Got a taste for Greek food? You can learn to cook it yourself

I have been touting the alleged health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet to my significant other, attempting to persuade him that sticking to a largely plant and grain based diet with healthy doses of fish, a moderate intake of poultry and reduced servings of red meat with plenty of healthy oils, will be good for us.

When I told him I would be attending a Greek cooking class, he was quick to suggest that I replicate what I’d learned for him to indulge in, since he would then be following a Mediterranean Diet. His logic is not flawed.

Perhaps it’s this interest in Mediterranean food that led me to decide on a Taste-Buds Greek cooking class, but really I think it’s my insane love for tzatziki and baklava.

Taste-Buds Cook Club in Sundowner, Johannesburg was started nine years by chef Angela Dike, whose friend and business partner Geordie Browne joined soon after.

Taste-Buds offers classes in Chinese, French, Italian, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish and Thai cooking. Their sushi classes are particularly popular. 

The classes are to the point and no-fuss. Browne and chef Nicky van Maastricht helped us tackle a complete main dish, lamb kleftiko, as well as side dishes like pita breads, tzatziki, melitzanokeftedes (aubergine croquettes) and delicious potato skordalia.

Dessert included an apple rum baklava (not quite as amazing as the traditional baklava but good regardless) and cherry clafoutis.

If the sound of this extensive menu excites you, be aware that you won’t be physically learning to cook all the dishes. You’ll prepare the one or two of the dishes or elements at your station while the rest of the class gets stuck into theirs.

After I had prepared my barbecued fish in pesto sauce and grilled halloumi with a lemony mint and pistachio dressing, I jumped in to assist in folding the spanakopita – something I enjoyed and would recommend if you want to learn how to make this.

Once you’re done preparing your dish(es), make an effort to move around and learn as much as possible from other stations to avoid leaving having learned to cook only the recipes you were provided with at your station.

While you do receive all the recipes after the class, it is ideal to make the dishes yourself in order to learn, and ask questions when you are unsure.

As with most classes, this one is more enjoyable to attend with a partner or group of friends. Themed cuisine classes cost between R405 and R480 per class and include a welcome drink and all ingredients to make the selected dishes of the night, which are enjoyed as a sit-down dinner after the cooking part of the evening.

Browne stocks a selection of beers and wines which are sold on a tab basis, so you can really get stuck into their motto: “We cook with wine, and sometimes we add it to the food.”

TRY IT YOURSELF

• Taste-Buds Cook Club, corner Aries and Saturnus avenues, Sundowner, Johannesburg.

• Courses run on certain Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

• R405 to R480 per class. A four-week domestic divas class costs R2,250.

• Visit the Taste-Buds website for more information or to book a cooking class.