacifier Macaron Template

Easy Sweet Treats

Echanted Forest Christmas Yule Log Cake Made with Japanese Cake Roll

Ultra thin crepes in different colors layered in a rainbow pattern.

30-Layer Rainbow Mille Crepe Cake

Mimi & Bibi’s Vancouver Life

GET NEW POSTS & FREE MACARON TEMPLATES

Thank you! Please check your INBOX/JUNK in a few minutes for an email from me. XO, Mimi

GET NEW POSTS & FREE MACARON TEMPLATES

Lavender Earl Grey Macarons with that “Easter Speckle” I’ve always loved the speckled Easter egg effect on a macaron and after my Easter Egg macaron tutorial two years ago, I wanted to recreate this effect again but this time, the speckles would be embedded inside of the macaron instead of splattered on top with food […]

What’s the difference between French vs. Italian macarons? It’s all in the meringue! Did you know there’s a Swiss meringue macaron too?

  Unicorn Collab with Christina’s Cupcakes This unicorn portrait inside a big unicorn macaron is a collaboration between me and one of my favorite creators, Christina’s cupcakes. I’m sure many of you already know of Christina’s beautiful work with gumpaste roses and gold frames, and you’ll recognize them in our collab. Let me tell you, […]

A decorated smash cake on a cake stand with a birthday card on the side.

A healthier smash cake for baby’s first birthday. The pretty pink color comes from dehydrated strawberry powder while the cake base consists of bananas, Einkorn whole wheat, oats and contains no added sugar. Happy Birthday little one!

  • ♥ Home
  • ♥ About
  • ♥ Contact

COPYRIGHT © 2014 - 2020 · INDULGEWITHMIMI.COM UNAUTHORIZED USE OR DUPLICATION OF THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE WITHOUT EXPRESS AND WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE BLOG AUTHOR AND OWNER IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED