Attending the Date Night Cooking Class at Truffles and Trifles has been on my radar for years. Held once each month, with the exception of February (which features four Valentine's Date Night classes), these highly sought-after fêtes sell out every time, often weeks in advance. So, we just had to know for ourselves: are these College Park classes as great as everyone says they are? As it turns out… yes, they are!
Here are some pics and details from a class we attended on February 13. Enjoy!
When we arrived at 6:30pm, everything was set. All we needed to do was put on an apron and uncork our wine. Aprons and wine glasses are provided.
There were four fun and helpful chefs assisting during our date night class, including Chef Paul who welcomed everyone and asked us to please not cut off our fingers.
All the couples were broken into groups of 4 or 6 and then we were given some helpful knife skills training.
Once at our stations, couples worked together following the recipes but could holler for help from a pro chef at any time.
Most of the ingredients were already pre-measured or portioned, which made it feel like a cooking show.
To our surprise and delight, we were served a Champagne punch to sip while we cooked.
And then it was off to work for about 90 minutes of chopping, slicing, sautéing and frying!
Each couple brought a bottle of wine or two to drink during the evening. There were also some bottles of wine for sale onsite. BTW: that's me sipping instead of cooking!
Recipes were manageable, not too challenging but not too easy either.
We started with a salad course as everyone took their seats at the two long dining tables at around 8:30pm.
On this night, we enjoyed a salad with strawberries and mango slathered in a poppyseed dressing. It was fantastic!
Then the fruits of our labor were spread out in two long buffets that included beef, pork, chicken and shrimp plus several veggie sides.
And of course, there was dessert and lots of it! What a perfect end to a perfect night!
